Новости за 22.10.2015

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In recent weeks the world is witnessing another round of violence in Israel/Palestine. Though we are accustomed to seeing the same tragic and violent scenario repeat itself, this time it is different. The current wave of resistance stems from a new generation of Palestinian activists who are not affiliated with a particular organization or faction. Protests include violent and nonviolent demonstrations as well as attacks on Israeli civilians in both the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) and Israel. Читать дальше...

The system for classifying intelligence and other national security documents is broken in major respects. Increasingly, it is also manipulated to punish perceived critics or to protect agency reputations and high officials, both from adverse publicity and in the courts. Hillary Clinton's use of a private rather than State Department email service illustrates many of these issues. Her experience stands in stark contrast to treatment of national security whistleblowers, as illustrated in particular... Читать дальше...

Among Palestinians and Israelis, the recent upsurge in violence has been variously described as the children’s, lone-wolf, Jerusalem and smartphone intifadas. Each describes a distinguishing feature of this round of clashes. The steady erosion of Fatah and Hamas’ authority during the post-Oslo years, as the Palestinian factions proved incapable of protecting their people from the structural violence of the occupation, has driven Palestine’s politically orphaned children to the streets, armed with stones. Читать дальше...

At over 2,300 pages, the Dodd Frank Act is the longest and most complicated bill ever passed by the US legislature. It was supposed to end “too big to fail” and “bailouts,” and to “promote financial stability.” But Dodd-Frank’s “orderly liquidation authority” has replaced bailouts with bail-ins, meaning that in the event of insolvency, big More

Ruins of Carthage. During a post-armistice stroll in London on December 1, 1918, French wartime prime minister Georges Clemenceau turned to his British counterpart and asked: “What do you want?” “Mosul,” replied Lloyd George. “You shall have it,” Clemenceau declared. “and what else?” “Palestine.” “You shall have that too.”                      If you walk up the hill More

Donald Trump’s indictment of the Bush II administration for failing to prevent the 9/11 attacks presents an opportunity for more of a bird’s eye view of American foreign policy in the Middle East, a policy that has killed many hundreds of thousands, maimed countless more, and laid waste to entire societies. As Peter Beinart reminds More

The whole Global South is now informed about how the Russian campaign in Syria has swiftly smashed all of ‘Exceptionalistan’s’ elaborate plans for a “Greater Middle East.” These plans span everything from the Wolfowitz Doctrine to Dr. Zbig “Grand Chessboard” Brzezinski’s categorical imperative of preventing the emergence of a strategic competitor across Eurasia. But the More

My first stop, after living for 22 years in a refugee camp in Gaza, was the city of Seattle, a pleasant, green city, where people drink too much coffee to cope with the long, cold, grey winters. There, for the first time, I stood before an audience outside Palestine, to speak about Palestine. Here, I More

Negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade treaty between the U.S. and 11 other Pacific Rim countries were concluded Oct. 5, 2015. Although the full TPP document is still a secret – to all but the representatives of multinational corporations who chaired the 30 committees and told the government trade representatives what to negotiate More

China’s economy has developed significantly in the last decades, lifting more than 200 million people out of poverty and improving their health. One of the consequences of the country’s effective public health policies has been an increase in life expectancy at birth from 69 years in 1990 to nearly 74.84 years in 2012. Also notable More

In his autobiography Barney Frank notes that one reason reactionaries are often more successful than progressives is because they are more fanatical, more disciplined, and more willing to do the grunt work required to get the attention of their representatives. Plus, they can always be counted upon to vote. Elected officials who wish to remain More

‘Collateral damage’. ‘Enhanced interrogation’. What’s the name for those phrases or words that sound relatively innocuous but are actually covering up something that’s very violent or very bad? Here’s another one: regulatory cooperation. Cooperation is a good thing, right? It doesn’t sound so threatening, but it’s a masterful example of the power of language to More

Last week, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush put forward a healthcare proposal as part of his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination. The plan, which has many moving parts, is intended as a replacement for the Affordable Care Act. If you don’t anticipate getting sick, you might like it. Instead of healthcare exchanges and mandated More

123 years ago, United States President Henry Harrison established Columbus Day to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Columbus’ 1492 landing in the Bahamas, and in October 1971 the United States officially recognized it as a federal holiday. In turn, American public schools have consistently reminded the youth of this nation to associate the second Monday More