Latest articles
by Christy Rodgers / April 24th, 2017
The philosopher David Abram wrote a book called Becoming Animal (2011), which was, in part, an exploration of shamanism and an attempt to understand what that means from outside a culture in which that term and practice are still central to human life.
What he found was that our fascination with what we call magic in Western civilization is utterly rooted in the mysterious (to us) transformations that take place in quotidian fashion in the living world. He described how our perceptual and cognitive apparatus hinder us from knowing that world intimately, as full participants, and yet give us a unique …
by Binoy Kampmark / April 24th, 2017
Vassal visiting time, and the next slot in the US imperium tourism schedule was one of America’s more cosy allies, Australia. The US Vice President Mike Pence popped in to keep an eye on matters just to make sure that all was in order.
There had been that issue of the notable phone call, when Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull had been verbally slapped by The Donald over the “dumb” refugee resettlement deal made with the previous Obama administration.
Not to fear. Turnbull and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop came across as caddies willing to do their best for Pence (a US vice …
Part 1: The Early Years
by Douglas Valentine / April 23rd, 2017
The Vietnamese perspective is rarely found in English language books about the Vietnam War, especially regarding the CIA’s “liaison” relationship with South Vietnamese police and security officials. Which is why I considered myself very fortunate when I was introduced to Lê Xuân Nhu?n.
Nhu?n’s Wikipedia bio provides a comprehensive account of his life and accomplishments. He is a noted poet and author of three Vietnamese language books about his experiences as a “Special Police” officer. Two of the books are currently available. The first, The Police Plan (C?nh-Sát-Hóa) (2002) tells of his service as Director Security and Counter-Intelligence in Region II …
by Ken Meyercord / April 22nd, 2017
What I believe to be the true significance of the mix-up over the wanderings of the USS Carl Vinson has been entirely missed, even by the alternative media. I think it provides an intriguing insight into the machinations of the nefarious, secretive – some say nonexistent – “Deep State”.
On April 8th Pacific Command announced that the Vinson (previously famous for being the carrier from which Osama bin Laden’s body was unceremoniously dumped in the presence of only a few top officers) was headed for Korea, a show of resolve lauded by the ever trigger-happy corporate media. On April 12th, in …
by Yves Engler / April 22nd, 2017
Weirdly, even some self-declared “anti-fascists” who claim to be intent on “punching Nazis” get uncomfortable when you criticize the Jewish Defense League.
In an incident akin to Canadians organizing to thwart freedom riders during the US civil rights movement, the Toronto-based JDL organized a mob that attacked protesters at last month’s American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference in Washington DC. Over the past decade the JDL has built itself up by aggressively harassing pro-Palestinian activists in Toronto, which has won them active or passive support from much of the Jewish establishment, dominant media and the city’s broader power structure. As I was …
by David Macaray / April 22nd, 2017
By now most labor union officials in the country have heard about and are rejoicing over the “grammatical” U.S. Appellate Court ruling that favored dairy drivers in Maine.
Given how rare it is for unions to win anything these days—whether in federal court, at the bargaining table, or in the court of public opinion—this ruling, minor as it was, counted as a significant victory. We’ll take it.
Essentially, what happened was this: Maine dairy drivers argued that because there was no “Oxford comma” used to clearly delineate the intent of the overtime language, their union contract entitled them to premium pay.
The company …
by Paul Larudee / April 21st, 2017
There is an anomaly among the evidence that the Syrian chemical weapons attack at Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib province on April 4, 2017 was a “false flag” operation, designed to provoke a US attack on Syria. The evidence is otherwise quite strong, as put forth by former Pentagon consultant and MIT professor Theodore Postol in his three part analysis of the declassified White House Report on the Syrian chemical weapons attack of April 4, 2017. Postol’s analysis has been widely cited as disproving the White House contention that the Syrian Air Force bombed the “rebel” controlled village with …
by Adnan Al-Daini / April 21st, 2017
Theresa May ruled out an early snap general election on the Andrew Marr show on 4 September 2016 on the grounds that the country needed stability. “I think the next election will be in 2020”, she said. Fast-forward to 18 April 2017, explaining her decision to hold a general election on 8 June 2017, she said:
Since I became Prime Minister I have said there should be no election until 2020 but now I have concluded that the only way to guarantee certainty and stability for the years ahead is to hold this election and seek your support for the …
by Mariam al-Hijab / April 21st, 2017
Recently, Syria and Iraq have witnessed increased chemical weapon usage. In Khan Sheikhoun, a performance was staged to accuse the Syrian government while in Iraq’s Mosul, the situation is quite contrary – the besieged ISIS militants used chemical agents chlorine and mustard gas against the Iraqi troops.
The first reports of ISIS developing chemical weapons appeared in November, 2015. Then, the AP, basing on the information of the U.S. and Iraqi intelligences, stated that the terrorists were actively developing chemical agents with the assistance of highly qualified specialists from Iraq, Syria and other Middle East states.
As known, …
by Paul Craig Roberts / April 20th, 2017
In my long experience in Washington, vice presidents did not make major foreign policy announcements or threaten other countries with war. Not even Dick Cheney stole this role from the weak president George W. Bush.
But yesterday the world witnessed VP Pence threaten North Korea with war. “The sword stands ready,” said Pence as if he is the commander in chief.
Perhaps he is.
Where is Trump? As far as I can tell from the numerous emails I receive from him, he is at work marketing his presidency. Once Trump won the election, I began receiving endless offers to purchase Trump baseball caps, …
by Andre Vltchek / April 19th, 2017
When I think about North Korea, what first comes to my mind is a mist over the calm and majestic surface of the Taedong River near Pyongyang. Next I always recall two lovers, locked in a tender and almost desperate embrace, sitting side by side on the shore. I saw them every day, while taking brisk walks at dawn. Now I don’t know for sure whether they were real or just a product of my fantasy; a sad and gentle reminder of all that has been already lost, as well as of all that should have happened but never really …
by Ramzy Baroud / April 18th, 2017
Back in the Middle East for a few months, I find myself astounded by the absence of the strong voices of Arab intellectuals.
The region that has given rise to the likes of Michel Aflaq, George Habash, Rached al-Ghannouchi, Edward Said and numerous others has marginalized its intellectuals.
Arab visionaries have either been coopted by the exuberant funds allocated to sectarian propaganda, been silenced by fear of retribution, or are simply unable to articulate a collective vision that transcends their sects, religions or whatever political tribe they belong to.
This void created by the absence of Arab intellectuals (reduced to talking heads with …
by Yves Engler / April 18th, 2017
Last week the UN Security Council finally voted to end its military occupation of Haiti. Instigated by the US, France and Canada, it has been responsible for countless abuses during the past 13 years.
At the same time as the Security Council voted to draw down its military force (a police contingent will remain), the Associated Press published an in-depth investigation confirming widespread sexual abuse by UN troops in Haiti. The foreign soldiers had sex with minors, sodomized boys and raped young girls. An internal UN report uncovered by AP implicated 134 Sri Lankan troops in a sex ring that …
by John R. Hall / April 18th, 2017
Hindu scriptures teach that anyone who kills or causes harm to other sentient beings is in for a big dose of Bad Karma as a result. The shit can hit the fan in this lifetime or in some future reincarnation, but it will happen. Not that I personally subscribe to Hinduism or any other religion, but I do believe that there’s a large dose of merit in their world view. A lot can be said for lifestyles which involve veganism and peaceful coexistence with our fellow beings. Stray from the path, commit the crime, and you’ll eventually do the time. …
by Media Lens / April 18th, 2017
One of the longstanding functions of the ‘mainstream’ media is to channel government ideology about who are ‘the Good Guys’ – that’s ‘us’ and our allies – and who are the ‘Bad Guys’ – ‘Putin’s Russia’, ‘Saddam’s Iraq’, ‘Chavez’s Venezuela’, ‘Gaddafi’s Libya’ (until rehabilitated for a while by Blair) and North Korea.
Of course, ‘we’ often help ‘Bad Guys’ into power, even give them poison gas, sell them arms, and support them through thick and thin. But let’s put all that to one side.
Consider a recent …
by Felicity Arbuthnot / April 18th, 2017
In the event of a nuclear war, there will be no chances, there will be no survivors – all will be obliterated… nuclear devastation is not science fiction – it is a matter of fact. The world now stands on the brink of the final abyss. Let us all resolve to take all possible practical steps to ensure that we do not, through our own folly, go over the edge.
— Former First Sea Lord, Louis Mountbatten (1900-1979) Strasbourg, 11 May 1979
As US threats ratchet up towards North Korea, the latest hinging on the accusation that the country attempted a further …
Riffing with Intellectual Harbinger of the Anti-Bourgeoise, John Steppling
by Paul Haeder / April 17th, 2017
One of the toughest things I’ve been facing is the bald-faced collective delusion of fellow Americans. From the rank and file social worker, to even the people I serve – homeless, street people, addicted, just out of prison – to the creeps at the top, like my own Oregon’s Phil Knight, Nike guy, all the way through to the politicians, bureaucrats, and those vaunted intellectuals. These delusions center around capitalism, the buy-sell world of service economies, deep into the transnational crap that is the under girder of America’s engines of the rich. Off-shoring, outsourcing, sweat-shopping, disruptive economies bigger in scope …
by Jonathan Cook / April 17th, 2017
Israel is to hold lavish celebrations over the coming weeks to mark the 50th anniversary of what it calls the “liberation of Judea, Samaria and the Golan Heights” – or what the rest of us describe as the birth of the occupation.
The center piece event will take place in Gush Etzion, south of Jerusalem. The West Bank settlement “bloc” enjoys wide support in Israel, not least because it was established long ago by the supposedly left-wing Labour Party, now heading the opposition.
The jubilee is a potent reminder that for Israelis, most of whom have never known a time before the …
by Ricardo Vaz / April 17th, 2017
Prince Mohammad bin Salman and Israeli PM Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu
If we were to believe all the propaganda we would think (the occupation state of) Israel and (the medieval kingdom of) Saudi Arabia were mortal foes. On one hand we have an entity that describes itself as a blooming democracy, an oasis of civilisation amongst barbaric foes, and on the other a royal family that presents itself as the natural leader of the Arabs. Given that there is no greater cause in the Middle East than that of …
by Andre Vltchek / April 17th, 2017
Destroyed Aleppo (Photo by Yayoi Segi)
Beirut — As the US Tomahawk missiles were raining on Syria, the entire Middle East was shaken to its core. Here, even the name itself – Syria – triggers extremely complex and often contradictory sets of emotions. To some, Syria is synonymous with pride and a determined struggle against Western imperialism, while others see it as an uncomfortable reminder of how low their own rulers and societies have managed to sink, serving foreign interests and various neo-colonialist designs.
Many people are hiding their heads …
by John Andrews / April 17th, 2017
I recently returned from a holiday in Costa Rica, a country I’d wanted to visit for some years. I bought two T-shirts there. One has an image of an automatic rifle with a flower sticking out its barrel and the words “NO ARMY” written across it in the colour of blood. The other T-shirt has an image of an artillery piece, with the words “No army since 1948” on it.
Just after Costa Rica had its revolution in 1948, one of the first things its new visionary leader Jose Figueres Ferrer did was scrap its army. Contrary to what one might …
by Tim Scott / April 16th, 2017
Out of necessity, organized resistance to the Trump administration’s authoritarian and hyper-violent policy agenda is growing rapidly, both domestically and internationally. Within this context, it is important for those of us who engage in individual and collective acts of resistance – based on our varying proximities to power structures – to consider what and how we resist by taking into account larger structural considerations.
A Brief History of Resistance in the United States
The political, economic and cultural foundations of the United States have consistently proven over time to have a unique ability to legally pacify, repress, vanquish, enslave, murder and inflict …
by Binoy Kampmark / April 16th, 2017
These are the times where magnitude and size matters. Bombs in number with much heft and presence are being sought to root out those non-state jihadists of the Prophet, destructively maiming and killing all before them in the name of the next heavily drawn out cause.
On Friday, United States armed forces busied themselves with dropping such a weapon of truly lethal size against a country that has had more bombs directed at it than worthy industrial incentives in half a century.
It seemed to rival the announcement of a birth, and it was, in fact, sanctified as the “Mother of All …
by Sophie Mangal / April 15th, 2017
On April 13, The Syrian Observer published an article related to the fact that the chemical attack in Khan Shayhun was staged by the White Helmets.
Tuesday, April 4, the White Helmets activists reported the chemical attack in the town of Khan Shaykhun of Idlib province. The national coalition of the Syrian opposition and revolutionary forces was the first to report 80 dead and 200 injured.
In fact, this chemical attack was a premeditated false flag operation aimed to blame the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad for using chemical weapons against civilians.
A lot of high-ranking opposition journalists took part in this bloodcurdling staging …
Open Letter to Amy Goodman and Democracy Now!
by Veterans for Peace Chapter 162 / April 15th, 2017
Dear Amy Goodman of Democracy Now!
We are a group of military veterans who are hoping NOT to be blown off the face of this planet in a nuclear exchange precipitated by events in Syria.
The U.S. is close to confronting nuclear-armed Russia over Syria. This situation was triggered by the recent Assad-Did-It-Again story, “gassing his own people,” that we first heard in 2013. Once again evidence was lacking, and worse, there was a total lack of interest in finding evidence, or in asking the obvious questions of motive, cui bono?
As former military persons, we see no military advantage or rationale for …
by Press TV / April 14th, 2017
Reports coming out of Syria suggest that hundreds of people, including civilians, have lost their lives after an airstrike by the US-led coalition hit poison gas supplies belonging to Daesh terrorists.
The General Command of the Syrian Army and Armed Forces, in a statement released on Thursday, announced that the airstrike had taken place in the eastern village of Hatla, near the city of Dayr al-Zawr, at around 5:30 p.m. local time (1530 GMT) the previous day.
The statement, published by Syria’s official news agency, SANA, added that a cloud of thick white smoke covered the area after the strike, before it …
An Anarchist Perspective
by David Van Deusen / April 14th, 2017
(Author’s Note: The essay was first published not so long after the Battle of Seattle as a pamphlet by Black Clover Press, Montpelier VT, 2001. It has not previously been available in other formats.)
Peaceful protesters attacked by police in Seattle, 1999
Introduction
Militancy and direct action are not only necessary tactical tools for the anarchist left, but, when correctly implemented, they are also the facilitators of inspiration and motivation for both those involved with the act in question and those who observe the act in question. It is such …
by Binoy Kampmark / April 14th, 2017
Vested interests deflect from the facts that WikiLeaks publishes by demonizing its brave staff and me.
— Julian Assange, The Washington Post, April 11, 2017.
The Central Intelligence Agency’s current director, Mike Pompeo, has a view of history much like that of any bureaucrat as understood by the great sociologist Max Weber. The essential, fundamental purpose of bureaucracy is a rationale to manufacture and keep secrets. Transparency and accountability are its enemies. Those who challenge that particular order are, by definition, defilers and dangerous contrarians.
On Thursday, April 13, Pompeo was entertained by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, an opportunity of …
by James O'Neill / April 14th, 2017
One of the more profoundly depressing consequences of the aftermath of the American missile attack on the al Shayrat Syrian air base is having to acknowledge how terminally stupid our politicians are. Either that, or they are so captivated by the dictates of United States foreign policy that they follow blindly in its wake, which is a different kind of stupidity.
Only the independent MP Andrew Wilkie (12 April 2017) and Green spokesperson Scott Ludlum (media release 7 April 2017) have publicly questioned the dominant media narrative.
There are at least four alternative narratives available to explain what happened in what …
by Andre Vltchek / April 14th, 2017
Scenario ONE: Imagine that you are on board a ship, which is slowly sinking. There is no land in sight, and your radio transmitter is not functioning properly. There are several people on board and you care for them, deeply. You don’t want this to be the end of ‘everything’.
What do you do?
A) You fix for yourself a nice portion of fried rice with prawns
B) You turn on the TV set, which is still somehow miraculously working, and watch the news about the future Scottish referendum or on BREXIT
C) You jump into the water immediately, try to …
