April-May 2009 Links

April-May 2009 Links

Afghanistan-Pakistan-India

• 'Tehreek-e-Taliban: specious claims and brash threats'


• A Full-Court Press for Pakistan War


• A Rising Anger in India's Streets


• Afghan Law Ignites Debate on Religion, Sex


• Afghan tribal leader gets life in U.S. prison


• Are Pakistani Taliban finding new foothold in south?


• Arms Given by U.S. to Afghan Forces May Be Ending Up in the Hands of the Taliban


• Catholics in India fear Hindu 'Taliban'


• Could Taliban get keys to Pakistan's nukes?


• Do U.S. drones kill Pakistani extremists or recruit them?


• Envoy damns U.S. Afghan drug effort


• Few favour Taliban justice in capital


• Few in Kandahar aware of Afghanistan's elections


• Girl’s flogging exposes Pakistani rift


• Gujarat Muslims the 'living dead'


• Interview with Michael Hastings: The skepticism among some high-ranking military officers about the U.S. mission in Afghanistan, the inevitability of negotiations with the Taliban, the permeation of Afghan society by the drug trade, and the frightening talk about a 25-year U.S. commitment to Afghanistan and the broader region.


• Islamic law ushers in reign of terror in Pakistan's Swat valley


• Kabul's new elite live high on West's largesse


• McKiernan Takes the Fall


• Militants open a new front in Pakistan


• Mistrust of the West is stronger in Pakistan than fear of the Taliban


• Obama's Afghan-Ignorant Policy Guide


• Opposition grows to Pakistan's Taliban pact


• Pakistan's displacement camps: A study in contrasts


• Pakistan's Nuclear Arsenal Remains a Major Question


• Pakistan's Nukes


• Pakistan's religious minorities report violence


• Pakistan and the U.S. Still at Odds Over Taliban Threat


• Pakistan isn't falling


• Pashtuns caught in another proxy war


• Rambo III explains why Pashtuns feel neglected and victimized


• State Department Has Few Who Speak Language of Area Where Taliban Operates


• Taliban in policy shift on beards and burqas


• Talibanistan in Pakistan


• The 'Long War' Will Be as Pointless and Bloody as Europe’s


• The Accidental Guerrilla and the Deliberate Interventionist


• The myth of the Taliban


• The Rule of the 'Experts'


• The warlords casting a shadow over Afghanistan


• U.S. experts: Pakistan on course to become Islamist state


• U.S. Tapping Sharif as New Pakistani Prime Minister, Politician Claims


• We’re sick of war: a Taleban leader risks his life to point out a new route to peace


• West looked the other way as Afghan drug trade exploded


• What's Obama's Afghan Plan?


• What's Really Happening with the Shi'a Family Law?


• Why are we doubling down in Afghanistan and Pakistan?


• Why Europe Won't Fight


• Women choose exile as Taliban laws return

Africa

• Eritrea: A country dominated by its past


• For Somalia, Chaos Breeds Religious War


• Human tide of misery flees the anarchy of Somalia


• Is the Darfur bloodshed genocide? Opinions differ


• Long Sentences for Atrocities in Sierra Leone


• Mahmood Mamdani’s Look at Darfur in Context


• Ron Paul has a solution to the pirate problem


• Somaliland strives to distinguish itself in troubled region


• U.S. Threatens to Invade Eritrea


• You Are Being Lied to About Pirates

American-Israeli Relations

• Calamity Jane Harman Shoots Herself in the Foot


• Congressional leaders inadvertently expose Israeli lobbyists behind letter to Obama


• Did Bibi Box Obama In?


• Ex-AIPAC man Weissman comes out hard against military action in Iran


• Harman, AIPAC, NSA: What did I Know, and When Did I Know It?


• Harmanic Convergence


• Jane Harman tells pro-Israeli lobbyists she'll clear her name


• Pelosi knew NSA had listened to Harman phone calls


• Some Might Call It Treason


• Someone needs to give Jane Harman an award for this


• Sources: Wiretap Recorded Rep. Harman Promising to Intervene for AIPAC


• The heft that dares not speak its name


• The influence game: Pro-Israel doves seek clout in Washington, DC


• The Samson Gambit


• U.S. Might Not Try Pro-Israel Lobbyists


• U.S. to Drop Spy Case Against Pro-Israel Lobbyists

Arabian Peninsula

Fears of Yemen turning into another Afghanistan

Balkans

• Back to the Balkans


• Horrors of KLA prison camps revealed


• Scarred by the legacy of war, Bosnia lurches into a new crisis

Canada

Top court backs police in seizure of property

Egypt

• Egypt: Treatment of Christians: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 (YouTube videos)


• Hezbollah and Iran have become Egyptian targets


• Intrigue abounds in this Mideast tale of a terrorist plot


• The Copts: Persecuted Christians of Egypt

Iran

• A prisoner of Iranian politics


• Have We Already Lost Iran?


• Inquiry into 1994 Jewish Centre Bombing in Argentina to Reopen


• Iran's missiles not an existential threat, study says


• Iran's president makes rare intervention in U.S. reporter's case


• Iran's Top 20


• Iran frees U.S.-born journalist accused of spying


• Israel Cries Wolf


• Jeffrey Goldberg's War Redux


• Listening to Ahmadinejad


• The danger of an Israeli strike on Iran


• They May Not Want the Bomb


• Trivializing the Holocaust

Iraq

• A Historic Day for Iraq--But Not in the Way the British Want to Believe


• A revolt begins with a four-man hit squad


• A War No Longer on Autopilot: What If Iraq Unravels?


• Displaced Iraqis stay away as violence persists


• Dumb Like a Maliki?


• In Baghdad, Iraqis fear return of sectarian violence


• In Iraq's Anbar province, the Awakening grapples with a new role


• In Iraq, 'Everybody knows somebody killed by the war'


• In Iraq, an exodus of Christians


• Iraq's once-envied healthcare system lost to war and corruption


• Iraq bloodshed rises as U.S. allies defect


• Iraq strives for reconciliation, but whose?


• Iraqi refugees stay put despite relative calm


• Is Obama Fiddling While Iraq Burns?


• It’s fear that keeps Baghdad’s peace


• Land Dispute Between Arabs and Kurds Simmers in Iraq


• Obama's obscene remarks in Iraq


• Prospects are dismal for returning Iraqi refugees


• The Awful Sound of Silence


• Torture and Impunity in Iraqi Prisons


• U.S. prepares to withdraw, Iraqi resistance prepares for battle


• Whatever Happened to Muqtada al-Sadr?

Islam

• An Islamic Radical, Maqdisi, Quotes West Point in His Defense


• Conversations with History--Michael Scheuer (YouTube video)


• Democrats’ Intelligence Chairman Needs a Crash Course on Al-Qaida


• Ex-Spy Sits Down with Islamists and the West


• Mideast's Christians Declining in Influence


• Obama challenges the place of Islam


• Patriotic, respectful, and homophobic: a portrait of British Muslims' state of mind


• Saudi gang rape sentence 'unjust'


• Saudi police 'stopped' fire rescue


• The Intelligent American's Guide to Islamism


• The Shadow of the Fatwah


• This is a Saudi textbook. (After the intolerance was removed.)


• What It Would Take to Mend Fences with Islam

Israel-Palestine

• Abbas and the Peace Process: Is This Man Still Relevant?


• Interview with David Bromwich: The standard Israeli practice of making incongruous conditional demands to avoid serious discussion of a Palestinian state, the propaganda and fundraising boon Ahmadinejad has been to AIPAC, the radicalizing effect recent Russian immigrants have had on Israeli politics, and how the Iranian nuclear scaremongering may be designed for American consumption.


• Lieberman Rejects 'Dangerous' Arab Peace Deal


• Mixed emotions for Pope in Bethlehem


• No more make-believe in the Middle East


• Peace Now: Olmert government built, planned 9,000 homes on war-won land


• Poll: Most Palestinians, Israelis want two-state solution


• Saving Israel from Itself


• The Iron Wall


• Traps for George Mitchell


• What Obama must tell Bibi

Lebanon-Syria

• A shot in the arm for Hezbollah


• Foreign Money Seeks to Buy Lebanese Votes


• History lessons stymied in Lebanon


• Hunting for Hezbollah: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 (YouTube videos)


• In Lebanon's Patchwork, a Focus on Armenians' Political Might


• In Lebanon's wild east, Hezbollah finds itself on left foot


• Lebanon does not march in lockstep with Iran, but it is defined by a kaleidoscope of alliances


• Permanent Settlement of Palestinians in Lebanon: A Recipe for Conflict


• The Golan Heights revisited


• The Oracle of Hezbollah: Sayyid Muhammad Hussein Fadlallah

Russia and Its Neighbours

• At Turkish Border, Armenians Are Wary of a Thaw


• Chechnya: Russia declares 'mission accomplished' in strongman state


• Ex-officials of South Ossetia say leader corrupt


• Georgia's Rose Revolution wilts


• Interview with Mark Almond: The discontent about elections in Moldova, the devastation wreaked by neoliberal economics, the encroachment of NATO recruitment on former Soviet states, political instability in Georgia and Kosovo, and the bureaucratic inertia in NATO that seeks continual expansion.


• Moldova’s 'Twitter Revolution': Made in America?


• Moldovan president calls for vote recount


• Predicting a Muslim-Majority Russia


• Reports question U.S. shield of Europe


• Russia gambles control by ending restrictions in Chechnya


• The West's Reckless Approach to Russia


• Turkey: Washington's geopolitical pivot


• West traps Russia in its own backyard

Southeast Asia

• Bangladesh to probe 1971 war crimes afresh


• Forgetting Pyongyang


• North Korea Ends Armistice, Threatens Attacks


• Rangoon's Renaissance


• Ron Paul on North Korea

Illegal and Questionable U.S.-U.K. Government Policies

• 400,000 still on terrorist watchlist


• A Cheney Cover-Up?


• A truth commission on torture is needed


• Abu Ghraib prison photos 'show rape'


• America's necessary dark night of the soul


• Are Republicans Blackmailing Obama?


• British intelligence's secret deals with U.S. prisoners


• Bush's Lingering Blacklist


• Bush's Torturers


• Bush Administration authorized use of insects in interrogations


• Busting the Torture Myths


• Can you die from lack of sleep?


• Cheney's assertion of lives saved is hard to prove


• Counterterrorism, Torture, and the Law


• Democratic complicity and what 'politicizing justice' really means


• Dick Cheney Is Becoming Obama's Enabler


• Facts and myths about Obama's preventive detention proposal


• Following Bush lead, Obama moves to block challenge to wiretapping program


• Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert to Lobby for Turkey


• Former military interrogator says torture costs hundreds 'if not thousands' of American lives


• Fort Detrick disease samples may be missing


• Fort Hunt's Quiet Men Break Silence on WWII


• How Obama Excused Torture


• Interrogations’ Effectiveness May Prove Elusive


• Interview with Sibel Edmonds: The hypocrisy of free speech invocations in defense of Rosen/Weissman while whistle-blowers endure gag orders, the numerous cover-ups of Congressional misdeeds caught on wiretaps, the dedication of rank-and-file FBI agents to investigate crimes despite political implications, and how she is ready to tell her story to a publisher willing to fight government censorship.


• Justice Dept. Memos' Careful Legalese Obscured Harsh Reality


• Mancow Waterboarded (YouTube video)


• Military tribunals not the same as U.S. courts


• National Security: The Last Refuge of Scoundrels


• Obama administration sides with Bush officials against outed CIA agent


• Obama Administration quietly expands Bush's legal defense of wiretapping program


• Obama Plays Hamlet on Torture


• Oh, Poor Judge Bybee!


• Panetta: CIA No Longer Operates 'Black Sites'


• Path to Justice, But Bumpy, for Terrorists


• Ronald Reagan: Vengeful, Score-Settling, Hard Left Ideologue


• Senate Democrats Pull $80 Million in Gitmo Closure Funding, Oppose Transfer of Prisoners to U.S.


• Showdown Looms Over Use of 'State Secrets' Privelege in Wiretapping Case


• The CIA and Washington Post: Joined at the Hip


• The Paradoxes of the Torture Scandal


• The Psychologists of Torture


• The Torture Dissidents' Tale


• Top Pelosi Aide Learned of Waterboarding in 2003


• Two Sides of the Same Coin: Heads-Heads


• UAE 'Torture' Scandal and Cover-up Sparks Outrage in the U.S.


• Waterboard an A-Rab for Jesus


• What Pelosi knew about waterboarding, and when


• Will Anything About the U.S. Torture Scandal Ever Scandalize Us Again?

War and Intervention

• Brave New World Order


• Bush's 'March of Freedom' a Trail of Tears


• Cheney Goofs on Israel


• Farewell, the American Century


• Ill Veterans Demand Answers


• Making Do: The President and His Troublesome Allies


• Obama Steers Toward Endless War with Islam


• Peace Out


• The Defense Department Can't Handle the Truth?


• The Fourth Generation Armies Are Winning


• What's NATO For Again?


• Why don't we care about Sri Lanka?

Uncategorized

• 10 ways to beat the blues?


• Could Robots Become Your Toddler's New Best Friend?


• Electricity Grid in US Penetrated by Spies


• End the University As We Know It


• Frugal Mom Helps Family Get Out of Debt


• Michael Pollan Dishes out Advice on Healthful Eating


• Students downsize college dreams


• The art of survival: Essential skills for the post-apocalyptic world


• The end: How would you choose to die?


• The Modern Survival Philosophy


• Top ten money drains


• Unhappy Meals

February-March 2009 Links

February-March 2009 Links

Afghanistan-Pakistan-Kyrgyzstan

• 'Pashtunistan'--the borderlands between Afghanistan and Pakistan--holds key to Obama mission


• Afghan leader accused of bid to 'legalise rape' among Shi'a minority


• Afghan sepulcher?


• Afghan Women Slowly Gaining Protection


• Afghanistan: Chaos Central


• Afghanistan: Experiment with Democracy


• Afghanistan: Lost in translation


• America’s Confused Cause in Central Asia


• An Alternative to War in Afghanistan


• Another War Lost?


• Barack Obama's Afghan quagmire keeps getting deeper


• Blown Up in Bin Laden Country


• British Muslims 'providing Taliban with electronic devices for roadside bombs'


• British to play smaller role as U.S. troops fight 'losing battle'


• Can Sufi Islam counter the Taleban?


• Chaudhry’s Reinstatement Lifts Pakistanis’ Hopes


• Court Backs Afghan Journalist’s Prison Term for Blasphemy


• Deals with the Taliban could be dangerous


• Drawn and Quartered


• Dreaming of Splitting the Taliban


• Emergency Rule, Mass Arrests Leave Pakistan on the Brink


• Enduring Warlord


• Former warlord to fight Karzai in Afghanistan polls


• Glasnost in London, War Fever in Washington


• Going the Distance


• Grim struggle continues for women in Afghanistan


• Handing the Swat Valley to the Taliban was shameful and wrong


• Hundreds Arrested in Punjab, Suspension of Civil Liberties Instituted, and Some Set Out on Long March


• In Pakistani Opposition, a Mix of Motivations


• Kyrgyzstan's Revenge


• Many in Afghanistan oppose Obama's troop buildup plans


• Marching for Democracy in Pakistan


• Militant attack on cricket team in Pakistan could backfire


• Military Ultimatum Forced Resolution to Pakistan Crisis


• NATO is deeper in its Afghan mire than Russia ever was


• No Quick Fix for Pakistan's Tribal Areas


• Obama and the War in Afghanistan


• Obama anti-terrorism plan could be doomed to fail


• One Country, Three Futures


• Ousted Pakistan Chief Justice Restored: Crisis Appears Over


• Pakistan's evolving sectarian schism


• Pakistan's tenuous gains on Taliban


• Pakistan in Turmoil Over Sharif Bans


• Pakistan Lurches Toward the Abyss


• Policing Afghanistan: Obama's New Strategy


• Poll Shows Afghan Populace Losing Faith in Govt, NATO


• Protests against Pakistani government turn violent


• Taliban Commander’s Death Ends an Embarrassment for Karzai Government


• The Cambridge chaplain fighting fanaticism by radio in Pakistan's Swat valley


• The Other Side of the Coin


• Twilight in Afghanistan


• U.K. troops fighting British Muslims in Afghanistan


• U.S. aid effort under fire in Pakistan border area


• U.S. finds new Afghan supply route


• U.S. Gear Ending Up in Pakistan Markets


• U.S. military has lost 222,000 weapons sent to Afghanistan since 2001


• U.S. supply routes in Afghanistan squeezed 2 ways


• U.S. supply routes to Afghanistan suffer two huge blows


• Where the Wild Things Are


• Who Will Rein in the War in Afghanistan?

Africa

• Battling Christian Terrorists


• No No-Fly Zones over Darfur


• The feud over Ishmael Beah's child-soldier memoir, A Long Way Gone


• Why Arab leaders embrace Sudan's indicted president

American-Israeli Relations

• Abrams Confirms His New Role


• Breaking the Taboo on Israel's Spying Efforts on the United States


• Chas Freeman and Saudi Money


• Israel's national security aide barred from U.S.


• Ex-Lobbyists in U.S. Case of Espionage Win a Round


• Intelligence Chairman Freeman Stirs Israeli Ire


• Is the Israel Lobby Running Scared?


• Jeffrey Goldberg's gasping, dying smear tactics


• Lobby? What Lobby?


• Should AIPAC Decide What's Classified?


• The Defamation League

Balkans

• Clinton's Kosovo Frauds


• Former Serb president cleared of Kosovo crimes


• NATO Cluster Bombs Still Threaten Thousands in Serbia: Report


• The EU is still divided over Kosovo's status, one year on from its declaration of independence


• The legacy of Kosovo? International paternalism


• The Nation Formerly Known as Yugoslavia


• The Prophet's Fifth Column: Islamists Gain Ground in Sarajevo

Iran

• A Call To End 'Death To America' Chants In Iran


• Don't Let the Iran Headlines Scare You


• Iran's Détente Gesture to Obama?


• Iran, the Jews, and Germany


• Khatami quits presidential race, supports fellow reformist


• Muslim Weapons of Mass Destruction


• On the streets of Tehran, even the hardliners are weary of presidential platitudes


• Return of the War Party

Iraq

• A coup for Maliki and a secular Iraq


• Debt as a unifying force in Iraq


• Interview with Patrick Cockburn: Preliminary results from the Iraqi provincial elections, the strong performance of nationalist and secular parties compared to religious parties, the whereabouts of Muqtada al-Sadr and the role his militia and political factions will play in Iraq’s future, the patronage system developed between Nuri al-Maliki’s Dawa party and tribal councils that contributed to their electoral success, and the near-certainty that U.S. occupation is coming to an end.


• Iran Did Not Lose the Provincial Elections


• Iraq's Provincial Elections: What to Watch For


• Iraq's voices of pessimism


• Iraq shoe thrower sentenced to three years in jail


• Iraqi Refugees Returning to Danger Zone to Escape Poverty in Utah


• Iraqis worry over U.S. pullout


• Is the U.S. Paying Off the Italian Government for Forging the Niger Documents?


• Obama's Withdrawal Non-Withdrawal Plan


• Obama to extend Iraq withdrawal timetable; 50,000 troops to stay


• Pentagon knowingly exposed troops to cancer-causing chemicals, document shows


• Pssst, the War's Not Over


• Sadr facing leadership challenge


• Shoe-Throwing Journalist Sentenced to Three Years


• The mysterious case of Mohammed al-Dainy


• The Myth of Kurdistan


• U.S. tests military exit routes out of Iraq


• Violence and intimidation mark run-up to Iraqi elections


• We're really leaving Iraq


• Why 10,000 Ugandans are eagerly working in Iraq

Islam

• Banned Dutch MP Geert Wilders hits out at 'cowards' after being sent back


• Christian Middle East exodus worries churches


• Geert Wilders on HARDtalk: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 (YouTube videos)


• Islam and the West: Lines of Demarcation


• Let's Not Make Room For Islam In The Judeo-Christian Tradition


• Middle East Salafism and the Radicalization of Muslim Communities in Europe


• On Interaction With Non-Muslims


• Saudi Arabia says only mosques allowed


• Science and Islam in Conflict


• Science and the Islamic world: the quest for rapprochement


• Somali-Americans Recruited by Islamists


• The Darker Side


• The Kingdom in the Closet


• The War Within: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6 (YouTube videos)


• Will Muslim Immigration destroy Western Democracy?

Israel-Palestine

• 'Most Israelis unsatisfied with election results'


• An Arab-made misery


• Arab men seek Israeli brides


• Hamas murder campaign in Gaza exposed


• How 'Canadians' almost ignited a war


• How Hamas uses murder and torture to erase Fatah rivals


• Let's leverage the good demographic news


• Netanyahu: The leader who struts like a superpower


• Palestinian orchestra shut down after performing for Holocaust survivors in Israel


• Remember Ophira?


• Secret Israeli database reveals full extent of illegal settlement


• The nightmare of Netanyahu returns


• The Rewriting, Un-rewriting, and Re-rewriting of History


• The Rise of Avigdor Lieberman


• Two Palestinian women become judges in Islamic court


• U.N. Halts Gaza Aid, Citing Hamas Thefts

Lebanon-Syria

• Hezbollah: A Primer


• Hezbollah spends millions to rebuild stronghold


• Israel, Hezbollah: Has deterrance worked?


• Lebanese in Shock Over Arrest of an Accused Spy


• Syria's interests in Lebanon

Russia and Its Neighbours

• Chechen leader imposes strict brand of Islam


• Georgia, a Nation Stalled On the Road to Democracy


• Ingushetia tries new tactics to quell insurgency


• To Russia, With Hate

Illegal and Questionable U.S./British Government Policies

• Britain’s omertà on torture is a crime


• Bush administration reversed claims of wartime powers


• Counter Intelligence


• If You Are Reading This, You May Already be a Terrorist


• Investigative Reporter Seymour Hersh Describes 'Executive Assassination Ring'


• John Yoo is Sorry for Nothing


• Masterful Masters on Our Masters


• Obama's Defense of Rumsfeld and Yoo


• Obama's efforts to block a judicial ruling on Bush's illegal wiretapping


• Obama's Policy on Civil Liberties: Bush Lite?


• Obama lawyers argue to drop Yoo torture suit


• Our Enemy, the President


• Post-9/11 reforms don’t stop passport fakery


• Prisoner's Harsh Treatment Foiled No Plots


• Prosecuting Terrorist Trials in U.S. Courts Poses Tremendous Hurdles


• Ron Paul agitates Jim Baker over War Powers during hearing (YouTube video)


• Science of Amerithrax


• Secret Bush Memo Authorizing Warrantless Seizure Of 'Terror Suspects' Released


• Some Truths About Guantanamo Bay


• The enemies of Jim Crow


• The failure to free Binyam Mohamed signals Obama's backsliding on torture


• The Groundwork Has Already Been Laid for Martial Law


• The Indefinite Future of Indefinite Detention


• The Martial Law Mindset


• The mission of the Beltway journalist


• The Newly Released Secret Laws of the Bush Administration


• U.S. Supreme Court Dismisses al-Marri's Challenge of His Detention


• U.S. Supreme Court Ruling Limits President’s Power to Detain Legal Residents


• Unredacted documents reveal prisoners tortured to death


• Was Binyam Mohamed brutalized at Guantanamo in the last month?


• Why Is the Obama Administration Defending John Yoo?


• Why it matters that the Army was on the streets of Samson, Alabama


• You Can't Be a Christian and Tolerate Torture

War and Intervention

• Anti-narcotics drive has fuelled drug cartels: U.N.


• Did the U.S. Learn Anything in Iraq?


• Farewell, Monroe Doctrine


• Germany and Poland square up in row over war


• Noninterventionists Need Not Apply


• Ron Paul: The end of the war in Iraq is not near (YouTube video)


• The Christian and War


• The Offensive Side of Missile Defense


• The Psychology of War

Uncategorized

• An Arab Poet Who Dares to Differ


• Annoying Words


• Caesar Is Not God


• Declaration of Cultural Independence


• Genetic Engineering of Crops Is Not the Answer


• Monsters in the making?


• Rethink Stem Cells? Science Already Has


• The End of Newspapers? Or Is There a Journalism School Model?


• The Great College Hoax


• The New Totalitarianism


• The Pope, HIV/AIDS, and Africa

January 2009 Links

January 2009 Links

Afghanistan

• Afghanistan caught in friendly fire


• Another Gitmo Grows in Afghanistan


• Fearing Another Quagmire in Afghanistan


• In Afghanistan, Terrain Rivals Taliban as Enemy - Mountainous Region in East Especially Challenging


• NATO's New Colombian Adventure, in Afghanistan


• Taliban Fill NATO’s Big Gaps in Afghan South


• The Afghan Quagmire


• The Afghan Reconstruction Scam

Africa

• Somali insurgents advance after Ethiopian army withdraws


• Somalia: The Forgotten Front of the War on Terrorism


• Somalia Ruined: Intervention Fails Again

American-Israeli Relations

• Bringing the Arab-Israeli War Home


• Is Ehud's Poodle Acting Up?


• The Lobby Will Stand Down and Obama Will End the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict


• U.S. man pleads guilty to acting as agent for Israel

Arabian Peninsula

• How billions in oil money spawned a global terrorism network


• Saudi Arabia: The Gathering Storm

Balkans

• Christian converts in Kosovo


• Lingering Security Concerns in Kosovo, as Imam Attacked by Islamists


• Lost in Conversion?

Iran

• Iran's Baha'is Leave Persecution Behind On Train To Turkey


• Who's Afraid of U.S.-Iran Détente?

Iraq

• 'Sons of Iraq' Retirement Accellerates


• In Iraq, the Day After


• Iraq Election Highlights Ascendancy of Sunni Tribes


• Trying to Redefine Role of U.S. Military in Iraq

Islam

• How a British jihadi saw the light


• Muslims Leaving Islam in Droves

Israel-Palestine

• A look at the Islamic militant Hamas group


• An Interview with Glenn Greenwald on the Gaza War


• Another War, Another Defeat


• Arab elites vs. Hamas


• Battered by Israel, Hamas faces tough choice


• Children of a Lesser Allah


• CNN Confirms Israel Broke Ceasefire First


• David Reef on Israel and Gaza


• Diplomacy Cannot Quell Gaza Violence


• Escape from Hamas, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6 (YouTube videos)


• Fighter Sees His Paradise in Gaza's Pain


• Gaza rockets put Israel’s nuclear plant in battle zone


• Gazan doctor says death toll inflated


• Hamas After the Current Israeli Gaza Invasion


• Hamas history tied to Israel


• Hamas is not the IRA


• Hamas prefers war as an alternative to progress


• Hamas tried to hijack ambulances during Gaza war


• IDF uncovers booby-trapped school next to Gaza zoo


• In Gaza, Weighing Crimes and Ethics in Urban Warfare


• Iran warms Hamas not to accept truce


• Israel Doesn't Get Fourth-Generation War


• It's Overtime for Hamas' Leaders and Time for Them to Go


• Jordan's Intelligence Chief Sacked: New Policy Toward Hamas?


• Military Intelligence: Never expected Hamas victory in 2006


• Molten Lead in Gaza


• Mosab Hassan Yousef, son of Hamas leader, becomes a Christian


• Nizar Rayyan of Hamas on God's Hatred of Jews


• No Happy Ending


• Red Cross: Israel's use of white phosphorus not illegal


• Residents: Hamas Militants Staged Attacks from Cover of UN School


• Son of Hamas Leader Turns His Back on Islam and Embraces Christianity


• The Two-State Solution Now a Three-Way Stalemate


• The View from Tel Aviv

Nuclear Weapons

Swiss Release Man Held in Smuggling Case

Pakistan-India

• Book shines light on Pakistan military's '£10bn empire'


• Obama's Worst Pakistan Nightmare: What to Do About Pakistan's Nuclear Arsenal


• Pakistan in Peril


• Race to the death over Kashmir waters

Southeast Asia

Secular Party Wins Landslide Victory in Bangladesh

Turkey

• Ergenekon Plot: Massive Trial in Turkey Provides Look into 'Deep State'


• Religious Kurds become key vote in Turkey


• The Duel in Islam: Turkey's New Model vs. Iran's

Illegal and Questionable U.S. Government Policies

• Guantanamo inmate tortured by al-Qaida and entombed by the U.S.


• How the Press, the Pentagon, and Even Human Rights Groups Sold Us an Army Field Manual that (Still) Sanctions Torture


• Justice After Bush: Prosecuting an Outlaw Administration


• More Groups Than Thought Monitored in Police Spying


• Obama's Justice nominees signal end of Bush counterterrorism tactics


• Portrait Emerges of Anthrax Suspect's Troubled Life


• Secret List of U.S. Military Bases to Replace Guantanamo


• Will Padilla's case be heard?

Uncategorized

• Overcoming ethnicity


• Some Christians Under Siege In 'Season Of Hope'

December 2008 Links

December 2008 Links

Afghanistan

• Afghan Farmer's Undercover Work Helps Convict Taliban Member in U.S. Court


• Afghan warlord Dostum is 'everyone's friend'


• Afghan women fear a retreat to dark days


• Afghanistan: Soviet failures echo for U.S.


• Afghans torn over family size


• As Taliban nears Kabul, shadow government takes hold


• In the lair of the Taliban


• Kabul residents have more fear of gangs than of Taliban


• Khyber Pass: Crucial for trade and invasion


• NATO's new supply line plans undermine human rights in Central Asia


• NATO reviews Afghan supply route


• Obama's Afghan Dilemma


• Obama's Afghan Escalation


• Pleas of Afghan ex-poppy farmers


• The Other Front


• Think Tank: Taliban has Permanent Presence in 72 Percent of Afghanistan


• Tribal leaders threaten to sabotage West's assault on Taliban


• U.S., NATO Seek Afghan Supply Routes Other Than Pakistan


• U.S. at disadvantage in Afghan insurgent hotbed


• West's Role in Afghanistan Needs Re-Examining


• What We Need to Do Now in Afghanistan


• Where the Taliban Get Their Money


• Who Are the Taliban?

Africa

• A Radical Islamist Takeover Drives the Young From Somalia


• As an atheist, I truly believe Africa needs God


• Rwanda: No Conspiracy, No Genocide Planning… No Genocide?


• Situation in Somalia Seems About to Get Worse


• Somali security forces desert, government vanishing: U.N.


• Somalis may be leaving Minnesota for jihad


• Somalia’s fractured government slides into chaos

Balkans

• Fears of New Ethnic Conflict in Bosnia


• Islamic Revival Tests Bosnia's Secular Cast

Canada

• Canada's Speech Impediment


• FGM in Canada


• Some tested Tasers fire stronger current than company says: CBC/Radio-Canada probe

Guantanamo Bay

• Guantanamo: the answer is easy


• Move May Help Shut Guantánamo Camp


• Torture, Preventive Detention, and the Terrorism Trials at Guantanamo

Iran

• 'Worst of Times for Iran': A Debate About the Claimed Threat Posed by Iran


• Iran: Past the Paranoia


• Iran Confronts an 'Economic Evolution': Ahmadinejad's Plan to Curb Government Subsidies Threatens to Alienate Recipients


• The Folly of Attacking Iran: Lessons from History (YouTube video)


• The Last of the Zoroastrians


• With oil prices falling, Iran's good times are almost over

Iraq

• 'Message Force Multipliers' and the Handmaidens of Hell


• A Hero of Our Time: Muntazar al-Zaidi


• Al-Zaidi may have been beaten for his outburst at George Bush, but Iraqi journalists are entitled to righteous indignation


• Babylon's history swept away in U.S. army sandbags


• Campaign Promises on Ending the War in Iraq Now Abandoned


• Christians crowd Baghdad church, but many families are divided


• Did the Shoe Thrower Hate America for Its Freedom and Values?


• Ethnic Divide in Iraqi City a Test for Nation


• I'm Still Tortured by What I Saw in Iraq


• In Iraq, 'a Prison Full of Innocent Men'


• Iraqi journalist who hurled his shoes at Bush was then viciously beaten


• Iraqi Reporter Was Beaten After Throwing Shoes, Judge Admits


• Iraqi Women, Fighting for a Voice


• Maliki’s Secret Crackdown


• NBC and McCaffrey's coordinated responses to the New York Times story


• On Christmas, Iraq Christians eye uncertain future


• One Small Shoe for Man…


• Panel: Congress was misled on Iraq uranium issue


• President Bush and the Flying Shoes: A Cautionary Tale


• Songs for the Mahdi Army


• The Long Road Out of Iraq


• The Ongoing Disgrace of NBC News and Brian Williams


• They Lied About Iraq in 2003, and They're Still Lying Now


• Total Defeat for U.S. in Iraq


• U.S. group blasts Iraq over religious minorities


• U.S. worried about need for warrants in Iraq


• What are 'combat troops'? Iraq withdrawal depends on answer


• Widespread Female Circumcision Highlights the Plight of Kurdish Women

Islam

• Do Muslims Have More Children Than Other Women in Western Europe?


• From the left, a call to end the current Dutch notion of tolerance


• How to Understand Islam


• Islam's Challenges to 'Universal Human Rights'


• Lost in Translation: The two minds of Bernard Lewis


• Our followers 'must live in peace until strong enough to wage jihad'


• Spotlight on Egypt's marriage crisis


• Stop pandering to Muslims, says 'silent majority'


• Terrorism adviser to Scotland Yard is on wanted list


• The Defamation of Human Rights


• The Guidebook for Taking a Life


• The Jizyah Tax


• The Role of Consensus in the Contemporary Struggle for Islam


• The Zarqawi Generation


• What Is the Koran?


• Who Wrote the Koran?

Israel-Palestine

• Bush, Obama, and the Gaza Blitz


• Catastrophe for Gaza


• Did Israel Use 'Disproportionate Force' in Gaza?


• Gaza raids expose Israeli failure


• Israel's coming test for Obama


• Israel changed the rules forever with Gaza airstrike


• Israeli Settler Pogrom Against Palestinians


• Making Enemies: How Israel helped to create Hamas


• The far-right rises in Israeli politics


• Where are the rockets?

Lebanon

• Lebanon military weak despite gift of MiG 29s


• The London Review of Hezbollah

Pakistan-India

• Amid Taliban Rule, a NATO Supply Line Is Choked


• Are Mumbai attacks a chance for peace?


• Attacks increase fears of Peshawar’s fall to Taliban


• Best ways to react to India's 9/11


• Dancing girls of Lahore strike over 'Taliban' law


• Does Obama understand his biggest foreign-policy challenge?


• End of the Line for Islamabad


• Hoax phone call 'almost took Pakistan to war'


• India's options on Pakistan still open


• Jahiliyya Versus Jihad: Cusp of the Inferno


• Mumbai's Jews remain at one with Muslims despite anti-Semitic attack


• Mumbai Massacre May Sink Bush-Obama Strategy


• Mumbai Wake-Up Call


• Muslims in India Put Aside Grievances to Repudiate Terrorism


• Pakistan militants kill rival, bring fear to valley


• Pakistan police losing anti-militant fight


• Pakistan militant group builds web of Western recruits


• Schooling of a mountain jihadist


• The Meaning of Mumbai


• The Mumbai Terrorist Attacks: Is Pakistan to Blame?


• The Rationale of Terrorism


• This Fire Needs to Be Put Out


• Truckers stop NATO supplies


• Villagers confirm arrested Mumbai attacker is Pakistani


• War With India Would Unite Taliban, Pakistan


• What Happened in Mumbai


• Why Pakistan's military is gun shy

Russia and Its Neighbours

Estonia Spy Case Rattles Nerves at NATO

Syria

Syria's own 'war on terror'

U.S. Elections

• Clinton builds loyalist empire


• Gen. Hayden and The Claimed Irrelevance of Presidential Appointments


• Ron Paul, if only we listened

Illegal and Questionable U.S. Government Policies

• Cheney claims power to decide his public records


• Court sides with New York Times in anthrax libel case


• Dick Cheney's unique gift for making hard questions easy and vice versa


• Habeas Corpus Barely Saved


• Homeland Security: a multi-agency behemoth


• New York Times Wiretapping Source Revealed


• Obama should prosecute Bush officials who designed torture policy


• Pentagon to Detail Troops to Bolster Domestic Security


• Rumsfeld Responsible for Torture, Report Says


• Senate report links Bush to detainee homicides; media yawns


• Shoehorning the Bush Legacy


• Spying on Pacifists, Environmentalists, and Nuns


• The Fed Who Blew the Whistle


• The Nullification of the Bill of Rights


• What about the ghost prisoners?


• What Motivates the Torture Enablers?


• Why Do Feinstein and Wyden Sound Much Different on the Torture Issue Now?


• Will Obama Buy Torture-Lite?

War and Intervention

• A Team in Need of a Game Plan


• Humanitarian Imperialism: Obama and the Genocide Task Force


• Interview with Bill Barnwell: The merit of the 'Obama is the Antichrist' rumours, how American dispensationalists influence Middle East policy, the havoc created if a Third Temple were rebuilt in Israel, the wisdom of a historical-contextual reading of the Bible, and the conflict between militarist theology and Biblical scripture.


• Nuke Umbrellas


• Obama’s Choice of Hillary Clinton Signals He’s Not Anti-War


• Obama Chooses to Stay the Course on Foreign Policy


• One Thriving Sector: The Business of War


• Peace on Earth: Once a Year?


• Pentagon May Have Wrongly Mixed Propaganda With PR, Inspector General Says


• Right-Wingers and Neocons Love Obama's Cabinet Appointments


• Secret of the Lusitania: Arms find challenges Allied claims it was solely a passenger ship


• The Truce of God


• Where Have All the Neocons Gone?

Uncategorized

• Interview with Glenn Greenwald: Noam Chomsky’s theory of "concision" in the context of the limited parameters of discussion on television, the ease of spouting platitudes and the difficulty of challenging conventional wisdom by that medium, how the Georgian conflict highlighted the unwillingness of the mainstream media to challenge a false premise that has bipartisan support, and how Obama’s cabinet appointments were foreshadowed by his support for Joe Lieberman’s Senate candidacy.


• No Babies?


• War of the Babies--When Modern Warfare and Demography Square Off, Demography Wins