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News updates or analysis.

The Crisis Enters Year Five

The current global capitalist crisis began with the severe contraction in the housing markets in mid-2007.  Welcome to Year Five.  A usual inventory of where things stand begins with the good news: the major banks, the stock market, and corporate profits have largely or completely “recovered” from the lows they reached early in 2009.  The […]

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Ecuador Condemns US Sanctions against PDVSA

The Ministry of External Relations, Commerce, and Integration of Ecuador regards the United States Government’s decision to impose unilateral sanctions against the Venezuelan state enterprise PDVSA — as well as others — as an action contrary to the sovereign right of a country to maintain commercial relations with any country in the world. In the […]

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Tweeting Back at Gringo Imperialism

  24 May 2011 Sanctions against the Patria of Bolívar?  Imposed by the gringo imperialist government?  Well then: Bring them on, Mr. Obama!  Don’t forget that we are the sons of Bolívar! 24 May 2011 That’s it, Nicolás!  The real effect of the new gringo aggression will be to strengthen the patriotic, nationalist sprit of […]

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Morocco: Mapping the 20th of February Movement Marches Held on the 22nd of May

For more information about the 20th of February Movement in Morocco, visit <24.mamfakinch.com>, <www.mamfakinch.com>, <www.facebook.com/Movement20>.  Cf. Rashid Abul-Samh, “Besieged Monarchs” (Al-Ahram Weekly 1048, 19-25 May 2011); Oxford Analytica, “Persistent Protests Undermine ‘Moroccan Exception’” (24 May 2011).   var idcomments_acct = ‘c90a61ed51fd7b64001f1361a7a71191’; var idcomments_post_id; var idcomments_post_url; | Print  

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Democracy

Every now and then . . . a fiesta of democracy In the meantime . . . a siesta of democracy Eneko Las Heras, born in Caracas in 1963, is a cartoonist based in Spain.  The cartoon above was first published on his blog . . . Y sin embargo se mueve on 25 May […]

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We Reject United States Sanctions against Venezuela

  “Friends, if you are a citizen/resident of the US, we would greatly appreciate your signature on this declaration rejecting the unilateral sanctions imposed against Venezuela this Tuesday by the US State Department.  This is a grave and dangerous move by Washington to justify further aggression against the Venezuelan people.  We need your solidarity. Please […]

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Libya Is Neither Tunisia Nor Egypt

Libya is neither Tunisia nor Egypt.  The (Gaddafi) bloc in power and the forces fighting against it have no analogues in Tunisia or Egypt.  Gaddafi has never been anything but a clown whose vacuous thought is reflected in the famous “Green Book.”  Operating in a still archaic society, Gaddafi could get away with adopting successive […]

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Women Excluded from Budget Negotiations

  Dear Mr. President: We, the undersigned members of the Older Women’s Economic Security Task Force of the National Council of Women’s Organizations, write to request a meeting with you and the Vice President to discuss the impact of the budget on women and American families and how women can help address the economic problems […]

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Reform and Revolution in Syria

Elias Muhanna: Since when have Middle Eastern governments, or any governments for that matter, managed to stifle religious parties in the Middle East by preventing them from coming to the fore?  If they pass a political parties law in Syria but they don’t allow religious parties, don’t you think that’s just gonna blow up in […]

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Israel and South Sudan

Fahd Bahady is a Syrian cartoonist.  This cartoon was first published in his blog on 23 May 2011; it is reproduced here for non-profit educational purposes.  Cf. Gil Ronen, “South Sudan Wants Ties with Israel” (Arutz Sheva, 17 February 2011); “Israel Hopes to Attain a New African Ally in S. Sudan” (Jerusalem Post, 29 February […]

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Palestinians in America: An Intelligent Socialist’s Guide to Tony Kushner, with a Key to the UN Declaration of Human Rights

(Scene: an elevator, downstage right.  Stuck inside are ROY COHN and ETHEL ROSENBERG, characters in Tony Kushner’s landmark play, Angels in America.  McCarthyite lawyer, ROY prosecuted Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who were accused of spying for the USSR and executed in 1953.  ETHEL now paces impatiently, pushing elevator buttons.  Above the stage, captions from recent […]

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Spain: 2011 Municipal and Regional Election Results

  Ballot boxes are like black boxes. Upon opening them you’ll discover the causes of the accident. Juan Ramón Mora is a cartoonist in Barcelona.  This cartoon was first published in his blog on 22 May 2011 under a Creative Commons license.  Cf. <resultados2011.mir.es/99MU/DMU99999TO_L1.htm>; <resultados-elecciones.rtve.es/municipales/>; and “More revealing perhaps, however, is to examine votes relative […]

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New Insights into the Islamic Republic of Iran

Arguably the most important reason for the international interest in Iran is its strategically pivotal geography.  Like some of its Muslim neighbours, it has tremendous oil and gas reserves.  For the United States, the revolution in Iran was nothing less than a geopolitical shock. Revolutionary dynamics in the Arab World have recently rekindled the debate […]

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On the Revolt in Syria

The parties involved in the revolt in Syria so far have not made their programs public.  Undoubtedly, the drift of the Ba’athist regime, won over to neoliberalism and singularly passive in the face of the Israeli occupation of Golan, is the reason for the uprising of people.  However, the CIA’s intervention must not be ruled […]

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Obama at AIPAC: What the Decline of American Power Means for Israel

President Obama’s speech to the annual American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) conference on Sunday predictably offered lots of “red meat” for pro-Israel constituencies.  But, in heavily veiled language, the President also made an enormously important point about the evolving character of international relations in the 21st century and what that means for the United […]

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