BANGKOK - The initial euphoria that greeted the freedom granted to nearly 4,000 prisoners, recently released from jails in military-ruled Burma, seems to be dissipating fast. For all it may be, this amnesty might not necessarily translate into possible political...
Israeli Closures Crush Palestinian Economy
Four years of an Israeli military crackdown on a popular Palestinian uprising, based on closures of towns and villages, have left the economy of the occupied territories in tatters and its people facing soaring poverty, the World Bank said Tuesday. Israeli army sieges...
Iraq Debt Relief Weighed Down by IMF Burden
Rich nations' decision to accept a U.S. request and forgive part of Iraq's debt will help the occupied country but also saddle it with a burdensome economic program that threatens to take decision-making power from Iraqis and put it in the hands of officials from the...
‘Democracy’ and Mendacity
In the Ukraine, tens of thousands of protesters march through the streets demanding that pro-Russian Prime Minister and presidential candidate Viktor Yanukovich give up the reins of power: he stole the election, they claim. The whole thing was "rigged." How...
Repressive MEMRI
I just checked my campus mail and found a letter in it from Colonel Yigal Carmon, late of Israeli military intelligence, now an official at the Middle East Media Research Organization, or MEMRI. He threatened me with a lawsuit over blog comments I made at Informed...
Repressive MEMRI
I just checked my campus mail and found a letter in it from Colonel Yigal Carmon, late of Israeli military intelligence, now an official at the Middle East Media Research Organization, or MEMRI. He threatened me with a lawsuit over blog comments I made at Informed...
A Worthless Intelligence Agency
It's well known that Washington was originally built on a pestilential swamp. Right now, the Bush administration is in the process of draining its own "swamp" of potential critics and doubters of any sort and installing "family" members, many from George's (and...
Hawks Push Regime Change in North Korea
The coalition of foreign-policy hawks that promoted the 2003 invasion of Iraq is pressing President George W. Bush to adopt a more coercive policy toward North Korea, despite strong opposition from China and South Korea. By most accounts, North Korea ranked high in...
Thanksgiving in a Culture of Death
The other day, something quite remarkable happened. Ever since the election, news anchors warned of the "coming assault on Fallujah," the "final clampdown," the "major military offensive" that would put an end to the resistance in that city. Dire warnings were made...
Backtalk, November 23, 2004
There Is No One Left to Stop ThemThanks to Paul Craig Roberts (no relation) for his courageous honesty and intellectual and moral clarity. Remembering his Wall Street Journal pieces (why don't they bring him back now?), and in light of my own history of protest, I...


