Friday, February 25, 2011

WHY DID OBAMA VETO UN RESOLUTION CALLING ISRAELI SETTLEMENTS ON PALESTINIAN LANDS "ILLEGAL"?

What was Obama thinking when he ordered Susan Rice U.S. ambassador to the United Nations to veto a security council resolution calling Israeli settlements on Palestinian land in occupied East Jerusalem "illegal"?

It is beyond doubt that under international law, land taken by a state in a military conflict must be returned to the vanquished. Israel seized this land from Palestinians in the 1967 War.

Erecting Israeli settlements upon this land violates international law and is "illegal."

Saturday, February 19, 2011

WHY OBAMA DISAPPOINTS AS PRESIDENT

Obama disappoints: his waffling on the anti-democratic moves by King Khalifa of Bahrain against peaceful protesters; his veto of UN resolution calling Israeli settlements in occupied territories "illegal;" and his adoption of "secure our borders," code for "we don't want any more brown-skinned Mexicans who speak a foreign language."

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

WE NEED U.S. POLICY THAT SIDES WITH DEMOCRATIC PROTESTERS IN EGYPT

As the NYT article by Helene Cooper and David E. Sanger describes, the ruling party of Egypt headed by Dictator Mubarak refuses to give up power, refuses to end the "state of emergency" that denies freedom of speech, freedom of dissent and other basic civil rights, refuses to hold free and fair elections. Why can't Obama unequivocally side with the pro-democracy demonstrators?