WHAT DO SAUDI ARABIA, BAHRAIN AND QATAR HAVE IN COMMON? First, they are “monarchical regimes” within which are found some of the most barbaric labor practices in the world, often featuring immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa. Second, they are the closest of allies of the United States in its determined policy in fomenting insurrection in a “humanitarian [...]
WHEN LOCAL NEWSPAPERS DIE, CAN THE DEATH OF COMMUNITY CITIZENSHIP BE FAR BEHIND? This question is addressed by Jessica Bruder in a feature article in the Christian Science Monitor. Her article is keynoted by a mournful style New Orleans funeral on the occasion of the drastic reduction of newspaper publication in favor of more [...]
“EVEN THEIR YACHT DIDN’T WANT TO PAY TAXES.” As part of its “shadow convention” project to show what vital issues are being avoided at the Republican and Democratic national conventions, Huffington Post runs a piece describing wherein lies the real policitical “action” around the GOP event in Tampa. While Romney intones the usual “morning [...]
HOW ALEXANDER THE GREAT BECAME ALEXANDER THE HUMILIATED: MODERN EMPIRES SHOULD LEARN A LITTLE FROM HISTORY. (Counterpunch) Deepak Tripathi notes a recurring pattern when imperial powers, drunk with the hubris of their self-perceived invincibility, push their domination to the point of deeply humilating vanquished peoples. What history “teaches” is that these operations carry within them [...]
EGYPT: DING, DONG THE WICKED WITCH IS DEAD!—-WELL NOT QUITE. Last February there were huge celebrations in the streets of Cairo after mass protests resulted in power being transferred from Hosni Mubarak to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF). Now demonstrators have taken to the street again to protest the failure of SCAF [...]
DROVE MY CHEVY TO THE LEVEE—BUT WHERE THE HELL IS THE LEVEE? (Associated Press) Even the U.S. Corps of Engineers, responsible for maintaining all the levees throughout the country that serve as flood protection, are unsure about many of these levees. Though tasked after Katrina to develop a “database” of the country’s levees, they have [...]
IF BAGHDAD IN 2003 WAS A “CAKEWALK,” IS TRIPOLI IN 2011 TO BE CAKEWALK II? (Sydney Morning Herald) This is a troubling possibility, says Paul Geough, noting the same cluelessness today as in 2003 about the future of a country “liberated” after a quick march into a capital city from a much-hated dictator. Now as [...]
IMAGINE THAT, A FULL SERVICE GROCERY STORY RIGHT HERE IN THE LOWER 9TH WARD! (New Orleans Times-Picayune) Sputtering plans for the “redevelopment” of the center of the Katrina devastation in New Orleans are getting a new lease on life with plans to reconstruct the abandoned buildings of the Holy Cross school, plans which include still-lingering [...]
Recent Comments