Jim Lobe

The aggressive new campaign by the administration of President George W. Bush to depict U.S. foes in the Middle East as “fascists” and its domestic critics as “appeasers” owes a great deal to steadily intensifying efforts by the right-wing press over the past several months to draw the same comparison. The Rupert Murdoch-owned Fox News … Continue reading “‘Fascism’ Frame Set Up by Neocon Press”

A growing debate within Israel over whether United States President George W. Bush’s Middle East policies really serve the interests of the Jewish state has spread to Washington, where influential voices within the U.S. Jewish community are questioning the administration’s hard-line positions in the region. Coming in the wake of the month-long war between Israel … Continue reading “In Pro-Israel Circles, Doubts Grow Over US Policy”

In what some critics describe as a replay of the run-up to the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, the Republican chairman of the Intelligence Committee of the House of Representatives has released a report suggesting Iran may acquire nuclear weapons much more quickly than U.S. intelligence agencies believe. The 29-page report, authored by a former … Continue reading “Republican Report Hypes Iran ‘Threat’”

While much of the world has criticized Israel for carrying out a "disproportionate" war against Hezbollah in Lebanon, hard-line neoconservatives have attacked the government of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert for timidity. As noted by diplomatic correspondent Ori Nir in this week’s edition of The Forward, the U.S.’ most important Jewish newspaper, the Israeli government and … Continue reading “Hard-Line Neocons Assail Israel for Timidity”

Tuesday’s defeat in Connecticut’s primary election of President George W. Bush’s "favorite Democrat," Sen. Joe Lieberman, by a little-known antiwar candidate marks a major setback to neoconservative hopes of maintaining bipartisan support for the administration’s aggressive foreign policies, particularly in the Middle East. Lieberman, the Democrats’ vice presidential candidate in the 2000 campaign, received strong … Continue reading “Neoconservatives’ ‘Favorite Democrat’ Falls”

Entering the fourth week of war between Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia and Israel, the George W. Bush administration’s ambitions to transform the Arab Middle East into a pro-Western, more democratic region are fading fast. Not only is Washington’s thus-far staunch support for Israel losing Arab "hearts and minds" at an astonishing pace, but the "moderate" governments … Continue reading “US Watches Dreams of Transformation Dissolve”

In systematically failing to distinguish between Hezbollah fighters and civilian population in its three-and-a-half-week-old military campaign in Lebanon, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have committed war crimes, according to a report released by Human Rights Watch Wednesday. The 50-page report, "Fatal Strikes: Israel’s Indiscriminate Attacks Against Civilians in Lebanon," detailed nearly two dozen cases of … Continue reading “Rights Group Accuses Israel of War Crimes”

Uncertain about the condition of longtime U.S. nemesis Cuban President Fidel Castro, the administration of President George W. Bush said Tuesday it would not alter its policy toward the Caribbean nation with which it has had no regular diplomatic communications for most of the past six years. “There are no plans to reach out,” said … Continue reading “Castro’s Brother at the Helm, but No Change in US Policy for Now”

Some of the Republican Party’s most venerable foreign policy strategists are calling urgently for a major course change in U.S. policy in the Middle East, but neither the administration of President George W. Bush nor Republicans in Congress appear inclined to pay much heed. Whether their view may change as a result of Sunday’s devastating … Continue reading “Republican Realists Call for Major Course Change”