Reuters on Tzipi Livni’s likely stance on negotiating with the Palestinians. Palestinian reactions to Tzipi Livni becoming head of the Kadima Party, a rightwing party that splintered from the even more rightwing Likud Party over the withdrawal from Gaza. (i.e. a Kadima supporter is a Likudnik who has been mugged by demographic reality); via Aljazeera […]
7 US Soldiers Killed; Al-Maliki Doubts Security Agreement
A helicopter crash in southern Iraq killed 7 US troops on Wednesday. The crash may or may not be the result of hostile action by elements of the Mahdi Army. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki signaled on Wednesday that the security agreement being negotiated by Iraq with the Bush administration is in trouble. Apparently the big […]
Obama smeared by Taheri on Iraq Troop Withdrawals; Journalist Notorious for False Story on Iranian Jews; Odierno Warns Iraq still Unstable
Amir Taheri, the rightwing Iranian ‘journalist’ who is the least accurate reporter to feign practicing journalism since Gutenberg invented movable metal type accused Barack Obama of seeking “a deal to delay US troops’ from Iraq when he was in Baghdad last summer. That makes no sense. The Iraqis have published their negotiating points, and they […]
20% Goal for Alternative Energy to be Set in Europe
The European Union is moving closer to a goal of 20% of European energy coming from renewable energy sources instead of fossil fuels by 2020. Unfortunately, they left in biofuels, which in my view are a distraction. The question isn’t whether it is renewable, the question is whether the energy puts more carbon into the […]
We have Met the Environmental Poisons and they are US
They actually put it in baby bottles! Chemical in plastics gives you diabetes, heart attacks. We are now exposed to thousands of chemicals in daily life. My guess is, this is only the tip of the iceberg. The chemical companies will do some more ads. It is sort of like the coal industry trying to […]
Palestinians See no Hope in Kadima Leadership Change
Aljazeera reports on the dim view Palestinians are taking of the contest for leadership of the Kadima Party in Israel.
35 Killed in Bombings, 73 Wounded; Petraeus Leaves Iraq Better than He Found It
In Baladruz, in Diyala Province east of Baghdad, a female suicide bomber attacked a homecoming party for an Iraqi soldier just released from nearly a year of detention in a US prison in Iraq. The bombing killed 22 persons and wounded 33. The returning prisoner, Ahmad Shukri al-Tamimi, appears to have been a Shiite who […]
Is the Bush Administration at War with its Own Weapons in Pakistan?
The NYT reports, “the Department of Defense has agreed so far this fiscal year to sell or transfer more than $32 billion in weapons and other military equipment to foreign governments, compared with $12 billion in 2005. The trend, which started in 2006, is most pronounced in the Middle East, . . .’ There are […]
28 Killed, 40 Wounded; Peshmerga Killed in Roadside Bombing; 4 Sharqiya Staff Kidnapped, Killed
In a continuing wave of violence in Iraq, 28 persons were killed and 40 wounded on Saturday. Among the dead were 9 members of the Kurdish Peshmerga paramilitary, killed by a roadside bomb near the disputed city of Khanaqin in Diyala. Arabs and Kurds are increasingly at odds over the future of this city, which […]