The Great Middle East Peace Process Scam

Henry Siegman writes in the London Review of Books:
When Ehud Olmert and George W. Bush met at the White House in June, they concluded that Hamas’s violent ousting of Fatah from Gaza – which brought down the Palestinian national unity government brokered by the Saudis in Mecca in March – had presented the world with [...]

No Congress, No Peace

Jonathan Schwarz writes in Mother Jones:
Gauging the Bush administration’s true intentions toward Iran is not easy. Each week brings a new story that hints at a struggle between the hardliners who’d like to take down one more point on the Axis of Evil and the realists who prefer one disastrous Middle East conflict at a [...]

Oaxaca Bombings: Terrorist Threat or Phantom Menace?

Tim Pelzer writes in Political Affairs:
In the wake of a string of bomb and armed attacks, the Calderon government in Mexico may be facing its newest threat—or a phantom.
According to communiqués provided to the left-leaning Mexico City daily La Jornada, the Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR), a long-dormant left-wing guerrilla organization based in the states of [...]

Animal Intelligence

David P. Barash writes in The Chronicle Review:
In the bad old days, many people, including some evolutionary biologists who should have known better, partook of a misleading dichotomy: genes or experience, DNA or culture, instinct or intelligence. Animals were supposedly ruled by genes/DNA/instinct, and people by experience/culture/intelligence. In recent years, the great majority of scientists [...]

Eyes Wide Shut: The International Media Looks at Venezuela

Mark Weisbrot writes in International Business Times (also available at ZNet):
RCTV’s owner, Marcel Granier, is an opposition leader who seeks to de-legitimize the Venezuelan government. He has had some success in this effort, most importantly in April 2002 when his station faked film footage to make it look like pro-Chavez gunmen were shooting down demonstrators [...]

The Mercenary Revolution: Flush with Profits from the Iraq War, Military Contractors See a World of Business Opportunities

Jeremy Scahill writes in Indypendent (also available at ZNet):
If you think the U.S. has only 160,000 troops in Iraq, think again.
With almost no congressional oversight and even less public awareness, the Bush administration has more than doubled the size of the U.S. occupation through the use of private war companies.
There are now almost 200,000 private [...]

A Debate Proposal for the Ethanol Lobby – Let’s Get It On

The Oil Drum has posted an analysis of ethanol as a biofuel, responding to the President and CEO of the U.S. Renewable Fuels Association, Bob Dinneen’s, letter to the Rolling Stone regarding criticism of ethanol. Below is an excerpt from Robert Rapier’s post:
Can you count the errors and misleading statements? First, “ethanol yields nearly 70% [...]

Escalation by the Numbers

Tom Engelhardt writes in TomDispatch:
Someday, we will undoubtedly discover that, in the term “surge” — as in the President’s “surge” plan (or “new way forward”) announced to the nation in January — was the urge to avoid the language (and experience) of the Vietnam era. As there were to be no “body bags” (or cameras [...]

News in Brief: 15 August 2007

A brief list of news for the day:
Iraq death toll from four suicide attacks hits 200. Rescuers dug through the muddy wreckage of collapsed clay houses in northwest Iraq on Wednesday, uncovering victims of four suicide bombings that Iraqi officials said claimed the lives of at least 200 people in one of the worst attacks [...]

Selling Ecocide

George Monbiot writes in Monbiot.com (originally in the Guardian):
Is it time to consider a ban on the adverts which help to cook the planet?
I am sorry to be crude, but however else I try to say it, the phrase “lying bastards” comes to mind. In March I claimed that the government is fudging its figures [...]