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alternative perspectives on the "war on terrorism"
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US in replay of the 'Great Game'
Costs and consequences of American engagement in Central Asia begin to become clear
Edward Helmore Almaty, The Observer, January 20, 2002
They are shadowy figures just visible from the perimeter of the
windswept airbase outside the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek - United States
troops unloading supplies.
As the war in Afghanistan becomes a mopping-up operation, the US has
stepped up troop deployments in the region, in what Russia and China
fear is an effort to secure dominant influence over their backyards, a
region rich in oil and gas reserves.
In the past weeks, diplomats and generals from all three countries
have streamed into Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
The war on terrorism has turned the Central Asian republics from
backwaters into prizes overnight.
[The complete article]
Why it is right to be anti-American
Nick Cohen, New Statesman, January 14, 2002
"Anti-Americanism" is a transparent slur that libels and subverts
the best of American freedom. It's a propaganda insult that is as
contaminated as "terrorist". Right-wingers in London and Washington use
it shamelessly to suggest that those who are not happy with their
abysmal status quo are the moral equivalents of blood-drenched
murderers.
[The complete article]
US is probing cause, degree of civilian toll
John Donnelly, Boston Globe, January 19, 2002
The Air Force and several other Defense Department agencies quietly
have begun to investigate the cause and number of civilian casualties in
Afghanistan, military officials say, despite past insistence from the
Pentagon that no such reviews existed.
[The complete article]
We will not tolerate the abuse of war prisoners
Guantanamo could be where America and Europe part company
Hugo Young, The Guardian, January 17, 2002
One value that's meant to bind Anglos and Americans is their
attitude to justice. The common law runs through England and America,
and we believe the principles underlying it are shared. That's partly
what the world war against terrorism is supposed to be about. Yet some
of these values turn out not to be shared at all. It's a salutary,
ominous phenomenon. Just as significant as America's treatment of
Taliban and al-Qaida prisoners held at its Guantanamo base in Cuba is
the gulf this is opening up between two cultures that imagine they have
everything important in common.
[The complete article]
Saudis tell US forces to get out - Foreign soldiers seen as political liability
Ewen MacAskill, The Guardian, January 19, 2002
Saudi Arabia's rulers are poised to throw US strategy in the Middle
East into disarray by asking Washington to pull its forces out of the
kingdom because they have become a "political liability". Senior Saudi
officials have privately complained that the US has "outstayed its
welcome" and that the kingdom may soon request that the American
presence - a product of the Gulf war - is brought to an end.
[The complete article]
The long and hidden history of the U.S in Somalia
Stephen Zunes, AlterNet, January 17, 2002
The East African nation of Somalia is being mentioned with
increasing frequency as the next possible target in the U.S.-led war
against international terrorism. With what passes for the central
government controlling little more than a section of the national
capital of Mogadishu, a separatist government in the north, and rival
warlords and clan leaders controlling most of the rest of the country,
U.S. officials believe that cells of the Al-Qaida terrorist network may
have taken advantage of the absence of governmental authority to set up
operation.
[The complete article]
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HOME
September 11 and the declaration of a "war on terrorism," has
forced Americans to look at the World in a new light. No one can afford
any longer to define the limits of their concerns by refusing to look
beyond this nation's borders. If the freedom that every American
cherishes, is not to become a freedom bound within a fortress, then
every American will need to understand and respect the needs and
concerns of the rest of the World. To this end, The War in Context
invites anyone with interest and an open mind to listen to the critical
discourse in which the policies and actions of the Bush administration
are now being questioned. This debate, which is engaging inquiring minds
inside and outside America, will hopefully inform the development of a
sustainable new world order - a world order in which America is as much
shaped by the World as is the World shaped by America.
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