Juan Cole: Chas Freeman forced by Israel Lobies to withdraw from NIC Chairmanship

Charles Freeman, Roger Cohen and the Changing Israel Debate

by Glenn Greenwald

Juan Cole: Chas Freeman forced by Israel Lobies to withdraw from NIC Chairmanship

Trouble in Camelot

AIPAC does not like Admiral Blair's pick for head of the National Intelligence Council:

Chas Freeman for NIC: Lots at Stake

by Robert Dreyfuss

This is very cool:

Reimagining Socialism

Rising to the Occasion

By Barbara Ehrenreich & Bill Fletcher Jr.

Other Contributions to the Forum

Immanuel Wallerstein, "Follow Brazil's Example."

Bill McKibben, "Together, We Save the Planet."

Rebecca Solnit, "The Revolution Has Already Occurred."

Tariq Ali, "Capitalism's Deadly Logic."

Statelessness

Juan Cole on Palestinian statelessness:

Palestinian statehood is important because currently over half the world's some 9 million Palestinians are stateless,including those in Gaza and the West Bank. Statelessness is a severe disability in the contemporary world, because the state guarantees basic political and civil rights. No stateless Palestinians enjoy the basic rights and freedoms granted Americans by the US Bill of Rights, because their occupiers or hosts will not grant them and the Palestinians have no state representation of their own. (The Palestine Authority is essentially an extension of the Israeli occupation authority and lacks the prerogatives and sovereignty of a state).

"The Ultimate Aim is the Transfer of Arab-Israelis"

Ethnic Cleansing and Israel

http://www.counterpunch.org/hallinan03032009.html

Conn Hallinan reports on growing support for ethnic cleansing among Jewish Israelis. Only in Israel would a party founded by Ariel Sharon be considered "centerist":

Kadima spokesperson Maya Jacobs said, “Balad aims to exterminate Israel as a Jewish state and turn it into a state for all its citizens.”

Tom Hayden is encouraged:

Partial Peace, Looming War

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/03/02-10

"Obama is requesting $130 billion for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan during 2010 plus a $75 billion supplemental request for the wars during 2009. This $205 billion is on top of $534 billion for the Pentagon in 2010, for total military spending of $739 billion."

http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts03022009.html