Archive | June, 2010

  • Images of Victims after the Israeli Attack on the Turkish Gaza Aid Ship, Published for the First Time

    The videos below show images of the passengers on the Turkish Gaza aid ship Mavi Marmara immediately after the Israeli attack, published for the first time by TV Net today. The scenes on the Mavi Marmara were shot by Adem Özköse. | Print

  • Egypt’s Blockade on Gaza

    In the wake of Israel’s raid three days ago on a civilian vessel attempting to deliver material goods to the residents of Gaza, Egypt announced on Tuesday the temporary opening of its border with Rafah to allow humanitarian and medical aid into the Gaza Strip, with restrictions on what kinds of supplies can enter.  On […]

  • Terry Eagleton and Tragic Spirituality

    Terry Eagleton.  Reason, Faith, and Revolution: Reflections on the God Debate.  New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009.  pp. xii, 185.  $25.00. Terry Eagleton in the 1970s stood at the cutting edge of Marxist literary criticism, but his recent book, Reason, Faith and Revolution: Reflections on the God Debate — an expansion of his 2008 Yale […]

  • Clearing Up Some Facts about the Depression of 1946

    The Cato Institute wishes to erase away an entire recession: “You never heard of it because it never happened.  However, the ‘Depression of 1946’ may be one of the most widely predicted events that never happened in American history.”  But the facts are simply not on their side. If true, this would have been a […]

  • Denis Halliday Urges Irish-Americans to Defend the Rachel Corrie

    Former UN Assistant Secretary General Denis Halliday said it was imperative that the Obama administration supported Ireland’s call on the Israeli authorities to ensure safe passage for the Irish-flagged Rachel Corrie to carry humanitarian aid to Gaza, the Irish Times reports.  Speaking by satellite phone from on board the Rachel Corrie, Halliday called on Irish-Americans […]

  • Colonizers’ Hutzpah

      I am grateful to MRZine for inviting me to comment on “Israel in the current conjuncture, in the wake of the attack on the Freedom Flotilla and international reaction to it”.  But in truth I have very little to add to the excellent comments and analyses that have been presented in various left-wing publications, […]

  • The Real Strategic Challenge That Turkey and Iran Pose to Israel

    As the interlinked dramas of Israel’s attack on Turkish civilian ships on the high seas and the Obama Administration’s push for a new Iran sanctions resolution in the Security Council play out, some in the American foreign policy establishment are beginning to realize that the Middle East — and America’s place in it — are […]

  • Egyptians Protest Israeli Raid

    Ian Lee: Demonstrators demanded the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador to Egypt. Today’s protest also landed on the same day as the Shoura Council election. Protesters and the political opposition were eager to tie the two events together.

  • Food Sovereignty Tour + Agroecology Short Course in Venezuela

      STUDY TOUR TO VENEZUELA: Food Sovereignty, Social Movements and Social Change July 19 to August 2, 2010 Please register asap! You are invited to participate in a two-week study tour to study food sovereignty, social movements, and social change in Venezuela, 19 July to 2 August, 2010.  The tour will examine issues of land […]

  • Deepwater Lesson: Expropriate the Expropriators

    “If an oil well is too far beneath the sea to be plugged when something goes wrong, it’s too deep to be drilled in the first place.” — Bob Herbert, June 1, 2010 Imagine “the Associated Producers, Rationally Regulating Their Interchange with Nature” Amidst mass capital-imposed structural unemployment and ever-escalating environmental collapse, the ongoing epic […]

  • Who Will Bring Israel to Book over Flotilla Attack?

      Will the rule of law be applied to Israel this time?  In principle, it is unlawful for a state to enforce a blockade against ships that are flying the flag of another state on the high seas.  The only exceptions to this would be if the blockade were mandated by the UN security council […]

  • The Attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla and International Law

      Excerpt: Did the human rights activists on board the ship have the right to repel the Israeli commanders on the basis of self-defence? Since the initial boarding of the ship was likely illegal, the civilian passengers did have the right to act in self-defence against the invading soldiers.  However, lawful self-defence on the part […]

  • Nuclear Israel

    “Iran is a threat to peace!” Carlos Latuff is a Brazilian cartoonist.  See, also, Carlos Latuff, “Iran Is a THREAT to Peace”; and Carlos Latuff, “Israel: ‘Iran Is a Threat to Peace.’” | Print

  • The Empire and War

    Two days ago, I briefly commented that imperialism was unable to resolve the extremely serious problem of drug abuse, which is assaulting the world’s population.  Today, I would like to tackle another subject that, in my opinion, is of great significance. The current danger of North Korea being attacked by the United States, following the […]

  • Farewell, Robin Wood (1931-2009): The Relevance of a Radical Film Critic

      “It is probably impossible today for anyone to make an even halfway commercial movie that shouts, in some positive sense, ‘Revolution!’ as loudly as its lungs can bear, so one must celebrate the films that seem (whether deliberately or not) to imply its necessity.” — Robin Wood1 At a time when comedy shows tell […]

  • The Empire and the War

    Two days ago, I said in a few words that imperialism was unable to solve the extremely serious problem of drug abuse, which has become a scourge for the people all over the world. Today, I wish to deal with another issue that I consider of major significance. The current danger that the United States […]

  • TeleSur Demands Immediate Release and Physical Safety of Journalist David Segarra Captured during Israeli Attack

    TeleSur Communiqué TeleSur demands, in the strongest terms, the immediate release of its collaborator David Segarra, captured after the Israeli military attack and massacre on a humanitarian fleet headed for Gaza. We exhort the civil and military authorities of Israel to safeguard his physical safety and all his rights. With other colleagues, David Segarra joined […]

  • The Legal Position on the Israeli Attack

    Craig Murray at a rally in London, 31 May 2010 A word on the legal position, which is very plain.  To attack a foreign flagged vessel in international waters is illegal.  It is not piracy, as the Israeli vessels carried a military commission.  It is rather an act of illegal warfare. Because the incident took […]

  • A Singer Sings, a President Resigns, an Attack Sends Signals

    Over the weekend much of Germany went temporarily berserk when one of its own, little black-haired high school senior Lena, performing in Oslo, won the Grand Prix in the huge annual Eurovision song contest.  It was Germany’s first win since 1982, when another young lady won out with her plaintive call for “A Little Peace.” […]

  • Open the Gates: A Rabbinical Response to the Gaza Freedom Flotilla Tragedy

    Dear Friends, In the wake of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla tragedy, we once again feel the need to raise our voices as rabbis in the Jewish community. According to press reports, we now know that 10 to 15 people have been killed and many more have been injured when Israeli Navy Seals boarded a boat […]