By James Petras for the Axis of Logic President Obama has nominated Elena Kagan for Justice of the United States Supreme Court on the basis of an academic publication record, which might give her a fighting chance for tenure at a first rate correspondence law school in the Texas Panhandle. A review of her published scholarship after almost two decades in and out of academia turns up four law review
So after many days of hyper-pious rhetoric Dennis Kucinich is reversing his decision and announces that he will vote for the Big Pharma health(not)care bill. I think that I hate Democratic politicians even more than the more openly evil Republican colleagues. This shameful surrender by the last Democrat who tried to act like he had a spine reminds me of the song “Whoever wins in November” by David Rovics (listen
AIPAC CALLS RECENT STATEMENTS BY THEU.S. GOVERNMENT “A MATTER OF SERIOUS CONCERN”URGES OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TO WORK TO IMMEDIATELY DEFUSE THE TENSION WITH ISRAEL The Obama Administration’s recent statements regarding the U.S. relationship with Israel are a matter of serious concern. AIPAC calls on the Administration to take immediate steps to defuse the tension with the Jewish State. Israel is America’s closest ally in the Middle East. The foundation of the
Israel National News reports: U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden on Tuesday laid a wreath at the tomb of Theodor Herzl. He is the first world leader to do so, based on new regulations issued by the Knesset Committee for Symbols and Ceremonies, which decided to include the site as one of the places foreign dignitaries will be taken to on visits to Israel. This year is the 150th anniversary of Herzl’s
Democracy Now reports: Afghanistan has banned the news media from covering Taliban attacks. The announcement came on a day when NATO-led forces reported six of its service members had been killed in various attacks. Under the new rules, journalists will be allowed to film only the aftermath of attacks, when given permission by Afghanistan’s spy agency. Journalists who film while attacks are underway will be held and their gear seized.
By Carolyn Baker for Information Clearing House It’s the end of the affair, and the stale taste of limerence stays on your tongue. You were promised the sun, moon, and stars, and you desperately wanted to believe it was real, especially after the betrayal of your former relationship of eight years. You had considered escaping-riding off into the sunset to another country where he couldn’t find you, or so you
DemocracyNow reports: US to Expand Missile Defense System in Persian Gulf In a move expected to heighten tension in the Middle East, the Obama administration is quietly expanding its land- and sea-based missile shield system in the Persian Gulf region. The US is dispatching Patriot defensive missiles to Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Kuwait. In addition, the US is keeping two ships in the Gulf capable of shooting down
The Strange Case of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab by Tom Burghardt for Dissident Voice Despite some $40 billion dollars spent by the American people on airline security since 2001, allegedly to thwart attacks on the heimat, the botched attempt by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to bring down Northwest Airlines Flight 253 over Detroit on Christmas Day was foiled, not by a bloated counterterrorist bureaucracy, but by the passengers themselves. Talk about validating
Hopes are fading that the historical treaty between the US and the Soviet Union will be renewed, observes Eric Walberg Russian confidence that US President Barack Obama might represent a fundamental change in the direction of US foreign policy is fast eroding. Even pro-Western analyst Dmitri Trenin, director of the Carnegie Moscow Centre reflects, “The people who see Russia as a problem are still at the Pentagon,” and he predicts
There are many a smirk as US President Barack Obama flies to Oslo to be crowned Peacenik of 2009, but it is the Russians who get the prize for taking the shine off Obama’s trophy, notes Eric Walberg Obama desperately needed a new nuclear arms treaty to replace START I to provide some justification for the Nobel Committee’s gamble. The award in the face of US imperial wars and hubris
By Cindy Sheehan for OpEdNews The so-called anti-war movement currently finds itself in somewhat of a quagmire: What to do when the man you raised money for, volunteered for, and yes, even voted for, actually fulfills one of his most repulsive campaign promises? First of all, I never understood why, or how, peace people could support someone who voted to pay for the wars while he was a Senator and
by John Pilger for the New Statesman Obama, the man of peace, is planning another war to add to his impressive record Barack Obama, winner of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, is planning another war to add to his impressive record. In Afghanistan, his agents routinely extinguish wedding parties, farmers and construction workers with weapons such as the innovative Hellfire missile, which sucks the air out of your lungs. According
The only thing Obama’s got right so far about his warzone-of-choice is the name, worries Eric Walberg As more NATO trucks were being torched in Peshawar last week, a Karachi student managed to fling his shoe at warmongering US journalist Clifford May during his address to the Department of International Relations on “Pakistan’s Role in Countering the Challenge of Terrorism”. In Washington, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi announced bitterly
By Paul Craig Roberts for Information Clearing House It took 25 years longer than George Orwell thought for the slogans of 1984 to become reality. “War is Peace,” “Freedom is Slavery,” “Ignorance is Strength.” I would add, “Lie is Truth.” The Nobel Committee has awarded the 2009 Peace Prize to President Obama, the person who started a new war in Pakistan, upped the war in Afghanistan, and continues to threaten
The American people put the Democrats back in power in Congress specifically to stop the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. What did they get in return? The “Surge”. Then they put Obama in power to stop the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. What did they get since? a) not a single anti-war Democrat in Obama’s cabinetb) the foam-at-his-mouth Zionist extremist Rahm Emanuel as Obama’s Chief of Staff (see note at
I have just read two pretty good articles on informationclearinghouse, one by Paul Craig Roberts entitled Health Care Deceit and another by Mark Taibbi Sick and Wrong. They both make some very good points. Paul Craig Roberts, in particular, seems to have a unique ability to be right on almost every issue he writes about. Anyway – I have had too many arguments with otherwise nice and sane Americans over
By Chris Hedges for Truthdig The American empire has not altered under Barack Obama. It kills as brutally and indiscriminately in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan as it did under George W. Bush. It steals from the U.S. treasury to enrich the corporate elite as rapaciously. It will not give us universal health care, abolish the Bush secrecy laws, end torture or “extraordinary rendition,” restore habeas corpus or halt the warrantless
The Islamic Republic is in trouble, no doubt. Following the failure of the coup attempt against Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei by Rafsanjani and his “Guccis” (via Mousavi) one could have somewhat naively hoped that things would settle down, but this is clearly not the case. It now appears that Intelligence Minister Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejeie has been sacked and replaced by Majid Alavi. There are also reports of other ministers
