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Empire or Republic: from Joplin, Missouri to Kabul, Afghanistan
James Petras
Introduction
On May 29, 2011, President Obama visited Joplin, Missouri, the site of a devastating tornado that killed 140 and pronounced it a terrible “tragedy”. But were the deaths the inevitable result of ‘natural events’ beyond the human intervention?
Coincidentally the same week Afghan President Karzai condemned the killing of a family of 14 by a NATO fighter bomber, running the total to several hundred civilians killed so far this year and thousands over the decade.
The relation between the civilian deaths in Joplin and Afghanistan raises fundamental questions about the priorities, character and direction of the US Empire and the future of the American republic.
Geography of Tornados
Every year at least 20 major violent tornadoes – with winds exceeding 200 mph – hit “tornado alley” and beyond, including central Texas, northern Iowa, central Kansas, Nebraska, western Ohio, Missouri, Indiana, Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama. Each and every year at least sixty are killed and several hundred are maimed and injured. This year, through May 2011, over 519 have been killed, 25% of whom were in mobile homes, almost three times as many as those in standard houses.
How China Stiffs Its Creditors
Ian Fletcher
I examined in a previous article the ethical case for America repudiating its financial obligations to China. While considering this tempting possibility—which makes for a better bargaining position if nothing else—we should recall the fact that China has, in fact, repudiated its own financial obligations to other nations.
The key here is that the formerly (and still nominally) communist government in Beijing refused, upon taking control of the country in 1949, to honor the debts incurred by the previous government, the Nationalists of Chiang Kai-shek.
That previous government, like all governments, had a substantial public debt, and just like the U.S. today, much of it was owed to foreigners.
Blockade illegal… collective punishment illegal… interception illegal… The UN called for “unimpeded” humanitarian assistance for Gaza
So why is the Secretary-General trying to scupper latest flotilla plans?
"Intercepting the Mavi Marmara on the high seas... was clearly unlawful." The United Nations said so.
It’s in the report of the UN fact-finding mission set up by the Human Rights Council to investigate violations of international law, including international humanitarian and human rights law, resulting from the Israeli attacks a year ago on the flotilla of ships carrying humanitarian assistance to Gaza, during which nine people were killed and many others injured.
Mladic and international justice: Age of deception
Eric Walberg
Mladic’s upcoming trial in The Hague reminds us that international justice is a complicated business, however simple its motives.
Ratko Mladic, the most wanted fugitive of the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), was arrested last week after 16 years on the run. As former commander of the Republika Srpska Army from 1992–96, he was indicted by the ICTY following the capture of Srebrenica in July 1995, and charged by ICTY Judge Richard Goldstone with genocide, crimes against humanity and violations of laws and practices of warfare from 1992 to 1995 in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The same indictment charged Radovan Karadzic, president of the Republika Srpska and Mladic’s supreme commander.
States Harming People Most in Need
by Stephen Lendman
In 1996, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation ("welfare reform") Act (PRWORA) passed. Until then, needy households got welfare payments (since 1935) through Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), a program protecting states by sharing costs of increased caseloads during hard times.
Thereafter, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) set five year time limits, allocating fixed block grants to states to administer at their own discretion, putting needy people at risk during economic downturns when little or no additional federal funding is forthcoming.
Escalating an Asian Arms Race
by Stephen Lendman
Together with South Korea, America's military plans expanding its Asian footprint on Jeju Island with a strategic naval base for Aegis class attack ships. They're equipped with sophisticated SM-3 interceptor missiles intended mainly for offense, as well as powerful computers and tracking radar for first-strike capability against enemy targets.
In 2002, Seoul announced construction plans to accommodate Pentagon planners despite strong local opposition. Located south of Korea proper, Jeju Island is its only special autonomous province, situated in the Korea Strait, Southwest of Jeollanam-do Province it separated from in 1946.m
The Wonders of Human Creatureliness and the Biophysical Boundaries of a Tiny Celestial Orb called Earth
by sesalmony@aol.com
Perhaps you will choose to join me in the process of naming what is so difficult to acknowledge regarding 'the placement' of our all-too-human species within a biological and evolutionary order of living things as well as the "rules of the house" in a finite and frangible planetary home such as the one we are blessed to inhabit. That is to say, I would like you to collaboratively engage in an examination of such large and vital issues as the miracle of human creatureliness and the marvel of the Creation where so splendid a creature as Homo sapiens has been able to accomplish so much, especially in recent times.
The Real Power Struggle in Tehran
Jalal Alavi
Some Iran observers are of the opinion that a genuine power struggle has been triggered in Iran between Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over the reinstatement of an ousted minister.
This, however, is not an accurate assessment of the situation, if only because it reduces the role of the supreme leader in Iranian politics to that of the president, thus taking for granted the Constitutional supremacy of Khamenei over all matters of state.
Chemtrail Health and Eco Impacts Prompt Lawsuit
By Rady Ananda
Citrus Heights attorney Joseph H. Marman will soon file a lawsuit against the Shasta County Air Quality Management District in California for failing to ensure good air quality, on behalf of those injured by pollutants used in persistent jet contrails, popularly known as chemtrails.
The type of damage can vary – from reduced agricultural output and reduced solar energy capture, to damaged soils and water systems, to human health problems.
He reported to Food Freedom that he now has enough plaintiffs to pursue the case, but must first file an Administrative claim.
“Typically after I file a government claim, then we have six months in which to file the complaint,” he said.
Depending on what’s loaded in the spray, as well as particle size, aerial spraying impacts health in a variety of ways. Once inhaled or absorbed through the skin, particles can impede gastrointestinal, respiratory, autoimmunity, neurological and cognitive functions.
GM foods cannot be linked to falling US birth rate
By Rady Ananda
Current speculation that falling US birth rates are connected to genetically modified foods is debunked by a historical review of US birth rates. We cannot tie GM foods to falling US birth rates, yet anyway, since a look at the rate over the past 100 years shows much sharper drops than the one seen since 1996 when GM foods were deployed.
Spermicidal corn has been developed, as William Engdahl points out, and likely deployed somewhere (he suggests in Latin America or other "Third World countries"). If deployed in the US, its effects cannot be teased out from other environmental and cultural factors that contribute to a nation's birth rate, given lack of GM food labels and subsequent safety testing.
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