If the referendum on Iraq’s draft constitution next month is conducted fairly, it now appears very likely that the document will be defeated by a two-thirds majority in the three Sunni-dominated provinces of Anbar, Salahadeen, and Nineveh, plunging Iraq into a new political crisis. However, one way such a defeat could be averted is by …
Continue reading “Kurdish Voting Shenanigans May Tip Referendum”
The decision Tuesday by a U.S. immigration judge in Texas to deny Venezuela’s request to extradite Luis Posada Carriles, whom Caracas has dubbed “the Osama bin Laden of Latin America,” was greeted with surprise and disappointment by Latin America activists and even some former U.S. officials. Venezuela wants Posada to stand trial for the October …
Continue reading “Cuban Terror Case Erodes US Credibility, Critics Say”
What could possibly be the purpose of the “gentle slap” (according to the L.A. Times headline, 9/25) delivered to Iran via the IAEA vote that found it in noncompliance with the Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) and requires that it be reported to the UN at an unspecified date? One might argue that the threat of sanctions …
Continue reading “The Meaning of the IAEA Iran Vote”
Ah, the joy of schadenfreude! There’s really nothing quite like it. Wikipedia tells us there is no equivalent word in English, and defines this German expression as meaning "pleasure taken from someone else’s misfortune" or “shameful joy." In short, it means gloating, albeit of a very special kind, and these days there is plenty of …
Continue reading “The Joy of Schadenfreude“
NEW DELHI – By voting for a Western-sponsored resolution at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), meant to reprimand Iran, India has signaled the collapse of its long-standing policy of nonalignment. Capping recent agreements signed with the United States on military and civilian nuclear cooperation within an increasingly closer "strategic partnership" with it, this constitutes …
Continue reading “India Ditches Iran and Nonalignment”
New Orleans, of course, showed up Washington’s unpreparedness for emergency response. But there’s an even far greater threat on the horizon: government radiation limits and the true risks from a "dirty bomb." Realistic radiation health limits need to be properly understood by first responders and affected citizens. Otherwise, panic may do economic destruction far, far …
Continue reading “Radiation Limits, Dirty Bombs, and Chaos”
New allegations of prisoner torture in Iraq are likely to add urgency to pending legislation that would create a 9/11-type commission to investigate detainee treatment and ensure that the U.S. operates within the law on interrogations. The charges are the subject of a new report from Human Rights Watch (HRW), which claims that U.S. Army …
Continue reading “Calls Mount for Prisoner Abuse Commission”
The growing specter of a full-scale civil war in Iraq – and the likelihood that such a conflict will draw in neighboring states – has intensified a summer-long debate here over whether and how to withdraw U.S. troops. Some analysts believe that an immediate U.S. withdrawal would make an all-out conflict less likely, while others …
Continue reading “Iraq Withdrawal Debate Gathers Momentum”
Where do American religious leaders stand on torture? Their deafening silence evokes memories of the unconscionable behavior of German church leaders in the 1930s and early 1940s. Despite the hate whipped up by administration propagandists against those it brands "terrorists," most Americans agree that torture should not be permitted. Few seem aware, though, that although …
Continue reading “A Torturous Silence”
http://www.independent.org/tii/antiwar/e050927.html
