Links May 23 09

• More from Mr. No-Change - Obama orders Gates to update plan for Iran strike - (YnetNews)
• Diplomacy, Inc. - The Influence of Lobbies on U.S. Foreign Policy - (Foreign Affairs)
• History of Diego Garcia - All your bases belong to US - (The National)

• Good idea ... - Geithner Calls for ‘Very Substantial’ Change in Wall Street Pay - (Bloomberg)
• ... the result: - Morgan Stanley to Boost Executive Salaries as Bonuses Decline - (Bloomberg)

• Bradley, Fergusan, Krugman, Roubini, Soros, Wells et al. - The Crisis and How to Deal with It - (NYRB)
• Selling out infrastructure - The Toll Booth Economy - (Counterpunch)

Posted by b on May 23, 2009 at 6:31 UTC | Permalink | Comments (37)

Links May 22 09

• On indefinite detention of innocents - Great Speech, But No [to] Military Commissions and No [to] “Preventive Detention” - (Andy Worthington)
• What Digby says - Looking In The Rearview Mirror - (Hullabaloo)
• Landay & Strobel - Cheney's speech ignored some inconvenient truths - (McClatchy)
• Entrapped stupid petty criminals did what the FBI told them to do - N.Y. Bomb Plot Suspects Acted Alone, Police Say - (NYT)

• Collectively? Yes. - Are Americans wimps? - (FP/Stephen Walt)
• Americans' Addiction to War - (William Pfaff)
• "Madame Clinton, wishes to revisit the scene of the crime." - The Balkans Again - (DNI)


• Going for Broke - Six Ways the Af-Pak War Is Expanding - (TomDispatch)
• Israel against the Iran route - Obama administration creates South Caucasus supply network - (Richard Sale/SST)
• U.N. hails Iran for curbing flow of Afghan heroin - (Reuters India)

• “From now on,” he says, “I’m Hamas.” - The Smell of Paradise - (CJR)
• Interview with the Angry Arab (video) - abukhalil online - (Alternative Focus/Youtube)

• Krugman on health care - Blue Double Cross - (NYT)
• First time ever - Global electricity use forecast to fall - (FT)
• Another portrait - Prophet Motive - Is Nouriel Roubini lucky or just good? - (TNR)
• Joining the Pound - Dollar Falls to 4-Month Low Versus Euro on U.S. Credit Outlook - (Bloomberg)

Please add your links, views and news in the comments.

Posted by b on May 22, 2009 at 5:35 UTC | Permalink | Comments (20)

Links May 21 09

• FBI stinger plot - 4 Arrested in Plot to Bomb New York Synagogues - (NYT)
• How MI5 blackmails British Muslims - (Independent)
• I wonder about the "Re-" in "Rejoins" - 1 in 7 Freed Detainees Rejoins Fight, Report Finds - (NYT)

• Yes. - Are Wall Street speculators driving up gasoline prices? - (McClatchy)
• Arbitrage in Somalia - The Great Hargeisa Goat Bubble - (Julian Gough)

Please add your links, views and news in the comments.

Posted by b on May 21, 2009 at 6:16 UTC | Permalink | Comments (23)

Links May 20 09

• Chomsky - The Torture Memos and Historical Amnesia - (TomDispatch)
• Hang'em high - The 13 people who made torture possible - (Salon)
• On McChrystal - The new face on Washington's war - (Socialist Worker)
• Cowards - Democrats in Senate Block Money to Close Guantánamo - (NYT)

• Moving target - Iraq slides election until January - (AP)
• Psychos - U.S. military: Heavily armed and medicated - (MSNBC)
• Forget the 'May Be' - Arms From U.S. May Be Falling Into Taliban Hands - (NYT)

• With some interesting details on Iran negotiations - Interview with Mohamed Elbaradei - (Spiegel)
• U.S.-Russian Team Deems Missile Shield in Europe Ineffective - (WaPo)

• Dennis Ross 2008 income includes $214,605 for speeches to AIPAC etc. - 2 special envoys prove well-heeled - (USA Today via FLC)
• Bibi's answer to Obama - Israel unleashes new war upon Gaza ghetto - (PressTV)

• Invade the Cayman - Lax Little Islands - (The Nation)
• Our ruling oligarchs - Beware bail-out kings and backbench barons - (FT, alt. link)

Please add your links, views and news in the comments.

Posted by b on May 20, 2009 at 6:31 UTC | Permalink | Comments (14)

Links May 19 09

• Not going to happen - Why Obama Must Shackle Bibi - (Rootless Cosmopolitan)
• Netanjahu's gift for Washington - Israel begins new settlement, despite U.S. opposition - (Haaretz)
• As expected - No progress visible from Obama-Netanyahu talks - (McClatchy)

• James Petras - Obama’s Animal Farm: Bigger, Bloodier Wars Equal Peace and Justice - (VoltaireNet)
• Pakistani news - 'US special squad killed Benazir' - (The Nation)
• More Pakistani news - I did not say Cheney killed Benazir: Hersh - (DailyTimes)

• A new puppet for Afghanistan - Ex-U.S. Envoy in Talks for Key Role in Afghan Government - (NYT)

• Slowly but steady - Brazil and China eye plan to axe dollar - (FT, alt. link)
• No "single payer" - The Health Care Cave-In - (Robert Reich)
• Character assassination - At Geithner's Treasury, Key Decisions on Hold - (WaPo)

Please add your links, views and news in the comments.

Posted by b on May 19, 2009 at 6:16 UTC | Permalink | Comments (19)

Links May 18 09

• 'They are Nazis!' Neocons blocked early Sunni resistance peace offers in Iraq - Heads in the Sand - (Vanity Fair)
• Peddling the Arab fear Iran meme - Roger Cohen - Arabs, Persians, Jews - (NYT)
• The Arab League Secretary begs to differ - Israel poses main nuclear threat, not Iran - (International Reporter)

• War on Pakistan propaganda - Pakistan Is Rapidly Adding Nuclear Arms, U.S. Says - (NYT/Judith Miller/David Sanger)
• "Alarms about Pakistan's nukes come from the same fabricators with hidden agendas who brought us Saddam Hussein's bogus weapons." - U.S. stirs a hornet's nest in Pakistan - (Margolis/The Sun)
• Overreach - Waziristan next, says Zardari - (Dawn)
• "The use of drones displays every characteristic of a tactic ... substituting for a strategy" - Death From Above, Outrage Down Below - (NYT)
• The full picture - Losing Pakistan - FB Ali - (SST via FLC)

• "Sources close to leading Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr Baqir al-Namr claim that his followers have declared independence from the Kingdom" - Saudi Shias still 'discriminated against' - (PressTV)

• Suckers rally - S&P 500 Earnings Decline: 90% - (TBP)
• More people are satisfied in heavily tariffed nations - The happiest taxes on earth - (Market Watch)

Please add your links, views and news in the comments.

Posted by b on May 18, 2009 at 6:28 UTC | Permalink | Comments (8)

Links May 17 09

• Frank Rich on the need for torture investigation - Obama Can’t Turn the Page on Bush - (NYT)

• Ahmed Rashid - Pakistan on the Brink - (NYRB)
• Tony Karon - The Writing on the Wall for Obama’s ‘Af-Pak’ Vietnam - (Rootless Cosmopolitan)
• Not mentioned in U.S. news - US drone attack kills 29 in North Waziristan - (Dawn)

• Good piece, but too much 'middle of the road' - Obama and the Middle East - (NYRB)
• Mearsheimer - Saving Israel From Itself - (American Conservative)
• Israeli Tourism Adverts Wipe Palestine From the Map - (Palestine Campaign)
• Tea, coffee, sausages are also verboten - Israel bans books, music and clothes from entering Gaza - (Haaretz)

Please add your links, views and news in the comments.

Posted by b on May 17, 2009 at 6:12 UTC | Permalink | Comments (82)

Links May 16 09

• The real torture story finally gains ground - Cheney said Gitmo detainees revealed Iraq-al Qaida link - (McClatchy)
• On the torturing of al-Libi - Death in Libya, betrayal in the west - (Worthington/Guardian)
• Some of General McChrystal's killer troops - Taskforce Violence - (Independent)
• More killed by Mr. No-Change - Nine dead in US missile strike in N Waziristan - (The News)

• Paul Woodward asks: Where are the pictures? - The Pope in the Palestinian prison camp - (War in Context)
• Amira Hass - Life among the ruins in Gaza - (Haaretz)

• A story on self delusion - My Personal Credit Crisis - (NYT)
• Mr. No-Change and the banks - The system is still rigged - (The Gazette)

• Pictures of you - Images from Iran - (Tom Loughlin via Iran Affairs)

Posted by b on May 16, 2009 at 6:10 UTC | Permalink | Comments (5)

Links May 15 09

• He hides torture for political reasons - Deconstructing Obama's Excuses - (Froomkin/WaPo)
• He ordered torture for political reasons - Cheney's Role Deepens - (DailyBeast)
• He commanded the torture troops - Suspected war criminal to lead U.S. forces in Afghanistan - (OnlineJournal)
• Hersh on Cheney's/McCrystals killer squads - 'You can't authorise murder': Hersh - (GulfNews)
• Is Pelosi working against Obama's attempt to 'bury' torture as an issue? - Top US Democrat: CIA misled me on 'torture' - (AFP)

• Villagers in Afghanistan Describe Chaos of U.S. Strikes - (NYT)

• Mr. No-Change - Obama Planning to Keep Tribunals for Detainees - (NYT)
• Mr. No-Change - Obama Considers Detaining Terror Suspects Indefinitely - (WSJ)
• Mr. No-Change - Obama Administration Statements on Iran Nukes Not Backed by Intelligence - (FP Journal)

• On deterance propaganda - The Atom Bomb: “A Poor Killer” - (ChinaMatters)

• Georgian opposition leader gets it - 'I Would Call Saakashvili Insane' - (Spiegel)

• Why do they get free money at all? - Six Insurers Named to Get U.S. Taxpayer Aid - (NYT)
• Trucking company also wants free money - YRC to Apply for Bailout Funds - (WSJ)
• Maybe - Does the ECB/Eurosystem have enough capital? - (Mavercon/FT)

Posted by b on May 15, 2009 at 5:58 UTC | Permalink | Comments (12)

Links May 14 09

• What was the reason for this warning? - Obama warns Netanyahu: Don't surprise me with Iran strike - (Haaretz)
• The "most moral army" - IDF probing whether troops forced Gaza man to drink urine - (Haaretz)
• Artificial dates: Dennis Ross' evil work - U.S., Allies Set October Target for Iran Progress - (WSJ)

• Mr. No-Change ignores court order - Obama Reverses Promise To Unveil Abuse Photos - (WaPo)
• Afghan official: 95 kids died in US-Taliban clash - (AP)

• Roubini on the demise of the dollar - The Almighty Renminbi? - (NYT)
• "Your pilot is paid $16,200 per year - have a good flight" - Panel on Fatal Crash Looks at Pilots' Pay, Commutes - (WaPo)
• A chart: The beginning to the end ... and back again - The global financial crisis - (Good)

• Congrats to Emptywheel/Marcy Wheeler - 2009 Award Winners - (Hillman Journalism Award)

Posted by b on May 14, 2009 at 6:03 UTC | Permalink | Comments (14)

Links May 13 09

• Greenwald - Obama administration threatens Britain to keep torture evidence concealed - (Salon)
• Stephen Walt on the powers behind the empire - Imbalance of power - (FP)

• Bad choice - Gareth Porter on McChrystal - McChrystal Choice Suggests Special Ops Strikes to Continue - (IPS)
• Better ideas for AfPak - "MARCHING TO THE EDGE – EYES WIDE SHUT" FB Ali - (SST)
• Pepe Escobar - Pipelineistan Goes Af-Pak - (TomDispatch)
• Militants attack NATO terminal in Pakistan: police - (The News)

• There was sound reason to believe Saberi spied - Secret war report led to spy charges for Roxana - (Independent)
• Amira Hass did not spy - Haaretz reporter Amira Hass arrested upon leaving Gaza - (Haaretz)

• Unbelievable - Federal Reserve Inspector General Unable to Answer Basic Questions on Where the Trillions Went - (Naked Capitalism)
• What the Chinese care about - US to borrow 46 cents for every dollar spent - (China Daily)
• Math lecture for journalists - Inflection points and turning points - since you asked - (Mavercon/FT)

Posted by b on May 13, 2009 at 6:54 UTC | Permalink | Comments (4)

Links May 12 09

• By someone who really knows - Obama's Policies Making Situation Worse in Afghanistan and Pakistan - (HuffPo)
• Stoking the fire - US drone attack kills at least eight in South Waziristan - (Dawn)
• Consequences - Young Pakistan Army Officers May Be Turning to Taliban, Insiders Say - (CQ)
• Why and why now? - U.S. Fires Afghan War Chief - (WSJ)

• Very interesting idea - Two States Now: The Case for Unilateral U.S. Recognition of Palestine - (WPR)
• Averny on Shimon Peres - Trivializing the Holocaust - (AntiWar)

• Rumors - Somali pirates 'guided by UK team' - (Guardian)

• China is still slumping ... - China exports down 22.6 pct in April: state media - (AFP)
• ... and buying less treasuries - 'Horrible bond auction' lifts long-term rates - (The Australian)
• It will be messy - GM bankruptcy likely, CEO says - (Globe&Mail)

• Buiter on UK politics - You call it corruption, we call it family values - (Mavercon/FT)

Posted by b on May 12, 2009 at 6:13 UTC | Permalink | Comments (24)

Links May 11 09

• Where there is smoke ... - US accused of using 'illegal' white phosphorus in chemical attack on Taliban that killed Afghan civilians - (Daily Mail)
• Why then is 'the west' still there? - Petraeus: al-Qaida not operating in Afghanistan - (HuffPost)
• Hekmatyar (again) changing sides? - Karzai in move to share power with warlord wanted by US - (London Times)

• Lots of anonymous assertions, zero proof = war propaganda - Shaky Pakistan Is Seen as a Target of Plots by Al Qaeda - (NYT)
• Baloch Nationalism and the geopolitics of energy resources: The changing context of separatism in Pakistan - (Strategic Studies Institute (pdf))

• Tony Karon - Maliki always had his own script – now he’s acting it out - (The National)
• That's not a 'promise' but a threat - Pelosi, in Surprise Visit to Baghdad, Promises 'Intense' U.S. Political Role - (WaPo)

• Late effects of torture - Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi Has Died In A Libyan Prison - (Andy Worthington)

• Why Israel does not want peace - Amira Hass / Israel knows that peace just doesn't pay - (Haaretz)

Posted by b on May 11, 2009 at 5:52 UTC | Permalink | Comments (15)

Links May 10 09

• Torture, Secrecy and the British State - ‘Make sure you say that you were treated properly’ - (LRB)
• 'Sleep deprivation' is torture - Memos shed light on CIA use of sleep deprivation - (LATimes)
• A review of - Island of Shame: The Secret History of the US Military Base on Diego Garcia - (NYRB)

• 12-year-old, innocent, selling sweets - U.S. soldiers, attacked, kill a 12-year-old Iraqi boy - (McClatchy)

• A million displaced in Pakistan's war with Taliban - (Telegraph)
• Hunger, anxiety bring cracks as displaced persons go on rampage Mahmood Afridi - (Frontier Post)
• Who are they? - Confusion over Taliban muddies the issues in Pakistan - (LATimes)

• Max Hastings - The paradox of Israel's pursuit of might - (Guardian)
• Catastrophic: Life in Gaza - Not nearly back to normal - (Economist)
• Pfaff - Israel’s Bad-Faith Negotiating Position - (Truthdig)

• Roubini - Ten Reasons Why the Stress Tests Are “Schmess” Tests and Why the Current Muddle-Through Approach to the Banking Crisis May Not Succeed - (RGE Monitor)

Posted by b on May 10, 2009 at 6:01 UTC | Permalink | Comments (14)

Links May 9 09

• For show or for real? - 'Full-scale' assault on extremists has begun, Pakistan says - (McClatchy)
• Pepe Escobar - Balochistan is the ultimate prize - (ATOL)
• Gareth Porter - Officials Admit Pakistanis Reject U.S. Priorities - (IPS)

• Interesting - The Shi‘a of Saudi Arabia at a Crossroads - (ME Rep)
• Con(-man) Coughlin smears a book on Iran. This review takes it apart - Most Fundamentalist - (NYT)

• Odierno - General Sees a Longer Stay in Iraq Cities for U.S. Troops - (NYT)
• Maliki - Iraq committed to U.S. pullout deadline - (Tehran Times)

• New torture pictures - Lego Torture Scenes Protest Media Censorship - (Wired)
• Gitmo: Obama=Bush - Obama Set to Revive Military Commissions - (WaPo)

• That would be nice ... - Washington committed to seeking Syria-Israel deal - (Reuters)
• But ... - Obama renews sanctions on Syria for one year - (AFP)
• And ... - Netanyahu: Israel will never withdraw from Golan - (Haaretz)

• Cheney, Gingrich, McCain, Petraeus - WTF - The Sunday Show Line-Ups - (TPM)

• I wonder too - Ehrenreich: Where is the outrage over unemployment? - (MercuryNews)
• Stiglitz on banks - The Spring of the Zombies - (Project Syndicate)

Posted by b on May 9, 2009 at 5:58 UTC | Permalink | Comments (21)

Links May 8 09

• Fifteen per day - Record bombs dropped in Afghanistan in April - (Navy Times)
• Your money - Afghan war to cost more than Iraq in 2010 - (The News)

• Walt thinks Obama has no strategy (I'm not sure that he is right) - Confidence game - (FP)
• On AfPak - China voices concern over growing US influence - (Dawn)
• 'The Everyday Extremism of Washington' - Secretary Doomsday and the Empathy Gap - (Tom Dispatch)

• Sidelining the State Department - Behind the scenes of the Peres-Obama meeting - (FP)

• Add a zero for the real number - U.S. Says Ailing Banks Need $75 Billion - (NYT)
• Krugman on lack of a serious reform - Stressing the Positive - (NYT)
• Even the right is criticizing this - Banks Need Fewer Carrots and More Sticks - (WSJ)
• Speculation, not demand - Oil rises to six-month high near $58 - (AP)

Posted by b on May 8, 2009 at 6:29 UTC | Permalink | Comments (30)

Links May 7 09

• Spot-on about the war preparations - Opinion Shaping and the Pakistan Threat - (WPR)

• On Gitmo: Obama=Bush? - New Chief Prosecutor Appointed For Military Commissions At Guantánamo - (Andy Worthington)

• A very telling graph on media bias and Africa - Congo Ignored, Not Forgotten - (FAIR)

• This might get interesting - Weapons grade uranium found in Egypt - (PressTV)

• Accelerating colonization - Settlement expansion seeing biggest boost since 2003 - (Haaretz)

On Israel as “the State of the Jewish People”

• Tony Karon - Can Bibi Force Abbas to ‘Recognize’ an Oxymoron? - (TK)
• Uri Averny - Netanyahu's Plan - (Counterpunch)

• Roubini: Let them fail - Insolvent banks should feel market discipline - (FT, alternative link)

Posted by b on May 7, 2009 at 5:59 UTC | Permalink | Comments (17)

Links May 6 09

• Missed this one yesterday - Billmon: The Chair Recognizes the Grand Dragon . . . - (DKos)

• This lobbying for torture lawyers ... - Bush Officials Try to Alter Ethics Report - (WaPo)
• ... was successful - Torture Memos Will Not Result in Prosecutions - (NYT)

• The result of 'surgical' U.S. airstrikes - Truckloads Of Dead Civilians After Afghan Battle - (Reuters)

• Colonialism in new cloth - Wealthy foreigners taking over huge tracts of African land - (Globe&Mail)

• This review of books on Iran ... - The road to the republic - (FT)
• ... missed this one - The US Army Pocket Guide to Iran - (U.S. Army) (pdf)
• 53.6% is a pretty big lead - Ahmadinejad tops Iran's pre-election polls - (Press TV)

• Pat Lang - Sounds like a plan... (Iran/Israel) - (SST)
• Now available in English - A “Secret” Database of Israeli Settlements - (FAS)

• They will need more - Bank of America Said to Need About $34 Billion in New Capital - (Bloomberg)
• The man has hallucinations - Bernanke sees early signs of stability - (FT)
• Not much - What’s left of central bank independence? - (Buiter/FT)
• More coming ... First CDS insider trading case launched - (FT)

Posted by b on May 6, 2009 at 5:27 UTC | Permalink | Comments (9)

Links May 5 09

• 'The dark specter of preventive detention' - Obama’s First 100 Days: A Start On Guantánamo, But Not Enough - (Andy Worthington)

• On Harman et al - AIPAC Victory: Game, Set, Match - (CQPolitics)

• War preparation campaign - Porous Border With Pakistan Could Hinder U.S. Troops - (NYT)
• Stephen Walt - The threat monger's handbook - (FP)
• Naturally - Taliban prepare for U.S. surge - (Globe&Mail)
• Consequences - Pakistani army flattening villages as it battles Taliban - (McClatchy)

• Andy Xie - If China loses faith the dollar will collapse - (FT)
• Richardson & Roubini - We Can't Subsidize the Banks Forever - (WSJ)

Please share your links, news and views in the comments.

Posted by b on May 5, 2009 at 6:36 UTC | Permalink | Comments (12)

Links May 4 09

• War preparation campaign - Pakistan Strife Raises U.S. Doubts on Nuclear Arms - (NYT)
• More war preparations - Pakistan’s Islamic Schools Fill Void, but Fuel Militancy - (NYT)
• Even more war preparations - Pakistan Says Islamic Court Fulfills Deal With Taliban - (NYT)
• Contrasting reality check - Pepe Escobar - The myth of Talibanistan - (ATOL)

• Retreat - Captured Afghanistan outpost torn down - Hard-won ground given up in change of priorities - (Globe&Mail)

• Manga Wars - Nationalism and Anti-Americanism in Japan - (Japan Focus)

• Via China Matters - The Backstory of the Betancourt Release - (China hand)

• Maybe even longer - U.S. has a 45-year history of torture - (LAT)

• No - Is the Darfur bloodshed genocide? - (LAT)

• Nassim Nicholas Taleb - Too Big to Fail, Hidden Risks, and the Fallacy of Large Institutions - (NYU Poly Institute)
• 'How an American in Holland learned to love the European welfare state.' - Going Dutch - (NYT)
• Krugman - Falling Wage Syndrome - (NYT)

Please share your links, news and views in the comments.

Posted by b on May 4, 2009 at 6:49 UTC | Permalink | Comments (36)