There can be no military resolution to the war in Afghanistan, only a political one. Writing that sentence almost makes me faint with boredom. As US President Barack Obama ponders what to do about the war, who wants to repeat a point that's been made thousands of times? Is there anyone on earth who does not know that a guerilla war cannot be won without winning the "hearts and minds" of the people?|Full Story
The death of the Independence Intifada of 2005 has been prematurely announced many times. However, today we have in front of us a genuine corpse, the end of the fleeting aspiration four years ago, at least in its more restricted form, of establishing a system emancipated from Syria. The Syrians, who left Lebanon through the window after.|Full Story
Common logic demands that negotiations between two bitter rivals should be handled by a strong and influential mediator, one who controls the means to force the parties into reconciliation. In the case of the Fatah-Hamas rivalry, now almost two-and-a-half-years-old, Egypt is perceived as such a mediator. It holds the keys to the only outlet to the world of 1.5 million Gazans.|Full Story
Of all the arguments against voluntary euthanasia, the most influential is the "slippery slope": Once we allow doctors to kill patients, we will not be able to limit the killing to those who want to die. There is no evidence for this claim, even after many years of legal physician-assisted suicide or voluntary euthanasia in The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, and the American state of Oregon.|Full Story
The atmosphere in Cairo this week tells us much about the contemporary Arab world's view of the Pa lestine cause in relation to domestic issues in every Arab country. Ordinary Arabs and their governments alike seem fed up with the incompetence of the Palestinian leadership, while remaining strongly committed emotionally to the justice and rights of the Palestinian cause.|Full Story
A question one hears frequently among Palestinians these days is why Hamas Movement, a group some view with suspicion and others with sympathy, has become nearly invisible in the West Bank. Certainly Hamas has suffered a series of security blows in the last few years. Israel arrested roughly a thousand Hamas members.|Full Story
Media organizations in wealthy countries regularly send forth reporters to find "victims of global warming." In dispatches from the Pacific Islands, Bangladesh, or Ethiopia, journalists warn of impending calamity. Global warming is the most horrific challenge facing these regions, we are told. Its resolution is vital. But seldom do we hear from the local people who are said to be in danger.|Full Story
