One less emphasised lesson from the global financial crisis was that developing countries that are successful in attracting foreign financial investors take a hit when such a crisis occurs because of a reverse flow of capital. Foreign financial firms needing to cover losses or meet commitments at home withdraw their capital, generating a credit crunch […]
Geography Archives: Americas
South America, Central America, United States & Canada
Mother Nature, Make Me Rich
NBC recently aired a show called America’s Next Great Restaurant. Contestants, each of whom hoped to open a restaurant chain, were put through a series of tests to see whose idea had the best chance for success. A panel of judges eliminated one person at the end of each program, until the last one […]
Message to Communists of the World
Painful events have been continuing in Syria for nearly two months, since the emergence of a protest movement raising legitimate local and general demands among people in the governorate of Daraa. This movement threw light on the presence of major problems in the political life in Syria: the continuation of the state of emergency, the […]
Parroting the Obama Administration’s Line on Iran and Syria
Last year, we took the Washington Post‘s Joby Warrick to task for stories he published that relied “almost entirely on unnamed U.S. officials and a known terrorist organization” to advance “Iraq-redux” claims that the Islamic Republic is seeking to build nuclear weapons. Now, Warrick published a front-page story in the Washington Post — a story […]
How Green Is the Jewish National Fund?
Greenwashing Apartheid: The Jewish National Fund’s Environmental Cover Up. JNF eBook (Volume 4). May 15, 2011. The 63-year old State of Israel has had overwhelming success at hiding its true intentions and purposes, effectively whitewashing actions which, if properly understood, would be extremely disturbing to most people. Thus the passage of laws discriminating on […]
Zelaya’s Return to Honduras: A Step Forward, But Will Political Repression Continue?
Former Honduran President Zelaya’s return home today has important implications for the Western Hemisphere that, we can predict, will be widely overlooked. Zelaya was ousted from the presidency when he was kidnapped at gunpoint by the military on June 28, 2009. Although no hard evidence has yet emerged that the U.S. government was directly involved […]
Syria, Libya, and Russia’s Retreat from “Reset”
The last thing Russian President Dmitry Medvedev did before departing for France to attend this week’s Group of Eight summit meeting in Deauville was place a call to Damascus. Prima facie, one may think the call made sense, since, as Reuters reported, “Syria’s crackdown on pro-democracy protests” is going to be high on the agenda […]
Awaiting the Arrival of Manuel Zelaya
Compañero Manuel Zelaya: we are back in the place where we last met. Your return to Honduras is only the first step for which we took to the streets. In Honduras we still await justice and punishment for those responsible for the coup d’état and for the violations of human rights. All of Latin […]
Michal Kalecki and the Economics of Development
In the long and impressive catalogue of Michal Kalecki’s contributions to economics, the proportion of writings devoted to what is now called “development economics” is relatively small. And most of his work in this area is concise to the point of being terse, in short articles that simply state some crucial principles, typically without much […]
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 […]
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 […]
El Salvadoran Government and Social Movements Say No to Monsanto
On the morning of Friday, May 6th, President Mauricio Funes of El Salvador’s left-wing FMLN party arrived at the La Maroma agricultural cooperative in the department of Usulután for a potentially historic meeting with hundreds of small family farmers. Usulután has often been referred to as the country’s breadbasket for its fertile soil and capacity […]
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 […]
Pitiyanqui Venezuelan Opposition, Too, Condemns US Sanctions against PDVSA
Julio Montoya: “We condemn the sanctions against PDVSA because we prefer an immediate ‘invasion’.” Victor Nieto is a cartoonist in Venezuela. His cartoons frequently appear in Aporrea and Rebelión among other sites. Translation by Yoshie Furuhashi (@yoshiefuruhashi | yoshie.furuhashi [at] gmail.com). Cf. “Istúriz a Montoya: No es dejar de vender petróleo a EEUU sino venderlo […]
Federal Reserve Board Policy and the Price of Oil
Testimony before the Subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs, Stimulus Oversight, and Government Spending, the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, the U.S. House of Representatives, at the Hearing on “How Federal Reserve Policies Add To Hard Times At The Pump,” 25 May 2011 Thank you, Chairman Jordan, Ranking Member Kucinich, and other members of the Subcommittee, […]
Bolivarian Leader Stands in Solidarity with Syrian People against Imperial Onslaught
The President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela communicated by telephone with his brother, the President of the Syrian Arab Republic, Bashar al-Assad, in order to convey to him a personal greeting full of affection and hope at a moment when the imperialist forces are unleashing violence against the Syrian people. President Hugo Chávez received […]
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 […]
Venezuelan Government Condemns Hostile Action of United States against PDVSA
The government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela has taken note of the decision announced by the State Department of the United States to impose sanctions against our national company, Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), in the context of the unilateral US policy of sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran, known as the Comprehensive Iran […]
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 […]
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 […]
