 |
|
Syed Saleem Shahzad
Since the ratings boost for the Bush administration, following the capture of Saddam Hussein, has been thoroughly knocked back down again by the non-effect it had on resistance forces in Iraq, Washington is determined to boost them again some time this year with the displayed head (detached or not) of Osama bin Laden. Leaving behind the deteriorating security in Afghanistan itself, all the USA troops available have been sent to the Pakistan border, where ‘intelligence’ says he is. “The hunt has been intense,” said Richard Myers, chairman of the USA Joint Chiefs of Staff. But this strategy holds the inherent danger that it might fail, and such an eventuality could be much worse for the USA than would simply leaving him be.
Yamin Zakaria
Western states generally trumpet themselves as being the only adherents of democracy, and any state looking for recognition as a democracy usually seeks the seal of approval from the West. The USA, being the leader of the Western world can be regarded as its high priest. As a high priest, the USA spearheaded the recent war in its name by attacking Iraq even before seeking the approval of the Iraqi population. Pity, such types of ‘noble’ wars were not waged to liberate the apartheid South Africa, genocidal Australia, the Nazi-like segregated ‘holy’ Israel (occupied Palestine), the ‘Republic’ of Saudi Arabia, the oil-field ‘states’ of Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, etc. Isn’t there an axiom, which states that consistency in applying a certain standard is evidence of being honest and the absence of which implies hypocrisy?
Kim Sengupta and Arifa Akbar
The images were stark and shocking. Britons, swathed in orange overalls, hooded and shackled, kneeling in front of their American captors. Others, on stretchers, being wheeled into mesh cages. None of them charged, let alone convicted, of any crime, yet facing indefinite sentences in prison. The announcement on Thursday that five of the nine British prisoners at Camp X-Ray were to be released showed, the Government said, that the men had not been forgotten. But even as Jack Straw was making his speech, families and lawyers of the four still being held, with support from Muslim organisations and human rights groups, renewed their protest. There were also demands for explanations as to why it had taken so long to secure the freedom of the others.
Tom Reeves
Not quite a year ago, after returning from Haiti, I wrote that “the United States government is playing the same game as in Iraq - pushing for “regime change” in Haiti. Their strategy includes a massive disinformation campaign in USA media, an embargo on desperately needed foreign aid to Haiti, and direct support for violent elements, including former military officers and Duvalierists, who openly seek the overthrow of President Aristide.” Events in Haiti today show how bloody the USA game has become. Even as Colin Powell insists the USA does not seek “regime change,” the attempt to oust the legitimate elected government of Jean Bertrand Aristide grows more violent by the day.
Andrew Limburg
Back in November of 2003, while following the news reports, my frustration on how the television news media was ignoring all the controversies surrounding Cheney and Halliburton, exploded into an article. Having listed a barrage of charges and facts that included; tax evasion, fraud, lying, bribes, no-bid contracts, price gouging the government, etc? Ahhh?I figured I had gotten it out of my system, but that didn’t last very long. I could not have imagined in my wildest dreams that in just 3 months time, Cheney, his staff, and Halliburton, would be currently under six separate investigations - all escaping the headlines of the print media, and the top stories of the television media.
David Wiggins
Perhaps the greatest military philosopher of all time, Charles Darwin first described the Law of Natural Selection in his scientific treatise, “The Origin of the Species.” Commonly known as “the survival of the fittest,” the Law of Natural Selection states that those creatures best adapted to survival in their particular environment will be the ones most likely to pass their traits on to others. The result is that over time, any species that survives must constantly improve its ability to resist threats to its existence. Hence, as it pertains to the battle for survival, the Law of Natural Selection can be restated as follows: The resistance always increases.
Mike Whitney
Should we thank President Bush for rekindling the Cold War now, or wait until the bombs start falling? The Associated Press is reporting that “Russia?s nuclear forces are preparing their largest maneuvers in two decades, an exercise involving the test firing of missals and flights by dozens of bombers in a massive simulation of an all-out nuclear war”; a scenario much like the type of Biblical Armageddon that we expected when George the Apostle first took office. The maneuvers will also involve the test firing of cruise missals over the northern Atlantic and near the Caspian Basin, as well as launching several intercontinental ballistic missals from both land and sea. Analysts describe the exercise as an imitation of a nuclear attack on the United States.
John Laughland
Believing in conspiracy theories is rather like having been to a grammar school: both are rather socially awkward to admit. Writing in one UK national newspaper last week, the columnist Melanie Phillips even attacked conspiracy theories as the consequence of a special pathology, of the collapse in religious belief, and of a ‘descent into the irrational’. The implication is that those who oppose ‘the West’, or who think that governments are secretive and dishonest, might need psychiatric treatment. In fact, it is the other way round. British and American foreign policy is itself based on a series of highly improbable conspiracy theories.
Louise Christian
Yesterday, the USA ambassador on ‘war crimes’, disclosed what has been suspected for some time; that the Bush administration has already agreed in principle to allow the nine British citizens held in Guantanamo Bay go back to the UK. Clearly, it is now the British, and not the USA government, that stands in the way of the release of the detainees. In its duplicitous actions over the whole affair, the UK government has betrayed the most fundamental responsibility that any government assumes - the duty to protect the rule of law. It is nothing less than a collusion in an international experiment in inhumanity, which is being repeated and expanded around the world.
 |
 |
Get free membership of the World Crisis Web, entitling you to post your own views on the articles published here, and to receive email summaries of the best articles on the site, as well as analysis and comment from other key sites.
Your privacy will always be fully respected. No-one's details will ever be given, sold, or otherwise traded to anyone else.
The World Crisis Web gives you automatically updated RSS news feeds for desktop newsreaders, or to add to your web site.
Amnesty International - Global Justice Gap Condemns Millions to Abuse
The PA's Disingenuous Boycott Campaign
A Shameful War: Israel in the Dock
Somalia: Bad Policies of Strange Bedfellows
The End of Hypocrisy: Crime's Gleeful Abandon in Gaza
Contact the editor without having to bother with e-mail.