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Today's Stories November 17, 2008 Michael Hudson November 14 / 16, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair Mike Whitney Sasan Fayazmanesh Moshe Adler Anthony DiMaggio Jean Bricmont Sheldon Rampton Douglas Valentine Joseph Nevins / Tom Barry Ron Jacobs Larry Portis Mary Lynn Cramer Obama's Brain Trust: Seems Like Old Times Sherry Wolf Peter Cervantes-Gautschi Jacob Hornberger Lance Selfa Benjamin Dangl Seth Sandronsky Russell Mokhiber Allan Stellar Kelly Overton Martha Rosenberg Richard Rhames David Yearsley Lorenzo Wolff Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend
November 13, 2008 Pam Martens Vijay Prashad Patrick Cockburn Jonathan Cook Ralph Nader Bill Quigley Lee Sustar Omar Barghouti Steve Conn Howard Lisnoff Jeff Cohen Website of the Day November 12, 2008 Johanna Berrigan Steve Conn Patrick Bond Bokar Ture / Alan Farago Dave Lindorff Karl Grossman David Macaray George Wuerthner Susie Day Website of the Day November 11, 2008 James G. Abourezk Allan J. Lichtman Eric Toussaint Ron Jacobs Peter Montague Corporate Crime Reporter Laura Carlsen Col. Dan Smith Morton Skorodin David Michael Green Charles R. Larson Website of the Day November 10, 2008 David Roediger Paul Craig Roberts Peter Lee Corey D. B. Walker Jeff Halper Bill Hatch Andy Worthington Bill Quigley Peter Morici Anthony Olszewski Kim Nicolini Cpt. Paul Watson Website of the Day November 7 / 9, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair Vijay Prashad Tariq Ali Jean Bricmont John V. Whitbeck Saul Landau Peter Morici Lawrence Velvel Karyn Strickler Nativo V. Lopez Christopher Fons Alan Farago David Yearsley Christopher Brauchli Samah Sabawi Dave Lindorff Deepak Tripathi Beth Sherouse Patrick Irelan Stephen Martin Richard Rhames J. Murray Lorenzo Wolff Kim Nicolini Poets' Basement Website of the Day
November 6, 2008 Frank J. Menetrez John Chuckman P. Sainath Joshua Frank Edna Canetti John Ross Norman Solomon Fawzia Afzal-Khan Robert Weissman Harvey Wasserman Website of the Day
November 5, 2008 Cockburn / St. Clair Chuck Spinney Ishmael Reed Chris Floyd Binoy Kampmark Michael Donnelly David Macaray Peter Morici Manuel Garcia, Jr. William Willers Website of the Day November 4, 2008 Kathleen Christison James Ridgeway Winslow T. Wheeler Mike Whitney Conn Hallinan Holly M. Barker Ashley Smith Andy Worthington Martha Rosenberg Stephen Martin Doug Lummis Carlos Fierro Website of the Day November 3, 2008 Patrick Cockburn John Kennedy O'Hara Peter Montague Steve Conn Andrew Gebhardt Ron Jacobs Ralph Nader Niranjan Ramakrishnan Uri Avnery Dave Lindorff Fred Gardner DC Larson David Michael Green Val Strange Tuli Kupferberg / Website of the Day
October 31 , 2008 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair Douglas Valentine Ismael Hossein-Zadeh Dr. Ignacy Nowopolski Alan Maass William P. O’Connor Patrick Irelan Brian Cloughley Mats Svensson Binoy Kampmark Steve Conn Alan Farago Morton Skorodin Robert Bryce Wajahat Ali David Yearsley Dennis Loo Pam Martens Stephen Martin Richard Rhames Ramzy Baroud Missy Beattie Howard Lisnoff Richard Neville Saul Landau / Kim Nicolini Lorenzo Wolff Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend October 30, 2008 Cockburn / St. Clair Vijay Prashad Paul Craig Roberts Glen Ford Stanley Heller William Loren Katz Joshua Frank James McEnteer Felice Pace Jonathan Cook Reza Fiyouzat Website of the Day
October 29, 2008 Arno J. Mayer Eric Toussaint Matt Gonzalez Steven Conn Jonathan Cook Patrick Bond Ramzi Kysia Douglas Valentine Stephen Martin Margaret Dooley-Sammuli Amee Chew Website of the Day
October 28, 2008 James G. Abourezk Andy Worthington Gary Leupp Paul Craig Roberts Mike Whitney Gregory V. Button Ralph Nader P. Sainath Martha Rosenberg Charles R. Larson Website of the Day October 27, 2008 Michael Hudson Barbara Rose Johnston John Dinges Mike Whitney Mary Lynn Cramer Greenspan's Higher Power Alan Farago David Michael Green Andy Worthington George Wuerthner Niranjan Ramakrishnan Website of the Day October 24 / 26, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Ishmael Reed Mike Whitney Don Santina Scott Boehm Saul Landau Ron Jacobs Binoy Kampmark Linn Washington Jr. Nicole Colson Bernard Chazelle Brian Jones Christopher Brauchli Benjamin Dangl Val Strange Steve Early David Macaray Allison Kilkenny Richard Rhames Jim Bell Kris De Welde Barry Clemson Adam Engel Mark Scaramella Tuli Kupferberg Lorenzo Wolff Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend October 23, 2008 Allan J. Lichtman Todd Chretien John Ross Peter Morici Mats Svensson Marlene Martin Robert Jensen / Margaret Kimberley Deepak Tripathi David Morris Website of the Day October 22, 2008 Brian Cloughley Heather Gray Jeff Birkenstein Ralph Nader DC Larson David Swanson Keeanga-Yamatta Taylor Race and the Election: When the "Real" America Enters the Voting Booth Larry Everest Robert Fantina Martha Rosenberg Stephen Martin Website of the Day October 21, 2008 Vijay Prashad Paul Craig Roberts Corey D. B. Walker Steve Breyman Eric Toussaint Wajahat Ali Robert Weitzel Brendan Cooney Dave Lindorff Marqueece Harris-Dawson / Bob Wing Patrick B. Barr Omar Barghouti Website of the Day October 20, 2008 Michael Hudson Anthony DiMaggio Tariq Ali Uri Avnery Bill Quigley Ben Rosenfeld David Michael Green William S. Lind Chris Genovali Stephen Martin Howard Lisnoff David Yearsley Website of the Day October 17 / 19, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair Pam Martens Paul Craig Roberts Mike Whtney Michael D. Yates Suzanne Smith Carl Boggs Ralph Nader Fidel Castro Dave Marsh Saul Landau Jo Guldi Kevin Zeese Larry Everest Steve Early David Macaray Ben Terrall Missy Beattie Don Monkerud Helen Redmond Dan Bacher Wajahat Ali Farzana Versey Vladimir Frolov Kim Nicolini Poets Basement Website of the Day
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November 17, 2008 The Blue and White Elephant in the Oval OfficeDual Loyalties Will Doom ObamaBy RANNIE AMIRI
History will record the 2008 U.S. presidential campaign to have been one in which American Arabs and Muslims were politically marginalized, ostracized and disparaged like no time before. Contrary to initial expectations, those bruised sensibilities are unlikely to find in President-elect Barack Obama the salve so desperately needed. The first hint of future disappointment came with the realization that although his background and upbringing inspired malicious rumors and innuendos, he did little if anything to rebuke their bigoted nature. After winning the presidency, the decision to employ the services of the Israel-firsters was a tell-tale sign the wounds will be left to fester. The whispering campaign against Obama was first started by Sen. Hillary Clinton and continued thereafter by a consortium of Republican operatives, all directly or indirectly impugning Obama was a closet Muslim—shamelessly using the term in the pejorative—and ergo, dangerous. In September, a shadowy ‘nonprofit’ organization called The Clarion Fund (subsequently discovered to be synonymous with the fundamentalist Israeli group Aish HaTorah or“Fire of the Torah”) distributed the anti-Muslim DVD “Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West” to 28 million households. It was a transparent attempt to bolster Sen. John McCain’s chances in battleground states using fear-mongering tactics. To help repair the damage, Mazen Asbahi, a Chicago corporate lawyer, was appointed as Muslim outreach coordinator. He was quickly forced to resign on flimsy links to extremist groups promulgated by right-wing bloggers and picked up by the Wall Street Journal. Just recently, Obama disowned his friend Dr. Rashid Khalidi, renowned, distinguished professor and Edward Said Chair of Arab Studies at Columbia University, after vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin labeled him an “extremist” and John McCain called him a “neo-Nazi.” Despite all this, American Muslims voted overwhelmingly for Obama. A poll of 600 Muslims in 10 states conducted by the American Muslim Task Force on Civil Rights and Elections revealed 95% of those polled voted—the highest percentage turnout ever recorded for a single group in a U.S. election. Of those, eight-nine percent voted for Obama, nearly matching the record 93% of African-Americans who did so. As the punching bag throughout the campaign season, American Arabs and Muslims relegated to pre-election “necessity” all that had occurred. It was said that the vice presidential selection of Sen. Joseph Biden, who once famously proclaimed “I am a Zionist,” was made only to placate the Israeli lobby when Hillary Clinton failed to garner the nomination. Once he finally became president though, Obama would remember his roots, his friends, and take a principled stand on civil liberties while ushering in a new era of American foreign policy. After Nov. 4, they were still found scratching their heads. Rahm Emanuel In his first executive appointment as president-elect, Obama chose Chicago congressmen Rahm Emanuel to be his chief of staff. In case there was any question as to who claimed him as one of their own, the headline in the Israeli paper Haaretz (6 Nov. 2008)said it all: Obama's first pick: Israeli Rahm Emanuel as chief of staff. The vulgar and boorish Rahm is son of Benjamin Emanuel, former arms smuggler to Irgun, a pre-Israel terrorist group which carried out numerous attacks on Palestinian civilians in addition to the 1946 bombing of Jerusalem’s King David Hotel. His statement to Ma’ariv above remains consistent with Zionism’s historically racist overtones. As many have since come to learn, Rahm Emanuel left the U.S. during the 1991 Gulf War for Israel. There he became a civilian volunteer responsible for servicing military vehicles near occupied southern Lebanon. As chronicled by Ali Abunimah in the Electronic Intifada, Emanuel has a track record on Israel well to the right of George Bush. This includes signing a 2003 letter justifying Israel’s policy of political assassinations and amazingly criticizing Bush for not supporting Israel enough. After throwing his weight behind a resolution backing the country’s vicious bombing of Lebanon in the summer of 2006, Rahm called on his own government to cancel a planned speech to Congress by Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki because he had condemned Israel’s actions. There are conflicting reports as to whether Emanuel is a dual American-Israeli citizen (Haaretz evidently thinks so). That, however, is far less important than Emanuel’s dual loyalty. As one of the most powerful positions in the executive branch of government, the chief of staff has the ability to control access to the Oval Office and play a key advisory role on policy matters. Emanuel has already demonstrated he places Israel’s interests on par or above that of the U.S., as he did in opposition to the proposed 2006 Dubai Ports deal, claiming it could harm Israel. Emanuel will not be the only one in an Obama administration exhibiting dual loyalties. Dennis Ross Another is likely to be Dennis Ross, former Middle East envoy and negotiator under President Clinton. Since then, he has been a fellow at the AIPAC-affiliated Washington Institute for Near East Policy and chairman of the Jerusalem-based think tank, the Jewish People Policy Planning Institute. It was Ross, acting as ostensible honest broker at the December 2000 Camp David Summit, who placed the blame for its failure on the Palestinians. He conveniently neglected to mention that Israel’s desired annexation of large swathes of the West Bank thereby slicing it into isolated cantons, and maintaining complete control over all of Jerusalem, including Muslim holy sites, were the deal breakers. Ross was also one of the authors of Obama’s fawning June speech to AIPAC in which Jerusalem (unsurprisingly) was once again promised to Israel. Many suspect Ross aspires to take charge of the Iran portfolio at the State Department under President Obama. Eric Holder Of less than stellar repute is Eric Holder, former deputy attorney general under President Clinton and current Obama legal advisor. His name is being floated as a candidate for attorney general. Holder was instrumental in orchestrating the pardon of Marc Rich in the waning hours of the Clinton presidency. Rich, indicated on charges of tax evasion and cutting oil deals with Iran during the hostage crisis, was once on the U.S. 10 Most Wanted list. He was also financier of several projects in Israel, which caused then Jerusalem mayor Ehud Olmert to remark, “Israel owes him.” It remains to be seen whether Holder’s role in the payback will preclude him from becoming attorney general. Hillary Clinton? Joe Lieberman? Based on the latest reports, it appears that Hillary Clinton has been offered the position of secretary of state. It also seems that Sen. Joseph Lieberman, at Obama’s behest, will be allowed to remain within the Democratic caucus and maintain his chairmanship of the Homeland Security Committee. Their reputation as hawks on Middle Eastern affairs needs little elaboration. Neither president nor country can be well served when those with dual loyalties are given positions of authority in the executive branch or cabinet. There were higher expectations for Obama, with many believing the new direction he pledged to take the nation and world would not be abandoned for political expediency. Alas, Arabs and Muslims under Obama’s spell have finally come to their senses. After excusing his behavior for far too long, bringing Biden, “Rhambo” and Hillary on board has confirmed their worst fears about the president-elect: ‘change’ will not be coming their way and Middle East policy will remain decidedly unbalanced. The audacity of hope, indeed. Rannie Amiri is an independent commentator on the Arab and Islamic worlds. He may be reached at: rbamiri <at> yahoo.com
New in the Print Edition of CounterPunch For his 20-year stretch as Fed chairman, they all fawned on him – presidents, Congress, the press. Only a handful of left economists said he was pushing the economy over the cliff. Now Greenspan admits it in a humiliating confession. As the world’s financial structure tumbles in ruins, guess what? “I found a flaw in the model… To the extent that I figure out where it happened and why, I will change my views.” Read Frederic Claremont’s savage assessment of the fool who has plunged millions into misery. Also in our new issue: Bill Hatch on the story of one foreclosure; Kristian Williams on police torture in Chicago. Only in CounterPunch newsletter! Get your copy today by subscribing online or calling 1-800-840-3683 Contributions to CounterPunch are tax-deductible. Click here to make a donation. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now! CounterPunch books and gear make great presents. Order CounterPunch By Email For Only $35 a Year !
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