The rice field birds are too clever for scarecrows,
They know what they love, milk in the grain.
Middle East & North Africa
Israel and the United States: Up In Arms
In answering questions before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Secretary of State-designate Hillary Clinton acknowledged what she called the “tragic humanitarian costs of conflict in the Middle East, and the pain and suffering of Palestinian and Israeli civilians." She continued by saying that "we cannot give up on peace."
Obama and Israel
On January 5 John Bolton, the former unconfirmed U.S. envoy to the United Nations, advocated in The Washington Post a "three-state solution" to the Palestinian problem. This "solution" involved returning Gaza to Egypt and the West Bank to Jordan because the Palestinian state has manifestly failed.
Israel: Mini-Me?
There is a deep affinity between the United States and Israel. I’m not talking about the Israel Lobby, which concentrates its influence in Washington. Or the connections between neoconservatives and the Israeli right wing. Or the rhapsodizing of fundamentalist Christians, who embrace Israel as part of their scenario for the Apocalypse.
Obama: Listen to Iraqi Opinion
In discussing his plans for the Iraq War during the presidential campaign, one group that Barack Obama seldom, if ever, mentioned as supporting his proposed policy was the Iraqi people.
Gaza Attacks: Murder with Impunity
It was about midnight last Sunday when my phone rang. “I’m not sure I will survive tonight, the Israelis are bombing us everywhere.” It was Mahmoud, a young resident of Rafah, a city in the Gaza Strip on the border with Egypt. We first met when I visited the troubled coastal territory after Israel dismantled its settlements there in September 2005. On December 27, just before midday, Israel’s powerful air force, the fourth largest in the world, commenced a deadly air assault on over 40 separate locations in the Gaza Strip. The strikes were as calculated as they were cold – the targets were almost entirely people and facilities vital to the Hamas government. In one of the areas hit, where police officers had gathered for a parade, body parts were strewn along a courtyard.
Feinstein: Bad Choice for Intelligence
Ignoring the pleas of those calling for a more credible figure, Senate Democrats have instead chosen Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) to lead the Senate Committee on Intelligence. Feinstein was among those who falsely claimed in 2002 — despite the lack of any apparent credible evidence — that Saddam Hussein had somehow reconstituted Iraq’s arsenal of chemical and biological weapons, as well as its nuclear weapons program.
Excerpt: ‘The War Comes Home’
Editor’s Note: This is an excerpt from Aaron Glantz’s The War Comes Home: Washington’s Battle against America’s Veterans (University of California Press). Tragically, the death described here occurred nearly six months after the Walter Reed Scandal broke.
Film Review: ‘Football Under Cover’
A distinct mixture of cross-cultural communication, intra-gender relations, and love of all things soccer, Football Under Cover (2008) documents the story of one German recreational female soccer team’s quest to play a historical game of soccer against the "international" female soccer team of Iran. Due to Iran’s strict cultural and religious laws, Tehran’s team had never played a game against another team.
Postcard from…Persepolis
John McCain and his "Bomb, Bomb, Bomb Iran" lost the presidential election. George W. Bush and his view of Iran as an "evil" nation will soon leave the White House. Barack Obama could open a new chapter in U.S.-Iranian relations by visiting Iran. He wouldn’t be alone.