Israel Knows How to Derail Iran Negotiations: Lie
November 20, 2013
For those who have been following U.S.-Israel-Iran relations, the one certainty we’ve come to expect is that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will say all kinds of things that aren’t true in order to shift the balance away from peaceful diplomacy and towards war. In a piece for The Washington Times, I took Bibi’s dubious […]
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Amnesty Urges Afghan Council to Demand Accountability for US War Crimes
November 20, 2013
The primary disagreement in U.S.-Afghan negotiations for a status of forces agreement is over whether U.S. occupation forces should continue to be exempt from Afghan law. Last week I pointed out the irony in all this, since Washington is essentially acknowledging that it expects crimes to continue to be committed by U.S. forces in Afghanistan. […]
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Enlightenment
November 20, 2013
I’ve been a guest in Colorado Springs, Colorado, following a weeklong retreat with Colorado College students who are part of a course focused on nonviolence. In last weekend’s Colorado Springs Gazette, there was an article in the Military Life section about an international skype phone call between U.S. soldiers in Kandahar, Afghanistan and sixth grade […]
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Gettysburg Address: Still Balderdash after 150 Years
November 19, 2013
I am mystified by all the whooping on the 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address. Most of the commentators seem to believe that Lincoln was an honest man touting the highest ideals. The fact that warmongers like George W. Bush and Obama purport to idolize Lincoln should be a warning sign to attentive folks. Massachusetts […]
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Drone Victims Take on Washington DC
November 15, 2013
Faisal bin Ali Gaber is a soft-spoken engineer from Yemen. After he lost his cousin and brother-in-law in a drone strike in August 2012, he published an open letter to President Obama and Yemeni President Hadi. He said his brother-in-law was an imam who had strongly and publicly opposed al-Qaeda, and that his young cousin […]
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US Asia-Pivot Could Inflame Anti-Colonialist Sentiment
November 14, 2013
Obama’s strategic pivot to Asia has been hamstrung by hard facts. Sequestration included cuts to the defense budget that officials say handicapped the planned military surge in East Asia. The Syrian civil war, nuclear negotiations with Iran, and efforts to get Israeli and Palestinian leaders back to the table have drawn the U.S. back into […]
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Here’s How We Know Iran Is Serious About a Nuclear Deal
November 14, 2013
Those in Congress who oppose U.S.-Iran negotiations to settle the nuclear issue essentially argue that Iran is untrustworthy and is simply trying to buy time in talks to build a nuclear bomb. Anyone paying attention can see this is irrational. First of all, the consensus opinion in the U.S. intelligence community is that Iran has […]
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Why the Status of Forces Agreement Is So Important for Afghanistan
November 14, 2013
In about a month and a half it will be 2014. As far as U.S. policy in Afghanistan is concerned, 2014 is a big year. When President Obama announced the military surge in 2009, he mapped out a so-called “withdrawal” plan and the date for the official end of the surge has always been 2014. […]
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NSA Aside, It’s Way Too Easy For Government to Snoop On You
November 14, 2013
Since Edward Snowden’s leaks, much attention has been paid to the domestic surveillance capabilities of the NSA, which have turned out to be more egregious than many predicted. But it’s worth remembering that the government has all kinds of ways to invade the privacy of innocent Americans. McClatchy has a bombshell story up about a […]
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