Thursday, October 18, 2007 It can be difficult to be John Reed. Christopher Hitchens called him a “Bin Ladenist” and Cathy Young editorialized in The Boston Globe that he “blames the victims of terrorism” when he puts out a novel like Snowball’s Chance, a biting send-up of George Orwell‘s Animal Farm which he was inspired to write after the terrorist attacks on September 11. “The clear references to 9/11 in the apocalyptic ending can only bring Orwell’s name into disrepute in the U.S.,” wrote William Hamilton, the British literary executor of the Orwell estate. That process had already begun: it was revealed Orwell gave the British Foreign Office a list…

Thursday, June 24, 2010 General Stanley McChrystal, the top military commander for the US army in Afghanistan, was dismissed by president Barack Obama Wednesday, over controversial comments he made in an interview with a magazine. McChrystal will be replaced by General David Petraeus. The move was made after McChrystal and the president held a thirty-minute meeting Wednesday to discuss McChrystal’s comments to the Rolling Stone magazine, in which he was portrayed as dismissive about the administration’s handling of the Afghanistan war. In one comment, when asked about vice-president Joe Biden, the general replied with “Are you asking about Vice-President Biden? Who’s that?”; in another remark, he mentions an email from…

Monday, May 1, 2006 Bolivian President Evo Morales has ordered that all foreign-owned natural gas fields be turned over to the national government of Bolivia. President Morales signed a decree that orders troops to seize the fields “immediately” to ensure gas production. The decree also says that companies have 180 days to sign over their fields or leave the country. The fields are owned by such companies as the United States‘ Exxon-Mobil Corporation, Brazil‘s Petroleo Brasileiro SA, Spanish-Argentine Repsol YPF SA, and Great Britain‘s BG Group PLC and BP PLC. “The looting by the foreign companies has ended. We are not a government of mere promises, we follow through on…

Thursday, November 9, 2006 The evangelical Christian summer camp “Kids on Fire ” featured in the documentary Jesus Camp will shut down for several years due to negative reactions to the film, negative e-mails, phone calls and letters. Many accuse camp leader Becky Fischer of “brainwashing” the children. The documentary showed camp leader Becky Fischer acting as a “drill instructor” for young children preparing themselves for spiritual and political warfare. Fischer makes explicit comparisons between her camp and Islamist ‘jihad training camps’. It also shows children praying before a photograph of President Bush. The film included scenes with disgraced preacher Ted Haggard, who resigned his leadership of the National Association…