The US allegation of an Iranian government plot to assassinate the Saudi Ambassador in Washington is meritless as a matter of law, principally due to the egregious flaws and inexplicable discrepancies in the (amended) complaint in a federal court in Manhattan.
Geography Archives: United States
An Open Letter to Greg Mankiw
Wednesday November 2, 2011 Dear Professor Mankiw — Today, we are walking out of your class, Economics 10, in order to express our discontent with the bias inherent in this introductory economics course. We are deeply concerned about the way that this bias affects students, the University, and our greater society. As Harvard undergraduates, […]
Prison vs. Princeton
It costs the state of New Jersey more money to hold a prisoner for one year than to fund one Princeton student’s tuition. Here’s an overview of the disturbing trend of prioritizing prison over higher education in the US. PublicAdministration.Net was created as an online informational resource for individuals looking to pursue public administration-related […]
The Time for Action Is Now
“In 1969, a group of black and Puerto Rican students occupied City College demanding the integration of CUNY, which at the time had an overwhelmingly white student body. The occupation spread to other CUNY campuses, forcing the Board of Trustees to implement a ground-breaking new admissions policy.” Such occupations also occurred in the 1980s […]
Capitalism and Environmental Catastrophe
John Bellamy Foster and Fred Magdoff at Occupy Wall Street. Photo by Carrie Ann Naumoff This is a reconstruction from notes of a talk delivered at a teach-in on “The Capitalist Crisis and the Environment” organized by the Education and Empowerment Working Group, Occupy Wall Street, Zuccotti Park (Liberty Plaza), New York, October 23, 2011. […]
Obama Administration Escalates Confrontation with Iran: Why?
The Obama Administration announced two weeks ago that a bumbling Iranian-American used car salesman had conspired with a U.S. government agent posing as a representative of Mexican drug cartels to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in Washington. This brought highly skeptical reactions from experts here across the political spectrum. But even if some of this tale […]
Interview with Salim Lamrani: “The Economic Sanctions against Cuba Constitute the Principal Obstacle to the Development of the Country”
Salim Lamrani. État de siège; les sanctions économiques des États-Unis contre Cuba(State of Siege: The United States’ economic sanctions against Cuba). Prologue by Wayne S. Smith. Preface by Paul Estrade. Paris, Editions Estrella, 2011. 15 euros. CSF: You’ve just published a new book under the title État de siège. What exactly do you cover […]
Footage of Scott Olsen Being Shot by Police at Occupy Oakland
This footage is proof that Scott Olsen was shot in the face by police without provocation during the Occupy Oakland march on Tuesday, October 25. The moment leading up to the shooting, Olsen was standing completely still. He was then hit in the head with a tear gas canister, which is potentially fatal. Also, […]
Israel: Social Activists Gear Up for Mass Rally in Tel Aviv and Other Cities
Protest leaders prepare for demonstrations next Saturday, October 29, across Israel, turning up the heat following the government announcement of an electricity price hike. After being put on the back burner for the past few weeks, the social protest is slowly turning up the heat following the recent electricity price hike announced by Israel’s neo-liberal […]
Occupied Japan and Occupying Wall Street
1) Not long ago I heard a writer claim that her publisher had demanded that the word “manifesto” be replaced in the title of her novel. This is an Asian American woman who is feisty and strong-willed and political, who during readings calls out “blond boys” for flaunting the privileges of their maleness and their […]
15O: Global Indignation
The 15th of October (15O) was the first coordinated global response to the crisis, signifying the emergence of a new international movement. Initially inspired by revolutions in North Africa, through emulation and imitation, protests began in the periphery of Europe. The Mediterranean world thus found itself situated in the epicenter of a new wave of […]
The Vampire Squid Turns to Education
In his Republic, Plato analogized elites to guard dogs who must be educated as to whom they must guard against and whom they must protect. One of Plato’s nightmare scenarios was a ruling class that lost the ability to make this distinction and turned wholly predatory on its sustaining population. Enter our present-day banking […]
Occupy Wall Street and the Celebrity Economists
The Occupy Wall Street movement has transfixed the nation. In just a few weeks, it has spread from Manhattan to hundreds of towns and cities, and it has now taken root in other countries. It has focused the widespread anger that we feel toward a tiny group of extraordinarily rich individuals (the 1%) who […]
A Moment of Awakening
The camp has grown since people dropped their tents on Saturday evening, amidst a hail of police batons and riot shields. By Wednesday, you could count well over 100 tents outside St Paul’s Cathedral. ‘People’s Assemblies’ are conducted on a daily basis, where suggestions for improvements are put forward. Khalil Gibran, Jeremy Scahill and George […]
The Assassination of Gaddafi
The news of the killing of Colonel Gaddafi in the battle to take Sirte marked one more episode in this NATO war in Libya and North Africa. The killing has all of the hallmarks of a coordinated assassination, synchronised between NATO aircraft and forces on the ground. The reports are that Gaddafi was attacked when […]
Why We Occupy, What We Know
Occupy Eugene rally, 15 October 2011 We are here as part of the Occupy Wall Street movement, which in a few short weeks has become a global movement in hundreds of cities around the world. We are part of the 99 percent not only in this country but the world. I have been reading the […]
John Bellamy Foster at Occupy Eugene
At the rally for Occupy Eugene, 15 October 2011 Photo by Rob Sydor Photo by Mickey Stellavato John Bellamy Foster is the editor of Monthly Review. He is the author of What Every Environmentalist Needs to Know about Capitalism(with Fred Magdoff), The Ecological Rift, The Ecological Revolution, The Great Financial Crisis, Marx’s Ecology, Ecology […]
Iranian “Plots” and American Hubris
Calls by Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary Hillary Clinton to “unite the world in the isolation of and dealing with the Iranians,” in response to an alleged Iranian plot to kill Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador in Washington, reflect a hubristic misapprehension of reality. The Obama Administration mistakenly believes it can exploit the accusations for strategic […]
How to Make an Ecosocialist Revolution
Meetings such as this play a vital role in building a movement that can stop the hell-bound train of capitalism, before it takes itself and all of humanity over the precipice. Building such a movement is the most important thing anyone can do today — so I’m honored to have been invited to take part […]
Understanding the Capitalist Economic Crisis
John Bellamy Foster: Economic crises are functional to the system in that a crisis helps capital readjust its imbalances, disproportions, as Marxian theories often say, and it sets the basis for a renewed period of expansion. So, regular business-cycle crises . . . help the system. . . . But, in addition to cycles . […]
