Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s May 21 announcement that Israel and Syria will soon begin indirect negotiations in Istanbul, mediated by the Turkish government, should not have surprised anyone. As Olmert told the Israeli daily Ha-Aretz (May 22, 2008), “exchanges [with Syria] have been ongoing for a long time.” What seems to have changed is […]
Geography Archives: Iraq
Gone with the “W”
Hillary Rodham Clinton was not a liberal, but the news media seldom realized it when surrounded by campaign placards and press kits, as a throng of reporters in the Oval Office were on this bright, cold day in January 2009. “Fiddle dee dee, I can’t tell you people apart,” chirped Hillary, her blue eyes fluttering […]
Lessons the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars Hold for the War in Iraq?
David A. Bell. The First Total War: Napoleon’s Europe and the Birth of Warfare as We Know It. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2007. x + 420 pp. Illustrations, maps, notes, bibliography, index. ISBN 978-0-618-91981-9. The concept of “total war” is not a new one to historians, particularly those of the twentieth century. For many, the […]
In Lebanon, the Spectre of Peace
Hezbollah is the big winner in the accord on Lebanon signed in Doha, Qatar. But everyone — including Washington — is welcoming this asymmetrical compromise. Why? Hard bargaining is underway. . . . In the Middle East, neither the worst nor the best is ever certain. But what happened in Doha, the capital of Qatar, […]
So Much for the Success of the Surge
The relative decline in violence in Iraq that Bush, McCain, and other supporters of the war have attributed to the “surge” appears to have reversed. Al Qaeda and others in the Sunni resistance began stepping up their attacks at the beginning of the year and Moqtada Al Sadr’s Mahdi Army has been battling US and […]
CPR for the Anti-War Movement
It is fair to say that the anti-war movement in the US is moribund. A movement that put a million people in the streets a month before the invasion of Iraq in 2003 and has drawn as many as half-a-million protesters to protests as recently as January 2007 has failed to mobilize anything even near […]
Iran: The Evil State versus the Good People?
Marjane Satrapi’s film Persepolis must have made George Bush and his new ally Nicolas Sarokzy quite happy. After all, despite Satrapi’s rhetoric against the two leaders, her film’s core argument is one that Bush and Sarkozy have long been busy constructing: the evil state versus the wonderful people. Aesthetically, Persepolis is a refreshing and beautiful […]
On the Fortuitous Poverty of Memory
On May 17, 1987, a double act of Exocet missiles skimmed through the air and slammed into the American Perry-class frigate the USS Stark. The first Exocet antiship missile punched into the warship “at 600 miles per hour and exploded in the forward crew’s quarters.” The warhead failed to detonate but managed to smash through […]
Palestinian Refugees inside Israel Itself
It has been a week of adulation from world leaders, ostentatious displays of military prowess, and street parties. Heads of state have rubbed shoulders with celebrities to pay homage to the Jewish state on its 60th birthday, while a million Israelis reportedly headed off to the country’s forests to enjoy the national pastime: a barbecue. […]
India’s Emerging Food Security Crisis: The Consequences of the Neoliberal Assault on the Public Distribution System
Analytical Monthly Review, published in Kharagpur, West Bengal, India, is a sister edition of Monthly Review. Its May 2008 issue features the following editorial. — Ed. Today, but few can recall memories of the Bengal famine of 1943 and 1944. Most disturbingly, after almost two decades of “reform” and a full decade or more […]
House Excludes Countries with Ties to Iran from Debt Relief Bill
Last month, the US House of Representatives amended foreign debt relief legislation to exclude countries with “business interests with Iran.” The bill, titled the Jubilee Act for Responsible Lending and Expanded Debt Cancellation (HR 2634), is intended to provide low-income countries relief from debts owed to the United States and international financial institutions. The bill […]
Santa Cruz Autonomy Campaign Is Lynchpin to Destroy Latin American Progress
On Sunday, May 4, 2008, I joined two dozen progressive activists marching in a circle in front of the Bolivian embassy. Thanks to our spirited presence, 150 or so right-wing Bolivians from the province of Santa Cruz were unable to get in front of the embassy to demonstrate in favor of the autonomy referendum […]
What Kind of War Does Neoliberalism Make?
James A. Tyner. The Business of War: Workers, Warriors, and Hostages in Occupied Iraq. Burlington: Ashgate Publishing Company, 2006. viii + 152 pp. Bibliography, index. ISBN 978-0-7546-4791-1. In The Business of War, James A. Tyner provides an engaged and readable synthesis of scholarship and informed polemic produced in response to the Anglo-American invasion and occupation […]
Global Economic Crisis: Interview with John Bellamy Foster
The current global financial crisis is said to originate with a few dodgy “sub-prime” mortgages made by US banks to poor people. Yes, the financial crisis that began in late 2007 is associated with the collapse of the sub-prime mortgage market. But that is just one aspect of a much larger financial crisis and that […]
Vermont Peace Activists Occupy General Dynamics Weapons Plant
On May 1st, International Workers’ Day, ten peace activists in Burlington, Vermont entered General Dynamics and locked themselves together in the main lobby of the building in protest against the company’s weapons manufacturing and war profiteering. University of Vermont student Benjamin Dube, one of the dozens of other activists present at the event, leaned out […]
Longshore Workers Are Standing Down at West Coast Ports:”We’re Standing Up for America, We’re Supporting the Troops, and We’re Telling Politicians That It’s Time to End the Iraq War Now!”
(SAN FRANCISCO, CA) More than 25,000 longshore workers at 29 west coast ports are exercising their First Amendment rights today by taking a day off work and calling for an end to the war in Iraq. “Longshore workers are standing-down on the job and standing up for America,” said ILWU International President Bob McEllrath. “We’re […]
Iraq Debacle: Ending It Tied to Engagement with Iran
This time the message was delivered by the Pentagon’s own premier educational institute. The opening line of a report released April 17 by the National Institute for Strategic Studies read: “Measured in blood and treasure, the war in Iraq has achieved the status of a major war and a major debacle.” The document goes on […]
May Day 2008 Statement from the Iraqi Labour Movement to the Workers and All Peace-loving People of the World
April 29th, 2008 On this day of international labour solidarity we call on our fellow trade unionists and all those worldwide who have stood against war and occupation to increase support for our struggle for freedom from occupation — both the military and economic. We call upon the governments, corporations and institutions behind the ongoing […]
Hillary Clinton: A Threat to World Peace
The shameful exposition by the American presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton of her genocidal intentions towards Iranians was tragic proof of the dehumanizing impact of warmongering on an elite Western mind. It is said that humanity is the first casualty of war, and this has been made starkly clear, not only by the murderous boasting of […]
France Back in NATO? Is This for Real?
Nicolas Sarkozy has gone out of his way to sound pro-American. He made a special visit in 2007 to Kennebunkport to have a cozy meeting with George W. Bush. Since neither spoke the other’s language, they must have had translators. So perhaps I might be allowed to try to translate what has been going on. […]
