BEIRUT – Lebanon closed a chapter in its bloody civil war Saturday with the return of army general Michel Aoun from 14 years of forced exile in France. The staunchly anti-Syrian Christian leader’s homecoming is expected to profoundly affect the country’s political scene, changing the configuration of alliances that arose following the assassination of former …
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This Wednesday, May 11, the court-martial of Sgt. Kevin Benderman begins. Sgt. Benderman, who has served in the military for eight years including one tour of duty in Iraq, filed for conscientious objector status after seeing the reality of war in Iraq. He has been denied and now faces court-martial on two counts, desertion with …
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http://www.independent.org/tii/antiwar/e050510.html
UNITED NATIONS – Diplomats charged with halting the spread of nuclear weapons were to reopen negotiations here Tuesday after a three-day break taken after a week of trying but ultimately failing to agree on an agenda for their talks. Delegates at the month-long Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference came close to adopting an agenda last …
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In her opening statement to the Sixth Review Conference of the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons held at UN Headquarters five years ago, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright encouraged conferees to focus on three key issues: how the treaty is working to (a) prevent nuclear proliferation, (b) advance nuclear disarmament, and (c) enhance …
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To Americans, World War II ended with the Japanese surrender on Aug. 15, 1945, following detonation of atom bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki on Aug. 6 and Aug. 9. But for Russians, who did not enter the war on Japan until Aug. 8, 1945, “The Great Patriotic War” ended on May 9, with the surrender …
Continue reading “What Is Bush Celebrating in Moscow?”
Memo to: Richard Lugar, chairman, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Re: An Anti-Diplomat at the UN? Dear Senator, you’ve known me for more than 30 years, from your days as Mayor of Indianapolis and my days as associate editor of The Wall Street Journal. When I tell you John Bolton is a true force of darkness, …
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That the commemoration of the end of World War II is being used to announce the commencement of World War IV is just another one of those little ironies that the Bush administration seems to delight in. The president’s five-day four-nation journey, which takes him to Latvia, Holland, Russia, and the former Soviet republic of …
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Humans have the capacity to create and to destroy. It seems to me that if we do not rein in our destructive capacity, bugs will one day inherit an otherwise empty and barren planet. It’s no use assigning blame. The urge to destroy resides in every human heart. Violence is all too often the problem-solving …
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JERUSALEM – Fatah maintained its position this week as the largest party by far in the Palestinian territories, despite earlier signs of weakness and a strong showing by the militant Hamas movement in the municipal elections. Preliminary results from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip show Fatah with 56 percent of the popular vote, …
Continue reading “Vote Dampens Hamas Political Bid” 
