Tegucigalpa, 22 May 2011 This afternoon in the city of Cartagena, Colombia, former Honduran President Manuel Zelaya Rosales and incumbent regime leader Porfirio Lobo met to sign the Cartagena Accord. Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, his foreign minister María Angela Holguín, and Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolás Maduro added their signatures to this Accord as […]
Geography Archives: Americas
South America, Central America, United States & Canada
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 […]
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 […]
God Help Syria!
I’ve talked with the Syrian president, our brother Bashar, a couple of minutes ago. Syria is a victim of a fascist onslaught. God Help Syria! Hugo Chávez Frías is the president of Venezuela. Translation by Yoshie Furuhashi (@yoshiefuruhashi | yoshie.furuhashi [at] gmail.com). Cf. Karin Leukefeld, “Syriens Kommunisten sehen »Chance« für Veränderungen” (junge Welt, 14 May […]
Valuing the Invaluable: Rethinking and Respecting Caring Work in Canada
Abstract: Using concepts of feminist economics, this paper demonstrates the range of ways in which carework is undervalued in Canada, from the labour of the unpaid care worker within the home, to the paid labour of the registered nurse in institutions. Through qualitative analysis of various caring occupations, and a comparison of wages of caring […]
Obama on the Middle East: Sticking with a Failed Script
May 18, 2011 In an effort to define the dominant narrative about the ongoing Arab awakening and America’s role in the Middle East, President Obama will give what the White House is billing as a major address on Middle East policy. However eloquently delivered, the address will not be able to overcome or compensate for […]
Tariq Ali on Syria and Libya: “Whenever the West Intervenes, It’s a Disaster”
Tariq Ali and Rory Suchet
Tariq Ali: I don’t think sanctions work. They are essentially a symbolic measure. Usually when sanctions are applied against a country, they affect the poor people in that country more than the ruling elites, as we saw for years before the United States invaded Iraq in 2003. They had imposed a bloody sanctions regime, […]
Notes from the Liberation Without Borders Tour in Tunisia
13 May 2011 Tonight, the transnational delegation from the Knowledge Liberation Front (KLF) reunited in Tunis to begin the Liberation Without Borders Tour. This delegation is a project of activist research that was initiated at a meeting in Paris last February. It aims to reinforce the relations with the Tunisian movement activists that were forged […]
On the Political Economics of Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s Political Death
What follows below is about the economic and political significance of the arrest of Dominique Strauss-Kahn (DSK hereafter), the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund. It will say nothing about the merits (or lack thereof) of the charges against DSK. All cases of alleged sexual assault brought against high-profile men place two equally important […]
Storming JPMorgan Chase Shareholders’ Meeting
Over 800 homeowners, clergy, and workers converged in Columbus, Ohio to directly confront JPMorgan Chase and deliver a message that Wall Street banks need to pay their fair share and stop foreclosing on America. For more information, visit <npa-us.org>, <ohorganizing.org>, and <showdowninamerica.org>. var idcomments_acct = ‘c90a61ed51fd7b64001f1361a7a71191’; var idcomments_post_id; var idcomments_post_url; | Print
NATO’s Humanitarian Response
NATO: “Bah! It’s just African immigrants dying of hunger.” 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. Barbara Lewis, “U.N. Says 10 Percent Fatality for Libya Sea Migrants” (Reuters, 13 May 2011). var idcomments_acct = […]
An Open Letter concerning the Crisis in Libya
April 7, 2011 President Barack Obama The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20500 Re: An open letter concerning the crisis in Libya Dear President Obama: In 2002 you made the following statement: “I don’t oppose all wars. What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to […]
Post-3/11 Japan: Learning from Crises Past, Facing the Critical Present
Two months after the disasters of March 11, most of the rhythms of everyday life have returned to Tokyo. Although dimmed city streets remain as daily reminders of the critical nuclear situation 140 miles north, the university campuses that were deserted over an extended spring break have refilled. Although the earth still shivers, the anxious […]
Women Speaking Out on Trade: 2011 Labor Solidarity Delegation to Honduras
STITCH invites you to join us on a ten-day women’s delegation to Honduras as we assess the impact of the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) five years later. Our labor solidarity delegation to Honduras, PUSHING BACK: WOMEN SPEAK OUT ON TRADE will take place July 27-August 06, 2011. Participants will meet with women […]
Puerto Rico: ACLU Delegation Criticizes Abuses
Following up on earlier efforts to highlight human rights abuses in Puerto Rico, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) hosted a high-publicity fact-finding delegation in San Juan on May 2 and 3. The group, which included ACLU executive director Anthony D. Romero, political scientist Angelo Falcón, actress/choreographer Rosie Perez, and recently retired baseball player […]
Intervention in the Name of Stability
Intervention in the Name of Stability Professor Noam Chomsky recently delivered an important address in Amsterdam entitled “Contours of the World Order.”1 A large part of the speech was devoted to the role of the United States in defending its area of absolute hegemony. According to Chomsky’s excellent analysis, the US relates to all countries […]
Terminate the U.S.-Bahrain Free Trade Agreement
Excerpt: On January 11, 2006, the United States signed into law the U.S.-Bahrain Free Trade Agreement (FTA), which entered into force between the United States and Bahrain on August 1, 2006. In light of the ongoing brutal repression of peaceful protest carried out by the police and armed forces of Bahrain and the Gulf […]
Ten Reasons Why Protecting Unions Is a Life and Death Issue
In Wisconsin, tens of thousands of public sector workers were going to work every day, helping the people in the DMV, hospitals, health care centers, public transportation, teachers, fire fighters, and clerical workers. Then, on February 11, 2011 Republican Governor Scott Walker introduced a bill, with a Republican majority in the legislature, that would virtually […]
Haiti: UN Panel Links Cholera to MINUSTAH Base; MINUSTAH Continues to Shift Blame
The UN “independent panel” released their long awaited report (PDF) on the origin of cholera in Haiti. Although the ultimate conclusion of the panel was that “the Haiti cholera outbreak was caused by the confluence of circumstances . . . and was not the fault of, or deliberate action of, a group or individual,” the […]
Renewable Energy Likely to Become Dominant Climate Change Solution by 2050, U.N. Study Concludes
But Support for Renewable Energy Policies Remains Key to Reaching Goals Renewable energy is likely to become the world’s dominant climate change solution by the middle of the century, according to a new study by the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). It has the potential to be more competitive than nuclear power, […]
