Author: Alejandro

“It is easier for me to go to Venezuela than to the Damascus Gate […] If they have a wall to separate Arabs from Israelis, fine. But we are Palestinians. Why are they separating us from each other?” –Salah Ayyad, Abu Dis city councilman Touring Israel’s Barrier With Its Main Designer (Washington Post) Fabled African…

As President Bush puts the nail in the coffin of our civil liberties by signing the wiretap law, the FBI raids the home of a suspected Justice Department whistleblower and the Washington Post slams Democrats’ cowardice, caving into Bush’s fear-mongering and putting concerns of reelection over principle: Bush Signs Terrorism Law (Associated Press/Washington Post) Report:…

Civil liberties and security under attack: House intelligence bill passes, giving more police state power to the White House and Intelligence agencies to spy on us and make us less safe… House Approves Wiretap Measure (Washington Post) …meanwhile the military-industrial complex also scores a victory with House approving massive military budget, NOT including money for…

Evidence, which may be underreported in some cases, continues to show the surge is failing on both military and political fronts: In Iraq, Death Tolls Often in Dispute (Christian Science Monitor) Iraq Violence: Monitoring the Surge (BBC News) Iraqi Progress ‘Disappoints’ US (BBC News) Al-Qaeda ‘Parade’ in Baquba (Adnkronos International) Leader of opposition party freed…

“Turkey has emphatically not backtracked to ‘the road not taken’ and given up on its quest for modernization. But it has struck out on a very different modernization track, one embedded in a cultural conservatism that seeks an appropriate synthesis between Islam, capitalism and liberal democracy.” – Soli Ozel, Professor of Political Science at Istanbul…

Bush administration officials continue to show their contempt for the rule of law as intelligence chief McConnell reveals NSA eavesdropping is just the tip of iceberg and brazenly lobbies for more powers with less oversight while VP Cheney argues against closing Gitmo: NSA Spying Part of Broader Effort (Washington Post) A Push to Rewrite Wiretap…

Musharraf government officials dismayed that military financial aid to regime may no longer be unconditional: Pakistani Premier ‘Disappointed’ by U.S. Pressure (Washington Post) Iraq’s Parliament fails to pass any crucial legislation or resolve constitutional crisis before going into recess, leaving Bush with few signs of political progress to tout in Washington: Iraqi Parliament Adjourns in…

Middle East expert Juan Cole provides latest news roundup of Iraq, including the country’s dire humanitarian crisis, latest incidents of violence, Iraqi’s perceptions of the endurance of US military bases, and analysis of tensions and military maneuvers along Turkish-Iraqi Kurd border: A Third of Iraqi Children Malnourished, Baghdad Neighborhoods Emptied, by Snipers Skepticism on Gates-Rice…