Uncategorized Archives - Page 88 of 274

Learning to Love the European Union

by John Feffer, Paul Hockenos | May 14, 2009

Most Europeans today can travel from Athens to Helsinki without a visa or changing currency, thanks to membership in the European Union (EU). In the current throes of the global economic crisis, the Euro zone is an enviable shelter to weather the storm. But 50 years after its creation, the EU can appear as hapless as Agamemnon waiting for a wind to blow his fleet to Troy. With campaigning now in full swing for the European Parliament elections in June — the largest supranational democratic endeavor ever — the EU is stalled, desperately in need of a few breaks to bring it back on course.

Abolition Follies

by John Feffer | May 12, 2009

St. Augustine fooled around a lot as a young man. At one point during his philandering, according to his Confessions, the future Church Father uttered the immortal lines: “Give me chastity. But not yet.”

The New Korean Cold War

by John Feffer, Georgy Toloraya | May 6, 2009

(Editor’s Note: This article will also appear in The Asia-Pacific Journal.)

Capitalist Pigs

by John Feffer | May 5, 2009

Think about the term “money laundering” for a moment. It suggests that the more often dirty money changes hands, the cleaner it gets. In fact, globalization just moves the dirt around.

Martyrdom’s Strategy: Suicide Bombers Target Obama’s Withdrawal Plan

by Erik Leaver, Steve Niva | May 5, 2009

Suicide bombings are back in Iraq, signaling that the Iraq War is far from over. After a significant downturn, with only six suicide attacks between December 2008 and March 2009, there have been 25 suicide bombings in Iraq in the last two months, contributing to the worst spate of violence in Iraq in nearly a year. The bombers have revealed a new audacity and sophistication, striking in all parts of the country and against many seemingly highly secured targets.

Postcard From…Bi’lin

by Vanessa Ortiz, Emira Woods | May 4, 2009

The ritual occurs every Friday in Bi’lin, occupied West Bank.
Palestinian protestors — community members and activists — gather around the mosque following midday prayers to march against the construction of the separation wall and the proliferation of Israeli settlements.

What made last week’s march different was the overwhelming presence of foreigners. The fourth Bi’lin International Conference on Popular Resistance, a three-day conference that I attended from April 22-24, was intended to build solidarity and support for the Palestinian nonviolent struggle. Conference participants included Palestinian political leaders and community members, delegations from South Africa and Italy, and European Parliament Vice President Luisa Morgantini. The closing activity was a larger-than-usual protest against the construction of a wall that will arbitrarily cut across large parts of the village, separating families from each other and villagers from their land.

Obama and Africa: Much Room For Improvement

by John Feffer, Emira Woods | May 1, 2009

The Bush administration transformed the way the United States dealt with the world.

100-Day Dash

by John Feffer | Apr 28, 2009

One hundred days isn’t enough to judge a presidency, the cautious pundits say. “It takes time for a president to put his team in place, formulate policy, steer legislation through Congress, and conduct foreign negotiations,” history professor Allan J. Lichtman writes in The Washington Post. Look instead, he says, to the next 100 days.

Postcard from…Nairobi

by John Feffer, Andre Vltchek | Apr 24, 2009

King Dodge is an angry man. The poet and owner of an art gallery in the dirt-poor village of Ngecha — 20 miles from Nairobi — he raves about injustice in his land. He is still incensed over tribalism and the horrors of last year’s riots and the indiscriminate killing of more than 3,000 people.

Piracy and Empire

by John Feffer | Apr 24, 2009

The current “war against piracy,” which is spilling into Kenyan and U.S. courthouses after months of simmering off the coast of Somalia, is only the latest in a long series of U.S. actions against non-state actors in the service of empire. The “Global War on Terror,” which the Obama administration recently replaced with the vaguer term “overseas contingency operations,” justified a large-scale increase in military spending, two major interventions, and explicit calls for the United States to maintain its unparalleled power. With the world’s maritime chokepoints at risk, pirates are emerging as the latest non-state threat: the terrorists of the seas.