In one of our posts surrounding our January 6, 2010 Op Ed in The New York Times, we noted that “analytic views of Iranian politics since the June 12 presidential election have important implications for the debate about U.S. and Western policy toward Tehran.” In particular, buying into the proposition that the Islamic Republic is […]
Subjects Archives: War
A Year after the Gaza War
Speech at the Protest Rally, Tel Aviv, 2 January 2010 Good evening to all who came to mark the first anniversary of the Gaza carnage, and to protest on the comfortable complacence which inhabitants of this city and this country exhibit in face of the slow annihilation which goes on and on in Gaza […]
The Future of Iran
Steven Scully: How serious a threat do we face from Iran’s nuclear capabilities? Flynt Leverett: I don’t view it as a serious or imminent threat. It is a problem that needs to be managed and dealt with, but it is not a threat. What we know about the Iranian nuclear program is that Iran […]
To Shoot an Elephant
“This is an embedded film. We decided to be ’embedded within the ambulances’ opening an imaginary dialogue with those journalists who embed themselves within armies.” — Alberto Arce
Is War the Answer to a Depression?
Paul Jay: One of the big issues about the stimulus and government expenditure is the debate over military expenditure. People say that World War 2 helped to get America out of the 1930s depression. So, forget the kind of moral issues, ethical issues, or issues of international law — this expansion into Afghanistan may […]
New York Times Op-Ed Calls for War on Iran
The New York Times published an op-ed today that calls for war against Iran. Alan J. Kuperman, director of the Nuclear Proliferation Prevention Program at the University of Texas at Austin, argues that the unraveling of the uranium enrichment agreement proves that the United States must conduct air strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities to prevent […]
Green Mountain Mustering for the War at Home or Abroad?
Earlier this month, the Burlington had a busy weekend mustering its “troops” for active duty on several fronts, one at home and the other abroad. On Saturday, Dec. 5, two hundred labor and community activists gathered in this leading progressive city to plan more effective resistance to job cuts and contract give-backs demanded by recession-ravaged […]
Washington’s Two Lost Wars
The United States has already lost the war in Afghanistan, just as it has lost the war in Iraq. President Barack Obama’s vast expansion of the Afghan war announced Dec. 1, and the extension of the violence into neighboring Pakistan, are intended to camouflage the reality of defeat, as was the Bush Administration’s “surge” in […]
Index: The Privatized War in Afghanistan
Additional number of American troops President Obama plans to deploy to Afghanistan: 30,000 Total number of U.S. troops that will be there after the deployment: 98,000 Number of private contractors working for the U.S. in Afghanistan as of September 2009: 104,101 Percent by which that number grew between June and September: 40 Percent of […]
West Point March and Rally Protests Obama’s War Plan
Over 300 antiwar protesters took part in a demonstration at the gates to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point Dec. 1 as President Barack Obama sought to justify his decision to send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan. Facing police and soldiers at the Highland Falls gate to the Academy, demonstrators repeatedly chanted, “30,000 more! […]
Lynne Stewart: Casualty of the “War on Terror”
In a decision that reflects the post-911 terrorism hysteria, a three-judge panel of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed prominent civil rights attorney Lynne Stewart’s convictions and remanded her case to district court Judge John G. Koeltl to reconsider her sentence. The appellate panel directed Koeltl to remand Stewart to custody and the […]
Excerpt from The Conduct of the Allies, and of the Late Ministry, in the Beginning and Carrying on the Present War
After ten years’ war with perpetual success, to tell us it is yet impossible to have a good peace, is very surprising, and seems so different from what has ever happened in the world before, that a man of any party may be allowed suspecting that we have either been ill used, or have […]
Goldstonewalled! US Congress Endorses Israeli War Crimes
“It is part of morality not to be at home in one’s home.” — Edward Said On the afternoon of November 3, 2009, the United States House of Representatives voted in favor of House Resolution 867 (H.Res.867), an AIPAC-backed bill that urges both President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to “oppose unequivocally […]
Joint Statement from Under the Hood Café and the Fort Hood Chapter of Iraq Veterans Against the War
Our community is distraught by the tragic shooting at Fort Hood yesterday. We extend our condolences to the families and friends of the victims. As upset as we are about this incident, this shooting does not come as a shock. Eight years of senseless wars have taken a huge toll on our troops and their […]
The Democrats’ War in Afghanistan
Part 1: Eight Years and Counting The United States invasion and occupation of Afghanistan entered its ninth year in October, and the majority of Americans now tell opinion polls they want it to end. So far the war has failed to achieve U.S. objectives, and it is likely the Obama Administration’s expansion of the fighting […]
Veterans Brock McIntosh and Rick Reyes on Afghanistan
“I thought as soon as we hit the ground, we would immediately start changing things and making it better for the people, but, during the entire time I was there, we rarely did any kind of humanitarian aid missions. They have a lot of social issues that they are dealing with, like poverty and […]
A War of Terror in Pakistan: Interview with Saadia Toor
Saadia Toor is an assistant professor at Staten Island College, author of a forthcoming book on Pakistan from Pluto Press, and part of the group Action for a Progressive Pakistan. The Pakistani Army has launched a major offensive against Taliban forces in the province of Waziristan. What is behind this assault, and what impact will […]
Malalai Joya: “The Bravest Woman in Afghanistan”
“Now, my people are squashed between two powerful enemies. From the sky, the occupation forces are dropping bombs, even using cluster bombs and white phosphorus and killing innocent civilians in the name of combating the Taliban. On the ground, the Taliban and also Northern Alliance fundamentalists continue their fascism against men and women of […]
Indian State Must Stop Its War against People
In the past few months, the government, by repeatedly asserting its perception of the Maoists as the ‘biggest threat to internal security’, by criminalising the CPI (Maoist), and through a sustained project of trying to build a consensus against various forms of popular upsurge and dissent, has been creating ground for the onslaught that is […]
SEIU Civil War Puts “Partnership” in New Light
Tom Kochan, Robert McKersie, Adrienne Eaton, and Paul Adler. Healing Together: The Labor-Management Partnership at Kaiser Permanente. Ithaca, NY: Cornell ILR Press, 2009. During his uncontested campaign for AFL-CIO president this year, Rich Trumka offered the olive branch to corporate America — despite the latter’s demonstrated lack of enthusiasm for reinstating organized labor as its […]
