When Colonel Harry Summers told a North Vietnamese counterpart in 1975 that “[y]ou know you never defeated us on the battlefield,” the reply was: “That may be so, but it is also irrelevant.1 News stories surrounding the US invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq proclaimed the arrival of a long-promised “Revolution in Military Affairs” (RMA), a […]
Geography Archives: Lebanon
An “Islamic Civil War”
The war that Western powers — primarily US, Israel and Britain — began against the Islamic world after September 11, 2001 is about to enter a new more dangerous phase as their early plans for “changing the map of the Middle East” have begun to unravel with unintended consequences. Codenamed “the war against terror,” the […]
Confront the Economic Program of Sanioura [Faire face au programme économique de Sanioura]
Le Bureau politique du Parti Communiste libanais a tenu une réunion extraordinaire afin de débattre de la situation économique qui prévaut dans le pays et des mesures prises dernièrement par ce qui reste du gouvernement de Fouad Sanioura en préparation à la troisième conférence qui se tiendra, le 25 janvier, à Paris. Il a publié […]
Exacerbated Sectarian Conflict? Future of Iraqis Increasingly Uncertain [Le conflit confessionnel exacerbé ? L’avenir des irakiens de plus en plus incertain]
Do the last verbal exchanges between Saddam Hussein and anonymous men a few seconds before his execution prefigure a new conflagration of violence between Sunnis and Shi’is in Iraq?
Golem Song: A Conversation with Marc Estrin
Annual Fundraising Appeal Friends of MRZine and Monthly Review! The continuing existence of MRZine and Monthly Review depends on the support of our readers. Unlike many other publications, we make all new Monthly Review articles, as well as MRZine articles, available online, free of charge. We do so without drawing any advertising money at all […]
We Reject Civil War [Nous refusons la guerre civile]
Discours de Sayyid Nasrullah, le 7 décembre 2006 Condoléances à la famille du martyr Ahmad Mahmoud, martyr pour la défense de l’indépendance et la souveraineté du Liban. Les gens du pouvoir ont essayé de susciter la peur chez vous pour vous empêcher de venir sur la place du rassemblement, mais ils ont oublié que vous […]
How Can We Solve the Political Crisis in Lebanon? [Comment résoudre la crise politique au Liban?]
Annual Fundraising AppealFriends of MRZine and Monthly Review! The continuing existence of MRZine and Monthly Review depends on the support of our readers. Unlike many other publications, we make all new Monthly Review articles, as well as MRZine articles, available online, free of charge. We do so without drawing any advertising money at all from […]
Human Rights Watch Must Retract Its Shameful Press Release
Annual Fundraising Appeal Friends of MRZine and Monthly Review! The continuing existence of MRZine and Monthly Review depends on the support of our readers. Unlike many other publications, we make all new Monthly Review articles, as well as MRZine articles, available online, free of charge. We do so without drawing any advertising money at all […]
The Palestinian Scene Is the Mirror of the Relation of Regional Forces [La scène palestinienne est le miroir du rapport de forces régional]
Whoever denies that the division of the Palestinian scene is a function of the relation of regional forces is one who prefers to mouth vain slogans and proves that he does not have the capacity to resist. Some are happy to go on and on about the importance of Palestinian national unity, the unity of […]
One Big Push
A NEW MOMENT It’s a new political moment for the antiwar movement. Washington’s failure in Iraq is undeniable: even Henry Kissinger says a U.S. victory is impossible. The Iraq war was the prime reason the U.S. electorate delivered a huge “thumping” to George Bush on November 7. The administration is openly flailing about for any […]
Empire’s Ally: Canadian Foreign Policy
Since the coming into power of the Stephen Harper Conservative government in January of this year, there has been much gnashing of teeth over the foreign policy stance of Canada. In particular, Canada’s relation with the U.S. on a phalanx of fronts has been at the center of controversy. One has been the softwood lumber […]
Hidden Plots in Lebanon [Hidden Plots in Lebanon]
L’assassinat de Pierre Gemayel, ministre libanais de l’Industrie, est un acte indéniablement terroriste qui intervient à un moment délicat de polarisation politique au Liban. L’empressement de Washington – et certains de ses clients libanais – à désigner la Syrie souligne d’emblée l’enjeu géopolitique de la situation au Liban. Mais cela n’empêche pas de noter, froidement, […]
Reflections on Arab and Iranian Ultra-Nationalism
Critical students of ethnically coded nationalism would agree: propagating the glory of “our” race or culture almost always entails the suppression of equal status for the race or culture that is represented as its other. West Asia is no exception. Iranian and Arab identity politics thwarted, perverted, and dismembered communitarian thinking for long periods in […]
Educating for Equality
Peter McLaren, Rage and Hope: Interviews with Peter McLaren on War, Imperialism, and Critical Pedagogy (New York: Peter Lang, 2006), 394 pages, paper $32.95. “One morning they gave us a guinea pig. It came to the house in a cage. At midday, I opened the door of the cage. I returned home at nightfall and […]
Iran’s Quiet Revolution
The bus rumbled along a highway in southwest Iran, passing a series of anti-aircraft batteries and rickety guard towers before pulling in through a checkpoint to the Bushehr nuclear plant compound. Having anticipated significant difficulties finding, much less nearing, the reactor, I stared in stunned silence at its dome. So much for state secrets. […]
Post-American Geopolitics
I. Three Metropoles, Four Peripheries Many of us on the Left have pondered what would replace the Cold War division of the planet into the First, Second, and Third World. Though the three worlds thesis was arbitrary at best — the social divisions within nation-states are often more significant than the distinctions between nation-states — […]
Tangled Up in the Milieu: An Interview with Max Elbaum, Author of Revolution in the Air
REVOLUTION IN THE AIR: Sixties Radicals turn to Lenin, Mao and Che by Max ElbaumBUY THIS BOOK I first met Max Elbaum in Vermont in 2002 at a conference against the war organized by the Burlington (VT) Anti War Coalition. We had communicated via email and telephone before about his book Revolution in the Air […]
Israel between Two Wars: Olmert, Lieberman, and Washington’s Agenda
Olmert and Lieberman Just what we needed. The government is running hard in order to avoid the appointment of an authentic Judicial Investigative Committee, i.e., one with wide powers. Our Prime Minister is busy preparing himself for investigations into his all “too-successful” real estate deals. His popularity rating hovers at a magnificent 7%. But Ehud […]
To End the Israeli-Arab Conflict [En finir avec le conflit israélo-arabe]
Nous appelons, alors que le Moyen-Orient est plongé dans sa crise la plus grave depuis des années, à une action urgente de la part de la communauté internationale en vue d’un règlement global au conflit israélo-arabe. Nous sommes tous perdants dans ce conflit, à l’exception des extrémistes, qui prospèrent à travers le monde en exploitant […]
Lebanon: Reflexions and Lessons [Liban: Réflexions et Leçons]
Face à l’évènement, certains veulent faire supporter à la Résistance tout le poids de cette guerre. C’est endosser l’erreur. La grande majorité des analystes politiques internationaux savent que cette guerre était prévue à courte échéance, avec ou sans prétexte ; Israël ne manque pas d’en créer au besoin. Souvenons-nous de l’invasion de 1982 : […]
