December 2009

YEAR IN REVIEW: When will it be our time?

by Paul Woodward 12.31.2009

YEAR IN REVIEW: When will it be our time? By Mustafa Barghouti, New York Times, December 16, 2009 I have lived my entire adult life under occupation, with Israelis holding ultimate control over my movement and daily life. When young Israeli police officers force me to sit on the cold ground and soldiers beat me [...]

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YEAR IN REVIEW: To beat al Qaeda, look to the east

by Paul Woodward 12.31.2009

YEAR IN REVIEW: To beat al Qaeda, look to the east By Scott Atran, New York Times, December 13, 2009 Al Qaeda’s main focus is harming the United States and Europe, but there hasn’t been a successful attack in these places directly commanded by Osama bin Laden and company since 9/11. The American invasion of [...]

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YEAR IN REVIEW: Obama’s bloody re-election calculus

by Paul Woodward 12.31.2009

YEAR IN REVIEW: Obama’s bloody re-election calculus By Thomas H. Johnson and M. Chris Mason, Foreign Policy, December 10, 2009 Obama’s new “strategy” is no strategy at all. It is a cynical and politically motivated rehash of Iraq policy: Toss in a few more troops, throw together something resembling local security forces, buy off the [...]

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YEAR IN REVIEW: The European minaret-missile threat

by Paul Woodward 12.31.2009

YEAR IN REVIEW: 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 [...]

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GAZA UPDATE

by Paul Woodward 12.31.2009

A taboo question for Israelis By Larry Derfner, Jerusalem Post, December 30, 2009 There’s a question we Israelis won’t ask ourselves about the Palestinians, especially not about Gaza. The question is taboo. Not only won’t anyone ask it out loud, but very, very few people will dare ask it in the privacy of their own [...]

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Report: US pressing Israel not to free Barghouti

by Paul Woodward 12.31.2009

Report: US pressing Israel not to free Barghouti By Roee Nahmias, Ynet, December 31, 2009 s the US trying to prevent the release of two senior prisoners whose freedom Hamas is demanding in return for Shalit? Palestinian sources have told the London-based Arabic-language al-Hayat newspaper that the United States has pressured Israel not to release [...]

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US Jewish community leaders favor bonehead approach with Iran

by Paul Woodward 12.31.2009

US Jewish community leaders don’t want to “try to become too smart” dealing with Iran By Nathan Guttman, The Forward, December 30, 2009 As anti-government protests — and government repression — flare in Iran, Jewish groups remain focused on the issue of nuclear proliferation there, prioritizing this problem over concern for the country’s opposition movement. [...]

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Afghanistan suicide bombing kills 8 CIA officers

by Paul Woodward 12.31.2009

Afghanistan suicide bombing kills 8 CIA officers By Greg Miller and Laura King, Los Angeles Times, December 31, 2009 A bomber slipped into a U.S. base in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday and detonated a suicide vest, killing eight CIA officers in one of the deadliest days in the agency’s history, current and former U.S. officials [...]

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Threats to Yemen prove America hasn’t learned the lesson of history

by Paul Woodward 12.31.2009

Threats to Yemen prove America hasn’t learned the lesson of history By Patrick Cockburn, The Independent, December 31, 2009 We are the Awaleq Born of bitterness We are the nails that go into the rock We are the sparks of hell He who defies us will be burned This is the tribal chant of the [...]

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Craving terrorist melodrama

by Paul Woodward 12.31.2009

Craving terrorist melodrama By Glenn Greenwald, Salon, December 30, 2009 The fact that Obama doesn’t hysterically run around like some sort of frightened chicken with his head cut off every time Al Qaeda sneezes — or swagger to the nearest camera to beat his chest and play the role of protective daddy-cowboy — is one [...]

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YEAR IN REVIEW: Imagine living in the West Bank…

by Paul Woodward 12.30.2009

YEAR IN REVIEW: Imagine living in the West Bank… By Paul Woodward, War in Context, November 17, 2009 For most Israelis, the occupied West Bank — now mostly concealed behind a barrier far more imposing than the Berlin Wall — could be a million miles away. Even so, thousands really do know what it’s like. [...]

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YEAR IN REVIEW: Israel’s unbroken legacy of righteous victimhood

by Paul Woodward 12.30.2009

YEAR IN REVIEW: Some victims we are By Larry Derfner, Jerusalem Post, October 28, 2009 The kill ratio was 100-to-1 in our favor. The destruction ratio was much, much greater than that. To this day, thousands of Gazans are living in tents because we won’t let them import cement to rebuild the homes we destroyed. [...]

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YEAR IN REVIEW: A letter from Afghanistan that every American must read

by Paul Woodward 12.30.2009

YEAR IN REVIEW: A letter from Afghanistan that every American must read By Paul Woodward, War in Context, October 27, 2009 “… I have lost understanding of and confidence in the strategic purposes of the United States’ presence in Afghanistan. I have doubts and reservations about our current strategy and planned future strategy, but my [...]

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YEAR IN REVIEW: The predator war

by Paul Woodward 12.30.2009

YEAR IN REVIEW: What are the risks of the CIA’s covert drone program? By Jane Mayer, The New Yorker, October 26, 2009 On August 5th, officials at the Central Intelligence Agency, in Langley, Virginia, watched a live video feed relaying closeup footage of one of the most wanted terrorists in Pakistan. Baitullah Mehsud, the leader [...]

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YEAR IN REVIEW: Justice Richard Goldstone interviewed by Bill Moyers

by Paul Woodward 12.30.2009

YEAR IN REVIEW: Justice Richard Goldstone – Part One Richard Goldstone interviewed by Bill Moyers, Bill Moyers Journal, October 23, 2009 RICHARD GOLDSTONE: As I say, I accept the right of Israel, absolutely, to defend itself. But let me give you an example. Assuming the United States fighting Taliban, started bombing the whole food infrastructure [...]

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GAZA UPDATE

by Paul Woodward 12.30.2009

Activists reject Egypt’s Gaza offer Al Jazeera, December 30, 2009 Members of an international group gathered in Cairo to protest against the siege of Gaza have rejected an Egyptian offer to allow 100 of them entry into the Palestinian territory. Organisers of the Gaza Freedom March (GFM), which is comprised of 1,300 people from 42 [...]

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Pro-government mass rallies in Iran

by Paul Woodward 12.30.2009

Pro-government mass rallies in Iran AP, December 30, 2009 Tens of thousands of hard-line government supporters turned out for state-sponsored rallies Wednesday, some of them calling for the execution of opposition leaders as Iran’s police chief threatened to show “no mercy” in crushing any new protests by the pro-reform movement. Pro-government rallies were staged in [...]

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Afghans turn to Taleban justice as insurgents set up shadow government

by Paul Woodward 12.30.2009

Afghans turn to Taleban justice as insurgents set up shadow government By Jerome Starkey, The Times, December 30, 2009 Then Habiba’s elderly husband was badly beaten in a village brawl there was only one place, she said, that she could turn to for help and justice. Barefoot and weeping, the farmer’s wife, 50, trekked for [...]

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President Obama takes the heat President Bush did not

by Paul Woodward 12.30.2009

President Obama takes the heat President Bush did not By Josh Gerstein, Politico, December 29, 2009 Eight years ago, a terrorist bomber’s attempt to blow up a transatlantic airliner was thwarted by a group of passengers, an incident that revealed some gaping holes in airline security just a few months after the attacks of Sept. [...]

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YEAR IN REVIEW: Goldstone: My mission – and motivation

by Paul Woodward 12.29.2009

YEAR IN REVIEW: Goldstone: My mission – and motivation By Richard Goldstone, Jerusalem Post, October 18, 2009 Israel and its courts have always recognized that they are bound by norms of international law that it has formally ratified or that have become binding as customary international law upon all nations. The fact that the United [...]

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YEAR IN REVIEW: Israel’s never-ending war

by Paul Woodward 12.29.2009

YEAR IN REVIEW: Israel’s never-ending war By Paul Woodward, War in Context, September 22, 2009 As Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, meet at the United Nations today, “both sides have made clear that they’ll essentially be humoring Obama, showing up because the President of the United States expects it [...]

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YEAR IN REVIEW: Israel’s war against human rights

by Paul Woodward 12.29.2009

YEAR IN REVIEW: UN: Evidence Israeli ‘war crimes’ and ‘crimes against humanity’ a ‘result of deliberate planning and policy decisions’ By Sharon Otterman, New York Times, September 15, 2009 A United Nations fact-finding mission investigating the three-week war in Gaza issued a lengthy, scathing report [PDF] on Tuesday that concluded that both the Israeli military [...]

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YEAR IN REVIEW: September 9, 2001: The shot that was not heard round the world

by Paul Woodward 12.29.2009

YEAR IN REVIEW: September 9: The shot that was not heard round the world By Paul Woodward, War in Context, September 9, 2009 As the war in Afghanistan enters its ninth year, in the minds of most Americans the attacks of September 11, 2001 remain the signal event that shaped everything that has followed. Yet [...]

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YEAR IN REVIEW: Obama is not delivering the goods

by Paul Woodward 12.29.2009

YEAR IN REVIEW: Obama’s America is not delivering the goods By Gideon Levy, Haaretz, August 14, 2009 With great sorrow and deep consternation, we hereby declare the death of the latest hope. Perhaps rumors of its death are greatly exaggerated, to paraphrase the famous quote by Mark Twain, but the fears are being validated day [...]

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