The Will Miller Lecture, University of Vermont, October 28, 2008 Like many people who do not live around here, and maybe some who do, I had not heard of Will Miller, so, on being invited to be part of the Will Miller Social Justice Lecture series, I went to the organization’s Web site and learned […]
Geography Archives: Asia
Countries in the continent of Asia
Can the Financial Crisis Be Reversed?
Página/12: What is your opinion about the decision of the Treasury Department to consider taking ownership stakes in many United States banks? Do you think this is the right political-economic strategy? I mean, will it lead to the recovery of the system? JBF: The Treasury Department proposal to purchase majority shares in major U.S. banks […]
Real Economy
To reassure myself completely, I visited my banker. He welcomed me with his usual warmth. “Your savings aren’t at risk at all,” he assured me in a firm voice, giving me a big pat on the back. “Having lost 30% of their value since the 15th of September, your various assets add up to 69,990 […]
Financial Crisis Hits Mexico: Social Crisis on the Horizon?
The international financial crisis that originated in mortgages and derivatives in the United States has spread to Europe, Asia, and Latin America, and Mexico will be significantly affected by the crisis. Government, business leaders and analysts say that for Mexico the crisis means: Less foreign direct investment. A decreasing market for its exports. Lower prices […]
Why Japan Clings to the Declining Dollar
Saori Katada* poses a most compelling question: why does Japan continue to denominate so much of its accumulated export earnings in dollars? Katada frames the question slightly differently, asking why Japan has not moved from being a “supporter” of the dollar-denominated currency regime in East Asia to being a “challenger.” But it’s essentially the same […]
Where We Stand: Monthly Review and the Credit Crisis
Sunday afternoon, October 5th, 2008, a moment at the height of a global credit crisis, the like of which has not been seen by anyone under the age of eighty. The time will come when calm has returned, and when we at Monthly Review will point to a record over the last several years of […]
A Primer on Wall Street Meltdown
Flying into New York Tuesday, I had the same feeling I had when I arrived in Beirut two years ago, at the height of the Israeli bombing of that city — that of entering a war zone. The immigration agent, upon learning I taught political economy, commented, “Well, I guess you folks will now be […]
The United States and the World: Where Are We Headed?
This paper was presented at the Alexandre de Gusmão Foundation and the International Relations Research Institute’s (IPRI) “Seminar on the United States” hosted by the Itamaraty Palace (Brazilian Foreign Ministry) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on September 29, 2008. Introduction The United States appears to be embarking on a transition on two major fronts: its […]
The Financial Crisis: Will the U.S. Nationalize the Banks?
The political conflict over the Bush administration’s plan for a bailout of the banks, brought about both by differences with the Democrats and even more intensely with rightwing Republicans, makes it highly unlikely that Congress will be able to pass a bailout plan that can stabilize the financial situation along the lines that Secretary of […]
Confessions of a Recovering Republican
My name is Dan, and I’m a Republican. Though it’s been almost eight years since I voted GOP, the shame and regret haunt me daily. Just the sight of ‘W’ mugging for the cameras on the evening news is enough to fill me with despair. It all started innocently enough. I tried my first shot […]
“Just the Facts”: Interview with Norman G. Finkelstein
Norman Finkelstein is one of the world’s most outspoken and tenacious scholars on the Israel-Palestine conflict, and a fierce critic of the way Israel’s supporters try to wield the memory of anti-Semitism as a baton to beat up on those who criticize the country’s well-documented atrocities. Author of Beyond Chutzpah: On the Misuse of Anti-Semitism […]
Iran, Israel, and the Looming Threat of War
Friends, Enemies, and “Existential” Threats In the ceaseless and invariably bellicose calls for war (both open and clandestine) against Iran, perhaps one argument invoked by pro-war pundits and politicians stands out and takes pride of place above all others: Iran, it is claimed, “poses an existential threat to the state of Israel.” It’s certainly been […]
The Financial Crisis: A View from the Left
Faced with the failure of the financial sector and the possible collapse of the economic system, Republicans and Democrats are working together feverishly to come up with a plan and find the funds to save the American financial system. The Congress that has been unable to provide adequate funding to health, education, housing, public transportation, […]
The New World Geopolitical Order: End of Act I
It would be a mistake to underestimate the importance of the agreement on September 8 between Nicolas Sarkozy of France in his capacity as current president of the European Union (EU) and Dmitri Medvedev, President of Russia. It marks the definitive end of Act I of the new world geopolitical order. What was decided? The […]
Third World: Is Another Debt Crisis in the Offing?
While taking a significant toll on public revenues,1 repayment of the public debt has, since 2004, ceased to be a major concern for most middle-revenue countries and for raw material-exporting countries in general. In fact the majority of governments of these countries are having no trouble finding loans at historically low interest rates. However, the […]
The Making of the 2008 Koshi Disaster
Analytical Monthly Review, published in Kharagpur, West Bengal, India, is a sister edition of Monthly Review. Its September 2008 issue features the following editorial. — Ed. We know that the immediate future holds the certainty of severe climate change, and an ever increasing strain on not only the much publicised issue of reserves of […]
Dealing with Iran’s Not-So-Irrational Leadership
Nothing expresses the widening gap between the mind frames of the Iranian ruling elite and their Western counterparts more than the headlines in their respective newspapers. The American media, above all, have unilaterally resolved the intelligence questions over Iran’s nuclear program. The New York Times leads the pack with articles and even editorials that […]
Pakistan Invades America — “Without Permission”
The U.S. State Department lodged a sharp protest over ongoing Pakistani missile strikes and ground raids today, saying the Islamic Republic was violating American sovereignty. “We will try to convince Pakistan . . . to respect [the] sovereignty of the United States — and God willing, we will convince,” State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack told […]
A Guantanomized Age: The Long Interrogation
Stark images of spectral men — their appearance in bright orange jumpsuits belied by legal invisibility — have been seared into the minds of many Muslims as an index of America’s anger. But, for American Muslims, abuse and disappearance of detainees are not the defining features of the “war on terror.” Eyed by the national […]
The Current Situation of the United States Economy
A Briefing to the Vietnamese Central Committee Delegation, September 11, 2008 The economic situation of the United States today is widely understood to be the most serious since the Great Depression of the 1930s, and not only for this country. So far the actions by the government have been inadequate, late, and do not address […]
