American Ideology: Passive and Disengaged Citizens
Today, OWS protesters are still battling MacArthurism. MacArthurism is local, state and national security forces using dramatic displays of militancy against peaceful activists-like beatings, pepper-spray, destroying encampments, caging protesters for hours without food and water-mainly to justify their massive budget expenditures and to propagate the need for more police forces, more training, and more…
Gentlemen, We Shot a Judge’ and Other Tales of Blackwater’s Rampage Through Iraq
Every time a Blackwater centurion discharged his weapon in Iraq, the company filed a written report with the U.S. State Department. Blackwater shot Iraq to shit. Here are the reports. Blackwater, the private mercenary firm that became synonymous with Bush-era war profiteering and reckless combat-tourism, announced yesterday that it has changed its name…
Britains Boycott Of EuroZone
There was a time, just a few months ago, when David Cameron was the toast of Brussels. Those who fretted about Britain’s new Conservative prime minister, a declared Eurosceptic, were surprised by how accommodating he could be. He did not stand in the way of the euro zone’s new treaty to create a permanent…
The Transformation Of Columbia : From Narco-State To Tourist Destination
What a difference a decade makes. Ten years ago, Colombia was the Greece of Latin America in the eyes of investors. Young people were desperate to emigrate. The well-off, afraid they’d be kidnapped, avoided traveling between Bogota and Medellin. When they did, it was best to travel the 240 kilometers that separate the two…
Naked Is The Trend For Dissent As Public Nudity Rises In Public Protests
From China’s Weiwei to the Egyptian blogger Aliaa Magda al-Mahdi, people are again busy using their naked bodies as a way to challenge authority and demand rights. Even in today’s much more sexualized world, public nudity continues to be a powerful form of protest. When nearly 100 supporters of dissident Chinese artist Ai…
Putin Struggles: With Threats To Media And Hacker Attacks On Opposition
Putin and United Russia Get Less Than 50 Percent Of Vote MOSCOW–On the day of the State Duma elections, the chief editor of the online publication gazeta.ru Mikhail Katov was summoned to the headquarters of Russia’s state media watchdog Roskomnadzor. The day before, he had received notification that his site violated…
Brainy and Flawed Presidential Candidate
The Gingrich WASHINGTON – We’re licking our chops. If it was just for the serious matter of electing the “leader of the free world,” as they say (albeit less and less), the possibility of seeing Newt Gingrich become the Republican nominee for the November 2012 U.S. presidential elections would be just fine…
Turkey: Prime Minister Erd is now being showered with Western accolades
Our prime minister has suddenly reached elevated status in Western capitals. Not so long ago, the same voices were accusing Recep Tayyip Erdogan an of changing Turkey’s orientation, of aspiring to establish an Islamic Republic. Now they are applauding him. Why? What happened to turn the tides so dramatically? What we have been witnessing over…
Egyptian Turmoil With Unfinished Revolution
A protester waves Egypt’s flag as riot police fire tear gas during clashes near Tahrir Square in Cairo; a plea for donations is made at the Occupy London camp outside St. Paul’s Cathedral