The phrase was Pierre Trudeau’s, and it caught on. Canadians like to think of themselves as citizens of a Just Society. Certainly, they believe, things are better here than in the United States. But, Carol Goar wrote recently, we have been emulating our southern neighbours. In fact, Since the mid-1990s, income inequality has been rising faster in Canada than the U.S. They’re still in top spot, but...

FORWARD: The recent 10th anniversary of 9/11 once again gave rise to questions about NORAD’s role and performance during the attacks and to the now-familiar conspiracy theories. Hence this writing. === The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) was officially established on Sept. 12, 1957, during the Cold War—during the “innocent years.” A couple of weeks before, the Soviet Union...

Rarely, these days, do I bother with the NYT’s Tom Friedman. (While he occupies a lofty perch in the punditocratic universe, he is essentially the master of myopic, self-absorbed ignorance masquerading as sophisticated internationalism. And I say that as someone who occasionally agrees with him.) But let’s take a look at his column from Saturday, a piece on the current state of Israel: I’ve...

Nineteen died in a June drone attack on a suspected terrorist training camp in a Pakistani tribal district near the Afghan border The question is simple but provocative: How does the United States fight the war against terrorism using the rules of traditional warfare? The answer is complex and far from a settled thing. White House, State Department and Pentagon officials are debating the question anew...

The significance for Israel will be small even if the Palestinians get full or limited recognition as a State at the United Nations in coming days. Even though UN resolutions in 1947 and 1949 created Israel, it has ignored dozens of subsequent UN resolutions and refused to implement them. It has done so with impunity since neither the UN nor the US or other governments have the power to force implementation....

Should we call this “When Billionaires Collide?” or “Puching with the Stars?” A Russian billionaire loses it with another Russian billioinaire on TV during a discussion on the economy and punches him: It looks like they’ve been watching too much American politics.

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Has the United States been in the midst of a national neurotic episode since the 9-11 attacks? According to this editorial from Japan’s Ibaraki Shimbun, going around the world and “brandishing an ideal” is just as foolish for the United States as it is for al-Qaeda. The Ibaraki Shimbun editorial says in part: Ten years have passed since the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States...

Eight years after the invasion of Iraq, which was prompted at least in part by Bush Administration claims that Saddam Hussein was somehow involved in the 9-11 terrorist attacks, how do Iraqis feel about al-Qaeda – and about America? For the Iraqi newspaper Sotal Iraq, columnist Rageb Al-Rakabi writes that Iraqis firmly reject the terror group and its plots to attack the United States. For Sotal Iraq,...

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If you need a break from the serial hijinks and buffoonery of the American political scene, look no further than Italy. What’s going on there is hilarious if you overlook the fact that Prime Minister Silvio “Bunga Bunga” Berlusconi could well destroy what is left of the economic stability of Europe, which makes our own economic difficulties discreto (not so bad). A couple of things have focused...

UPDATE II Hopefully this link will take readers to a live-streaming of the MOH award ceremony: JOIN THE LIVE CHAT VISIT WHITEHOUSE.GOV ===== Sometimes the most difficult part of writing and publishing an article or essay is picking the title. When, about one month ago, I first heard that Marine Sergeant Dakota L. Meyer, a former Austin resident, would be receiving the Medal of Honor for heroism in Afghanistan,...

The European debt crisis has moved several stops closer to hitting the balance sheets of already fragile US banks. The contagion is spreading quickly and may soon make inevitable the double dip recession in America predicted by many. The only way to slow down the pace is for President Obama to sharpen the warnings he gave today to force Europeans to show more mettle. For that, he will have to put much more pressure...

Is it just a myth that the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks badly damaged the American economy? According to columnist Thomas Fricke of the Financial Times Deutschland, the wars of vengeance launched by George W. Bush and the nearly catastrophic economic crash at the end of his term caused far more damage than Osama bin Laden ever dreamed of.` For the Financial Times Deutschland, Thomas Fricke writes in...

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What have we sacrificed in the process of pursuing the ‘War on Terror’? Continuing with our global coverage of the 9-11 anniversary, in this moving article from Sweden’s Sydsvenskan, columnist Heidi Avellan writes that no matter how hard it may be, hatred must be met with love, and our principles mustn’t be sacrificed in the pursuit of vengeance. For Sweden’s Sydsvenskan, Heidi...

Today we continue our coverage of the global outpouring in regard to the September 11 anniversary. This article is one of the dozens of stories posted on Worldmeets.US since yesterday. The funk the United States is currently in is of great concern to U.S. allies like Japan, who depend on American influence for their own security and prosperity. This editorial from Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun illustrates the...

On this anniversary weekend, an old question I used to ask editors and writers who were pitching a story during my working lifetime arises, “Why are you telling me all this?” Starting right after the President’s jobs speech Thursday night, TV and cable news have been saturated with running accounts of two or three possible terrorists planning a U.S. attack on 9/11, with most of the information coming from...

UPDATE: The BBC reports that Saadi Qaddafi, one of Col. Qaddafi’s sons has arrived in neighboring Niger: Niger’s government spokesman and Justice Minister Marou Amadou said Saadi Gaddafi was in a convoy along with eight others. Mr Amadou said the convoy was on its way to Agadez in northern Niger and that Saadi and his companions were being allowed in on humanitarian grounds. Col. Qaddafi’s whereabouts...

At a time when America appears lost, and its leadership continues its reckless bid for global supremacy, it is interesting to recall the story of the only American who participated in India’s freedom struggle and was imprisoned by the British-Indian government. He gave up Western clothes and donned home-spun Khadi dress. A highly impressed Mahatma Gandhi wrote in his Young India: “No Indian is giving...

The violence underway currently at the Israeli embassy in Cairo, which was overrun by demonstrators forcing the ambassador and some 70 staff to flee, has so far caused less concern in the major European capitals than the US. The ambassador and his staff are expected to land in Israel in coming minutes but only President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hilary Clinton have voiced concern. No other government...

A couple of days ago, I wrote about the need for us, Americans, on this 10th anniversary of 9/11, to recommit ourselves to strengthening and bonding our nation from within… An Army chaplain, Major James Key, conducted his final funeral at Arlington National Cemetery a few weeks ago for an active duty soldier who died in combat while serving in Afghanistan. As his eyes “scanned the hallowed stones and...

Israel and Turkey – Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word by John Daly September promises to be an epochal month, as the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday night told U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during a telephone call that he is determined to go to the United Nations to bid for a full membership at the annual gathering of world leaders at the UN General Assembly beginning...

Has the 2008 economic crisis in some ways corrected for the mistakes America made after September 11? Former Brazil foreign minister and ambassador to the United States Roberto Abdenur writes that the global financial crisis has served to open the United States to greater cooperation with the world – if only the Tea Party would get out of the way. For Brazil’s Folha, former Brazil Foreign Minister...

Of the many lies told by Bush administration officials in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, few were larger than the assertion of Vice President Cheney — who history will show is probably the biggest and boldest liar to hold high office in the U.S. — that Air Force fighter jet pilots in hot pursuit of the hijacked airliners were poised to carry out an order from President Bush to shoot them down. ...