contributions

Brown message to US: it’s time to build, not destroy Minister signals foreign policy shift ahead of PM’s Washington trip
Patrick Wintour and Julian Borger Friday July 13, 2007, The Guardian
The first clear signs that Gordon Brown will reorder Britain’s foreign policy emerged last night when one of his closest cabinet allies urged the US to change its priorities and said a country’s strength should no longer be measured by its destructive military power.
Douglas Alexander, the trade and (…)

At last, the lying nature of the BBC propaganda machine has been exposed in the full glare of publicity. The event that has triggered this is, in my opinion, of very little consequence and by focusing on it and other petty issues it appears that, true to form, the BBC is trying desperately to distract our attention from the elephant in its living room.
Nevertheless, with the Controller of BBC 1, Peter Fincham, squirming and wringing his hands at the suggestion of his resignation, it has (…)

By Lucien Louvrier
In a brilliant synthesis entitled "1789, The Heritage and the Memory" ("1789, l’héritage et la mémoire"), French historian Michel Vovelle sums up a lifetime of research into the French Revolution’s heritage and the history of its memory in French society and beyond.
To conflate in a dense historiographic synthesis the sum of a lifetime of research on the French Revolution is a formidable achievement, especially as the author takes in both the political, institutional, (…)

By Jacqueline Sellem
In 1998, Tony Blair declared before French deputies: “There is no right or left politics in economic management today, but economic policies which work and other which don’t work.” ... "It is amusing to hear some elements in the French media talking about a ’socially-sensitive Blair’ whereas he has actually re-used Thatcher’s neoliberal recipes and promoted the interests of the advocates of the financial capitalism."
HUMA: When French media summed up Blair’s legacy (…)

On BBC Radio 4, I have been listening to an abridged version of Peeling the Onion, an autobiography by the German writer, Günter Grass.
Grass, famous for his satirical writings on Nazi Germany, will be remembered for his major works, The Tin Drum and Dog Years. When Peeling the Onion was published last year in Germany there was a lot of kerfuffle among literary circles about Grass having served, as a teenager, in the Waffen SS which was later condemned collectively for war crimes.
In his (…)

So just how rich are you? Are you doctor or lawyer rich? Are you CEO rich? Or perhaps pro athlete rich? Or maybe you’re just a poor shlub like me just an average Joe with an average income. The average is $46,000 but that’s for all families, if you refine it even more to traditional family average is $57,000. But now if you’re a dink (dual income no kids) it rises to $66,000 per year. I guess being childless you can travel on the job more and need less time off.
For non family households (…)

July 12, 2007
HOW TERROR HAS LOST ITS MEANING
John Chuckman
Why does terror dominate our headlines and the attention of our governments going on six years after 9/11? The answer cannot be what George Bush says that it is: it is not the fault of people who hate democracy and freedom.
We know this for a great many reasons. One of the world’s oldest terrorist organizations, the IRA, had no interest in British government and society. It was interested only in being free of their (…)

By Nicola Nasser*
A seminar on “Palestine: 1967 and After” organized by the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA) and the mission of the League of Arab States (LAS) in New Delhi on June 22 highlighted India’s still unwavering historical support for the Palestinian people, but failed to address the potential political effects of the growing Indian – Israeli ties on New Delhi’s more than ten – decade old policy on the Arab – Israeli conflict in Palestine.
Only the criticism of those ties (…)

The Yes Men!!! Amazing funny warriors of Truth
The story follows Andy and Mike from their beginnings with GWBush.com (read the whole story of GWBush.com here http://www.rtmark.com/bush.html ), and on to their tasteless parody of the WTO’s website http://www.gatt.org ). Some visitors don’t notice the site is a fake, and send speaking invitations meant for the real WTO. Mike and Andy play along with the ruse and soon find themselves attending important functions as WTO representatives. (…)