By William R. Polk With everyone’s attention focused either on the European elections, President Obama’s speech at West Point or the Ukraine, a story by Eric Schmitt in The International New York Times of Tuesday, May 27, 2014 may not have caught your attention. I believe, however, that it provides an insight into some of […]
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US Foreign Policy
US Ally Bahrain’s Courts are Corrupt, in service of Injustice
Human Rights Watch A police officer in Bahrain who kills a protester in cold blood or beats a detainee to death might face a sentence of six months or maybe two years, while peacefully calling for the country to become a republic will get you life in prison. Bahrain’s problem is not a dysfunctional justice […]
The NSA Effect: China tells its banks to remove IBM servers as Spyware
THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT has urged its banks to stop using servers built by IBM because it believes that they might be used for espionage. According to unnamed sources cited by Bloomberg, the People’s Bank of China and the Chinese Ministry of Finance…
Obama’s Just Right Foreign Policy
By Daniel Wagner via IPD A plethora of pundits, lawmakers and think tanks continue to criticize the Obama administration for presiding over what appear to be persistent failures in the foreign policy arena. President Barack Obama speaking during a town hall. Chuck Kennedy/White House Whether it is Israel, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iran, Russia, or […]
The Obama Effect? Are Iran/ Saudi-and-GCC no longer on a war footing?
(By Juan Cole) There are signs of a diplomatic thaw between Iran and the Arab oil monarchies of the Gulf. It has just been announced that the ruler of Kuwait, Sabah al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, will make a state visit to Iran. This news comes after it was confirmed that the Iranian foreign minister has been invited […]
America as Torture Central: From Prisons to “Black Sites”
(By Sarah Lazare) Amnesty International report on global torture exposes inhumane acts perpetrated by United States Thirty years after ratifying the UN Convention Against Torture, the U.S. government has dodged accountability for perpetrating torture in domestic prisons and CIA black sites and embroiling foreign states in inhumane acts. So finds a report on global torture […]
Some Saudis Kiss their Camels to defy Gov’t MERS Warning
Saudi homes in on camels in bid to combat MERS (via AFP) Saudi authorities have issued fresh warnings on how to handle the desert kingdom’s wealth of camels, thought to be the source of the mysterious MERS coronavirus in the Gulf state. The Middle East Respiratory System has now killed 147 people out of 491… […]
Yemeni anti-Al-Qaeda Campaign gains Popular Support but US Embassy forced to Close
(By Robert Sharp) As Yemen enters the post-National Dialogue Conference period, theory and practice are colliding; the constitutional referendum will take place in June followed by hopefully credible presidential and parliamentary elections. The promise of a “new” Yemen will be debated formally through the ballot box and the people will decide the future leadership of […]
US Military Report: War effort in Afghanistan was bedeviled by Corruption, made it Worse
Enlarge Air Force aerial porters load a shipping container onto a C-130 Hercules cargo plane at Forward Operating Base Salerno, Khost Province, Afghanistan, Sept. 22, 2013. The 19th MCT, a small squadron of Air Force surface movement controllers and…