US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called for a ‘concerted push’ on Friday to begin a political transition in Syria. She said that the transition must eventuate in a unified, democratic Syria. AFP reports: Meanwhile, former Secretary of State Colin Powell’s chief of staff, Lawrence Wilkerson , expressed severe reservations about what he called ‘politicized’ […]
Archives for December 2012
Egypt; New Demos; Obama Expresses Alarm; and al-Azhar Clerics condemn Constitution
US President Barack Obama called Egyptian President Muhammad Morsi on Thursday to express his anxiety about the violence that broke out on Wednesday in front of the presidential palace in Cairo’s Heliopolis district and elsewhere in the country, which left 7 dead and over 700 wounded (according to the latest revised count). Obama called for […]
Another thing Utah Could learn from Kenya: Olkaria IV Geothermal Plant to be largest in World
Utah did not vote for President Obama, whose father hailed from Kenya. But that state has something else to learn from the east African country. Scientists have found a massive geothermal hotspot in the Utah that could be used to generate electricity, with natural steam. (Most electricity generation, including by nuclear plants, just consists of […]
America is officially a Center-Left Country (Young Turks)
On how America is a center-left country, and the younger voters are more left wing than their elders. Cenk Uygur of Current TV’s “Young Turks” explains: On former wedge issues such as gay marriage, on marijuana legalization, on progressive income taxes– on a whole range of issues a clear majority of Americans, especially younger Americans, […]
President Obama needs to get us Out of Iran, too– not Just Iraq (Escobar)
Pepe Escobar writes at Tomdispatch.com: Let’s start with the obvious but important: on entering the Oval Office in January 2009, President Obama inherited a seemingly impregnable three-decade-long “Wall of Mistrust” in Iran-U.S. relations. To his credit, that March he directly addressed all Iranians in a message for Nowruz, the Iranian New Year, calling for an […]
Egypt: Faction Fighting in the Streets Threatens Stability, leaves 5 dead, 450 wounded
Egypt has descended into faction-fighting in the streets that left some 5 dead and 450 wounded on Wednesday, as President Muhammad Morsi prepared to make a major address to the nation on Thursday. Violence has broken out not just in Cairo itself but also in provincial cities such as Suez, Port Said, Ismailiya, Zaqaziq and […]
Avoiding the Nightmarish “Four Degree World” of 2060: We must Act Now (Giesen)
Tom Giesen writes in a guest column for Informed Comment: Global warming’s disasters once seemed far off and science-fictional. It is now becoming clear to the scientific community that, to the contrary, very bad things could happen beginning relatively soon. For Baby Boomers, from the the Cuban Missile Crisis or the assassination of John F. […]
Egypt: 100,000 Demonstrators Deliver “Final Warning,” chase President Morsi from Palace
On Tuesday, another big wave of protests was held against the policies of President Muhammad Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, with rallies in in the public squares of most of Egypt’s major cities. The protests were called “The Final Warning.” Many newspapers and television stations went dark, while big rallies were held in Tahrir Square […]
As Rebels close in on Damascus, Obama warns he’ll Intervene if Chemicals are Used
President Obama warned Syria on Tuesday not to deploy its stockpile of chemical weapons against the rebels. What are apparently Israeli intelligence sources are said to have told the US and Europe that there was an indication that the regime might be preparing to deploy its stock of chemical weapons, as the revolutionaries begin an […]