Geography Archives: Americas

14 January 2011 Where are the ‘democracy promoters’ on the Tunisian uprising?, asks Marc Lynch.  It’s a fair question: Thus far, a month into the massive demonstrations rocking Tunisia, the Washington Post editorial page has published exactly zero editorials about Tunisia.  For that matter, the Weekly Standard, another magazine which frequently claims the mantle of […]

  It is bad enough that, by delaying reconstruction aid to Haiti, the United States has failed to give adequate assistance to our neighbor, which was struck by a devastating earthquake one year ago.  It is far worse that we have also actively cooperated in its deeply flawed election.  Our government helped impose an election […]

The discussion of violent and paranoid rhetoric in the media is long overdue, whether or not it is ever determined that accused Tucson shooter Jared Lee Loughner was somehow influenced or motivated by such rhetoric.  Before the shooting, there had been a remarkable surge of politically motivated violence (FAIR Blog, 1/12/11).  Despite media efforts to […]

TO: Warden David Bobby, Ohio State Penitentiary Director Gary Mohr, Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction Chief William A. Eleby, Bureau of Classification Ohio Department of Rehabilitation We the undersigned call for an end to isolated “supermax” imprisonment in Ohio State Penitentiary.  We are especially concerned about the cases of Siddique Abdullah Hasan (Carlos Sanders); […]

Paul Krugman does a very good job laying out the issues behind the euro zone crisis in his NYT Magazine piece.  There are two additional points that would have been worth noting. First, there are powerful forces who are working hard to prevent the partial or full Argentinification (partial default or a departure from the […]

  People’s Houses (Turkey) is preparing to organize the second People’s Rights Forum on 21-23 January 2011 in Ankara, in a time when people’s rights struggles against neo-liberal capitalist aggression on labour, humanity and nature are growing. The first People’s Rights Forum was held in July 2007 with the common initiative and contributions of People’s […]

Yesterday I listened to him when he spoke at the University of Tucson where homage was being paid to the 6 people murdered and the 14 wounded in the Arizona massacre, especially the Democratic congresswoman for that state, seriously wounded by a gunshot to the head. It was the deed of an unbalanced person, drunk […]

  Excerpt: As family and work patterns have shifted over recent decades, the demand for time off from work to address family needs has grown rapidly.  Women — and increasingly men as well — often find themselves caught between the competing pressures of paid work and family responsibilities, especially when they become parents, or when […]

He came out of nowhere offering change you can believe in, and he won. But almost everything he does is an irritating failure to act, a disappointing small measure, or a major giveaway to the rich.  After two years it was no surprise that voters turned away from him in the Congressional midterm elections of […]

One year after an earthquake devastated Haiti, much of the promised relief and reconstruction aid has not reached those most in need.  In fact, the nation’s tragedy has served as an opportunity to further enrich corporate interests. The details of a recent lawsuit, as reported by Business Week, highlights the ways in which contractors — […]

As it is well-known, the state of Arizona, a territory that was taken from Mexico by the United States along with much more territory, has been the scene of painful events for hundreds of Latin Americans who die trying to immigrate to the US in search of work or to join their parents, spouses or […]

Over the last few weeks, some senior figures in Israel’s national security establishment have made — in an Israeli context — relatively moderate statements about their perception of the Iranian “threat” to their country.  Last month, Deputy Prime Minister (and former IDF chief of staff) Moshe Yaalon said that, because of technical difficulties and the […]

What is it about Haiti that makes the “international community” think they have the right to decide the country’s fate without the consent of the governed?  Yes, Haiti is a poor country, but Haitians have fought very hard and lost many lives for the right to vote and elect a government. Yet on November 28, […]

Once again it was the annual big weekend for German leftists of every conceivable persuasion.  It was also a weekend with tons of slush, the result of weeks of cold and snow now ending in thaw weather, but, in the eyes of most participants, also provided by most of the media. As every year, Sunday […]

None other than Ileana Ros, the woman who kept the child Elián kidnapped in Miami, the promoter of coups d’état, crimes such as those committed by Posada Carriles and other heinous deeds, shall be travelling to neighbouring Haiti, where the earthquake killed a quarter of a million people and the cholera epidemic, in full swing, […]

Executive Summary Before Haiti’s November 28 election was held, its legitimacy was called into question because of the exclusion of over a dozen political parties from the election — including Haiti’s most popular political party, Fanmi Lavalas.  The ban on Fanmi Lavalas was analogous to excluding the Democratic or Republican Party in the United States. […]

Yesterday I analyzed the atrocious act of violence against U.S. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, in which 18 people were shot, six died and another 12 were wounded, several seriously, among them the Congresswoman with a shot to the head, leaving the medical team with no alternative other than to try to save her life and minimize, […]

Sad news was broadcast this afternoon from the United States: Gabrielle Giffords, Democratic congresswoman for Arizona, was the victim of a criminal attempt while taking part at a political meeting at her electoral district in Tucson. On the other side of the border lies Mexico, the Latin American country to which that territory used to […]

  Monday, January 3, three inmates on death row at Ohio State Penitentiary (OSP) started a hunger strike to protest the conditions of their confinement.  Keith LaMar, Siddique Abdullah Hasan (Carlos Sanders), and Jason Robb received death sentences following the rebellion in the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville, OH.  They have been held at […]

We are witnessing an unprecedented surge in racism against Muslims in the US.  There is a real fear among US Muslims that if there’s a successful terrorist attack on Americans, particularly on US soil, we will surely face pogroms and detention centers.  The growth of the Far Right and, more specifically, the Tea Party over […]