CNN lists former California representative Jane Harman, now head of the Wilson Center in Washington, D.C., as a potential successor to Gen. David Petraeus as head of the Central Intelligence Agency. This idea is a very, very bad one. Harman is an Iran hawk who would be perfectly happy to give Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin […]
Wagging the Dog in Gaza: Netanyahu’s Skirmish of Fear (Sternfeld)
Lior Sternfeld writes in a guest column for Informed Comment Israel has embarked, with its Gaza attack, on the all-too-well-known elections routine. Before the 2009 elections, the defense minister, Ehud Barak, who then led the Labor party, saw his party performing poorly in the national polls. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert needed some public support as […]
Noam Chomsky on Gaza (Democracy Now!)
At Amy Goodman’s Democracy Now!, Noam Chomsky discusses his recent trip to the Gaza Strip: Here is DM’s blurb for the piece: World-renowned political dissident, linguist, author and MIT professor Noam Chomsky joins us to discuss his recent trip to the Gaza Strip, where he publicly called on Israel to put an end to the […]
The Arab Reading of the Petraeus/Allen Affair: Jill Kelley is Gilberte Khawam, a Lebanese
The headlines about the Petraeus affair in the Arab world this morning almost universally read something like “Lebanese woman brings down CIA.” The woman who seems to have destroyed three careers and kicked off the FBI investigation of Gen. David Petraeus, ex-director of the CIA, goes by Jill Kelley. But her maiden name is Gilberte […]
Why did the Press Mythologize Gen. Petraeus in the first place?: Michael Hastings @ Piers Morgan
Journalist Michael Hastings asks some quick, sharp questions about press deference to power. Hastings is the author of The Operators: The Wild and Terrifying Inside Story of America’s War in Afghanistan
Afghanistan Commander Gen. John Allen Investigated; Meanwhile, Afghanistan sinking
The emails to Jill Kelly of Gen. John Allen, US commander in Afghanistan and a friend of ex-CIA chief David Petraeus, are being investigated as possibly inappropriate. Meanwhile, actual Afghans face a difficult and perhaps bleak future because the way over-ambitious American project in their country is failing. And US veterans of the war struggle […]
The Tesla S and World Peace: Can American Green Energy End the Gulf Oil Wars?
Petroleum makes the world go round, with 70% of it used to power automobiles. About a fifth of the world’s 90 million barrels a day of oil production comes out of the Persian Gulf/ Arabian Gulf. A large part of the US stand-off with Iran has to do with petroleum. The US doesn’t want a […]
Juan Cole: Real Petraeus Failure Was Counter-Insurgency in Iraq, Afghanistan (Democracy Now!)
Here is Amy Goodman’s interview with me, which was broadcast on Democracy Now! This morning. Via YouTube here Here is DN’s lead-in: CIA director David Petraeus has resigned following revelations of an extramarital affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell, a married U.S. Army reservist. "This personal issue that cropped up that ruined his career at […]
Drone, Sanctions affecting Medicine, Intensify US-Iran Tensions
Among President Obama’s first decisions after his reelection was to further increase already severe sanctions on Iran. Just before that, Iran shot at a US drone it claims was spying on Iranian vessels in the Gulf. Russia Today reports: Obama’s sanctions regime, it is argued, is already damaging Iranian public health. Medicines are not getting […]