Ussama Makdisi writes in a guest column for Informed Comment: In the tragic story of U.S-Arab relations, no era has been as violent as our own. And yet when President Obama began his presidency, he initiated a series of highly-anticipated gestures to the Muslim world. His interview with the Arabic satellite channel Al-Arabiyya was followed […]
Archives for September 2010
9 US GIs Killed in Afghan Heli Crash as Violence Grows
A helicopter crash in Zabul near Qandahar in southern Afghanistan left 9 American troops dead and 3 other persons (one an American civlian) wounded. The troops were likely a special operations unit aiming to reduce the power of the Taliban in the outskirts of this major city. NATO denied Taliban claims to have shot down […]
Obama dismisses Iran War Prospects, overrules Clinton
The Obama administration is clearly trying to send signals to Iran during the General Assembly session of the United Nations that Washington is open to engagement and just wants Iran to be more transparent about its nuclear power research program. Reuters reports: ‘ “The door is open to them [Iran] having a better relationship with […]
100,000 Children at Risk in Pakistan, Sindh Flooding Continues
5 more villages were drowned in Sindh on Monday, and more people were cut off from the outside world by waters splashing down from a full lake that could well overflow and wreak yet more damage on Sindh Province. Iran’s PressTV has video: Meanwhile, UNICEF is warning that 100,000 children made homeless by the floods […]
Witches, Exorcisms, and Billionaire Pickpockets
Because the main point of the Republican Party is to throw more money to the super-rich, the poor thing has to find something else to talk about that will take peoples’ minds off this central message, which can’t appeal to more than one percent of the population. It seems to me that this unpalatable campaign […]
50 Dead, 128 wounded in Iraq Attacks
As Iraq continues to muddle along with no new government all these months after the March 7 parliamentary elections, insurgents struck in the capital. The London pan-Arab daily al-Hayat reports in Arabic that Sunday witnessed a series of massive bombings in Baghdad that left 160 dead or wounded, the worst toll since 17 August. In […]
Davidson: Martin Peretz And The Dangers of Obsessive Love
Lawrence Davidson writes in a guest column for Informed Comment Martin Peretz is editor-in-chief of The New Republic. He acquired that position by simply buying the magazine in 1974. Although he resold it to a group of investors in 2002, they were, and apparently remain, his ideological soul mates for he continues to this day […]
Ahmadinejad as Cyrus the Great?
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stopped off in Syria for consultations with his ally, Syrian President Bashar al-Asad, this weekend, on his way to New York for the United Nations General Assembly session. Ahmadinejad will make an appearance on Larry King Live on Tuesday. Although his fate seemed up in the air only a little over […]
Light Turnout, Closed Polling Stations, Attacks Mar Afghanistan Elections
Turnout in the Afghanistan parliamentary elections was disappointingly light, some 40% below expectations, according to Euronews. Some 10 percent of polling stations that had been intended to be used simply did not open because of fears of Taliban attacks. Those closures were on top of the 10 percent or so that it had already been […]
© 2025 All Rights Reserved