Latest articles
Is His Real Legacy Being Upheld?
by Ramzy Baroud / May 4th, 2016
I had mixed feelings when I learned that Palestine has erected a statue of Nelson Mandela, the iconic South African anti-Apartheid leader. On the one hand, I was quite pleased that the unmistakable connection between the struggles of Palestinians and South Africans is cemented more than ever before. On the other hand, I dreaded that rich, corrupt Palestinians in Ramallah are utilizing the image of Mandela to acquire badly-needed political capital.
The six-meter bronze statue now stands in its own Nelson Mandela Square in Al-Tireh neighborhood in Ramallah, where the Palestinian Authority headquarters are based. The PA is known for …
by Bruce Lerro / May 3rd, 2016
Lost at Sea
In the periphery of the circles in which I travel, people do not actively defend what it means to be a member of the Democratic Party. They come on much stronger when they say they are against the Republican Party. And why not? The Republican Party is the party of old money, inheritance, white supremacy and fundamentalist Christianity. Republicans and their followers are up front about it and don’t apologize. By implication, a Democrat is supposed to be opposed to such extremes. But what Democrats are for is simply left implied, and dissolves into a mist before the …
by Jonathan Cook / May 3rd, 2016
We are desperately in need of some sanity as the British political and media establishment seek to generate yet another “new anti-semitism” crisis, on this occasion to undermine a Jeremy Corbyn-led Labour party before the upcoming local elections.
Corbyn and his supporters want to revive Labour as a party of social justice, while Britain’s elites hope that – in a period of unpopular austerity – they can turn the Labour leadership’s support for the Palestinians into its Achilles’ heel. This is nothing more than a class war to pave the way for a return of the Blairites to lead Labour.
Israel and its …
by Brian Terrell / May 3rd, 2016
What happened to us was a shakedown by gangsters wearing police uniforms and judges’ robes, not for the sake of justice, but to maintain the civic infrastructure behind the glittering façade of Las Vegas with dollars squeezed out of its poorest citizens.
“The degree of civilization in a society,” wrote the Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky, “can be judged by entering its prisons.” As a frequent visitor to Nevada in recent years, I have often been surprised by the cultural diversity and spiritual richness that can be found in Las Vegas. Still, I think that Dostoyevsky was right. A more accurate assessment …
A Blueprint for California?
by Ellen Brown / May 3rd, 2016
Despite North Dakota’s collapsing oil market, its state-owned bank continues to report record profits. This article looks at what California, with fifty times North Dakota’s population, could do following that state’s lead.
In November 2014, the Wall Street Journal reported that the Bank of North Dakota (BND), the nation’s only state-owned depository bank, was more profitable even than J.P. Morgan Chase and Goldman Sachs. The author attributed this remarkable performance to the state’s oil boom; but the boom has now become an oil bust, yet the BND’s profits continue to climb. Its 2015 Annual Report, published on …
by Paul Craig Roberts / May 2nd, 2016
According to President Obama, the world’s only superpower, the unipower, the exceptional country is threatened by small Venezuela in South America !
In an executive order last year, renewed this year, President Obama declared Venezuela to be an “unusual and extraordrinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States” and declared a “national emergency” to counter the “Venezuelan threat”.
This manufactured “extraordinary threat” serves as the Obama regime’s excuse for overthrowing President Maduro in Venezuela. It is a Washington tradition to overthrow elected Latin American governments that try to represent the interest of the people, and not …
by Bill Quigley / May 2nd, 2016
A labor lawyer for the last 12 years, law was Chris Williams’ third career. He taught school in Chicago for a decade. For another decade he was a union organizer. Only then did he become a social justice lawyer specializing in advocating for and with low-wage workers. “Even though my route to law school was somewhat circuitous, I think my two prior careers help define who I am as a lawyer,” he says.
Beginnings
Chris grew up in St. Louis. Mom was an elementary school teacher. Dad was Navy pilot who died testing a jet when Chris was two. His dad …
Antisemitism Inquisition shifts up a gear in bid to wreck Labour's election chances and remove the "loose cannon".
by Stuart Littlewood / May 2nd, 2016
With important local government elections a few days away the campaign against alleged antisemites reached a crescendo over the weekend, with the press and TV corps in full cry.
Their main quarry was former mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, now suspended from the party; their instrument a Labour MP bully-boy called John Mann, who happens to be chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group against Antisemitism. But no-one is in any doubt that the ultimate aim of this operation is the downfall of Labour’s new leader, Jeremy Corbyn.
Zionists have a serious problem with Corbyn. His election to the leadership was a surprise …
A new direction (Part 2 of a 2 Part Series)
by Dan Lieberman / May 1st, 2016
One problem in resolving the Middle East Crisis is that the pro-Israel contingent follows the Trump philosophy — bludgeon the opponent with made up stories, deceit and invectives. Talk with those who favor Israel and find the most rabid of them shout, scream and prevent rebuttals. If their ugly behavior does not silence critics, they resort to the ultra-low technique of labeling their antagonist as an anti-Semite. Use of anti-Semitism to silence opponents and constant reference to the World War II holocaust to promote Israel are essentials to Israel’s strategy of confuse and conquer. Contradicting history with references to biblical …
by Denis Rancourt / April 30th, 2016
No challenge poses a greater threat to future generations than climate change.
— Barack Obama, leader of the US global dominance regime, Nobel Peace Prize laureate. (Any questions?)
The current world energy sources are like this:
Let that sink in.
Now imagine what that means in terms of physical infrastructure and organization of the world economy.
Given this evident reality, any carbon management plan can only be for actual reasons other than halting world development or significantly altering the use of fossil fuels.
Carbon management plans can never stop energy use or …
by Binoy Kampmark / April 30th, 2016
It was all a funny business, but it is very clear that the Australian relationship with France, at least when it comes to matters of defence, has changed over the years. From being belligerents keen to pursue nuclear testing in the Pacific, to being “cheese eating surrender monkeys” prior to the Coalition of the Confused’s attack on Iraq in 2003, France has stormed into fashion as a military supplier for the Royal Australian Navy.
The French military industrial complex, involving heavy state direction and motivated by Colbert’s principles of dirigisme, has long been one of the most active in terms of …
by Graham Peebles / April 29th, 2016
Millions of the poorest, most vulnerable people in Ethiopia are once again at risk of starvation. Elderly men and women, weak and desperate, wait for food and water; malnourished children lie dying; livestock, bones protruding, perish.
According to a statement issued by the World Food Programme (WFP) on February 6th, over 10 million of the most vulnerable require urgent humanitarian assistance. This figure was published in the Joint Government and Humanitarian Partners’ Document (HRD) in December last year, and does not take into account the seven and a half million people who annually receive cash or food from Ethiopia’s Productive …
by Stuart Littlewood / April 29th, 2016
The orchestrated smear campaign against pro-Palestine sympathisers sent me reaching for my pen. But Gilad Atzmon too was eyeing the Labour Party’s crazed witch hunt for “antisemites” with misgiving and had already declared, in his usual robust way, that Labour under Jeremy Corbyn was not so much a party as a piece of Zionist-occupied territory.
Writing in his blog about Corbyn and McDonnell’s servile commitment to expel anyone whose remarks might be interpreted by Zionist mafioso as hateful or simply upsetting to Jews, Atzmon concludes: “Corbyn’s Labour is now unequivocally a spineless club of Sabbos Goyim” [which I take to mean …
Failures of present direction (Part 1 of a 2 Part Series)
by Dan Lieberman / April 29th, 2016
Dr. Mazin Quimseyeh, one of the most respected and self-sacrificing Palestinian activists who fights relentlessly for human rights, has posed a question: “What would YOU advise us Palestinians (including leaders) to do?”
The direct answer is that only those directly affected by the onslaught know how they can contest oppression and are able to evaluate the punishment they can sustain. The troubling answer is that, from an external perspective, there is little the Palestinians can do without finding themselves riddled with bullets. Provoking the Palestinians into retaliation has been Israel’s strategy since day “0.” By carefully designed tactics, Israel has converted …
by Ron Forthofer / April 29th, 2016
In May 2014, Senator Elizabeth Warren talked about the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement.
From what I hear, Wall Street, pharmaceuticals, telecom, big polluters and outsourcers are all salivating at the chance to rig the deal in the upcoming trade talks. So the question is: Why are the trade talks secret? You’ll love this answer. Boy, the things you learn on Capitol Hill. I actually have had supporters of the deal say to me, ‘They have to be secret, because if the American people knew what was actually in them, they would be opposed.’
In May 2012, Senator Ron Wyden, Chairman of the …
by James Petras / April 29th, 2016
President Obama is racing forward to establish his imperial legacy throughout Russia, Asia and Latin America.
In the last two years he has accelerated the buildup of his military nuclear arsenal on the frontiers of Russia. The Pentagon has designed a high tech anti-missile system to undermine Russian defenses.
In Latin America, Obama has shed his shallow pretense of tolerating the center—left electoral regimes. Instead he is has joined with rabid authoritarian neo-liberals in Argentina; …
by Gary Engler / April 28th, 2016
Okay, here’s the proposition — you can have a good job, decent pay, lots of overtime, but only if you give me your grandchildren or maybe your great-grandchildren.
Would you make this deal with the devil?
This is pretty much the choice currently offered workers by the captains of the carbon extraction, transportation and burning industries.
In fact, in a more general sense, it seems to be the choice being forced upon many governments around the world by the devil, which has taken the form of our current economic system.
Capitalism is asking us to choose between jobs and the future livability of our …
by Bashar Salame / April 28th, 2016
Earth Day arrived and passed with marginal coverage, awareness or acknowledgement this year. To be fair, it was a heavy news cycle, the passing of music legend and icon Prince a day before, continuing primary election coverage and a host of other local concerns held sway. Intended to create awareness of and for the environment, considering humanity’s centuries old assault, Earth Day is more relevant now then ever.
Solutions to climate matters are complicated, tainted with partisanship and moreover, difficult, as the impact may not be shared equally throughout the world. Some nations have taken a leading and prominent role. Sweden …
Remembering George Seldes (1890-1995)
by Mike Kuhlenbeck / April 27th, 2016
Those who cannot see the growth of Fascism or deny its existence are either the many who do not know what fascism really is or the few who prefer euphemism – a patriotic American name for a distinctly European product.
These words, penned by journalist George Seldes decades ago, have seemingly been ignored by American readers.
During the course of his life, Seldes repeatedly accused the American Press of “covering itself in filth” when glorifying fascist regimes, no matter how brutal and undemocratic, as long as it was in the name of anti-Communism. Seldes went on to write other journalistic tracts on …
A review of John Steppling's new book, Aesthetic Resistance and Dis-Interest
by Paul Haeder / April 27th, 2016
it is through mimesis, (identification with the mirror image) that one gains a sense of unity, self-containment and mastery over the body. If that was all that there was to it, humanity would be condemned to dwell forever entombed in the hell of mirrors. However, the identification with an Other in the mirror opens out the possibility for symbolic thought.
— John Desmond, author, thinker, who is interested in the history of marketing; construction of knowledge in marketing; consuming culture; morality and marketing; advertising and public policy
The beauty of ideas and words and sculpting frames and philosophical groundings is that …
by Peter Breschard / April 27th, 2016
Let’s get some terms straightened out. If you’re a misanthrope, you pretty much hate humanity in general. Women, children, men, you despise them all. You can still hate everyone and have exceptions for your own family and puppy dog, but you’re probably more than willing to press the button and vaporize millions. Frankly, you don’t give a shit about anyone other than you and your own.
What’s a misogynist? Misogyny is a sub-category of misanthropy but focuses its hatred on women. In other words, if you’re a misanthrope, you’re pretty much a misogynist as well. But if you’re a misogynist, you …
A Schism between the Ruling Classes and the Wider Society
by Ramzy Baroud / April 27th, 2016
At the age of 21, I crossed Gaza into Egypt to pursue a degree in political science. The timing could have not been worse. The Iraq invasion of Kuwait in 1990 had resulted in a US-led international coalition and a major war, which eventually paved the road for the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. I became aware that Palestinians were suddenly ‘hated’ in Egypt because of Yasser Arafat’s stance in support of Iraq at the time. I just did not know the extent of that alleged ‘hate.’
It was in a cheap hotel in Cairo, where I slowly ran out …
by Felicity Arbuthnot / April 27th, 2016
The welfare of the people in particular has always been the alibi of tyrants.
— Albert Camus, 1913-1960
On May 1st, 2003, George W. Bush stood in a dinky little flying suit on the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln and in a super stage managed appearance told the lie of the century:
Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the Battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed. And now our coalition is engaged in securing and reconstructing that country.
The illegal occupation and decimation of Iraq continued until December 2011. In June 2014 they returned to bomb …
by Paul Larudee / April 27th, 2016
The following letters are from 22-year-old Amena Ashkar and 86-year-old Mariam Fathalla, stateless Palestinians from the refugee camps in Lebanon. They are addressed to the eleven Congressional signers of the “Leahy letter”, asking secretary of State John Kerry to report on Israeli and Egyptian violations of human rights. Amena and Mariam personally took the letters on April 26, 2016, to members of the US Congress and their staffers. In at least one case, this act brought tears to the eyes of a staffer.
April 25, 2016
Hon. [name]
Congressional address
Washington, DC
Dear [title] …
by William T. Hathaway / April 27th, 2016
Most books about economics are turgid and abstruse, so most people are intimidated and mystified by this crucial topic. Now sociologist Dr. Michael Sosteric (pen name Michael Sharp) has written a helpful guide to it. He has a gift for explaining complex, abstract concepts in simple, easy-to-understand language, and his clear prose is a refreshing antidote to the murk of much economic writing.
Entitled The Rocket Scientists’ Guide to Money and the Economy, the book explains the fundamentals of economics and gives us an historical overview of their development. With the help of a fable and graphics it shows how …
by Gareth Porter / April 26th, 2016
The controversy surrounding the infamous “28 pages” on the possible Saudi connection with the terrorists that were excised from the joint Congressional report on the 9/11 attacks is at fever pitch. But that controversy is a distraction from the real problems that Saudi Arabia’s policies pose to the United States and the entire Middle East region.
The political pressure to release the 28 pages has been growing for the past couple of years, with resolutions in both houses of Congress urging the president to declassify the information. But now legislation with bipartisan sponsorship has advanced in Congress that would deprive any foreign …
by James McEnteer / April 26th, 2016
On April 16, Ecuador suffered an earthquake registering 7.8 on the Richter scale. One week later, the death toll stood at 656, with more than twelve thousand injuries reported and more than fifty people still missing. Hundreds of aftershocks, some very powerful, continue to shake the country’s northwest coast and cause more damage.
The day after the disaster, aid began arriving from Ecuador’s Latin American neighbors, including Colombia, Peru, Venezuela and Bolivia. Quick responses were crucial, as hundreds of people were still missing, many trapped in crumbling rubble.
Cuba sent 53 medical personnel to help, in addition to the more than two …
by William Hawes / April 25th, 2016
We have all been told a lie. The lie that says democracy can be maintained only through voting, through purely representative, parliamentarian means. When the founding fathers set up the Constitution and Bill of Rights, they were wary of any truly popular, working and middle class control of the United States. Our government was to be run as a republic, designed by elites, for the elites. Our three branches of government were not simply invented for checks and balances: another reason was to stymie any massively popular mandates that would go against the interests of the oligarchy.
Today, the checks and …
by Walter Brasch / April 25th, 2016
Several hundred thousand American citizens won’t be voting in presidential primary elections—and it’s not their fault.
In Pennsylvania, for example, a registered voter who needed an absentee ballot had to submit the request at least one full week before the election, and then return the ballot no less than four days before the election.
But, what if circumstances changed? What if that person became injured or had to leave the state after April 19, but before the election, Tuesday? If it was April 20, you could not receive an absentee ballot. You could still vote in person, but if you couldn’t …
by Jonathan Cook / April 25th, 2016
In Israel’s evermore tribal politics, there is no such thing as a “good” Arab – and the worst failing in a Jew is to be unmasked as an “Arab lover”. Or so was the message last week from Isaac Herzog, head of Israel’s so-called peace camp.The shock waves of popular anger at the recent indictment of an Israeli army medic, Elor Azaria, on a charge of “negligent homicide” are being felt across Israel’s political landscape.
Most Israeli Jews bitterly resent the soldier being put on trial, even though Azaria was caught on camera firing a bullet into the head …
