Europe must emerge from U.S.’ shadow
Several senior European politicians have urged the European Union (E.U.) to threaten Israel with sanctions if it continues to build Jewish settlements on occupied Palestinian territory. A letter signed by, among others, Mary Robinson, the former E.U. commissioner, and Javier Solana, the organization's former foreign affairs chief, calls...Israeli firms see a global market for their anti-terrorism products
TEL AVIV (LA Times) — As he inspected the Taj Mahal hotel after the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India, and listened to a hotel manager bemoan the lack of adequate security preparations, Israeli export official Avi Hefetz saw a growth market in the making. A photo of Israeli security technology, MagShoe, a machine used in...A nuclear-free Mideast demands policy change on Israel
There are two things one can say regarding U.S. policy toward Israel's nuclear weapons program: First, it is consistent with the rational, common-sense notion that both accession to the NPT and establishment of regional nuclear weapons-free zones can only be achieved when the concerned states are persuaded that both are in their...The truth will always win
In 1958 a young Rupert Murdoch, then owner and editor of Adelaide's The News, wrote: "In the race between secrecy and truth, it seems inevitable that truth will always win." WikiLeaks founder Julian AssangeHis observation perhaps reflected his father Keith Murdoch's expose that Australian troops were being needlessly sacrificed by...WikiLeaks’ harsh lesson on imperial hubris
The WikiLeaks disclosure this week of confidential cables from United States embassies has been debated chiefly in terms either of the damage to Washington's reputation or of the questions it raises about national security and freedom of the press. The headlines aside, most of the information so far revealed from the 250,000 documents...
Wikileaks saga: No top secrets, but damaging nonetheless
December 4th, 20100 WASHINGTON – While the massive dump of some 250,000 internal U.S. diplomatic communications by Wikileaks includes none marked "top secret," their dissemination is already causing considerable embarrassment and may well inflict longer-term damage on Washington's foreign relations. A combination of pictures show the front pages of...
Wikileaks reveals treacherous terrain for Iran policy
December 4th, 20100 WASHINGTON (IPS) – The leaked reports sent by U.S. officials abroad to Washington reveal a treacherous playing field for the United States in the Middle East. A combination photo shows world leaders mentioned in cables released by whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks on November 28, 2010. The leaders are (top row L-R) Libya's leader...
Qatar puts Middle East soccer on map
December 4th, 20100 Qatari fans celebrate at Souk Waqif in Doha December 2, 2010, after the announcement that Qatar will host the 2022 World Cup. Summer temperatures which can soar to above 50 degrees Celsius and a concern about lack of infrastructure did not deter FIFA on Thursday from awarding the 2022 World Cup to the tiny Gulf state of Qatar....Iran laptop papers showed wrong missile warhead
WASHINGTON (IPS) — The most important intelligence documents used to argue that Iran had a covert nuclear weapons research and development program in 2003 — a set of technical drawings of efforts to fit what appears to be a nuclear payload into the reentry vehicle of Iran's medium-range ballistic missile, the Shahab-3 — turn out to...Obama foreign policy likely to face Republican challenges
WASHINGTON (IPS) — While foreign policy issues played almost no role in Tuesday's election results, the historic Republican landslide will almost certainly make Barack Obama's vision of a more positive U.S. role in international affairs more difficult to pursue. The Republicans, who won control of the House of Representatives and...
Ahmadinejad addresses crowds in Beirut and Bint Jebail at Israeli border
October 19th, 20100 Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad waves his hands as he greets Lebanese Hizbullah supporters upon his arrival to the main airport road in Beirut, October 13, 2010. Tens of thousands of Lebanese Shia gave Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a tumultuous welcome on Wednesday at the start of a visit which has highlighted Western...U.N. faces threat of irrelevancy amid big power politics
President Barack Obama talks with Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada at the G20 Summit opening Plenary Session at the Toronto Convention Center, Toronto, Canada June 27, 2010. Photo: Pete Souza.UNITED NATIONS (IPS) — The 192-member General Assembly began its 65th session under a perceived new threat: that the United Nations...
UN report: Gaza flotilla attack “unlawful, unnecessary and incredibly violent”
September 25th, 20100 A panel of three experts on human rights released a 56-page report on Wednesday accusing Israel of war crimes stemming from willful killing, unnecessary brutality, and torture in what was deemed a “clearly unlawful” assault on a ship that was attempting to break the blockade of Gaza on May 31, 2010 during which nine Turkish activists...
PAKISTAN sinking in despair
September 25th, 20100 U.S. boosts aid amid doubts about Pakistan's recovery WASHINGTON (IPS) — The administration of U.S. President Barack Obama has announced it will provide an additional 75 million dollars in food aid to help Pakistan cope with floods that have affected about one-fifth of the country – including some 20 million people – since they...Kucinich says peace, not war, is inevitable
Almost nine years into longest war in U.S. history, at a time when the U.S. spends more on its military budget than the rest of the world combined and endless war seems a frighteningly realistic possibility, I spoke with Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), a long-time advocate for peace. Kucinich reminds us that there is another way: that......
The Jirga of Hamid Karzai will not save Afghanistan
Afghanistan held its parliamentary elections last Saturday for only the second time since the Taliban were ousted from power. All 249 seats were at stake in the Wolesi Jirga or "House of the People," which is the lower house of Afghanistan's bicameral legislature. The Wolesi Jirga has the most power to override both the Meshrano Jirga...
Florida “Burn a Qur’an Day” suspended amid torrent of U.S., international condemnations
September 11th, 20100 After an outpouring of condemnations from a multitude of diverse groups both inside and outside of the United States, a Florida pastor suspended his plan to burn copies of the Qur'an at his Gainesville, Florida church on Thursday, September 9. Pastor Terry Jones of The Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida says he will......
Blair reveals Syria’s fears were well-founded
Tony Blair DAMASCUS — Syria always feared that the White House of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney would invade Damascus once it had dispatched with Baghdad in 2003 and, in his newly released memoirs, the former British prime minister Tony Blair confirmed those fears were well founded. Describing the former U.S. vice president as...Israeli soldiers charged in picture-taking flap
JERUSALEM — Four Israeli soldiers were indicted after taking pictures of themselves pointing their guns at a Palestinian prisoner. In the indictment filed Monday by the Military Advocate, the soldiers were charged with abuse and illegal use of weapons. The soldiers, from the Nahal Haredi brigade, also were accused of improper...Security Council extends UNIFIL mandate
NEW YORK — The United Nations voted to extend the mandate of its peacekeeping operation in southern Lebanon for another year. The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously Monday to keep the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon on patrol in southern Lebanon on the border with Israel until Aug. 31, 2011. The Council based its decision on what...Ouster of contractors in Afghanistan throws U.S. strategy in doubt
NEW YORK – Charging that U.S. private security contractors are "mafia-like groups" being financed by U.S. taxpayers to carry out "terrorist activities" with the support of the U.S. government, Afghan President Hamid Karzai has ordered a four-month phaseout of all private security companies in his embattled country. Asserting his......
Israeli generals and intel officials oppose attack on Iran
WASHINGTON — Pro-Israeli journalist Jeffrey Goldberg's article in "The Atlantic" magazine was evidently aimed at showing why the Barack Obama administration should worry that it risks an attack by the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Iran in the coming months unless it takes a much more menacing line toward Iran's...Khamenei: Talks with U.S. only if sanctions are dropped
TEHRAN — Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday that any talks with arch-foe the United States would take place only if Washington drops "sanctions and threats" against Tehran. In a speech on state television, the all-powerful Khamenei also blamed Washington for Iran's defiant move to enrich uranium to......
Vanunu freed from Israel jail after serving eleven-week sentence
JERUSALEM — Israeli nuclear whistle-blower Mordechai Vanunu was freed from jail on Sunday after serving 11 weeks behind bars for breaking the terms of his release and meeting a foreigner, a prison official said. Mordechai Vanun, The former nuclear technician was arrested in December at a Jerusalem hotel while talking to a...Iran benefits from Arab disillusion with Obama
WASHINGTON – U.S. President Barack Obama has suffered a sharp drop in popularity in the Arab world over the past year, and Iran may be reaping the benefits, according to a major new survey of public opinion in five Arab countries released here Thursday. Only 20 percent of respondents in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and the......