Countercurrents Archive November 2007

30 November, 2007

Ten Reasons Why “Save Darfur” Is A PR Scam
By Bruce Dixon

Among the latest false realities being pushed upon the American people are the simplistic pictures of Black vs. Arab genocide in Darfur, and the proposed solution: a robust US-backed or US-led military intervention in Western Sudan. Increasing scrutiny is being focused upon the “Save Darfur” lobby and the Save Darfur Coalition; upon its founders, its finances, its methods and motivations and its truthfulness. In the spirit of furthering that examination we here present ten reasons to suspect that the “Save Darfur” campaign is a PR scam to justify US intervention in Africa

Why American Troops Can't Go Home
By Michael Schwartz

As long as that government is determined to install a friendly, anti-Iranian regime in Baghdad, one that is hostile to "foreigners," including all jihadists, but welcomes an ongoing American military presence as well as multinational development of Iraqi oil, the American armed forces aren't going anywhere, not for a long, long time; and no relative lull in the fighting -- temporary or not -- will change that reality. This is the Catch-22 of Bush administration policy in Iraq

A Tenuous 'Peace' In Al-Anbar
By Ali al-Fadhily

A semblance of calm belies an undercurrent of violence, detentions and fear across Iraq’s volatile al-Anbar province

The First Days Of Petro Collapse
By Peter Goodchild

Without hydrocarbons, the darkness closes in, literally and metaphorically. Yet instead of dealing with the issue in a realistic manner, we sit around and hope that magic and superstition will solve the problems

The Iran Threat
By Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich

No doubt the perceived threat from Iran will diminish should Tehran yield to Washington, generously delivers its oil to Israel to better enable it to continue its expansionist policies, and participate in human rights abuses in the name of freedom and democracy vs. state sovereignty. But even if the regime in Tehran succumbs, will the people who have accomplished so much under such extraordinary circumstances, surrender?

Distorting Fascism To Demonize Iran
By Ismael Hossein-zadeh

In their frantic drive to pave the way for a military strike against Iran, leading figures in the neoconservative pro-Israel lobby have embarked on a vicious campaign of demonizing that country by comparing it with the early years of Nazi Germany and its President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, with Hitler. These champions of war and militarism are the same trigger happy characters who helped orchestrate the criminal war against Iraq on the basis of ghastly lies and criminal fabrications of evidence

The Palestine That We Are Struggling For
By Jamal Juma’

The gulf between the Authority and the Palestinian people is becoming increasingly obvious. Indeed the whole range of Palestinian political and social forces joined in condemning the repression on Tuesday. The choice for the Authority is clear: either to go along with the dictates of the US and the Occupation; or to radically alter their course, to return to the people and remember that they are leaders of the Palestinian national struggle. The grassroots movement against normalisation with the occupiers will continue to grow. Resistance will continue as the Palestinian people assert their fundamental rights

Same Old, Same Old –Israel Wins Again
By Jim Miles

As I sit and read the announcements from today’s first discussions from Annapolis, all I can see is another dismal failure for peace and another year long “negotiation” process that like Oslo, Camp David, the ‘road map’ all lead to the same place. That place, as so clearly denoted by the late Tanya Rinehart, is nowhere

It’s The Land, Stupid. The Land
By David Truskoff

The Annapolis Agreement renews the goal of two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security. Now, there is a new Idea. The new idea that has been rejected time and time again by Israel when the right of return is injected. The issue of " Greater Israel" hangs like a ghost over all the so-called "Peace conferences", but is never discussed

The Responsibility To Protect Self-Determination
By Cameron Hunt

29 November 2007, marked sixty years since the decision by the UN General Assembly to partition historic Palestine into “Independent Arab and Jewish States and the Special International Regime for the City of Jerusalem”; yet the Palestinian nation continues to be denied its right to national self-determination. If ICISS has its way, and if the so-called ‘international community’ continues to do nothing to uphold the UN Charter, it could well be ‘the right to national self-determination’ that is massacred

Counterpunching The CounterPuncher
By Jeff Berg

Counterpunch has for a long time been a very important voice of reason in a world gone mad. This is however very much going to change if you personally do not begin to appreciate what has become the zeitgeist of our age. I say this because the fact of the matter is that your grasp of resource geology and atmospheric chemistry is as weak as your tongue is tart and your sense of justice is strong. If this does not change it will doom Counterpunch to being no more than a side show I'm afraid

29 November, 2007

What’s Really Happening In Venezuela?
By Lee Sustar

Venezuelans will vote December 2 on constitutional reforms proposed by President Hugo Chávez and his supporters, capping weeks of sometimes-violent protests by right-wing opposition forces, a defection by a top Chávez political ally, and mass mobilizations by Chávez supporters.LEE SUSTAR, recently returned from Venezuela, looks at the aims of Chávez’s proposals, the response of the opposition and the shape of Venezuelan politics today

Impending Destruction Of The US Economy
By Paul Craig Roberts

Which will Washington sacrifice, the domestic financial system and over-extended homeowners or its ability to finance deficits? The answer seems obvious. Everything will be sacrificed in order to protect Washington’s ability to borrow abroad. Without the ability to borrow abroad, Washington cannot conduct its wars of aggression, and Americans cannot continue to consume $800 billion dollars more each year than the economy produces

Bush’s Twenty-Billion Dollar Arms Sale
To Saudi Arabia Scuttled By The Israel Lobby
By James Petras

By blackmail and deceit, the Israelis got their additional $30 billion dollars over the next ten years and they double-crossed ‘their’ president by unleashing their Fifth Column to block his military sales to the Saudis. And if Bush dares a complaint, he will be added to the list of ‘anti-Semites’ – the only honorable list in his entire 8 years in office

Taslima Controversy: No To Appeasement Politics
By Kashif ul-Huda

By shipping Nasreen out, the West Bengal government seems to be giving into the demands of Muslims, but it has chosen to act on an issue that has no socio-economic relevance to a majority of them. This appeases known anti-Muslim parties more than the average Muslim individual, as it gives them more ammunition to target Muslims with. It might also please those Muslim leaders and organizations that have been campaigning against Nasreen for their own ulterior motives. These Muslim leaders can now claim victory and be on the lookout for another symbolic issue to add another feather in their cap

Taslima Nasrin vs MF Hussein
By Syed Ali Mujtaba

The other hypocrisy that comes out very clearly from this episode is while the Sangh Privar and others welcome Taslima Nasrin, a foreigner with open arms to live any where in India, they have booted out MF Hussein, the living Picasso of India from his own country. It seems the ninety-year- old living legend is heading to become another Bahadur Shah Zafar who may bemoan for not getting two meters of land for his burial in his own motherland

The Paradox Of Taslima Nasreen
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat

Is Taslima treading a dangerous path in India by courting the Hindu fundamentalists?

The Iraqi Miracle: From Invasion To “Partnership”
By James Rothenberg

The morning newspaper carries an Associated Press story detailing the signing by President Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister al-Maliki of a “declaration of principles” between the two countries, which, for those still interested in the real reason we invaded Iraq, amounts to a full confession. Not in front of the International Criminal Court (that’s not for us) but mainstreamed, normalized, now fit to print

Iraq :'Internationally Sponsored Genocide'
By Felicity Arbuthnot

If anyone treated a domestic or farm animal in the West, as the Iraqis have been treated for over seventeen years: denied a proper diet, medication, clean water, a safe environment, that person would end up in Court and likely in prison

Spain's PSOE Socialist Party Follows The Same
Foreign Policy As The PP Under Aznar
By Agustin Velloso

The lies, cliches and slick, superficial slogans, that mixture of political machismo and fake Spanish-ism that are typical of Aznar, have broken out again lately, the difference being they come not from him - although he backs them 100% - but from the PSOE Zapatero government Foreign Minister, Miguel Angel Moratinos

General Musharraf's Second Martial Law:
The Hidden Agenda!
By Mehroz Siraj Sadruddin

Pakistan needs a fresh start that should enable Pakistanis to enmesh democratic, pluralistic and secularist values within its social and political psyche and fabric. The sooner we do away with military dictatorships and civilians like Miss Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, the better

Bush’s Magic Wand
By Dr Marwan Asmar

On face value, at Annapolis peace negotiations were restarted again. How far it will reach, that’s anybody’s guess, will it be even strangled in its cot since the first of such meetings begins on 12 December, we will have to wait and see

Holbrook's Revelation
By Jeff Berg

What this writer found more revelatory came out when Mr. Holbrook held forth on the subject most on everyone's mind these days. I.e. Whether or not the U.S. will bomb Iran and its people. The first intriguing fact is that he did not speak of this action in terms of the U.S. nation bombing Iran. He spoke of it in terms of the Bush Administration bombing Iran. That an Ambassador of his calibre chooses his words very carefully I think goes without saying. For this reason I found this purposeful differentiation between the nation of the U.S. and its government deeply interesting

Iran, The U.S., And The Twisted Path
To Confrontation
By Jim Miles

Book Review: Bitter Friends, Bosom Enemies – Iran, the U.S., and the Twisted Path to Confrontation By Barbara Slavin

28 November, 2007

Climate change: How Poorest Suffer Most
By Paul Vallely

Global warming is not a future apocalypse, but a present reality for many of the world's poorest people, according to the most hard-hitting United Nations report yet on climate change, published yesterday.A catalogue of the "climate shocks" that have already hit the world is set out in the Human Development Report 2007/08. Fewer than two per cent of these have affected rich countries. Europe had its most intense heatwave for 50 years and Japan its greatest number of tropical cyclones in a single year. But far more intense drought, floods and storms than usual have plagued the developing world

US Signs Deal For Long-Term Occupation Of Iraq
By Jerry White

President Bush and the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki signed an agreement Monday paving the way for the long-term occupation of the Middle Eastern country and its transformation into a semi-colonial protectorate of the US.The “Declaration of Principles for a Long-Term Relationship of Cooperation and Friendship” outlines plans for the establishment of permanent US military bases in Iraq to suppress internal opposition to the US-installed regime and protect US economic and political interests throughout the region. It also provides for preferential treatment for US energy conglomerates and investors to exploit Iraq’s newly opened up oil resources

Forecast: U.S. Dollar Could Plunge 90 pct
By UPI

A financial crisis will likely send the U.S. dollar into a free fall of as much as 90 percent and gold soaring to $2,000 an ounce, a trends researcher said. "We are going to see economic times the likes of which no living person has seen," Trends Research Institute Director Gerald Celente said, forecasting a "Panic of 2008."

A Dollar The Size Of A Postage Stamp
By Mike Whitney

Central banks across the globe are trying to figure out how to ditch their dollar reserves without triggering a stampede for the exits. No one wants to see that. But, then, nobody wants to be stuck with vaults full of Uncle Sam's green confetti either. So, the question arises; What is the best way to divest oneself of $5.6 trillion (total USD held overseas) before the Lusitania capsizes?

Detentions Escalate In Diwaniyah
By Ali al-Fadhily

Detentions have become commonplace in Iraq, but now more than ever before people are being detained after being accused of membership in "militias supported by Iran."

Requiem For The Lives Lost In Iraq
By David Gespass

Speech given by David Gespass at Birmingham Alabama. He was invited to address the opening if an exhibit, " Eyes Wide Open". The exhibit commemorated the lives lost in Iraq war. It had pairs of boots for every Alabamian GI killed in Iraq and a representative cluster of shoes for the Iraqi dead

How The World Helped Pakistan Build Its Bomb
By Catherine Collins & Douglas Frantz

Khan did indeed overcome the obstacles -- with plenty of help from his friends around the world. And he had learned his lesson well. When he was finished helping Pakistan build its bomb, he turned his talents to another kind of globalization -- marketing his wares, and those of his associates from Europe, Asia, and South Africa, to a new set of clients

The Right To Our Land Must Be Restored
By Fareed Taamallah

Palestinians hope to reach a peace agreement with Israel, and we are cautiously optimistic about the upcoming Annapolis, Maryland conference. But Palestinians are most concerned with getting back their stolen lands. Incorporating settlement blocs like Ariel into Israel is not a viable solution. Ordinary Palestinians will not be able to cope unless their rights are restored

Separate But Unequal In Palestine:
The Road To Apartheid
By Mohammed Khatib

We pray that our children will not spend their lives under Israeli military occupation. We hope that the Annapolis meeting will bring our dreams of freedom closer to fulfillment. But we are concerned that if Israel is allowed to keep most of its settlements and the roads that connect them, then the existing system of "separate but unequal" will be cemented in place in a Palestinian state

Moral Primitivism Anyone? A Satirical Examination
Of An Apologia For Industrialized Torture
By Jason Miller

For a year now I have been an ethical vegetarian. Last Thanksgiving, I made what I thought was an enlightened moral decision to stop eating meat and to severely restrict my egg and dairy consumption. However, an email recently hit my inbox that presents such a powerful argument justifying the wanton torture and slaughter of animals (so we can please our palates) that my moral sensibilities and capacity to reason have been utterly disarmed. Signed with a cryptic “JC,” this missive pummeled me with points I had not even considered when I made what I now rightly view as my ridiculous decision to go “meatless.”

Reviewing "Multinationals On Trial"
By Stephen Lendman

Reviewing James Petras and Henry Veltmeyer's "Multinationals on Trial"

27 November, 2007

Iraq Has Only Militants,No Civilians
By Dahr Jamail

From the beginning of the American occupation in Iraq, air strikes and attacks by the U.S. military have only killed “militants,” “criminals,” “suspected insurgents,” “IED [Improvised Explosive Device] emplacers,” “anti-American fighters,” “terrorists,” “military age males,” “armed men,” “extremists,” or “al-Qaeda.”The pattern for reporting on such attacks has remained the same from the early years of the occupation to today

US Army Reports Rising Desertion Rates
By Naomi Spencer

After a decline in desertion rates following an initial exodus before the preemptive strikes on Afghanistan and Iraq, the military is recording a rise in the number of soldiers who abandon their posts. The Associated Press reported November 16 that desertions this year stand 80 percent higher than in 2003, when the US invaded Iraq

120 War Vets Commit Suicide Each Week
By Penny Coleman

Earlier this year, using the clout that only major broadcast networks seem capable of mustering, CBS News contacted the governments of all 50 states requesting their official records of death by suicide going back 12 years. They heard back from 45 of the 50. From the mountains of gathered information, they sifted out the suicides of those Americans who had served in the armed forces. What they discovered is that in 2005 alone -- and remember, this is just in 45 states -- there were at least 6,256 veteran suicides, 120 every week for a year and an average of 17 every day

The Ghosts of Misplaced Conscience
By Charles Sullivan

Rather than an economy based upon savage greed and exploitation, let us create an economy based upon justice and equality, need rather than excess; a society that does not leave people behind but invites the full participation of everyone and recognizes that, “An injury to one is an injury to all.” Let it be all inclusive and worthy of respect: where every woman, man, and child, every being of this earth is the same under the law and equally respected and valued—a great global community seeking harmony rather than competitive advantage

Barbarism On The Rise – Civilization On The Wane
By Siv O'Neall

What is going on in the world at this time is utter self-destruction and it is looking less and less credible that the U.S. Empire, which is leading the destruction, will ever come to its senses and reverse the trend.There may still be a chance that the world can be ecologically, financially and socially saved. But where is the Gandhi, where is the Martin Luther King, where are the men and women with hearts and brains who are willing to step up and lead the world back to sanity?

Let's Reclaim Our Rights
By Gunther Ostermann

What are human beings fundamental birthrights? We need to know- and claim it, especially for the disenfranchised and future generations, who cannot speak for themselves

A Matter Of Opinion
By Ramzy Baroud

JUSTmedia is the first initiative to be launched by the People Media Project, a global scheme that hopes to offer a different kind of platform for discourse, dialogue and commentary by promoting the voices of people from all walks of life. Supported by intellectuals who refuse to play by the roles of the ‘mainstream’, the idea is to extend a bridge across cultural, language, geographic and political divides to show and extend the possibilities of true democracy and human rights in the media

Gujarat Muslims: The Way Ahead
By Ram Puniyani

That a section of our society is made to think that one sided forgiveness is the only way out just shows that our system is deeply infected and needs to be cleansed by the spirit of Indian ness. And that's where all the conscientious and aware citizens believing in democracy have to stick together, for getting justice for all and to soothe the wounds of those thinking of unsolicited, unilateral forgiveness

Europe At War 1939-1945:Norman Davies'
Falsification Of History
By Thomas Riggins

These comments are based on Adam Tooze's review of the Davies book [Europe at War] in the TLS of 11-16-2007. Tooze has a low opinion of both the book and of Davies' scholarship. This is why

26 November, 2007

Australia Thrashes Bush-ite Coalition:
But What Next?
By Dr Gideon Polya

Australia voted in the 2007 Federal Elections on Saturday November 24, 2007. The result was a Labor party thrashing of the incumbent Bush-ite Coalition Government under the “Little Bush” John Howard, who is likely to lose his seat

Nandigram-III: Lessons And Challenges
By Dipankar Bhattacharya

The year 2007 will be remembered as the year when the CPI(M) completely unmasked itself in the mirror of Nandigram. If January 2007 was re-enacted in March, November witnessed a brutal replay of the atrocities perpetrated in March 2007. Each time the operation has been more lethal and barbaric than the previous episode

Nandigram: The Cowardice Of Mediocrity
By Aseem Shrivastava

Nandigram shows that the CPM is just another face of the forces that threaten the polity

Preventing The Impending War On Iran
By Marjorie Cohn

As we go to the polls in the coming months, it is imperative we scrutinize the candidates’ positions on Iraq and Iran. The security of the United States, as well as the Middle East, is hanging in the balance

Iraq’s Sovereignty Revisited
By Ghali Hassan

The current state of Iraq is a U.S.-installed colonial dictatorship. The puppet government is a façade legitimising the Occupation and covering-up its murderous crimes against the Iraqi people. There is no sovereignty when 175,000 U.S. troops and some 180,000 foreign mercenaries rampaging through the streets of Iraqi towns and cities and killing Iraqis with impunity. So, what “sovereignty” Mr. Bush was talking about?

Reckoning: The Economic Consequences Of Mr. Bush
By Joseph E. Stiglitz

When we look back someday at the catastrophe that was the Bush administration, we will think of many things: the tragedy of the Iraq war, the shame of Guantánamo and Abu Ghraib, the erosion of civil liberties. The damage done to the American economy does not make front-page headlines every day, but the repercussions will be felt beyond the lifetime of anyone reading this page

Darkness Falls On The Middle East
By Robert Fisk

In Beirut, people are moving out of their homes, just as they have in Baghdad

Tragedy And Travesty At Annapolis
By Stephen Lendman

November 27 at Annapolis kicks off the latest Israeli-Palestinian Middle East peace process round that may be an historic first. It's the first time in memory the legitimate government of one side is excluded, and that alone dooms it. Like previous rounds, it's more pretense than peace

Apartheid In Israel Palestine! Viability In Annapolis?
By Eileen Fleming

Will Annapolis end with more than handshakes and photo ops? Is a viable Palestinian state even possible?

The Final Battle In Bolivia
By Roger Burbach

Evo Morales, the first Indian president of Bolivia, is forcing a showdown with the oligarchy and the right wing political parties that have stymied efforts to draft a new constitution to transform the nation. He declares, “Dead or alive I will have a new constitution for the country by December 14,” the mandated date for the specially elected Constituent Assembly to present the constitution

23 November, 2007

The US’s WarIn Darfur
By Keith Harmon Snow

There is growing dissent within the “Save Darfur” movement as more supporters question its motivations and the Jewish-Israeli link. “Save Darfur” leaders have been replaced after complaints surfaced about expenditures of funds. Many rebel leaders reportedly receive tens of thousands of dollars monthly, and rebels emboldened by the “Save Darfur” movement commit crimes with impunity. There is a growing demand to probe the accounts of “Save Darfur” to find out how the tens of millions collected are being spent due to allegations of arms-deals and bribery—rebel leaders provided with five-star hotel accommodations, prostitutes and sex parties

Dollar Is America's Achilles' Heel
By Linda S. Heard

he US may be the most militarily powerful and technologically advanced country in the world but even a roaring giant can be stopped in its tracks when he's hit where it hurts the most in his pocketbook and especially when that pocketbook is also his Achilles' heel

The Cancer Of Growth
By Gustavo Esteva

It is time to stop the dominant insanity. Some things need to grow, and others need to contract. Let our capacity to sustain ourselves and our vital autonomy grow. Let our expressions and spaces for exercising liberty and initiative grow. Let the opportunities for a good life multiply, according to the way in which each individual and culture defines that good life. And, to make that possible, let us reduce the weight of a formal economy that oppresses us and wears us down, through everything that contradicts a good life for everyone or destroys nature

The Approaching Holiday Shopping Spree
As The US Economy Declines
By Shepherd Bliss

As Americans head into the annual holiday shopping orgy, it is a good time to explore how our excessive spending damages us. The ten busiest shopping days of the year are between the day after Thanksgiving and two days before Christmas

Annapolis, As Seen From Gaza
By Laila El-Haddad

If history has taught the people of Gaza anything, it's that they never have much of a say in their destiny

Sub-planting Palestinian Memory
By Dr Elias Akleh

After the Jewish Holocaust the whole world cried “never again”. Yet the same victims of the Holocaust, and their descendent, are now perpetrating a similar Holocaust against the Palestinians

Executions Not Leading To Reconciliation
By Ali al-Fadhily

The executions of former regime officials are creating greater division, rather than reconciliation, among Iraqis. Special courts formed by the American occupation authorities in Iraq are issuing death sentences -- like that carried out on former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, on 30 December 2006 -- on what many Iraqis are interpreting as a political basis

Nukes' Seventh Decade
By David Swanson

Jonathan Schell's latest book "The Seventh Decade" places our current situation in the context of the past 62 years of the nuclear age, or the past 68 years as Schell might prefer to date it. It was 68 years ago that scientists concluded a nuclear bomb was possible.Schell does place some hope, as do I, in the possibility that a movement to end global warming will grow to include a movement to eliminate nuclear weapons. The two movements would seem to be perfect allies, as it would be quite a shame to save the world from one of the two dangers we face and lose it to the other

No Voice Unheard
By Mickey Z.

An interview with animal rights activist Diane Leigh

Sri Lanka: ‘Gently Weeps’
By Chandi Sinnathurai

The questions that need to be raised by all who care for human rights is this: How long can this denial of justice continue? How much more time is needed for the world community to sit quietly and watch, and even supply arms under-hand for such an immoral act to continue?

"3'D' In Judiciary "
By Amit Chamaria

Apart from other anomalies, the word 'delay' has become part and parcel of the Indian judicial system.A close scrutiny of the above data that the 3 ' D' are restricted to that segments of the society who are socially backward in all dimensions of the life and at the bottom line of the social hierarchy of the Varna system. And certainly, Dalits and Adivasi prominently
fall in this category

22 November, 2007

Iraq: Infighting Increases Instability
By Ali al-Fadhily

Increasing conflict and finger pointing between leading Shi'ite political blocs are heightening instability in war-torn Iraq

Handy Hints For Post-Petroleum
By Peter Goodchild

The priority of these "hints" will vary as the years go by, but most of them will remain relevant over the course of the century. The slight bias toward northern North America is partly due to the fact that the area meets most of the criteria

Wheat Biopiracy The Real Issues
The Government Is Avoiding
By Vandana Shiva

The epidemic of biopiracy is an assault on our living heritage of biodiversity and cumulative innovation embodied in the traditional knowledge of agriculture and medicine. In the long run, it determines livelihoods and economic sovereignty because what is commonly available becomes an intellectual property of a company for which royalty must be paid. It is the governments duty to protect the resources and heritage of the country and prevent its usurpation by foreign interests and commercial corporations

Meeting: Institutionalization Of Racism
By Haidar Eid

The idea of defining the country as exclusively white and democratic at the same time was never accepted by the international community. It was considered blatant racism. Unlike Palestinians, Black Africans are considered human beings, and therefore, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights applies to them. That is precisely what the call for the recognition of Israel as a Jewish state means

Palestine: The First Imperative
By Roni Ben Efrat

A new path is needed in Palestine. The first imperative must be to the stronger: Israel must cease to exploit Palestinian weakness, as it has in the past, in order to wring concessions. That is a necessary condition for the process that then must follow: the building of a Palestinian economy and the renewal of independent Palestinian institutions

Lincoln Was Wrong: The Case Of Fooling
Most Of The People Most Of The Time
By John Chuckman

This year marks the forty-fourth anniversary of John Kennedy’s assassination. What is most remarkable about this is the stunningly simple fact that, despite innumerable books and several official investigations, we still do not know what happened in 1963

The Trouble With Thankfulness
By David Swanson

This Thanksgiving, go out of your way to thank somebody who is working for radical democratic change in the world. And, this holiday season, thank your loved ones for who they are. Don't thank anybody else for them. But put your generosity where it belongs: in actions aimed at benefitting those in the world who have it worst

21 November, 2007

Gaza: The Final Solution In Slow Motion
By Agustin Velloso

The international community has refused to put a stop to this slow and painful genocide. On the contrary, they have chosen to make it possible in many ways for Israel to carry out its own Final Solution in Palestine: giving them weapons, money, political support and punishing the Palestinians in Gaza with a boycott that cries out to heaven with anguish for its cruelty and brutality

The Turbulent Winds Of The Annapolis Conference
By Dan Lieberman

Discussing the proposed Annapolis Conference, in face-to-face talks with the prime ministers, foreign ministers and non-government officials (NGOs) of Israel, Palestinian Authority, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, revealed how far we are from achieving peace in the Middle East and how far Annapolis is from the Earth that others walk upon

Why Israel Has No "Right To Exist"
As A Jewish State
By Oren Ben-Dor

The Annapolis meeting is a con. As an egalitarian argument we should say loud and clear that Israel has no right to exist as a Jewish state

Reflections At Thanksgiving Time
By Emily Spence

Thanksgiving will be a mixed blessing, one in which I affirm all for which I am grateful. Yet, it will also be a time during which I will avow to strive all the harder to ensure that I am as supportive as possible towards other life in the world. The reason for doing so is quite simple in the end. It is because my life and every other one unequivocally depends on this sort of caring provision

What Were The Pilgrims
And Their Thanksgiving Like?
By Edward M. Eveld

Nathaniel Philbrick author of 'Mayflower', spent three years researching the Pilgrims' voyage and what came after, including the complex and evolving relationships between settlers and American Indians. He found not the caricatures of his fuzzy impressions but real humans capable of kindness and murder, of lasting conciliation and sudden treachery, of charity and the ugliest of greed

Black Friday: Why This One Is Especially Dark
By Carolyn Baker

So on this Thanksgiving week as stomachs are stuffed and the cacophony of credit card transactions deafens and defies the reality of global economic meltdown, I will celebrate that we are now closer to the total collapse of civilization than we have ever been, and that for all the rampant suffering it will evoke around the world, the soul-murdering, mind-numbing, body obliterating culture of empire is terminally ill and on life-support. I know not how many, if any of us, will survive its collapse, but I do know that until it has fallen fatally silent, no life form on earth will ever experience freedom or fullness of life

First Woman, First Black, First Latino,
or First Honest President?
By Joel S. Hirschhorn

Every reason we use to vote for someone is a joke. Delusional thinking about candidates has produced our delusional democracy. Time to stop voting for liars. Better to not vote at all. Voting for liars only encourages more lies

Haiti: Survival And Poverty In Carrefour
By Nazaire St Fort

The families of Carrefour often live on less than one US dollar per day and suffer from malnutrition. The lack of access to potable water and basic health care further compounds the problem. Few can afford to attend school. With few options young people are put at high risk of going into prostitution and crime

Pakistan's Problems Start At The Top
By Pervez Hoodbhoy

Only a freely chosen and representative government can win public support for taking on the Taliban. But to do this, it will need to begin addressing the larger, long-term political, social and economic problems facing Pakistan. The country must seek a more normal relationship with India. Only then can the army be cut down to size and Pakistan free itself from the massive military expenditures and the nuclear weapons that burden it

Plans For Disintegrating Pakistan
Are Now Up For Debate
By Abid Ullah Jan

In the plans of American warlords, the time for Pakistan is up. It is up to Pakistan’s religious, military and political “leaders,” who have facilitated the neocons plans thus far, to take a note of the impending war on Pakistan, make necessary course corrections, or get ready to be decimated with the rest of their countrymen or hanged in the streets in case they survive the shock and awe

20 November, 2007

US Steps Up Plans For Military
Intervention In Pakistan
By Bill Van Auken

In the midst of public statements of support for “democracy” in Pakistan and the recent visit to Islamabad by the American envoy John Negroponte, Washington is quietly preparing for a stepped-up military intervention in the crisis-ridden country

Pakistan’s Disorder – Another Fine Mess
Created By Uncle Sam
By Javed I. Chaudry

Today, one can pick up almost any paper or watch any tv news channel, one cannot escape from the news on the current Pakistani situation revolving around the imposed emergency in that country. I interpret and explain it to be the direct consequence of knee deep American involvement and its control, which is leveraged through the financial aid in order to derive long term geo-political benefits from the region

Musharraf’s Crisis Of Legitimacy
By Taj Hashmi

Nothing but democracy and accountability can either salvage Pakistan or subdue Islamists to put an end to terrorism in the long run

Fallujah Now Under A Different Kind Of Siege
By Ali al-Fadhily

Three years after a devastating U.S.-led siege of the city, residents of Fallujah continue to struggle with a shattered economy, infrastructure, and lack of mobility

Radioactive Ammunition Fired In Middle East
May Claim More Lives Than Hiroshima And Nagasaki
By Sherwood Ross

By firing radioactive ammunition, the U.S., U.K., and Israel may have triggered a nuclear holocaust in the Middle East that, over time, will prove deadlier than the U.S. atomic bombing of Japan

Middle Class Angst: The Politics Of Lemmings- Part I
By Stan Goff

Suburbia is also a spiritual wasteland, a place where the wonder of nature is desecrated ubiquitously with corporate logos and all the artifacts of late technological society

Redact O'Reilly
By Mary Shaw

Every American should see Brian DePalma's new film, Redacted, including every member of the Bush administration. Because it's not so much about what American troops are doing to the Iraqis, but rather what Bush's war is doing to our troops. Their actions are just a consequence of that

Google Refuses To Run Impeachment Ad
By Ralph Lopez

Google has refused to run sponsored ad and link paid for by the Northeast Impeachment Coalition and YaliesForImpeachment.org to help impeach vice president Cheney

The Beating Of Medha Patkar
By Satya Sagar

The beating of Medha Patkar by both BJP and the CPM thugs, which underlines her unique status as a threat to establishments on both the right and the left, was no mere coincidence. The fact is these two parties, despite their vehement public opposition to each other, share a frightening similarity in their overall political culture- both within and outside their organizations

The Auschwitz Of Our Times !
Where Are Our Raphael Lemkins !
By Subhash Gatade

Perhaps it is a sign of changed times or the slackening of the resolve of humanity that today sixty years after Auschwitz the 'Neros' of Gujarat have been allowed to go scot free. Forget punishment, these perpetrators of ghastly killings, - the strategists, the planners and the actual footsoldiers - are today a respectable lot

Peace: What Does It Mean?
By Kashoo Tawseef

Peace to me means peace of the second type Peace which results out of justice not out of oppression says Kashoo Tawseef

19 November, 2007

A World Dying, But Can We Unite To Save It?
By Geoffrey Lean

Pollution in the seas is now speeding global warming, says a devastating new climate report

Globalisation Or Militarist Imperialism?
India Must Choose
By Rohini Hensman

It is easy to understand why the current US administration is so desperate to seal a strategic alliance with India, at a time when Pakistan, its traditional ally in South Asia, appears to be faltering. For India, however, the deal would be a disaster. Backing out of it under pressure from public opinion may be embarrassing, but not shameful; on the contrary, it is the only democratic option

Of Boycotts And Elections
By Charles Sullivan

Electoral boycotts are one of many tools available to us as we plant the seeds of revolution and create the atmosphere for a major paradigm shift sometime in the future. Boycotts are a peaceful way of hastening the change that will eventually make a more just society possible; a world in which just people, not wealth and privilege, decides the future

Coup D'Etat Rumblings In Venezuela
By Stephen Lendman

Venezuela's social democracy is on the line in the crucial December 2 vote, and the entire region depends on it solidifying and surviving

Super-Patriotism’s Intercourse
With The Secret Sect Of Power
By Gaither Stewart

The Patriot Act threatens freedoms, at home and abroad. It gives the US President the power to access your private life, to secretly search your home and make arbitrary arrests. Abroad, it conducts criminal activities, the black night flights of CIA aircraft in the kidnapping, secret jailing in foreign lands and torturing of suspected “terrorists.” Such powers are the essence of Fascism

The U.S. vs. The World In The Death Penalty Debate
By Mary Shaw

On November 15, a human rights committee of the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution calling for a global "moratorium on executions with a view toward abolishing the death penalty."The vote was 99 in favor and 53 against, with 33 abstentions.Want to guess who voted against the resolution? Yep, the good ol' United States of America, along with Afghanistan, China, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Zimbabwe, and a handful of other countries known for their systematic violations of human rights

Somalia: What The News Failed To Report
By Ramzy Baroud

Somalia is more under the mercy of foreign powers and self-serving internal forces, foreshadowing yet more bloodshed. Our informed support is essential now because the Somali people have suffered enough. Their plight is urgent and it deserves a much deeper understanding, alongside immediate attention

Treacherous Alliance
By Jim MIles

Book Review: Treacherous Alliance – the secret dealings of Israel, Iran and the United States By Trita Parsi

Nandigram: The Poor Killing The Poor
On Neo-Liberal Bidding
By Debarshi Das

It all started on a clear neo-liberal stirring. The 25,000 acres that the government was desperate to acquire was not to build a new party office, not even to distribute largesse to the party sycophants. It was to act as an over-enthusiastic, real estate agent of a multinational company with an anti-people track record. It's not surprising that the corporate media is working overtime to obfuscate the underlying neo-liberal insinuations on which the poor are butchering the poor

Orphans Of Jammu And Kashmir Await Justice
By Syed Junaid Hashmi

Prior to the ongoing conflict in the state, we had only one orphanage run by an NGO and only two homes run by the social welfare department. Now we have ample number of orphanages and Bal Ashrams in the state but accountability has gone missing. Homes for the orphan have been declared insufficient by various international organizations

17 November, 2007

Averting World War III, Ending
Dollar Hegemony And Imperialism
By Rohini Hensman

If the Bush administration has decided to attack Iran militarily, is there any power on earth that can stop it if the people of the US are unable or unwilling to do so? The argument below is that if the USA’s ability to undertake imperial conquests depends on its obvious military supremacy, this in turn is ultimately based on the use of the US dollar as the world’s reserve currency. It is the dominance of the dollar that underpins US financial dominance as a whole as well as the apparently limitless spending power that allows it to keep hundreds of thousands of troops stationed all over the world. Destroy US dollar hegemony, and the “Empire” will collapse

The Dollar's Decline: From Symbol Of Hegemony
To Shunned Currency
By Andy McSmith

The decline of the dollar, symbol of US global hegemony for the best part of a century, may have become so entrenched that some experts now fear it is irreversible

A Real Terrorist Is On The Loose:
Humanity And Mother Earth Are in Danger
By Ali Baghdadi

George Bush told the Palestinian Authority "President", Mahmoud Abbas, that God told him to invade Iraq to spread democracy. He is waiting for the green light from his god to strike Iran. Of course, Bush's god is big business. He prays for the oil companies and the war industrial complex. He gives alms in the form of governmental contracts to his friends, who are robbing the American tax-payers in the billions of dollars. If he is allowed to push the button, the consequences will be a global disaster. Humanity and mother earth are at great risk

The One-State Reality
By Ben White

To say that the "one-state solution" is impractical or equals the "destruction" of Israel is poorly concealed code for defending the indefensible and a recipe for continual conflict in a land it is impossible to partition. It is to maintain, against the odds, the Zionist fiction that Palestine was a land without a people for a people without a land. It is to entertain the fantasy that the occupied territories so comprehensively colonized by Israel can become a "Palestinian state" which isn’t apartheid in name only

Jordan’s Iraqi Social Revolution Is Politically-Loaded
By Dr Marwan Asmar

The social revolution in the country has been building up for the last 17 years, today the Iraqi communities in Jordan have started to build roots, and it would be difficult for—apart from the fact they may not personally want to—to go back their traditional home place which they have been alienated from, firstly by the former Baathist regime of Saddam Hussein and the subsequent Iraqi governments in the wake of the American occupation of the country

The Monarchy's Clash With Socialism
By Pablo Ouziel

In November 2007 at the Ibero-American Summit in Santiago de Chile, the King of Spain Juan Carlos pointed his finger at Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and asked him, "Why don't you shut up?", after Chávez had called José María Aznar Spain's former Prime Minister a fascist, and José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero the current Spanish Prime Minister was trying to defend him

Remember LIBERTY
By Eileen Fleming

The Veterans of the USS LIBERTY have repeatedly requested an open independent panel to investigate the horrific and unprovoked attack upon them and have only received pro-forma letters from a White House staffer in this Administration stating that the attack had already been investigated

Where Does Your Money Go?
By Paul Buchheit

America is experiencing the greatest disparity between rich and poor since the Great Depression, with an income gap that is worse than anywhere else in the developed world

Pakistan: Today's Imperatives
By M.B. Naqvi

The people of Pakistan have the grit, wit and wisdom to effect a true regime change through sustained peaceful agitation. But change there has to be

16 November, 2007

Venezuela: Between Ballots And Bullets
By James Petras

Venezuela’s democratically elected Present Chavez faces the most serious threat since the April 11, 2002 military coup. Violent street demonstrations by privileged middle and upper middle class university students have led to major street battles in and around the center of Caracas

Peak Oil And Silence
By Peter Goodchild

Perhaps the silence will never end. Most people will never personally see the oil wells running dry, so they will never really know who or what to blame. Modern surveillance techniques will ensure that no protester gets more than half a mile down a street. The process of erosion will be so slow at first that people will wonder if they are imagining the whole thing: higher costs for food and fuel, lower quality of goods and services, a general third-world ambience to what were supposed to be first-world cities. One day, however, there will be a realization that the Grand Plan is not forthcoming, and that staying alive will depend on the Small Plan, person by person, family by family

The Great American Water Crisis
By Leonard Doyle

The US drought is now so acute that, in some southern communities, the water supply is cut off for 21 hours a day. In Chattanooga, Tennessee, a once-lush region where the American dream has been reduced to a single four-letter word: rain

Thanksgiving Hypocrisy
By Stephen Lendman

On November 22, we should do more than give thanks. We should ask for forgiveness and demand accountability

Two Months After Deadly Shooting, No Charges
Against Blackwater Mercenaries
By Kate Randall

Two months after the deadly September 16 shooting in Baghdad by contractors of Blackwater Worldwide, no charges have been filed against any of the mercenaries involved. The incident left 17 civilians dead and as many as 27 wounded

Sane Bush Hatred
By Joel S.Hirschhorn

The only rational and sane conclusion is that hating Bush is justified and completely sane

Charges Dropped Against
Last Of 'Los Angeles Eight'
By Michel Shehadeh

For the last 20 years, the U.S. government has accused me of being a terrorist. Along with six other Palestinians and a Kenyan, we were dubbed the "Los Angeles Eight" by the media. Our case even made it to the U.S. Supreme Court. On Oct. 30 - 20 grueling years after the early morning raid in which armed federal agents barged into my apartment, brutally arrested me before my 3-year-old son's eyes, incarcerated me in maximum security cells in San Pedro State Prison for 23 days without bond, and attempted to deport me - the government dropped all charges fabricated against me

Gore’s Triumphant ‘Second Act’ Dramatizes
Bush Failures, Signals Reversal
By Robert S. Becker

Like comets once viewed as heavenly omens, Al Gore’s triumphant blaze of glory ripples with significance, sharply reminding us of what could have been, what is, and what may well come to pass. Positioned nicely before the ’08 election, Gore’s redemption presages a major paradigm reversal, beyond global warming, threatening the conservative dominance begun by Ronald Reagan

Mentes Peligrosas: Confession Of
An American Thought Criminal
By Jason Miller

If you needed more evidence that most of our “esteemed” members of Congress are members of a criminal class of ruling elites, who regard the likes of us in the poor and working classes with the disdain most people reserve for cockroaches, look no further than H.R. 1955.93% of the filth “representing” us in the House voted in favor of the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007. Once this vile piece of legislation sails through the Senate and the sociopath on Pennsylvania Ave gleefully slaps his endorsement on it, the mechanisms will be in place for our lords and masters to initiate programs that will make Cointelpro and the murder of Fred Hampton look like child’s play

Slavoj Zizek On The Dilemmas Of Capitalism
By Thomas Riggins

Zizek lists eight ways in which the “Left” reacts to “the hegemony of global capitalism and its political supplement, liberal democracy.” His “Left” is very broad and seems to include everyone from the “US Democrats” to “Hugo Chavez.” Of the eight responses to capitalist hegemony one is political and the other seven are either redundant or abstract responses of European and American intellectuals or third world utopians. The working class is barely mentioned. Here are the eight responses

Disconnected And Depoliticized In Pakistan:
Elite Inaction In Emergency Times
By Mahnoor Khan

There are overt and subtle ways in which the emergency is effectively legitimized by the Pakistani elite. In the following piece, I have attempted to articulate my own stance on the issue, and address some of these arguments

Children In Kashmir Conflict
By Tawseef Kashoo

In state of Jammu and Kashmir state children suffer day and night. They suffer because they are subjected to frisking like every individual of the state. They are subjected to torture and molestation. They suffer because parents of so many children remain in jail, remain absconding because security agencies are looking for them and in order to force them to surrender their children are subjected to torture

15 November, 2007

Imran Khan's Message: 'My Life Is
In Danger'
By Kim Sengupta & Andrew Buncombe

Imran Khanexpressed his grave concern for his security in a text message sent to his lawyer in the UK, in which he warned that failure by British authorities to prosecute a key London-based ally of General Musharraf, Altaf Hussain, could lead to lethal repercussions. His message to his lawyer, also named Imran Khan, suggested another possible cause for his arrest

Are You With Us… Or Against Us?
By Jonathan Schell

The Road from Washington to Karachi to Nuclear Anarchy

Bush Stands By His Dictator
By Robert Scheer

“The war on terror” made me do it. That’s the excuse that works for George W. Bush to rationalize his assaults on the rule of law, from arbitrary arrest to torture. So why not try some war-on-terror obfuscation to bail out his president-dictator buddy over in Pakistan?

Hillary's Musharraf
By Greg Palast

Four years ago, as Bush was proclaiming victory over the Butcher of Baghdad, I wrote, "Given our experiences with Saddam and Osama, our monsters tend to get out of control after about 11 years. Therefore, we can expect, in the year 2013, that President Jeb Bush will have to order the 82d Airborne into Pakistan to remove Musharraf, the Killer of Karachi."

Modi And Budhadeb: A Comparison
By Satya Sagar

A comparison between the Gujarat chiefminsiter Narendra Modi and West Bengal Chief Minister Budhadeb Bhattacharya

West Bengal's Stanilist Government Mounts
Terror Campaign To Quash Peasant Unrest
By Kranti Kumara

At least eight persons were killed and scores more injured in a week of violence, beginning November 6, mounted by armed goons organized by the Communist Party of India (Marxist). The CPM is the dominant partner in West Bengal’s Left Front government

The Titanic Economy
By Mike Whitney

The only thing looking up are oil futures. And they’ll be denominated in euros soon enough

Corruption Adds To Baquba's Problems
By Ahmed Ali

Facing violence, unemployment and poverty, the capital city of Iraq's volatile Diyala province now finds itself confronting also corruption

Gwyn Don't Know Dyer
By Jeff Berg

Richard Gwyn’s November 13, 2007 article “Pessimistic Fuel Report too Bright” comes tantalizingly close to understanding the full peril that the energy question presents to development, our collective wealth and the planet’s health. For this he deserves kudos. Though at this point in the energy and emissions narrative it is hardly news to say that if India and China were to consume like North America we would fry the planet

Sri Lanka: An Arms Embargo
By Chandi Sinnathurai

There is almost an out cry against Sri Lanka to stop the un-declared war Against the Tamils. For the last so many years, this unceasing conflict has continued and up to date it has claimed over 18,000 lives. Many more thousands are maimed and traumatised by this bloody war since the early 1980s. Even as we write, thousands simply ‘disappear’ daily, never to be found again

14 November, 2007

Cost Of US Wars $1.6 Trillion
By Bill Van Auken

The price tag for the wars being waged by the US military in Iraq and Afghanistan will hit nearly $1.6 trillion during the coming year, according to a report released Tuesday by the Democratic staff of Congress’s Joint Economic Committee

Peak Oil Doomsday:Ahead Of Schedule
By Peter Goodchild

When we try to predict the effects of oil decline, we may assume that human "die-off" will follow a gradual but steady curve from about the year 2000 or 2010 to about 2030, which will then flatten out toward about 2050. But such events will probably happen much more quickly than that, because there is a "synergistic" effect due to the fact that the two forces of oil depletion and human population are now heading in opposite directions

U.S. Economy: Recession, Depression, Or Collapse?
By Shepherd Bliss

Our economy is paying and will continue to pay the consequences of over-consumption and the over-purchasing of people reaching beyond their resources that characterized the housing market. We have been greedy. There are limits to growth and those limits are crashing in on us

Divisions In Our World Are Not The Result Of Religion
By Karen Armstrong & Andrea Bistrich

Karen Armstrong was a Catholic nun for seven years before leaving her order and going to Oxford. Today, she is amongst the most renowned theologians and has written numerous bestsellers on the great religions and their founders. She is one of the 18 leading group members of the Alliance of Civilizations, an initiative of the former UN General Secretary, Kofi Anan, whose purpose is to fight extremism and further dialogue between the western and Islamic worlds. She talks here to the German journalist, Andrea Bistrich, about politics, religion, extremism and commonalities

Torturing Palestinian Detainees
By Stephen Lendman

B'Tselem's May, 2007 report states that the Israeli Security Agency (ISA - formerly called the General Security Service or GSS) admits to using "exceptional" methods that include "physical pressure" of interrogation in "ticking bomb" cases that can be used as an excuse to abuse anyone. In addition, law enforcement officials openly admit harsh measures are approved retroactively so that Palestinian detainee rights can be freely violated without fear of recrimination

Child Prisoners Of The 'Holy' Land
By Eileen Fleming

These children are subjected to physical and psychological torture and interrogated without family or lawyers. The majority of confessions and sentences are related to throwing stones, such as at Caterpillar bulldozers that demolish Palestinian homes without compensation, in order to grab land for The Wall, that is NOT being built on the internationally recognized 1949 Green Line boundary between Israel and the West Bank, but on Palestinian owned land, and thus illegal under international law

The Last Refuge
By Uri Avnery

The Arab governments will be compelled to support the US, at least with their tongues. But the hearts and souls of the Arab peoples, from Morocco to Iraq, will be with the Iranians defending themselves against the Americans and Israelis. Especially if the Annapolis meeting does end, as expected, without bringing redemption to the Palestinian people.There is only one way to come out of this in one piece - not to get into it in the first place.It has been said that "Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel". For a failed politician, the last refuge is war

Articulating The Unprintable
By June Rugh & Ramzy Baroud

Ramzy Baroud discusses media response to His book

Outrage In A Time Of Apathy
By Aaron Glantz

Unlike most U.S. journalists who went to Iraq to cover a war, Dahr Jamail went to try to stop it. Once in Iraq, Jamail set about reporting the stories of regular Iraqi people. He spent months in Iraq's hospitals, morgues and mosques. His journalism covers some of the most mundane, but important, aspects of the U.S. occupation -- like gas lines, checkpoints, and bombed out telephone switching stations. His stories appeared in numerous outlets around the world

Venezuela: Reform Battle Continues
As Chavez Ally Splits
By Federico Fuentes

Hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans took to the streets of Caracas on November 4, in a massive sea of red, to support the proposed constitutional reforms adopted by the National Assembly that will be put to a referendum on December 2. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has explained that the reforms aim to deepen the Bolivarian revolution that his government is leading

Lilly Makes Billions Off Zyprexa While
Approved For Schizophrenia Only
By Evelyn Pringle

Experts say there is no way that Zyprexa could have become Lilly's most widely prescribed drug in the US without influencing doctors to prescribe the drug off-label. For instance, even though Zyprexa was approved to treat the manic phase of bipolar disorder only, which is typically brief, patients were kept on the drug for years

Lessons From Nandigram's Heroic Land Struggle
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat

Nandigram is burning and the Neros of the left front governments are watching it with great patience. Those who are up in arms against any displacement elsewhere remain mute spectators at the butchering of people in this 'war zone', as the governor of the state Mr Gopal Krishna Gandhi mentioned in his statement

Shameful Events In Nandigram
By Concerned Citizens

Statement from concerned citizens on the shameful events in Nandigram

13 November, 2007

Oil-Protection Base Being Built In Iraq
By Patrick Martin

The US Navy, with the assistance of British and Australian commandos, is building a permanent base to guard two oil-export platforms in Iraqi waters at the northern end of the Persian Gulf, according to a report Monday in the Wall Street Journal

A Tale Of One City, Now Two
By Ali al-Fadhily

The separation of religious groups in the face of sectarian violence has brought some semblance of relative calm to Baghdad. But many Iraqis see this as the uncertain consequence of a divide and rule policy

Just East Of Eden-Iran: Images And Reflections
By Gaither Stewart

While the drums of war roll and the US President speaks of war against Iran, questions and more questions emerge from the disastrous past of US-Iran relations. After the great lie about Iraq, one must wonder if Iran’s nuclear ambitions are the problem. The obvious answer is: not at all. Oil is the issue

Faith And War
By Cindy Sheehan

If Jesus came back today and was a politician, I know, because of my faith in the inherent goodness of the Universe, that he would not be a "politician" but a public servant. Jesus would be in favor of single-payer health care, solar and wind energy, unions, free post-secondary education, Social Security, fair trade, free speech, civil rights, and human rights. Jesus would be against the death penalty, torture, extremist religions that exploit His Name for profit, extremist states that exploit His Name to kill innocent people, and the ultimate crime against humanity: war

How Can A Dying Man Pose A Security Threat?
By Roi Mandel

Na'al al-Kurdi, 21, from Gaza is dying of cancer; for the past four months Na'al has been waiting for a permit from the State of Israel to enter the country in order to receive medical care in one of its hospitals. This permit has not been granted so far due to "security concerns."

Dennis Kucinich Is Not A Joke
By Mary Shaw

If the pundits and the Congress could get past the nonsense and focus on the issues, Dennis Kucinich might have a chance to bring about some of the change that the American people have been more and more impatiently waiting for

Use Of Russian And Canadian
Asbestos Rising In India
By Gopal Krishna

Asbestos is a proven human carcinogen (a substance that causes cancer). Lack of health surveillance of asbestos exposed workers and consumers is an invitation to disaster from wholesale public exposure, especially babies and infants in India. Some 45 countries have banned this killer fiber. But countries like Russia, Canada, Kazakhstan and Brazil continue to produce, trade and promote this ticking time bomb in India

Would the Kashmiri Muslims Be heard,
Would They Get The Answer?
By Sareer Khalid

Kashmiris are denied travel documents for their alleged connection with militants

Suffering Kashmir: Present Tense...
Future Imperfect
By Kashoo Tawseef

Kashoo Tawseef encapsulates the miseries that Kashmiris have been going through all of these years

12 November, 2007

US Prepares For Tougher Action Against Iran
By Peter Symonds

With the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) due to report on Iran’s nuclear programs this week, the US administration has been intensifying its campaign for stronger action against Tehran. While insisting that it is still “pursuing diplomacy”, Washington refuses to rule out a military attack on Iran

Iran And Balancing The Case For
War On The Middle East
By Dr Marwan Asmar

Things are slowly changing in the region and the area but nobody, including the Israelis, are willing to recognize the fact. Predicting the next global moves in the Middle East is especially difficult. Is war on our doorstep, what are the stakes and who is first likely to take the plunge?

Communists Turn Unpopular Over SEZ Plans
By Sujoy Dhar

Last week’s killings at Nandigram, located about 150 km south of the provincial capital of Kolkata, were only the latest in a series of clashes, between the villagers and CPI-M cadres backed by the state police, since January over the provincial government’s plans to acquire land for a special economic zone

The Grand Delusion
By Joel S. Hirschhorn

With an endless, futile and costly Iraq war, a stinking economy and most Americans seeing the country on the wrong track, the greatest national group delusion is that electing Democrats in 2008 is what the country needs

Awareness Is Overrated
By Mickey Z.

The current patterns of dissent in America are long overdue for re-evaluation and overhaul. The powers-that-be have long ago figured out how to either marginalize or co-opt dissent. Until our tactics evolve, we are accomplices to the perpetual global crime we call civilization

Adoption Awareness Means
Acknowledging Corruption
By Jessica DelBalzo

The government may have taken to calling November “Adoption Awareness Month,” but with the adoption industry and adopting couples dominating the month’s articles and events, we might as well rename it Adoption Promotion Month. After all, awareness implies an eyes-wide-open approach to the subject, not a shameless marketing ploy. Rather than celebrating how good adopters and adoption workers feel about adoption, we ought to be learning about the very real impact it has on children and their natural family members

Jammu & Kashmir's National Song
By Syed Junaid Hashmi

Jana Gana Mana or Lehra Aye Kashmir Kye Jhanday - Which is the "National Song" of Jammu and Kashmir?

Heavens Did Fall In Pakistan
By Naeem Malik

Elections would not satisfy the people of Pakistan. They want a genuine democracy that guarantees them protection from the excesses of their rulers. They will only be able to get this with independent judiciary and a free press that can stand to the bullying of the political rulers, be that is the army or corrupt politicians

Nehru And India's Foreign Policy
By Ram Puniyani

Time that we build the non aligned movement again, time that we promote regional alliances, time that we see the vision of Nehru in its perspective of indigenous growth and global democracy away from the domination of one or the other superpower

10 November, 2007

The Battle For Pakistan
By Imran Khan

Another five years of Musharraff will mean that certain discontented sections of the society will lose faith in the democratic process and will also join the militants; thereby raising the prospects of Pakistan turning into another Algeria – the Army against its own people

The Real Musharaf
By Asma Jahangir

Pakistan is threatened by Islamist militants, and our civil society suffers the worst of this creeping Talibanization. Woefully, the Musharraf regime is neither inclined to reverse this trend nor capable of doing so. No one has exact solutions, but there is virtual unanimity that Pakistan's political leadership must take charge and that the military must cooperate with an elected civilian government

Open Letter to General Musharraf:
"Cruel Necessity"
By Tahir M. Qazi

Dear General! The world will perhaps never be able to figure out what were your fears when you snatched freedoms of the whole nation, and when criminals were let loose. But, rest assured justice cannot be silenced and innocence cannot be convicted

Solidarity
By Charles Sullivan

In the end, there is only one way to remove the thugs and punks from our schoolyard. It is to face them down, not alone, which would be suicidal, but in unison, for we outnumber them millions to one. Unity, solidarity and justice are more powerful forces than hate and violence, just as surely as truth is superior to lies, life is preferable to death; and freedom is preferable to imprisonment and servitude. The disparate parts of solidarity already exist in broken disarray at our feet: We have only to bring them together in a continuous chain of ironclad unity

Fossil Fuel Train Heads Into Overdrive
By Stephen Leahy

Today's skyrocketing fossil fuel use will accelerate far faster in the coming decades, driving oil prices higher and virtually guaranteeing catastrophic climate change in the decades to come, energy experts say.Emissions of greenhouse gases could increase a staggering 57 percent by 2030 if current trends continue, and with the strong growth of coal and oil energy use in India and China, the International Energy Agency (IEA) reported this week

Fewer Deaths Bring No Reassurance
By Ali al-Fadhily

Despite claims by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Bush administration officials that violence in Iraq is decreasing, residents in the capital tell a different story. Attacks by Iraqi resistance groups against the U.S. military continue in Baghdad and Iraq's al-Anbar province, despite U.S. military support for certain Sunni militias in the areas

Bush And Armageddon
By G. Asgar Mitha

Armageddon will not be about the complete annihilation of mankind. No nation that has nuclear capability will dare use it for fear of starting a nuclear war but Armageddon (WW3) will certainly result in an unprecedented destruction of our society and a great technological and civilisation setback

Peace And Democracy Must Go Hand In Hand
By Ramzy Baroud

After years of marked absence, the Bush administration has finally decided to upgrade its involvement in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The announcement of a Middle East peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland has raised red flags for anyone who has learned from past experience how unbalanced and insincere peace efforts actually can lead to further violence. And it requires little cynicism to ponder how genuine these current efforts are

NATO Expands South, Hindered By US-created Chaos
By Nicola Nasser

Discreetly but progressively and confidently the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is expanding south and southeast almost uncontested -- after the collapse of the former USSR-led Warsaw Pact -- outside the mandate designated by its statute into the Arab Middle East as well as into the Caspian Sea regions

On Lyrical Terrorists
By Michael Deibert

Today in London, a 23 year-old Heathrow airport employee named Samina Malik, born and raised in England, was declared guilty of possessing material likely to be useful in terrorism.It just seems to me to be a slippery slope once you start arresting people for things that you think they might do in the future. And our current crop of political leaders - who have already managed to cause death and destruction on a mass scale - would seem to be the last people in a position to judge who will and who will not be a danger to society

Shouting At The Devil: “Fuck You, Capitalism!”
By Jason Miller

Capitalism exists in a state of perpetual crisis. Inequality is on the rise, globally and domestically. Our lords and masters are beginning to fall victim to their own hubris as they practice their predations more and more overtly. Palliatives can only delay the system’s inevitable collapse for so long. Sooner rather than later the deepening undercurrent of social unrest will burst the levees of injustice asunder. Relative to what’s coming, the Great Depression was a mere warm-up

Krugman On The Democrats
By Thomas Riggins

So, the question is, can the Democrats really push forward a progressive agenda even if they have both the presidency and a bigger majority? What will keep them from still failing to solidly push a progressive people’s agenda instead of caving in to pressures from the corporate plutocracy and the military-industrial complex?

Does Anything Matter?
By Tarun Tejpal

The fact is India needs not just economic tinkering but great political vision. And there are no signs of it. The apathy of Gujarat tells us that the most complex country in the world faces its most complex challenges ever

08 November, 2007

US Alliance Afghan Genocide:Six Million Excess Deaths?
By Dr Gideon Polya

Post-invasion non-violent excess deaths in Occupied Afghanistan - a month on from the 6th anniversary of the war criminal US invasion and occupation on 7th October 2001 – now total an estimated 3.2 million. However comparisons with Occupied Iraq (1.5-2 million TOTAL post-invasion excess deaths, and 0.8-1.2 million or about 50% of these being VIOLENT deaths) suggest that the post-invasion violent excess deaths in Occupied Afghanistan could total 3 million

Dollar Slumps To Record On China's
Plans To Diversify Reserves
By Agnes Lovasz & Stanley White

The dollar fell the most since September against the currencies of its six biggest trading partners after Chinese officials signaled plans to diversify the nation's $1.43 trillion of foreign exchange reserves

The End Is Near!—Gisele Bundchen Dumps Dollar
By Paul Craig Roberts

When the dollar ceases to be the reserve currency, foreigners will cease to finance the US trade and budget deficits, and the American Empire along with its wars will disappear overnight. Perhaps Bush will be able to get a World Bank loan, or maybe one from the "Chavez bank", to bring the troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan

Seven Countries Considering
Abandoning The US Dollar
By Jessica Hupp

It’s no secret that the dollar is on a downward spiral. Its value is dropping, and the Fed isn’t doing a whole lot to change that. As a result, a number of countries are considering a shift away from the dollar to preserve their assets. These are seven of the countries currently considering a move from the dollar, and how they’ll have an effect on its value and the US economy

To Free The Jena Six, The Struggle Must Continue
By Hank Brown & Alice Woodward

The people must continue to build the struggle and fight on to Free the Jena Six! This is not a time to chill. The events that sparked a movement- the protest and resistance of the Black people in Jena against the hanging of the nooses, and the authorities coming down on these six youth to enforce the racist status quo- are still playing out today. Jena is a racist and segregated place, in a racist and segregated society where Black people are systematically discriminated against. There can be no “reconciliation” with this

Appeal For Support To Lawyers
And Judges In Pakistan
By Asma Jahngir

Representatives of bar associations should approach their governments to pressure the government of Pakistan to release all lawyers and judges and immediately provide access to Muneer A Malik, Tariq Mahmood, Ali Ahmed Kurd and Aitzaz Ahsan. The bars are also urged to hold press conferences in their country and express their solidarity with the lawyers of Pakistan who are struggling to establish the rule of law

Pakistan: Media Muffled Under
Musharraf's Emergency
By Zofeen Ebrahim

Pakistan's television industry, save for the state-controlled Pakistan Television (PTV), came to a grinding halt after the government blocked all transmission early Saturday evening, as President Gen. Pervez Musharraf imposed emergency rule

Our Man In Islamabad
By Stephen Lendman

Musharraf portrays himself as a rock of stability so who in Washington cares how he solidifies power or if he'll accept Bhutto as Prime Minister. For Bush and Democrats, only the "war on terror" matters so any leader backing it is an ally. Bottom line despite muted criticism - democratic credentials are not an issue. Fact is they never are

Jordan’s Electoral Festivities Drum To Different Tunes
By Dr Marwan Asmar

Jordan is doing well despite different hiccups, but the Arab world in general has to pull itself by the bootstraps if it is to enter into a meaningful political era where representation, democracy, political pluralism is seen as healthy for society. Our problem now is to move faster to catch with different regions of the world and develop politically</