You never issue an ultimatum unless you are prepared for war. Syrian President Bashar al-Asad abolished the forty-year-old emergency law on Thursday, and he had dismissed two unpopular governors against whom there had been protests. Then he said that there was no longer any reason for anyone to demonstrate, implying that further demonstrations would be […]
Free Libyan fighters exult in small Victories, as US begins Drone Strikes
In the west on the Tunisian border, Berber rebel troops have taken a checkpoint and chased away 200 Qaddafi loyalists, who took refuge in Tunisia. The checkpoint is on a road that can be used to supply the Western Mountain Region of Berber towns who are in revolt against Qaddafi and who are under siege, […]
Apple Tracking likely a “Bug” or Oversight
The database of all our movements being kept on our iPhones by Apple is likely a software bug or oversight, according to John Gruber. The positions recorded are not exact, unlike GPS, and the towers are probably triangulating the position of the phone so that it can work wherever it is. But whoever wrote the […]
Thousands Protest in Syria as Emergency Law is Lifted
Massive protests have forced the Baathist regime of Bashar al-Asad to lift the state of emergency that has governed the country since 1963. Without the emergency laws, which permit arbitrary arrest and imprisonment, Syria would be governed by the 1973 constitution, including these articles: ‘Article 38 [Expression] Every citizen has the right to freely and […]
Bush’s Pre-War Iraq Oil Deals Alarmed BP
George W. Bush was quietly approaching US petroleum corporations and trying to do deals with the French and Russian governments and their energy companies regarding Iraqi petroleum fields in fall of 2002, according to British government documents. BP learned of these secret negotiations, and arranged for Prime Minister Tony Blair’s Trade Minister, Lady Elizabeth Symons, […]
Starship Amerika and Obama’s GPS Surveillance (Cole in Truthdig)
My column in Truthdig is out: “Starship Amerika.” Excerpt: ‘President Barack Obama is actually siding with police who want to use GPS devices to track you without a warrant. It always disturbed me when on “Star Trek” the captain asked the ship’s computer where a crew member was and was told the person’s exact location. […]
Saif admits Qaddafis are Brutal Foreign Occupiers
Saif al-Islam Qaddafi, son of the dictator, gave an interview yesterday to the Washington Post. In it he justified the Libyan army’s horrific attacks on the besieged city of Misrata: ‘ “You know what happened in Misurata? It’s exactly what happened in the Cold River [Nahr al-Bared], in Tripoli, Lebanon. The Lebanese army went and […]
Israeli Soldiers’ Brutality at Prison Camp for Palestinians
Israeli television has shown shocking cellphone video of the October, 2007, actions at Ketziot Prison, against unarmed Palestinian prisoners, by Israeli security forces. The thousand or so prisoners there revolted at a provocative search abruptly conducted by “Control and Restraint” units or Metzada. Far from being menacing, the Palestinian prisoners are shown cringing and obeying […]
Informed Comment & Big Blog on Campus
Pamela Paul includes Informed Comment in her Sunday NYT piece, “Big Blog on Campus.” Favorite line from her interview with me: “Good blogging involves attitude and snark.” Now if only I finally got that sweater with the letter on it. —- PS: It is already a little dated, especially on developments in Egypt, but my […]
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