G8 Summit-News Analysis-05-26-2011-(Part2)

by David Elkins, Antiwar.com, 27 May 2011

U.S. lawmakers have introduced a new package of unilateral sanctions targeting Iran that would challenge U.S. President Obama’s discretionary authority to enforce such sanctions and would impose comprehensive restrictions on foreign entities that ship, refine or provide any other related services to Iran’s energy sector.

Both versions of the bills in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, which have bipartisan support, would effectively translate into a de-facto international embargo on all of Iran’s oil, petroleum and natural gas exports, according to analysts here.

Click here to continue reading “New Iran Sanctions Could Push Petrol Prices Even Higher” by David Elkins.

BY RASHID KHALIDI

The old Arabic proverb has it that the dogs bark but the caravan goes on. President Obama’s comments about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in his speeches last week at the State Department and then at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) produced a great deal of sound and fury in Washington. However, the sense I had being in Beirut and the Gulf when they were delivered was that they meant much less to Arabs than they did in Washington or in Israel. There is little sense in the Arab world or among Palestinians that the United States has a constructive role to play in resolving this conflict. Indeed, if anything, it has only succeeded in making itself even more of a roadblock to progress than it was before.

Click here to continue reading “How Obama enables Israel’s worst impulses” by Rashid Khalidi.

Comment: Netanyahu’s flagellation of Obama makes sense if Billy Kristol et. al have promised unconditional, feverish support for the annihilation of Palestinian(s)tatehood in the near future.

By Dana Frank, The Progressive, 27 May 2011

The return of deposed President Manuel Zelaya to Honduras doesn’t mean democracy, civil liberties and the basic rule of law are returning to that country any time soon. Far from it.

The very same oligarchs who launched the coup remain in power, and in the past two months the government’s repression has accelerated. That’s why more than 70 members of Congress are calling for a suspension of U.S. military and police aid to Honduras.

Click here to continue reading “Ousted president’s return to Honduras doesn’t mean repression is over” by Dana Frank.

Liveblogging the Vote on Eternal Worldwide War
David Swanson
26 May 2011

On Thursday, the U.S. House of Representatives backed eternal worldwide war and imprisonment powers for all future presidents, but blocked any ground troops in Libya (except for the ones already there, since the measure included no consequences for its violation).  The House also unanimously created a new national holiday to celebrate the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars.  It defunded the US Institute for Peace (saving the cost of 5 hours in Afghanistan).  And it required that all suspected foreign terrorists be tried by the military and not in courts (unless bullets are put in their heads first).

All in a good day’s work.

Here’s the play-by-play:

Click here to continue reading “U.S. House Backs Forever War: Liveblogging the Vote on Eternal Worldwide War” by David Swanson.