by Juan Cole (source:: Juancole.com) President Obama’s nuclear security summit scored an early victory on Monday, since Obama was able to announce that Ukraine would give up its stock of high enriched uranium by 2012. Ukraine kept some of the high enriched uranium (HEU) from Russian warheads on its territory. The US has generally been [...]

A Letter to Janet about Sabra-Shatila by Franklin Lamb – CounterPunch -  14 September 2007 Dearest Janet, It’s a very beautiful fall day here in Beirut, 25 years ago this week since the 16-18 September 1982 Massacre at the Palestinian refugee camps at Sabra-Shatila. Bright blue sky and a fall breeze. It actually rained last [...]

by Stuart Littlewood We can already see how disastrously the US election turned out, not just for Americans but the rest of us also. “The US president is simply the voice of the Zionist parasite,” writes a friend in Norway. “It is sickening and frightening that Obama is seen toeing the Zionist line. “Zionism has [...]

Richard Goldstone, a former South African judge, has been effectively banned from attending his grandson’s bar mitzvah which is to be held in Johannesburg next month. Goldstone, who authored a UN report on the war crimes committed by Israel in the Gaza Strip, has been barred by the South African Zionist Federation (SAZF) from attending [...]

by Franklin Lamb “It comes following Opposition charges, emphasized by Hezbollah’s Secretary Hassan Nasrallah the preceding week, that the US Embassy in Beirut engages in espionage activities for Israel and cautioning that the collaboration was very dangerous for Lebanon.” Tensions are rising in Lebanon between elected representatives in Parliament, ‘Unity’ Cabinet members and the American [...]

Associated Students of the University of California Berkeley (ASUC) The UC Berkeley divestment debate was a 12 hour nail biter.  At one point, the Associated Students of the University of California Berkeley (ASUC) cast their vote: 12 votes to overturn veto of divestment at UC Berkeley. 7 votes in favor of veto. 1 abstention.  1 [...]

By Grant F. Smith Israel decided this week to send Minister for Intelligence Affairs Dan Meridor to the Nuclear Security summit. This U.S. bid to secure vulnerable nuclear stockpiles against non-state actors is both closely watched and furiously spun. Israel avoided exposing Prime Minister Netanyahu to embarrassing scrutiny of Israel’s clandestine nuclear weapons arsenal. For [...]

Juan Cole One problem Obama faces is that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), a coordinating body for the Israel lobbies, has successfully mobilized both houses of Congress against him with regard to putting further pressure on far rightwing Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to stop building settlements. Congress decides on how much money [...]