CARACAS (IPS) - Venezuela will hold a recall vote for President Hugo Chávez, it was confirmed Thursday, after the election authorities announced that the opposition had gathered enough signatures to trigger a referendum. The valid signatures total at least...
Beware of ‘Credible Intelligence’
Last Wednesday it was Attorney General John Ashcroft joined Friday by me-too Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge claiming that "credible intelligence from multiple sources indicates that al-Qaeda plans to attempt an attack on the United States" between...
Egypt Eager to Help Israel Out of Gaza
CAIRO (IPS) - Egypt has presented a security initiative to support an Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, but wants to avoid being drawn into a "security trap." The initiative calls for a bilateral ceasefire agreement between the Palestinians and Israelis, and the...
Despite US Backlash, Chalabi Still a ‘Kingmaker’
TEHRAN (IPS) - While foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi has rejected claims that Iran received highly classified U.S. intelligence from Ahmad Chalabi, other government officials and the hardline newspapers that support them have remained largely silent on the...
An Insider’s Look at the March to War
Recorded May 22, 2004 A "Philip Dru" interview with Lt. Col. (ret.) Karen Kwiatkowski. Kwiatkowski spent her final four and a half years in uniform working at the Pentagon, where she was privy to much neoconservative chicanery in the run-up to war. She writes for...
New President, New Car Bomb
While Iraqi and American political players have been frenetically rearranging the chairs of interim government members on the Titanic that is occupied Iraq today, a massive car bomb explosion rumbles my hotel, miles from where it detonated outside of the Patriotic...
Once More, With Irony
It had to happen, sooner or later, or else the irony would not be complete: news has emerged this week that oil has been discovered in Bosnia. Granted, the find is nowhere near as big as the Middle Eastern fields, but given the precious liquid's current paucity in the...
Celebrating Life in Rafah
Rafah, Jenin, Khan Yunis, Zeitun: Foreign-sounding names of so distanced and disturbing a reality. All that we know of them is what the media have selectively determined to impart, if we are interested to hear the story. The Rafah refugee camp, a small strip of land...
US Seeks Iraqi Nod for Continued Occupation
UNITED NATIONS (IPS) - The United States is seeking the approval of the new interim government in Baghdad for a joint UK-U.S. resolution that will legitimize the continuing military occupation of Iraq. Iraq's newly-anointed foreign minister, Hoshyar Zebari, is due to...
Chávez Says Opposition May Have Enough Signatures
CARACAS (IPS) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez admitted that the opposition may have gathered enough signatures to trigger a recall referendum that could remove him from power within the next few months. The political crisis thus seems to be moving smoothly in the...


