John Glaser

The Obama administration has superseded both domestic and international law in its targeted killing program in Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia. A legal memo from the Congressional Research Service has concluded that “none of the established legal frameworks is a perfect fit for the Administration’s lethal targeting operations because the current US practice of lethal targeting involves features that are improvised, inconsistent or otherwise questionable,” according to Secrecy News.

While the laws of war have traditionally been relegated to certain geographic areas of declared conflict, the Obama administration has expanded Congress’s authorization of the use of force, initially granted for Afghanistan, to apply to a borderless conflict that is defined however the President wants. The administration has also extended the authorization for the use of force against those who carried out the attacks of September 11th to apply to anyone the President says is a member of al-Qaeda, anywhere in the world, without any checks or balances or legal process to prove such membership. The administration has also extended this reasoning to US citizens, who have undeniable rights to due process under the Constitution, and while they seem to have written a legal memo from the Office of Legal Counsel, they have refused to release it.

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Stephen Lendman

Thousands have taken to the streets of Ramallah to
call on PM Fayyad to resign. (Photo: Haaretz)

Haaretz contributor Amira Hass is right saying so. Current headlines highlight thousands of West Bank protesters. Palestinians took to the streets against unaffordable rising prices. In some areas, things got violent. Demonstrators smashed windows, tried to storm a municipality building, and clashed with police.

On Sunday, trucks and taxis blocked the Bethlehem to Hebron road. In Ramallah, tires were set ablaze. Streets were blocked. University and other school classes were cancelled. Duheishe refugee camp residents marched on Abbas' headquarters. Beit Jala protest leaders urged nonviolence but joined others expressing outrage. Balata refugee youths blocked Al-Quds Street. They forced traffic onto bypass roads. Traffic was also blocked in Jenin. Taxi union director Abu al-Wafa said strike action shut down 700 cabs and 120 buses. At issue is unaffordable fuel prices. Public transportation across the West Bank is paralyzed. Thousands of drivers walked out. Tulkaren and Jericho residents also staged protests. Hundreds turned out. One protest sign read:

"We're tired of hearing about reform….a council after another….a minister after another….and corruption that hasn't gone away."

General strike calls resonate. Unelected Prime Minister Salam Fayyad is a longtime Israeli collaborator. He's neoliberal, corporatist, and hardline. Rage targets him. He claims budget shortfall constraints. Palestinians want him out. One youth spoke for others, saying:

"We'll do anything, throw rocks, to get rid of the Fayyad government. They call it sabotage, but we'll do whatever we need to get rid of him."

He agreed to resign to cool things down. Fellow longtime Israeli collaborator Abbas defended him. He's doing his job, he said.

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Interview by Kourosh Ziabari

Nima Shirazi is a political commentator from New York City. His analysis of United States foreign policy and Middle East issues, particularly with reference to current events in Israel, Palestine, and Iran, is published on his website, WideAsleepInAmerica.com.

His articles and commentaries are published on a variety of online and print publications including Foreign Policy Journal, Palestine Chronicle, Mondoweiss, Media with Conscience, Monthly Review, Dissident Voice, Salem-News, Middle East Online, Indymedia, The Palestine Telegraph and Axis of Logic.

Shirazi is widely acclaimed for his precise and accurate analysis of the Middle East events and the U.S. foreign policy.

The world-renowned author and political scientist Norman Finkelstein has praised Nima Shirazi's work, saying that he is "a very smart fellow and remarkably well informed. It's worth taking the time to read what he writes."

Jeremy R. Hammond, political journalist and the editor of Foreign Policy Journal has said about him: "Nima Shirazi is a brilliant analyst whose writing gets right to the heart of the issue without any messing around. Reading articles in not only the mainstream media, but also on alternative and independent websites and blogs, is generally a frustrating experience, for the broad adherence of most (actually, almost all) commentators to a limited manufactured framework."

What follows is the complete text of my interview with Nima Shirazi with whom I discussed on a variety of issues including Israeli-American relations, Iran's nuclear program, the death of Osama Bin Laden and the Western media propaganda against Iran.

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