The Farcical Definition at the Heart of the War on Terrorism by James Bovard

The Bush administration, in its war on terror, stresses that anyone who aids and abets a terrorist is as guilty as the terrorist. By this standard, the U.S. government was guilty of enabling the Indonesian government to terrorize the Timorese people. The Timorese victims of U.S.-backed aggression received far less than 1 percent of the attention than have American victims of terrorist attacks.

The U.S. government currently bankrolls and arms many foreign regimes that terrorize their own people, including Colombia, Indonesia, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan. Frida Berrigan of the World Policy Institute noted that the State Department’s 2002 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices “lists 52 countries that are currently receiving U.S. military training or weapons as having ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’ human-rights records.”

A high-risk game of nuclear chicken by F William Engdahl

It is useful to keep in mind that even were Iran to possess nuclear missiles, the strike range would not reach the territory of the US. Israel would be the closest potential target. A US preemptive nuclear strike to defend Israel would raise the issue of what the military agreements between Tel Aviv and Washington actually encompass, a subject neither the Bush administration nor its predecessors have seen fit to inform the American public about.

Nuclear Iran Feared by Eric Margolis

The U.S. and Israel are preparing to attack Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, according to U.S. and European intelligence sources.

The U.S. and EU are exerting maximum diplomatic and psychological pressure on Iran to prevent it from enriching uranium in spite of its legal right to do so. Tehran remains defiant, but may yet compromise by shipping uranium to Russia for enrichment.

President George Bush claims Iran’s limited but growing nuclear program poses “a grave threat to the security of the world.” What he really means is that Iran could one day challenge Israel’s Mideast nuclear monopoly.

Why the West must reOrient by Francesco Sisci

Yet while we help China to change, we overlook the fact that we should change ourselves, because China's growth has brought a systemic change to the world at large. As it spearheads the general growth of Asia, particularly Southeast Asia and India, it foreshadows a different world, where for the first time in at least two centuries the West will become an economic minority.

"'The U.S.-India Nuclear Deal: The End Game Begins" by Dr. Harsh V. Pant

While there is little hope that the U.S.-India nuclear agreement will come to fruition before the visit of U.S. President George W. Bush to India in early March 2006, it is expected that most of the issues will be sorted out by then. In India, despite dissenting voices, there is a wide spectrum of support for the nuclear agreement with the U.S. This is a development in itself, as, contrary to past behavior, this reflects a reluctance by Indian elites to assume an anti-U.S. position by default.

Arms Expert Sees Iran War Ahead by TOM PULEO

Weapons expert Scott Ritter said Tuesday that President Bush is using the Iraq conflict to rush the nation to war with Iran.

"The Bush administration has its sights set firmly on Tehran," Ritter told a group of more than 200 people. "The same deception is taking place right before our eyes and most Americans remain blind. It is going to happen. It is happening as we speak."

US sets its sights on asymmetric warfare by Ehsan Ahrari

The Pentagon has offered the press a sneak preview of its Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) 2005. The two big items of international interest are that the focus of the US military for the next several decades will be on fighting asymmetric warfare and on "influencing" such nations as China that are at a "strategic crossroads" in their world role.

Why the West will attack Iran by Spengler

Given Israel's possession of a large arsenal of fission weapons as well as thermonuclear capability, it is extremely unlikely that Iran would attack the Jewish state unless pressed to the wall. Faced with encirclement and ruin, the Islamic Republic is fully capable of lashing out in a destructive and suicidal fashion, not only against Israel but against other antagonists. Whatever one may say about Chirac, he is not remotely stupid, and feels it prudent to warn Iran that pursuit of its imperial ambitions may lead to a French nuclear response. French intelligence evidently believes that Iran may express its frustrations through terrorist actions in the West.

Permission to Speak Freely by Taki

The problem here is that the whole world is up in arms over Pamuk’s arrest but is not exactly breaking down the doors of Irving’s prison. So, do we write Free David Irving and Orhan Pamuk, or do we drop the former because it makes for better public relations? Does freedom of speech mean freedom of views we find acceptable or the views we find convenient? Is selective free speech free? Is free speech confined to causes with which we agree? As someone wrote, “the unpopular and odious have their rights as well.”

War's Stunning Price Tag by Linda Bilmes and Joseph Stiglitz

LAST WEEK, at the annual meeting of the American Economic Assn., we presented a new estimate for the likely cost of the war in Iraq. We suggested that the final bill will be much higher than previously reckoned — between $1 trillion and $2 trillion, depending primarily on how much longer our troops stay. Putting that into perspective, the highest-grossing movie of all time, "Titanic," earned $1.8 billion worldwide — about half the cost the U.S. incurs in Iraq every week.

What Israel fears is Iran as a strategic regional rival by Trita Parsi

For more than 14 years, Israel has been the primary force countering Iran's nuclear advances. Though Israel presents the prospect of a nuclear Iran as a global rather than an Israeli problem, it has compelled Washington to adopt its own red lines and not those of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

To Israel, nuclear know-how is tantamount to a nuclear bomb; once Iran controls the fuel cycle, Israel maintains, it can weaponize at will in spite of its obligations under the NPT. Consequently, Israel's position has held that Iran's nuclear program should be halted well ahead of the red line of uranium enrichment, even though enrichment is permitted by the NPT and is conducted by numerous states.

Were Al Qaeda terrorists killed in Pakistan?

Mohammad Shehzad's attempt to visit Bajaur -- the site of the January 13 attack by United States aircraft in which several top Al Qaeda leaders were reported killed -- was foiled by Pakistani security agencies who stopped him at Darband checkpost on January 19.

Subsequent investigations and talks with several intelligence sources and local journalists exposed several intriguing aspects of the case, but threw up more questions than answers. This is what he discovered:

Cheney and Netanyahu Pushing For War Against Syria by Jeffrey Steinberg

An ever-more-desperate Dick Cheney is pulling out all the stops to install "Clean Break" hawk Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu as the next Israeli Prime Minister, to push for an immediate confrontation between Israel and Syria. Israeli sources report that Cheney, as of Jan. 11, had an emissary in Israel, exploring the means to put "Bibi" and the Likud back in power, despite collapsing Israeli popular support for the extreme rightwing policies of the neo-con faction that Netanyahu represents.

Russian General: Nine Eleven a Globalist Inside Job by Kurt Nimmo

It’s ironic General Leonid Ivashov, former Chief of Staff of the Russian armed forces, delivers the truth on globalism and this truth, unavailable in the corporate media of the “free world,” is published in a newspaper in Las Tunas, Cuba. Ivashov tells us so-called international terrorism “is not something independent of world politics but simply an instrument, a means to install a unipolar world with a sole world headquarters, a pretext to erase national borders and to establish the rule of a new world elite” and “is a phenomenon that combines the use of terror by state and non-state political structures as a means to attain their political objectives through people’s intimidation, psychological and social destabilization, the elimination of resistance from power organizations and the creation of appropriate conditions for the manipulation of the countries’ policies and the behavior of people.”

Patriots, Rebels, and Terrorists by William Norman Grigg

As veteran foreign affairs analyst Eric Margolis points out, the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan brought about democratic elections, the emancipation of women, efforts to develop and modernize the nation's infrastructure, an end to fundamentalist Islamic rule, and other benefits – at the price of domination by an ideologically hostile foreign power that killed millions of people. Curiously, this transaction wasn't seen as a bargain by most of the Afghans themselves – but why should their opinion count? They're reactionaries, remember?

Assad: Israel assassinated Arafat

Syrian president charges Israel was behind former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's death, says world failed to intervene. Assad makes statement in wake of talks with Iran's president in which Syria voiced support in Iran's right to obtain nuclear capabilities

Syrian President Bashar Assad accused Israel on Saturday of assassinating former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, the cause of whose death 14 months ago remains a mystery.

Nuclear Showdown With Iran by Eric Margolis

Iran has thrown down the gauntlet to the US and EU by resuming uranium enrichment laboratory tests. Tehran is not heeding a mounting chorus of warnings from its foes in the west and even its friends in Moscow.

"We won’t be bullied," said Iran’s Persident, Mahmoud Ahamdinejad, who denied Iran has nuclear ambitions and insisted his nation had every right under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to enrich uranium to produce electrical power.

IAF trained for Iran attack

IAF pilots have completed their mission training and fighter jets have been prepared for an Israeli attack on Iran, the British Sunday Times reported.

The article reported that "the elite 69 strategic F-15 I squadron" had been equipped with weapons that will be tested in combat for the first time, and that two missile submarines were on standby: one in the Persian Gulf and the second in Haifa Bay.

Israel and US Threats Against Iran by JOSHUA FRANK

President Bush declared on January 13, that a nuclear-armed Iran would pose "a grave threat to the security of the world," and in particular, Israel.

This exact same rhetoric was invoked prior to the Iraq invasion. But it's not the world community that really feels threatened. It's allegedly Israel. So a war on Iran would be a war for Israel's security, not necessarily the United States' -- and certainly an invasion would not lead to democratization. Never mind that Israel already harbors a nuclear arsenal and has violated Security Council resolutions.

What the Iran 'nuclear issue' is really about by Chris Cook

It is therefore with wry amusement that I have seen a myth being widely propagated on the Internet that the genesis of this "Iran bourse" project is a wish to subvert the US dollar by denominating oil pricing in euros.

The realpolitik is of course that those in power in the US and Iran have the reason they give - and the real reason - for what they do: and for the US, the real reason is and has been for many years energy security above any other consideration.

Iranian President Cements Syrian Alliance

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad began a visit to Syria Thursday to consolidate an old alliance made increasingly crucial as both countries face mounting U.S. pressure and the threat of international sanctions.

Ahmadinejad and Syrian President Bashar Assad were expected to talk about Iran's standoff with the West over its nuclear program and the threat to refer it to the U.N. Security Council, as well as Syria's own troubles over a U.N. investigation that implicated it in the assassination of Lebanon's former prime minister.

How the Enemies of Free Speech Operate [Kurt Nimmo speaks out anew] by Kurt Nimmo

As pointed out by a member of this list, the hate campaign directed against me -- or the "Joe Job" aspect of this scurrilous and hateful campaign (posting nasty articles, primarily on IndyMedia's open and unmoderated forums, using my name and that of my wife) -- can likely, in part, be traced back to an article I wrote early last year about one Dr. David Bukay, who teaches at the School of Political Science at the University of Haifa, Israel. It was posted on an IndyMedia site in the Netherlands:

THE IRAQ RECONSTRUCTION STRATEGY by David Isenberg and William Fisher

With the billions of dollars appropriated by the United States for Iraqi reconstruction mostly spent, Japan, Australia and other nations in US President George W Bush's "coalition of the willing" are likely to be asked to shoulder much of the burden for funding the large number of unfinished projects.

The west has picked a fight with Iran that it cannot win by Simon Jenkins

All the following statements about Iran are true. There are powerful Iranians who want to build a nuclear bomb. There are powerful ones who do not. There are people in Iran who would like Israel to disappear. There are people who would not. There are people who would like Islamist rule. There are people who would not. There are people who long for some idiot western politician to declare war on them. There are people appalled at the prospect. The only question for western strategists is which of these people they want to help.

You Approve of Domestic Spying? Then Start With Skull & Bones!

Let’s get it straight, you actually believe that the government has the right to spy at will. You really think there’s nothing wrong with listening in on domestic phone conversations or intercepting personal e-mail or cell calls. You really have no qualms about bypassing the courts and warrants to spy on Americans who might have expressed opposition to the invasion of a militarily castrated nation? You bought into the idea that secret government spying will keep Americans safe. And you have no problem with spying on grass roots peace organizations whose members walk around with signs demanding a safer and friendlier world?

THE AFGHAN EXIT STRATEGY by M K Bhadrakumar

From the US perspective, this may look a moot point since maximum political mileage has been already squeezed out of the "war on terror" in Afghanistan. To an appreciable extent, President George W Bush owes his second term in office to the Afghan war. Karzai's hastily arranged victory in the presidential election, on the eve of the US election, was trumpeted in front of a naive electorate in the US as a foreign policy triumph that made America more secure from "terrorism".

KGB's Energy Chokehold by William Norman Grigg

Roughly one-quarter of Europe's supply of natural gas is provided by Russia’s state-owned Gazprom monopoly, and about 90 percent of that supply crosses the Ukraine by pipeline. That energy flow underwent a critical disruption when "Russia cut the amount of gas flowing into the pipeline" as a result of a price dispute with Ukraine, reported the January 2 Financial Times.

Kurt Nimmo Stops Updating Another Day in Empire

I'm sorry to respond in boilerplate fashion to those of you who have emailed to ask why I have decided to stop posting on the Another Day in the Empire blog. I wish I could answer all of you personally, but the response to my decision has been overwhelming. In lieu of a personal response, please accept the following explanation.

The primary reason I have decided to stop posting the blog has to do with threats. I have received many of them, including death threats. Usually, I am able to brush aside threats, since most are not of a serious nature, but lately I have received several that are not to be taken lightly, especially considering the fact somebody has taken the liberty to post my address and telephone number (information easily attained from the domain registry) in various places on the internet. First and foremost, I have a responsibility to my family and posting political commentary obviously comes in a distant second.

Russia's Iran gamble by Kaveh L Afrasiabi

Russia's special relationship with Iran has experienced a sudden jolt that could herald a sharp deterioration of relations between the two countries over Tehran's nuclear program.

The current setback may have been triggered by Iran's unilateral decision to halt aspects of its self-imposed moratorium on uranium enrichment-related activities, yet the root causes run deeper and cover the span of Russian foreign policy at a time of serious flux in Russia's strategic environment.

Powerful Men Who Meet Secretly and Plan by D.L. McCracken

Interestingly enough, no actual proof can be found that George W. Bush ever attended a Bilderberg Meeting. The closest one can come to associating Bush with the Bilderbergs is the fact that he was visiting several Bilderberg venue cities at the time of the meetings. His name however is not on any official lists.

Israel: Give Up Your Nukes

A report recently published by the distinguished U.S. Army War College has publicly targeted Israel’s controversial—but officially nonexistent—arsenal of nuclear weapons of mass destruction.

In the wake of a growing American media cacophony about Iran’s purported aims of building its own nuclear arsenal—“news” that has largely been stimulated by bellicose rhetoric in Israel itself—the Strategic Studies Institute of the Army War College, which is a training ground for the “best and the brightest” among up-and-coming military officers, has taken quite a different approach.

Why an Economic Boycott of Israel is Justified by Norman G. Finkelstein

The recent proposal that Norway boycott Israeli goods has provoked passionate debate. In my view, a rational examination of this issue would pose two questions: 1) Do Israeli human rights violations warrant an economic boycott? and 2) Can such a boycott make a meaningful contribution toward ending these violations? I would argue that both these questions should be answered in the affirmative.

Although the subject of many reports by human rights organizations, Israel's real human rights record in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is generally not well known abroad. This is primarily due to the formidable public relations industry of Israel's defenders as well as the effectiveness of their tactics of intimidation, such as labeling critics of Israeli policy anti-Semitic.

France Rejects Israeli 'Action' Demand on Iran

France has rejected Israeli calls for "action" to punish Iran for pursuing a civilian energy program the Israelis are pretending that they fear will lead to Iran making nuclear weapons. (Israel is the only regional power with a nuclear arsenal).

French Foreign Ministry spokesman Jean-Baptiste Mattei said that "The question of sanctions is premature." He was echoed by his German colleague Martin Jaeger who expressed a similar position held by the German government. The comments came after a three-party French, German and British meeting to discuss how the European Union should deal with Iran.

Media Disinformation on Iran by William Bowles

Iran’s relations with its erstwhile partners in Europe seem to be hurtling downhill like a snowball out of control. – Bridget Kendall, BBC diplomatic correspondent, 27 October 2005 No prizes awarded for what inspired this classic piece of state propaganda but it speaks reams about the relationship between the state and the corporate media. After all, what is it based on? Nothing more than the US and UK’s assertion concerning Iran’s 'intentions’, in other words, Ms. Kendall’s words are essentially the propaganda equivalent of a pre-emptive strike. So too, with the 'liberal’ Guardian whose Mary Riddell tells us.

Countdown to War with Iran? by MIKE WHITNEY

Iran will defend itself if it is attacked by the United States or Israel.

Defending one's country against unprovoked aggression is sanctioned under international law and is a requirement of true leadership. We would expect no different if either the United States or Israel was attacked.

The Sharon and Bush administrations' have done an admirable job of poisoning public opinion against Iran; interpreting President Ahmadinejad's comments as a potential danger to Israel's welfare. But such statements, however offensive, are commonplace in the Middle East and cannot be construed as a credible threat.

China's new online police warn: 'Internet is not beyond the law'

China's government has initiated the first police force designed to monitor the Internet.

Authorities in Shenzhen said the police force began Jan. 1 and will monitor “everything that is said in online forums,” the Hong Kong Ming Pao reported.

The Shenzhen police said in announcing the new force that the “Internet is not beyond the law“ and that Chinese should strictly regulate their online behavior.

Of The Evil Empire by Manuel Valenzuela

Let us for a few moments put aside our lavish lifestyles of fortuitous endowment and providence that have made us blind to the realities of billions of our fellow humans. Let us ignore our plasma televisions, our DVDs, our two-story cookie cutter homes and gas-guzzling SUVs. Let us promise to not open our overstocked pantries and refrigerators, or to go out and eat at one of many corporate controlled franchise restaurants offering vast assortments of gargantuan meals. We should ignore the opulence of our society that dwells permanently in our minds that makes us forget the severe indigence and suffering that transpires beyond our shores and borders.

How Quickly They Forget the Real Sharon by KATHLEEN and BILL CHRISTISON

On the morning of the day Ariel Sharon had his stroke last week, Ha'aretz ran an analysis -- aptly titled "Eating Palestine for Breakfast" -- that captured the real Ariel Sharon. It may be the last honest analysis ever to see the light of day in the mainstream media, now that Sharon is being lionized so widely as a heroic peacemaker, a man "who could deliver real peace," and other such absurdities. The Ha'aretz article, elaborating on a prediction by a leading political commentator and an Israeli think tank, laid out a scenario said to be Sharon's vision for Palestine following his expected electoral victory in March. According to the scenario, Sharon would set Israel's borders and reshape the West Bank by formally annexing the major Israeli colonies there (colonies in Palestinian East Jerusalem have already been annexed) and establishing the separation wall as the official Israeli border.

"Violent insurgency" by Ghali Hassan

The 2003 U.S. aggression against Iraq has taken Western "progressive" élites, particularly those on the Left by surprise, not because of the violent and criminal nature of U.S.-orchestrated terror against the Iraqi people, but because of the instant rise of the Iraqi Resistance against the unprovoked military and economic against Iraq.

While meddling in the affairs of other distant peoples has been a conspicuous feature of the "progressive" élites, their interference in the affairs of the Iraqi people is disturbing and contributing to the suffering of the Iraqi people.

Iraq war costs could top $2 trillion by Tom Regan

A new study by Columbia University economist Joseph E. Stiglitz, who won the Nobel Prize in economics in 2001, and Harvard lecturer Linda Bilmes concludes that the total costs of the Iraq war could top the $2 trillion mark. Reuters reports this total, which is far above the US administration's prewar projections, takes into account the long term healthcare costs for the 16,000 US soldiers injured in Iraq so far.

Target Iran by Arnaud de Borchgrave

If anyone has any doubt about the kind of nuclear work Iran has been doing for the past 18 years, it must be a case of naivete compounded by gullibility.

Nor should there be any uncertainty about what Iran's mullahocracy would do with a nuclear weapon. All of Iran's leaders since the Ayatollah Rohollah Khomeini replaced the shah in February 1979 have made it clear the objective is Israel's destruction.

Pragmatism, not Chavez, to dictate Peru politics by Sam Logan and Julio Cirino

Peruvian polls revealed on 21 December that retired Lieutenant Colonel and Peruvian presidential candidate Ollanta Humala has over 20 per cent of support among Peruvian voters. As a presidential candidate and leader of an alliance between two Peruvian political parties - Unity for Peru (UPP) and the Peruvian Nationalist Party (PNP) - Humala has surged to his new heights from a lowly five percent voter approval rating from August to December last year.

Bush announces radical shift in foreign policy; No U.S. media report it by David Sirota

"The Bush administration says it wants to be able to form 'coalitions of the willing' more efficiently for dealing with future conflicts rather than turning to existing but unreliable institutional alliances such as Nato. 'We ad hoc our way through coalitions of the willing. That's the future,' a senior State Department official said in a briefing this week."

U.S. leaders and the 'New World Order' by Don Snyder

Gene Lyons starts by saying, "Self-styled conservative Republicans dominate the White House and both houses of Congress." The fact is both the executive department and Senate are controlled by the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), not by either major political party. Vice President Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice are CFR. Cheney was even the director of the CFR. President Bush adheres to the CFR policies. Even our state Sen. Feinstein is CFR. The House members are still within reach. The problem there is most are illiterate because their actions indicate they have never read the U.S. Constitution. Napa's Congressman Mike Thompson continues to put his stamp-of-approval on unconstitutional legislation. His record, though, has improved lately.

Chavez Influence Growing by Christopher Bollyn

The economic reforms and nationalist policies being advanced by Hugo Chavez, the populist president of Venezuela, are liberating Latin American nations from the suffocating grip of the international financial oligarchy.

The wide-ranging reforms promoted by Chavez are being financed by the immense oil wealth of Venezuela, the world’s fifth-largest exporter of oil. The year 2006 brought increased state control of Venezuela’s oil production.

Options running out after Iran snub by Jephraim P Gundzik

Seemingly oblivious to increasing the chances of potentially fateful confrontation, Iran this week abruptly informed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that it would resume nuclear-fuel research next week, and as a follow-up, failed to show up for a scheduled meeting with the UN watchdog to explain what it intended doing.

"'Iraq'' Election Aftermath Reveals a Failed State"' by Dr Michael A. Weinstein

During the weeks following the December 15, 2005 elections in Iraq for a four-year parliament, the political future of that country became increasingly clouded. Confirming pre-election projections of PINR analysts Erich Marquardt and Adam Wolfe, preliminary results from the polls registered a sectarian division of the vote with the Shi'a-dominated United Iraqi Alliance taking the largest share, the Kurdish coalition holding on to its base, and the Sunni Arab Tawafaq Front and the secular Iraqi National List trailing. [See: "What to Expect in Iraq After the December 15 Elections"]

Options running out after Iran snub by Jephraim P Gundzik

Seemingly oblivious to increasing the chances of potentially fateful confrontation, Iran this week abruptly informed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that it would resume nuclear-fuel research next week, and as a follow-up, failed to show up for a scheduled meeting with the UN watchdog to explain what it intended doing.

The Quiet Death Of Freedom by John Pilger

On Christmas Eve, I dropped in on Brian Haw, whose hunched, pacing figure was just visible through the freezing fog. For four and a half years, Brian has camped in Parliament Square with a graphic display of photographs that show the terror and suffering imposed on Iraqi children by British policies. The effectiveness of his action was demonstrated last April when the Blair government banned any expression of opposition within a kilometre of Parliament. The High Court subsequently ruled that, because his presence preceded the ban, Brian was an exception.

What Hillary Clinton Doesn't Know About Palestine by Kathleen and Bill Christison

If you're Jewish in Israel or Palestine, or an ambitious whistle-stopping American politician, it is easy not to see the wall. To see it figuratively, you have to be open-minded, a rare quality where seeing Palestinians is involved. To see the huge concrete structure literally, you have to be in Palestinian areas, in East Jerusalem or deeper in the West Bank, so not many Israelis or their political visitors see where the wall cuts a village off from its land, or runs down the middle of a busy commercial street, or cuts directly across a street, or winds through a residential neighborhood, looming right outside the front door of a private home.

Nuclear War against Iran by Michel Chossudovsky

The launching of an outright war using nuclear warheads against Iran is now in the final planning stages.

Coalition partners, which include the US, Israel and Turkey are in "an advanced stage of readiness".

Various military exercises have been conducted, starting in early 2005. In turn, the Iranian Armed Forces have also conducted large scale military maneuvers in the Persian Gulf in December in anticipation of a US sponsored attack.

Since early 2005, there has been intense shuttle diplomacy between Washington, Tel Aviv, Ankara and NATO headquarters in Brussels.

Time to Talk to Tehran by Patrick J. Buchanan

Does President Bush intend a preventive war, early this year, to effect the nuclear castration of Iran? Or are we rattling sabers?

What makes the question urgent are German reports that CIA Director Porter Goss has been in Ankara, Turkey, negotiating for U.S. use of bases for air strikes on Iran's nuclear sites. Over the weekend, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said time is running out on diplomacy to deal with the Iranian nuclear threat.

The Decline of the American Empire by Gabriel Kolko

The dilemma the US has had for a half-century is that the priorities it must impose on its budget and its imperial plans have never guided its actual behavior and action. It has always believed, as well it should, that Europe and its control would determine the future of world power. But it has fought in Korea, Vietnam, and now Iraq – the so-called "Third World" in general – where the stakes of power were much smaller.

German media: U.S. prepares Iran strike by MARTIN WALKER

The Bush administration is preparing its NATO allies for a possible military strike against suspected nuclear sites in Iran in the New Year, according to German media reports, reinforcing similar earlier suggestions in the Turkish media.

The Berlin daily Der Tagesspiegel this week quoted "NATO intelligence sources" who claimed that the NATO allies had been informed that the United States is currently investigating all possibilities of bringing the mullah-led regime into line, including military options. This "all options are open" line has been President George W Bush's publicly stated policy throughout the past 18 months.

The New Iraq War Strategy: More Bombings, More Civilian Deaths, Less Likelihood of Success by Michael Schwartz

Seymour Hersh’s latest article in the New Yorker is over a month old by now, and therefore would seem a little like old news. But, like so much of his reporting, Hersh’s article contains at least a few nuggets that ripen with time and take on more importance as events play out in Iraq. Two of his key points – one central to the article, the other almost an afterthought – are of particular importance, and worth reviewing as the Iraqis endure yet another chapter in the American effort to crush the resistance.

Israel's Corruption was Inevitable by JAMES BROOKS

We are nearing the end of the fourth decade of Israel's chronic war of occupation of Palestinian lands. The web of corruption spun by this festering wound has had plenty of time to reach into the deepest nooks and crannies of both Palestinian and Israeli societies.

America's decisive support of Israel's war, including more than 100 billion dollars and dozens of UN vetoes, has ensnared us in the same web. To sustain the unending flow of money and materiel, American politics has had to yield to the ways of the war: lies, denial, and intimidation.

American trials and errors in Iraq by Linda S. Heard

The expedited trials of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and his top aides are likely to be a political sham judging by the way the interim Iraqi government and its American master have broken rules, ignored Geneva Conventions and prejudged the trials' outcomes.

Indeed, why do they bother with tribunals at all when Iraq's Defence Minister Hazim Sha'alan has already announced the execution of Saddam for killing his own people, and George W. Bush indicated during a press conference following the dictator's capture that he deserves the death penalty?

Is Washington Planning a Military Strike?

Recent reports in the German media suggest that the United States may be preparing its allies for an imminent military strike against facilities that are part of Iran's suspected clandestine nuclear weapons program, the "Spiegel Online", operated by the influential German weekly Der Spiegel, reported on Saturday 31 December 2005.