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December 2012
Supporting non-violence in Syria
By Stephen Zunes: The worsening violence and repression in Syria has left many analysts and policymakers in the United States and other western countries scrambling to think of ways our governments could help end the bloodshed and support those seeking to dislodge the Assad regime. The desperate desire to "do something" has led a growing number of people to advocate for increased military aid to armed insurgents or even direct military intervention, as the French government has said it will consider doing unilaterally. Read More
Obama re-election indicates just how out dated the Republican Party has become
By Arthur Kane Scott: The Obama election was a watershed in American political history as it represented the dying gasp of a sociological constituency that history has passed. Their social makeup consists primarily of conservative, white male Republicans, who are to a large extent Evangelicals /Fundamentalists, or business/corporate types. Geographically they are to be found in the South or the Midwest. They belong mainly to the Boomer or Xers Generations, and have succumbed to an antiquated HUBRIS of racism /sexism/Exceptionalism which no longer reflects the American culture. Read More
Susan Rice would have been a bad Secretary of State anyway
By Stephen Zunes: U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice’s announcement that she would withdraw her name from consideration to be the next secretary of state is a mixed blessing.On the one hand, it marks yet another example of the Obama administration’s failure to defend its appointees from concerted and misleading Republican attacks. As with National Intelligence Council chair-designate Chas Freeman, special environmental advisor Van Jones, and Agriculture Department official Shirley Sherrod, the fact that the charges against Rice—which mostly involved her initial comments regarding the September attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi—were groundless did not stop the Republicans from succeeding. Read More
Four decades of sufferings of the stranded Pakistanis in Bangladesh
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: December 16 marked the 41st anniversary of the breakup of Pakistan when the Eastern wing of the country emerged as Bangladesh after an India-backed secessionist movement. The occasion calls for highlighting the plight of about 250,000 so-called Biharis or stranded Pakistanis still languishing in unsanitary camps in Bangladesh. Read More
Cynthia McKinney held briefly on return from Pakistan
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: On December 12, former six-term Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney was detained briefly at Atlanta airport while entering the United States on her return from a visit to Pakistan where she campaigned for the release of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui who is serving 86-year imprisonment for her alleged attempt to kill US soldiers in Afghanistan. When she was asked by a women official who she visited in Pakistan, “I told her Dr. Aafia Siddiqui's family.” She asked me who else and I responded ambassadors, diplomats, academicians, because lots of Pakistanis studied in the U.S. Read More
U.S. policy at U.N. hurts prospects for Israeli-Palestinian peace
By Stephen Zunes: Up until the mid-20th century, Western attitudes regarding national freedom was that the independence of white Western nations was a given, but independence for nonwhite, non-Western nations could only be under conditions granted by the occupying powers. The time at which these nations could be free, their specific boundaries and the conditions of their independence could only be reached through negotiations between the colonial occupiers and approved representatives of the conquered peoples. It was not the purview of the United Nations or any other international legal authority to adjudicate such matters, so went the argument, since the rights of those in the colonies were limited to what was willingly agreed to by the colonizers. Read More
Dear Benjamin Netanyahu, please don’t spoil the party
By Abdulatif Al-Mulhim: The Palestinian-Israeli conflict is the most talked about political subject. And no matter how much you study it or read about it, it will still be uncharted mysterious waters. It is the biggest dilemma for any world leader, politician, historian or just a humble columnist because no matter what you say or write, someone will be angry. But he only thing that many people around the world agree on is that the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has to be ended. Read More
Fabricating a fig leaf of democracy in Kuwait
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: Parliamentary elections in Kuwait were held on December 1, 2012 amid opposition calls to boycott the ballot that resulted in a low voter turnout and a pro-government National Assembly known as Majlis-e-Umma. According to figures released by the Kuwaiti National Election Commission, ‘liberals,’ ‘conservatives’ and Shi’ites made gains in the newly elected parliament. Islamic revivalists were routed with only four seats in the 50-seat parliament. Only three women were elected. Read More
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