Ignoring the whys of terrorism
Shortly after the Boston Marathon bombings on April 15, Richard Falk, professor emeritus of international law at Princeton University and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Palestinian territories, published an analysis of the episode entitled “A Commentary on the Marathon Murders.”In this analysis, Falk...Terrorism and the other religions
Contrary to what is alleged by bigots like Bill Maher, Muslims are not more violent than people of other religions. Murder rates in most of the Muslim world are very low compared, to the United States.As for political violence, people of Christian heritage in the twentieth century polished off tens of millions of people in the two world...Over-analyzing terror incidents
Reactions to the bombs at the Boston Marathon have quickly fallen into a familiar pattern. It is as if there were a manual that politicians, journalists and others involved in the reacting pull off the shelf after any terrorist attack to help them script their comments and their questions.There are, first of all, ritual denunciations...What is terrorism?
The Boston Marathon bombing once again has Americans asking, "Is this terrorism?" And morebroadly, "What is terrorism?" We asked ourselves those questions the moment we heard the news. Our news anchors asked for the next 24 hours (though they were clear to say at first that they did not know if it was terrorism). President Obama -...What’s the end game for Iran talks?
While realizing that criticism of someone’s approach to a negotiation needs to be done with some diffidence if the critic does not have direct access to either the negotiating room or either side’s planning sessions, the United States and its P5+1 partners do seem to be persisting in some major errors in how they are approaching the...Washington Post pushes for Syrian war
Just when it seemed we could move beyond the anniversary-related armchair refighting of the Iraq War, we get from Jackson Diehl of the Washington Post editorial staff another mis-aimed salvo from a proponent of that war. Diehl’s more immediate subject is the current Syrian civil war, into which a U.S.-armed intervention has been a...State Rep. Harvey Santana reaches out to Arab community; new district includes part of Dearborn
LANSING — Due to redistricting, which happens every ten years, I am proud to have the opportunity to represent part of Dearborn as your State Representative in the Ninth District. While most of my district is in Detroit and the majority of Dearborn continues to be well represented by State Representative George Darany, I want you...Washington offers three lackluster Mideast initiatives
The Obama administration is currently busy with three Mideast initiatives: reactivation of negotiations with Iran, an offer of “nonlethal” aid to the Syrian opposition and fulfillment of the long awaited president’s first visit to Israel, with short stops in the West Bank and Jordan, starting March 20. Iran and Syria are top...America is shamed that only Rand Paul is talking about drone executions
You could say that a filibuster occurs when a senator drones on and on. The problem with the U.S. Senate was that there were too few senators speaking about drones this week.President Barack Obama's controversial nomination of John Brennan as director of the Central Intelligence Agency was held up Wednesday afternoon by a Senate...Breeding anti-U.S. suspicions
A story from northwest Pakistan involves a discrepancy between reality and perception with regard to U.S. drone strikes. Last month two attacks in the tribal belt generated the kind of spreading news that has come to be routinely associated with the drones.A couple of al-Qaeda types are killed, but so are several villagers. The Pakistani...Dehumanizing the Palestinian cause on campus
Last week, StandWithUS and I-LEAD brought two Israel Defense Forces soldiers to campus with the goal of humanizing the IDF because they felt that the “media presented a skewed portrait of them.” How did the soldiers attempt to do this? By dehumanizing the Palestinian narrative — its culture, politics and people. The discourse used...Will Washington reciprocate? The Iranians and unconditional friendship
TEHRAN — Truth be told, this American observer has attended his share of international conferences and has traveled in more than 70 countries. But never has he visited such a complex, evolving, striving and energized society, populated by idealistic people of great warmth, sense of humor and caring for those in need...Regarding America’s misplaced priorities
Editor,In the corporate/banking world the term "stakeholder" is used to describe investors who are given special preferred treatment. How does this exclusionary perspective compare with a government that is charged with the responsibility to look at and after all Americans as "stakeholders"? In the 1950s American President Dwight...Obama and drones: Unkept promises
I find deeply troubling the White House claim that their use of drones to assassinate suspected terrorists is "legal, ethical and wise." The release of a Department of Justice "White Paper" that purports to establish the Administration's legal justification for these killings only compounds my concern.In response to the excesses of his...Gun crazy in America
We have a cockeyed national debate on gun violence in which some motivated by political expediency seek to dodge core issues, while others driven by political ideology work to misdirect the discussion diverting it away from the core issues.The President has now signed Executive Orders offering small but eminently supportable reforms. And......
Hagel nomination: Stakes are high, but far from over
In the lead up to President Obama's announcement, there was an intense debate over former Senator Chuck Hagel's potential nomination as Secretary of Defense. At times Hagel's opponents became a touch hysterical, indulging in excessively harsh rhetorical attacks. At first, they charged that he was not sufficiently pro-Israel or hawkish...The depressing ‘Zero Dark Thirty’
When I watched the get-bin-Laden movie Zero Dark Thirty at a theater just outside Washington D.C., I was struck by how silent the audience was from beginning to end with almost no reaction to the climatic killing of the terrorist leader or to the film’s lame stabs at humor.For instance, the screenwriters apparently thought they had...From this day on: Christmas in Newtown
From this day on, Christmas in Newtown, Connecticut will always mean something very different. It is difficult to imagine the raw pain and the horror being felt in that community now ravaged by unspeakable violence. But imagine it we must, because Newtown is all of us, and we have something to learn from their tragedy.For families in...Tea Party now a huge GOP liability
The resignation of South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint from the Senate followed close on the heels of the desertion from the Tea Party of Freedom Works head Dick Armey took some by surprise. DeMint and Armey were the two biggest and most identifiable fish in the Tea Party affiliated pond. DeMint could be relied on to broker his name......
Obama’s second term: Full plate of Middle East challenges
As President Obama gears up to begin a second term, his Middle East agenda will be more complex and potentially more consuming and dangerous than the one he inherited from his predecessor four years ago.Back then, the pressing priorities were: winding down the U.S. military presence in Iraq; pursuing an Israeli-Palestinian peace;...Logic lacking in U.S. opposition to Palestinian statehood
Personally, I am perplexed as to why the U.S. opposed the UN General Assembly proposal to elevate the status of Palestine from observer to non-member state. I have read the proposed resolution carefully and find it solidly grounded in past positions which the U.S. has supported (some of which we sponsored). These are......
Re-elected Obama’s pluses and minuses
Well maybe, but even peas can vary. Here are some positive differences to consider, which will be followed by some negative similarities to Romney and his conservative advisers. We will start with the bright side:– In terms of probabilities, under Obama the U.S. is less likely to find itself at war with Iran than would be the case with...It was the demography, stupid
WASHINGTON (IPS) - Twenty years ago, Democratic pol James Carville immortalized the phrase “It’s the economy, stupid” in explaining how former Arkansas governor Bill Clinton would unseat President George H. W. Bush, who was riding high off his smashing military victory in the first Gulf War.Now, 20 years later, pros in both parties......
