June 1, 2010
The Huffington Post
Posted: June 1, 2010
By Sanjeev Bery
In the June 1st edition of the Washington Post, journalists Scott Wilson and Laura Blumenfeld uncritically repeat Israeli claims regarding the Gaza aid flotilla as fact. Wilson and Blumenfeld should recognize that Israeli officials have a vested interest in discrediting the activists who challenged Israel’s blockade of Gaza. Instead, the reporters wrote a piece in which they presumed to know what Israeli officials were thinking — not just what they were doing.
Keep reading →
May 17, 2010
The Huffington Post
Posted: May 17, 2010
By Sanjeev Bery
In the growing national debate on US-Israel relations, California’s two US senators have very different things to say. On one side, Senator Barbara Boxer has firmly aligned herself with the pro-Israel lobby. On the other side, Senator Dianne Feinstein has adopted a more independent position in support of Middle East peace.
Keep reading →
May 12, 2010
The following email was sent by US Senator Dianne Feinstein’s office to constituents who emailed her on the topic of Israel and Palestine. Her comments reflect a clear break from the positions of AIPAC and the pro-Israel lobby.
Key excerpt:
However, like you, I have grave concerns about the expansion of Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, and I believe that this issue is a major stumbling block to a peace agreement. In my view, settlement activity should be halted until an agreement is reached. Neither side should take any actions which would prejudice the outcome of negotiations on the final status issues.
Full email:
From: senator@feinstein.senate.gov
To: Sanjeev Bery
Date: Thu, Apr 29, 2010 at 4:16 PM
Subject: U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein responding to your message
Mailed-by: feinstein.senate.gov
Dear Mr. Bery:
Thank you for writing to express your support for the Obama Administration’s position on the expansion of Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. I appreciate hearing from you on this topic, and welcome the opportunity to respond.
Keep reading →
Filed under Israel/Palestine
Tags: Israel, Palestine, Netanyahu, Benjamin Netanyahu, Middle East peace, American Israel Public Affairs Committee, middle east peace process, Barbara Boxer, Dianne Feinstein, AIPAC, Feinstein, Boxer, pro-Israel lobby, US-Israel relations, J Street
February 4, 2010
The Huffington Post
Posted: February 3, 2010
By Sanjeev Bery
Although the reporting has improved in recent years, U.S. media coverage of the “war on drugs” continues to ignore the economic realities of just who is fighting who in the conflict. The drug war is best understood as a battle of dollar versus dollar — a bloody war between the dollars of U.S. taxpayers and the dollars of U.S. consumers.
Keep reading →
November 5, 2009
The Huffington Post
Posted: November 5, 2009
By Sanjeev Bery
It is time to set aside the notion that U.S. drone missile attacks in Pakistan are some kind of secret. The pretense of secrecy has saved Obama Administration officials from having to publicly defend the military tactic.
But when Pakistani college students, think tank scholars, and New York Times reporters are all talking about this issue, U.S. officials should stop pretending that there is anything classified about it. Keep reading →
Filed under Afghanistan, Bery's pen, Pakistan
Tags: Afpak, drone missile attacks, Freedom Forward, Hillary Clinton, missile attack casualties, Pakistan, stop drone missile attacks, U.S. drone missile attacks, U.S. State Department, U.S.-Pakistan relations, war casualties, White House secrecy
October 19, 2009
From Tufts Journal, September 23, 2009:
It’s a situation Andrew Wilder, F89, F96, knows all too well. A research director for the Feinstein International Center since early 2007, he managed humanitarian aid and development programs in Afghanistan and Pakistan for 10 years … Born and raised in Pakistan, Wilder came to the United States to attend college.
According to Wilder:
The more money we try to spend in this environment, which has very limited human resources and institutional capacity, inevitably money overflows into the pockets of corrupt officials. Our aid programs are actually fueling the corruption, which is de-legitimizing the government, which is fueling instability.
Filed under Afghanistan
Tags: Afghanistan, Afghanistan corruption, aid in Afghanistan, Andrew Wilder, civilian surge, development, Feinstein International Center, Fletcher, humanitarian aid, insurgency, Pakistan, Taliban, Tufts Journal
October 17, 2009
The U.S. State Department is now tracking the number of emails received opposing U.S. drone missile attacks in Pakistan. What will the final number be?
50? 500? 5000?
After emailing the State Department to oppose drone missile attacks, I received the message below. You may have as well. This means that senior State Department officials will eventually get a report on the total emails received.
What will the report say?
If you haven’t already done so, please click here so that senior U.S. officials know that a significant number of people want the U.S. government to stop killing Pakistani civilians: http://freedomforward.org
Keep reading →
Filed under Bery's pen, Pakistan
Tags: Afpak, drone missile attacks, Freedom Forward, Hillary Clinton, missile attack casualties, Pakistan, stop drone missile attacks, U.S. Department of State, U.S. drone missile attacks, U.S. State Department, U.S.-Pakistan relations, war casualties
October 13, 2009
Over at Informed Consent, Juan Cole writes:
The [Kerry-Lugar Pakistan] aid bill is also controversial in Washington, where a US AID official has complained about the plan to funnel it through Pakistani contractors rather than through American ones. The Agency for International Development official maintained that Pakistani organizations cannot be monitored effectively by the US, raising the possibility that the money will be embezzled…
I understand the difficulty of auditing NGOs in dangerous places like the FATA tribal areas. But it seems to me that it must be possible to audit the Pakistani pass-through organizations elsewhere regularly, and that the shell game of Congress giving foreign aid to a country in a way that actually just benefits US corporations and contractors is counter-productive.
The original complaint came in the form of a “sensitive but unclassified” internal memo from US AID Development Economist C. Stuart Callison, Ph.D., criticizing the U.S. State Department’s shifts in the routing of Pakistan aid:
Keep reading →
Filed under Media clippings, Pakistan
Tags: FATA tribal areas, Hillary Clinton, Informed Consent, Juan Cole, Kerry-Lugar, Pakistan, Pakistan aid, Pakistan NGOs, Richard Holbrooke, Stuart Callison, U.S. Agency for International Development, U.S. aid contractors, U.S. aid to Pakistan, U.S. State Department, U.S.-Pakistan relations, US AID
October 11, 2009
The latest news on US-Pakistan relations shouldn’t surprise anyone. According to the Associated Press, former Pakistani dictator Pervez Musharraf used billions of dollars in US military aid for everything but the paymasters’ intended purpose: fighting Taliban militias.
None of this news, however, is likely to generate much Pakistani sympathy for American taxpayers. What American officials refer to as “anti-American sentiment” is actually a deep resentment of U.S. government involvement in internal Pakistani politics. It is worth noting that U.S. funding for Musharraf marked the third time we have supported Pakistani dictatorship in the country’s 60 years of history.
It is precisely this past that has come to haunt both Pakistanis and Americans today. The intersection of dictatorship and dollars has resulted in a Pakistani military that does not answer to the country’s civilian leadership. Every time American taxpayers financed an alliance with a Pakistani military dictator, we also forced Pakistani reformers to take a backseat.
Keep reading →
Filed under Bery's pen, Pakistan
Tags: Afghanistan, Afpak, Asif Zardari, Ayub Khan, “one-leader” policy in Pakistan, Freedom Forward, Hillary Clinton, Hillary clinton on Pakistan, Islamabad, Long March, Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, mujahideen, Musharraf, Obama administration, Pakistan, Pakistan's Path, Pakistan’s tribal areas, Pakistani blackouts, Pakistani civil society, Pakistani commerce, Pakistani democracy, Pakistani dictators, Pakistani leaders, Pervez Musharraf, President Asif Zardari, President Obama, quetta, Sabahat Ashraf, Sahar Shafqat, Samad Khurram, Sanjeev Bery, Soviet occupation in Afghanistan, Taliban, The Call for a New U.S. Policy Towards Pakistan, U.S. foreign policy, U.S.-Pakistan, U.S.-Pakistan relations, Wajiha Ahmed, Zardari, Zia-ul-Haq
September 11, 2009
The Huffington Post
Posted: September 11, 2009
By Sanjeev Bery
Following growing public criticism, the Financial Times magazine fDi has withdrawn its recent “Asian Personality of the Year” award to Narendra Modi, the Chief Minister of the Indian state of Gujarat.
Keep reading →
Filed under Bery's pen, India
Tags: India, Financial Times, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Asian Personality of the Year, ayodyha, Babri Mosque, Commission on International Religious Freedom, Council of Indian Muslims, fdi, foreign direct investment, godhra, gujarat, Hindu nationalism, Hindu-Muslim riots, hindutva, Immigration and Nationality Act, Indian human rights, indian muslims, Marjorie Scardino, Mira Kamdar, modi, Modi government, Muslims in India, Narendra Modi, new delhi, Pearson Group, rss, Sangh Parivar, vhp, Vijay Prashad, violence against women
