Fair Dinkum Leadership
He may not be perfect, but Kevin Rudd is a refreshing change from the last seven years of John Howard the Bush Kangaroo.
Basra: Echoes of Vietnam
There’s no light at the end of the tunnel, laments columnist Conn Hallinan in a comparison of the battle of Basra to the Tet offensive.
Asia’s New Axis?
New leaders in Australia and South Korea could mean a shift in geopolitical weight in Asia.
Rudd: Up from Down Under
Australia charts a brand new foreign policy.
Petraeus-Crocker Hearing: Political Theater on Message
UFPJ Talking Points #57: Petraeus-Crocker hearings target Iran, justify the “surge,” and defend permanent occupation.
The Failed Offensive in Basra: What Now for the U.S. Occupation of Iraq?
The Backbone Campaign is hosting a live call-in teach-in with New Internationalism Fellow Phyllis Bennis to discuss the recent failed offensive in Basra led by the U.S. and U.S.-backed Iraqi President Nuri al Maliki. The discussion will look at how the offensive was not about "ridding the city of criminals" but part of a political struggle among Shi’a parties in Iraq, with the U.S. military continuing to back the unpopular Maliki. It will include the consequences of the failed offensive and the resulting strengthening of anti-occupation cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army, and the limits it shows of the so-called "surge" strategy of the U.S. occupation.
The discussion will also focus on opportunities these new developments may provide for the anti-war/anti-occupation movement in the United States.
For information about how to call in or listen to the teach-in:
http://backbonecampaign.org/
Petraeus’ Testimony
Supposed “security improvements” in Iraq cited by the Bush administration may have more to do with the depth of ethnic cleansing than any positive developments.
Executive Swap
I propose that the first Robert Mugabe Presidents in Residence Program at the University of Zimbabwe go to, drum roll please: George W. Bush.
Dealing with Iran’s Hardliners
Hardliners triumphed in the recent Iranian elections. But the way out of the nuclear impasse remains the same: negotiations.
OOPS!
Last August, the U.S. military mistakenly sent six nuclear-armed missiles on a cross-country tour of the United States. For 36 hours, no one knew where the nuclear weapons were. OOPS!
Granny Peace Brigade’s AFRICOM Teach-In
The Granny Peace Brigade’s Teach-In examines the implications of the new U.S. military command infrastructure, AFRICOM; and the direct threat to Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream of peace, economic justice, and racial harmony AFRICOM poses on the 40th anniversary of his assassination.
AFRICOM would be the sixth Defense Department regional military command, and according to the Pentagon, would consolidate all U.S. functions (Agriculture, Commerce, Treasury, Peace Corps, and others) under its jurisdiction. The department expects to be "fully operational" in October 2008 but the only African nation willing to house the command’s continental headquarters is Liberia. Currently, AFRICOM is based in Stuttgart-Moehringen, Germany.
Vinie Burrows, actor, writer, and member of the New York Granny Peace Brigade will moderate the program.
Speakers:
Emira Woods, co-director of Foreign Policy in Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies
Horace Campbell, professor of African American Studies and Political Science at Syracuse University
Frida Berrigan, senior research associate at the Arms Trade Resource Center, World Policy Institute
Sonia Sanchez, poet, educator, and member of the Philadelphia Granny Peace Brigade
Admission is free. Donations are welcomed. Doors will open at 1:15 PM, and light refreshments will be available. For more information, call (212) 865-7875.
Founded in 2005 in opposition to the Iraq occupation, the Granny Peace Brigade stands for peace and condemns the use of military force to resolve conflicts. www.grannypeacebrigade.org.
Maliki Offensive and Bush Iraq Strategy Failing
UFPJ Talking Points #56: The Iraqi government’s military offensive in Basra appears to have failed, significantly weakening Bush administration strategy in Iraq.
Turkey, Iraq, and the Kurds
Iraq Quagmire: Costs of War
Five years into the U.S. occupation of Iraq, the human, economic, social and other costs keep growing.
The Costs of War
Five years after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, observes columnist Zia Mian, the costs of war stagger the imagination.