The US administration’s double standards in dealing with the intensifying nuclear crisis in North Korea further strengthens the argument that President George W Bush’s colonial designs are either exasperated by the vulnerability of his foes or deterred by their lethal preparedness.

A young communist activist from Tel-Aviv and occupation refuser Omri Evron was sentenced Sunday, Oct 15, 2006, to 14 days in military prison after he announced his refusal to enlist for regular mandatory service in the IDF.

Well, so much for Iraqi "sovereignty." So much too for "staying the course" and for "fighting the terrorists there so we won't have to fight them here." And while we're at it, so much for all the young Americans who've tragically given their lives or their bodies and health in the interest of advancing President Bush's criminal political agenda.

The failed Qatari mediation in the still unresolved inter-Palestinian divide was in practice an American success in turning the Arab Peace Initiative (API) into a pressure tool that further exacerbates fractures both in Arab and Palestinian ranks, less than two weeks after the U.S. aborted a move by the Arab League to revive an overdue comprehensive approach to the Arab and Palestinian -Israeli conflict on its basis through the United Nations.

Just what we needed. The government is running hard in order to avoid the appointment of a authentic Judicial Investigative Committee, i.e., one with wide powers.  Our Prime Minister is busy preparing himself for investigations into his all "too-successful" real estate deals. His popularity rating hovers at a magnificent 7%.

Many Americans haven’t the foggiest idea about why their country is reviled and attacked by Muslim militants. They won’t get it from President Bush, either, who has floated the absurd canard al Qaeda attacked New York and Washington on 9/11 because it is envious of America’s "freedom."

For someone who has played Israeli ambassador to the Middle East since her tenure began, Condoleezza Rice's on again, off again call for the plight of the Palestinian people has become more predictable than orange alerts during election season.

This is mission, unlike other military missions abroad, should not take part in the conflict; it should only have an interposition role that doesn't question Lebanon's sovereignty and it shouldn't intend the disarm of Hezbollah.

Five years of the Bush administration have shown the failure of its war strategy. The plan for a “Greater Middle East”, the idea the neocons advanced to justify this military strategy, has provoked a vicious cycle of war and terrorism and has reinforced fundamentalist movements in the region.

In the early morning hours of 28 June 2006, following the abduction of Cpl. Gilad Shalit, the Israeli Air Force attacked the only electrical power plant operating in the Gaza Strip. Six missiles were fired at the power plant's six transformers.

Referring to the situation in the West Bank, UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) Commissioner General Karen Koning AbuZayd stressed that the “insidious effects” of the barrier which Israel is building, while less visible, “are as devastating as what is so plain to see in Gaza.”

The wide gap between U.S. President George W. Bush’s words and deeds vis-à-vis Islam and Muslims doomed to failure his speech at the United nations on September 19, which could neither appease Muslims nor pacify the ever growing Islamophobia.

No mistake, the Successor of Saint Peter, the Vicar of Christ on Earth, the Sovereign Pontiff, Pope Benedict XVI has erred and the damage is done: His anti-Islam remarks are out and cannot be retracted, like bullets that cannot be retrieved once shot.

In a statement to the press on Monday, President Abbas said that "an agreement has been reached with the Prime Minister Ismail Haniya regarding the political program of the coming national unity government."

Two Fox News journalists, Steve Cantani and Olas Wing were released by their Palestinian kidnappers in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, August 27.

In another year, New Orleans will still be a shadow of its former self -if it survives at all. More effort has been spent making excuses than has been done to restore one of America's great cities. There will be more empty words and in yet another year nothing will have changed. In the meantime, there is Southern Lebanon -already rebounding with help from an organization that Bush deems "terrorist".

According to an American source with high-level access to the US military, political and intelligence establishment, Western policymakers are in no doubt that the world faces the imminent convergence of multiple global crises.

The United Nations Secretary General has added his voice to growing concern over the devastating impact on civilians of cluster bombs used by Israel in its recent military offensive in Lebanon.

President Mahmoud Abbas announced on Wednesday that the Palestinian leadership is making tremendous efforts on all levels to finally resolve the Middle East crisis and propose the Palestinian cause once again before the United Nations Security Council in its next session.

After a month of criminal "shock and awe" bombings and a stalled ground war by Israel in Lebanon, U.S. President Bush and the Israeli government accepted what could be a temporary peace arrangement in the U.N. Security Council on August 11.