The Real News Network – Ellsberg: From Vietnam to Afghanistan

25 October, 2009 — The Real News Network

Ellsberg: As President Obama decides what to do in Afghanistan he must learn the lessons of Vietnam


http://widgets.vodpod.com/w/video_embed/Groupvideo.3735103

Bio
Daniel Ellsberg is a former US military analyst employed by the RAND Corporation who precipitated a national political controversy in 1971 when he released the Pentagon Papers, a top-secret Pentagon study of US government decision-making about the Vietnam War, to The New York Times and other newspapers.


Video: Ska-P, “The Liberator”

25 October, 2009 — MRZine – Monthly Review

http://widgets.vodpod.com/w/video_embed/Groupvideo.3733692

more about “Ska-P, “The Liberator”“, posted with vodpod
Amidst misery, hunger, and desolation
Somebody planted a flower in the mud
A certain Bolívar, they call him the Liberator
The Liberator

Shouts for justice, land, and freedom
Again resonate in South America
A new revolution has begun
And this time it’s advancing with conviction

Agrarian reform and just redistribution
Health, culture, and good education
Respect and dignity for the indigenous
For the indigenous

Socialize it!
NO to privatization!
Better working conditions for workers
What the land offers belongs to the people
Against the oligarchy and exploiters

A media war manipulates the truth
Bare your teeth in the face of Uncle Sam
No retreat!

Adelante, Comandante!
Take charge, honestly
It’s a new dawn for Latin America

A firm step forward
Be confident
A people who knows how to organize is
A wise and free people

O, o, o
Far from perfection
You make way by walking
When you have an illusion

O, o, o
Far from perfection
You make way by walking
When you have an illusion

A media war manipulates the truth
Bare your teeth in the face of Uncle Sam
No retreat

Adelante, Comandante!
Take charge, honestly
It’s a new dawn for Latin America

A firm step forward
Be confident
A people who knows how to organize is
A wise and free people

O, o, o
Rebellion in the air
Rebellion in the air in Latin America

O, o, o
Time of transition
Time of transition in all America

Adelante, Comandante!
To the vanguard, Comandante,
Of Latin America!

A firm step forward
Be confident, Comandante,
O, o, o, in Latin America!

Ska-P is a ska punk band from the working-class Vallecas neighborhood in Madrid, Spain.  “El libertador” is a song from the band’s seventh album: Lágrimas y Gozos The text above is the English translation of the lyrics of “El libertador” by Yoshie Furuhashi.

Great Power Confrontation in the Indian Ocean: The Geo-Politics of the Sri Lankan Civil War By Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya

23 October, 2009 — Global Research

The support and positions of various foreign governments in regards to the diabolic fighting between the Tamil Tigers and the Sri Lankan military, which cost the lives of thousands of innocent civilians, says a great deal about the geo-strategic interests of these foreign governments. The position of the governments of India and a group of states that can collectively be called the Periphery, such as the U.S. and Australia, were in support of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam (LTTE) or Tamil Tigers, either overtly or covertly. Many of these governments also provided this support tacitly, so as not to close any future opportunity of co-opting Sri Lanka after the fighting was over.

In contrast, the governments of a group of states that can jointly be called Eurasia as a collective entity, such as Iran and Russia, supported the Sri Lankan government. The polar nature of the support by Eurasia and the Periphery for the two different combating sides in the Sri Lankan Civil War betrays the scent or odour of a much broader struggle. This is a struugle that extends far beyond the borders of the island of Sri Lanka and its region.

Why is this so? Much of the answer to such a question has to do with the formation of a growing alliance in the Eurasian landmass against the international domination of the U.S. and its allies. This Eurasian alliance was formed on the basis of the growing cohesion between Moscow, Tehran, Beijing, and their allies that has seen the animation of the Primakov Doctrine. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a security body with real military dimensions that has been called “the NATO of the East” within some foreign policy circles is a real symbol of this geo-political dynamic. In 2009, the last chapter of the Sri Lankan Civil War was very much a theatre within this process.

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