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A Jewish Glasnost
Winning the “hearts and minds” of the civilian population, according to counterinsurgency field manuals, is key to defeating the resistance. It is a lesson that imperialists learned a long time ago, but one that they seldom put into practice, let alone successfully impart to their clients. Israel’s attack on Gaza is a case in point. […]
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Who’s Telling the Truth About Iran’s Nuclear Program?
Since February 2003, Iran’s nuclear program has undergone what the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) itself admits to be the most intrusive inspection in its entire history. After thousands of hours of inspections by some of the most experienced IAEA experts, the Agency has verified time and again that (1) there is no evidence […]
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Back to the Future: Latin America’s Current Development Strategy
The text below is composed of short excerpts (abstract, introduction, conclusion) from Esteban Pérez Caldentey and Matías Vernengo, “Back to the Future: Latin America’s Current Development Strategy,” International Development Economics Associates Working Paper No. 07/2008. The full text of “Back to the Future” is available (in PDF) at <networkideas.org/working/dec2008/07_2008.pdf>. — Ed.
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Statement of Joel Kovel Regarding His Termination by Bard College
Joel Kovel holds the Alger Hiss chair in social studies at Bard College and is the author of Overcoming Zionism among other titles. He has recently been informed by the college that his contract will not be extended beyond July 1. In the statement below, he argues that the termination is due to his […]
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The Iranian Revolution and the US Policy of Dual Containment
2009 marks the 30th anniversary of the Iranian Revolution. The Revolution ended a symbiotic relation between the US and the Shah, whereby the latter helped to sustain the economic and political interests of the US in the Persian Gulf region and the former helped to preserve the rule of the Shah. Since the end of […]
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SEIU-UHW Workers Speak Out on Andy Stern’s Trusteeship
Andy Stern’s SEIU is pouring in millions of dollars to take over the UHW, ousting its leadership. The first part of the video shows the rank and file of the 150,000-member local, as well as their ousted president Sal Rosselli, speaking out against Stern’s trusteeship; in the second part, Steve Zeltzer interviews former UHW organizer […]
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The Financial Crisis and the Real Economy: Beyond the Keynesian Fix
The end of eight years of neoconservative belligerence in the White House came with a financial crisis exacerbated by decades of neoliberal economic policies. As a result of this coincidence, the ideological winds in the United States are blowing powerfully to the left. The possibility of another great depression looming over the economy,1 left-wing and […]
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Afghanistan and the Soviet Withdrawal 1989: 20 Years Later
Washington D.C., February 15, 2009 — Twenty years ago today, the commander of the Soviet Limited Contingent in Afghanistan Boris Gromov crossed the Termez Bridge out of Afghanistan, thus marking the end of the Soviet war which lasted almost ten years and cost tens of thousands of Soviet and Afghan lives. As a tribute […]
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Human Rights Watch Goes to War
The Middle East has always been a difficult challenge for Western human rights organizations, particularly those seeking influence or funding in the United States. The pressure to go soft on US allies is in some respects reminiscent of Washington’s special pleading for Latin American terror regimes in the 1970s and 1980s. In the case […]
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A Call to End All Renditions
Binyam Mohamed, an Ethiopian residing in Britain, said he was tortured after being sent to Morocco and Afghanistan in 2002 by the U.S. government. Mohamed was transferred to Guantánamo in 2004 and all terrorism charges against him were dismissed last year. Mohamed was a victim of extraordinary rendition, in which a person is abducted without […]
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Palestinian Opinions after the Gaza War
Fatah and Hamas The results of the public opinion poll conducted by the Jerusalem Media and Communications Center (JMCC) during the period 29-31 January 2009 show that the majority of respondents (46.7%) believed that Hamas came out of the war victorious compared with only 9.8% who said that Israel won the war. Over one-third, 37.4%, […]
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Interview with Mohammed Nafa’h, Secretary General of the Communist Party of Israel
“Supporting the Palestinian people’s struggle for self-determination is a duty of Israeli communists.” The Communist Party of Israel (CPI) and its front Hadash (Democratic Front for Peace and Equality) were the only political forces in Israel that confronted the massacre perpetrated by the Tzahal (IDF), the Israeli armed forces, in Gaza last January. Regrettably, […]
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The Crisis of Global Capitalism and the Environment: Interview with John Bellamy Foster, Editor of Monthly Review and Professor of Sociology, University of Oregon, for Eleftherotypia (Greece)
CP: After twenty-five years of sporadic growth and extreme polarization of income and life conditions around the world, actually existing neoliberalism seems to be on the verge of collapse. Where do you situate the current crisis in the history of the development of global capitalism? JBF: Neoliberalism has clearly collapsed. But as Fred Magdoff […]
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Indian Muslims and Media: Interview with Kashif ul-Huda
34 year-old Kashif ul-Huda runs TwoCircles.net, the leading Indian Muslim news and features web site. In this interview with Yoginder Sikand he talks about his work and reflects on Indian Muslims and the media. Q: What made you set up TwoCircles.net? What was your source of inspiration? A: I come from a working class family […]
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Stories Jews Were Told: Israel, Zionism, and Palestine
What is the story American Jews have been told about Israel and Zionism, and how does it differ from the reality of what happened in Palestine? Like many American Jews, I was told by my teachers at Hebrew School and in the Jewish Day School I attended that the creation of Israel meant that Jews […]
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Prophetic Verse
please keep in mind as you prepare to pass sentence you may at some time be in need of a presidential pardon and I may, understandably, be reluctant to grant it. Dennis Brutus is a South African poet. Active against Apartheid, he was arrested in 1963 and imprisoned for 18 months on Robben Island. After […]
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Israel: The Left vs. the New Left
Hadash released a great set of four election commercials today, which feature conversations between a supporter of Meretz and a supporter of Hadash, “The Left vs. the New Left.” You can see the clips here. My favorite is the one on the Gaza war, which you can watch here in Hebrew. The Leftie stutters […]
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Pass the Stimulus — Then Help Shorten the Work Week
As job losses hemorrhage, the American economy is in desperate need of a stimulus. It is becoming increasingly clear that Congress must work rapidly to approve some version of President Obama’s plan. Then, Obama and the Congress should very quickly turn to taking a second, temporary step to create more jobs: creating incentives for companies […]
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Cries of Ghosts across Centuries
Babylon has fallen, has fallen Yea, Babylon has fallen Woe! Woe! Woe! Towers that soared into clear blue are at blocks of stone settled into earth all gone, all shattered ground into scattered dust Babylon has fallen, has fallen Yea, Babylon has fallen Woe! Woe! Woe! Now hordes of warring barbarians literate, skilled in killing […]
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Free Palestine! Isolate Apartheid Israel!South African Dock Workers Refuse to Handle Israeli Goods
COSATU and PSC launch Week of Action for Palestine supported by YCL and other progressive organisations In a historic development for South Africa, South African dock workers have announced their determination not to offload a ship from Israel that is scheduled to dock in Durban on Sunday, 8 February 2009. This follows the decision by […]