News and Analysis (6/20/08)

Congress acts again as an enabler for Bush’s imperial foreign policies…

• House Approves $162 Billion War-Spending Bill (San Francisco Chronicle)

…meanwhile, it also receives scorn from civil libertarians for capitulating on an invasive bill with telecom lobbyists’ fingerprints all over it:

• George Bush’s Latest Powers, Courtesy of the Democratic Congress (Salon.com)

• Feingold: Wiretap Deal ‘No Compromise, It’s Capitulation’ (Raw Story)

Israel continues its saber rattling with Tehran, completing a major simulation of a strike against Iran:

• U.S. Says Exercise by Israel Seemed Directed at Iran (New York Times)

Indonesia’s local governments increasingly prefer taking their own tack on issues of development, rather than obeying the central government:

• Regions Disobey ‘Unfair’ Govt Policies (The Jakarta Post)

120,000 Bahraini Shi’a peacefully hit the streets to voice indignation at a Sunni MP’s inflammatory remarks toward one of the island’s top clerics:

• Bahrain Shiites Protest MP Insults to Top Cleric (AFP/Middle East Times)

Alejandro

Alejandro Beutel is program assistant for the Minaret of Freedom Institute with expertise in religious freedom, democratization and security issues.