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Egypt/Serbia/Georgia: Learning from others’ mistakes
Eric Walberg
There is a Russian proverb: only a fool learns from his own mistakes. As Georgia's foreign minister visits his Egyptian counterpart, there are lessons for Egypt in similar revolutions in eastern Europe and the ex-Soviet Union, notes Eric Walberg
Central to Egypt’s revolution was a tiny group of Serbian activists Otpor (resistance), who adapted nonviolent tactics of in the late 1990s and successfully forced Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic to resign in 2000. Egyptian youth in the 6 April Youth Movement even adopted their clenched fist symbol, bringing Otpor once again into world headlines and TV screens.
IMF Rates Up Dictatorships Just Before Revolutions
By Michael Collins
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) made an embarrassing error just two days before the start of the Libyan people's revolution on February 17. This quote from an IMF country study appeared in a previous article: "The outlook for Libya’s economy remains favorable." IMF Feb 15 This advice was 180 degrees off target. The Libyan economy has ceased functioning as protests and popular demands imploded the Gaddafi regime. (Image)
Further investigation unearthed a specific pattern of positive IMF endorsements for each of the nations experiencing popular uprisings that are sweeping the region. When the IMF blesses a nation's progress for conforming to the economic policies underlying globalism, watch out! There is a popular rebellion in the wings.
Another Corporate-Inspired War?
By Timothy V. Gatto
The news we are hearing about the situation in Libya is conflicted to say the least. In general, the facts presented to us by the mainstream media are sketchy. Reports of Libyan Air Force attacks on protestors are not substantiated in any of the news articles that I have had the opportunity to see, yet the U.S., the UK and NATO member States are calling for a No-Fly zone over Libya. This would be another case of unwanted intervention in the affairs of a sovereign state, not unlike the interventions that have occurred in Iraq and Afghanistan.
All too often, the United States sees itself as the World’s Police. The fact is that while it may see itself as the police Department of the World, the only thing America has managed to become is a police state. We see ourselves as a great power with unlimited jurisdiction over any other nation in the world, not because we are a shining example of democracy, but because we are the last remaining military superpower left on the planet.
Our Man in Pakistan
by Stephen Lendman
Raymond A. Davis, CIA agent, is one of many working covertly with assets infesting virtually all countries worldwide, especially ones vital to America's imperial agenda.
On February 21, New York Times writers Mark Mazzetti, Ashley Parket, Jane Perlez and Eric Schmitt headlined, "American Held in Pakistan Worked with CIA."
Correction - worked for the CIA, conducting intelligence covertly, spying on Pakistan for Washington, The Times saying:
On January 27, he was arrested and detained for shooting two men at a crowded Lahore traffic stop. Washington called it a botched robbery attempt. Pakistan charged him with murder and possession of a concealed, unlicensed gun. Davis said he acted in self-defense. Pakistani authorities knew otherwise when they learned he shot the men 10 times in the back, fled the scene, and was carrying a telescope, a GPS set, bolt cutters, a survival kit, and a long-range radio.
Seventh Annual Israeli Anti-Apartheid Week
by Stephen Lendman
The web site apartheidweek.com announced it in over 60 cities worldwide, including:
Adelaide, Al Quds, Amman, Amsterdam, Bard (NY), Basel, Beirut, Belfast, Berkeley, Bern, Bethlehem, Bilbao, Birzeit, Bordeaux, Boston, Brisbane, Brussels, Cape Town, Cleveland, Denver, Dublin, Dundee, Durban, Edmonton, Gainesville, Gaza, Geneva, Grahamstown, Haifa, Houston, Ireland, Johannesburg, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Le Mans, Lille, Lillehammer, London (Ontario), Lyon, Melbourne, Mexico City, Miami, Midwest, Montreal, Nablus, Naples, Nazereth, Neuchatel, New York, Ottawa, Paris, Perth, Peterborough, Port Elizabeth, Pretoria, Providence, Regina, St. Louis, Stellenbosch, Sudbury, Toronto, Utrecht, Yaffa, and Zurich.
Roots of the Arab Revolts and Premature Celebrations
James Petras
Introduction
Most accounts of the Arab revolts from Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Morocco, Yemen, Jordan, Bahrain, Iraq and elsewhere have focused on the most immediate causes: political dictatorships, unemployment, repression and the wounding and killing of protestors. They have given most attention to the “middle class”, young, educated activists, their communication via the internet, (Los Angeles Times, Feb. 16, 2011) and, in the case of Israel and its Zionists conspiracy theorists, “the hidden hand” of Islamic extremists (Daily Alert Feb. 25, 2011).
As the Race to the Bottom Picks Up Speed, Are Americans Finally Fed-Up?
By Kevin Zeese
Austerity Budgets are the Norm in State and Federal Budgets Across the Country: While the Rich Get Richer, Everyone Else Suffers
The race to the bottom has picked up its pace. As state and federal governments face budget deficits, they are cutting critical programs with austerity budgets that will weaken education, health care, essential services and the economy.
Wisconsin is ground zero for the race to the bottom. I will be heading to Wisconsin the end of the week to get a better understanding of the situation and to gauge the anger – has government finally hit the breaking point so people will stand up against the class war being perpetrated against them? I have no doubt that if the people were organized and demanded change, we could see the end of the corporate political duopoly that allows big business interests to dominate government and puts profits ahead of people’s needs. Maybe Wisconsin is the sign that the tipping point is here? I certainly hope so because the richest country on earth does not need to be in a race to the bottom. We are in this race down because of choices the government is making for their wealthy campaign contributors.
U.S. Manufacturing “Red Hot”? Dream On
Ian Fletcher
There is an article in the Huffington Post today which, before apparently being retitled, asserted in its headline that U.S. manufacturing is now "red hot," and whose text quotes a financial analyst (apparently approvingly) who asserts that it is.
This is based on a report from the respected Institute for Supply-Chain Management which reports that manufacturing output in the U.S. has expanded for 19 months straight.
Sounds like things are looking up, no?
Well, no.
America Needs A N.A.P.
Curt Day
In fact, America needs more than 1 N.A.P. But will we take it?
What kind of N.A.P. are we talking about? We are talking about National Austerity Protests. The Wisconsin protests, as valid and inspiring as they are, are shortsighted and do not address the causes of the state's deficit problems. By not addressing the main causes, winning to maintain collective bargaining rights alone shallow. That is not because collective bargaining rights are trivial, it is because the right to such bargaining becomes moot when future state shortfalls demand that the workers take further cuts in order to remain "fiscally responsible."
To understand the conflict that is currently happening in Wisconsin, we need Peabody's and Sherman's Wayback machine. Not so way back in 2005, Noam Chomsky identified one of the main causes of today's state deficits as is occurring in Wisconsin. The deficits are a partially a result of Bush's policies that focused on handing over more and more money to his rich friends regardless of the long range costs. Chomsky mentioned some of the ways by which this was done including refusing to sign and follow the Kyoto Protocol, pushing for drilling in the Arctic reserve, using the IMF to rescue risky foreign loans made to banks, and globalization. [1] The last in this list is misnamed because it only applied to the rich.
Major Media Promote War on Libya
by Stephen Lendman
When imperial America wants war, peace advocates are shut out by official rhetoric and hawkish media reports supporting militarism, not diplomatic efforts to achieve peace. Those for it aren't heard. Hugo Chavez's government is one. On February 28, Venezuela's Foreign Minister, Nicolas Maduro, warned against belligerence saying:
"We would be against any military intervention against the Arabic people of Libya, and I'm sure that all peoples of the world would support a struggle against any interventionism that some powerful countries would commit against it....Arabic people who are in a process of rebellion, seeking a better destiny, (can) find their way to peace. (Venezuelans understand) very difficult times, (but have) gone about finding our ways to independence, democracy, and freedom, which in our case" is Bolarivarianism.
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