NewsTrust - Foreign Policy - Most Recent Stories: News (Independent)

Missing the Gain But Joining the Pain

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Miller-McCune - By Sam Kornell - Nov. 15 (News Analysis) - Since the industrial revolution, profits from the exploitation of fossil energy — coal, oil and natural gas — have not been equally distributed. America, Europe and Japan got rich off of oil and coal; now China, India and much of the rest of the developing world are attempting to do the same thing. If they succeed, climate scientists say, it will mean environmental catastrophe. This progression has created a situation in which any solution to climate change is, to a greater or lesser extent, going to be unfair — a fact many negotiators openly acknowledge. The Danish environmental minister hosting the Copenhagen conference, Connie Hedegaard, has reportedly been "extraordinarily blunt" in insisting that China, India and the rest of the developing world shoulder a large share of the climate load.

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How the US Funds the Taliban

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

The Nation - By Aram Roston - Nov. 12 (Special Report) - With Pentagon cash, contractors bribe insurgents not to attack supply lines for US troops

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Mahmoud Abbas Threatens to Step Down in Light of Ongoing Israeli Colonization of West Bank

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Informed Comment - By Juan Cole - Nov. 06 (News Analysis) - Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas says he wants to stand down and he declines to run in the upcoming Palestine Authority elections. The decision came in the wake of the US failure to convince the Israelis to halt colonization of the West Bank and Arab East Jerusalem. It also followed a series of embarrassing flip-flops by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who praised hard line right wing PM Netanyahu for his efforts in favor of the peace process. Even for a diplomatic statement, this tack is is a little embarrassing in its obsequiousness toward Netanyahu, who has undermined the peace process at every turn and rejects out of hand the US demand that he freeze settlements. Reactions of Arab allies of the US were sharp.

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The St. Petersburg Times - News - Gorbachev, Bush, Kohl Remember Cold War

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

sptimes.ru - By Agence France Presse - Nov. 03 (News Report) - Helmut Kohl, George Bush, and Mikhail Gorbachev hailed their excellent relations at a Berlin cabaret on Saturday, 20 years after the Cold War leaders watched over the Wall’s fall.

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Pakistan at War

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Global Pulse - By Erin Coker - Oct. 28 (News Analysis) - It has been a bloody month for Pakistan. The army has launched an offensive in South Waziristan aided by US drones, and the Taliban are fighting back with suicide bombs in major cities. With hundreds dying, what do the Pakistani people think?

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War weary Europeans test their leaders' resolve

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

GlobalPost - By Mort Rosenblum - Oct. 27 (News Analysis) - Whoever ends up presiding over Afghan chaos and corruption, Europe is losing patience fast with U.S. mission muddle and a president who won’t make up his mind. NATO defense ministers meeting last week in Slovakia backed Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s strategy to strike harder, and fast, against a growing insurgency. But opinion polls and remarks in official circles from Britain to Poland (and elsewhere, like, Canada) make clear that Europeans are fed up with Afghanistan if not the whole military business altogether.

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Pakistan: The Kerry Lugar Bill

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Global Voices - By Faisal Kapadia - Oct. 14 (News Analysis) - The Kerry Luger bill is essentially a non military aid package granted to Pakistan by the U.S in view of its precarious economic condition due to its indulgence in the war on terror as a front line allied state. This bill grants Pakistan $1.5 billion annually for five years and comes along with stringent conditions on how to distribute and invest this money.

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Iraq All Over Again?

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

FAIR - By Editors - Oct. 08 (News Analysis) - There have been recent discussions (e.g., New York Times, 9/29/09) about whether the press is doing a better job covering allegations about Iran's nuclear program than they did during the run-up to the Iraq War. But in some crucial and very basic ways, many in the media are performing just as poorly as they did in 2002 and 2003

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Nuclear tightrope in Iran

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

GlobalPost - By William Dowell - Oct. 01 (News Analysis) - The meeting here in Geneva is being billed as the last chance for a diplomatic solution to what many see as Iran’s race to build a nuclear bomb. In diplomacy, it is a good rule never to say “never,” but there is no question that this time there is a lot at stake. Iran's chief negotiator on its nuclear program is meeting with representatives from the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, plus Germany.

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China, Iran and Sanctions: What's a Rising Power to Do?

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Elizabeth Lynch - Sep. 30 (News Analysis) - Why is China so hesitant to support sanctions against a country that is secretly developing nuclear capabilities? History, geo-politics and economic ties are what set China apart from its Security Council brethren in dealing with Iran. But China's growth as a world power has caused it to become a stakeholder in the current system. With this new-found power, China has begun to realize its actions, or lack of action, does in fact shape the world's future course and as a result, its own global prospects.

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Experts Weigh in on Obama’s Explanation of Iran’s Nuclear Facility

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Independent - By Spencer Ackerman - Sep. 28 (News Report) - Flanked by the French president and the British premier, President Obama on Friday dramatically stated that the “size and configuration” of a previously undisclosed Iranian nuclear facility near the clerical city of Qom make it “inconsistent with a peaceful program.” Several independent experts believe the facility is most likely being constructed to support a nuclear weapons program, especially as Iran’s concealment of it comes after years of nondisclosure and obstruction of inspections. But even those experts believe that the “size and configuration” of the facility does not necessarily mean it could only be used to build an atomic bomb.

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U.S. War in Afghanistan

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Council on Foreign Relations - Sep. 16 (Special Report) - Tracking a war

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Japanese Voters Oust Conservative Party, PM-Elect Hatoyama Critical of US "Market Fundamentalism"

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Steven Clemons, Amy Goodman, Sharif Abdel Kouddous - Sep. 01 (News Report) - In Japan, voters have ousted the right-leaning Liberal Democratic Party, or LDP, after fifty-five years of nearly uninterrupted governance. In elections on Sunday, the populist Democratic Party of Japan captured a record 308 of the 480 seats in the lower house of parliament. Democratic Party leader Yukio Hatoyama, who is expected to become Japan’s new prime minister, has questioned the role of the 50,000 American troops deployed throughout Japan and, in a recent New York Times op-ed, blamed the global financial meltdown in part on what he called US “market fundamentalism.”

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Kennedy's death: Ireland mourns a "true friend"

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

GlobalPost - By Conor O'Clery - Aug. 26 (News) - DUBLIN — Nowhere outside the United States is the passing of Senator Edward Kennedy being mourned as much as in Ireland, the country from where his ancestors emigrated during the potato famine of the 19th century and to which he helped bring peace in recent years.

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Flushing Blackwater

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

The Nation - By Jeremy Scahill - Aug. 26 (Investigative Report) - Blackwater, the private mercenary company owned by Erik Prince, has been thrust back into the spotlight by a series of stunning revelations about its role in covert US programs. Since at least 2002, Blackwater has worked for the CIA in Afghanistan and Pakistan on "black" contracts. On August 19, the New York Times revealed that the company was, in fact, a central part of a secret CIA assassination program that Dick Cheney allegedly ordered concealed from Congress. The paper then reported that Blackwater remains a key player in the widening air war in Pakistan and Afghanistan, where it arms drone aircraft. These disclosures follow allegations--made under oath by former Blackwater employees--that Prince murdered or facilitated the murder of potential government informants and that he "views himself as a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe."

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Sometimes It’s Not Your War, But You Sacrifice Anyway

Mon, 17 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

ProPublica - By T. Christian Miller - Aug. 17 (News Report) - These low-paid foreign workers face many of the same risks soldiers do. Mortars have killed Filipinos who served meals in mess halls. Assassins have targeted Iraqis translating for soldiers. Roadside bombs have ripped into trucks driven by Turkish

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Charles Bowden on Mexico's Dirty War Against Drugs

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman, SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS - Aug. 11 (News Analysis) - Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy blocked the release of a State Department report affirming that Mexico has respected human rights in its fight against drug cartels. Leahy’s move holds up more than $100 million in US aid. The money has been delayed under a law linking 15 percent of US funding to Mexico under the Merida Initiative to Mexico’s record on human rights. On Monday, President Obama praised the Mexican government for its handling of the drug war. We speak with Charles Bowden, a reporter who has been extensively covering the human consequences of Mexico’s drug war.

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Obama Reverses Campaign Pledge to Renegotiate NAFTA

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman, SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS - Aug. 11 (News Report) - It was Obama’s first official summit under the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA. On the campaign trail, Obama had promised to open up NAFTA to renegotiations. But he’s backed off that pledge since taking office, blaming the global economic meltdown.

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Life, death and the Taliban

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

GlobalPost - By Charles Sennott - Aug. 10 (Special Report) - Life, death and the Taliban seeks to enhance America’s understanding of Taliban history in Afghanistan and Pakistan. At this crucial time in the U.S.-led war against the Taliban, Charlie Sennott recaps the group’s rise to power and looks at current political and counterinsurgency efforts in Afghanistan. Photographer Seamus Murphy, who has long chronicled the shifts of power in Afghanistan, accompanied Sennott to Kabul for this report.

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US Confronts the Russia-Iran Alliance

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Consortium News - By Pepe Escobar - Aug. 05 (News Analysis) - While the Bush and now Obama administrations have sought to pressure Iran on its nuclear program, Tehran has been building up a stronger relationship with its historic adversary, Russia, and with other countries outside the U.S. orbit, like Venezuela.

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Resurgence of Taliban in Balochistan

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Pakistan Observer - By Mahrukh Khan - Jul. 30 (News Analysis) - Subsequent to the havoc caused by war in northern parts of Pakistan, US policy-makers are now diverting their focus towards Quetta, capital of Balochistan. American officials believe that Taliban leaders are operating in Quetta and are actively involved in the unrest in southern Afghanistan. When the war started in Afghanistan it forced Taliban elements to disintegrate and flee into tribal belt straddling along the Durand Line in November 2001. Since 9/11 Pakistan has become an active partner in the war on terror when it started conducting raids in its own territory in search of terrorists belonging to Taliban or Al-Qaeda. Pakistan internal security challenge has raised stakes for the U.S war effort in Afghanistan. The major question now to address is, what will U.S do to overcome the threat from the Quetta Shura and whether if Pakistan is willing to help?

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Pro-Nuclear Pundits Debunked

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Frida Berrigan: - Jul. 29 (News Analysis) - These four men: John Bolton, Richard Perle, Keith Payne and Frank Gaffney are far outside of the growing consensus on the need for decisive action to curb nuclear proliferation, and they have been on the wrong side of history for too long. They should not be considered legitimate nuclear experts and they should not be given free rein over our op-ed pages.

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Shadow diplomacy

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Frontline (India) - By Vijay Prashad - Jul. 28 (Special Report) - Most analysts of U.S. foreign policy in South Asia agree that there is pressure from within Islamabad and New Delhi to reopen the discussions. For Pakistan, the situation is fairly transparent. Instability along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border and the leakage of jehadi ambitions towards Islamabad have shifted the government’s priorities away from India: no longer the easy thought that it is from New Delhi that all of Pakistan’s problems hail.

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Despite Pledge to Cut Military Ties to Coup Regime, US Continues to Train Honduran Soldiers at School of Americas

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman, James Hodge, Linda Cooper - Jul. 21 (News) - Although the US appears to be increasing diplomatic pressure on Honduras, questions are being raised about its vow to cut military ties. The National Catholic Reporter has revealed at least two Honduran army officers are still receiving military training in the United States. The officers are currently enrolled at the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, known as WHINSEC, formerly known as the School of the Americas, at Fort Benning, Georgia. That’s the facility that has a long record of training Latin American military officers involved in human rights abuses. Six Honduran military officials linked to the coup have trained at Fort Benning, including the coup’s military leader, General Romeo Orlando Vásquez Velásquez.

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Senior Obama Official Backs Cheney and CIA, Says Concealment of Assassin Program Legal

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

rebelreports.com - By Jeremy Scahill - Jul. 17 (News Analysis) - As Democrats try to build momentum for the hearings, a senior Obama official has now come forward to defend the legality of Cheney and the C.I.A.s' alleged concealment. President Obama's Director of National Intelligence, Dennis Blair, says the C.I.A. did not violate the law. In an interview with The Washington Post, Blair said that he believes the C.I.A. should have informed Congress, but was not required to. "It was a judgment call," said Blair. "We believe in erring on the side of working with the Hill as a partner."

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