Latest articles
by Binoy Kampmark / April 16th, 2015
“I found the Woolworths campaign to be vulgar, but to be honest I didn’t find it more distasteful and vulgar than a lot of other things which are going on in terms of commercialisation of Anzac and the use of the Anzac brand.” These are the chosen words of former policy advisor to Australia’s Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet Carolyn Holbrook on ABC’s 7.30 program. Anzac, the name associated with Australian soldiers who found themselves on Turkish beaches in April 1915 as part of Winston Churchill’s disastrous Dardanelles campaign, has become “Brandzac” over the years, a cavernous money …
The Harvard School of Empire Building
by James Petras / April 15th, 2015
Harvard professor Joseph Nye, a former senior Pentagon functionary, is one of the longest serving and most influential advisers to US empire building officials. Nye has recently re-affirmed the primacy of the US as a world power in his latest book, Is the American Century Over? And his article, ‘The American Century will survive the Rise of China.’ ((Financial Times, 3/26/15, p. 7.)) These publications are in line with his earlier book, Bound to Lead, and his longstanding view that the US is not a declining world power, that it retains ‘supremacy’ even in the face …
by James Hall / April 15th, 2015
Water and air are the most important resources on the planet. Breathing clean air seems to be accepted as a noble goal and the cost attributed to its improvement is usually universally accepted. However, the same cannot be said about access to fresh water as big business interests often argues. Many corporate interests contend that private ownership of public water out- weighs the rights of actual property owners. Corporate agriculture is quite different from traditional family farming. Yet, the factory farms that have taken over agribusiness demonstrate little regard for preserving a viable water supply.
Tilling the back forty is no …
by Kathy Kelly / April 14th, 2015
Lightning flashed across Kentucky skies a few nights ago. “I love storms,” said my roommate, Gypsi, her eyes bright with excitement. Thunder boomed over the Kentucky hills and Atwood Hall, here in Lexington, KY’s federal prison. I fell asleep thinking of the gentle, haunting song our gospel choir sings: “It’s over now, It’s over now. I think that I can make it. The storm is over now.”
I awoke the next morning feeling confused and bewildered. Why had the guards counted us so many times? “That was lightning,” Gypsi said, giggling. The guards shine flashlight in our rooms three times a …
by Mirah Riben and C. Catherine Henderson Swett / April 14th, 2015
The National Enquirer recently reported that the mother of Rosie O’Donnell’s oldest adopted daughter, 17-year-old Chelsea, claimed that O’Donnell “stole” her baby.
Chelsea Belle O’Donnell was born Kayla Rae Schilling in Michigan (according to the birth record published in The Enquirer) to parents from Wisconsin. The youth located and contacted first her grandfather and then her mother, Deanna Schilling Micoley. Mother and daughter communicated via phone calls, texts and Facebook as happens in many similar situations. Some of the text messages have been published.
O’Donnell’s rep is quoted in The Enquirer story saying everything regarding the mother-daughter reunion is going …
by Robert Hunziker / April 13th, 2015
Mother Earth has experienced five extinction events, but she’s still standing.
Like a prizefighter, she is the Milky Way Galaxy Grand Champion.
Our tenacious planet is armed to fight and conquer global warming without fancy gadgets or special geo-engineering techniques. She can do it on her own, having proven herself time and again, restoring one extinction event after another, and the rest.
We only have to give her a chance, some elbow room to strut her stuff.
Good news! There is no reason to go thru another extinction event to see if nature still has “her stuff.” She does!
In large measure, it’s about dirt …
by Matt Peppe / April 13th, 2015
The historic meeting between President Barack Obama and President Raúl Castro of Cuba at the Summit of the Americas in Panama over the weekend could be interpreted as a stepping stone toward the end of U.S. subversion and economic warfare relentlessly carried out since the success of the Cuban revolution 55 years ago. But it is questionable whether President Obama intends to transform relations, treating the government of Cuba as a sovereign equal and recognizing their right to choose different political and economic models, or merely to continue the same decades-old policy with a more palatable sales pitch – the …
Out of the Frying Pan, into What Flame?
by Robert S. Becker / April 13th, 2015
Advancing the ’80’s taunt, “where’s the beef,” anti-Hillary Democratic voters should now demand “where’s the backup, the winning bench players?” For evidence is not hard to find a rerun of Hillary’s clumsy ’08 implosion is gaining steam. The headline from Salon’s Bill Curry pulls no punches, “Hillary Clinton just doesn’t get it: She’s already running a losing campaign.” Nor does his subhead, “Rand Paul has edged in front of her. Jeb thinks she’ll be easy to defeat. She’s playing right into their hands.”
Plus, for Hillary critics, is a beautiful …
by Milina Jovanovic / April 13th, 2015
The familiar anti-immigrant rhetoric and subsequent political games that have unfolded in the aftermath of the announced Administrative Relief on Immigration are quite expected, as the U.S. has a very long history of super-exploitation of immigrant labor coupled with denial of immigrants’ human rights.
While many acknowledge that we have a broken immigration system, the majority of Americans remain unaware that the U.S. immigration law is a completely separate legal system that creates millions of second-class residents and fuels the economy based on extremely cheap labor that is forced to live and work in slave-like conditions. When we have 11 …
A Worker’s Experience
by David R. Johnson / April 13th, 2015
Before I’d even moved to Olympia, a friend told me that there was quite a ‘high end’ nursery in Olympia called Bark and Garden. He felt that, considering the size of the operation and the expense of the products offered, that they might be a great place to work.
I did stop by and seek to make out an application, but the sales clerk simply said, ‘Leave off a resume, and if Kern, “the owner”, thinks you qualify, you will get a call.”
After about 5 days, I did get a call to come in and met the owner. He …
We sign away humanity each and every purchase made, each and every shekel made . . . IRS and Posse Comitatus
by Paul Haeder / April 13th, 2015
Wow, here come the arguments, the separations, the divorces, the continuing criminal enterprise of those who believe a vote for Hillary is a vote for mama or your daughter, or for your wife –
She press-conferenced her way into the presidential Gonna Be Made a Good Fellow of Murder, Inc. So, only retrogrades, troglodytes and misogynists and Rush Limbaugh types will vote or speak against her, thank you very much. Any revolutionaries dare speak out, well, we will be cursed, hogtied into the neutering ring circus that is American liberalism, and that wave of office arguments, pissed off democrats, is about …
Latin, Latinos, and Larry, Daryl, & Daryl
by Rosemarie Jackowski / April 12th, 2015
The state of Vermont has recently adopted a Latin motto – “Stella quarta decima fulgeat”. Translation: “May the fourteenth star shine brightly”. That’s nice. Simple, straight forward. Certainly that is a motto that cannot offend anyone. Wrong.
Here is the back-story. Fifteen year old, Angela Kubicke, inspired by a love of Latin and a love of Vermont, pushed for the adoption of this motto. Congratulations to Angela for her success. During the public discussions prior to the official adoption there were many negative comments from those who cannot differentiate between “Latin” and “Latino”. The gist of the comments was something like …
Quebec Students Strike against Capitalism
by subMedia / April 11th, 2015
This week we look at the student led mobilizations that have rocked the streets of Montreal and Quebec City. From large scale marches, to occupations of university buildings to direct actions, the spring 2015 coalition has re-energized radical organizing in so called Quebec. If you want some more background on this watch “Street Politics 101” — subMedia’s documentary on the 2012 Quebec student strike.
Cliquez sur « cc » pour les sous-titres en Français
Playlist
1. x0c – Super Mario World End Credits
2. Le Tabarnak – L’Authentik Payzan
3. Atari Teenage Riot – Start the Riot
4. Diplo – …
by Press TV / April 11th, 2015
Russia says the United States, Britain, France, and Jordan have rejected Syria’s proposal to add ISIL to the United Nations Security Council’s sanctions list as a separate terrorist group.
“In the UN Security Council’s Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee, the United States, Britain, France, and Jordan have blocked Syria’s request supported by Russia to include the Islamic State (ISIL) terrorist group in the sanctions list as a separate group,” read the statement issued by the Russian Foreign Ministry on Friday.
According to reports, ISIL Takfiri terrorist group is currently mentioned as al-Qaida in Iraq (AQI) in the UN’s sanctions list.
Moscow, however, said such naming …
by Gilad Atzmon / April 11th, 2015
A few days ago, I was approached by the casting supervisor of Israeli TV Channel 2. He offered me a part in the next VIP Big Brother show. For those who don’t know, Big Brother is a top rated reality show that follows a group of people who live together for six weeks in a sealed house while the general public spies on them 24/7.
Though I was flattered that some Israelis see me as a ‘celebrity,’ there was no chance that I would consider the ‘opportunity.’ I have not visited Israel for 20 years and have vowed not to do so until …
by Gary Leupp / April 11th, 2015
Reuters headline, April 9: “Ukraine sets sights on joining NATO.”
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty headline, April 9: “Far-Right Leader Names Ukrainian Military Adviser.” ((Dates corrected — DV Ed.))
Moscow’s official line on Ukraine–and it should not be dismissed just because that’s what it is–is that the U.S. spent about $5 billion backing “regime change” in that sad, bankrupt country, resulting in a coup d’etat (or putsch) in Kiev in February 2014 in which neo-fascists played a key role. The coup occurred because the U.S. State Department and Pentagon hoped to replace the democratically elected administration with one that would …
Obama and US diplomacy toward China
by Kim Petersen / April 11th, 2015
“Where we get concerned with China is where it is not necessarily abiding by international norms and rules and is using its sheer size and muscle to force countries into subordinate positions,” said US president Barack Obama in Jamaica on Thursday.
What is it they say about people living in glass houses throwing rocks?
A quick analysis of Obama’s criteria seems in order.
When Obama speaks of abiding by international norms and rules does he mean to imply that the USA was abiding by such rules when it used $5 billion in cash to engineer a coup against the elected president in Ukraine? …
The Black Spider Memos
by Binoy Kampmark / April 10th, 2015
Over this month, British officials, with enormous reluctance, will relinquish the contents of 27 letters by Prince Charles to the press termed the “black spider memos” spanning the period between September 2004 and April 2005. A better view into the idiosyncratic views of the prolific letter writing prince might be offered, though it is unlikely to be spectacular. The Royals, notably the British ones, have tended to be fairly open about their antediluvian prancing in a world that has somehow left them behind.
But that was not the point of the Guardian newspaper’s ten year challenge, which yielded …
by Gary G. Kohls / April 10th, 2015
Dr Paul Offit, who is the multimillionaire darling of BigPharma’s vaccine industry (and who has profited hugely from his alliances with said vaccine industry) has been allowed to take the pulpit over and over again on NPR, MPR and WPR in recent months (also PBS). He is one of the well-paid professional voices of the CDC (major promoters of universal, even forced, vaccinations), the American Academy of Pediatrics and BigPharma’s vaccine industry that has hundreds of new vaccines in the pipeline, which will never be medico-legally liable if they kill or injure the vacinee. (The profits of the industry have …
by Mateo Pimentel / April 10th, 2015
In the United States as well as elsewhere in the global North West, Garrett Hardin’s virulent idea that “Freedom in a commons brings ruin to all” has abetted an ideology (capitalism) responsible for a global holocaust. Now, there is no life too sacred, no thing too sacrosanct that it might escape the deleterious effects of the global capitalist system and its expanding reach. The whole world ails as nothing is “off limits.” Noam Chomsky treats Hardin’s argument as the epitome of what is known as the “tragedy of the commons.” In exploration of this “tragedy,” Chomsky also invokes economist Mancur …
Traitors from developing countries unite!
by Andre Vltchek / April 10th, 2015
It is much easier to rule over those people who have lost all their dignity.
There is no reason to fear resistance where cynical consumerism, lack of knowledge, and constant anxiety are shaping the behavioral patterns of a nation; of most of its citizens.
The West made an art form out of controlling the world. Its once rough and simple ‘divide and rule’ tactics have reached, with time, great virtuosity. What Richter, Rostropovich or Argerich did for the art of Western classical music, people like Brzezinski, Kissinger and Negroponte matched with their brilliance in the art of destruction and terror.
In today’s …
by Gerald E. Scorse / April 10th, 2015
A tax break that could be the biggest in America is essentially hidden from view. The break on stock market losses flies under the radar, unseen and uncounted, shifting up to 39.6 percent (the top marginal rate) of investment losses onto the U.S. Treasury.
And nobody suggests that this tax break should be reined in. For that matter, nobody pays it any attention at all.
Let’s see how the break operates, and how it’s totally overlooked. Then let’s give it the scrutiny it deserves—especially with Congress signaling that it might be getting serious about tax reform.
Stock market losses turn …
by David Swanson / April 10th, 2015
As Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting points out, until a video surfaced of South Carolina policeman Michael Slager murdering Walter Scott, the media was reporting a package of lies manufactured by the police: a fight that never occurred, witnesses who didn’t exist, the victim taking the policeman’s taser, etc. The lies collapsed because the video appeared.
I find myself asking why videos of missiles blowing children into little bits and pieces can’t dissolve the stories churned out by the Pentagon. With several qualifications, I think part of the answer is that there are not enough videos. The struggle for …
by Robert Hunziker / April 10th, 2015
Drought is like death by a thousand cuts. It steadily but slowly devastates the countryside long before people recognize an emergency at hand.
Excessive drought is but one symptom that climate change has turned vicious.
Worldwide drought conditions are more severe and much quicker to arise than in the past. Inasmuch as fossil fuels like oil, gas, and coal emit ever more carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere with concomitant increasing levels of global warming, the outlook for escalating drought is clear and imminent.
According to scientific studies to better understand the matrix of global-warming-induced drought conditions: “Historical records of precipitation, …
by Richard Layton / April 9th, 2015
In their article “Revisiting Marx and Liberalism,” the authors, Edward Martin and Mateo Pimentel, repeat the old myth that “socialism for Marx is the first stage of communism.”
Marx and Engels, as anyone who is familiar with their writings knows, used the terms ‘socialism’ and ‘communism’ interchangeably to describe what they stood for. They did not think of them as separate systems of society but merely as different names for a system based on the social or common ownership of the means of production.
Why they used one and then the other was explained quite clearly by Engels in one of …
by Shepherd Bliss / April 9th, 2015
Sonoma County, Northern California — “California Puts Mandatory Curbs on Water Use” reports the April 2 New York Times long article at the top of the front-page. “Steps to Confront Record-Setting Drought,” the sub-headline reads. The article describes Gov. Jerry Brown’s executive order—California’s first time restricting water use.
A 25% reduction of water use over the next year is required of residents, golf courses, cemeteries, and many businesses. But wait. “Owners of large farms…will not fall under the 25% guideline.”
Agricultural enterprises can continue to dig deep wells into our common water table and extract as much of our limited water supply as …
White Helmets, Avaaz, Nicholas Kristof and Syria No Fly Zone
by Rick Sterling / April 9th, 2015
You might think that after seeing the consequences of their campaign for “freedom and democracy” in Libya, journalists like Nicholas Kristof and “humanitarian campaigners” like Avaaz would have some qualms.
Unfortunately they have learned nothing. They have generally not been held to account, with a few nice exceptions such as this Greenwald/Hussain article. And now they are at it again. Many well-intentioned but naive members of the U.S. and international public are again being duped into signing an Avaaz petition based on fraud and misinformation. If the campaign succeeds in leading to a No Fly Zone in Syria, it …
by Felicity Arbuthnot / April 9th, 2015
… and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
— Isaiah 2:3-4
England’s Easter was the culmination of recent events which have brought the would-be great and good to their knees – and knee deep in hypocrisy.
Prime Minister David Cameron, after attending an Easter service near his rural Oxfordshire home, said it was “shocking” that people abroad were still being “threatened, tortured – even killed” because of their faith.
There was no mention of Britain’s hand in this result of the …
English Heritage
by Lesley Docksey / April 9th, 2015
It was, of course, to be expected that, having shown herself to be a better representative of Scotland than Cameron, Milband and Farage can ever hope to be of the United Kingdom, a right wing paper should immediately come out with a baseless smear against Nicola Sturgeon. But that is Westminster for you, and yet again I feel shamed by our politics.
I loathe the efforts of politicians and media to persuade me that the Scots hate me or that I hate the Scots. What have we ever done that would generate such feelings? I am, however, experiencing a …
by Mateo Pimentel / April 8th, 2015
The 1923 publication of Selections from the Writings of Kierkegaard contains a brief statement, one that today’s curious seekers and revolutionaries might entertain. “Not only in the world of commerce,” writes Søren Kierkegaard, the father of existentialist thought, “but also in the world of ideas our age has arranged a regular clearance-sale.” Of course, to claim that ideas exist on the market like everything else in a “world of commerce” is not to pinpoint a truth, but rather, to invoke a metaphor. Kierkegaard does not contend that worthy ideas must come with a hefty price tag in order to verify their importance …
