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Resistance on the Mexican “Riviera”: The Zapatistas Visit Manzanillo, Colima
The view south-east across the bay from the hills of Las Hadas, the hotel zone in Manzanillo is especially beautiful in the evening as the sun sets and the white painted hotels and restaurants stretching for several miles sparkle in the sun, behind the curving beach. It’s a major Pacific port for Mexico and […]
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What Is behind the Bush “Oil Addiction” Remark in the “State of the Union” Speech?
Much is being made of George W Bush’s road-to-Damascus conversion on the need for alternative energy. “America is addicted to oil, which is often imported from unstable parts of the world,” Bush said in the annual State of the Union speech given by US Presidents at the beginning of the year. Enthusiasts for renewable energy […]
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Powerful Evasion
While it isn’t literally true that Emperor Nero fiddled while Rome burned (the violin wasn’t invented yet), he did build himself a glorious new palace atop the ashes. And he was one of the prime suspects in the great arson of 64 a.d. According the Roman historian Suetonius, “under cover of displeasure at the ugliness […]
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Cuba and the Lessons of Katrina
What explains why the “dictatorial regime” of Fidel Castro can do a vastly better job of saving the lives of its citizens from hurricanes while the “democratic” government in Washington has proven to be so apparently inept? In 2004, Hurricane Ivan, a category five storm, slammed Cuba with devastating force. Yet there was not […]
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New Links for the Global Left?
Continuing turmoil in Germany since the elections on 18 September 2005 suggests a turning point in European politics, with implications for global politics: the European Left may have finally ceased its steady retreat. It all began with stunning election results, so stunning that even normally glib liberal commentators seem to be taken aback. The German […]