As elections for state and local offices are approaching, American politics is hitting a new low. There are huge issues facing US society. These include the expanding US occupation of Afghanistan as well as the failed occupation in Iraq, the Gulf of Mexico/BP oil disaster and its long term consequences, the near bankruptcy of many [...]
It has been three years since Naomi Klein’s book, “The Shock Doctrine – The Rise of Disaster Capitalism” was published. Since that time, capitalism’s economic crisis has metastasized, and part of Klein’s analysis has proven extremely useful in understanding much of the response of the capitalist politicians. Another part of her analysis has also been [...]
Some 10,000 people in Baluchistan, Pakistan, are affected by massive floods caused by unusually heavy rainfalls, with many of them dead or missing. Meanwhile, tens of millions of people on the East Coast of the United States are sweltering through an unusually strong heat wave, and 2010 is expected to be the hottest year in [...]
On January 1, 2009, young Oscar Grant was killed by a transit cop in Oakland, California. While lying face down with a cop kneeling on his neck, Grant was shot in the back by another cop as a crowd of train passengers watched in horror. Grant, was an African-American; Mehserle is white. Both were in [...]
US President Barack Obama has just fired the US general in charge of the war in Afghanistan – General Stanley McChrystal. The last time this happened was a half-century ago, when then-President Truman fired General Douglas Macarthur, who was in charge of the US troops in the war in Korea. When finance capital (and other [...]
On Sunday, June 20, a successful protest against Israel was held on the docks of the Port of Oakland, California. Some 800 community and labor activists showed up at the time that a Zin (Israeli) Line ship was supposed to dock and be unloaded. The dock workers are organized into the International Longshoremen and Warehousemen’s [...]
Note: Or Ben David is a young Israeli woman who ecently served jail time for refusing to serve in the Israeli army. Recently she visited London, and while there she met with a group of mainly Muslim youth, to talk about her experiences. After the meeting, one young man commented that he had only come [...]
It is now more clear what happened with the Free Gaza Flotilla and, specifically, with the Mavi Marmara. First, a week or so prior to these events, Obama’s chief of staff, Rahm Emmanuel, held several secret meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Peres on May 26 & 27. Clearly, this was to express [...]
The developments in Thailand, leading up to and including the recent mass murder carried out by the regime, perfectly embody the major processes under way in world capitalism of recent decades. During the Vietnam War and shortly thereafter, the US maintained an important air force base in Thailand. This was mainly to check Chinese communism. [...]
An environmental disaster is spreading through the Gulf of Mexico and beyond. On April 20th, there was an explosion and then a fire on the deepwater oil drilling rig the “Deepwater Horizon” operated by Transocean Ltd. under contract from British Petroleum (BP). Eleven workers lost their lives in the explosion. The rig then capsized and [...]
