In an article at Der Speigel entitled "Leaving Corruptistan," Susanne Koelbl reflects on what we're left with after eleven years of war in Afghanistan: A state with a security apparatus that might be strong enough to at best hold the Taliban halfway in check. A...
During his confirmation process to become Secretary of Defense, Chuck Hagel delivered a slip of the tongue when describing his support for the Obama administration's policy of "containment" of Iran. With cameras rolling and Senators ready to pounce, somebody passed...
Over the weekend, The New York Times reported that the first ever CIA drone strike in Pakistan was not aimed at an al-Qaeda operative plotting to attack the US or US forces in Afghanistan, but rather targeted a man the Pakistani government didn't like. Mr. [Nek]...
A press release from the UN's Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights: The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on Friday urged all branches of the United States Government to work together to close the Guantanamo detention centre, saying “the...
In response to increasing cross-border collaboration between al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) and Jabhat al-Nursa, AQI's offshoot in the Syrian rebel opposition, the Iraqi government informally requested the US conduct drone strikes against the militants, The Associated Press...
U.S. Cooption of the Human Rights Movement Continues. "When political people have finished with repression and violence PEN can indeed be forgotten. Until then, with all its flounderings and failings and mistaken acts, it is still, I think, a fellowship moved by...
As tensions with North Korea continue to intensify, some have suggested the US press China to influence Pyongyang to calm down. The first problem with this is that the US doesn't have the best relationship with China right now because of a little thing called the...
Just-released declassified documents reveal new details about government surveillance of peaceful political activism in the name of fighting terrorism: Government documents obtained by the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund (PCJF) through its FOIA records requests...
The only message our children will take away from the war in Iraq is that if you repeat a boldfaced lie enough, it will someday become accepted truth. And as a corollary, saving face is much more important than admitting a mistake, no matter how destructive the...
Bertha Oliva is the General Coordinator of COFADEH, the Committee of Relatives of the Disappeared and Detained in Honduras. Bertha’s husband was "disappeared" in 1981, a period when death squads were active in Honduras. She founded COFADEH together with other women...
