Since February 2003, Iran’s nuclear program has undergone what the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) itself admits to be the most intrusive inspection in its entire history. After thousands of hours of inspections by some of the most experienced IAEA experts, the Agency has verified time and again that (1) there is no evidence […]
Geography Archives: Asia
Countries in the continent of Asia
Sharia in Pakistan’s Swat
Part 1 Part 2 Cf. Kamran Rehmat, “Swat: Pakistan’s Lost Paradise” (Al Jazeera, 27 January 2009); “‘Peace March’ in Pakistan’s Swat” (Al Jazeera, 19 January 2009); Sanjeev Miglani, “Pakistan Islamists in a Deal with China Communists: a Sign of the Times?” (Pakistan: Now or Never? 19 February 2009); Patrick Goodenough, “Turn to China, Islamists […]
The Global Collapse: a Non-orthodox View
This is the longer version of an essay by the author released by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) on 6 February 2009. Week after week, we see the global economy contracting at a pace worse than predicted by the gloomiest analysts. We are now, it is clear, in no ordinary recession but are headed for […]
Muslim Pilgrimage to Manzanar
In April 2008, the Greater Los Angeles Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-LA) led a group of over 100 Southern California Muslims on an educational trip to Manzanar, the first Japanese internment camp established during World War II. Along with Southland Muslims, some 1,500 people from California and beyond attended the […]
Sri Lanka: An Unfolding Catastrophe
Few people in the U.S. have paid attention to the island nation of Sri Lanka and to the decades-long struggle for self-determination by the Tamil-speaking minority community. As the conflict has begun to intensify and make headlines in recent weeks, the Sri Lankan government has done its utmost to control the story being told by […]
Dresden and the Nazis
A large-scale anti-fascist action in Dresden last weekend ended with brutal violence. February 13th has for years been a day of solemn ceremonies in this city on the Elbe, the capital of Saxony. It marks the date in 1945 when British and American planes destroyed the heart of Dresden, a treasure chest of baroque architecture […]
The State of Japanese Capitalism
Japan’s economy shrank at an annual rate of 12.7 percent last quarter, the worst decline since 1974. It is estimated that 125,000-400,000 more workers will be jobless by the end of March. Japanese capitalism is visibly incapacitated, and so is its finance minister. Minister Nakagawa at a Post-G7 Press Conference Rome, 14 February 2009 […]
Afghanistan and the Soviet Withdrawal 1989: 20 Years Later
Washington D.C., February 15, 2009 — Twenty years ago today, the commander of the Soviet Limited Contingent in Afghanistan Boris Gromov crossed the Termez Bridge out of Afghanistan, thus marking the end of the Soviet war which lasted almost ten years and cost tens of thousands of Soviet and Afghan lives. As a tribute […]
Turkey’s Hidden Shame
Rageh Omaar: Amnesty International’s 2008 report on human rights states that allegations of torture and other ill treatments and the use of excessive force by law enforcement officials persist in Turkey. This despite an overt expression of zero tolerance for torture by the Turkish government since 2002. Kurdish-born human rights lawyer Eren Keskin has […]
On the Thirtieth Anniversary of the Iranian Revolution
Thirty years ago, during the several months past, my generation was restructuring social life in Iran, breaking down government doors previously impervious to people’s demands, evicting a dictatorial bunch of idiots who had been imposed on us in 1953, in a coup inspired in the U.K. and carried out by the CIA. And so it […]
Obama to Coddle Bankers
Emily Dickinson once advised: “Tell all the Truth but tell it slant.” Evidently the New York Times‘ headline writers are taking advice from the enigmatic poet. The headline on the story on how the Obama administration will be going easy on banks and bankers getting bailout money blamed it all on the Treasury Secretary: “Geithner […]
The Crisis of Global Capitalism and the Environment: Interview with John Bellamy Foster, Editor of Monthly Review and Professor of Sociology, University of Oregon, for Eleftherotypia (Greece)
CP: After twenty-five years of sporadic growth and extreme polarization of income and life conditions around the world, actually existing neoliberalism seems to be on the verge of collapse. Where do you situate the current crisis in the history of the development of global capitalism? JBF: Neoliberalism has clearly collapsed. But as Fred Magdoff […]
Indian Muslims and Media: Interview with Kashif ul-Huda
34 year-old Kashif ul-Huda runs TwoCircles.net, the leading Indian Muslim news and features web site. In this interview with Yoginder Sikand he talks about his work and reflects on Indian Muslims and the media. Q: What made you set up TwoCircles.net? What was your source of inspiration? A: I come from a working class family […]
Global Crisis Fuels Protests
As economists in the US warn against the potential for double-digit unemployment, much of the world is already experiencing that reality. In Spain, 200,000 workers lost their jobs in January alone, the most for a single month on record, pushing that country’s unemployment rate to over 14%. Over 9% of workers in the Republic of […]
What Did the Bush Administration Receive for Financing AFL-CIO’s Solidarity Center?
In 1997, the AFL-CIO established the American Center for International Labor Solidarity by merging its four regional institutions that had operated around the world. Solidarity Center stated its mission: “to help build a global labor movement by strengthening the economic and political power of workers around the world through effective, independent and democratic unions.” […]
My Six-year-old Son Should Get a Job: What Is Wrong with the Present Global Economic Order?
I have a six-year-old son. His name is Jin-Gyu. He lives off me, yet he is quite capable of making a living. I pay for his lodging, food, education, and health care. But millions of children of his age already have jobs. Daniel Defoe figured out in the 18th century that children are able to […]
Thailand: Drop Lèse Majesté Charges against Giles Ji Ungpakorn
Academics, Intellectuals and Members of Parliament from around the World Call for Charges against Giles Ji Ungpakorn to be Dropped Academics from U.K, Canada, France, South Africa, Ireland, Australia, South Korea, Greece and the U.S.A., including those from Oxford University and SOAS London University, have signed an open letter calling for charges of lèse majesté, […]
Behind the Myths about Hamas
Most mainstream accounts of the Palestinian Hamas organization present it as a bunch of rabid fanatics, bent on violence and motivated by an irrational hatred of Jews and the state of Israel. This view is reflected both in the mainstream media and in many books published on the topic. When we separate propaganda from reality, […]
The Coronation of the New Emperor
Around the world hundreds of millions of people witnessed the inauguration of the 44th president of the United States (US), or rather the coronation of the new “emperor.” Even at the bottom tip of Africa, it was difficult to escape the scenes of imperial grandeur that beamed across television sets. As was the case with […]
Continuing Gaza Protests, as Seen on Al Jazeera
and unseen on American TV. . . . Demos Call for Closure of US Embassy — Police and Protesters Clash, Awkar (North of Beirut), Lebanon, 19.01.09 Demos in Solidarity with Gaza in Cities of Australia — Sydney Demo, the Largest, Draws 20,000, 19.01.09 Tens of Thousands Protests in Solidarity with People of Gaza, Karachi, Pakistan, […]
