The renewed surge of violence between Israelis and Palestinians is reaching a boiling point. On October 7 a video was captured during clashes between Ramallah and the Beit El settlement. It shows Israeli undercover officers shooting an unarmed Palestinian youth in the leg at point-blank range, while other undercover officers hold him down. Incredibly, now Jerusalem's mayor is urging Israelis to carry firearms at all times.... More

Syria is mostly destroyed as a country. There are 22 million Syrians and 4 million of them are refugees outside the country, and 7 million are displaced within the country. If you take Khobani for example, the town that the Islamic State tried to capture, after a siege of four and a half months, about 70 percent of the town is destroyed. Just enormous heaps of pulverized concrete everywhere. Or again take the town of Hasaka. 90 percent of the population has fled. It's empty, with the shops boarded up in an atmosphere of terror.... More

The use of military force is essentially destructive. Weapons of war are designed to kill people and smash things. All nations claim to build and buy them only to defend themselves and their people against the aggression of others. The notion that the use of military force can ever be a force for good may, at best, apply to a few exceptional situations where a limited but decisive use of force has put an end to an existing conflict and led to a restoration of peace. The more usual result of the use or escalation of force is to cause greater death and destruction, to fuel resistance and to cause more widespread instability. This is what has happened wherever the U.S. has used force since 2001, including in its proxy and covert operations in Syria and Ukraine.... More

Every political class considers themselves inclusive, diverse, open-minded. But present ideas outside the perimeters of sanctioned debate, imposed by power and a patrolling press, and watch how quickly they start bullying.... More

The General Assembly debate at the United Nations is underway until the 3rd. of October. In the past for the most part speeches at the UN, at the General Assembly, have been absolutely dull and predictable unless you had someone like Chavez, as we did back in 2006. calling George W. Bush the devil.... More

US President Barack Obama on Monday walked up to the podium at the United Nations General Assembly and asked Congress to lift the 55-year economic blockade of Cuba as the neighboring countries continue to thaw their diplomatic relations.... More

Simon Bolivar was the first prominent Latin American leader to seek integration among the newly-formed Latin American nations. He joined Colombia, including Panama, Ecuador and Venezuela in what became known as Gran Colombia. Bolivar also led the movement to organize a multinational conference Panama in 1826. The goal of the gathering was to create a federation of independent states in alliance with Great Britain and as a counterweight to the United States’ Monroe Doctrine. Representatives from Guatemala, then encompassing most of Central America, Mexico, Gran Colombia and Peru attended, although Brazil and Argentina did not participate. Also invited were representatives from the British and Dutch governments. ... More

Thousands of Phillipino citizens who gathered in Manila to greet Pope Francisco last January looked in unmitigated awe at the modest car in which he traveled to the Presidential Palace.... More