President Obama’s presumptive choice to replace Hillary Clinton as secretary of state in his second term is in the middle of a partisan storm stirred up by angry Republican lawmakers over her role in the Benghazi attack that killed four Americans. But others argue that the Libya incident and her role in disseminating information about [...]
THERE IS NOTHING SO PERMANENT AS A TEMPORARY GOVERNMENT PROGRAM. John Glaser cites this saying attributed to Milton Friedman. It seems to capture the current situation of Libya in the aftermath of attacks on a U.S. consulate in Benghazi killed 4 people, including the U.S. ambassador to Libya. In “response,” President Obama sent [...]
“THERE IS NO MORAL FACTOR BUILT INTO THE DNA OF US FOREIGN POLICY.” William Blum puts that biting punctuation mark on as essay in which he denounces the opportunism of American policy makers in supporting any kind of overseas forces who encourage American aspirations for global dominance. How else, he asks, explain the persistent [...]
U.S. COURTSHIP WITH LAOS SET BACK A BIT BY DISCOMFORTING QUESTIONS ABOUT WHY UNEXPENDED AMMUNITION FROM U.S. BOMBING BETWEEN 1964 AND 1973 IS YET TO BE CLEANED UP. (Asia Times) Hillary Clinton’s “historic” visit to Laos is aimed to bolster relations with another south Asian nation in the policy of “pivot” from middle east to [...]
“WE’RE GOING TO BE SEEING A LOT MORE WEATHER LIKE THIS, A LOT MORE IMPACTS LIKE WE’RE SEEING FROM THIS SERIES OF HEATWAVES, FIRES AND STORMS. AND WE BETTER PREPARE FOR IT.” (Democracy Now) ` Scientists and weather experts are trying to explain to ordinary Americans that the recent string of extreme and violent [...]
WITH “VICTORIES” LIKE THE ONE THE A.F.L./C.I.O. GAINED IN WISCONSIN, DO THEY REALLY NEED ANY DEFEATS? (Counterpunch) Richard Trumka, head of the union, makes the dubious claim that the outcome of the recall election in which the union-busting Governor Walker was retained in office was a great advance for the union cause, citing the fact [...]
WHILE THE U.S. SUPPORTS THE PROTESTS AGAINST “OUR ENEMY” (THE SYRIAN GOVERMENT) IT TOASTS ONE OF “OUR BASTARDS” (THE KING OF BAHRAIN) IN HIS CONTINUED SUPPRESSION OF PRO-DEMOCRACY PROTESTS IN THAT COUNTRY. (Asia Times) The Crown Prince of Bahrain receives full state “honors” on a visit to Washington just as a Bahrani leader says that the government will [...]
RUBE GOLDBERG, WHERE ARE YOU WHEN WE NEED YOU? COLLECTING A JUICY PRIZE FROM THE WHITE HOUSE OFFICE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY POLICY FOR MY LATEST INVENTION. (USA Today) The OSTP releases a new report touting the “successes” it has achieved for giving prizes to inventors under the provisions of an “America COMPETES” law passed last year by [...]
“ALL THEY CARE ABOUT, IN THE END, IS THE WAR ITSELF—OR RATHER, WAR ITSELF.” (Chris Floyd) The April 1 annnouncement by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that the U.S. government will be help arm the “Free Syrian Army” opposition comes as no surprise to Chris Floyd, although the real “fools” being played by these and [...]
The United States has deepened what is a growing commitment to support anti-government rebels in Syria who have taken up an increasingly violent resistance to the regime of Bashar al-Assad. With the conflict showing little signs of abating and the Obama administration escalating its rhetoric against Assad, the path may be set for imminent military intervention from Western [...]
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