The Arab world responds appropriately.
Showing all posts tagged United States
Fisk on what Obama should say about the Middle East (but won’t)
Spot on: OK, so here’s what President Barack Obama should say today about the Middle East. We will leave Afghanistan tomorrow. We will leave Iraq tomorrow. We will stop giving unconditional, craven support to Israel. Americans will force the Israelis – and the European Union – to end their siege of Gaza. We will withhold…
Private prisons only help the private companies
The reality, according to this piece in the New York Times, is that privatising prisons doesn’t save money or bring more accountability or make people’s lives any better. Politicians and commentators who say otherwise are obsessed with “market” solutions. Besides, who feels comfortable making money from the misery of others? The conviction that private prisons…
Of course there’s a powerful Zionist lobby in the US
The Mearsheimer/Walt thesis on America’s (worrying powerful) Israel lobby is proven right time and time again. Today’s Wall Street Journal: Jewish donors and fund-raisers are warning the Obama re-election campaign that the president is at risk of losing financial support because of concerns about his handling of Israel. The complaints began early in President Barack…
Wikileaks reveals how US views anti-Americanism
Very narrowly: Discussing a draft declaration from South American and Arab State leaders, a United States government operative lists a series of “anti-American digs” against the US and Israel that were later excluded from the text. What is considered anti-American is stunning and revealing. This quiet, unassuming cable shows a bizarre and expansive US foreign…
Permanent occupation of Muslim countries great for Western capitalism
Any serious draw-down of US troops from Afghanistan will affect the massive industry that’s expanded post 9/11; private military contractors. Joshua Frost on PBS contemplates the future and the likely push by major interests to maintain the occupation in the war-ravaged land; business will be negatively affected if things change too radically: Very few who…
So much pressure on Israel and yet apartheid deepens
Even New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman sounds sick of Israel (though he advocates no course of US action that may place even a little pressure on the Zionist state to end its occupation). Haaretz is unequivocal and rightly so. Some in Israel see the writing on the wall: In an op-ed piece in yesterday’s…
Evidence that world powers think always about oil
Confirmation: Of the 251,287 WikiLeaks documents McClatchy obtained, 23,927 of them — nearly one in 10 — reference oil. Gazprom alone is mentioned in 1,789. In the cables, U.S. diplomats can be found plotting ways to prevent state entities such as Gazprom from taking control of key petroleum facilities, pressing oil companies to adjust their…