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2010: Is the Future Already Behind Us?
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2010: Is the Future Already Behind Us?
Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey Cockburn on what lies ahead politically. Betraying Gaza: Yvonne Ridley on Egypt as Rent Boy. Saul Landau on What Cuba Faces Now. Danny Weil on the future of education if Bill Gates and Arne Duncan get their way. Ten Reasons to kill the Senate Health Care Bill. Get your new edition today by subscribing online or calling 1-800-840-3683 Contributions to CounterPunch are tax-deductible. Click here to make a donation. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now! CounterPunch books and t-shirts make great presents.
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Today's Stories January 15-17, 2010 Bill Quigley January 14, 2010 Ashley Smith Harvey Wasserman Dean Baker Brian Cloughley Brock L. Bevan Don Monkerud Winslow T. Wheeler Gideon Levy Adam Federman James McEnteer Brian Concannon Jr Website of the Day January 13, 2010 Patrick Haenni / Jonathan Cook Cecil Brown Steven Higgs Paul de Rooij Richard Forno Dr. Trudy Bond Daniel Drennan Martha Rosenberg Brenda Baletti, Gilson Rego and Antonio Sena Website of the Day January 12, 2010 Bill Salganik Uri Avnery Dean Baker Dan Kovalik Raza Naeem George Wuerthner Dave Lindorff David Macaray Tolu Olorunda Patrick Bond Website of the Day January 11, 2010 Patrick Cockburn Gareth Porter John Ross Gregory V. Button Ralph Nader Tom Barry Mikita Brottman David Michael Green Lost in the White House David Swanson Kevin Zeese Website of the Day January 8 - 10, 2010 Alexander Cockburn Andrew Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair Alison Weir Peter Linebaugh Vijay Prashad Saul Landau Tim Simons / Andy Worthington Missy Beattie David Macaray Ron Jacobs Randall Amster Winslow T. Wheeler Brian M. Downing Dan Bacher Christopher Brauchli The Senate and the Filibuster: a Helpless and Contemptible Body Carl Finamore Walter Brasch Charles R. Larson Kim Nicolini David Yearsley Phyllis Pollack Lorenzo Wolff Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend January 7, 2010 Bruce Patterson Alan J. Singer Mark Weisbrot William Blum Joshua Frank Ramzy Baroud Suzan Mazur D. K. Wilson Ray McGovern / Website of the Day January 6, 2010 Gareth Porter Mike Whitney Dean Baker Adam Federman Tariq Ali Bouthaina Shaaban Nikolas Kozloff Emily Ratner Carl Finamore Anthony Papa Website of the Day
January 5, 2010 Joseph Shansky Nadia Hijab Steven Higgs Franklin Lamb Frank Joseph Smecker Paul Craig Roberts Ellen Brown Jayne Lyn Stahl Martha Rosenberg Laura Flanders Website of the Day January 4, 2010 Uri Avnery Mike Whitney Bernanke in Atlanta Patrick Cockburn Dave Lindorff Dr. Susan Block Lynda Brayer Deepak Tripathi David Michael Green Lucinda Marshall K. Webster Website of the Day January 1 - 3, 2010 Alexander Cockburn Afshin Rattansi Jeffrey St. Clair Ralph Nader Andrew J. Bacevich Joanne Mariner Judith Blau, M. Rafael Gallegos Lerma and Alfonso Hernandez John Feffer Fatma Elshhati, Miho Seki, and Anthony Löwstedt Kevin Gallaher / Timothy Wise Dave Lindorff Missy Beattie David Macaray Natanya Robinowitz Franklin Lamb Bob Sommer Floyd Rudmin Jim Goodman Charles R. Larson Gilad Aztmon Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend December 31, 2009 Winslow T. Wheeler Patrick Cockburn Mike Whitney Greg Moses Ramzy Baroud Ron Jacobs Tom Stephens Dave Zirin Paul Richards Nick Egnatz Website of the Day December 30, 2009 Stephen Green Thomas Mountain Stewart J. Lawrence Ray McGovern Jayne Lyn Stahl Paul Craig Roberts Jeff Cohen Binoy Kampmark Brenda Norrell Charles R. Larson Website of the Day
December 29, 2009 Gareth Porter Patrick Cockburn Steven Higgs Growing Up Toxic: Defeating Autism, Now Susan Albulhawa / Emily Ratner Dave Lindorff David Macaray Rev. William E. Alberts Deepak Tripathi Walter Brasch / Rosemary Brasch Website of the Day December 28, 2009 Uri Avnery Gary Leupp Bouthaina Shaaban Jayne Lyn Stahl Sam Husseini Greg Moses Sonja Karkar Patrick Bond Michael Simmons David Michael Green Alan McConnell Website of the Day December 25-27, 2009 Alexander Cockburn Mark Rudd Ralph Nader Nicola Nasser John Ross Rannie Amiri Christopher Brauchli Shamus Cooke Ramzy Baroud John Blair Michael D. Yates David Macaray Charles R. Larson David Yearsley Kim Nicolini Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend December 24, 2009 Carl Ginsburg Franklin C. Spinney For Better or Worse? the Afghan Escalation and Women's Rights Nadia Hijab Mike Whitney Jayne Lyn Stahl William Loren Katz Martha Rosenberg Stephen Fleischman Anthony Papa Dave Lindorff Website of the Day
December 23, 2009 David Price Dean Baker Andy Worthington Neve Gordon Helen Redmond Debayni Kar Fred Gardner Brian Tokar Dave Zirin Randall Amster Website of the Day December 22, 2009 Paul Craig Roberts Dave Lindorff Ralph Nader David Rosen Laurie Kirby Ron Jacobs Dick J. Reavis Manuel Garcia, Jr. Norman Solomon Rannie Amiri Website of the Day December 21, 2009 Alan Farago Marjorie Cohn Uri Avnery Mike Whitney Mary Lynn Cramer Mark Scaramella Walter Brasch David Michael Green Ingmar Lee Farzana Versey Binoy Kampmark Website of the Day
December 18-20, 2009 Alexander Cockburn Michael Colby Jeremy Scahill Stewart J. Lawrence Mike Whitney Andy Worthington James Ridgeway Saul Landau John Ross Danny Weil Rannie Amiri Franklin Lamb Steve Early Liaquat Ali Khan Fred Gardner D. K. Wilson Missy Beattie Jim Goodman George Wuerthner Charles R. Larson Lorenzo Wolff David Yearsley Ben Sonnenberg Lordura di Napoli: the Best DVDs of the Year Wajahat Ali Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend December 17, 2009 Steven Higgs Barbara Koeppel Dave Lindorff Ramzy Baroud Ron Jacobs Shamus Cooke Christopher Brauchli Binoy Kampmark Norm Kent Patrick Bond Website of the Day December 16, 2009 James Bovard Gregory V. Button Dan Schiller Gareth Porter Farrah Hassen Nicola Nasser Daniel C. Maguire Martha Rosenberg David Macaray Ellen Brown Robert Bryce Website of the Day December 15, 2009 Ellen Cantarow Chris Floyd Anthony DiMaggio Dean Baker Andy Worthington Mike Whitney Jayne Lyn Stahl Jeff Ballinger Raymond Lawrence David Rovics
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Weekend Edition Remaking an American MythHaiti, U.S. Aid and Humanitarian ReliefBy ANTHONY DiMAGGIO U.S. journalists are seizing on the tragedy in Haiti in a non-stop barrage of reporting, providing endless updates on a devastating earthquake that has killed an estimated 45-50,000 people. Coverage of the quake is accompanied by detailed updates of the suffering of those involved, in addition to assurances that the U.S. government (and private donors) is doing all it can to help those in dire need. This framework comports well with American journalists’ self-image– reflexively accepted – that the U.S. promotes the global good through altruism and humanitarianism. John Stewart lectures his viewers that “now’s not the time” to speak about the political aspects of the Haitian tragedy, most specifically how the U.S. reaction to the crisis relates to its own strategic objectives throughout the world (Daily Show, 1/14/2010). But if not now, then when can we discuss whether the U.S. response is adequate? When can we debate whether our actions are politicized by strategic interests? An analysis of U.S. aid is absolutely vital now, more than ever, because a critical self-reflection can provide the impetus and pressure for a much needed increase in aid to those in need. While pundits and reporters in the media celebrate the $100 million Obama pledged to Haiti, this figure needs to be put into comparative and historical perspective. U.S. aid to those in need of disaster relief has not been uniquely generous over the last decade. Americans would do well to remember the lackluster response to the December 2004 Tsunami that led to the deaths of approximately 288,000 people in Indonesia and surrounding countries. The Bush administration responded to that crisis by allocating $450 million, the second largest amount in hard dollars out of any country in the world. This figure was highly misleading, however, as the U.S. gave the second smallest contribution as a percent of its GDP of all the top donors, behind Denmark, Sweden, Japan, Australia, the Netherlands, Canada, the United Kingdom, and France. U.S. aid levels (when compared to other countries) improved only marginally in the case of Haiti. On the one hand, the $100 million it allocated represents almost 20 percent of the total $546 million pledged as of January 15th. On the other hand (as the table below indicates) the U.S. hardly leads the way in the Haitian aid campaign, when aid is measured as a percent of GDP. First world aid to Haiti should be no cause for celebration, and is actually quite depressing in spite of the media’s boasting about America’s benevolence. The aid of all the countries on the top donor list for Haiti (again listed below) amounts to a relatively meager amount when compared to each country’s national GDP, and when compared to the aid the powerful grant to other countries. Consider the case of the United States. At $100 million, its aid to Haiti is embarrassing when compared to the amounts given to strategic assets such as Israel, Egypt, and Colombia. These countries are hardly in need when compared to third world countries suffering from malnutrition, starvation, disease, and war. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. aid to Israel averaged $3 billion each year from 2000 to 2006. Similarly, the U.S. provided Egypt $1.9 billion on average each year, with Colombia receiving $312 on average per year. The contrast between humanitarian and strategic U.S. aid should be sobering for those genuinely concerned with humanitarianism. A country like Colombia receives in a single year more than three times the Haitian victims in order to fight a terrorist counterinsurgency war against Marxist guerilla groups (and the civilian population more generally), while a totalitarian government in Egypt receives billions while it is accused of torture and suppression of basic civil liberties by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. The billions provided to Israel in the name of “security” have enabled the expansion of a bloody war with the Palestinians that has taken the lives of thousands, while failing to make Israelis safer, and providing Israel with the cover to illegally annex major portions of the West Bank.
None of these criticisms are meant to blame the U.S. for its stinginess or for its escalation of human rights atrocities at the expense of criticizing other countries. A review of 2008 aid levels from first world countries demonstrates that the U.S. shares the same boat as Western Europe. Although the U.S. gave the largest amounts of foreign aid of any country in hard dollars (more than twice the amount of the second largest country, Germany), it provided the smallest amount of first world countries as a percent of gross national income, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The miserly aid of the U.S., representing just .2 percent of total U.S. Gross National Income in 2008, is not significantly smaller than the aid of other wealthy countries. The most “generous” of foreign aid donors – including Sweden, Luxembourg, Norway, Denmark, and the Netherlands – gave between just .95 to 1 percent of their GNI in aid. Other European countries gave less. Critical introspection is needed most at a time when so many people are in dire straits. The Haitian disaster provides the U.S. government and people with a tremendous opportunity to promote genuine humanitarianism, rather than self-serving boosterism. A serious commitment to human rights, however, requires a radical rethinking of the prioritization of strategic aid at the expense of humanitarian aid. This rethinking will not occur if left to U.S. leaders. The American public must play the dominant role in forcing a reconsideration of U.S. global objectives. Anthony DiMaggio teaches American and Global Politics at Illinois State University. He is the author of Mass Media, Mass Propaganda (2008) and the forthcoming When Media Goes to War (2010). He can be reached at adimagg@ilstu.edu
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Now Available from CounterPunch Books! Yellowstone Drift:
Waiting for
Lightning
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