August 2009
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Who Wants Sanctions on Iran? By Hamid Dabashi
In a recent congressional hearing, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman called the Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act “a sword of Damocles over the Iranians” that will soon come down if President Obama’s diplomatic overture did not show signs of success by the fall. That sword is no mere metaphor and might kill more… Continue reading
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The Ecocide of Palestine
It is a long-standing Israeli practice to destroy Palestinian agriculture. In 2005, 25 dunums of Palestinian land in Qaffin were confiscated by Israeli settlers under the aegis of the Israeli Defense Forces. Since 2005, Jewish settlers have set thousands of acres of orange, almond, and olive trees aflame. Olive trees bear fruit in the Mediterranean… Continue reading
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Via Campesina, "August 11, 2009: Global Action Day for Honduras"
Since the military coup — after more than 38 days of untiring efforts by thousands of farmers, women, indigenous people, teachers, students, unionists, and ordinary citizens of the cities and the countryside to reverse it and to recover democracy and dignity — the repression by the coup participants has not notched the fighting spirit of… Continue reading
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An Ailing e-Empire: Microsoft Blitzes Cuba and Latin America to Preserve Diminishing Financial Dominance
Microsoft terminates Cuban access to its instant messaging service, which, at first glance, suggests an act of compliance at the behest of the U.S. government. The software behemoth chides Latin American leaders for undemocratic principles in an online smear campaign which might be better aimed at itself. Continue reading
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North Korea and Iran: So what does the West want? By William Bowles
Some while back (InI passim) I used to write regularly on the London Independent’s allegedly progressive take on events but after awhile I just got sick and tired of reading the damn thing. However, I’ve had a change of heart and decided to pick up the cudgel again. Why? Read on… Continue reading
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Bolivia: Morales: Economic liberation is necessary in order to have political power
‘We have to liberate ourselves economically in order to have political power’ Bolivian president Evo Morales Ayma told representatives of the indigenous originary campesino peoples and social movements that had congregated at a mass event in Camiri last Sunday to receive the Law of Indigenous Autonomies. Continue reading
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Anti-Venezuela Spokespeople Misrepresent Reality of Press Freedom in Venezuela By Mark Weisbrot
Denis MacShane attacks the British left for defending Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez against an onslaught from the media, “New Cold Warriors,” and right-wing demagogues throughout the world. His rhetorical trick is to tar the left with a new media law currently being debated in the Venezuelan Congress, which he says “would impose prison sentences of… Continue reading
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Mr. Mousavi's Gas Embargo on Iran? By Robert Naiman
In serious contention for Dumbest Washington Consensus for September is the idea of cutting off Iran’s gas imports to pressure Iran to stop enriching uranium. A majority of Representatives and Senators have signed on to legislation that seeks to block Iran’s gas imports, a top legislative priority for the so-called “Israel Lobby.” But it’s a… Continue reading
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Ten Years of ‘Plan Colombia’: Bogotá Leases Military Real Estate to the Obama Administration
Colombia is likely to become the regional hub for the Pentagon’s Latin American activities and its Fort Apache as U.S. and Colombia near a cooperation agreement that would expand U.S. military presence in the country. The U.S. seeks to increase its influence in Colombia as it counts down the days until its lease expires on… Continue reading
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Public meeting London: Eyewitness report from Honduras
In London on Monday 10th August, 21st Century Socialism editors Calvin Tucker and Noah Tucker will present a multi-media report from the front line of the struggle against the coup in Honduras. Continue reading
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Honduras: Friends of the coup makers By Alan Maass
THE OFFICIAL position of the U.S. government is that it opposes the coup in Honduras that drove President Manuel Zelaya into forced exile over a month ago, and put in power the right-wing head of the congress, backed by the military. But if Lanny Davis gets his way, that will change–and Davis has the friends… Continue reading
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Thinking Left in Bolivia: Interview with Alvaro Garcia Linera By Linda Farthing
Bolivian Vice President Álvaro García Linera first became passionate about politics during the widespread resistance to the Hugo Banzer dictatorship in 1979. Soon after, he left Bolivia to train as a mathematician at Mexico’s National Autonomous University, where he was active in the Central American solidarity Movement. Drawn to sociology, he began reading everything he… Continue reading
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The Real News Network – Honduras: Where does Washington stand?
Video: The silence from Washington over the past month of human rights abuses from the de facto Honduran government becomes deafening when one considers that the US government holds both the ability to bring that regime down as well as a recent history of criticizing similar abuses in Iran. Groups inside the US have taken… Continue reading
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MEDIA LENS ALERT: SIDING WITH THE GENERALS – THE INDEPENDENT ON HONDURAS
The BBC Q&A noted: “The role of the US is key, as it is Honduras’s biggest trading partner.” Curiously, the article failed to mention that the US has its only Central American military base in Honduras. In fact the Honduran military is armed, trained and advised by Washington in a relationship that is deep and… Continue reading
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Global Research Disinformation and Warfare Selected Articles 1-4 August, 2009
Global Research Disinformation and Warfare Selected Articles 1-4 August, 2009 Continue reading
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Novel Graphics – Fatenah – Palestine’s First 3D Animation
Dar Films is an unassuming studio tucked away in a subterranean apartment on the outskirts of Ramallah’s sprawling urban landscape. It is also where one of the Occupied Palestinian Territories’ most ambitious cultural endeavours has just been produced, in the form of a 3D animated film entitled Fatenah. Continue reading
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DOW, EXXONMOBIL SLAM NEW YES MEN FILM FOR “INACCURACIES”, “MISREPRESENTATION”; CONCEDE PIC “ENTERTAINING”
ExxonMobil and Dow Chemical spokespersons have lashed out out at award-winning new documentary “The Yes Men Fix the World” in an interview with the Reuters press agency, shortly before the film’s U.K. theatrical opening. Exxon stopped short of calling the Yes Men outright liars, despite a scene in the film where the Yes Men, impersonating… Continue reading
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The End of Chimerica? By M K Bhadrakumar
It all began with United States Vice President Joseph Biden choosing a tour of Ukraine and Georgia on July 20-23 to rebuke the Kremlin publicly for its “19th-century notions of spheres of influence”. Clearly, Biden’s jaunt was choreographed as a forceful demonstration of the Barack Obama administration’s resolve to keep up the US’s strategic engagement… Continue reading
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William Blum: Anti-Empire Report, Number 72 Keeping track of the empire's crimes
If you catch the CIA with its hand in the cookie jar and the Agency admits the obvious — what your eyes can plainly see — that its hand is indeed in the cookie jar, it means one of two things: a) the CIA’s hand is in several other cookie jars at the same time… Continue reading
The New Dark Age 