Political News »
Political news.
Obama contemplates Executive Order for detention without charges
When Obama first unveiled his “preventive detention” policy, many defenders praised him (and claimed he was different than Bush) because of his vow that — as he put it — “my Administration will work
Read More »Agents say DEA is forcing them illegally to work in Afghanistan
As the Obama administration ramps up the Drug Enforcement Administration’s presence in Afghanistan, some special-agent pilots contend that they’re being illegally forced to go to a combat zone, while others who’ve volunteered say they’re
Read More »Iran Police Crack Down As Thousands Protest
His backers were demonstrating over the re-election of hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who won by a landslide despite opposition claims the result was rigged. The protesters defied a call from the country’s supreme leader
Read More »Iranians Use Internet, Phones to Share Protest News
With independent media coverage of Iranian protests restricted by authorities, witnesses are reaching out online and by telephone to report what they see on the streets of Tehran. Opposition Web sites said protesters had
Read More »Why Obama’s CIO Wants to Put All Gov’t Info Online
The Obama administration’s most radical idea may also be its geekiest: Make nearly every hidden government spreadsheet and buried statistic available online, all in one place. For anyone to see. Are you searching for
Read More »All in a day’s work for the Israeli army: beating and torturing children
Jonathan Cook reports on how Israeli soldiers routinely, and as a matter of policy, practise torture against Palestinian children, hundreds of whom are “convicted in Israel’s military courts each year, with children older than
Read More »Al Qaeda leader arrested over Sunni MP’s killing
Iraqi police arrested a top Al-Qaeda operative on Wednesday over the killing of a senior Sunni Muslim MP and human rights advocate who was shot dead in a Baghdad mosque last week. The
Read More »Craig Murry on Iran
For me, any sensible discussion of Iran must accept a number of facts. I will set these out as Set A and Set B. Both sets are true. But ideologues of the right routinely
Read More »EU “disturbed” by Iraq executions, calls for freeze
The European Union protested against reported executions in Iraq on Monday and called on Baghdad to resume a moratorium on the death penalty. “The European Union is deeply disturbed at reports that in recent
Read More »Iran Restricts Foreign Media
Cell Phone Network Shut Down, Websites Blocked in Effort to Control Information Coming Out of Tehran As Friday’s election gave way to a weekend of riots in the capital city of Tehran and accusations
Read More »MEP Nick Griffin – An audience with a racist
Nick Griffin: MEP elect, BNP mouthpiece, convicted Holocaust-denier and would-be deporter of black people invites me into the back seat of his car. He jokes that there is no egg on his jacket as
Read More »Racist rants of elected BNP man, Andrew Brons, revealed
One of the British National party’s first MEPs’ attempts to play down his past links to the extreme right as “silly” teenage posturing are today exposed as a sham after it emerged that for
Read More »Iran polls prompt vote rigging allegations
Iran went to the polls today in presidential elections, with incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad seeking a second four-year term. Four candidates were contesting the election, although much power rests with the unelected Supreme Leader Ayatollah
Read More »Iran election may decide war or peace for Middle East
More than 42 million Iranians are eligible to vote Friday in the presidential election, and long lines were reported around the country’s polling places. Voting has already been extended at least two hours because
Read More »Spying Teachers – MI5 Wants Recruits
Now pay attention school teachers: your country needs you. The British Security Service MI5 is seeking to recruit teachers to serve as intelligence officers in the fight against terrorism, espionage and the proliferation of
Read More »The Ugly Side of Globalization: Slavery
The offer came to families on the edge of desperation, living and working around the clock on garbage dumps whose sickening stench seeps into their clothes. A motherly woman accompanied by a kindly gentleman
Read More »US cybersecurity plan poses new war threats
By Tom Eley | President Barack Obama announced on Friday the creation of a new “cyber czar” position. The Cybersecurity Coordinator, who is yet to be named, would oversee billions of dollars in funding
Read More »High court rejects claims against Ashcroft
By Joan Biskupic | WASHINGTON — A closely divided Supreme Court on Monday threw out a Pakistani man’s civil rights claim against former attorney general John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller for abusive
Read More »On British “success” in Iraq
By David Morrison | “Tony Blair, I’m afraid, would never accept that our foreign policy actually had any impact on radicalization. …That’s clearly rubbish.” (Lord West) Lieutenant-General John Cooper used to occupy a small
Read More »The Politics of Excusing Torture In The Name of National Security
Allow me to share some analysis about the way things work in Washington. President Obama’s flip-flop on his agreement to turn over photographs of detainees being tortured by American soldiers is a message with
Read More »British Government claims it wants to extend Freedom of Information Act
By Warwick Ashford | The UK’s Freedom of Information Act is to be extended beyond public sector bodies, it emerged at a conference hosted by the Information Commissioner’s Office in London yesterday. The government
Read More »How U.S. Officials Circumvented the Bill of Rights
By Jacob G. Hornberger | In another embrace of President Bush’s war-on-terrorism policies, President Obama has announced that he might retain the Pentagon’s military-commission system to try people accused of terrorism. Apparently, the president, like
Read More »Senate Hears Testimony On Torture Policy
A key Senate subcommittee is set to hear testimony today on the torture policies of the Bush administration. The hearing, to be held by the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight and the
Read More »How Americans Came to Support Torture, in Five Steps
By Roy Eidelson | In recent weeks, new revelations about the harsh interrogation and torture of detainees during the Bush administration years have made headlines and stirred controversy. The positions of prominent advocates and
Read More »British Labour’s divisive Equality Bill
The government’s Equality Bill has been condemned as “socialism in one clause” by Britain’s right wing and a “landmark” in overcoming inequalities by the liberal media and the trade unions. It is neither. Far
Read More »
