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Today's Stories April 12 / 13, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Olympic Torch Toasts US Candidates Patrick Cockburn Warlord: the Rise of Muqtada al-Sadr Mike Whitney Want to Save the Economy? Robert Fantina Bush's Brand of Morality Conn Hallinan Another Defining Moment in Iraq Bill Hatch In Praise of Hippies and the Counter-Culture Ramzy Baroud The Basra Battles George S. Hishmeh Back to Square One Charles Thomson The British Prime Minister and the Tate's Tin of Shit Alexander Billet The Diseney-fication of CBGB Missy Beattie Huffing and Puffing to Failure   April 11, 2008 Nikolas Kozloff The Clintons and Their Sordid Colombia Advocacy Wajahat Ali Revenge of the Ghetto Nerd: an Exclusive Interview with Junot Diaz Sharon Smith Let Them Eat Ethanol! Yigal Bronner / Neve Gordon Digging for Trouble: the Politics of Archaeology in East Jerusalem Alan Farago Eating South Florida Dave Lindorff On Waking Sleeping Giants: Lessons for America from China George Wuerthner Money for Nothing? The Problems with the Conservation Reserve Program Christopher Brauchli Prostitutes Don't Do Funerals Website of the Day Animals Explain the Insurance Industry: a Health Care Video   April 10, 2008 Mathieu Vernerey Tibet for the Tibetans! Elizabeth Schulte Slavery in the Fields David Macaray Labor Unions Will Never Get a Fair Shake Ashley Smith The Rise of Muqtada al-Sadr Peter Morici Driving Up Debt and Dragging Down Growth Jacob Hornberger The Military's Distintegrating Family Life Harold Austin Snitch or Else: Prison Officials Threaten Gang Drop Outs Website of the Day Hillary: the Wal-Mart Videos   April 9, 2008 Paul Craig Roberts The Fading American Economy Winslow T. Wheeler Congressional Theater: the Petraeus / Crocker Hearings C. Hand Why Dave Marash Left Al Jazeera Paul Krassner Sex and Violins Paul Wolf Colombian "Magnicidio" Remains a Mystery After 60 Years Wajahat Ali Alien Invasion! Karyn Strickler Lost in the Fumes: the Sierra Club Sells Out to Clorox Dan La Botz Confronting the Economic Crisis Eric Walberg The Shadow of Munich: Another NATO Flop Robin Millenthal Enough Already! Growth and the Tar Sands Economy Website of the Day Conservative Nanny State April 8, 2008 Mike Whitney Should Khalid Sheikh Mohammed be Set Free? Nikolas Kozloff Bush Bullies Congress on Colombia Deal Greg Moses Migrant Detention in South Texas Joshua Frank The Other Military Draft John Ross Mexico City's Urban Tribes Go on the Warpath Against EMOS Michael Donnelly Hillary's Western Swing John V. Walsh Why Obama Lost Massachusetts Jeff Nygaard Health, Security and Mandates Bill Piper Last Shot for a Bush Legacy? Sen. Russ Feingold Legal Representation and the Death Penalty Website of the Day Catonsville 9, Forty Years Later   April 7, 2008 Ishmael Reed The Irish Black Thing Harry Browne Irish Peace Activist Acquitted; Deported Uri Avnery Tibet and Palestine Lenni Brenner Obama's Constitution, His Pastor and His Unbelieving Mom in Heaven Ayesha Ijaz Khan America Must Respect Pakistan's Democracy Robert Fisk Fearful Lives in the Land of the Free Edwin Krales Ensuring the Success of Fascism in Spain: the US Corporate Role Chris Genovali Vancouver Island's Dwindling Ancient Forests Website of the Day LA Artists Against War   April 5 / 6, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Did the Elites Want MLK Dead? Ramzy Baroud There are No Checkpoints in Heaven Ralph Nader Runaway Bailouts David Yearsley How Scott Joplin Had Wall Street Down Saul Landau Sex Politics in America Paul Craig Roberts The Petraeus and Crocker Show Lawrence Korb / Ian Moss Rev. Jeremiah Wright, a True Patriot Seth Sandronsky Meet America's Promise Alliance: Colin Powell's New Gig John Ross La Cumbia de la Doctrina Bush: Colombia Kills Four Mexican Students in Ecuador Bombing Robert Fantina McCain, Republicans and Family Values David Michael Green Back to Disaster: Hoover at Home, Tet Abroad Missy Beattie McCan't Patrick Bond Vultures Circle Zimbabwe Dr. Susan Block The New American Pot Dealers Phyllis Pollack The Stones Meet the Press Adam Engel The Boobus in the Lie Jeffrey St. Clair Booked Up Poets' Basement Diamand and St. Clair Website of the Weekend Richard Pryor Goes to the Gun Shop     April 4, 2008 Dave Lindorff The Night I Heard King Had Been Shot Greg Moses Missing King Ron Jacobs Two Murders, 40 Years On: Bobby Hutton and Martin Luther King, Jr. Alan Farago Show Me the Size of Your Bail Out and I'll Show You Mine Alison Weir Funding Our Decline: U.S. Aid to Israel David Rosen Rape as an Instrument of Total War Robert Weissman The Unrealized Dream Jacob Hornberger Was Killing Iraqi Children Worth It? Jackie Corr Hillary and Obama Head for Butte Carl Finamore Taking On United Airlines Laray Polk We Are All Dith Pran Susie Day Advice for the War-Torn Website of the Day Winter Soldiers: a Video Portrait   April 3, 2008 Peter Morici The Deepening Recession Joe Bageant The Audacity of Depression Andy Worthington Cleared But Still Detained: The Ordeal of Moroccan Prisoner Said al-Boujaadia Nikolas Kozloff Condi's Divide and Rule Strategy in South America Rannie Amiri The U.S. Disdain for Mideast Democracy David Macaray More Labor Strife in Hollywood Stephen Lendman Lynne Stewart's Long Struggle for Justice Website of the Day The True Face of Da Vinci?   April 2, 2008 Diane Farsetta Indian Point on the Potomac Harry Browne Bertie Ahern Laid Low by Secretary Wajahat Ali The Folly of Attacking Iran: a Conversation with Steven Kinzer George Wuerthner Open Season on Wolves Col. Dan Smith The Militarization of America Philippe Marlière The Politics of Bling-Bling in France: Sarkozy's Cultivated Anti-Intellectualism Steve Early A Purple Uprising in Oakland Bernard Chazelle Saving the American Left Reza Fiyouzat Bowling in Hell   April 1, 2008 Jeff Leys Fracturing the Peace to End the War Thomas P. Healy Restoring the Constitution: a Conversation with Daniel Ellsberg Winslow T. Wheeler When Pigs Sprout Wings: Mangled Rationales for a Fatter Defense Budget Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz New Deal Nostalgia Patrick Irelan Cocaine, Colombia and the Cartels Andy Worthington The Case of Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani John V. Walsh The Shunning of Ralph Nader Michael J. Smith Woolly Mamet Robert Weissman The New Philip Morris--Even Worse Than the Old? Dave Lindorff Bush's Defining Moments Martha Rosenberg Brain Mist Disease: Boss Hog's Gift to Humanity Website of the Day Support Briana!   March 31, 2008 Mike Whitney Dead on Arrival: Paulson's Fixit Plan for Wall Street Mats Svensson Walls, Tunnels and Daily Humiliations Paul Rockwell Hillary's Lies About Outsourcing Paul Craig Roberts A Third American War in the Making? Patrick Cockburn Sadr Calls for Ceasefire Peter Dale Scott The Showdown Alfredo Molano Cultura Mafiosa in Colombia Peter Morici Why Paulson's Reform Plan Falls Short Uri Avnery Day of the Land, 32 Years Later Michael Simmons The American Bard in New Orleans Betsy Roberts / Karen Orr The Clorox Coup Phyllis Pollack First the Sun and Then the Moon: Scorsese Does the Stones Website of the Day Five Years Too Many   March 29 / 30, 2008 Alexander Cockburn When They Pick Up the Phone at 3 AM, What Will They Say? Patrick Cockburn Iraqi Police Refuse to Back Maliki's Attacks on Medhi Army Mike Whitney Bernanke's Next Big Bail Out Plan Christopher Brauchli The Pastor of Armageddon and the Slave Sale: McCain, Lieberman and Rev. Hagee William Blum China, Tibet and the Propaganda Olympics Robert Fantina Iraq Troika: McCain, Obama and Clinton John Ross AMLO, the Comeback Kid? Fighting the Privatization of Mexico's Oil Allison Kilkenny Shady Lending Hits Home Nelson P. Valdés Cuba, the Beatles and Historical Context Suzanne Baroud The Great Lake of Gaza: a New Crisis in the Making Richard Rhames Social Security: Throwing Granny from the Gravy Train Christopher Fons Transcending the 60s? Obama and the Baby Boomers Carl Finamore Misery at 35,000 Feet: Mergers Stall, Fares Soar, Services Slump and Consumers Sour Eamonn McCann Hillary Misremembers Again! Missy Beattie Justice and the Monsters of War Fred Gardner Jim Thorpe, All-American Kim Nicolini Cock Chuggers and Cheese Curls: Richard Kelly's "Southland Tales" David Yearsley "All the World's a Hospital" Jeffrey St. Clair Booked Up Poets' Basement Valentine and Ko Un Website of the Weekend Hidden Iraq   March 28, 2008 Saul Landau Growing Dread About Iraq Alan Farago Other People's Money: the Chop Shop Economy Peter Morici Knocking Down False Economic Gods Andy Worthington Plight of the Uyghus: a Chinese Muslim's Desperate Plea from Guantánamo Felice Pace Ashes of Lies: Why No One Trusts the US Forest Service Peter Montague Sierra Club Cleans House -- With Clorox! Dave Lindorff The Mumia Exception March 27, 2008 Patrick Cockburn Basra Erupts Binoy Kampmark Free Market Apostates Joanne Mariner "Was George Washington a Terrorist?" Norman Solomon NPR News: National Pentagon Radio? William S. Lind Mars Only Knocks Once: a Prognosis for Iraq John V. Walsh Obama's Speech: a Touch of Bigotry? Robert Weissman How Things Work Ron Jacobs Meeting Charlie Ehlen Ralph Nader Put Impeachment Back on the Table David Macaray Court Rules Against Grocery Workers John Borowski Clearcutting the History of Forest Destruction Website of the Day Going Out for an English   March 26, 2008 Stan Cox The Germs Next Door Sharon Smith Greed Pays: Welfare on Wall Street Anita Sinha / Jill Tauber Dreams Turned into Rubble in New Orleans Matt Vidal So Much for the Self-Regulating Market William S. Lind Operation Cassandra Joe Mowrey The Audacity of Hypocrisy: Obama's Pandering to Israel Dave Lindorff Duck and Cover (Up): Hillary Under Fire Ray McGovern Frontline's War: Too Timid, Too Little, Too Late Justin Smith Why Race and Gender are Separate Issues Sam Husseini The Winter Soldier Hearings and Indy Media Martha Rosenberg Blood on Ice: Gentlemen, Pick Up Your Clubs Michael Dickinson Politicians as Dogs Website of the Day The Wal-Mart Virus: How the Infection Spread   March 25, 2008 Ishmael Reed The Crazy Rev. Wright Corey D. B. Walker The Politics of Jeremiah Wright Linn Washington Jr. Racism in America and Other Uncomfortable Facts Alan Farago The Money Launderers: a Picnic for Wall St. Insiders Vijay Prashad A Glimmer of Hope From the Gulf Coast Joshua Frank A Silver Lining to the Bush Years? Ralph Nader How Public Servants Can Help End This War David Rovics If I Can't Dance: Why is the Left So Boring? Peter Morici America's Banks are Broken Dave Zirin Olympic Flames: China's Crackdown in Tibet David Krieger The Crisis in Tibet Website of the Day Memorializing Iraq March 24, 2008 Jeffrey St. Clair Blonde Ambition: Hillary's Berserker Campaign for 2012 Peter Morici Digging Out of the Recession Uri Avnery Two Americas Wajahat Ali First of the Mohicans: an Interview with Rep. Keith Ellison Paul Craig Roberts Inside the Shell Game George Ciccariello-Maher The Coming War on Venezuela Stephen Lendman Sami Al-Arian's Long Ordeal Christopher Brauchli Possessing Someone Else's Country Cat Woods A Letter to Mom on Obama Stacey Warde Tax Burden Dave Lindorff The American Dead Hits 4,000, But Who's Counting? Website of the Day Live from the Longest Walk   March 22 / 23, 2008 Ralph Nader Bush Blisters the Truth on Iraq Nicole Colson Can You Afford to Feed Your Family? James Petras The Cost of Unilateral Humanitarian Initiatives Laura Carlsen From Bombs to Markets: The Andean Crisis and the Geopolitics of Trade Greg Moses Tolerance and the American Pulpit Andy Worthington Torture Stories Dog Guantánamo Trials Michael Dickinson Art on Trial John Ross Bush's Surge Hits Mosul Missy Comley Beattie Killer Economics David Michael Green Happy Anniversary, America! Ramzy Baroud The Coming Uncertain War on Iran Martha Rosenberg Easter Egg Shells from Hell Paul Watson Evolution is Going to the Dogs in the Galapagos Isabella Kenfield Monsanto's Raid on Brazil James Murren Logging v. Water in Honduras Jacob Hornberger Sex and the Immigration Officer Kathlyn Stone Ben Heine, Master of the Art of Resistance Seth Sandronsky Rethinking New Mexico's History Kim Nicolini Class, Gender and Abortion in Communist Romania Jeffrey St. Clair Booked Up: What I'm Reading This Week Poets' Basement Wilson, Woods, Gibbons and Orloski Website of the Weekend Merci, McCain!   March 21, 2008 Marleen Martin Land Behind Bars: the Hidden Casualties of America's "War on Crime" Peter Montague Run Your Car on Coal? Maybe Not Saul Landau Monroe's Deadly Doctrine Anis Hamadeh Merkel in the Knesset Jacob Hornberger McCain's Al Qaeda Scare: Slip or Tactic? Khalil Nakhleh Al Nakba of 1948: How Long Will It Persist? Adam Isacson Colombia, Paramilitary Threats and Assassinations Kenneth Couesbouc Money for Nothing Madis Senner Will the Feds Underwrite the Stock Market? Monica Benderman The Costs of Freedom: What Are You Willing to Pay? Website of the Day Stop Foreclosures and Evictions March 20, 2008 Damien Millet / Eric Toussaint The Triple Failing of the Big Private Banks Mike Whitney Winding Up Bear John Ross What Do We Owe Iraq? Dave Lindorff Paying the Piper: the Bodies and Bills are Piling Up Wajahat Ali Pakistan on Fire Jill Nagle Memo to Sex Workers: Stop Financing Shock Journalism Manuel Garcia, Jr. Obama and the Psychic Auto-Shrink-Wrapping Called Race in America Dan La Botz Obama's Race Speech Robert Weissman Alternative Power: Shutting Down the API Stella Dallas / Jennifer Matsui Apostasy Now! Mamet, Enter Stage Right Website of the Day The Angry Monk   March 19, 2008 Patrick Cockburn A War of Lies Robert Fisk The Little Men and the Inferno Jeff Taylor Five Years of War in Iraq Ed Ruggero From Pinkville to Iraq: the Dark Anniversary of My Lai Ron Jacobs Who'll Stop the Rain? Christopher Fons Obama Takes the Race Bait Sherwood Ross In Defense of Rev. Wright Cynthia McKinney An Urgent Crisis: Confronting America's Racial Disparities Joshua Frank The Kool-Aid That Kills Robert Weissman Monsanto's Genetic Food Gamble Walter Brasch It's a Welfare State--If You're Rich Yifat Susskind Iraqi Women Resist the Occupation Andrew Wimmer War Demands Its Due Website of the Day Glimpses of Nature   March 18, 2008 David Price The Military "Leveraging" of Cultural Knowledge Paul Craig Roberts The Collapse of American Power Tim Wise Of National Lies and Racial America: Jeremiah Wright, Barack Obama and the Unacceptability of Truth Patrick Cockburn One of the Most Disastrous Wars Ever Fought Conn Hallinan Afghanistan, a River Running Backward James T. Phillips Monsters: Past, Present and Wannabe Uri Avnery The Killing in Bethlehem David Macaray Could Wal-Mart Revive the Labor Movement? Marjorie Cohn Beware an Attack on Iran Peter Zinn Obama in New Orleans Dan La Botz The Economic Crisis, Labor and the Left Monica Benderman Where are We Going?   March 17, 2008 Pam Martens The Fed's Wall Street Dilemma Sasan Fayazmanesh The US, Iran and the Policy of Dual Containment Nelson P. Valdés The Imperial Branding of Simon Bolivar and the Cuban Revolution Peter Morici The Corrosive Consequences of the Trade Deficit Wajahat Ali Disrobing the Nine: a Conversation with Jeffrey Toobin on the Supreme Court Since 9/11 Ronnie Cummins Beyond Progressive Malpractice: Taking Down Big Pharma Shaun Harkin Saint Patrick's Day in Fortress America Ali Khan No Pardon for Musharraf Robert Jensen Beyond Peace P. Sainath Oh, What a Lovely Waiver! Greg Moses Jeremiah was a Bullhorn Dr. Susan Block Advice for Eliot Spitzer Website of the Day No Cowboys   March 15 / 16, 2008 Patrick Cockburn How to Destroy a Country in Five Years Mike Whitney Bearly Alive: Investment Giant Rushed to ICU by Panicky Fed Chief Ralph Nader Of Laws and Men Robert Pollin It's Still the Economy, Stupid Diane Christian The Poetics of Perversity: From Boccaccio to Spitzer Wajahat Ali Faking the Hood: a Conversation with Ishmael Reed Tom Wright / Therese Saliba Rachel Corrie's Case for Justice Alan Farago Back to Florida: Where Bushtime Began Greg Moses Raiding the Family Room in Texas Michael Hudson A Grand Global Bargain? Martha Rosenberg Why Hillary's Favorite Chicken Company is Eying China John Goekler Fourth Generation Warfare in a Fifth Generation Conflict Uzma Aslam Khan A Letter to Barack Obama: Where's the Change, Barack? Oren Ben-Dor The Silencing of Gilad Atzmon David Underhill Mammon, Morals and the Mobile Tanker Deal Fred Gardner The Education of Eliot Spitzer David Michael Green Why Spitzer Should Have Resigned (and Why He Shouldn't Have) Rev. William E. Alberts Jesus, Entombed in Heaven Gail Dines It's All About the John: Prostitution and Male Power David Yearsley Conducting, Anarchy and the Problem of When to Begin Chris Clarke Walking with Zeke: the Luckiest of Dogs Poets' Basement Anderson, Lodge & Subiet Website of the Day Deviant Art   March 14, 2008 Paul Craig Roberts Watching the Dollar Die Don Santina Vichy Democrats: Pelosi and the Politics of Collaboration Patrick Cockburn Iraqi Mother Vows Revenge on US: How She Lost Her Husband and Her Sons Tim Rinne StratCom Rules! The Next War Will Start in Nebraska Robert Fantina In Torture We Trust Saul Landau Letter to the Presidents-in-Waitings David Macaray Common Myths About Labor Unions Franklin Lamb Is the Bush Administration Switching Horses in Lebanon Michael Neumann The One State Illusion: Reply to My Critics March 13, 2008 Paul Craig Roberts Republicans and "Free Market" Zealots Bring Disaster to America Mike Whitney Meltdown Looms Larger As Credit Markets Freeze Assaf Kfoury "One-State or Two State?"- Sterile Debate on False Alternatives Andy Worthington Afghan Hero Who Died in Guantánamo: The Background to the Story Adam Federman From Autopia to Autogeddon: Cars Reach the End of the Road March 12, 2008 Dave Lindorff Bringing Down Spitzer: It's the Big Brother Who Should Bother US R.F. Blader The Spitzer Backlash Yonatan Mendel How to be an Israeli Journalist. Never Write "Murder" or "Palestine" Jonathan Cook One State or Two? Neither. The Issue is Zionism Bill and Kathy Christison Fallon and Gates -- At Least One Cheer James J. Brittain Was the U.S. Involved in Killing the FARC-EP Leaders Ron Jacobs "All the Money You Make Will Never Buy Back Your Soul" March 11, 2008 Paul Craig Roberts How to End the Subprime Crisis Ed O'Loughlin How Israeli Troops Invade Homes in Gaza, Brutalize, Smash and Steal Ramzy Baroud 'Unwavering Commitment' to Inequality Kathy Christison One State or Two? The Debate Over Israel and Palestine China Hand PRC Plays it Cool, as U.S. Tries to Amp Up Pressure on Iran John Joslin Thank You, Nafta! Welcome to Weirton, Home of the Discount Cigarette Mike Averko Serb Politics, Kosovo and the Moscow-Washington Divide Ben Rosenfeld Gavin Newsom's Kneejerk Plan Thierry Paquot High Rise, Low Spirits:The Curse of the Tower Block March 10, 2008 Uri Avnery "Kill A Hundred Turks and Rest": The Five-Day War in Gaza Col. Dan Smith Scoring the "Surge" and What Lies Beyond R.F. Blader Why "Lock Them Up and Throw Away the Key" is Losing its Sheen Michael Neumann The One-State Illusion: More is Less Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman Did the Republicans Give Hillary Her Victory in Ohio? James J. Brittain Anti-Uribe Protests in Colombia and the World Missy Comley Beattie The Passion of John McCain March 8-9, 2008 Weekend Edition JoAnn Wypijewski The Only Way to Fight the Clintons Mike Whitney Sorting Through the Rubble in Post Bubble America Peter Morici Fed and Treasury Fiddle as Economy Plummets Ralph Nader The Silent Violence of Gaza's Suffering that Candidates Ignore Jonathan Cook The Meaning of Gaza's Shoah Steve Niva Behind the Israeli Escalation in Gaza Bill and Kathy Christison Crisis over Teheran's Alleged Nuclear Plans Nearing Climax Hervé Do Alto and Franck Poupeau Bolivia: Morales is Checked Eric Walberg To Leave and Stay at the Same Time: Putin to Medvedev to…? Scott Johnson City of A Thousand Foreclosures Mark Scaramella James Brown's Gate Bill Clinton President Clinton's Remarks on Naming William M. Daley as NAFTA Task Force Chairman Poet's Basement St. Thomasino, Engel, Davies and Willson Website of the Weekend Hillary Blackens Barack March 7, 2008 Patrick Cockburn Why Iraq Could Blow-Up in John McCain's Face Robin Blackburn Question for Barrack Obama: Why Afghanistan is the'Right War'? Saul Landau The Stupid Economy Binoy Kampmark When Competition is Good: McCain and the Muddled Democrats Chris Floyd Crushing the Ants: Admiral Fallon and His Empire Andy Worthington Spanish Drop "Inhuman" Extradition Request for Guantánamo Britons Will Potter Before the Smoke Even Clears in Seattle: Bringing Out the T Word March 6, 2008   March 6, 2008 Vincent Navarro The Next Failure of Health Reform Forrest Hylton High Stakes in the Andes: Colombia's Cornered President Peter Morici Why the Dollar is So Cheap George Ciccariello-Maher Counter-Attack of the Bureaucrats John Ross Taxi! Taxi! The Dark Side of the Oscars Jacob Hornberger No Standing to Lecture on Justice Paul Watson Illegal Japanese Whaling by the Numbers Dan Bacher Off the Deep End Website of the Day A Katrina Reader Online   March 5, 2008 Cockburn / St. Clair A Great Day for John McCain (and Maybe Nader) Joanne Mariner After Guantanamo Fidel Castro The Raid on Ecuador: Underestimating Rafael Correa Christopher Brauchli The Turkish Invasions Steven Sherman Obama and the Prospects for a Renewal of the Left Dave Lindorff Busting Bush & Co. in New England James Murren Bombing Somalia Adam Engel Necropolis Now Website of Day Remember Song   March 4, 2008 Wajahat Ali Mumbo Jumbo: Naming Names with Ishmael Reed William Blum How Could Hillary Have Known? Bill Quigley The Cleansing of New Orleans Ralph Nader The Prince Harry Solution Patrick Irelan Oil and Health in Venezuela James J. Brittain / R. James Sacouman Uribe's Colombia is Destabilizing a New Latin America Norman Solomon The War Election Jacob Hornberger Hillary in Waco: the Missing Apology Andy Worthington Guantánamo and the European Parliament Mike Averko Kosovo and the Press Website of the Day Tex-Mex Primary   March 3, 2008 Jennifer Loewenstein Gazan Holocaust Alan Farago American Politics and the Faltering Economy Richard Gott Colombian Deaths in Ecuador Wajahat Ali Who Speaks for a Billion Muslims? Analyzing the World Gallup Poll with John Esposito Paul Craig Roberts The Mukasey Conspiracy: a Bi-Partisan Attack on the Constitution Robert Weissman When Multinationals Say Adieu Uri Avnery Good Morning, Hamas Martha Rosenberg When Your Meat is a Downer Eva Liddell Leave the Next Dance for Bill Michael Donnelly Will Ferrell Does Flint Website of the Day Muddy Waters: Train Fare Home Blues       Subscribe Online

Weekend Edition Apri1 12 / 13, 2008 Soy Has Its Consequences Olympic Torch in Buenos Aires By NIKOLAS KOZLOFF Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, Argentina's new president, must have heaved a huge sigh of relief. Though politicians feared that protests could mar the arrival of the Olympic torch in Buenos Aires, the day passed uneventfully enough. Athletes ran the torch through the city streets as Chinese guards ran in formation alongside. The torch, which has toured the world ahead of the Olympic Games in Beijing in August, has been a magnet for protests over China policies. The Chinese leadership has fallen under international criticism for cracking down on unrest in Tibet and for propping up Sudan. As the torch headed to Argentina on its ongoing tour, activists protesting against China's rule of Tibet pledged to hold peaceful demonstrations. Jorge Carcavallo, a member of Argentina's Free Tibet group, interrupted a press conference about the torch's visit to warn of upcoming protests. When the torch arrived in Buenos Aires from San Francisco, authorities quickly hustled the torch off the plane and, in what was now rapidly becoming a comic odyssey, canceled a planned photo opportunity on the tarmac. The Olympic flame, in an ornately decorated lantern, was protected by Chinese guards who jumped onto a bus and rushed away to a secret location. The Chinese guard was escorted by wailing police cars and an ambulance. Local security officials wouldn't disclose where the vehicle was headed. On the day of the torch's tour through the streets of Buenos Aires local authorities braced for the worst, deploying some 1,200 police officers and 3,000 traffic cops. Though demonstrations were scattered, the police penned in protesters within fences along the 8_-mile relay route. Behind the headlines and all the melodrama surrounding the torch, however, there's a more significant story. For years, Argentina has been courting China diplomatically and has pointedly gone out of its way not to criticize the Asian Tiger in regard to its appalling human rights record. Kirchner is interested in maintaining important economic ties with the Asian Tiger, and in this sense the President could ill afford a public relations nightmare that might put the China relationship in danger. On the other hand however, China ties could pose a thorny political problem for Kirchner and other South American leaders in the long term. Increasingly, Argentina is becoming entwined with Beijing and this has only served to intensify social tensions in the country. Argentina Embarks on a New Trajectory To understand why Argentina invested so much in its China relationship, you have to go back to 2001. In that year, the once prosperous South American nation faced economic ruin after confronting a catastrophic financial collapse. The Argentine political class had followed globalization's dictates by dismantling protectionist trade and business regulations and embarking on an ambitious wave of privatizations. During the Asian economic crisis, a huge outflow of capital led to a depression and financial panic. Although Argentina had experienced a number of economic crises over the years, this one was one was without precedent in severity and human consequences: overnight the currency lost two-thirds of its value and banks were closed so that ordinary Argentines could not access their funds. In December 2001, amidst bloody riots, President Fernando de la Rúa was forced to resign after hardly eighteen months in office. Parts of the majestic Congress building in downtown Buenos Aires were torched by angry protesters. Over the last five years however, Argentina has undergone a remarkable economic recovery, partly due to a drastic devaluation of the currency by two-thirds. The currency devaluation suddenly made Argentina's exports highly competitive on the world market. The government's move coincided with dramatic economic developments half a world away. In China, the government was facing a dilemma: the country's farm output had reached its limit, and massive rural to urban migration was creating an insatiable demand for more soy. China simply did not have the necessary land or water to produce more of the crop. Argentina to the rescue! As it turns out, Argentina, with its fertile soil and favorable climate, was well situated to produce soy. In conjunction with my new book, Revolution! South America and the Rise of the New Left (Palgrave-Macmillan, 2008), I interviewed Gonzalo Sánchez Paz, a lecturer in international affairs at George Washington University and an expert on South America's ties to Asia. "You cannot understand the miraculous Argentine recovery after the financial crisis of December 2001 without considering the boom in soy exports to China," he told me. In an effort to curb inflationary pressures, former President Néstor Kirchner placed export caps on beef, thus flooding the local market with meat. Argentines, who are passionate about their beef, consuming 154 pounds of meat per capita per year, and who hold Sunday barbecues with a religious fervor, embraced the new measures as prices were kepT low (incoming President Cristina Kirchner has pledged to maintain a high export tax that makes outbound beef too costly for many foreign buyers). Simultaneously, many cattle ranchers were tempted to switch over to soy owing to increased market prices and the government's export caps on meat. Argentina, which was the world's biggest beef exporter until the 1950s, now went to fourth in U.S. Department of Agriculture rankings, behind Brazil, Australia and India. Some experts say Argentine soybean farming is currently three times more profitable than cattle ranching. Indeed, the trend against ranching is so powerful that today, remarkably, half of all cultivated farmland in Argentina is dedicated to soy. The explosion in production has been aided by the fact that soybeans need just eight months to reach harvest, far less than the 2-3 years needed to raise a cattle herd. Clearly, farmers aren't complaining: they're making a killing on their new soybean crop. Soy Has Its Consequences Argentina, a land of vast, fertile plains, has benefited hugely from high international prices for commodities. But the country is divided over how best to distribute windfall profits from soy. Though China trade has represented an economic boon, Argentina's relationship to the Asian Tiger has exacerbated social tensions. The soy trade has encouraged the rise of an export elite in Argentina which has become an important political actor in its own right. Determined to check the growing power of the farmers, and strapped for cash, the regime recently raised export taxes on soybeans from 35% to 45%. The move, Kirchner said, would help to control rising inflation on domestic food goods. What's more, the policy would serve to redistribute wealth in a country where nearly a quarter of the population lives in poverty. The soy farmers however went on strike, presenting Cristina with her first political crisis as Argentina's new President. Blockading roads in protest of the tax increases, the farmers strangled the flow of farm goods to cities and caused acute shortages of meat, milk and fresh produce across the country. At a political rally attended by 20,000 supporters including trade unionists, Kirchner railed against the soy farmers. "Is it good that highways are cut so that food cannot be transported to market?" she asked. "Don't do more harm to the people, lift the roadblocks so Argentines can get food," the President said. Though the farmers recently agreed to end the road blockades, they have stated that they will resume the strike if the government refuses to rescind the tax measures. The current peace between the parties seems tenuous, as both the farmers and government have failed to reach substantive agreement during negotiations. Historically, the U.S. sponsored local economic elites and multinational business in South America in an effort to secure raw resources. Now that the U.S. has lost some of its former position, China has stepped in to fill this familiar role. In order to keep growing at high rates, China needs access not only to food but to iron, oil, copper, and gas. Usually China is willing to help with infrastructure projects such as ports or railroads but only if this helps to facilitate the transport of raw materials. Across the region, countries strain to satisfy insatiable Chinese demand. From Argentina, China imports soybeans, crude oil, leather and steel. In Bolivia, China will invest $1.5 billion in the onshore oil and gas sector. China is also interested in developing the country's largest tin mine, Huanuni. Meanwhile China has imported millions of tons of oil and iron ore from Brazil and has signed a deal to help construct a major natural gas pipeline. In Chile, China will set up a joint venture with the state copper company, Codelco. In Ecuador, a Chinese-led consortium bought oil and pipeline assets for $1.4 billion. In Venezuela, China has invested millions in the oil sector. As evidenced by the peaceful and largely uneventful passage of the torch in Buenos Aires, China is not perceived as a major exploitative presence. This could change with time, however. China's economic and development vision for the region, designed to serve its own growing needs, has already exacerbated class tensions in Argentina and could give rise to social conflict in neighboring countries as well. Nikolas Kozloff is the author of Hugo Chávez: Oil, Politics, and the Challenge to the U.S. (Palgrave Macmillan, 2006), and Revolution! South America and the Rise of the New Left (Palgrave Macmillan, April 2008).

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