Reporting From Outside Party Lines. In Israel, a push to learn the language of the enemy. Arabic teacher Essam Shihada's casual dress – sneakers and a Mickey Mouse T-shirt – contrasts with the seriousness of what he is trying to do: endear Israeli Jewish pupils to the study of the ''enemy's language.'' Skip to next paragraph Subscribe Today to the Monitor Click Here for your FREE 30 DAYS ofThe Christian Science MonitorWeekly Digital Edition A few minutes after fielding questions from Mr.
After Afghan Massacre, War Gets Victim Status. The news that a U.S.
Army sergeant killed 16 civilians, most of them children, in southern Afghanistan early Sunday morning was treated by many media outlets primarily as a PR challenge for continued war and occupation of that country. "Afghanistan, once the must-fight war for America, is becoming a public relations headache for the nation's leaders, especially for President Barack Obama," explained an Associated Press analysis piece (3/12/12). Crooks and Liars. US bids to contain Afghan shooting damage - Central & South Asia. Sixteen Afghan civilians, including three women and nine children, have been shot dead in their homes by a US soldier in a pre-dawn attack.
President Hamid Karzai condemned the slaughter on Sunday as "unforgivable" and furiously demanded an explanation from the US government. "When Afghan people are killed deliberately by US forces this action is murder and terror and an unforgivable action," Karzai said in statement. Senior US officials were scrambling to determine what caused the soldier to go on a shooting spree after leaving his base in southern Afghanistan, apparently heavily-armed and carrying night-vision equipment. Tom Friedman Is Waiting For Afghans to Shape Up. I think most sensible people understand that the current uproar in Afghanistan over the desecration of the Quran isn't really just about the defiling of a holy book.
But if there's sense in the world, there's also nonsense. Enter Tom Friedman's New York Times column today (2/29/12): U.S. troops accidentally burned some Qurans, and President Obama apologized. Afghans nevertheless went on a weeklong rampage, killing innocent Americans in response–and no Afghan leader, even our allies, dared to stand up and say: "Wait, this is wrong. Every week in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq, Muslim suicide bombers kill other Muslims–holy people created in the image of God–and there's barely a peep.
Yes, Mr. Why Can’t Americans Have Democracy? Syria has a secular government as did Iraq prior to the American invasion.
LEAKED STRATFOR EMAILS: Analysts Didn't Believe Bin Laden Was Buried At Sea. Middle East: Stupid is the Order of the Day. Here in Connect-the-Dots-Istan... The stupid Attack Iran obsession seems to have infected virtually all discussion of the Middle East. Marc Lynch of G.W. University said something stupid…then Amnesty International said something stupid…and how about those stupid Islamic terrorist plots? The Pentagon’s lies about Afghanistan — ‘the truth has become unrecognizable’ Chris Hayes: We Need to Talk About Syria. Burning of Korans Complicates U.S. Pullout Plan in Afghanistan.
Dar Yasin/Associated Press An American soldier guarding the Parwan detention facility near Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan last year.
Korans from the library at Parwan were mistakenly incinerated at the Bagram base last week. But behind the public pronouncements, American officials described a growing concern, even at the highest levels of the Obama administration and Pentagon, about the challenges of pulling off a troop withdrawal in Afghanistan that hinges on the close mentoring and training of army and police forces. Despite an American-led training effort that has spanned years and cost tens of billions of dollars, the Afghan security forces are still widely seen as riddled with dangerously unreliable soldiers and police officers.
The distrust has only deepened as a pattern of attacks by Afghan security forces on American and service members, beginning years ago, has drastically worsened over the past few days. Those immediate talks, officials say, could be most affected. Israel signs deal to provide Azerbaijan with $1.6 billion in military equipment. The causes of the protests in Afghanistan. (updated below) Most American media accounts and commentary about the ongoing violent anti-American protests in Afghanistan depict their principal cause as anger over the burning of Korans (it’s just a book: why would people get violent over it?)
— except that Afghans themselves keep saying things like this: Protesters in Kabul interviewed on the road and in front of Parliament said that this was not the first time that Americans had violated Afghan cultural and religious traditions and that an apology was not enough. “This is not just about dishonoring the Koran, it is about disrespecting our dead and killing our children,” said Maruf Hotak, 60, a man who joined the crowd on the outskirts of Kabul, referring to an episode in Helmand Province when American Marines urinated on the dead bodies of men they described as insurgents and to a recent erroneous airstrike on civilians in Kapisa Province that killed eight young Afghans.
“They always admit their mistakes,” he said. And: Iran the Beautiful. U.S. Agencies See No Move by Iran to Build a Bomb. Glenn Greenwald. When I was captured by Gadhafi’s forces. There is a single main highway along which lies every major city between the rebel stronghold of Benghazi in the east and the capital Tripoli in the west.
It snakes along the coast and passes through Ajdabiya, Brega, Sirte and Misrata, cities made world famous by months of back and forth, and deadly, conflict. Iran's newfound nationalism - GlobalPost. TEHRAN, Iran — As Iran’s isolation grows more pronounced week after week, so does, it seems, a sense of nationalism among its citizens.
Long famous for such tendencies, Iranians are once again asserting their love of what they call “Vatan,” or Homeland, as both real and perceived threats from abroad continue to mount. On the part of the government, the prideful rhetoric is nothing new. The threats of preemptive strikes, oil embargoes and the closing of the Strait of Hormuz, together with bluster about its capture of a downed U.S. spy plane, all appear to be posturing as the conflict with the West over its nuclear program continues to seethe. More quietly, however, everyday Iranians too are beginning to feel the pull of national pride. Lessons From Iran, 1977-78. During my time in Iran from 1977 to 1978 there were between forty and fifty thousand Americans, many of them working in the military-industrial complex.
The Shah of Iran with the approval of the U.S. government had signed a contract with a U.S. manufacturer of helicopters worth $250 million dollars for the purchase of helicopters, parts and the training for pilots and mechanics. Before departing for Iran the sub-contractor showed a documentary film of Iran with the narration stating that the Shah’s goal was to become the major military power in the Middle East and the Persian Gulf. What Really Happened in the “Yom Kippur” War? Moscow Here in Moscow I recently received a dark-blue folder dated 1975.
War with Iran: Focusing on the end-game. Washington, DC - Talk of war is in the air.
In the US, one can hardly pick up a newspaper or magazine, or tune in to a public affairs show without encountering speculation about hostilities with Iran. The conservative right is fairly clambering for conflict, and even parties not normally associated with them - the Washington Post comes to mind - are just a step or two behind in demanding clear "red lines" to trigger the first salvo.
Iran’s Female Ninja Army (Video) Assassinating Iranian Scientists. To avoid restating the obvious, or repeating what others have already established, I take these facts as givens: that the main perpetrator of the assassination of Iranian scientists has been the Israeli spy agency Mossad, assisted by various covert operations agencies of the United States and its allies; that the claim of Iran’s possessing or pursuing a nuclear arms program is false; and that, therefore, the assertion that Iran poses an “existential” threat to Israel is, likewise, a fiction designed to justify plans of war and regime change in that country.
What would happen if Iran had the bomb? GlobalSecurity.org - Reliable Security Information. Will Israel Attack Iran? Last week the New York Times reported on an interesting telephone conversation in January between President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. According to the report, Obama tried to convince Netanyahu, with some success, that the time was not right for military action against Iran. Torturer Sues Coup Generals for Making Him ‘a Monster’ So, How Was Afghanistan? Welcome back! Jeremy Scahill: U.S. Has Ignited Islamist Uprising in Impoverished, Divided Yemen. This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form. JUAN GONZALEZ: We begin today’s show in Yemen, where political turmoil is pushing the country to the brink of a humanitarian crisis.
The United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, says more than half of Yemen’s 12 million children are chronically malnourished. The World from Berlin: 'The Iran Conlict Is Intensifying Step by Step' - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - International. Saudi Journalist Arrested For Tweeting To Muhammad. Goodbye to Afghanistan. Congress protests Obama on Bahrain arms sale.
The growing Iranian military behemoth. How the War Was Lost. “The US has an army of 90,000 soldiers in Afghanistan and is spending $100 billion a year, but has still been unable to defeat 20,000-25,000 Taliban who receive no pay at all.” Israel, MEK and state sponsor of Terror groups. How Did Iraq Get Its Weapons? We Sold Them. The Mother Ship Lands in Iraq. Noam Chomsky: Hegemony and its dilemmas. Iranian counter-terrorism? Glenn Greenwald. Iran has US Surrounded, All Right.