Hakan Ozoglu. Kurdish Notables and the Ottoman State: Evolving Identities, Competing Loyalties, and Shifting Boundaries. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2004. xv + 186 pp. $35.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-7914-5993-5. Identifying Kurdish nationalism as “one of the most explosive and critical predicaments in the Middle East,” the author notes that “the subject regrettably […]
Geography Archives: Asia
Countries in the continent of Asia
The End of the UAW?Interview with Dan La Botz
Play now: Doug Henwood: What’s the likelihood that GM, Ford, Chrysler — all running low on cash, they’re talking about having only a couple of months of money left to keep going — they could enter bankruptcy, wipe out a bunch of their debts, and break those contracts? It could be the effective end of […]
Obama: The American Dream
The American Empire, like other empires in the past, relies on two myths. The first is that, internally, the American system is a meritocracy. “Hard work and enterprise can overcome a disadvantage at birth whereas rich good-for-nothings soon lose their wealth.” The second is that American foreign policy is principled and essentially just. “It is […]
The Meeting with Hu Jintao
I did not want to talk a lot, but he obliged me to expand on things; I asked some questions and, basically, listened to him. His words recounted the feats of the Chinese people in the last 10 months. Heavy and unseasonal snowfall, an earthquake that devastated surface areas equivalent to three times the size […]
Economists’ Letter to Congress in Support of a New Economic Stimulus Package
The Honorable Henry Reid Senate Majority Leader Washington, DC 20510 The Honorable Nancy Pelosi Speaker of the House Washington, DC 20515 The Honorable Mitch McConnell Senate Minority Leader Washington, DC 20510 The Honorable John Boehner House Minority Leader Washington, DC 20515 Dear Sen. Reid, Sen. McConnell, Speaker Pelosi, and Rep. Boehner: We, the undersigned economists, […]
What’s to Be Done about the Auto Industry?
The U.S. Congress will vote this week on what to do about the America’s Big Three automakers — Chrysler, Ford, and GM. GM teeters on the brink of bankruptcy and is screaming for help. The Bush administration does not want to give more than the$25 billion it has already promised to develop more fuel-efficient cars. […]
Oil Prices and Venezuela’s Economy
Introduction The Venezuelan economy has grown more than 94 percent since the current expansion began in the second quarter of 2003.1 The overwhelming bulk of this growth has been in the non-oil sector.2 Throughout most of these five and a half years of unprecedented growth, the economy has often been characterized as an “oil boom […]
South America: Recession Can Be Avoided
Can South America escape the wrath of the economic and financial storms that have their epicenter in the United States? Since the financial meltdown began in mid-September, the bond markets of most of the region (Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Venezuela) have been hit, as well as most of their stock markets and a number of currencies. […]
Tracing the Development of Islamic Criminal Law
Rudolph Peters. Crime and Punishment in Islamic Law: Theory and Practice from the Sixteenth to the Twenty-first Century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005. xi + 219 pp. $30.99 (paper), ISBN 978-0-521-79670-5; $74.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-521-79226-4. In his Crime and Punishment in Islamic Law, Rudolph Peters has provided an excellent, accessible, clearly delineated, […]
India: Fighting Fascism
Last month, the New Delhi-based human rights group Anhad, along with some 90 other organizations, held a two-day national convention on the theme, ‘Countering Fascism: Defending the Idea of India’. It was attended by scores of social activists from various parts of the country. Predictably, it received hardly any mention in the so-called ‘mainstream’ […]
Neoliberalism and Hindutva: Fascism, Free Markets and the Restructuring of Indian Capitalism
Over the 1980s and 1990s we witnessed the simultaneous rise of two reactionary political projects, Hindutva and neoliberalism, to a position of dominance in India. Such a combination is not unusual, in that neoliberalism is usually allied with and promoted by socially reactionary forces (such as the hyper-nationalism of the “bureaucratic-authoritarian” dictatorships in Latin America, […]
Election of Barack Obama: The People’s Victory? Or the Elite’s?
Barack Obama has won. What happens when what appears to be the people’s victory is also the victory of the economic elite? Where is that convergence of interests located? And how long can such a coincidence of interest last? What are the tasks of the left and the social movements in the face of the […]
Myth of the Black-Gay Divide
In the wake of Barack Obama’s historic victory, a false and reactionary narrative has emerged that blames Black voters for the gay marriage ban that passed by a 52 to 48 percent margin in California. While Florida and Arizona also passed same-sex marriage bans, the vote for Prop 8 in the politically progressive state of […]
Saving 7 Billion Environments
As I write this, the most serious economic crisis in 80 years is rolling across the planet. Only time will tell if we are now going into one of history’s U-turns or if it’s all just part of the normal boom-and-bust business cycle. And no one yet knows how badly humanity and the ecosphere […]
Enemy Alien: The Fight to Free Palestinian Activist Farouk Abdel-Muhti
Enemy Alien: The Fight to Free Palestinian Activist Farouk Abdel-Muhti Dir. Konrad Aderer | 70 mins | documentary work-in-progress Discussion with Konrad Aderer, Sharin Chiorazzo, Jane Guskin, Shane Kadidal, Joanne Macri, David Wilson Wednesday, November 12 7:00 pmThe Brecht Forum 451 West Street New York, NY (between Bank and Bethune Streets; take the A/C/E/L to […]
Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow
In the prime of our youth We dreamt of hope Testimonies of a new world Anthems of a new tomorrow A world in which no one Suffered sorrow or knew of hunger On this side there were multitudes On the other the elite On this side the hungry, the naked On the other the treasures […]
I Hope
Will Obama prove, at the helm of government, that his threats of war against Iran and Pakistan were only words, broadcast to seduce difficult ears during the election campaign? I hope. And I hope he will not fall, even for a moment, for the temptation to repeat the exploits of George W. Bush. After all, […]
Obama Picks Bill Ayers as Secretary of Defense!
(PU) Barack Hussein Obama, newly elected President of the People’s Republic of America, today announced his choice of William Ayers, a former leader of the 70s militant antiwar group, the Weather Underground, for U.S. Secretary of Defense. The appointment allays concerns of many peace movement progressives who had feared that Defense Secretary Robert Gates, overseer […]
Developing Countries: Dangerous Times for the Internal Public Debt
Since the second half of the 1990s, the internal public debt of the world’s developing countries has increased significantly. This increase is now reaching alarming proportions in a number of middle-income countries. While some very poor countries have not yet been affected, the historical trend indicates a continuing rise in the debt level for developing […]
Israel’s Man of the Year Eluded Justice
After reading about Israel’s most recent Man of the Year Award recipient, I did not know whether to laugh or cry. It looks like the judging panel at the Israeli television station Channel 2 is in need of a public relations consultant. The recipient of this year’s award was Meir Dagan, the Chief of Mossad, […]
