Rep. Barbara Lee, Noam Chomsky, and Nuremberg prosecutor Ben Ferencz issued prescient warnings about the war before it was launched.
Is the Long War Finally Ending?
Withdrawing several thousand U.S. troops from Afghanistan is just the tip of the iceberg.
A Letter to My Grandson
Someday in the distant future, I hope you’ll read this letter and smile indulgently at my worst fears.
Obama in the Funhouse
To avoid the escalation in east-west tensions, both Putin and Obama need to view each other with a great deal more clarity and understanding.
The Five Commandments of Barack Obama
How well has Barack Obama lived up to his own standards on civil liberties?
Homegrown Fear Mongering
The recent rash of charges against Somali-Americans on “conspiracy to provide material support” to al-Shabaab, a Somali rebel group on the U.S. terrorism list, seems designed to send a clear message that any support for the militants will lead to criminal prosecution. It also demonstrates the ubiquitous presence of law enforcement in these communities.
Militarizing Africa (Again)
In February 2007, President Bush announced that the United States would create a new military command for Africa, to be known as the Africa Command or AFRICOM, to protect U.S. national security interests on the African continent. Previously, control over U.S. military operations in Africa was divided between three different commands: European Command, which oversaw North Africa and most of sub-Saharan Africa; Central Command, which had responsibility for Egypt and the Horn of Africa; and Pacific Command, which administered the Indian Ocean and Madagascar.
The Collapse of the Second Front
It started in 2002 with a few hesitant probes that were low on intelligence, high on imagination, and short a couple of helicopters reportedly lost in the desert wastelands of northern Mali. Then, in 2003, the U.S. launch of a second front in its Âwar on terror moved into top gear. In collaboration with its regional ally Algeria, the Bush administration identified a banana-shaped swath of territory across the Sahelian regions of the southern Sahara that presumably harbored Islamic militants and bin Laden sympathizers on the run from Afghanistan.
Africa Policy Outlook 2006
2006 will help clarify whether the compassionate concern for the African continent, worn like a badge by western leaders last year, is a true determinant of Africa policy, or whether it merely masked other, more “strategic” and less “benevolent” impulses and interests.