30 September, 2005
Arctic Ice Melts At Record Level
By David Adam
Global warming in the Arctic could be soaring out of control, scientists warned yesterday as new figures revealed that melting of sea ice in the region has accelerated to record levels
Fossil Fuels Set To Become Relics
By Abid Aslam
Energy drawn from the wind, tide, sun, Earth's heat, and farm waste is poised to begin replacing oil and other fossil fuels, a prominent research group said Wednesday in a wake-up call to industry executives and government officials worldwide
Why I Was Smiling
By Cindy Sheehan
I had a huge grin on my face when I was getting arrested. I have received a lot of flak for smiling. Apparently I am not supposed to smile, but I had some really good reasons for doing so
A Summary Execution
By Celso Amorin
The Menezes killing is a reminder that human rights cannot be a stick to beat the developing world
Tom DeLayed?
By Remi Kanazi
The President may not be able to handle the political firestorm and consequently withdraw support for Tom Delay. We'll see in the coming months if Delay fades off into the sunset like former strongman Newt Gingrich, or if he can ride out this hurricane
"Suppose...": Arguments For
An Impeachment Resolution
By Bernard Weiner
Introducing a resolution calling for impeachment hearings is the first serious step along that road back to political sanity and moral accountability for our country. Let's demand that our Representatives in Congress do it, and if they won't, we will elect those who will
Communal Politics Climax And Downfall
By Asghar Ali Engineer
Communal politics, being highly emotional, is heady and creates strong illusion of success. Those who indulge in communal politics create emotional hysteria among their followers. We in India have had many experiences such emotional politics
Ilayaperumal: A Dalit In The Congress
By Ravikumar
An important Dalit leader L Elayaperumal died at the age of 82 on September 9 in Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu. What BP Mandal did for the OBC-shudras, Elayaperumal did for the Dalits way back in 1969. However, given that Elayaperumal was a Dalit in the Congress, his report was never implemented
28 September, 2005
Are Global Oil Supplies About To Peak?
By George Monbiot
Are global oil supplies about to peak? Are they, in other words, about to reach their maximum and then go into decline? There is a simple answer to this question: no one has the faintest idea
Bush In A Bottle
By John Chuckman
There have been rumors of Bush taking to the bottle again. Since alcoholics are never cured, this is possible. The stress of having his ineptitude so publicly displayed as it was in New Orleans and of having his every major policy collapsing before his eyes would certainly tend to push him in this direction
The Decline And Fall Of Senator Bill Frist
By Jason Leopold
It's one thing to lie in politics. It's another to be caught in a lie. Bill Frist has been caught in a lie. His political future is over. The immediate question is, can he survive as Majority Leader?
My First Time
By Cindy Sheehan
The rumors are true this time. I was arrested in front of the White House today. It was my first time ever being arrested
More Dissent, More Censorship
By Dahr Jamail
As we prepared to leave his hotel last night, my colleague Stelios Kouloglou half-jokingly offered, You can come visit Greece anytime, whether for vacation or for political asylum. I only half-laughed as I shook his hand
Iraq's Draft Constitution
By Baghdad Burning
The final version (Version 3.0) of the Iraqi draft constitution was finally submitted to the UN about ten days ago. It was published in English in the New York Times on the 15th of September
Iyothee Thass & The Politics Of Naming
By Ravikumar
Today, even uttering the name of Iyothee Thass in the Tamil public sphere has become an act of a rebellion. The Dravidian parties, communists and Tamil nationalists - nobody has any regard for Thass. No wonder his name has been dropped from the National Center for Siddha Research. This is an insult not just to Dalits but Tamils as such
27 September, 2005
Time
To Bring Our Troops Home
By Todd Huffman
This war that our leaders have concocted has sapped
our military strength, our credibility, our economy, our disaster preparedness,
our morale, and our moral standing in the world. It has increased the
threats America faces, and reduced the military, financial, and diplomatic
tools with which we can respond. It is time to bring our troops home
Peaceful Assault
On The Epicenter Of Evil
By Jason Miller
The ugly face of America represents a minority
of its populace. It is time for the majority to impose their will and
show the world that the US is a nation capable of engaging in truly
noble causes
The Bells of
Liberty
By Remi Kanazi
A poem
Global
Warming? You Better Believe It
By Derrick Z. Jackson
As the media screams about the one-two punch of
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the question becomes how many more times
does America need to be knocked to the canvas before we answer the bell
on global warming
How Corporations
Cashed In On Katrina
By Ralph Nader
After every national tragedy, large corporations
move to cash in. They arrange for no-competitive bid contracts so that
their cronyism can get them large government contracts awarded with
few safeguards to prevent waste, fraud and abuse
The Hindu Rashtra
Of Gujarat
By V.B.Rawat
A journey into Narendra Modi's Gujarat
A New Order
For Today
By Chandrabhan Prasad
Strange as this might sound, several constituents
of Indian society are turning abnormal. Unnoticed by sociologists, this
exceptional phenomenon is taking place on a mass scale
23 September, 2005
Homilies
Won't Stop The Hurricanes
By Jeremy Rifkin
Americans need to get out of their SUVs and learn
the harsh lesson of Katrina and Rita
Now
It's The Turn Of Hurricane Rita
By Joseph Kay
Hurricane Rita is the second giant storm in three
weeks to threaten the United States along the Gulf Coast. The same basic
features of American society that so shocked the nation and the world
following Hurricane Katrina are again on display: the enormous social
inequality, the decay of public infrastructure, the indifference, incompetence
and lack of preparation of the American ruling elite
Big And Easy
Iraqi-Style Contracts
Flood New Orleans
By Pratap Chatterjee
We see no-bid contracts in the Katrina areas going
to the same companies that they went to in Iraq without the kind of
accountability that we have to demand
Get To Know Ben
Marble
By Rob Kall
An interview with the guy who told Dick Cheney
to go Fuc* himself
Visiting The
Post-9/11 America
By Hassan N. Gardezi
The fourth anniversary of 9/11 has come and gone
as another occasion to reflect on the many ways in which this tragic
episode changed the course of world affairs
An Impeccable
Moderation
By Revd. B J Alexander
In Srilanka the Sinhalese ought to seriously review
their politico Buddhism and establish a fresh world view based on factual
history rather than on mythical belief systems. Until this paradigm
shift happens, the reality suggests that no amount of peace talking
could bear sweet fruit
Dalits In Pakistan
Book Review By Yoginder Sikand
Caste, the scourge of Hinduism, is so deeply entrenched
in Indian society that it has not left the adherents of Islam, Sikhism,
Christianity and Buddhism-theoretically egalitarian religions-unaffected.
So firmly rooted is the cancer of caste in the region that it survives
and thrives in neighbouring Pakistan, where over 95% of the population
are Muslims
Globalisation
Of Education
By K V Sagar
Any hasty involvement in the global educational
market can end up in harming the vital interests of students, and particularly
of poor and downtrodden for generations to come
22 September, 2005
We
Can't Say We Weren't Warned
By Richard Steiner
Will we as a society learn from this perfect storm,
reaffirm our "respect for nature" and attend to our deteriorating
planetary life-support systems before it's too late, or not?
Hurricane Katrina:
A Public Health
And Environmental Disaster
By John Levine
Besides the devastation Hurricane Katrina has caused
directly along the coast of Louisiana and Mississippi, the long-term
environmental and health impact of the storm will be severe. Particularly
in the city of New Orleans, the immediate destruction is compounded
by the effects of pollution and disease
The GOPs
Fiscal Policies Turned A Natural Disaster
Into A Man-Made Catastrophe
By Jason Leopold
You dont have to look too far than New Orleans,
a city wiped out by Hurricane Katrina, as evidence of the Bush administrations
and Congress fiscal irresponsibility. Its a direct result
of Washingtons financial incompetence that the cost for rebuilding
The Big Easy is estimated to top $200 billion
The Ugly Face Of
The Empire
By Sorit Gupto
Empire does not need watch dogs, It actually needs
beauticians who can hide the wounds and scars form it's ugly face .
Journalist fraternity is caught in between Line of Control and the Apartheid
Wall. Their master are telling them 'the do's and don'ts'
Australias
Shallow Multiculturalism
By Ghali Hassan
Under the leadership of Prime Minister John Howard,
Australia evolved from a tolerant, forward-looking society
into one of the most intolerant and conservative societies in the Western
world. Today, Australias multiculturalism is only useful as political
rhetoric and an instrument of marginalisation
Shattering Democracy:
Sharon's Plan For Palestine
By Remi Kanazi
Hamas is doing something the founders of Israel
never thought to do: assimilate into the political process in the land
on which they live, and substantiate their voice by positive means.
If the founders of Israel and people like Ariel Sharon had done this,
armed groups such as Hamas wouldn't be fighting against the injustices
that have plagued Palestinian society for the last 58 years
British, Masters
Of Colonialism
By Junaid Khan
The idea on which the foreign policy of the West
is based is the spread of capitalism and to make this view point dominate
the whole world. Colonialism is a tool for spreading capitalism to the
world and forcing it on others and a master of this tool is Britain
River Interlinking:
Narmada Part 2?
By Purushottam S. Kulkarni
As India is preparing to take up a major river
linking project the question being asked is this" Are we heading
in the same direction as Narmada?" Where as always and as millions
have done before, the rural folk will have to face displacement, move
to road side slums and make way for "development"
The Course
Of Naxalism
By Manoranjan Mohanty
India's Maoists, while faced with considerable
weaknesses of their own, have been able to continue the fight because
of the abject failures of the Indian state
21 September, 2005
German
Election: A Clear Rejection
Of Right-Wing Policies
By Peter Schwarz
The result of the election for the German parliament
(Bundestag) on Sunday can be interpreted in only one way: policies based
on welfare cuts and the re-division of social wealth to benefit the
rich have met with bitter resistance from the German population and
been vigorously rejected
A World Turned
Upside Down
By George Monbiot
Today the climatologists at the Snow and Ice Data
Centre in Colorado will publish the results of the latest satellite
survey of Arctic sea ice. It looks as if this month's coverage will
be the lowest ever recorded. The Arctic, they warn, could already have
reached tipping point
Liar, Liar
By Jason Miller
If George Bush had encountered the same fate as
Jim Carreys character in the movie Liar Liar, and had been rendered
incapable of lying, America would not have been subjected to thirty
minutes of manipulative propaganda on 9/15
CIA Intelligence
Reports Seven Months Before
9/11 Said Iraq Posed No Threat To U.S.
By Jason Leopold
CIA Director George Tenet testified before Congress
in February 2001 that Iraq posed no immediate threat to the United States
or to other countries in the Middle East
An Untouchable
Accommodation?
By Revd. B J Alexander
Dalit Solidarity Network UK Report 2005 entitled
Caste Discrimination and the Private Sector incorporates some startling
information to prospective investors in South Asia
Justice Needed
At Indira Sagar
By Angana Chatterji
For those held captive by the Indira Sagar Pariyojana
(also Narmada Sagar), the Madhya Pradesh High Court Order of July 27
and August 17, 2005 sets an unprecedented context for justice
17 September, 2005
Global
Warming 'Past The Point Of No Return'
By Steve Connor
A record loss of sea ice in the Arctic this summer
has convinced scientists that the northern hemisphere may have crossed
a critical threshold beyond which the climate may never recover. Scientists
fear that the Arctic has now entered an irreversible phase of warming
which will accelerate the loss of the polar sea ice that has helped
to keep the climate stable for thousands of years
The St. Patrick's
Four Return to Trial
By Leigh Saavedra
On Monday, September 19, the rights of all peace
activists go on trial. Representing us are four Catholic anti-war activists
who have already stood trial for their stand against the invasion of
Iraq. Now, more than two years later, cleared of the original charge
of criminal mischief, they are being charged with conspiracy and will
be tried again
Racist White Australia
Jails &
Deports US Peace Activist
By Gideon Polya
Anti-war Texan Scott Parkin is a teacher, environmentalist
and peace activist who gives workshops on peaceful protest. On Saturday
10 September 2005 he was publicly seized by 6 Australian Government
security officials in a popular restaurant area of Melbourne. He was
subsequently imprisoned for 6 days without charge in a prison for dangerous
criminals awaiting trial
Meanwhile, In
Iraq...
By Dahr Jamail
For the last several days at least 6,000 US soldiers
along with approximately 4,000 Iraqi soldiers were laying siege to the
city of Tal-Afar, near Mosul in northern Iraq. It is estimated that
90% of the residents have left their homes because of the violence and
destruction of the siege, as well as to avoid home raids and snipers
1, 2, 3, Not
It! : How The Separation Of Powers Is
Helping California Avoid Gay Marriage
By Andrea K Rufo
Sometimes the separation of powers can be harsh.
Take gay rights efforts in California a state with takes pride
in just how close it's willing to treat gay unions like marriages but
refuses to take that final step to make them legal
Madhya Pradesh:
Lengthening Trident Shadows
By Ram Puniyani
In a public function held in Jabalpur, M.P. (Sept.
2005) five thousand trishuls were distributed under the leadership Mr.
Pravin Togadia of Vishwa Hindu Parishad. The function was organized
by Bajarang Dal, an affiliate of RSS. In the meeting a pledge was administered,
which stated that all will be done to bring in the Hindu Rashtra
16 September, 2005
Who
Are The 75,000 Body Bags For?
By Lynn Landes
Questions mount over Hurricane Katrina's death
count. Estimates are now well below 10,000 with the death toll currently
standing at 648 for Louisiana, Mississippi, and Florida. So, why did
the Bush Administration order 75,000 body bags?
Imperial
Propagandists
By Ghali Hassan
The roles of imperial propagandists to save a crumbling
U.S. empire are proved to be limited in the face of worldwide resistance
to military violence. People around the world should urge for popular
action in support of the Iraqi people defending their cities against
terrorist attacks and fighting to liberate their country from foreign
Occupation. A victory for the Iraqi people is a victory for the rest
of the civilised world
What Afghanistan
Has To Teach
By Aseem Shrivastava
This is the second part of an essay published in
the columns of Counterpunch a year ago. The first part was the story
of an Afghan refugee, Jamal, who journeyed perilously from Afghanistan
to Norway over a period of 6 years
14 September, 2005
The
Net Censors
By George Monbiot
Indispensable as the internet has become, political
debate is still dominated by the mainstream media: a story on the net
changes nothing until it finds its way into the newspapers or onto television.
What this means is that while the better networking Friedman celebrates
can assist a democratic transition, the democracy it leaves us with
is filtered and controlled. Someone else owns the routers
Were Women Raped
In New Orleans?
By Lucinda Marshall
In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, women whose lives
were disrupted by the storm face numerous gender-specific vulnerabilities
that commonly occur with disasters of this magnitude
Behind The Curtain
No Longer
By Todd Huffman
Hurricane Katrina not only flooded a city and flattened
a coast. She also blew away the thick curtain our nation had drawn across
our most poor. Katrina has exposed our poor for all the world to see
Katrina, A Warning
To The Mighty
By Junaid Aslam Khan
The Americans atleast have the satisfaction of
knowing that they have been hit by a natural calmity but the Iraqis
and Afghans die many deaths in a day everytime they see the very same
occupied forces patrolling their streets who brought them destruction
and devastation. Every day a Katrina hits them more severe then the
previous one
A Company Charged
With Desecrating
Corpses Hired To Collect Deceased Victims
Of Hurricane Katrina
By Jason Leopold
A funeral services company which recently learned
that one of its subsidiaries is negotiating a lucrative contract with
the Federal Emergency Management Agency to remove dead bodies in areas
ravaged by Hurricane Katrina, paid $100 million to settle a class-action
lawsuit several years ago alleging the company desecrated thousands
of corpses, and dumped bodies into mass graves
Light And Darkness:
America's Reaction To 9/11
By Remi Kanazi
How have we commemorated those fallen heroes of
four years ago? We have used their names and awful tragedy to unleash
a war on the world and ourselves. Our president told us we were going
to fight for the greater good, but what good has come out of the fight
we embarked on?
Guardians Of
The Haramain-The Reality
By Ousama Hanif
After the death of King Fahd, one could have expected
the US to pressurize for free and fair elections in Saudi Arabia in
line with the rhetoric of Freedom & democracy voiced by the Bush
administration with regards to the Middle East. Instead, the Bush administration
being a spectator has silently approved Prince Abdullah as the new King
and accepted the continuation of the Monarchy
In Defence Of
Workers' Right To Organization
By K. Venugopal Reddy
There is a widely held perception that trade unions
are a nuisance to industrial prosperity. And so, there are often demands
for some sort of ban on strikes as an instrument of struggle by organized
employees. It is a preposterous position and it is fraught with dangerous
consequences for the future of organized working class movement in India
Is 'Riot Free
India' A Possibility?
By Ram Puniyani
The demonization of minorities seems to be the
ground on which violence stands and sustains itself. No measures for
the riot free India can be complete without bringing to halt the stereotyping
the minorities and effectively neutralizing the 'hate other' propaganda
13 September, 2005
Hurricane
Katrina And The Meaning Of 9/11
By Patrick Martin
September 11, 2005 marked the fourth anniversary
of the worst terrorist attack in US history, with nearly 3,000 innocent
people killed as a consequence of the hijacking of the four jetliners
that destroyed the twin towers of the World Trade Center and damaged
the Pentagon. It also marked two weeks since Hurricane Katrina struck
the Gulf Coast, causing the worst natural disaster in US history and
revealing the unpreparedness of the US government at all levels, federal
state and local, for a tragedy that was widely forecast and predicted
On Katrina, Global
Warming
By Al Gore
Transcript of a speech given by former Vice President
Al Gore at the National Sierra Club Convention in San Francisco on September
9, 2005 addressing the challenges and moral imperatives posed by Hurricane
Katrina and global warming
September 11,
2005...
By Baghdad Burning
As I write this, Tel Afar, a small place north
of Mosul, is being bombed. Dozens of people are going to be buried under
their homes in the dead of the night. Their water and electricity have
been cut off for days. It doesnt seem to matter much though because
they dont live in a wonderful skyscraper in a glamorous city.
They are, quite simply, farmers and herders not worth a second thought
Who
Murdered Arafat?
By Uri Avnery
Since taking part in his tumultuous funeral in
Ramallah, I have abstained from giving my opinion on the cause of his
death. I am not a doctor, and my dozens of years as editor of an investigative
news magazine have taught me not to voice allegations which I am unable
to prove in court. But, since now all dikes have been breached, I am
prepared to say what is on my mind: from the first moment, I was sure
that Arafat had been poisoned
The Iran Trap
By Scott Ritter
Iran has resumed operations of facilities designed
to convert uranium into a product usable in enrichment processes. From
that point forward consensus on just about anything begins to fall apart
12 September, 2005
Sorry
Mr President, Katrina Is Not 9/11
By Simon Schama
America this weekend marked the fourth anniversary
of 9/11 as anger over the hurricane continued to mount. The two disasters
revealed very different faces of the same country
Our Modern-Day
'Grapes Of Wrath'
By Les Payne
The alienation of the poor of New Orleans prior
to the hurricane is as much a calamity as the displacement of this permanent
underclass in the wake of Katrina's floodwaters.Steinbeck must have
recoiled in his grave
"Bungling
Once... Bungling Twice....."
By Leigh Saavedra
FEMA was always meant to be the agency ready to
handle disasters such as Katrina. As billions of dollars were poured
into purported preparation for terrorist attacks, however, we took the
muscle from an agency qualified to handle a non-terrorist emergency
New Orleans Unmasks
Apartheid, American Style
By Jason Miller
The New Orleans debacle exposed America's "heart
of darkness" to the world as its leaders allowed their own tens
of thousands of Americans to suffer or die
"IT"
Is Happening Here!!
By Rob Kall
Paid mercenary killersBlackwater paramilitary
mercenariesthe ones that are hired to stalk the worst danger zones
of Iraqare roving the streets of New Orleans, armed to the teeth,
with permission to kill
11 September, 2005
9/11
Revisited: The US A Victim And A Testbed?
By Mathew Maavak
The European elite cannot quite understand the
likes of Cindy Sheehan in their treasured laboratory. The US has a dialectical
history that no advanced nation can match. It is peopled by descendants
of those fled the tyranny of elite oppression. The battle for our future
may well be fought by the men, women, and - if there are any - brave
politicians of the United States. If this battle is not fought, God
help us all
New Orleans: The
Specter Of Military Dictatorship
By World Socialist Web
The appalling incompetence and negligence that
characterized the governments response at the outset of the human
tragedy unleashed by Hurricane Katrina have now given way to ruthlessly
efficient methods of military occupation and repression in the ravaged
city of New Orleans
To
Those Who Voted for Bush: Do You Get It Now?
By Bernard Weiner
We have been abandoned by our own country. Hurricane
Katrina will go down in history as one of the worst storms ever to hit
an American coast. But the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina will go down
as one of the worst abandonments of Americans on American soil ever
in U.S. history. ?
Donate To Help
Ben Marble
By Jackson Thoreau
Donate to help Ben Marble, the physician who lost
his home in Katrina and told off Cheney
Gaza
Pullout Paves Way For
Further West Bank Land Grab
By Jean Shaoul
Hardly had the last of the 8,000 or so Israeli
settlers left Gaza than Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announced that Israel
would expand the settlements on the West Bank
War In The Parivar
By Jyotirmaya Sharma
As the Bharatiya Janata Party prepares to hold
its National Executive meeting in Chennai next week, dissonance within
the organisation over questions of ideology, leadership and politics
is clearly visible
10 September, 2005
Katrina
Fuels Global Warming Storm
By Alister Doyle
Hurricane Katrina has spurred debate about global
warming worldwide with some environmentalists sniping at President George
W. Bush for pulling out of the main U.N. plan for braking climate change
Old World Order
By Karen Armstrong
We need a modern way to recreate religion's respect
for the earth
The Politics Of
The Blame Game
By Patrick Martin
The Bush administrations response to the
social disaster unfolding in Louisiana and Mississippi is to deny any
responsibility for the horrifying conditions facing more than one million
people. White House officials, from Bush on down, have rejected all
criticism of the federal governments failure to prepare before
Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf coast or respond adequately afterwards
Bush - The Man
With A Snafu Plan
By Sheila Samples
It's a good thing President George Bush doesn't
read newspapers or watch TV. If he did, even he could see that people
from one end of this nation to the other are rapidly reaching zero tolerance
with his bumbling ineptitude each time he is faced with a crisis
Winning Votes
With Tax Payer's Money
By Jason Leopold
Michael Brown, the embattled head of the Federal
Emergency Management Agency, approved payments in excess of $31 million
in taxpayer money to thousands of Florida residents who were unaffected
by Hurricane Frances and three other hurricanes last year in an effort
to help President Bush win a majority of votes in that state during
his reelection campaign, according to a May 19 story in the Washington
Post that quoted DHS sources
The Physician
Who Told Cheney The F*** Word
By Jackson Thoreau
Physician who told Cheney to go F*ck Himself Lost
His Home in Katrina, Detained, Cuffed by Cheney's M-16-carrying Goons
Guilty Of Gohana-
In Search Of The Real Perpetrators
By Subhash Gatade
On 31 st August the town of Gohana witnessed burning
of 50-60 houses belonging to Valmiki community in broad daylight. As
it has been reported in the media a 1,500-2,000 strong of mob of upper
caste people mainly belonging to the Jat community attacked their houses
in a systematic manner
09 September, 2005
New
Orleans Mass Murder By US Delay
By Gideon Polya
The World has been watching a dishonest, incompetent,
violent and racist US government passively killing thousands of its
own elderly, infirm, poor and Afro-American citizens
Lifting
The Curtain On Racism And Poverty
By Leigh Saavedra
When Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast on August
29, she tore open not only a city, its levees, and a coastline, but
a glamorous body that was false, something created with cosmetic surgery;
she exposed the cancers and scar tissue and ugly organs of our nation
that we had either forgotten or never known were there
Katrina + Baghdad
= Tipping Point?
By Jeff Berg
So remember my friends you heard it here first.
August 31, 2005, was the day when the bell that tolls eventually for
each and every one of us began tolling for America's use of force abroad
and the day that New Orleans showed America the problem with her soul
New Orleans And
The Third World
By Mukoma Wa Ngugi
The devastation of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina
is being compared to disasters in the Third World but with
no specific countries or disasters named
Knowing Death
By E.L Doctorow
I fault this president (George W. Bush) for not
knowing what death is
Came Hell And
High Water
By Todd Huffman
The drowning of New Orleans looks to become America's
worst natural disaster in living memory. Thousands upon thousands of
Americans are dead. Almost without exception, they are the weak, the
sick, the old, the infirm, and, in most cases, the poor. And most died
not during Hurricane Katrina itself, but while waiting for help to arrive
Parts Of America
Are As Poor As Third World
By Paul Vallely
Parts of the United States are as poor as the Third
World, according to a shocking United Nations report on global inequality
What Kind Of
Extremist Will You Be?
By Cindy Sheehan
If there ever was a time in our nation's history
that required the passion and compassion of extremists, it is now: This
very minute. What kind of extremist will you be?
Hurricane Racism
By Remi Kanazi
A Poem
08 September, 2005
Another
Massacre In Tal Afar?
By James Cogan
The largest US military offensive on an urban area
since the attack on Fallujah last year has been underway since September
2 in the city of Tal Afar, an ancient metropolis with a predominantly
Sunni Muslim, ethnic Turkish population of some 300,000
Thousands Who
Stayed Prepare
For Enforced Evacuation
By Andrew Buncombe
Nobody really wanted to leave, everyone had reasons
to stay. Mostly, it was the realisation that the homes they were sitting
in were all they had - and no one knew when they would be coming back
to them. But eventually the realisation struck; without food or water,
without power and without any real expectation of getting these things
turned around any time soon, there was really no alternative but to
leave
It Always Lies Below
By Timothy Garton Ash
A hurricane produces anarchy. Decivilisation is
not as far away as we like to think
New Orleans Becomes
A War Zone
By Bill Van Auken
The disaster that struck New Orleans and the southern
Gulf Coast has given rise to the largest military mobilization in modern
history on US soil. Nearly 65,000 US military personnel are now deployed
in disaster area, transforming the devastated port city into a war zone
Lessons From
Hell
By John Chuckman
Amid death and destruction, Bush not as Nero, but
as Caligula's Horse Incitatus
Peace And
Conflict Resolution
By Asghar Ali Engineer
It is also important to remember that root cause
of conflict is often injustice. Justice and peace, are inseparable.
Where there is injustice, there will be conflict. Peace can never be
established by using mere rhetoric or exhortation. For peace to prevail
one must first establish justice
07 September, 2005
New
Orleans: The Toxic Time Bomb
By Andrew Gumbel and Rupert Cornwell
The devastation of Hurricane Katrina has created
a vast toxic soup that stretches across south-eastern Louisiana and
Mississippi, and portends the arrival of an environmental disaster to
rival the awe-inspiring destruction of property and human life over
the past week
State Failure And
Human Solidarity
By Dan La Botz
While the United States government failed in New
Orleans, people acted to save themselves and each other. Once again,
as so often in American history, ordinary people provided us with an
example and an alternative to our existing system. Once again black
people's solidarity provided a model for us all
Global Warming
Hits New Orleans
By Jeremy Rifkin
Katrina will be looked back on as a tipping
point of the fossil fuel era the moment when the American public
began to discard the comfortable myth that the end of the oil era and
the cataclysmic effects of global warming lie far in the distant future
The Levee Will
Break
By Jonathan Freedland
Hurricanes toss everything into the air; how things
settle afterwards is up to the people on the ground. A new political
settlement will not come about by a simple act of nature - it has to
be fought for and won. And that process is just beginning
Rule Of Death
By Jason Leopold
Seems like more people died than prospered under
Bushs leadership
The Many Flavors
Of John Roberts
By Remi Kanazi
Ice cream lover and intellect, John Roberts, has
had a short career, with enough faults to scare any liberty craving
American. Who knows how far to the right he'll go if nominated. Where
will he stand on a constitutional ban on gay marriage? What will his
ruling be on the overreaching measures in Patriot Act Seven?
The Crime And
Advertisement
By Sorit Gupto
To create an awareness in the citizens of Delhi
against eve teasers, Delhi Police has come up with an advertisement
in the news papers, which infact shows the deep male chauvinistic attitude
of the police force
06 September, 2005
The
City Where The Dead Are
Left Lying On The Streets
By Andrew Buncombe
In a makeshift grave on the streets of New Orleans
lies the body of Vera Smith. She was an ordinary woman who, like thousands
of her neighbours, died because she was poor. Abandoned to her fate
as the waters rose around her, Vera's tragedy symbolises the great divide
in America today
U.S. Influence
'Too Much'
By Dahr Jamail
U.S. influence in the process of drafting a constitution
for Iraq is excessive and "highly inappropriate", a United
Nations official says
Dear Boss
Man: Stickem Up!
By Chuck Richardson
Hurricane Katrina was the last straw. It all started
with your god, Ronald Reagan, and his religion of trickle down economics.
Now its all going to end with a new systemblow up finances
Indo-Pakistan
Rivalry In Afghanistan Intensifies
By M B Naqvi
Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai's fervent wish
for improved regional cooperation among India, Pakistan and his own
country, expressed during the Indo-Afghan summit at the beginning of
the week, may be doomed to remain just that, given the state of sub-continental
rivalry
The Battle Against
Hunger
By Harsh Mander
The proposed employment guarantee programme currently
on the anvil of Indian Parliament, combined with committed state and
citizen action, carries the potential of reversing hunger in every rural
household where adults can work
05 September, 2005
The
Silent Oil Crisis
By James Howard
The oil crisis gets louder listen to it,
talk about it, prepare for it it is out there, the tide is rising
and rushing towards us
Peak oil, Business
As Usual,And Katrina
By Bill Henderson
Most oil producing countries have peaked: America,
Norway, Venezuela, UK, Indonesia, Iran, etc.Most of the major oil companies
have peaked: Chevron's production in the second quarter of 05 is down
6% from last year, for example; Exxon 5%; Shell 3%; Conoco 3%; and total
1%
Katrina And America's
Tipping Point
By Abid Mustafa
In the wake of the devastation caused by Hurricane
Katrina and Bush's inept response to the unfolding humanitarian crisis
in New Orleans, the myth of America's super power status has been shattered
Three-Fifths Relief
By Remi Kanazi
We shouldn't be surprised how this administration
is treating the poor and downtrodden in their time of crisis because
this how they've always treated them. Scoffing at their necessity of
health care and vital social programs, rewriting bankruptcy laws that
help keep poor people poor
An Ill Wind
By Paul Harris
Everyone who is supposed to know about these things,
knew that Katarina was coming. They didnt know her name, and they
didnt know when to expect her, but they knew she was coming. They
had known it for years
Bush Scapegoats State,
Local Officials
By Joseph Kay
With the federal government coming under increasing
criticism for its shocking display of indifference and negligence, the
White House is seeking to transfer blame onto the backs of local and
state authorities
Receding Floodwaters
Expose
The Dark Side Of America
By Jonathan Freedland
The waters flow in and the waters flow out, washing
away all that once lay on the surface -and revealing what lies beneath.
So it is with all floods in all places, but now it is America which
stands exposed. And neither America nor the world much likes what it
sees
The Dispossessed
Of New Orleans
Tell Of Their Medieval Nightmare
By David Usborne
"I do think the nation would be responding
differently if they were white elderly and white babies actually dying
on the street and being covered with newspapers and shrouds and being
left there."
04 September, 2005
Notes
From Inside New Orleans
By Jordan Flaherty
Long before Katrina, New Orleans was hit by a hurricane
of poverty, racism, disinvestment, deindustrialization and corruption.
Simply the damage from this pre-Katrina hurricane will take billions
to repair. Now that the money is flowing in, and the world's eyes are
focused on Katrina, its vital that progressive-minded people take this
opportunity to fight for a rebuilding with justice
New Orleans And
Baghdad
By Bill Van Auken
As US National Guard troopsjust returned
from Iraqmoved into New Orleans Friday with shoot-to-kill
orders, and Blackhawk helicopters flew over the city, the essential
unity between the policies pursued by Washington at home and abroad
found stark expression
'They're Not Giving
Us What We Need To Survive'
By Jamie Doward
Only now, a week after Hurricane Katrina roared
across the Deep South, leaving a trail of devastation across America's
psyche, is the true story of the Battle of New Orleans emerging
The Presidents
Priorities: State Of Marriage
Took Precedent Over State Of Louisiana
By Jason Leopold
Despite more than four hurricanes that have whipped
through New Orleans since 2002, leaving a trail of destruction in their
wake, and personal pleas to the president by Louisianas local
and state officials to provide much needed funding to rebuild the states
rapidly disappearing wetlands, the Bush administration declined, shifting
its prioritiesand federal fundsinto its foreign policy initiatives
Delusions Under
Siege
By Jason Miller
I left the Bring Them Home Now Tour with a renewed
sense of hope and a stronger faith in the power and magnitude of the
grass roots, spiritual movement toward a better America. The "virus"
of activism for humanity is spreading rapidly throughout the "hard
drive" supporting America's Propaganda Matrix
Why Chavez Is
In U.S. Crosshairs
By Linda McQuaig
The future of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez
started to look precarious last January. It was then that CNN announcers
began referring to him as a "Latin American strongman." The
term suggests a dictator, so it actually doesn't fit Chavez, who's twice
been democratically elected in national elections
The Brahmanic
Conspiracy
By Revd. Barnabas Alexander & Dr. Kristoffson Somanader
Cultural/spiritual corruption came via the Brahmins
as they conspired to enslave the Tamils, inter alios, politically, intellectually,
and spiritually
Buddha, The
Feminist
By Chandrabhan Prasad
According to a UNICEF study conducted in 1984 in
Mumbai, out of 8,000 sex determination cases, where fetuses were terminated,
7,999 were of females. According to another study, in Jaipur alone,
about 3,500 female fetuses are terminated annually
02 September, 2005
Honoring
The Dead
By Dr. Trudy Bond
As if they were figurines, terrifying images of
Iraqis and Afghanis dismembered by explosions are exchanged on-line
for free access to a porn site. The invitation to post photos of shocking
cruelty is proposed to US combat troops who are asked to post their
horror shots in order to enter the porn section of the site. Once gaining
entry, many site visitors have been unable to resist the deal offered
by www.nowthatsfuckedup.com
Why
I Do Not Support The Troops
By Lucinda Marshall
As Cindy Sheehan has so eloquently pointed out,
using our children as "human cluster-bombs" to kill other
children in never-ending wars is not a family value, it is the callous
betrayal of our youth and the wanton destruction of our future. It is
for these reasons that I will not say that I support our troops
What Eating Cindy
Sheehan?
By Jason Leopold
Cindy Sheehan has been subjected to an unwarranted
backlash by right-wing pundits because of her antiwar protests and some
explosive statements she made about President Bush
Why New Orleans
Is In Deep Water
By Molly Ivins
One of the main reasons New Orleans is so vulnerable
to hurricanes is the gradual disappearance of the wetlands on the Gulf
Coast that once stood as a natural buffer between the city and storms
coming in from the water
How New Orleans
was Lost
By Paul Craig Roberts
Chalk up the city of New Orleans as a cost of Bush's
Iraq war
Rushing
After A Mirage
By Hasan Abu Nimah
There are striking similarities between Israel's
departure from southern Lebanon in May 2000 and the events in Gaza over
the past two weeks. This is no surprise, as events in the Arab-Israeli
conflict have been seemingly moving in circles for years
Arroyo Clings
To Philippines Presidency
Amid Growing Economic Crisis
By John Roberts
After months of political turmoil, Philippines
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has staved off efforts to impeach
her but remains deeply unpopular and faces a continuing opposition campaign
to have her removed from office
Winning The West:
Progressives 'Stand Up'
By Joshua Frank
If Tester is to learn anything from Montana Governor
Brian Schweitzer, he better realize that in order to win, he has to
shoot it straight with the Montana public. He can't be wishy-washy.
Tester has to take a position, no matter how unpopular it may be, and
stand behind it through thick and thin
India's Subalterns
Too Have A Poet
By Syed Amin Jafri
The folk singer Gaddar, Gummadi Vittal Rao, is
56 years old, has acted in two movies, and carries a bullet in his body.
He is best known as a singer, and thousands of copies of his songs have
been sold throughout India
01 September, 2005
Hurricane
Katrina Exposes Racism And Inequality
By Lee Sustar
Decades of official neglect, racism and the impact
of global warming magnified the destructive impact of Hurricane Katrina
in New Orleans and other parts of the South
A Calamity Compounded
By Poverty And Neglect
By Joseph Kay
The enormous devastation wreaked upon parts of
Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama by Hurricane Katrina is only beginning
to come to light, even as the situation in New Orleans grows worse by
the hour
Global Warming
And Widespread Blackouts
Are Just As Deadly As Terrorism
By Jason Leopold
Two years ago this month, a Blackout plunged 50
million people in Northeastern U.S. and the Canadian province of Ontario
into total darkness for more than a day, wreaking havoc on the U.S.
economy. Now, its the devastation in Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi
wrought by Hurricane Katrina that has killed hundreds, perhaps thousands
of people
Bush Gives New Reason
For Iraq War
By Jennifer Loven
President Bush answered growing antiwar protests
yesterday with a fresh reason for US troops to continue fighting in
Iraq: protection of the country's vast oil fields, which he said would
otherwise fall under the control of terrorist extremists