India-Pakistan Hope Gives Way to Uncertainty

NEW DELHI – The atmospherics still exude cordiality as India’s Foreign Minister Natwar Singh rounded off his numerous meetings in Islamabad with Pakistani policymakers with a one-on-one conversation with Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf. But the initial euphoria, optimism and effusiveness of last week are yielding to caution, worry, and fear that the two nations’ … Continue reading “India-Pakistan Hope Gives Way to Uncertainty”

Veterans Demand End to Occupation

BOSTON – As military veterans wrangle over whom to support for president, one veterans’ organization has fired a shot across the bow of whoever will occupy the White House next year. Over 400 Veterans for Peace (VFP) members gathered last weekend in Boston for the organization’s annual convention, hearing from Daniel Ellsberg, historian Howard Zinn, … Continue reading “Veterans Demand End to Occupation”

Kidnapping: Insurgents’ New Weapon of Choice

Kidnapping has become a weapon that is bringing increasing pressure on countries supporting the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq. Any foreigner associated with the United States is a target. On Monday Mohamed Mamdouh Qutb, the third highest ranking Egyptian diplomat in Iraq who had been abducted outside a mosque last Friday was released “because of the … Continue reading “Kidnapping: Insurgents’ New Weapon of Choice”

Incompetent Imperialists

There is an American Empire, but we should dump it, because we Americans are woefully incompetent when it comes to maintaining empires. One mistake that seems to be a permanent feature of our foreign policy is mirror-imaging. So many American politicians, most of them poorly educated and ignorant of other people and their cultures, tend … Continue reading “Incompetent Imperialists”

Conflict Spreads Within Fatah

RAMALLAH – A bullet hole in the curtain of the television room at Palestinian opposition figure Nabil Amr’s luxurious villa still attests to the shooting last Wednesday in which he was heavily wounded. Amr survived and is in hospital in Jordan, but Palestinian politics may be in a terminal crisis. “They were shooting to kill, … Continue reading “Conflict Spreads Within Fatah”

What Price Unanimity?

The 567-page final report released Thursday by the 9/11 Commission provides a wealth of data – indeed, so much detail that it is easy to get lost in the trees and miss the forest. Comments by the ubiquitous commissioners over the weekend leave the impression either that they themselves have no window on the forest, … Continue reading “What Price Unanimity?”

Iran’s Next

For at least two years the Bush-Cheney administration has been demanding that the International Atomic Energy Agency Board of Governors judge Iran to be in violation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Should the IAEA Board make such a judgment, it would then be obliged to report that to the UN Security Council. It would … Continue reading “Iran’s Next”

From China to Frankfurt

Frankfurt’s Cathedral looks out over the Main River and over into Old Sachsenhausen, as it has for the past 400 years – a focus point for artists and authors, medieval farmers and merchants, Cold War GIs, Turkish and Colombian bars and, most recently, East Asian tourists. Deeper in Sachsenhausen, retired Germans drink Applewine out of … Continue reading “From China to Frankfurt”

The Committee on the Present Confusion

With full-page ads in The Washington Post, The New York Times and The Washington Times trumpeting its slide down the spillways, The Committee on the Present Danger has been relaunched. The 1970s committee of Republican hawks and neoconservatives denounced détente and called for clarity, courage and perseverance in the Cold War against a Soviet empire … Continue reading “The Committee on the Present Confusion”