Exclusively in the New Print Issue of CounterPunch

Whatever Happened to the EPA?

In this issue: Former whistleblower Evaggelos Vallianotas on the corruption of the environmental watchdog. Netanyahu’s Victory: Jennifer Matsui explores whether the Israeli right has finally gone too far. The Evolution of the Minimum Wage by David Macaray. David Price details the legacy of forgotten CIA critic David Conde. Kent Paterson reports from the Mexican border on AMLO’s stormy first months in office. Pete Dolack on the imbalances of modern capitalism. Lee Ballinger considers the consequence of AI in the workplace. Lee Hall on the value of eastern predators in a chaotic climate. PLUS: Jeffrey St. Clair on the plight of the Orca; Laura Carlsen on the plague of white nationalism; Daniel Raventos and Julie Wark on climate and gender. Chris Floyd on American despair and Andy Piascik on the journalism of Pete Hamill and Jimmy Breslin.

Letter to the Emperor

by Adam Jonas Horowitz

Japan’s 85 year-old Emperor Akihito is tired. The popular and charismatic king says he will retire at the end of this month, becoming the first Japanese Emperor in history to voluntarily step down from the Imperial throne. Indeed, the weight of his monarchy is heavy, weighed by the 2,600 year old Japanese tradition that says that the Emperor is divine; a direct descendent of the Sun goddess Amaterasu. More

A Decisive Struggle For Our Future

by Lawrence Davidson

The election of Donald Trump in 2016 and the re-election of Benjamin Netanyahu in 2019 occurred under different circumstances, and yet they are very similar in their results. They both put an authoritarian figure in power through democratic electoral procedures. As well, both of these figures, like so many modern reactionary leaders before them, denigrate the recent past. Why do they do so? More

The Monroe Doctrine is Back, and as the Latest US Attack on Cuba Shows, Its Purpose is to Serve the Neoliberal Order

by Peter Belmont

Though throughout his election campaign Trump expressed a preference for US isolationism and opposition to senseless war, once in office he appointed the very neoconservative war hawks he had earlier criticized for engineering such foreign debacles as the disastrous invasion of Iraq. His appointments to hemispheric policy posts have been the least encouraging, with figures such as the convicted criminal Elliot Abrams reemerging from obscurity to saber-rattle against traditional Latin American foes. Ever since Trump entered the White House, there has been a growing sense that the Monroe Doctrine is back. Now, that suspicion has been confirmed. On April 17, National Security Advisor John Bolton said: “Today, we proudly proclaim for all to hear: the Monroe Doctrine is alive and well.” More