Dietrich Eichholtz. Krieg um Öl: Ein Erdölimperium als deutsches Kriegsziel 1938-1943. Leipzig: Leipziger Universitätsverlag, 2006. 141 pp. ISBN 978-3-86583-119-4; EUR 19.90 (paper), ISBN 978-3-86583-119-4. Dietrich Eichholtz does not mince words. From the first page of this powerfully argued book, his underlying argument is clear: “The imperialist interest in oil played a role in the […]
Geography Archives: Japan
Cinema as a Democratic Emblem1
Philosophy only exists insofar as there are paradoxical relations, relations which fail to connect, or should not connect. When every connection is naturally legitimate, philosophy is impossible or in vain. Philosophy is the violence done by thought to impossible relations. Today, which is to say “after Deleuze,” there is a clear requisitioning of philosophy by […]
Obama’s Guantánamo Appeasement Plan
Two days after his inauguration, President Obama pledged to close Guantánamo within one year. The Republicans, led by Senators John McCain, Mitch McConnell, and Pat Roberts, immediately launched a concerted campaign to assail the new president. They claimed his plan would release dangerous terrorists into U.S. communities and allow released terrorists to resume fighting against […]
The Union Premium
Countless academics have sought to measure the tangible benefits of being a union member. The difference between union and non-union wages, often referred to as the “union premium,” can be calculated in many different ways. It’s a profoundly complex field. . . . Here’s a classic example of the poop one has to wade […]
‘Financialisation’ and the Tendency to Stagnation
John Bellamy Foster and Fred Magdoff, The Great Financial Crisis: Causes and Consequences, New York: Monthly Review Press/Kharagpur, India: Cornerstone Publications, 2009, pp 160, US$12.95/Rs 100. Beginning with the failure of two Bear Stearns hedge funds and the consequent freezing of the high-risk collateralised debt obligations market in June 2007, the financial crisis deepened […]
CAIR’s Humanitarian Mission to Iran for Saberi, Momeni, and Levinson
The current relation between the U.S. and Iran is not pretty; in fact, it is like a roller-coaster ride. This is bad news for Muslims in America and abroad. Iran is bitter over its billions of dollars in frozen assets still in U.S. banks for the last three decades, following the takeover of our embassy […]
The Return of the Shadow
A talk given at a Left Forum panel, April 2009. It’s spring and I’ve been thinking a lot lately about reincarnation. If I’m a good adjunct can I come back as a tenured professor? If I stay a loyal Cub fan, can I come back as a Yankee fan? Actually, it’s political reincarnation that I’ve […]
Why Do the NATO Powers Think That Durban 1 Was a Setback and Fear Another at Durban 2?
1. The title of this note is intentional. Over the past twenty years, the Western powers in a military alliance (NATO) have arrogantly cast themselves as representatives of the “international community” and thus marginalized the United Nations, the only institution qualified to speak in its name. This attitude is now systematic, and, in all international […]
Latin America Changes: Hunger Strikes in Bolivia, Summits in the Caribbean
After Bolivia beat the Argentine soccer team led by legendary Diego Maradona by 6 to 1, Maradona told reporters, “Every Bolivia goal was a stab in my heart.” Bolivia was expected to lose the April 1 match as Argentina is ranked as the 6th best soccer team in the world, and Maradona enjoys godlike status […]
Our Beloved North Korea
あこがれの北朝鮮 Let’s go play in North Korea Merry North Korea North Korea is a good country North Korea is for everyone Kim Il-sung, Kim Jong-il, Kim Hyun-hui, Kim Hye-gyong If you shout, “Hey, Kim” Everyone will turn around Let’s go play in North Korea Our beloved North Korea North Korea is a good country […]
The Making of a Marxist in Capitalist Crisis
Four Lectures on Marxism (Monthly Review Press, 1981). Reprinted by Cornerstone Publications, Kharagpur, West Bengal. ISBN 978-81-88401-17-8. Rs 55. pp 97 Back in the dog days of the Great Depression, “a very bourgeois American first-year graduate student” (as he would describe himself in a letter to a friend decades later) from Harvard landed in […]
Security Council Condemnation of North Korean “UFO” Deepens Korean Crisis
On 13 April (14 April East Asian time), Claude Heller, the Mexican president of the United Nations Security Council read a “Statement” on behalf of the Council. He condemned North Korea for something described as a “launch” it had conducted on 5 April, demanded it desist from any further such act, reaffirmed the principles of […]
Deconstructing Labor: What Is “New” in Contemporary Capitalism and Economic Policies: a Marxian-Kaleckian Perspective
Paper presented at the Congrès Marx International V, Paris-Sorbonne et Nanterre, October 2007 1. Introduction About a decade ago the radical left, both in Italy and elsewhere in Europe, had been gripped by an understanding of contemporary capitalism as based on a three-pronged tendency: ‘globalization’ as an already accomplished state, the ‘end of labor’ due […]
Which Side Are You On? Hakenmura and the Working Poor as a Tipping Point in Japanese Labor Politics
This article analyzes one of Japan’s most widely reported labor stories in recent years. The unusual degree of national attention given to this incident is evidence that the labor question has become a central issue in Japanese politics.1 It also offers insight into critical shifts in the landscape of both labor politics and labor […]
China’s Way Forward? Historical and Contemporary Perspectives on Hegemony and the World Economy in Crisis
2008 — Annus Horribilis for the world economy — produced successive food, energy, and financial crises, initially devastating particularly the global poor, but quickly extending to the commanding heights of the US and core economies and ushering in the sharpest downturn since the 1930s depression. As all nations strive to respond to the financial […]
G20 and Inter-capitalist Conflicts
In the Financial Times of March 31st, Martin Wolf set down a straightforward criterion to evaluate the outcomes of the G20 meeting in London. Will they decide, he asked, to put forward a plan to shift world demand from the countries with a balance of payments deficit to those with a surplus? The underlying reasoning […]
Scholars around the World Express Concerns about Current Crisis in Northeast Asia
Despite some hopeful signs in the last two years, the Korean peninsula is again teetering toward crisis. The Six Party Talks are stymied. Progress toward normalizing relations between the United States and North Korea has stalled. Relations between the two Koreas have deteriorated. In this context, North Korea’s rocket launch this week and the overreaction […]
The Blighted Groves of Academe
The more I read about the state of our colleges and universities, the more thankful I am that I quit my job at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown (UPJ) in 2001, after thirty-two years of teaching. I wrote the following essay a dozen years ago, and since then, matters have gotten progressively worse, […]
The G20 and the HIRCs
A group of seven highly indebted rich countries (HIRC) of the world have organized a meeting of twenty nations in London in order to discuss the future of the world’s finances. They have invited some creditors among developing countries such as Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, some Arab countries, China, and India, leaving aside all the […]
Chávez and Ahmadinejad Call for Breaking Free from Free Trade
The presidents of Venezuela and Iran met on Thursday at the presidential palace in Tehran, where they agreed on the need to make a systemic change that allows countries to break free from free trade and promote fair trade and complementary relations between countries. The president of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, and his Iranian counterpart, Mahmoud […]
