As The World Squirms - Hotpolitics.com

Sunday, May 03, 2009

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Scott Horton Interviews Eric Margolis

“Washington is addicted to Imperialism.”

April 28th, 2009

Eric Margolis, author of American Raj: Liberation or Domination, discusses:

· the causes of instability in Pakistan,

· the unrealistic expectations the U.S. places on its puppet governments,

· the Taliban’s inability to fill the Pakistan power vacuum and

· why the U.S. can’t resist the lure of imperialism.

MP3 here. (23:59)

Eric Margolis is a regular columnist with the Quebecor Media Company and a contributor to The Huffington Post. He is the author of War at the Top of the World: The Struggle for Afghanistan, Kashmir and Tibet.

Specter: Reagan's GOP is gone

On Sunday talk shows, he says the 'big tent' party of Reagan and the late Jack Kemp has been replaced by a rigid conservatism.

Tortured Posturing on Harsh Interrogation Techniques

Ivan Eland

The Independent Institute

April 20, 2009

(Excerpt)

CIA officials who engaged in torture should be prosecuted. After World War II, the United States didn’t allow lower level Nazis and Japanese to avoid prosecution for war crimes by using the “just following orders” defense. Why should CIA officers be any different? They knew these acts were illegal under U.S. law and international conventions when they perpetrated them.

But torture during the Bush administration was worse than that committed during the Spanish-American and Vietnam Wars for one reason: the authorization came from on high. So the nation needs to know how far up the line the order was given to perpetrate the war crimes. Baltasar Garzon, the assertive investigating judge in Spain who ordered the arrest of former Chilean strongman Augusto Pinochet, is apparently deciding whether to bring charges against six high Bush administration officials for authorizing torture, including:

· David Addington, then-Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff,

· Alberto Gonzalez, Bush’s Attorney General,

· John Yoo, a Justice Department lawyer who wrote the memos justifying torture, and

· Douglas Feith, Bush’s undersecretary of defense for policy.

Curiously, Spain could claim jurisdiction for the prosecution because it is a signatory to the United Nations Convention Against Torture, and some former Guantanamo prisoners claiming that they were tortured are Spanish citizens or residents. (More…)

Spanish court opens investigation of Guantánamo torture allegations

Allegations include 'sexual abuse' and 'beating'

Waterboarding, Interrogations: The CIA's $1,000 a Day Specialists

Cuba Says US Has No “Moral Authority” to Speak About Terror

· US farmers, ranchers push for greater Cuba access

Iraq bloodshed rises as US allies defect

Obama’s withdrawal pledge is at risk as militias paid by the US begin to rejoin the insurgency

The Sunday Times - London, UK - May 3, 2009

British combat operations in Iraq to end today after 6-year war

French magazine reports Israel preparing airstrike on Iran

'Israeli Defense Forces staged drills over Gibraltar, in preparation for Iran strike'

Is Netanyahu bringing Israel closer to a 'second Holocaust'?