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Today's
Stories
December
5, 2007
Mike
Whitney
Why the CFR Hates Putin
Sharon
Smith
The Anti-War Enablers: Tom Hayden
and the Dead End Democrats
Ron
Jacobs
The Iran Charade
Dave
Zirin
Kicking a Dead Man: the Sliming of Sean Taylor
John
V. Whitbeck
Two States or One? Time to Choose
Peter
Zinn
Covered in New Orleans
Niranjan
Ramakrishnan
Impeach Pelosi Instead
Alan
Farago
The Credit Bomb Detonates in Florida
December
4, 2007
Alexander
Cockburn
Jackboot State Stubs Its Toe in
Ann Arbor
Andy
Worthington
Guantánamo and the Supreme
Court
Paul
Craig Roberts
The Lies at the End of the American
Dream
Ray
McGovern
No-Nuke Iran
Winslow
T. Wheeler
Admiral Mullen and the Defense Budget: When White Elephants are
Too Small
Allan
Nairn
The Regime Still Stands in Burma, Where "the People Just
Want Food"
Russell
Mokhiber
The USA v. Al Arian
Nikolas
Kozloff
As Chávez Falters: Raising the Stakes for the South American
Left
John
V. Walsh
Peace Movement Paralyzed
Ghada
Ageel
Will Peace Cost Me My Home?
Stephen
Soldz
The Facts be Damned!: Psychologists' President Defends Psychologist
Involvement in Interrogations
Website
of the Day
Hands Off the People of Iran
December
3, 2007
Tariq
Ali
Venezuela After the Referendum
Bill
Quigley
New Orleans: Bulldozers for the Poor,
Tax Credits for Developers
Eric
Walberg
The Bible and Middle East History
Uri
Avnery
After Annapolis
Marjorie
Cohn
Operation Iraqi Freedom Exposed
Dave
Lindorff
Vengeance Isn't Sweet
Stephen
Fleischman
Homeless in Paradise
Martha
Rosenberg
Perp Walks for the Mink Clad on Chicago's Mag Mile
Website
of the Day
So Just Lead!
December
1 / 2, 2007
Alexander
Cockburn
Emblems of the Bush Age: Adrift
in a Sea of Booze
Jeffrey
St. Clair
The Bear Minimum: the Grizzly and
the Future of the Rocky Mountain West
Mike
Whitney
"Iraq Doesn't Exist Anymore": an Interview with Nir
Rosen
Shemon
Salam
A Visit From the FBI
Roger
Burbach
The Battle in Bolivia
Benjamin
Dangl
New Politics in Old Bolivia
Brian
M. Downing
The Quiet on the Middle Eastern Front: How Much Credit Goes to
the Surge?
Greg
Moses
Night of the Living Redneck: a Texas Horror Story
Sonja
Karkar
The "Never-Never" Peace Conference
Saul
Landau
Ethics and Evil in South Boston
Margaret
Kimberley
Black America Left Behind
John
Ross
What are the Prospects for a New Mexican Revolution?
Reza
Fiyouzat
Exit on the Left: When Che's Children Visited Iran
Judith
Scherr
Berkeley Turns Right for the Holidays
Lance
Olsen
Of Forests and Finance: Logging for the Wealthy
Christopher
Brauchli
Mr. Bush and the Despots
Robert
Fantina
Iraq as U.S. Colony
Dan
Bacher
Fish Triage on Prospect Island
Michael
Donnelly
Remembering How to be Human: John Trudell and the Music of Urgency
Website
of the Weekend
Appalachian Voices
November
30, 2007
Peter
Stone Brown
The Re-Packaging of Bob Dylan
Wajahat
Ali
The Volatile Mistress: an Interview with Javed Jabbar, Pakistan's
Former Minister of Information
Allan
Nairn
Cold-Blooded Celebrity: Thomas L. Friedman and the Bali Bombers
Alan
Farago
The Sorrows of Suburbia: Politics, Sprawl and the Housing Crash
John
Ross
The Death of Latin America's First Revolution
Corporate
Crime Reporter
America's Corporate Crime Capitals
Lucia
Alvarez
Diego Gonzalez
Argentina's Political Future
James
Rothenberg
The Iraqi Miracle
Website
of the Day
Bio-Bling?
November
29, 2007
R.
F. Blader
The Most Dangerous Kind of Bribe
Ismael
Hossein-Zadeh
Distorting Fascism to Demonize Iran
Stephen
Soldz
War on the Couch: Fear, Aggression and Empire
Sheldon
Richman
Iraq 3.0
George
Wuerthner
Forest Fires, Lies and Chainsaws
Felice
Pace
Did All Things Considered Self-Censor on Annapolis?
Col.
Dan Smith
The Meaning of Annapolis
Harvey
Wasserman
Terror Target Nukes
Nikolas
Kozloff
Primetime Hate Debate: Lou Dobbs, Immigration and Campaign '08
Paul
Krassner
Huffington Post Bloggers Go On Strike!
Dave
Lindorff
News Not Fit to Print: US Coup Planned for Venezuela?
CP
News Service
The One State Declaration
Website
of the Day
A Native View of Yellowstone Bison Slaughter
November
28, 2007
James
Petras
CIA Destabilization Memo Surfaces
on Venezuela
Jeff
Halper
Annapolis: When the Roadmap is a One
Way Street
Pam
Martens
Crashing Citigroup
Peter
Morici
Economy in Crisis: Avoiding a Recession
Mohammed
Khatib
Separate and Unequal in Palestine
Helen
Redmond
The Horror and the Hope: Health Care in America
William
S. Lind
In the Fox's Lair: Quiet Before a New Iraq Storm?
Ben
Tripp
We, the People: a Trope for All Seasons
Liaquat
Ali Khan
Pakistan: First, Restore the Constitution and Reinstate the Judges
Jeff
Berg
Holbrooke Says Bush Won't Attack Iran
Website
of the Day
The Lies of Joe Klein
November
27, 2007
Joe
DeRaymond
On the Road to the Torture School
Paul
Craig Roberts
Meet the Only Two Candidates Worse Than Bush and Cheney: Hillary
and Rudy
Marjorie
Cohn
Remembering Victor Rabinowitz
Mike
Whitney
A Dollar the Size of a Postage Stamp
Ron
Jacobs
The Myths of Military Progress
Col.
Dan Smith
The Pentagon's "People System" Still Doesn't Work
Ralph
Nader
Family Learning
Karim
Makdisi
Annapolis and the Unholy Alliance: the View from Beirut
Christopher
Ketcham
Memo to Hollywood Writers: Strike Until You Drop
Ronan
Bennett
Martin Amis Does a Coulter
Website
of the Day
Celebrating the Uncensored Media
November
26, 2007
Kathleen
and Bill Christison
Heading for Annapolis
Paul
Craig Roberts
The End of All That
David
Macaray
Enter Mediator
Sameer
Dossani
Pakistan's Wounded Dictator
Roger
Burbach
The Final Battle in Bolivia
Mark
Scaramella
Guns and Greed in the Emerald Empire
Brian
McKinlay
Howard's End
Rick
Kuhn
The Fall of a Racist Union Buster
Binoy
Kampmark
Ruddslide and Dull Alec
Monica
Benderman
What Do You Know of War?
Brenda
Norrell
Return to Alcatraz
Website
of the Day
Ghostworld by DJ Spooky
November
24 / 25, 2007
Alexander
Cockburn
The Ordeal of Catherine Wilkerson,
MD
Robert
Fisk
Darkness Falls on the Middle East
Saul
Landau
Norman Mailer will Not R.I.P.
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Justice Stephen Breyer, Cancer Bonds and the Origins of Neoliberal
Environmentalism
Rannie
Amiri
Beirut's Black Friday
Christopher
Brauchli
Iraq Embassy as Gilded Palace
Daniel
Gross
The Gap and Black Friday
Mike
Whitney
"A Generalized Meltdown of Financial Institutions"
Marjorie
Cohn
Iran and the 2008 Elections
David
Rosen
Senior Sex: the Real Sexual Life of Aging Americans
David
Michael Green
If Conservatism is the Ideology of Freedom ....
Kenneth
Rexroth
When Euripides Played the Hindu Kush: Greeks and Buddhists in
Afghanistan
Muhammad
Iqbal
Trans. Shahid Alam
Ghazal
Website
of the Day
Aerial Footage of Delta Fish Kill
November 23, 2007
Gary
Leupp
Killing the Buddha in Pakistan's Swat
Valley
Laura
Carlsen
Coming to Terms with Diversity in
Bolivia: an Interview with Alvaro Garcia, Bolivia's VP
David
Macaray
Keeping Labor Unions Out
Andy
Worthington
Former Guantánamo Detainee Seeks Asylum in Sweden
Clifton
Ross
Trashing Chavez: Keith Olberman's Toxic Rant
Seth
Sandronsky
Battling Sodexho
Dan
Bacher
Death in the Delta: Thousands of Fish Stranded by Bureau of Reclamation
William
A. Cook
The Myth of Middle East Peace
Website
of the Day
Waiting for the Guards: Stress Techniques as Torture, a Short
Film
November
22, 2007
Alan
Farago
Who Lost America's Everglades?
Greg
Moses
A Thanksgiving Basting
Dave
Lindorff
Impeachment is Back on the Table
Mike
Ely
Native Blood: the Myth pf Thanksgiving
Omar
Azfar
Gore for President of Pakistan?
November
21, 2007
Vijay
Prashad
Our Dictator, Their Democracy
Martha
Rosenberg
Undercover at a Turkey Slaughtering Plant
Manuel
Garcia, Jr.
Epiphany on the Glacier
John
Ross
The Last Days of Mexican Corn
Brian
McKenna
Cancer Terrorists Unmasked
Stephen
Soldz
Isolation Torture Routine at Guatánamo
Monica
Benderman
Needing Peace
Ben
Terrall
Slavery in the Fields: The Real Price of Sugar
Website
of the Day
Mercy for Animals
November
20, 2007
Oren
Ben-Dor
Why Israel Has No "Right to Exist"
as a Jewish State
Wajahat
Ali
An Interview with Norman Finkelstein
Alan
Farago
The Dark Arts and the Bush Dynasty
Marjorie
Cohn
Musharraf Plays Bush for a Fool
Ralph
Nader
Green is Gold?
Andy
Worthington
Guantánamo Whistleblower Launches a New Attack on Rigged
Tribunals
Sara
Olson
When Going AWOL is the Only Escape
Dave
Lindorff
Likelihood of Iran Attack Gains Credence
Paul
Krassner
The First Amendment, a Dialogue
Website
of the Day
Joanne Mariner on Torture
November
19, 2007
Winslow
T. Wheeler
Why Congress Won't Reform
China
Hand
The U.S. Game Plan in Pakistan
Allan
Nairn
Sitting Around Talking, in Indonesia
Uri
Avnery
How to Get Out?
David
Macaray
The Chalice that Poisoned the Labor Movements
Dave
Lindorff
Democrats in Future Shock: They Could Lose It All in 2008!
Bill
Quigley
Twenty Thousand Protest at Ft. Benning; Eleven Face Federal Criminal
Trials
Ron
Jacobs
Sitting on the Group W Bench: War, Thanksgiving and Arlo Guthrie
Sunsara
Taylor
Legalized Rights for Fertilized Eggs?
Binoy
Kampmark
Why Steve Irwin--You're Dead!
Heather
Gray
Another Look at W.E.B. DuBois
Website
of the Day
The Meat Market
November
17 / 18, 2007
P.
Sainath
Neoliberalism's Price Tag: 150,000
Farm Suicides in India
David
Rosen
The Scarlet Hypocrites: Republicans,
Christians and the Politics of Adultery
Mike
Whitney
Pentagon Cover Up: 15,000 or More US Deaths in Iraq War?
George
Wuerthner
Saving the Big Wild
Brenda
Norrell
The Case of Jim Main, Jr: In Montana, Indians are Guilty Until
Proven Innocent
George
Ciccariello-Maher
Of Submarines and Loose Screws
Karim
Makdisi
Lebanon is Hanging by a Thread
Marie
Trigona
Wal-Mart in Argentina
Valerio
Volpi
The Catholic Church, Incorporated
Fred
Gardner
The Straight-Ahead Runner
Robert
Fantina
The White House Press Office
Mike
Ferner
Thank God for the Senate Republicans!
Missy
Comley Beattie
The Radical Majority
Kenneth
Couesbouc
Circles of Power
Patrick
O'Hayer
A Portrait of Mailer and a Young Poet
Poets'
Basement
Davies, Buknatski and Ford
November
16, 2007
Cockburn
/ St. Clair
The Vices of Hillary Clinton: Secrecy,
Intransigence and War
Dave
Zirin
The Indictment of Barry Bonds: Busted by a Broken System
Gary
D. Barnett
A Day in the Life of an Unwilling Federal Agent
Alan
Farago
Sprawl, Mortgage Fraud and Political Corruption
Dave
Lindorff
Two Brothers and Two Scandals
Russell
Mokhiber
Pelosi and Me: "What Should be Done with Those Protesters?"
Robert
Ovetz
Cargo Ships in Paradise: Shipping Lanes Threaten the Yosemite
of the Sea
Brenda
Norrell
"Today We Experienced America:" Arresting Indigenous
People on the Border
David
Swanson
Wolf Blitzer Loses Democratic Debate
Peter
Letheby
Outside the Box on the Great Plains
Website
of the Day
Why Activism Fails
November
15, 2007
Cockburn
/ St. Clair
Hillary Clinton in Arkansas
Adolfo
Gilly
The Spirit of Revolt
Peter
Bohmer
10 Days That Shook Olympia
Andy
Worthington
The Trials of Omar Khadr: Gitmo's Child Soldier
Gray
/ Derks
Obama's Pitch to South Carolina's Black Churches Affronts Gay
Groups
Liaquat
Ali Khan
Liberating Pakistan
Dave
Lindorff
Where's the Party?
Christopher
Brauchli
Tipping Point: the Politics of Gossip
Anthony
Papa
Racism as Law: Crack Cocaine Sentences
Martha
Rosenberg
Merck's Big Write Off
Ben
Terrall
Thank You, Ehren Watada
Website
of the Day
On the Colorado: Drought, Climate Change and Water Supplies
November 14, 2007
Cockburn
/ St. Clair
The Making of Hillary Clinton
James
Petras
Venezuela Between Ballots and Bullets
Al
Giordano
Campaign 08: Don't Trust Anyone Over 50
Paul
Craig Roberts
The Lobby
Andy
Worthington
Innocents and Foot Soldiers
Stephen
Lendman
Torturing Palestinian Detainees
Fatima
Bhutto
Aunt Benazir's False Promises: the Dismantling of Pakistani Democracy
Martin
Smith
Norman Mailer and the "Good War"
Jeff
Leys
Slip Sliding Away: House Votes on War Funding
Website
of the Day
Why the Writers are Striking
November
13, 2007
Alexander
Cockburn
Hillary's Big Problem and How Bill
Can Fix It
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Mailer and Us: the Writer as Fighter
Robert
Bryce
The Pakistan Fuel Connection
David
Macaray
The Teamsters and the Hollywood Strike
Mike
Whitney
Bulletins from the Titanic
Ralph
Nader
Pakistani Lawyers vs. American Lawyers
Nikolas
Kozloff
Chavez Blasts the Spanish King
Jordan
Flaherty
Education Versus Incarceration in Tallulah, Louisiana
B.
R. Gowani
Dear Mrs. Bhutto
Website
of the Day
Monty Python: "Fuck You, Very Much FCC"
November
12, 2007
Vicente
Navarro
Why Hillary's Health Care Plan Really
Failed
Ben
Brown
Letter from Ho Chi Minh City: a Tribute to My Vietnam Vet Father
Omar
K.
A Pakistani Lawyer's Testimony: Life Under the Brutal Emergency
Sadia
Abbas
The Roots of Pakistan's Political Crisis: Corrupt Elites and
a Kleptocratic Military
Farzana
Versey
Mailer's Miasma
Richard
W. Behan
The Political Crimes of Complicity
Paul
Krassner
Asshole of the Year: Congratulations Tim Russert!
Cindy
Sheehan
Faith and War
Peter
Stone Brown
The Return of Levon Helm
Dave
Lindorff
Dennis, You are Not Alone
Website
of the Day
Police Attack in Olympia
November
10 / 11, 2007
Alain
Gresh
Uncle Sam's New Backyard: How to Turn
a Region into a Graveyard
Mike
Whitney
For Whom the Closing Bell Tolls: the Last Dead Bull on Wall Street
Ron
Jacobs
A View from the Pakistani Left: an Interview with Farooq Tariq
Jeffrey
St. Clair
The First Dambuster: a Coyote Story
Alan
Farago
Tangled Up in Blue: a Brief History of Florida Environmentalism
Binoy
Kampmark
When Language Drowns: Torture in America
Robert
Fantina
Legitimizing Torture
Fred
Gardner
Psychological Torture in the Name of Family Values
Ayesha
Ijaz Khan
The General in His Labyrinth
Nicola
Nasser
NATO's Southward Drift
Philip
Rizk
The Blame Game in Gaza
Michael
Dickinson
Condom Nation: the Pope vs. Terry Higgins
Joel
S. Hirschhorn
The Grand Delusion: a Conspiracy of Two Parties
Paul
Krassner
Flunking Out of the Electoral College
Wadner
Pierre /
Joe Emersberger
The Ongoing War on Journalists in Haiti
November
9, 2007
Patrick
Cockburn
In the Kandil Mountains with the
PKK
Mohammed
Hanif
Musharraf and the Drunk Uncle
John
Ross
Blackwater Goes to Mexico
Mike
Whitney
Ron Paul, Big Media's Invisible Candidate
Tom
Barry
In Latin America, the Hillary Clinton Policy is the Bush Policy
Corporate
Crime Reporter
Is the AFL Trying to Derail Single Payer Health Care?
Badruddin
Khan
Pakistan and the Israel Lobby
David
Macaray
The WGA STrike: the Empire Strikes Back
Martha
Rosenberg
The Blood Sport of Vice Presidents
Website
of the Day
Stryker Blockade!
November
8, 2007
Kathleen
& Bill Christison
Meeting the Other in Israel and
Palestine
William
Loren Katz
Waterboarding in American History
Mike
Whitney
The Long Fall: a Market Without Parachutes
Sheldon
Richman
Why Woodstock May Have Saved John McCain's Life
Liaquat
Ali Khan
Solidarity with Pakistan's Lawyers
Marc
Gardner
The Victims of "Jessica's Law": Parolees Without Rights
(or Homes)
Jackie
Corr
The Big Fish from Whitefish: Montana, the Last Retreat of the
Investment Banker?
Brenda
Norrell
Between Bombs and Border Walls
Dave
Lindorff
Ridiculing Impeachment at the New York Times
China
Hand
Rewriting the History of the Sudan Calamity
Sen.
Russ Feingold
FISA and America's Basic Freedoms: Let's Not Repeat the Mistakes
of the Patriot Act
Website
of the Day
The Welfare Poets Meet Hugo Chavez
November
7, 2007
Paul
Craig Roberts
Dollar's Fall Collapses the American
Empire
Russell
Mokhiber
Pelosi and Me: Can't the Democrats End the War By Not Bringing
the Funding Bill to the Floor?
Vijay
Prashad
The Apotheosis of Bobby Jindal
Niranjan
Ramakrishnan
Educating Pakistan: What Mukasey Can Teach Musharraf
Alan
Farago
To Bee or Not to Bee? The Politics of Colony Collapse
David
Macaray
The Writers' Guild Strike: Is There an Ice-Breaker?
Nikolas
Kozloff
The Case of the Slimy Senator: Chuck Schumer Greenlights Mukasey
Charlotte
Laws
What We Learned from Stephen Colbert's Presidential Campaign
Daniel
White
Zahid's Story
William
Cook
The Politics of Servility: Congress and the Israel Lobby
Website
of the Day
Safe Lawns
November
6, 2007
Mike
Whitney
Welcome to Year 27 of the Reagan
Revolution
Ralph
Nader
Who Determines the Price of Oil?
Andy
Worthington
The Torture of Ali al-Marri
Pam
Martens
Wall Street Metes Out Street Justice to Citigroup
Liaquat
Ali Khan
Pakistan's Dark Future
William
Schroder
The Return of Water Torture
Stephen
Lendman
Punishing Gaza
William
Blum
Cuba and Original Sin
Former
US Intelligence Officers
A Memo on Torture, Intelligence and Mukasey
November
5, 2007
Alexander
Cockburn
How I Spent the Eighth Brumaire
Russell
Mokhiber
Pelosi and Me: The Democrats and Single Payer
David
Macaray
How to Turn Workers Against Each Other (and Make Them All Poorer)
Gary
Leupp
General Musharaff's "State of Emergency"
Dave
Lindorff
Those Minot Nukes
Ludwig
Watzal
Israel's Dilemma in Palestine
Patrick
Cockburn
Tensions Ease in Iraqi Kurdistan
Peter
Stone Brown
John Fogerty Makes Peace with His Past
Michael
Simmons
Yo! What Happened to Peace?
Website
of the Day
Petition: In Defense of the Morton West HS Antiwar Students
November
3 / 4, 2007
Tariq
Ali
Pakistan Sinks Deeper into Night
David
Price
Army's Price Salesman of Counterinsurgency
Manual Seeks to Defend Stolen Scholarship
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Splitsville
Alan
Farago
The Housing Crash, Suburban Sprawl and the Crisis of the American
Middle Class
Paul
Krassner
He's Back! Don Imus Meets Michael Richards
Rannie
Amiri
Why the U.S. is Safeguarding Iraq's War Criminals
P.
Sainath
Indexing Humanity, Indian Style
Ayesha
Ijaza Khan
Pakistan in a Daze
Robert
Fantina
Is the Bush Administration Talking Itself Into a War With Iran?
Seth
Sandronsky
The Politics of Health Care in California
Ron
Jacobs
The Bebop of Baraka
Ramzy
Baroud
A Case for Arab Dignity
Heather
Gray
When Capitalists Get a Free Ride
November
2, 2007
Dr.
Mary Pipher
Acting on Conscience: Psychologists
and Abusive Interrogations
Saul
Landau
How Pete Stark Became a Pariah
Andy
Worthington
Guantánamo as House Arrest
Sharon
Smith
A Tale of Two Stadiums
Gary
Leupp
Fascist Beatifications: the History and Politics of Sainthood
Gregory
Harms
The Chorus of Slander on Palestine
Christopher
Brauchli
Racism in High Places
Peter
Morici
The Falling Dollar and the Stubborn Trade Deficit
Dave
Lindorff
The Easy Way to Stop the Looming US Attack on Iran
David
Penner
Zombie Nation
Website
of the Day
Fall in Yosemite
November
1, 2007
Paul
Craig Roberts
The Wages of Hegemony
Patrick
Cockburn
The Most Dangerous Dam in the World
Dave
Lindorff
The Air Force Report on the Minot-Barksdale Nuclear Missile Flight
Jonathan
Feldman
The Strange Political Economy of Death in the South
Mike
Ferner
They Met the Resistance in Iraq
William
S. Lind
A Question for Would-Be Presidents
Diana
Johnstone
"Fascislamism" Versus "Shoah Business"
Jacob
Hornberger
The War on Telephone Privacy
A..K.
Gupta
The Apocalypse will be Televised
Lyuba
Zarsky /
Kevin Gallagher
The Enclave Economy of Mexico's Silicon Valley
Felice
Pace
Does the SPLC Equate Anti-Zionism with Anti-Semitism?
Website
of the Day
This One's for You, Ed Abbey
October
31, 2007
Bill
Quigley
New Orleans' Broken Criminal Justice
System
Rev.
William E. Alberts
A Trail of American Blood: From the White House to CBS News
Ray
McGovern
Attacking Iran for Israel
Eric
Walberg
Poisonous Espionage: Litvinenko and the New Cold War
V.
G. Smith
The Second Death of Guy Môquet
Luis
J. Rodriguez
"Social Cleansing" from Guatemala to LA
Sheldon
Richman
Bush has Time to Run the World
Walter
Brasch
A Real Halloween Scare
Website
of the Day
Boogie Rocks!
October 30, 2007
David
Price
Pilfered Scholarship Devastates Gen.
Petraeus's Counterinsurgency Manual
M.
Shahid Alam
The Pakistan Question
Andy
Worthington
The Epiphany of Matthew Waxman: a Government Insider Turns Against
Gitmo
Patrick
Cockburn
The Bicycle Bomber of Baquba
Anthony
Papa
The Twisted Logic of Drug Laws
Floyd
Rudmin
What "All Options are on the Table" Really Means
Sherwood
Ross
Giuliani and Torture
Website
of the Day
The Worst Lobby? You Decide
October
29, 2007
Lisa
Hajjar
Inside Israel's Military Courts
Joe
DeRaymond
The Politics of Lethal Injections
Patrick
Cockburn
The High Stakes in Iraqi Kurdistan
Isabella
Kenfield /
Roger Burbach
Corporate Murder in Brazil
Fred
Gardner
The Frivolous Investigation of Dr. Sterner
Farzana
Versey
Caricaturing Islam
Stephen
Fleischman
The Greening of the Oligarchy
Marcelle
Cendrars
The Congressional Rip Cord
Eamonn
McCann
Dan Keating, the Last of the Republican Irreconcilables
Martha
Rosenberg
For Halloween, Ann Coulter Dresses as .... Ann Coulter!
Website
of the Day
Campaign 2008
October
27 / 28, 2007
Alexander
Cockburn
So Much for Islamo-Fascism Awareness
Jeffrey
St. Clair
The Dam That Isn't There
James
Bovard
Breaking Down an Innocent Man: The FBI's Right to Threaten Torture
Ralph
Nader
Beyond the Rule of Law
M.
Reza Pirbhai
The Wahhabis are Coming, the Wahhabis are Coming!
Robert
Sandels
Pay the Invaders! Cuba, Claims and Confiscations
Jacob
G. Hornberger
Ruling By Decree
Missy
Beattie
The Arsonists in the West Wing
John
Ross
U.S. Eyes on Oaxaca
Robert
Fantina
Condi Rice, the Imperial Cheerleader
Ron
Jacobs
Labor at the Crossroads
Ali
Moayedian
In Search of Logic About Iran
David
Michael Green
What If We Had a President Who Didn't Give a Damn About Terrorism?
Poets
Basement
Block, Davies and Ford
Website
of the Day
Bring 'Em Home: a Music Video
October
26, 2007
Brian
Cloughley
Revenging Bloodshed
Saul
Landau
Portrait of Rudy
Ahmad
Al-Akras
Getting Justice in the HLF Case
Franklin
Lamb
Does "Loving" Lebanon Mean Never Having to Say You're
Sorry?
Mike
Whitney
Murdoch's Cuckoo's Nest
Dave
Lindorff
Home of the Brave? Reducing US Casualties By Killing More Civilians
Alan
Farago
A Castro Behind Every Bush
Yifat
Susskind
Conscripting Feminism into the War on Terror
Website
of the Day
Dead Life in a Political Prison
October 25, 2007
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December
5, 2007
Why the Council
on Foreign Relations Hates Putin
Why
Murdoch's Journal Loves Kasparov
By MIKE WHITNEY
On Sunday, Putin's party, United Russia,
stormed to victory in the country's parliamentary elections with
63 per cent of the vote. It was a romp. United Russia now controls
306 of the 450 seats in the Duma, an overwhelming majority. The
balloting was a referendum on Putin's leadership and it passed
in a landslide. Now it's certain, that even if Putin steps down
as president next year as expected, he will be the dominant player
in Russian politics for the foreseeable future.
Vladamir Putin is arguably
the most popular leader in Russian history, although you'd never
know it by reading the western media. According to a recent survey
conducted by the Wall Street Journal, Putin's personal approval
rating in November 2007 was 85 per cent, making him the most
popular head of state in the world today. Putin's popularity
derives from many factors. He is personally clever and charismatic.
He is fiercely nationalistic and has worked tirelessly to improve
the lives of ordinary Russians and restore the country to its
former greatness. He has raised over 20 million Russians out
of grinding poverty, improved education, health care and the
pension system, (partially) nationalized critical industries,
lowered unemployment, increased manufacturing and exports, invigorated
Russian markets, strengthened the ruble, raised the overall standard
of living, reduced government corruption, jailed or exiled the
venal oligarchs, and amassed capital reserves of $450 billion.
Russia is no longer up for
grabs like it was after the fall of the Soviet Union. Putin put
an end to all of that. He reasserted control over the country's
vast resources and he's using them to improve the lives of his
own people. This is a real departure from the 1990s, when the
drunken Yeltsin steered Russia into economic disaster by following
Washington's neoliberal edicts and by selling Russia's Crown
Jewels to the vulturous oligarchs. Putin put Russia's house back
in order; stabilized the ruble, strengthened economic/military
alliances in the region, and removed the corporate gangsters
who had stolen Russia's national assets for pennies on the dollar.
The oligarchs are now all either in jail or have fled the country.
Russia is no longer for sale.
Russia is, once again, a major
world power and a vital source of hydrocarbons. It's star is
steadily rising just as America's has begun to wane. This may
explain why Putin is loathed by the West. Freud might call it
petroleum envy, but it's deeper than that. Putin has charted
a course for social change that conflicts with basic tenets of
neoliberalism, which are the principles which govern US foreign
policy. He is not a member of the corporate-banking brotherhood
which believes the wealth of the world should be divided among
themselves regardless of the suffering or destruction it may
cause. Putin's primary focus is Russia; Russia's welfare, Russia's
sovereignty and Russia's place in the world. He is not a globalist.
That is why the Bush administration
has encircled Russia with military bases, toppled neighboring
regimes with its color-coded revolutions, (which were organized
by US NGOs and intelligence services) intervened in Russian elections,
and threatened to deploy an (allegedly defensive) nuclear weapons
system in Eastern Europe. Russia is seen as a potential rival
to US imperial ambitions and must be contained or subverted.
In the early years of his presidency,
it was believed that Putin would comply with western demands
and accept a subordinate role in the US-EU-Israel centric system.
But that hasn't happened. Putin has stubbornly defended Russian
independence and resisted integration into the prevailing system.
.
The triumphalism which swept
through Washington after the fall of the Berlin Wall has been
replaced with a palpable fear that Russia's power will grow as
oil prices continue to soar. The tectonic plates of geopolitical
power are gradually shifting eastward. That's why the US has
joined in The Great Game and is trying to put down roots in Eurasia.
Still, it's easy to imagine a scenario in which America's access
to the last great oil and natural gas reserves on the planet--the
three trillion barrels of oil and natural gas located in the
Caspian Basin---could be completely blocked by a resurgent Russian
superpower.
The most powerful of the Washington
think tanks, the Council on Foreign Relations, recognized this
problem early on and decided that US policy towards Russia had
to be reworked entirely.
* *
*
John Edwards and Jack Kemp
were appointed to lead a CFR task force which concocted the pretext
for an all-out assault on the Putin. This is where the idea that
Putin is "rolling back democracy" began. In their article
"Russia's Wrong Direction", Edwards and Kemp state
that a "strategic partnership" with Russia is no longer
possible. They claim that the government has become increasingly
authoritarian and that the society is growing less "open
and pluralistic".
Kemp and Edwards provided the
ideological foundation upon which the entire public relations
campaign against Putin has been built. And it is quite an impressive
campaign. A Google News search shows roughly 1,400 articles from
the various news services on Putin. Virtually all of them contain
exactly the same rhetoric, the same buzzwords, the same spurious
claims, the same slanders. It is impossible to find even one
article out of 1,400 that diverges the slightest bit from the
talking points which originated at the Council on foreign Relations.
It's interesting to see to
what extent the media has become a propaganda bullhorn for the
national security state. Putin's personal approval ratings confirm
his enormous popularity, and yet, the media continues to treat
him like he's a tyrant. It is utterly incongruous.
In most articles, Putin is
disparaged as "anti democratic"; a charge that is never
leveled at the Saudi Royal family even though women are forbidden
to drive, they must be fully-covered at all times, and can be
stoned to death if they are found to be unfaithful. Also, in
Saudi Arabia, beheading is still the punishment of choice for
capital crimes.
When Saudi King Abdullah visits
the US, he is not heaped with scorn for his regimes' repressive
treatment of his people. Instead he's rewarded with flattering
photos of he and George Bush strolling arm-n-arm through the
Crawford sage.
Why is Putin blasted for "rolling
back democracy" when American client, Mikhail Saakashvili,
arbitrarily declares martial law and deploys his truncheon-wielding
Robo-cops to beat protesters senseless before dragging them off
to the Georgia gulag? The pictures of Saakashvili's bloody crackdown
appeared in the foreign press, but not in the US. Rather, the
media had all its cameras focused on Garry Kasparov (contributing
editor to the Wall Street Journal and right-wing loony) as he
was led off to the Moscow hoosegow in handcuffs for protesting
without a permit.
* *
*
Putin's real crime is that
he serves Russia's national interests rather than the interests
of global Capital. He also rejects Washington's "unipolar"
world model. As he said in Munich:
"The unipolar world refers
to a world in which there is one master, one sovereign; one center
of authority, one center of force, one center of decision-making.
At the end of the day this is pernicious not only for all those
within this system, but also for the sovereign itself because
it destroys itself from within.
"What is even more important
is that the model itself is flawed because at its basis there
is and can be no moral foundations for modern civilization."
He added:
"We are seeing a greater
and greater disdain for the basic principles of international
law....We are witnessing an almost uncontained hyper use of force
-- military force -- in international relations, force that is
plunging the world into an abyss of permanent conflicts. I am
convinced that we have reached that decisive moment when we must
seriously think about the architecture of global security."
Well said, Vladimir.
Putin's no saint, but he doesn't
deserve the thrashing he gets from the western media.
And a final
word on Garry Kasparov
On Sunday, while Putin's party
"United Russia" was screeching to a landslide victory,
Reuters News was busy taking mug-shots of the stony-faced Kasparov
holding up Florida-style ballots claiming the voting was rigged.
"They are not just rigging the vote," Kasparov moaned,
"They are raping the whole electoral system. These elections
are a reminder of Soviet elections when there was no choice.....Putin
is going to have a hard time trying to rule like Stalin."
Stalin? So now Putin is Stalin?
First of all, when did Reuters begin to take such a keen interest
in voting irregularities? It must be a recent development, becuase
they were nowhere to be found in the 2000 presidential election.
And when did they start to pay attention to "political dissent"?
They certainly never wasted any video-footage on the antiwar
rallies in the US. Are we to believe that they are more interested
in democracy in Russia than America?
And why is Reuters so eager
to provide valuable column-space to a washed-up chessmaster who's
only interested in making a nuisance of himself by bellyaching
about voter fraud? That's not news; it's propaganda.
As for Kasparov and his silly
accusations; he should be glad that he lives in Putin's Russia
rather than Stalin's or he'd be in leg-irons right now boarding
a northbound train to the Siberian outback.
What is Kasparov doing in Moscow
anyway? And why is this little man --with virtually no political
base -- such a big part of the western media narrative? Is he
only there to discredit the election and throw a little more
muck on Putin or is there more to it than that?
Garry Kasparov should give
up politics and do what he does best; stand-up comedy. Watching
Kasparov traipse around Moscow with his basket of sour grapes
and his entourage of western media-stooges is like watching "Mr.
Bean's Excellent Kremlin Adventure", a particularly lame
performance in a dismal B-rated burlesque. It's painful to watch.
Kasparov's party, the "Other
Russia" couldn't manage even a 2 per cent rating in the
polls. The party is a complete dud. In fact, Reuters even (reluctantly)
admits as much in its article.
Here's the clip. Reuters: "Kasparov
and his "Other Russia" dissident movement are not standing
in Sunday's parliamentary election because they could not get
registered as a party. THEY ENJOY LITTLE PUBLIC SUPPORT AMONG
RUSSIANS BUT HAVE A BIG FOLLOWING IN THE WEST." (Reuters)
"Big following in the West"? Why doesn't that surprise
me?
So, in other words, Kasparov
has no base of support in Russia, and yet he gets his own camera
crew and media team to follow him around recording every silly
he says. That's just great. Who do they think he is; Nelson Mandela?
Kasparov is a contributing
editor of Murdoch's Wall Street Journal; so he already has a
regular platform for launching his tirades on the "tyrannical"
Mr. Putin. Normally, one doesn't get a spot on the op-ed page
of the WSJ unless their politics are somewhere to the right of
Augusto Pinochet. That's probably the case with Kasparov, too.
In Saturday's edition of the WSJ, Kasparov delivered his latest
absurd soliloquy disparaging Putin and recounting his agonizing
5 day ordeal in the Moscow poky.
Although Kasparov has garnered
little public support in Russia, he appears to have a loyal following
among the Washington elite. According to Wikipedia: "In
1991, Kasparov received the Keeper of the Flame award from the
Center for Security Policy (a US think tank), for anti-Communist
resistance and the propagation of democracy. Kasparov was an
exceptional recipient since the award is given to "individuals
for devoting their public careers to the defense of the United
States and American values around the world". Hmmmm...."For
devoting their public careers to the defense of the United States
and American values around the world"? Isn't that a definition
of an American agent?
Again, according to Wikipedia:
In April, 2007 it was asserted that Kasparov was a board member
of the National Security Advisory Council of the Center for Security
Policy, a non-profit, non-partisan national security organization
that specializes in identifying policies, actions, and resource
needs that are vital to American security". Kasparov confirmed
this and added that he was removed shortly after he became aware
of it. He noted that HE DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT THE MEMBERSHIP and
suggested he was included in the board by an accident because
he received the 1991 Keeper of the Flame award from this organization.
But Kasparov maintained his association with the neoconservative
leadership by giving speeches at think tanks such as the Hoover
Institute."
Here's a list of some of the
other fellow travelers who've been given the "Keeper of
the Flame Award": 2007-Senator Joe Lieberman. 2004-General
Peter Pace. 2003- Paul Wolfowitz. 2002- General Richard Meyers.
1998-Donald Rumsfeld. 1996-Newt Gingrich. 1995-Ronald Reagan.
1990-Casper Weinberger.
Is Kasparov an anomaly or does
he fit right in with this coven of far-right loonies? And who
are some of the prominent members of the Center for Security
Policy? Richard Perle, Douglas Feith, Frank Gaffney, James Roche
and Laura Ingraham. Oh, boy. The whole front office of the neocon's
cuckoo's nest. Now tell me, dear reader, with friends like that;
what should we really think about Kasparov's performance in Moscow?
Is he really interested in "democracy promotion" as
he claims or is their acting out a script that was prepared in
Washington?
In the US, Kasparov has become
the focal point of the Russian elections - the primary source
of "unbiased" analysis. NPR reiterates his spurious
claims every half hour. The other news agencies are no better.
He has become the distorted lens through which Americans view
Russian democracy. This says a lot more about the choke-hold
the neocons still have on the media rather than anything objective
about Russia. The Kasparov fiasco gives us a chance to see the
inner-workings of the establishment media. It's nothing more
than a propaganda bullhorn for far-right organizations executing
their bloody imperial strategy. Fidel Castro summed it up best
just days ago when he said: "It is the most sophisticated
media ever developed by technology, employed to kill human beings
and to subjugate or exterminate peoples".
Amen to that, Fidel.
Mike Whitney lives in Washington state. He can
be reached at: fergiewhitney@msn.com
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