Helen Thomas was the longest serving member of the White House press corps. She had reported from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue for 57 years, going back to the presidency of Dwight Eisenhower. Sadly and after remarks made during a videotaped interview for a website called rabbilive.com., Ms Thomas announced she was retiring from Hearst Newspapers where she was a columnist. Read the rest of this entry »

In many parts of the world people were outraged by the raid of the Israelis on the humanitarian flotilla and there was some incomprehension by the tepid response to it of President Obama who last Thursday in a television interview when asked if it were premature to condemn Israel answered, “I think that we need to know what all of the facts are.” Read the rest of this entry »

This time, hopefully, the disproportionate violence of the Israeli government in international waters is not going to be easily forgotten. The death of the activists and the many nationalities involved is going to keep the act alive. And so it should be until a transparent and full independent investigation, not an Israeli one as suggested by the US, takes place. Read the rest of this entry »

We woke up today to the news of another earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6. It struck eastern Turkey in the pre-dawn hours killing at least 51 people. Read the rest of this entry »

The murder of a top Hamas official in Dubai, Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, could be a fantastic plot for a bestseller. Unfortunately, never mind what we think about Hamas, it was nevertheless the killing of a human being in cold blood. Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday the UN general assembly, for the 18th consecutive year, passed a non-binding resolution -with 187 votes in favor, three against and two abstentions- condemning the US economic embargo against Cuba. Only Israel and the Pacific Island of Palau sided with the US. Read the rest of this entry »

Remember the Artic Sea? The vessel with a full cargo of timber that disappeared en route from Finland to Algeria at the end of July was finally recovered off west Africa on August 17 and eight alleged hijackers were arrested. From the beginning there were all sort of rumors (see article “A ship is missing: pirates, terrorists? from August 13) while Russia denied the vessel was carrying a secret cargo claiming it was hijacked by criminals for a ransom. Read the rest of this entry »