November 2009

The European minaret-missile threat

by Paul Woodward 11.29.2009

The European minaret-missile threat By Paul Woodward, War in Context, November 29, 2009 Bigotry is on the rise in “the westerly excrescence of the continent of Asia.” That unpoetic but topographically-precise description of Europe comes from the Oxford archeologist, Barry Cunliffe. Whenever voices declaring that European culture is under threat are at their most strident, [...]

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Iraq Inquiry bombshell: Secret letter to reveal new Blair war lies

by Paul Woodward 11.29.2009

Iraq Inquiry bombshell: Secret letter to reveal new Blair war lies By Simon Walters, Mail on Sunday, November 29, 2009 An explosive secret letter that exposes how Tony Blair lied over the legality of the Iraq War can be revealed. The Chilcot Inquiry into the war will interrogate the former Prime Minister over the devastating [...]

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Zardari turns over nuclear authority

by Paul Woodward 11.29.2009

Zardari turns over nuclear authority By Zahid Hussain, Wall Street Journal, November 29, 2009 Pakistan’s embattled president, Asif Ali Zardari, has transferred command of the country’s nuclear arsenal to the prime minister, as he comes under increasing pressure to step down. The dramatic move signaled that Mr. Zardari was willing to give up some of [...]

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Secret jails and torture under Obama’s watch

by Paul Woodward 11.29.2009

2 Afghans allege abuse at U.S. site By Joshua Partlow and Julie Tate, Washington Post, November 28, 2009 Two Afghan teenagers held in U.S. detention north of Kabul this year said they were beaten by American guards, photographed naked, deprived of sleep and held in solitary confinement in concrete cells for at least two weeks [...]

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Israel is lying to itself about ‘united Jerusalem’

by Paul Woodward 11.29.2009

Israel is lying to itself about ‘united Jerusalem’ By Gideon Levy, Haaretz, November 29, 2009 Those types have always been seen on big-city streets, talking to themselves, asking and answering, shouting, speaking in a low voice, deliberating and pontificating. As children, we were afraid of them. They were “crazy.” That’s exactly what Israeli public discourse [...]

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Avi Shlaim in conversation with Shlomo Sand

by Paul Woodward 11.29.2009

Avi Shlaim in conversation with Shlomo Sand Frontline Club, November 12, 2009 Shlomo Sand, author of Invention of the Jewish People, and Avi Shlaim, author of Israel and Palestine, in conversation about their new books at a packed Frontline Club yesterday. Chaired by Jacqueline Rose, author of The Last Resistance. Share

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Luladinejad

by Paul Woodward 11.29.2009

Luladinejad By Pepe Escobar, RealNews, November 24, 2009 Share

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Release of secret reports delayed

by Paul Woodward 11.29.2009

Release of secret reports delayed By Bryan Bender, Boston Globe, November 29, 2009 President Obama will maintain a lid of secrecy on millions of pages of military and intelligence documents that were scheduled to be declassified by the end of the year, according to administration officials. The missed deadline spells trouble for the White House’s [...]

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Jerusalem’s Jewish bigots

by Paul Woodward 11.27.2009

Mouths filled with hatred By Larry Derfner, Jerusalem Post, November 26, 2009 Father Samuel Aghoyan, a senior Armenian Orthodox cleric in Jerusalem’s Old City, says he’s been spat at by young haredi and national Orthodox Jews “about 15 to 20 times” in the past decade. The last time it happened, he said, was earlier this [...]

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Intel Inside? Prove it.

by Paul Woodward 11.27.2009

Intel Inside? Prove it. By Bernard Avishai, TPM, November 22, 2009 Here is a thought experiment. It is Sunday, and various employees of Intel’s R&D and consulting facility in Chantilly, VA, just outside of Washington, are working through the week-end. The facility is suddenly surrounded by several thousand evangelical Christians–mainly educated at Regent University, and [...]

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South Africa: Israel actions in East Jerusalem akin to apartheid

by Paul Woodward 11.27.2009

South Africa: Israel actions in East Jerusalem akin to apartheid By Raphael Ahren, Haaretz, November 26, 2009 The South African government has issued an unusually harsh statement condemning Israel for approving 900 new housing units in Gilo and evicting Palestinians from their East Jerusalem homes, comparing Israel’s actions to the “forced removals” of the apartheid [...]

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Barghouti: Shalit abduction achieved what no dialogue could

by Paul Woodward 11.27.2009

Barghouti: Shalit abduction achieved what no dialogue could By Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz, November 25, 2009 Fatah strongman Marwan Barghouti said in an interview on Wednesday that he intends to run in the next Palestinian presidential election, and remarked that the abduction of Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit by Gaza militants achieved [...]

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Why can we talk to Hamas about Shalit, but not peace?

by Paul Woodward 11.27.2009

Why can we talk to Hamas about Shalit, but not peace? By Gideon Levy, Haaretz, November 26, 2009 hy is it permissible to talk to Hamas about the fate of one captive soldier and another several hundred prisoners, but forbidden to talk to them about the fate of two nations? Never has Israeli logic been [...]

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West Bank settlers carry on building as new freeze is proposed

by Paul Woodward 11.27.2009

West Bank settlers carry on building as new freeze is proposed By James Hider, The Times, November 27, 2009 At the small Jewish community of Revava in the northern West Bank, it was difficult to see yesterday what difference Israel’s freeze on settlement building would make. Construction continued on 20 housing units and the locals [...]

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Approval of Obama on Afghan war dives

by Paul Woodward 11.27.2009

Approval of Obama on Afghan war dives By Susan Page, USA Today, November 24, 2009 Public approval of President Obama’s handling of the war in Afghanistan has plummeted, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds, amid rising pessimism about the course of the conflict. The nation is divided over what to do next: Nearly half of those [...]

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Why we should still talk with Iran

by Paul Woodward 11.27.2009

Why we should still talk with Iran By Marziar Bahari, Washington Post, November 26, 2009 Since I was released from Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison last month, the questions have come again and again: Can we still talk to these people? Should the Obama administration engage in dialogue with Iran? What should the West do in [...]

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Switzerland to vote on Islamophobic plan to ban minarets

by Paul Woodward 11.27.2009

Switzerland to vote on plan to ban minarets By Imogen Foulkes, BBC News, November 27, 2009 On Sunday Swiss voters will have their say on a controversial proposal to impose a constitutional ban on the building of minarets. The proposal is backed by conservative Christian groups and by the biggest party in Switzerland’s parliament, the [...]

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Turkey’s shifting diplomacy

by Paul Woodward 11.27.2009

Turkey’s shifting diplomacy By Alastair Crooke, New York Times, November 28, 2009 While the United States and Europe have been struggling to find a path forward in the Israel-Palestine conflict, Afghanistan and Iran, the strategic ground upon which their assumptions about the region rest has begun to shift dramatically. Most significantly, Turkey has finally shrugged [...]

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Truth, if not justice – Britain’s Iraq Inquiry

by Paul Woodward 11.27.2009

Truth, if not justice By Christopher Dickey, Newsweek, November 25, 2009 The trial of George W. Bush, Tony Blair, and the gang that got us into the Iraq War has now begun, after a fashion. It’s not taking place in the United States. And it doesn’t call itself a trial at all. There won’t be [...]

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Whatever happened to the CIA’s black sites?

by Paul Woodward 11.27.2009

Whatever happened to the CIA’s black sites? By David Corn, Mother Jones, November 24, 2009 Whatever happened to the so-called “black sites,” where suspected terrorists were held overseas by the CIA and submitted to harsh interrogations that included torture? On April 9, CIA chief Leon Panetta issued a statement notifying CIA employees that the agency [...]

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America’s undying faith in war

by Paul Woodward 11.25.2009

Why more favor war in Iran while support for the Afghan effort is dropping By Jodie Allen, US News & World Report, November 23, 2009 Recent polls reveal a curious contrast between the public’s current feelings about America’s ongoing war in Afghanistan and the possibility of the nation adding another front to its list of [...]

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The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement is working

by Paul Woodward 11.24.2009

Mohammad Othman’s administrative detention is a sign BDS is working By Adam Horowitz, Mondoweiss, November 24, 2009 Mohammad Othman, the BDS campaigner who was detained by Israel upon returning from a speaking tour in Norway, was given three months administrative detention yesterday in an Israeli military court. Othman had been held 63 days without charge [...]

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The real demographic threat facing the Jewish state

by Paul Woodward 11.24.2009

At the edge of the abyss By Shahar Ilan, Haaretz, November 24, 2009 The chapter on Israel in the U.S. State Department’s 2009 Report on International Religious Freedom, issued in October, presents Israel in an embarrassing light – as one of the 30 countries “where violations of religious freedom have been noteworthy.” According to the [...]

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The mystery of Dr Aafia Siddiqui

by Paul Woodward 11.24.2009

The mystery of Dr Aafia Siddiqui By Declan Walsh, The Guardian, November 24, 2009 In a hot summer morning 18 months ago a team of four Americans – two FBI agents and two army officers – rolled into Ghazni, a dusty town 50 miles south of Kabul. They had come to interview two unusual prisoners: [...]

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