Latest articles
by Ralph Nader / March 4th, 2016
The hard-bitten, corporatist Democrats are moving Hillary Clinton through the presidential primaries. They are using “Republican-speak” to beat down Bernie Sanders as favoring Big Government and more taxes and they may unwittingly be setting the stage for a serious split in the Democratic Party.
What is emerging is the reaction of millions of Sanders supporters who will feel repudiated, not just left behind, as the Clintonites plan to celebrate at the Democratic Convention in July. The political experience gained by the Sanders workers, many of them young, helped Sanders register primary victories over Hillary in Colorado, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Vermont and New …
by Michael Howard / March 4th, 2016
It might be worthwhile for supporters of Hillary Clinton to consider that, as of the last week or two, they are bedfellows with members of the most odious U.S. political movement in recent memory: neoconservatism. That’s right—in a not-so-surprising twist, America’s most vocal and unapologetic war-lovers are starting to imply allegiance to the doyenne of the Democratic Party.
Eliot Cohen, former official of George W. Bush’s unholy State Department, called Hillary Clinton “the lesser evil, by a large margin.” The greater evil, of course, is Donald Trump, who in Cohen’s estimation would be “an unmitigated disaster for American foreign policy.” While …
by Rick Sterling / March 3rd, 2016
A 30 page investigative report on the “Caesar Torture Photos” has been released and is available online here. The following is a condensed version of the report. Readers who are especially interested are advised to get the full report which includes additional details, photographs, sources and recommendations.
Introduction
There is a pattern of sensational but untrue reports that lead to public acceptance of US and Western military intervention in countries around the world:
* In Gulf War 1, there were reports of Iraqi troops stealing incubators from Kuwait, leaving babies to die on the cold floor. Relying on the testimony of a …
by Medea Benjamin and Rebecca Green / March 3rd, 2016
As Hillary Clinton emerges as the front-runner for the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate, she is receiving increased scrutiny for her years as Secretary of State. Many are criticizing her hawkish foreign policy, which is the best indication of what President Hillary’s foreign policy would be, with many focusing on her long relationship with Saudi Arabia.
On Christmas Eve in 2011, Hillary Clinton and her closest aides celebrated a $29.4 billion sale of over 80 F-15 fighter jets, manufactured by U.S.-based Boeing Corporation, to Saudi Arabia. In a chain of enthusiastic emails, an aide exclaimed that it was “not a bad …
Collapse of “The most dangerous dam in the world”
by Felicity Arbuthnot / March 3rd, 2016
It is hard to believe anything more catastrophic could befall Iraq with perhaps three million dead, between the strangulating 1990 onward embargo and the illegal 2003 invasion. Nearly five million displaced since 2003, destruction of the UNESCO Award winning education system, as well as access to electricity, safe water – access to normality.
Destroyed or damaged by ISIS have been the eye wateringly haunting ancient sites in or near Mosul (dating back to 25th century BC), 3rd or second century BC in Northern Iraq: Hatra, 3rd or 2nd century BC; Nineveh, the Assyrian Capital; Nimrud, founded 3,500 years ago; Khorsabad, built …
Part One of a Two Part Series
by Denis Rancourt / March 2nd, 2016
This article was prepared for the Ontario Civil Liberties Association (OCLA). It is also posted on ocla.ca.
Overall Summary
Part 1: Defamation law in Canada is contrary to international law, in both design and practice. Under international law, the right to hold an opinion is absolute, and the right of freedom of expression can be restricted “for respect of the rights or reputations of others” solely using written laws that must conform to the “strict tests of necessity and proportionality”. With Canadian civil defamation law, the state has unfettered discretion from an unwritten common law that provides presumed falsity, presumed malice, …
The Journey of Social Justice Lawyer Luz Herrera
by Bill Quigley / March 2nd, 2016
Luz Herrera, social justice lawyer and UCLA law professor, was born in Tijuana to Mexican parents and grew up in the Latino neighborhoods of Los Angeles. After graduating from Harvard Law, she ran a solo law practice in working class Compton for years. She was the only full-time Spanish speaking lawyer in a city of over 50,000 Latino residents. She says she learned to think like a lawyer at Harvard but learned how to be a lawyer in Compton. After seven years of practice in Compton she became a law school professor full-time. Her academic work is focused on …
by Denis Rancourt / March 2nd, 2016
Geopolitics determines domestic policy.
This is apparent in the client country “Canada”, where no sovereignty is allowed, and where domestic policy is entirely about preventing any emergence of actual democracy.
It is glaringly obvious, to anyone who escapes the constant institutional social-engineering restrictions and blaring propaganda amplified by all the media, that US-led geopolitics determines every aspect of state management in Canada.
That US-led geopolitics determines every aspect of state management in Canada is true in every area of state involvement:
regulation of politics
social policy
health policy
educational and student-debt policy
prison and police complex
domestic surveillance complex
slave banking and monetary policy
corporate tax and royalties policies
zero resistance against …
by Allen W. Smith / March 1st, 2016
The surplus Social Security revenue, generated by the 1983 payroll tax hike, was supposed to be saved and invested in marketable U.S. Treasury bonds. If that had been done, the trust fund would today hold $2.8 trillion in “good-as-gold” marketable U.S. Treasury bonds. But, none of the surplus Social Security revenue was saved or invested in anything. Instead, all of the money was deposited directly into the general fund and used for such things as wars, tax cuts, and other government programs.
The fact that the trust fund has no real marketable bonds has been documented by many high-level government officials. …
by Eve Mykytyn / March 1st, 2016
Recollection, Kamal Aljafari’s mesmerizing film, is the dream of a cameraman, recapturing the city he loves. The dream veers from transcendental to nightmarish as the beautiful old buildings morph into concrete monstrosities. Carts become wildly veering cars, and plows become bulldozers. But none of this happens sequentially; we see the city and its changes as a dreamer does, in flashes without obvious narrative and in an order that is sporadic rather than chronological. In his description of his film, Aljafari writes, “As in a dream, the search for answers cannot provide any.” In making this film, Aljafari has …
by Greg Palast / March 1st, 2016
Paul Singer, known as The Vulture, won a $4.65 billion payment from Argentina — nearly ONE HUNDRED TIMES his “investment” of $50 million in old Argentina bonds. It was, in finance speak, the most successful “vulture attack” ever.
Singer’s actions are outlawed in most of the civilized world. Hillary Clinton, as Secretary of State, attempted to stop Singer’s predatory act, but Singer did a brilliant end-run: he used his cash to help elect a new President in Argentina that would jump to his tune and pay him billions.
Now, he’s attempting to do …
by John R. Hall / March 1st, 2016
Changes in our perception of reality usually arrive in small doses. Unexpected, tiny, bitter bites of truth offer us several choices. The vast majority of insouciant humans choose the route of denial, completely ignoring the possibility of an alternate version of what is real and what is not. Others cautiously taste the troubling morsels, then spit them out, trying desperately to forget them as nothing but irritating, nasty mistakes, then returning quickly to the sweet, familiar, satisfying flavor of the corporate matrix. Then there are those of us who, having once tasted the caustic flavor of truth, return for seconds …
Bernie Sanders, Democratic Socialism, and the Other America (Part Five of a Five Part Series)
by Edward Martin and Mateo Pimentel / March 1st, 2016
Philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways; the point is to change it.
— Karl Marx, Theses on Feuerbach
Super Tuesday is not the end for democratic socialism and for greater democratic governance. Whether Bernie Sanders is the next president or not, does not matter, precisely because the movement he has created intends to destroy the rigged political system of corporate contributions and a nation controlled by the wealthiest 1% of Americans. It is, nevertheless, a formidable task to subvert the dominant ideas. It must continually be shown that these ideas do not conform to reality, especially the reality for …
by Adnan Al-Daini / February 29th, 2016
Basic Income is a serious proposal necessary to address many of the economic problems facing the developed world. Let us start by defining what Basic Income is. For that, the Green Party’s paper on the subject is helpful:
Basic Income (sometimes called Citizen’s Income or Universal Basic Income) is a guaranteed, non-means-tested income, sufficient to cover basic needs, payable to every woman, man and child legally resident in the UK. It would replace personal tax-free allowances, and most social security benefits. Children would receive a reduced Basic Income, Child Benefit. People who are disabled and lone parents would be …
by Dr. Hakim / February 29th, 2016
On Jan 31st, I followed Zekerullah, an Afghan Peace Volunteer who coordinates the Borderfree Street Kids School in Kabul, to visit Zuhair and his family in their rented room. Zuhair attends the School on Fridays with 92 other working and street kids, a minuscule number in the context of 6 million working children in Afghanistan. My heart squirmed at the unequal math of today’s economics.
Zuhair (Photo by Dr. Hakim)
In any world, children should have access to water, but in an internationally supported, ‘most-drone-attacked’ and ‘democratic’ Afghanistan, Zuhair is one …
Bernie Sanders, Democratic Socialism, and the Other America (Part 4 of a 5 Part Series)
by Edward Martin and Mateo Pimentel / February 29th, 2016
Where do we go from here?
From the moment Karl Marx put pen to paper, pro-capitalist political commentators and academics have attempted to bury his ideas. But successive generations of political activists have continually turned to Marx’s ideas, from working class labor activists who joined the various communist and socialist parties in the early 20th century, to student radicals who stood up to the horrors of Vietnam war in the 1960s. All have bravely embraced Marx’s searing indictment of capitalism and the nature of class antagonisms resulting in revolution. Today, with millions around the world plunged into the indignity and pain …
by Robert Hunziker / February 29th, 2016
Runaway global warming is far and away humankind’s biggest nightmare, and the Arctic is the likely perpetrator. If it happens, it’ll blister agricultural foodstuff before it can reach the outstretched arms of the multitudes. Then what?
Dr. Peter Gleick of the Pacific Institute of California recently warned, “What is happening in the Arctic now is unprecedented and possibly catastrophic. The evidence is very clear that rapid and unprecedented changes are happening in the Arctic.” ((Ian Johnston, “Arctic Warming: Rapidly Increasing Temperatures are Possibly Catastrophic for Planet, Climate Scientist Warns”, Independent, February 25, 2016.))
Dr. Gleick finds a growing body of “pretty scary” evidence …
by Yves Engler / February 29th, 2016
Do Black (Haitian) lives matter to Canada’s leading ‘left-wing’ foreign-policy think tank? Apparently not as much as having the corporate media mention their work by getting in bed with militarism disguised as peacekeeping.
At the start of Black History Month the Ottawa-based Rideau Institute co-published Unprepared for Peace?: The decline of Canadian peacekeeping training (and what to do about it). On the cover of the report a white Canadian soldier, with a massive M-16 strapped around his shoulder, is bent over to hold the hand of a young black boy. In the background are Canadian and UN colours.
A call for the Canadian Forces to offer …
by James Hoover / February 29th, 2016
There are many strong arguments for Americans to force shameful Republicans in the Senate to do their Constitutional duty and seriously consider an Obama nomination to fill Scalia’s seat on the Supreme Court. Nevertheless, it becomes easier to slough off still another solitary example of Republicans doing the bidding of the rich few. Conservative forces have dominated government and our economy for some 35 years. We are accustomed to throwing up our hands and feeling powerless.
But put all the arguments together and the failure of Americans to act should amount to dereliction of duty, perhaps akin to Australia’s …
by Edward S. Herman / February 27th, 2016
Diana Johnstone recently published a very good book on Hillary Clinton entitled Queen of Chaos (Counterpunch Books, 2015). Johnstone justifies the title through her convincing critical examination of Clinton’s performance as Secretary of State as well as her broader record of opinions and actions. But Clinton served under President Barack Obama, and the policies which she pushed while in office were of necessity approved by her superior, who worked with her in “a credible partnership”. ((Mark Landler and Helene Cooper, “From Bitter Campaign to Strong Alliance,” New York Times, March 19, 2010.))
And after Mrs. Clinton’s exit from office Mr. Obama …
by Nauman Sadiq / February 27th, 2016
Since the beginning of the Syrian civil war in August 2011 to April 2013, Islamic State and Al-Nusra Front were a single organization that chose the banner of “Jabhat al Nusra.” Although, the current Al-Nusra Front is led by Abu Mohammad al Julani but he was appointed as the Emir of Al-Nusra Front by Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, the leader of Islamic State, in January 2012. The current Al-Nusra Front is only a splinter group of Islamic State which split away from its parent organization in April 2013 over a dispute between the leaders of two organizations. Al Qaeda Central’s …
by Richard Hugus / February 27th, 2016
There is an interesting kind of inversion in Zionist propaganda whereby the thing the Zionist accuses his enemy of doing, he is doing himself. Sometimes it is called projection, but in this case it is not a psychological flaw; it is done consciously for the purpose of deceit. So another word seems appropriate. Here is a case in point.
On February 22, 2016 a group called Americans for Peace and Tolerance held a news conference at the State House in Providence, in which they urged Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo to take back an offer she made last November welcoming Syrian …
by Joseph Grosso / February 27th, 2016
Spend any time within the tedious realm of New York punditry and one is bound to come across the phrase ‘the bad old days’. Though endemic in discourse for two decades the phrase has been even more bandied about since the election of the ostensibly progressive mayor Bill de Blasio two years ago. Indeed the words have become so common it’s not always clear to what days the chorus is referring. Their usefulness depends on their fluidity.
One reference would be to the high crime years of the early 1990s crack epidemic. The reasons …
by Voices for Creative Nonviolence / February 27th, 2016
Camp Douglas, WI — On February 23rd, two peace activists with Voices for Creative Nonviolence, Brian Terrell and Kathy Kelly, were arrested when they attempted to deliver a loaf of bread and a letter to drone operators at Volk Field, an Air National Guard Base in Wisconsin, which trains pilots to operate Shadow Drones over other countries. Voices activists have lived alongside ordinary people in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and Gaza. People who can’t flee from drone surveillance and attacks have good reason to fear people from the U.S., but instead they have broken bread with Kelly and Terrell and have welcomed …
The Reawakening of Tribal Consciousness
by William Hawes / February 27th, 2016
When we learn to come together we are whole
when we learn to recognize the enemy
we will know what we need to know
to learn to come together
to learn to weave and mend.
— Anne Cameron, Daughters of Copper Woman
I am the guardian of life
and death
all my children come back to me
I call you
conjure you
hide you in my breast
you nourish me with your bones
and live again.
I am your Mother Earth
your dark Mother Earth.
If you insist on destroying me
you will destroy yourselves.
Wake up
my children
listen to my cry.
— Claribel Alegría, “Gaia’s Cry”
Recent world events are playing out a drama unseen since the mid-17th century. When …
by Eric Walberg / February 27th, 2016
Just a few months into his reign, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau finds himself embroiled in Middle East politics. New to the heady world of governance, he jumped into the Syrian refugee crisis with a generous offer of asylum for 25,000 victims of the civil war, to praise from all except a few malcontents at home pepper spraying some refugees in protest. But more serious protests have arisen over two other government policies — the $15 billion sale of military equipment to Saudi Arabia, and government attempts to quash …
by Robert Hunziker / February 26th, 2016
March 11th is the 5th anniversary of the Fukushima nuclear disaster. Japan’s NHK broadcaster recently conducted a poll of how citizens feel about nuclear power. According to NHK’s poll results, over 70% are in favor of completely or partially abandoning nuclear power plants. Nothing too surprising about that, but on the other side of the spectrum, the Abe administration is pushing real hard to re-open closed nuclear power plants. In fact, some are already splitting atoms like crazy.
Here’s what the March 1st 2016 issue of Scientific American says about the prospects for Fukushima/TEPCO on its 5th anniversary: “Today the disaster …
by Ralph Nader / February 26th, 2016
Deadly invisible pathogens are on the march. Ebola, and now the Zika virus, the ongoing cholera epidemics and the enormous casualties from tuberculosis, malaria and varieties of avian Influenza—all of these should be waking us up to the global spread of disease and the public health challenges when it comes to dealing with mutational virulence. Millions die every year. But the political leaders of nations don’t seem to respect the warnings from our scientists. Pandemic, the important book by Sonia Shah, is a jeremiad, and should spark policy makers’ public concern. Unfortunately, basketball and March Madness occupy more public attention …
Neo-tribalism or old tribes can be the only way to saving the world, us, before consumption by the way of Ouroboros
by Paul Haeder / February 26th, 2016
Charles Manson is Donald Trump is Donald Sterling is . . .
Helter skelter, the street is an open wound. Those All-American cul-de-sac suburbs full of $9.99 empties of Cabernet and tasty flavored vodka endgames, spun out and 9 to 5 consumed. Separate those recyclables, rule-following white folk, that $99 a month for garbage pick-up, private shysters dumping those green bins in landfills. Follow all the rules of Empire and Money Elites, every breath you take, Sting, is monetized, broken down in .0001 cents, but boy do those chosen few make multiple millions on the exhales and inhales, snotting children and …
by Rajesh Makwana / February 26th, 2016
As the illicit trade in nuclear weapons escalates alongside the risk of geopolitical conflict, it’s high time governments decisively prioritised nuclear disarmament – and that means scrapping Trident, the UK’s inordinately expensive nuclear deterrent, which would also facilitate the redistribution of scarce public resources to fund essential services.
As geopolitical tensions escalate in the Middle East and the world teeters on the brink of a new Cold War, it’s clear that the only way to eliminate the threat of nuclear warfare is for governments to fulfil their long-held commitment to the “general and complete disarmament” of nuclear weapons – …
