HOSSAM EL-HAMALAWY El-Hamalawy is a journalist and blogger in Cairo. More Information HEDY EPSTEIN Epstein, a survivor of the Nazi Holocaust, is author of Remembering Is Not Enough. After World War II, she worked at the Nuremberg Medical Trial, which tried the doctors accused of performing medical experiments on concentration camp inmates. She said today:…

RALPH NADER Consumer advocate Nader first came onto the national scene with his book Unsafe at Any Speed about GM and its Chevrolet Corvair. He said today: “We have to recognize the total autocratic, secretive way this bankruptcy was initiated. Congress, which in 1979 had thorough public hearings on the Chrysler bailout and a few…

Obama is scheduled to meet with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia on Wednesday and to make a speech in Cairo on Thursday. AMJAD SHAWA Shawa, the Palestinian Non-Governmental Organization Network coordinator for Gaza, said today: “Gaza is still under siege — there’s been no real movement from the U.S. to pressure Israel to allow the…

TAD DALEY Daley is a writing fellow with International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War and author of the book Apocalypse Never: Forging the Path to a Nuclear Weapon-Free World, forthcoming from Rutgers University Press. He recently wrote the piece “Maybe We Should Take the North Koreans at Their Word.” Daley said today: “Both…

AP reports that according to government data released today, “the number of people continuing to receive unemployment benefits rose to 6.78 million — the largest total on records dating back to 1967 and the 17th straight record week.” FRANK HAMMER Hammer is a retired GM employee of 32 years. He was president of United Auto…

JOHN FEFFER Co-director of Foreign Policy In Focus, Feffer is author of The Future of U.S.-Korean Relations. He said today: “North Korea’s second nuclear test is certainly not good news. But the Obama administration would make a mistake to treat North Korea with malign neglect. Pyongyang has backed away from using its nuclear program as…

MARJORIE COHN Cohn is the president of the National Lawyers Guild and a professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law. She said today: “It is significant that President Obama has nominated the first Latino to the Supreme Court and Sonia Sotomayor will bring to two the number of women on the high court. She will…

Limited human-rights and press reports indicate a substantial escalation of violence in the oil-rich Niger Delta region in Nigeria. Amnesty International reports: “Hundreds of people are feared dead. … Thousands have fled their communities and are unable to return to their homes.” JOEL BISINA Currently in the U.S. (until June 1), Bisina is founder of…

MICHAEL RATNER, via Jen Nessel SHAYANA KADIDAL, Alison Roh Park The president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, Ratner said today in response to Obama’s speech at the National Archives: “The president wrapped himself in the Constitution and then proceeded to violate it by announcing he would send people before irredeemably flawed military commissions and…

The New York Times reports today: “Zalmay Khalilzad, who was President George W. Bush’s ambassador to Afghanistan, could assume a powerful, unelected position inside the Afghan government under a plan he is discussing with Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, according to senior American and Afghan officials.” The Times adds that, according to U.S. and Afghan…