Politics
Reflections on the awakening of social movements and the "Chilean May" Source: International Viewpoint On September 22, 2011, wearing a dark suit, a purple tie and a light blue shirt, president Sebastián Piñera went up to the rostrum of the General Assembly of the United Nations. The head of the Chilean government - and nevertheless a successful multi-millionaire businessman – had a wide smile on his face. In these times of a world-wide crisis of capitalism, he could claim to have a flourishing economy, judged by a growth rate of more than 6 per cent of GDP (at the beginning of 2011).
Chile: When Triumphant Neoliberalism Begins to Crack
Salvador Allende roused much of Chile’s populace with his radical reforms The principle aim of this essay is to assess the impact neoliberalism had on the Chilean state during the Pinochet regime. The main intentions are to do two things, firstly analyse and understand what is meant by neoliberalism and secondly relate this to a specific regime and period.
A critical assessment of the impact of Neoliberalism on the Chilean State during the Pinochet regime (1973-1989) | Liam's Labyrinth
DANANG, Vietnam (AP) — Vo Duoc fights back tears while sharing the news that broke his heart: A few days ago he received test results confirming he and 11 family members have elevated levels of dioxin lingering in their blood. The family lives in a two-story house near a former U.S. military base in Danang where the defoliant Agent Orange was stored during the Vietnam War, which ended nearly four decades ago. Duoc, 58, sells steel for a living and has diabetes, while his wife battles breast cancer and their daughter has remained childless after suffering repeated miscarriages. For years, Duoc thought the ailments were unrelated, but after seeing the blood tests he now suspects his family unwittingly ingested dioxin from Agent Orange-contaminated fish, vegetables and well water.
US starts landmark Agent Orange cleanup in Vietnam
By Sara Miller Llana , Staff writer , and Sara Shahriari, Correspondent / July 30, 2012 Mexico City; and Cochabamba, Bolivia Like thousands of other Bolivians, Marcela Lopez Vasquez's parents migrated to the Chapare region, in the Andean tropics, desperate to make a living after waves of economic and environmental upheaval hit farming and mining communities in the 1970s and '80s. Skip to next paragraph Graphic: Bolivia (Rich Clabaugh/Staff) Subscribe Today to the Monitor
How Latin America is reinventing the war on drugs
The Bush Administration Homicides
For five years as a researcher for Human Rights Watch and reporter, John Sifton helped investigate homicides resulting from the Bush administration's torture policy. His findings include: • An estimated 100 detainees have died during interrogations, some who were clearly tortured to death. • The Bush Justice Department failed to investigate and prosecute alleged murders even when the CIA inspector general referred a case.
'NAFTA on Steroids': New Round of Secret Trade Negotiations Begins
Trade negotiators from the US and eight other Pacific Rim countries met outside of Washington, DC Wednesday, commencing a new round of the secretive Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement negotiations, also known as 'Nafta on steroids.' The TPP negotiations began in 2007 and have been carried through by the Obama administration and several Pacific nations under conditions of 'extreme secrecy' without press, public or policymaker oversight. Although most of the content involved in the discussions have been kept in secret, document leaks have revealed that negotiators are working out deals which could hamper free speech on the Internet, reduce access to affordable medicines, deregulate environmental laws, and harm labor rights around the world.Syria
There’s an interesting debate going on in the previous post about Dr. Charbel Nahas, and whether or not he’s likely to spearhead an FPM-sponsored assault on Haririan neoliberalism. If that’s just a tad too much “inside baseball” for you, then check out the following couple of links, which shed light on the future of Syria’s economy. Financial superstar analyst and former chief global strategist for Morgan Stanley, Barton Biggs, argues in Newsweek that Syria represents “ the next hot market “. Meanwhile, over at Syria Comment , my good friend Ehsani does battle with Dr. Omar Dahi over the issue of whether Syria needs to aggressively liberalize its economy .
Neoliberalism & the Syrian Economy « Qifa Nabki
Revolts in Syria: Tracking the Convergence Between Authoritarianism and Neoliberalism at Sanhati
October 16, 2011 By Omar S. Dahi and Yasser Munif. Omar S. Dahi is assistant professor of economics at Hampshire College. Yasser Munif is an activist and scholar-in-residence at Emerson College.
I am Mazen ******, a Syrian anarchist . I want to inform you about the difficult humanitarian situation in my country, Syria ; due to the brutal oppression of the regime against the revolting masses. A group of young Syrian anarchists and anti – authoritarians from Aleppo – Syria, contacted me asking for urgent help. Their community is in urgent need for everything : medical drugs , tents , children milk , etc; almost everything. We hope that you can help them to alleviate the sufferings of Syrians in these difficult days.
From a Syrian anarchist | Solidarity Federation
'Londoner against Londoner': UK fighters held journalist captive in Syria
Photojournalist John Cantlie tells Krishnan Guru-Murthy of the UK's Channel 4 News about the terrifying week he was held captive in Syria by radical Islamist militants, some of them British. By Daniel Strieff, NBC News LONDON -- A British photojournalist has described the terrifying week he was held captive by radical Islamist militants in Syria, where he and another photographer constantly feared for their lives at the hands of "disenchanted" young Britons.Jerome Kagan can look back on a brilliant career as a researcher in psychology. Still, when he contemplates his field today, he is overcome with melancholy and unease. He compares it with a wonderful antique wooden chest: Once, as a student, he had taken it upon himself to restore the chest with his colleagues. He took one of its drawers home himself and spent his entire professional life whittling, shaping and sanding it. Finally, he wanted to return the drawer to the chest, only to realize that the piece of furniture had rotted in the meantime. If anyone has the professional expertise and moral authority to compare psychology to a rotten piece of furniture, it is Kagan.
Child Psychologist Jerome Kagan on Overprescibing Drugs to Children
Libor, Naked and Exposed
AMERICANS who save for the future, use credit cards or borrow money for tuition, cars and homes deserve assurance that the interest rates on their are set in a reliable and honest way. That’s why the revelation that the British bank attempted to manipulate the , or Libor — one of the benchmark rates used to determine the cost of borrowing around the world — is so disturbing. But the Barclays case isn’t only about misconduct by large financial institutions. It also raises questions about the reliability and accuracy of these key interest rates, which are largely determined by the private sector, without significant government oversight. When you save money in a money market fund or short-term bond fund, or take out a mortgage or a small-business loan, the rate you receive or pay is often based, directly or indirectly, on Libor.Editor's Note: On August 16, Ecuador announced that it would grant asylum to Julian Assange, citing the danger of political persecution by the United States if he is sent to Sweden. The decision followed the announcement that Assange has hired a renowned international human rights jurist, the Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón, to lead his defense against extradition to Sweden. Garzón, who spent more than a year in the late 1990s attempting to get Gen. Augusto Pinochet extradited from England to Spain for crimes against humanity, issued a statement calling the Swedish sexual misconduct allegations against Assange “arbitrary and baseless,” and declared: “There is clear political intentionality behind this affair, which explains his current situation.” On June 19, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange slipped into the Ecuadorean Embassy in London, seeking sanctuary and asylum from extradition to Sweden for questioning on alleged sexual misconduct.
WikiLeaks: The Latin America Files
The U.S. Army’s Operating Concept 2016-2028 was issued in August 2010 with three goals. First, it aims to portray how future Army forces will conduct operations as part of a joint force to deter conflict, prevail in war, and succeed in a range of contingencies, at home and abroad. Second, the concept describes the employment of Army forces at the tactical and operational levels of war between 2016 and 2028.
Full Spectrum Operations in the Homeland: A “Vision” of the Future
July 25, 2012 (Ivanhoe Newswire) – Harvard University researchers conducted a review of fluoride/brain studies and concluded that there is a possibility of adverse effects of fluoride exposure on children’s neurodevelopment. Children in high fluoride areas had significantly lower IQs than those who lived in low fluoride areas, and the EPA says that there is substantial evidence of developmental neurotoxicity. Fluoride, or fluosilicic acid, is added to US water supplies at approximately 1 part per million in attempts to reduce tooth decay.