Updated at 5:50 p.m. EST, Nov. 18, 2008At least 23 Iraqis were killed and 35 more were wounded in the latest reports of violence. In political news, elections have been set for Jan. 31 in most of Iraq's 18 provinces. The top Iraqi cleric gave tacit support to a...
Barack Obama's first appointment, that of Chicago Congressman Rahm Emanuel as his chief of staff, is quite frankly unsettling and suggests that voters who had hoped for real change in Washington will be disappointed. There should also be some concern on the part of...
On Sunday, in his first television interview since winning the presidential election, Barack Obama repeated his campaign pledge to close the prison at Guantánamo Bay and to ban the use of torture by U.S. forces. Speaking on 60 Minutes, he explained, "I have said...
The latest tightening of Israel's chokehold on Gaza – ending all supplies into the Strip for more than a week – has produced immediate and shocking consequences for Gaza's 1.5 million inhabitants. The refusal to allow in fuel has forced the shutting down of...
In the wake of the recent election results it's essential to ask how the Empire fared. It's not just occupying Iraq. It's not just brutally occupying Afghanistan under the guise of a war on terror being fought by the heirs of the Wahhabist-influenced,...
A think-tank closely tied to U.S. President-elect Barack Obama is calling for a "dramatic strategic shift" in Washington's policy toward Pakistan, one designed to both strengthen civilian institutions and promote an effective counter-insurgency against...
The first official "decree" of our new president should be to draft the children of the rich, according to Michael Moore's latest book, Mike's Election Guide 2008. Moore's presidential decree builds on the idea that a draft would swell popular resistance to...
In his victory speech, Barack Obama told us: "I will listen to you, especially when we disagree." And, you know what? I believe him. He will listen. That's the one important difference, I think, between the outgoing and incoming administrations: George W. Bush would...
One of the eerier reports on the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan appeared recently in the New York Times. Journalist John Burns visited the Russian ambassador in Kabul, Zamir N. Kabulov, who, back in the 1980s, when the Russians were the Americans in...
Of course, the default position for any citizen with a modicum of experience and common sense should be to prepare to be disappointed by a politician, especially one in whom one was rash enough to invest much hope. We are already seeing a certain amount of backing and...
