Following the 2009 military coup in Honduras, the U.S. expanded aid and security cooperation with the new hard-right government and heaped legitimacy on the regime despite steadily increasing human rights abuses. This week, Honduras had an election that many...
What Does $7 Billion Actually Mean to Iran?
One of the four emerging myths about the Iran-P5+1 deal has reached a fever pitch. Turn on basically any network news channel and you'll hear it propagated again and again: Iran got too much sanctions relief! People are even saying this deal asked too much of the P5+1...
Four Emerging Myths About the Iran, P5+1 Deal
The deal reached between Iran and the P5+1 is top news today and probably much of this week. In one of the few instances of a media buzz word accurately describing a major news event, I do think the agreement, although simply an interim deal, is historic. It wasn't...
The Red Herring in Iran Nuclear Negotiations: Arak
The P5+1 and Iran are in Geneva negotiating the details of a first-phase deal on Tehran's nuclear program. In the last round of talks, France scuttled the deal all other parties had reportedly agreed upon, citing Iran's Arak heavy water reactor as a proliferation...
Israel’s Siege of Gaza Is Sadistic and Illegal, Yet US Support Continues
Israel's blockade of Gaza has long been known for it's cruel results in strangling the population. But two recent happenings - namely Egypt's destruction of Gaza's smuggling tunnels and Israel's decision ratchet up the blockade by blocking construction materials -...
What Does Drawing Down the Afghan War Mean For the US Drone War in Pakistan?
Here's an uncomfortable reality: the Obama administration's decision to recommit to the war in Afghanistan and surge U.S. military forces in his first term was made largely to allow for continued U.S. drone attacks in neighboring Pakistan. The hundreds of billions of...
Is the US Exploiting Typhoon Suffering to Win Military Bases in the Philippines?
Last week I wrote about the potential for the Obama administration's Asia-Pivot strategy to inflame anti-colonialist sentiment. I lamented that Washington tries simply to get around this popular opposition to the military surge in East Asia instead of acknowledging...
Israel Knows How to Derail Iran Negotiations: Lie
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...
Amnesty Urges Afghan Council to Demand Accountability for US War Crimes
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...
Enlightenment
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...