In the wars currently waged on the backs of the Arab revolutions, one particular term stands out in the lexicon of Arab politicians and their columnist and media acolytes: the phrase “convergence of interests,” which has made a big comeback. In Tunisia, liberals of the worst kind, and Islamists of the opportunist variety, have […]
Geography Archives: Russia
Syria: BRICS Have Good Reasons to Oppose U.S. and Europe at UN Security Council
There has been a lot of hand-wringing and moralizing about the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) blocking a resolution in the UN against the government of Syria last week. China and Russia used a rare double veto as permanent members of the Security Council, and the other three abstained. “During this […]
Before October: The Unbearable Romanticism of Western Marxism
Most Western Marxists suffer from a deep resentment: they have never experienced a successful communist revolution. For some unaccountable reason, all of those successful revolutions have happened in the ‘East’: Russia, Bulgaria, Romania, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland, China, Vietnam and so on. And none of the few revolutions in the ‘West’, from Finland to Germany, […]
Figuring ‘It’ Out, Putting ‘It’ to Use
As I have understood the task at hand, the editors of Aneek expect me to respond to the question: Is ‘Maoism’ in India an authentic application of ‘Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong Thought’? Frankly, I am not comfortable with such a positing of the question for it seems to suggest one “correct” interpretation of ‘Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong Thought’ […]
Unions Join “Occupy Wall Street”: Interview with Mike Elk
Mike Elk: There are a number of comparisons between the two [the “Arab Spring” and Occupy Wall Street]. In the protests in the Middle East you had people protesting for a number of reasons. . . . They are driven largely by social media, and then institutional actors like unions and other groups start joining […]
The Terrorist Attack in Syria
Grand Mufti of Syria Sheikh Ahmad Badr Eddin Hassoun On October 2, near the University of Ebla in Idlib province, gunmen shot dead the son of the Grand Mufti of Syria Sheikh Ahmad Badr Eddin Hassoun — Saria Hassoun, a student of the university. A victim of the attack also was Professor Mohammad al Omar. […]
Germany’s Euro Trilemma: Interview with Yanis Varoufakis
Yanis Varoufakis is a prestigious economist who heads the Department of Economic Policy at the University of Athens. From 2004 to 2007 Varoufakis served as economic adviser to George Papandreou. Author of several books on Game Theory, Varoufakis is also a recognized speaker and often appears as guest analyst for news media such as the […]
The New Scramble for Africa
Is current U.S. foreign policy in Africa following a blueprint drawn up almost eight years ago by the right-wing Heritage Foundation, one of the most conservative think tanks in the world? Although it seems odd that a Democratic administration would have anything in common with the extremists at Heritage, the convergence in policy and […]
On the Regime and the Opposition in Syria
Despite my very negative position on the regime for private and public reasons, the truth is that the regime is very strong, and neither the outside nor the inside were able to make it change its usual stances. This strength does not come from a vacuum. The regime has a broad popular base that […]
Special Declaration of the ALBA-TCP Foreign Ministers on the Situation of Libya and Syria
The Foreign Ministers of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America, meeting in Caracas, Venezuela on 9 September 2011, recalling the Special Communiqué of the Political Council on 4 March 2011 and the Special Communiqué of the Ministerial Social Council on 19 March 2011, condemns the NATO intervention in Libya and its illegal […]
Outcome of the Visit to Syria by a Mission of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
In August a UN OCHA Mission visited Syria to assess humanitarian needs in the country stemming from the ongoing crisis there. The Mission included staff from several UN institutions and humanitarian agencies (UNHCR, UNICEF, WHO, WFP, IOM, etc.). The Syrian authorities provided the Mission unimpeded access to all objects of interest. The UN officials […]
Syria: What Kind of Revolution?
The Syrian uprising which erupted nearly six months ago seems to be settling into a dangerous deadlock with neither side — the regime or the opposition — willing to budge from its stated position. The daily toll of deaths and injuries climb ever higher with no resolution in sight. The regime seems insistent on […]
Syria: Testing Time
Syria remains relatively calm as efforts to destabilise its government through orchestrated attacks by rebels fail. Life in the Syrian capital, Damascus, seems to be continuing as normal. The streets and the mosques are crowded after the devout break their Ramazan fast in the evening. The security presence is minimal. In fact, there are […]
The Neocolonization of Libya: Interview with Aijaz Ahmad
Aijaz Ahmad: . . . Europeans, and Italians in particular, are celebrating the 100th anniversary of their first aerial bombing ever done in the world. The Italians bombed in Libya in 1911. Now, of course, with 100 years of development of the technology, there have been 20,000 aerial attacks on Libya. . . . They […]
George Monbiot and the Guardian on “Genocide Denial” and “Revisionism”
On Tuesday, June 14, the Guardian of London published “Left and Libertarian Right Cohabit in the Weird World of the Genocide Belittlers.”1 In this nearly 1,100-word commentary, the British writer George Monbiot attacked the two of us (among others) as “genocide deniers” and “revisionists” for our writings on the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. Monbiot also […]
Corruption and Party Politics in the Late Soviet Period
Luc Duhamel. The KGB Campaign against Corruption in Moscow, 1982-1987. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2010. 312 pp. $26.95 (paper), ISBN 978-0-8229-6108-6. Luc Duhamel’s study of an extensive anticorruption campaign in Moscow in the mid-1980s is riveting. At multiple levels, this work provides new information and perspectives on a period of stalemate, factional competition, […]
Alaeddin Boroujerdi and Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh on What Iran Wants from Russia
Russia Should Pressure U.S. to Lift Anti-Iran Sanctions: MP Russia should pressure the United States to lift the sanctions imposed on Iran, Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Chairman Alaeddin Boroujerdi said on Friday. “The Islamic Republic of Iran has so far taken important steps in order to create transparency concerning its peaceful […]
The Key to Progress in Nuclear Diplomacy with Iran
We have long argued that there will not be a diplomatic resolution to the Iranian nuclear issue without explicit recognition — from the United States and other Western countries, first of all — of the Islamic Republic’s right to the full range of civil nuclear technologies and activities, including uranium enrichment. Two recent developments affirm […]
Regarding the Situation in Syria: “We Do Not Share the US and EU Point of View concerning President Bashar al-Assad”
Comment by Press and Information Department of Russian Foreign Ministry on a Question from Interfax News Agency Regarding the Situation in Syria Question: Please comment on the calls of US President Barack Obama and EU High Representative for Foreign Policy Catherine Ashton for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down. Answer: Our position on the […]
Looking Back for Insights into a New Paradigm
It is becoming widely acknowledged that the leading ideas of some of the most prestigious late-20th-century economists (such as Alan Greenspan and Lawrence Summers in the American government) are outmoded and that a new paradigm of economics is needed. Part I of this essay will focus on two issues which we think it has to […]
