Archives for March 2009

Guerrillas in the northern city of Mosul on Tuesday subjected a US military base to a barrage of mortar fire, killing a US soldier. The guerrillas successfully targeted a mililtary counter-insurgency office intended to deal with the guerrillas. That move shows that they have infiltrated the base and have someone on the inside telling them […]

Shorter AFP: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will try to tell Binyamin Netanyahu, the far rightwing prospective prime minister of Israel, that he should allow the rebuilding of Gaza and start up a peace process that leads to a Palestinian State. Netanyahu ask her to let him bomb Iran and go on colonizing the West […]

Anand Gopal reports for CSM that many Afghans, especially in the Pushtun south, oppose President Obama’s plan to send more US troops to Afghanistan. Highlights: ‘ Parliamentarian Shukria Barakzai says she has an innovative amendment to Washington’s planned injection of up to 30,000 new troops here. “Send us 30,000 scholars instead. Or 30,000 engineers. But […]

My column is out in Salon.com, We’re really leaving Iraq: Some Iraq war critics are fretting about Obama’s speech on Friday, and his plan to stay a little longer. But here’s why there’s no reason for alarm. Excerpt: ‘In particular, Obama’s plan to leave 35,000 to 50,000 support troops in Iraq between August 31, 2010 […]

You wonder if the last front page article in the last newspaper will be about the demise of the newspaper? I especially regret the possibility that the San Francisco Chronicle might close, or become part of a single-owner print media monopoly in the Bay area. The Chronicle has been one of the papers I have […]