Alaa Hassan never lived to see publication of the last story he had filed. It got caught for a while, as stories sometimes are, in that no-man's land between what a correspondent could reasonably get, and what an editor would really like. The two do not often converge...
Wile E. Coyote’s Fourth of July
As Americans celebrated the Fourth of July, North Korea shot off some of their own fireworks by test-firing four short-range missiles (that could reach South Korea and Japan) and a long-range missile that some analysts believe could reach parts of the United States...
What a Mess
When forced to confront the mess she has made of our foreign policy, do you suppose Condi Rice views the interrelated messes individually or collectively? Take the U.S.-India-Iran-Pakistan-Russia mess. Last year, Condi whizzed down to New Delhi to prevent India from...
To Be or Not To Be a State?
When Hamas won the Palestinian elections, a highly successful Fourth Generation entity became a state. No doubt that was one of Hamas' highest aspirations. But by becoming a state, it became far more vulnerable to other states than it was as a non-state entity. How...
Israel Fears High Price for US Strike on Iran
Israel has seldom been as quiet on Iran as in the last three months. Though Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has pursued a policy of reducing Israel's visible involvement in the Western campaign to rein in Iran's nuclear ambitions "work hard and say less,"...
A Story I Never Wanted to Tell
Inter Press Service (IPS) contributor Alaa Hassan was killed on his way to work last Wednesday. He was 35 years old. He is survived by his mother, four brothers, five sisters, and his wife, who is pregnant with their first child. Alaa was not killed for being a...
Nuking Iran Is Not Off the Table
The (for any rational human being) bizarre possibility of a U.S. nuclear strike against Iran first reached public consciousness in early April 2006, when investigative reporter Seymour Hersh wrote in the New Yorker magazine that it was one of six plans being...
Will Missile Tests Lead to New Talks?
Although it may raise regional tensions in the short run, Wednesday's test-firing by North Korea of at least seven missiles, including its multi-stage, inter-continental Taepodong-2 rocket, could speed resumption of long-stalled diplomatic efforts to curb Pyongyang's...
Crime and Punishment
The Absurd Case of Naser Oric "Convicted but released" came the news Friday morning, striking the Balkans tinderbox like stray lightning. Naser Oric, the Muslim warlord of Srebrenica, was convicted of war crimes by the Hague Inquisition and sentenced to less...
Nationalism: The Last Refuge of the Political Loser
It seems like only yesterday American pundits were writing political obituaries for President George W. Bush and his Republican allies on Capitol Hill. With the anti-American violence in Iraq showing no signs of ending any time soon and helping to force Mr. Bush's...


