U.S. , Israel military surveillance future: Drones now come in swarms?
June 22nd, 20120 A small insect or a mosquito over your ear may now be much more than simply annoying. They could easily be micro drones which now come in a swarm of bug-sized flying spies. An image from NetworkWorld.comIn an effort to create a hard-to-detect surveillance drone that will operate with little or no direct human supervision in out of the...Report slams Israeli PM over deadly flotilla raid
The Israeli PM is under fire for the management of the deadly Turkish flotilla raid that occured in 2010. A new report released by State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss suggests that Benjamin Netanyahu failed to follow protocol that could have avoided the bloodshed.The report states that no official cabinet meeting was called during the...Attacking Iran likely counter-productive, think tank warns
WASHINGTON — While a nuclear-armed Iran would pose significant new challenges to the United States and Israel, a military attack by either country to prevent Tehran from developing a weapon could well prove counter-productive, according to a major new report released here Wednesday by a think tank close to the administration of...Israel, not Iran, feels isolated
JERUSALEM — As a result of the diplomatic momentum geared to disarm international suspicions over the explosive issue of Iran’s nuclear program, the one country not directly party to the two-track negotiation process feels more isolated than Iran. Iran nuclear talks in Baghdad on May 23, 2012. Following the putative breakthrough...U.S. Iran hawks in Congress in some disarray
WASHINGTON — Hopes by Iran hawks here to get the U.S. Congress to wield the threat of a U.S. military attack on the Islamic Republic on the eve of next week's critical negotiations on Tehran's nuclear program appear to have fallen unexpectedly short.While the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly Thursday to reject "any U.S....United Methodist Church’s shameful failure to divest from injustice
This week, amidst the incredible ongoing mass hunger strike by Palestinian prisoners, some of them on the brink of starvation, the United Methodist Church failed to pass a resolution to divest from three major beneficiaries of the most incendiary human rights abuses and colonial crimes of our time.Among the heartbreaking collection...
Former CIA analyst: U.S. media prevents justice in Mideast
May 11th, 20120 Ray McGovernLongtime former CIA analyst Ray McGovern worked 27 years at the Central Intelligence Agency, providing daily reports to some the U.S.' top leaders, serving as an analyst from the John F. Kennedy administration through the George H.W. Bush administration. But now the 72-year-old has retired and spends his time doing a...The real reason for moving Israeli elections up
JERUSALEM — If on Sep. 4, exit polls confirm what opinion polls currently predict – the reinstatement of a right-wing government headed by Benjamin Netanyahu – Israelis might still ask themselves, what was this general election about?The one who, this week behind the scenes, will call for the dissolution of the Knesset parliament,...Israeli dissent lessens threat of Iran strike
WASHINGTON — The threat of a military attack on Iran's nuclear facilities this year appears to have substantially subsided over the past several weeks as a result of several developments, including the biting criticisms voiced recently by former top national security figures of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his defense...Women of the world unite for rights
ISTANBUL — The world’s recent financial and political upheavals have not been kind to women. In Libya’s Tripoli, female suicide rates increased tenfold during the revolution, while dismal job prospects have young Greek women abandoning their career aspirations, participants in a global forum on women’s rights said over the...
100th ANNIVERSARY: The Titanic’s untold Arab stories
April 20th, 20120 We have all grown familiar with the story of the Titanic, the passenger liner that sank in the Northern Atlantic in 1912 after hitting an iceberg. This week as the tragedy marked its 100th Anniversary, the stories and accounts from that horrific day that resulted in the deaths of over 1,500 people have resurfaced. What many might not...POLITICAL SCAPEGOATING IN FRANCE
When immigrants become the footballPARIS — Candidates in the French presidential election are coming to use the word ‘immigrant’ like a ball to be kicked around from one side to another, analysts say. “Boot all the immigrants out, and everything will be fine. That’s the seductive and deceptive message from some...
Julian Assange talk show’s surprise first guest: Hassan Nasrallah
April 19th, 20120 BEIRUT — Hizbullah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah this week appeared on the first broadcast of The World Tomorrow, a talk show hosted by Wikileaks founder and editor Julian Assange on the Kremlin-backed television station Russia Today (RT), the Associated Press wrote. The station described Assange's show as “one of the most...
‘FLYTILLA’ hits Israel
April 19th, 20120 Unwelcome in Israel, activists still make a pointJERUSALEM — That “Welcome to Palestine” isn’t ‘Welcomed to Israel’ couldn’t be clearer. Wishing to land in Israel and to protest the 45-year occupation of Palestine in Bethlehem, most ‘Fly-tilla’ activists were treated by Israel’s authorities as a “strategic...Nuclear talks aim to ease fears of Iran war
ISTANBUL — Major powers will hold their first talks with Iran this week in more than a year, hoping Tehran will give enough ground on its nuclear program to extend negotiations and avert the threat of a Middle East war.Israel has hinted at military action against Iran, arguing time is running out to stop it developing atomic arms;......
Galloway’s stunning win shakes up English political scene
March 31st, 20120 George Galloway's stunning electoral triumph in the Bradford by-election has shaken the petrified world of English politics. It was unexpected, and for that reason the Respect campaign was treated by much of the media (Helen Pidd of the Guardian being an honorable exception) as a loony fringe show. A BBC toady, an obviously...Poll: Opposition to war in Afghanistan grows to 69%
Support for the war is dwindling among Republicans and Democrats, poll findsA new New York Times/CBS News poll shows that support for the U.S. War in Afghanistan has reached an all-time low. The poll, conducted between March 21-25, revealed that of those surveyed, 69 percent opposed the war in Afghanistan. This is up from 53 percent just......
Iran says nuclear talks to resume on April 13
TEHRAN — Long-stalled talks between Iran and world powers are to be revived on April 13 at a place yet to be agreed, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi announced on Wednesday. Erdogan (L) with Iran’s Ahmadinejad."The date has been set, but the negotiations for the venue are still ongoing," Salehi told AFP."Turkey has announced...
Brain damaged Iraq vet is Kandahar slayer?
March 16th, 20120 The death penalty may await the U.S. staff sergeant who slaughtered 16 civilians - mostly women and children - in Afghanistan. The soldier’s name has yet to be released, but new details have surfaced alleging what may have led to this tragedy. U.S.-Afghan Army soldiers interrogate residents during a patrol in Sangum Ghaki Valley in...
Polls show little U.S. popular support for Israeli attack on Iran
March 16th, 20120 WASHINGTON — Amidst persistent speculation over a possible Israeli military attack against Iranian nuclear facilities in the wake of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit here, a detailed new public opinion survey released Tuesday suggests that such a move would enjoy little support in the United States.According to the survey by...
Sarkozy fury over ‘Gaddafi millions for 2007 campaign’
March 16th, 20120 Nicolas Sarkozy lashed out at journalists and rejected claims he took 50 million Euros from Muammar Gaddafi to fund his 2007 presidential campaign before backing an insurgency against him, as documents alleging a money-trail between the two emerged."If he had financed it (the 2007 campaign), then I haven't been very grateful," Sarkozy......
Israeli poll on Iran undercuts Netanyahu on eve of major meet
WASHINGTON – Leading up to a critical set of meetings here between top U.S. and Israeli officials, a new survey found little backing among the Israeli public for a military strike against Iranian nuclear facilities without Washington's approval.According to the poll, released at a briefing at the Brookings Institution here Wednesday,...Cold war in warm waters: U.S.-China’s dangerous contest for Asia-Pacific
On two occasions in my life I found myself living close to the South China Sea. The sea became my escape from life’s pressing responsibilities. But there is no escaping the fact that the deceptively serene waters are now also grounds for a nascent but real new cold war. China takes the name of the sea very seriously. Its claim......
Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities easier said than done?
February 20th, 20120 WASHINGTON — Despite renewed media speculation regarding possible Israeli attacks against Iran's nuclear facilities as early as this spring, skepticism that such a campaign could actually be successfully carried out remains relatively high, raising the question of whether there is more bark than bite to Israeli threats. Iran's...
U.S. says Russia-China UN veto “disgusting”, “shameful”, “deplorable”, “a travesty” . . . really?
February 10th, 20120 U.S. says Russia-China UN veto "disgusting", "shameful", "deplorable", "a travesty" . . . really?A quick listing of the United States' record of veto use at the United Nation Security Council (UNSC): 1972–2011* Year & resolution vetoed by the U.S. • 1972: Condemns Israel for killing hundreds of people in Syria and......
