U.S. President Barack Obama’s first meeting on Thursday with Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas was less remarkable for the actual talks between the two leaders than it was for the changed Washington political climate in which it took place. The meeting between Obama and Abbas seemed to contain no real surprises, as both leaders …
Continue reading “Abbas Visit Comes as US-Israeli Tensions Mount”
Kelley Vlahos on a hawk in Obama’s court
JERUSALEM – The tremors of Monday’s North Korean nuclear test have been felt all around the world, no more so in a country seemingly not directly affected by whether or not North Korea is a full-fledged nuclear power. In Israel, there is deep concern, an existential fear even – over the implications that Iran will …
Continue reading “Will Netanyahu Give Up Settlements to Gain Support Against Iran?”
Paul Craig Roberts on the greatest threats to peace
Sunday’s underground nuclear test by North Korea drew strong condemnation Monday from U.S. President Barack Obama, who suggested that Washington will seek strong international sanctions by the UN Security Council and possibly impose tough unilateral measures of its own. According to the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) in Vienna, the blast slightly exceeded …
Continue reading “Drive for Sanctions Likely in Wake of North Korean Test”
Or else we’ll all be held accountable, says Rep. Ron Paul
JERUSALEM – A showdown over Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank is looming between Israel and the United States barely a week after the encounter at the White House between U.S. President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. What’s becoming increasingly clear is that the May 18 encounter was no friendly getting-to-know-you …
Continue reading “Showdown Looming Over Israeli Settlements”
He’s not closing Guantanamo, he’s continuing the "preventive detention" policy of the Bush administration under a new rubric ("prolonged detention"), he’s on board with military commissions ("reformed," of course) and the denial of habeas corpus – and last, but certainly not least, his supporters in Congress have launched a campaign to give him and his …
Continue reading “Obama’s Democratic Authoritarianism”
Alan Bock on the overhyped Obama-Cheney showdown
After an uneventful first meeting between U.S. President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that seemed to produce no real breakthroughs, hawks in the U.S. and Israel are seizing upon what they claim is a significant concession by Obama: his setting a "timetable" for negotiations with Iran. Although Obama merely promised a "reassessment" …
Continue reading “Iran Hawks Push Obama on Deadline for Diplomacy” 
