Jim Lobe

Taken by surprise by the sudden and unexpectedly bloody repression in Uzbekistan, the administration of President George W. Bush appears to be backing away from its initial, reflexive support for its authoritarian ally in the war against terrorism, Uzbek President Islam Karimov. Echoing Karimov himself, the White House expressed particular concern about the escape of … Continue reading “US Caught Up Short by Uzbekistan Violence”

Here’s a question for international news hounds. Who is the “son of a bitch” referred to in this comment by a U.S. Defense Department spokesman? “People are dead because of what this son of a bitch said. How could he be credible now?” Is he an unnamed Defense Department source who told Newsweek magazine that … Continue reading “Who’s the S.O.B.?”

The sudden and untimely arrival on U.S. territory of a former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) asset and admitted terrorist, Luis Posada Carriles, poses an embarrassing challenge to the credibility of the Bush administration’s war on terrorism. Posada, who in an interview with the New York Times seven years ago admitted to organizing a wave of … Continue reading “A Terrorist Comes Home to Roost”

Reported incidents of anti-Muslim bias including hate crimes, discrimination, and harassment rose sharply in the United States last year, according to a new report by a major Islamic group. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), in a report released Wednesday, said it received 141 reports of actual or planned violence against Muslims or mosques nationwide, … Continue reading “Report: Anti-Muslim Crimes on the Rise”

Amid rising tension between Iran and the United States, a major U.S. human rights group said Tuesday that at least 50 people were killed during week-long protests in southwestern Khuzestan province last month and urged Iran to permit independent journalists and rights monitors to go to the strife-torn region across the border from Iraq. New … Continue reading “Neocons Exploiting Domestic Unrest in Iran?”

Demands by a key Republican senator for a two-week delay in the vote by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on John Bolton as Washington’s next UN ambassador mark a significant and potentially strategic defeat for Vice President Dick Cheney and the administration hawks he led during George W. Bush’s first presidential term. If Bolton’s bid … Continue reading “Delay on Bolton Vote a Defeat for Hawks”

The restoration of U.S. military aid to Guatemala 15 years after it was suspended for human rights abuses was assailed late Thursday by several rights groups, who said the move was premature. On a visit to the Guatemalan capital earlier in the day, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld announced that the George W. Bush administration … Continue reading “US Restores Guatemalan Military Aid After 15-Year Hiatus”

While U.S. President George W. Bush played nice to a deeply frustrated Mexican President Vicente Fox at the North American Summit in Texas Wednesday, U.S. media attention was focused more on Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld’s efforts to sound the alarm against Latin American troublemakers in his swing through the region this week. Topping his list … Continue reading “Washington Focuses on Southern ‘Axis of Evil’”

The apparent decision by European leaders to delay the lifting of their 16-year-old arms embargo on China beyond June marks a clear-cut foreign policy victory for U.S. President George W. Bush, who made the issue a major priority in his visit to Europe last month. China itself may have inadvertently made Bush’s victory possible. Its … Continue reading “EU Decision to Delay China Arms Sales Big Win for Bush”

March has been a bad month for the world’s multilateralists who, encouraged by several early appointments to the State Department and a successful presidential tour of Europe, had hoped that George W. Bush would temper his unilateralist instincts in his second term. But culminating in Friday’s release by the Pentagon of a new "National Defense … Continue reading “Pentagon Reaffirms Globocop Role”