Month

Archives: February 2008

Fact Check on McCain and Political Progress in Iraq

John McCain has been running mainly against Barack Obama in recent days, and has been running on the successes he says that the Iraqi government has racked up.McCain (and the US corporate…

Burke’s Peerage: Queen Elizabeth II Descended from the Prophet Muhammad

I was surprised that the writers of comments over at Salon.com did not know the below. It is common knowledge to anyone interested in genealogy. I know that it is hard for…

Obama Scores against McCain

So first came the question posed by Tim Russert and Barack Obama's answer in Tuesday evening's debate in Cleveland, which went like this according to the official transcript: ' MR. RUSSERT: .…

Barack Hussein Obama, Omar Bradley, Benjamin Franklin and other Semitically Named American Heroes

At Cincinnati, Bill Cunningham, according to the LAT, who "introduced presidential candidate John McCain at a rally here today accused Barack Obama of sympathizing with 'world leaders who want to kill us'…

Turkish Army Kills 41 Kurdish Fighters; 4 Shiite Pilgrims Killed in Bombing; 8 Iraqi Soldiers Killed in Diyala

The Turkish military announced on Monday that it had killed another 41 Kurdish guerrillas inside Iraq. It claims to have killed 151 fighters of the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) during the present…

Sartorial Politics

With reference to this story about Barack Obama dressing traditionally on a good will trip abroad:Here is Bill Clinton doing the same thing:And here is Hillary Clinton in Palestinian dress with Suha…

60 Dead in Attack on Shiite Pilgrims; Turkish invaders Kill 33 PKK Guerrillas; 2 US Soldiers Killed; Stewart Skewers McCain

Between 40 and 60 Shiites were killed and 105 wounded on Sunday by a suicide bomber at Iskandariya in northern Babil province as they made their way south to the holy city…

Osama Bin Laden’s "Second Life"

My column for Salon.com on "Osama bin Laden's "Second Life": In virtual worlds, does it take two terrorists to tango? And how much should we worry about those secret stockpiles of cartoon…

Serbs Try to Attack US Embassy in Vienna; Munter Warns Serbia

Frances Trix of Indiana University and a long-time researcher in Kosovo gives the historical and cultural context of the Balkan crisis at our collective Global Affairs blog. Kosovo independence from Serbia continues…

37 Killed in Turkish-Kurdish Fighting inside Iraq; Basra Instability Forces British to Postpone Departure

Turkish military land and air operations inside northern Iraq left 35 PKK guerrillas dead on Saturday, and two Turkish soldiers.The PKK warned that it would blow up people in Turkish cities if…

1987: Biblical Checklist includes Support for Muslim Radicals in Afghanistan

The Associated PressJune 12, 1987, Friday, PM cycleReligious Lobbyist Sees ''Christian-Bashing'' In GOPA religious lobbyist says some Republicans, including Vice President George Bush, are engaging in "Christian-bashing" and may drive the religious…

Turkey Invades Iraq; Sadr Renews Freeze; Bombings in Baghdad, Green Zone

I review the news below and don't somehow conclude that the US occupation of Iraq is a success story. I know we are paying a lot for our presence in Iraq. I…

Three Events that changed the World

Three things happened on Thursday that changed the world.The victorious Pakistan People's Party, now the largest in the Pakistani lower house of parliament, has reached a deal for a coalition with two…

Turkish-Kurd Military Confrontation; Gunbattles Roil Basra; A Dozen Police Found Dead Near Baquba

While US troops keep a tenuous grip on Baghdad in the center, Iraq's two extremities-- Kurdistan in the north and Basra in the deep south-- are coming apart at the seams. Neither…

5 US Troops Killed; 25 Dead, 70 Wounded in Violence; Turkey Bombs Iraq

DPA estimates that civil war violence killed 25 in Iraq on Wednesday and wounded 70. The dead included 5 US troops.On Tuesday evening, 3 US troops were killed when their vehicle hit…

McCain’s Holiday from History in Pakistan; Will any Old Military Dictator Do?; Lies about Obama

Barack Obama's spectacular win in Wisconsin has the GOP frightened. The Democratic turnout was much, much better than the Republican. The Democrats and independents are energized. Senator John McCain could not get…

Musharraf’s Party Roundly Defeated; Fundamentalist Coalition Collapses in NWFP; PPP Likely to Form Next Government

Pakistan held its elections on Monday, which are fateful for the future of the country and also probably for the Bush-Cheney foreign policy. Bush and Cheney put most of their eggs in…

Over 80 Dead in Afghan Blast

A massive suicide bomb ripped through crowd in Qandahar on Sunday, killing over 80 and wounding a similar number. The Afghan newspaper Rah-i Sulh took a dim view of the public's activities…

Sadrist/ Badr Truce Breaks Down; Parliament Rejects Smaller Cabinet

It is awfully suspicious that as soon as a firm date was set for new provincial elections in Iraq (October 1), the truce broke down between the paramilitary of Muqtada al-Sadr and…

Bombings in Baghdad, Mosul Kill 6; Hilla Awakening Council Joins Strike

Two bombings shook Iraq Sunday morning. In the Misbah commercial center in the upscale Shiite Karrada district, a female suicide bomber detonated a belt bomb, killing 3 persons and wounding 10. Meanwhile,…

4 Killed 17 Wounded in Tal Afar Mosque Bombing; Crisis of Water, Sewage in Baghdad;

AP reports that two suicide bombers attacked a Shiite mosque congregation in the northern Turkmen city of Tal Afar on Friday. The first was stopped and his belt bomb only killed him.…

Arato: "A Victory of the Better America?" Guest Editorial

The below is a guest editorial that will appear the coming week in Elet es Irodalom, a Hungarian weekly. (Hungarian journalists should please consider it embargoed until it appears there.)Andrew Arato, Dorothy…

Sadr City Bombing Kills 4, Wounds 30; Sadrists announce Mourning for Mughniyah

The Herald Sun reports via correspondents in Baghdad,' A bomb planted in a minibus ripped through a market in Baghdad's teeming Sadr City neighbourhood on Thursdya night (AEDT), killing five people and…

Provincial Elections Set; Amnesty Announced for Prisoners; Muqtada Said to be in Qom

Al-Hayat reports in Arabic on the passage by the Iraqi parliament of three important laws. These included the annual budget, a general amnesty that will free thousands of mostly Sunni Arab prisoners…

Speaker Threatens to Dissolve Parliament; 13 Bodies found at Muqdadiya; 3 Students Killed near Balad Ruz

The Daily Star summarizes reports coming out of Iraq that the Speaker of the House is threatening to dissolve parliament. Iraq's legislature has been deadlocked for months over the budget and also…

Twin Massive Bombings Target Awakening Leaders; Thousands Protest Police Chief in Baquba; Pipeline Bombing Causes Outages

Sunni Arab guerrillas deployed two massive car bombs in Baghdad to attack leaders of the Al-Anbar Awakening Council who were meeting in the city, killing at least 22 persons and wounding 42.…

70 Killed or found Dead on Sunday; Big Bombing Near Balad: Baquba Clashes

So first on Sunday, Sunni Arab guerrillas tried to overwhelm Iraqi security forces, Awakening Council members and US troops at two villages near Sinjar not far from the Syrian border. The pro-US…

Bombing Kills 27 in Pakistan; Bin Laden in FATA?

A week from Monday, Pakistanis will go to the polls to elect their federal parliament, in one of the more consequential elections of the past two decades. The campaign season started out…

7 US Soldiers Killed; Public Blames Iraq War for Economic Woes

5 US soldiers were killed by roadside bombs on Friday, 4 northwest of Baghdad and one in Kirkuk Province. Note that both these regions are Sunni Arab, and that it makes no…

Mayor of Tikrit Killed; US Raids Sadr City; Sistani reduces Workload

Sunni Arab guerrillas are increasingly deploying explosively formed projectiles, roadside bombs that can pierce even tank armor. My guess is that the more sophisticated EFPs supposedly coming only from Iran are also…

McCain as Nixon?

John McCain is the Republican nominee for president. He promises "victory" in Iraq while never defining the word, except that he sometimes promises a long-term enmeshing of the US in a Korea-like…

Arab Intelligence Organizations Hold Secret Meeting To Confront Shiites In Iraq

The USG Open Source Center translates a report from the Iranian Fars News Agency that summarizes an article in the Iraqi newspaper al-Bayanat al-Jadidah claiming that Sunni Arab intelligence agencies recently met…

Gates: US Will not Pledge to Defend Iraq

Prince Andrew thinks Bush is weak in the area of British Empire history, and that the stubborn disregard of British experiences and advice is part of the reason for the debacle.The Status…

A McCain/ Huckabee Ticket? Would Huckabee Sink McCain?

In his victory speech on super Tuesday, John McCain said:' I want to congratulate Governor Huckabee and his supporters on their success today. Not for the first time, he has surprised the…

Hot Pursuit into Syria, Iran, had been authorized; US Kills Innocents at Adwar Mass Grave with 50 Bodies Found at Samarra

The Bush administration authorized hot pursuit of Iraqi Baathists into Syria and Iran, according to a just-released document at wikileak. The document also reveals that as late as 2005, the US military…