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The New Print Edition of CounterPunch, Only for Our Newsletter Subscribers! How Cops Extort Confessions;
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The New Print Edition of CounterPunch, Only for Our Newsletter Subscribers!
How Cops Extort Confessions;
How the U.S. “Justice System” Really WorksNinety-two per cent of felony convictions in the U.S. are obtained by plea bargains or confessions. Without them the “justice system” would grind to a halt. In an important piece in our latest newsletter, available only to subscribers, Emily Horowitz shows how totally innocent people will “confess” under police pressure, even without physical torture. Horowitz outlines the powerful case for banning confessions altogether. Also in this new edition Marcus Rediker, co-author of the legendary The Many Headed Hydra, writes of popular heroism and resistance in the favelas of Medellin, Colombia. Alexander Cockburn reports on how America’s oldest bank, patronized by the global elites, washed billions smuggled out of Russia, and how the Russians might win their money back, shaking the world’s banking system if they do so. Serge Halimi describes the real battle for the soul of Europe. 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.
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Today's Stories August 23 / 4, 2008 Nicole Colson August 22, 2008 Boris Kagarlitsky Laura Carlsen Bob Barr Marwan Bishara Peter Morici Manuel Garcia, Jr. Charles Mostoller Sumbul Ali-Karamali Keith Rosenthal John F. Miglio Website of the Day August 21, 2008 Allan J. Lichtman Dave Lindorff Loserville: How Obama Blew It Ralph Nader Joanne Mariner Wajahat Ali Ron Jacobs Rostam Purzal Anthony Papa Website of the Day August 20, 2008 Michael Neumann Ray McGovern Eric Walberg Fidaa Abed Daniel Haack Mike Whitney Website of the Day August 19, 2008 Paul Craig Roberts Deepak Tripathi Marwan Bishara Saul Landau William S. Lind Martha Rosenberg James Brittain Pratyush Chandra David Macaray Website of the Day August 18, 2008 Tariq Ali Gary Leupp Uri Avnery John Ross Farooq Sulehria Luis Rodriguez Manuel Garcia, Jr. Noah Baker Merrill Charles Thomson Website of the Day August 16 / 17, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair Deepak Tripathi Conn Hallinan Mike Whitney Robert Fantina Ray McGovern Nicole Colson Fatima Bhutto Jean-Luis Rocca David Michael Green Ramzi Kysia Dave Lindorff Lisa Martinovic Richard Rhames Don Santina Rannie Amiri Ramzy Baroud John Stanton Howard Lisnoff Ron Jacobs Seth Sandronsky Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend
August 15, 2008 Steve Niva David Remington Michael Winship Paul Craig Roberts Farzana Versey Harvey Wasserman Felice Pace Julian Critchley Website of the Day August 14, 2008 Saul Landau / Conn Hallinan Mike Whitney Reza Fiyouzat Ralph Nader Christopher Brauchli The Cheerleader in China Jack Bradigan Spula Patrick Irelan John Walsh Dan Bacher Website of the Day
August 13, 2008 Paul Craig Roberts David Remington Brian Cloughley Glen Ford Brendan Cooney Dave Lindorff Tom Lewis Stan Cox Alan Farago Martha Rosenberg Website of the Day August 12, 2008 Uri Avnery Anthony DiMaggio Bill Christison Eric Walberg Kate Connolly Diane Farsetta Peter Morici Thom Rutledge Lee Patton Niranjan Ramakrishnan Website of the Day August 11, 2008 Ishmael Reed Paul Craig Roberts Gary Leupp Douglas Kammen William Willers Greg Moses Jeff Leys Cynthia McKinney Alan Farago Website of the Day August 9 / 10, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair Bruce Jackson Kevin Young Chris Floyd Joshua Frank Robert Fantina Brendan Cooney Mark Almond Lois Gibbs Rev. William Alberts Kathy Kelly John Ross David Michael Green Bill Moyers / Ron Jacobs Richard Rhames David Yearsley Lee Sustar Brenda Norrell Ben Terrall Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend August 8, 2008 Patrick Cockburn Manuel Garcia, Jr. M. Shahid Alam Andy Worthington Lawrence J. Korb David Model Alan Farago Diop Olugbala Firmin DeBrabander Website of the Day August 7, 2008 Dr. Trudy Bond William Blum Paul Craig Roberts Ralph Nader Robert Weitzel Jacob G. Hornberger Binoy Kampmark David Macaray Howard Lisnoff Website of the Day August 6, 2008 Marc Herold Greg Moses Sheldon Rampton Kevin Young Michael Estrada Robert Weissman Dr. Susan Block Cindy Sheehan Ace Hoffman Website of the Day August 5, 2008 Paul Craig Roberts Jeff Halper Patrick Cockburn Nancy Welch Peter Morici Sousan Hammad Eamon Martin Shepherd Bliss Tim Matson Website of the Day August 4, 2008 Uri Avnery Saul Landau David W. Remington Rev. Jesse Jackson Dave Lindorff Peter Morici Joanne Mariner Ramzy Baroud Christian Wright Website of the Day August 2 / 3, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair Patrick Cockburn Winslow T. Wheeler James Abourezk Andy Worthington Brian Cloughley Robert Fantina Benjamin Dangl Marlene Martin David Yearsley Fatemeh Keshavarz David Michael Green Obama as Dukakis Harvey Wasserman Jason Hribal Phyllis Pollack Laray Polk Ron Jacobs David Macaray David Rosen Dan Bacher Joe Allen Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend August 1, 2008 Jonathan Cook Nikolas Kozloff Rannie Amiri Peter Morici Christopher Brauchli M. K. Bhadrakumar Patrick Cockburn James J. Brittain Dan Bacher Website of the Day
July 31, 2008 Michael Hudson Carl Finamore Mike Whitney Joshua Frank Andy Worthington Ralph Nader Bill Moyers / Robert Weissman Dave Lindorff Website of the Day July 30, 2008 Brian M. Downing Chuck Spinney William S. Lind David Ker Thomson Karl Grossman Mike Whitney Martha Rosenberg James Murren Dave Lindorff Ron Jacobs Website of the Day July 29, 2008 Jeffrey St. Clair John Ross Peter Morici Alison Weir Gary Leupp David Macaray Brenda Norrell Marjorie Cohn Eric Ruder Website of the Day July 28, 2008 Dr. Bryant Welch Kathy Kelly Mike Whitney Peter Morici Christopher Brauchli Clifton Ross Stephen Lendman Website of the Day
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Weekend Edition Can Putin Save America From Itself?Vlad the DerailerBy RICHARD RHAMES On August 7, as distracted Americans were immersed in the HiDef torrent of logo-emblazoned jock-ularity and Olympic pageantry, Bush toady Mikhail Saakashvili saw his opportunity. The Georgian strongman (who ascended to power in a US-backed coup) sent his US and Israeli-trained/supplied military against the South Ossetian capital city of Tskhinvali. Bombs and heavy artillery destroyed government and university buildings. Residents died, their homes flattened. At least ten Russian peacekeepers stationed there were killed and 30 wounded when their barracks were shelled. Reuters (08/08/08) reported South Ossetia’s president, Edward Kokoity’s estimating “About 1,400 died. We will check these figures, but the order of the numbers is around this. We have this on the basis of reports from relatives.” “Lyudmila Ostayeva, 50, who had fled with her family... said, ‘I saw bodies lying in the streets, around ruined buildings, in cars. It’s impossible to count them now. There is hardly a building left standing.’” (Reuters) Media consumers in the US of course, knew little of all this. Their attention was directed to China and the Olympiad’s multi-billion dollar opening extravaganza. Boss Saakashvili had counted on this misdirection, telling CNN, “Most decision makers have gone for the holidays... Brilliant moment to attack a small country.” (Reuters) Proving that irony is far from dead, he was complaining about Russia’s response to the Georgian aggression. He relied on US media generally downplayng the initial attack and framing the story as renegade-Ruskies-at-it- again. Press accounts here carefully toed the bi-Party Line and, if the initial Georgian terror-bombing was mentioned at all, it was presented as an afterthought --- mingled with photos of Georgians reportedly adversely affected by Russian pursuit of Saakashvili’s routed military. Some gloating followed. AP quoted “Russian separatist official Russian Kishmaria [as] taunting the retreating Georgian forces, saying they had received ‘American training in running away.’” Faced with a superior Russian contingent, even Georgian “Coalition of the Willing” legionnaires, were quickly flown back from Iraq as the blitz to “restore constitutional order” in South Ossetia against the wishes and interests of the Ossetians came apart. Georgia has been gamely practicing terror in Iraq where it ranks just behind the US and Britain in soldiers committed to the occupation. Sadly, Boss Saakashvili failed to learn the main lesson that is the basis of US foreign policy / “force projection:” Don’t start a fight with anyone that can fight back. Since the Soviet Union dissolved the world has been portrayed as “unipolar,” with one super power spending half its discretionary budget on a gargantuan military, subverting /invading weaker countries almost at will, and proclaiming “A New World Order.” In the resultant vacuum, French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine years ago argued that the US had become a “hyperpower,” noting that “in other times, great dynasties were almost always counterbalanced by other powers. Today, that’s not the case, and therefore there is this question at the center of the world’s current problems.” Vedrine diplomatically referred to the issue of US domination and “unilateralism,” undeterred by a countervailing power, already many times displayed in the Caribbean, Iraq, Yugoslavia and elsewhere. “How do you counterbalance these tendencies when they are abusive?” Vedrine asked. (International Herald Tribune, 2/5/99) How indeed. But as the US spends its blood and treasure pursuing oil company profits in Iraq, exports its useful industry, turns the remnant of its economy over to gamers, shysters, pimps and touts, and feverishly pursues a culture of vapidity, cruelty and waste down the bung-hole of history, perhaps Russia’s limited resistance to Georgian aggression signals the stirring of something helpful. In constructive opposition to US and US client thuggery, Russia may have done for the US population something it evidently could not or would not do for itself --- attempt to demonstrate that America and its favored national goon squads are no longer free to just take whatever they want, whenever they want it, at whatever civilian and democratic cost. The media/political establishment will howl (as they have) at the thought of any limits being placed on US military adventurism. Their consensus view has been ably stated by New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman: “The hidden hand of the market will never work without a hidden fist. McDonald’s cannot flourish without McDonnell Douglas, the designer of the...F-15. And the hidden fist that keeps the world safe for Silicone Valley’s technologies to flourish is called the U.S. Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps.” If sneaker makers or television manufacturers want to fire their US workers and move production to Vietnam, Korea, Haiti, Panama, Nicaragua, Yugoslavia, or Iraq, first those countries need to be pummeled / pried open by the not-so “hidden fist.” American workers are of course expected to cheer these efforts and bleed in them. It’s called being patriotic. Without the Soviet Union’s modest restraint on US power projection and hubris, American corporate warlords have felt free to launch regular wars of aggression, bust unions, beggar workers, repeal the Bill of Rights, declare the “end of history,” and become --- well --- toweringly creepy. Many/ most in the US population have noticed and (if poll results are any indication) despair the redolent national thuggery. Sadly, given the structural impossibility of majority rule in this country, their only option is to gape and wait to be pulled personally into the broadening downward spiral. Since we apparently can’t stop the slide, it must fall to others. Not long ago Vladimir Putin offered to save America from itself. He declared this savage new “unipolar world” with “one centre of authority, one centre of force” and one decider to be over. “This is pernicious...unacceptable...impossible,” he said. Let’s hope for the sake of the world and ourselves, that he is right. Richard Rhames is chair of the Biddeford, Maine.
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