29 April, 2007
Free Trade vs. Small Farmers
By Walden BelloToday, perhaps the greatest threat to small farmers is free trade. And the farmers are fighting back. They have helped, for instance, to stalemate the Doha round of negotiations of the World Trade Organization (WTO). This tug of war between farmers and free trade is nowhere more visible than in Asia
India Needs Her Small Farmers
By Vandana ShivaIndia is a land of small farmers, with 650 million of her 1 billion people living on the land and 80 per cent farmers owning less than 2 ha of land. In other words, the land provides livelihood security for 65 per cent of the people, and the small farmers provide food security for 1 billion
The 450ppm, 2 Degrees, Change Now Imperative
By Bill Henderson450ppm; 2 degrees; change now is as yet a minority opinion amongst climate change specialists but do the deep reading and thinking and you'll realize that there is nothing more important and that this bottom line must now impact everything we do
All Dead Politicians Become Angels
By David TruskoffAs I write this Ex American Presidents George H. Bush, (yes the same Bush that once said, "We will bleed them (Russians) White") and old Yelstin buddy Bill Clinton are in Moscow to pay their RESPECTS to the great man that defeated Communism.One might think that all Russians are slow thinkers. How could they have tolerated it for so long
Bush's So Called "War Against Evil"
By Richard L. FranklinBeware of the "fog of war", and try to avoid contributing to that fog with this kind of metaphysical nonsense or to allow semantic folderol to confuse your own thinking about what your government is doing or not doing. Those who use empty terms such as "evil" should be called upon to give us real, tangible reasons for their acts
Tensions Run High After Sunni Killings
By Dahr JamailThe killings of two pro-government Sunni Muslims has raised tensions across Lebanon. Rival political leaders have called for calm amidst fear that the killings could spark civil strife
Massacre In Mogadishu—
War Crime Made In The USA
By Bill Van AukenThe brutal military siege against the Somali capital of Mogadishu constitutes a war crime for which the US government bears the principal responsibility
The Status Of Tamil Statehood
By Chandi SinnathuraiThe state of the Tamils is tragic. The point is, best part of the world is yet to know the narrative of the Tamil struggle. That is truly tragic
Yesterday’s Prophecy And Today’s Bangladesh
By Salah Uddin Shoaib ChoudhuryWith all these proven facts, possibly there is some room for the conscious people in the world to be concerned about the rise of Islamist militancy in Bangladesh, especially after the series blasts that rocked the entire country in August 2005
False Domestic Violence Accusations
Can Lead To Parental Alienation Syndrome
By David HeleniakParental Alienation Syndrome is a pattern of thoughts and behavior that can develop in a child of separated parents where the custodial parent causes the child, through manipulation and access blocking, to unjustifiably fear and/or hate the other parent
A Reluctant Hero For Our Times
By Heather WokuschAgustín Aguayo is a powerful symbol for the anti-war movement. And his three-year fight against the war "machine" is a lesson for us all
28 April, 2007
An Answer To Uri Avnery
By Ilan PappeIlan Pappe's response to Uri Avnery's essay "Bed of Sodom"
Avnery Is Dead Wrong
By John SpritzlerThe One-State Solution and a general boycott of Israel are excellent ideas, but they will only be successful if we use them and advocate them in an openly revolutionary manner. Otherwise, the Uri Avneris will befuddle us and millions of others with wrong-headed thinking that only makes sense in the fantasy world inside the reformist box
Uri Avnery's Loyalty
By Virginia TilleyAvnery is indeed a sharp critic of Israel's worst racist abuses. But the basic abuse which necessarily gives rise to all the others, which is the tenet that Israel must remain a state with an overwhelming Jewish majority, is one he has always worked to defend
Open Letter To Uri Avnery,Noam Chomsky
And Jimmy Carter
By Roger TuckerAnother rebuttal of Uri Avnery's article Bed of Sodom
Israel's Choice: "Jewish Only" Or Democratic?
By Sonja KarkarThe time will have to come for Israel to declare its hand: is it "a state of the Jewish people throughout the world" as it defines itself, or a state of all its citizens, both Jewish and non-Jewish? So far Israel has managed to convince the Western world that it is the only democracy in the region, but neglects to add that this democracy works only for its Jewish citizens
Shi’ite vs. Sunni?
By Conn HallinanIf the Bush administration is successful in its current efforts to divide Islam by pitting Shi’ites against Sunnis it will revitalize the old colonial tactic of divide and conquer, and maintain the domination of the Middle East by authoritarian elites allied with the U.S. and the international energy industry
Weather Versus Climate
By Rand CliffordPart One of the series: Perspectives On Our Changing Climate
In The Trenches Of The New Cold War
By M K BhadrakumarThe missile-defense controversy has gone beyond a mere Russian-US spat. It is assuming three distinct templates. First, profound issues of arms control have arisen, and along with that the role of nuclear weapons in security policies gets pronounced. Most certainly, the controversy relates to the United States' trans-Atlantic leadership in the post-Cold War era. And, finally, quintessentially, it is all about the United States' global dominance, of which the unfolding Great Game in the Eurasian theaters forms the salience
Latin America: Four Competing Blocs Of Power
By James PetrasIn reality there are four competing blocs of nations in Latin America, contrary to the highly simplistic dualism portrayed by the White House and most of the Left
One Unexploded Bomb Per Person
By Dahr JamailClose to a million unexploded bombs are estimated to litter southern Lebanon, according to UN forces engaged in the hazardous task of removing them
Ho, ho, ho: The End Of Racism And Sexism
By Mickey Z.Why stop with bitches, ho's, and niggers? Let's take this strategy to its natural conclusion and ban "war" and "poverty" and "rape" and "genocide" and "oppression," We'll even ban "global warming" if Al Gore promises to finally shut his redneck mouth (all right, perhaps we'll ban "redneck," too). Shit, after only an hour or so of work, the planet will be a goddamned equalitarian paradise and we can all get back to our couches, our flat-screens, and our remote controls
Democracy In China: Fact Or Fiction
By Thomas RigginsIs democracy fact or fiction in China? Once you realize that a concept such as "democracy" is not a "one size fits all" sort of concept, you rephrase the question to "what kind of democracy or what level of democracy exists in China?" The answer to this question will vary with each observer depending on his or her class outlook, political philosophy, and ideas about communism
Aliens Everywhere
By K A ShajiHalf a million Tamil repatriates whose forefathers had been uprooted from the native land to work in Sri Lankan tea plantations around two hundred years back find that they are Indians only in name
Madhany: Victim Of State Terror
By B.F FirosThis is the story of Abdul Nasar Madhany, a man who continues to be hunted like a hardcore criminal by a ruthless system. And the mainstream media continues its criminal silence
27 April, 2007
Mr. Bush, Tear Down These Walls!
By Scott RitterThe ongoing policy of building walls in Baghdad designed to segregate Sunni neighborhoods from Shiite neighborhoods is as morally despicable as it is ineffective. The Soviets built walls; the Nazis walled off entire communities, often as a precursor to rounding up the segregated population and shipping it off to concentration camps
The Great Wall Of Segregation
By Baghdad BurningThe wall, of course, will protect no one. I sometimes wonder if this is how the concentration camps began in Europe. The Nazi government probably said, "Oh look- we're just going to protect the Jews with this little wall here- it will be difficult for people to get into their special area to hurt them!" And yet, it will also be difficult to get out
When In Doubt, Build A Wall
By Sally KohnGood fences have never made good policy, just as they’ve never made good neighbors. Bush’s embrace of wall building and secrecy reminds me of totalitarian feudal lords. But feudalism failed too, didn’t it? Now that Nouri al-Maliki has poked a hole in Bush’s Baghdad wall plans, can we start building some bridges instead?
UN Warns Of Growing Humanitarian
Crisis In Occupied Iraq
By Kate RandallA new United Nations report on human rights in Iraq paints a devastating portrait of the conditions of life facing the civilian population as the US occupation enters its fifth year
Political Loyalties Being Rebuilt
By Dahr JamailPeople in this southern Lebanese village are rebuilding their destroyed houses with renewed vigour. And, with renewed loyalties to a combination of Hezbollah, Qatar and Iran
The End of Economic Growth
By Adam ParsonsThe myth of endless economic growth is a path towards disaster and destruction
Behind The Mask Of Evil
By Doug SoderstromA psychologist explains the Virginia Tech massacre
U.N.: Mercenary Industry Poses
Problems For Latin America
By Cyril MychalejkoThe United Nations quietly released a report in March exposing an array of human rights abuses associated with a growing mercenary industry that is recruiting large numbers from Latin American countries
The Case Of Ethanol As Motor Fuel
By John ChuckmanAlthough numbers naturally change over time, ethanol has roughly 70% the energy content of gasoline, yet it costs about 40% more to produce and distribute. In order to deliver this economic bargain to motorists, the government forgoes taxes paid by the users of gasoline, taxes which, of course, pay for important government services. You don't need to study economics to appreciate that as a bad bargain
And They Wish To Shut Our Voice
By Salah Uddin Shoaib ChoudhuryBangladeshi journalist Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury speaks about the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in his country and the violent threat it proposes against the voices of reason including his own life and that of his family
Understanding The Jihadi Mindset
By Dr Tariq RahmanWe keep hearing, with deepening dismay, of bombings, suicide bombings and fighting in the name of Islam by militants who are called by various names including 'jihadis'. But what is a jihadi? How does he (or she) think? What circumstances or ideas create the jihadi mindset? These are questions which bother most of us
25 April, 2007
Mystery: How Wealth Creates Poverty In The World
By Michael ParentiThere is a “mystery” we must explain: How is it that as corporate investments and foreign aid and international loans to poor countries have increased dramatically throughout the world over the last half century, so has poverty? The number of people living in poverty is growing at a faster rate than the world’s population. What do we make of this?
Economic Armageddon Is Coming
By Joel S. HirschhornStop being a compliant consumer. Face the ugly truth. Don’t get fooled by the stock market. Accept the need for the mistreated middle class to become the revolutionary class. The British military establishment's most prestigious think tank sees what too few over-consuming Americans are willing to anticipate. Unjustified and mounting economic inequality is planting the seeds for global economic conflict
Summer, 2017
By Stephen HrenIt would have been impossible to convince anyone ten years ago that such would be the case, but the sprawling tract housing that surrounds most of America's cities has been almost completely abandoned and the reason might be peak oil
Scientists Offer Frightening Forecast
By Ker Than & Andrea ThompsonOur planet's prospects for environmental stability are bleaker than ever.Here is a timeline which paints the big picture and details Earth's future based on several recent studies and the longer scientific version of the IPCC report
An Island Made By Global Warming
By Michael McCarthyThe map of Greenland will have to be redrawn. A new island has appeared off its coast, suddenly separated from the mainland by the melting of Greenland's enormous ice sheet, a development that is being seen as the most alarming sign of global warming
U.S. Blamed For 'Bloody Wednesday'
By Ali al-FadhilyIraqis blame the U.S. occupation for the failure of two parallel security plans drawn up by U.S. forces and Iraqi troops that failed dramatically with the bombings last week that killed more than 300 people in Baghdad
Tempers Rise Over Reconstruction
By Dahr JamailEight months after Israeli attacks left devastation across many villages in southern Lebanon, reconstruction comes with mounting anger towards both Israel and the central Lebanese government
Freedom For Alan Johnston:Freedom For Us All
By Ramzy BaroudHow can we claim that they are not from amongst us? How can we claim that they don’t represent us if we lack the political will to confront them? And when Alan is freed, as he must, who will free us, Palestinians, from this destructive path on which we tread?
Liberation Of A Monster
By Subhash GatadeWhy international terrorist Posada Carriles walks free in US
Big Business In Babies: Adoption,
The Child Commodities Market
By Mirah RibenAdoption needs to be far more transparent, open, honest and regulated to ensure it serves the best interest of those it is intended to serve
Nandigram: Fact And CPI(M)'s Fiction
By Kavita KrishnanKavita Krishnan from Liberation takes a look at facts about the Nandigram massacre and CPI(M)-sponsored fiction
Islamist Extremist Threat In Bangladesh
By Salah Uddin Shoaib ChoudhuryIncidents of extremism and terrorism have witnessed a sharp increase in Bangladesh in recent years, with the number of attacks last year exceeding the total number of incidents in the preceding five years. Most of the attacks have been directed against religious minorities, secular intellectuals and journalists as well as against politicians belonging to secular parties and leftist activists. Islamist extremists have sought to impose an Islamic way of life on people in rural areas, often through the use of force. Women have been coerced into veiling themselves and men have been forced to grow beards and wear skull caps
24 April, 2007
How Iraq Was Looted
By Evelyn PringleCoalition Provisional Authority was granted the authority to award reconstruction contracts in Iraq and it used that authority to implement what will go down in the history books as the most blatant war profiteering scheme of all time
Deaths In Other Nations Since WW II
Due To U.S Interventions
By James A. LucasThe overall conclusion reached is that the United States most likely has been responsible since WWII for the deaths of between 20 and 30 million people in wars and conflicts scattered over the world
A Review Of Chris Hedges' American Fascists
By Stephen LendmanThis review will cover the essence and flavor of American Fascists beginning with some background on the Christian right, its influence, and danger it poses that Hedges covers in detail. He said he wrote the book out of anger and fear of the fundamentalist Christian Right seeking to establish theocratic dominion over society in America in the name of God and is using the Republican party as their vehicle to do it
Corporate Accountability:
Is Self Regulation The Answer?
By Kavaljit SinghWhile acknowledging that voluntary approaches could be used as tools for leverage on corporate behavior and therefore are worth testing, this chapter underscores the need for enhancing the state regulatory and supervisory frameworks. Any strategy aimed at privatizing regulation is bound to fail; even the limited gains made in the past through voluntary approaches always rested on governmental backing. Voluntary codes of conduct can never be a substitute for state regulations
UN Official Says Humanitarian Crisis In Palestine
By Sonia NettninWith at least 530 barriers and checkpoints in place, peoples’ lives are completely disrupted. Moreover, Palestinian villages have been torn asunder by movement restrictions because they do not have normal economic life
Gonzales's Long Record Of Lawlessness
By Mary ShawGonzales's position is that of the nation's highest law enforcement official. As such, he was entrusted with the responsibility of protecting our rights and freedoms, and defending the Constitution. Instead, he has built a career on finding creative ways of ignoring or undermining the rules while evading accountability for himself and for those he served
Crackdown In Jammu And Kashmir:
Humiliation At Its Worst
By Syed Junaid HashmiResearchers from Kashmir University maintain that a lot of women are crying for the fate of their husbands and sons who either went missing or were killed in custody after being arrested during a "crackdown" where they were identified by informers working alongside army and paramilitary forces
Get Under Society’s Skin
By Gail OmvedtThe Supreme Court’s recent decision and reiteration to stay the order regarding OBC admissions until accurate data is available has brought forth the expected reactions. Defenders of ‘equality’ won by ignoring caste are hailing it; proponents of reservations are trying to put on a brave face. But in one way, the decision is helpful: the Supreme Court has given cogent arguments for the need for information to underlay policy. However, what many of the opponents of reservations may not appreciate is that this brings up squarely, once again, the argument for a caste-based census
India Needs A New Altar Of Reason,
Not More Religion
By Jawed NaqviDo we need news agencies to remind us that there are scarcely any Muslims working in India's 10,000-strong external intelligence agency, and neither Muslims nor Sikhs working as bodyguards for the country's top leaders? The Outlook magazine reported in November last year that mainly Hindu but officially secular India has its first Sikh prime minister but his community is not trusted enough to guard him?
Unpleasant Things,Pleasantly Speaking
By Sirajul IslamAs our military grows ever more confident, accusing the queen-bees of Bangladesh politics corruption and flouting law, they moves to either sent in exile the queen-bees or deploy forces on their doorstep meaning exclusion. So, I could be forgiven for believing that we're back to the bad old days of confrontation again
23 April, 2007
US Mass Murder At Home And Abroad
By Gideon PolyaThe Blacksburg Massacre was enabled because America is awash with guns, has a power-obsessed, abusive and racist culture and IGNORES the appalling human consequences of its actions
USA: Cornering The Market On Morality
By William Blum & Jason MillerWilliam Blum interviewed by Jason Miller, including satirical commentary by Miller
Running On Inferno’s Platform
By Soraya Sepahpour-UlrichSenator John McCain (R, Arizona) while on a campaign in N. Carolina, was videoed singing “bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran” to the tune of the Beach Boys “Barbara Ann”
The Myth Of Jewish Refugees From Arab Land
By Dr. Elias AklehVictimizing the Jews has been the successful old political trick Zionists have been using to gain international political sympathy for the Israeli cause, and to justify all aggression and terror the Israeli army perpetrates on Palestinians and on the neighboring Arab countries. Whenever the international views turn against Israel, due to its aggression, a new Jewish victimizing story pops up
Trickledown Economics Perpetuates War
By David TruskoffTrickle down creates and thrives on war. War profits do not trickle down they land on the workers drip by drip, but inflation keeps them at the faucet trying to survive. Those of us who call ourselves "peace people" do what we can issue by issue. We try, but only if we can cut off the serpent’s head will real peace arrive. The serpent is greed and it feeds at the trough of Trickle down Economics
Turning Back On The Palestinians
By J.W.F. SmallAs people, Jew and non-Jew alike, find both the courage and common ground to speak with one voice on Palestine it will become clear that in the long term, Israel can be secured only by an open recognition that she was built on the ravaged home and subsequent expulsion of another people and everything that follows that. That the dispossessed nation still exists and has infinitesimally more courage and consequence than their crude, vulgar portrayal as a few wretched dessert Bedouin allows for
Resisting La-la Land
By Emily SpenceAnother Earth Day will come and go. Yet during its twenty-four hours, people around the globe will join together in a tremendous effort to address a host of varied woes facing planet. Some will pick up trash along highways and beaches. A few will build bat and bird houses for their neighborhoods. Others will pitch in to do a greater job in recycling. However and despite their good intentions, the stark backdrop surrounding these special events will not go away
The Invisible People In A Land Of Plenty
By Siv O'NeallNearly 16 million Americans are living in deep or severe poverty
BBC = Blair's Broadcasting Corporation
By Rory WinterIn the Blue-Pill Matrix world, the BBC is a news service which disseminates an impartial view of daily events. In the real world, it is nothing more than a shameless and servile tool of the British capitalist state and, in recent months, a mouthpiece for Tony Blair's neocon, very-British form of fascism
21 April, 2007
Australia's Epic Drought
By Kathy MarksAustralia has warned that it will have to switch off the water supply to the continent's food bowl unless heavy rains break an epic drought - heralding what could be the first climate change-driven disaster to strike a developed nation
World Needs To Axe Greenhouse Gases By 80 Pct
By Alister DoyleThe world will have to axe greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050, more deeply than planned, to have an even chance of curbing global warming in line with European Union goals, researchers said on Thursday
The Malignant Resentments That Erupted Into
Mass Murder In Virginia
By David WalshThe resentments are real. Huge social divisions exist on a college campus. Snobbery and elitism exist. With Cho, the resentments were psychotically internalized and developed in a pathological manner. The society denies that social classes exists, it papers over social inequality. The contradictions emerge in a malignant fashion, they explode in this anti-social form
What The Persecution Of
Azmi Bishara Means For Palestine
By Ali AbunimahAzmi Bishara is the only Palestinian leader of international stature expressing a vision and strategy that is relevant to all Palestinians and can effectively challenge Zionism. That is why he is in fear for his life, safety and future while the quisling "president" Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah receives money and weapons from the United States and tea and cakes from Ehud Olmert
Interview With Senior Ba'ath Party Member
By Dahr JamailOn Sunday April 15th I interviewed a high ranking member of Iraq's Ba'ath Party in Damascus, Syria. Like many senior party members, he lives in exile in Syria, and spoke on condition of anonymity by asking to be referred to as Abu Mohammed. The following is an exclusive interview
Basra Splits Between Warring Shias
By Ali al-FadhilyOil-rich Basra in the south of Iraq is getting caught up in an increasingly more fierce battle between warring Shia groups
Anger Erupts In Iraq Over Baghdad Bombings
By James CoganFour more bombings on Wednesday by suspected Sunni fanatics have left Shiite districts of Baghdad in a state of grief, shock and outrage against the US military and the Iraqi government
Iraq Four Years On:A Note For Mr Zapatero
By Agustin VellosoPrime Minister Zapatero helped Spain avoid the moral collapse and political and military failure that the United States has sought out in Iraq. In better keeping with its international weight and with the old tactic of lighting one candle for God and another for the devil, he abandoned his predecessor's imperialist dream and limited himself to proposing to the world an alliance of civilizations - while sending troops to Afghanistan and Lebanon
Roadblock: Riders On The Storm
By Paul BurkaThe two-year moratorium on the privatization of highways that Lois Kolkhorst tacked onto a transportation bill in the House last week was just the first shot against the Trans-Texas Corridor
Human Rights And Globalization
By Dr Samir Naim-AhmedIf economic corporations became transnational and that much powerful what is needed is a powerful transnational government based on real democracy for all the countries and citizens of the world . A government which is capable of issuing and implementing global rules aimed at realization of the maximum use of all humankind achievements for the sake of all the dwellers of our globe . A government which is capable of making economy in the service of man instead of making man a victim and a slave for the market economy
Can Their Lordships Too Rise To The Occasion?
By Ayaz AmirFor the first time in this luckless nation's history the nation is behind the judiciary. Displaying unprecedented unity, the legal community has rallied to the judiciary's defence. Question is: can their lordships rally to their own defence?
The Great 911 Deception And Its Reptilian Effect
By Rory WinterI cannot bring myself to acknowledge Bush as President. He is not and should never have been allowed that office. He is, to put it bluntly, a usurper. He's a rogue and a criminal mass-murderer who, in the seven years, since the White House was first hijacked --yes hijacked, terrorist-style--has destroyed our constitutional freedoms and brought a terrible suffering upon the world's innocents
India Does Not Need SEZs –
The SEZ Act Will Have To Go!
By Dipankar BhattacharyaEven as the Congress and the CPI(M) and their respective governments in New Delhi and Kolkata are busy covering up the state-sponsored barbarism in Nandigram, the 'empowered group of union ministers' has cleared the deck for the government's SEZ campaign with only a few minor modifications in the SEZ policy
20 April, 2007
The Inexplicable Enrichment Of Bush Cronies
By Evelyn PringleIt's time for Americans to face the cold hard truth that nothing will be accomplished by allowing the daily carnage in Iraq to continue, and if Bush has his way, our young people will be dying in this war profiteering scheme until hell freezes over. Congress needs to authorize funding to pull our troops out of that deathtrap and not one dime more
A War To Spread Terror
By Soraya Sepahpour-UlrichSo as a subject of this world, I am asking all Americans, hyphenated or not, to defend their birthright, humanity, and justice. We must determine our own destiny today lest someone robs us of our future with their actions. America cannot afford to lose the battle for peace, justice and humanity because humanity has not found a place in this Administration. In the American ‘Dialogue’, we are the ‘strong’, for we have the power of the people, justice, and above all, the Constitution of the United States of America
US Continues Detention Of Five Iranian
Officials In Iraq
By Peter SymondsIn a decision that was barely reported, the Bush administration resolved last week to continue to hold five Iranian officials seized in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil on January 11. While the US and international media was flooded with stories about Iran’s contentious arrest of 15 British sailors last month, there was not a murmur of protest over the illegal and provocative American detention of the Irbil five
The BBC's Neocon Propaganda War
By Kosmik KnightThe BBC's approach to war and world affairs is, first and foremost, a reflection of the British puppet state's viewpoint. It is questionable that the BBC was ever an independent organization. But, along with the widespread damage to civil and judicial freedoms caused by the noxious Blair de facto dictatorship, the BBC's reputation has dropped to an all-time low of news-whoring
Tacoma Police Aggressively Attack
Peace Demonstrators
By Kevin ZeeseAn Interview with Caitlin Esworthy of the Port Militarization Resistance of Olympia
The EU Finances Privatization Of Water
By Abel Esteban CabellosSince 2005, the European Union has provided funding to the Public-Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility (PPIAF), a public-private consortium in charge of providing technical assistance in processes of privatization of infrastructure for vital public needs such as water or sanitation
SEZs: Behind The Curtain
By Aseem ShrivastavaThe outsourcing and sub-contracting of corporate totalitarianism
The Confused American Left Ask,Am I A Racist?
By David TruskoffBlack Television programs; modern Black music and Black attitudes in general are all in the line of fire. Liberal left Americans particularly Jews who can no longer deny or defend the blatant racism of Zionism and dreamed along with Doctor King about a better America are disappointed in Black efforts to help bring that about and are again asking themselves the question, am I, after all, a Racist
On "The Darker Nations"
By Radical NotesAn Interview With Vijay Prashad
The Vicious Circle At Aligarh Muslim University
By Mirza A. BegThe Vice Chancellor suddenly resigns – A student is shot dead in the heart of the university. The sad happenings at AMU have all of us aghast and lamenting. It keeps repeating every few years, the characters change, but the malady remains the same. I plead guilty of being a distant observer, but at times it is a picture is clearer from a distance
19 April, 2007
Iraq Has Two Virginia Techs Every Day
By Juan ColeThe profound sorrow and alarm produced in the American public by the horrific shootings at Virginia Tech should give us a baseline for what the Iraqis are actually living through. They have two Virginia Tech-style attacks every single day
Our Dead, Their Dead
By Mickey Z.As tragic as the Virginia Tech shootings are, let's face it: 32 dead is a slow day in U.S.-occupied Iraq. "Those whose lives were taken did nothing to deserve their fate," President Bush said. "They were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time." He would know. In America, we have the luxury of mourning our dead for days or even years (see 9/11). If Iraqis tried to
"pull together" and "come to grips" with every massacre of innocents...well, you get the ideaA Lot Of Uninvited Guests
By Dahr JamailThe massive influx of Iraqi refugees into Syria has brought rising prices and overcrowding, but most Syrians seem to have accepted more than a million of the refugees happily enough
Refugees Bring In Some Brittle Strength
By Dahr JamailSyria's decision to accept Iraqi refugees streaming into the country has brought the government of President Bashar Assad more power within Syria and the region, but at significant cost
Sadrist Ministers Withdraw From Iraqi Cabinet
By James CoganSix ministers of the Iraqi cabinet, members of the Shiite fundamentalist movement headed by cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, formally resigned their positions on Monday. The Sadrists declared they were responding to the mass sentiment among their supporters that US and other foreign troops must be ordered to leave the country
The Virginia Tech Massacre:
Social Roots Of Another American Tragedy
By David WalshA day after the mass killing at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, along with grief and dismay, some reflections on life in the US are clearly in order. The event was horrifying, but no one who has followed the evolution of American society over the past quarter-century will be entirely shocked
Iran: The Price Of Being Defenceless
By Ghali HassanEver since the U.S. began its preparation for aggression against Iran, Western media and Western elites have continue to demonise Iran and provide misleading propaganda to justify U.S. attacks against the Islamic Republic. On her part, Iran has the right to defend her sovereignty against any unprovoked act of aggression. A defenceless Iran would pay the heavy price Iraq is paying
New US Postal Rates Undermine Small Publications
By Stephen LendmanWith the new rates scheduled to take effect July 15 under which small publications will pay postal rates as much as 20% higher than the largest ones in a willful plan to undermine them
What Is The Main Plank Of The US Foreign Policy?
By Chandi SinnathuraiThe US proscribed the Tamil Tigers in October 1997 under the provisions of the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996. In October of 2003, “after further review it re-designated the Tamil Tigers as a “Foreign terrorist organisation.” Whilst taking all such drastic actions however, the Bush Administration often neglected to take action or even to exert pressure against the State terror in Sri Lanka, particularly aimed at the Tamil population. The Tamils are facing a mass slaughter in the East [Mattakalappu & Amparai] and the North of Sri Lanka even as I write
Status Of Manual Scavengers In Laar, Deoria
By Vidya Bhushan RawatTime has come for all of us to scrutinize government's programmes and action to eliminate manual scavenging and take the officials of the department to task. India's 9% growth rate or shining India is absolutely farcical if this large community remains outside the ambit of global change
Should BJP Be Derecognized?
By Ram PuniyaniIn a democracy it is a difficult choice to ban/derecognize parties or organizations. What does one do with the organizations which pay lip service to democracy but are tied to apron strings of those organizations which stand opposed to democracy and Indian constitution? It is no secret that RSS chief just six years ago called for scrapping of Indian constitution and bringing in one based in India holy books. It is no secret that RSS combine is working for Hindu Nation. By implication though BJP takes oath for preserving Indian constitution, it has no qualms in violating the same when the time comes
18 April, 2007
Climate Change Will Devastate South Asia
By Daphne Wysham & Smitu KothariIn South Asia, millions of people will find their lands and homes inundated, according to a draft report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
How Close Are We To Irreversible Damage?
What Can We Still Do About It?
By Dr John JamesHow close are we to a 2 degree rise, and when will we get there? This report will show that this critical threshold is much closer than most are prepared to admit
Iraqi Parliament Bombing: A Sign Of Deepening Crisis
By Peter SymondsThe bombing inside the Iraqi parliament last Thursday has underscored the deepening quagmire created by the US-led invasion and occupation. Four years after American troops entered Baghdad, nowhere in the country—including the heavily fortified and guarded Green Zone where the huge US embassy and Iraqi government offices are also sited—is invulnerable to attack
Please God, Deliver Us From The Banality Of Evil
By Jason MillerVirtually every day our mendacious corporate media publicizes the farcical “debate” between officials of the Bush Regime and Congress. While numerous polls have indicated that over 2/3 of US Americans want an end to the war in Iraq, and voters positioned the Democrats to exercise the will of the people, the war rages on
My movement Is Bigger Than Yours
By Mickey Z.Americans wield more influence and power than any people on the planet but, while the vast majority of humans in this world live in abject poverty, we live our lives in such a manner as to threaten every living being on the planet
Under The Gaze Of The Counterrevolution
By Stella CalloniBolivia is once again under the most formidable gaze of the Empire. Latin America needs to support president Evo Morales, because the symbolic significance of his presence is a revolutionary fact, and because he has the arduous task of once again raising Bolivia to its feet
Dare To Look Back
By Sheila SamplesBush reminds us on a daily basis that our world changed on "September the 11th." That is true. But we must dare to look back even further to that dark December day when five Supreme Court judges made the ghastly decision that spawned the horrors of not only 9-11, but of the carnage in which we are embroiled today
BJP's Hate Campaign
By The HinduWhat the BJP's election campaign CD `Bharat ki Pukar' presents — excerpts from the transcript
54 Indian POWs Versus Sarabjit Singh
By Farzana VerseyRahul Gandhi may have made a politically rash comment, but even if he had not intended to reveal the truth, it hurts. Too much has happened since and Bangladesh is dealing with its own problems. But one major problem is ours. The state of our prisoners of war
17 April, 2007
Blood For Oil Control
By Paul StreetU.S. forces are in Iraq to protect Iraq oil from the Iraqis themselves and from the possibility that the Iraqis might act to accelerate U.S. global decline by aligning their energy resources with the development of competing states and sectors in the world system
Where Al-Qaeda Reigns
By Dahr JamailRefugees from Baquba city who have now found shelter in Damascus describe their hometown as a "dead city" where armed men roam the streets and al-Qaeda reigns
The Terrorist Walks
By Fidel CastroGeorge W. Bush is undoubtedly the most genuine representative of a system of terror forced on the world by the technological, economic and political superiority of the most powerful country known to this planet. For this reason, we share the tragedy of the American people and their ethical values. The instructions for the verdict issued by Judge Kathleen Cardone, of the El Paso Federal Court last Friday, granting Luis Posada Carriles freedom on bail, could only have come from the White House
A Paradigm Shift: America As Proxy
By Ramzy BaroudA paradigm shift has occurred since the US invasion of Iraq four years ago. While the US was the major power that often orchestrated proxy wars through clandestine tactics, as it did in Central America and various parts of Asia, Israel is now adopting a similar scheme. While Israel's heart is set on a war against Iran, it is elementary knowledge that a war against Iran would bring irrevocable disaster for the United States. Prolonged political hostility with Iran is equally dangerous, for it will further complicate the American task in Iraq
Blood On Our Hands
By Uri AvneryAt this moment, negotiations on a prisoner exchange are in full swing. The term "negotiations" is really inappropriate. "Haggling" seems more fitting. One could also use an uglier expression: "trafficking in human beings"
Palestine Is Disappearing: The Last Hope
By Max KantarAs Palestinian 'citizens' in the occupied territories are living under conditions described by several human rights organizations as a "humanitarian crisis of catastrophic proportions," western media outlets inform the public that Israel is freezing sincere discussion about Palestinian statehood because Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit has not been released. What is not widely publicized is that Israel is holding an estimated 10,000 Palestinians prisoner: men, women, and children, many whom of which are as young as 14 years old
The Politics Of Pragmatism
By Remi KanaziThe latest back and forth between Israel and the Palestinian unity government (and its regional interlocutors) will not bring peace to fruition. Many respected commentators in the Middle East have accused Israel of rejecting peace, primarily due to its refusal to fully embrace the Arab peace initiative. Yet this initiative, when entered into the international community’s trash compactor of “pragmatism,” will leave the Palestinian people with nothing more than an old, albeit neatly packaged, version of the Oslo Accords
Ecuador Votes For Revolutionary Change
By Stephen LendmanEcuadorean President Raphael Correa took office January 15 promising his people progressive, revolutionary social and economic change unlike anything this country of mostly impoverished people ever had before under its right wing only governments beholden solely to capital interests
Wages Of Fanaticism Are Paid In
Different Foreign Currencies
By Jawed NaqviTwo facets of the Lal Masjid standoff in Islamabad between the mullahs and the civil/military administration have a universal relevance
Bangladesh: Sovereign Or Subsidiary?
By Anu MuhammadGlobal capital is in confrontation with people all over the world, among others, on three issues: (a) whether people and the country should own and have authority over their own lives and natural resources or global corporates should be allowed to take over; (b) Whether natural resources should be used or preserved for the maximum utilization for the development of the country or to be extracted in a big way to maximize profit of foreign big companies; and (c) whether resources will remain common property or turned into private property of corporates. Bangladesh needs to answer these too
Minority Judgement
By Nasiruddin Haider Khan"The court finds that Muslims have ceased to be a minority religious community in the state of Uttar Pradesh on consideration of the materials on record which includes various census reports of 1951 and 2001 and, therefore, directs the state of Uttar Pradesh to treat any member of Muslim community equal to other non minority religious communities…" This is the line of the famous and important judgment given by the Allahabad high court on April 5, 2007
14 April, 2007
Iran May Be The Greatest Crisis Of Modern Times
By John PilgerIt is time we in Britain and other Western countries stopped looking from the side. We are being led towards perhaps the most serious crisis in modern history as the Bush-Cheney-Blair "long war" edges closer to Iran for no reason other than that nation's independence from rapacious America
A Bloody Message From Iraq: Nowhere Is Safe
By Patrick CockburnNowhere is safe. Insurgents struck in the heart of the Green Zone yesterday, one of the most heavily defended places in Baghdad. The symbolism - and the bloody message - was clear with this attack on the home to the US-imposed democracy. A suicide bomber cleared at least eight rings of security to blow himself up in the Iraqi parliament, killing eight people including three lawmakers as they were eating lunch. It was the most deadly attack mounted from within the Green Zone
Militarizing The Border
By Frida BerriganAs with so many other pressing issues -- from terrorism to oil dependency -- the White House is turning to the military industrial complex for a solution. SBI is the plan of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to erect a "virtual fence" of monitors, sensors, unmanned planes, and communications to help border agents catch illegal immigrants crossing the southern border
13 April, 2007
US Raid On Mosque Leads To Massacre
In Baghdad
By Bill Van AukenScores of people were left killed or wounded and bodies littered the streets of two crowded urban neighborhoods in central Baghdad following a major battle between US occupation forces and city residents Tuesday
India: Home To Asia's Biggest Club Of
Billionaires And Half Of The World's Poor
By Dipankar BhattacharyaThe UNDP's annual Human Development Report, for instance, is enough to expose the growing hiatus between the rising fortunes of the billionaire brigade of 'Shining India' and the pathetic human development indices that characterize the real India. The country that accounts for three among the world's top twenty billionaires remains home to half the world's poor and the starving while nearly half of India's children below five remain suffer from malnutrition
Chipping At foundations Of Belief
By Omar AhmadImagine if Iran decided to build a museum on the site of a 1,000-year-old Jewish cemetery, or if the Egyptian government threatened to destroy an ancient Jewish temple. Both scenarios would likely be met with outrage. Members of Congress might make indignant speeches decrying anti-Semitism. They might even threaten to tighten the spigot on aid to Egypt. They would be right to protest such acts. Yet both offenses against another religion are being committed today -- by Israel. And the outrage is conspicuously missing
Ruling Class Democracy
By Max KantarPeople all over the world, the poor, the working classes, the disenfranchised, the refugees, black, brown, beige and white need realize that the power ultimately rest in our hands. Political and economic institutions are supposed to represent and serve the needs of the people, not exploit them. As these powers that be have undoubtedly failed us, we the vast majority, must exercise our own overwhelming influence and dissent to achieve the authentic democracy that is so sorely needed
Wall Street Journal And New York Times
Attack Journalism
By Stephen LendmanThis article addresses two of the writer's favorite corporate media targets - the Wall Street Journal's far-right editorial page and New York Times on every page. Both broadsheets were recently in attack mode taking on two Latin American leaders deserving praise but never getting any other than occasional backhanded kinds from papers devoted to one dual core mission - supporting the power elite and their own bottoms lines
A Literary Icon For "Les Dammés de la Terre"
By Michael DeibertHe was born to an affluent family in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince in 1907, and spent much of the first 20 years of his life at schools in Belgium and Switzerland. But there are few literary voices that have spoken more eloquently of the plight of Haiti's peasantry than that of Jacques Roumain
‘Sri Lankan Forces Won’t Attack
Tiger Heartland’ - Why?
By Chandi SinnathuraiIn the end it seems, there are no winners and losers. If at all, it is the civilians who really are the losers – in terms of life, livelihood, homes and lands. Over 80,000 people have died in this conflict since the 1980’s. Many thousands have simply disappeared. Currently some 153,000 internal refugees are displaced only in the Batticaloa district
From Brothels In Islamabad To A Bandh In Bhopal
By Farzana VerseyLook forward to a Bhopal bandh. The BJP-RSS combine has decided that two adults from different religions getting married is wrong. This warrants the state to close shop. Praful Goradia, who TV anchors politely refer to as a Hindutva "ideologue", had the gall to say that it is okay if the marriage is between a Hindu and Christian or a Parsi, but with a Muslim it would be one-sided
Judicial Absurdity: Recent Ruling On Muslims In UP
By Yoginder Sikand & Nigar AtaullaA recent ruling by Justice S.N. Srivastava of the Allahabad High Court declaring that Muslims in Uttar Pradesh could no longer be considered a minority, has, predictably, stirred up a hornet's nest. Although the ruling was stayed by a two-member bench of the same court the next day, it raised crucial questions that pertain to minority rights, secularism and democracy and the impartiality of the judiciary
Whither Autonomous Women's Movement?
By Anjali SinhaThe seventh national conference of women's movement particularly autonomous women's movement was held in Kolkata in the beginning of September 2006. Although it has been more than six months that the conference was held, but looking at the fact that the issues discussed/not discussed had a lot of import for the women's movement in general and the autonomous women's movement in particular, a few observations about the same are being shared with the wider audience
Valmiki's Illustrious Son Challenges The Hegemony
Of Knowledge And Merit In India
By Vidya Bhushan RawatProfile: Dr Bachchu Lal Valmiki
12 April, 2007
Divide And Rule : America's Plan For Baghdad
By Robert FiskRevealed: a new counter-insurgency strategy to carve up the city into sealed areas. The tactic failed in Vietnam. So what chance does it have in Iraq?
Myth Of Tal Afar, Beacon Of American 'Success'
By Patrick CockburnIt was always a myth. On 27 March, a gigantic truck bomb exploded in a Shia market area in Tal Afar. It was the deadliest single bomb out of the many that have been detonated by Sunni insurgents. The Interior Ministry said that 152 people were killed and 347 wounded in the explosion
Refugees Speak Of Escape From Hell
By Dahr JamailRefugees from Iraq scattered around Damascus describe hellish conditions in the country they managed to leave behind
Now The South Erupts
By Ali al-FadhilyThe eruption of demonstrations in the south of Iraq this week could rob the occupation forces of what was considered a critical bastion of support
Squeezing Palestinians Into Impossible Mission
By Nicola NasserThe Israeli 40-year old military occupation and the more than a year old economic siege are eroding the national existence of Palestinians and squeezing the Palestinian leadership into an almost impossible mission of securing law and order by practically renewing an old plan thwarted because, in the end, it could not secure individual safety in the absence of national safeguards
Hunger Strike Expanding Despite
Repression At Guantánamo Prison Camp
By Tom CarterDespite the threat of retaliation by prison guards, several more Guantánamo prisoners recently joined an ongoing hunger strike, according to an April 8 article in the New York Times. US authorities acknowledge that 13 prisoners are now on hunger strike, though lawyers who have recently visited the prison put the number as high as 40
There Is Climate Change Censorship -
And It’s The Deniers Who Dish It Out
By George MonbiotGlobal Warming scientists are under intense pressure to water down findings, and are then accused of silencing their critics
Death From Above
By Mickey Z."Death from Above" means nothing less than mass murder from 15,000 feet. It means daisy cutters, bunker busters, cruise missiles, napalm, and white phosphorous. It means depleted uranium and cluster bombs littering the landscape for decades. It means rubble, destruction, the ruination of lives by the hundreds, by the thousands and more. It means Dresden, Pearl Harbor, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki. It means "shock and awe." It means 9/11. It means more than space allows me to explain, yet it's perfectly normal for an American to slap a "Death from Above" decal on his/her vehicle...right next to "support the troops" sticker
Democrats For War
By Joshua FrankWhen will the antiwar movement begin to put pressure on the Democratic Party? More importantly, when will we break with the Democrats? They have given us more than enough reason to do so. And until we do, we will continue to remain politically irrelevant
The Train Stops At Nandigram
By Amit SenguptaAfter 30 years of being big bully, big brother in Orwellian West Bengal, with 'Buddha' being equated with Narendra Modi as 'the role model of development', Nandigram might mark the epitaph of the CPI(M) in 'India Shining'
Betis As Bombs – Exploding The Borders
Of Caste And Community
By Kavita KrishnanWe need to recognise the links between Babu Bajrangi's assaults on women's freedom, and those structures and practices that we tend to take as normative, natural and acceptable – such as the practice of arranging marriages within one's caste and community, disapproving of independent relationships forged by one's sisters or daughters, holding oneself to be the 'guardian' of one's sisters or daughters, and so on
11 April, 2007
Congress Must Cut Off Bush Family War Profits
By Evelyn PringleAccording to an August 2006, report entitled, "Executive Excess 2006," by the Washington-based, Institute for Policy Studies, and the Boston-based, United for a Fair Economy found that since 9/11, the 34 defense CEOs have pocketed a combined total of $984 million, or enough to cover the wages for more than a million Iraqis for a year. But the last name of one family, which is literally amassing a fortune over the backs of our dead heroes, matches that of the man holding the purse strings in the White House
Troops Continue To Die For Bush's Lies
By Evelyn PringleBush plans to leave our troops dying in a war without end indefinitely, and therefore, its up to American citizens to rescue these young men and women in the only way possible, by insisting that Congress cut off funding for Iraq to force Bush to get them out of that hellhole. And this year, May 1, should be designated as a day to not only honor the fallen soldiers, but also the widows, orphans and grieving family members in America and Iraq, who are paying the consequences for the reckless conduct of the President
A Win, Win, Win Ending For Tehran
By Kaveh L AfrasiabiEven as Iran basks in worldwide praise for its handling of the crisis over the 15 British sailors and marines it seized and then released after two weeks, President Mahmud Ahmadinejad has ensured that the focus stays on his country by announcing that Iran has the ability to produce enriched uranium at "industrial scale"
Business As Usual
By Emily SpenceThe future for the whole Earth looks horribly bleak. If worst case scenarios transpire, an inordinate number of people will die, during this century, due to the effects of global warming. In addition, up to one fourth of all species, in the same time span, will become extinct for identical reasons
Hundreds Of Thousands March In Iraq
To Demand End Of US Occupation
By Bill Van AukenIn a huge demonstration marking the fourth anniversary of the fall of Baghdad to US invasion forces, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis marched in the city of Najaf Monday to demand an end to the American occupation of their land
Not An Intellectual Squabble
By Ramzy BaroudIn a spacious yet fortified UN compound in Rome members of the Palestine committee at the General Assembly repeated old mantras; they vowed support for the Palestinians, issued a press release and then went to lunch
Whose Responsibility?
By Anna BaltzerThe "sewage tsunami" is as much a result of population density as anything else. In comparison, the land-rich West Bank feels like paradise, but perhaps not for long. As the Wall continues to snake around West Bank towns and villages, cutting inhabitants off from their land, jobs, schools, hospitals, and each other, Israel's intention seems clear: those Palestinians who won't leave the West Bank altogether will be squeezed into bantustans, each of them a new Gaza. Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority, civilians, and popular resistance will continue to be demonized with claims of "anti-Semitism" even though the worst crimes are not their own. The guilt and responsibility are not just Israel's. They are all of ours
Globalisation, Yes, Globalisation, No
By Sirajul IslamIn reflecting on the good and bad sides of globalisation we find that whatever good has come out of it is actually a by-product. The very motive, maximising profit is responsible for its bad sides. So, globalisation may well be one of the most serious challenges ever to the integrity of human civilisation. As a citizen of an underdeveloped country, Bangladesh, how can we deal with this challenge?
Election Commission Must Derecognize BJP
By Shamsul IslamIt is high time that the Election Commission of India should take serious note of the anti-national utterances of the BJP president and initiate proceedings for the de-recognition of the BJP. It is unfortunate that none of the organs of the Indian Democratic-Secular State has so far bothered to challenge BJP and its president on this account
Defining Minorities
By Ram PuniyaniAllahabad High Court ruling (April 2007) that Muslims have ceased to be a minority in UP as their percentage in population is 18.5% totally defies the logic of Indian Constitution, the legislatures understanding and the pronouncements of the Supreme court on the issue
10 April, 2007
Where Have All The Bees Gone?
By Fidel CastroDaniel Weaver, president of the US Beekeepers Association, stated that more than half a million colonies, each with a population of nearly 50 thousand bees, had been lost. He added that the syndrome has struck 30 of the country's 50 states. What is curious about the phenomenon is that, in many cases, the mortal remains of the bees are not found
Dire Warming Report Too Soft, Scientists Say
By Alan Zarembo & Thomas H. Maugh IIA new global warming report issued Friday by the United Nations paints a near-apocalyptic vision of Earth’s future: hundreds of millions of people short of water, extreme food shortages in Africa, a landscape ravaged by floods and millions of species sentenced to extinction.Despite its harsh vision, the report was quickly criticized by some scientists who said its findings were watered down at the last minute by governments seeking to deflect calls for action
The True Story Of Free Speech In America
By Robert FiskSami al-Arian is 49 but he stayed on hunger strike for 60 days to protest the government outrage committed against him, a burlesque of justice which has, of course, largely failed to rouse the sleeping dogs of American journalism in New York, Washington and Los Angeles
Mohamed Hasseinein Heikel:
The Wise Man Of The Middle East
By Robert FiskFrom Khrushchev to Sadat, many world leaders have felt the venom of Mohamed Hasseinein Heikel's acerbic commentary. Robert Fisk has an audience with the great Egyptian writer
Shalom, Shin Bet
By Uri AvneryRecently the chief of the Shin Bet declared that the "Israeli Arabs", a fifth of Israel's population, constitute a danger to the state
Conditions For Guantánamo Prisoners Worsening
By Tom CarterA report released Thursday by Amnesty International (AI) describes “deteriorating” conditions at the infamous Guantánamo Bay, Cuba prison camp, citing an increase in the use of physical isolation to break prisoners, and an accompanying rise in mental health problems
How Much Can Iraq Survive
By Ali al-FadhilyIraqis surviving violence are not so sure they can also survive disease
And These Refugees Are Lucky
By Dahr JamailSalim, a railways worker in Baghdad, sold his car and furniture to raise money to bring his wife and three children to Damascus five months ago. Syria it had to be, because by then the Jordan government was no more letting in men his age.He found the money to get to Syria, and he has all of a tea shop now, and that makes him one of the luckier Iraqis who could flee
A Revolving Door For Democrats,
Dictators And Bankers
By Jawed NaqviDr Fakhruddin Ahmed , "chief adviser" to the "caretaker government" of Bangladesh is a banker with experience of working in various capacities at the World Bank. Pakistan's Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz too is a banker, his last outing being with New York-based Citicorp. Both are backed by the military in their countries. And who can deny the revolving door that links the Indian Prime Minister's Office (the all powerful PMO) to the World Bank
Goa : Communal Tinderbox Waiting To Explode?
By Subhash GatadeIt does not need lot of wisdom to comprehend how things may unfold in the near future. A ascendant Hindutva brigade, a lacklustre Congress and the absence of a strong people's movement to unite people cutting across communities and castes, it would not come as a surprise if the situation deteriorates further
06 April, 2007
Iran Takes The Wind Out Of US Sails
By Jim LobeWhen Western powers engage Iran with respect and as an equal, they are more likely to get what they want than when they take a confrontational path designed to bully or humiliate the regime
Torture: Read It In The Israeli Press
By Miko PeledThanks to the Israeli press, people in Israel are informed regularly about their government's mistreatment of the 4.5 million Palestinians under their rule. Most of the information regarding the occupation of Palestine and the oppression of its people is well documented and accurately reported in the Israeli press. But even the most serious offenses are given a "kosher" stamp, so to speak, once the word "security" is attached to them
The Long Ordeal Of Sami Al-Arian - Civil
And Human Rights Advocate And Political Prisoner
By Stephen LendmanSami Al-Arian is one of many dozens, likely hundreds, of political prisoners in the US today but is noteworthy because of his high-profile status and as an especially egregious example of persecution and injustice in post-9/11 America with its climate of state-induced fear and resulting repression with special targeting of Latino immigrants and all Muslims characterized as "Islamofascists" because of their faith and ethnicity. One of them is Dr. Sami Al-Arian
Arab Perspective: Playing US Politics
With Iraqi Blood For Oil
By Nicola NasserBoth Democratic and the Republican approaches simply seek to leave it to the Iraqis to fight it out among themselves, which will inevitably exacerbate “that” civil war: For Americans it is the usual political power struggle. For Arabs it is playing American politics with Iraqi blood for oil
MLK Assassination Anniversary Unnoticed
By Jay JansonA Memphis jury's verdict on December 8, 1999, in the wrongful death lawsuit of the King family versus Loyd Jowers "and other unknown co-conspirators," found that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated by a conspiracy that included agencies of his own government. Take a moment to put King's condemnation of U.S. wars to use today!
Swadeshi Bapu, Videshi Fame
By Farzana VerseyIf we do not want to make Gandhi into a commercial enterprise we will have to insist that no industrial house or financial institution puts in ads during his birth and death anniversaries; no political party uses his name to get votes, because votes mean power, power means money; no plays are staged on the subject or films made that will result in profit. Did anyone object to the box-office hit Lage Raho Munnabhai?
05 April, 2007
A Humiliating Episode For Britain
By Chris MarsdenIran’s release of the 15 British naval personnel captured in the Gulf is the dénouement of a humiliating episode for the Blair government and for British imperialism
Jesus Wouldn't Bomb Anyone
By Jason MillerWhy are we waging war on the poor and oppressed?
The New War Against The New Iraq
By Dan LiebermanIt's not a surge. It's a brand new war
Freedom Fight Against 'Freedom Champions'
By Dahr JamailThe al-Jazeera television network could be emerging as a freedom champion against U.S. pressures on the channel, leading media figures say
Is John McCain Morally Fit To Be President?
By Thomas RigginsI think that McCain’s recent pronouncements in Iraq, widely reported in the mass media, disqualify him as a viable presidential candidate. In truth, he is not fit to be a U.S. senator. We have had a president lying to us on a daily basis for over four years about this war and we don’t want another one to lie us for the next four years after the elections
Senator Feinstein's War Profiteering-
Democratic Blood Money
By Joshua FrankDemocratic Senator Dianne Feinstein of California silently resigned from her post on the Military Construction Appropriations subcommittee (MILCON) late last week as her ethical limbo with war contracts began to surface in the media, including an excellent investigative report written by Peter Byrne for Metro in January. MILCON has supervised the appropriations of billions of dollars in reconstruction contracts since the Bush wars began
Drug Companies Want Women Of
Childbearing Years
By Evelyn PringleDrug makers are hell-bent on recovering the antidepressant customer base represented by women of childbearing years. With doctors now reluctant to prescribe the drugs to pregnant women, a new recruitment scheme has cropped up. Screening programs are being set up all over the country to screen every pregnant woman for mental disorders
A Giant Leap Backwards
By Anindita SenguptaState governments in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh have banned sex education in schools. This is despite the central government's attempt to make it compulsory from standard six, next academic year onwards
04 April, 2007
Palestine: The Political Ecology Of Disaster
By James PetrasOn Monday, March 26, 2007 in Northern Gaza a river of raw sewage and debris overflowed from a collapsed earth embankment into a refugee camp driving 3,000 Palestinians from their homes. Five residents drowned, 25 were injured and scores of houses were destroyed
A Few words About The Children of Palestine
By Max KantarThe Israeli government and its political allies are molding a generation of Palestinian youth into fighters whose wide eyes will never lose sight of the trouble they've seen and the people they've buried. Yes, another generation of Palestinians, alienated from the world, to whom 'justice' is only a word found in books, and 'peace' was never meant for them
Style Or Substance Following Riyadh Summit?
By Michael F. BrownThe Riyadh summit has ratcheted up the pressure on Olmert. A comprehensive peace offer from the Arab League is on the table. Olmert presumably realizes that some sort of counter-offer is mandatory following the political evisceration of Yasser Arafat when he offered a merely implicit counterproposal at Camp David. The Israeli prime minister aims for talks with the Saudis on Arab recognition of Israel while again sidestepping the substance of Palestinian demands
Arab Summit And The Carrot Of Palestinian State
By Elias AklehWednesday March 28th had witnessed the nineteenth Arab Summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Such summits had been a source of anxiety for the Arab population, since they had been accustomed to see these summits coming out with meaningless patriotic rhetoric reflecting the status quo of Arab political situations, more political concessions to Israel, and more complicity to the hegemonic American policies for a “Greater Middle East” (Greater Israel). This summit has proved to be no different than its predecessors
U.S. vs. Iran (a Marxist perspective?)
By Mickey Z.Now we have Iran asking for U.S. permission. We are faced with the spectacle of America only nation to have used nuclear weapons on civilians about how nuclear weapons might, well, be used on civilians
Bush Skips Baseball’s Opening Day
By David WalshIf George W. Bush’s unpopularity and isolation needed to be underscored, his decision not to throw out the ceremonial opening day ball of the major league baseball season served the purpose
From Socialism To Barbarism?
By Akhila RamanThe Ugly Might of the State has descended in an unholy manner on the farmers in Singur and Nandigram. How can CPIM reconcile its conflicting history of admirable land reforms in West Bengal with the recent brutal repression of farmers in its desperate bid of industrialization?
Bush, Blair And Ahmedinejad Trial
By Mike GhouseThe community of Nations need to bring peace to the world. Neither Bush nor Ahmedinejad represent the people of their respective countries any more. Both are hard headed individuals, who are willing to destroy their nations repute and put American and Iranian lives in harm's way. If they have to prove their manliness, let them get out on a duel rather than put their nations (they do not represent any more), at risk
03 April, 2007
Iraqi Oil Belongs To The Iraqi People
By Nancy Wohlforth & Fred MasonThe proposed Petroleum Law creates a Federal Oil and Gas Council on which would sit representatives of Exxon- Mobil, Shell, BP, etc., whose tasks include approving their own contracts. Instead of Iraqi central government decision-making on oil, the proposal authorizes regional authorities to individually sign contracts with foreign companies, promoting contract bidding wars between regions that could lead to breaking Iraq into three states
The War Of Humiliation
By Robert FiskThe humiliation of Britain, the humiliation of Tony Blair, of the British military, of George Bush and the whole Iraqi shooting match. And the master of humiliation - even if Tony Blair doesn't realise it - is Iran, a nation which feels itself forever humiliated by the West
Partners In Crime
By Soraya Sepahpour-UlrichWhile the display of the captured sailors is not serving Iran’s national interest, especially by putting a headscarf on the female sailor – something not tolerated by the majority of women in Iran, it should by no means be a distraction of who the real guilty party is. Threat of inciting war in order to commit mass murder is far graver than that of foolhardiness
A Falklands War In The Persian Gulf
By Kaveh L AfrasiabiWith the growing crisis over the detained British sailors fanning the flames of patriotism in both Iran and Britain, and incessant criticisms of weak responses by the Foreign Office in nearly all British papers, Thatcher nostalgia is rising steadily, particularly in light of the similar US backing of Britain in both cases
Iran-US: Fighting Fire With Fire
By Trita ParsiAs the dispute over Iran's seizure of British sailors continues to twist and turn, what may have been an isolated incident at the outset is quickly developing into yet another move in the geopolitical chess game between the West and Iran
Olmert And The Pussycat
By Uri AvneryCan a pantheress turn into a pussycat? Impossible, a zoologist would say. But last week, we saw it happen with our own eyes. Condoleezza Rice came here to teach Ehud Olmert, once and for all, who is boss. The President of the United States wants to make order in the Middle East, and the government of Israel has to fall into line. Otherwise!Two days later, nothing of the threat remained. Olmert refused again. And what happened? Nothing happened. The fearful pantheress slunk home, her tail between her legs
Climate Report Maps Out ‘Highway To Extinction’
By Seth BorensteinA key element of the second major report on climate change being released Friday in Belgium is a chart that maps out the effects of global warming, most of them bad, with every degree of temperature rise.There’s one bright spot: A minimal heat rise means more food production in northern regions of the world.However, the number of species going extinct rises with the heat, as does the number of people who may starve, or face water shortages, or floods, according to the projections in the draft report obtained by The Associated Press
What Do The Young Jews Know?
By David TruskoffToday in 2007 young Jews know very little, if anything, about the campaign to make Young German Americans afraid to be called UN-German and to make it unpleasant for them in their own community. Even if they did, I doubt that it would make any difference, for as Henry David Thoreau said, "Every generation laughs at the old and follows religiously the new."
The American Dream Book Tour
And Protest Across America
By Mike PalecekHello from the road, The American Dream Book Tour and Protest Across the USA has arrived in Omaha
Who Is Calling The Shots In Bangladesh?
By Taj HashmiAs the Emergency cannot be an end in itself, making “politics difficult for politicians” is not going to salvage the country either. It is high time that the present regime start calling a spade a spade by identifying itself not only as an interim government to hold free and fair elections but also as the one determined to establish the rule of law and a corruption-free society in Bangladesh
01 April, 2007
Biofuels And Global Hunger
By Fidel CastroThe sinister idea of turning foodstuffs into fuel was definitely established as the economic strategy of the US foreign policy on Monday, March 26th last
Guantánamo Prisoner Charges Confession
Extracted Through Torture
By Kate RandallA Guantánamo detainee has charged that he was tortured into confessing to a role in the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole. Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, 41, a Saudi national of Yemeni descent, said he faced years of torture following his arrest in 2002 and that he fabricated stories to satisfy his captors
War Anniversary: Israel, Palestine Links Absent
By Ramzy BaroudIt’s the same war, the same occupation; Israel and its neoconservative benefactors are recurring faces in the Middle East’s ongoing chaos. That is a fact that anti-war movements everywhere must keep at the forefront if they want their message to have validity or relevance
Ortega Government Shows Some
Response To Civil Society Demands
By Witness for PeaceWhile nothing is certain about the direction of this new government, it merits attention that within the first week of taking office, the Ortega administration announced the end of the IMF-pushed school autonomy policy, the launch of a program to revitalize small-scale farming, and the appointments of an anti-privatization activist to head the public water utility and a labor rights activist to lead the Labor Ministry
Nandigram: Let The Truth Be Known
By Prakash KaratIn this article Prakash Karat, general secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) explains the events that led up to the events that happened in Nandigram on March 14, which caused the death of 14 people in police firings
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