Archive | News

  • House Prices Have Another Strong Increase in July

    The Case-Shiller 20-City index rose 0.9 percent in July after rising by 1.1 percent in June.  It has now increased at a 13.1 percent annual rate over the last three months; although it is still down by 4.1 percent over the last year.  Eighteen of the 20 cities had prices increases, with only Phoenix and […]

  • Bahrain’s al-Wefaq, Pressured by Regional Players to Compromise

      Bahrain’s largest opposition group is resisting grassroots demands for renewed full-scale street protests amid regional pressure to strike a compromise solution with the regime. Al-Wefaq and other Bahraini opposition groups boycotted the country’s parliamentary by-elections last Saturday.  But al-Wefaq did not support the latest calls for demonstrations at Pearl Square and may be pushing […]

  • María Corina Machado: One-Dimensional Woman

    Congresswoman María Corina Machado’s Speeches:“I hate communism, I hate communism, I hate communism, I hate communism, I hate communism, I hate communism, I hate communism, I hate communism, I hate communism, I hate communism, I hate communism, I hate communism, I hate communism, I hate communism, I hate communism, I hate communism, I hate communism, […]

  • Remembering and Representing: Vietnam, East Germany, and Daphne Berdahl

      Daphne Berdahl.  On the Social Life of Postsocialism: Memory, Consumption, Germany.  Edited by Matti Bunzl.  Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2010.  xx + 166 pp.  $65.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-253-35434-1; $24.95 (paper), ISBN 978-0-253-22170-4. On the Social Life of Postsocialism; Memory, Consumption, Germany is a posthumous collection of Daphne Berdahl’s essays, written over the course of […]

  • The Military Intervention in Libya and the Growing Threat against Syria

      Address to the 66th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, New York, 26 September 2011 Excerpt: As early as the 21st of February, Commander in Chief Fidel Castro Ruz had warned that NATO was inexorably preparing a war against Libya.  Since then, Cuba has indefatigably engaged in the defense not of a government […]

  • Mohamed Hussein Tantawi

    Carlos Latuff is a Brazilian cartoonist.  Cf. Yasmine Fathi, “The Curious Case of Tantawi’s Civilian Suit” (Ahram Online, 27 September 2011). | Print

  • 3 Videos about NYPD Violence against #OccupyWallStreet

    24 September 2011 For more information, e.g. <anonops.blogspot.com>; <occupywallst.org>. var idcomments_acct = ‘c90a61ed51fd7b64001f1361a7a71191’; var idcomments_post_id; var idcomments_post_url; | Print

  • Call to Action: Support Palestinian Prisoners on Hunger Strike!

      Palestinian prisoners in Israeli occupation prisons issued a statement on Sunday, September 25, 2011, stating that they plan to begin an open-ended hunger strike on September 27, 2011, demanding an end to the isolation of Ahmad Sa’adat, an end to isolation for all Palestinian political prisoners, and an end to the policies of repression […]

  • Elections in Bahrain: The Latest Ruse to Feign Democratic Change and Cover Up Continuing Repression

      Elections held in Bahrain over the weekend are the latest ruse by the regime to feign democratic change.  While the charade of ballot box rituals is taking place, the trial of health workers expected to appear in court this week is a fresh reminder that repression in the kingdom is far from over.  It […]

  • Turkey: Protest against the Missile Shield in Kürecik

    “The ‘Initiative against the Missile Shield in Kürecik’ carried their struggle against the Early Warning Radar System as part of the NATO Missile Shield to the heart of Istanbul.  About 500 people joined the protest march from Taksim to the Galatasaray Square on Sunday (25 September).  The action alliance demonstrated against installing the radar in […]

  • Bolivia: Against “Green Imperialism”

    Statements, articles, letters, and petitions have been circulating on the Internet for the past month calling for an end to the “destruction of the Amazon.”  The target of these initiatives has not been transnational corporations or the powerful governments that back them, but the government of Bolivia’s first indigenous president, Evo Morales. At the centre […]

  • WFTU: ‘Support People, Oppose Imperialist Interference in Arab Countries’

      The World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) organised on September 13-14 a two-day international trade union meet in the European Parliament complex in Strasbourg, France, to express solidarity with the fighting people of Arab countries and voice strong protest against the hegemonic interference of US imperialism and its European allies in the internal affairs […]

  • Martial Law in Haiti

      The methods of the United States in colonized Latin America have not changed.  They cannot change.  Violence is not used in countries under Yankee administration just by accident.  Three events during the past five years underscore the increasing martial tendency of U.S. policy in these countries: the intervention in Panama against a strike, the […]

  • What’s Wrong with Single Payer?

    With all the advocacy efforts expended over the last 20 years, it might be reasonable to expect some results by now for the Single Payer (SP) movement.  Of course, SP would be a great way to provide health insurance in America.  Instead of thousands of private insurance companies (payers for healthcare services) competing with each […]

  • Smart New Syria Strategy: Call the Monarchies’ Bluff and Make Them Do What They Are Demanding of You!

    For a regime which has, as ICG put it, really inflicted so many wounds on itself (not to mention Syrians) . . . this strikes me as a very effective strategy going forward.  You corrupt, collaborationist, monarchical, brutal regimes in the region want us, Syria, to reform and transition out. . . .  OK — […]

  • The Manufactured “Financial Crisis” of the U.S. Postal Service

    September 21, 2011 Senator Joseph Lieberman Chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee United States Senate SH-706 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510-0703 Congressman Darrell Issa Chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee House of Representatives 2347 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515-0549 If the U.S. Postal Service were forced […]

  • Change at Al Jazeera

      The Western and Arabic press is full of stories about Al Jazeera and the new direction it will inevitably follow with the selection of a new director-general for its operating networks.  The ouster (the official statement did not mention resignation) of Waddah Khanfar has opened doors for speculation.  No one really knows what goes […]

  • Hassan Abdul Azim: Syria’s Homegrown Dissident

    Decades of dedicated political activism have earned Hassan Abdul Azim the trust of friend and foe alike.  The old-time Nasserite may be uniquely positioned to mediate the country out of its deepening crisis. There were high expectation early on in the Syrian uprising when it seemed that Hassan Abdul Azim may assume a prominent role […]

  • Al Jazeera and U.S. Foreign Policy: What WikiLeaks’ U.S. Embassy Cables Reveal about U.S. Pressure and Propaganda

    “Al Jazeera is a vital component to the USG’s strategy in communicating with the Arab world.” — Joseph E. LeBaron, U.S. Ambassador to Qatar, November 6, 2008 “Al Jazeera Board Chairman Hamed bin Thamer Al Thani has proven open to creative uses of Al Jazeera’s airwaves by the USG beyond straightforward interviews.” — Joseph E. […]

  • Practicing Revolutionary Medicine in Cuba and Venezuela

    Steve Brouwer.  Revolutionary Doctors: How Venezuela and Cuba Are Changing the World’s Conceptualization of Health Care.  New York, Monthly Review Press, 2011.  245 pp.  $18.95. As Venezuela becomes the first country to reproduce the Cuban medical model on a massive scale, it is doing so in ways that are unique in both form and process.  […]