President Barack Obama signs an executive order closing the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2009, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak) A President Who Doesn’t Even Try Is Obama Kowtowing to the Right? Or Is He One of Them? by Ted Rall The President’s progressive critics blame [...]
Is Peace Getting in the Way of Our War Plans? By David Swanson http://warisacrime.org/content/peace-getting-way-our-war-plans What a bizarre circumstance this is. The irrational Iranians are behaving too reasonably. The unmovable Iranians seem to be compromising too readily. This past weekend, the United States and other major nations finally spoke with Iran. In [...]
(Photo: Steve took it)After discovering during a recent train trip that Sabra hummus, a boycott target of the Palestine solidarity movement, was served on Amtrak, I wrote this essay to tackle what the Sabra brand’s presence on the train evoked for me, the child of a railroad worker: the grim intersections of oppression at home and [...]
OWS by Creative Commons Is the solution more democracy and how do elections fit into that picture since this session’s title is “Is Voting a Solution?” “How do we get there from here?” would be another way of putting this question. A basic disagreement exists within the Left between those who argue that elections are [...]
A Tale of Two Tales What Real World?By Fred Reed March 16, 2012 “Information Clearing House” —As I listen to American fury against uncoöperative Afghans, to Congress furiously denouncing Pakistan for anemic aid in conducting the current wars, I sometimes wonder whether the US is playing with a full deck. The [...]
The situation in Afghanistan is a nightmare. The surge has not worked. As we escalated the war, the insurgency fought harder and grew in numbers. Western troops are seen as foreign occupiers in the Afghan homeland, and now have murdered 16 civilians, including little children, in the middle of the night in Kandahar [...]
India’s ruling Congress party has suffered a major election setback in crucial state polls, winning clearly in just one of five states contested. Congress, which runs the federal government in New Delhi, suffered a landslide defeat in Uttar Pradesh, India‘s most populous and politically significant state. With all but a few results [...]
The Five: Uniting intelligence for the good of humanity OLGA DÍAZ RUIZ GREETINGS from the Cuban Five, serving unjust prison terms in the United States, were communicated during the closing session of University 2012 in Havana’s International Convention Center. The Five called attention to the importance of this event “in uniting intelligence for [...]
Secret Wars and the Rule of Law by Tim Kelly, December 21, 2011 The president of the United States now wages secret wars virtually independent of Congress and in direct violation of the United States Constitution. Earlier this month, the White House issued several findings authorizing U.S. intelligence services to carry [...]
Perhaps the really sad factor in all the discussions about Obama‘s lack of any achievements is the grave likelihood that he never intended to carry out any measure that was part of his electoral platforms and his selling himself to his army of supporters. All the dancing, the tears of Joy as he was elected [...]
Set Your Doomsday Clock to 11:51 By David Swanson http://warisacrime.org/content/set-your-doomsday-clock-1151 The National Defense Authorization Act is not a leap from democracy to tyranny, but it is another major step on a steady and accelerating decade-long march toward a police state. The doomsday clock of our republic just got noticeably closer to midnight, and [...]
The AFL-CIO launched a new website on Tuesday designed to capture the stories of the unemployed in their own words. The website, Share Your Story allows site visitors to upload their stories and pictures to the site, providing a human face to the issue of unemployment, which politicians talk a lot about, but don’t seem [...]
U.S. budget cuts and the next war of choice By BENNETT RAMBERG LOS ANGELES — The failure of the U.S. Congressional Joint Committee on Deficit Reduction to reach agreement on budget cuts now sets the stage for $1.2 trillion in automatic reductions to begin in January 2013. Should these cuts go [...]
The Senate and the Afghanistan War By David Swanson http://warisacrime.org/content/senate-and-afghanistan-war The Senate just voted against the Afghanistan war. Here’s the good, the bad, and the ugly. THE GOOD The U.S. Senate on Wednesday voted by voice vote to pass an amendment that concludes thus: “Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that— 1) [...]
George W Bush invaded both Afghanistan and Iraq, loading a great burden on the US economy [EPA] Perhaps this article should be renamed or carry the theme that what is happening is an all out attempt to keep expenditure on defence going. Defence against what becomes the real question. The security talked about is actually [...]
Iran Threat Reduction Act Actually Enhances Threat of War by Stephen Zunes, November 14, 2011 | Print This | Share This | Antiwar Forum Congress is taking up dangerous legislation that appears to be designed to pave the way for war by taking the unprecedented step of effectively preventing any kind of U.S. diplomatic contact with [...]
Why Defense Debates Are Unbalanced THE SKEPTICS |More Benjamin H. Friedman | November 8, 2011 A reporter asked me the other day why my side of the military budget debate—for slashing spending—has been quiet lately. Given that I have been spending too much time making such arguments, I was slightly annoyed. The conversation was a [...]
Lawyers told the US Supreme Court Monday the question of whether Israel is listed on a passport of a person born in Jerusalem raises key issues on foreign policy and separation of powers. (AFP/Getty Images/Chris Hondros, File) WASHINGTON (AFP) — It may seem like a case on dull passport rules, but lawyers told the [...]
Uruguay lawmakers revoke Dirty War amnesty AP – Nun Sor Genevieve Jeanningros, from France, niece of missing French nun Sor Leonie Duquet, looks on as … By RAUL O. GARCES, Associated Press – Thu Oct 27, 10:40 am ET MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay – Uruguay’s Congress revoked amnesty for military officials charged with human rights abuses on Thursday, ending a deal between left and right [...]
America’s Foreign Dictatorship by Jacob G. Hornberger President Obama’s reaction to the alleged Iranian assassination plot reflects, once again, the dictatorial powers that the president of the United States now wields in foreign affairs. As many commentators are noting, the whole scheme appears to be as bogus as a 3-dollar bill, but that isn’t really [...]
Dispatch From Activist Arrested for “Assaulting” Leon Panetta During Supposedly Public Hearing LIKE THIS ARTICLE ? Join our mailing list: Sign up to stay up to date on the latest Civil Liberties headlines via email. A CODEPINK activist shares the story of how she and seven others were arrested last week while trying to bring [...]
Supercommittee Co-Chair Patty Murray Accepts Award from Defense Industry As She Mulls Cuts To Pentagon Budget Photo Credit: JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images Why won’t the mainstream media or supercommittee member Patty Murray talk about her award from the defense industry? October 5, 2011 | When Senator John Kyl, a Republican member of the “supercommittee” charged with [...]
After Ten Years of the “War on Terror,” It’s Time to Scrap the Authorization for Use of Military Force by Andy Worthington, September 16, 2011 Many Americans probably think that the “War on Terror” began on September 11, 2001, when the terrible terrorist attacks took place, whose tenth anniversary has recently been marked. However, the “War [...]
How Congress Sees the Middle East Through AIPAC-Colored Glasses by MEDEA BENJAMIN and ALLISON McCRACKEN During August recess this year, 81 members of Congress went on a junket to Israel funded by the Israel lobby group AIPAC (well, funded by the American Israel Education Fund, but they are really one and the same) to “learn [...]
Barack Obama looks up at a White House press conference in which he called upon Republicans to act in the interest of the country over borrowing talks. Photograph: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters Barack Obama has warned of “significant consequences” for the US economy if stalled financial negotiations lead to Congress failing to permit more government borrowing and America [...]
What’s So Important About a Declaration of War? by Tom Mullen, May 14, 2011 Email This | Print This | Share This | Antiwar Forum Presidential hopeful Ron Paul insists that the U.S. government shouldn’t go to war without a declaration of war. His son Rand has also taken this position, as have several libertarian-leaning Tea Party candidates. According [...]
White House Not Mulling Larger Role in Libya War France Pushing for Ground Invasion, Warning of Stalemate by Jason Ditz, April 18, 2011 Email This | Print This | Share This | Antiwar Forum White House spokesman Jay Carney insisted on Monday that the US is not considering a larger role in the war in Libya, rejecting reports [...]
