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