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October 2012
Obama, Romney, and the Foreign Policy Debate
By Stephen Zunes: Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of the third and final presidential debate of the 2012 campaign was the similarity between the two candidates on many basic foreign policy issues. Part of the reason is that, as he did in the first two debates, GOP candidate Mitt Romney reversed himself on a number of extreme right-wing positions he had taken earlier in a desperate effort to depict himself as a moderate. At the same time, Obama’s hawkish stances served as yet another reminder of just how far to the right Obama has evolved since running as an anti-war candidate just four years ago. Read More
Remembering George McGovern
By Stephen Zunes: George McGovern - a highly decorated US military veteran who was "fed up to the ears with old men dreaming up wars for young men to die in," a deeply religious scholar and devoted family man - represents the best of timeless Democratic values. Getting to know George McGovern - who died Sunday morning at age 90 - as a friend, collaborator, co-author and co-teacher has been among my proudest and most fulfilling experiences. Read More
Who attacked Malala Yusufzai?
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali:Many people are wondering why media is so selective and gave so much coverage to Malala Yusufzai while 100s of innocent Malalas and women have been killed by drone attacks but we don't even find there names. Read More
The ongoing attack on democracy in the Maldives
By Stephen Zunes: If western countries are unwilling to place any pressure against a regime of questionable legitimacy, allied with a former dictator and hard-line Islamists, while failing to provide any support for a popularly-elected leader committed to democracy and to nonviolence, what kind of message does that send? Read More
American peace activists join anti-drone march in Pakistan
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: “Last week, we and thirty other Americans have been blessed with an experience few Americans have shared, seeing a more hopeful side of the relationship of the people of Pakistan to Americans. For the last week in Pakistan's capital, Islamabad, and then in the nation’s tribal areas, our delegation that came to Pakistan to protest U.S. drones has been showered with tremendous hospitality, warmth and friendship.” This is how Media Benjamin of CODEPINK and Robert Naiman of TruthOut.org describe their experience with the anti-Drone march led by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) leader Imran Khan on October 6-7. Dozens of American and British peace activists joined the peace march to Waziristan, a poor, dangerous, isolated tribal area of Pakistan where drones have killed so many people. Read More
Pakistan-Russia relations warm up
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: In an unprecedented exchange between Russia and Pakistan, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov visited Islamabad last week while Pakistan Army Chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kiani flew to Russia for consolidating progress in defense cooperation. Lavrov’s unscheduled visit was to reassure Pakistani leader-ship that President Putin remained committed to resetting ties despite cancellation of his visit. Read More
Political aftermath of JFK assassination – Part II
By Arthur Kane Scott: On November 22, 1963, John F. Kennedy, with his wife Jackie, was fired upon at Dealey Plaza. The young President was pronounced dead at 1:30 pm, Central Standard Time, at Parkland Hospital, Dallas. While the nation was in deep shock, Lyndon Banes Johnson was sworn in as the 36th President. What was not realized at the time was that America, not only had witnessed a political assassination in which the vision of the “New Frontier” and its “New Deal” roots were marginalized, but more importantly JFK’s death represented the beginnings of a profound paradigm shift to the “Far Right” within the American culture. By the election of 2012, Corporate America, intelligence agencies, the military-industrial complex, Wall Street/Banking Industry, Religious Right and their sibling money had become the masters of the country where the one percent dominate, and economic fairness/equity banished from the dialogue. The JFK statement: “If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich” is forgotten, or at best ignored. Read More
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