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We all stopped and watched the balloon vendor as he scampered wildly to escape the cops. He insisted in keeping his balloons, chair and air pump with him as he escaped and I yelled (in English because I was excited) for him to forget that stuff and just get away. As if that were possible … Continue reading “Sweep ‘Em off the Streets”

As Israeli warplanes pounded Palestinian cities, Israel’s media spin-doctor, Benjamin Netanyahu, was being interviewed on the Fox News Channel where he likened Arafat to Osama bin Laden and accused him of having "suicide kindergarten camps for kids to prepare the next generation of suicide bombers" (Dec. 3, 2001). It is exactly this type of hogwash … Continue reading “Are Palestinians Human?”

The attacks between Palestinians and Israelis this past week have dominated the news. There are two very important points we can learn from these events: Israelis and Palestinians have been using force to retaliate against attacks for over 50 years — each seeking to teach the other "a lesson" whenever attacked. But none of the … Continue reading “Brute Force Doesn’t Solve Conflicts”

The most interesting theory in the wake of the weekend attacks in Israel came from DEBKA-Net-Weekly, advertised as an intelligence service and carried on WorldNetDaily.com. In its report Monday, it said that the unspoken upshot of the hurried and quite private meeting between George W. Bush and Ariel Sharon was that “the major Israeli offensive … Continue reading “New Dangers in the Middle East”

David Horowitz, the ex-Communist and former Black Panther groupie turned stereotypical right-winger, has kicked off his pro-war “Think Twice” speaking tour of college campuses on a rather bizarre note. The “red diaper baby” who morphed into a neoconservative went to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and gave a strangely disjointed and vehement … Continue reading “HOROWITZ GOES HAYWIRE”

“Between government in the republican meaning, that is, Constitutional, representative, limited government, on the one hand, and Empire on the other hand, there is mortal enmity. Either one must forbid the other or one will destroy the other. That we know. Yet never has the choice been put to a vote of the people.” – … Continue reading “ASHCROFT’S REIGN OF TERROR”

It took me a long time to figure out what the banner above the Foreign Expert Building meant, but finally one of my more studious colleagues translated it for me: "The Falun Gong is an international antigovernment tool." Yes. This banner was hanging in the middle of one of the busiest walkways in Southwest Normal … Continue reading “Chinese Embrace Progress”

It is practically an article of faith among the antiwar Left that the Afghan war is not really about terrorism at all, but, in reality, is an effort by the US (and specifically the oil-connected Bush administration) to seize Middle Eastern oil supplies and secure the profits of US petroleum companies. They are on the … Continue reading “THE OIL FACTOR”

Haven’t we had enough of Israel? The other day, an explosive device planted near a school by Israeli army commandos killed five Palestinian kids: Mohammed Na’im Astal, 14; his brother, Akram Na’im Astal, 7; Aniz Idris Astal, 11; his brother Omar Idris Astal, 14; and Mohammad Sultan Astal, 12, a cousin. They were blown to … Continue reading “ISRAEL AND 9/11”

One of the themes sounded by proponents of the current war in Afghanistan happens to be largely true. The Taliban regime really does oppress women in the name of a strict and somewhat dubious interpretation of the tenets of Islam. Women, who had been teachers, doctors and professional people in Afghanistan to a significant degree … Continue reading “Afghan Women and the Northern Alliance”