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Calling All CounterPunchers!
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Today's Stories November 6, 2008 Frank J. Menetrez
November 5, 2008 Cockburn / St. Clair Chuck Spinney Ishmael Reed Chris Floyd Binoy Kampmark Michael Donnelly David Macaray Peter Morici Manuel Garcia, Jr. William Willers Website of the Day November 4, 2008 Kathleen Christison James Ridgeway Winslow T. Wheeler Mike Whitney Conn Hallinan Holly M. Barker Ashley Smith Andy Worthington Martha Rosenberg Stephen Martin Doug Lummis Carlos Fierro Website of the Day November 3, 2008 Patrick Cockburn John Kennedy O'Hara Peter Montague Steve Conn Andrew Gebhardt Ron Jacobs Ralph Nader Niranjan Ramakrishnan Uri Avnery Dave Lindorff Fred Gardner DC Larson David Michael Green Val Strange Tuli Kupferberg / Website of the Day
October 31 , 2008 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair Douglas Valentine Ismael Hossein-Zadeh Dr. Ignacy Nowopolski Alan Maass William P. O’Connor Patrick Irelan Brian Cloughley Mats Svensson Binoy Kampmark Steve Conn Alan Farago Morton Skorodin Robert Bryce Wajahat Ali David Yearsley Dennis Loo Pam Martens Stephen Martin Richard Rhames Ramzy Baroud Missy Beattie Howard Lisnoff Richard Neville Saul Landau / Kim Nicolini Lorenzo Wolff Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend October 30, 2008 Cockburn / St. Clair Vijay Prashad Paul Craig Roberts Glen Ford Stanley Heller William Loren Katz Joshua Frank James McEnteer Felice Pace Jonathan Cook Reza Fiyouzat Website of the Day
October 29, 2008 Arno J. Mayer Eric Toussaint Matt Gonzalez Steven Conn Jonathan Cook Patrick Bond Ramzi Kysia Douglas Valentine Stephen Martin Margaret Dooley-Sammuli Amee Chew Website of the Day
October 28, 2008 James G. Abourezk Andy Worthington Gary Leupp Paul Craig Roberts Mike Whitney Gregory V. Button Ralph Nader P. Sainath Martha Rosenberg Charles R. Larson Website of the Day October 27, 2008 Michael Hudson Barbara Rose Johnston John Dinges Mike Whitney Mary Lynn Cramer Greenspan's Higher Power Alan Farago David Michael Green Andy Worthington George Wuerthner Niranjan Ramakrishnan Website of the Day October 24 / 26, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Ishmael Reed Mike Whitney Don Santina Scott Boehm Saul Landau Ron Jacobs Binoy Kampmark Linn Washington Jr. Nicole Colson Bernard Chazelle Brian Jones Christopher Brauchli Benjamin Dangl Val Strange Steve Early David Macaray Allison Kilkenny Richard Rhames Jim Bell Kris De Welde Barry Clemson Adam Engel Mark Scaramella Tuli Kupferberg Lorenzo Wolff Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend October 23, 2008 Allan J. Lichtman Todd Chretien John Ross Peter Morici Mats Svensson Marlene Martin Robert Jensen / Margaret Kimberley Deepak Tripathi David Morris Website of the Day October 22, 2008 Brian Cloughley Heather Gray Jeff Birkenstein Ralph Nader DC Larson David Swanson Keeanga-Yamatta Taylor Race and the Election: When the "Real" America Enters the Voting Booth Larry Everest Robert Fantina Martha Rosenberg Stephen Martin Website of the Day October 21, 2008 Vijay Prashad Paul Craig Roberts Corey D. B. Walker Steve Breyman Eric Toussaint Wajahat Ali Robert Weitzel Brendan Cooney Dave Lindorff Marqueece Harris-Dawson / Bob Wing Patrick B. Barr Omar Barghouti Website of the Day October 20, 2008 Michael Hudson Anthony DiMaggio Tariq Ali Uri Avnery Bill Quigley Ben Rosenfeld David Michael Green William S. Lind Chris Genovali Stephen Martin Howard Lisnoff David Yearsley Website of the Day October 17 / 19, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair Pam Martens Paul Craig Roberts Mike Whtney Michael D. Yates Suzanne Smith Carl Boggs Ralph Nader Fidel Castro Dave Marsh Saul Landau Jo Guldi Kevin Zeese Larry Everest Steve Early David Macaray Ben Terrall Missy Beattie Don Monkerud Helen Redmond Dan Bacher Wajahat Ali Farzana Versey Vladimir Frolov Kim Nicolini Poets Basement Website of the Day
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November 6, 2008 Pakistan and Its New BedfellowThe Morning AfterBy FAWZIA AFZAL-KHAN I jumped out of bed at 4 a.m to go stand in line to vote on the morning of the day Americans—and the rest of the world—had been waiting for in a state of high anxiety and excitement ever since the 2008 election campaign kicked off in right earnest—but more particularly since Barack Hussein Obama won the Democratic Party nomination early this summer. Maureen Dowd, writing her daily Op-Ed column this past weekend for the New York Times, in her characteristic witty style observed, “The McCain campaign specializes in erratica, while the Obama campaign continues to avoid any dramatica.” While McCain has certainly run a most erratic and bizarre campaign, and the full ugliness of the Republican right has reared its head often and vilely enough against Senator Obama—the race to the finish and beyond has, for us Obama-ites—been nothing if not dramatic. I mean, who would have ‘thunk’ it: an African-American man—a “nigger” as they would have called him here not so long ago, with all the negative, stereotypes of Black manhood that that word implied—and a man with a Muslim middle name---talk about a double-whammy!!—should have won the American presidency! To enter the White House and make it colored! Wow! That such a possibility has become a reality speaks volumes about America’s recent political history, and gives us insight into the American psyche in ways that are very important to understand and appreciate for the rest of the world—especially for my Pakistani compatriots. In recent years—post 9/11 to be precise—I have, for good reason, observed the anger against the U.S mount in the hearts and minds of most Pakistanis I know, which would include the friends I know from the days back when they and I studied here in the U.S in the late seventies and early eighties. This is the liberal intelligentsia of Pakistan, and while their anger has been justified against recent American foreign policy under the Republican-led government of George ‘Dubya’ Bush---I also think it has been far too sweeping in its condemnation of the American people whom they have wrongly seen as supporting Bush and his Rovian policies. In many a conversation with these friends over the past several years, I have tried to argue a different position—one which is now crucial to recognize as we all, citizens of this precious and benighted planet—seek to move beyond the stalemate of a war-scarred period in our collective, shared history. My position has always been that President G.W. Bush never had the mandate of the American people. His was a stolen election in 2000, in which after massive electoral bungling and fraud in Texas and Florida—he was handed the presidency by the US Supreme court. In the next election, in 2004, again there were reports of all kinds of election shenanigans from Ohio and other states, and while ofcourse there were—and remain many diehard Republicans who voted for him and his party—these did not represent the overwhelming majority of decent, fair-minded Americans. Indeed, on the eve of the 2008 election, Nicholas Kristof, a conservative Op-Ed columnist for the NYT, informed us that according to an unscientific poll of 109 professional historians conducted this past year, 61 percent rated President Bush as the worst president in American history—and more than 98% of those polled (the poll was conducted through the History News network)—viewed Mr. Bush’s presidency as a failure. While the poll reports the opinions of historians, I would venture to extrapolate from it that the American people feel much the same way—and have been feeling it for quite some time now, as their huge turnout over these past several years in massive rallies against the Iraq war and against torture of prisoners in Guantanamo and against the erosion of civil liberties etc –all over this beautiful country bear witness to. And now, having closed in on the moment of truth—which, despite widespread fears amongst the electorate that there would be massive efforts by the Republican machinery to doctor the results of the election—Barack Obama won, in nothing short of a landslide (I had predicted this to my students, friends and family and promised I would eat one of my hats if proved wrong—so am grateful I wasn’t called to the test on that one!). Seriously though, what the results—and I would venture to add—the momentum and attitudes of the average American leading up to this election, show—is the need for Pakistanis to shelve their anger at “all Americans” and hence at America as the bastion of evil hell-bent on destroying the Other within and without its borders. Even a conservative commentator like Kristof recognizes that two terms of Bush’s government has led to a foreign-policy mess which has alienated so much of the world and created headaches for this country but also for the rest of the world. He writes with black humor:
Clearly, Kristof represents the opinions and feelings of most Americans at this point in time, who have finally, with the power of the ballot, made themselves heard resoundingly. But my question now is to my Pakistani brethren: are you going to wake up out of your self-righteous anger and stop your confused thinking? Are you going to reverse these poll numbers so that the world doesn’t see you approving of Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda and Taliban bombings against your own people, just because you are peeved at a US foreign policy that has also been shoved down the throat of most empathetic, fair-minded American citizens?? These Americans have risen up against the man and the government that has done them wrong and ruined their reputation with people like you. They deserve not just to be applauded for this—but joined in their struggle to right the wrongs against the people of the world committed by BOTH Christian and Islamic leaders who hear an insane, vengeful God speaking in their ears. This goes for the Jewish extremists in Israel too. It is high time Pakistani citizens also examine their misguided emotions and assumptions regarding the USA and its policies toward Pakistan and the region as a whole. As the Daily Times editorial notes in yesterday’s post-US-election edition:
I think the editorial got the question exactly right: why don’t Pakistanis—especially the “silent majority”—who are NOT pro-Taliban or pro-Al Qaeda or pro-“terrorist”---speak out against the crazies who are holding the rest of the country hostage with their suicide bombings and extremist actions against women’s and minorities rights? Can they not condemn the US predator drone strikes in Pakistan’s northern areas without simultaneously—and wrongly—endorsing the local terrorists as freedom-fighters against US imperialism? Clearly, it is high time for such confused, nay, dangerous thinking to stop! It is high time for Pakistan and Pakistanis to assert their democratic right to speak out against the forces of obscurantism in their midst, as they adjust to a New World Order under a new American president who will hopefully usher in a saner, more rational era of peace and cooperation across this one world we all share. And now, time for me to go pick up several boxes of donuts for my students at Montclair State University. They voted overwhelmingly Democratic this year. Fawzia Afzal-Khan is a Professor in the Department of English at Montclair State University in New Jersey. She can be reached at: khanf@mail.montclair.edu
New in the Print Edition of CounterPunch For his 20-year stretch as Fed chairman, they all fawned on him – presidents, Congress, the press. Only a handful of left economists said he was pushing the economy over the cliff. Now Greenspan admits it in a humiliating confession. As the world’s financial structure tumbles in ruins, guess what? “I found a flaw in the model… To the extent that I figure out where it happened and why, I will change my views.” Read Frederick Claremont’s savage assessment of the fool who has plunged millions into misery. Also in our new issue: Bill Hatch on the story of one foreclosure; Kristian Williams on police torture in Chicago. Only in CounterPunch newsletter! Get your copy 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 gear make great presents. Order CounterPunch By Email For Only $35 a Year !
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New in the CP Print Edition! For his 20-year stretch as Fed chairman, they all fawned on him – presidents, Congress, the press. Only a handful of left economists said he was pushing the economy over the cliff. Now Greenspan admits it in a humiliating confession. As the world’s financial structure tumbles in ruins, guess what? “I found a flaw in the model… To the extent that I figure out where it happened and why, I will change my views.” Read Frederick Claremont’s savage assessment of the fool who has plunged millions into misery. Also in our new issue: Bill Hatch on the story of one foreclosure; and Kristian Williams on police torture in Chicago. Only in CounterPunch newsletter! Get your copy today by subscribing online or calling 1-800-840-3683 Now Available from CounterPunch Books! Waiting for Lightning
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