The world appears to be on the verge of an economic crisis and, if it turns out to be as serious as some think, one that could rival or exceed the great panics of the late nineteenth century and the decade-long Great Depression. The crisis began with unscrupulous mortgage lending on an enormous scale, leading […]
Geography Archives: Asia
Countries in the continent of Asia
US Navy’s Expeditionary Strike Group Threatening Lebanon and Syria
The recent beefing up of the US Navy in the Mediterranean has caused concern in Russia and some Mediterranean countries. Experts believe the appearance of US warships off the coast of Syria and Lebanon presages a US military operation in the region. The recent deployment of the US Navy guided missile destroyer DDG 67 […]
Afghanistan: Why Canada Should Withdraw Its Troops
This Thursday the House of Commons passed a Confidence Motion put forward by the Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper to extend the Canadian mission in Kandahar, Afghanistan to December 2011 past the current commitment to 2009. With the support of the Liberal Party (breaking their previous position of a call for a […]
An Open Letter to All Feminists: Statement of Solidarity with Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim Women Facing War and Occupation
As feminists and people of conscience, we call for solidarity with Palestinian women in Gaza suffering due to the escalating military attacks that Israel turned into an open war on civilians. This war has targeted women and children, and all those who live under Israeli occupation in the West Bank, and are also denied […]
Cracks in the Edifice
Left Forum 2008 Each spring in New York City, Left Forum gathers intellectuals and activists from around the world to address the burning issues of our times. The theme for 2008 is “CRACKS IN THE EDIFICE.” We will examine the context of an empire in the throes of collapse and discuss the possibilities for social […]
The U.S. Occupation of Iraq at the Pivot
Max Elbaum will be on two panels at Left Forum 2008: “The State of the Anti-War Movement” and “Looking Back, Looking Forward: The Legacy of ’68.” — Ed. WAR/PEACE AT THE PIVOT If the U.S. can be forced to withdraw completely from Iraq, many more positive changes become possible. But if the U.S. continues its […]
Eliminate Two-Tier Workplaces
This statement/call was provided by the Center for Labor Renewal co-convenor Jerry Tucker, who will be the moderator of the CLR-organized “Reorganizing the Working Class” panel at Left Forum 2008. — Ed. Statement & Call for the Elimination of Two-Tier Workplaces On Saturday, January 26, 2008, over 80 U.S. and Canadian auto industry worker-activists met […]
End of Japan’s National Development State for Higher Education
Introduction Japan’s vast higher education system has around 5,000 institutions. This includes a tertiary level of about 1,300 government-approved, degree-awarding colleges and universities. Seven hundred forty-five of these are designated as ‘daigaku,’ a term which refers to any institution that has received government sanction to award four-year degrees equivalent to a baccalaureate. These four-year […]
East Timor’s Crisis The Strangest Yet
East Timor’s latest crisis is the strangest yet. The shoot-out that left president Jose Ramos Horta in intensive care, and killed the charismatic rebel Major Alfredo Reinado, is still unexplained. At first they told us it was a coup attempt by Reinado’s forces, disaffected ex-soldiers who had come from their hiding places in the hills […]
Lift the Siege on Gaza!
Let’s pretend for a moment that Israel and not Gaza is under siege by its Arab neighbors. The Arabs are preventing all food supplies, medicine, and fuel from reaching starving Israelis. The reason given: Israel’s refusal to accept the Arab peace initiative (land for peace). What would America and the rest of the world do? […]
Carl Oglesby’s Ravens in the Storm
Carl Oglesby was once the president of the original Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). Before that, he was working for a defense contractor. His last project with the company was to develop a method of delivering Agent Orange so that it would cover the Vietnamese jungle (and the humans therein) with the chemical as […]
Can I Have My Change Back? Arab-Americans and Obama’s False Hope
At what point does an individual stop supporting the lesser of two evils? The question became particularly important this primary race, as one man ascended to political stardom ostensibly breaking free from the evils of mainstream politics and creating a platform based on hope and change. This transcendent figure is presidential hopeful Barack Obama. Searching […]
2008: The Demise of Neoliberal Globalization
The ideology of neoliberal globalization has been on a roll since the early 1980s. It was not in fact a new idea in the history of the modern world-system, although it claimed to be one. It was rather the very old idea that the governments of the world should get out of the way of […]
Indianismo and Marxism: The Missed Encounter of Two Revolutionary Principles
This important article by Álvaro García Linera, now Vice President of Bolivia, was first published in 2005. It traces the contradictory evolution of the two most influential revolutionary currents in the country’s 20th century history and argues that Marxism, as originally interpreted by its Bolivian adherents, failed to address the outstanding concerns of the indigenous […]
Putting the U.S. Economic Crisis in Perspective
It is time to take stock. The centrality of the American economy to the capitalist world — which now literally does encompass the whole world — has spread the financial crisis that began in the U.S. housing market around the globe. And the economic recession which that financial crisis has triggered in the U.S. now […]
The Dollar and US Hegemony: Suspended in Air
Once again, speculation about a dollar crash abounds. The hegemonic roles of the US currency and economy have repeatedly been called into question since the 1970s. Skeptics saw each major economic downturn and depreciation of the dollar as the beginning of the end of US hegemony. In defiance of the often predicted decline, the US […]
Good Time Charlie’s War
George Crile (Charlie Wilson’s War, 2003) credits the Houston Congressman with convincing House Members to overcome their valid doubts and keep funding Zia ul Haq. Members knew in 1979 that the Pakistani dictator had overthrown and murdered President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (Benazir‘s father), that his human rights record was abominable, and that he fostered a […]
Reply to Stephen Zunes on Imperialism and the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict
Are there valid reasons to question the ICNC’s role in contemporary U.S. imperialism? We think so.
Biofuels, BP-Berkeley, and the New Ecological Imperialism
British Petroleum, Beyond Petroleum . . . Biofuel Promoter, Biosphere Plunderer. Regardless of what the BP abbreviation actually stands for, one thing is clear: this oil giant knows a good deal when it sees one. For a relatively small financial contribution, BP appropriates academic expertise from a leading public research institution, founded on 200 years […]
After Bali: Time for a Different Kind of Climate Politics
“We are ending up with something so watered down there was no need for 12,000 people to gather here in Bali to have a watered-down text. We could have done that by email.” — Dr. Angus Friday, Chair of the Alliance of Small Island States In a narrow and formal sense, last month’s Climate Change […]
