U.S. and the World
Is Obama Being Tricked into an Unwinnable War in Afghanistan?: Tom Engelhardt
The timing of Army General Stanley McChrystal’s recent, and dour, assessment of the war in Afghanistan should be noted, says Tom Engelhardt, in light of President Barack Obama’s wavering on the conflict’s long-term military commitment. McChrystal ... read more
20,000 Non-Citizens in U.S. Military
Immigrants seeking a fast-track method for becoming U.S. citizens need only heed the call from Uncle Sam. Serving in the U.S. military is now the quickest way for foreign-born residents to gain their citizenship, and more of them are taking advant... read more
Afghan Police, Accused of Corruption, Say No to More U.S. Troops
Rather than sending thousands more American soldiers, the U.S. should spend its money on enlarging Afghanistan’s army and law enforcement, say police officials from some of the country’s most violent regions. Local police insist a surge in U.S. pe... read more
Researchers Predict 35% of Iraq Veterans Will Suffer Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
Officials with the Department of Veterans Affairs had better gear up for significant number of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) cases over the coming years, say researchers at Stanford University. Using survey data based on current cases and a... read more
Afghanistan War Could be Worse than Vietnam War: Conn Hallinan
What is it about Afghanistan that seems to derange policymakers in Washington, asks Conn Hallinan, a columnist for Foreign Policy in Focus. There are parallels between the current war and that which was fought forty years ago in Vietnam—the enemy ... read more
Obama Eases Restrictions on Gifts of Consumer Electronics to Cuba
The Obama administration has taken yet another step towards improving trade between the United States and Cuba. New rules crafted by the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security will allow Cuban-Americans to send packages to relati... read more
Blog Awards Announced…in Cuba
The times they are a-changing, in Cuba, where a collection of cyber aficionados came together to celebrate the Communist country’s first-ever blog awards. As Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez put it, A Virtual Island was more than just a ceremony—it was... read more
U.S. No Longer #1…in Per-Capita Carbon Dioxide Pollution
The United States is no longer the worst per-capita polluter when it comes to contributing to the problem of global warming. Australia is now number one. But neither country, nor most other industrial nations, is at risk of suffering from the wors... read more
Turkey Fines Time-Warner Group $2.5 Billion
Criticizing the leader of Turkey has cost the media group, Doğan Yayin, dearly. The government’s Tax Ministry fined Doğan—a conglomerate of newspapers and television stations that includes CNN-Turk, a Turkish-language version of CNN jointly owned ... read more
South African Government Supports Apartheid Class Action Suit against Ford, GM, IBM
In a complete reversal from the previous administration, South African President Jacob Zuma has endorsed a class action lawsuit filed in U.S. courts against American corporations that did business in South Africa when apartheid was still in effect... read more
Dick Cheney Disrupted British Terror Investigation, but Saved Himself from Prosecution
On Monday, a British jury convicted three British Muslims of plotting to blow up more than half a dozen planes over the Atlantic, but three years ago, officials in the United Kingdom were worried that their investigation of the plot was almost foi... read more
Afghanistan by the Numbers: Tom Engelhardt
The Obama administration is rushing to submit to Congress a Strategic Implementation Plan that will include a host of statistics (or metrics) that will define “success” in the Afghanistan war. But author Tom Engelhardt has produced his own set of ... read more
CIA Claims 11 al Qaeda Kills in the Past Year
Battered by disclosures of the Bush administration’s interrogation program and news of a pending investigation by a special prosecutor, the CIA decided recently to share some goods news about its work combating terrorists. In an interview with Jef... read more
U.S. Forces Accused of Violating Law by Invading Afghan Hospital
American soldiers from the U.S. Army’s 10th Mountain Division raided a hospital last week looking for Taliban warriors, according to officials with the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan, which runs the hospital and has been active in Afghanistan f... read more
As American Troops Pull Out of Iraq, They’re Replaced by…Civilians
While American soldiers pull out from Iraq, Americans of another stripe keep arriving in country. Private security contractors from the U.S. and other countries are pouring into Iraq to take over the guarding of key installations and bases—at an e... read more
Taliban’s Anti-Tank Bombs: Supplied by Iran…or the U.S.?
Growing success by Taliban forces against Western coalition tanks cannot be completely attributed to Iran’s covert assistance to insurgents in Afghanistan, but also to the United States’ earlier support for Mujahedeen fighters in the 1980s, accord... read more