2009

Barack Obama, extraordinary rendition, Germany, History, International Law, Nobel Lecture, Nobel Peace Prize, Oslo, self-defense, State Department Legal Adviser, targeted assassinations, targeted killings, U.N. Charter, U.S. Military, United States, use of force, vision of peace November 11, 2019

REPRISE (2019) — Veterans’ Day, 2011: “Where have all the flowers gone, long time passing?”

Originally published on November 11, 2011 My uncle died in a field in northern France with a German bullet in his head. To him, and…

Barack Obama, Crimea, Crimes Against Humanity, Deutschland, extrajudicial execution, extraordinary rendering, extraordinary rendition, France, Germany, History, human rights, internal supporters of human rights, International Law, Iran, Israel, Lebanon, Libya, NATO, Nobel Lecture, Nobel Peace Prize, Nuclear Proliferation, nuclear war, OSCE, Oslo, Russia, sanctions, Saudi Arabia, self-defense, State Department, State Department Legal Adviser, syria, Taliban, targeted assassinations, targeted killings, Torture, U.N. Charter, U.N. Security Council, U.S. Intervention, U.S. Military, Ukraine, United States, use of force, vision of peace, Vladimir Putin, war crimes November 11, 2015

REPRISE: Veterans’ Day, 2011: “Where have all the flowers gone, long time passing?”

First published, November 11, 2011 My uncle died in a field in northern France with a German bullet in his head. To him, and all…

"that spark of the divine", Barack Obama, China, Crimea, Crimes Against Humanity, Deutschland, extrajudicial execution, extraordinary rendering, extraordinary rendition, France, Germany, History, human rights, internal supporters of human rights, International Law, Iran, Israel, Lebanon, Libya, Nobel Lecture, Nobel Peace Prize, Nuclear Proliferation, Oslo, Russia, sanctions, Saudi Arabia, self-defense, State Department, State Department Legal Adviser, syria, Taliban, targeted assassinations, targeted killings, Torture, U.N. Charter, U.N. Security Council, U.S. Intervention, U.S. Military, Ukraine, United States, use of force, vision of peace, Vladimir Putin, war crimes November 11, 2014

REPRISE: Veterans’ Day, 2011: “Where have all the flowers gone, long time passing?”

First published, November 11, 2011 My uncle died in a field in northern France with a German bullet in his head. To him, and all…

"that spark of the divine", Barack Obama, China, Crimes Against Humanity, Deutschland, extrajudicial execution, extraordinary rendering, extraordinary rendition, France, Germany, History, human rights, internal supporters of human rights, International Law, Iran, Israel, Lebanon, Libya, Nobel Lecture, Nobel Peace Prize, Nuclear Proliferation, Oslo, Russia, Saudi Arabia, self-defense, State Department, State Department Legal Adviser, syria, Taliban, targeted assassinations, targeted killings, Torture, U.N. Charter, U.N. Security Council, U.S. Intervention, U.S. Military, United Nations Secretary General, United States, use of force, vision of peace, war crimes November 11, 2013

REPRISE: Veterans’ Day, 2011: “Where have all the flowers gone, long time passing?”

First published, November 11, 2011 My uncle died in a field in northern France with a German bullet in his head. To him, and all…

Barack Obama, China, CIA, human rights, Intelligence, International Law, Iran, NATO, Nobel Lecture, Nobel Peace Prize, Oslo, Russia, Saudi Arabia, self-defense, State Department, State Department Legal Adviser, targeted assassinations, targeted killings, U.N. Charter, U.S Foreign Relations, U.S. Intervention, United States, use of force, vision of peace January 27, 2012

Obama’s foreign policy juggernaut, including Tom Donilon, and the risks of hubris (updated)

jug[ger[naut n. (altered < Hindi Jagannath < Sans Jagannatha, lord of the world < jagat, world + natha, lord) 1 an incarnation of the Hindu…

Afghanistan, Barack Obama, CIA, debate over the efficacy of torture, human rights, International Law, Justice Department, Middle East, NATO, Nobel Lecture, Nobel Peace Prize, Oslo, Pakistan, Pakistan military, self-defense, State Department, State Department Legal Adviser, targeted assassinations, targeted killings, Torture, U.N. Convention Against Torture, U.N. Torture Convention, U.S. Military, United States, use of force, vision of peace January 5, 2012

Obama’s New Year’s Resolutions for Foreign Policy in 2012

The Observer has been trying to get inside President Obama’s head for over two years. Recently, he may have succeeded, or had a very strange…

History, human rights, International Law, Nobel Lecture, Nobel Peace Prize, self-defense, targeted assassinations, targeted killings, Torture, U.N. Charter, U.N. Security Council, United States, use of force, vision of peace December 9, 2011

REPRISE (from 2009): Wanted in Oslo—President Obama’s Vision of Peace

December 10 is Human Rights Day, commemorating the adoption by the United Nations General Assembly on December 10, 1948 of the Universal Declaration of Human…

Abdoulah, Abdullah, Afghanistan, elections, Hamid Karzai, Pakistan, Pakistan military, State Department, U.S. news coverage, United States August 19, 2010

Senator Kerry’s Conflict of Interest in Afghanistan

Senator John Kerry (D-MA) traveled to Kabul on August 17 to deliver the Obama administration’s warning to Hamid Karzai that he must clean up corruption…

U.S Foreign Relations May 22, 2010

Obama Snubs Abdullah During Latter’s Trip to Washington

Margaret Warner interviewed Hamid Karzai’s opponent in the August 20, 2009 presidential elections in Afghanistan, Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, on the Newshour on Friday, May 21….

Abdoulah, Abdullah, Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Culture and Communication, elections, Hamid Karzai, Taliban, U.S. Military April 5, 2010

Opera Buffa in Kabul — Karzai Threatens to Join the Taliban

Farsical But Sinister Robert H. Reid of AP summarizes the farsical but sinister events of the last week in the ever stranger opera buffa of…

China, human rights, human rights reports, internal supporters of human rights, State Department Human Rights Country Reports, United States March 13, 2010

China’s Report on Human Rights in the United States

Food for Thought China has just published a report on the observance of human rights in the United States. While charges by one country that…

"that spark of the divine", Barack Obama, Nobel Lecture, Nobel Peace Prize, religious belief December 16, 2009

Obama — “that spark of the divine that still stirs within each of our souls”

(Contributions to Discussion Invited) President Barack Obama concluded his 2009 Nobel Lecture with the following words: But we do not have to think that human…

Barack Obama, History, human rights, International Law, Nobel Lecture, Nobel Peace Prize, Oslo, U.N. Charter, vision of peace December 5, 2009

Wanted in Oslo: President Obama’s Vision of Peace

On December 10, 2009, President Barack Obama will accept the award of the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009, and deliver a Nobel “lecture” or acceptance…

Barack Obama, CIA, extraordinary rendering, History, human rights, International Law, Nobel Lecture, Nobel Peace Prize, Oslo, refoulement, U.N. Convention Against Torture December 4, 2009

Background Reading for the Nobel Acceptance Speech in Oslo: The U.N. Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment

As President Obama Prepares to receive his Nobel Peace Prize on December 10, 2009, and to offer his “lecture” or acceptance speech, it would be…