Carolyn Baker

I recently had the opportunity to view a lecture by Michael Parenti whom I consider a foremost expert on imperialism. Parenti began his lecture with the use of the word "stochasticism" which essentially means random, non-deterministic, based on conjecture or guess. A simpler way of summarizing it is, "stuff happens." It is, in fact, the polar opposite of "conspiratorial." In the lecture Parenti went on to criticize those who refuse to admit that the United States is imperialistic and who explain its imperial adventures around the world as something that "just happened." Generally, those in academia who rationalize U.S. imperialism are astute, incisive thinkers on other issues, so one is perplexed by the obtuseness they demonstrate around the topic of imperialism.

In the same way, I have been bewildered by a singular stochastic perspective of Naomi Klein in her brilliant, exhaustive, superbly-documented book The Shock Doctrine. In it Klein builds an intricate and convincing case for the use of various techniques of trauma applied to societies and individuals during the twentieth century and continuing into the current moment for the purpose of perpetrating what has become one of her hallmark phrases, "disaster capitalism" Yet two pages in the book left me aghast.

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Nikolai Lanine & Media Lens

Introduction

The writer Simon Louvish once told the story of a group of Soviets touring the United States before the age of glasnost. After reading the newspapers and watching TV, they were amazed to find that, on the big issues, all the opinions were the same. "In our country," they said, "to get that result we have a dictatorship, we imprison people, we tear out their fingernails. Here you have none of that. So what's your secret? How do you do it?" (Quoted, John Pilger, Tell Me No Lies, Random House, 2004, p.9)

It's a good question, one being asked by Nikolai Lanine who served with the Soviet Army during its 1979-1989 occupation of Afghanistan, but who now lives and works as a peace activist in Canada. Lanine has spent several years trawling through Soviet-era newspaper archives comparing the propaganda of that time with modern Western media performance.

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Dietmar Henning

Hans-Peter Z’s is not an isolated case. The constantly rising physical and psychological pressures and the rapid development of technology in the workplace mean many people aged over 50 find themselves pushed aside and dependent on welfare.

The demise of a 58-year-old unemployed man who deliberately starved himself to death in a remote hideout in the woods is both a personal tragedy and a devastating indictment of the current state of German society. It says more about conditions in Germany than all the pious speeches of professional politicians and academic studies into poverty and unemployment.

The emaciated body of Hans-Peter Z was discovered two weeks ago, in a forest area near Solling in Lower Saxony. It is estimated that Hans-Peter Z had already been dead for over two months. According to a police report he died after not eating for 24 days and drinking only a little water, while documenting his suffering in a diary.

The circumstances of his death and his diary entries indicate that he wanted his suicide to send out a message. According to the press reports available, his death was as calm and quiet as his previous life had been. Even if he had “only” wanted to draw attention to his personal fate, it is closely interwoven with the sorry state of society, which his suicide has now graphically illuminated.

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Karin Friedemann

When I spent a year teaching 6-8 grade students in Detroit, Michigan, I had hoped that with my high ideals, I could influence the children to become thinkers, perhaps even sway them towards a Godly life. But I found a tragic situation. American children of today are seriously brain damaged from computer games, TV, movies and pop music. They have an attention span no longer than a commercial and if something is not flashing lights and making bleeping noises they have no interest in it. They have a huge problem translating their thoughts into written words and they have a hard time sitting still. They really require - and want - adults to manage their behavior.

Concerning sex education, it was painfully clear that there was nothing I could do for these kids, except maybe an occasional isolated miracle. How do you convince a girl not to date boys when her own mother goes out on dates? You and I know that she is too young to think about such things, but the fact is, by 6th grade these kids' minds are set into the pattern created by the mass media. It made me realize that you really have to focus on protecting your kids from a very young age and arm them with knowledge.

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William Bowles

“The US does not need a final victory over the Talibs. Despite their widely advertized ferocious conflict, the US and the Talibs manage to coexist quite successfully in Afghanistan…”[1]

Come on folks, it’s just good sense, there is no way the Empire can actually win the war in Afghanistan. As I have stated before it’s not about ‘winning’ but occupation. Afghanistan is basically a stepping stone on the way to some place else and leaving an oil pipeline behind with a friendly government in place to protect it. Ah, but the best laid plans of mice and men
etc...

And this is why it bears no comparison to the idiotic occupation that the Soviets got sucked into, except for the slaughter of course. But from a strategic and economic perspective, along with Iran, Pakistan and India, Afghanistan commands the entrance to East Asia and there’s gold in them thar hills!

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Gwynne Dyer

The pathetic shambles of the past few months has had relatively little impact on public opinion in Afghanistan, where Karzai's democratic ``legitimacy'' was never much of an issue. His power, such as it is, has always depended on U.S. military support and access to Western aid, not on votes. But the fiasco has had a significant impact on public opinion in the Western countries whose troops are fighting in Afghanistan.

There must be a better way to rig an election. First the Western powers occupying Afghanistan let President Hamid Karzai stay in the job for months after his term actually expired on the grounds that an election in the late summer would be easier to arrange. They finally held the election in August and declared it a shining success: Karzai, Washington's man in Kabul, had been re-elected, even though turnout nationally was only 30 percent. (In the Taliban-dominated south, it was only 5 percent.) ― President Barack Obama, who was already under great pressure to send more U.S. troops to Afghanistan, declared that ``This was an important step forward in the Afghan people's effort to take control of their future.'' And then it all fell apart.

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Arthur Silber

The tune changes, but the dance goes on. We'll have to learn some new steps. That's always the way it works. That is, as we say, life. And that's a very good thing.

Hey, relax. It's not going to be the end of the world -- but as my headline says, in time it may be the end of the internet as you know it. Cory Doctorow claims: "The internet chapter of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, a secret copyright treaty whose text Obama's administration refused to disclose due to "national security" concerns, has leaked. It's bad." It says:

* That ISPs have to proactively police copyright on user-contributed material. This means that it will be impossible to run a service like Flickr or YouTube or Blogger, since hiring enough lawyers to ensure that the mountain of material uploaded every second isn't infringing will exceed any hope of profitability.

* That ISPs have to cut off the Internet access of accused copyright infringers or face liability. This means that your entire family could be denied to the internet -- and hence to civic participation, health information, education, communications, and their means of earning a living -- if one member is accused of copyright infringement, without access to a trial or counsel.

Doctorow has pulled out two additional provisions, which are similarly bad. (On the first point above, I'm not at all sure that Doctorow's argument regarding Flickr, YouTube and Blogger necessarily follows from the preceding sentence, although I certainly understand his reasoning. In any case, the provision is still remarkably bad. It's also extremely vague: what precisely does "proactively police" mean and require? Perhaps it's spelled out in the full document. But unquestionably very bad.)

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Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan

A few days ago, a strong reaction came from the United Nations Security Council following the killings of Western nationals whom the United Nations calls its staff members but the Mujahideen say, they were organizers of the runoff election. The UN Secretary General said that he would join efforts with other members of the Security Council to find those behind this incident and punish them.

On the other hand, we have hundreds of examples in which we find the United Nations behaving with the Islamic Ummah unfairly, improperly and pitilessly as far as global and regional issues are concerned. When it comes to the protection of the rights of the Ummah, this World Body, particularly, the Security Council becomes silent at once. They have chosen the way of suppressing and oppressing the Ummah and supporting the brutal and arrogant invaders.

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William Bowles

Have you ever seen anything more outrageous? Talk about double standards! For weeks the BBC bombarded us with outrage concerning the elections in Iran with wall-to-wall coverage of the protests and predicting some other kind of ‘colour’ revolution, a green one this time (what will USAID, NDI, Freedom House, George Soros et al do, when they run out of colours?).[1]

“Millions of Iranians simply did not believe the result. The main demand of the protesters has been an annulment of the result and an election re-run.” — ‘Q&A: Iran election aftermath’, BBC News, 22 June, 2009.

Compare the BBC’s squeals of outrage over the Iranian elections with how the BBC ‘delicately’ deals with the Afghan elections. No wall-to-wall coverage of Afghan outrage over a stolen election. Instead,

“There was no further reference to fraud. It was pointed out that the figures were more or less in line with the opinion polls - President Karzai, the candidate of the majority Pashtun people, in the high 40s and Dr Abdullah in the low 30s.” — ‘Karzai back in favour - conditionally’, BBC News, 2 November, 2009.

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Raúl Zibechi

Overfishing has caused a great health, environment, social, and
economic crisis.

The so-called "Chilean Miracle" is based on three pilars: the high price of copper, the production of celulose driven by Pinochet's dictatorship, and the salmon industry, which have expanded in the current democracy. But overfishing has caused a great health, environment, social, and economic crisis.

A little over a thousand kilometers south of Santiago, from Puerto Montt and across the Chacao Canal on boat, is the fantastic island of Chiloé, where vast plains and hills are dotted by various shades of green sprouts due to abundant southern rains. In the spring, the symphony of green is scattered with numerous wild flowers, yellow, purple, and red, while myrtles, oak trees, hazlenut trees, and pangue plants stand out on the hills.

Each year, these forests receive 2,000 milimeters of rainfall; they are covered with fern and moss, and together with the native trees they form a mystical atmosphere. The rich biodiversity of the island and the presence of native animal and plant species impressed Charles Darwin in the 19th century. At the time he believed that the potato originated in Chiloé. Although later it was proven that it originated in southern Peru, the island is home to some 400 varieties of potatoes, the same ones consumed by the majority of the world today.

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Musafir's Musings

Hands Across the Seas, Part I
A Friend's Decision to Die with Dignity

"The winds that blow-- ask them,
which leaf of the tree
will be next to go"

---Soseki (translated by Harold Henderson)

A friend, Sarah M, who lives in Sussex, UK, was recently diagnosed with cancer of the bladder. It is a horrible, painful, degrading disease. She has decided to avoid going through the various stages of treatment which could prolong her remaining days.

Sarah is a passionate activist in human rights causes and justice for the Palestinians. Widely traveled, she is a voracious reader, enjoys gardening, pets, and music. While the NHS in Britain does not have provision for pro-active measures to hasten death, one gets the impression that it is less rigid in its position than the American system under pressure of religious and political organizations to which 'euthanasia' is a dirty word.

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Daphna Moore

All I ask is that you consider the suggestion here. Don't just stand around in groups complaining. Take an active part in giving this nation back to the people, not the government.

The entire Congress of the United States is corrupt. And I mean both Houses and I mean both major parties.....

I realize that a few Members of each House are trustworthy, but, as a group they are absolutely the most corrupt bunch to ever disgrace our Nation.

In November of 2010 the entire House of Representatives will stand for re-election; all 435 of them. One third of the Senate, a total of 33 of them, will also stand for re-election. Vote every incumbent out. And I mean every one of them. No matter their Party affiliation.

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Re-reported, edited by Carolyn Bennett

Ros-Lehtinen, Berman, Burton, Ackerman - time to rein in this team of four - now, or November 2010

The Goldstone report concluded that, "while the Israeli Government sought to portray its operations as a response to rocket attacks in the exercise of its right to self-defense, the Israeli plan had been directed, at least in part, at the people of Gaza as a whole." The report pointed to the "treatment of many civilians (detained or killed while trying to surrender) as one manifestation that effective rules of engagement, standard operating procedures, instructions to the troops on the ground" had created "an environment in which regard for civilian lives and basic human dignity had been replaced with a disregard for basic international humanitarian law."

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By Khalid Amayreh in Ramallah

Today, any gesture of opposition to the American-backed regime is reported to the security agency. As many as 9,000 people, mostly suspected Hamas sympathizers, have been arrested by these agencies in the West Bank since 2007. Many or most of the detainees are subjected to physical and psychological torture. Indeed, at least ten detainees died under brutal torture in police facilities maintained thanks to American and European tax-payers' money.

Anyone listening to Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas these days would think the man is a paragon of democracy and liberty. Abbas, who has remained at the helm of the PA despite the expiration of his term in office, has been exhorting Palestinians to prepare for "presidential and legislative elections" which he called a "constitutional imperative."

However, a deeper look into Abbas's behaviors at home shows that the PA Chairman is not really interested in holding true, free and honest elections. After all, actions speak louder than words. Today, Abbas is presiding over a ruthless despotic regime where the level of repression is unprecedented since the start of the Israeli Occupation in 1967.

There is a nearly total absence of human rights and civil liberties. As to the rule of law, it is virtually paralyzed. Some human rights groups which wronged citizens used to turn to for help have closed their doors, apparently under pressure from the PA security agencies.

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by Stephen Lendman

At a time of growing US poverty, hunger, homelessness, and despair, imperial wars without end, and the Obama administration even worse than its predecessor, Venezuela:

-- is a model participatory democracy;

-- holds free, fair and open elections;

-- respects the rule of law, civil liberties, and human rights;

-- doesn't intimidate its neighbors;

-- uses its resources responsibly for the people;

-- provides essential social services for the needy;

-- champions judicial fairness and the rule of law;

-- has a model free and open media;

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Malalai Joya

The worst massacre in Afghanistan from September 11 to now happened during the presidency of Obama.

Malalai Joya is known around the world as a courageous opponent of the U.S. occupation of Afghanistan, the corrupt regime presided over by President Hamid Karzai--and the Taliban and other conservative Islamist forces battling U.S. and Afghan government troops.

An uncompromising fighter for women's rights, Joya was elected to parliament in 2005, where she denounced the presence of representatives who she called "warlords" and "war criminals." In 2007, she was suspended on the grounds that she had "insulted" fellow members. An international solidarity campaign has rallied support for her.

Joya has been the target of assassination attempts and must travel in Afghanistan with armed bodyguards, wearing a burqa as a disguise. She has written a new book about her life, A Woman Among Warlords: The Extraordinary Story of an Afghan Who Dared to Raise Her Voice.

As the first stop on a speaking tour of the U.S., Malalai Joya was the featured speaker on a panel discussion at the Northeast Socialist Conference in New York City on October 23. Introducing her were several American opponents of the U.S. war on Afghanistan, including Iraq Veterans Against the War member Mathis Chiroux. Here, we print edited excerpts from Joya's speech.

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