| Old Articles | | Wednesday, April 10 | | · | Africa: Imperialism's High Mark of Conquest in the 21st Century |
| Thursday, April 04 | | · | How Turkey's regional ambitions crumbled |
| Wednesday, March 27 | | · | The fallacy of the whiteman's burden |
| Thursday, March 21 | | · | Armistice Agreement Withdrawal: North Korean Belligerence? |
| Saturday, March 16 | | · | Chavez's Enemies Hand Him His Greatest Tribute: Defamation |
| Wednesday, March 06 | | · | Chavismo Lives! |
| Tuesday, March 05 | | · | Chávez Haters Not “Limited by Truth, Reality or Common Sense” |
| · | President Hugo Chavez has Died |
| · | American Foreign Policy - Have Our War Lovers Learned Anything? |
| Wednesday, February 27 | | · | Why North Korea Needs Nuclear Weapons |
| · | Gaddafi's warnings now used to justify Mali intervention |
| Wednesday, February 20 | | · | Imperial Jockeying in Africa: U.S. Intervention Sets to Deepen |
| · | Mugabe was right |
| Wednesday, February 13 | | · | Opportunities and War in Mali |
| Thursday, January 31 | | · | The Real Invasion of Africa is Not News |
| Tuesday, January 29 | | · | Many U.S. My Lai-Type Massacres in Vietnam |
| Thursday, January 24 | | · | The Impossible Discourse of the ‘Arab Spring’ |
| Thursday, January 17 | | · | How the International Community Failed Haiti |
| Monday, January 07 | | · | The Ultimate Logic of a Society Built on Mass Murder |
| Sunday, December 09 | | · | Venezuela’s Chavez’s Cancer Returns, Leaves Vice-President in Charge |
Older Articles
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 | | World Focus: What Is The U.S. Government’s Agenda?
Wednesday, June 12 @ 16:38:47 AST |  By Paul Craig Roberts
June 12, 2013 - Information Clearing House
It has been public information for a decade that the US government secretly, illegally, and unconstitutionally spies on its citizens. Congress and the federal courts have done nothing about this extreme violation of the US Constitution and statutory law, and the insouciant US public seems unperturbed.
In 2004 a whistleblower informed the New York Times that the National Security Agency (NSA) was violating the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) by ignoring the FISA court and spying on Americans without obtaining the necessary warrants. The corrupt New York Times put the interests of the US government ahead of those of the American public and sat on the story for one year until George W. Bush was safely reelected.
By the time the New York Times published the story of the illegal spying one year later, the law-breaking government had had time to mitigate the offense with ex post facto law or executive orders and explain away its law-breaking as being in the country’s interest.
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World Focus: Food Justice: Monsanto, Factory Farming, and Beyond
Wednesday, May 29 @ 19:18:14 AST |  By Mickey Z.
May 28, 2013 -- World News Trust
“In nature's economy, the currency is not money, it is life.”
- Vandana Shiva
On May 25, 2013, millions marched against Monsanto across the globe. I took part here in New York City, of course, and was fortunate to have the opportunity to lead a teach-in called: “Food Justice, GMOs, & the Vegan Option (Eat Like a Revolutionary).”
The ostensible goals of this event included:
- Present GMOs as much more than a single issue.
- Suggest that GMOs offer a powerful entry point for outreach to the mainstream.
- Provide facts to be used for such outreach.
- Explain why there’s more to food justice than screaming “Fuck Monsanto.”
At the request of those who attended the teach-in, I’ve compiled some of the material in an article of sorts. This is not meant to be the definitive word on any of these topics. Rather, I strongly encourage all readers to follow-up with their own research and, of course, share what they find.
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War and Terror: Lifting the Fake EU Arms Embargo
Wednesday, May 29 @ 18:58:21 AST |  By Stephen Lendman
May 30, 2013
On May 27, the so-called one-year EU arms embargo on Syria's
opposition ended. Officially it does so on June 1. EU nations
agreed to end what never existed.
Since Washington's war on Syria began in early 2011, arms flowed
freely. Western-enlisted death squads get them. At issue is
replacing Assad with a subservient pro-Western puppet.
Syria's being ravaged in the process. Washington, key NATO
partners, Israel and rogue Arab state allies bear full
responsibility.
War rages ahead of Geneva II. Planned peace talks are pretense.
Syrians genuinely want it. So does Russia going all out to
achieve it. Other nations urge peace.
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War and Terror: US Political Impotence in the Middle East
Thursday, May 23 @ 16:54:43 AST |  Syria as a Game-Changer
By Ramzy Baroud
May 23, 2013
In an article published May 15, 2013, American historical social scientist Immanuel Wallerstein wrote, “Nothing illustrates more the limitations of Western power than the internal controversy its elites are having in public about what the United States in particular and western European states should be doing about the civil war in Syria.”
Those limitations are palpable in both language and action. A political and military vacuum created by past US failures and forced retreats after the Iraq war made it possible for countries like Russia to reemerge on the scene as an effective player.
It is most telling that over two years after the Syrian uprising-turned bloody civil war, the US continues to curb its involvement by indirectly assisting anti-Bashar al-Assad regime opposition forces, through its Arab allies and Turkey. Even its political discourse is indecisive and often times inconsistent.
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War and Terror: What Motivated the Boston Bombers
Wednesday, May 22 @ 17:02:38 AST |  Why It's Not a Chechen Thing, But All About the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
By Gary Leupp
May 22, 2013 - counterpunch.org
New details emerge every day, raising more questions. But the outlines of the stomach-churning story seem clear. Two young men, brothers who emigrated from Kyrgyzstan twelve years ago with their parents and sisters—high-achieving, “well-assimilated” immigrant men—planted bombs at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, killing three and injuring well over 250. They killed an MIT campus policeman for no apparent reason, hijacked an SUV, engaged in a gunfight with police, and sowed citywide fear for five days. Both self-identified as Chechens, although neither grew up nor spent much time in the Russian republic of Chechnya; and as Muslims, although the older was the observant one, the younger a pot-smoking (maybe pot-dealing) Hennessey drinker. The older held a green card and had applied for U.S. citizenship but had been denied it.
How to define these men, and to describe the event? Let us step back and survey the big picture.
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War and Terror: Red lines and other double standards
Thursday, May 09 @ 12:14:49 AST | By Stephen Gowans
May 09, 2013 - gowans.wordpress.com
According to the White House, Israel has the right to defend itself. I would argue that it doesn’t. Based on the theft of another people’s land and denial of their right to return to the homes from which they fled or were driven, Israel no more than any other thief has the right to defend itself.
Judging by its indulgent attitude to Israeli aggressions, Washington claims that Israel has the right to defend itself in any way it pleases: by unprovoked air-strikes across international borders; by meting out collective punishment; by carrying out extra-judicial assassinations; by invasions and occupations; and through other outrages against international law, sovereignty and humanity. In fact, by doing what the United States, itself, regularly does.
The White House says that the most recent Israeli aggression, air-strikes carried out over the last few days against Syrian military facilities, were intended to stop a shipment of advanced surface-to-surface missiles from Iran to the Lebanese resistance organisation, Hezbollah. Striking a dissenting note, The New York Times reported that, “Some American officials are unsure whether the new shipment was intended for use by Hezbollah or by the Assad government.”
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Latin America: U.S. Seeks to Get Rid of Left Governments in Latin America
Thursday, May 02 @ 07:39:07 AST |  By Mark Weisbrot
May 1st 2013 - CEPR
Recent events indicate that the Obama administration has stepped up its strategy of “regime change” against the left-of-center governments in Latin America, promoting conflict in ways not seen since the military coup that Washington supported in Venezuela in 2002. The most high-profile example is in Venezuela itself, during the past week. As this goes to press, Washington has grown increasingly isolated in its efforts to destabilize the newly elected government of Nicolas Maduro.
But Venezuela is not the only country to fall prey to Washington’s efforts to reverse the electoral results of the past 15 years in Latin America. It is now clear that last year’s ouster of President Fernando Lugo of Paraguay was also aided and abetted by the United States government. In a brilliant investigative work for Agência Pública, journalist Natalia Viana shows that the Obama administration funded the principal actors involved in the “parliamentary coup” against Lugo. Washington then helped organize international support for coup.
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Latin America: Venezuela’s Electoral Council Says Capriles Lacks Proof of Fraud
Tuesday, April 30 @ 05:20:45 AST |  By Chris Carlson
April 30, 2013 - venezuelanalysis.com
Venezuela’s National Electoral Council (CNE) announced yesterday that they would not approve Henrique Capriles’ additional demands for the auditing of the April 14 elections, and explained that he lacks any proof of fraud.
The announcement was made on Saturday night via a televised statement by CNE President Tibisay Lucena.
Lucena explained that the expanded audit process would be carried out as planned, but the additional demands that the Capriles campaign have made in recent days would not be included.
“It is important to note that the political parties already audited the electoral process at each stage, certifying the integrity and correct functioning of the system,” said Lucena.
“Representatives from each party signed off on each one, as can be seen in the documents on the CNE website…there were a total of 18 auditing processes, but now they are being silenced and ignored in an attempt to discredit the electoral process,” she said.
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War and Terror: Washington's "playbook" on provoking North Korea
Tuesday, April 30 @ 05:11:37 AST |  By Stephen Gowans
April 30, 2013 - gowans.wordpress.com
In an April 3 Wall Street Journal article, “U.S. dials back on Korean show of force,” reporters Adam Entous and Julian E. Barnes revealed that the White House approved a detailed plan, called ‘the playbook,’ to ratchet up tension with North Korea during the Pentagon’s war games with South Korea.
The war games, which are still in progress, and involve the deployment of a considerable amount of sophisticated US military hardware to within striking distance of North Korea, are already a source of considerable tension in Pyongyang, and represent what Korean specialist Tim Beal dubs “sub-critical” warfare.
The two-month-long war games, directed at and carried out in proximity to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, force the North Korean military onto high alert, an exhausting and cripplingly expensive state of affairs for a small country whose economy has already been crippled by wide-ranging sanctions. North Korea estimates that sanctions and US military aggression have taken an incalculable toll on its economy. [1]
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Africa Focus: US & France Intervene in Mali To Protect Land & Resource Grabs
Monday, April 29 @ 05:36:06 AST |  US & France Intervene in Mali To Protect Land & Resource Grabs, Not Because of Al Qeda
By Bruce Dixon
April 29, 2013 - blackagendareport.com
On March 15, former General and AFRICOM commander Carter F. Ham testified before the House Armed Services Committee that the situation in the West African republic of Mali is, along with that in Nigeria and Somalia, “a direct threat to the national security of the United States.” In plain language, claiming a direct threat to US national security is the standard justification for murderous military intervention around the world, and Mali has just been added to the hit list.
Echoing official sources like General Ham, corporate media tell us that Al Qeda and related Islamist forces, flush with weapons from the recent conflict in Libya, are poised to overrun Mali. Should we believe them? Aren't they the same folks who once assured us Saddam, and nowadays Iran, have nuclear weapons? Of course they are, and the real reasons for US intervention are something else entirely.
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War and Terror: Our Invisible Wars: What Dzokhar Tsarnaev has to do with Bradley Manning
Wednesday, April 24 @ 15:07:55 AST |  By Alyssa Rohricht
April 24, 2013 - thecrashculture.wordpress.com
The media is ablaze right now with discussions about Dzokhar Tsarnaev, the Boston Bomber, and whether or not he should receive a fair trial as an American citizen. A few politicians and general lunatics have called for torture, military tribunals, and even "a July 4 celebration of stringing this son-of-a-b-tch up in the Boston Common and letting the crows pick on his rotting flesh." (That last one is courtesy of Ted Nugent). And despite not being read his Miranda Rights, it does seem that, at the least, Tsarnaev will receive a trial-by-jury. How fair that trial will be remains to be seen, but one thing's for sure: The only reason Tsarnaev is getting this fair trial is because this case is so predominantly in the public's eye.
Certainly, it stands to the symbolic greatness of a country who promises a fair trial-by-jury to all of its citizens, regardless of the hideousness of the crimes committed. Unfortunately, this promise is only rhetorical and applies only when it serves the purposes of the power elite. Tsarnaev will get his promise of a trial with a jury of his peers, yet, behind the scenes, the Obama Administration and those in power wage a secret war against whistleblowers that the public does not see.
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Latin America: The United States shows its contempt for Venezuelan democracy
Tuesday, April 23 @ 11:18:26 AST | Washington's clumsy efforts to de-legitimise Venezuela's election mark a escalation of its push for regime change
By Mark Weisbrot
April 22, 2013 - guardian.co.uk
While most of the news on Venezuela in the week since the 14 April presidential election focused on the efforts of losing candidate Henrique Capriles to challenge the results, another campaign, based in Washington, was quite revealing – and the two were most definitely related. Without Washington's strong support – the first time it had refused to recognise a Venezuelan election result – it is unlikely that Capriles would have joined the hardcore elements of his camp in pretending that the election was stolen.
Washington's efforts to de-legitimise the election mark a significant escalation of US efforts at regime change in Venezuela. Not since its involvement in the 2002 military coup has the US government done this much to promote open conflict in Venezuela. When the White House first announced on Monday that a 100% audit of the votes was "an important, prudent and necessary step", this was not a genuine effort to promote a recount.
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Latin America: Nicolás Maduro is Venezuela's vote for Chávismo
Friday, April 19 @ 04:47:19 AST |  By Mark Weisbrot
April 17, 2013 - guardian.co.uk
After a short but bitterly fought, insult-laden campaign, Chavista standard-bearer Nicolás Maduro defeated challenger Henrique Capriles, thus assuring continuity in Venezuela after the death of President Hugo Chávez last month. But the election was much closer than the polls predicted: a margin of just 1.6 percentage points, or about 275,000 votes.
Capriles is demanding an audit of 100 percent of all votes; Maduro has apparently agreed. But the audit is unlikely to change the outcome. Unlike in the United States, where in a close election we really don't know who won, the Venezuelan system is very secure. Since there are two records of every vote (machine and paper ballot), it is nearly impossible to rig the machines and stuff the ballot boxes to match. Jimmy Carter called Venezuela's electoral system "the best in the world."
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War and Terror: What North Koreans Think
Saturday, April 13 @ 00:50:05 AST | "We learned the lesson in Yugoslavia, Iraq, Afghanistan: be strong."
By Stansfield Smith
April 11, 2013 - counterpunch.org
I recently returned from a late March trip to North Korea [Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea, DPRK], along with 45 others, through Koryo Tours. On that tour I had the opportunity to discuss with the Korean tour guides their views on the current situation. I only recall the DPRK view mentioned here once in the corporate media, when Dennis Rodman returned with a message from new President Kim Jong. The message was “I don't want war, call me.” Nobel Peace Prize winning President Obama refused to accept it, evidently preferring an escalating threat of a regional nuclear war to talking. I asked my Korean tours guides to be interviewed so I could present their views to US people.
Has the DPRK made proposals for peaceful national reunification?
Yes, now we have options: the historic option of a federal republic, and the recent option. In our history we proposed three principles for reunification: that the North and South unite the country independently of foreign forces, that we reunify peacefully, and that we work together over the years to create the unity of the whole nation.
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War and Terror: North Korea’s Justifiable Anger
Friday, April 12 @ 10:18:14 AST | By Stansfield Smith
April 10, 2013 - www.counterpunch.org
The corporate media reduces the DPRK (North Korea) to the Kim family and prefaces their names with the terms “madman”, “evil” and “brutal”. Such vilifications of foreign leaders are used here not only to signify they are target for US overthrow. They are meant to intimidate and isolate anti-war activists as being out in left field for ever wanting to oppose a war against countries ruled by “madmen” – be they Saddam, Fidel, Hugo Chavez, Ahmadinejad, Qaddaffi.
Yet to a sensible person, it is crazy that the US, with nuclear weapons thousands of miles from home, in South Korea, denies North Korea has a right to have its own nuclear weapons on its own land – particularly when the North says it is developing nuclear weapons only as a deterrent because the US won’t take its own weapons out of the Korean peninsula.
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