Category Archives: Analysis

In 1996, an Israeli think tank, the Institute for Advanced Strategic and Political Studies, prepared “A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm” for incoming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In that seminal report, the Richard Perle-led study group suggested that Israel could “shape its strategic environment, in cooperation with Turkey and Jordan, by weakening, containing, and even rolling back Syria.” Comprised mainly of American-based pro-Israel advocates, the group stressed, “Most important, it is understandable that Israel has an interest supporting diplomatically, militarily and operationally Turkey’s and Jordan’s actions against Syria, such as securing tribal alliances with Arab tribes that cross into Syrian territory and are hostile to the Syrian ruling elite.” Continue reading →

As protesters fed up with the increasing injustices of the global economic system get chucked out of their latter-day Hoovervilles, Euro-American elites might consider when their turn will come. For the financial crisis facing Greece, Ireland, Italy, Spain and who-knows-where next is really about who pays for the past three decades of largesse. Continue reading →

Syrians continue to be victimized, not only in violent clashes with the Syrian military, but also by regional and international players with various agendas. Continue reading →

Surrounded by the Turkish veteran member of NATO in the north, the Israeli NATO partner and the navy fleets of the member states patrolling the Mediterranean in the west, the alliance’s Jordanian partner in the south, and in the east hosting a NATO mission in Iraq, which is expected to develop into the 12th Arab partner, and lonely swimming in a sea of the Arab and Israel strategic allies of the United States, the Syrian regime of President Bashar al-Assad stands as the Yugoslavia of the Middle East, that has to join the expansion southward of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization as well as the “new world order” engineered by the U.S. unipolar power, kicked out as the odd regional number, or join Iraq and Libya in being bombed down to the medieval ages. Continue reading →

As the French leftist newspaper Libération states, the accusations for rape against Julian Assange were intended to “destroy” Wikileaks ‘ (August 22, 2010). Continue reading →

Israel has awkwardly and desperately renewed its outworn war threats against Iran in the recent weeks, indicating that it’s getting prepared to launch a military strike on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear facilities. Continue reading →

The Boycott, Divests and Sanctions (BDS) movement is growing relentless. On the boycott front, Natacha Atlas, who won a 2007 BBC Music award for her fusion of Arabic and Western styles, cancelled a planned concert in Israel: “I had an idea that performing in Israel would have been a unique opportunity to encourage and support my fans’ opposition to the current government’s actions and policies, but after much deliberation I now see that it would be more effective a statement to not go to Israel until this systemised apartheid is abolished once and for all.” Continue reading →

Let’s begin with a legal appraisal from the Jurist in an article, The Rule of Law and the Extrajudicial Killing of Muammar Gaddafi, by Curtis Doebbler of Webster University and the Geneva School of Diplomacy and International Relations, in Geneva Switzerland. Doebbler writes, “The killing of Muammar Gaddafi appears to be another violation of international law involving the US, sending the dangerous message that one must kill or be killed.” Continue reading →

The report that the evasive Libyan ruler Colonel Muammar Gaddafi has died as a result of the wounds he sustained during a NATO attack has flung the Libyans into a jubilant frenzy while it has provoked mixed reactions from the political observers who may eye the event with ra easonable degree of suspicion. Continue reading →

The economic and social experiments in the past three decades by British governments from left to right have left the plucky Brits reeling, as this summer’s unprecedented bread and iPod riots showed all too conclusively. For a year now, fiscal austerity and financial chaos have sent Britain’s economy into a nasty cycle of low growth and rising unemployment. Continue reading →

When President Bush visited Dubai on January 14, 2008, the government declared a curfew. The curfew was justified as a necessary security measure to foil a possible plot to kill the president, probably by Iranian sympathizers. Though there was no credible proof that the president’s life was even remotely at risk, Washington used the occasion to send a powerful message to the Iranian regime that their regional ambitions would be treated as a threat to American interests in the Middle East. Continue reading →

The current crisis of capitalism is textbook Marx. Greedy capitalists, craven politicians, scheming bankers, dispossessed masses. It is also textbook Lenin. Imperial wars awakening the masses to revolt—though the days of Lenin’s competing empires are over. Rather, we are all one big happy family, with the exception of a few blaggards who will soon be “wiped off the map” to misquote a particularly blag blaggard. Continue reading →

United States ambassador to Syria Robert Ford is quite a feisty diplomat. He shows up unannounced and uninvited at various hot spots in the country, greeted with varying degrees of enthusiasm and, oftentimes, anger. Continue reading →

United States ambassador to Syria Robert Ford is quite a feisty diplomat. He shows up unannounced and uninvited at various hot spots in the country, greeted with varying degrees of enthusiasm and, oftentimes, anger. Continue reading →

The 711 coalition deaths in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan last year made 2010 the deadliest one for foreign troops since the US invasion in 2001, continuing the upward trend since 2003. 2011 promises to be even more deadly, and already includes the most spectacular event in this gruesome body count, when insurgents shot down a helicopter in eastern Afghanistan, killing 30 Americans. Continue reading →

Turkey’s foreign policy shift is now in full gear. Having kicked out the Israeli ambassador and rejected the UN Palmer Report, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu says that Turkey plans to take its case against Israel’s blockade of Gaza to the International Court of Justice, not alone, but with the support of the Arab League, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the African Union. “The process will probably reach a certain point in October and we will make our application.” Continue reading →

As business transactions and social interactions migrate from the streets and stores to cyberspace, government and corporate officials are clamoring to exercise control over the Internet, which has become the bastion of democracy, anonymity and populism. Facebook’s facial recognition technology, corporate opposition to Net Neutrality legislation, and data retention mandates by Congress are all efforts to put the Internet under strict government and corporate control. Similarly, President Obama’s plan to create an online ID system which would aid in verifying the identity of Internet users communicating and initiating transactions on the web is yet another thinly disguised attempt to monitor, regulate and control the Internet. Continue reading →

The much-touted new feudalism can be best defined in my mind by the 46 million poor in America, the largest number ever who, unlike the serfs of old do not possess a plot of land granted to them by the lord of the manner to work and give a tithe of income to, while the lord keeps the rest. Continue reading →

Russian President Dmitri Medvedev’s nomination of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as Russia’s pretender to the throne and Putin’s promise to keep his friend as premier was hardly a surprise. All along, except to a few starry-eyed liberals, it was clear, that the buck stopped not with Medvedev but Putin. The liberals were given their chance by Russia’s ex-KGB autocrat and failed spectacularly. Continue reading →

“’Tis impossible to be sure of any thing but Death and Taxes,” wrote Christopher Bullock almost three centuries ago in his comedic farce, The Cobler of Preston. If he were writing today, however, the English playwright might consider adding a third certainty: No matter where or when an act of terrorism occurs, it won’t be long before Abe Foxman interprets it as a “reminder” of the dangers of not heeding the Anti-Defamation League’s relentless dire warnings about hate-inspired extremism. Continue reading →

The U.S. and Canada are very close to unveiling a North American perimeter security deal that would promote greater integration between both countries. This includes expanding collaboration in areas of law enforcement and intelligence sharing which could dramatically affect sovereignty and privacy rights. While there is a need for more public scrutiny, incrementalism has been used to advance North American integration. In many ways this has kept the agenda under the radar. Much like NAFTA and the Security and Prosperity Partnership, a U.S.-Canada perimeter security agreement would represent another step in the consolidation of North America. Continue reading →

The American people are told, again and again, that 9/11 “changed everything.” Is this really true? Continue reading →

After some 8,000 bombing raids, with estimates of four bombs used per attack, NATO has already dropped over 30,000 bombs on Libya. That’s almost 200 bombs per day for 6 months, some tens of thousands of tons of high explosives. With an estimated two Libyans killed per bomb and without a single NATO casualty, the Western regimes have massacred over 60,000 Libyans in the past half year with the rebels themselves having said there have been 50,000 Libyan deaths. One hell of a humanitarian intervention, isn’t it? Continue reading →

At a press conference in Tripoli on Aug. 26, a statement read aloud by top Libyan rebel commander Abdel Hakim Belhadj was reassuring. Just a few months ago, disorganized and leaderless rebel fighters seemed to have little chance at ousting Libyan dictator Moammar Ghaddafi and his unruly sons. Continue reading →

U.S. capitalism and its twin apologists, the Republican and Democratic political parties, have much to celebrate with the anticipated fall of the Gaddafi government in Libya. Continue reading →

ASMARA, Eritrea—Just exactly what influence Omar “The Secret Minister” Suleiman retains over the military junta that rules Egypt is a question of utmost importance for those who live on the banks of the Nile River. With a resume including 20 years as head of Egyptian Intelligence, he is not someone any one of those who helped bring about the downfall of Mubarak can afford to ignore. Continue reading →

Last Thursday night, Madrid’s city centre offered a glimpse of what Western democracies have become, as thousands of unarmed nonviolent civilians with their hands up in the air shouting “these are our weapons” and “this is a dictatorship” were beaten by police commandos in full riot gear. Continue reading →

The massacre in peaceful Oslo was a replay of this earlier horror in reverse—no longer the Jews as victims but as the inspiration of terror against non-Jews—as Israel extends its wars not only to Greek ports and French airports but to Norwegian children’s camps, complete with rabbinical blessings for the murderers. Continue reading →

When President Ali Abdullah Saleh tried desperately to quell Yemen’s popular uprising, he appealed to tribalism, customs and traditions. All his efforts evidently failed, and the revolution continued unabated. When Saleh denounced women for joining men in demonstrations in Sana’a—playing on cultural sensitivities and a very selective interpretation of religion—the response was even more poignant. Thousands of women took to the streets, denouncing Saleh’s regime and calling for its ouster. Continue reading →

Turkey’s foreign policy has changed dramatically since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the unrivalled ascendance of the US, Turkey’s principal ally since its founding as a republic in 1923. Formerly, it acted as a proxy for US power in the region. As a member of NATO since 1952, it was a strategic Cold War foe of the Soviet Union. Turkey was the second Muslim nation (after Iran) to recognise Israel soon after it declared itself an independent state in 1948, and maintained close political and economic ties with that key Middle East ally of the US through thick and thin. Turkey was encouraged by the US to move into ex-Soviet Central Asia as it opened up after the collapse of the Soviet Union, with the goal of co-opting the Turkic-speaking “stans,” bringing them into the Western fold by appealing to their Turkic heritage. Continue reading →

What are the reasons why the US government and its current president, Barack Obama, and his cabinet, are so vehement in their insistence that Libyan leader Mu’ammar el-Qaddafi “must go”? Continue reading →

If there is any absolute maxim by which the federal government seems to operate, it is that the American taxpayer always gets ripped off, and Americans would do well to keep that in mind as Congress and the White House debate whether or not to raise the debt ceiling from its current high of $14.3 trillion. For one thing, the grandstanding by both parties over health care costs and Social Security is nothing more than a convenient distraction from the glaring economic truth that at the end of the day, it’s not the sick, the elderly or the poor who are stealing us blind and pushing America towards bankruptcy. It’s the military-industrial complex (the illicit merger of the armaments industry and the Pentagon) that President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned us against more than 50 years ago and which has come to represent perhaps the greatest threat to the nation’s fragile infrastructure today. Continue reading →