Europe & Central Asia Archives - Page 144 of 396

Has the Rendition Program Disappeared?

by V. Noah Gimbel | Jun 16, 2011

The day after Barack Obama took office, he signed a series of executive orders mandating the closure of the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as well as the global network of secret, CIA-run “black site” prisons. In addition, he committed the United States to observe the Geneva Conventions and the Convention Against Torture. More than two years later, the Obama administration has not followed through on most of these promises, even reversing several commitments.

Webb’s Parting Shots

by John Feffer | Jun 14, 2011

To get elected to the Senate, you have to meet certain requirements. You have to be at least 30 years old, a U.S. citizen for nine years, and a resident of the state you represent. Based on Jim Webb’s recent performance, I would like to propose a fourth requirement: you have to be a novelist. If we had 100 novelists in the Senate, the body might finally be able, like Webb, to distinguish fact from fiction.

Like Strauss-Kahn, Christine Lagarde Dragging Baggage Into Likely IMF Directorship

by Jeanne Kay | Jun 14, 2011

Like Dominique Strauss-Kahn, leading candidate for the IMF directorship Christine Lagarde has skeletons in her closet.

100% Scared: How the National Security Complex Grows on Terrorism Fears

by Tom Engelhardt | Jun 13, 2011

In terms of damage since 9/11, terror attacks have ranked above shark attacks but below just about anything else that could possibly be dangerous to Americans, including car crashes which have racked up between 33,800 and 43,500 deaths a year since 2001.

Germans Now Draw as Much of Afghans’ Ire as Americans

by Carl Bloice | Jun 11, 2011

The people of both Afghanistan and Germany want Germans out of Afghanistan.

Pepsi, Pot, Porn…and Politics

by Fouad Pervez | Jun 8, 2011

News sources have recently reported on an interesting assortment of materials at Osama bin Laden’s Abbottabad compound. Not only was bin Laden living far from any cave on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, his house apparently had a large supply of Pepsi and Coke (inexplicably, Pakola wasn’t good enough), a significant stash of pornography, and marijuana plants on the property.

France Seeks to Act (Operative Word) as Israel-Palestine Peace Broker

by Jeanne Kay | Jun 4, 2011

France is attempting to present itself as a diplomatic alternative to the United States, yet its position doesn’t differ significantly from that of the United States.

The Sisyphus of Europe?

by Dominika Kruszewska | Jun 3, 2011

In Greek mythology, King Sisyphus was sentenced to eternal senseless labor as a punishment for insulting the gods. Until the end of time, he must push an enormous stone up the hill only to have it roll back over and over again. Turkey was granted candidate status in December 1999 — 50 years after it first applied for membership — but has managed 12 years later to close only one chapter of the accession negotiations. Despite uphill movement by Ankara, the stone keeps rolling back down again to block Turkey’s entrance to the EU.

Israel’s Madrassas

by Russ Wellen | Jun 2, 2011

At best, when taught in schools, extremist religious views dilute the quality of education; at worst, they breed violence.

The Death of Shahzad: Leave It to the ISI to Make al Qaeda Look Tame in Comparison

by Russ Wellen | Jun 1, 2011

Such is the depth of Pakistan’s moral corruption, that Syed Saleem Shahzad’s death leaves al Qaeda and the Taliban on a higher moral ground than Pakistan’s infamous intelligence agency, the ISI.