June-August 2009 Links

June-August 2009 Links

Afghanistan-Pakistan

• A refugee camp for Pakistani Christians


• A search for motive in attack on Christians in Pakistan


• Afghan Election 2009: Freedom, Fraud, and Fornication


• Afghan Election Poses New Tests for U.S.


• Afghan Husbands Win Right to Starve Wives


• Afghan media refuse to censor election reporting


• Afghan women and girls are still fighting


• Afghanistan and the new great game


• Afghanistan Apocalypse


• Afghanistan passes 'barbaric' law diminishing women's rights


• Afghanistan's Democratic Debacle


• Afghans confuse democracy with fornication


• Afghans Seek Presidency for Ideals and Gain


• Armageddon at the Top of the World: Not!


• Ascetic Afghan presidential candidate wins support


• Attack on Christians a further crisis for Pakistan


• Ballots and Bullets for Afghanistan


• Can Talking To The Taliban Help?


• Command Decision


• Democracy in Afghanistan is wishful thinking


• Dostum's return to Afghanistan: a nod to 'warlord politics'


• Fake Elections Won't Bring Peace to Afghanistan


• Fighting Taliban, if U.S. patrols can find them


• Fixing Afghanistan


• How to Bring Peace to Afghanistan


• In Afghanistan, Violence and Cynicism Keep Voter Turnout Low


• In Helmand, Afghans Feel Caught Between U.S. and Taliban


• In Taliban heartland, coalition's made little headway after eight years


• In the fog, remember: victory is impossible in Afghanistan


• Intimidation and Fraud Observed in Afghan Election


• Is Karzai trying to Steal the Afghanistan Election, taking a Leaf from Ahmadinejad's Book?


• Is Obama 'Acting Stupidly' in Afghanistan?


• Is Pakistan's Taliban movement on the way out?


• Just in Time for Election: Afghanistan Introduces Sweeping New Censorship


• Karzai and Warlords Mount Massive Vote Fraud Scheme


• Karzai in His Labyrinth


• Karzai Wins Afghan Warlords' Support as Others Fear the Cost


• Karzai's secret U-turn on Afghan rape law


• Karzai’s supporters 'buy' votes for Afghanistan election


• Many Women Stayed Away From the Polls In Afghanistan


• Marines Fight Taliban With Little Aid from Afghans


• Marines try a woman’s touch to reach Afghan hearts


• Marines' Mission Doomed to Failure


• Military says linguists can't keep up in Afghanistan


• Military Translators Risk Low Pay and Death


• Mission Essential, Translators Expendable


• Musharraf's emergency was 'unlawful'


• Now Pakistan must strike while the iron is hot


• Obama must call off this folly before Afghanistan becomes his Vietnam


• Obama's bulldozer risks turning the Taliban into Pakistan's Khmer Rouge


• Observers Point to Widespread Fraud in Afghan Vote


• One Step Forward, One Step Back


• Organized Crime in Pakistan Helps Fund Taliban


• Pakistan Lifts Ban on Political Parties in Tribal Areas


• Pakistan Military Not Capitalizing on Taliban Disarray


• Pakistan public opinion turning against Taliban


• Pakistan religious schools get scrutiny


• Pakistan turns on its jihadi assets


• Pashtun ethnic agenda at heart of Afghan war


• Poll finds Pakistanis unhappy with U.S. and militants


• Questions on the Eve of the Afghan Election


• Secret deal to help Karzai win reelection


• Sectarian violence hits Pakistani town


• Security Risks and Segregation Likely to Undermine Afghan Election’s Legitimacy


• Support network in Pakistan accused of helping Taliban, others sneak across Afghan border to attack U.S.


• Taliban avert attacks with U.S. equipment


• Taliban drug proceeds lower than thought, U.S. report says


• Taliban slick propaganda confronts NATO forces and government


• Taliban's growth in Afghanistan's north threatens to expand war


• Tensions Rise as Thousands of Fraud Allegations Hit Afghan Vote


• The Afghan pipe dream


• The aid Afghanistan really needs


• The big lie of Afghanistan


• The Irresistible Illusion


• The Lesson from Pakistan: Less Is More


• The Madrasa Myth


• The Taliban will 'never be defeated'


• The truth behind the insurgency


• The Unsinkable Hamid Karzai


• The War We Can't Win


• These attempts to win hearts and minds are futile


• Today's Afghan election is a moment of truth for zealous liberal aggressors


• U.S. and Britain Again Target Afghan Poppies


• U.S. envoy: Most Taliban funds come from overseas


• U.S. gives up on eradicating Afghanistan's opium


• U.S. Helicopter Opens Fire on Afghan Medical Clinic


• U.S. Said to Have Averted Inquiry into '01 Afghan Killings


• U.S. Sees Limited Iranian Aid To Afghan Insurgency


• U.S. trains reluctant Afghan police to fight Taliban


• Ultimate Dodge: America Plans to Reduce Civilian Casualties in Afghanistan… And???


• Vote fraud allegations mount in Afghanistan


• Was the Afghan election rigged, and where's the proof?


• Waziristan is still a hangover from the colonial headache


• What’s happening in the Afghan massacre probe?


• Where the Mullahs Are the Upper Crust


• Why Afghans Have No Hope in This Week's Vote


• Why Are We in Afghanistan?


• Why Is a Leading Feminist Organization Lending Its Name to Support Escalation in Afghanistan?


• Why South Waziristan has long posed challenge to Pakistan's government


• Why the Taliban won't take over Pakistan


• Why these deaths hit home as hard as the Somme


• Winning the Good War


• Without opium, Afghan village economy spirals


• Women voter turnout sinks in Afghanistan

Africa

• In a Changing Somalia, Islamist Forces See Support Wane


• International Court Under Unusual Fire


• Jihadists find global Somali communities ripe for recruiting


• Pirates, Inc.: Inside the booming Somali business


• Western Attitudes, Toxins Stunting African Growth

Al-Qaida

• A Saad Story


• Al-Qaida Leader Hopes to Use Pakistani Nukes Against U.S.


• Al-Qaida plays key role on both sides of Pakistan-Afghan border


• Bin Laden worked for U.S. till 9/11


• Documents Back Saudi Link to Extremists


• New direction in anti-terrorism fight may stem from case of American al-Qaida recruit


• No sign of voters on election day in Afghanistan despite official claims


• The Other Sons of Iraq


• Why America is losing the intelligence war


• Yemen's Problems Go Far Beyond Narrow U.S. Focus on al-Qaida

American-Israeli Relations

• AIPAC Wall Beginning to Crack


• Anti-Americanism in Israel


• DOJ: AIPAC case witness was asked to 'fake… suicide'


• Same As It Ever Was?


• Sentence reduced for Pentagon analyst who leaked to AIPAC officials

Balkans

• Bosnia needs to sort itself out without our help


• Envoy rules by decree to scrap law in Bosnia


• Fourteen Years After War's End, Ethnic Divisions Once Again Gripping Bosnia


• Risky business in the Balkans

Iran

• 'Reformer' is relative for Iranian election challenger


• A classic revolutionary dilemma


• A Divided Country United by the Spirit of Democracy


• A Shi'a Schism On Clerical Rule


• A shift in Iran would not change nuclear policy


• A Supreme Leader Loses His Aura as Iranians Flock to the Streets


• A Thought Experiment: If the Soviet Union Had Verbally Backed the U.S. Civil Rights Movement


• Ahmadinejad Wins Surprise Iran Landslide Victory


• Apocalypse Not


• Battle for the Islamic republic


• Between Tel Aviv and Tehran


• Can Iran's Minorities Help Oust Ahmadinejad?


• Can Iran's protesters keep momentum?


• Claims of student massacre in Tehran spread


• Clashes Continue in Iran as Guardian Council Admits to Irregularities


• Class vs. Culture Wars in Iranian Elections: Rejecting Charges of a North Tehran Fallacy


• Clerics’ Call for Ouster Challenges Iran's Supreme Leader


• Clinton: U.S. Supported Iran Protesters 'Behind the Scenes'


• Did Ahmadinejad Win Fair and Square--and Cheat, Too?


• Did an Australian sell nukes to Iran?


• Difficult moment for Iran--and the world


• Distorting U.S. Intel On Iran: Obama Follows Bush’s Lead, Again


• Divine assessment vs. people power


• Don't Forget Mousavi's Bloody Past


• Extraordinary scenes in Iran


• History suggests the 'revolution' will fail


• How Quarreling Ayatollahs Affect Iran's Election Crisis


• In Iran, an Iron Cleric, Now Blinking


• In Iran, One Woman's Death May Have Many Consequences


• In Iran, Rafsanjani Urges Khamenei to Stop Ahmadinejad's 'False Allegations'


• Inconsistency on Electoral Legitimacy, in Lebanon and Iran


• Inquiry on 1994 Blast at Argentina Jewish Center Gets New Life


• Iran and America: The Spirit of 1908


• Iran and the U.S. do a 'war on terrorism' somersault


• Iran book publisher recalls weeklong ordeal in prison


• Iran Clerical Rift Widens as Rafsanjani Relatives Arrested


• Iran conflict isn't class warfare


• Iran erupts as voters back the democrator


• Iran Extends Election Probe Amid Growing Evidence


• Iranian Cabinet nominee wanted in Argentine attack


• Iranian Prosecutor General Acknowledges Torture of Some Protesters


• Iran's Crisis: The Opposition Weighs Its Options


• Iran's Election: The Odds of Fraud


• Iran’s Election Drama More Elaborate Than You Think


• Iran's Factional Disputes Grow Increasingly Bitter


• Iran's Green Revolution: Made in America?


• Iran's Michelle Obama?: The Woman Ahmadinejad Should Fear


• Iran's Next Supreme Leader?


• Iran's Power Struggle


• Iran's Pre-Political Revolt


• Iran's Rafsanjani is central to struggle within the regime


• Iran's Red Tide


• Iran: The Tragedy and the Future


• Is Iran gas ban a step toward war?


• Khamenei on the Way Out?


• Krauthammer's Projections


• Landslide or Fraud? The Debate Online Over Iran’s Election Results


• Liberty and the Tehran Spring


• Lincoln-Douglas debates, Iranian style


• Media fantasies in Iran


• Meet the ayatollahs


• Millionaire Mullahs


• Most Israelis could live with a nuclear Iran


• Mousavi, celebrated in Iranian protests, involved in anti-U.S. attacks in Lebanon


• Neocons for Ahmadinejad


• No Matter Who Is President of Iran, They Would Stone Me


• Non-Interference Means Not Interfering


• Outlasting the Ayatollahs


• Poetic justice of a green revolution


• Protesters cry: 'Death to Khamenei'


• Rafsanjani has enough support to remove Khamenei: reports


• Rafsanjani Quotes Khomeini Principles


• Regime Cracks down Again in Tehran, but Hardliners Question Brutal Tactics


• Requiem for a revolution


• Secret letter seems to prove Mousavi won poll


• Senior Iranian ayatollah slams election, confirming split


• Show Trials in Iran


• Something profound has changed: Iranians are losing their fear and mock the official line


• Spectre of Khomeini as religious radical still stalks Iran


• Stealing the Iranian Election


• The End Game in Iran: Four Ways the Crisis May Resolve


• The Guardian Council, the Power Behind the Elections


• The Impact of the Iranian Elections and TV Debates


• The Iranian Demonstrations Are Homegrown, and Must Stay That Way


• The Leaking Game: Planted News Stories Show New Bid by West to Say Iran Seeks Nuclear Weapons


• The Need for Strategic Patience on Iran


• The New Democrats: An intellectual history of the Green Wave


• The Next Explosion in Iran


• The State will win: Deal with it


• The Suffrage Green Preservation Society


• The urge to split the world into two warring camps is childish


• The 'Bomb Iran' contingent's newfound concern for The Iranian People


• The 'Neda video', torture, and the truth-revealing power of images


• There Will Be Blood


• Tiananmen Moments


• Top Jundallah Figure Says U.S. Ordered Attacks Inside Iran


• U.S. grants support to Iranian dissidents


• U.S. to increase funding for ‘hackivists’ aiding Iranians


• War with Iran: Has It Already Begun?


• Was Iran's election rigged? Here's what is known so far


• Who Put the 'Green' in the Green Revolution?


• Who Said 'No Comment'?


• Why are the Iranians dreaming again?


• Why is Dennis Ross being ousted as Obama envoy to Iran?

Iraq

• A reporter reflects on what war brought to Iraq


• After six years of 'liberation', Iraqis learn the limits of a free press


• Al-Hakim's Death Unsettles Iraqi Politics


• Blackwater in Court Today in War Crimes Hearing


• Colonizing Iraq


• Confidential memo reveals U.S. plan to provoke an invasion of Iraq


• Elections Shake Kurdistan: Strong Showing of 'Change' Party Stuns Political Elite


• From beyond the grave, Saddam reveals all (nearly)


• George Galloway at the U.S. Senate: Part 1, Part 2 (YouTube videos)


• Heads in the Sand: The 'Sunni awakening' could have started in 2004 if the Bush administration hadn't been so driven by ideology


• How the FBI Broke Saddam: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4


• Iraq: mission accomplished?


• Iraq book ban raises fears of free speech clampdown


• Iraq in throes of environmental catastrophe, experts say


• Iraq's Assyrian Christians find temporary home in Kurdistan


• Iraq's New Death Squad


• Iraq’s Shi'a power base shifts: Death of key leader brings questions about future of political empire


• Iraqi Oil Minister accused of mother of all sell-outs


• Iraqi Who Threw Shoes at Bush to Be Released Early


• Is Ethnic Strife Inevitable in Iraq?


• Kurdish magazine sparks wrath by urging Jews to return


• Minorities Can’t Escape Northern Iraq’s Ethno-religious Maelstrom


• Now It's a Census That Could Rip Iraq Apart


• Out Now!


• Powerful Iraqi Shi'a leader has died in Iran


• Radioactive wreckage and landmines blight Iraq


• Recalling the Downing Street Minutes


• Religion and Politics in Iraq: What Type of Sectarianism Really Exists?


• The Case for Leaving Iraq—Now


• The Saddam Files: His final interviews


• The Sheikh Down


• U.S. criticised for use of phosphorous in 2004 Fallujah attack


• U.S. forces to continue patrolling in Basra after June 30


• U.S. forces 'used chemical weapons' during assault on city of Fallujah


• U.S. role in Iraq doesn't end just yet


• U.S. takes in 1,350 Palestinian refugees


• U.S. troops to return to northern Iraq despite Barack Obama’s withdrawal plan


• Visits to a U.S. Prison in Iraq Often Bring More Worries and Questions


• Water, Water Everywhere, and Not a Drop to Drink in Iraq


• With Hakim’s Death, Who Leads Iraq’s Opposition Bloc?


• Worries About a Kurdish-Arab Conflict Move to the Fore in Iraq

Islam

• A better way to rid Canada of the burqa


• Declining Christian population a fact of life in Middle East


• Fears of an Islamic revolt in Europe begin to fade


• Why Fears of a Muslim Takeover Are All Wrong

Israel-Palestine

• 'Palestinians' Without 'Palestine'


• 'Socialized Medicine' and Hamas: Big Lies Thrive


• Abridged Histories of the Holy Land


• Are the Arabs Ready for Peace with Israel?


• Behind Hamas's Own War on Terrorism


• Breaking Bibi


• Can Fatah reinvent itself?


• Debating, Again, the Founding of Israel


• Fatah extends stormy conference


• Fatah strangled at rebirth


• Fatah's old guard ousted by election of intifada chief


• From Sheikh Jarrah to Sheikh Munis


• Gaza's two years under Hamas: order and absurdity


• Hamas leader says ready to accept state on 1967 borders


• Hamas profits from Israel's Gaza blockade


• How Israel's naval blockade denies Gazans food and aid


• Israel considered two-state solution just after Six-Day War


• Israel starving Gaza of power and water


• Israel's settlement setback


• Israel's settlements are on shaky ground


• Israeli, Palestinian mayors address water contamination


• Israeli 'Settlements': Fictions on the Ground


• Loss of nuclear monopoly: an Israeli nightmare


• Netanyahu's Illusory Concession on a Palestinian State


• Palestian Violence Overstated, Jewish Violence Understated


• Quiet Slicing of the West Bank Makes Abstract Prayers for Peace Obscene


• The Beleaguered Christians of the Palestinian-Controlled Areas


• The Disappearing Palestinian


• The First Israeli Jew in Fatah's Parliament


• The Million Person Gap: The Arab Population in the West Bank and Gaza (.pdf file)


• The Two-State Solution Doesn't Solve Anything


• Unlikely Ally for Residents of West Bank


• What Actually Happened in Fatah's Elections?


• Why Israel will thwart Obama on settlements


• Zionism: A Defense

Latin America

• Democracy hangs by a thread in Honduras


• History Haunts Honduras


• Honduras’s swift coup was months in the making


• U.S.-Colombia Strategic Accord Prompts Questions at Home, Across Region

Lebanon

• 'Despite defeat Hezbollah remains a potent political force'


• A victory where all 'remains the same'


• Aah, that damned popular vote…


• Anatomy of a Victory


• Balancing act for Lebanon's opposition


• Breakthrough in Tribunal Investigation: New Evidence Points to Hezbollah in Hariri Assassination


• Bring it Aoun


• Deconstructing the Popular Vote


• Deconstructing the Popular Vote in Lebanon's Election


• Democracy, Lebanese-Style


• Did Obama Win Lebanese Election?


• Enemies All Around Us


• Five hours of hate town can't forget


• Hezbollah handed a stinging defeat


• Hizbullah: It Feels So Good to Be So Bad…


• In Lebanon Vote, Stark Options, Complex Choices


• Lebanon dodges Hezbollah bullet, for now


• Lebanon vote undercuts Hezbollah and is a boost for Obama


• Lebanon's Exodus


• Militant captured in Lebanon day after jailbreak


• More political strife in Lebanon expected after victory of U.S.-backed coalition


• New to Politics But Not to Sorrow


• Preserving Christian Lebanon


• Shattered Christian Minorities in the Middle East: The Case of Lebanon


• Shi'a-Christian alliance shakes Lebanon politics


• Shooting blanks and the popular vote


• Should We Worry About Sami Gemayel?


• The 1983 Suicide Attack on US Marines in Beirut - Hezbollah Attack Killing 241 US Marines in Beirut (1983)


• The Closing of the Christian Womb in the Middle East


• The Lebanese Elections: A Box Office Success?


• The political dilemma facing Lebanese Christians


• What Really Happened in the Lebanese Elections?

Media

• Files prove Pentagon is profiling reporters


• Journalists' Recent Work Examined Before Being Embedded


• Military Prepares Profiles on Reporters Visiting War Zones


• Shocked, Shocked! The Pentagon Is Profiling Journalists!


• The Coming Media Bailout


• The media can't handle the truth

Russia and Its Neighbours

• Canada to spend $30M securing bio-warfare labs


• Central Asia Sounds Alarm on Islamic Radicalism


• Fear stalks Caucasus amid hidden war


• Fool Me Twice


• Kyrgyzstan: At the Crossroad of Empires, a Mouse Struts


• Letter from Tbilisi


• NATO Gains Weight


• North Korean labor camps a ghastly prospect for U.S. journalists


• Russia's Knotty Policies on Islam, Mirrored in Trial


• Russia's 'Loose Nukes': The continuing threat to American security


• Truck bomb signals on Russia's southern flank


• U.S. courts Central Asian human-rights abusers in Taliban fight

Illegal and Questionable U.S. Government Policies

• A day of reckoning for Bush's 'torture' lawyers


• A Thousand Little Gitmos


• A Window Into C.I.A.’s Embrace of Secret Jails


• ABC News' Interview with Lakhdar Boumediene and Our Current Policies


• Attorney General Appoints Torture Prosecutor, Rejects Nuremberg Principle


• Bush Surveillance Program Was Massive


• Bush's Search Policy For Travelers Is Kept


• Cheney's New Gambit


• Cheney's Plans for a Military Coup


• Christians Largely Mum on Torture


• CIA Documents Provide Little Cover for Cheney Claims


• CIA Releases Its Instructions For Breaking a Detainee's Will


• CIA Renewed Contract With Psychologists Who Endorsed Waterboarding Weeks After Obama Took Office Before Firing Them


• CIA spies 'certified' with 2 weeks training


• CIA Used Gun and Drill in Interrogation of Alleged USS Cole Attack Mastermind


• Civilian trials won't be cakewalks for Guantanamo detainees


• Conservative Magazine: 'Sibel Edmonds Speaks, But No One is Listening'


• Deaths and Missing Detainees Still Blacked Out in New CIA Report


• Enhanced Justification Techniques


• Extraordinary Measures


• Feds Urge Dismissal of Wiretapping Case


• Freed Uighurs relishing Bermuda’s sun and sand


• Fringe Leftist Losers: Wrong Even When They're Right


• From Guantanamo to the South Pacific: Is This a Joke?


• Grays of Making Them Talk: The fuzzy line between approved interrogation methods and Torture


• Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib… Bagram?


• Guantanamo's Youngest Prisoner Released to Chad


• How Civilized, Law-Abiding Countries Imprison Terrorists


• In stark legal turnaround, Obama now resembles Bush


• Interview with Philip Giraldi: The long-awaited deposition of Sibel Edmonds, Marc Grossman’s 2001 outing of CIA front group Brewster Jennings, the failure of the MSM to cover news outside the left-right paradigm, the incredible level of corruption in the U.S. government, and the influence of Turkish and Israeli lobbies in Congress.


• Justice Department Eyes Narrow 'Investigation' Into CIA Torture


• Justice Department May Skirt Court Order on Interrogation Documents


• Letting Cheney Off the Hook


• New Revelations About the Torture of Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi


• New York Times Finally Apologizes for Guantanamo Recidivism Story


• Obama Administration to Formalize, Continue Rendition System


• Obama goes to bat for Bush wiretap program


• Obama's Embrace of Signing Statements, Riles Congress


• Obama's support for the new Graham-Lieberman secrecy law


• Pentagon Report Verified Detainee Torture


• Real ID: A Real Warning on the Danger of Government


• Report Details 'Massive Surveillance' and 'Inappropriate Secrecy' in Bush-era Wiretap Program


• Seven Points on the CIA Report


• Sibel Edmonds' Deposition: Video and Transcript Released


• Stop Letting Cheney Frame the Torture Debate


• The CIA's Bad Apples


• The Mysterious Eleventh Torture Technique: Prolonged Diapering?


• The New York Times Calls Iranian Interrogation Tactics 'Torture'


• The New York Times's Failure of Understanding


• The NSA is still listening to you


• The Shahrukh Khan Affair—The Aftermath


• To Critics, Obama's Terrorism Policy Looks a Lot Like Bush's


• Tortured Truth


• Two U.S. Architects of Harsh Tactics in 9/11’s Wake


• Uighurs held at Guantanamo Going to Pacific Nation of Palau


• United States: Trade in Torture


• Vanishing Liberties


• Washington Post Helps CIA Defend Torture


• What every American should be made to learn about the CIA Inspector General Torture Report


• What if the Uighurs were Christian rather than Muslim?


• What's Missing from the CIA Documents


• Whistleblower's Courage at Guantanamo


• Who Are We?

War and Intervention

• After $22 billion, little proof UN programs work


• Bill Kristol condemns lying for political ends: seriously


• Bombings Worse than Nagasaki and Hiroshima


• How to Deal with America's Empire of Bases


• Interview with Eric Margolis: The troop increase and mission creep in Afghanistan, U.S. alliances with Central Asian despots, the subservience of the State Department to the Pentagon in foreign policy, and the consequences of the sanctions on Iran.


• Interview with Michael Scheuer: The government’s reliance on CIA covert action instead of conventional military force to protect the U.S., how the Congress and President fail to take meaningful action because they seek the adulation of the media and Europe, the wisdom in leaving Afghanistan ASAP, and how Americans won’t realize their government isn’t protecting them until Osama bin Laden attacks again.


• Is the Antiwar Movement Waking Up?


• Just Six More Months to Victory!


• Mr. Obama, Tear Down This Empire


• Not So Huddled Masses: Multiculturalism and Foreign Policy


• Our Suicide Bombers


• Pentagon Official Questions U.S. Message to Muslims


• The Scapegoat's Apology


• U.S. eyes 12 giant 'bunker buster' bombs


• War? What War?


• What If Osama Calls Obama's Bluff?


• Why Policy Matters

Uncategorized

• A Revisionist's Burden


• Don Marquis: A Non-Religious Anti-Abortion Argument


• Don't Get That College Degree!


• Frail, cowardly Winston saved us


• How new grads can get hired, even now


• Practical Internet Privacy


• Preparedness for Travelers


• The justifications of the torturer


• Top five right and wrong reasons to get married

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'