Uncategorized Archives - Page 163 of 275

And the Next President of… Texas

by Gabriela Bocagrande | Aug 1, 2000

Well, Newsweek warned us that George W.’s speech accepting the nomination of the Republican Party for president would be “light on specifics and heavy on heart.” Our hearts were heavy, too, after staying up after 10 o’clock on Thursday night to watch the new nominee say not much of anything. For the preceding hour, we were treated to a shallow, orchestrated pageant with the talent part left out. The whole scene was futuristic and creepy in its precision and lavishness; clearly no one has enough money to pay for something that profligate but the oil multinationals and the Armed Forces.

Camp David II: Clinton Should Pressure Israel, As Carter Did

by Stephen Zunes | Jul 12, 2000

It is highly unlikely that the upcoming summit between the United States, Israel, and Palestine at Camp David will the kind of positive results that came from the 1978 summit between the United States, Israel, and Egypt. At the earlier Camp David gathering, President Jimmy Carter was willing to pressure Israel to withdraw from all Egyptian territory seized in the 1967 war in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions 242 and 338. President Bill Clinton, in contrast, has not supported total Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian lands seized in 1967, and he has actually pressured the Palestinians to allow the Israelis to maintain control of large amounts of their land, including Arab East Jerusalem, the historic capital of Palestine.

Moderate or Militant: Will the Real Dick Cheney Please Stand Up?

by William D. Hartung | Jul 1, 2000

Prior to George W. Bush’s decision to choose Dick Cheney to head up his search for a running mate–a quest which ended on Tuesday, July 25th with the announcement that Cheney himself had landed the job–for most Americans, the Republican Vice Presidential candidate was at best a dimly remembered figure from the bygone days of the Gulf war.

The U.S. Must Pressure Israel to Compromise

by Stephen Zunes | Jun 1, 2000

As the Clinton Administration pushes for a high-level resumption of final status talks between Israelis and Palestinians, we are again hearing the mantra that both sides need to compromise, both sides cannot have everything they want and other familiar exhortations. This has been the administration’s approach since the singing of the Declaration of Principles in 1993.

Assad’s Mixed Legacy

by Stephen Zunes | Jun 1, 2000

President Hafez Assad leaves a mixed legacy. He brought relative stability in his thirty-year reign to a country which had been wracked with coups and counter-coups in the preceding years, yet it came at an enormous price in terms of basic human rights. He maintained a commitment to socialism and nationalism, yet did so through a cult of personality and insular style which alienated Syrians from across the political spectrum. He successfully curbed the influence of extremist Islamic movements, but at a cost of many thousands of lives in a brutal 1982 crackdown.

Nationalist Ideologies and Misperceptions in India-U.S. Relations

by Arun Swamy | May 1, 2000

The most prominent story in U.S. coverage of President Clinton’s March 2000 visit to India was the public rebuke issued to him by India’s ceremonial head of state, President K. Narayanan. At an official banquet Narayanan broke with protocol to chide Clinton for describing South Asia as “the most dangerous place on earth,” charging that such remarks would encourage the very violence Clinton feared. Oddly, though, Indian reporting of the event focused more on the tenor of U.S. reporting than on the remarks themselves. The difference reflected a contrast between the tones of American and Indian coverage that, though the reverse of what one would expect, confirms the very different perspectives of the U.S. and India on this chronically troubled relationship. American coverage was somber, focusing on Clinton’s failure to convince India to give up nuclear weapons. In India, where this outcome was never in doubt, reporting was more upbeat, seeing a belated American acquiescence to India’s nuclear status and role in world affairs.

Global Focus: U.S. Foreign Policy at the Turn of the Millennium

by Tom Barry, Martha Honey | Mar 1, 2000

This volume portrays the challenges and questions facing Americans and their government at a time when a new global order is being defined by transnational corporations, when the dimensions of U.S. military power bear little relation to threats, and when most global crises call for international solutions. The volume outlines the principles, practices, and policy alternatives that would help to make the U.S. a more responsible global leader and global partner.

U.S. Must Insist Israel Return to the Peace Talks and Withdraw from Lebanon

by Stephen Zunes | Feb 1, 2000

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak’s decision to pull out of the peace talks with Syria is a shameless capitulation to Israel’s far right and raises serious questions as to whether the Israeli government is seriously interested in peace. President Clinton must demand that Israel return immediately to the negotiation table and come into full compliance with UN Security Council resolutions or risk an immediate cutoff of U.S. military and economic aid.

Africa Activism: What Direction Now?

by Jim Cason, Jim Lobe | Feb 1, 2000

From February 16 to 20, some 2,300 committed and energetic delegates from throughout the United States gathered in Washington, DC, for a five-day, high-profile “summit” dedicated to building a politically powerful coalition for Africa, but there was much uncertainty about how to do it. The official program and plenary sessions were dominated by U.S. and African government officials, members of Congress, and corporate leaders. But the energy in the workshops and hallways of this event, as well as the commitment of delegates to use their own funds to get to Washington for the meeting, demonstrated again the potential for Africa activism that still exists in the United States ten years after the South African victory over apartheid. Particularly noticeable was the high attendance—upwards of 30%—of Africa expatriates who established themselves during the conference as key players in any future constituency for the continent.

U.S. Policy Hampers Chances for Israeli-Syrian Peace

by Stephen Zunes | Dec 1, 1999

There is little hope for real progress in the Israeli-Syrian peace talks unless the Clinton Administration is willing to uphold human rights and international law along with its commitment to Israel’s legitimate security needs. Since Israel seized the Golan Heights from Syria in 1967, these issues have been at the heart of the dispute.