February 4, 2010 President Barack Obama The White House Washington, DC Dear Mr. President, We are seven organizations that strongly support your commitment to a two-state peace between Israel and Palestine that will ensure Israel’s security, win Palestinian self-determination, and protect U.S. national security. As your administration works to launch a political process to achieve […]
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Monthly Review Magazine
Could the Obama Administration Perhaps Be Exaggerating Russian Enthusiasm for Expanded Sanctions on Iran?
In recent weeks, the Obama Administration has been enthusiastically spinning its progress in winning Russian support for prospective new sanctions on Iran. We have cautioned that, while Russia may, in the end, support a new UNSC sanctions resolution, it will not support broad-based sanctions against major sectors of Iran’s economy or measures that would get […]
Restaurant Workers Launch Multi-City Campaign to Transform Low-Wage Industry
The restaurant industry is one of the largest and fastest growing private employers in the country. But just as swinging doors often separate patrons from the kitchen, the working lives of 13.5 million restaurant workers — a largely non-union workforce — remain out of sight. In four cities, cooks, dishwashers, servers, hosts, and busers are […]
The Mote and the Beam
What’s in there is not a mote. It’s a terrorist beam. Tomás Rafael Rodríguez Zayas (Tomy) is a Cuban cartoonist. This cartoon was first published by Rebelión on 4 February 2010. Translation by Yoshie Furuhashi (@yoshiefuruhashi | yoshie.furuhashi [at] gmail.com). | | Print
Vote Here for the Dynamite Prize in Economics
The Dynamite Prize in Economics, to be awarded to the three economists who contributed most to enabling the Global Financial Collapse (GFC), or more figuratively, to the three economists who contributed most to blowing up the global economy. Vote for three. The candidates’ dossiers are below the ballot. View This Pollpolling Short List of Nominees […]
Can the Euro Survive?
Among the many unfortunate features of capitalist history that tend to repeat themselves with depressing regularity is the conversion of crises of private activity in financial markets into fiscal crises of the state. This is already happening once again, as the very expansion of public expenditure that was necessitated by the financial crisis (which itself […]
Germany’s Unilateral Sanction against Itself and the Unspoken Moral of the Story
German Chancellor Angela Merkel recently claimed at a joint news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Germany has always called for transparency and cooperation with Iran, but unfortunately Iran has not responded. Merkel also made it clear that her government will pursue unilateral economic sanctions in case China blocks an otherwise unanimous Security […]
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Iran, China, and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization
The new secretary general of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), Muratbek Sansyzbayevich Imanaliev, said at a news conference in Beijing earlier this week that the conflict in Afghanistan and expanding the SCO’s members to include Iran and Pakistan were the top issues on the SCO’s agenda in 2010. Certainly, these issues are likely to dominate […]
Rising Income Inequality in the US: Divisive, Depressing, and Dangerous
The gap between annual incomes of the top 10 per cent of US citizens and what the other 90 per cent gets has been widening sharply for the last 30 years. The nation’s economic development has been increasingly divisive. Professor Emmanuel Saez of the University of California at Berkeley, a leading expert, summarizes the facts […]
Colored Revolutions: A New Form of Regime Change, Made in USA
In 1983, the strategy of overthrowing inconvenient governments and calling it “democracy promotion” was born. Through the creation of a series of quasi-private “foundations”, such as Albert Einstein Institute (AEI), National Endowment for Democracy (NED), International Republican Institute (IRI), National Democratic Institute (NDI), Freedom House and later the International Center for Non-Violent Conflict (ICNC), Washington […]
Spring Delegation to Bolivia
Be part of history! Celebrate Earth Day and attend the Peoples’ World Conference on Climate Change and Mother Earth’s Rights in Cochabamba, Bolivia. World scientists, academics, lawyers, and representatives of governments that want to work with their citizens to save our planet will be in attendance. (Conference is scheduled for April 20-22, 2010.) Before and […]
The Ugly Face of the Beautiful Game
Christos Kassimeris. European Football in Black and White: Tackling Racism in Football. Lanham: Lexington Books, 2008. viii + 267 pp. $75.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-7391-1959-4; $29.95 (paper), ISBN 978-0-7391-1960-0. Soccer fans held in thrall by the European Championships have no doubt observed the significant display of anti-racist statements and activities before, during, and after the […]
We Do Not Want Any “Market of Knowledge”! Call for a European Mobilisation against the Lisbon Strategy in Higher Education and Research
In march 2010, the spring summit of the heads of state and governments of the European union will mark the 10 years of the Lisbon strategy, which frames the policies currently engaged in the Member States so as to “modernise” the national research and education system (primary, secondary and higher education, lifelong learning). The […]
“Haitian Communities Need to Be Involved in the Distribution”
The U.S.-led international operation to distribute food, water, and medical supplies in Port-au-Prince after earthquake of January 12 has drawn a good deal of criticism. In contrast, for the past 10 years the Ste. Claire parish in the Petite Place Cazeau (Ti Plas Kazo) neighborhood at the city’s northern edge has operated a very successful […]
Counterrevolutionary Students of Venezuela Send “Solidarity Message” to Iranian Students
The following message, published on Rod’s Blog / El Blog de Roderick Navarro on 7 January 2010, has been posted on numerous Web sites (especially in Persian translation) supporting the Green Wave in Iran, such as , , , . Are Green Wave supporters who have welcomed this message aware of the character of the […]
Surge in Women’s Employment Brings Unemployment Rate Down to 9.7 Percent
The unemployment rate fell to 9.7 percent in January, driven by a 0.4 percentage-point drop in the unemployment rate for women to 8.4 percent. The unemployment rate for men fell 0.2 percentage points to 10.8 percent. This drop came in spite of a reported loss of 20,000 jobs in the establishment survey. The improved employment […]
Zionism Laid Bare
The essential point of M. Shahid Alam‘s book, Israeli Exceptionalism: The Destabilizing Logic of Zionism, comes clear upon opening the book to the inscription in the frontispiece. From the Persian poet and philosopher Rumi, the quote reads, “You have the light, but you have no humanity. Seek humanity, for that is the goal.” Alam, […]
Turkey on the Streets for Tekel Workers
Tens of thousands of people used their right not to work for one day and supported the struggle of the Tekel workers in a general strike. For Türk-İş President Kumlu it was a successful protest action withstanding the pressure of officials and employers. Turkish Confederation of Labour Unions (Türk-İş) President Mustafa Kumlu reckoned the […]
Contract Bargaining in Tough Times: Lessons from the Recent Past
Labor Activist and Author Steve Early to Speak on: Contract Bargaining in Tough Times: Lessons from the Recent Past Wednesday, February 24, 5pm Costanzo’s Riverside Restaurant 405 Hudson River Road Waterford, NY Several important labor battles have developed in the last year in the Capital District of New York. A strike for union recognition […]
