Archive for May 4th, 2009
House Dems Refuse Funds to Close Gitmo
House Democrats on Monday refused a request by the Obama administration for $50 million to close the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay and relocate inmates amid speculation that some of its prisoners may be eventually housed in the United States. Read the rest of this entry »
Hamas Says It Has Halted Rocket Strikes on Israel, Backs Two-State Solution
4 May 09 | NYT
The leader of the militant Palestinian group Hamas said Monday that its fighters had stopped firing rockets at Israel for now. He also reached out in a limited way to the Obama administration and others in the West, saying the movement was seeking a state only in the areas Israel won in 1967.
Sharif Would Consider Pakistan Unity Coalition
4 May 09 | FT
Nawaz Sharif, the main Pakistani opposition leader, would consider joining a national unity government with Asif Ali Zardari, president, according to a senior leader from his Pakistan Muslim League party. Read the rest of this entry »
The Myth of Talibanistan
by Pepe Escobar
1 May 09 | AT
Apocalypse Now. Run for cover. The turbans are coming. This is the state of Pakistan today, according to the current hysteria disseminated by the Barack Obama administration and United States corporate media – from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to The New York Times. Even British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said on the record that Pakistani Talibanistan is a threat to the security of Britain. Read the rest of this entry »
If China Loses Faith, Dollar will Collapse
by Andy Xie
4 May 09 | FT
Emerging economies such as China and Russia are calling for alternatives to the dollar as a reserve currency. The trigger is the Federal Reserve’s liberal policy of expanding the money supply to prop up America’s banking system and its over-indebted households. Read the rest of this entry »
Probe into U.S. Soldiers ‘Converting’ Afghan Muslims
4 May 09 | AJE
US soldiers in Afghanistan have been filmed with local language Bibles and urged to be “witnesses for Jesus” despite anti-proselytising rules. Al Jazeera’s James Bays reports. (4:25):
A former Afghan prime minister has called for an inquiry after Al Jazeera broadcast footage showing Christian US soldiers appearing to be preparing to try and convert Muslims in Afghanistan. Read the rest of this entry »
U.K. ‘Dragged’ into Iraq War: Former Top MI-6 Official
4 May 09 | Raw Story
In a revealing speech delivered this weekend, the former deputy director of Britain’s secret intelligence service said the Iraq war “was always against” the “better judgment” of the agency. Read the rest of this entry »
U.N. Experts Discuss Gaza Massacre
4 May 09 | BBC
UN investigators are beginning a week-long meeting in Geneva, ahead of a mission to Israel and the Gaza Strip.
AIPAC Live Blogging; Israel’s Peres Coaches AIPAC on Obama’s Iran Policy
Haaretz.com has teamed up with the L.A. Jewish Journal to bring you a live blog from the 2009 conference of the America Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which got underway Sunday in Washington.
Speakers at the conference include President Shimon Peres, Newt Gingrich and Senator John Kerry. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was to deliver a special live address via satellite to the conference.
In an address before ‘the most important’ lobby affecting America’s relations with Israel, President Shimon Peres accuses Iran of posing an international “threat”.
War Crimes Court Rejects Taylor Acquittal Bid
War crimes judges have rejected a request to acquit Liberia’s former President Charles Taylor on charges of crimes against humanity. Read the rest of this entry »
Right to the Very End in Iraq, Our Masters Denied Us the Truth
by Robert Fisk
2 May 09 | UKI
The sentence ‘millions of Iraqis now live free of oppression’ is pure public relations. Read the rest of this entry »
AIPAC Meets to Write U.S. Policy on Iran
Pakistan Strife Raises U.S. Doubts on Nuclear Arms
As the insurgency of the Taliban and Al Qaeda spreads in Pakistan, senior American officials say they are increasingly concerned about new vulnerabilities for Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal, including the potential for militants to snatch a weapon in transport or to insert sympathizers into laboratories or fuel-production facilities. Read the rest of this entry »
U.S. and Iraq at Odds Over Extending Pullout
by Jason Ditz
3 May 09 | AWC News
Despite surging violence, June 30 means June 30, Iraq gov’t insists. Read the rest of this entry »
Sri Lanka May Offer Tigers Amnesty
The Sri Lankan government is considering an offer of amnesty to Tamil Tiger separatists who surrender, a minister has said. Read the rest of this entry »
Vietnam: End Crackdown on Labor Activists
4 May 09 | HRW
The Vietnamese government should immediately free activists who have been unlawfully imprisoned for peacefully campaigning for workers’ rights, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today. Read the rest of this entry »
