Month: May 2010

Victims of the Israeli attack on a ship full of humanitarian aid say they were unarmed, and a video shows no resistance on a Turkish ship against Israeli troops firing immediately after boarding … At Least 10 Die as Israel Halts Aid Flotilla (LA Times) … prompting protests around the world including Turks, Israeli Jews …

As Israel prepares to use force against another humanitarian aid effort to Gaza, some Israelis complain the blockade “has done little to speed the release of Shalit or weaken Hamas’ grip on power”: Gaza Aid Flotilla Anticipates High-Seas Standoff with Israel (LA Times) Serious allegations of abuse, including sexual abuse surround the 340 children still…

Reflecting a shift from the post 9/11 narrowly military approach, how long before the new strategy yields results? Obama Redefines National Security Strategy, Looks Beyond Military Might (Washington Post) “[T]he mounting international concern over drones comes as the Obama administration legal team has been quietly struggling over how to justify such counterterrorism efforts while obeying…

Allegations of torture and the detention of women and children to extract information from al-Qaeda suspects has Iraqis fearful that the withdrawal of US troops will unleash human rights abuses across Iraq: Witness: Secret Iraq Prison for Women and Children (Christian Science Monitor) As US Troops Leave, Iraqis Fear Prison Torture Will Widen (Christian Science Monitor) “Mr…

“The evidence was part of an emphatic American warning that there would be ‘inevitable pressure’ on the United States to take action if there was an attack traceable to Pakistan that resulted in U.S. casualties”: U.S. Offered Crucial Evidence in Pakistani Meeting on Times Square Plot (LA Times) “I would work anywhere else, for less…

“General Petraeus’s September order is focused on intelligence gathering … to identify militants and provide ‘persistent situational awareness,’ while forging ties to local indigenous groups”: U.S. Is Said to Expand Secret Military Acts in Mideast Region (NY Times) Conspiracy theories that the US intends to prolong the conflict in an effort to keep troops in…

While Israel is eager to cover up its role in nuclear arms proliferation, the “ANC government is not so worried about protecting the dirty laundry of the apartheid regime’s old allies” … Revealed: How Israel Offered to Sell South Africa Nuclear Weapons (Guardian) … while Western powers reject the Turkish-brokered deal closely resembling the one…

“The Obama administration has won the legal right to hold its terrorism suspects indefinitely and without oversight by judges — not at Guantanamo or in Illinois, but rather at the Bagram air base in Afghanistan”: Court: No Habeas Rights for Prisoners in Afghanistan (LA Times) Questions about gender equality emerge as women continue to challenge the traditional…

Suffocated to death while being transported between detention centers, the bodies also had bruises and burns from electric shocks: Iraqis Demand Answers in Deaths of 6 Detainees Who Died During Transport (Washington Post) “Al Jazeera’s Dan Nolan … says that Western officials have been deliberately excluded from the process. ‘The people organising these talks say these are…

Is the U.S. silence related to its role in providing another non-signer of the NPT (Israel) with nuclear technology in the past? Questionable China-Pakistan Deal Draws Little Comment From U.S (Washington Post) Fighting gender inequality in Saudi Arabia with the weapons at hand: Moudhi Riding on a Donkey (Saudi Gazette) Political unrest continues to undermine…