Paul R. Pillar – Trump’s Chaotic Management Style

The fiasco of President Trump’s executive order involving travel bans from selected Muslim-majority countries has consumed public attention for several days, although it was only one of several actions that have constituted the most disorganized and strife-laden opening ten days of any U.S. administration in memory. This order deserves the vigorous criticism it has received on several grounds, but it …

MIKE WHITNEY – Double Standards: Where Were the Liberal Protestors During Obama’s Wars?

The election of Donald Trump has sent millions of people pouring out onto the streets to protest a man  they think is a racist, misogynist, xenophobic bully who will destroy US democracy in his quest to establish himself as supreme fascist ruler of the country. Maybe they’re right. Maybe Trump is a fascist who will destroy America. But where were these people when Obama was bombing …

Amelia Gentleman – ‘He was very scared’: the death of a teenage stowaway

The death of Raheemullah Oryakhel, a 14-year-boy from Afghanistan, was marked last month with just a couple of paragraphs in the French press, under the headline “One migrant dead on the port ring road”. There was nothing much to excite further interest; the boy was the 12th refugee to die inCalais this year. The news item added that Raheemullah’s body …

Leid Stories – Benjamin Netanyahu Trolls Africa for Big-Money Deals and Old ‘Friendships’; Obama, Biden Hit the Road (at Taxpayer Expense) for Hillary – 07.05.16

Starting with Uganda—where, 40 years ago, his older brother Yonatan was killed in an Israeli Defense Forces-led commando raid on the airport at Entebbe to free hostages being held by pro-Palestinian hijackers–Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday began a foray into East Africa that also will include scheduled trips to Kenya, Rwanda and Ethiopia and include summit meetings with leaders from South Sudan, Tanzania and Zambia.

Netanyahu said that his trip to the region, the first in 30 years by an Israeli prime minister, is meant to indicate a renewed interest in forging bilateral economic and strategic ties with old friends. But new fears and suspicions abound in the African world about Israel’s ramped-up foreign-policy push on the continent. Abayomi Azikiwe, editor in chief of Pan-African Newswire, discusses Netanyahu’s historic visit to East Africa.

Both President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden are hitting the road this week as pitchmen for Hillary Clinton. Obama makes his debut today at a rally in Charlotte, N.C.; Biden goes a-stumping Friday in Scranton, Pa., his hometown.

Leid Stories explains says that it isn’t so much a testament of Clinton’s clout and firepower that the Top Two are campaigning for her, but yet another indication of her political vulnerability as a distrusted candidate who will be the party’s nominee later this month.

A Just Cause – Spotlight on Capitol Hill & Congressman Hank Johnson – 12.20.15

The host Cliff Stewart, Lisa Stewart and Lamont Banks talks to Our Special Guest Congressman Hank Johnson, who is in his fifth term in the U.S. House of Representatives from Georgia’s Fourth Congressional District in the eastern suburbs of Atlanta, Congressman Hank Johnson has distinguished himself as a substantive, effective lawmaker and a leading national progressive voice.

Antony Loewenstein – South Sudanese simply want an end to civil war

A woman in a black and white dress stood with a huge pot on her head. She had walked for days, with her two young children also carrying goods, to reach the camp for internally displaced persons in Bentiu, South Sudan. They were all exhausted by the time they registered with the International Organisation for Migration at the facility that …

Israel exonerates its armed forces of war crimes By Jean Shaoul

Israel’s own investigation into last year’s murderous assault on Gaza has predictably concluded that the Israel Defence Force (IDF) had not broken Israeli or international law. No criminal charges or disciplinary action will be taken against those who led air strikes targeting civilians that attracted worldwide condemnation. The 250-page report published by Israel’s Foreign Ministry argues that Israel’s hands were …