Who says Americans have a love affair with Israel? A new study by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs offers some insights: “Contrary to the long-standing, official U.S. position, fewer than half of Americans show a readiness to defend Israel even against an unprovoked attack by a neighbor. Asked whether they would favor using U.S.…
Showing all posts tagged United States
Please sir, can I buy some votes for you?
Powerful editorial in the New York Times on the weekend that shows the kind of kabuki democracy at play in the US of A: For all the headlines about the Tea Party and blind voter anger, the most disturbing story of this year’s election is embodied in an odd combination of numbers and letters: 501(c)(4).…
Some drugs and loss in the noble US army
This is what war does to the occupier: When Lt. Col. Dave Wilson took command of a battalion of the 4th Brigade of the 1st Armored Division, the unit had just returned to Texas from 14 months traveling some of Iraq’s most dangerous roads as part of a logistics mission. What he found, he said,…
America, keep your dirty hands away from fighting web repression
Sami ben Gharbia, the advocacy director for Global Voices, asks that Washington cease its largely counter-productive campaign to assist dissidents around the world. Image problem, anybody? Many people outside of the U.S, not only in the Arab world, have a strong feeling that the Internet Freedom mantra emitting from Washington DC is just a cover…
Yom Kippur bottom assistance
Jews, your troubles are solved: Not so fast! Jews throughout Williamsburg snapped up caffeine suppositories today, hours before the start of the Yom Kippur fast that would deprive them of the jolt — and hunger suppression — that coffee typically provides. The day-long fast is the centerpiece of the holiest day on the Jewish calendar…
Jon Stewart on using fooking humour to make his point
Wonderful New York profile of Jon Stewart and the Daily Show, a program that becomes even more essential as America’s two-party system crumbles before our very eyes (but don’t tell them; they don’t need to realise): After September 11, Stewart began to employ his newfound anger, becoming a voice of comic sanity in the whirlwind…
America embraces poverty and mad capitalism in one clean shot
This is a first world country and the leading super-power? The downturn that some have dubbed the “Great Recession” has trimmed the typical household’s income significantly, new Census data show, following years of stagnant wage growth that made the past decade the worst for American families in at least half a century. The bureau’s annual…
Afghan women and warlords, sitting in a tree…
Just remind me. We’re staying in Afghanistan to save the women from awful oppression at the hands of the Taliban. This rather challenges that bogus narrative: Often characterised as valiant crusaders defying Afghanistan’s chauvinistic culture, many female candidates standing in tomorrow’s parliamentary elections may in fact be just the opposite: proxies doing a warlord’s bidding.…
There’s nothing the Marines can’t solve
An unnamed leading American politician tells Johan Galtung, founder of peace and conflict studies: Our instinctive reaction whenever there’s a problem is to send the Marines and not to try to solve the problem. We have done that too many times.