Archive | Commentary

I often get asked about what people can do outside Thailand to help in the struggle for democracy and social justice.  After the appalling events of the past few days we can all help in the campaign against the Abhisit Government’s misinformation in our local media.  We can also help support any campaign to bring […]

  A week ago eurocrats launched their campaign of overwhelming force designed to shock and awe the ”wolf pack” of professional speculators and institutional investors (hedge funds and pension fund managers) into a more docile, subservient position.  In the currency market, the shock and awe wore off after the first 48 hours, while, by the […]

Two documents are driving the Iran-related news these days: the agreement announced Monday on refueling the Tehran Research Reactor (TRR) brokered by Brazil and Turkey and the draft “Elements” of a potential new Iran sanctions resolution agreed by the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and circulated on Tuesday to the Council’s […]

The Nazis in 1941, the EU and the IMF in 2010 Carlos Latuff is a Brazilian cartoonist.  This cartoon was originally produced for Dromos. | Print

Falling energy prices pushed down the consumer price index 0.1 percent in the month of April.  After rising 2.7 percent from January of 2009 to January of 2010, consumer prices were unchanged over the first three months of this year.  Core prices were unchanged in April.  Inflation in the core index has risen at a […]

May 19, 2010, TUCSON — Indigenous and American Indian studies scholars are condemning Arizona Senate Bill 1070 and related legislation. “Clearly, and bluntly, the state law is racist and discriminatory against so-called ‘illegal immigrants’ crossing the borders from the South, namely from Mexico,” said Simon Ortiz, a Native American studies professor at Arizona State University, […]

  In an age where only 7.2 percent of private-sector workers in the United States belong to unions, it may come as a surprise that 37.4 percent of all public-sector (i.e. government) workers are unionized.  Put another way, there are more public-sector workers in unions (7.9 million) than in the private-sector (7.4 million), despite the […]

There’s a funny if intimidating gun-nut bumper sticker you may have seen on the road: “gun control means using both hands.”  It’s clever, invoking and mocking gun control at the same time. This last week the United States government, by its actions, formally adopted this bumper sticker as its de-facto nuclear weapons and arms control […]

Brazil’s Ascent under Lula’s Leadership Under the leadership of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Brazil has become a regional leader in Latin America with vibrant international foreign policy.  A look at the internal political dynamics of Brazil would be useful also.  During President Lula’s presidency, Brazil has had tremendous economic growth.  But in the coming […]

  Chronicling the Maoist general strike and the counter-revolutionary “peace rally” . . . . Photo Essay by Manasi Pingle and Suvrat Raju Manasi Pingle is an independent filmmaker.  She can be reached at <[email protected]>. Suvrat Raju is a physicist and can be reached at <[email protected]>.  See, also, Suvrat Raju, “An Account of the General […]

Last week, the Obama Administration notified Israel that it would support the authorization and appropriation of $205 million of U.S. taxpayer money to Israel to purchase ten batteries of the “Iron Dome” missile defense system. If authorized and appropriated by Congress, this money would be above and beyond the Obama Administration’s record-breaking FY2011 budget request […]

As of today the idea that Greece might be better off leaving the Euro and renegotiating its debt is considered by many to be unthinkable.  Instead, the country is embarking upon a program of “internal devaluation” — in which it keeps the Euro and lowers its real exchange rate by creating enough unemployment to drive […]

  Our Purpose, Goals, Assumptions, and Expectations for the Assembly What Is Zionism? Zionism is a political movement that supports the ongoing project of colonizing Palestine for the purposes of building a state premised on Jewish nationalism.  Therefore, a central goal of the current Zionist movement is to ensure that Israel maintains the maximum area […]

A deal between Iran, Brazil and Turkey to ship some of Iran’s uranium out of the country to be enriched in Turkey and returned for use in an Iranian medical reactor has elicited some elite media panic.  An early New York Times Web headline read, “Iran Offers to Ship Uranium, Complicating Sanctions Talks.”  The Wall […]

  Manhattan/Brooklyn/Bronx — Early on Wednesday morning, the anniversary of Malcolm X‘s birth, Picture the Homeless carried out two banner drops.  Transgressing into vacant buildings in Brooklyn and El Barrio, they dropped banners from the top that read “Homes Not Shelters / Casas No Refugios,” and “Let Housing Bloom . . . berg.” For more […]

The anger of the ordinary people has finally erupted into violence with numerous buildings being set on fire in Bangkok and the provinces.  People are also trying to use any means to fight the army.  There are reports that government buildings, banks, the stock exchange, luxury shopping malls, and pro-military media are all being set […]

Zapatero: Not to worry!  Conversely, if you workers provoke an economic crisis someday, we’ll make them pay for it. Bernardo Vergara is a Spanish cartoonist.  This cartoon was published in Territorio Vergara (a blog of Público) on 13 May 2010; it is reproduced here for non-profit educational purposes.  Translation by Yoshie Furuhashi (@yoshiefuruhashi | yoshie.furuhashi […]

$O$ Will exchange lifetime socialist jacket for lifetime Popular Party jacket Juan Kalvellido, born in Cádiz, Andalucía, Spain in 1968, is a working-class cartoonist who has never stopped believing in revolution.  He currently lives in Fuengirola, Málaga, Spain.  This cartoon was published by Rebelión on 18 May 2010.  Translation by Yoshie Furuhashi (@yoshiefuruhashi | yoshie.furuhashi […]

My support to students’ strike at Universidad de Puerto Rico against privatization + budget cuts.  They’re under siege by cops. Carlos Latuff is a Brazilian cartoonist.  | Print

Cindy Hickey, Laura Fattal, and Nora Shourd — the mothers of Shane Bauer, Josh Fattal, and Sarah Shourd, the three American hikers detained in Iran — spoke to the Associated Press on 17 May 2010: Laura Fattal, the mother of Josh Fattal, said: We had to maintain this great optimism throughout these nine and a […]