Ray McGovern, Consortium News. May 22, 2009. Will Cheney fire his speechwriter? He clearly stated that U.S. support for Israel is one of the "true sources of resentment" for terrorists.
Tom Engelhardt, Tomdispatch.com. May 22, 2009. Stanley McChrystal comes from a world where killing by any means is the norm and a blanket of govt. secrecy provides the necessary protection.
Jodie Evans, AlterNet. May 21, 2009. The Pentagon portrays Afghanistan as a moral battle to "protect" its women. Afghan women tell another story: more war equals suffering.
Manan Ahmed, Indypendent. May 21, 2009. It's a thoroughly modern state with vast infrastructure, a fiercely critical and diverse media, globalized economy -- no "failed state" here.
Robert Dreyfuss, TheNation.com. May 19, 2009. If Obama decides to get tough with Israel over the Palestinians, he'll have the support of his base, and much opposition from conservatives.
Humberto Márquez, IPS News. May 18, 2009. So far this year, four Ciudad Guayana activists belonging to different construction industry unions have been murdered.
Mark Ames, The Nation. May 15, 2009. The Washington Post's editorial page is busy whitewashing Bush's disastrous wars, which the newspaper encouraged all along.
Ira Chernus, AlterNet. May 13, 2009. Hamas has long endorsed a two-state solution, but when the NY Times reported it, kooky neocon Charles Krauthammer went unhinged.
Stephen Zunes, AlterNet. May 13, 2009. Until the teachers union abandons its hawkish agenda, its credibility will continue to be compromised and embattled teachers will suffer.
Penny Coleman, AlterNet. May 11, 2009. Yesterday's attack was the deadliest by a fellow soldier since Bush's wars began. The trauma of combat may be the source.
Tom Engelhardt, Tomdispatch.com. May 9, 2009. It's the norm for U.S. civilian and military leaders to talk about what other countries "must do" -- but it's a radical and dangerous mindset.
Medea Benjamin, CODEPINK Women for Peace: Action Blog. May 7, 2009. My mouth was muzzled by the sweaty hands of hate-filled staffers at the AIPAC conference, demanding that I "shut the f--- up."
Benjamin Dangl, AlterNet. May 6, 2009. The last time George W. Bush went to Latin America, protesters flooded the streets. Things have changed quite a bit since then.
Dilip Hiro, Tomdispatch.com. May 4, 2009. A new world order is emerging from the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, with its center gravitating towards China.
Patrick Cockburn, Independent UK. May 2, 2009. Western aid agencies are lavishing vast sums on their officials while extreme poverty is driving young Afghans to fight for the Taliban.
Pepe Escobar, Asia Times. May 1, 2009. The fear being stoked of Taliban taking over nuclear-armed Pakistan are a ruse to legitimize Obama's expanding Af-Pak war.
Amy Goodman, Democracy Now!. April 29, 2009. Sheikh Zoubir Bouchikhi has been held without bail at a private immigration prison in Houston for the past four months.
John Tirman, AlterNet. April 28, 2009. Obama has taken a step toward freeing the U.S. from 30 years of coercion, sanctions, covert action and relentless insults against Iran.
John Feffer, Foreign Policy in Focus. April 27, 2009. With the world's maritime chokepoints at risk, pirates are emerging as the latest non-state threat: the terrorists of the seas.
Tom Engelhardt, Tomdispatch.com. April 24, 2009. Every year we kill thousands of innocent people. Does that seem reasonable? Does that seem right? Is your supposed safety worth that?
Stephen Zunes, Foreign Policy in Focus. April 22, 2009. To the dismay of human rights groups across the world, Obama decided to pander to right-wing hawks and boycott the historic gathering.
Stephen Pizzo, News for Real. April 22, 2009. In George W. Bush's America High, it was decided that the best way to deal with countries they decided were NOT cool, was to not talk to them.
Mark Engler, Foreign Policy in Focus. April 21, 2009. Two disastrous wars and the economic meltdown have shaken America's superpower status. What can Obama do to help shape a sustainable global order?
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Auditing Conventional Wisdom
In partnership with the MIT Center for International Studies, AlterNet is pleased to present these Audits of the Conventional Wisdom.
This ongoing series of essays tours the horizon of conventional wisdoms that animate U.S. foreign policy and puts them to the test of data and history.
By subjecting particularly well-accepted ideas to close scrutiny, the series aims to re-engage policy and opinion leaders on topics that are too easily passing such scrutiny.