September-December 2009 Links

September-December 2009 Links

Afghanistan-Pakistan-India

• $400 per gallon gas to drive debate over cost of war in Afghanistan


• 800 Afghan Polling Sites ‘Existed Only on Paper’


• 'I told the U.S. to talk to the Taliban. They jailed me'


• 'Most of them were corrupt and stoned on opium'


• 'There hasn't been two seconds of intelligent discussion about living standards in Afghanistan'


• ‘U.S. Taxpayers Spent Hundreds of Millions of Dollars on a Fraudulent Election’


• Afghan election panel relaxed fraud rules to avoid runoff


• Afghan Election Rests on the Backs of Donkeys


• Afghan forces fight an enemy within


• Afghan Future Threatened by Ex-Warlords in Government


• Afghan Insurgents' Diverse Funding Sources Pose Challenges


• Afghan legislation nudges women’s rights forward


• Afghan Militias Battle Taliban With Aid of U.S.


• Afghan National Police penetrated by Taliban at 'every level'


• Afghan prisons 'a hotbed for extremists'


• Afghan women want West to back off 'rape law'


• Afghanistan: anatomy of an election disaster


• Afghanistan: Does this make Obama a chickenhawk?


• Afghanistan: Northern Distribution Network Grapples With Growing Security Threat


• Afghanistan: Time to leave


• Afghanistan Using Persuasion and Paid Jobs to Disarm Taliban


• Afghans Announce Spring Election


• Afghans fleeing Taliban are flooding Tajikistan


• Afghans Increasingly Turning to Taliban’s Shadow Government


• Afghans turn to Taleban justice as insurgents set up shadow government


• Afghanistan’s Oil Binge: 22 Gallons of Fuel Per Soldier Per Day


• Afghanistan's Sham Army


• Afghans Have Serious Doubts About U.S. Escalation


• Afghans question what democracy has done for them


• After Disputed Vote, Afghan Government Still Struggles for Air of Legitimacy


• All is not yet lost


• All those Afghans, give or take a few million


• Allied Strategy at Risk as Afghan Police Run Out of Recruits


• An Open Letter to Obama on Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Kashmir


• Anthropologists at war


• Are nuclear weapons safe in Pakistan?


• Are Obama advisers downplaying Afghan dangers?


• Army Researchers Warn Against Tribal War in Afghanistan


• At Pentagon's Request, Washington Post Delayed Story on Afghanistan Report


• Billions in U.S. aid never reached Pakistan army


• Brother of Afghan Leader Said to Be Paid by CIA


• Canadian diplomats ordered to hold back information on Afghan prison torture: sources


• Captured Pakistan Taliban commander dies in jail


• Challenger's pullout leaves Afghan government of dubious legitimacy


• CIA says it gets its money's worth from Pakistani spy agency


• Civilian Goals Largely Unmet in Afghanistan


• Contractors Outnumber U.S. Troops in Afghanistan


• Corrupt, untrained, underpaid, illiterate: the forces waiting to take over in Afghanistan


• Cost of Afghan war now a state secret, Canada's Tories say


• Defying U.N., Afghans to keep fraud-marred polling centers


• Dostum: Afghanistan’s Embattled Warlord


• Early Snowfall Could Derail Afghan Runoff Election


• Election Monitors Say One Third of Karzai Votes Suspect


• Envoy says his firing will hurt U.N. mission in Afghanistan


• Flames from Afghanistan Ignite Pakistan


• Fraud surrounds women voters in Afghan election


• French Journalist stands by kickbacks report


• GAO: Saudi individuals, groups backing extremists


• Get Out Now: The case for an immediate withdrawal from Afghanistan


• Get Out of Afghanistan


• Getting lost in Afghanistan


• Getting Serious about Tackling Corruption: Afghan Attorney General to Indict Five Leading Politicians


• Growing Accounts of Fraud Cloud Afghan Election


• Guttenberg's Plans to Talk To Taliban: The Beginning Of The End Of Afghanistan


• Has Italy Been Paying Off the Taliban?


• Held by the Taliban: A New York Times Reporter’s Account: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5


• Helicopter Crashes Reveal Achilles’ Heel of Afghan War


• Hollow Victory


• How the Afghan Surge Was Sold


• How the U.S. Funds the Taliban


• In Afghanistan they held a recount, but not many cared


• In Afghanistan, experts question strategy of reconciliation for insurgents


• In Afghanistan, Taliban leaving al-Qaida behind


• In Kabul, a collective sigh of relief: With Karzai declared winner, many hope political tension is over


• In Russia, foreboding about America's war in Afghanistan


• India reels under explosive nuclear charge


• India's quest for smaller states


• Iran-Pakistan Tensions Rise in the Wake of Bombing


• Is Afghanistan Vietnam or Iraq? Arguing with Obama and Rubin


• Is Iran Supporting the Insurgency in Afghanistan?


• Italians bribed the Taleban all over Afghanistan, say officials


• Jane Mayer on Predator Drones and Pakistan


• Journalist accused of 'blasphemy' released from jail


• Journalist David Rohde's insights into what motivates the Taliban


• Karzai Agrees to Election Run-Off: Second Afghan Vote Poses Risks for the West


• Karzai Keeps Much of Former Cabinet Intact


• Karzai Looking Forward to Single Candidate Election After Abdullah Quits


• Karzai's Bodyguard


• Karzai’s share of Afghan vote is slashed by fraud officials


• Last Exit Before Quagmire


• Look at insurgent groups on Afghan-Pakistan border


• Many Sources Feed Taliban’s War Chest


• McChrystal’s Myth


• Meet the Afghan Army: Is It a Figment of Washington's Imagination?


• Militants deepen their foothold in Afghanistan's north


• More strange bedfellows on Afghanistan


• More Troops to Afghanistan, But What Will They Do?


• NATO faces same problems in Afghanistan as Russia did in 1985


• New battleground in northern Afghanistan?


• New Review System Will Give Afghan Prisoners More Rights


• Nobody wins in the Afghan runoff election


• Obama Demands an End-Game before Committing Troops to Afghanistan


• Obama Hears Conflicting Views on Afghanistan from Democrats


• Obama is haunted by Gorbachev's ghost


• Obama ready to pay Afghan fighters to ditch the Taliban


• Obama's exceedingly familiar justifications for escalation


• Obama's Indecent Interval


• Obama's Meaningless War


• Obama, tell me how this ends: Is Afghanistan just a new war of attrition?


• Pacifying Afghanistan: a dangerous dream


• Pakistan faces backlash on tribal reforms


• Pakistan Finds Local Allies Against Ferocious Foe


• Pakistan in crisis as 'creeping coup' unfolds


• Pakistan offensive uproots Taliban, but may not destroy it


• Pakistan’s Civilians Pay Heavy Price for Military’s Offensive


• Pakistan's conspiracy cottage industry


• Pakistan's Other Problem Area: Baluchistan


• Pakistani Army Has 'Understanding' With Anti-U.S. Militants


• Paying Off the Warlords: Anatomy of an Afghan Culture of Corruption


• Poll Shows Narrow Majority of Pakistanis Support Waziristan War


• Pressure piles on Karzai as Afghan waiting game drags on


• Public's Views of Afghanistan War Have Turned Sour


• Recruiting Afghan Soldiers a Struggle


• Remembering Afghanistan’s Golden Age


• Rushed training 'risks turning Afghan troops into cannon fodder'


• Same old mistakes in new Afghan war


• Secret Italian Bribes to Taliban—Tip of the Iceberg?


• Security Big Worry as Afghans Gear Up for Runoff


• Security of Pakistan nuclear weapons faces scrutiny


• Showdown between Afghan election watchdogs a new headache for Obama


• Spokesmen: Karzai Could Call 'Loya Jirga' with Taliban


• Stanley McChrystal’s Long War


• Survey of Pakistan’s Young Predicts ‘Disaster’ if Their Needs Aren’t Addressed


• Taliban gain foothold in once-stable Afghan north


• Taliban put their heads together


• Taliban spin doctors winning fresh ground in propaganda war with NATO


• Taliban Strength Nears Military Proportion


• Taliban Welcomed by Some Afghans as Stabilizing Influence


• Taliban's Afghan allies tell Barack Obama: 'Cut us a deal and we'll ditch al-Qaeda'


• Talking with the Taliban: Easier Said Than Done


• Tension grows between India and China as Asia slips into 'cold war'


• Terror's Tipping Point


• Terrorist group builds big base under Pakistani officials' noses


• That Afghan Runoff Election


• The Afghan '80's are back


• The Afghan 'Experiment'


• The bravest woman in Afghanistan


• The general is right, and Liam Fox is wrong: The Taliban are able to present themselves as battling for Afghan independence


• The Great American Arm-Twist in Afghanistan


• The Impotent Dictator


• The mystery of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui


• The Real Reason for More Troops in Afghanistan


• The three fallacies that have driven the war in Afghanistan


• The U.S. army's colossal training task


• These Colors Run Red


• The growing problem in Afghanistan, according to Ron Paul (YouTube video)


• The Murderous Thugs We are Supporting in Afghanistan—and Why a Heroine Wants Us Out


• The Phoenix Program Was a Disaster in Vietnam and Would Be in Afghanistan—and the NYT Should Know That


• The Taliban's Toll: How American taxpayer dollars are being used to fund our Afghan enemies


• The U.S. on a new mission in Pakistan


• The universality of war propaganda


• Top Ten Things that Could Derail Obama's Afghanistan Plan


• Top U.S.-NATO Commander Says Insurgents Are Winning Communications Battle


• Translation problems threaten mission


• Tribal Leaders Say Karzai’s Team Forged 23,900 Votes


• UN Mission Split over Election Fraud, May Preserve Karzai#comments


• U.S. accepts Hamid Karzai as Afghan leader despite poll fraud claims


• U.S. Aid Monies May support Taliban Activities


• U.S. Confirms Secret Talks With Taliban


• U.S. General McChrystal Advises Escalation of Afghan War


• U.S. Hopes Iraq-Style Militias Can Bring Victory in Afghanistan


• U.S. intelligence: 'Time is running out' in Afghanistan


• U.S. Is Doing No Good in Afghanistan


• U.S. Needs to Keep It Simple in Afghanistan


• U.S. Pressing Karzai for Election Deal


• U.S. probes USAID funds in Afghanistan


• U.S. Quietly Slips Funds Into Military Bill to Pay Off Taliban


• U.S. surge will only prolong Afghan war


• U.S. to pay Taliban to switch sides


• U.S. Threatening to Attack Major Pakistani City of Quetta


• Under the Afghan Volcano, Part 1: Welcome to Pashtunistan


• Victory (for a crooked, corrupt, and discredited government)


• Vietnam-lite is unveiled


• Water projects' past failures are hurting Afghan farmers


• Western export of the ballot box elixir is pure hubris


• What the Russians learned in Afghanistan about assumptions


• Where Pakistan's militants go to ground


• Why are we still in Afghanistan?


• Why Pakistan may be more willing to help US target Taliban than it appears


• Why NATO will lose in Afghanistan


• Will Afghan Runoff Be Less Crooked than Round One?


• Win, Hold, and Lose


• With friends like the U.S., Pakistan doesn't need enemies


• Women of Influence: Malalai Joya


• Would Taliban fighters switch sides?

Africa

• Algeria: Cry the benighted country


• Darfur: A deadly new chapter


• Deadly faultline threatens to reignite civil war in Sudan


• Does raid in Somalia to take out a much-wanted al-Qaida operative show new side of AFRICOM?


• Fear and secrecy cloak Eritrea, Africa's hermit nation


• French establishment players convicted over arms-to-Angola scandal


• How Israel helped Amin to take power in Uganda


• In Somalia, U.S. weapons end up in al-Qaeda hands


• Independence an uncertain draw for Khartoum southerners


• Muammar Qaddafi: Mad Like a Fox


• Somali-American Terror Recruits Seen Posing Threat to U.S.


• Somali-American 'Terrorists' Victims of Unfortunate Labeling


• Somali training camps fuel threat of attacks on U.S.


• Stopping Piracy and Terrorism in Somalia


• U.S. Troops Attack Somalia


• U.S. Thinks They Probably Killed Kenyan in Somalia Raid

Al-Qaida

• Al-Qaida declines and Taliban rise in Afghanistan


• Al-Qaida has changed its face and operates from a different base


• Al-Qaida showing smaller presence in Afghanistan


• Did Iran Help al-Qaida Escape from Afghanistan?


• Everyone seems to be agreeing with Bin Laden these days


• Former CIA Agent's Hunt for bin Laden in Pakistani Badlands


• Has Osama Bin Laden been dead for seven years—and are the U.S. and Britain covering it up to continue the war on terror?


• Questions about Al Qaeda's next move


• Report: Islamic terror rising as al-Qaida fades


• The Joys of Airstrikes and Anonymity


• The Nevada gambler, al-Qaida, the CIA, and the mother of all cons


• Timeline: The search for Osama bin Laden


• Upper Crust Is Often Drawn to Terrorism

American-Israeli Relations

• 9/11: Our Truth, and Theirs


• AIPAC Celebrates 47th Birthday in Court


• American Jews Rethink Israel


• Maryland scientist Nozette is accused of spying for Israel


• Steve Rosen Accuses AIPAC of Espionage


• The Dark Side of the 'Special Relationship'


• The New Israel Lobby


• U.S. 'Silent on Israeli Nuclear Arms'

Arabian Peninsula

• Cause and effect in the 'terror war'


• Crises multiply in divided Yemen


• In Yemen, War Centers on Authority, Not Terrain


• Instant Karma: New US War Target Gets Its Own Terror Icon


• Interview with Gregory Johnsen on the situation in Yemen


• Saudi Arabia goes to war


• Saudi strike in Yemen sends 'strong message'


• Still Trying to Monopolize the Arabian Peninsula


• The Huthi Rebellion in Yemen


• The Lap Bomber Mystery


• U.S. Attacking Yemen After All


• U.S. May Be Sucked Into Yemeni Civil War


• U.S. Widens Terror War to Yemen, a Qaeda Bastion


• Yemen Next, with Its Multiple Crises


• Yemen teeters on brink of failure

Balkans

• Commander: EU Troops Stay in Bosnia for Political Reasons


• In Balkans, a Daunting Money Pit for the EU

Egypt

• Egyptians conflicted over preserving Jewish past


• Egypt's opposition fights 'dynastic rule'


• Wave of Labor Unrest Grips Egypt at Crucial Juncture

Iran

• A Russian policy shift on Iran?


• As Required, Iran Informs IAEA About New Enrichment Site


• Beating the War Drums on Iran


• Book on Marc Rich Details Oil Deals With Iran and Others


• British nuclear expert's 17th floor UN death plunge 'was not suicide'


• Christians United for War


• CIA head Panetta: We knew of Iran's Qom facility in 2006


• Congress Begins Pressing Iran Sanctions Legislation


• Diplomats: Iran’s Qom Faciltiy Construction Began in 2002


• Five Good Reasons to Avoid a War with Iran


• Fool Me Twice


• Has Poverty Increased in Iran Under Ahmadinejad?


• Heated Exchange Marks First Iran-Israel Talks in 30 Years


• How Israel's war with Iran will be fought


• How to Press the Advantage With Iran


• IAEA is 'not panicking' about Iran


• Imposing idiot sanctions on Iran is a direct route to war


• In Iran, nuclear issue is also a medical one
  
• Intelligence Agencies Say No New Work on Development of Nukes in Iran


• Iran: No Sanctions!


• Iran agrees to nuclear fuel swap, with caveats


• Iran Deal on Brink of Collapse as West Condemns Compromise


• Iran Debate Pretty Much Over


• Iran Denies Claims It Rejected Nuclear Deal


• Iran Proposes Alternative Nuclear Deal


• Iran Rejects Nuclear Deal, Suggests Direct Swap Compromise


• Iran Seeks Deal for Reactor


• Iran Standoff: Is a Nuclear-Free Middle East Possible?


• Iran tested advanced nuclear warhead design, says secret report


• Iran Willing to Perform Nuclear Exchange in Turkey


• Iran's Geneva Offer on Nukes: Progress for Both Sides


• Iran’s Politics Stand in the Way of a Nuclear Deal


• Iran's Two Clocks


• Iran: IAEA may inspect new nuclear site


• Iran: More accomplished in one day of negotiations than in 8 years of threats


• Iranian site prompts U.S. to rethink 2007 National Intelligence Estimate


• Iranians Favor Diplomatic Relations With U.S. But Have Little Trust in Obama


• Is a new Cold War brewing with Iran?


• Is the media exaggerating the Iranian nuke threat?


• Is the U.S. Preparing to Bomb Iran?


• It was Uncle Sam who first gave Iran nuclear equipment


• Keeping Iran honest


• Lack of Evidence Over Iran 'Nukes' Alarms U.S.


• Let’s Think Rationally About Iran


• Mixed Signals from Iran on Nuclear Deal


• Mojahedin-e Khalq Accuse Iran of Working on Nuclear Detonators at Two Sites


• New enrichment site heightens Iran concerns


• New Iran sanctions could strengthen Revolutionary Guard


• Nuclear Debate Brews: Is Iran Designing Warheads?


• Obama times calling out Iran for impact


• Quick accord sought on Iran’s uranium export


• Report: Israel Eyes Ground Strikes in Iran Next Year


• Rhetoric against Iran must be cooled for sake of the Middle East


• Rumours of Western support for Iranian militia groups have broad backing


• Russia and China take hard line with Iran over uranium enrichment


• Same Song, Different Verse


• Secret file reveals how UK ditched Shah of Iran


• Sources: U.S. was aware of 'new' Iranian nuke site for years


• Tension Simmers in Iran


• The Israel Lobby, the Neocons, and the Iranian-American Community


• Those Tricky Iranians Are Now Threatening to Cooperate


• Top Things You Think You Know About Iran that Are Not True


• U.S. cuts funding to Iran opposition


• U.S. Senate Poised to for Sanctions as Iran Rejects 'Deadline' Yet Again


• U.S. Under Pressure to Revise National Intelligence Estimate on Iran


• White House unhappy with Iranian nuke proposal


• Who are Iran's Jundullah militants?


• Why Obama's Iran Policy Will Fail


• Women and the Presidential Elections: Iran's New Political Culture


• Would 'Regime Change' Really Help Vis-à-Vis Iran?

Iraq

• 1960 Christians killed in Iraq since 2003


• 'Good Morning Baghdad': Nightclubs, Corruption and Iraq's New Normalcy


• 'The devil's pipe ruins the soul of prayer'


• Adversities Await Iraqis Who Return Home


• After Years of Secrecy, a Glimpse Into the Numbers of Civilians Dead in Iraq


• All quiet on Iraq's western front


• Amid the carols and decorations, Iraq Christians fear extinction


• Big U.S. Bases Are Part of Iraq, but a World Apart


• Black Gold: Why Oil Majors Are Coming Back to Iraq


• Bush shoe protestor says worldwide fame has still left him a poor man


• Can Iraq escape the resource curse?


• Carnage and corruption in Iraq


• Christian Soldiers


• Despite Mounting Pressure, Grim Prospects for Election Law


• Don’t Let Iraqi Politics Affect U.S. Withdrawal


• Fallujah's babies and birth defects: The difficulties of pinning the blame


• Faster troop withdrawal may save $1 trillion


• Gossiping taxi driver source of Iraq 45-minute WMD claim


• Huge rise in birth defects in Fallujah


• In Iraq, U.S. troops learn to cope with rejection


• In the Iraq war, Christians pushed to the brink


• Iraq election law delays decision on flash points


• Iraq Election Law Fails Again; Officials Term January Vote Impossible


• Iraq is safer, but by no means safe


• Iraq’s Election Law Sidesteps Kirkuk Question


• Iraq’s Northern Minorities Seen Under Critical Threat


• Iraqi Christians Seek Return and Sense Extinction


• Iraqi Parliament Finally Approves Election Law


• Iraqi priest says Christians must 'not be afraid'


• Iraqi shoe thrower: I was water-boarded in prison


• Iraqi who threw shoes at Bush released from prison


• Kirkuk, Iraq's simmering melting pot


• More Iraqis trying to move beyond sectarian divide


• Newspaper punished for criticizing Iraqi leader


• On How All Hell Hasn't Broken Out in Iraq and the U.S. Military Doesn't Need to Stay There; Or, Damn Lies and Statistics


• Poor conditions in Iraq drive returned refugees back to Syria


• Saddam options 'discussed a year before Iraq war'


• Shoe-throwing reporter Muntazer al-Zaidi to leave jail a celebrity


• Sunnis present a new face in Iraq


• Today's Iraq: The Police State That America Built


• Twist in Iraq's democracy: anti-American party pushes electoral reform


• U.K. Iraq Inquiry: Britain 'knew Saddam Hussein had destroyed WMD'


• U.S. discussed Iraq regime change a month after Bush took office, senior British officials say


• U.S. Still Not Planning Major Iraq Troop Cuts Until Next Year


• Violence is a way of life in Iraq—and this is the justice it creates


• What Iraqi journalist who threw shoes at Bush had to say

Islam

• A Piece of White Silk


• As Indonesia debates Islam's role, U.S. stays out


• Renouncing Islamism: To the brink and back again


• Six Cane Strokes for Drinking Beer: Shari'ah Law Verdict Divides Malaysia


• The Hate Preacher Who Lost His Venom: Infamous Islamist Imam Forswears Terrorism

Israel-Palestine

• 'Might not right for Israel'


• A 'New Era' in the Middle East? Uh-oh


• Abbas’s move reflects deep Palestinian despair


• Abbas' West Bank is flourishing but Hamas is not worried


• Blockaded Gazans Look to Smuggle In Christmas


• Breaking Palestine's peaceful protest


• Cast Lead II: What Was the Real Aim of the Gaza War?


• Christianity in Palestine: Misrepresentation and Dispossession


• CIA working with Palestinian counterparts who allegedly torture Hamas supporters in West Bank


• Ethiopian students affair shows prevalent racism in Israel


• Fragmenting Palestinian land: A young student deported from the West Bank to Gaza is just the latest victim of Israeli efforts to sever ties between the territories


• Gaza fishermen say Israel trawling for informants


• Gaza still on a knife-edge, one year on from the war


• Gaza water unfit for human consumption, Palestinians say


• Goldstone and Hassan


• Hamas Fights Over Gaza’s Islamist Identity


• Hamas is not al-Qaida


• Hamas Objects to Possible Lessons About Holocaust in U.N.-Run Schools in Gaza


• Hamas's Resilience, Obstinacy Complicate Mideast Peace Bid


• Harsh Gaza report yields unintended consequences


• Israel resembles a failed state


• Israel stripped thousands of Jerusalem Arabs of residency in 2008


• Israeli settlements could cause one-state solution


• Israeli vigilantes target young Arab-Jewish couples


• Knocking Our Heads Against a Wall in Palestine


• Last Straw for the Palestinian 'Authority'?


• Leadership 'let down' Palestinians


• Netanyahu Scores Victory as U.S. Abandons All Settlement Demands


• No way home: The tragedy of the Palestinian diaspora


• Obama administration missteps hamper Mideast efforts


• Obama agrees to keep Israel's nukes secret


• Obama Fails in the Middle East


• Obama's Fractured Israel-Palestine policy


• Palestinian Authority’s Future Is in Question


• Palestinian farmers: Not much of an olive branch


• Palestinians and Israelis Follow Thoreau, but Is Anyone Watching?


• Palestinians who see nonviolence as their weapon


• Poll: Most Israelis Support Peace Talks With Hamas


• Real reform in Israel is a distant prospect


• Refugees and Zionist Propaganda


• Six Questions for Desmond Travers on the Goldstone Report


• The Goldstone Gaza report and the battle for legitimacy


• The Obama administration is selling the peace process, but the press is not buying it


• The Ongoing Repression of Palestinian Protesters


• The Settlement Freeze That Isn't


• Tough Military Stance Stirs Little Debate in Israel


• U.S. State Department: Israel is not a tolerant society


• Was Israel's Gaza offensive worth it?


• What really happened between Barak and Arafat at Camp David?

Lebanon-Syria

• Campus Elections in Lebanon Mirror Society’s Politics


• Hezbollah gears up for new war with Israel


• IAEA deepens Syria nuclear probe over uranium traces


• Red Cross Lebanon Assessment After End of 2006 War


• Report: Syrian official helped Mossad kill Mughniyeh


• Syria belatedly seeks redress


• The Story of 'Operation Orchard': How Israel Destroyed Syria's Al-Kibar Nuclear Reactor

Media

• CIA's black sites, illuminated


• The Media As Enablers of Government Lies by James Bovard


• The truth about the Middle East is buried beneath the headlines


• U.S. officials cancel contract to profile reporters

Russia and Its Neighbours

• 'Gulag' book, once banned, is now required reading


• Activist 'beaten' after BBC story about Uzbekistan


• After Chechnya, many fear new Caucasus war looming


• Azerbaijan: Islam in a Post-Soviet Republic


• Black Sea Wars


• Chechnya leaders and rebels to meet for peace talks


• Chechnya's separatist rebellion grows into regional Islamist insurgency


• Communist-era files still haunt the old East Bloc


• Europe stoops to conquer the Uzbeks


• Former British Ambassador to Uzbekistan on Manufacturing Terror: Oil, Lily Pad Bases and Torture


• Freed reporters say they were dragged into North Korea


• In West Ukraine, 2004’s Euphoria Turns to Despair


• Ingushetia's cycle of violence


• Ingushetia's government dismissed after series of terrorist attacks


• Ingushetia: A second Chechnya?


• Poland to Accept U.S. Offer on Missile Shield


• Polish Missile Joke Revisited


• Power for U.S. from Russia’s Old Nuclear Weapons


• Recycling Atomic Waste: Nuclear Materials Stored In Siberian Parking Lots


• Russia scraps missile placement after Barack Obama dismantles shield


• Russia train bombing: sign of new terror tactics?


• Russia's Aspirations in the Middle East Are Unrealized


• Russia's Troubled Caucasus, Five Years After Beslan


• Russian priest and Muslim critic, Daniil Sysoyev, assassinated in church


• Suspect in Poisoning of Former KGB Officer Is Not Charged


• The Mystery of Chernobyl


• The savagery of war: A soldier looks back at Chechnya


• Tortured state of the Russian Army


• Trouble in the north Caucasus


• Ukraine front-runner questions democratic reforms


• Washington’s overplayed hand on Russia


• Why Russians Ignore Ballot Fraud

Turkey

• In Turkey, Trial Casts Wide Net of Mistrust


• Nostalgia for the Ottomans: Disillusioned with Europe, Turkey Looks East


• Reforms for Kurds spark accusations of 'treason'


• Rise of the Turkish crescent


• Triumph of the Turks


• Turkey Plans to Ease Restrictions on Kurds and Help End Decades of Conflict


• Turkey's Armenians hope for a new era


• Turkey's Kurd initiative goes up in smoke


• Turkish military in spotlight as coup plot probe deepens

U.S. Government

• 22 Things Dick Cheney Can't Recall About the Plame Case


• 'In China, At Least I Would Have a Trial'


• A Few Good Kids?


• A Golden Opportunity to Declaw Patriot Act


• A key British official reminds us of the forgotten anthrax attack


• At U.S. airports, TSA officers covertly monitor travelers' behaviour


• Bagram, Habeas, and the Rule of Law


• Barack Obama Continues Bush Administration Policy Regarding Posse Comitatus


• Battle Looms Over the Patriot Act


• Bush torture 'architect' sits on court that will rule on another torture 'architect'


• Calling Hannah Arendt


• Cheney Failed to Answer 72 FBI Questions on the Plame Case


• CIA Secret Prison Found


• CIA Torturers Running Scared


• Congressional Panel Defies Obama on PATRIOT Act Provision


• Democrats Take a Pass on Civil-Liberties Reform


• Dick Cheney 'Put Airline Bomb Plot Case in Jeopardy With Arrest Order of Rashid Rauf'


• Documents Suggest DOD Failed to Probe Alleged War Crimes


• Entangled Giant


• Ex-FBI Translator Claims Spying at U.S. Department of Defense


• FBI Supervisor Calls for Prosecutor in Edmonds Case


• FBI Whistleblower: Hastert, Burton, Blunt, Other Members of Congress 'Bribed, Blackmailed'


• FBI Whistleblower Names Names


• For Airline Passengers, Pat-Downs, Searches and Restroom Monitors


• Former FBI Agent Confirms: Bush Official at State Department Was Target of 'Decade-Long' Espionage Probe


• Gigantic Scandal!: The Sibel Edmonds Story


• Gitmo men celebrate freedom


• Have Any Patriot Act Horror Stories Come True?


• House of Representatives Passes Bill Blocking Gitmo Transfers and Detainee Photo Releases


• How much government control of Web in cybercrisis?


• Lithuanian Investigation Confirms ABC News Report on Secret CIA Prison


• New Jersey Man Files Suit Against FBI Over Time Held in East Africa


• No Escape From Guantánamo: The Latest Habeas Rulings


• NSA Supercenters to Store Americans' Private Data Permanently


• Obama administration: Toss wiretap lawsuit


• Obama Brings Guantanamo to Bagram


• Obama Curbs Secrecy of Classified Documents


• Obama Drops Plan For Guantanamo 'Indefinite Detention' Law


• Obama Every Bit as Bad as Bush-Cheney on Patriot Act


• Obama Seeks PATRIOT Act Extensions


• Obama Undeserving of Civil Liberties Accolades


• Obama’s About-Face Leads to Supreme Court


• Obama's Dirty War


• Obama's Guantanamo and counterterrorism policies similar to Bush's?


• Obama's latest use of 'secrecy' to shield presidential lawbreaking


• Obama: Giving Bagram Detainees Access to U.S. Courts a Threat to National Security


• On Security, Obama’s 'Coalition of the Willing' Takes Shape


• Operation Northwoods and the 9/11 Truthers


• Pentagon officials won’t confirm Bush propaganda program ended


• Pentagon used psychological operation on U.S. public, documents show


• Presidential Power Grows: Will You Love Every Future President?


• Report: CIA interrogations informed by bad science


• Rule-of-law extremism engulfs primitive Eastern Europe


• Senators Vote to Renew Patriot Act Spy Powers


• Senators’ Patriot Act ‘fix’ would eliminate telecom immunity


• Shades of Abu Ghraib: The French Counterinsurgency in Algeria


• Sibel Edmonds's Big Day


• Sonic Weapons Used in Iraq Positioned at Congressional Townhall Meetings in San Diego County


• Study: Fewer terrorism suspects going to trial


• The 9/11 Commission Rejects own Report as Based on Government Lies


• The Case of the Missing Torture Documents


• The Cheney Offense: The former vice president isn't a challenge to Obama--he is helpful cover for how little this administration has changed on national security


• The Forgotten Guantanamo: Prisoner Abuse Continues at Bagram Prison in Afghanistan


• The Hayden Letter


• The New York Times's view of 'journalistic objectivity'


• The Real Deal?


• The Right to a Guilty Verdict


• This is Shameful


• Tough questions for doctors who aided CIA torture


• Troop use After Alabama Shootings Illegal


• U.S. antiterrorism laws causing delays for refugees


• U.S. Had ‘Early Signals’ of Lap Bomber Plot


• U.S. Moves to Seize Four Mosques, Claiming Secret Iranian Control


• U.S. Spies Buy Stake in Firm That Monitors Blogs, Tweets


• U.S. spies invest in internet monitoring technology


• U.S. trained butchers of East Timor


• Victory on preventive detention law: in context


• Whatever Happened to the CIA's Black Sites?


• White House readies phone-tap case concession


• Who’s Afraid of Sibel Edmonds?


• Who's in Big Brother's Database?


• Young Afghan struggles to adapt after Guantanamo

War and Intervention

• America's new crusader castles


• Army Again Turns to Depleted Uranium for New Weaponry


• Barack Obama, Interventionist and Ultimate Jihadi


• Bring Back the Bad Guys


• Budget deficit hit record $1.4T in 2009


• Cold War Without End


• Despite Slump, U.S. Role as Top Arms Supplier Grows


• Door Opens to Health Claims by U.S. Troops Tied to Agent Orange


• Global Warfare USA: The World Is the Pentagon's Oyster


• Japanese emperor 'did not want world war'


• Military Web Policy 2.0


• Obama Fails to Reset Foreign Policy


• One man's terrorist...


• Our war-loving Foreign Policy Community hasn't gone anywhere


• Outgoing IAEA chief leaves complex legacy


• Pentagon's Gates Plays the Ugly American


• Recruited by MI5: the name's Mussolini. Benito Mussolini.


• Retired military officers cash in as well-paid consultants


• Second World War blunder that doomed 50,000 British PoWs


• The Bogey of Isolationism


• The Demise of the Dollar


• The Fifty-Year War


• The perils of political correctness--left and right


• The Real Intelligence Failure


• The Tragedy of Pius XII


• Time to End the Neocon Con Game


• U.S.'s 'arc of instability' just gets bigger


• Understanding Dictatorships: From Iran to Cuba, the question of legitimacy is paramount


• Walls around the world


• We're Going To Attack You If You Try To Get The Power To Stop Us From Attacking You


• What Motivates the Suicide Bombers?

Uncategorized

• 'Fear detector' being developed that will be able to sniff out terrorists


• Academic Dishonesty


• CIA’s Lost Magic Manual Resurfaces


• Eastern Orthodoxy and Westerners


• Fix your terrible, insecure passwords in five minutes


• How cooking helped us to evolve


• How to avoid a hangover this Christmas: You don't need to give up drink, just pick the right tipple


• My friend the president


• Practical Internet Privacy


• Practical Internet Privacy: Postscript


• Showers can make you ill: How clean is your shower head?


• The Cosmopolitan Tongue: The Universality of English


• The Pope, HIV and Africa


• The saintly spirit of Father Christmas


• The ugly secret why tuition costs a fortune


• U.S. Congress divided over whether they will be receiving the swine flu vaccine


• What Should You Study in College?


• Why Antidepressants Don't Work


• Why doing nothing is good for you