Uncategorized Archives - Foreign Policy In Focus

Statement of Phyllis Bennis in advance of President Obama’s speech detailing ‘the end of the war in Iraq’

by Phyllis Bennis | Aug 30, 2010

The U.S. occupation of Iraq continues on a somewhat smaller scale, with 50,000 troops. These are combat troops, “re-missioned” by the Pentagon with new tasks, but even Secretary of Defense Gates admits they will have continuing combat capability and will continue counter-terrorism operations. The 4500 Special Forces among them will continue their “capture or kill” raids while building up the Iraqi Special Operations Forces as an El Salvador-style death squad.

Europe’s Favorite Scapegoat: the Roma

by Conn Hallinan | Aug 24, 2010

Though their crime rate is no higher than the population at large, Roma are the victims of the most widespread roundup of a minority since World War II.

Can We Talk?

by John Feffer | Aug 24, 2010

Law became sexy in the mid-1980s. I still find this a bewildering transformation in American society. At the time, I thought that there could be nothing quite so boring as a court case or a legal brief. But then the TV show L.A. Law debuted in 1986, and lawyers never looked so good. The following year, Scott Turow published Presumed Innocent, and several years after that John Grisham brought out his second novel, The Firm. U.S. publishing was never the same.

When Demography Shifts From a “Prized Asset” to a “Crippling Burden”

by Russ Wellen | Aug 23, 2010

India attempts to get a handle on overpopulation by offering rural newlyweds cash if they delay having children.

Oliver Stone: Filming the Bolivarian Zeitgeist

by Shaun Randol | Aug 23, 2010

In many ways, Oliver Stone’s latest documentary film South of the Border is a mirror image of the 2004 film adaptation of The Motorcycle Diaries. In this latter film, based on the journals of a young Ernesto “Che” Guevara, two young idealists strike out across the South American continent on a motorcycle in search of adventure, but instead find passion, resilience, and a Latin American identity that transcended all political borders.

The Problem with Lee’s Reunification Plan

by Christine Ahn | Aug 19, 2010

The people of South Korea, North Korea and the United States are already paying a tax, not for reunification, but for preparation for war

Where’s Our Money?

by John Feffer | Aug 18, 2010

I have a simple question for Robert Gibbs, the outspoken press secretary of the Obama administration, where’s the money?

Sixty Years of Failed Sanctions

by Christine Ahn, Haeyoung Kim | Aug 18, 2010

In response to the March 26 sinking of the South Korean ship, the Cheonan, allegedly by a North Korean submarine, the United States is poised to adopt even more stringent sanctions against North Korea. Robert Einhorn, the U.S. State Department’s special advisor for nonproliferation and arms control, recently announced in Seoul that after legal and other questions were sorted, sanctions would be in place “in the next several weeks.”

Review: ‘The Most Dangerous Place’

by Anna Kalinina | Aug 17, 2010

In a speech he gave on March 27, 2009, President Obama referred to the remote areas of the Pakistani frontier as, “for the American people…the most dangerous place in the world.” It is from this speech that Imtiaz Gul drew the title of his book, The Most Dangerous Place: Pakistan’s Lawless Frontier. Gul provides a comprehensive, inside look at the chaotic situation in Pakistan’s tribal areas, which have become an epicenter for extreme Islamic militancy.

North Korea: Why Engagement Now?

by John Feffer | Aug 13, 2010

Relations between the United States and North Korea, never particularly warm, have truly frosted over in recent months. The Obama administration, in the wake of the Cheonan incident, has added financial sanctions to a lengthening list of efforts to box in Pyongyang. In conjunction with Seoul, Washington has ramped up military exercises in the region. Six Party Talks have been suspended since the end of the Bush administration, and there haven’t been bilateral discussions for more than six months. Hillary Clinton has continued to speak of U.S. willingness to sit down and negotiate. But in Washington, engagement with North Korea is about as popular as BP stock. Anti-American rhetoric and threats, meanwhile, remain de rigueur in Pyongyang.