Eric Walberg
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SCO vs Bilderberg: Where are the real decisions being made? By Eric Walberg
As the Western elite gathered in picturesque St Moritz to grapple with pressing world crises, the outsiders met in the bleak steppes of Central Asia, writes Eric Walberg Continue reading
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Russian politics: Nostalgia or a new political direction? By Eric Walberg
As Russia gears up for its election season this winter, Putin’s Popular Front and Rogozin’s nationalist front are playing an old Soviet melody and even borrowing a tune from revolutionaries in Cairo. Eric Walberg recognises the refrain Continue reading
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BDS update: ‘I went because I needed to go’ By Eric Walberg
International boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) activities got a boost at the founding conference of the Palestinian Trade Union Coalition for BDS in Ramallah on 30 April. It called on trade unions around the world to sever all links with the Israel labour federation Histadrut. Continue reading
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Obit: Osama bin Laden (1957–2011) By Eric Walberg
A devout Wahhabi, bin Laden rose to fame quickly following the occupation of Afghanistan by Soviet troops in 1979, when US president Jimmy Carter authorised massive funding of mujahideen in Afghanistan and Pakistan and president Ronald Reagan launched his war against the “evil empire”, the ailing Soviet Union, in 1981. Continue reading
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Egypt/Serbia/Georgia: Learning from others’ mistakes By Eric Walberg
There is a Russian proverb: only a fool learns from his own mistakes. As Georgia’s foreign minister visits his Egyptian counterpart, there are lessons for Egypt in similar revolutions in eastern Europe and the ex-Soviet Union, notes Eric Walberg Continue reading
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Egypt/Turkey-Israel: ‘A clean break’ By Eric Walberg
While Egypt’s revolution was very much about domestic matters — bread and butter, corruption, repression — its most immediate effects have been international. Not for a long time has Egypt loomed so large in the region, to both friend and foe. At least 13 of the 22 Arab League countries are now affected: Algeria, Bahrain,… Continue reading
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US-Egypt: Cookie-cutter cuisine By Eric Walberg
Even without a “cookie-cutter” it is clear in Cairo that the Landlers and Indyks advising Washington on its policies towards Arab countries are following a well-defined recipe not concerned with Arab democracy, but Israel’s best interests, even as the policy zigs one way and zags another. Continue reading
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BDS 2010: More powerful than the sword By Eric Walberg
It was two years ago today, 27 December, that Israel launched its invasion of Gaza, carrying out 22 days of murder and mayhem, killing 1400 and leaving 5400 civilians crippled for life. Since then it has continued to besiege the 1.5 million Gazans, causing hundreds more unnecessary deaths. Its actions were deemed war crimes by… Continue reading
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Wikileaks arrest: Julian Quixote By Eric Walberg
An epic drama is unfolding after the Wikileaks founder gave himself up to Scotland Yard, but will Assange suffer the fate of Ellsberg or Pollard, asks Eric Walberg Continue reading
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Russia and NATO: ‘Not a piece of furniture’ By Eric Walberg
Medvedev’s presence in Lisbon was more a show of Russia’s importance than of subservience to the Euro-Atlantic alliance, says Eric Walberg Continue reading
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Obama/Donilon: Staring down the generals By Eric Walberg
In the past 10 days, 150 NATO-bound oil tankers were torched in Pakistan, mostly by Taliban but some apparently by their own drivers, who siphoned and sold the fuel and then destroyed the evidence of their theft. Win-win for locals, none of whom are naive enough to believe killing more of their brothers is a… Continue reading
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Israel in America: Obama’s dance of death By Eric Walberg
The writing is on the wall: Obama is a one-term president. That is if he is even allowed to finish his first term. Obama was never popular in Israel. When he tried to add Israeli critic Chas Freeman to his team as chair of the National Intelligence Council in 2009 AIPAC blew a fuse. Now… Continue reading
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Turkey and Russia: Cleaning up the mess in the Middle East By Eric Walberg
The neocon plan to transform the Middle East and Central Asia into a pliant client of the US empire and its only-democracy-in-the-Middle-East is now facing a very different playing field. Not only are the wars against the Palestinians, Afghans and Iraqis floundering, but they have set in motion unforeseen moves by all the regional players. Continue reading
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BDS: Boycotting Apartheid By Eric Walberg
In July, in Rachel Corrie’s hometown of Olympia, Washington state, the popular Food Co-op announced that no Israeli products would be sold at its two grocery stores. Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a principal endorser of this new Israel Divestment Campaign, issued a statement endorsing the boycott. “The Olympia Food Co-op has joined a growing worldwide movement… Continue reading
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US endgame in Afghanistan: The evil of three lessers By Eric Walberg
Obama is looking more and more like a White House caretaker, a prisoner of the Pentagon, if in fact he ever had any policy freedom in the first place. Hillary famously cracked “Whatever Stanley [McChrystal] wants, give it to him.” Now, with the unceremonious dumping of McChrystal, Dave will most certainly get what he wants,… Continue reading
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China-US: Wisdom not gunboats By Eric Walberg
“From a historical perspective, the US has continuously found enemies and waged wars. Without enemies the US cannot hold the will of the whole nation,” concluded Chinese Air Force Colonel Dai Xu, after perusing the 2010 US defense report. He points to the attempt to turn the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) into an… Continue reading
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Russia, Afghanistan and Starwars: Westward Hu By Eric Walberg
The Atlantists are on the ascendant these days in Moscow. Russian President Dmitri Medvedev’s hamburger lunch with United States President Barack Obama during his visit to Silicon Valley last month apparently left a pleasant taste in his mouth. Now relations with NATO are on the mend, as Russia plans to send 27 Mi-17 helicopters to… Continue reading
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Russia, Turkey and the Great Game: Changing teams By Eric Walberg
For all intents and purposes, Turkey has given up on the European Union, recognising it as a bastion of Islamophobia and captive to US diktat. As Switzerland bans minarets and France moves to outlaw the niqab, the popular Islamist government in Istanbul moves in the opposite direction — supporting the freedom to wear headscarfs, boldly… Continue reading
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Reagan’s ghost: Starwars stops START By Eric Walberg
Russian confidence that US President Barack Obama might represent a fundamental change in the direction of US foreign policy is fast eroding. Even pro-Western analyst Dmitri Trenin, director of the Carnegie Moscow Centre reflects, “The people who see Russia as a problem are still at the Pentagon,” and he predicts that even if Obama lasts… Continue reading
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Canada’s Guantanamo By Eric Walberg
A scandal erupted last week in sleepy Ottawa with the revelations of Canada’s chief diplomat in Kandahar in 2006-07, Richard Colvin, who told a House of Commons committee on Afghanistan that Afghans arrested by Canadian military and handed over to Afghan authorities were knowingly tortured. His and others’ attempts to raise the alarm had been… Continue reading
The New Dark Age 