Carlos Latuff is a Brazilian cartoonist. See, also, Carlos Latuff, “Iran Is a THREAT to Peace.” | Print
Archive | Commentary
Monthly Review Magazine
The Elusive Costs of Sovereign Defaults
Abstract: Few would dispute that sovereign defaults entail significant economic costs, including, most notably, important output losses. However, most of the evidence supporting this conventional wisdom, based on annual observations, suffers from serious measurement and identification problems. To address these drawbacks, we examine the impact of default on growth by looking at quarterly data […]
India: This War Can’t Be Won by Mines and Bullets
Whether Operation Green Hunt actually exists or is, as P. Chidambaram insists, a figment of the media’s imagination, Monday’s deadly Maoist attack on a bus in Dantewada suggests it is the hunted that are doing most of the hunting. Over the past six weeks, the Maoists in Chhattisgarh have killed more than 90 policemen or […]
Iran and the United States: Next Steps on the Brazil-Turkey Deal?
On May 24, Iranian representatives, accompanied by Brazilian and Turkish counterparts, met with the IAEA’s Director General, Yukiya Amano. The purpose of the meeting was to present a letter to Amano — as called for in the May 17, 2010 Joint Declaration by Iran, Turkey, and Brazil — formally notifying the IAEA of the Islamic […]
Obama Steps Up America’s Covert War against Iran
When, in an Op Ed published in the New York Times in May 2009, we first criticized President Obama’s early decision to continue covert anti-Iranian programs he inherited from George W. Bush, some expressed disbelief that Obama would undermine his own rhetoric about engaging Tehran in a climate of mutual respect by conducting a dirty […]
Revisiting Global Imbalances
Until recently, the discussion on global imbalances focused on the current account deficit of the US and the current account surplus of China, making this a bilateral rather than a multilateral problem. As a result, the process of rebalancing was seen as involving adjustments in either or both of these countries, and not so much […]
The Unspoken Alliance: Military and Nuclear Ties between Israel and Apartheid South Africa
Amy Goodman: As nuclear nonproliferation talks at the United Nations focus on the Middle East this week, we turn to new revelations about Israel’s nuclear weapons program and its close alliance with apartheid South Africa. Israeli President Shimon Peres has denied reports that he offered to sell nuclear weapons to apartheid South Africa when […]
India: Responses to the Maoist Attack on a Bus in Dantewada
People’s Union for Civil Liberties, 17 May 2010 PUCL strongly condemns the brutal killing of the innocent civilians traveling in a bus at Chingavaram on the Dantewada-Sukhma road in Chhattisgarh on 17 May 2010. Killing of innocent civilians is the most heinous crime against the humanity and has no justification whatsoever. PUCL feels that […]
Thailand: Send Your Suggestions to Abhisit
Abhisit is asking for suggestions from the public on how Thailand can move forward. Perhaps “don’t overturn elections results” could be a start. Andrew Walker, Senior Fellow, Department of Political and Social Change, School of International, Political and Strategic Studies, Australian National University. This note was first published in the New Mandala blog (hosted […]
The Upside of the Oil Spill
Uncle Sam: The oil slick does have its economic upside. Now ships can be supplied with fuel right out of the ocean. Tomás Rafael Rodríguez Zayas (Tomy) is a Cuban cartoonist. This cartoon was published by Cambios en Cuba on 23 May 2010. Translation by Yoshie Furuhashi (@yoshiefuruhashi | yoshie.furuhashi [at] gmail.com). FYI: “In the […]
T.S. Eliot’s Catastrophic Bear Market
Although a financial regulation bill is in the works, our economy continues to tank, and nobody can figure out what to do. Except me, of course. I have discovered that Western literature is a major cause of our economic crisis. You see, most people, as victims of various “liberal” arts programs, fail to notice how […]
Greece: The Weak Link
Esquerda.net: In December 2008, Greece faced huge demonstrations triggered by the killing of a youth by police. What is the link between the reactions in 2008 and those seen in 2010? Stathis Kouvélakis: . . . They do share in common two important things. The first is that they reflect, express, the deep crisis […]
The System
He says aloud: “The crisis is severe, but capitalism will survive.” She says to him: “Don’t be apocalyptic.” Eneko Las Heras, born in Caracas in 1963, is a cartoonist. This cartoon was published on his blog . . . Y sin embargo se mueve on 12 January 2009. Translation by Yoshie Furuhashi (@yoshiefuruhashi | […]
ElBaradei: Brazil-Iran-Turkey Nuclear Deal “Quite a Good Agreement”
Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei was the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), an inter-governmental organization under the auspices of the United Nations, from December 1997 to November 2009. Dr. ElBaradei and the IAEA were awarded the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize for “for their efforts to prevent nuclear energy from being used for […]
On Indian Muslim Leadership
Shabnam Hashmi is one of India’s leading social activists. She heads the New Delhi-based human rights group ANHAD. In this interview, she discusses various aspects of Muslim leadership in contemporary India. Q: Indian Muslims often complain that they lack effective and sincere leaders. Why is this so? A: When India gained independence, the Indian […]
Nuclear Iran and Nuclear Israel
Dimona Reactor Bushehr Reactor Fahd Bahady is a Syrian cartoonist. This cartoon, first published by Al Jazeera, illustrates an interview with Bahady by eHasakeh (16 March 2010); it is reproduced here for non-profit educational purposes. | Print
Political Aspects of Full Employment
This essay was first published in Political Quarterly in 1943; it is reproduced here for non-profit educational purposes. A shorter version of this essay was published in The Last Phase in the Transformation of Capitalism (Monthly Review Press, 1972). I 1. A solid majority of economists is now of the opinion that, even in a […]
South Africa: An Unfinished Revolution?
The Fourth Strini Moodley Annual Memorial Lecture, University of KwaZulu-Natal, 13 May 2010 I In her historical novel, A Place of Greater Safety, which is played out against the backdrop of the Great French Revolution through an illuminating character analysis and synthesis of three of that revolution’s most prominent personalities, viz., Maximilien Robespierre, Georges […]
Indonesia: An Unfinished Nation
Max Lane, Unfinished Nation: Indonesia before and after Suharto, Verso, 2008. There was a time when everyone seemed to be talking about Indonesia. Well, they were talking about it on Joe Duffy and Pat Kenny at least, and that’s as near as makes no difference in this country. As East Timor voted to extricate […]
Puerto Rico: Violent Confrontation with Demonstrators
On the night of May 20, 2010, as the governor of Puerto Rico Luis Fortuño held a political fundraiser in one of the salons of the Hotel Sheraton in San Juan, the capital city, students and supporters clashed with special police forces who arrived to quash the demonstration in the hotel’s lobby. Members of the […]
