|
July 18, 2002
Alexander Cockburn
Drivel
and Squawk:
Can the Times' Jeff Gerth
Save the White House?
July 17, 2002
Philip Farruggio
The
New Role Model:
Remember Jesus, George?
Zara Gelsey
Who's
Reading Over
Your Shoulder?
Behzad Yaghmaian
9/11 and
Fotress Europe:
the Drama of the New
Moslem Diaspora
Mike Ferner
War, Incorporated
Gary Leupp
Bush, Burqas
and the Oppression of Afghan Women
July 16, 2002
Pierre Tristam
Faith-based
Capitalism in
the Ruins of the Market
Kurt Nimmo
How My
35mm Camera Almost Became a Tool of Treason
Robert Fisk
The Kashmir
Distraction
Salam al-Marayati
When
is Terrorism
Not Defined as Terrorism?
Kathleen Christison
The
Image Problem:
Anti-Palestinian Bias
from Wilson to Bush
July 15, 2002
Gavin Keeney
In One
of Safire's Ears,
Out the Other
CounterPunch Wire
Nader in
Cuba
Ralph Nader
The Secret
World of Banking
Dave Marsh
Vincible:
Michael Jackson, Racism and the Music Cartel
Rahul Mahajan
Justice
for Bhopal
Jeffrey St. Clair
Seduced
by a Legend
The Return of Jimmy T99 Nelson
July 14, 2002
Bill Christison
The
DOA (Poem)
David Vest
I'll Never
Get Out of This Band Alive
July 13, 2002
M. Junaid Alam
A Process
of Dehumanization
Gavin Keeney
Go Tell
Karl Rove!
Matt Vidal
Corporate
"Ethics" Red Herrings
Ed Whitfield
Lessons
from Independence Day
July 12, 2002
Sean Donahue
The Other
Harken Energy Scandal: Oil, Death Squads
and Colombia
Walt Brasch
Sin Tax
Scam
"Psst. Cigarettes. A Buck Each."
Steve Perry
A Tale
of Two Twits
Wall Street Burns, Bush Fiddles, But Where's Wellstone?
July 11, 2002
Lloyd Marbet
Arrested
by the Chamber
of Commerce
David Krieger
Law vs.
Force
David Vest
Fountain
of Foo:
Strike Three Called
Irit Katriel
A Deep
Ideological Crisis
Richard Glen Boire
Dangerous
Lessons:
Public School Drug Testing
July 10, 2002
CounterPunch Wire
Third Party
Woes
South Carolina Denies Kevin Alexander Gray Ballot Status
Nassar Ibriham &
Majed Nassar
Bush's
Middle East Plan: Always Changing, Never Changing
Robert Fisk
Ain't That
America:
A Strange Kind of Freedom
Dave Marsh
The Return
of CREEP:
Record Cartel Accounting
Bernard Weiner
Hope and
Despair in
the Body Politic
Gary Leupp
European
Worries and
Bush's Terror War
July 9, 2002
St. Clair / Cockburn
The Atomic
Clock is Ticking:
All Roads Lead to Yucca Mtn.
Jack McCarthy
Florida:
a Terrorist Sanctuary for Bush's Bloody Pals?
Robert Fisk
How a Saudi
Billionaire
Does Beirut
Stanton and Madsen
God, Incorporated
Kurt Nimmo
IDF, Gangbanging
with Tanks
Bill Christison
Disastrous
Foreign Policies
of the US Part 3:
What Can We Do About It?
July 8, 2002
Rick Mercier
Yucca
Mountain Bound
Lev Grinberg
The
BUSHARON Global War
Tariq Ali
How Bush
Used 9/11 to Remap the World
Lori Allen
The Tugs
of War:
Palestinian Life Under Curfew
July 7, 2002
Alexander Cockburn
White
House Crooks
Resources:
100s of Links
About 9/11
CounterPunch:
Complete
Coverage of 9/11 and Its Aftermath
Five
Days That
Shook The World:
Seattle and Beyond
By Alexander
Cockburn
and Jeffrey St. Clair
Photos by Allan Sekula
(Click Here to Order from CounterPunch
Online at 20% Off Amazon.com's price!)
INSIDE
EXCLUSIVE
TO
COUNTERPUNCH
SUBSCRIBERS
Published March 15, 2002
Read Whiteout and Find Out
How the CIA's Backing of the Mujahideen Created the World's Most
Robust Heroin Market and Helped to Finance the Rise of the Taliban
and Osama bin Laden
Whiteout:
CIA, Drugs & the
Press
by Alexander
Cockburn
and Jeffrey St. Clair
The Memphis Blues Again:
Six Decades of Memphis Music Photographs
Photos by Ernest Withers
Text by Daniel Wolff
The New Intifada:
Resisting Israel's Apartheid
Edited by Roane Carey
A Pocket Guide to
Environmental Bad Guys
by James Ridgeway
and Jeffrey St. Clair
The
Phoenix Program
by Douglas Valentine
Al Gore:
A User's Manual
by Cockburn
and St. Clair
Buy
This Explosive
New Book at an
Amazing Discount!
Reviews of Gore:
a User's Manual
|
July
18, 2002
I
Spy
Now Let's
be Fair,
the USA
Ain't East Germany!
by Jerre Skog
Noticing that some eminent and informed writers
have likened USA with the old East Germany because of the Patriot
Act and the new Terrorist Information & Prevention System,
TIPS, where an awful lot of people are encouraged to inform on
their fellow citizens, I have to disagree and ask these writers
to be more fair in their comments. After all we should be sure
not to draw any comparisons to greater lengths than they merit
and when mentioning the similarities one should not foget to
mention important dissimilarities too.
I agree that superficially some similaritys
exist. Having a large, but anonymous, part of the population
spying and informing on their countrymen, was standard for East
Germany where a STASI informer could be anybody in the neighborhood.
The vast powers, number and secrecy of various "state security
agencies" is also reminiscent of that country as is the
paranoia, in DDR's case perhaps more well-founded, behind their
creation.
With the resources of FBI, CIA, NSA,
Office of Homeland Security, the obedient and giant armed forces,
various other more or less secret organizations, the informer
networks and the extent of their powers , the potential for oppression
in USA is probably greater than in any other country on earth.
Given a president who has something close to emergency powers
and all the new laws limiting individual freedom and integrity,
the framework of the police state is securely in place and TIPS
is the step that crosses the border between reasonable control
and security and the birth of the fascist state. Both USA and
East Germany can safely be labelled police states after the latest
developments. One can perhaps note that the East German leaders
never had the the nearly unlimited resources at the Bush administration's
command.
But, in all fairness, when comparing
two nations, we have also to look at the dissimilarites in order
to get a true picture of the states, and in my view, with very
good information on life in former East Germany, there are fundamental
differences that ought to be considered more important than the
similarities.
Let's take a good look at the contrasts:
First, naturally, East Germany had the
Berlin Wall to keep people on the inside. USA doesn't have a
wall stopping its citizens from escaping the country. Anyone
is free to leave. Lack of monetary means to do so and the difficulties,
on a vastly bigger scale than those confronting an escapee from
East Germany, to start a new life elsewhere, is probably less
limiting than the Wall was.
We can also note that unlike USA, East
Germany has never invaded other countries or even bombed them
and never had a military with a might even close to USA's. Leaders
Ulbricht and Hoeneker, because of Soviet's supremacy, were not
free to pursue their own policies and could never on their own
effect more than marginal changes to the system. Completely different
from the situation in US.
The East German media was censored and
unable to critizise the leadership, while American media is free
and freely abstains from critizising the leadership. The East
German population was well aware of the shortcomings of their
state in spite of above media situation. Most Americans still
belive they live in the greatest and most decent democracy, thanks
to the media situation.
And, unlike US:
East Germany had a well functioning and
free health care system, health insurance and a pension system
that included everyone.
East Germany had free education on every
level including university, and the population was, in general,
well aware and informed.
East Germany had jobs and housing for
all and though luxury food was scarce and expensive, the basic
needs were cheap and in abundance. Bread was so cheap that many
bought the feed for the pigs and hens at the bakery.
The social fabric between the citizens
in East Germany was good because the differences in income was
held at reasonable levels.
The crime level was low and violence
crimes unusual by international standard.
The luxury mansions were few and far
between.
Pro Wrestling was unheard of.
In summary:
The only important similarity between
US and former East Germany is the police state apparatus, but
it must be pointed out that the East German one was probably
more efficient in security/buck ratio, perhaps thanks to a lot
of "help" from USSR and the fact that East Germany
had a lot of nukes on American bases in Europe aimed at it as
well as a lot of western propaganda.
Let's be fair and give USA a few more
years to get things into full swing!
Support your local spooks! Turn yourself
in for better security!
Jere Skog is a Swedish writer, musician and alternative
observer living in Germany since 1999. More articles, political
and satirical can be found on: Jerre´s Thinktank www.skog.de
Comments are welcome at: jerre@skog.de
Today's Features
Alexander Cockburn
Drivel
and Squawk:
Can the Times' Jeff Gerth
Save the White House?
home / subscribe
/ about us
/ books
/ archives
/ search
/ links
/
|