Return of the Rat

The weather's getting warmer and it's made us inattentive! At least that's the official excuse we'll give.

Gilbert Achcar has voiced his recent thoughts on the longer history/effectiveness of the 'surge' in US troops in Iraq over the last eighteen months. Achcar not only locates a great deal of support for the surge in the Baker-Hamilton report, but finds that the US's greatest success has not been a reduction in violence, but a classic colonial power play that has torn the fabric of Iraqi Sunni society.

Franklin Lamb offers a street-level report from West Beirut, currently under Hezbollah and Amal control. What the next move might be for Lebanon's deeply besieged government is unclear; what is clear is the necessity of Hezbollah's involvement in any dialogue meant to bring an end to the crisis of leadership in Lebanon.

Over at Supervalent Thought, her very own 'research blog,' the University of Chicago's Lauren Berlant is putting up some really interesting short pieces on love, queerness, detachment, and (in)fidelity to the political in America. A recent two-parter--"Other People's Optimism" and "Looking For Mr. (W)Right)--laments the unbridled cynicism and fear of the political as evidenced by the 'noise' surrounding the 2008 Elections.

Close to home

Counterpunch's lead article today concerns protests in Queens after Friday's verdict in the Sean Bell killing reached New Yorkers. Interspersed with chants from Friday's march, JoAnn Wypijewski's piece touches on the horror of the incident and other racially-motivated killings by police officers, noting that no matter who is running for president in this country, racism and the oppression like this is as prevalent and dangerous as ever.

Carter in Israel/Palestine

A brief post about recent happenings in Israel/Palestine. Carter's trip to Palestine continues to make headlines as Israel's ambassador to the UN calls Carter a "bigot" for meeting with Khaled Meshal in Syria. Also an editorial from Haaretz from two weeks ago on Israel's "debt" to Carter.

And finally, just to keep things in perspective, is an article by Khaled Amayreh for Al-Ahram detailing once again the continued suffering on the part of Palestinians in the West Bank under blockade, just in time for Israel's dismissal of Hamas's proposed 6-month truce in Gaza. Israel's reasoning? A truce, the Israeli government claims, would do "nothing more" than allow Hamas to recover from recent Israeli attacks.

Well-Made World 35

As you may have noticed, we've decided to embed daily video updates from the Real News Network. The RNN has an intrinsic value as a serious non-corporate journalism service, their editorializing is top-notch, and they generate a ceaseless amount of new multimedia content. (They'd insert their pitch for monetary contributions here). We go to their video updates with such frequency that we thought to just cut out the middle man. The video updates are always good. Watch them!

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As you can see, to the right, Jimmy Carter is in the Middle East and scheduled to meet with Hamas's Khaled Meshal. Ignoring displeased voices in Washington and Tel Aviv, Carter aims to facilitate negotiation between the Hamas leadership and both Israel and Fatah.
This concludes Azmi Bishara's three-part analysis of the present conjuncture of Israeli statehood and the Palestinian right to self-determination.

Uri Avnery sees no small amount of hypocrisy in recent flame-centric conflagrations over Tibet--no matter how justified Tibetan grievances are--and this year's Olympics in Beijing. Once you get past his assertion that the CIA is without a doubt coordinating anti-torch protests, Avnery points out how appeals to freedom in Tibet shows up the highly selective nature of Western governments' support for national liberation struggles.

Ryan Crocker and the New York Times continue to fuel the Bush administration's eagerness to go to war with Iran.

Well-Made World 34

In the first two (ONE TWO)of a three-part editorial installment on the historical trajectory of the project of Palestinian national liberation, Azmi Bishara cites a 'contrived complexity' that has been built up around the Palestinian cause that not only decisively limits public discourse on the topic but serves Israeli interests perfectly. Lamenting the fact that the so-called Palestinian question has lost its pan-Arab quality, Bishara aims to take account of the historical forces that have allowed Israel to pursue what was as of late an unpredicted course; not that of the one- or two-state solution, but of Israel as 'crusader state'.

Paul Craig Roberts finds something ominous in Dick Cheney's recent schedule, as it suggests a strong possibility of an attack on Iran. The culprits responsible for enabling such an attack, says Roberts, would primarily be the American media, the electorate in the US, and the Democratic Party.

Gettin' fancy with the Real News

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Barack Obama and Race in America

Barack Obama's speech on race relations in America, given last week in Philadelphia, had the misfortune of being overshadowed by, or cast as a reaction to, publicized comments made by Obama's long-time spiritual mentor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

Obama's speech was one of the most honest and necessary interventions into American mainstream political discourse in years; obviously, that ought not shield it from critique.This will take you to a reaction piece to Obama's speech featuring contributions by the editorial board of The Black Commentator.

Also, the Real News's Paul Jay focuses on Obama's loudly-demanded 'denouncing and renouncing' of Wright, in conversation with Prof. Dwight Hopkins at the University of Chicago's Divinity School. This can be found in that neat mini-video-library from the Real News at the top of this page.