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Archives: April 2010
Massive Offshore Windfarms to Power Green Germany
Note to environmentalists: German utility corporations are building gigantic wind farms offshore that are expected to provide a quarter of Germany's energy in coming decades. One plant, on an island, came online…NATO Troops Kill MP Relative; Anti-American Demonstrations Nangarhar Demand US Withdrawal
NATO forces raided the home in Nangarhar of Afghan parliamentarian Safia Siddiqi Wednesday night, in the course of which they killed her brother-in-law. In response, crowds in Nangarhar blocked a major thoroughfare…Tehran Police Chief Cracks down on Women with Sun Tans
The Telegraph reports that the police chief of the Iranian capital, Tehran, Brig Hossein Sajediniya, has called for a crackdown on fashionable women as part of his campaign against the reformists of…
The Horrible Gulf Oil Spill Reality versus the Energy Tomorrow Pantsuit
Let us contrast reality to the fantasy that Big Oil projects for us on our television screens. I have long despised the character of the lady in pantsuits, played by Brooke Alexander,…Allawi’s Secularists call for Caretaker Gov’t, New Elections
The London pan-Arab daily al-Hayat [Life] reports in Arabic that the appeals court will issue its judgment on the coming Monday, May 3, concerning whether 9 candidates should have been allowed to…3 Killed in Qandahar Bombing as the UNO leaves; South Asia now Most Dangerous
On Tuesday, insurgents bombed an Afghan security company, Homayun at Qandahar, wounding at least 38 of them. Three persons were killed. Homayun provides security services to NATO troops, and this must have…Disqualifications of ‘pro-Baathists’ throw Iraq into Political Uncertainty
McClatchy/ CSM reporters Jane Arraf and Mohammed al-Dulaimy cover the decision of an appeals court to uphold the disqualification of 52 Iraqi politicians. The exclusion had been ordered by the 'Justice and…Apartheid in Israel, Showing Papers in Arizona
Jonathan Cook gives concrete examples of the various forms of Apartheid practiced in Israel by Jews toward Palestinian-Israelis and Palestinians. An important recent policy announcement makes it possible for the Israelis to…Iran Quiz
Take the Iran Quiz at Countercurrents. (The quiz is based in part on a chapter in my Engaging the Muslim World, which will be revised and in paperback in August.India Urges Kabul not to Deal with Taliban; Logar Protesters Torch NATO Fuel Trucks
About 1000 protesters massed in the streets of Pul-i Alam in the central Logar Province on Sunday, angry about a NATO attack that they alleged killed innocents. The demonstrators then set fire…Taliban Resemble Successful Insurgencies
CSM reports on a RAND study by Ben Conable and Martin Libicki of 89 major insurgencies in the 20th century and early 21st, and what they might tell us about the likelihood…
Bombings in Baghdad target Shiites
AP reports that guerrillas set off at least 4 car bombs in Baghdad on Friday, killing at least 69 persons and wounding hundreds. The target of four of the attacks was Shiite…Netanyahu Commits to Colonizing East Jerusalem; First Palestinian Expelled under new Policy
The new Israeli policy of deporting Palestinians from the West Bank on arbitrary grounds has kicked in with Ahmad Sabah, who has just been deported to Gaza and separated from his family…
In honor of Earth Day: Green Guide for Muslims
Amr Khalid, the wildly popular Egyptian Muslim preacher, may not be very progressive on women's issues, but he is promoting a 'Green Guide for Muslims' to enable them to play a role…South Park Controversy and Fallacies of Muslim Extremists
This CNN report on the veiled threat made by an obscure, fringe American Muslim website against the creators of the South Park cartoon shows an extremist saying something completely untrue: "Yunus Muhammad"…Dear Europe from Gazans
"Dear Europe, sorry about the ash cloud over your heads and that you can't travel anywhere. We feel just the same." GazaSecret Prison Revelations may Hurt al-Maliki’s bid for Reelection
The announcement of the discovery of a secret prison in Baghdad where Sunni Arabs suspected of involvement in guerrilla activities were held and sometimes tortured may have an effect on the shape…Fundamentalist Rally Bombed in Pakistan, Kills two Dozen
Two bombings shook the northern Pakistani city of Peshawar on Monday, killing 27 and wounding over 50 persons. Ironically, one bomb hit a rally of the fundamentalist Jama'at-i Islami (Islamic Grouping), a…Anzalone: The Death of a Caliph
In a guest opinion piece for Informed Comment, Christopher Anzalone asks if the Reported Killings of the Islamic State of Iraq’s two senior Leaders spell the end of the Self-styled Jihadi State.…Why Economic Sanctions on Iran will Fail
Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Adm. Mike Mullen said at Columbia U. that a military strike on Iran over its nuclear enrichment activities would be his 'last option.' He makes an excellent…Gates Worries about Iranian Nuclear Research, while Khamenei blasts US for Hiroshima
David Sanger of the New York Times gets the scoop-- that US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates sent the White House a memo last January observing that the US has no real…Khamenei: US ‘only’ ‘nuclear criminal’ for Hiroshima
The USG Open Source Center translates the speech on Saturday of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to the attendees of a nuclear security conference in Tehran. Iranian Supreme Leader Criticizes US Nuclear Policies…Top Ten Differences between Mir Hosain Mousavi and Lady Gaga
Satire alert. Time magazine's publicists inform me that there is a duke-out going on between Lady Gaga fans and those of Iranian Green Movement leader Mir Hosain Mousavi. So, below, I offer…Afghanistan Attacks Leave 13 Dead
Attacks in Afghanistan left 13 dead and many more wounded on Thursday. A suicide car bombing near an Afghanistan National Army base in Qandahar left 6 dead, three of them military and…
Florida Times-Union on Engaging the Muslim World
The Florida Times-Union has an editorial today on the US and the Muslim world (and American Muslims) that draws on my most recent book, Engaging the Muslim WorldWright: Assassinations Strengthen Religious Terrorist Groups
Robert Wright argues that not only is assassination (including by drone) legally and ethically troubling, but there is reason to think that it is counterproductive when deployed against religious terrorist groups. He…
Obama hints that Two-State Solution may be Impossible
President Barack Obama acknowledged Tuesday that despite the expenditure of substantial political capital by his administration it may be that no progress will be made on Israel-Palestine peace. AP says he replied…Englehardt On Bombing People from the Air
Tom Engelhardt on Americans fighting their wars 'from on high.' Alas, it isn't American, it is just industrialized warfare. Pakistan is bombing its own people, and a recent airstrike on militants appears…US Attitudes, Discourse on Israel Shifting to Realism
A dispassionate examination of Israeli policy and its negative impact on the US at the Wilson Center by 5 former ambassadors is summarized at the Holy Land Peace Project blog. Josh argues…Turkey, Brazil Come out against new Iran sanctions at Security Summit
Presidnt Obama's nuclear security summit scored an early victory on Monday, since Obama was able to announce that Ukraine would give up its stock of high enriched uranium by 2012. Ukraine kept…
Israelis Could Expel Thousands of Palestinians from Palestine
New Israeli regulations allow authorities potentially to imprison or expel from the West Bank tens of thousands of Palestinians. The Israeli right has long favored "transfer" (i.e. ethnic cleansing) as a means…
170 Killed in Afghanistan as Gates, Cheney, Palin Wrangle over Karzai
170 people were killed in Afghanistan during the past week in political violence, according to an interior ministry spokesman. Radio Azadi reports in Persian that the spokesman said Monday morning that there…Blog Migration
Old-time readers please bear with me as I move the blog to a new hosting server and a new publishing software (Wordpress). And, don't worry, the template will improve as I move…President Weakened, but Pakistani State Kills 100 in Bombings, Clashes
On Saturday, fierce Pakistani fighter-jet bombardments of suspected militant positions in Khyber left dozens of persons dead and local tribal leaders livid at what they characterized as the killing and wounding of…Migrating Blog: Offline Temporarily
Sorry, folks, I have to migrate my blog to a different server and publishing software this weekend. As a result, the site will be offline temporarily. You could bookmark the feedburner feed…Israel’s Netanyahu Blows Off Obama’s Nuclear Summit
The audience at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference is said to have gone wild with applause when Liz Cheney announced the decision of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu not to attend next…Air Farce: Qatari Diplomat Cuffed on Plane for Smoking, & Bad Joke
Karl Marx once remarked that every historical event occurs twice, first as tragedy and then as farce. On Wednesday evening we got the farcical version of the shoe bomber when the third…Sadrist Straw Poll selects Ibrahim Jaafari as candidate for Prime Minister
The straw poll conducted by the Sadr Movement, led by Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, produced the following results:Ibrahim Jaafari, (National Reform Trend): 24%Jaafar al-Sadr (State of Law), 23%Qusay al-Suhail (Sadr Movement) 17%Nuri…Tomgram: Engelhardt, Numbers to Die For | TomDispatch
Tomgram: Engelhardt, Numbers to Die For | TomDispatch:"* Believe it or not, the Defense Logistics Agency shipped 1.1 million hamburger patties to Afghanistan in the month of March 2010 (nearly doubling the…Karzai called Erratic, even Druggie; In fact, he is posing as liberator in shadow of Empire
Here is the reason it is so important that President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan has begun behaving so erratically. It is because the path President Obama chose in Afghanistan requires a strong,…Wikileaks Video Shows US Killing of 2 Reuters Newsmen
Wikileaks on Monday released a 17 minute video of a US helicopter gunship attack on a group of Iraqi men in New Baghdad in 2007. The pilots mistakenly identified the camera of…
Pakistani Taliban kill 51 in strikes at Heart of US Presence, and at Secular Party
Although in the US the big news out of Pakistan on Monday, understandably, was a Taliban attack on the american consulate in Peshawar that killed 5 persons, including two Pakistani policemen guarding…Bombings in Iraq kill 41, Wound 237; Attempt to tarnish al-Maliki’s reputation for improving Security;
The LAT says that at least 41 persons were killed and 237 were wounded by three suicide bomb attacks targeting the Iranian and German embassies and the Egyptian consulate. Most of those…