31 December, 2007
A
Solar Grand Plan
By Ken Zweibel, James Mason & Vasilis Fthenakis
By 2050 solar power could end U.S. dependence on foreign oil and slash greenhouse gas emissions
Bush’s
Twilight Year Looks Grim
By Jim Lobe
If the last days of 2007 are any indication, U.S. President George W. Bush’s last year in office is shaping up as grim and lonely
Iraqi
Refugees Turn To Sex Trade In Syria
By Alistair Lyon
The idea repels many of the 1.5 million Iraqis in Syria, but the struggle to make ends meet has forced some to share tiny apartments with other families in the slums of Damascus, put their children out to work or marry off teenaged daughters. Sometimes such early marriages are simply a cover for prostitution as young brides are swiftly trafficked, according to Hana Ibrahim, head of the Iraqi Women's Will Association
2007:
Annus Mirabilis
And The Smiling Garden Of Eden
By Pablo Ouziel
As the year comes to a close, while observing these rapid moves towards a more nuclear world, I am drawn to the prediction made in 1909 by the British chemist Frederick Soddy, who believed atomic power would “make the entire world one smiling Garden of Eden”. Sadly, I am confident that honest analysis will reveal that 2007 was the “Wonderful Year” in which doctrines of arbitrary authority, with their innate contempt for freedom, and belief in the necessity of violence and the morality of war were promoted side by side with a thriving nuclear complex
The
Face Of Fascism In A Global System
Heading For Collapse
By Juan Santos
A Review of The Shock Doctrine By Naomi Klein
Ron
And Ron: Two Of Capitalism’s Finest
By Jason Miller
Despite his apparent opposition to the powers that be, a vote for Ron Paul is still a vote for our continued enslavement by a system predicated on greed, selfishness, and the prosperity of the few at the expense of the many. In fact, unless by some miracle a viable candidate who opposes capitalism actually emerges, the act of voting in our bourgeois democracy is little more than a validation of our servitude
My
Heart Bleeds For Pakistan
By Tariq Ali
Poor Pakistan. Poor People's Party supporters. Both deserve better than this disgusting, medieval charade.How can Western-backed politicians be taken seriously if they treat their party as a fiefdom and their supporters as serfs, while their courtiers abroad mouth sycophantic niceties concerning the young prince and his future
Machiavellian
Musharraf
By Ramzy Baroud
The US administration and Congress are likely to clash over the best ways to control Pakistan, or — to put it mildly — to ensure Pakistan’s continuous cooperation in the US ‘war on terror’. However the clash manifests, the resulting US foreign policy posture is likely to affect changes – substantial or otherwise – in US policy toward Pakistan, resulting in further interference in the country’s internal affairs, deepening the discord and fuelling more violence. Indeed, it may endanger the future of genuine democracy in Pakistan for years to come
Afghanistan
Does Not Exist: Viva Pakistan!
By Gaither Stewart
I must be paranoid for I believe that Washington stands behind the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. Since the truth is as hard to come by in Pakistan as it is in Washington, D.C. most observers can only hazard guesses as to what really happened there in recent days and weeks. So I too will take the liberty of expounding my version of events
What
Next For Pakistan?
By Dr Shabir Choudhry
In view of some experts on South Asian politics and Pakistan, the country does not have a bright future. They think the process of disintegration was already on the way before the killing of Benazir Bhutto, and her killing has accelerated that process
Decoding
Modi's Victory And Secular Politics
By Manish Chand
Narendra Modi's repeat landslide victory in Gujarat against the spectacular odds stacked against him - anti-incumbency, the odious hangover of the 2002 riots, an unforgiving Muslim minority, BJP spoilers and a hostile media - has exposed the fragility and speciousness of secular politics practised in the country by those who are quick to seize on the secularism mantra as the sole rallying point
Peasant
Suicides: Why Kerala Is Different
By Prabhat Patnaik
One big difference between Kerala and the other states which perhaps explains why suicides have stopped in Kerala and not elsewhere, is that Kerala has set up a Debt Relief Commission, which at this very moment is engaged in a case-by-case scrutiny of the magnitude of debt and the requisite relief in the Wayanad district
Surrender
Is Not An Option
By Jim Miles
Book Review: Surrender is Not an Option – Defending America at the United Nations and Abroad By John Bolton
30 December, 2007
Iraq
Progresses To Some Of Its Worst
By Dahr Jamail
Despite all the claims of improvements, 2007 has been the worst year yet in Iraq
They
Don’t Blame Al-Qa’ida.
They Blame Musharraf
By Robert Fisk
Yesterday, our television warriors informed us the PPP members shouting that Musharraf was a “murderer” were complaining he had not provided sufficient security for Benazir. Wrong. They were shouting this because they believe he killed her
Anglo-American
Ambitions Behind
The Assassination Of Benazir Bhutto
By Larry Chin
The assassination of Bhutto appears to have been anticipated. There were even reports of "chatter" among US officials about the possible assassinations of either Pervez Musharraf or Benazir Bhutto, well before the actual attempts took place
Bhutto,
Bush, And Musharraf
By John Chuckman
America gave Ms. Bhutto a blessing and a gentle push, likely a bundle of cash, and undoubtedly the promise of lots of future support, to return home as opposition to Musharraf. One could fairly say that her assassination just proves how little Washington policymakers understand the region. It sent her to her death, desperately hoping against hope to get what it wanted
Who
Assassinated Bhutto?
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
Only the time will tell what will be the repercussions of her assassination on national politics in the long term but one thing can be said with some certainly that her murder will foment Sindhi nationalism and provide a new ammunition to the Sindhi nationalist movements with separatist leanings. If this happens, it will not be a good omen for the federation
Hope
For Pakistan
By Mike Ghouse
Let Pakistan recover from this severe blow to their democratic process, and make sure there is a genuine welcome of our help, and offer it unconditionally
Modi's
Victory: Portents For Indian Democracy
By Ram Puniyani
Modi's victory is a warning signal of transition of sub critical fascism, transcending the critical line to strangulate democratic values in an ideological form all over the country. The disarray in the BJP will give way to strong optimism, to strive for power at center. All this may take place sooner than later if the secular movements do not wake up and broaden their reach
Lies,
Injustice And The Capitalist Way: We’re On
The Highway To Hell—Don’t Stop Us!
By Jason Miller
We “Free World” capitalistic Westerners are a loathsome lot—or to put it more crudely, we suck. When one considers how degenerate we are from a collective standpoint, it is difficult to suppress intense feelings of disgust and contempt. There are many layers to our repugnant, depraved, and “beloved” capitalism, a socioeconomic system which ultimately furnishes the members of its upper echelon with de facto licenses to exploit, plunder, and murder with impunity. Problem is that as one peels back each successive layer hoping to find some purity, one finds a more profound rot
One-Act
Farces On Peace In Palestine
And Their Political Lessons
By Agustin Velloso
Pro-Palestinian activists should neither join nor work together with those who are not pro-Palestinian, whether government or non-government actors. Their respective positions are as far apart, as Palestinians and Zionists are. What is the point of trusting people who support Zionism?
29 December, 2007
Bhutto
Assassination Heightens Threat Of
US Intervention In Pakistan
By Bill Van Auken
The mass popular revulsion over the Bhutto assassination has unleashed intense instability in Pakistan. A further unraveling of the political situation could well draw the US military into direct involvement in the attempt to suppress popular upheavals in a country of 165 million people
A
Tragedy Born Of Military Despotism And Anarchy
By Tariq Ali
The assassination of Benazir Bhutto heaps despair upon Pakistan. Now her party must be democratically rebuilt
Benazir
Bhutto Faced Death With Courage
By Mirza A. Beg
Pakistan is again at fateful cross roads. It is sixty years late, but not too late, because what else can a people or a nation do, but to take up the fallen standard and persevere. Pakistanis can reject the politics of fear imposed by the quick-fix promises of military dictatorships. They should take up the difficult long journey of slowly building civil institutions of imperfect political give and take to reach an internal cohesion and become a nation at peace with itself and its neighbors
Bhutto
Assassination:Pakistan's Tragedy
By G. Asgar Mitha
It is doubtful that Pakistan and the world will ever know for a long time who assassinated Benazir Bhutto but we may come to know, not today but certainly some time in the future, that there was a conspiracy. Ms. Bhutto came to Pakistan to participate in the elections because it was in the US interests. She is dead, just like her killer, so we will never know what those interests were
Peak
Oil And Dunbar's Number
By Peter Goodchild
Within modern capitalism there is no solution to the problem of oil depletion. Oil energy cannot be replaced with the equivalent amount of "alternative" energy in the required time, so the consequences of oil depletion will be disastrous. Those disastrous consequences are beyond the range of the normal or acceptable issues of political debate. No political contender can win votes by saying that the world is coming to an end. The "end" may be real, but there is no political mechanism to deal with it in the over-crowded and overly complex modern state
A Global Warming
Message For Christmas 2008
By Dan Bloom
Santa, I have a question for you. About this global warming thing. I keep hearing my mom and dad talk about it. So I want to know: will there be a North Pole for my great-grandchildren in 2100 or will you have moved your operations to maybe somewhere along the Arctic Circle d-o-t-t-e-d l-i-n-e at latitude 66°33'?
Tasers,
Pepper Spray And Arrests In The Struggle
For Affordable Housing In New Orleans
By Bill Quigley
In a remarkable symbol of the injustices of post-Katrina reconstruction, hundreds of people were locked out of a public New Orleans City Council meeting addressing demolition of 4500 public housing apartments. Some were tasered, many pepper sprayed and a dozen arrested
28 December, 2007
Benazir
Bhutto Pays With Life For Democracy
By Beena Sarwar
Benazir Bhutto has paid the heaviest price possible for her insistence on engaging in participatory, democratic politics in Pakistan.Bhutto, twice prime minister and leader of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), was killed Thursday evening in what was apparently a suicide attack following gunshots that injured her as she was leaving an election rally in the garrison town of Rawalpindi
Who
Killed Benazir Bhutto?
By Murtaza Shibli
Benzir's death should not come as a surprise at all. For the past three decades, Pakistan has been turned into a "Jihad factory' under the guidance of the US and other Western powers. After 9/11 when Pakistan launched a war on its own people in the name of "War on terror', it was not uncanny to predict that the Jihadis who were nourished previously will turn against their old allies -- the politicians and the military and the innocent people of Pakistan will get caught and entangled as a collateral
Pakistan
After Benazir Bhutto
By Dr Shabir Choudhry
This disillusionment, anger and resentment could exacerbate the political situation of Pakistan, and could lead to a civil war resulting in more trouble, more deaths and more destruction. But I hope the common sense will prevail and people will restrain and learn from this tragedy and help Pakistan to become a stable, democratic and liberal country
She
Died As Her Father Did: Bravely
By Tarek Fatah
Why did they have to kill her? If she was as corrupt as her critics claim, couldn't they have bought her loyalties? Her killers, however, knew that the woman who spent years in jail, lived in exile for a decade, had one thing on her mind: the end of Islamic extremism in Pakistan. For that, and for the fact that she was a woman, she had to be eliminated
Was
Bhutto Just A Tragic Victim?
By Chris Gelken
The fact that the frontier provinces of Pakistan are now safe havens for Taliban and al-Qaeda, all of these things make for a very difficult situation, and the idea that the U.S. could impose a package deal between a now civilian President Musharraf, a Prime Minister Bhutto, and a new American vetted general in charge of the army, was a dangerously unrealistic fantasy,and one I think that was finally played out in the streets of Rawalpindi and Bhutto’s tragic death today
A
Christmas Present -
Something You Can Do For Your Kids
By Bill Henderson
Christmas is for kids. Give your kids the present they really need this year: Promise them you will do whatever you can to help turn the corner on climate change. It's life and death for your kids, for your grandchildren. Promise them you will work hard so that they will have a safe future
Saddam
Provided More Food Than The U.S.
By Ahmed Ali & Dahr Jamail
The Iraqi government announcement that monthly food rations will be cut by half has left many Iraqis asking how they can survive.The government also wants to reduce the number of people depending on the rationing system by five million by June 2008
The
Abraham Lincoln Brigade -
A Profile In Courage, Honor And Hope
By Stephen Lendman
In their day, "Lincolns" were anti-facist freedom-fighters who are still respected by their admirers. Since the Reagan era, however, they'd be called "terrorists" because they oppose unfettered capitalism and all its harshness
A
Peace-Killing Linkage, De-linkage
By Nicola Nasser
All indications confirm the Israeli settlement expansion, siege and blockade are staying, the World Bank's warning is valid, Fayyad can promise his people only more of the same, and opposition to his government and the PLO will grow deeper and wider by the day to dispel whatever illusions of peace are left over from the Annapolis conference last month
Israel’s
‘True War’ In Gaza Played
To The Hamas-Fatah Equation
By Dr Marwan Asmar
Israel is fighting a “true war” in Gaza according to its Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Such a chilling term emphasizes the point Gaza has indeed become Israel’s military backyard to do what it will with this piece of Palestinian geography that is at the butt end of daily missiles and aerial bombardment
22 December, 2007
Food
Shortages, Price Spikes
Threaten World Population
By Naomi Spencer
Worldwide food prices have risen sharply and supplies have dropped this year, according to the latest food outlook of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. The agency warned December 17 that the changes represent an “unforeseen and unprecedented” shift in the global food system, threatening billions with hunger and decreased access to food
The
Post-Oil Economy: After The Techno-Fix
By Peter Goodchild
The path beyond petroleum begins by considering five principles: that alternative sources of energy are insufficient; that hydrocarbons, metals, and electricity are inseparable; that advanced technology is part of the problem, not part of the solution; that post-oil agriculture means a smaller population; and that the basis of the problem is psychological, not technological
The
End Of Israel?
By Hannah Mermelstein
As a Jewish-American, I know that while it might be scary to some, while it will require a lot of imagination, the end of Israel as a Jewish state could mean the beginning of democracy, human rights, and some semblance of justice in a land that has almost forgotten what that means
Funding
Democracy Or War?
By Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich
The ‘Iran Democracy Fund’ was recently awarded $60 million. There seems to be neither rhyme nor reason to this re-appropriation, especially since more than two dozen Iranian American and human rights groups appealed to Congress to eliminate the program given that the program had backfired, undermining democracy efforts in Iran and leading to wider repression of activists. It therefore begs the question why the United States would deliberately waste tax payers’ money while causing hardship on aspiring democrats in Iran? Perhaps the answer lies in the lead up to the Iraq invasion
Torture
Scandal May Cripple Bush
By Chris Gelken
White House accused of cover-up in torture tape outrage
Beelzebub
To Bushlings: Mission Accomplishmented
By Rand Clifford
A satire
Will Republicans
Nominate An Evangelical Minister
To Be Commander In Chief?
By Kevin Zeese
Huckabee Would Open a New Chapter in War Against “Islamic Extremism”
Venezuela
And Russia Voting On
December 2 – Worlds Apart
By Siv O'Neall
Hugo Chávez lost the referendum on constitutional reforms. But is he really the loser? Putin's party, United Russia, won the election. Sure. But at what price?
21 December, 2007
Is
A World Wide Famine In The Works?
By Thomas Riggins
Jacques Diouf, who runs the UN Food and Agriculture organization has stated that there "is a very serious risk that fewer people will be able to get food" in the coming years. That doesn't sound very good at all. Rosenthal, reporting from Rome, says his reason for announcing this is that because of "an 'unforeseen and unprecedented' shift, the world food supply is dwindling rapidly and food prices are soaring to historic levels."
Climate
Change, National Security And Ethics
By Dr. John James
Calculations show that dangerous levels of global warming cannot now be avoided. The life-style changes needed internationally are so wide-reaching that effective and immediate action is unlikely. As Australia is one of the few countries that can survive, we should prepare now for the inevitable. Ethical issues will distort our responses for years to come if we fail to address them now
Hydrocarbons
And Funny Money
By Peter Goodchild
One can say that the future will be one of diminishing fossil fuels, and hence diminishing gasoline, plastic, paint, asphalt, fertilizer, and electricity. Or one can say that it will be a period of stagflation: rising prices and falling wages — since rising oil prices "drag up" all other prices. Eventually faith in the dollar will collapse, and money will be replaced by barter
Iraq:
Who Are The Insurgents?
By Dahr Jamail
"Suppose Iraq invaded America. And an Iraqi soldier was on a tank passing through an American street, waving his gun at the people, threatening them, raiding and trashing houses. Would you accept that? This is why no Iraqi can accept occupation, and don’t be surprised by their reactions," says "The Imam," a young man from a mixed Sunni-Shia family, as he explains the genesis of the insurgency in Iraq and its exponential growth
Iraq:
Outsourcing The War
By Chris Gelken
Corporate government leads to corporate war and leads to corporate abuse
Will
The Year 2008 Be Different?
By Mirza A. Beg
Let us make the year 2008 a watershed, when the 21st century emerges from the deathly clutches of the wars of the 20 th century to claim its much needed place to unfold an era of peace in the flow of time
Vanunu's
'Secret'
By Eileen Fleming
Anyone who speaks with Vanunu for even a few minutes will understand that the 'secret' Vanunu has that can harm Israel is bad PR and the example of what happens to truth tellers when governments substitute paranoia for law
Resistance
By Gaither Stewart
Resistance is real life as opposed to virtual life. Resistance is the precise opposite of acceptance of what society offers and the resulting retreat into comfort and ease, into the assurances that your lifestyle is the right one, that your way of life is the right way of life. Resistance is the rejection of Power’s version of life. It is rejection of wide-eyed acquiescence to Power’s lure
Free
And Fair Elections In Pakistan:
A Dream Or A Reality?
By Dhrubajyoti Bhattacharjee
Those who were accepting the fact that Pakistan was going to experience a free and fair election, has woken up to the rude fact that in the forthcoming period too, Pakistan is going to witness one more tutored election fiasco. Though Musharraf has shed off his General's uniform, but he still remains to be at the helm of affairs, more powerful than any of the two wings of democratic governance, the legislature as well as the judiciary, as he retains the power to maneuver elections according to his will, and has suppressed the judicial machinery to the maximum
Terror
By Clerical Error
By Jawed Naqvi
India's top missile scientist unveiled plans last week to build a ballistic missile defence by 2010 that should effectively tackle the threat from Pakistan's nuclear arsenal. Dr V.K. Saraswat was also quoted as saying that the proximity of Pakistan's assets would give India just three to four minutes to respond to a perceived attack
20 December, 2007
Politicising
Gaza's Misery
By Ramzy Baroud
Intense debate over Gaza is subsiding as the status quo is delineated -- predictably -- by those with the bigger guns. But to what extent can human suffering be politicised, turned into an intellectual polemic that fails to affect the simplest change in people's lives?
To
Die With The Philistines?
By Uri Avnery
According to the Biblical story, Samson took hold of the central pillars of the Philistine temple and brought down the whole building upon the Lords of the Philistines, the people of Gaza and himself. The teller of the story sums it all up: "So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life." A story of suffering, destruction and death. It may be about to repeat itself now, only with the roles reversed: the temple may be brought down by the Palestinians (who took their name from the Philistines), and among the dead will be the Lords of Israel
9/11
Truth Manifesto
By Joel S. Hirschhorn
For evidence that America’s political system is a criminal conspiracy, open your mind to piles of new analyses that prove beyond doubt that the official 9/11 story is a lie. Years of a bipartisan cover-up of 9/11 lies make it much more than one horrendous past event. It endures in infamy as a symptom of a corrupt and dishonest government
Holiday
Season Hypocrisy
By Stephen Lendman
People take pride saying "when the going gets tough, the tough go shopping" - but not without consequences. The personal fallout is over-indebtedness millions can't handle in the wake of unexpected medical emergencies or loss of employment. The toll: since the early 1980s one in seven families forced into bankruptcy, over 2 million in 2005 alone (30% above 2004), and millions more ahead from unchecked borrow and binge-spending made worse by the subprime crisis
President
Huckabee: "No Room In The Inn"
By Stan Moody
By offering a solution not unlike that envisioned by 19th century Americans to the slavery question and carried out against Native Americans, Huckabee essentially dehumanizes the Palestinians in his scheme to transport them elsewhere
Beijing’s
Olympics: A Marriage Of
Corporate And State Abuse
By Joseph Grosso
Unfortunately none of this rampant spending and multi-national business dealings reaches the people whose homes and possessions were demolished to make way for the façade. Given the state’s ability to confiscate land under the authoritarian pretext of “public interest”, residents are given far below market value for their land and threatened with violence for protesting (and there have thousands of protests that have taken different forms including numerous public suicides), Beijing’s lavish show is in a sense actually put out on the cheap
The
Seduction Of Indifference,
Again And Again And Again
By Gaither Stewart
For me the opposite of indifference is involvement. It’s the search that leads to fulfillment, the extraordinary event we wait and hope for that interrupts the everyday flow of time. It is a kind of transcendence that points toward answers to questions like, ‘What am I as an individual?’ ‘What is my life all about?’ ‘Do I count?’
Tamils:
The Prince Of Peace
By Fr Chandi Sinnathurai
Just for a moment, imagine the President Rajapaksha declaring that the un-declared war is over. The Tamil Tigers will be left with no option but to reciprocate such honourable gesture. Both the Tamils and the Sinhalas including all the communities in Sri Lanka can breathe a sigh of relief and celebrate Christmas with joyful peace and baila
Citizens Of
Twelve Hours
By Wali Laskar
Thousands of Indian citizens living in Indian soil have been deprived of their citizenship for twelve hours daily for decades. The victims are resident of villages situated in fringe area of about four thousand kilometres long India-Bangladesh International Boundary Lines
19 December, 2007
US
Backs Turkish Military
Attacks On Northern Iraq
By Peter Symonds
With the backing and assistance of the Bush administration, the Turkish military has launched two attacks in the past three days on Kurdish villages in northern Iraq. While targetted against the guerrilla forces of the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), the operations are threatening to provoke a broader conflict involving Turkey and Iraq
Iraq:
Looking To Security From Paper Police
By Ali al-Fadhily
In a country with no security and no jobs, just about anyone can work as a policeman. "To survive in Iraq under U.S. occupation, there are only two jobs; police and garbage collection," Baghdad journalist Mohammad al-Dulaymi told IPS. "Unemployment is leading many Iraqis to join the security forces despite the risk involved."
Who
Speaks For The Palestinians?
By Dan Lieberman
It seems that the Palestinians have no voice, but the appearance is deceiving; the Palestinians have potent voices of international law and international reason. A major problem is they lack active support from an international community that has been negligent in providing the necessary means to implement United Nations (UN) resolutions and mandating accepted international laws
Mitt
Romney: Tabernacle Choirboy
or Blackwater Mercenary
By Robert Weitzel
Keep in mind that Cofer Black, Romney’s personal advisor, is second in command of a private army in need of a public commander-in-chief. As Jeremy Scahill warns, “Blackwater appears to have its own presidential candidate [Romney] . . . one whose presidency could make the company's profitable business under Bush look like a church bake sale.”
Empowering
The Small Farmer: Key To Finding
A Way Out Of The Current Agrarian Distress
By Meeta & Rajivlochan
The small farmer might be the solution to the ongoing crisis in the farming sector in India. Policies need to be geared towards helping small farmers perform agricultural operations and marketing their products with greater efficiency. Instead current policies are hoping to dispossess farmers of their livelihood and push them into some hitherto non-existent industrial gulag
A
Test Of Nerves
By Neha Dixit
Getting a basic HIV test done can be a nightmare even in Delhi’s best hospitals
Jeopardizing
Environment, People’s Culture,
Religion And Food Security In Sikkim
By Tara Dhakal
Can one’s religion and culture be bidded? Can Dzongu (a pilgrimage for Lepcha indigenous tribes) be bidded to private businessmen for hydropower? It is like bidding Mecca (Muslim pilgrimage), Badrinath/Jagannath (Hindu pilgrimage), and Vatican (Christian) for private businessmen/industries
18 December, 2007
The
Bali Deal Is Worse Than Kyoto
By George Monbiot
America will keep on wrecking climate talks as long as those with vested interests in oil and gas fund its political system
Bali
Exposes US, Canada And Australian
Climate Racism, Climate Terrorism,
Climate Criminals And Climate Genocide
By Dr Gideon Polya
The world must urgently act now by applying Sanctions, Boycotts, Green Tariffs and Reparations Demands against the chief climate racist, climate criminal, climate terrorist, climate genocidal countries Australia, US, and Canada that are acutely threatening the world with ecosystem collapse, climate genocide and indeed an all-encompassing Terracide
Culling
The Herd
By Sheila Samples
We're like herds of cattle, grazing placidly, unable or unwilling to imagine that we might share the same fate as the millions throughout the Third World targeted by the elite as "bottom feeders," contributing nothing -- eating into their profit -- gluttons who must be dispensed with. Any rancher or farmer will tell you that it's good business to cull the herd for a variety of reasons, such as market outlook, cash flow, or just to maintain a healthier, more easily controlled mass of cattle. It makes no sense to keep problem cows, the elderly, the ill or non-productive around. There comes a time when you must cut your losses -- and cull the herd
Bomb
After Bomb
By Howard Zinn
I am stunned by the thought that we, the "civilized" nations, have bombed cities and country sides and islands for a hundred years. Yet, here in the United States, which is responsible for most of that, the public, as was true of me, does not understand--I mean really understand--what bombs do to people. That failure of imagination, I believe, is critical to explaining why we still have wars, why we accept bombing as a common accompaniment to our foreign policies, without horror or disgust
Mirage
Of Improvement In Iraq
By Dahr Jamail
Iraq’s population at the time of the US invasion in March 2003 was roughly 27 million, and today it is approximately 23 million. Elementary arithmetic indicates that currently over half the population of Iraq are either refugees, in need of emergency aid, wounded, or dead
American
Jews On War And Peace: What Do
The Polls Tell Us And Not Tell Us?
By James Petras
Once again, a poll recently released by the American Jewish Committee (AJC) has confirmed that on some questions of major significance there are vast differences between the opinion of the Presidents of the Major American Jewish Organizations and the mass of American Jews
How
Hyperpowers Rise To Global Dominance
And Why They Fall
By Jim Miles
Book Review: Day of Empire – How Hyperpowers Rise to Global Dominance – and Why They Fall. By Amy Chua
Lebanon
! What Will Happen After
The Assassination Of General Al Hajj?
By Dr Salim Nazzal
The 35 kilograms of high explosives which were packed into an olive green BMW and killed General Francois Al Hajj on Friday has invoked great sentiments of unity among the Lebanese
Who
Loves Communism?
By Gaither Stewart
Rightwing regimes adore Communism. Just the word “Communist” sets their hearts a flutter. Communism in Italy is the scarecrow that terrorism is in America. In countries with less solid democratic traditions, the threat of Communism has been exploited by reactionary forces to establish dictatorial regimes. Nearly every day you can see it in action. Like terrorism, Communism was the excuse for emergency laws in the Philippines and Peru as it was in Chile and Argentina. Emergency laws, special prisons, torture, the sky is the limit in the war against the Communist bugaboo
No
To Hijab: Honour Killing Is Terrorism
By Taj Hashmi
The latest ghastly murder of sixteen-year-old Aqsa in Toronto is another spine chiller; not only because the way her Muslim father killed her but also because she fell victim to a grossly misconstrued belief nourished, promoted and encouraged by millions of obscurantist custodians of Islam
Manual
Scavenging: Nations Shame
By Sunil Kuksal
Despite laws abolishing the inhuman practice of manual scavenging, over a million dalits in ‘superpower India’ are caught in a vortex of severe social and economic exploitation. Cleaning and carrying headloads of human excreta, these ‘night soil’
17 December, 2007
Bali
Climate Conference Ends In Farce
By Patrick O’Connor
The UN-sponsored climate change conference held on the Indonesian island of Bali ended on the weekend without any agreement on combatting global warming other than vague generalities. A last-minute, face-saving communiqué was issued but, at the insistence of the Bush administration and its allies, it made no mention of specific carbon emission reduction targets
Oceans’
Growing Acidity Alarms Scientists
By Les Blumenthal
Forget about sea levels rising as glaciers and polar ice melt, and increasing water temperatures affecting global weather patterns. As the oceans absorb more and more carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, they’re gradually becoming more acidic.And some scientists fear that the change may be irreversible
Dealing
With Peak Oil Depression
By Peter Goodchild
For many who have experienced the epiphany of the petroleum bell-curve, a sense of despair is the common after-effect. How does one accommodate oneself to that realization of dwindling material resources? And oddly enough, it is often the most astute, those who have the most to offer, who are in that very position of having to navigate the darkness
Why
Peak Guarantees Conservation
By Jeff Berg
The Peak Energy thesis clearly demonstrates that the massive energy conservation efforts that our ecology, and climate, so dearly and clearly need, are guaranteed to happen. Whether or not they will happen in time to be of any good to us is still very much up in the air
Put
Option On America, Part II
By Rand Clifford
9-11 has produced many big winners, including: CorpoGov and American fascism; Industrial Military Complex; Israel; war-profiteering corporations in general; people who capitalized on their foreknowledge to make a killing in the stock market with put options; Larry Silverstein.... For the American People—if we prove wise enough—9-11 does offer the benefit of finally recognizing CorpoMedia for what it is, and pulling the plug. The same potential is there regarding CorpoGov—the mass realization that our enemy is internal
Police
State America - A Look Back And Ahead
By Stephen Lendman
The nation is at war and laws are in place that end constitutional protections, militarize the country, repress dissent, and our government is empowered to crush freedom and defend privilege from beneficial social change it won't tolerate. It's the price of imperial arrogance we the people are paying, and that won't end until the spirit of resistance gets aroused enough to stop it in our own self-defense. We better hope that happens in time with potentially little of it left
Sore
Losermen
By David Michael Green
The depth of the political price ultimately to be paid for supporting eight years of Bushism is still unknown. Virtually everyone, domestically and internationally, who associated themselves with this monster has paid for it in the form of political suicide. It is quite possible that the Republican Party itself could go down that same path, especially as the price and crimes of the administration become clearer over time, when they're more exposed, least protected from investigation and prosecution, and when long deferred costs come slamming upside the body politic with a real vengeance in the coming decade
Fantasyland
For Poker Diplomacy: Iran
By Pablo Ouziel
After reviewing the mainstream media reports on the political response to the National Intelligence Estimate, it seems clear to me that the leaders of the 'Axis of Good' are bent on betting all their stakes on Iran. Although the summary of the findings of the 16 U.S. intelligence agencies reveals that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in the fall of 2003 and has shown no signs of restarting it, President Bush is calling it a "warning signal" instead of extending a formal apology
What
Kind Of Left In Europe?
By Gaither Stewart
Trade unions, political parties and grass-roots movements are apparently not enough to obtain new social rules in a new world of inequalities of income and new unemployment caused by dislocation of industry
The
Adivasi Question In Assam
By Moirangthem Prakash
Recent violence involving Assam's adivasis highlights the region's uniquely complex realities
Modi's
Gujaratis
By Nasiruddin Haider Khan
What will we call Ghulam Mohammad Sheikh, who put Gujarat on the painting map of the world. What about Bandukwala? What name will be given to garba music of Ismail Darbar? Zaheer Khan, Irfan Pathan, Yusuf Pathan, Saira, Rashida, Niazben where will they fit? Are they Gujarati or just "them" in Modi's Gujarat?
Tamils:
Thy Kingdom Come?
By Chandi Sinnathurai
I for one, don’t care who landed in Ceylon first, and least bothered from where we landed - especially after so many centuries. What both, the Sinhalas and the Tamils need to concentrate is this. The reality is we find our selves together on this beautiful island. Now how best can we live side by side peacefully? How can we together dismantle oppression and hegemony?
15 December , 2007
Musharraf’s
‘Restoration Of Constitution’ A Sham
By HRW
Lifting the state of emergency will not restore real constitutional rule in Pakistan unless President Pervez Musharraf also withdraws changes he made to the constitution and reinstates the judiciary, Human Rights Watch said today. Musharraf imposed a state of emergency and suspended constitutional rule on November 3, 2007 on the pretext of fighting terrorism
Pakistan's
January Polls Already Rigged:
UN Rights Envoy
By P. Parameswaran
A UN human rights envoy on Thursday told US lawmakers not to send any delegation to monitor the upcoming election in Pakistan, claiming that it was already rigged by President Pervez Musharraf
Iraq
Does Exist
By Ghali Hassan
In a recent interview ("Iraq Doesn't Exist Anymore") with the self-described ‘leftists’ blogger Mick Whitney, Nir Rosen made untruthful and unsubstantiated statements regarding the situation on the ground in Iraq and the Occupation of that country by U.S. forces and their collaborators
Not
Even The Hajj Is Free Of Corruption
By Ali al-Fadhily
Many Iraqis are angry that the government seems to be picking favourites for the Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca
Prerequisites
For Peace
By Mustafa Barghouthi
As one who for decades has supported a two-state solution and the nonviolent struggle for Palestinian rights, I view the recent conference in Annapolis with a great deal of skepticism - and a glimmer of hope
Israel's
Palestinians Speak Out
By Nadim Rouhana
Palestinians inside Israel have developed a history and identity after nearly sixty years of hard work and struggle. We are not simply pawns to be shuffled to the other side of the board. We expect no more and no less than the right to equality in the land of our ancestors
On
Romney, Mormonism And Islam
By Ramzy Baroud
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s speech on December 6th - in which he tried to ‘explain’ his Mormon faith - was met with a mostly sympathetic reception at George Bush Library in Texas
FCC
Proposes Greater Media Consolidation
By Stephen Lendman
On October 17, FCC chairman Kevin Martin proposed lifting the 1975 media cross-ownership rule that forbids a company from owning a newspaper and television or radio station in the same city even though giant conglomerates like Rupert Murdock's News Corp. and the (Chicago) Tribune Company already do. On November 13, he expanded on his earlier plan claiming changes will only allow cross ownership "in the largest markets where there exists competition and numerous voices."
Political
Market For Midget Europe In The Giant Asia
By Gaither Stewart
The shift eastwards of the balance of power raises another question: what kind of political organization will the Asia-oriented globalized world have? It is not excluded that the European political model with its theories of the equality of all men will carry no weight in the socio-political make-up of the world of the future
On
The Significance Of Nandigram
By Ramsey Clark
Ramsey Clark, former US Attorney General, anti-imperialist campaigner and President of the US-based International Action Center, was in Kolkata to attend the Anti-Imperialist International Conference and rally organised by the All India Anti-Imperialist Forum from 27th to 29th November. On 29th November, he visited Nandigram for a first-hand experience of the situation there. Returning to the closing session of the Conference, he made the following brief speech on the significance of Nandigram
12 December , 2007
Growing
Food When The Oil Runs out
By Peter Goodchild
Most people in modern industrial society get their food mainly from supermarkets. As a result of declining hydrocarbon resources, however, it is unlikely that such food will always be available. The present world population is nearly 7 billion, but food supplies per capita have been shrinking for years. Food production will have to become more localized, and it will be necessary to reconsider less-advanced forms of technology that might be called "subsistence gardening."
On
Cooperation And Competition
By Emily Spence
"We are not going to be able to operate our Spaceship Earth successfully nor for much longer unless we see it as a whole spaceship and our fate as common. It has to be everybody or nobody." This in mind, it is time that we began a whole new relationship to each other and to the world in general. Let us begin now
Resistance
And Hope
By Charles Sullivan
It is immensely helpful to know there are other people out there doing the important work that the times require of each of us. Seeing others engaged in resisting wrong doing may inspire others to take up the cause and a powerful movement may someday be born. It is the certainty of that knowledge that keeps hope alive and makes existence not only bearable, but enjoyable
Obama
Versus Clinton Versus Plutocracy
By Joel S. Hirschhorn
Rich and powerful elites want Hillary Clinton in the White House if the Democrats get their turn in the rigged two-party system. Just one big problem: The establishment plutocracy wants her more than most Americans trust or like her. No matter how much she spends and no matter how many big name endorsements she gets, her phoniness and arrogance prevail. She would be America’s irritating Panderer-in-Chief. What to do?
Oh,
Those Balkans Again!
By Gaither Stewart
The failure of the mediation of USA, Russia and the European Union for a solution to Kosovo’s demands for secession from Serbia has the USA at loggerheads with both Russia and the EU about how to handle the new Balkan crisis
United
States: The Most Dangerous Nuclear State
By Dr Shireen M. Mazari
While much is being made of Pakistan's nuclear assets, facts on the ground reveal the U.S. to be the most dangerous nuclear state in the world with a track record of failed command structures and failed safety systems for its reactors
Advocacy,
Intellect, And Common Sense
By Jim Miles
Ramzy Baroud’s current article on the despair of writers and the role of the intellectual in presenting information has proven to be very thought provoking personally. I would not be doing what I am doing now without his support and conviction, yet as with the writer in the article, I have often wondered why do I keep doing this when nothing seems to change. Further, am I preaching only to the converted, or is there perhaps someone out there who has read the material and actually transformed their thinking because of that?
If
The “Failed State” Fails?
By B.R. Gowani
How much difference the coming election in Pakistan will make is not an easy task to predict. The nature of things to come is difficult to foresee with any accuracy. Chances are slim that any leader will be able to control the Islamic militants; and rare are chances that she/he will be able to manage the country with their support because that would mean pushing Pakistan further down the religious drain
Peace
Sans Human Rights Not Worth Having
By Rohini Hensman
Text of a talk at the celebration of Human Rights Defenders, Organised by the Law and Society Trust, Inform Human Rights Documentation Centre and Rights now Collective for Democracy at the BCIS auditorium on Dec. 06
11 December , 2007
Iran
Drops Dollar From Oil Deals
By AFP
Major crude producer Iran has completely stopped carrying out its oil transactions in dollars, Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari said on Saturday, labelling the greenback an "unreliable" currency."At the moment, selling oil in dollars has been completely halted, in line with the policy of selling crude in non-dollar currencies," Nozari was quoted as saying by the ISNA news agency
The
Danse Macabre Of Success And Hubris
By Case Wagenvoord
America sits atop an industrial and financial behemoth made possible by a geological flicker known as the “Age of Oil.” In our heart of hearts we believe it will last forever because we represent the end point of history. The sweet irony of it all is that when the dust finally settles, the Age of Oil, and the Industrial Age it spawned, will barely register as cosmic farts in the grand scheme of things
The
Bali Forecast - Low Expectations
By Eric Lemus
The multitudinous United Nations Conference on Climate Change under way since Dec. 3 on the tropical Indonesian island of Bali has oscillated between optimism and quiet reserve.The 12-day event is a thermometer of the success or failure of a strategic anti-global warming treaty that should emerge in two years. But the forecast is confidential
Nobel
Prize Acceptance Speech
By Al Gore
Speech by Al Gore on the acceptance of the Nobel Peace Prize
Who
Should Pilot Spaceship Earth?
By Gunther Ostermann
Would anybody go on an airplane trip where the passengers will hold a vote as to who shall be the captain, co-pilot, and navigator, without any experience? Who would go on such a trip? Why then is Spaceship Earth in the hands of unqualified politicians, just because they’re given a portfolio, or vote?
Israel
And Top zionist Leaders Attack Intelligence
By James Petras
During and immediately after the Annapolis meetings to discuss peace, Israel abducted the student president of Beir Zeit University for dissent, launched over 50 attacks on Gaza killing and wounding over 50 Palestinian civilians, police and militia
The
War And The Democrats:What Are They Doing?
By Thomas Riggins
It seems that a $ 500 billion budget is in the works which will give Bush "unfettered money for the Iraq war in exchange for new spending on popular domestic programs." The subtext here is obvious. The Dems will do the bidding of the Military Industrial Complex in return for goodies to take back to the voters to try and get reelected. They will try and make the American people moral accomplices in murder. Daycare funding will be paid for with the blood of Iraqi children
Africans
United In Rejecting European Arrogance
By Sukant Chandan
The recent summit between African heads of states and the EU has shown that some Europe has failed to move beyond their colonial-era past-times of economic and political bullying. The African delegates gave Europe an unmistakable cold shoulder on the two big issues of the conference: trade, especially the European proposed Economic Partnership Agreements, and European political interference in African affairs, centered on British arrogance towards Zimbabwe
The
Crowded Rightwing Life Rafts or
The Great Social-Political Divide: Left or Right
By Gaither Stewart
Today America’s two parties are interdependent, one on the other. They have exchanged political and social values as if they were merchandise. The two-component one-party system on the basis of the great euphemism, democracy, now a façade, fake and mendacious, today heads the great American Counter-Revolution
Erosion
Of Democratic Norms: A case Of Modi
By Ram Puniyani
The terrorizing atmosphere created in Gujarat does remind us of the status of minorities. Now the large sections of minorities feel that they have been relegated to the second class citizenship status. Their insecurity is the index of our democratic ethos. It is correctly pointed out that if you want to see the state of health of democracy, have a look at the status of its minorities!
Justice
For The Victims Of Gujarat Pogrom
By Mirza A. Beg
The perpetrators, the victims and the average Indians know that Narendra Modi's government engineered the riots in Gujarat resulting in the death of 2000 innocent people and injuring hundreds of thousands more in 2002. The justice to the victims is being denied because the BJP controlled governments in Gujarat and at the Center concealed the evidence, precluding a citizen’s ability to seek redress in the courts of law. Therefore, it was not a spontaneous riot, but a planned Pogrom
10 December, 2007
Forests
Could Cool or Cook The Planet
By Stephen Leahy
A two-degree Celsius rise in global temperatures could flip the Amazon forest from being the Earth's vital air conditioner to a flamethrower that cooks the planet, warns a new report released at the climate talks in Bali, Indonesia Friday
'The
Biggest Environmental Crime In History'
By Cahal Milmo
BP, the British oil giant that pledged to move "Beyond Petroleum" by finding cleaner ways to produce fossil fuels, is being accused of abandoning its "green sheen" by investing nearly £1.5bn to extract oil from the Canadian wilderness using methods which environmentalists say are part of the "biggest global warming crime" in history
True
Aim Of Annapolis,And Why It Failed
By Ramzy Baroud
Although both Bush and Abbas are willing collaborators in this undemocratic endeavour, Israelis must wake up to the fact that their country is knee-deep in Apartheid, and nothing is significant enough to salvage their racially-selective democracy, except true democracy
Summit's
Goal: Perpetuate
Repression Of Palestinians
By Barb Olson & Amal Othman
Bush instructed the Palestinians not to focus on the "borders" of a state. No wonder - Israel has already set the borders by constructing the annexation wall deep inside Palestinian territory, leaving the Palestinians imprisoned in a handful of poverty-stricken ghettos on a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of their original homeland. What's next, a virtual Palestinian state?
The
Perfect Storm Of Campaign 2008
By Steve Fraser
Will the presidential election of 2008 mark a turning point in American political history? Will it terminate with extreme prejudice the conservative ascendancy that has dominated the country for the last generation? No matter the haplessness of the Democratic opposition, the answer is yes
How
To Vote In Primaries And Not Be An Idiot
By David Swanson
A Short Instructions Manual
Ritual
Gloating Postmortems -
The Corporate Media v. Hugo Chavez
By Stephen Lendman
Chavez is resilient and will rebound from one electoral setback. Don't ever count him out or underestimate his influence over what co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, Mark Weisbrot, says is "A historic transformation....underway in Latin America (following) more than a quarter century of neoliberal" rule
To
EJ Hawkins On My 2020 Vision
By Jeff Berg
The price of oil, the price of all fossil fuels, must go up and significantly if we are to have any chance of surviving, in any form that we would call recognizable, what we are doing to the planet
The
Mumia case: What Is True Justice?
By Mary Shaw
As long as the outstanding questions remain unanswered, there is still a chance that Faulkner's real killer is still at large.As long as the outstanding questions remain unanswered, justice has not been served. And, unfortunately, as long as the outstanding questions remain unanswered, true closure remains an impossible dream
Enlightening
Benazir!
By Dr. Haider Mehdi
The media, the press and TV, has reported Benazir saying that she fails to understand why Imran Khan and Nawaz Sharif wish to boycott the forthcoming elections. It is ironic that Benazir would make such a statement. Since I (like millions) can easily hear and understand what is being said and why it is being said, let me have the privilege to enlighten Benazir on the subject
08 December, 2007
CIA
Destroyed Torture Tapes
By Joe Kay
The revelation that the Central Intelligence Agency destroyed at least two video tapes depicting the torture of prisoners held by the United States underscores the brazen criminality of the Bush administration. Aside from the torture itself, the elimination of evidence of brutal interrogation exposes top CIA and government officials to obstruction of justice charges
Made
Homeless By Katrina, Now Gov't Bulldozers
By Abra Pollock
Low-income residents of New Orleans are frantically struggling to secure the right to return to their homes before the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) begins demolishing thousands of public housing units next week
Peak
Oil And The Vision In The Mirror
By Aaron Wissner
Peak oil is not simply an issue of learning to conserve or finding ways to do more with less. It isn't simply about the possibility of economic collapse, war, starvation or global pandemic. It isn't just about changing our behaviors or our beliefs. It is about turning ourselves inside-out, and not only surviving the transformation, but also being and living equal and in harmony with all the rest
Murdochracy,
Rudd Labor And Australian
complicity In Iraqi Genocide
By Dr Gideon Polya
Permitted by king-maker media mogul Rupert Murdoch but not supported by his newspapers in Australia, the new Rudd Labor Australian Government (sworn in on Monday 3 December 2007) will only PARTLY remove Australian forces from Iraq, making Rudd Labor clearly and unequivocally complicit in the continuing Iraqi Genocide (post-invasion excess deaths 1.5-2 million). Rudd Labor is thus renewing Australian complicity in the Iraqi Genocide and going against the wishes of an overwhelming majority of Australians who oppose Australia’s participation in the Iraq War
The
Media Is A Two-Sided Sword
That Carves Our Fate,But We Are The Millions...
By Vincent L. Guarisco
All activist groups, grass-root organizations and all patriotic citizens of this great nation, let us combine forces and march on every major media network in America, especially electronic, such as FOX, CNN, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, NBC. Let's march on all their offices, their homes, wherever they are! Forget D.C.! Lets go after the pigs that peddle the lies. If we had done this right after the smirking chimp stole the reigns of power in 2000, we would not be having this discussion today. The revolution would already be over by now. What are we waiting for? We are the millions, and they are nothing
Lebanon
Towards Neo Shihabism!
By Dr Salim Nazzal
The question is what General Suleiman who is expected to be elected next week will be doing to keep the unity of Lebanon and to maintain its role as an independent and integrated country in an explosive region. This is perhaps the first question that he needs to answer
Marx
Was Right, Absolutely Right
By Vidyadhar Date
The violence against the peasants in Singur and Nandigram in the past few months has raised serious questions about the nature of governance by the West Bengal government led by the Communist party of India (Marxist). However, the fault lies not with Marxist philosophy. Actually, Marx was on the ball , as David Harvey, the eminent Marxist geographer, author and thinker, pointed out in Mumbai on December 6
"Indo-Lanka
Relations Presently Seem To Be
Moving On An Even Keel":R. Swaminathan
By Nilantha Ilangamuwa & R. Swaminathan
The question should not be whether Sri Lanka can find an effective and durable solution, but whether Sri Lanka can afford not to find such a solution. Ideally, the solution should be totally indigenous and arrived at by consensus. Less ideally, it can be achieved with the help of mediators or intermediaries from outside. It is very clear to me that any solution imposed only by military force or majoritarian fiat would neither be effective nor durable
Pakistan PCOed
By Naeem Sadiq
Pakistan is suffering from an acute disease of compulsive constitutionlessness. The citizens of Pakistan must intervene to save this country. The politicians will not do so. They are only awaiting the next oath taking ceremony that would clear the way for their endless global junkets and Umrahs at the tax payers' expense, aboard the 14 luxury aeroplanes parked in the VVIP section of Islamabad airport
07 December, 2007
Food
Prices Climbing, With No End In Sight
By Abra Pollock
Globalisation, climate change, and the mass production of biofuels are pushing up food prices worldwide, which could jeopardise the livelihoods of the world’s poorest, according to a report released Tuesday by the International Food Policy Research Institute
Cut
GhGs Or Face Extreme Events - Scientists
By Imelda Abano
Scientists attending a major United Nations conference on climate change on the Indonesian resort island, Bali, warn that unless greenhouse gas (GhG) emissions are contained extreme geo-climatic events are only expectable
Refugees
Caught Between
Deportation And Death Threats
By Ali al-Fadhily
Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis driven out of their country by violence are now faced with detention abroad, or a homecoming to death threats.More than two million Iraqis, in a population of about 25 million, have taken refuge in many countries. Only a few have won official status as refugees. Most refugees in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt and many other countries stay on as illegal residents, facing threats of deportation and imprisonment
Apocalypse
No! Part 4: The True Sister
And The True Brother
By Juan Santos
It is love that we, ourselves, will need, as the world we have been shunted into dies around us. What we will need is those who will love us enough to help us face death, the death of our ego-“lives” and the real death that will accompany economic collapse or ecological collapse, or both.It’s time to become the True Sister and the True Brother, those who know they are related, those who know they are connected, those who can remember how to love, those who the Hopi said might renew the Earth
Lebanon’s
Presidential Crisis In-The-Making
By Dr Marwan Asmar
Will the politicians stand as statesmen above political nitpicking, will they at last choose Michel Sulieman and will he able to produce a modicum of stability, and save the country from a slippery-slope of degeneration and keep the regional and international wolves at bay waiting for the kill, tough questions for Lebanon, tough question for politics
Put
Option On America - Part 1
By Rand Clifford
9-11 embedded American rule by fear. The great mass of American people are being cowed, controlled and ruined by a tiny minority of hyper-wealthy corporatists that, unless Americans brave their way from this blackout of truth, decency, empathy and courage, will take America the rest of the way down. Until the truth of 9-11 is widely revealed, and the perpetrators are brought to justice, playing CorpoGov’s rigged election games and believing CorpoMedia spews anything but propaganda and misdirection while omitting everything Americans need to know would seem to well fit most definitions of insanity
Why
US Is The Only 'Superpower'
By N. Raghuram
In a controversial book, John Perkins narrates a real life tale. His personal journey from the member of international community of highly paid professionals who are employed to cheat poor countries around the globe to maintain US monopoly. Eventually he calls himself as a former economic hit man and deconstructs international intrigue and corruption, the sinister mechanics of imperial manipulations and control
Who
Is Feeding The Tigers?
The Genesis Of A Suicide Bomber
By Rohini Hensman
The two biggest parties need to listen to the former service chiefs, and make a joint effort to end human rights violations and implement democratic political reforms that address the legitimate grievances of minorities. Once this is done, the LTTE leadership will lose its source of willing recruits, and the war can be ended. Unless Mahinda Rajapaksa follows their advice, he will face increasing popular anger and hatred as the war drags on, the death toll mounts, and living standards plummet
Tamils:
Anti-Landmine Protestations
By Chandi Sinnathurai
The Western nations cannot ignore the ground reality. In fact, they ought to be disagreeable, in the most vehement manner, with the Sinhala state. When perched on a high moral ground, how on earth can the Western governments keep their voices muffled, when the Sri Lankan state engages in landmine warfare? This is unadulterated crime. State terror against its own citizens
06 December, 2007
Clandestine
Aims Of NIE Report
By Parviz Esmaeili
Instead of pointing the finger at the neoconservative system of the United States, the report attempts to give the impression that the Islamic Republic of Iran is belligerent by nature and to justify Bush's statements last month, when, probably in line with this report, he said, "If you're interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them from having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon." In fact, the report was released to influence world public opinion and convince people that if there is going to be a third world war, Iran will be the instigator, not the U.S.!
Is
Fascism A Real Concern For The U.S.A.?
By Sam Lucero
This is not the America I grew up with, it wasn’t the one I went into the Army to defend, and it sure is not the one that my grandfather was taken as a POW while defending in WWII. The question at this point is not will we become a fascist state but rather will we let it complete its mission
Support
The Troops? Why And How?
By Stan Moody
We are told that our troops are keeping America safe – that they are in harm's way for the safety and security of those of us at home. There being no connection between the War in Iraq and the safety of America, this is a lie, the repercussions of which will be felt for decades to come in the form of distrust of our government and reluctance to serve in the civilian armed forces
Peak Oil And
Musical Chairs
By Jon Loux
We are all playing a game of musical chairs with the world’s oil supply. Every time the price of oil goes up five dollars or so, one chair gets moved away and someone, or some entire country, is politely escorted out of the oil game. Just kidding about the politely part
Venezuelan
Referendum:
A Post Mortem And Its Aftermath
By James Petras
The referendum and its outcome (while important today) is merely an episode in the struggle between authoritarian imperial centered capitalism and democratic workers-centered socialism
A
Generous Offer To The Palestinian Refugees?
By Neta Golan
Under Israel and Bush’s "solution", Palestinian refugee families who had been expelled from what is now Israel would be consigned to return, not to their homes, but to small, non-contiguous parts of less than 22% of their original homeland. Jews from anywhere in the world, on the other hand, would be free to "return" to more than 78% of historic Palestine, frequently to live on land seized from those same Palestinian refugees
World
Bank Unmasked
By WBIPT Secretariat
An Independent People's Tribunal on the World Bank Group in India held in New Delhi gave the first ever opportunity to affected people, experts and academics from about 60 grassroots civil society groups to be heard by a jury of eminent and distinguished retired judges, social workers and public leaders. Excerpts from jury's preliminary findings
05 December, 2007
Iran
Intelligence Report:
Another Psychological Warfare?
By Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich
The NIE claims that ‘Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003’. This report now in circulation, and being repeated by every media outlet, and as importantly, by way of word of mouth, is giving credibility to the warmongers that Iran actually had a nuclear weapons program, with the idea that ‘repetition begets belief’. Drumming home a false message, the White House will get the justification it needs to impose further sanctions, with the idea of escalating into a war
Alternative
Energy And The Pollyanna Principle
By Peter Goodchild
The problem of explaining "peak oil" does not hinge on the issue of peak oil as such, but rather on that of "alternative energy." Most people now have some idea of the concept of peak oil, but it tends to be brushed aside in conversation because of the common incantation: "It doesn’t matter if oil runs out, because by then everything will be converted to [whatever] power." Humanity’s faith in what might be called the Pollyanna Principle — everything will work out right in the end — is eternal.The critical missing information in such a dialogue, of course, is that "alternative energy" will do little to solve the peak-oil problem, although very few people are aware of the fact
Wars And Climate
Change: National Interests
Versus Global Emergency
By Abdul Basit
This is an appeal to World Leaders and Scientific Community, who have gathered in Bali, Indonesia for the United Nations Climate Change Conference
Impeach
Pelosi
By Niranjan Ramakrishnan
Nancy Pelosi's 'impeachment is off the table' stance is not only laughable, it is also criminal. To leave unchallenged the deliberate misleading of the country to war (and the effort to do the same a second time) makes her party an accessory to the same misdeeds. Congress has an equal duty to protect the Constitution as the President. Each day of equivocation is one more day steeped in the crimes of the Bush administration
Enough Heroes
To Fill A Book
By David Swanson
More than a few serve the state and resist its abuses, at significant risk to themselves. But very few of us know all of their stories. Resisters of the occupation of Iraq in the U.S., British, and Australian governments and militaries are plentiful enough to fill a book, and they've filled a good one."Dissent: Voices of Conscience: Government Insiders Speak Out Against the War in Iraq" is the forthcoming work of U.S. Army Colonel (Ret.) Ann Wright and Susan Dixon forthcoming after a long delay imposed by the State Department
Gibbons,
A Bear, Britain And Sudan
By Sukant Chandan
This whole incident is another example of how Western policies and attitudes towards Islam and Muslims are tragically turning relatively mundane misunderstandings into an international political spectacle, and where prejudices against Muslims are easily and unnecessarily inflamed
Ambedkar
As A Human Rights Defender
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat
Ambedkar championed the cause of the down trodden. But to confine him to mere as a leader of Dalits will do him great injustice. He was the most accompalished political leader and philosopher among his contemporaries.No human rights discourse in India could be complete with out detailed discussion on the outstanding work of Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar
India’s
Forgotten Children Of War
By Meha Dixit
Although, International agencies like the United Nations do claim the existence of child soldiers in several parts of India, there are hardly any government documents and reports accessible to the public on the recruitment of children as soldiers in India. Now, to begin with, its time for a public discourse on the plight of child soldiers in India, particularly in certain Naxal strongholds and the Northeast of India
Pakistan:
Politics Of Boycott
By M B Naqvi
If the idea of a boycott means boycotting the election and going home to sleep, it would surely leave the field to all others no matter if they were opportunists. To be significant, the boycott should accompany a fierce popular agitation for democratic freedoms, beginning with the restoration or the Supreme Court and High Courts as they existed on November 2 last and the Constitution being rescued from the deforming amendments that have been forced by successive generals to make the President all powerful at the expense of a show boy Prime Minister, including what this latest PCO has done
Sri
Lankan Military Conducts Massive
Anti-Tamil Sweep Through Colombo
By K. Ratnayake
The Sri Lankan government unleashed the largest-ever cordon-and-search operation in Colombo on Sunday, detaining hundreds of people, mainly Tamils, and heightening communal tensions throughout the country. The immediate pretext for the operation was to “flush out” Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) fighters blamed for last week’s bomb blasts in Colombo and nearby Nugegoda
04 December, 2007
Venezuela's
Social Democracy Hits A Speed Bump
By Stephen Lendman
As expected, his opponents were gloating, but one pollster struck a positive note saying: "This defeat has two sides to it for Chavez. He came out the loser after a tough plebiscite campaign but he also gets rid of the accusation that he is a dictator." Chavez earlier said and repeated he would accept the results of the vote, and he stands by his word. It proved the process is open, free and fair unlike elections in many other so-called democracies that aren't. The struggle indeed continues with powerful popular support backing it
The
Referendum Defeat In Venezuela:
A Warning To The Working Class
By Bill Van Auken
The narrow defeat on Sunday of a constitutional reform submitted to a referendum vote by the government of President Hugo Chavez has produced a mood of right-wing triumphalism within both Venezuela’s oligarchy and the US political establishment
Will
Peace Cost Me My Home?
By Ghada Ageel
Any Mideast pact must give Palestinians the right to return home
Annapolis
Conference:Another Palestinian Carrot
By Dr Elias Akleh
Four years later Bush, again, remembered the Palestinian carrot and has used it in Annapolis to convince the Arab leaders to accept the American plans for the “New Middle East” including accepting Israel and supporting the plans of his administration to secure Iraq and to attack Iran, reminding them that refusal will lead their countries into long wars with Iraqi devastation as an example
Could
Corporate Exposes Be
The Test For Class Journalists?
By Jawed Naqvi
Lawyer and financial activist Arun K. Agrawal last week came out with a detailed and a potentially brave expose in which he has sought to throw light on the complicity of India's ruling elite – from the left to the right of parties in parliament – in a cover-up, which pertains to the naming of Ambani's Reliance unit as a greater beneficiary in the Iraqi oil for food scam than a minister who was sacrificed. The scandal took its toll in India as nowhere else, forcing the resignation of Kunwar Natwar Singh as India's foreign minister
What Is Progress?
By George Monbiot
The numbers show that this should be the real question at the Bali talks
Climate
Change: Bangladesh
Takes Its Trauma To Bali
By Farid Ahmed
Bangladesh sees in the United Nations climate change conference, currently underway on the Indonesian resort island of Bali, an opportunity to remind the world of its special vulnerability
What
We Truly Seek
By Don Hynes
After two hundred years of unparalleled advance, to the pinnacle of international power following World War II, America will learn as all unbalanced ambition does, that descent will follow rise, that the worship of wealth will ultimately yield poverty, that arrogance will succumb to humility. America will contract; the only questions being the final cost and with what grace. If we choose our future as we’ve chosen our recent past we are in for a torturous descent
9/11
And What We Have Done To US
By Jeff Berg
The following 481 word transcription of Gwynne Dyer’s text superbly encapsulates the “Why” of the “What” that is going on today in the Middle East and should be read by every person who thinks that Middle Eastern politics are important. At the same time it also does an extremely good job of pointing where we are likely to be headed in this region in the near to mid-term at least
“In
Search Of A Future:The Story Of Kashmir”
By Mohamad Junaid
Book review: “In Search of a Future: The Story of Kashmir” By David Devadas
03 December, 2007
Expanding
Tropics A Threat To Millions
By Steve Connor
The tropical belt that girdles the Earth is expanding north and south, which could have dire consequences for large regions of the world where the climate is likely to become more arid or more stormy, scientists have warned in a seminal study published today
Say
It Isn’t So!
By Case Wagenvoord
what if the Bushites are not deranged? What if their every move is carefully calculated? What if they are making a deliberate attempt to generate a crisis of such proportions that Bush could use the chaos that ensued to declare martial law and complete his consolidation of power into the executive branch. Think of the possibilities. While Americans were reeling from the shock of total war and another Great Depression, the administration could eliminate Social Security and Medicare, along with whatever remains of our shredded social net. With the stroke of a pen, America would become a totalized Corporatist State and her citizens would be reduced to mere employees of the State with all of the rights corporate employees lack
Is
Africa The Next Cold War Theater?
By Nii OkaiJah
China's massive economic drive into Africa and the recent creation of the African military command by the United States may trigger a cold war on the continent. In such an event, Africa may pay a price for its independence because of its leaders' failure to establish a United States of Africa equipped with a strong military, economic, political and diplomatic apparatus. It is imperative that Africa heed its own prophet
HUD
Sends New Orleans Bulldozers And
$400,000 Apartments For The Holidays
By Bill Quigley
On the 12th day before Christmas, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is planning to unleash teams of bulldozers to demolish thousands of low-income apartments in New Orleans. Despite Katrina causing the worst affordable housing crisis since the Civil War, HUD is spending $762 million in taxpayer funds to tear down over 4600 public housing subsidized apartments and replace them with 744 similarly subsidized units – an 82% reduction
Bush
Applauds Musharraf As He Makes Himself
Pakistan’s President Till 2012
By Keith Jones
US President George W. Bush was the first foreign leader to congratulate General Pervez Mushraraf after he had himself sworn in Thursday to a further five-year term as Pakistan’s president
Musharraf:
Our Own Caudillo
By Mir Adnan Aziz
Retired General Pervez Musharraf took oath on November 29 as a civilian president. During this same oath he solemnly promised to 'preserve, protect and defend the Constitution'. Could anyone in that glittering gathering have dared ask him how that Houdini act could be managed? This so, when the same had been summarily suspended and shackled by his very own decree proclaiming 'emergency' in the country
Iraq:
Government Fragments Further
By Ali al-Fadhily
As sectarian tensions escalate politically, a new fissure is appearing within the already fragmented Iraqi government
Iraq
As A Pentagon Construction Site
By Tom Engelhardt
When, in the future, you read in the papers about administration plans to withdraw American forces to bases "outside of Iraqi urban areas," note that there will continue to be a major base in the heart of the Iraqi capital for who knows how long to come. As the Washington Post's Glenn Kessler put it, the 21-building compound "is viewed by some officials as a key element of building a sustainable, long-term diplomatic presence in Baghdad." Presence, yes, but diplomatic?
Henry
Thoreau And The Patrons Of Virtue
By Charles Sullivan
If Thoreau’s life could be summed up in three words they would be, “Simplify, simplify, simplify.” To simplify and reduce one’s wants is a paradigm in stark contrast to the ravenous consumption required by capitalism. It was a way of living that eschewed money and markets; a way of being that afforded opportunity for intellectual pursuits and life long learning. Above all, it was a spiritually enriching way of life that was in harmony with the planet; it was gentle, sustainable, and fulfilling
Annapolis
Hypocrisy Hides
Occupied Palestine Reality
By Stephen Lendman
Against the sham backdrop of Annapolis, life in occupied Palestine is a daily struggle to endure and survive what Edward Said once referred to as Israel's "refined viciousness." This article addresses one week of it no different than most others. It shows the road to peace isn't through Annapolis nor can it be achieved without a willing partner or with the legitimate Palestinian government excluded
Howard’s
Legacy
By Ghali Hassan
The Howard’s legacy will be remembered as a decade of right-wing, semi-fascist and racist government characterised by one egomaniac leader whose first priority has been his re-election, rather than doing anything for Australia. Under Howard, Australia has become a meaner and more divided country. Howard will be remembered (if ever) by most Australians as a divisive and deceptive prime minister. Good riddance
When
Rights And Rules Collide
By Mary Shaw
In my work as a human rights advocate, I am frequently asked about what we should do in cases where human rights conflict with religious or civil laws.Two cases have come to light in recent weeks that exemplify this kind of dilemma. The first is the case of a rape victim in Saudi Arabia. She had gotten into a car with a former boyfriend in order to get a photo that he had promised to return to her. Then the two were jumped and raped. And so she now faces 200 lashes and six months in prison, because she entered a car, unsupervised, with a man who wasn't her relative
Islamic
Renaissance Now
By Hamid Golpira
The Islamic world is at the crossroads -- either we have an Islamic Renaissance now or we will experience many years of backwardness
Tamils:
Anti-Ethnocide Campaign
By Chandi Sinnathurai
After the 8th India-European Union [EU] Summit held in Delhi a Joint-statement was issued on 30 November 2007. There was nothing particularly ground-breaking in the statement about the conflict in Sri Lanka. But the hypocrisy of the statement betrays any diplomatic subtlety. Both – The EU and India have surreptitiously supplied military hardware to Sri Lanka knowing very well that these weapons are utilised to wipe out Tamil civilians. Having done that, they want to speak about peace, openly
02 December, 2007
Venezuela’s
D-Day:The December 2, Referendum
By James Petras
A decisive vote for ‘Sí’ will not end US military and political destabilization campaigns but it will certainly undermine and demoralize their collaborators. On December 2, 2007 the Venezuelans have a rendezvous with history
Tens
of Thousands Protest Chavez Proposals,
Is CIA Fomenting Unrest To Challenge Referendum?
By Amy Goodman, Juan Gonzalez & James Petras
In Venezuela , tens of thousands of protesters marched through Caracas Thursday to oppose constitutional changes proposed by President Chavez that come to a vote on Sunday. Citing a confidential memo, the Venezuelan government is claiming the CIA is fomenting unrest to challenge the referendum
Venezuela:
A People Under Fire
By Fidel Castro
A victory of the Yes vote on December 2 would not be enough. The weeks and months following that date may very well prove to be extremely tough for many countries, Cuba for one; although before that the empire's adventures could lead the planet into an atomic war, as their own leaders have confessed
"SHUTTING
UP VENEZUELA'S CHAVEZ "
by Roger Cohen: A Critique
By Thomas Riggins
Roger Cohen is an editor at The New York Times and columnist for its op ed page and for The International Herald Tribune. The above column appeared in the Times on 11-29-07. It is tendentious in the extreme, poorly argued and factually incorrect
On
Supporting Our Troops Without Tokenism
By Emily Spence
In the final reckoning, our sending merry messages, little care packages and other friendly trifles to soldiers is not really meaningful, nor helpful in the long run. Our relentlessly pushing our legislators to immediately bring troops home, helping them reintegrate into society, as well as encouraging them to establish other ways to improve America and the world at large (especially in places where they have devastated the terrain) is by far preferable to their current invasions. By all reasonable means, let's unyieldingly press for this better sort of support for our troops now
World Of Terror,
Sidr And The US 'Help'
By Anu Muhammad
The world has entered into a permanent system of war, militarization, destruction and dehumanisation. After Second World War, for different reasons, the US has emerged as the centre of this global system. The survival of the US as a super power, expansion of its hegemony and the function of global capitalism now mostly depend upon war machine and militarism. That gives birth to a new phase of imperialism and becomes a threat not only people and nations in the periphery but for whole human civilization
Poverty
Sucks, The Earth And The Soul
By Dr. Glen Barry
To avoid run-away abrupt climate change, all nations must embrace equitable, ambitious and urgent emission cuts in Bali
Demoralisation
And Absence
By Ramzy Baroud
A once profound and widely read commentator recently claimed he no longer writes about the Palestine/Israel conflict because "Palestinians are killing each other". Feeling his words have ceased to carry weight he simply decided not "to take sides". What should be made of such a reaction? Granted, what has transpired in Palestine in recent years is disheartening, demoralising and confusing
Robert
F. Kennedy, Jr. Disappoints
By Joel S. Hirschhorn
Kennedy’s endorsement of Hillary just shows how the status quo political establishment can rig the system to get what it wants. What has Bobby been promised? Head of the US EPA? Support for replacing Hillary in the Senate? Who knows? But his endorsement stinks and puts a big blemish on his credibility and reputation
Time
To Mount Up And Ride
By Vincent L. Guarisco
Dear citizens of a crumbling nation, have you even noticed our country is being demolished all around us? Haven’t you noticed the pillars shaking, the foundation cracking, and debris falling everywhere?
Travesty
Of Justice - Sudanese
Caricature Of The Islamic Law
By Mirza A. Beg
In Sudan, a British teacher was arrested for the "sin" of helping her class of seven year olds to name a cuddly teddy bear, Muhammad. Yesterday, after a court trial, she was sentenced to 15 days in jail, and it is reported that a crowd was clamoring for a death sentence. In a closed dictatorial country a crowd does not gather, it is allowed or urged to gather
