The takeaway from the scandal over the detention by British authorities of Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald's partner, David Miranda, should be obvious: it was an egregious abuse of power by a desperate and cretinous government. Miranda was detained for 9 hours,...
Bradley Manning Tragedy Captured in One Quote
Tom Blanton's photowork and caption captures the sad finale of Bradley Manning. "Those with proper authority" .... I liked that phrase better when Stephen Colbert uses it. See more of Blanton's artwork & zippety headlines at http://www.pnar.org.
Dying For Your Country
The Onion has a commentary up by someone bravely pronouncing his willingness to die for his country. Or...a country. As a true patriot, I would gladly die in battle defending my homeland. I love my country more than my own life. But I would also be more than willing...
Hosni Mubarak To Be Released, as US-Backed Military Retains Control
Hosni Mubarak, the former U.S.-backed dictator of Egypt who was arrested and tried after being ousted by a popular revolt two years ago, is going to be released from custody within the next two days. I read this news this morning, after a piece of mine was published...
The REAL reason Mr. Obama won’t declare Egypt a “coup?”
According to The Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, The U.S. Government must suspend aid, particularly military aid, to any country suffering a military coup. (Sec. 508). SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: Egypt -- the [Egyptian] military does get this $1.3 billion of [U.S.] aid,...
Oiling the War Machinery, From Oslo to Heathrow to Washington
In Oslo, the world’s most important peace prize has been hijacked for war.In London, government authority has just fired a new shot at freedom of the press.And in Washington, the Obama administration continues to escalate its attacks on whistleblowers, journalism and...
US-Backed Maliki Gov’t is Driving Iraq Into Civil War
Following up on Kelley Vlahos's brilliant post about the ongoing failure of the U.S.'s vaunted surge in Iraq, an important question arises as to why Iraq remains on the verge of civil war. It is not, as many seem to think, for mysterious and complex reasons that are...
Egypt: Paging Samantha Power!
Think back a couple weeks and recall the political narratives accompanying Obama's pick for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, the journalist and Harvard scholar at the forefront of the debate over humanitarian interventions for the past decade....
Leave Egypt Alone
Marc Lynch at Foreign Policy: With blood in Egypt's streets and a return to a state of emergency, it's time for Washington to stop pretending. Its efforts to maintain its lines of communication with the Egyptian military, quietly mediate the crisis, and help lay the...
Iraq: This is what it looks like when you rip off the Band Aid
As of July 1st, there have been 1,405 people killed in Iraq, mostly civilians. That number is likely to change by the time you read this -- just yesterday, 45 people died as a result of numerous terror attacks across the country. One bomb had been planted near a cafe,...
