Month: January 2009

Obama Gathering a Flock of Hawks to Oversee U.S. Foreign Policy

January 30, 2009 By admin

In disc golf, there’s a shot known as “an Obama” — it’s a drive that you expect to veer to the left but keeps hooking right. In no other area has this metaphor been truer than Barack Obama’s foreign policy and national security appointments. For a man who was elected in part on the promise to not just end the war in Iraq but to “end the mindset that got us into war in the first place,” it’s profoundly disappointing that a majority of his key appointments — Hillary Clinton, Robert Gates, Dennis Blair, Janet Napolitano, Richard Holbrooke and Jim Jones, among others — have been among those who represent that very mindset.

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Holbrooke: Insensitive Choice for a Sensitive Region

January 30, 2009 By admin

Obama’s choice for special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, arguably the most critical area of U.S. foreign policy, is a man with perhaps the most sordid history of any of the largely disappointing set of foreign policy and national security appointments….

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Is Mitchell Up to the Task?

January 28, 2009 By admin

Obama’s appointment of George Mitchell as special Middle East envoy may signal a step in the right direction regarding U.S. policy toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But there remain questions as to whether Mitchell is up to the task and whether the Obama administration is willing to put some muscle into the process….

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Debate: Israel’s War on Gaza (audio)

January 24, 2009 By admin

Shared Sacrifice

Professor Jason Steck, Department of Political Science, Creighton University, will debate Professor Stephen Zunes, Department of Middle Eastern Studies, University of San Francisco, on the topic of Israel’s recent military actions in Gaza.

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Daring to Hope on the Washington Mall

January 23, 2009 By admin

I was among the two million people who assembled on the Washington Mall to witness the moment. I was willing to come all the way from California, pay the air fare — and leave the carbon footprint — in order to join my daughter Kalila, a student at Earlham College in Indiana, in watching history being made….

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Virtually the Entire Dem-Controlled Congress Supports Israel’s War Crimes in Gaza

January 13, 2009 By admin

In a direct challenge to the credibility of Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the International Red Cross and other reputable humanitarian organizations, an overwhelming bipartisan majority in both houses of Congress has gone on record supporting President George W. Bush’s position that the Israeli armed forces bear no responsibility for the large and growing numbers of civilian casualties from their assault on the Gaza Strip.

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Interview: Obama’s foreign policy appointments (audio)

January 11, 2009 By admin

Redeye: Vancouver Cooperative Radio

Secretary of State nominee Hilary Clinton supported the Iraq War from Day One and has denounced Obama’s intention to negotiate with Iran. Secretary of Defence Robert Gates is an advocate of continuing the war in Iraq. Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel is known for his unswerving support of Israel. To discuss what these and other appointments will mean for U.S. foreign policy, we speak with Stephen Zunes, professor of politics at the University of San Francisco.

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Democrats Back Bush, Reject Human Rights Groups, in Support for Israeli Assault on Gaza

January 7, 2009 By admin

The Democratic leadership’s strident support for the ongoing Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip underscores how the Democrats suffer from the same illusions as the outgoing Republican administration: that placing an Arab territory under debilitating sanctions that punish the population as a whole, bombarding heavily populated civilian areas — resulting in widespread casualties among innocent people — and invading and occupying territories with a long history of resistance to outsiders will somehow lead to greater moderation from those afflicted….

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