Dr. Paul J. Balles, is a retired American university professor and freelance writer. He has lived and worked in the Middle East for 40 years – first as an English professor (Universities of Kuwait and Bahrain), and for the past ten years as a writer, editor and editorial consultant. He’s a weekly Op-Ed columnist for the GULF DAILY NEWS. Dr. Balles is also Editorial Consultant for Red House Marketing and a regular contributor to Bahrain This Month. He writes a weekly op-ed column for Akbar Al Khaleej (Arabic). He has also edited seven websites, including grtbks.com bahrainthismonth.com, womanthismonth.com, the webscenes.com, and redhousemarketing.com.
Wake Up Call For America
I’m tired of politics, of the injustices, the corruption, the assassinations, the gross illegal behaviour of the strong, the plundering of the poor and the indignities wrought on the weak.…
Hypocrisy Of US War On Terrorism
“I don’t have a single American friend,” said Tamarlan Tsarnaev “I don’t understand them.” Boston terrorism has been squelched: Tamarlan, dead in a police shoot-out left his younger brother Dzhokar…
Greatest Purveyor Of Violence
The allure of combat is a trap, a ploy, an old, dirty game of deception in which the powerful, who do not go to war, promise a mirage to those…
End The Torture Chamber
Saddam’s torture chambers reopened under new management, U.S. management.–Edward Kennedy I grew up in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, an American steel town on the outskirts of Pittsburgh. The steelworkers in our town…
Shift in War Hawks
“Propaganda is to a democracy what the bludgeon is to a totalitarian state.” –Noam Chomsky Watch out for a shift in war hawks. Before the Iraq war, at least a…
World Views of America
It wasn’t very long ago when the world view of the United States was one of a country that represented justice, democracy, freedom and moral accountability, even if only in…
The Social Cost of Israeli Aid
Josh Reubner, Grassroots Advocacy Coordinator for the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation says “Israel stands to lose approximately $250 million of its $3.1 billion military aid package from…
The Hives Are All Abuzz
The drones have roused the hive; and Junior Republican Senator Rand Paul has the bees swarming. Excuse the analogy. Until Paul decided to filibuster the Senate on the nomination of…
Israel’s American Propagandists
Israeli-first American pundits wield too much power. The leader of these journalist war hawks is William Kristol. American neoconservative political analyst and commentator, Kristol is the founder and editor of…
Future Thought
We must look forward to the future as that is where most of us will spend the rest of our lives. ~ Charles Kettering A book that gave cause for…
A Culture of Violence
American gun owners and the National Rifle Association (NRA) have been called “gun nuts” (a variation on “crazies”). Discussions of guns and who owns them or lobbies for them arise…
Harnessing The Imagination
One of the most dismal futuristic images I’ve seen was recently painted by Chris Hedges in the opening of an article he entitled A Time for “Sublime Madness”. Here it…
Paranoia Run Wild
Thinking ahead is one thing. Pre-emptive thinking is paranoia run wild. Pre-emptive strikes were something unheard of prior to Israel’s using them to cripple any power in the Middle East…
Who Are The Real Terrorists?
The US Code defines terrorism as a crime that appears to be intended to (i) intimidate or coerce a civilian population (ii) to influence the policy of a government by…
Deadly Drones
As technology allows machines to make their own decisions, warfare will become bloodier – and less accountable. –George Monbiot Relatively little has appeared in the mainstream media about recent drone…
Murdering The Truth
Judging from the latest Israeli attacks on Gaza with its bombs and missiles, Palestinian journalists have been doing their best to get the news reported. Robert Hardman describes Gaza as…
Stop Prologues To War
If you want peace, prepare for war. The original Latin of the expression “if you want peace, prepare for war” comes from “Epitoma Rei Militaris,” by Vegetius (Publius Flavius Vegetius…
Beating Of War Drums
Either war is obsolete or men are. –Buckminster Fuller Some of the important news gets reported quickly and is then forgotten just as hurriedly. The following, from CBS Chicago, reported…
Greatest Threat To Democracy
Is it ignorance or apathy? Hey, I don’t know and I don’t care.–Jimmy Buffett Yesterday I was angry. Today, I’m tired; but I refuse to be apathetic. I’m tired of…
Who Is The Middle Class
It’s sad that Barak Obama had to be the first black to be elected president. Ever since he got into office, Obama has been leaning over backward to avoid being…
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