contributions

By Nicola Nasser*
U.S. Ambassador Christopher Hill’s warning on February 18 that it could take months to form a new government in Baghdad after the Iraqi elections, scheduled for March 7, and that in turn could mean considerable political turmoil in Iraq, and the warnings of observers and experts as well as officials against the looming specter of a renewed sectarian war in the country, indicate that security, stability, let alone democracy, and a successful “victorious” withdrawal of (…)

On Wed. evening, Feb. 17, 2010, John Yoo gave a talk on the campus of the Johns Hopkins U., in Baltimore, Md. Before the controversial law professor could get into his talk, however, it was interrupted by two activists. They stood to his right in front of the auditorium and held a banner, which read: “Try Yoo for Torture!” The protesters refused to sit down, but they were not arrested and remained in the same position during Yoo’s entire speech. Yoo had served in the administration of the (…)

Where’s That Olympic Truce?
by Derrick OKeefe
"The 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow were boycotted in protest of the Soviet Union’s invasion and occupation of Afghanistan. Then - US president Jimmy Carter announced the boycott in February 1980, and Canada and dozens of other countries soon followed suit. Thirty years later it is the United States, Canada and other NATO countries that are occupying Afghanistan...
It’s now fair to speculate that the Games have been used even more (…)

Baltimore’s “Pledge of Resistance,” led by activist Max Obuszewski, joined the call today from the “Progressive Democrats of America to hold Brown Bag Vigils around the country” to spotlight the issue of healthcare not warfare. The vigil took place on a snowbound street , on Wed., Feb. 17, 2010, in front of 1010 Park Ave., where one of the offices of Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-7th-MD) is located. After the vigil, which started at noon, the activists met, at 12:30 PM, with an aide to the (…)

PALIN AND CRIB NOTES ON HER PALM - HARDLY A BIG POINT BECAUSE SHE HAS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO SAY WITH OR WITHOUT NOTES
POSTED RESPONSE TO A COLUMN IN THE NEW YORK TIMES
The problem certainly is not the crib notes on Sarah Palin’s palm, although it makes a funny anecdote after her blubbering about teleprompters.
The problem is that Sarah Palin has absolutely nothing to say, with or without notes.
Almost every word that comes from her mouth is completely predictable. And all of it is as (…)

OBAMA AND THE GRIM SHADOW OF AMERICA’S TORTURE PRISONS - AND THE BRUTAL FACT ONLY DREAMERS AND FOOLS BELIEVE IN CHANGE IN AMERICA
POSTED RESPONSE TO A COLUMN BY JOHANN HARI IN THE INDEPENDENT
Yes, absolutely, the secret prisons in Afghanistan, and those in other places, cast a grim shadow across Obama’s smiling face.
I believe that decisions like keeping America’s torture gulag operating abroad are the greatest source of people’s disappointment with Obama.
But I’m afraid people were (…)

WHY IS THE UK STILL THREATENING ISRAELI POLITICIANS ASKS PHILIP JOHNSTON? THE ANSWER PLUS A COMPARISON OF GUERNICA AND OPERATION CAST LEAD
POSTED RESPONSE TO A COLUMN BY PHILIP JOHNSTON IN THE TELEGRAPH: ISRAELI POLITICIANS FEAR CHARGES
Why are we (the UK ) still threatening to arrest Israeli politicians?
Gee, I wonder?
Could it possibly be that they are war criminals?
In the recent past, an author from Britain served time in jail for "holocaust denial," a stupidity but hardly a (…)

LEONARD SAX AND MORE ON SEGREGATED EDUCATION AND THE ENTIRE MISDIRECTION OF "PROFESSIONAL EDUCATORS"
RESPONSE TO A CBC RADIO ONE PROGRAM ON THE CURRENT
Your guest, Leonard Sax, only proved how little genuine scholarship and hard thinking often go into discussions of education.
First he told us of research showing the differences in brain development between boys and girls at a young age – actually pretty fatuous research since the difference is a practical reality that any person of (…)

by Thomas Harding
An armada of helicopters lifted a vast force against Taliban strongholds today in the biggest operation ever mounted in Afghanistan.
Wave after wave of helicopters landed across central Helmand marking the start of the major offensive that aims to finally defeat the insurgency.
Two hours before dawn the first Chinooks swept low over the Taliban district capital of Showal disgorging a force of British, Afghan and French troops signalling “D-Day”, the start of Operation (…)

Tomorrow is the 19th memory of the Amiriyah shelter massacre[1] when more than 408 civilians were killed[2] on February 13, 1991 during the Gulf War, by US military air-raid on shelter ("Public Shelter No. 25"), also referred to as the Al Firdos C3 bunker at Baghdad, Iraq. The USAF destroyed the shelter by with two laser-guided "smart bombs".[3]
The shelter was used in the Iran–Iraq War and the Gulf War by hundreds of civilians. It was built by an European company in mid 1980’s to (…)