Subjects Archives: War

The extent of Israel’s brutality against Palestinian civilians in its 22-day pounding of the Gaza Strip is gradually surfacing.  Israeli soldiers are testifying to lax rules of engagement tantamount to a license to kill.  One soldier commented: “That’s what is so nice, supposedly, about Gaza: You see a person on a road, walking along a […]

  The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement: Investigate the Israeli Missile Contract The Rs. 10,000 crore missile production deal with an Israeli company, the Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), has now been exposed as a deal involving massive kickbacks besides being an unnecessary contract.  The Left parties […]

From the Bush Wars (more Iraq than Afghanistan) to the Obama Wars (more Afghanistan and Pakistan than Iraq). . . . Scenes from the “March on the Pentagon” RallyVideo by William Hughes Hollywood San Francisco Atlanta St. Paul, Minnesota Madison Tacoma

Barack Obama announces that everyone is coming home except for several dozen thousands of soldiers. President Barack Obama: Let me say this as plainly as I can: by August 31, 2010, our combat mission in Iraq will end. Jon Stewart: War — is — over . . . . (swaying to the song “Happy Xmas […]

In this Briefing, we look at how the US’s agricultural reconstruction work in Afghanistan and Iraq not only gives easy entry to US agribusiness and pushes neoliberal policies, something that has always been a primary function of US development assistance, but is also an intrinsic part of the US military campaign in these countries and […]

  Part 1 Part 2 Cf.  Kamran Rehmat, “Swat: Pakistan’s Lost Paradise” (Al Jazeera, 27 January 2009); “‘Peace March’ in Pakistan’s Swat” (Al Jazeera, 19 January 2009); Sanjeev Miglani, “Pakistan Islamists in a Deal with China Communists: a Sign of the Times?” (Pakistan: Now or Never?  19 February 2009); Patrick Goodenough, “Turn to China, Islamists […]

Anthony H. Cordesman, a leading military analyst from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, published a “strategic analysis” of the Gaza massacre shortly after it ended.  He reaches the remarkable conclusion that “Israel did not violate the laws of war.”  The report is based on “briefings in Israeli [sic] during and immediately after the […]

  Washington D.C., February 15, 2009 — Twenty years ago today, the commander of the Soviet Limited Contingent in Afghanistan Boris Gromov crossed the Termez Bridge out of Afghanistan, thus marking the end of the Soviet war which lasted almost ten years and cost tens of thousands of Soviet and Afghan lives. As a tribute […]

  The Middle East has always been a difficult challenge for Western human rights organizations, particularly those seeking influence or funding in the United States.  The pressure to go soft on US allies is in some respects reminiscent of Washington’s special pleading for Latin American terror regimes in the 1970s and 1980s.  In the case […]

Fatah and Hamas The results of the public opinion poll conducted by the Jerusalem Media and Communications Center (JMCC) during the period 29-31 January 2009 show that the majority of respondents (46.7%) believed that Hamas came out of the war victorious compared with only 9.8% who said that Israel won the war.  Over one-third, 37.4%, […]

After Bolivia’s new constitution was passed in a national referendum on Sunday, thousands gathered in La Paz to celebrate.  Standing on the balcony of the presidential palace, President Evo Morales addressed a raucous crowd: “Here begins a new Bolivia.  Here we begin to reach true equality.” Polls conducted by Televisión Boliviana announced that the document […]

  The Israeli Embassy in Greece, in the name of Ambassador Ali Yahya, sent three bottles of wine as a holiday gift to Theodoros Pangalos.  Pangalos returned the gift, thanking the ambassador in the following letter. Dear Mr. Ambassador, Thank you for the three bottles of wine that you sent me as a holiday gift.  […]

Federazione Impiegati Operai Metallurgici nazionale (FIOM), the largest metalworkers union in Italy, whose membership numbers 360,000, called for prosecution of Israeli officials for war crimes and suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement as well as of the military cooperation agreement between Italy and Israel.  The following is FIOM’s 13 January 2009 statement on Gaza published […]

Here’s what the Histadrut had to say about Israel’s crimes against humanity in Gaza: . Excerpt: The Histadrut would have preferred that the current situation had not developed this way.  Israel embarked on operation “Cast Lead” after acting with great restraint for many years towards unbearable constant terror attacks from Gaza and making every diplomatic […]

Over 700 citizens and residents of Israel, mostly Arab-Palestinian, have been detained since Israel began its military attacks on the Gaza Strip on 27 December 2008.  Detentions were made in the wake of public demonstrations, held primarily in northern Israel, Tel-Aviv-Jaffa, and also in the southern city of Bee-Sheva, against Israel’s war crimes in the […]

  I was brought up as an orthodox Jew and a Zionist.  On a shelf in our kitchen, there was a tin box for the Jewish National Fund, into which we put coins to help the pioneers building a Jewish presence in Palestine. I first went to Israel in 1961 and I have been there […]

A headline on the front page of the New York Times today asserts: “Israelis United on Gaza War Even as Censure Rises Abroad” (Ethan Bronner, 13 January 2009).  The article goes on to claim that “antiwar rallies here have struggled to draw 1,000 participants” (emphasis added).  To be sure, the very first antiwar rally in […]

  “Soldiers Refuse to Serve in Gaza, Tel-Aviv Protest, 8-1-2009,” Social TV, 11 January 2009 Social TV is an Israeli initiative for independent media and public education for social change.

National March on WashingtonSaturday, January 10 Assemble at the White House (north side) at 1:00 PM Sponsoring organizations and endorsers: ANSWER Coalition, Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation, Free Palestine Alliance, American Muslim Task Force, National Council of Arab Americans, Al-Awda – International Palestine Right to Return Coalition, CAIR (Council on American Islamic Relations), American Muslims […]

Irrational War? As the massive bombardment of the Gaza Strip continues into its second week, onlookers may wonder about Israel’s short memory, i.e., how little Israeli leaders have learned from the 2006 war against the Hezbollah in Lebanon. Bewildered witnesses speculate as to what reason there could be for the massive destruction and widespread death […]