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Tom Brokaw
By Chris Hedges
$23
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U.S. Air Force / Tech. Sgt. Jeremy Lock
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As his country teeters on the brink of collapse, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and his information minister, Sikhanyiso Ndlovu, are pointing fingers at the U.K. as the source of the recent cholera outbreak that has killed hundreds in the African nation.
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americaslibrary.gov
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The British Defense Ministry has leaked news that it will begin a phased troop withdrawal from Iraq. The drawdown will bring to an end a torrid, near-six-year love affair with the U.S. that began with coordinated intelligence failures and eventually led to jointly invading a sovereign country under cover of a “war on terror.”
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By William Pfaff — Why are the allies waging war against the largest of the native ethnic groups in Afghanistan? The NATO answer is that the allies didn’t set out to fight a war against the Pashtuns. It just happened that way.
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By William Pfaff — What is the message of a terrorist attack that fails to deliver a message? Threats and warnings are being exchanged by India and Pakistan over the attack on Mumbai, carried out by presumed Muslim extremists. But acting to what purpose, and under whose instructions?
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AP photo / Akira Suemori
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Of all the items we might have expected would rank high on outgoing Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s wish list of things she’d like to do before leaving office, playing Brahms in a private concert for Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II wouldn’t have been one of them.
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DoD / Michael L. Casteel
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Victory in Afghanistan? That’s “neither feasible nor supportable,” according to the outgoing commander of British forces there, who tells The Times of London that the Taliban “seems relatively impervious to losses.” The Afghan government must instead reach some political settlement with more moderate insurgents, concluded Brigadier Mark Carleton-Smith.
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Rainer Hachfeld, Neues Deutschland, Germany —
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guardian.co.uk
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A secret executive order signed by President Bush grants U.S. military forces “carte blanche” to launch counterterrorist operations inside Pakistan. An attack last week under the auspices of the unprecedented July order is raising concerns: Pakistani officials declared the operation illegal, and international analysts fear an escalating conflict could start a regionwide war.
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What is it about the region that provokes intense sectarian passions, prompting seemingly endless vendettas? “Kingmakers,” by Karl Meyer and Shareen Blair Brysac, tells the story of British and American entanglement and how the modern Middle East was invented. It also offers an exemplary history of hubris.
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — Instead of offering puerile ads trashing Obama, McCain should show how he’d be the change U.S. voters are waiting for.
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Flickr / World Economic Forum
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Gordon Brown has won an important victory in his effort to extend the time British authorities can hold terror suspects without charge from 28 to 42 days. The measure was significantly controversial, however, that 36 members of the prime minister’s party voted against it.
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commons.wikimedia.org
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Britain’s Ministry of Defense is making public secret documents related to unidentified flying objects and alleged contacts with aliens. The records, collected between 1978 and 1987, include observations from the public as well as military personnel.
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AP photo / Alastair Grant
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To say it was a politically interesting week would be a case of British understatement: London gained a new mayor—Boris Johnson, who beat incumbent Ken Livingstone to become the first Conservative to win the office—and Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s Labour Party took a drubbing in local elections across the U.K. on May Day.
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AP photo / Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi
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Last month’s election in Zimbabwe is yet to be resolved. Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai believes he defeated President Robert Mugabe fairly, but a recount and a runoff may happen before the contest is finally decided. Meanwhile, opposition supporters say Mugabe’s party is attacking them as he holds on to power.
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World Economic Forum / Remy Steinegger
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British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is in the United States to discuss the global economy with President Bush, but the real excitement is over back-to-back meetings he has scheduled with the three U.S. presidential candidates.
Posted on Apr 17, 2008
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An inquest jury in Britain has officially concluded that Princess Diana and her companion, Dodi Al Fayed, were killed in a 1997 car crash in Paris as a result of “gross negligence manslaughter” by their chauffeur, Henri Paul, and the paparazzi.
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By Eugene Robinson — It was Prince Harry’s dream to fight in a war, and the British press, normally cutthroat, agreed to let him live it. How sweet. If only it didn’t violate the obligations of journalists to their readers.
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AP photo / Hadi Mizban
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By Patrick Cockburn — Ahmadinejad’s unprecedented trip to Baghdad demonstrates his nation’s influence on its neighbor since the fall of Saddam.
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time.com
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A critique often leveled at those who wage wars is that they don’t belong to the class of citizens whose children go to fight them. Not so in the case of England’s royals, as 23-year-old Prince Harry has been fighting (albeit by choice) on the front line in Afghanistan, giving him the chance, he says, to be “a normal person for once.”
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Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair reveals why he kept a lid on his “profound” religious faith while in office: “You talk about [faith] in our system and, frankly, people do think you’re a nutter.”
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Rainer Hachfeld, Neues Deutschland, Germany —
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By Eugene Robinson — Not only are Rudy Giuliani’s figures about prostate cancer survival rates in the United States and Britain wildly misleading, but he’s also wrong on his general point: that a single-payer system, of the kind that Republicans call “socialized” medicine, inevitably would deliver inferior care.
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news.bbc.co.uk
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The Commonwealth, a kind of shadow U.N. for the former British empire, has threatened to suspend Pakistan’s membership unless President Pervez Musharraf puts an end to his emergency rule within 10 days. Pakistan was banned from the organization between 1999 and 2004 after Musharraf came to power through a coup.
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AP photo / John D. McHugh
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Has the meaning of Guy Fawkes Day changed, for this particular moment, in England? A holiday that traditionally had more to do with celebrating the squelching of a plot to blast England’s government to smithereens may take on a different significance these days, according to Harper’s columnist Scott Harper.
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By Eugene Robinson — In slamming Clinton-style reforms, “America’s mayor” uses data in a way that shows disregard for the truth. Does that remind you of any other famous politician? Maybe the one in the Oval Office?
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abc.net.au
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While Russia is leading the race to claim the North Pole for itself, Britain has decided to expand its territory on the other end of the world, in Antarctica. The British Foreign Office says it has no immediate plans for the additional 1,000 square miles of seabed, but simply wishes to “safeguard for the future.”
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AP Photo / Evan Vucci
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By Robert Fisk — A sprig of bougainvillea prompts Robert Fisk to recall the bad old days of the Cold War and, in light of our overblown global war on terror, the curious and often fruitless tendency of governments to create monsters.
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guardian.co.uk
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It turns out that George Orwell, famed author of “1984” and originator of the term “Big Brother,” was spied on by his government for more than 10 years. Members of Britain’s MI5 suspected the writer of being a communist, until they bothered to read him, and were apparently baffled by his “bohemian” clothes.
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If the muted response from his normally rambunctious audience was any indication, Bill Maher might have crossed a line on Friday, but he deserves praise for confronting a senseless taboo, exploring the death of Princess Di without the usual beatification and self-flagellation.
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Gordon Brown has made an effort to keep alive the long-distance love affair between Downing Street and the White House, saying on Sunday that the world owes the U.S. a debt “for its leadership in this fight against international terrorism.” It should be noted that one of Brown’s ministers recently said Anglo-American foreign policy would not be “joined at the hip.”
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By Eugene Robinson — Why is it that since 9/11 the U.S. hasn’t seen terrorist bombing attempts such as the ones that fizzled last week in Britain? The reason may rest in America’s genius for manufacturing possibility.
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news.bbc.co.uk
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Two men have been detained for allegedly attempting to drive a flaming Jeep Cherokee into the main terminal at Glasgow Airport. Only a day before, two cars were found in London packed with explosives and nails. Britain’s national terrorism threat level remains “critical,” the highest possible.
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news.bbc.co.uk
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According to the Irish prime minister, Tony Blair has agreed to serve the quartet—the U.S., the U.N., the EU and Russia—as a special envoy to the Mideast. Earlier reports suggested that Blair bristled at the limited scope of the position, but an aide says the outgoing British prime minister was eager to take the job and continue to work on the world stage.
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news.yahoo.com
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A pair of gay flamingos with a yen for parenthood have adopted an abandoned baby chick at a nature preserve in Britain. Homosexuality is not uncommon among flamingos, and males are able to produce a type of milk for chicks. Fernando and Carlos have been mates for six years.
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dailymail.co.uk
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Tony Blair is getting one last glimpse of the mess he helped make before stepping down. The outgoing prime minister’s staff says the purpose of Blair’s Baghdad visit is to highlight the connection between security and political stability, but we can’t help but notice an emerging trend. Remember Donald Rumsfeld’s farewell tour of Iraq?
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news.bbc.co.uk
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Prince Harry eagerly wanted to deploy to Iraq with his fellow soldiers, but the head of the British army has said the risks to the prince and those serving around him would be “unacceptable.”
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AP Photo / Kirsty Wigglesworth
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British Prime Minister Tony Blair has announced that he’ll be moving out of 10 Downing Street to make way for his successor on June 27. Blair revealed when he would step down and looked back on the highs and lows of his time in office in a speech to a group of Labour Party supporters in Sedgefield on Thursday.
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AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
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President Bush managed to commit one of the biggest possible no-nos, taken straight out of the Book of Things Never to Say to Women, when lauding Britain’s visiting Queen Elizabeth II (she’s the one wearing the hat) at the White House on Monday: He insinuated that the queen is older than her actual age.
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In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the U.S. declined, delayed or didn’t collect aid in the form of supplies, manpower and hundreds of millions of dollars from Israel, Canada and Britain. The Washington Post reports that the three countries offered $854 million, of which only $40 million has been used, according to State Department figures.
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The British prime minister made an unprecedented appearance on Youtube (of all places) to respond to questions from the host of “Labour:vision” and viewers at large.
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The British government has officially quit using the term “war on terror,” arguing that Bush’s slogan has backfired and, instead of weakening the world’s polyglot bands of terrorists, has in fact strengthened them.
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The Iranian foreign minister has said 15 Royal Navy sailors and marines detained on Friday could be charged with violating Iran’s territory, although Britain insists the personnel were in Iraqi waters. Iran has also accused the sailors of spying. News of their capture came as the U.N. Security Council toughened sanctions against Iran.
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While America is still begrudgingly coming to terms with the climate crisis, British politicians, scientists and newspapers have been shouting from the rooftops for years. So why is the U.S. so far behind its closest ally? Truthdig foreign correspondent Sarah Stillman spoke with more than 20 experts to find out.
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theyoungturks.com
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British and Iraqi forces raided a National Iraqi Intelligence Agency detention center on Sunday and discovered 30 prisoners, including two children, “many of whom showed signs of torture and abuse.” Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki condemned the raid as an “illegal and irresponsible act” and has ordered an investigation.
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defenselink.mil
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Tony Blair is expected to announce a major withdrawal of British troops from Iraq by Christmas—possibly up to half of the current deployment. Although Britons largely oppose the war, the news may come as something of a disappointment as there were rumors Blair was going to withdraw troops more rapidly.
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Britain’s Channel 4 News highlights the images and stories from Iraq that have been left out of mainstream news reporting. (h/t: Crooks and Liars)
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theage.com.au
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As the U.S. prepares to escalate the war, Britain’s plan to withdraw up to 3,000 troops from southern Iraq has added tension to an already strained relationship.
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bbc.co.uk
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British scientists are developing a chewing gum that could help to regulate the appetites of obesity sufferers. Although the research is promising, the first infomercials are years away.
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news.bbc.co.uk
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A study emerging from Britain claims the IQs of kids who grew up to become vegetarians were an average of five points higher. There was no difference measured between full-blown vegetarians and those who ate chicken or fish (does that even count as vegetarianism?).
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Truthdigger of the Week: Sen. Angus King
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