Americas

Not dollar, not euro, but gold

As the US dollar’s value continues to drop, China looks to invest in gold for stability. Growing concerns about the slow death of the dollar rather than a saviour’s goodwill are underpinning China’s widely publicised purchases of European government debt, according to experts. But as the Eurozone debt crisis spreads […]

One Big, Happy Polygamous (Mormon) Family

by Jonathan Turley – International Herald Tribune. SINCE the Supreme Court’s 2003 decision in Lawrence v. Texas, Americans have enjoyed unprecedented freedom in their lifestyles and private relationships. The decision held that states could no longer use the criminal code for social engineering, dictating the most intimate decisions of citizens […]

Clinton wants India to act as Asian leader

Credit. Arabnews.com CHENNAI: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told India on Wednesday “it’s time to lead,” urging New Delhi to take a stronger role across Asia where China is flexing its muscles, and to bolster support for struggling neighbors Afghanistan and Pakistan. Clinton, delivering a speech in the southern […]

US war debt dances on the ceiling

Source: Asiatimes on line. No one knows the true cost in blood and treasure of the United States’ open wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and covert conflict in Pakistan over the past 10 years, but a recent report’s estimates of 225,000 dead and US$4 trillion spent may prove too conservative. […]

“The war against drugs has failed”

by Marie-Christine Bonzom in Washington, swissinfo.ch A report by the Global Commission on Drug Policy has concluded that the war on drugs has failed, triggering a heated debate in the United States. The report, written by a high-profile panel including former Swiss cabinet minister Ruth Dreifuss, criticises the repressive approach […]

How Muslim-bashing loses elections

Source: Asiatimes on Line.   During the 2010 mid-term election campaign, virtually every hard-charging candidate on the far right took a moment to trash a Muslim, a mosque, or Islamic pieties. In the wake of those elections, with 85 new Republican House members and a surging Tea Party movement, the political virtues […]

The All-American

  Kerry in Kabul, with a rug given to him by the governor of Balkh province.John Kerry surprised a lot of people when he endorsed Barack Obama for president in early 2008. Kerry was a longtime friend of Obama’s chief rival, Hillary Clinton. He had served in the Senate for […]

Death and Budgets

Source/Credit: Newyorktimes. I hope you had the chance to read and reread Dudley Clendinen’s splendid essay, “The Good Short Life,” in The Times’s Sunday Review section. Clendinen is dying of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or A.L.S. If he uses all the available medical technology, it will leave him, in a few […]

Taliban tell why Ahmad Wali had to di

Source/Credit. Asia Times on Line. Kandahar provincial council chief Ahmad Wali Karzai, assassinated on Tuesday, had his fingers in every conceivable pie in the southern regions of Afghanistan, and was no stranger to double-dealing and the darker side of the law. Only one thing mattered to the Taliban – Wali […]

Taliban deliver hammer blow to NATO

The assassination on Tuesday of Ahmad Wali Karzai, President Hamid Karzai’s half-brother, smashes to bits the notion that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is winning the war in Afghanistan. The Taliban are now rid of the major pro-Washington actor not only in Kandahar province but in the whole south of […]

Visa Delays Put Iraqis Who Aided U.S. in Fear

By TIM ARANGO BAGHDAD — Terrorism fears in the United States are all but halting visas for Iraqis, even those who risked their lives aiding the American war effort, making them especially vulnerable ahead of the planned American military withdrawal. The Obama administration has required new background checks for visa […]

Assad loyalists storm US and French embassies

Attackers smash windows and raise Syrian flag at US compound, but are driven back by security guards at French embassy. Supporters of the Syrian government have stormed the US and French embassies in Damascus, prompting strong condemnation by the two countries’ officials. Witnesses describing Monday’s assault said the attackers smashed […]