Geography Archives: United States

The US has not supported democratization in Egypt, or really anywhere else in the Middle East, because US policymakers would not like the outcome of democratic processes.  Policies made by governments that are freely elected by the people would not reflect, would not support, let alone enforce, the US polices that are unpopular, whether that’s […]

  Excerpt: In 2010, there were 11 major strikes and lockouts involving 1,000 or more workers and lasting at least one shift, the second lowest annual total since the major work stoppages series began in 1947, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today.  The series low for major work stoppages beginning in a calendar […]

  The Egyptian dictatorship, made in the USA, is still powered by an Israeli battery, but the battery is running low. . . . This cartoon was first published by Al Jazeera; it is reproduced here for non-profit educational purposes.  Cf. Mark Landler and Helene Cooper, “Allies Press U.S. to Go Slow on Egypt” (New […]

Message from WSF 2011 “Neoliberal” globalization, thoroughly bankrupt, is now indeed on the defensive.  It has no legitimacy.  And people in revolt illustrate that.  In Latin America and Nepal, today in Egypt and Tunisia, and tomorrow elsewhere in the South, gigantic popular upsurges are felling regimes that were once at its service. Autocratic regimes are […]

  The 1999 WTO protests in Seattle marked a turning point both for political protest and for the ways in which the state attempts to control it.  Protesters developed new models of organizing (e.g. affinity groups and spokescouncils) and new tactics of direct action.  Governments, in turn, heightened security measures by denying protest permits, surveilling […]

There is much confusion about the current economic situation, among left media and organizations as well as in the mainstream media.  This is certainly understandable given its complexity.  But what many are referring to as causes are symptoms of a deeper underlying problem — in other words, sparks that produced the Great Recession by igniting […]

  Listen to the interview with Michael D. Yates: I know there’s a lot of pent-up anger.  If you take a country like Egypt, where people are suppressed, when they get an opportunity, a real opportunity, like what happened in the wake of the revolt in Tunisia, they will do things, they will take to […]

In 2002 Iran was added to the neoconservative-designed ‘Axis of Evil’ and thus declared ripe for US military intervention. The threat of war in the ‘greatest crisis of modern times’ (John Pilger in the New Statesman, July 12, 2007) was at its height in 2006-2007.  With President Obama assuming office in 2009, a great hope […]

Second Round Will Be between Candidates Who Received around 6.4% and 4.5% Percent Support from Registered Voters in First Round, Respectively Haiti’s democracy and national sovereignty were severely undermined today, Mark Weisbrot, the co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), said today, reacting to news that Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) had […]

It didn’t get much attention in the media, but U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did something quite surprising on Sunday.  After taping interviews on five big Sunday talk shows about Egypt, she then boarded a plane to Haiti.  Yes, Haiti.  The most impoverished country in the hemisphere, not exactly a “strategic ally” or a […]

GEB Statement on Recent Attacks on Civil Liberties On September 24, 2010, the FBI carried out coordinated raids on the homes and offices of fourteen anti-war activists in Minnesota, Illinois and Michigan.  During the raids, the FBI confiscated everything from computers and mailing lists to children’s drawings and photos of Martin Luther King. Ten of […]

Vijay Prashad is a prominent Marxist scholar from South Asia.  He is George and Martha Kellner Chair in South Asian History and Professor of International Studies at Trinity College, Connecticut.  He has written extensively on international affairs for both academic and popular journals.  His most recent book The Darker Nations: A People’s History of the […]

  Amy Goodman: Your feelings today in the midst of this popular rebellion against the Mubarak regime, calling on Mubarak to leave?  Do you agree? Nawal El Saadawi: We are in the streets every day, people, children, old people, including myself.  I am now 80 years of age, suffering of this regime for half a […]

  Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton: We are deeply scared about our empire in the region and slightly embarrassed that we fund the Egyptian security forces to repress their own people, and we call on the 30-year dictatorship in Egypt to do everything in its power to protect our interests. . . .  As […]

Mohammed Ezzeldin: We have two main scenarios now regarding the relation between the people and the army.  We have the Tunisian scenario.  There’s a division in the ruling elites, there is division in the regime, so the army will be neutral: the tanks and soldiers and officers in the streets, they are just maintaining the […]

America’s international standing is under mounting strain on multiple fronts.  Nowhere is this more glaring than in the Middle East, where the balance of influence (and hence power) is shifting away from the United States and toward Iran, Turkey, and their allies.  This trend may, in fact, accelerate as a consequence of ongoing unrest in […]

  A national campaign is now fully launched to make local public sector employees pick up a major share of the costs of economic crisis.  Years of rising spending and falling revenue have carved a path of destruction through federal, state, and local budgets.  Deficits and debts have mounted, eroding taxpayer support for government spending […]

Ahmad Shokr: Well, the scenes right now are quite remarkable. Literally, tens of thousands are taking to the streets amidst a huge security presence. I’m standing in front of a demonstration of at least a few thousand people who have taken over one of the main bridges in Cairo, calling for the ouster of Hosni Mubarak’s regime. They have raised their hands, stating that they’re peaceful protesters, but have been met by a shower of rubber bullets and tear gas.

After his January 12 address at the University of Tucson, Arizona, on the massacre that had took place four days earlier, people awaited with interest for the US president’s speech on the same topic. Six people died and fourteen were injured, including young Democratic congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who was elected to the United States Congress […]

Predictably, the Istanbul talks have ended without positive results.  And, it seems clear that the discussion came to a dead end over two issues: the Islamic Republic wanted explicit recognition of its right to enrich uranium which the United States (at least) was not prepared to do; and the United States proposed a plan for […]