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Rainbow of Crisis
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17 February 2009, by Phyllis Bennis
RISE OF THE RIGHT
In its recent elections Israel has witnessed the rise of the right, the extreme right, and the fascist right. -
17 February 2009, by PATRICK COCKBURN
The Greatest Fraud in US History?
In what could turn out to be the greatest fraud in US history, American authorities have started to investigate the alleged role of senior military officers in the misuse of $125bn (£88bn) in a US (…) -
17 February 2009, by Pierre BEAUDET
The chain broke at the weakest link
Last time we talked, you said that out of this crisis we will see more directive oversight by capitalist states, and we might even see something you called “the social-democratisation of (…) -
16 February 2009, by Derrick O’Keefe
Obama: Imperialism with a Human Face
With President Obama set to visit Ottawa this Thursday, Feb. 19, renowned writer and anti-war campaigner Tariq Ali shares his thoughts on the new administration’s foreign policy. In his recently (…) -
15 February 2009, by Sergio Yahni
Irish Trade Unions Launch Boycott
The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) launched a report on Israel and Palestine compiled by senior members who visited the troubled region. Trade unionists are to launch a boycott of Israeli (…) -
15 February 2009, by BRIAN M. DOWNING
On the Brink
Pakistan might collapse. It faces regional insurgencies, political failures, rising Islamism (in the public and army alike), and reprisals from India over the Mumbai attacks of last November. The (…) -
12 February 2009, by John PILGER
Obama – The politics of bollocks
Supporters of the new US president refuse to admit that the “man of change” is, in fact, changing very little. It’s time the Obama lovers grew up. Growing up in an Antipodean society proud of (…) -
11 February 2009, by Sergio Yahni
Elections Results
Avigdor Liberman demands that citizenship will depend on loyalty The elections to the 18th Israeli Knesset were called due to multiple corruption cases connected to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. (…) -
11 February 2009, by Walden Bello
The Coming Fury
As goods pile up in wharves from Bangkok to Shanghai, and workers are laid off in record numbers, people in East Asia are beginning to realize they aren’t only experiencing an economic downturn (…) -
11 February 2009, by Joost R Hiltermann
After the Elections
The Iraqi local elections were held on 31 January 2009, with 440 seats being contested in fourteen of the country’s eighteen provinces. The results, most of which were released on 5 February, (…) -
10 February 2009, by Pierre BEAUDET
The endless war: challenge and opportunities
When George W. Bush declared the endless war back in September 2001, the world was taken aback. However, retroactively, it becomes apparent that it did not start on that fatidic date. For years (…) -
10 February 2009
After Gaza
What are the larger implications of the current ceasefire between Gaza and Israel and why do you think it happened right now? The timing of the cease-fire agreement has two reasons. One, a (…) -
9 February 2009, by NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD
Strong Indications of Israeli War Crimes
We are a delegation of 8 American lawyers, members of the National Lawyers Guild in the United States, who have come here to the Gaza Strip to assess the effects of the recent attacks on the (…) -
9 February 2009
Gaza And Its Aftermath
For more than three weeks, starting December 27th, Gaza and its 1.5 million people bore the brunt of a massive Israeli military campaign, supported and abetted by the US government. While Israel (…) -
9 February 2009, by Siddharth Varadarajan
ICC should prosecute Israeli leaders for Gaza
With Palestine accepting the International Criminal Court’s jurisdiction, Israel should realise there is a price to pay for committing war crimes -
8 February 2009, by Naomi Klein
Public Revolt Builds Against Rip-off Rescue Plans for the Economy
Watching the crowds in Iceland banging pots and pans until their government fell reminded me of a chant popular in anti-capitalist circles in 2002: "You are Enron. We are Argentina." Its (…) -
8 February 2009, by Tauseef-ur-Rahman
Militarization and Talibanization
Who are Taliban and what is their agenda in the Swat valley? Afrasyab Khattak: The extremist insurgency in Swat is not an isolated phenomenon; it is connected with the militancy that has its (…) -
6 February 2009, by PATRICK COCKBURN
The Iraqi Elections
The Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, who seemed weak and isolated a year ago, appears to have won a sweeping victory in the Iraqi provincial elections that will strengthen his hold on (…) -
4 February 2009, by Mustafa Barghouthi
“…and he stood steadfast before Goliath.”
What is Steadfastness? When I was asked about Palestinian identity, one idea kept coming to mind. I wondered how this idea would translate into English, and I was told that it would be (…) -
3 February 2009, by RANNIE AMIRI
Gaza and the Crimes of Mubarak
As staggering as the statistics detailing Gaza’s destruction may be, they still do not present a complete picture of the unique travesties and tragedies suffered by individuals, families, (…) -
2 February 2009, by Robert P. BRENNER and Seongjin JEONG
On the Current World Crisis
SEONGJIN JEONG Most media and analysts label the current crisis as a ‘financial crisis’. Do you agree with this characterization? ROBERT P. BRENNER It‘s understandable that analysts of the (…) -
1 February 2009
No Change
January 24, 2009 — Press TV: Professor Chomsky, we better start with Pakistan. The White House not commenting on the killings of people [in cross-border drone attacks from Afghanistan into (…) -
31 January 2009, by Abu Yusef
The Myth of Disengagement
‘Gaza is a prison; and Israel seems to have thrown away the key.’ John Dugard, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights In 2004, former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announced to the world (…) -
31 January 2009, by Mouin Rabbani and Chris Toensing
Palestine: The Continuity of Obama’s Change
President Barack Obama’s campaign pledge that his administration would begin working for peace in the Middle East from its first day in office is one that he almost met. On January 21, a mere 24 (…) -
31 January 2009, by Reidar Visser
A Litmus Test
Former Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari arrived in Basra on January 24. His mission in the southern oil port was to stump for his Reformist Front, a breakaway faction of the Da‘wa Party of (…) -
29 January 2009, by NORMAN FINKELSTEIN
Behind the bloodbath
Early speculation on the motive behind Israel’s slaughter in Gaza that began on 27 December 2008 and continued till 18 January 2009 centered on the upcoming elections in Israel. The jockeying for (…) -
26 January 2009, by Noam Chomsky
Obama on Israel-Palestine
Barack Obama is recognized to be a person of acute intelligence, a legal scholar, careful with his choice of words. He deserves to be taken seriously - both what he says, and what he omits. (…) -
26 January 2009, by Michel Warshawski
Israeli Attacks: Both Reckless and Failed
One single, solitary thing will be noted to Ehud Barak’s credit: in contrast to many others, he did not dub the bullying rage of the Israeli army in Gaza as a “war”, but made due with the term (…) -
26 January 2009
Why the Gaza disaster is not 3 weeks old and has not stopped along with the bombs
Following the latest Israeli aggression on Gaza that started late December 2008, the eyes of the world have been opened to the reality of the daily lives of the people of Gaza; or the reality that (…) -
26 January 2009, by Gabriel KOLKO
Understanding Gaza
How will history describe the Israeli war against the Palestinians in Gaza? Another Holocaust, this time perpetrated by the descendants of the victims? An election ploy by ambitious Israeli (…) -
25 January 2009, by Robert Fisk
Arab peoples will not forget
The front page of the Beirut daily As-Safir said it all yesterday. Across the top was a terrible photograph of the bloated body of a Palestinian man newly discovered in the ruins of his home while (…) -
24 January 2009, by Walden Bello
The end of an era
MANILA, Jan (IPS) As the US recession drags Asia down, there has been much speculation about a regional response to the crisis. Seemingly lending substance to this have been a trilateral summit of (…) -
23 January 2009
How to confront a genocidal war
Interview with Sergio Yahni, Program Director of the Alternative Information Center (AIC) and member of Alternatives International Governance Board. -
23 January 2009, by Michel Warshawski
Israeli Attacks on Gaza: Both Reckless and Failed
Michael Warschawski One single, solitary thing will be noted to Ehud Barak’s credit: in contrast to many others, he did not dub the bullying rage of the Israeli army in Gaza as a “war”, but (…) -
22 January 2009, by Noam Chomsky
“Exterminate all the Brutes”: Gaza 2009
On Saturday December 27, the latest US-Israeli attack on helpless Palestinians was launched. The attack had been meticulously planned, for over 6 months according to the Israeli press. The (…) -
21 January 2009
“Resistance Should be our Strategic Choice”
What is going on in the West Bank in relation to the Israeli attack on Gaza? Why is the reaction not so strong? The reaction in the West Bank is strongly affected by the internal Palestinian (…) -
20 January 2009, by Abu Yusef
This Unilateral Cease-Fire is no Cease-Fire at all
What has been sold to the international community as a show of Israeli mercy - in the form of a ceasefire - is only one more political ploy by Israel’s soon-to-be-criminally-indicted leadership. -
20 January 2009, by KEVIN ALEXANDER GRAY
Time for a New Divestment Campaign
Barack Obama’s inauguration coming as we celebrate of Martin Luther King Day predictably draws linkages between the two. Many use Obama’s election to claim a realization of the “dream.” Others (…) -
19 January 2009, by Haim Baram, Hagada Hasmalit
Components of Power: An Israeli’s Argument Against the Attack on Gaza
During the entire week I read a majority of the responses in the major (Hebrew language) websites and the letters to the editor in the three major Israeli newspapers. There were sensitive and (…) -
18 January 2009, by Jonathan Cook
The Plot Against Gaza
Israel has justified its assault on Gaza as entirely defensive, intended only to stop Hamas firing rockets on Israel’s southern communities. Although that line has been repeated unwaveringly by (…) -
17 January 2009, by Ramzy Baroud
A New Middle East Indeed
As Israel unleashed its military fury against Lebanon for several weeks in July-August 2006, it had one major objective: to permanently ‘extract’ Hezbollah from the South as a fighting force, and (…) -
16 January 2009, by Gilbert Achcar
Beyond the crisis
Daniel Finn: What do you think are the chief goals of Israeli strategy at present in their assault on the Gaza strip? Gilbert Achcar: Well that’s a complicated question actually, because there (…) -
15 January 2009, by Alternative Information Center
Emergency, Humanitarian Aid to Gaza Strip Counterproductive without Political Aid
The Israeli military assault on the Gaza Strip has resulted in the deaths of hundreds, injury of thousands and long-term physical and psychological harm to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. (…) -
15 January 2009, by Khaled Hroub
Hamas after the Gaza war
"The Palestinians must be made to understand in the deepest recesses of their consciousness that they are a defeated people", said Moshe Yaalon, the then Israel Defence Forces (IDF) chief-of-staff (…) -
14 January 2009, by Sergio Yahni
Israelis and the Israeli War on Gaza
We could explain this position as an expression of the colonial ideology that feeds Zionism. However, this explanation represents Israeli society as being homogenous and devoid of contradictions, (…) -
14 January 2009, by NORMAN FINKELSTEIN
The facts about Gaza
The record is fairly clear. You can find it on the Israeli website, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website. Israel broke the ceasefire by going into the Gaza and killing six or seven Palestinian (…) -
13 January 2009, by JONATHAN COOK
The «Third stage»
As Israel rejected the terms of the proposed United Nations ceasefire at the weekend, Israeli military analysts were speculating on the nature of the next stage of the attack on Gaza, or the (…) -
11 January 2009, by Issam Aburaiya
The colonial war
The slaughterhouse that the Israeli army is creating in the Gaza Strip is part of a colonial war. Original artwork for the AIC by Yussef Katalo The slaughterhouse that the Israeli army is creating (…) -
8 January 2009
Solidarity Movements On the Go
Since Israel commenced military attacks against the Gaza Strip on 27 December 2008, international civil society has mobilised against these war crimes. Groups with differing political, religious (…) -
5 January 2009, by Shiv Hever
War of the Tunnels—Economic Aspects of the Israeli Attack on Gaza
Irrational War? As the massive bombardment of the Gaza Strip continues into its second week, onlookers may wonder about Israel’s short memory and how little Israeli leaders have learned from (…) -
5 January 2009, by Abu Yusef
The Inevitable War?
Yesterday, news agencies world-wide were waiting with baited breath. ‘Will Israel invade the Gaza Strip?’ they asked, ‘or will the government consider a brief ceasefire?’ Personally, I am not (…) -
5 January 2009, by Gideon Levy
And there lie the bodies
The legend, lest it be a true story, tells of how the late mathematician, Professor Haim Hanani, asked his students at the Technion to draw up a plan for constructing a pipe to transport blood (…) -
4 January 2009, by Ilan Pappe
Israel’s righteous fury and its victims in Gaza
My visit back home to the Galilee coincided with the genocidal Israeli attack on Gaza. The state, through its media and with the help of its academia, broadcasted one unanimous voice — even louder (…) -
4 January 2009, by Sergio Yahni
Before the Next Stage
Destroyed homes following an Israeli air strike on the Rafah refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip. The stated objective of Israel’s offensive on Gaza is to force Hamas to accept Israeli (…) -
4 January 2009, by Corey Balsam
The Lebanonization of Gaza
If it seems like Israel is treating Gaza much like it has treated Lebanon in the past, that’s because it is. Over 400 killed, over 2000 injured in only a couple of days—these are proportions that (…) -
4 January 2009, by Azmi Bishara
Israel can be defeated
In an escalation of the ongoing attacks against the Palestinians of the Gaza Strip, Israeli ground forces entered into the Gaza Strip on the evening of 3 january 2009. *There is continuity between (…) -
3 January 2009, by GRAHAM USHER
Where the Generals and the ISI Draw Their Lines
On December 7 security forces in Pakistan Kashmir (PK) closed a camp linked with Lashkar-e-Taiba (LT), the Pakistan militant group India says was behind the killings in Mumbai. The government then (…) -
2 January 2009, by URI AVNERY
Molten Lead in Gaza
Just after midnight, Aljazeera’s Arabic channel was reporting on events in Gaza. Suddenly the camera was pointing upwards towards the dark sky. The screen was pitch black. Nothing could be seen, (…) -
2 January 2009, by MERIP Editors
Cast Lead in the Foundry
A stopped clock, the saying goes, is right twice a day. The "senior Bush administration official" who chatted with the Washington Post on December 28 was right that Israel is "not trying to take (…) -
30 December 2008, by Paul Rogers
America’s 2009 world: change and continuity
The United States’s security policy under Barack Obama may be less of a departure from that of his predecessor than many hope. The Barack Obama administration which will take effect after the (…) -
30 December 2008, by Mustafa Barghouthi
Palestine’s Guernica and the Myths of Israeli Victimhood
The Israeli campaign of ’death from above’ began around 11 am, on Saturday morning, the 27th of December, and stretched straight through the night into this morning. The massacre continues Sunday (…) -
29 December 2008, by Michel WARSCHAWSKI
Israeli Massacre in Gaza—Last Moment before Obama and Israeli Election Spin
"The death of one Israeli victim justifies the killing of a hundred Palestinians. One Israeli life is worth a hundred Palestinian lives. This is what the Israeli State and the world media more or (…) -
29 December 2008, by Connie Hackbarth
Violence as Policy for Israel in the Gaza Strip
Palestinian wounded following Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip Early in 1989, Defence Minister Yitzhak Rabin ordered Israeli soldiers to break the Palestinians’ bones in order to quell the (…) -
29 December 2008, by Phyllis Bennis
THE GAZA CRISIS
VIOLATIONS OF INTERNATIONAL LAW The Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip violate important tenants of international humanitarian law, including violations of the Geneva Conventions. The (…) -
29 December 2008, by Dan Freeman-Maloy
Israeli Slaughter, International Culpability
There is every reason to be outraged. But despite the severity of Israeli atrocities in Gaza, we have little right to act surprised. Whatever else can be said, Israel has made it abundantly clear (…) -
28 December 2008, by Walden BELLO
The Coming Capitalist Consensus
Not surprisingly, the swift unraveling of the global economy combined with the ascent to the U.S. presidency of an African-American liberal has left millions anticipating that the world is on the (…) -
28 December 2008, by Michel WARSCHAWSKI
Suspend Israel from the international institutions! Indict Barak, Livni and Olmer for war crimes!
140 dead, after the first hour of the criminal Israeli attack on the civilian population of Gaza. “It is just the beginning” said Israeli senior officials, vowing to continue the air strikes on (…) -
17 December 2008, by John PILGER
Beware of Obama’s Groundhog Day
One of the cleverest films I have seen is Groundhog Day, in which Bill Murray plays a TV weatherman who finds himself stuck in time. At first he deludes himself that the same day and the same (…) -
16 December 2008, by WAJAHAT ALI and AHMED RASHID
Indian Muslims
Although the smoldering fires from the Mumbai attacks illuminate hateful violence, the spread of Islam in India came at the benevolent, inclusive hands of Sufi Muslims instead of the oppressive (…) -
14 December 2008, by ROY Arundhati
The monster in the mirror
The Mumbai attacks have been dubbed ’India’s 9/11’, and there are calls for a 9/11-style response, including an attack on Pakistan. Instead, the country must fight terrorism with justice, or face (…) -
13 December 2008, by Pierre Rousset
Solidarity vs. the infernal spiral of terrorism
The terrorist attack on Mumbai (Bombay) on the night of November 26-27 led to nearly 200 deaths and 300 wounded. The attention of the Indian and international media was above all concentrated on (…) -
13 December 2008, by Sergio Yahni
Shame
On 6 December, Israeli settlers desecrated a Palestinian cemetary in Hebron during riots over the forced removal of settlers from a Palestinian home in the city. On the eve of the sixtieth (…) -
10 December 2008, by GHADA KARMI
The UN Resolution That Time Forgot
Sixty years ago, on 11 December 1948, the United Nations General Assembly passed an important resolution about Israel and the Palestinians. It called on the newly formed Israeli state to (…) -
9 December 2008, by Mahmood Mandani
What Lessons?
It is hard to think of a figure more reviled in the West than Robert Mugabe. Liberal and conservative commentators alike portray him as a brutal dictator, and blame him for Zimbabwe’s descent into (…) -
8 December 2008, by Nicola Nasser
The other coup d’etat
On 23 November, PA President Abbas convened the rubber stamping Fatah-dominated Central Council of the PLO in the West Bank city of Ramallah to elect him also President of the State of Palestine. (…) -
2 December 2008
After the bloodbath
We are deeply shocked and horrified at the bloody mayhem in Mumbai, which has claimed more than a hundred and ninety lives and caused grievous injuries to several hundred people, besides sending a (…) -
2 December 2008, by Daya Varma
TERRORISM AND SECURITY
The Indian Prime Minister is being chastised by all kinds of people from Hindutva leader Advani to leftists for not providing adequate security. Making all of India like the present day Kashmir (…) -
2 December 2008, by AYESHA IJAZ KHAN
Is Pakistan to Blame?
Watch Indian television and Pakistan is decidedly the culprit of the atrocious 26/11 attacks in Mumbai. Star News projects cartoon images of Muslim terrorists receiving training in Pakistan. (…) -
2 December 2008, by Claudio Katz
A crash course in capitalism
The seism on Wall Street has surprised the world Establishment. At the summits of power, panic and alarmist declarations dominate. Everyone is absorbing an event which could be the beginning of a (…) -
30 November 2008, by Saul Landau
Response to poverty and empire: denial
In the 1970s, Martin Agronsky, a weekend talk show host in Washington, finally invited the venerable I.F. (Izzy) Stone to join the establishment “pundits.” From the early 1950s through the early (…) -
29 November 2008, by Tarik Ali
Operation Enduring Disaster
Afghanistan has been almost continuously at war for 30 years, longer than both World Wars and the American war in Vietnam combined. Each occupation of the country has mimicked its predecessor. A (…) -
29 November 2008, by Mustafa Barghouti
A year after Annapolis
Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi MP, the Secretary General of the Palestinian National Initiative, held today press conference to mark the first year anniversary of the ‘Annapolis Peace Process’. -
27 November 2008, by BHATTACHARYA Dipankar
On Mumbai Terror Strike
The terror strike last night on Mumbai’s most prominent landmark locations including luxury hotels and the biggest and busiest railway station in the city has already claimed more than 100 lives. (…) -
26 November 2008, by Sam Gindin
The Financial Crisis: Notes on Alternatives
Over the last quarter century, the left in most of the developed world has been marginalized as a social force. The ’culture of possibilities’ for left alternatives has correspondingly narrowed. (…) -
25 November 2008, by Tarik Ali
M I R A G E O F T H E G O O D W A R
Rarely has there been such an enthusiastic display of international unity as that which greeted the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. Support for the war was universal in the chanceries of the (…) -
23 November 2008, by Daya Varma, Feroz Mehdi and Vinod Mubayi
The Threat of Fascism
Though not commonly recognized, India is in the midst of a battle between democracy and fascism. The process started with Advani’s Rath Yatra leading to the demolition of Babri Masjid followed by (…) -
23 November 2008, by Samir Amin
Financial collapse, systemic crisis ?
The financial crisis could not be avoided The violent explosion of this crisis did not surprise us; I mentionned it a few months ago while the conventional economists were ignoring its coming (…) -
21 November 2008, by Richard Tanter
The Coming Catastrophe
By virtually every measure, the war in Afghanistan is getting much worse for both the western coalition and for the Afghan civilian population. The strategic benefits are minimal to non-existent, (…) -
20 November 2008, by Gérard Prunier
Dynamics of conflict
An eruption of war and displacement in east-central Africa is rooted in the complex recent politics of an unsettled region, explains Gérard Prunier -
19 November 2008, by FRANKLIN LAMB
Who Will Evict Israel from Lebanon?
"We, as Lebanese, are here to confirm that we cling to freeing every grain of our soil. We will not abandon the great national cause, which is the continuation of the liberation of our land. The (…) -
18 November 2008, by Aijaz Ahmad
Obama Presidency And Some Question Marks
That the toxic years of the Bush administration are about to end is a great relief. And, we need not dwell on the obvious historical importance of an African-American getting elected President of (…) -
16 November 2008, by Dan LA BOTZ
World’s Labor Federations React to Financial Crisis with Proposals from Re-regulation to Socialism
Labor unions around the world have reacted to the financial crisis and the economic recession with words and actions reflecting their national experience, their political ideology, and their (…) -
16 November 2008, by Naomi Klein
In Praise of a Rocky Transition
The more details emerge, the clearer it becomes that Washington’s handling of the Wall Street bailout is not merely incompetent. It is borderline criminal. -
14 November 2008, by Gareth Porter
Obama Pressured to Back Off Iraq Withdrawal
WASHINGTON, Nov 12 (IPS) - The promotion of Robert M. Gates as President-elect Barack Obama’s secretary of defence appears to be the key element in a broad campaign by military officials and their (…) -
12 November 2008, by Michael T. Klare
Obama’s Toughest Challenge
Of all the challenges facing President Barack Obama next January, none is likely to prove as daunting, or important to the future of this nation, as that of energy. After all, energy policy — so (…) -
11 November 2008, by JEFF HALPER
The Fates of Americans and Palestinians are Deeply Intertwined
Even before the voting began, Israeli politicians and pundits were asking: Will an Obama Administration be good for Israel? “Be good for Israel” is our code for “Will the US allow us to keep our (…) -
11 November 2008, by Walden BELLO
How to Spend the Honeymoon – The first 100 days of Obama’s presidency
It came together spontaneously, the rally at Lafayette Park across from the White House, even before the concession speech by John McCain. The crowd was multiracial, but the vast majority was (…) -
11 November 2008
The time has come: Let’s shut down the financial casino
“Disarm the markets!” When Attac was founded in 1998, this slogan was formulated against the background of the financial crash in East Asia. In the meantime, we have witnessed other crises (…) -
9 November 2008, by Tarik Ali
Great Expectations
Barack Obama’s victory marks a decisive generational and sociological shift in American politics. Its impact is difficult to predict at this stage, but the expectations of the majority of young (…) -
9 November 2008, by Dan LA BOTZ
Election of Barack Obama: The People’s Victory? Or the Elite’s
Barack Obama has won. What happens when what appears to be the peoples’ victory is also the victory of the economic elite? Where is that convergence of interests located? And how long can such a (…)