Month: May 2009

Defending Israeli War Crimes

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Foreign Policy In Focus/Institute for Policy Studies, May 28, 2009; by By Emily Schwartz Greco, Stephen Zunes

In response to a series of reports by human rights organizations and international legal scholars documenting serious large-scale violations of international humanitarian law by Israeli armed forces in its recent war on the Gaza Strip, 10 U.S. state attorneys general sent a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton defending the Israeli action. It is virtually unprecedented for state attorneys general — whose mandates focus on enforcement of state law — to weigh in on questions regarding the laws of war, particularly in a conflict on the far side of the world. More significantly, their statement runs directly counter to a broad consensus of international legal opinion that recognizes that Israel, as well as Hamas, engaged in war crimes. [source]

Hawkish Union Leaders Hurting Teachers and Your Kid

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Huffington Post June 25, 2009: Despite a new presidential administration and an expanded Democratic majority in Congress, teachers and their unions are under unprecedented assault through budget cuts and so-called reform efforts geared toward giving corporations increased access to, and management responsibilities for, public schools. Unfortunately, as a result of years of support for a right-wing U.S. foreign policy, the once-powerful teachers union — the American Federation of Teachers — has so damaged its credibility and alienated its membership that its position has been seriously weakened. [source]

Hillary Clinton’s First 100 Days

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Huffington Post Jun 25, 2009, |Updated May 25, 2011:
Hillary Clinton has received mixed though generally favorable reviews, both internationally and domestically, during her first 100 days as secretary of state. Public opinion polls in the United States give her a more than 70 percent-positive rating. Still, concerns linger regarding her eight years in the Senate, during which she supported some of the more controversial initiatives of the Bush administration, such as the U.S. invasion of Iraq, criticisms of the World Court and United Nations, and defense of Israeli occupation policies and military offenses against its neighbors.

Interview: The Afghanistan Mess (audio)

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“Middle East scholar Dr. Stephen Zunes talks about how U.S. imperial hubris helped create, and continues to deepen and intensify the deadly chaos in Afghanistan. “The war not only was raised some moral and legal questions, but it has not resolved the situation, it has made matters worse. The problem is that there has been a gross oversight on the military side of the equation. The really important issues have been overlooked.”

Audio File:
http://www.couragetoresist.org/x/images/stories/audio/zunes.mp3