Barack Obama made a conscious choice when taking office to Look Forward and Not Back after eight years of illegal torture committed by the Bush administration. Tom Engelhardt unpacks this legacy: To put it another way, every CIA torturer, all those involved in acts of rendition, and all the officials who okayed such acts, as…
Showing all posts tagged Barack Obama
AIPAC faithful hate Palestinians and believe in fairy tales
Max Blumenthal paints the bleak picture: On May 22, thousands of supporters of America’s most powerful pro-Israel lobbying group, the America-Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, converged on Washington for the group’s annual conference. For two days they watched Democratic and Republican congressional leaders pledge their undivided loyalty to the state of Israel, and by…
Saluting the lone woman who stood up to Netanyahu in Congress
Rae Abileah is a peace activist with the group CodePink and a Jewish American of Israeli descent. She shouted out during Netanyahu’s pro-occupation speech a few days ago: No more occupation! End Israeli war crimes! No more occupation! End Israeli war crimes! She tells Democracy Now! why: There’s a culture of silence and fear in…
Obama’s Middle East words as empty as air
My latest article for New Matilda appears today: The US President is delivering sterner speeches on the Israel Palestine conflict but until he bolsters his rhetoric with action, it’s hard to see how progress can be made, writes Antony Loewenstein Forget about what he actually said. Imagine if US President Barack Obama said something like…
Obama admin pleased that Netanyahu refuses to acknowledge Zionist racism
Really: White House spokesman Jay Carney expressed satisfaction with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Congress address and his commitment to peace. The White House is satisfied with the commitment Netanyahu expressed for the two-state vision, Carney said. Ben Rhodes, a senior official in the US National Security Council who is currently touring Europe with President Barack…
Washington strongly backs brutal Saudi regime
Because selling deadly weapons is the best way to show America’s real commitment to democracy in the Arab world: On the same day President Obama pressed again for peace in the Middle East, the Associated Press reminded us that the United States cannot help itself from flooding the region with the instruments of war, reporting…
On Obama, AIPAC, occupation, revolutions and the status-quo
So much discussion about the latest elaborate dance between the US under Barack Obama and Israel. In many ways, little has changed over the years, as Washington occasionally talks tough with Israel but then never does anything more. Words are cheap in the Middle East, especially as the occupation deepens every day. And, as if…
Obama given Zionist history lesson at White House
Aluf Benn in Haaretz argues that the Israeli Prime Minister frames himself as a saviour of the Jewish people but in fact he only wants to defend occupying the Palestinians forever: Benjamin Netanyahu’s whole career as a diplomat and politician prepared him for that moment: the moment he, as the Jewish people’s senior lobbyist, stands…
John Mearsheimer on why Obama failed to address Palestinian rights
He’s right: Barack Obama gave a major speech on the Middle East on Thursday, May 19, and it is clear from the subsequent commentary that he impressed few people.… The main reason for this is that he did not say much new or indicate that there would be any serious changes in US policy in the…