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Rainbow of Crisis
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14 September 2008, by Yael Berda
The «Peace Industry»
We have become a sexy conflict. Perhaps we always were. Maybe it is the Americans and their 9/11-Bin Laden complex, or the awareness of human rights that rises with the increasing number of (…) -
13 September 2008
Balance-sheet of U.S. imperialism
THE DISASTER that marks the end of the Republican administration of George W. Bush reinvigorates the discussion of the status of the United States, whether it is a “hyper?power” or in decline. Can (…) -
12 September 2008, by NOAM CHOMSKY
Towards a Second Cold War?
Aghast at the atrocities committed by US forces invading the Philippines, and the rhetorical flights about liberation and noble intent that routinely accompany crimes of state, Mark Twain threw up (…) -
11 September 2008, by Pierre BEAUDET
«Let us Unite» ...
1) I feel very proud to address all of you as the first elected Prime Minister of the Republic of Nepal. I would like to express my sentimental homage and the highest respect to all of the (…) -
10 September 2008, by Syed Saleem Shahzad
Why the Talibans are advancing
Kandahar has traditionally been the city of Afghan royalty, warlords and the center of resistance movements against the British and Russia. It was also the spiritual heartland of the student (…) -
10 September 2008, by Michel Warshavski
“Citizen Azmi” Without Citizenship?
Former Member of the Israeli Knesset, Azmi Bishara, of the Balad Party, is threatened with loss of his Israeli citizenship and a cessasation of his pension payments as a former member of (…) -
9 September 2008, by Naomi Klein
New Orleans: The City That Won’t Be Ignored
The early results are in: Hurricane Gustav has helped John McCain’s bid for the White House. This is nothing short of incredible. -
8 September 2008, by TARIQ ALI
The Godfather as President
Asif Ali Zardari — singled out by fate to become Benazir Bhutto’s husband and who, subsequently, did everything he could to prevent himself from being returned to obscurity — will soon become the (…) -
8 September 2008, by Luisa Morgantini, Vice President of the European Parliament.
European Parliament Resolution Asks for the Release of Palestinian Parliamentarians Detainees
A European Parliament resolution asks for the release of Palestinian Parliamentarians detained by Israel, including the former leader of Fatah’s Tanzim military wing, Marwan Barghouti, who has (…) -
4 September 2008, by Mohan Baidya
The Indian ruling class behaves with ‘big brother’ arrogance
How do you analyse the present political situation of the country? The situation of the country is still in the condition of semi-feudal and semi-colonial. There is still the (…) -
4 September 2008, by Benjamin Dwyer
The Lesser of Two Evils? Obama, McCain and the Question of US Policy Regarding Israel
After a long and tortured primary season, Barack Obama, the junior Senator from Illinois, took the Democratic Party nomination for US president from Hilary Clinton, who many thought likely to (…) -
3 September 2008, by Sergio Yahni
The Global War Revisited: Implications of Israel’s Changing Role in Neo-Conservative Pre-Emptive War Policies
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and U.S. President George W. Bush at Israel’s Ben Gurion International Airport during January, 2008. Israel’s unsuccessful invasion of Lebanon in the summer of (…) -
3 September 2008, by VIJAY PRASHAD
The Left and the Indo-US Nuclear Deal
In the 2004 general election, the Indian electorate denied the intransigent right-wing power over the State. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance lost out to the (…) -
2 September 2008, by Jeff Halper
"We are the oppressors"
In an interview with The Electronic Intifada, Jeff Halper, the Israeli-American director of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, discussed the ongoing Israeli siege on the Gaza Strip (…) -
1 September 2008, by Mustafa Barghouthi
Olmert curbs Palestinian rights
Oslo has entered its final, tragic-comic stage. The onus now is to ensure Olmert’s planned dénouement does not become a reality, writes Mustafa Barghouti* -
31 August 2008, by Connie Hackbarth
No Game in Town
With all sides openly acknowledging, privately and even publicly, that the Annapolis process has failed in its promise to provide a viable political vision and structure for relevant negotiations (…) -
31 August 2008, by Bryan Atinsky
Superficial Negotiations Despite Deep Divisons
Tuesday night, 28 August, ended US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s latest visit to the region. Her seventh this year, the trip was touted optimistically as an effort to boost the momentum of (…) -
29 August 2008, by Paul Rogers
On the cliff-edge
The Taliban sophisticated, deadly new tactics are bringing them closer to Kabul. The United States response is to redouble the failed tactics that helped achieve this outcome, says Paul Rogers 28 (…) -
27 August 2008, by Ghassan Ghosn , Beatriz Martínez , Francesco Volpicella
Social crisis and the trade unions
On May 2008, the Lebanese General Workers Union (CGTL) called for a strike to demand better salaries from the pro-Western Siniora government. This mobilisation ultimately became a power display by (…) -
26 August 2008, by Farooq Sulehria
Rebel vs. Warlords
Afghanistan lives in the fear of US-sponsored war lords. These hated warlords are not scared by Taliban-monster raising its head in south. Ironically, they live in the fear of an unarmed girl in (…) -
26 August 2008, by C P Gajurel
The status quo is the main obstacle
The first president of the Republic of Nepal notified the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) to ‘form the government of national consensus” within seven days. Until this moment, the CPN-M had (…) -
20 August 2008, by Norm Dixon
How Washington helped create a nuclear ’rogue state’
As proof continues to mount that US President George Bush’s administration systematically lied about Iraq’s possession of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) to justify invading the oil-rich Persian (…) -
19 August 2008
New Challenges
The CPN- Maoist has been able to elect the party chairman to the post of the first Prime Minister of the Republic of Nepal. What do you think about leading the country after the formation of the (…) -
19 August 2008, by Camilo Gomez-Rivas
A long way from redressing gender inequality
"And now no one wants to get married,” says Muhammad, describing the reaction among men at his mosque to Morocco’s 2004 reform of personal status law. “Everyone is afraid to.” -
17 August 2008, by Paul Rogers
The global economic war
From Nigeria to the Philippines, Mexico to India, insurgents are finding new ways to mobilise rage. It is in Afghanistan that the tactical impact will be most sharply felt. -
16 August 2008, by Deepak Tripathi
Towards a New Cold War?
The conflict between Russia and the pro-US regime of Georgia has been a decisive turning point in Russia’s relations with Washington and has taken us to the brink of a new Cold War. -
16 August 2008, by CONN HALLINAN
US and Israeli Manoeuvers
One of the major causes of the recent war in Georgia has nothing to do with the historic tensions that make the Caucasus such a flashpoint between east and west. Certainly the long-stranding (…) -
15 August 2008, by Serge Halimi
Which Way Obama?
Barack Obama is a lucky man: young, of mixed race, thought likely to make it to the White House, to succeed one of the most unpopular presidents in US history. He appears better equipped than (…) -
14 August 2008, by BIDWAI Praful
Descent into chaos
Less than five months after Pakistan installed a freely elected democratic government, it again seems headed for a major crisis. The ruling Pakistan People’s Party is considering whether to (…) -
13 August 2008, by Daya Varma and Vinod Mubayi
INDO-US ALLIANCE - SOME REFLECTIONS
India is already in friendly alliance with the US through a long process, which was intensified by the NDA government of Vajpayee and not by the UPA government of Manmohan Singh. Does the (…) -
11 August 2008, by Michel Warshavski
What Did You Do To Them, Ya Mahmoud?
Some of the Israeli Left is so blinded by its own patriotism that it cannot believe a sane person does not identify with it. Another part, less naïve, lies to the Israeli public and sells it a (…) -
10 August 2008, by Patrick Cockburn
Nationalist Urge
Barack Obama was lucky in the timing of his visit to Iraq. He arrived just after the Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki had rejected a new Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) institutionalizing (…) -
6 August 2008, by JEFF HALPER
An Israeli Jew in Gaza
In another few days, I will sail on one of the Free Gaza movement boats from Cyprus to Gaza. The mission is to break the Israeli siege, an absolutely illegal siege which has plunged a million and (…) -
4 August 2008, by Ahmad Jaradat
The New Clashes Between Hamas and Fatah: Ongoing Crisis
Hamas forces arrested 300 Fatah activists, closed down over 100 Fatah-affiliated organisations and prohibited the distribution of West Bank and Jerusalem newspapers in the Gaza Strip, in reaction (…) -
1 August 2008, by Joost R Hiltermann
Problems and prospects
A major political initiative is required to build the long-term foundations for stability in Iraq. But with the potential for violent confrontation ever-present, and the three countries involved (…) -
31 July 2008, by Carl Finamore and Mark T. Harris
What Will an Obama Presidency Bring?
After 16 years of someone named either Bush or Clinton occupying the White House, the timing was right for Barack Obama’s presumptive victory as the Democratic Party presidential nominee. It was a (…) -
30 July 2008, by Natasha Saunders
Palestinian Women Political Prisoners: Absent from the Negotiations’ Agenda
Over 10,000 Palestinian women have been imprisoned by Israel for their resistance to the occupation. Mariam Asma’el and Suheir Farraj are sisters and two of the more than ten thousand Palestinian (…) -
30 July 2008, by Stacey Philbrick Yadav
Post-Doha Political Theater
After 18 months of political paralysis punctuated by episodes of civil strife, Lebanon finally has a “national unity” cabinet — but the achievement has come at a steep price. Prime Minister Fouad (…) -
30 July 2008, by Ajai Sahni
After the Bombs
The lesson of the serial blasts against Indian cities is that the danger to life and security in the country also lies in the infirmity of its institutions, says Ajai Sahni. -
29 July 2008, by Siddharth Varadarajan
The king is gone, long live the kingdom’s old ways
By abandoning the principle of consensus in favour of arithmetical machinations, Nepal’s discredited establishment is betraying the aspirations of the young republic. -
27 July 2008, by Prachanda, Chairman, Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist)
‘The real garden of many flowers’
We have accomplished a long desire with this Constituent Assembly, which has true participation, representation and all the necessary characteristics. People used to describe Nepal as a garden of (…) -
27 July 2008, by URI AVNERY
What’s Driving the Jerusalem Attacks
In one of the most beautiful songs in the Bible, the poet vows: "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, / Let my right hand forget her cunning. / If I do not remember thee, / Let my tongue cleave to the (…) -
22 July 2008, by Phyllis Bennis
The End of History: With a Period, Not a Question Mark
Beginning around 100 BC, the fabled Silk Road brought goods and travelers from China and Central Asia, through the lands of Persia and Mesopotamia, and over to Palmyra in Syria. One branch of the (…) -
22 July 2008, by Neve Gordon
A West Bank Town’s Struggle to Survive
Ni’lin’s story is one of incremental dispossession. The residents of this agrarian town lost a large portion of their land in the 1948 war. After the 1967 war, Israel took advantage of the town’s (…) -
22 July 2008, by Siddharth Varadarajan
An endgame with no clear winners
When a patient is staring death in the face, the dividing line between self-preservation and self-destruction can be rather thin. In medieval times, leeches were often attached to a dying (…) -
21 July 2008, by Benjamin Dwyer
The Lesser of Two Evils? Obama, McCain and the Question of US Policy Regarding Israel
After a long and tortured primary season, Barack Obama, the junior Senator from Illinois, took the Democratic Party nomination for US president from Hilary Clinton, who many thought likely to (…) -
21 July 2008, by Alex de Waal
Sudan and the International Criminal Court: a guide to the controversy
The request to indict Sudan’s president on charges of genocide and war crimes in Darfur is a historic moment in international justice. But is it wise, and will it bring peace in Sudan nearer or (…) -
21 July 2008, by Saul Landau
New Orleans -Almost 3 Years Later
The French Quarter vibrates with sounds and smells of perpetual Spring Break. Was a film crew shooting the young men and women, drinks in hands, screaming "let’s party." No. The celebrants were (…) -
11 July 2008, by Linda McQuaig
Big Oil poised to make triumphant return
When Big Oil excutives and U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney met for secret energy talks in the spring of 2001, one subject that weighed on all their minds was the potential loss of Iraq’s bountiful (…) -
10 July 2008, by Paul Rogers
State of siege
A regroupment of the Taliban and al-Qaida in the Pakistani borderlands is bringing the war closer to Kabul. -
10 July 2008, by Richard Pithouse
The crisis in citizenship
The industrial and mining towns on the Eastern outskirts of Johannesburg are unlovely places. They’re set on flat windswept plains amidst the dumps of sterile sand left over from old mines. In (…) -
10 July 2008, by Mustafa Barghouthi
Attempting on popular non-violent resistance against the apartheid wall
Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi, the Secretary General of the Palestinian National Initivative held a press conference on the eve of the 4th anniversary of the International Court Advisory decision that (…) -
9 July 2008, by Siddharth Varadarajan
Left queries on safeguards thrust spotlight on ’corrective measures’
Following the formal withdrawal of Left support to the United Progressive Alliance, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and its three partners have issued a statement challenging the (…) -
8 July 2008, by Siddharth Varadarajan
The Nuclear Deal
1. The four Left parties — the Communist Party of India (Marixst), the Communist Party of India, the Revolutionary Socialist Party and the Forward Bloc — met in Delhi on Tuesday and decided to (…) -
7 July 2008, by Graham Usher
Amidst the Storms
Less than three months after being formed, Pakistan’s coalition government is in trouble. The leader of one of its constituent parties, Nawaz Sharif of the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N), is (…) -
6 July 2008, by Philip Rizq
Marx in Gaza
Every occupation has its winners and losers, those that profit and those that lose everything. -
5 July 2008, by Mustafa Barghouthi
Collective Punishment Fails to Break Popular Non-Violent Struggle Against the Wall
“Collective punishment aimed at breaking the popular, non-violent struggle against the Wall,” was how PNI Secretary General, Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi MP, today described the ongoing closure by the (…) -
5 July 2008, by Naomi Klein
Big Oil’s Deals Are the Greatest Stick-Up In History
The country’s invaders should be paying billions in reparations not using the war as a reason to pillage its richest resource -
4 July 2008, by Vinod Mubayi
INDO-US NUCLEAR DEAL: IS THE LEFT GOING TO FALL ON ITS OWN SWORD?
The Communist Party of India (Marxist), CPM, has threatened to withdraw support for the Congress-led government of Manmohan Singh, which would precipitate parliamentary elections a year earlier (…) -
3 July 2008, by Michel Warshavski
The Palestinian Return and Right of Return—No Deal!
The following is a talk given by Michael Warschawski at The Haifa Conference for the Right of Return (June 20-21, 2008) -
3 July 2008, by Tariq ALI
NATO’s Lost Cause
The west’s ‘good war’ in Afghanistan has turned bad. A local solution, rather than a neocolonial one, is what’s needed. -
1 July 2008, by Pervez HOODBHOY
Anti-Americanism & Taliban
THE recent killing of eleven Pakistani soldiers at Gora Prai by American and Nato forces across the border in Afghanistan unleashed an amazing storm. -
1 July 2008, by Mahir Ali
Re-Liberation
IT was less than 30 years ago that Bob Marley serenaded the birth of a nation with a song that featured the above verse amid joyous incantations of the phrase, "Africans a-liberate Zimbabwe". The (…) -
30 June 2008, by Amos Schocken
Citizenship law makes Israel an apartheid state
The [Israeli] government’s decision last week to extend the validity of the Citizenship Law (Temporary Order), for another year, is evidence that the legal barriers preventing severe (…) -
29 June 2008, by Stephen Mikesell and Roshan Kissoon
Real struggle has just begun
Stephen Mikesell is an Anthropologist who has lived and worked for many years in Nepal. His book ‘Class, State, and Struggle in Nepal’ is an interesting and creative application of Marxism to (…) -
29 June 2008, by Mahmood Mamdani and Sampie Terreblanche
Afrophobia: Cure is reforming the economy
South Africa is in a state of emergency because of the failure to address desperate poverty and is in urgent need of a mechanism to begin public discussion on how to ensure dignity for all those (…) -
27 June 2008, by Connie Hackbarth
Berlin Conference: Support for Palestinian Security Forces, Not for Creation of Palestinian State
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana in Berlin on Tuesday, 24 June. The international community pledged US$242 million yesterday (24 June) to strengthen (…) -
27 June 2008, by PATRICK COCKBURN
Who’s Actually Winning?
The American occupation of Iraq follows the same course as that of British rule after the First World War. At first there was imperial over-confidence following military victory and a conviction (…) -
26 June 2008, by Mary Ndlovu
Hunger, terror, displacement and death
Since March, Zimbabwe has had no Parliament, no local government councils, no legitimate executive, and ZANU PF has ruled by decree in response to the orders of the JOC – acronym for the military (…) -
26 June 2008, by Aijaz Zaka Syed
The Coming War
Israel and its friends are threatening to attack Iran even though IAEA’s ElBaradei insists Iran’s nuclear programme is not ’a current, grave and urgent danger.’ -
26 June 2008, by Gérard Prunier
No Exit
A rooted conflict and a blocked peace spell political stalemate in Khartoum and its region, says Gérard Prunier. -
25 June 2008, by Grace Kwinjeh
Death Spiral : Mediation, Violence and the GNU
Would it not be easier In that case for the government To dissolve the people And elect another? [Bertolt Brecht.1953] In March 2008 Zimbabweans voted in the most peaceful election since (…) -
25 June 2008, by Jabu Shoko
A tale of two leaders
The withdrawal of Zimbabwe’s main opposition leader from the election leaves its president certain of victory. But will Africa’s leaders turn against Robert Mugabe at last? -
24 June 2008, by Sergio Yahni
In the Gaza Ceasefire Agreement, Hamas Holds the Upper Hand
While Israel allowed dozens of trucks to deliver basic goods to the Gaza Strip on 22 June, following implementatoin of the Hamas/Israel ceasefire agreement the situation for the Gaza population is (…) -
24 June 2008, by Hope
The day democracy died
The decision of the Movement for Democratic Change opposition not to contest the decisive second round of the presidential election puts intense pressure on Zimbabwe’s southern African neighbours, (…) -
24 June 2008, by Mahir Ali
Neighbourhood Bully
THE likelihood is minuscule, but what if Hamid Karzai were indeed to follow up his threat of military operations on Pakistani territory with some sort of action? The Afghan president has argued (…) -
23 June 2008, by Anti-Privatization Alliance (Lahore)
Corruption in Privatization
There has been a massive corruption during the eight years of Musharaf Shoukat power period from 1999 until 2007. It will be very clear that privatization process has not been proved as a key to (…) -
21 June 2008, by Ali Kamran Asdar
The Fracturing
Pakistan’s democratic and civilian groups face various problems: Issues of national integrity, reduction of violence, the creation of a governing consensus among different provinces and ethnic (…) -
19 June 2008, by Ramzy Baroud
Legalizing Occupation: Bush’s Last Manoeuvre
When US forces descended on Baghdad five years ago, they seemed unstoppable. Military arrogance had reached an all time high, and it seemed only a matter of time before the same frenzied scenario (…) -
19 June 2008, by PATRICK BOND and RICHARD KAMIDZA
How Europe Underdevelops Africa
In even the most exploitative African sites of repression and capital accumulation, sometimes corporations take a hit, and victims sometimes unite on continental lines instead of being (…) -
19 June 2008, by Michael Warschawski
The Truce in Gaza: an Israeli Defeat
A Hamas/Israel ceasefire was finally approved by Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on 18 June and went into effect at 06:00am, 19 June. The truce agreement (…) -
19 June 2008, by Stephen Zunes
Obama’s Right Turn?
In many respects, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama has played right into the hands of cynics who have long doubted his promises to create a new and more progressive role (…) -
18 June 2008, by Siddharth Varadarajan
Cautious balance between Pan-Arabism and Islamism
The area that the Commerce Ministry calls “West Asia and North Africa,” or WANA, accounts for 20.92 per cent of Indian merchandise exports and is the second most important export destination for (…) -
18 June 2008, by Phyllis Bennis
U.S. TRYING TO "LEGALIZE" PERMANENT OCCUPATION OF IRAQ
In recent weeks the Bush administration has intensified its longstanding effort to make the U.S. occupation of Iraq permanent. First choice is to coerce the U.S.-backed Iraqi government to sign (…) -
13 June 2008, by Paul Rogers
Washington’s choice: subdue Iran, secure Iraq
In managing its unfinished business with Tehran and Baghdad, the George W Bush administration seeks to bind the region - and its successor. -
12 June 2008, by Siddharth Varadarajan
The View from Damascus
Siddharth Varadarajan: Your government recently confirmed that there have been indirect talks between Syria and Israel through Turkey. Now, Israel is occupying the Golan Heights – which is Syrian (…) -
12 June 2008
Social Movements Indaba: March against xenophobia and hate — `Our struggle knows no borders!’
The Social Movements Indaba (SMI) is mobilising social movements, immigrant communities, NGOs, unions, concerned residents from poor areas around the province for a march this Saturday, 24th of (…) -
10 June 2008
Democracy is the Key to Restoring National Unity
PNI leader, Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi MP, today welcomed steps towards restoring national unity currently being taken by President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas leaders, and stressed that this new (…) -
9 June 2008, by Paul Rogers
Iran and the American election
The possibility of a war involving Iran has been raised on several occasions since 2004. The likely trigger has moved between Iran’s nuclear ambitions and claims of its interference in Iraq; the (…) -
9 June 2008, by Uri Avnery, Gush Shalom
Bad Start for Obama in the Middle East
AFTER MONTHS of a tough and bitter race, a merciless struggle, Barack Obama has defeated his formidable opponent, Hillary Clinton. He has wrought a miracle : for the first time in history a black (…) -
8 June 2008, by Neve Gordon
The Land, Not the People
Israel frequently builds the Separation Wall close to the edge of palestinian housing centers in order to separate the Palestinians from the most territory as possible, excluding the population (…) -
8 June 2008
World Food Summit “A Missed Opportunity”
Venezuela, along with Argentina, Cuba, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Bolivia, criticised the final declaration of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Summit in Rome on Thursday, (…) -
7 June 2008, by Kiran Omar
A TROUBLED PARADISE
Kashmir issue has been a key factor in strained relation between Pakistan and India. The renewed talks between the two governments may pave the way for permanent solution in accordance with the (…) -
6 June 2008, by FRANK BARAT
What future?
Barat: A British M.P recently said that he had felt a change in the last 5 years regarding Israel. British M.Ps nowadays sign E.D.M (Early Day Motions) condemning Israel in bigger number than ever (…) -
5 June 2008, by Tapan Kumar Bose
WHITHER NEPALI DEMOCRACY!
Nepal Maoists who won the majority in April elections are willing to work with other major parties of Nepal but both Nepali Congress and the Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist-Leninist) seem (…) -
5 June 2008, by Faten Aggad and Elizabeth Sidiropoulos
The tipping-point
The wave of attacks against foreigners in South Africa is linked both to local political circumstances and the global credit crunch and food crisis, argue Faten Aggad & Elizabeth Sidiropoulos. -
4 June 2008, by Joel Beinin
Underbelly of the Neoliberal Agenda
It was business as usual for Orascom, a gigantic Egyptian conglomerate with major interests in everything from Cairene highway construction to Red Sea luxury resorts to cell phones in Iraq. -
4 June 2008, by ERIC WALBERG
Princess Patricia and the Taliban
News from Afghanistan makes no sense. On the one hand there are up-beat stories like the recent Canadian Operation Rolling Thunder in Pashmul, Kandahar. “I started the operation on a hospital (…) -
3 June 2008
Textile Workers Resist Privatisation
The "Shahdadkot Textile Mills" has been the biggest industrial complex, employing about 6000 workers in this whole region of Upper Sindh. This Textile plant was established in 1974 under the (…) -
3 June 2008, by Siddharth Varadarajan
The king gone, Nepal must confront a new danger
Nearly a week after the abolition of the monarchy in Nepal, a democratically formed coalition government still eludes the world’s youngest republic. Instead of introspecting over the reasons for (…)