|
|
home / subscribe / donate / tower / books / archives / search / links / feedback / events
|
CHINA'S GREAT LEAP BACKWARDS Peter Kwong gives us the "New China" without illusions: from the "millionaires' fair" in Shanghai, with $60,000 diamond-studded dog leashes to one of the most savagely repressed working class and peasantry on the planet. How China's leaders swapped Marx and Mao for Milton Friedman. Alexander Cockburn on What's wrong with the U.S. left. They're sitting in darkened rooms weaving conspiracy fantasies about 9/11; they're blogging; they're confusing a medium with a movement; they're not doing enough to stop the war in Iraq. John Ross takes us along the stormy trail of the Mexican election. CounterPunch Online is read by millions of viewers each month! But remember, we are funded solely by the subscribers to the print edition of CounterPunch. Please support this website by buying a subscription to our newsletter, which contains fresh material you won't find anywhere else, or by making a donation for the online edition. Remember contributions are tax-deductible. Click here to make a donation. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now! |
|
Today's Stories July 25, 2006 Robert
Bryce Sharat
G. Lin CounterPunch
News Desk Zena
El-Khalil Larry
Lack Ashraf
Isma'il July 24, 2006 Mark
Levy Robert
Fisk Maher
Osseiran Paul
Craig Roberts Patrick
Cockburn Website
of the Day July 22-23, 2006 Jonathan
Cook Paul
Craig Roberts Gilad
Atzmon Robert
Fisk Ralph
Nader Fred
Gardner Christopher
Reed Dr.
Susan Block Najla
Said Uri
Avnery July 21, 2006 George
Galloway P.
Sainath Aseem
Shrivastava Alexander
Cockburn Website
of the Day July 20, 2006 William
S. Lind Robert
Jensen John
Ross Tom
Hayden Paul
Craig Roberts July 19, 2006 Patrick
Cockburn Trish
Schuh Jonathan
Cook Vicente
Navarro July 17 / 18 2006 Mike
Whitney Kathleen Christison Atrocities in the Promised Land
July 14 / 15,
2006 Alexander Cockburn Tanya Reinhart Robert Fisk Daniel Cassidy Winslow Wheeler Hugh O'Shaughnessy M. Shahid Alam William S. Lind Ramzy Baroud Gilad Atzmon Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Samar Assad Ron Jacobs Lee Ballinger Walter Brasch Dave Lindorff Clifton Ross Tom Crumpacker Ricardo Alarcon William Hughes Susie Day Farrah Hassen Poets' Basement
July 13, 2006 Rev. William
Alberts Ramzi Kysia Rep. John P. Murtha Radford / Santos Stan Cox Saul Landau José
Pertierra Website of
the Day
July 12, 2006 John Ross John Stauber Robert Boston Wayne S. Smith John Graham Kevin Prosen Jonathan Cook Website of
the Day
July 11, 2006 Dave Lindorff Dave Zirin Mokhiber / Weissman Amira Hass Clare Hanrahan Brian Cloughey Felice Pace Raed Jarrar Website of the Day
July 10, 2006 Paul Craig
Roberts Uri Avnery Roger Burbach Ron Jacobs Joshua Frank Missy Comley Beattie Alexander Cockburn
Stephen Green Paul Craig
Roberts Greg Moses Ralph Nader Laura Carlsen Conn Hallinan John Chuckman Fred Gardner Dr. Tod Mikuriya Pierre Tristam Lucinda Marshall David Swanson Heather Gray Dave Zirin
/ John Cox Mark Engler Michael Lettieri Ron Jacobs Jamal Juma' Jeffrey St. Clair Poets' Basement
July 7, 2006 John Ross July 6, 2006 Nick Dearden John Stanton Ralph Nader Laray Polk Saul Landau Joshua Frank William S. Lind Adelman / Lindorff Jonathan Cook Website of
the Day
Mike Whitney Saul Landau Ramzy Baroud Missy Comley Beattie Arthur Neslen Vincent Maruffi Paul Cantor Paul D. Johnson David Price
Col. Dan Smith Chris Floyd Marjorie Cohn James Brooks Medea Benjamin Matt Reichel Elisa Salasin Rick Wilhelm Paul Craig
Roberts Website of the Day
July 3, 2006 Robert Bryce Dr. Bouthaina Shaban Julia Olmstead Dave Lindorff Andres Gomez Alan Singer Alexander Cockburn
Paul Craig
Roberts Stephen T.
Banko Daniel Cassidy Fawzia Afzal-Khan Jeff Taylor John Ross Greg Moses Laura Carlsen Justin E.H.
Smith Brian Cloughley Anthony Papa Mike Ferner Jerry Tucker Jane Goodall / Rick Asselta Phyllis Pollack Poets' Basement
June 30, 2006 Marjorie Cohn Heather Williams Burbach / Cantor Nick Dearden Michael J.
Smith Brian Concannon Virginia Tilley
Bill Quigley Ron Jacobs Paul Craig
Roberts June 28, 2006 Jorge Mariscal Greg Moses Mark Weisbrot Ramzy Baroud Dave Lindorff William S.
Lind Mike Ferner Zoltan Grossman
Marjorie Cohn Benjamin /
Jarrar William Hughes Doug Giebel Uri Avnery Alexander Cockburn
June 26, 2006 Don Santina Ralph Nader Dave Lindorff Rafael Rodriguez-Cruz Evelyn Pringle Jonathan Cook
June 23, 2006 Youmans / Erakat Dave Lindorff Ron Jacobs Col. Dan Smith
June 22, 2006 Marjorie Cohn Winslow T.
Wheeler Tanya Reinhart Mike Marqusee William Blum
Subscribe Online
|
July 25, 2006 Most Lebanese Now Know Who Their Real Tormentor IsScenes from Beirut on the Eve of the InvasionBy GEORGE BISHARAT Eleven days ago, I walked through the familiar stone archway, descended steps worn smooth by the feet of others, and re-entered the paradise that is the American University of Beirut. It was my first trip back in 25 years. Here my father and four uncles were all endowed with the movable asset of education -- enabling them to later flourish in the United States, even after their homeland, Palestine, was given to another people. As a junior in college in the early '70s, I returned to this seat of enlightenment that had given so much to my family. Now, strolling along shaded pathways with my kids, overlooking the intense blue of the Mediterranean Sea while breathing the pine and jasmine-scented air, I recalled my year there before Lebanon's ruinous civil war. I pointed out the banyan tree under which I sat gathering signatures for a petition on some passionately contested issue of university governance. I showed them the classrooms where we debated social theory, the wall I vaulted to get back to my dormitory after university gates were closed for the night. I chuckled while my 17-year-old nephew gaped at gorgeous, stylishly dressed Lebanese female students. My daughter seemed equally impressed by Lebanese male students. Beirut of 11 days ago was a city of growing, yet still guarded, confidence. The traits of the Lebanese people -- hospitality, entrepreneurial ambition and conviviality -- were as much in evidence as when I first arrived more than 30 years ago. The most acute physical and psycho-social wounds of the 15-year civil war no longer festered, although some of the factors that had led to it -- socio-economic disparities, a political system that entrenches sectarian identity and power, a weak central government and subsequent vulnerability to the meddling of external powers -- had never been fully resolved. Yet people took obvious pride in the reconstruction of their city and society, and were looking forward to the future. Little did we realize, as we departed for home through the gleaming halls of Beirut's new airport and boarded what turned out to be one of the last flights out, that within days, as Israeli Chief of Staff Dan Halutz put it, the Israeli military would "turn back the clock in Lebanon by 20 years." Hundreds of millions of dollars of investment, and untold ingenuity and effort, have been blown to rubble in Israel's outburst of violence. The airport, highways, bridges, gas stations, power stations, the port, even the modern lighthouse on Beirut's coastal promenade -- all have been devastated in Israel's lethal tantrum. No one in Beirut believes that Israel's primary objective is to free its captured soldiers. Israel still holds Lebanese prisoners it abducted years ago, and could have negotiated an exchange, as it has done in the past. Indeed, Israel initiated hostage-taking in Lebanon, kidnapping noncombatant Hezbollah leaders in 1989 and 1994. As recently as 2004, Israel and Hezbollah reached an agreement, brokered by Germany, for the exchange of prisoners and the remains of fallen soldiers. No, say my Lebanese friends, who have watched Israeli jets streak over Beirut to deliver their deadly payload, Israeli military pride is at stake. Humiliated when Hezbollah drove it out of Lebanon in 2000 after a brutal occupation of 18 years, and stunned again by the recent Hezbollah and Hamas raids, the Israeli army is exacting revenge. It further hopes that a rain of death and destruction will turn the Lebanese people against Hezbollah, and pressure the Lebanese government to confront the stubborn resistance organization. Yet Israel will harvest the future of conflict and violence it has sown, facing foes of ever-increasing sophistication and determination. Some Lebanese may resent being dragged into a firestorm by Hezbollah. But they know who their real tormentor is, and who has thwarted their country's march toward peace and prosperity. Lebanese and other Arabs also know the American origins of the weaponry Israel uses to kill their children and smash their homes. They will recall President Bush's statement that Israel "has a right to defend herself," a green light for the carnage they now face. I hope it is not another stretch of years of insecurity that again keeps me from Beirut. When I return, I hope I can look my Lebanese friends in the eye, and explain to them why my country stood by while theirs was destroyed. George E. Bisharat, a professor of law at Hastings College
of the Law in San Francisco, writes frequently on law and politics
in the Middle East.
|
from CounterPunch Books! The Case Against Israel By Michael Neumann  Grand Theft Pentagon: Tales of Greed and Profiteering in the War on Terror by Jeffrey St. Clair          Sick of sit-on-the-Fence speakers, tongue-tied and timid? CounterPunch Editors Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St Clair are available to speak forcefully on ALL the burning issues, as are other CounterPunchers seasoned in stump oratory. Call CounterPunch Speakers Bureau, 1-800-840-3683. Or email beckyg@counterpunch.org.                    |
