Latest articles
by Norman Ball / November 10th, 2015
The recent ‘American boots’ committed to Syria seem tailor-made for walking in directions unknown. One hears the echoing footfall of ‘military advisers’ sent by Eisenhower to South Vietnam in 1955—a mission that crept like a snail into ignominy eighteen long years later with over 3 million Vietnamese dead and 58,000 US soldiers.
Before a mission can creep though, it must first possess discrete coordinates to creep away from, some postulated line in the sand. Empires buffer themselves from internal contradiction by speaking clearly. Language matters. The term itself — boots on the ground — is a mystery wrapped in an obfuscation. …
by Gilad Atzmon / November 10th, 2015
The following is the index I submitted to the British Columbia Supreme Court in relation to Arthur Topham’s trial. This text may help activists and anti imperialist commentators in their future battles with Israel’s supporters, Hasbara merchants and Sayanim in general.
Jewish Symbols
Zionism
Semitism
The Holocaust
Germany Must Perish/Israel Must Perish
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion
The Jewish Religion: Its Influence Today
The Controversy of Zion by Douglas Reed
Conclusion
Jewish Symbols
Once we realise the crucial distinctions among Jews (the people), Judaism (the religion) and Jewishness (ideology and politics), we are ready to accept that Jewish symbols …
by Robert Hunziker / November 10th, 2015
In America, a nascent movement against “politics as usual” or to put it another way, “anything other than the establishment” is reflected by the popularity of weird, offbeat presidential candidates like Donald Trump and Ben Carson. This looming national mood reflects a provocative anti-establishmentarianism, targeting exploitative and repressive neoliberal governmental policies.
But, America’s fledgling anti-establishmentarianism is relatively negligible when compared to the worldwide movement, which is gathering momentum by the month, by the year. It is now officially worldwide, as acrimony turns outrageously furious when people hit the streets.
Capitalists should be concerned. After all, neoliberal principles have effectively removed working people …
Let's remember the victims of Canada's troops
by Yves Engler / November 10th, 2015
Trudeau “unveils most diverse Cabinet in Canada’s history”, was how one media outlet described the new Liberal cabinet. It includes a Muslim woman, four Sikhs, an indigenous woman, two differently abled individuals and an equal number of women and men. Half even refused any reference to God at Wednesday’s swearing in ceremony.
But in one respect there was no diversity at all. Every single person wore a Remembrance Day poppy. Even Justin Trudeau’s young children were made to publicly commemorate Canadians (and allies) who died at war.
As we approach the 11th hour of the 11th day of the …
by Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers / November 9th, 2015
Just the other night we were discussing our upcoming November actions to stop the Trans-Pacific Partnership and other corporate trade agreements with two organizers, both in their twenties, Mackenzie McDonald Wilkins and J. Lee Stewart. We were trying to figure out what we could do to stop the corporate push for laws that will undermine workers and the environment while strengthening corporate power over democracy. This led to talking about how it is impossible to predict what the impacts of a protest action will be, even when the odds are against you.
At …
President Carter was not "The Human Rights President" – none were
by Jack Balkwill / November 9th, 2015
Molotov cocktail’s the local drink
And all she wants to do is dance, dance
They mix ’em up right
In the kitchen sink
And all she wants to do is dance
— “All She Wants to do is Dance,” written by Danny Kortchmar, and recorded by Don Henley on his Building the Perfect Beast album, 1985
Of all the modern presidents, Jimmy Carter is probably the most popular among Americans for his post-presidency. A recent poll shows this. Indeed, Carter said so himself when he told NBC News in 2010 that “my role as a former president is probably superior to that of other …
by Kim Petersen / November 9th, 2015
Sexual assault is a very serious matter. Any violence is serious.
Recently, a very skilled professional hockey player, Patrick Kane of the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks, made headlines because of his being alleged to have committed sexual assault against a woman. The woman who was allegedly the victim had her identity protected – as should be the case. But what about the alleged perpetrator who is now known to all followers of hockey and other news?
TSN reported, “People may not look at Kane the same way after this, even without prosecution but, on the ice, he’s had an exceptional start …
US goes on punishing Younous Chekkouri for, well, nothing really….
by William Boardman / November 9th, 2015
What do you say about the blameless man who was held at the Guantanamo concentration camp for 13 years, without trial, without charges against him, without credible evidence that he had done anything remotely deserving of 13 years of torture and isolation, with no hope of anything remotely like justice?
If you happened to be US senator Dianne Feinstein, you might write a chilly op-ed piece for the New York Times, calling for the umpteenth time since 2007 for closing the festering moral abscess you previously supported. In your op-ed you won’t mention those eight years of failure …
Part 1
by Gilad Atzmon / November 9th, 2015
The following is the first part of Gilad Atzmon’s Expert Witness Testimony at Arthur Topham’s criminal trial. This part contains a brief summary of Atzmon’s perception of the Jews and their politics. In the next part Atzmon will explain how these ideas serve to vindicate all forms of criticism of Jewish politics, ideology, symbols, rituals and so on.
*****
Attorney Barclay Johnson: Mr Atzmon, can you please elaborate on the notion of Jewish Identity Politics.
Expert Witness Gilad Atzmon: Identity politics is a relatively new study that looks into the meaning and the means of identification of various groups. Instead of asking what …
by Paul Craig Roberts / November 9th, 2015
The re-enserfment of Western peoples is taking place on several levels. One about which I have been writing for more than a decade comes from the offshoring of jobs. Americans, for example, have a shrinking participation in the production of the goods and services that are marketed to them.
On another level we are experiencing the financialization of the Western economy about which Michael Hudson is the leading expert (Killing The Host). Financialization is the process of removing any public presence in the economy and converting the economic surplus into interest payments to the financial sector.
These two developments deprive people of …
On the First Point of the Mont Order
by L'Ordre / November 8th, 2015
The internet has been called the largest experiment in anarchy. All online interaction seems to reflect this reality, and it is already necessary to respect it if one wishes to thrive online in terms of business or politics. In political terms, the internet drastically elevated the positions of common citizens, “hacktivists”, and even social movements.
Although the web has been with us now for quite a long time, it is still sufficiently new that its real potential to transform society has not yet been revealed. The second point in the Mont Order information society’s recent Seven Points program, which was developed …
Updated with Addendum and Letter from Life Chief Gary Metallic
by Bruce Clark / November 8th, 2015
Canada and Israel equally practice occupiers’ justice. Both occupy land in contravention of their constitutions. When Israel was constitutionally established by international law fiat it was on condition that its land base would be counterbalanced by the complementary land base of the Palestinian State. Relying upon the international law doctrine of effective occupation Israel now occupies more than its allotted share, and blocks the creation of the Palestinian State, aided and abetted by other occupiers—Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zealand—each constitution respects the land rights of their respective indigenous populations while ignoring them in practice.…
It’s Worse Than You Think
by K.J. Noh / November 8th, 2015
The TPP, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the corporate Mega-deal on “free trade” has been concluded between the partner states, and is now in the final stages of its ratification. This deal involves the US and 11 other countries (Canada, US, Mexico, Chile, Peru; Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, Brunei, Japan) of the Pacific Rim, representing 40% of global economic activity. The text was secretly negotiated by hundreds of corporate lobbyists. It has now been released, and Congress will have 90 days to examine the 6000 page text before approving, which will allow the President to sign it in to law.
For six years, this …
by John Stanton / November 7th, 2015
The modification of gender from being a variable of sex to an independent cultural order of knowledge entailed a shift in the intelligibility and governability of sexual lives, bodies and selves. By defining it as explicitly separated from sex with its own series of data, [Robert J.] Stoller introduced gender as a phenomenon with its own constituent parts (gender, gender role, gender identity) and formative mechanisms that needed to be discovered, examined and exploited to cure, placate and normalize sexual deviancy. In the process it was a mechanism not only of psychiatric power but also of disciplinary power and biopower, …
by Allen W. Smith / November 7th, 2015
The Social Security payroll tax hike of 1983 generated $2.7 trillion in surplus revenue. The surplus was supposed to be saved and invested in marketable U.S. Treasury bonds, which could later be resold to raise money with which to pay benefits to the baby boomers. If this had been done, Social Security would not have major financial problems today, and it would not be a major political issue.
But, none of the surplus revenue was invested in marketable Treasury bonds, or anything else. The money was all deposited directly into the general fund of the Treasury and …
by Felicity Arbuthnot / November 7th, 2015
I think most people who have dealt with me think I am a pretty straight sort of guy, and I am.
— Tony Blair, October 21, 2011, BBC1
Given the ongoing revelations on the extent of Tony Blair’s duplicitous collusion in the illegal bombing and invasion of Iraq, it seems – to muddle metaphors – the “bunker busters” and Cruise missiles are finally coming home to roost.
In what has been dubbed “an apology” Blair even took to CNN in an interview with his pal Fareed Zakaria to – sort of – explain himself. It was no “apology”, but a weasel-worded damage limitation …
Part 1
by Eve Mykytyn / November 7th, 2015
Five security guards, members of the RCMP, two in bulletproof vests, all entrants pass through metal detectors, undergo a wand search, check all electronics including cell phones and have their bags meticulously scrutinized. Why all the security? The crown was presenting its criminal case against Arthur Topham, for the crime of “hate.’
The Law
Section 319 of Canada’s criminal code is an extraordinary law by most western standards. It reads, in relevant part: “(2) Every one who, by communicating statements, other than in private conversation, willfully promotes hatred against any identifiable group is guilty of
(a) an indictable offence and is liable to imprisonment for …
by Maya Evans / November 7th, 2015
OKINAWA, JAPAN — Around one hundred and fifty Japanese protesters gathered to stop construction trucks from entering the U.S. base Camp Schwab, after the Ministry of Land over-ruled the local Governors’ decision to revoke permission for construction plans, criticizing the “mainland-centric” Japanese Government of compromising the environmental, health and safety interests of the Islanders.
Riot police poured out of buses at six a.m., out-numbering protesters four to one, with road sitters systematically picked off in less than an hour to make way for construction vehicles.
All the mayors and government representatives of Okinawa have objected to the construction of the new coastal …
by Herb Dyer / November 7th, 2015
Former Chicago Bulls great Michael Jordan recently opened yet another gym shoe store – this time in the heart of Chicago’s “Loop.” As with everything Jordan touches (especially in Chicago), this latest opening became something of an “event” – another opportunity for Jordan to further pad his already billionaire bank account. Hundreds of people camped on the street’s of Chicago’s Magnificent Mile days before the Grand Opening, hoping to be among the first to grab this latest iteration of Air Jordans.
fourthanddonesports.com imageDuring a …
The proof is in the proofs
by Dave Lindorff / November 7th, 2015
There is something fishy going on in the way the US is talking about civilian plane crashes that are in some way linked, or said to be linked to Russia.
In the case of the latest tragic mid-air break-up of Russian Metrojet Flight 9268, which killed all 224 people aboard on a flight from Egypt back to Russia a few days ago, CNN is reporting US that intelligence sources say US spy satellite showed a “heat signature” that could indicate an explosion aboard the plane.
Here’s the CNN report:
A U.S. military satellite detected a midair heat flash from the Russian airliner …
by Andrey Fomine / November 7th, 2015
In early November, while celebrating the 150th anniversary of the birth of Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk proclaimed that “the Ukrainian army has been fighting and winning for 20 months.” This was a startling announcement for the head of a government which has lost pretty much everything that it is possible to lose due to lack of professionalism and stupidity.
Taking a look at the dry figures – the armed forces of Ukraine currently consist of 188,000 troops. Over the past year the number of generals has risen by 60% – from 121 in 2014 …
by Colin Todhunter / November 7th, 2015
There is a global depopulation agenda. The plan is to remove the ‘undesirables’, ‘the poor’ and others deemed to be ‘unworthy’ and a drain on finite resources. However, according to Rosemary Mason, the plan isn’t going to work because an anthropogenic mass extinction is already underway that will affect all life on the planet and both rich and poor alike. Humans will struggle to survive the phenomenon.
A new paper by Rosemary A Mason in the Journal of Biological Physics and Chemistry, indicates that a ‘sixth extinction’ is under way (the Holocene extinction, sometimes called the Sixth Extinction, is a name …
by Gareth Porter / November 7th, 2015
I have always been enthusiastic in my support for peace negotiations, which have been neglected all too often in internal and international conflicts. But it is clear that the international conference on Syria that held its first meeting in Vienna on October 30 is a sham conference that is not capable of delivering any peace negotiations, and that the Obama administration knew that perfectly well from the start.
The administration was touting the fact that Iran was invited to participate in the conference, unlike the previous United Nations-sponsored gathering on Syria in January and February 2014. That unfortunate conference had excluded …
by John R. Hall / November 7th, 2015
Spirits of the dead are arriving to reunite with their loved ones. Few living souls can see them, but there is little doubt that the deceased walk among us. We feel their presence on this Dia de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) here in the corazon (heart) of Mexico. San Miguel de Allende is ground zero for this celebration, and here is where you’re likely to encounter La Calavera Catrina; the elegantly clad skeletal lady who waltzed out of a Diego Rivera mural to become the embodiment of those who’ve departed, and an icon of Mexican culture.
Altars are everywhere. In parks, homes, restaurants, cemeteries. Offerings …
by Ralph Nader / November 6th, 2015
Just when the prospects for single-payer or full Medicare for everyone, with free choice of doctors and hospitals, appear to be going nowhere, from Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley comes a stirring that could go national and make single-payer a reality.
Throwing down the gauntlet on the grounds of efficiency and humanness, businessman Richard Master, CEO of MCS Industries Inc., the nation’s leading supplier of wall and poster frames, is bent on arousing the nation’s business leaders to back single-payer – the efficient full Medicare for all – solution.
The woefully wasteful and profiteering health care industries have blocked majority opinion, and a …
by Andre Vltchek / November 6th, 2015
The following is a discussion with Yi?it Günay, a Turkish thinker and writer, educated in Cuba.
Andre Vltchek: I have worked in more than 150 countries, all over the world. Turkey is definitely one of the most fascinating, and fascinating because it is also one of the most complex of all countries.
Yi?it Günay: Turkey as a country is a very peculiar place. It is a capitalist country that has historically sided with Western imperialism and in the past decade it has tried to obtain a certain regional power. Its ambitions have lead to wars because the Turkish state is a member …
The Demise of Incumbents
by James Petras / November 6th, 2015
Incumbent politicians and parties, both Center-left and Right, have suffered serious defeats in recent elections. The principal beneficiary has been the extreme Right. Nowhere did the ‘consequential Left’ register a victory, although in a few instances it marginally increased its vote. The one major exception has been Turkey, where the incumbent Erdogan regime scored a ‘victory’ on November 1, 2015 by resorting to widespread violence during the general election campaign to intimidate and silence his opposition after having suffered a sharp (and surprise) defeat five months earlier in June 2015 when secular civil groups, leftists …
She’s Launching a Campaign to Blow the Cover Off the Cover-Up!
by Cynthia McKinney / November 6th, 2015
Former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) whistleblower Sibel Edmonds, founder of Boiling Frogs Post, is boiling mad these days and has launched a campaign to blow the cover off the cover-up of powerful criminals, including pedophiles, operating at the highest levels of the United States government. The ACLU calls her a “silenced patriot.” Edmonds started the National Security Whistleblowers movement as a result of her findings and her treatment as she tried to report criminal activity within the U.S. government. The abject failure of federal investigators, as well as the U.S. media, to cover the rest of the …
by Edward S. Herman / November 5th, 2015
Diana Johnstone has written an extremely valuable book on Hillary Clinton, which not only examines in detail Mrs. Clinton’s political history and record, but places them in their evolving political context, which enlightens readers on the domestic and international political environment within which she works and into which she adapts and serves. Mrs. Clinton played an important role in the termination of Honduran democracy in 2009 and in the war on Libya in 2011, during her term as Secretary of State, and she had a lesser role but staked out definite positions in the 1999 war on Yugoslavia and …
by Paul Larudee / November 5th, 2015
The first to die will be US troops. Russians will be made to appear as the killers, but the agents will probably be ISIS, Al-Qaeda (aka al-Nusra), Turks, or the Americans themselves. I’m not ruling out that the Russians might actually do the job, especially if the Americans order their 50 soldiers to the most likely Russian bombing targets and then dare the Russians to hit them. But most likely, the US will do the job itself and not take a chance that the Russians might miss.
Those dead American soldiers are needed as bargaining chips so as …
