Archive for September, 2002
Bush’s United Nations Speech Unconvincing
15 September 2002
A U.S. decision to stall Security Council action against Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas for war crimes during the 22-day conflict in Gaza last December has come under heavy fire both from inside and outside the United Nations.
The Case Against War
12 September 2002
Despite growing opposition, both at home and abroad, the Bush Administration appears to have begun its concerted final push to convince Congress, the American people and the world of the need to invade Iraq. Such an invasion would constitute an important precedent, being the first test of the new doctrine articulated by President Bush of “pre-emption,” which declares that the United States has the right to invade sovereign countries and overthrow their governments if they are seen as hostile to American interests. At stake is not just the prospect of a devastating war but the very legitimacy of an international system built over the past century that–despite its failings–has created at least some semblance of global order and stability.
Swing to the Right in U.S. Policy Toward Israel and Palestine
9 September 2002
Bush’s United Nations Speech Unconvincing
1 September 2002
The last time–and only time–the United States came before the United Nations to accuse a radical Third World government of threatening the security of the United States through weapons of mass destruction was in October 1962. In the face of a skeptical world and Cuban and Soviet denials, U.S. ambassador Adlai Stevenson presented dramatic photos clearly showing the construction of nuclear missiles on Cuban soil. While the resulting U.S. military blockade and brinksmanship was not universally supported, there was little question that the United States had the evidence and that the threat was real
The Swing to the Right in U.S. Policy Toward Israel and Palestine
1 September 2002
U.S. support for Israel has taken a qualitative shift to the right during the past year. While previous administrations have generally supported Israel’s negotiating positions, most analysts placed the U.S. position more or less in the center of the Israeli political spectrum. In most ways, U.S. policy makers identified with the more hawkish wing of the center-left Labor party, well to the right of the Israeli peace movement yet more moderate than the rightist Likud bloc. In the year since the September 11 terrorist attacks against the United States, however, the U.S. position has lined up with the quintessential rightist Ariel Sharon.
