Commentary
Commentary
Flying the flag, faking the news
John Pilger: "Loud noises from Washington about a US pull-out from Iraq are a poor disguise for America’s determination to keep waging war...Edward Bernays, the American nephew of Sigmund Freud, is said to have invented modern propaganda - "intelligent manipulation of the organised habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society"
Sep 2, 2010, 4:22pm
Commentary
The Anti-Empire Report: September 1st, 2010
William Blum: "But no American should be allowed to forget that the nation of Iraq, the society of Iraq, have been destroyed, ruined, a failed state. The Americans, beginning 1991, bombed for 12 years, with one excuse or another; then invaded, then occupied, overthrew the government, killed wantonly, tortured ... the people of that unhappy land have lost everything...
Sep 1, 2010, 4:27pm
Commentary
Women "Politicals" (Not) in the News
Linda Ford: "How many of us know the long history of political prisoners in America, of whom we weren’t, by definition, supposed to have—this land of the free. Many of those political prisoners have been, and continue to be, women. Femaleness does not protect a woman from being considered an enemy of the state...
Aug 31, 2010, 9:39am
Commentary
The Politics of Terror as the Business of Terror-The Greatest Covert Operation Ever
Douglas Valentine: "America does engage in terrorism - violence against civilians for political purposes. This "state" terrorism, however, is covert, in so far as it is equated with national security, and thanks to that built-in ambiguity, it has both stated and unstated purpose.
Aug 30, 2010, 9:51am
Commentary
How much proof do the global warming deniers need?
Johann Hari: "Everything the climate scientists said would happen - with their pesky graphs and studies and computers - is coming to pass. This is proving the hottest year ever...Yet as the evidence of global warming becomes ever clearer, the momentum to stop it has died. The Copenhagen climate summit evaporated...
Aug 27, 2010, 11:14am
Commentary
Violence breeds violence. The only thing drug gangs fear is legalisation
Johann Hari: "On one undercover tape-recorded conversation, a top cartel chief, Jorge Roman, expressed his gratitude for the drug war, calling it 'a sham put on the American tax-payer' that was 'actually good for business'."...If you believe the way to deal with the human appetite for intoxication is to criminalise and militarise, then blood is on your hands.
Aug 26, 2010, 10:52am
Commentary
Listening Conferences for UN Report: No one was listening to Native Americans
Brenda Norrell: "It appears no one was listening at the US State Department's Listening Conferences this year, when Native Americans offered testimony on human rights for a report to the United Nations....The US report to the UN fails to describe the ongoing environmental genocide, where corporations in collusion with the US government target Indian country with power plants, coal mines and oil and gas wells...
Aug 25, 2010, 10:57am
Commentary
There Are No Heroes in Illegal and Immoral Wars
Robert Jensen: "Military personnel may act heroically in specific situations, showing courage and compassion, but for them to be heroes in the truest sense they must be engaged in a legal and morally justifiable conflict. That is not the case with the U.S. invasions and occupations of Iraq or Afghanistan...
Aug 23, 2010, 10:03am
Commentary
Brazil and Venezuela: Two Turning Point Elections this Fall
James Petras: "A victory for the Venezuelan Socialists will strengthen Chavez's resolve and ability to continue his social welfare polices and his anti-imperialist and pro-integration policies....If Brazil "goes Right", it will immeasurably strengthen US influence in the region,and eliminate an independent voice...In Brazil the question is voting for the lesser evil, in Venezuela it is a question of voting for the greater good.
Aug 20, 2010, 5:31pm
Commentary
Why Wikileaks Must Be Protected?
John Pilger: "On 26 July, Wikileaks released thousands of secret US military files on the war in Afghanistan. Cover-ups, a secret assassination unit and the killing of civilians are documented. In file after file, the brutalities echo the colonial past...The difference is that today there is an extraordinary way of knowing how faraway societies are routinely ravaged in our name.
Aug 19, 2010, 4:37pm
Commentary
What Should Liberals Do in These Revolutionary Times?
Barbara Ehrenreich: "The role of the left should not be to uphold or defend a government increasingly at odds with the interests of the people, but to change it, drastically and from the ground up....as the Tea Partyers keep reminding us in their nasty and demented ways, these are revolutionary times.
Aug 18, 2010, 4:37pm
Commentary
The Jobs Crisis: What Hit Us?
Bob Burnett: "The roots of the jobs crisis stretch back to the Ronald Reagan presidency...and 3 malignant notions: helping the rich get richer will inevitably help everyone else; markets are inherently self correcting and therefore there's no need for government regulation; and the US does not need an economic strategy because that's a natural consequence of the free market.
Aug 15, 2010, 2:36pm
Commentary
Don't Try These GOP Alibis at Home
Robert Parry: "Unless you're a member of the Bush Family or some other well-connected Republican, it's not advised that you try the alibis that cleared Ronald Reagan's campaign in the 1980 October Surprise case. You also would need to make sure that the "investigators" were lame-brained or weak-kneed Democrats.
Aug 13, 2010, 4:33pm
Commentary
We are wrong about being wrong
Johann Hari: "If we want to face up to our mistakes, then we need to change the way we think about them. Error is an essential step in the process of finding the right answer...From the moment we are born, human beings are creating theories about the world, based on limited evidence. It's how we survived
Aug 13, 2010, 1:48pm
Commentary
Confronting a Mindset - Rationalizing the Bombing of Hiroshima
Susan Galleymore: "How many Americans understand that bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki had almost nothing to do with the end of World War II? Rather, these horrific deeds positioned the U.S. so that we would not have to share influence with the Soviet Union and Asia; the A bombs were used to intimidate the Soviets for the post-war period.
Aug 5, 2010, 12:54pm
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