Bush ‘plans Iran air strike by August’
May 30th, 20080 NEW YORK The George W. Bush administration plans to launch an air strike against Iran within the next two months, an informed source tells Asia Times Online, echoing other reports that have surfaced in the media in the United States recently. Two key U.S. senators briefed on the attack planned to go public with their opposition...Will the U.S. negotiate with Hizbullah?
Editor's note: This is the fifth and final installment of Franklin Lamb's series on Hizbullah, reprinted from counterpunch.org. What the Bush administration wants from Hizbullah A public announcement of, and adherence to, a Hizbullah policy that separates Islam from terrorism in the minds of the Western public, i.e. between...American Palestinians move from al-Nakba to organizing
WASHINGTON In the past few weeks, Palestinians around the globe have commemorated the 60th anniversary of al Nakba, or the catastrophe, that led to their displacement from their homeland. Israel's establishment in May 1948 continued and accelerated the forcible Palestinian exile at the hands of Israel's founding pioneers....Syria sees influx of Arabic language students
DAMASCUS Syria may be a largely closed society, but students from Europe and America are flocking there to study Arabic. They're drawn by the inexpensive tuition and housing rates, as well as the relative purity of the Syrian dialect, which is considered close to classical Arabic. At Damascus University, not far from the heart...No evidence to prove U.S. claims against Iran
WASHINGTON (IPS) Early this month, the George W. Bush administration's plan to create a new crescendo of accusations against Iran for allegedly smuggling arms to Shi'a militias in Iraq encountered not just one but two setbacks. The government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki refused to endorse U.S. charges of Iranian...Iraq’s antiquities garner international attention
Across southern Iraq, large stretches of terrain resemble a moonscape, the earth pocked by dozens of untidy craters. The man-made holes have been dug as part of the looting of Mesopotamia's archaeological sites that experts say is robbing Iraq of its ancient heritage. The looting not only funds unscrupulous dealers of...U.S. allies picking up the pieces
WASHINGTON (IPS) As the White House agenda for the Middle East continues to unravel, events over the past 24 hours seem to suggest that U.S. allies in the region are determined to construct a new edifice based on diplomacy, with or without Washington's help. In spite of efforts by President George W. Bush's administration to...Will U. S. policy in Lebanon and the Middle East ever change?
"Absolutely not! Without a credible deterrent force, there is no real Lebanese sovereignty. Israel came very close to getting nearly all it wanted with the 1983 May 17th agreement. Had Hizbullah not prevented this, Lebanon today would be colonized with near confederation status with Israel. The Bush administration's democracy and...
A victory for Lebanon
May 23rd, 20080 The agreement gives Hizbullah and its opposition allies enough control in the government to have veto power over legislation. Beirut After 18 months of living on the streets in an encampment that has paralyzed this city's downtown, Lebanon's opposition supporters started going home Wednesday. They dismantled their...
Bush’s Middle East policy in tatters
May 23rd, 20080 Last Tuesday, while United States President George W. Bush was setting out from Washington on a five-day tour of the Middle East, Iran's semi-official Fars news agency quoted Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad as hinting that Tehran might consider a cut in oil exports. Of course, Iranian Oil Minister Gholamhossein Nozari quickly...When will Arab oil translate into political power?
Arab oil producers are awash in wealth. They have never been so rich. But the paradox is that, in spite of their great and growing wealth, their political weight in the world remains small, even derisory. They have not or at least not yet converted their wealth into political influence on a global scale. This is...Refugees, peace activists mourn
As Israel celebrates 60 years of statehood, Palestinians worldwide mourn the loss of their homes and homeland. While one people Jews fleeing persecution in Europe gained a country, another people the land's indigenous Palestinians lost nearly everything they had. In 1948 hundreds of...Lebanon’s Sunni bloc built militia, officials say
The Future Movement used a security firm to assemble a private force, officials say. But the fighters were no match for Hizbullah. BEIRUT For a year, the main Lebanese political faction backed by the U.S. built a Sunni Muslim militia here under the guise of private security companies, Lebanese security experts...New Israeli scholars face up to country’s origins
A former French ambassador reviews a wealth of texts documenting Israel's ugly history In the 1980s in Israel, a new generation of men and women who had not lived through the Holocaust or the creation of their country came of age intellectually and embarked on a remarkable period of change. This change...Siege hits Palestinians before they are born
GAZA CITY (IPS) The Israeli siege of Gaza that has restricted access to food, water and medicine is now beginning to hit unborn children and newborn babies. "Many babies are born suffering from anemia that they have inherited from their mothers," Dr. Salah Al-Rantisi, head of the women's health department at the Palestinian......
Iran shifts attention to brokering peace in Iraq
Details from a secret meeting between top Iranian and Iraqi officials signal Iran's aim to 'stop arming' militias ISTANBUL and BAGHDAD Iran's role in helping broker a cease-fire in Baghdad's Sadr City may be the first sign that it is acting to fulfill recent promises to stop arming Iraq's militias and...The Israeli project has failed in Lebanon
Note: This is the third installment in Franklin Lamb's extraordinary series. The fourth installment will appear in the next issue. Dahiyeh Despite the media hype these days, many Middle East analysts as well as the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, chaired by former presidential candidate Joe Biden...
Bush hails Israel on 60th anniversary visit
May 16th, 20080 On his second trip to Israel, President Bush will address the issue of settlement building and try to push for progress on a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. JERUSALEM President Bush landed here Wednesday to join the Jewish state in its 60th anniversary gala part of his drive to propel...
Transformation in Lebanon
May 16th, 20080 Events in Beirut and other parts of Lebanon continue to move erratically, with simultaneous gestures of political compromise and armed clashes that have left 46 dead in the past week. The consequences of what has happened in the past week may portend an extraordinary but constructive new development. If Lebanon shifts from......
Israel is suppressing a secret it must face
How did a Jewish state founded 60 years ago end up throwing filth at cowering Palestinians? By Johann Hari When you hit your 60th birthday, most of you will guzzle down your hormone replacement therapy with a glass of champagne and wonder if you have become everything you dreamed of in your youth. In a few...The Israeli project has failed in Lebanon
Why the Bush administration wants to negotiate now with Hizbullah Note: This is the second installment in Franklin Lamb's extraordinary series. The third and fourth installments will appear in the next two issues. Dahiyeh As discussed below, and contrary to conventional wisdom, the Bush administration......
Troubles pile up in Yemen
This year, Yemen's President Ali Abdallah Saleh, 66, celebrates his 30th year in power a record of political longevity beaten among Arab heads of state only by Muammar al-Qadhafi, Libya's ruler since 1969. But, whereas Qadhafi's Libya, flush with oil money, is enjoying an unprecedented boom, Yemen, the Arab world's poor...The prospects for Syrian-Israeli peace
Turkey's prime minister seems determined to bring Israel and Syria to the negotiating table A faintly hopeful aspect of the current frost between Syria and Israel is that Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan seems determined to bring the two countries to the negotiating table. Turkey has emerged over the......
