Has the American dream of permanent supremacy in the oil-rich region of the world been shattered? It’s a question that not only haunts influential institutions that function as pillars of power in America’s global hegemony, but also torments a wide array of rightwing think tanks masquerading as “impartial analysts”.
The global political scene is not only changing, it has changed quite dramatically over the last decade or so. The pompous notion of a unipolar world in which the self-proclaimed “sole superpower” maintains perpetual full-spectrum dominance a la Project for the New American Century (PNAC) is no longer tenable.
As he was wheeled into the operation theatre at a Washington hospital, Richard Holbrooke, the US special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, must have prayed the Pakistani surgeon tending to him would successfully stitch his torn aorta to save his life so he could “save” Afghanistan.
Wikileaks has proved to be the kingmaker of all news, defying the short lifespan of most news cycles to reign for a solid week-and-a-half over world headlines. Reactions over the release of secret US State Department cables ranged from shock, titillation, amusement, or apoplectic fury.
When Wikileaks arrested world headlines, the mainstream media coped by focusing on the gossip dished up by embassies on US allies, “frenemies” (friendly enemies), and outright foes
This writer remembers the time — about 25 years ago — when friendly members of the Islamic Movement would ask: why can’t our brothers in Iran have a more subtle approach and a dodgy political posture when it comes to their official decisions as well as their public relations and information services?
Tortured endlessly, deprived of sleep for 21 days, attacked by dogs and threatened with rape, Omar Khadr, now 24, was handed one last piece of vigilante justice: guilty plea to all charges because confessions extracted under torture
Haiti was the first African colony of slaves in the New World to declare independence from its colonial (French) overlords in 1804. The United States refused to recognize this new expression of freedom.
If one thinks about it seriously, the world looks like a bizarre place. Scientific strides and technological developments make us think and believe that we are living in the “genteel” and “civilized” 21st century. Few can argue about the scientific and industrial progress in all fields of physical applications and material evolution.
Professor Shahram Amiri’s kidnapping ordeal finally ended on July 12 when he escaped from his American captors in Virginia and took refuge in the Iranian Interest Section at the Pakistan Embassy in Washington, DC. Kidnapped by CIA agents working in tandem with Saudi intelligence.
There is a complex balance of factors on each side of this geostrategic equation. The pressures building up in the Muslim world against US foreign policy are self-evident..
There are numerous international institutions with high-sounding names and even higher sounding principles. Led by the United Nations, others include the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), etc...
This, however, is a superficial look at global reality. After all, the Soviet Union was also a superpower armed with nuclear weapons and had the largest air force in the world when it invaded Afghanistan on December 27, 1979...
Terrorism is one of the most widely used words in the world today. It also has numerous meanings. YUSUF AL-KHABBAZ discusses the way the West uses the word and exploits the phenomenon...
On the political front, it appears the US has resigned itself to the fact that there is nobody capable of replacing Karzai at present.
After more than two months of military operations in Swat Valley, the Pakistan army spokesman, major general Athar Abbas claimed that 95 percent of the Valley had been cleared of militants.
Despite US President Barack Obama’s claims of non-involvement in Iran’s affairs, few people believe that the US was an innocent bystander in the recent riots in Tehran.The US not only has a long history of interfering in Iran’s internal affairs, these intensified during former President George Bush’s era.
The West has a peculiar attitude to global problems. In addition to its favourite bogey—war on terror—there is much talk about human rights, respect for the rule of law, the will of the “international community” and fighting racism yet it remains in denial about its own misdeeds.
April marks a grim milestone in Afghanistan’s tortuous history. On April 27, 1978 the country was plunged into crisis following a Marxist-led military coup in which President Sardar Daud and virtually his entire family was killed. An internal uprising followed leading to the Soviet invasion of December 27, 1979.
Will the deal announced on February 16 in Swat bring peace to the troubled region that has been engulfed in violence for nearly two years now? More importantly, will it hold considering that it was criticized even before all the details were known? Both the US and its agents in Pakistan have launched a vicious campaign, raising the specter of a Taliban takeover of the rest of the country as well.
