contributions

Buenos Aires, Social, union and human rights organizations from Latin America will meet starting Tuesday in the Argentinean province of Cordova in a Summit of the Peoples for Sovereignty and South American Integration.
The meeting, to be run until Thursday simultaneously with the 30th MERCOSUR presidential summit, was convened by the Yes Movement of the Peoples, from Argentina, the Continental Social Alliance and the Continent’s Campaign against the FTAA
"We will meet again to continue (…)

By Tom Engelhardt
So, as the world spins on a dime, where exactly are we?
As a man who is no fan of fundamentalists of any sort, let me offer a proposition that might make some modest sense of our reeling planet. Consider the possibility that the most fundamental belief, perhaps in all of history, but specifically in these last catastrophic years, seems to be in the efficacy of force — and the more of it the merrier. That deep belief in force above all else is perhaps the monotheism of (…)

By Dave Zweifel
As long as money holds sway in our political system, nothing should surprise us any more.
But even my jaw dropped last week when I saw the story that Hillary Clinton is being plied with more money from the health care industry and pharmaceutical companies than any other U.S. senator except Pennsylvania Republican Rick Santorum.
Yes, this is the same Hillary Clinton who was belittled and disparaged by many of these same donors when in 1993 she, as head of her husband (…)

by David Bacon
Huge national demonstrations in Mexico are now demanding a recount of the votes cast in the presidential election, tainted by allegations of vote fraud.
Mexico’s wealthiest families have a lot to lose. All benefited from Mexico’s conservative economic reforms, which the leading candidate, Felipe Calderon of the conservative National Action Party, vows to continue. The Villareals’ Grupo Villacero, for instance, was virtually given the huge Sicartsa steel mill by the (…)

By MAUREEN DOWD Washington
As USA Today noted about summer movies, the hot trend in heroines “is not the damsel in distress. It’s the damsel who causes distress.”
Uma, Oprah. Oprah, Condi.
The more W. and his tough, by-any-means-necessary superbabe have tried to tame the Middle East, the more inflamed the Middle East has become. Now the secretary of state is leaving, reluctantly and belatedly, to do some shuttle diplomacy that entails little diplomacy and no shuttling. It’s more like (…)

The eminent Israel Shahak provided this crucial translation of Israeli policy some years ago. Seems to be on track. Here are a few excerpts:
The Zionist conspiracy to divide the Arab states into small units
"Egypt: Egypt, in its present domestic political picture, is already a corpse, all the more so if we take into account the growing Muslim-Christian rift. Breaking Egypt down territorially into distinct geographical regions is the political aim of Israel in the Nineteen Eighties on (…)

by Susie Becher
When a lone Qassam fell on the grounds of an Ashkelon school that was closed for summer vacation and caused some damage to the building, Prime Minister Olmert called the attack a "declaration of war." One wonders whether he was just being loose with his tongue or whether he really forgot the meaning of the word.
Since then, he has since gotten a very clear reminder: You think that’s war? We’ll show you what war is!
Analysts looking for the answer to how we got here (…)

Personal Account of the Seige of Lebanon
By Rasha in Beirut
"Slowly but surely, in cold blood the country was being dismembered, ligament after ligament, inland, on the coast, and in the mountains."
Dear All,
I am writing now from a cafe, in West Beirut’s Hamra district. It is filled with people who are trying to escape the pull of 24 hour news reporting. Like me. The electricity has been cut off for a while now, and the city has been surviving on generators. The old system that was (…)

By Uri Avnery
A WOMAN, an immigrant from Russia, throws herself on the ground in total despair in front of her home that has been hit by a missile, crying in broken Hebrew: "My son! My son!" believing him dead. In fact he was only wounded and sent to the hospital.
Lebanese children, covered with wounds, in Beirut hospitals. The funeral of the victims of a missile in Haifa. The ruins of a whole devastated quarter in Beirut. Inhabitants of the north of Israel fleeing south from the (…)

War on Terror?? Islam-o-rama-fascism?? Real or just pap from the ends of the "repsonsible" news organs?
What’s all this Israeli support for terror groups all about? Us hayseeds is truly stumped:
Hamas, Son of Israel- by Justin Raimondo Israel’s support for Hamas ’was a direct attempt to divide and dilute support for a strong, secular PLO by using a competing religious alternative - www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=8449
Heck, let’s go whole hog
Israel’s Hamas by George Szamuely (…)