Aram Roston
On October 29, 2001, while the Taliban's rule over Afghanistan was under assault, the regime's ambassador in Islamabad gave a chaotic press conference in front of several dozen reporters sitting on the grass. On the Taliban diplomat's right sat his interpreter, Ahmad Rateb Popal, a man with an imposing presence. Like the ambassador, Popal wore a black turban, and he had a huge bushy beard. He had a black patch over his right eye socket, a prosthetic left arm and a deformed right hand, the result of injuries from an explosives mishap during an old operation against the Soviets in Kabul.

UNITED NATIONS: Under President Barack Obama, the United States no longer provides Israel with automatic support at the United Nations where the Jewish state faces a constant barrage of criticism and condemnation.

The subtle but noticeable shift in the US approach to its Middle East ally comes amid what some analysts describe as one of the most serious crises in US-Israeli relations in years.

By Matein Khalid

So once again Israel wins the battle and loses the war. The decision to launch a naval commando assault on the Mavi Marmara cruise ship and the Gaza flotilla has irrevocably lost Israel the friendship of Turkey and triggered anti-Zionist riots in Istanbul, a city where Jews fleeing the medieval Spanish Inquisition were welcomed five centuries ago by Ottoman Sultan Selim in Ortokoy.

By Linda S. Heard
Did you ever wonder why so many people in the U.S. appear to be blind to Israel's crimes? No matter how many international laws it breaks or UN Security Council resolutions it trashes, most Americans are oblivious to the truth.