It’s often called the ‘biggest democracy on earth’ and it is, sort of, but India remains one of the five worst countries in which to be a woman – right alongside Pakistan, Afghanistan, the Congo and Somalia. In India, a woman’s lot often leads to…
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The Disaffected Lib: "An Extraordinarily Dangerous Place" – Iraq on Eve of American Pullout
Washington’s Iraq Special Inspector General for Reconstruction, Stuart Bowen, has taken the measure of Iraq today and laments the deterioration of security in the country.”Iraq remains an extraordinarily dangerous place to work. It is less safe, in my …
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Our Libya Policy Is Just What Islamist Extremists Prayed For
The most important thing in the fight against Gaddafi was the one we ignored – getting the job done quickly.Time was very much of the essence in this one. In neighbouring Egypt, Mubarak had only recently been toppled but the face of the governmen…
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Obama – A Wall Street Democrat in Progressive Clothing
When we listened to his stirring speeches on the campaign trail, Barack Obama sounded genuinely progressive. Then he won the presidency and got down to business – Wall Street business.In a campaign almost as frenzied as the effort to …
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Robert Reich – Obama Falling Into Republican’s Economic Death Spiral
One of the few, coherent voices on America’s political-economic morass has been Robert Reich, the U.C. Berkley public policy professor who earlier served three White House administrations. Reich has argued that America’s disease has been mi…
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Could the Tea Party Be America’s Salvation?
No seriously, just bear with me for a moment. Tea Party members of America’s House of Representatives appear intent on bringing their government down. These excerpts from der Spiegel illustrate what’s happening:..the [US] system only …
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: How Screwed Up Are the Republicans? This Screwed Up
The Center for American Progress has a report on one thing the Republicans will absolutely not accept cutting back – the US military budget.“Decline is a choice” is the mantra many conservatives are chanting to oppose any cuts to the defense budg…
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Australia May Ditch the F-35
The Australian government has revealed it may scrap its plan to buy 100 F-35s because of delivery delays and ongoing cost overruns. Repeated delays and ballooning costs in the F-35 programme are now starting to rub against already generous delivery and…
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: How Did We Expect to Achieve Anything in Afghanistan by Partnering with Mobsters?
Of late the Taliban have been busy hauling out the trash. They’ve been clearing out Hamid Karzai’s support network in the Pashtun south by a series of targeted assassinations that featured the killing, in his Kandahar home, of Karzai’s own brothe…
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: How to Transform a Democracy Into a Feudal State
High drama in Washington. It’s the sort of political theatre that is enormously riveting. Congress is tossing about a ticking time bomb – supposedly – the US federal debt ceiling. Either the Republicans and Democrats reach a dea…
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: America’s Fundamentalist Taliban
The dark face of America’s religions fanaticism is finally coming into the light of day. To get a look at America’s own Taliban, check out this article from al Jazeera. Also check here and here.Until recently a fringe evangelica…
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Murdoch Crew Caught In Yet Another Outrageous Hacking Scandal
This time the target was Sara Payne whose 8-year old daughter was murdered by a repeat sex offender in 2000. Scotland Yard has now added Mrs. Payne to their list of probable phone hacking victims.Murdoch’s defunct News of the World, believe…
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: European Union to Crack Down on Right Wing Extremism
The Norway massacre has pushed the European Union and the organization’s police arm, Europol, into action against right wing extremists.this week both European Union interior ministers and the European law enforcement agency Europol pledged to review …
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: The Only Democracy In The Middle East
It’s a common retort used whenever Israel comes in for criticism. Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East. That, somehow, seems to entitle the Israeli government to a more lenient or favourable perspective on its actions than …
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Why Religion Has No Place in Politics
An excellent op-ed in today’s New York Times.What is striking on the current American scene …is the extent to which people see certain political and economic positions as required by their religious commitment. We may understand …
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: No, the Talibs Aren’t Finished.
As Canada’s combat mission in Kandahar ended, Canadian commanders were busy patting themselves on the back and proclaiming the Taliban insurgency in that province “flattened” due to their efforts. Of course it was nonsense but it was greedily gob…
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Today’s Climate Change Quirk
It’s another of those never-ending “once in a century” stories. The heaviest rainfall in a century has triggered devastating floods and landslides in the Seoul area of South Korea. The quirky bit is that the landslides have expo…
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Diabolical Prime Minister Caught Muzzling Scientists – Again
The fundamentalist fiend is at it again. Science to Steve Harper is the noonday sun to a vampire. This time it was a federal fisheries expert muzzled by Harp’s political commissars in the Privy Council Office to prevent her from…
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: A Prisoner of Conscience – Banged Up for 2 Years By a Corrupt State
Environmental activist Tim DeChristopher has been sentenced to two years in prison. His crime? He attended a government auction where he bid on oil and gas leases to derail what was a manifestly illegal sale.Before the judge put DeChristopher away th…
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: What Makes Stephen Harper Tick?
Douglas Pratt in his paper “Terrorism and Religious Fundamentalism” explores aspects common to religious fundamentalist movements, whether Islamic, Jewish, Christian, Hindu – whatever. He explains how these common features or traits provide the b…
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