NPR reports: A U.S. Army helicopter brigade is set to pull out of Baghdad in December, as part of an agreement with the Iraqi government to remove U.S. forces. So the armed helicopters flying over the Iraqi capital next year will have pilots and machine gunners from DynCorp International, a company based in Virginia. On…
Showing all posts tagged United States
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…
Netanyahu in denial about his country’s occupying future
But what kind of pressure will the US really impose on Israel apart from a few stern words? The Arab world is moving, evolving into something far more inclusive and democratic and yet Israel is going in the opposite direction. The Daily Beast: Something tells me that this time, the pressure will mount more on…
America and Israel on real collision course? Hardly
As if: President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spent most of the afternoon in discussions on Friday, after which Netanyahu told his staff that he felt better about the U.S.-Israeli relationship than when he went in. “Look, I went into the meeting with concerns and I came out of the meeting encouraged,”…
Fisk on why Arabs rightly only see bowing down to Zionism
Robert Fisk on the oh-so-predictable speech by Barack Obama to inject the US back into relevance in the Arab world. It should fail, as Muslims there know full well what America’s role has always been; repression: It was the same old story. Palestinians can have a “viable” state, Israel a “secure” one. Israel cannot be…
American media largely sees Muslim world as needing our help or a threat
A man who understands the Middle East, Nir Rosen, on how the corporate media sees the Middle East: I’ve spent most of the last eight years working in Iraq and also in Somalia, Afghanistan, Yemen, and other countries in the Muslim world. So all my work has taken place in the shadow of the war…
Obama’s grand Middle East vision shafts the Palestinians (as usual)
Gideon Levy in Haaretz gets it: Benjamin Netanyahu may as well have canceled his trip to Washington: Barack Obama did the work for him, or most of it. But the prime minister is already on his way, so he should at least send to the White House a big bouquet of flowers. Netanyahu can sit…