Can We Avoid a War with China?
The cold war in the Taiwan Strait threatens to turn hot.
Our Future vs. Neoliberalism
Bolivia is leading the way in channeling public discontent with neoliberalism into progressive alternatives.
Ban the Use of Drones as Weapons
America’s parting drone attack in Afghanistan, which killed an aid worker and his family, is emblematic of the entire drone war.
Zionism’s Bete Noire: Richard Falk’s Passage to ‘Positive Public Notoriety’
A review of Public Intellectual: The Life of a Citizen Pilgrim, by Richard Falk.
CIA’s Drone Wars Blur Distinction Between Military and Civilian Combatants
If the United States reaches a point where there is nothing to distinguish our military institutions from our civilian, then all of us are fair game.
A New Experiment in Open-Source Citizenship
Not long ago I received in the mail a slender envelope with international postage on the front. Inside was a small card-paper placard bearing my name, handwritten, confirming my citizenship in what is apparently the world’s newest nation – neither South Sudan nor Kosovo, of course, nor even a nascent Palestine, but rather nowhereisland. This decidedly more postmaterialist undertaking is the brainchild of British artist Alex Hartley.
U.S. Military Aid to Israel: Ever Inviolable
Republicans are willing to cut spending on Afghanistan and Iraq, but not military aid for Israel.
Afghanistan’s Energy War
Violence escalated daily in Afghanistan with the approach of the 10-year anniversary of the U.S. invasion on October 7. At the same time, a little-noted energy agenda is moving rapidly forward that may not only deny Afghans the much needed economic benefits their energy resources could provide, but may also exacerbate insecurity and instability, ensuring a prolonged U.S. and foreign military presence. It is an agenda remarkably similar to one well underway in Iraq.
UN Origins Project Series, Part 5: Sharpening the Teeth of Peace
After World War II, for the first time, nations not only agreed upon liability for war crimes, but for the principle of attacking the international peace.
Why 2012 Will Shake Up Asia and the World
Washington, which has focused for years on North Korea’s small but developing nuclear arsenal, has barely been paying attention to the larger developments in Asia. Nor will Asia’s looming transformation be a hot topic in our own presidential election next year. We’ll be arguing about jobs, health care, and whether the president is a socialist or his Republican challenger a nutcase. Aside from some ritual China-bashing, Asia will merit little mention.
Kaddish for Oslo, Part 2: The Palmer Report
The Palmer Report whitewashed the Mavi Marmara attacks.
Fear of an Islamic Planet
It’s easy to make fun of Michele Bachmann: her history gaffes, her Christian extremism, her ludicrous political positions. Journalists, though, would be sad to see her leave the Republican primary race, since she can be reliably counted on to make an outrageous statement to enliven a slow news day. Last week, for instance, she blamed the Arab Spring on the Obama administration. “You want to know why we have an Arab Spring?” she asked her audience at a Republican Party fundraiser in New Hampshire. “Barack Obama has laid the table for an Arab Spring by demonstrating weakness from the United States of America.”
Troy Davis and al-Awlaki: Two Murders, One Outrage
Despite limited evidence, the United States painted Anwar al-Awlaki as a terrorist mastermind and executed him without the trial to which he was entitled as a U.S. native.
Review: No Word for Welcome
Because of its resource wealth and strategic location, southeastern Mexico’s Isthmus of Tehantepec has for centuries been subject to the destructive ambitions of colonial powers. The Trans-Isthmus Megaproject is just the latest in a series of schemes to transform the narrow strip of land, which stretches from Salina Cruz on the Pacific to Veracruz on the Caribbean, into a first-class commercial route.