Antiwar.com

TOKYO – Mariko Ishibashi, 26, a company receptionist, has already decided she will not cast her ballot next month in an election that could crucially determine Japan’s deployment of troops to join a multinational force in Iraq. “I am fed-up with Japanese politics,” Ishibashi, who holds a degree in American literature, tells IPS. Candidates in … Continue reading “Koizumi’s Iraq Policy Faces Test in Elections”

DAMASCUS – When he downloaded some material on Syria and emailed it to his friends, Abdel Rahman al-Shaghouri did not think he would end up in prison. Al-Shaghouri, 32, already in prison since February 2003 for his “offense,” was sentenced this week to two-and-a-half years imprisonment by the security court. He was held guilty of … Continue reading “Syrian Liberalization Hits Internet Wall”

NEW DELHI – Six years after they blasted their way into the world’s nuclear club, India and Pakistan have taken some welcome, if tentative, steps in recent days toward nuclear-risk reduction and confidence-building, which they say would “promote a stable environment of peace and security.” But the steps are small and may prove inadequate in … Continue reading “New Accord a Modest Step to Ease Nuke Danger”

Two weeks after compromising with its traditional allies on the wording of a key UN Security Council resolution on Iraq, U.S. foreign policy under George W. Bush appears to be moving further toward the more realist policies of his father in other areas as well. Few pretend to know whether the move is tactical for … Continue reading “Bush Gives Realism a Chance”

Some unfinished business from last week: In that column I discussed in some detail how the Bush administration’s story about Saddam and al-Qaeda differed from that of the 9/11 commission, and scanned some of the administration’s prewar statements. In general I conceded that the Bush administration had been fairly clever and cagey about the relationship … Continue reading “The Handover Just Might Work”

Asked about the implications of the President’s interview with Patrick J. "Bulldog" Fitzgerald, the special counsel appointed to look into the "outing" of a CIA agent by hawkish government officials, White House spokesman Scott McClellan wasn’t lying when he replied: "No one wants to get to the bottom of this matter more than the president … Continue reading “The Interrogation of George W. Bush”

COLOMBO – A Sri Lankan parliamentarian’s admission that he helped breakaway Tamil Tiger leader Karuna is the latest setback to the country’s fragmented peace process, already reeling under charges that the government is stoking unrest among the rebels The opposition United National Party (UNP), the main partner in the government ruling Sri Lanka prior to … Continue reading “Another Blow to Sri Lanka’s Battered Peace Process”

When an off-Broadway show opened a few seasons ago with the deliciously relevant title, Now That Communism is Dead My Life Feels Empty, it made me think of the bright, clever neoconservatives I have known. Looking back, many of their prominent publications and groups were far too inflexible to accept that the USSR was no … Continue reading “The Neocons Earn an ‘F’”

BAQUBA – Just six days before Iraq’s interim government is to gain partial sovereignty from the U.S., resistance fighters launched a series of coordinated attacks against U.S. forces and Iraqi government targets in Baghdad, Mosul, Ramadi and Baquba today. Fierce fighting between the Iraqi resistance and U.S. forces has killed at least 85 people and … Continue reading “Baquba Sealed off as US Loses Control”

From Dahr’s blog Mohammed works at our hotel. He just came up to deliver our laundry. When we asked how he was doing, he took off his sunglasses to show us a black eye. “Not so good,” he said. Someone was drinking beer outside the hotel last night, and when Mohammed asked him to please … Continue reading “‘This Is the Freedom’”