Editorials

Overblown fears about the rise of Islamists in Libya

by Paul Woodward 09.16.2011

In the United States, the term Islamist is often one small step away from al Qaeda. The idea that someone could be an Islamist and not an extremist seems barely conceivable. And the existence of pro-Western Islamists sounds about as probable as the discovery of unicorns. When the New York Times declares, in one of [...]

Read the full article →

How can Israel survive without growing up?

by Paul Woodward 09.15.2011

“Which prosperous ally gets $3 billion a year in aid, and a veto power over America’s entire Mid-East foreign policy? Which ally refuses to cooperate with its military and political protector – even to the point of humiliating a duly elected American president? Which ally violates the Non-Proliferation treaty and manages to get its super-power [...]

Read the full article →

The cowards’ logic that has governed America since 9/11

by Paul Woodward 09.11.2011

In the wake of the September 11 attacks in 2001, a strange consensus quickly emerged in Washington: this was just al Qaeda’s first homeland assault. There would be further attacks and most likely what was to come would be even worse — far worse. With a sense of foreboding and determination we ventured into the [...]

Read the full article →

Israel’s only diplomat in Egypt now hiding in US embassy in Cairo

by Paul Woodward 09.10.2011

At some point, will it dawn on the Israelis that constructing walls is not the magic solution to all their security problems? After Israel enraged many Egyptians by killing five border guards on August 18 (a sixth who was shot in the same incident died today), the Israeli government thought it would be prudent to [...]

Read the full article →

Endless war served by endless distraction

by Paul Woodward 09.06.2011

Glenn Greenwald writes: The Washington Post woke up a few days ago and realized that despite everything that has happened since 9/11 — no successful Terrorist attacks on the Homeland in 10 years, a country mired in debt and imposing “austerity” on ordinary Americans, and the election of a wonderfully sophisticated, urbane, progressive multinationalist from [...]

Read the full article →

How not to become a whistle-blower

by Paul Woodward 09.06.2011

The New York Times reports: When Shamai K. Leibowitz, an F.B.I. translator, was sentenced to 20 months in prison last year for leaking classified information to a blogger, prosecutors revealed little about the case. They identified the blogger in court papers only as “Recipient A.” After Mr. Leibowitz pleaded guilty, even the judge said he [...]

Read the full article →

Israel’s ability to kill Americans with impunity

by Paul Woodward 09.06.2011

Roger Cohen writes: Here’s what the United Nations report on Israel’s raid last year on the Turkish-flagged Mavi Marmara had to say about the killing of a 19-year-old U.S. citizen on board: “At least one of those killed, Furkan Dogan, was shot at extremely close range. Mr. Dogan sustained wounds to the face, back of [...]

Read the full article →

Can Israel adapt to democracy?

by Paul Woodward 09.05.2011

While Israel’s ability to develop internally as a democracy is shackled by the undemocratic nature of Zionism, it’s hardly surprising that the growth of democracy outside Israel — notably in Turkey and Egypt — presents a conundrum for the Jewish state: how can harmonious relations be maintained with historically friendly governments without also attempting to [...]

Read the full article →

The CIA’s ties to the Gaddafi regime

by Paul Woodward 09.03.2011

The Wall Street Journal reports: The Central Intelligence Agency and Libyan intelligence services developed such a tight relationship during the George W. Bush administration that the U.S. shipped terror suspects to Libya for interrogation and suggested the questions they should be asked, according to documents found in Libya’s External Security agency headquarters. The relationship was [...]

Read the full article →

How Israel got away with murder on the Mavi Marmara

by Paul Woodward 09.01.2011

The long-delayed and long-awaited UN report [PDF] on the Mavi Marmara massacre has finally been released by the New York Times. I guess the newspaper feels a responsibility that it should spin this as much in Israel’s favor as possible before the report get’s officially released. “Report Finds Naval Blockade by Israel Legal but Faults [...]

Read the full article →

White House guidelines on 9/11 messaging — don’t mention Baghdad

by Paul Woodward 08.30.2011

The New York Times in its Izvestia-like role as mouthpiece for the White House, shares some of the guidelines that have been sent to government officials with directions on how they should talk about 9/11, as its tenth anniversary approaches. Goodness knows what any of them might say if they were not provided with clear [...]

Read the full article →

The myth of terrorism

by Paul Woodward 08.29.2011

The power of language cannot be overstated. Nowhere is this more evident than in the power embedded in the word terrorism — a word which has governed political thought for much of the last decade. Political acts of violence are older than humanity. Among chimpanzees, for instance, the contest for social power can sometimes be [...]

Read the full article →

Israel’s faux revolutionaries

by Paul Woodward 08.27.2011

Israel’s July 14 social justice movement is really like a campaign in support of sunshine. Who’s going to oppose it? The supporters of social injustice? To the extent that Israelis were inspired by the example of the Egyptian revolution, this seems to have gone no further than sharing in the empowering experience of being among [...]

Read the full article →

How Israelis (and many others) shirk moral responsibility for their actions

by Paul Woodward 08.25.2011

It’s a clever maneuver and it’s used again and again. They are attacking me not because of what I did. They are attacking me because of who I am. Not only does this put the self-declared victim in an invulnerable position — no one can change or should need defend their simple identity — but [...]

Read the full article →

Obama, Libya and triumphalism in Washington

by Paul Woodward 08.24.2011

Joe Cirincione writes: This week, in Libya, thousands of people celebrated carrying posters of “The Fantastic Four”: Obama, Rice, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and UK Prime Minister David Cameron. All four played a leading role in supporting the people of Libya in their overthrow of a tyrant. But it was America that played the crucial [...]

Read the full article →

The voice of democracy frightens Israel

by Paul Woodward 08.23.2011

The creation of a Jewish state, right from the moment of its conception, was never compatible with the development of democracy. Democracy rests on the recognition of the political rights and power of dēmos, the people, and in as much as it allows for any kind of discrimination it does so by empowering the under-privileged. [...]

Read the full article →

Libya — the first real victory in the Arab Awakening?

by Paul Woodward 08.21.2011

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy To all those who argued that NATO’s involvement would irredeemably taint the Libyan revolution, here’s an idea that could be too much to wrap your mind around. Look at the ongoing struggle in Syria, the brutally crushed revolution in Bahrain, the unfinished revolution [...]

Read the full article →

Israel’s security strategy — when in doubt, hit Gaza

by Paul Woodward 08.21.2011

Three days after the attacks by gunmen outside Eilat in southern Israel, what do we know about the identities of the gunmen? Almost nothing. In the mainstream media they are blithely referred to as “Palestinian gunmen” yet so far the only basis for this description is the unsubstantiated word of Israeli officials. Those officials have [...]

Read the full article →

Celebratory explosions in Tripoli?

by Paul Woodward 08.21.2011

In a telephone address to the Libyan people, Muammar Gaddafi appealed to them to “Go forward, go forward,” and he then hung up. An advance is indeed under way, but not the one Brother Muammar was asking for. “If you can call any mobile number in Tripoli, you will hear in the background the beautiful [...]

Read the full article →

Israeli army hasn’t the faintest idea who launched the Eilat attacks

by Paul Woodward 08.20.2011

The Real News Network‘s Lia Tarachansky asked IDF Spokesperson Lt. Colonel Avital Leibovitz how the IDF reached their conclusions about who was responsible for Thursday’s attacks near Eilat in southern Israel. Tarachansky: On what are you basing your conclusion that this group [the Popular Resistance Committees] is responsible for the terror attacks? IDF Spokesperson: We [...]

Read the full article →

The context of the Eilat attacks and the threat to Gaza

by Paul Woodward 08.19.2011

Israelis who today for some reason feel safer because Gaza is getting bombed, might pause to consider this question: why would a member of the group that launched attacks outside Eilat yesterday — a group supposedly based in Gaza and sworn to the destruction of Israel — today blow himself up in an attack on [...]

Read the full article →

Who benefits from the attacks in Israel?

by Paul Woodward 08.18.2011

Today’s attacks in southern Israel in which gunmen killed eight people were clearly carefully planned. It seems reasonable to assume that as much attention was given to the attacks’ timing. Reuters reported: The Magen David Adom ambulance service said seven people were killed along the road, just meters from the border with Egypt. The military [...]

Read the full article →

Israel’s J14 ‘social justice’ movement — just about money?

by Paul Woodward 08.15.2011

Since it began, Israel’s J14 ‘social justice’ movement, has made what was ostensibly a tactical choice to be apolitical and sidestep the divisive issue of the occupation. Following a chorus of appeals to take a stand on this pivotal issue, the movement has implicitly done just that. Max Blumenthal reports: On August 14, a month [...]

Read the full article →

The CIA, lies and intelligence

by Paul Woodward 08.12.2011

After a recent speech, John Brennan, a longtime former CIA officer and currently President Obama’s counter-terrorism advisor, took a question from John Hopkins professor of strategic studies, Elliot Cohen, on the US policy of so-called targeted killing. Brennan responded by highlighting the “surgical” precision that Obama has insisted upon when the US chooses its targets. [...]

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →