The United States should accept an "Islamist authority" in Somalia as part of a "constructive disengagement" strategy for the war-torn country, according to a new report released here by the influential Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) on Wednesday. The 39-page report urges the U.S. to recognize that "Islamist authority" even if it includes al-Shabaab, or …
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According to the Chinese calendar, 2010 is the Year of the Tiger. We don’t name our years, but if we did, this one might prospectively be called the Year of the Assassin. We, of course, think of ourselves as something like the peaceable kingdom. After all, the shock of Sept. 11, 2001, was that "war" …
Continue reading “What to Watch for in 2010”
Non-G.I. Joe Lieberman, Dick Cheney’s fellow Vietnam-era draft dodger turned warmonger, said on the Dec. 27 edition of Fox News Sunday that "Yemen is now one of the centers of that fight." It’s difficult to tell from reading the transcript of the interview between Joe and Chris Wallace what exactly Joe means by "that fight." …
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Kelley Vlahos on the Somali insurgency’s American midwife
The U.S. State Department Thursday confirmed that Washington is providing arms and ammunition to the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) of Somalia in a bid to thwart its defeat by a loose coalition of radical Islamist militias which, according to some analysts, are linked to al-Qaeda. The move, which State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said was …
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Either fight pirates at sea or forget about them, says Jeff Huber
John Feffer on the Pentagon’s quest for more loot
Jeff Huber asks, What kind of bases do pirates have?
