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Eric is a journalist and writer for Al-Ahram Weekly in Cairo. He specializes in Russian and Eurasian affairs. Walberg's "Postmodern Imperialism: Geopolitics and the Great Games" can be purchased at www.claritypress.com/Walberg.html
Tuesday, February 14, 2012 Greece in flames: Cassandra strikes again
Despite months of cries of "Doom" if it follows a policy of inducing recession to solve its economic problems, the Greek government went ahead, with all too predictable results
Thursday, February 9, 2012 Russia's White Revolution (1 comments)
All the meticulous plotting to avoid Ukraine's Orange Revolution resulted in -- Russia's very own coloured one. But Russia is not Ukraine, and Putin seems determined to make this comeback a worthy one
Thursday, February 2, 2012 Canada's 'honour killings': Where is the sense of honour? (5 comments)
As Canada continues to pour troops and money into American wars and intrigues in the Muslim world, the media focuses on so-called honour killings
Tuesday, January 31, 2012 BDS update: Peaceful blitzkreig and Israeli counterattacks
BDS activities are moving into a new critical stage, with apostasy, Internet hacking, regattas, and an ever more aggressive Israel and its acolytes upping the perilous ante
Wednesday, January 18, 2012 The Afghan dust is settling
Yes, Afghanistan really is another Vietnam, and just as in 1972, the presidential elections will make no difference
Wednesday, January 11, 2012 Reinventing the Middle East lexicon
"Invented people", "unpeople", "settlers", even "peace" take on strange meanings in the Middle East
Wednesday, December 28, 2011 2011: The year that shook the world (1 comments)
2011 is already history and will remain a historical turning point in international affairs. From 1917 to 2011, it's been a long bumpy ride.
Thursday, December 15, 2011 Russia united -- for the time being (Part II)
Russia's parliamentary elections have sparked a political crisis, surprising everyone, from President Putin (excuse me, Medvedev) down, including the demonstrators themselves.
Wednesday, December 14, 2011 Tunisia's red-green renaissance
Tunisia shows the way forward with its new socialist president and Islamist PM
Tuesday, December 13, 2011 BDS update: BDS unites East and West
Unlike many celebrities and humanitarians who are critical of Israel and support the BDS movement, Barbra Streisand remains a steadfast supporter of Israel and even performs for the IDF.
Wednesday, December 7, 2011 Russia united -- for the time being
The Duma elections held no surprises, but the election turmoil can't obscure the kind of politics that will continue to characterise Russia over the coming decade thanks to United Russia and its eminence grise
Thursday, December 1, 2011 When will Pakistan's spring arrive? (2 comments)
US friendly fire knows no bounds. The deaths of Pakistan soldiers and civilians is just the tip of the iceberg, which will only disappear in the heat of a national uprising, putting an end to Pakistan's neocolonial dependency
Thursday, December 1, 2011 Morocco gets Muslim Brotherhood PM
Morocco beats the other Arab Spring nations to a constitution and elections, with mixed results
Friday, November 18, 2011 Euro-US cold winter/ seething anger (1 comments)
The eviction of demonstrators last week is an ominous metaphor for ruling elites, whose own days are surely numbered
Thursday, November 17, 2011 A Whiff of Egyptian Freedom for Gaza
Israel got a taste of the new people's Egypt with the arrest of an Egyptian journalist on the flotilla to Gaza and plans for the biggest aid convoy yet
Thursday, November 3, 2011 Bds Update: Erdogan "why No Un Sanctions For Israel?' (3 comments)
With the new campaign by Palestine to gain the world's official recognition 63 years after the fact, BDS activities in Europe and North America -- the main holdouts -- have gained new momentum. News about Natacha Atlas, Idan Raichel, Finland, Alstom, SJP
Friday, October 28, 2011 American Crisis Politics (2 comments)
Is a constitutional amendment or a real third-party candidate the silver bullet that Americans need next year?
Friday, October 21, 2011 Britain, France, Us: "and The Winner Is ..."
Austerity is politics masquerading as economic policy, intent on lowering wages while maintaining the profit and interest income of the rich in hard times. It rests on the myth that all government spending is wasteful and eats into potential private investment, and is unnecessary for recovery.
Thursday, October 13, 2011 Wall St: "Needed -- a new old economic primer'
The gathering momentum of protest in the US is charting new old territory. It is time to reflect on how we got here
Friday, October 7, 2011 US Envoys from Hell
The choice of US ambassadors to Central Asia and the Middle East gives one pause for thought
Wednesday, October 5, 2011 "Mowing the grass' in Yemen
Radical Muslim cleric Anwar Al-Awlaki, the victim of assassination by US forces 30 September, was born in New Mexico in 1971, educated at Colorado State University in engineering, and radicalised while preaching in US mosques and visiting Afghanistan in the 1990s. His sermons attracted a large following, first in Denver and then San Diego, where he completed a Masters in education.
Friday, September 30, 2011 Turkey redraws Sykes-Picot (3 comments)
A new Bermuda Triangle has been spotted, but this one is in the eastern Mediterranean -- between Turkey, Cyprus and Israel, observes Eric Walberg
Thursday, September 29, 2011 Putin-Medvedev: Premier musical chairs
Russian President Dmitri Medvedev's nomination of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as Russia's pretender to the throne and Putin's promise to keep his friend as premier was hardly a surprise. All along, except to a few starry-eyed liberals, it was clear, that the buck stopped not with Medvedev but Putin. The liberals were given their chance by Russia's ex-KGB autocrat and failed spectacularly.
Thursday, September 22, 2011 BDS update: Buttressing an independent Palestine (1 comments)
Palestine's move to become an independent state has benefitted from the growing BDS movement, as the world wakes up the enormous and unjust suffering of the Palestinian people
Thursday, September 8, 2011 Russia's Middle East dilemma (2 comments)
As the Arab Spring grinds on into autumn, the Russians are asking once again whether they should follow the policy "If you can't beat "em, join "em"
Tuesday, August 16, 2011 Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: Reviews of Mihesua, Sheehi, Boyle
Book reviews: Devon Mihesua, American Indians: Stereotypes and Realities; Stephen Sheehi, Islamophobia: The Ideological Campaign Against Muslims; Francis Boyle, The Palestinian Right of Return Under International Law
Friday, July 22, 2011 Pakistan vs the US: Moving on
The latest Mumbai bombings were not obviously the work of Pakistani extremists, but reflect the unrest thanks to America's continued reckless policies of escalation in the region
Thursday, July 14, 2011 Israel and the Flotillas: Clever madman
There is much angst among people of conscience over the fate of Freedom Flotilla II, but by effectively scuttling it, Israel is really just hammering more nails in its own coffin
Thursday, July 7, 2011 Egypt vs IMF: Time to default?
The financial flip-flop of Egypt's revolutionary government, first requesting and then declining a $3 billion dollar IMF loan, highlights Egypt's hard choices at this point in the revolution, but is a good sign
Friday, July 1, 2011 Afghanistan: Victory in defeat (1 comments)
There are many parallels between Vietnam and Afghanistan. The recent American mayors' resolution to "bring our war $$ home" and Obama's announcement that troops are now being withdrawn are fresh reminders, but the story they tell is grim
Friday, June 24, 2011 BDS update: Fighting apartheid on land and sea (2 comments)
As the second Freedom Flotilla packs its humanitarian aid and prepares to brave the wrath of the Israeli navy , boycott divestment and sanctions (BDS) activities continue on the homefront
Wednesday, June 22, 2011 SCO vs Bilderberg: Where are real decisions being made? (1 comments)
As the Western elite gathered in picturesque St Moritz to grapple with pressing world crises, the outsiders met in the bleak steppes of Central Asia
Thursday, June 16, 2011 Turkey and the Arab spring: Learning to walk again (1 comments)
Turkey 's vibrant democracy is an inspiration to Arab countries throwing off their autocratic yoke and their Western patrons
Thursday, June 2, 2011 Mladic and international justice: Age of deception
Mladic's upcoming trial in The Hague reminds us that international justice is a complicated business, however simple its motives
Thursday, May 26, 2011 Russian politics: Nostalgia or a new political direction?
As Russia gears up for its election season this winter, Putin's Popular Front and Rogozin's nationalist front are playing an old Soviet melody and even borrowing a tune from revolutionaries in Cairo
Thursday, May 19, 2011 BDS update: 'I went because I needed to go'
So said a Holocaust survivor and anti-apartheid activist about his trip to Jackson, Mississippi in 1961. The same impulse inspires BDS activists from all walks of life today
Thursday, May 12, 2011 Russia-US: Terrorism's vicious circle
There are no hostages in the game of geopolitics. Russia 's reaction to the Bin Laden assassination reveals its own dilemma about how best to accommodate the West
Friday, April 29, 2011 BDS update: Breaking new barriers
The upcoming flotilla to break the Gaza siege is gathering steam from a flood of innovative Boycott, Divest and Sanctions activities around the world
Saturday, April 23, 2011 Egypt's revolution and the US: Mubarak's fatal error (1 comments)
The fall of Egypt 's leader and his political party is because he learned the wrong lessons from his patrons. Will Americans learn something from Egyptians?
Thursday, April 14, 2011 Russia, Egypt, Libya: A kind-of-silver Lining
Russia has always looked on at events in the Middle East from afar, shut out of the action, and remains an onlooker today, absorbed by its own problems. Eric Walberg looks at the implications for Russia of the revolutions and no-so-revolutions sweeping the Middle East
Thursday, April 14, 2011 Egypt's Islamists: The Big Bad Wolf
The revolution and the turmoil in the Arab world have their origins in the tortuous history of British and American domination of the Middle East. A look at the implications for Egypt of its colonial past
Thursday, March 31, 2011 Turkey-Libya: Defusing another UN timebomb (1 comments)
Turkey's decision to take the lead in the NATO mission against Libya is a bold example of its determination to play the leading role in the region -- and within NATO itself
Friday, March 25, 2011 Turkey and the Middle East: Carpe diem
Recent initiatives by its government attest to Turkey's determination to bring a new realism to world politics, and events in the Arab world provide an opportunity to reshape regional relations, notes Eric Walberg in Istanbul
Thursday, March 24, 2011 Nuclear vs Oil: The devil we know (3 comments)
As oil prices soar and countries think twice about expanding nuclear power, we should be careful about where to point the finger
Thursday, March 10, 2011 Egypt: Peering into the revolution's crystal ball
Comparisons between Egypt's revolution and others during the past abound and are instructive. They suggest two scenarios for the post-revolutionary period
Friday, March 4, 2011 Egypt/Serbia/Georgia: Learning from others' mistakes (5 comments)
There is a Russian proverb: only a fool learns from his own mistakes. As Georgia's foreign minister visits his Egyptian counterpart, there are lessons for Egypt in similar revolutions in eastern Europe and the ex-Soviet Union
Friday, February 25, 2011 Egypt/Turkey-Israel: "A clean break'
It is not Israel backed by the distant US that inherits the Ottoman mantle of hegemony in the Middle East, but some combination of Turkey and Egypt
Wednesday, February 23, 2011 Song/videos of the Egyptian Revolution
Two song/videos have captured the hearts of Egyptians and are a way for us to join in the bitter-sweet euphoria of their magical moment in history. Here are the video links and translations.
Friday, February 18, 2011 US-Egypt: "Why?'
Reflections on why there have been such mixed reactions in the West to the overthrow of the Egyptian autocrat
Tuesday, February 15, 2011 US-Egypt: Cookie-cutter cuisine
The US has baked itself into a corner. It should learn to enjoy the fruits of its labour
Tuesday, December 28, 2010 BDS 2010: More powerful than the sword
Boycott Divestment and Sanctions is a two-edged sword, bringing relief to starving Gazans, and starvation to the occupier.
Saturday, December 18, 2010 BDS Update: "Besiege your Siege!'
The movement to isolate Israel through boycott, divestment and sanctions resonates from Canada to the Indo-Pakistani border
Saturday, December 11, 2010 Wikileaks arrest: Julian Quixote
An epic drama is unfolding after the Wikileaks founder gave himself up to Scotland Yard. Is he to suffer the fate of Ellsberg or Pollard?
Saturday, November 27, 2010 BDS update: Anti-apartheid Hagues
Despite the stranglehold Israel lobbies have on Euro-parliaments and politicians, there have been some surprisingly plucky official moves to protest illegal Israeli settlements recently
Thursday, November 25, 2010 Russia and NATO: "Not a piece of furniture" (1 comments)
Medvedev's presence in Lisbon was more a show of Russia's importance than of subservience to the Euro-Atlantic alliance.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010 BDS: Boycotting Apartheid (3 comments)
The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign moves ahead in Washington, California, British Columbia, Harvard and Brown Universities, and the Netherlands
Saturday, July 31, 2010 Russia, Afghanistan and Starwars: Westward Hu
Russia's accommodation of the US and NATO continues apace, with new support of the Afghan war and even missile defence
Friday, July 9, 2010 US-Russian relations: Wooing the West
The Russian leader has re-enacted the famous American goodwill tour of his predecessor a half century ago, but faces the same Cold War scheming. Will his attempts to befriend Europe have more success?
Sunday, June 27, 2010 Kyrgyzstan: Picking up the pieces
Kill the victim and go to his funeral. Is NATO poised to move into the heart of Central Asia, even as its war in Afghanistan implodes?
Wednesday, June 16, 2010 Kyrgyzstan: Eurasian geopolitics 101
The war in Afghanistan is officially spreading to the Central Asian republics. First stop, Kyrgyzstan
Friday, June 11, 2010 Afghanistan: Funding Both Sides (1 comments)
Delegates in Shangra-La pledge eternal war in Afghanistan, as the US creates new and very dangerous allies there
Sunday, June 6, 2010 Russia-US-Iran: Nuclear juggling
Brazil accused the US of double standards over the last minute nuclear deal with Iran. Now it is the turn of Iran to accuse Russia, ever so politely, of double standards.
Saturday, May 29, 2010 Afghanistan: Reading between the lines
The new coalition in Westminster is parsing all the words about Afghanistan and coming up with a very different interpretation
Friday, May 21, 2010 Russia-America: Rediscovering realpolitik
As Russia returns to its logical, regional, strategic roots, the US under Obama is slowly waking up after its neocon nightmare
Monday, May 17, 2010 The American art of war: book reviews
Carl Boggs, The Crimes of Empire: Rogue Superpower and World Domination
Paul Rogers, Losing Control: Global Security in the 21st century
Paul Atwood, War and Empire: The American Way of Life (Pluto Press 2010)
Thursday, May 13, 2010 British election: Everyone lost (1 comments)
Britain is poised for a long period of political instability as it enters its first coalition government since WWII, when the wartime unity government was led by Winston Churchill with Labour in tow.
Thursday, April 29, 2010 NATO summit: "Not rational enough'
So NATO's head berates its foes at its recent summit in Estonia, where missile "defence" and Afghanistan topped the agenda
Saturday, April 10, 2010 Karzai and Obama: Biting the hand that feeds (3 comments)
Lieutenant colonel Brian Christmas (I'm not making this up) recently threatened the village elders in Sistani, a village near Marja, with "the choice between American guns and American resources". Read: turn stoolie. The Afghan president begs to differ
Thursday, April 1, 2010 US-Russian START Treaty: A Comprehensive Flicker (1 comments)
Two floundering presidents grabbed at a chance to show some results. No one will be happy, as always with compromises
Thursday, March 25, 2010 The Afghan Ant Hole (1 comments)
NATO plans for Afghanistan this year are shaping up nicely: negotiate with the Taliban, but at the same time kill them in Kandahar and Kunduz
Friday, March 19, 2010 Euro crisis: Latvia and the PIIGS
The current chaos in Greece shows that down on the Euro Animal Farm, some animals are more equal than others
Tuesday, March 9, 2010 Russia, Azerbaijan/Armenia: All Roads Lead to the Caucasus
Georgia is eager for another war, but there are other fires there which refuse to die -- Russia's battles with terrorism and separatists and Azerbaijan's bleeding wound in ethnic Armenian Nagorno Karabakh
Friday, March 5, 2010 Georgia vs Russia: Fanning the flames
Will there be another war in the Caucasus? This is a smoldering issue on more than one front, finds Eric Walberg, in the first of a two-part analysis of the spectre of conflict in this crucial crossroads
Saturday, February 27, 2010 Marjah: "This is not Fallujah'
So says McChrystal as the US surge goes full steam ahead in Marjah -- a new and "gentler" war
Wednesday, February 3, 2010 Afghanistan and NATO: Figleaf summit
The plan voiced at the London Afghanistan conference to pay off the Taliban is belied by the plan at the Brussels NATO conference two days earlier to bomb them into submission
Wednesday, January 27, 2010 Russia, Turkey and the Great Game: Changing teams
Russian President Dmitri Medvedev's visit to Turkish last month shows that Turkey and Russia are rapidly developing close economic and political ties, confounding NATOphiles
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 Reagan's ghost: Starwars stops START
Hopes are fading that the historical treaty between the US and the Soviet Union will be renewed.
Sunday, December 27, 2009 Timeline 2000-2010: Middle East
A brief summary of the decade just passed, with an emphasis on 9/11 and the middle east.
Friday, December 11, 2009 Obama's Nobel & START: Peacemaker arrives empty-handed
There was many a smirk as US President Barack Obama flew to Oslo to be crowned Peacenik of 2009, but it is the Russians who get the prize for taking the shine off Obama's trophy.
Thursday, November 26, 2009 Canada 's Guantanamo
It seems the world's favourite peaceniks are complicit in torture
Friday, November 13, 2009 Russia-India-China: The Bush curse
Moscow is trying to draw India and China closer to put out the flames now flaring across the continent, from the Caucasus and Central Asia, to Iran and Pakistan
Tuesday, November 3, 2009 NATO vs CSTO: The Fog of War (2 comments)
‘Regional' defence organisations are very much in transition
Wednesday, October 21, 2009 Israel in Canada: Promised lands (2 comments)
On the occasion of filmmakers withdrawing last month from the Toronto Film Festival in protest of Israeli involvement in the event prompts us to take a closer look at Israel's cultural and political connections in Canada
Friday, October 16, 2009 AfPak: War on two fronts
The only thing Obama's has gotten right so far about his warzone-of-choice is the name.
Monday, September 21, 2009 Euro peace: The sounds of silence
Eurospeak: “peace” via US missile bases, a mobile missile “blanket”, a “convention” on cybercrime, “Long live NATO!” Eric Walberg strains to hear a Euro voice of reason.
Thursday, September 10, 2009 Militarising space: The Fallujah fallacy (2 comments)
The Pentagon has made remarkable strides in militarization of space this year, but its techno-schemes are built on the same sandy foundations as the rest of its defense policy.
