by MARK WEISBROT International Commondreams.org Posted by Bulatlat.com In a visit to Qatar and Saudi Arabia this week, Hillary Clinton said that Iran “is moving toward a military dictatorship,” and continued the administration’s campaign for tougher sanctions against that country. What could America’s top diplomat hope to accomplish with this kind of inflammatory rhetoric? It…
Tags: obama
George W. Obama After his first year, Obama shows his true face
By NAT HENTOFF villagevoice.com International Posted by Bulatlat.com Before President Obama, it was grimly accurate to write, as I often did in the Voice, that George W. Bush came into the presidency with no discernible background in constitutional civil liberties or any acquaintance with the Constitution itself. Accordingly, he turned the “war on terror” over…
Right-Wing Populism Gets Help from Democrats
By NORMAN SOLOMON Truthout International Posted by Bulatlat.com In his triumphant speech on election night, the next senator from Massachusetts should have thanked top Democrats in Washington for all they did to make his victory possible. For a year now, leading Democrats have steadily embraced more corporate formulas for “health care reform.” In the name…
Copenhagen Talks End With Agreement, But No Binding Deal: So, How Screwed Are We?
Alternet International Posted By Bulatlat.com ‘The governments which moved so swiftly to save the banks have bickered and filibustered while the biosphere burns.’ Last night a tentative agreement was reached between major parties at the COP15 climate change talks in Copenhagen, but will need to be approved by the 193 nations at the gathering. Initial…
Yeswecanistan: The Peace Candidate Myth
By WILLIAM BLUM Counterpunch International All the crying from the left about how Obama “the peace candidate” has now become “a war president” … Whatever are they talking about? Here’s what I wrote in this report in August 2008, during the election campaign: We find Obama threatening, several times, to attack Iran if they don’t…
Not Even a Peanut
By ALEXANDER COCKBURN Counterpunch International A friend down the coast here in California called Wednesday to say that her mother, 95, had fallen, cracked her ribs, got a cough and told her daughters, “That’s it. I’m checking out.” She’s given up eating. I remembered all the arguments I’d had down the years with the old…
Obama’s Profile in Courage, or Cave-In?
By RAY MCGOVERN truthout International Posted by Bulatlat.com “It took a lot of courage on Kennedy’s part to defy the Pentagon, defy the military — and do the right thing,” said Col. Larry Wilkerson, USA (ret.), according to Robert Dreyfuss in his recent Rolling Stone article “The Generals’ Revolt”. Wilkerson, who was chief of staff…
Obama as LBJ
By FRANKLIN SPINNEY counterpunch International Posted by Bulatlat.com With President Obama poised to announce our “new” strategy in Afghanistan next Monday, the courtiers and pundits in Versailles on the Potomac seemed to have reached a consensus that he will opt for an escalation in Afghanistan of 35,000 troops. Such a policy announcement would be presented…
The Afghan War Question
By FRANKLIN C. SPINNEY Marmaris, Turkey CounterPunch International Posted by Bulatlat.com In the opening lines of the oldest treatise on the conduct of war, Sun Tzu said that the question of war is vital to the state, and therefore, it is imperative to study it. This timeless advice has been been ignored repeatedly by the…
Why Obama’s Iran Policy Will Fail-Stuck in Bush Mode in a Changed World
By DILIP HIRO commondreams.org International Posted by Bulatlat.com While the tone of the Obama administration is different from that of its predecessor, and some of its foreign policies diverge from those of George W. Bush, at their core both administrations subscribe to the same doctrine: Whatever the White House perceives as a threat — whether…
Obama Administration Accused Again of Concealing Bush-Era Crimes
By MATT RENNER truthout/Report International Posted by (Bulatlat.com) President Obama promised to usher in a new era of government transparency when he was sworn into office nine months ago. On January 21, Obama signed an executive order instructing all federal agencies and departments to “adopt a presumption in favor” of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)…