Latest articles
by Charles Orloski / March 26th, 2014
Author’s Note: I sincerely wish to live long enough to be regretful, ashamed to learn this essay was written out of self-delusion, unfounded fear.
In the late-1970s, while employed as a dockworker at Roadway Express, Inc., Tannersville, PA, I read a scary chapter in Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn’s book, The Gulag Archipelago. Chapter I is titled “Arrest”, and
I never experienced anything quite so terrifying as “the long and crooked streets of rammed earth, brick, concrete, iron railings…” that is where Gulag country began. “Nothing possibly worse than an arrest,” Solzhenitsyn indicated. “Night time arrests were most effective, and were distinguished to large …
The Showdown Begins
by Ramzy Baroud / March 26th, 2014
When late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was confined by Israeli soldiers to his headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Mohammed Dahlan reigned supreme. As perhaps the most powerful and effective member of the ‘Gang of Five’, he managed the affairs of the ruling Fatah movement, coordinated with Israel regarding matters of security, and even wheeled and dealed in issues of regional and international affairs.
That was the period between March and April 2002 and it was a different time. Back then, Dahlan – a former Palestinian Authority (PA) minister, a former National Security advisor and a former head of …
In the Age of Neo-liberal Monopoly Capitalism
by Danny Haiphong / March 25th, 2014
The first half-year of my post-college life has been spent in the non-profit industrial complex. INCITE!, a radical organization by and for women of color, wrote a book entitled The Revolution Will Not be Funded: Beyond the Non-Profit Industrial Complex. This important text contains essays from radical scholars, activists, and organizers who assess the non-profit’s place in US monopoly capitalism. The book concludes that non-profits co-opt and corrupt grassroots social movements that seek to replace monopoly capitalism with a new and just social system. The following essay adds to this important work by covering the ways in which non-profits have changed in US capitalism’s neo-liberal stage …
by Ron Jacobs / March 25th, 2014
On December 4, 2013, the New York Times reported the death of General Paul Aussaresses, one of the top military men in Algeria during the years of the Algerian national liberation struggle. Aussaresses was an unabashed colonialist whose politics were quite rightist in nature. One of his primary roles in the French war in Algeria was to interrogate anti-colonial fighters. Of course, this involved torture. Unlike many torturers before and since Aussaresses’ time in Algeria, the general never seemed ashamed of the torture he ordered. In fact, he spoke about it in interviews and eventually wrote a book in 2001 …
by James Petras / March 25th, 2014
Protest, dissent and the destructive terror of war are obviously very distinct forms of expressing opposition and bringing about change. The Obama-Kerry regime support the opposition in Venezuela as a ‘protest movement’ composed of ‘peaceful democratic opponents’ expressing their discontent with economic conditions, while they denounce the democratically-elected Maduro Administration as an ‘authoritarian regime’ violently repressing legitimate dissent. Washington disingenuously claims to have played no part in the actions of the Venezuelan opposition and that its pronouncements are merely directed at promoting democratic freedoms.
The overwhelming …
by Paul Craig Roberts / March 24th, 2014
The Spanish-American War was caused by three people: Teddy Roosevelt, Henry Cabot Lodge, and William Randolph Hearst. The war, which killed a number of Spaniards and Americans, including some prominent Harvard “Swells,” was based entirely on lies and machinations of these three men and served no purpose other than their personal needs. Princeton University historian Evan Thomas calls these three monsters The War Lovers.
Hearst needed a war to build his newspaper circulation. Roosevelt needed a war to sate his blood-lust and desire for military glory. Lodge needed a war to reinvigorate American manhood and to enlist American manhood in his …
The BBC's "Amazing Litany" Of Bias
by Media Lens / March 24th, 2014
Coverage of the Scottish independence referendum, due to be held on September 18 this year, is a compelling example of the deep establishment bias of the corporate media. Some critics have characterised the BBC’s coverage, in particular, as though Scotland is merely a region or a county of the United Kingdom called ‘Scotlandshire‘.
The establishment, pro-Union bias of ‘mainstream’ coverage emerges clearly from a careful analysis by an experienced media academic, and by the BBC’s reprehensible attempt to rubbish both the study and its author. The year-long study was conducted by a small team led by Professor John …
Author responds to review of her book
by Alison Weir / March 24th, 2014
“Zionist Power” by Jay Knott (the pen name of an anonymous writer), published March 21, 2014 by Dissident Voice, tells more about the views of its writer than about my book, Against Our Better Judgment: The hidden history of how the U.S. was used to create Israel, which it is allegedly reviewing.
Unfortunately, I don’t always have the time to respond to inaccurate articles about me on the Internet. However, since this piece was published by a serious website, I think it’s important to address some of its errors:
1. In the article Knott states: “Weir gives the impression America …
by Medea Benjamin / March 24th, 2014
The Egyptian court has just handed down one of the most grotesque sentences in Egyptian history, condemning 529 people to death in one fell swoop. The US State Department said it was “shocked” and that the verdict defies logic. “While appeals are possible, it simply does not seem possible that a fair review of evidence and testimony consistent with international standards could be accomplished with over 529 defendants after a two-day trial,” a State Department official said. Amnesty International issued a condemnation, and CODEPINK has launched a campaign to pressure the Egyptian government to overturn the verdict and …
US Desperate to keep Futile Peace Process Show on the Road a Little Longer
by Jonathan Cook / March 24th, 2014
For the first time since the US launched the Middle East peace talks last summer, the Palestinian leadership may be sensing it has a tiny bit of leverage.
Barack Obama met the Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas in Washington last week in what Palestinian officials called a “candid and difficult” meeting. The US president hoped to dissuade Abbas from walking away when the original negotiations’ timetable ends in a month.
The US president and his secretary of state, John Kerry, want their much-delayed “framework agreement” to provide the pretext for spinning out the stalled talks for another year. The US outline for peace …
A Personal Memory and a Word about Free Research
by Jan Oberg / March 24th, 2014
Media with a pro-Western bias usually remind us of 9/11 based on a victim narrative. We just passed 3/20 – the 11th Anniversary of the war on Iraq. Every year they forget 10/7 (Afghanistan) and 3/24, the destruction of Serbia-Kosovo in 1999.
What to do when NATO’s raison d’etre – the Warsaw Pact – had dissolved? Answer: Turn NATO into a humanitarian bombing organisation which in – fake – Gandhian style could say: We are bombing for a higher ethical humanitarian purpose to save lives and on this exceptionalist moral high ground we ignore international law.
Kosovo 15 years later
Kosovo remains a …
by Alan Hart / March 24th, 2014
On the face of it that’s a silly question and the speculation it represents – that Palestinian “President” Abbas could be replaced by an Israeli agent or asset – is not worthy of discussion. But before dismissing it readers might do what I did and consider two things.
The first is that Mohammed Dahlan, formerly one of the most powerful Fatah leaders and almost certainly the one who administered for Israel the polonium that killed Arafat, is now putting a big effort into getting rid of Abbas by one means or another and replacing him with – guess who? – himself.
In …
by Rosemarie Jackowski / March 23rd, 2014
Can you think of anything more arrogant than being a guest in someone’s home and criticizing them because you don’t like their drapes? Maybe yes, criticizing their drapes when you have none decorating the windows in your own home. Most people would agree that that behavior would cross the line. How could anyone be so lacking in common courtesy and finesse – especially when that person is a brilliant, well-educated First Lady?
Well, that is what happened this week in China. Mrs. Obama did not discuss home décor issues – she discussed something far more important. She made a point of insulting China …
Open letter to Omar Barghouti, Co-founder, PACBI
by Paul Larudee / March 23rd, 2014
Dear Omar,
Let me start by saying that you have done a lot for BDS and that BDS has done a lot for the Palestinian cause. It is perhaps for this reason that we should all be concerned with potential corruption of the movement, and you most of all. I refer to changes of wording, changes of direction and changes of priority within the movement.
The change of wording is the infamous four words “occupied in June, 1967” inserted into the first of three objectives in the mission statement portion of the 2005 BDS Call signed by 173 Palestinian organizations, such that …
by James Petras / March 22nd, 2014
Captain Jose Guillen Araque, of the Venezuelan National Guard, recently gave President Maduro a book on the rise of Nazism, warning that “fascism has to be defeated before it’s too late”! In retaliation for his prophetic warning, the patriotic young captain was shot by a US-backed assassin on the streets of Marcay in the state of Aragua on March 16, 2014. This raised the number of Venezuelan soldiers and police killed since the fascist uprising to 29. The killing of a prominent, patriotic officer on a major street in a provincial capital is one more indication …
by Frank Scott / March 22nd, 2014
There are more than 300 million people in the USA. 492 of them are billionaires. That represents roughly 16 millionths of 1%. In decimal form that’s 0.0000016, or as a fraction, 16 over 1 million. This is not the 1% the Occupy Movement imprinted on (some of) the national consciousness. Even an innumerate person can understand that represents a teeny, tiny, microscopic portion of our supposedly democratic, equal opportunity, propaganda spouting world’s most deadly military killing machine in history.
But hey, we’re a free enterprise system, right? Those less than 500 of us are brilliant, industrious, hard working people who’ve earned …
by Bill Purkayastha / March 22nd, 2014
The further comic misadventures of Raghead.
by John Andrews / March 22nd, 2014
The hardest thing about doing what I do is trying to write relatively calmly about things that quite literally make the blood boil. Sometimes after I’ve written a piece, such as this one, I feel the need for a long hot shower, because you have to spend so long immersed in the vile excrement of the 1% that you wonder if you can ever be clean again. I’m sure that many others know what I mean.
Nothing better illustrates the unsuitability of the 1% to their self-appointed role as lords and ladies of the universe than their complete and utter contempt …
by Bill Purkayastha / March 22nd, 2014
by Andrey Fomine / March 22nd, 2014
Today (March 20, 2014) US President Barack Obama has extended the sanctions against Russia, introduced earlier by an executive order declaring “a national emergency” in view of the “actions and policies of persons — including persons who have asserted governmental authority in the Crimean region without the authorization of the Government of Ukraine – that undermine democratic processes and institutions in Ukraine; threaten its peace, security, stability, sovereignty, and territorial integrity.” This order blocks all property and interests in the United States that belong to individuals under sanction, suspends entry into the United States, as immigrants or non-immigrants, …
by Farhang Jahanpour / March 22nd, 2014
As Iran and the world powers resume nuclear talks in Vienna with the hope of reaching a comprehensive agreement over Iran’s nuclear program by mid-July, the Israelis and their lobbyists in Washington are intensifying their efforts to scuttle the talks. In addition to all the efforts in the US Congress to impose additional sanctions on Iran, thus bringing the talks to a premature end, there are indications that Israel and her friends are continuing with various acts of sabotage against Iranian nuclear facilities.
In 2010, the so-called Stuxnet virus temporarily disrupted the operation of thousands of Iranian centrifuges. At least five …
by William Boardman / March 22nd, 2014
Governments find it hard to do the right thing for their people – why?
There are those who say that the idiots running western and allied governments (the “civilized” countries) are pitching the world towards a pair disasters, the full realization of either of which, in its most extreme form, would likely change life on earth for the worse for most folks, whether it’s the continuing, unabated nuclear meltdowns in Fukushima or the continuing, unabated political meltdown over Ukraine that risks nuclear war. There are also those who don’t say that these leaders are idiots. We’ll see how things turn …
by Jasmine Henriques / March 22nd, 2014
Militarized police, sophisticated surveillance, and normal citizens with little say in what goes on. The US has all the trappings of an all-powerful police state.
The Turkish Media Experiment
by Binoy Kampmark / March 21st, 2014
Countries who seek to gain control over their people through the Internet have their own agendas. They are in search of larger governmental control or even censorship online.
— Marietje Schaake, European Parliament Member, February 2014
Politics, claimed the German chancellor Otto von Bismarck, is the art of the possible. Exceed that limit, and you are bound to make a hash of it. By all means, care to dream, but be aware of limitations. The Turkish government, led by Recep Tayyip Erdo?an, has given that sentiment substance. Ahead of the local elections on March 30, he has attempted …
Life imagined on the Monsanto account
by Jason Hirthler / March 21st, 2014
The airliner banked gently to the right, obtaining a smooth and steady line above the ocean of cloud beneath them. They moved quietly over the “breadbasket” of America—the great Midwest and its fathomless plains of cornfield and soy and cereals—on its way to St. Louis, Missouri. Karl and Erica sat beside each other, both pecking away at their laptops. Erica’s face was a frieze of brutal concentration, her fingers a series of knives stabbing the MacBook Pro repeatedly. Karl was gentler on his machine, largely because he had nothing to do. He was simply scanning emails with a look of …
by Rajesh Makwana / March 21st, 2014
At a time when the risk of civilizational collapse is widely forewarned, it is time to recognise that the call for sharing is a cause that can unite concerned citizens working on a diverse range of interconnected global issues.
More than ever before, analysts and organisations are advocating for the process of sharing to guide our response to pressing global issues. One recent example is a research project sponsored by NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, which modelled a range of scenarios “closely reflecting the reality of the world today” and found that civilizational collapse will be “difficult to avoid”. Although …
by William James Martin / March 21st, 2014
In December, less than a month after the American Studies Association adopted a resolution to boycott Israeli academic institutions because of what the ASA described as Israel’s persistent violations of the human rights of the Palestinian people, its severe restrictions on the academic freedom afforded to the Palestinian people, and, in general, its continued violations of international humanitarian law, more than 250 presidents of American universities issued statements condemning the ASA resolution with some threatening to dissociate their universities with ASA.
These presidents gave very little deference to a more sober and deliberate consideration of the full consequences of their support …
by Ralph Nader / March 21st, 2014
Dear President Obama:
As you ponder your potential moves regarding President Vladimir V. Putin’s annexation of Crimea (a large majority of its 2 million people are ethnic Russians), it is important to remember that whatever moral leverage you may have had in the court of world opinion has been sacrificed by the precedents set by previous American presidents who did not do what you say Mr. Putin should do – obey international law.
The need to abide by international law is your recent recurring refrain, often used in an accusatory context toward Mr. Putin’s military entry in Crimea and its subsequent …
by Felicity Arbuthnot / March 21st, 2014
As the US, EU and Britain huff and puff in barrel loads of clichés: “red lines” are “crossed”, “sovereignty and territorial integrity has been violated”, they stand “shoulder to shoulder” with their shoe-horned in fascist government in Ukraine, they are “resolute against Russian aggression”, and will not “stand idly by”, sanity seems in short supply.
US Secretary of State, John Kerry representing a country which makes Genghis Khan look like a wimp when it comes to illegal invasions, still retains the prize for jaw dropper of the decade: “You just don’t, in the 21st century, behave in 19th century fashion by …
Referenda Watching
by Binoy Kampmark / March 21st, 2014
It set a trend, but the Crimean referendum has the discussion on separatism tittering away. As ever, the narrative of the national compact, bound by mystical unity and statehood, powers the narrative, while separatist movements seek to draw parallels and sketch contrasts. Movements from as far as Catalonia in Spain and Scotland in the UK have taken heed of the referendum. The Spanish case is significant – Spain, along with four other European Union members, have not recognised Kosovo’s 2008 declaration of independence from Serbia.
Crimea’s new information minister, Dimitry Polonsky, was happy to throw some fuel …
