Archive | Commentary

In most parts of the world today (except perhaps in India, where optimism about the benefits of unregulated financial markets still seems to dominate over the undisputable evidence of their many fragilities) most policy makers talk about imposing regulations on the financial sector.  Of course, the events of the past two years in the world […]

. . . and Hashemi’s hopes for a palace coup. Iran Celebrates the 31st Anniversary of the Islamic Revolution   Green Wave* Ebbs Isfahan Tehran   *   For the social and political character of the Green Wave, consult Iran’s Last Marxist Nasser Zarafshan: Setareh Derakhshesh, “Interview with Dr. Nasser Zarafshan and Farrokh Negahdar” (VOA Persian, […]

The Arab International Forum to Support the Resistance concluded in Beirut on January 17, 2010, followed by a proclamation of its final appeal in Maroun al-Ras in southern Lebanon, directed via loudspeakers toward the Palestinian people in occupied Palestine 48.  In its closing statement, the forum called for resistance to occupation and aggression, stressing the […]

Filming our documentary The People Speak in Boston, one afternoon, Howard said that the camaraderie between our cast members, the sense of collective purpose and joy, was a feeling he hadn’t experienced with such intensity since his active participation in the civil rights movement. Since Howard’s passing, I have thought often of that moment, which […]

Global capitalism imploded in 2007.  The central causes of capitalism’s crisis include: the end of real wage increases in the US and the substitution of rising worker debt far beyond what workers could sustain; the buildup of excess global industrial capacity; the explosion of speculation and excess risk-taking by banks, other financial and non-financial corporations, […]

سبز شدیم در این خاک از سالومه Our roots are deep in this soil We’ve grown green on this land We are children of Cyrus We are fervent We weren’t afraid of Bush Let alone your negative propaganda To trick our honorable people You’re happy to see this family fall apart, right? That’s not gonna […]

  For Gabriel Péri and d’Estiennes d’Orves, as well as Guy Moquet and Gilbert Dru The one who believed in heaven The one who didn’t Both loved a beauty Imprisoned by soldiers Which climbed the ladder? Which stood guard below? The one who believed in heaven? The one who didn’t? What matters the name of […]

10 February 2010 For more information, visit and . | | Print

Yesterday, President Obama declared that the international community is “moving along fairly quickly” toward imposing new multilateral sanctions on Iran.  Today, the Obama Administration followed that up by announcing new unilateral financial sanctions against individuals and corporate entities associated with the Revolutionary Guards.  The Administration proclaims that its “engagement” policy has been successful, after all, […]

Rank & File: “Hello. Hello.  Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.  This is the rank & file calling.  Are you there?  Can you hear us?” UAW Spokesperson: Rank & File: “We’ve read in the Automotive News that both GM and Delphi are building new plants for new green technology automobiles but they are non-union.  This isn’t true, is […]

Merida, February 9th, 2010 — Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez declared a state of emergency in the electricity sector Monday night on national radio and television.  The emergency decree permits the electricity minister to take extraordinary measures, instructs the National Electricity Corporation (Corpoelec) to accelerate its schedule of infrastructure and investments, and calls for an education […]

Executive Summary: The Latvian recession, which is now more than two years old, has seen a world-historical drop in GDP of more than 25 percent.  The IMF projects another 4 percent drop this year, and predicts that the total loss of output from peak to bottom will reach 30 percent.  This would make Latvia’s loss […]

A taste of the visual contest in the Persian-language blogosphere before 22 Bahman 1388 (11 February 2010), the 31st anniversary of the victory of the revolution in Iran. . . . ‫۲۲ بهمن روز پيروزی مردم‬ 22 Bahman: People’s Victory Day ۲۲ بهمن منتظرتان هستيم 22 Bahman: We Are Waiting for You — The Iranian […]

Until today, the Obama Administration and much of the foreign policy punditocracy in Washington have been overflowing with observations that recent statements by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki reiterating the Islamic Republic’s interest in a deal to refuel the Tehran Research Reactor (TRR) were just another example of Iranian efforts to […]

Born in Iran and now based in London, Ziba Mir-Hosseini, an anthropologist by training, is one of the most well-known scholars of Islamic Feminism.  She is the author of numerous books on the subject, including Marriage on Trial: A Study of Family Law in Iran and Morocco (l.B.Tauris, 1993) and Islam and Gender, the Religious […]

  Seema Azad, editor of the left-wing journal DASTAK published from Allahabad, was taken into custody by the police Saturday, 6th February, soon after she alighted from the train on her return from the Book Fair at Delhi.  She, along with her husband and left-wing activist Vishwa Vijaya Azad, has been detained at the Khuldabad […]

  “We recognise that an attack on education workers is an attack on us. . . . They’re occupying everywhere in waves across California, New York, Greece, Croatia, Germany and Austria and elsewhere — and not only in the universities.  We send greetings of solidarity and cheerful grins to all those occupation movements and everyone […]

“My basic equipment for Haiti is an M16 assault rifle with a laser sight, phosphorus grenades, a Kevlar bulletproof vest, a Glock pistol with a silencer, and a portable GPS. . . .” “We are following the US humanitarian crusade in Haiti, step by step.” Sergio Langer is an Argentinean cartoonist.  This cartoon was first […]

We are here so Haiti can get back to normal, that is to say, to miserable poverty as always. Alfredo Martirena Hernández was born in 1965 in Santa Clara, Cuba.  This cartoon was published by Rebelión on 9 February 2010.   Translation by Yoshie Furuhashi (@yoshiefuruhashi | yoshie.furuhashi [at] gmail.com). | | Print

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 […]