The US and its allies have been attacking one evil empire after another for decades, including the evil empire of Mohammed Mosaddegh, the scary Red Menace in Iran, in 1953. We have nothing to show for any of them. Why do US, European and Israeli leaders think this time things will be different?

Barry Steven’s documentary Prosecutor focuses on the efforts of Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor, as he begins to try the ICC’s first case ever against Thomas Lubanga, the Congolese leader who stands accused of conscripting and enlisting children into his army. A warrant has also been issued for the arrest and trial of Sudan’s leader, Omar al-Bashir; but with no police force to enforce the warrant the ICC must rely on member states to cooperate. Today Reuters reports that:

If you listen to non-Likudniks in the region, you would know that Obama’s speech was actually far more deferential to Israel, and inspired more disappointment than anything else in the Arab world. This has not been a feature of the debate in this country.

How could the State Department have been so stupid as not to see that Hamas would win a democratic election in Gaza in 2006? Maybe a certain Egyptian told them not to worry about it.

You can call this craven or disgusting if you want, but I’ll go with stupid: Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) would rather look tough than smart when it comes to Gaza.

One of those killed by the Israeli assault on the anti-blockade flotilla was an American citizen. But killing Americans without cause is okay with our and Israeli government officials.

The Israeli flotilla massacre has put the United States and its leaders in a tough position, for a variety of reasons. The entire world has united in condemnation of the incident in international waters, and in the larger view, the blockade of Gaza, an unacceptable, poorly crafted, and possibly illegal action taken by the Israelis to basically starve out 1.5 million people. American pols don’t want to talk about the blockade, but it sits at the crux of the entire matter.

You don’t often get a piece of cable TV this good, so it’s worth transcribing and posting in its entirety. In a rare and contentious eight minute cable news segment, Glenn Greenwald decided to set the record straight with Eliot Spitzer on MSNBC regarding the Gaza flotilla.

A brief look at what’s happening in the news on the morning of May 12th, 2010.