“Un esercito segreto contro di noi ma gli sciiti sapranno resistere” BAGDAD – Si sente braccato e si nasconde. Non dorme mai più di una notte nello stesso letto. Qualcuno dei suoi fedelissimi gli ha già voltato le spalle. Ha perfino trasferito la famiglia in un luogo segreto. Moqtada al Sadr sente che la fine […]
Geography Archives: Middle East
Lebanon: The General Strike [Liban: La grève générale]
L’opposition libanaise qui cherche à intensifier sa campagne destinée à faire chuter le gouvernement de Fouad Siniora, a appelé samedi à la grève générale à compter de mardi 23 janvier 2007. “L’opposition en appelle à sa base populaire pour permettre une intensification de son mouvement de protestation pacifique et démocratique et appelle les Libanais à […]
A Counter-Revolution in Military Affairs? Notes on US High-Tech Warfare
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 […]
The Limits of Abolitionism: British Imperial Policy in Egypt
“We cannot admit rivals in the East or even the central parts of Africa . . . to a considerable extent, if not entirely, we must be prepared to apply a sort of Munro [sic] doctrine to much of Africa.” — Lord Carnarvon1 The original Monroe Doctrine initiated in 1824 prevented European interference in the […]
Somalia: A History of US Interventions
There’s a woman — some call her “Black Hawk Down” lady — who lives in a packed, squalid neighborhood in the middle of Mogadishu and runs a rather simple but grisly museum. For under a dollar, visitors can view her prized possession, the mangled, mud-splattered nose of a US Black Hawk helicopter that was […]
Leveraging the Academy: Suggestions for Radical Grad Students and Radicals Considering Grad School
Romanticized, demonized, celebrated, denounced — among activists in the United States and Canada, academia is all of these things. It is a gate-keeping institution that shapes and is shaped by relations of power and privilege. It is a site of intense struggle: those who are structurally excluded battle for access, while those who study there […]
The Iraq War and America’s Economic Imperialism
Several weeks ago, with much media fanfare, the James Baker-Lee Hamilton Committee submitted to President George W. Bush its long-awaited, bipartisan report on the U.S. war in Iraq. On balance, the report provided Bush with a face-saving strategy for pulling out all U.S. combat forces by the beginning of 2008. The Baker-Hamilton report favors an […]
If Not Now, When?
Passing the grim marker of 3,000 U.S. troops killed in Iraq briefly focused Americans’ attention on the war. But we live in a big country with lots of malls. To be sure, the death of 3,000 soldiers is tragic and sickening, yet we are a nation of over 300 million and most families have not […]
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 […]
Nadia Cherabi, Producer-Director: A Regard for the World and Human Beings [Nadia Cherabi. Productrice-réalisatrice: Un regard sur le monde et les êtres
Aussitôt achevées ses études de sociologie, elle s’est précipitée sur le cinéma. Sans doute achevée pour y trouver des moyens vivants d’interroger notre société et de porter un regard sur les choses mais surtout les êtres, mettant en valeur ceux qui émergent en dépit des modèles formatés. Vous vous êtes signalée par un docu-fiction sur […]
SEIU Members Push Their Union to Change Its Position on Immigration
Members of the Service Employees (SEIU) in Northern California are demanding just immigration reform. That’s not too surprising. For the past two decades, SEIU has been one of organized labor’s strongest advocates for immigrant rights. This campaign, however, pits SEIU members not against anti-immigrant employers or politicians, but against their union’s top officials. Dubbing their […]
Interview with Heinz Dieterich: “In Venezuela, Conditions for Building Socialism of the 21st Century Have Been Created” [Entrevista a Heinz Dieterich “En Venezuela se han creado condiciones para construir el Socialismo del Siglo XXI”]
P. Profesor Dieterich, ¿Usted inventó el concepto “Socialismo del Siglo XXI”? R. Sí. Lo elaboré a partir de 1996. Fue publicado junto con la teoría correspondiente en forma de libro, a partir del 2000 en México, Ecuador, Argentina, Centroamérica, Brasil, Venezuela y, fuera de América Latina, en España, Alemania, la República Popular de China, Rusia […]
The Freedom House Files
“Freedom House is an independent non-governmental organization that supports the expansion of freedom in the world.” — Freedom House Freedom House is a small but influential organization based in Washington and New York with more than 120 offices around the world and an annual budget of US$19 million.1 Calling itself “America’s oldest human rights group,” […]
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?
Execution of Saddam Hussein
Was it only two days ago that we read the exultant news stories and saw the frenzied TV news coverage of the execution of Saddam Hussein? I know that I had to turn off CNN in revulsion as the evening progressed. President Bush took time off from his chainsaw assaults on the underbrush of his […]
A Threnody for Harry
GLADYS: Harry had a wonderful life! PERCY: And he had a wonderful death, too! GLADYS: We arrived in Burlington, Thursday evening, December 29th to be with Harry. Taking care of Harry, in addition to his son Fred and daughter-in- law Amy, was his devoted home helper and amanuensis, Joan Ladoucer. I was with Harry, […]
3,000 Lights for 3,000 Killed in Iraq
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 […]
“A Vote of Conviction Is Now Impossible. One Can Vote Blank or for Ségolène Royal”: An Interview with Michel Onfray, Philosopher and Supporter of a Single Candidate of the Anti-Liberal Left [“Un vote de conviction est désormais impossible. On peut voter blanc ou Ségolène Royal” Entretien avec Michel Onfray, philosophe et partisan d’une candidature unique de la gauche antilibérale]
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 […]
The Death Penalty in a Poshlust Culture of Victims
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 […]
