be just

Al Jazeera English - Middle East - Captured Israeli aviator 'has died' : "Hezbollah has told Israel, through the United Nations, that an Israeli aviator who has been listed as missing in Lebanon since 1986, is dead, according to a newspaper report. Israel's Haaretz newspaper reported on Monday that Gerhard Konrad, a UN hostage negotiator, had delivered a message from the Shia group saying that Ron Arad had died. Arad's death was revelealed one day after Israel approved the release of five Lebanese prisoners in return for the bodies of two Israeli soldiers captured in 2006. Israeli authorities had said a prisoner swap deal with Hezbollah would only go ahead once they received information on Arad's fate. Hezbollah has said in the past that Arad was believed to be dead. However, Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, told his ministers on Sunday: 'It has been over 20 years since Ron's disappearance, we have no certain information about what happened...

In this video historian Rick Shenkman discusses the subject of his new book: JUST HOW STUPID ARE WE? FACING THE TRUTH ABOUT THE AMERICAN VOTER (Basic Books, June 2008). Mr. Shenkman is an associate professor of history at George Mason University and the editor of the History News Network.

Annals of National Security: Preparing the Battlefield: Reporting & Essays: The New Yorker : "L ate last year, Congress agreed to a request from President Bush to fund a major escalation of covert operations against Iran, according to current and former military, intelligence, and congressional sources. These operations, for which the President sought up to four hundred million dollars, were described in a Presidential Finding signed by Bush, and are designed to destabilize the country’s religious leadership. The covert activities involve support of the minority Ahwazi Arab and Baluchi groups and other dissident organizations. They also include gathering intelligence about Iran’s suspected nuclear-weapons program. Clandestine operations against Iran are not new. United States Special Operations Forces have been conducting cross-border operations from southern Iraq, with Presidential authorization, since last year. These have included seizing members of Al Quds, the commando ar...

Queen of Hawaii demands independence from 'US occupiers' - Telegraph : "The United States is an illegal occupying force that should hand the 132 islands of Hawaii back to the monarchy overthrown more than a century ago, according to members of a Native Hawaiian sovereignty movement. For almost two months, the self-proclaimed Hawaiian Kingdom Government has peacefully occupied the grounds of the Iolani Palace, residence of the islands' last two monarchs, operating a shadow government from a tent erected in its stately grounds. Her Majesty Mahealani Kahau, a descendant of Hawaii's last king who was elected 'head of state' by the group, and her ministers gather each day to debate how to achieve their goal of restoring Native Hawaiian rule."

  North Korea Smackdown  : Information Clearing House - ICH After seven years of nonstop belligerence and saber rattling, the Bush administration has given North Korea everything it has demanded. In return, the US gets nothing. The UN's nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, will not get access to Kim Jong-il's nuclear stockpile or its "Top-Secret" file on weapons programs or be allowed to conduct surprise "go anywhere, see anything" inspections. Kim will continue to develop his long-range ballistic-missile delivery system, the Taepodong 2, just as he will (presumably) continue to export nuclear weapons technology to allies in the Middle East and elsewhere. The Bush administration has made a very dangerous enemy and the present agreement does nothing to mitigate that threat. It merely sends a message to America's rivals around the world that the US can be blackmailed if the stakes are high enough. The United States has been humiliated by a man who many believe is a...

allAfrica.com: Somalia: Ethiopian Troops Vacate Entire Central Somalia Region (Page 1 of 1) The last units of Ethiopian military troops have wholly withdrawn from Hiran region central Somalia on Saturday night according to the residents. In the midnight residents saw the final Ethiopians army base of Kalabeyrka in Jawil area on the outskirt of Beledweyne empty following the soldiers pulled en route for the neighboring Galgadud region.