OCCUPIED EAST JERUSALEM , Nov. 7 2013 (IPS) – As Palestinian-Israeli peace talks and nuclear talks on Iran’s disputed nuclear program continue, a unique international conference, “A Middle East without Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs)”, was held in Jerusalem....
Saudi Arabia and Israel Try To Derail Nuclear Negotiations With Iran by Terrorism
Ever since Hassan Rouhani was elected Iran’s President on 14 June 2013 and promised that he will lead a government of "hope and prudence," the United States’ most important allies in the Middle East – Saudi Arabia and Israel – and their lobbies here have...
24 Killed, 84 Wounded in Iraq Bombings Targeting Worshippers, Shoppers
Breaking the Game
Is democracy just civil war, only with ballots instead of bullets? Like chess, or football, politics is a stand-in for war, designed to ritualize conflict so as to prevent bloodshed. As long as everyone abides by the rules, and accepts the restrictions of the system,...
Drone Strike Served CIA Revenge, Blocked Pakistan’s Strategy
After a drone strike had reportedly killed Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud Nov. 1, the spokesperson for the U.S. National Security Council declared that, if true, it would be “a serious loss” for the terrorist organization. That reaction accurately...
Killing Arafat
The investigation into the death of Yaser Arafat took a giant step forward the other day when Al Jazeera posted the report of a team of Swiss doctors that pretty conclusively shows he was poisoned. The big news, however, is that this was no ordinary poisoning: the...
The Cost of War American-Style
Originally posted at TomDispatch. Back in the distant year 2003, my novel about a world I had inhabited for decades, The Last Days of Publishing, came out. In its last pages, three superannuated book editors huddled in a coffee shop in Manhattan, dreaming about DIY...
58 Killed, 82 Wounded As Suicide Bombers Target Iraq Army Bases
End Runs Around the Constitution
Two weeks ago we learned that the National Security Agency (NSA) has been spying on the chancellor of Germany and on the president of the United States. Last week we learned that it has spied on the Pope and on the conclave that elected him last March. This week we...
US, Iran Try to Narrow Gaps on Nuclear Deal
Against a backdrop of cautious optimism, Iran and six world powers known as the P5+1 are reconvening here for talks Nov. 7-8 over Tehran’s nuclear program. “This government [of Hassan Rouhani] has a lot riding on the resolution of the nuclear issue because it made it...