Latest articles
by William Boardman / February 12th, 2015
“Russian aggression” – the bad faith mantra of dishonest brokers
Just as NATO allies Germany and France were undertaking a peace initiative with Russia and Ukraine, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry turned up in Kiev at the same time, seeking to poison the talks before they started by spouting yet again the ritual U.S. accusation of “Russian aggression.” The incantation is meaningless without context. Its purpose is mesmerize a false consciousness. “Russian aggression” may or may not exist in the events of the past year, just like “Russian self-defense.” Reporting on the ground has been too unreliable to support …
The "responsibility of intellectuals?"
by Harry Clark / February 11th, 2015
Noam Chomsky’s critique of the boycott/divestment/sanctions movement against Israel, which is in solidarity with the Palestinian people, has attracted wide attention. The Nation, where his article appeared, published five responses, to which Chomsky responded, and at least five appeared independently.“Responses to Noam Chomsky on Israel-Palestine and BDS,” Yosef Munayyer, et al. July 10, 2014 (August 24, 2014). “On Israel-Palestine and BDS: Chomsky Replies,” July 22, 2014. Wael Elasady, “Why doesn’t …
by Herb Dyer / February 11th, 2015
A Case of mstaken identity?
Now comes word from Aljazeera.com that a 57-year-old Indian citizen was severely injured when northern Alabama police body-slammed him to the ground for looking and acting “suspicious.”
Sureshbhai Patel, an Indian national and permanent resident of the US, had only arrived in Huntsville one week before the incident occurred. He had migrated from India to assist his son Chirag Patel, an engineer, and daughter-in-law in raising their handicapped child.
Henry F. Sherrod, a civil rights attorney from Florence, Alabama, is quoted by Aljazeera thusly:
He was just out for a walk, and apparently someone made a suspicious person …
John Kiriakou, Torture and Whistleblowing
by Binoy Kampmark / February 11th, 2015
What about the CIA officers who directly violated the law, who carried out interrogations that resulted in death? What about the torturers of Hassan Ghul?
— John Kiriakou, Democracy Now!, February 10, 2014
He was the only agent of the Central Intelligence Agency to blow the otherwise hesitant whistle on the torture program made infamous by the Bush administration. And for all that good grace, he paid with a prison sentence, having violated the covenant of the espionage service. In 2007, John Kiriakou publicly confirmed and noted the use of waterboarding by agents in dealing with terrorist suspects. And it hardly came …
by Konstanin Kosaretsky / February 11th, 2015
A few days ago an interesting study, “The Socio-Political Sentiments in Crimea,” was released by the Ukrainian branch of GFK, the well-known German social research organization, as part of the Free Crimea initiative. Intriguingly, the primary objectives of this project, launched with the support of the governmental Canada Fund for Local Initiatives, were to “debunk aggressive Russian propaganda” and to “reintegrate Crimea into Ukraine.” Thus the researchers can hardly be suspected of being Russian sympathizers. So let’s take a look at the results.
The attitudes of Crimeans were studied in January 2015. This representative sample included 800 respondents living …
by Mateo Pimentel / February 10th, 2015
We have found, then, that we wish for the end, and deliberate and decide about what promotes it; hence the actions concerned with what promotes the end will express a decision and will be voluntary.
– Aristotle
Guerrilla warfare may be categorically different from terrorism, but definition alone does not make the two mutually exclusive. This is vital to acknowledge, as actors may use guerrilla tactics and terrorism in tandem to determine their desired political outcome. For the Cuban Revolution, however, such was not the case. This revolutionary struggle for liberation, which ousted Cuba’s unconstitutional Batista dictatorship of the 1950s, did not …
by Joel S. Hirschhorn / February 10th, 2015
Every so often a nonfiction book comes along that, because of its objective, comprehensive coverage of a hot topic, should be carefully read with a highlighter in hand by everyone. That new book is Unprecedented by David Ray Griffin. Be warned, this book will probably bum you out. It presents the most readable treatment of the global warming and climate change issue that anyone could wish for. It is not an emotional rant, but rather a carefully organized and detailed discussion. Most significantly, with carefully documented sources, it allows a reader to fully appreciate the compelling and …
Unfair Competition or a Better Mousetrap?
by Ellen Brown / February 10th, 2015
Public banks in North Dakota, Germany and Switzerland have been shown to outperform their private counterparts. Under the TPP and TTIP, however, publicly-owned banks on both sides of the oceans might wind up getting sued for unfair competition because they have advantages not available to private banks.
In November 2014, the Wall Street Journal reported that the Bank of North Dakota (BND), the nation’s only state-owned bank, “is more profitable than Goldman Sachs Group Inc., has a better credit rating than J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and hasn’t seen profit growth drop since 2003.” The article credited the shale oil boom; but …
by Kathy Kelly / February 10th, 2015
We must rapidly begin the shift from a thing-oriented society to a person oriented society: when machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism and militarism are incapable of being conquered.
— Martin Luther King Jr., “Beyond Vietnam“
Here in Lexington federal prison, Atwood Hall defies the normal Bureau of Prisons fixation on gleaming floors and spotless surfaces. Creaky, rusty, full of peeling paint, chipped tiles, and leaky plumbing, Atwood just won’t pass muster.
But of the four federal prisons I’ve lived in, this particular “unit” may be the …
by Jonathan Cook / February 9th, 2015
I have been a critic of Jonathan Freedland before, but he – and the BBC – sank to a new low last week on the BBC’s Question Time.
Question Time is a current affairs show that allows an invited audience to ask pre-agreed questions on topical issues to a panel of public figures. The panel is dominated by politicians from the main political parties, but a token radical is occasionally allowed to appear. Last week it was Respect MP George Galloway.
Galloway has complained about the BBC and Freedland’s behaviour, accusing the broadcaster of setting him up. He has written a scathing …
by Ralph Nader / February 9th, 2015
The number of large foundations has been consistently increasing. Some of these foundations are bulging with billions of dollars in assets that could be contributed to nonprofit “good works.” It is potentially the golden age of philanthropy, but unfortunately many areas of recognized need are too often ignored by foundation boards and their executives. Organizations with track records of effective advocacy and accomplishment stand ready to take on neglected problems of our society. Unfortunately, these groups lack adequate foundation support.
When foundations do donate to important areas, such as energy policy, they often award grants to the same organizations that are …
by Adam Engel / February 9th, 2015
“If everything is permissible, there can be no value,” said Nietzsche
“Heh heh heh heh. Heh heh heh heh. Eees so reee-deee-kew-lous!” replied Ricky Ricardo
“My god, Mr. Whipple, what are you doing? I’m calling the cops!” screamed the innocent bystander accused of shopping.
It’s too much, this free-fall collapse of everything always, I’m starting to crack. Ain’t nearly as tough as I thought I was. Got the following message on that pain-in-the-ass Linked In ‘social networking’ site (with networks like these, who needs enemies?):
Campaign trails
Bobo Rebeezo
February 6, 2015 5:40 PM
Hi Adam, as I’m sure you know and may have experienced, now and …
by Anthony Bellchambers / February 9th, 2015
German-Israeli relations are currently at a low ebb as a result of Israel’s illegal settlement activity that continues to cause anger throughout the EU as it continues with its land grabs in the West Bank and authorises yet more building permits on Palestinian land in violation of international law.
German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, has a difficult relationship with Israel’s Prime Minister, Binyamin Netanyahu. However, this did not prevent her inexplicable decision to increase to six the supply of nuclear-powered, diesel-electric, AIP Dolphin Class submarines developed and constructed by Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft AG., for the Israeli Navy.
Israel has already modified those war vessels …
by Alan Johnstone / February 9th, 2015
Practically every school student knows about the Magna Carta. In contrast, few are acquainted with the Charter of the Forests – the Carta de Foresta. (Only two copies of this second charter survive, one of them at Lincoln Cathedral and the other at Durham Cathedral.) While Magna Carta spoke mainly of the rights of the barons, the Forest Charter addressed the rights of ordinary people. What the Great Charter did was give English feudal lords the right to revolt against the throne in cases of infringement of their feudal privileges. The Magna Carta was a treaty in the …
by subMedia / February 8th, 2015
In this sedition we look at the economic clusterfuck enveloping the globe, the mega drop in oil prices and the Greek political party that has the left screaming like Justin Bieber fans, plus some uplifting hip hop to help you pull through from your shitty situation.
by Walter Brasch / February 7th, 2015
Conservatives in Congress have once again proven they are un-American and unpatriotic. This time, it’s because of their fierce approval for the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline.
The pipeline, being built and run by TransCanada, will bring tar sands oil from Alberta to the Gulf Coast. All the oil will be exported. Major beneficiaries, including House Speaker John Boehner, are those who invest in a Canadian company.
Opponents see the 1,179-mile pipeline as environmentally destructive. They cite innumerable leaks and spills in gas pipelines, and correctly argue that the tar sands oil is far more caustic and destructive than any of …
by Eva Bartlett / February 7th, 2015
“Welcome to the United Nations. It’s your world,” reads the UN logo. Apparently, however, there are limitations as to just how “welcome” some of its representatives are.Syria’s Ambassador to the UN, Dr. Bashar al-Ja’afari, was sworn in as Permanent Special Representative in 2006.
Yet, in spite of his thirty plus years as a diplomat, his being highly-educated and multi-lingual, and the fact that he is the UN’s official Representative of the state of Syria, the United Nations has little interest in hearing what he has to say. Not only do they lack interest, since the Western-NATO-Israeli-Gulf war on Syria …
From Madeleine Albright to “Save the Children”
by Felicity Arbuthnot / February 7th, 2015
It’s a hard choice, but the price, we think the price is worth it.
— Madeleine Albright, then US Ambassador to the UN, on the “embargo related” deaths of half a million Iraqi children, May 12, 1996
The most traumatized child population on earth.
— Professor Magne Raundalen, Centre for Crisis Studies, Bergen, Norway, February 1992
Tony Blair was, mind-stretchingly, presented with Save the Children’s Global Legacy Award, on November 19, 2014. His acceptance speech included that his: “… sense is that amidst all the challenges, and all the misery and deprivation that we seek to conquer and vanquish, there is something hopeful … …
The Illegality of UK-US Bulk Collection
by Binoy Kampmark / February 6th, 2015
The world owes Edward Snowden a great debt for blowing the whistle, and today’s decision is a vindication of his actions.
— Eric King, deputy director of Privacy International, February 6, 2014
It is a relationship seemingly beyond question – the sharing of intercepted data between the United Kingdom and the United States has been a norm etched in stone. Not that such bodies as the otherwise clandestine Investigatory Powers Tribunal would agree – at least entirely. The IPT found on Friday that regulations covering access by GCHQ of phone records and emails intercepted by its US counterpart, the National Security Agency, actually …
by Jim McCluskey / February 6th, 2015
At last the Armageddon nightmare which is the existence of nuclear arsenals is exploding into the UK’s political consciousness. At last the magical word ‘deterrent’ which is supposed to automatically kill dissent is being examined and unmasked as the delusion by which the paranoid silence that still small voice, the voice which says it is a crime against humanity to prepare to incinerate a large part of the world’s population and risk triggering a global nuclear war.
It started with the Scottish Independence movement and now the abhorrence of these vile instruments of genocide is manifesting in Wales. In England the …
by Vadim Trukhachev / February 6th, 2015
A few days ago Polish President Bronis?aw Komorowski proposed a Victory Day parade on May 8 in Westerplatte – a section of Gdansk where World War II began on September 1, 1939. He was supported by Poland’s foreign minister, Grzegorz Schetyna, speaking on Radio RMF. Responding to the host’s question as to whether the Polish proposal was an attempt to undercut the celebrations in Moscow, Schetyna was frank:
It’s natural to commemorate the end of the war at the site where it began… Why are we so accustomed to the idea that Moscow is where we should …
by John Andrews / February 5th, 2015
Britain is now a zombie country – not so much a country of zombies, but a zombie itself. A zombie is a dead thing that doesn’t know it’s dead, but which is still capable of being controlled by evil wizards to wreak havoc. You can’t rescue zombies because you can’t bring dead things back to life; you can only render their controllers harmless, let the corpse finally rest in peace, and then begin again by creating new life, starting from scratch. And that’s exactly what we’ve got to do: start again, from scratch.
Britain isn’t the only zombie country in the …
by Robert Hunziker / February 5th, 2015
Sleepless nights bring on drowsy days, and for those experiencing this disorder because of heightened concerns about global warming, awakening in the middle of the night, screaming, there is a remedy. Read Gaia Vince’s Adventures in the Anthropocene –A Journey to the Heart of the Planet We Made, Milkweed Editions, 2014.
Gaia Vince, the former editor of the journal Nature Climate Change, the news editor of Nature and online editor of New Scientist, left her professional life in London to travel the world in search of answers to what is really happening and what people are doing about it.
Her book …
by Herb Dyer / February 5th, 2015
As reported by Counter Currentnews.com the Sheriff of Florida’s Palm Beach County is being called on the carpet for making incendiary remarks at a community meeting last month in Boynton Beach. It seems Bradshaw urged the attendees that they should use their vehicles as weapons against protesters – “violent thugs” in his parlance — who may be blocking their path.
Bradshaw’s statement was made in response to an elderly woman who voiced concerns about street protesters. He offered this as a “solution”:
Your safety is far more valuable than those violent thugs illegally blocking the roadways. If you see the protesters, …
by Media Lens / February 5th, 2015
It’s always a tricky moment for the corporate media when a foreign leader dies. The content and tone need to be appropriate, moulded to whether that leader fell into line with Western policies or not. Thus, when Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez died in 2013, conventional coverage strongly suggested he had been a dangerous, quasi-dictatorial, loony lefty. For instance, the Guardian‘s Rory Carroll, the paper’s lead reporter on Venezuela from 2006-2012, appeared to let slip his own personal view on Chavez when he wrote:
To the millions who detested him as a thug and charlatan, it will be occasion to bid, …
How to Lose a "War on Terror"
by Ramzy Baroud / February 4th, 2015
The Sinai Peninsula has moved from the margins of Egyptian body politic to the uncontested center, as Egypt’s strong man – President Abdul Fatah al-Sisi – finds himself greatly undercut by the rise of an insurgency that seems to be growing stronger with time.
Another series of deadly and coordinated attacks, on January 29, shattered the Egyptian army’s confidence, pushing it further into a deadly course of a war that can only be won by political sagacity, not bigger guns.
The latest attack was a blow to a short-lived sense of gratification felt by the regime that militancy in Sinai …
by Larry Everest / February 4th, 2015
I saw Clint Eastwood’s movie American Sniper the other night. It is the story of U.S. Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle, based on his autobiography. Kyle fought in Iraq between 2004 and 2009 when the U.S. was occupying the country. (In February 2013, Kyle was killed at a gun range by another former soldier, reportedly suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).)
American Sniper has been nominated for six Oscars, including best film and best leading actor; it has broken box-office records for war movies, and it’s generating heated debate.
Many who are praising the film say the movie is about him, not about the politics …
by Ted Glick / February 4th, 2015
Like the vast majority of people in this country, I knew nothing about the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission until maybe 2-3 years ago. Since then, through my CCAN work fighting the plans for the Cove Point LNG export terminal at Cove Point, Md., through my work in New Jersey fighting a compressor station and pipeline going through the county where I live, and through my work in the mushrooming movement in the Marcellus Shale region and elsewhere against fracked gas infrastructure and exports, I have unfortunately learned a great deal about FERC.
FERC is, quite simply, a rubber stamp for the …
Feeling Sorry for McCain, Kissinger, and Other Living Dead
by William Boardman / February 4th, 2015
Please allow me to introduce myself
I’m a man of wealth and taste…
– “Sympathy for the Devil,” The Rolling Stones
Would you want to change places with a despised war criminal? Seriously, would you want to live as a guilty monster, unwilling to see yourself clearly even in a mirror, at the end of a career of criminal cruelty that has made you hated by millions if not billions of your fellow humans, never knowing if those who politely fawn on your excellence don’t secretly despise you behind your back? Would you really like to change places with John McCain …
by Jonathan Cook / February 4th, 2015
For 20 years, the White House stood guard over the peace process, reserving for itself the role of stewarding Israel and the Palestinians to a resolution of their conflict. Like some Godfather, the US expected unquestioning loyalty.
But Washington’s primacy in the relationship with both the Israeli and Palestinian leaderships is unravelling at astonishing speed.
The crisis has been building for six years. Barack Obama arrived at the White House just as Israel elected one of the most right-wing governments in its history, led by Benjamin Netanyahu.
At their first meeting Obama reportedly told his Israeli counterpart “not one more brick”, insisting on …
