Category: politics

John Stewart asked the president if he was surprised that “even [his] base can be disappointed” and yet he never once uttered the words “Afghanistan,” “Iraq” or “Pakistan.” The complete lack of even an oblique reference to what both Obama and Bush have made the centerpiece of their foreign policy, if not their entire presidency, is pretty remarkable, but sadly indicative of how, after a decade of war with close to 6,000 American troops killed, almost 50,000 American soldiers still in Iraq, nearly 100,000 in Afghanistan and an undeclared, virtually unscrutinized predator drone war in Pakistan that has more than tripled in number of strikes since Obama took office, it doesn’t even merit a mention in an interview with the commander in chief. War is what we do and once it’s underway, it appears American politicians, the public and media see increasingly little need or desire to discuss or debate it, lest we distract ourselves from planning the next war looming on the horizon. Full article.

The United States, which comes under the scrutiny of the 47-member UN Human Rights Council for the first time on Friday, says it is open to fair criticism of its flawed record. Sara Flounders, the co-director of the International Action Center says the President Obama appears open to the council, his actual policies are worse than former President Bush.

heartbreaking and deeply emblematic of our “system” (which we’re trying to export to other countries).

“These are normal people of all ages who’ve lost their way, generally after a traumatic event,” he said. “Many are war veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress. It’s not known how many children are living there, as they’re kept out of sight, but I’ve seen evidence of them – toys and teddy bears.” Full article.

The other recommendation that seems responsive to recent developments is to encourage UN support for both efforts to send humanitarian assistance direct to the people of Gaza in defiance of the persistence of the unlawful blockade and the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign that seeks to respond to the failure of Israel to uphold its obligations under international law with respect to the Palestinian people. The BDS campaign represents a recognition that neither governments nor the United Nations are prepared or able to uphold Palestinian rights. In this respect, it should be recalled that the anti-apartheid campaign of the late 1980s was strongly endorsed by the United Nations. (Richard Falk) Full statement.

Watch videos from “Berkeley Says No to Torture” Week: an exciting series of events focused in and around Boalt Hall, the home of UC Berkeley School of Law, where torture lawyer John Yoo teaches, when he is not hiding out from lawyers and activists seeking his prosecution for knowingly breaking domestic and international law by redefining torture so that it could be used by US personnel in the Bush administration’s “War on Terror.” Full article with videos.

tariq ali on obama – his record after two years in office.

While Massimo Mazzucco’s first political documentary, GLOBAL DECEIT (2006), focused on the long list of inconsistencies in the official version of the 9/11 attacks, THE NEW AMERICAN CENTURY explores the historical, philosophical and economic background that suggests a matrix for such events that is much closer to home than the so-called “Islamic terrorism”. The film provides solid evidence for the true reasons behind the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, whose unfolding is described in chilling detail in a document called “Project for the New American Century”, published in the year 2000, that seems to have served as the actual blueprint for such dramatic events. Full article.

Friends, it’s very simple: if you support Barack Obama and the Democrats — even if reluctantly, even if you’re just being all sophisticatedly super-savvy and blogospherically strategic about it, playing the “long game” or eleven-dimensional chess or what have you — you are supporting the outright murder of innocent people who have never done anything against you or yours. You have walked into a house, battered down the bedroom door, put the barrel of a gun against the temple of a sleeping child, and pulled the trigger. That is what you are supporting, that is what you are complicit in, that is what you yourself are doing. Full article.

lory and lindsay, cheerleaders for the miami dolphins, sign bombs headed to afghanistan – this is the society we live in.

It’s better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don’t want and get it. (Eugene Debs)

Palestine is Still the Issue from Global Information Services on Vimeo.

The election has enormous implications for the western hemisphere, where the Obama State Department has continued, with barely a stutter, the Bush administration’s strategy of “rollback” against the unprecedented independence that the left governments of South America have won over the last decade. A defeat of the Workers’ party would have been a big victory for the DC establishment reactionaries. It also has implications for the rest of the world. In May, Brazil and Turkey broke new ground in the world of international diplomacy, by negotiating a nuclear fuel swap arrangement for Iran, in an attempt to resolve the standoff over Iran’s nuclear programme. The State Department was probably more upset about this than anything that Brazil had done in the region, including Lula’s strong and consistent support for the government of President Hugo Chavéz in Venezuela. Full article.

fantastic!!! dr king on vietnam: “we don’t have to prove our military power to the world. we have to prove our moral power.”

Decadent governments often spawn a decadent citizenry. […] when you wallow in self-centered, self-absorbed imperial exceptionalism, everyone on the planet has the overarching duty of loyalty to your own government, and you think everyone is under the auspices of American rule. There are multiple common threads here: the cavalier call for people’s deaths, the demand for ultimate punishments without a shred of due process, the belief that the U.S. is entitled to do whatever it wants anywhere in the world without the slightest constraints, a wholesale rejection of basic Western liberties such as due process and a free press, the desire for the President to act as unconstrained monarch, and a bloodthirsty frenzy that has led all of them to cheerlead for brutal, criminal wars of aggression for a full decade without getting anywhere near the violence they cheer on, etc. Full article.