In the United States, the mismanagement of the financial crisis, in particular the ill designed Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), has led to a wave of populist protests, and to a narrow confirmation vote for Bernanke. In Argentina, where the recession was considerably milder than in the United States and had no financial cause, […]
Geography Archives: Americas
South America, Central America, United States & Canada
Sex-Pol among Allies in the North Atlantic
Do you have an indelible memory of a theater experience? One winter in the 1970s, while I was a film student at Manhattan’s Hunter College, I heard that Mother Courage, by that red cat Bertolt Brecht, was being performed downtown at Wooster Street. So voila! next stop Greenwich Village, and I attended the Wooster Group‘s […]
Rethinking Jeffrey Sachs and the “Big Five”: New Proposals for the End of Poverty
Jeffrey Sachs has become something of a force in international development circles over the past decade. As special advisor to the UN’s Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, former director of the UN’s Millennium Development Project, and a decorated economist at Columbia University, Sachs certainly has much to brag about. The publication of his runaway bestseller, The […]
The WTO as Barrier to Financial Regulation
In most parts of the world today (except perhaps in India, where optimism about the benefits of unregulated financial markets still seems to dominate over the undisputable evidence of their many fragilities) most policy makers talk about imposing regulations on the financial sector. Of course, the events of the past two years in the world […]
Report on the Arab International Forum to Support the Resistance
The Arab International Forum to Support the Resistance concluded in Beirut on January 17, 2010, followed by a proclamation of its final appeal in Maroun al-Ras in southern Lebanon, directed via loudspeakers toward the Palestinian people in occupied Palestine 48. In its closing statement, the forum called for resistance to occupation and aggression, stressing the […]
Howard Zinn, 1922-2010
Filming our documentary The People Speak in Boston, one afternoon, Howard said that the camaraderie between our cast members, the sense of collective purpose and joy, was a feeling he hadn’t experienced with such intensity since his active participation in the civil rights movement. Since Howard’s passing, I have thought often of that moment, which […]
Electricity Emergency in Venezuela
Merida, February 9th, 2010 — Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez declared a state of emergency in the electricity sector Monday night on national radio and television. The emergency decree permits the electricity minister to take extraordinary measures, instructs the National Electricity Corporation (Corpoelec) to accelerate its schedule of infrastructure and investments, and calls for an education […]
China, Europe, and Natural Gas in Iran
Yesterday, President Obama declared that the international community is “moving along fairly quickly” toward imposing new multilateral sanctions on Iran. Today, the Obama Administration followed that up by announcing new unilateral financial sanctions against individuals and corporate entities associated with the Revolutionary Guards. The Administration proclaims that its “engagement” policy has been successful, after all, […]
Humanitarian Crusade
“My basic equipment for Haiti is an M16 assault rifle with a laser sight, phosphorus grenades, a Kevlar bulletproof vest, a Glock pistol with a silencer, and a portable GPS. . . .” “We are following the US humanitarian crusade in Haiti, step by step.” Sergio Langer is an Argentinean cartoonist. This cartoon was first […]
Back to Normal
We are here so Haiti can get back to normal, that is to say, to miserable poverty as always. Alfredo Martirena Hernández was born in 1965 in Santa Clara, Cuba. This cartoon was published by Rebelión on 9 February 2010. Translation by Yoshie Furuhashi (@yoshiefuruhashi | yoshie.furuhashi [at] gmail.com). | | Print
Just Which Country Is “Playing for Time” in Nuclear Diplomacy with Iran?
Until today, the Obama Administration and much of the foreign policy punditocracy in Washington have been overflowing with observations that recent statements by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki reiterating the Islamic Republic’s interest in a deal to refuel the Tehran Research Reactor (TRR) were just another example of Iranian efforts to […]
Violent Student Groups in Venezuela Coordinate Actions with the “Democratic Unity” Opposition Coalition
Many of the students involved belong to the youth divisions of the different political parties from the opposition. Since 2005, US government funding has gone towards training and advising youth leaders and student movements enabling them to enter the political arena. Many question whether the recent student protests against the Chavez Administration in Venezuela […]
Iran, China, and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization
The new secretary general of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), Muratbek Sansyzbayevich Imanaliev, said at a news conference in Beijing earlier this week that the conflict in Afghanistan and expanding the SCO’s members to include Iran and Pakistan were the top issues on the SCO’s agenda in 2010. Certainly, these issues are likely to dominate […]
“Haitian Communities Need to Be Involved in the Distribution”
The U.S.-led international operation to distribute food, water, and medical supplies in Port-au-Prince after earthquake of January 12 has drawn a good deal of criticism. In contrast, for the past 10 years the Ste. Claire parish in the Petite Place Cazeau (Ti Plas Kazo) neighborhood at the city’s northern edge has operated a very successful […]
Counterrevolutionary Students of Venezuela Send “Solidarity Message” to Iranian Students
The following message, published on Rod’s Blog / El Blog de Roderick Navarro on 7 January 2010, has been posted on numerous Web sites (especially in Persian translation) supporting the Green Wave in Iran, such as , , , . Are Green Wave supporters who have welcomed this message aware of the character of the […]
Colored Revolutions: A New Form of Regime Change, Made in USA
In 1983, the strategy of overthrowing inconvenient governments and calling it “democracy promotion” was born. Through the creation of a series of quasi-private “foundations”, such as Albert Einstein Institute (AEI), National Endowment for Democracy (NED), International Republican Institute (IRI), National Democratic Institute (NDI), Freedom House and later the International Center for Non-Violent Conflict (ICNC), Washington […]
Spring Delegation to Bolivia
Be part of history! Celebrate Earth Day and attend the Peoples’ World Conference on Climate Change and Mother Earth’s Rights in Cochabamba, Bolivia. World scientists, academics, lawyers, and representatives of governments that want to work with their citizens to save our planet will be in attendance. (Conference is scheduled for April 20-22, 2010.) Before and […]
Zionism Laid Bare
The essential point of M. Shahid Alam‘s book, Israeli Exceptionalism: The Destabilizing Logic of Zionism, comes clear upon opening the book to the inscription in the frontispiece. From the Persian poet and philosopher Rumi, the quote reads, “You have the light, but you have no humanity. Seek humanity, for that is the goal.” Alam, […]
The Time for Single Payer Health Care Is Now
Yesterday the Labor Campaign for Single Payer joined the growing number of nurses, doctors, and other healthcare advocates who have responded to President Obama’s State of the Union challenge to “let him know” if there is a better approach that “will bring down premiums, bring down the deficit, cover the uninsured, strengthen Medicare, and […]
US Intelligence Report Classifies Venezuela as “Anti-US Leader”
3 February 2010 — As is custom at the beginning of each year, the different US agencies publish their famous annual reports on topics ranging from human rights, trafficking in persons, terrorism, threats, drug-trafficking, and other issues that indicate who will be this year’s target of US aggression. Yesterday, it was the intelligence community’s turn. […]
