Archive | Commentary

There are political circles and commentators who live from minute to minute.  For them, every squeak from a world leader is a virtual earthquake, a real revolution.  This is especially true now that we are dealing with a US president, who is handsome, articulate, and even eloquent.  The present level of manipulated excitement stems from […]

Ahmadinejad Supporters in Vali Asr Square, 15 Khordad 1388 (5 June 2009) Mousavi Supporters in Vali Asr Square, 15 Khordad 1388 (5 June 2009) Vali Asr Square, 14 Khordad 1388 (4 June 2009) Tajrish Square, 14 Khordad 1388 (4 June 2009) Ariashahr Square, 14 Khordad 1388 (4 June 2009) Vanak Square, 13 Khordad 1388 (3 […]

Philosophy only exists insofar as there are paradoxical relations, relations which fail to connect, or should not connect. When every connection is naturally legitimate, philosophy is impossible or in vain.

Philosophy is the violence done by thought to impossible relations.

Today, which is to say “after Deleuze,” there is a clear requisitioning of philosophy by cinema — or of cinema by philosophy. It is therefore certain that cinema offers us paradoxical relations, entirely improbable connections.

Thanks to a determined public campaign led by the victim’s family, a partial victory has been won in the legal battle surrounding the murder of a popular high school student in Powhatan County, Va. On June 4, after months of mass marches and rallies that have mobilized as many as 700 people in this rural […]

Though employment losses have slowed in May, many sectors have already lost large numbers of jobs over this recession and therefore have fewer jobs left to lose. The economy lost another 345,000 jobs in May.  For the first time in a year, there were upward revisions to the past months’ data, with March and April’s […]

Juan Cole.  Napoleon’s Egypt: Invading the Middle East.  New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.  Illustrations, maps.  xi + 279 pp.  $16.95 (paper), ISBN 978-0-230-60603-6. Juan Cole’s Napoleon’s Egypt tells the story of revolutionary France’s attempt to conquer Egypt and the cultural interchanges that resulted.  Although various aims drove the effort, the main motive was a prerevolutionary […]

The greatest tragedies among many in the collapse and bankruptcy of General Motors concern what is not happening.  There are those solutions to GM’s problems not being considered by Obama’s administration.  There are the solutions not being demanded by the United Auto Workers Union (UAW).  There are all the solutions not even being discussed by […]

The Maqusi Towers in Gaza City look a bit like US housing projects.  The neighborhood consists of several tall apartment buildings grouped together in the northern part of town.  It is also ground zero for Gaza’s growing Hip-Hop community.  On a recent evening in one small but well-decorated apartment, a dozen rappers and their friends […]

Lower Courts Unanimously Declared Law Unconstitutionally Vague Washington, DC, June 4, 2009 — The Obama administration today sought Supreme Court review of a decision declaring a USA Patriot Act provision unconstitutional.  The case, Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project, originally brought by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) in 1998, challenges the constitutionality of the law […]

Jeff Madrick.  The Case for Big Government.   Princeton University Press, 2009.  205 pp.  ISBN 978-0-691-12331-8 (Hardcover). In The Political Economy of Growth, Paul Baran argued that the increased role of the US government in post-New Deal America did not solve the contradictions of monopoly capitalism but merely “removed the onus for the malfunctioning of […]

June 3, 2009 Questionnaire/methodology (PDF) A new WorldPublicOpinion.org poll finds Egyptians continue to view US foreign policy quite negatively and see President Obama as closely aligned with it.  At the same time, Obama has much better ratings than Bush had, and there are signs of thawing feelings toward the US. Asked how much confidence they […]

  Ashraf Omar is a socialist cartoonist from Egypt.  This cartoon was published by Revolutionary Socialism, an Egyptian Web site, under a Creative Commons license.  The title given by Revolutionary Socialism reads: “Caricature: Welcome, Obama” (Caricature: Marhaba Obama).

  نصير شمة يعزف غارسيا لوركا Naseer Shamma was born in 1963, in Al Kut, Iraq.  He is one of the greatest oud players.

June 4, 2009 Chomsky, whose recent books include Interventions and The Essential Chomsky, sent the following to the Institute for Public Accuracy this morning: “A CNN headline, reporting Obama’s plans for his June 4 Cairo address, reads ‘Obama looks to reach the soul of the Muslim world.’   Perhaps that captures his intent, but more […]

New York, June 3, 2009 — Today, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the District Court decision dismissing the Wiwa v. Shell plaintiffs’ claims against Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria, Ltd. (Shell Nigeria).  The District Court had dismissed the case against Shell Nigeria on March 4, 2008, finding it did not have jurisdiction […]

Chicago, IL (June 3) — For the sixth year in a row, members of Jewish, Christian, and human rights organizations will be present at Caterpillar, Inc.’s annual shareholder meeting to demand that Caterpillar end its complicity with violations of human rights and international law in the occupied West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem. Concerned […]

Talks between Barack Obama and the Israeli and Palestinian leaderships over the past fortnight have unleashed a flood of media interest in the settlements Israel has been constructing on Palestinian territory for more than four decades. The US president’s message is unambiguous: the continuing growth of the settlements makes impossible the establishment of a Palestinian […]

Member of the Knesset, Dr. Afo Agbaria (Hadash fraction) on Wednesday (June 3, 2009) wrote to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, asking that he be allowed to assist the UN investigation on war crimes during the Israeli military’s Operation “Cast Lead” in the Gaza Strip.  International prosecutor Richard Goldstone and his team of investigators arrived […]

  A new five-year study reveals that private sector employer opposition to the efforts of American workers to form unions has intensified and become more punitive in recent years. Conducted by highly-regarded labor expert and Cornell University professor Kate Bronfenbrenner, the study concludes that employers are using much more aggressive tactics — including threats of […]

June 2, 2009 Mr. President, The Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) hopes that your speech to the Arab and Muslim worlds will contain practical steps to uphold your administration’s stated intention to seriously deal with the problems that have inflamed resentment and fostered a sense of humiliation among peoples, individuals, and ethnic and […]