|
|
Calling All CounterPunchers!
|
home / subscribe / donate / books / t-shirts / search / links / feedback / events / faq
Calling All CounterPunchers!
Annual Fundraising AppealWe interrupt your regular reading habits to bring you the following important announcement: CounterPunch needs your financial support!
We're not in the habit of making idle threats and this isn't one. Either we meet our fundraising goal of $75,000 over the next three weeks or we'll be forced to drastically curtail the operation of our website. It's near the end of our year and the wolves are gathering at the door.
CounterPunch's website is supported almost entirely by subscribers to the print edition of our
newsletter. We don't clutter the site by selling annoying popup ads. We tried getting money out of Google, but they gave us the boot. We aren't on the receiving end of six-figure grants from big foundations. George Soros doesn't have us on retainer. And we don't sell tickets on cruiseliners.
The continued existence of CounterPunch depends solely on the support and dedication of our readers. And we know there are a lot of you. We get thousands of emails from you every day. Our website receives millions of hits and nearly 100,000 readers each day-and those numbers grow by the month. Of course, all these readers chew up a lot of bandwidth and that costs money.
Barack Obama came into office preaching hope and promising change. Nine months later, hope is diminishing and change has yet to arrive. From the cratering economy to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, from warrantless wiretaps to a fatally compromised health care plan, from banker bailouts to ongoing rendition flights, this new administration governs a lot like the old. In spite of this, many progressive outlets have gone soft on Obama. We haven't. That's why so many of you have found a refuge at CounterPunch and made us your homepage. You tell us that you love CounterPunch because the quality of writing you find here every day and because we never flinch under fire. We appreciate the support and are prepared for the fierce battles to come.
Unlike many other outfits, we don't hit you up for money every month ... or even every quarter, like our friends at Antiwar.com. We only ask for your support once a year. But when we ask, we mean it. Please, use our secure server make a tax-deductible donation to CounterPunch today or purchase a subscription and a gift sub for someone or one of our award winning books (or a crate of books!) as holiday presents. (We won't call you to shake you down or sell your name to any lists--even Dick Cheney's.)
To contribute by phone you can call Becky or Deva toll free at: 1-800-840-3683
Onward,
Alexander, Jeffrey, Becky, Alya, Deva, Kimberly and Marc
CounterPunch
PO Box 228, Petrolia, CA 95558
|
Today's Stories October 29, 2009 Michael Neumann October 28, 2009 Moshe Adler Dave Lindorff Frank Joseph Smecker Alexandra Early M. Shahid Alam Vijay Prashad John Ross Franklin Lamb Gregory Travis Susan Galleymore Website of the Day October 27, 2009 Mike Whitney Patrick Cockburn Stewart J. Lawrence Alan Farago Ralph Nader Dave Lindorff Bouthaina Shaaban Brian M. Downing Elections in Afghanistan, the Second Time Around Iain Boal Carl Finamore Jayne Lyn Stahl Website of the Day October 26, 2009 Bill Quigley / Paul Craig Roberts Uri Avnery Mike Whitney Michael Snedeker Shamus Cooke David Michael Green Martha Rosenberg Patrick Bond Binoy Kampmark Website of the Day October 23-25, 2009 Alexander Cockburn Christopher Ketcham Jeff Gore Gareth Porter Jayne Lyn Stahl Saul Landau Mike Whitney Nikolas Kozloff Ron Jacobs Russell Mokhiber Missy Beattie Ricardo Alarcón de Quesada Stephen Lendman David Ker Thomson Rannie Amiri Ronnie Cummins Norm Kent Charles R. Larson David Yearsley Lorenzo Wolff Ben Sonnenberg Kim Nicolini Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend October 22, 2009 Dan Pearson / Jonathan Cook Paul Craig Roberts The US as Failed State Mark Engler Johann Hari Brian M. Downing Eric Toussaint Tom Mountain Israel Shamir Charles Thomson Website of the Day October 21, 2009 Pam Martens Linn Washington, Jr. Liaquat Ali Khan D. K. Wilson Franklin Lamb Norman Solomon Stephen Fleischman Patrice Higonnet Binoy Kampmark Kevin Coval / Website of the Day October 20, 2009 Sharon Smith Tariq Ali Mark Brenner Bouthaina Shaaban Michael D. Yates Dean Baker Dave Lindorff John Ross Ricardo Alarcón de Quesada Kevin Zeese Gilad Atzmon Website of the Day October 19, 2009 Mike Whitney Greg Moses John Ross Michael Donnelly Jayne Lyn Stahl Eric Walberg Russell Mokhiber Barbara Rose Johnston John V. Whitbeck Christopher Ketcham Website of the Day October 16-18, 2009 Alexander Cockburn Saul Landau Paul Craig Roberts Carl Ginsburg Ralph Nader Nikolas Kozloff Carlo Galli Dave Lindorff Catherine Rottenberg
/ Neve Gordon Marshall Auerback Nicola Nasser Windy Cooler James L. Secor Ron Jacobs Wes Jackson Jesse Lerner-Kinglake David Ker Thomson Against Leaders Missy Beattie Emily Ratner Stephen Martin Michael Snedeker Charles R. Larson David Yearsley Peter Stone Brown Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend October 15, 2009 Andrew Cockburn Brian M. Downing Ramzy Baroud Danny Weil M. Idrees Ahmad Margaret Kimberley Ricardo Alarcón de Quesada Harvey Wasserman Nirmal Ghosh Charles R. Larson Website of the Day October 14, 2009 Michael Neumann M. Reza Pirbhai Gareth Porter Paul Craig Roberts John Strausbaugh Fortress Moon Ralph Nader Dean Baker Charles Modiano Nadia Hijab Walter Brasch Website of the Day October 13, 2009 Peter Linebaugh Shamus Cooke John Ross Brendan Cooney Frida Berrigan Yves Engler David Macaray Dave Lindorff Mark Weisbrot Ricardo Alarcón de Quesada Binoy Kampmark Website of the Day October 12, 2009 Pam Martens Mike Whitney Martha Rosenberg Jessica Arents Eamonn McCann Bill Hatch Sen. Russell Feingold Niranjan Ramakrishnan Gideon Levy Iyad Burnat Alan Cabal Dan Bacher Website of the Day October 9-11, 2009 Alexander Cockburn James Bovard Kathleen and Bill Christison Andy Worthington Marc Levy Tariq Ali Mike Whitney Paul Craig Roberts Alan Nasser Jack Z. Bratich Steve Breyman David Michael Green Dave Lindorff Paul Buchheit Jim Goodman Missy Beattie Michael Leonardi Nadia Hijab Mel Packer David Macaray James T. Phillips Charles R. Larson Michael Donnelly David Yearsley Lorenzo Wolff Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend October 8, 2009 Saul Landau Paul Fitzgerald / Linn Washington, Jr. Marshall Auerback Dave Lindorff David Rosen Chris Darimont / Misty MacDuffee John V. Walsh Stewart Lawrence Charles R. Larson Website of the Day October 7, 2009 Brendan Cooney Paul Craig Roberts Dean Baker Jonathan Cook John Stanton Joanne Mariner Ricardo Alarcón de Quesada Stephen Lendman Sen. Russell Feingold Mary Lynn Cramer Website of the Day October 6, 2009 Mike Whitney Gareth Porter Jonathan Cook Boris Kagarlitsky Iain Boal Ron Jacobs John Ross Michael Dickinson Stephen Fleischman Ira Glunts Missy Beattie Website of the Day October 5, 2009 Pam Martens Mike Whitney Paul Craig Roberts Harry Browne Sara Mann Omar Barghouti Shamus Cooke Brenda Norrell Fred Gardner Binoy Kampmark Copenhagen Blues: McChrystal and the Afghan Trap Website of the Day October 2-4, 2009 Alexander Cockburn Saul Landau Diana Johnstone Greg Moses William Blum Brian Cloughley Russell Mokhiber John Ross Ellen Brown David Ker Thomson David Macaray Gary Engler Robert Fantina Lisa Stolarski / Naomi Archer Anthony Papa Joe Allen Harry Browne Ron Jacobs Charles R. Larson David Yearsley Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend
|
The War Criminals VoteBlair or Karadzic for EU President?By EAMONN McCANN It would surely be perverse of Radovan Karadzic to challenge Tony Blair for the presidency of the EU and risk splitting the war criminal's vote. A record as a war criminal will hardly enhance any candidate's chances. But neither does it seem to be widely regarded as an impediment. "There should be some mistakes too big to recover from," muses Guardian columnist Jackie Ashley. "But (that) is not quite the end of the matter. If politicians have to struggle with competing evils in an untidy world, so should the rest of us." Who can be blamed amid the moral clutter of modern life for launching an illegal war and lying about it? Will Hutton of the Observer declares that "It is better to back our man, however imperfect, than refuse a prize that may not come our way again for decades." What's a few hundred thousand dead Iraqis compared to having one of our own in the top job? The Guardian/Observer tendency did try to clamber back on to the high ground on Tuesday with the headline "Making this ruthless liar EU president is a crazy plan." Then they went and spoiled it all by saying something stupid: "But I'll be backing Blair." The writer, George Monbiot, reckons that Blair, as EU president, would have to travel hither and yon, thus increasing the chances of him being nabbed in some tidy jurisdiction, given a clatter on the ear and carted off in handcuffs to the Hague. "It is just possible that an investigating magistrate, like Baltasar Garzon, the Spanish judge who issued a warrant for the arrest of General Pinochet, would set the police on him." We can but dream. The Brown government let it be known on Monday that it had psyched itself into campaigning mode and would be dispatching proselytisers across the EU to plead Blair's case. What Europe needs as President, declared Foreign Secretary David Miliband, is "a big hitter who could stop the traffic" in capital cities. Blair is, if anything, over-qualified on this score, having stopped the traffic in Baghdad, for example, by reducing the road system, and the rest of the country's transport infrastructure to rubble and dust. Presumably, Miliband has other strategies in mind for Paris, Berlin, Rome and Dublin. It should be mentioned that, at the time of writing, the former premier hasn't actually said that he wants the job. Maybe he's not sure he and Cherie could afford it. The position pays five-and-a-half grand a week. The Blairs aren't used to making do on that sort of money. Blair operates as a Middle East 'peace envoy' for the 'Quartet' - the EU, the UN, Russia and the US. (Isn't that everybody - and some of them twice over?) He also heads up Tony Blair Associates (TBA) - an outfit reportedly described by one of his friends as having been "set up to make money from foreign governments and major companies. "There's a focus on the Middle East because that's where the money is." Blair also represents investment bankers JP Morgan in the region. Whatever they are paying him, they can well-afford it. JP Morgan was gifted $29bn of US taxpayers' money last year to help it buy out Bear Sterns. He now regularly holds meetings with the rulers of Arab states as Quartet envoy, as the representative of TBA and as an agent of JP Morgan. Sometimes, it seems, the roles become confused. On the morning of May 24 last, Blair, as peace envoy, met with the education minister of the United Arab Emirates to discuss Gaza. In the afternoon, by now transmogrified into the representative of JP Morgan, he met the UAE's finance minister, head of a multi-billion pound investment operation, to discuss, naturally, "investment opportunities". The Sunday Times on October 18 quoted John McGaw of Golden Oryx, a UAE-based 'business development company' who said "(Blair) has a fantastic network, which is still sort of warm from his former days. "He lends global credibility to one of the top sovereign wealth funds." Similar sets of meetings have been held this year with members of the ruling families of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Yorkshire man Peter Brierley, whose son Shaun was killed just north of Kuwait on the road to Baghdad in 2003, commented: "This beggars belief. It's absolutely scandalous that he's now trying to make money from his contacts in the region. It's money from the blood and lives of the soldiers who died in Iraq." Blair is now said to be making £10m a year. On top of commission from deals struck in Arabia, he can charge £250,000 for talks on "leadership" and has a £5m book deal with Random House. The Blairs own six homes - the latest addition being John Gielgud's old £4m mansion in Buckinghamshire. Then there's the listed Georgian £3.65m townhouse in Connaught Square in Westminster. Connaught Square backs onto Archery Close. The Blairs splashed out £800,000 on the mews house behind them on Archery Close for fear that nosey people might move in. Blair owes all this to having once won the leadership of the Labour Party - the party of the working class. Or so it still presented itself before Blair cottoned on that it could also serve as an investment opportunity. EU President? Where I come from decent people wouldn't walk on the same side of the street as Tony Blair. Eamonn McCann can be reached at Eamonderry@aol.com
Inside the New Print Edition of Our Subscriber-Only Newsletter! Obama and Black America Ten months into Obama-time, the plight of black Americans is terrible. Yet overwhelmingly they rally behind the president. In a powerful report from the Deep South Kevin Alexander Gray asks the question: what should the black political agenda be? Mark Rudd counterposes “organizing” with “activism” and describes what it will take to build a movement. H. Bruce Franklin gives a chronology of the march into Afghanistan. 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.Order CounterPunch By Email For Only $35 a Year !
|
Now Available from CounterPunch Books! Yellowstone Drift:
"Powerful and shocking ..
Waiting for
Lightning
|
