US-CANADA: Shared Border, Unilateral Policy? by Paul Weinberg TORONTO - Canada and the United States are on different wavelengths when it comes to a shared and increasingly hardening of what had been a sleepy border within North America.One University of Toronto political scientist doubts this will change anytime soon in the wake of how 'paranoia' in the U.S. about its northern frontier has continued under the administration of Barack Obama.
Everyone Should See 'Torturing Democracy' by Bill Moyers and Michael Winship In all the recent debate over torture, many of our Beltway pundits and politicians have twisted themselves into verbal contortions to avoid using the word at all.During his speech to the conservative American Enterprise Institute last week -- immediately on the heels of President Obama's address at the National Archives -- former Vice President Dick Cheney used the euphemism 'enhanced interrogation' a full dozen times.
Holding On to Our Humanity by Bob Herbert Overload is a real problem. There is a danger that even the most decent of people can grow numb to the unending reports of atrocities occurring all around the globe. Mass rape. Mass murder. Torture. The institutionalized oppression of women.There are other things in the world: a ballgame, your daughter’s graduation, the ballet. The tendency to draw an impenetrable psychic curtain across the worst that the world has to offer is understandable. But it’s a tendency, as Elie Wiesel has cautioned, that must be fought.
Jon & Kate Begin to Grate by Gail Collins Back before the turn of the millennium, my husband and I wrote a book that contained a lot of lists of the best and worst of the last thousand years. Our friend Alfred Gingold contributed “Ten Worst Ideas of the Millennium,” which included flagellants, foot binding, wine in a box, trench warfare and French mime.
Why the torture photos should be released by Mary Shaw The Obama administration continues trying to block the release of some additional photos of detainee abuse. The excuse? They say exposing the photos could incite anti-American violence in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.They seem to forget that we're already seeing anti-American violence in those countries. And they seem to forget why.
During His Trip to Egypt, Obama Should Visit Gaza by Medea Benjamin Obama will give a major policy talk at Cairo University on June 4, intended to start mending the rift between the United States and the Arab world. During the Bush years, many Arabs turned against the United States because of the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as the abuses at Guantanamo and Abu Graib. But the issue that is really at the crux of the tensions with the United States is the intractable conflict between Israel and Palestine, and what many perceive as a one-sided U.S. policy in support of Israel.
The Main Result of the 'War on Terror': The Destabilization of Pakistan by Gary Leupp So far the principle result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan following the events of 9-11 has been the destabilization of Pakistan. That breakdown is peaking with the events in what AP calls the 'Swat town' of Mingora---actually a city of 375,000 from which all but 20,000 have fled as government forces moved in, strafing it with gunships. We're talking urban guerrilla warfare, house-to-house fighting, not on the Afghan border but 50 miles away in the Swat Valley. We're talking about Pakistani troops fighting to reclaim the nearby Malam Jabba ski resort from the Tehreek-e-Taliban, who since last year have been using it as a training center and logistics base. We're talking about two million people fleeing the fighting in the valley and 160,000 in government refugee camps.
A Free Republic Morphs Into Feudalism by Jon Faulkner In the film classic, 'It’s a Wonderful Life,' good and evil battle. James Stewart, alias George Bailey, owns 'Bedford Falls Savings and Loan.' George has dreamed of a vacation, even a new life, where the careworn years of crushing responsibility are lifted from his shoulders. But George knows his dream will always remain just that – a dream.
'Scaredy-Cat Nation' Risks US Security by Robert Parry Some Americans may think they’re looking tough by refusing to allow any Guantanamo Bay detainees to enter the United States, whether as prisoners to face trial or as people who were incorrectly swept up – like the Chinese Uighurs – and have been deemed no threat to U.S. security.
The End of the Obama Honeymoon, Part II by Matt Taibbi "There would be some prosecutions in criminal courts, he said, but wait a second, because he would also use military tribunals he had himself maligned. He wants to release some of the prisoners, as Bush had, and transfer others to countries that would accept them, as Bush did to great criticism.
