What Snowden says Edward Snowden is the man who has been "spilling America's political secrets." Or at least, that is how I just heard him described on a cable news program. Since the former NSA contractor outed himself, I've heard him called many names by people from both official and "unofficial" spokespeople of Washington - the pundits, paid thinkers and writers who are part of that well-groomed group. For those unlucky people who can't experience the joy of watching domestic television, allow me share a few of the descriptions I've heard and read. Snowden has been called "a traitor, high school dropout, loser, slacker, and a man with messianic aspirations." So to sum it up, most of the people who have access to professional microphones are targeting him with labels that would make any human being feel like a skinny, acne covered High School freshman with lice. This has an impact beyond Snowden’s self-esteem. I can't tell you how Americans really feel about NSA surveillance.
The democratic clock turned back Financial markets rallied last week when the Greek prime minister, George Papandreou, announced he was dropping plans for a referendum on the terms of his country's bailout. Bond dealers liked the idea that the government in Athens could soon be headed by Lucas Papademos, a former vice-president of the European Central Bank. Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy think Papademos is the sort of hard-line technocrat with whom they can do business. Silvio Berlusconi's long-predicted departure as Italy's prime minister will no doubt be greeted in the same way, particularly if he is replaced by a government of national unity headed by another technocrat, Mario Monti. A former Brussels commissioner, he is seen as someone who could be relied upon to push through the European Union's austerity programme during the next 12 months, watched over by Christine Lagarde's team of officials from the International Monetary Fund. From the perspective of the financial markets, this makes perfect sense.
MAI: Anti-Democratic International Treaty On Investment Reprinted from The Common Good, no 6, Advent 1997 www.catholicworker.org.nz MAI: Anti-Democratic International Treaty On Investment Bill Rosenberg Do we ever stop to consider what state our democracy is in? Despite colourful rhetoric, the broad policies of all five recent governments have been very similar. If there really are fewer policy choices available, the real problem is that the politicians we elect have been disempowered, and are willingly disempowering future elected representatives from making the real changes the public want. A little publicised international agreement the government is currently negotiating illustrates this point radically. Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI) The international agreement I refer to deals with foreign investment. Yet the impact of the agreement, if signed, will be profound. MAI: all rights and no responsibilities The purpose of the MAI is to restrict a government’s right to regulate foreign investment. What can you do?
The crocodile tears of the complicit: Iraq and the cries against humanity - Opinion A bit over a decade ago, in that liminal political period between September 11, 2001 and the US invasion of Iraq, I attended a reading by well-known German writer and Holocaust survivor Ruth Kluger of her just-translated memoir of life in the death camps, Still Alive: A Holocaust Girlhood Remembered. It was the height of the al-Aqsa intifada, and during the Q&A several audience members asked her about Israel's treatment of Palestinians. How could Jews, who suffered unimaginably under the Nazis, in turn oppress Palestinians? They wondered. Kluger's response, in the still heavily German accented English that has all but died out with the passing of the last of the World War II generation of German-speaking Jews, was as simple as it was profound: "The Holocaust wasn't a school," she responded. I have often thought about Kluger's remarks while travelling through the Middle East's many conflict zones. The enablers Justifying ignorance Journalists of conscience
There Was a Class War. The Rich Won It. Real 1982 goods producing wage earner hourly wage What happens if there’s a class war and only one side bothers to show up and fight it? That’s what happened over the last thirty years. There was a class war, and the rich won. Period. It’s over, they kicked our knees out from under us, put on their steel toed boots and spent the last thirty years telling us that they were going to trickle on us and we’re going to like it and beg for more. Seems like hyperbole? So, if you’re an ordinary slob, you haven’t had a raise in over 30 years. This would be ok if the US hadn’t been getting richer, getting more productive, ever since then, but I’m sure you won’t be surprised to hear that, well, actually, productivity and whatnot has kept going up. Damon Silvers, whom we can thank for the wages and productivity chart, thinks it has a lot to do with a hostile anti-union environment and with the simultaneous decline of progressive taxation. So they made themselves rich. It was a death bet.
Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP): The Terrible Plutocratic Plan Thanks to Michael Feikema and Doug Hendren for inviting me. Like most of you I do not spend my life studying trade agreements, but the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is disturbing enough to make me devote a little time to it, and I hope you will do the same and get your neighbors to do the same and get them to get their friends to do the same — as soon as possible. I spend most of my time reading and writing about war and peace. I’m in the middle of writing a book about the possibility and need to abolish war and militarism. I hate to take a break from that. New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, a big fan of the supposed wonders of the hidden hand of the market economy says, “The hidden hand of the market will never work without a hidden fist. Of course, there’s nothing hidden about that fist. There is also, of course, nothing hidden about the hand of corporate trade agreements. What is hidden, in another sense, is the detailed negotiated text of the proposed TPP treaty.
Dear George Bush and Dick Cheney, You Are Guilty of Murder: A Letter from a Dying Veteran Former Republican vice president Dick Cheney, pictured in 2011, advised his party's candidate in the upcoming US elections to pick a running mate with more experience than Sarah Palin. March 19, 2013 | Like this article? Join our email list: Stay up to date with the latest headlines via email. To: George W. I write this letter on the 10th anniversary of the Iraq War on behalf of my fellow Iraq War veterans. I write this letter on behalf of husbands and wives who have lost spouses, on behalf of children who have lost a parent, on behalf of the fathers and mothers who have lost sons and daughters and on behalf of those who care for the many thousands of my fellow veterans who have brain injuries. I write this letter, my last letter, to you, Mr. Your positions of authority, your millions of dollars of personal wealth, your public relations consultants, your privilege and your power cannot mask the hollowness of your character. I joined the Army two days after the 9/11 attacks.
Neo-liberal capture of the policy making process in Europe Mainstream macroeconomics has mounted a range of arguments over the years to argue against any discretionary involvement by governments or regulators in the economy. The claim is always that the ‘market’ will self regulate and weed out bad players and produce the best outcomes with the least resources each period of activity. Various fancy terms are introduced into textbooks that make these arguments seem to have scientific weight. It called on the European Commission (which is just about to change Presidency) “to tackle the persistent over-representation of corporate interests in European Commission ‘expert groups'”. ALTER-EU was formed in 2005. Two interesting research papers released by the group are: 1. 2. The 2009 Report examined the role of so-called ‘Expert Groups’, which are formed by the European Commission as consultancies to advise it on policy. Expert Groups play a significant role in the development of European legislation both through the Parliament and the Council. 1. 2.
What is TTIP? And six reasons why the answer should scare you | Comment | Voices | The Independent The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership is a series of trade negotiations being carried out mostly in secret between the EU and US. As a bi-lateral trade agreement, TTIP is about reducing the regulatory barriers to trade for big business, things like food safety law, environmental legislation, banking regulations and the sovereign powers of individual nations. It is, as John Hilary, Executive Director of campaign group War on Want, said: “An assault on European and US societies by transnational corporations.” Since before TTIP negotiations began last February, the process has been secretive and undemocratic. But worryingly, the covert nature of the talks may well be the least of our problems. 1 The NHS Public services, especially the NHS, are in the firing line. The European Commission has claimed that public services will be kept out of TTIP. 2 Food and environmental safety 3 Banking regulations TTIP cuts both ways. 4 Privacy 5 Jobs 6 Democracy
Managed expectations in the post-employment economy - Opinion On March 4, Olga Khazan, the new editor of the Global section of the Atlantic, sent an email to Nate Thayer, a veteran journalist covering Asian political affairs. Khazan had seen an article Thayer had written about North Korea and liked it. She wanted to know if he could "repurpose" it for the Atlantic website. "We unfortunately can't pay you for it," she wrote Thayer. Thayer was appalled. Khazan apologised and explained that the Atlantic was out of money. Who pays? The news that the Atlantic - one of the oldest and most venerated publications in America - paid its writers little or nothing came as a shock to many, but not to journalists struggling to make a living in the post-employment economy. Some journalists say this is not a big deal. Atlantic employees say they feel the freelancers' pain, but there is nothing they can do. But then where is all the money going? The problem in journalism is not that people are writing for free. The post-employment economy "You're only 28.
Global capitalism and 21st century fascism Story highlights The crisis of global capitalism is unprecedented, given its magnitude, its global reach, the extent of ecological degradation and social deterioration, and the scale of the means of violence. We truly face a crisis of humanity. I want to discuss here the crisis of global capitalism and the notion of distinct political responses to the crisis, with a focus on the far-right response and the danger of what I refer to as 21st century fascism, particularly in the United States. Facing the crisis calls for an analysis of the capitalist system, which has undergone restructuring and transformation Facing the crisis calls for an analysis of the capitalist system, which has undergone restructuring and transformation in recent decades. We face a system that is now much more integrated, and dominant groups that have accumulated an extraordinary amount of transnational power and control over global resources and institutions. By the late 1990s, the system entered into chronic crisis.
I’ve seen the secrets of TTIP, and it is built for corporations not citizens | Molly Scott Cato It appears that, even though I am past 50, my opportunities to become a spy have not expired. This is because, as an MEP, I have now been granted privileged access to the European parliament restricted reading room to explore documents relating to the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) deal. But before I had the right to see such “top secret” documents, which are restricted from the gaze of most EU citizens, I was required to sign a document of some 14 pages, reminding me that “EU institutions are a valuable target” and of the dangers of espionage. Crucially, I had to agree not to share any of the contents with those I represent. The delightful parliamentary staff required me to leave even the smallest of my personal items in a locked cupboard, as they informed me how tiny cameras can be these days. This week hundreds of protesters against TTIP have descended on the European parliament. But how are we to know for certain?
Safety as freedom - Opinion The Delhi gang-rape of December 2012 brought to the streets the deep and growing concern about violence against women and the demand for women's safety. The movement is the voice of women reclaiming their right to safety and freedom, through resistance to all forms of patriarchal power and celebration of women's peaceful power and energy. Commodification, appropriation and control over women's bodies and the resources of the earth are one aspect of the threat to safety. Imposition of hazardous technologies that we do not need is another aspect. Safety has emerged as an overpowering concern - safety of women and children, tribals, farmers and rural communities, safety from nuclear hazard, and environmental as well as health hazards of GMOs. There is a pattern in this continuum of violence and threats to life and safety, just as there is a pattern in the continuum of the struggles for the defence of life, safety and freedom. Nuclear safety 'Anti-reforms'
The West's tragedy of capital Here's a crash course on global finance 2.0. The debt is in the Atlanticist, wealthy North. The resources are in the global South. And the (reluctant) supreme banker of the last resort is the Middle Kingdom, as personified by the Almighty Hu (Jintao). The name of the game - Marx revisited by Occupy the World - is class struggle. There could not be a more graphic demonstration than last week's Greek tragedy takeover of the Cannes debt festival of Slavoj Zizek's thesis that the marriage of capitalism and democracy is over. If there is something capable of terminally terrorising the European Union (EU) oligarchy it is the concept of a popular referendum. How dare you consult the "rabble" about our Austerity Forever policy, the only one capable of satisfying the financial markets! Surrender or else The made in Frankfurt ECB screenplay is brought to you by the TINA ("there is no alternative") school. It doesn't matter that Italy has a primary surplus. Look South, young man Yet make no mistake.