Consortiumblog

Turning a Blind Eye to Bahrain's Abuse

2011-05-11T11:15:00.000-05:00

By Lawrence Davidson
May 11, 2011

If you want to see how an ostensibly religious regime can be corrupted into something close to fascism, just take a look at contemporary Bahrain.

Read on.

The War Against Taxing the Rich

2011-05-10T15:22:00.000-05:00

By Michael Winship
May 10, 2011

Nothing is certain but death and taxes, it used to be said, but in the madcap times we live in, even they're up for grabs.

Read on.

Declaring Victory Over Osama

2011-05-10T12:15:00.000-05:00

By Ivan Eland
May 10, 2011

Although the Obama administration has said that the killing of Osama bin Laden is not a V-E or V-J day — which brought a return to normal times after World War II ended — perhaps it should be.

Read on.

Attacks on Israeli Critics Escalate

2011-05-10T11:03:00.001-05:00

By Danny Schechter
May 10, 2011

First, it was Helen Thomas.

Read on.

Post-Bin Laden Peace Hopes Dim

2011-05-09T08:58:00.001-05:00

By Gareth Porter
May 9, 2011

President Barack Obama and top administration officials have taken advantage of the killing of Osama bin Laden to establish a new narrative suggesting the event will pave the way for negotiations with the Taliban for peace in Afghanistan.

Read on.

US Policy Still Misreads the Middle East

2011-05-09T08:57:00.000-05:00

By Lawrence Davidson
May 9, 2011

Last week, I was in Egypt, a country presently moved by an optimism that reflects a high state of political consciousness.

Read on.

The Anti-War Message of Mother's Day

2011-05-08T08:08:00.000-05:00

By Gary G. Kohls
May 8, 2011

In 1870 – five years after the American Civil War ended – the disastrous long-term human and economic consequences of the conflict were becoming increasingly apparent, especially to the mothers of the sons and the wives of the husbands who had seen their patriotic men march off to that “inglorious” war and had come home dead or wounded.

Read on.

The Curious Bush/Bin Laden Symbiosis

2011-05-07T14:38:00.000-05:00

By Robert Parry
May 7, 2011

Since Osama bin Laden’s killing on May 1, it has become shockingly clear that the terrorist leader did not spend most of the last decade on the run or hiding in caves. He was holed up in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad enjoying the comforts of family life with his twenty-something-year-old latest wife.

Read on.

America's Need for a 'Public Good'

2011-05-07T09:14:00.000-05:00

By the Rev. Howard Bess
May 7, 2011

The United States was never meant to be a Christian nation. Instead, the Founders envisioned a secular state in which religion would be pursued with complete freedom, but they also understood the need for the young nation to have a moral compass.

Read on.

Politics of Revenge and Submission

2011-05-05T09:53:00.000-05:00

By Phil Rockstroh
May 5, 2011

Osama bin Laden is dead. And so is the U.S. republic. We had to destroy our freedoms in order to save them.

Read on.

What Has Bin Laden's Killing Wrought?

2011-05-05T06:57:00.001-05:00

By Ray McGovern
May 5, 2011

As America’s morbid celebrations over the killing of Osama bin Laden begin to fade, we are left with a new landscape of risks – and opportunities – created by his slaying at the hands of a U.S. Special Forces team at a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

Read on.

From 'Birtherism' to Bin Laden

2011-05-04T15:02:00.001-05:00

By Michael Winship
May 4, 2011

This has been the kind of week that makes news junkies wig out in a frenzy of adrenalin and information overload while driving to distraction people who try to write weekly pieces like this one.

Read on.

'Liberating' Iraq, Now Libya

2011-05-03T11:08:00.000-05:00

By William Blum
May 3, 2011

On April 9, Condoleezza Rice delivered a talk in San Francisco. Or tried to. The former Secretary of State was interrupted repeatedly by cries from the audience of "war criminal" and "torturer". (For which we can thank Code Pink and World Can't Wait.)

Read on.

A Never-Ending 'War on Terror'

2011-05-03T09:34:00.000-05:00

By Ivan Eland
May 3, 2011

The WikiLeaks documents released on Guantanamo prisoners indicate appalling military incompetence in haphazardly patching together sketchy and contradictory information that has allowed many high-risk terror suspects to go free, while low-risk or innocent detainees continue to be incarcerated.

Read on.

'Birtherism' and the US 'News' Media

2011-05-02T12:24:00.001-05:00

By Danny Schechter
May 2, 2011

In the aftermath of the resolution of the Great Birther bash-up, even as President Obama tried to lay the issue to rest by producing the document that showed, proved, verified, documented, and validated his birth in one of the great states of our disunion, it was said that its release would only fuel more debate and convince no one.

Read on.

Finishing a Job: Obama Gets Osama

2011-05-02T09:38:00.000-05:00

By Robert Parry
May 2, 2011

President Barack Obama touched off American celebrations with his Sunday night announcement that U.S. forces finally had killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, but that long frustrating hunt might not have been necessary if George W. Bush had rejected neoconservative advice to pivot prematurely from Afghanistan to Iraq in late 2001.

Read on.

The Royal Wedding's Pre-Crime Arrests

2011-05-01T14:42:00.000-05:00

By Coleen Rowley
May 1, 2011

Pre-emptive wars and pre-emptive policing have been instituted as a result of the fear planted (and deliberately hyped) in the "war on terror."

Read on.

Forget Hell: A Rebirth of Christianity

2011-04-30T08:49:00.000-05:00

By the Rev. Howard Bess
April 30, 2011

A few days ago, I received my copy of Time magazine and found that the Rev. Rob Bell, a pastor of a megachurch in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and a graduate of my alma mater, Wheaton College, had made the front cover.

Read on.

The Robber Barons Are Back!

2011-04-30T07:48:00.000-05:00

By Aerik Vondenburg
April 30, 2011

Since the Gilded Age of the 19th century, the wealthy financiers and "robber baron" industrialists have been effectively purchasing power – and creating further revenue for themselves – by directing money into the coffers of business friendly politicians, who in turn vote for lower taxes, special exemptions, tax loopholes, deregulation, etc.

Read on.

Questioning Obama's Americanism

2011-04-29T10:13:00.000-05:00

By Robert Parry
April 29, 2011

Some Americans, especially on the Left, seem to have almost forgotten that Barack Obama is an African-American whose rise to the presidency was one of the most unlikely political stories in U.S. history.

Read on.

Petraeus, a Threat to CIA Analysis

2011-04-28T11:08:00.001-05:00

By Ray McGovern
April 28, 2011

The news that President Barack Obama has picked Gen. David Petraeus to be CIA director raises troubling questions, including whether the commander most associated with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will tolerate objective analysis of those two conflicts.

Read on.

Television Wars: Bombing Serb TV

2011-04-27T12:32:00.001-05:00

By Don North
April 27, 2011 (Originally published May 4, 1999)

On April 23, 1999, at 2:06 a.m. Belgrade time, as NATO was preparing for its 50th anniversary celebration in Washington D.C., two cruise missiles struck the Radio Televizija Srbija (SRT) headquarters in Belgrade.

Read on.

Trying 'Shock and Awe' in Libya

2011-04-27T12:28:00.002-05:00

By Robert Parry
April 27, 2011

Having laughed off Libyan government peace feelers, Official Washington is now beating the drum for a new round of “shock and awe” bombings and close-combat air strikes to “finish the job” of ousting Col. Muammar Gaddafi.

Read on.

Gaddafi Regime Warns of Wider War

2011-04-26T10:45:00.001-05:00

By Morgan Strong
April 26, 2011

The introduction of NATO ground forces into Libya would be met by additional African and Moslem volunteers joining Libyan forces, according to sources close to Col. Muammar Gaddafi, who add that NATO’s targeting of government officials could provoke retaliation against Western leaders.

Read on.

Why Wall Street Wins

2011-04-26T08:58:00.000-05:00

By Danny Schechter
April 26, 2011

Two years ago as financial reform was put on the U.S. Congressional agenda, a skeptical Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois spoke of the power of the banks over the country’s legislative process.

Read on.

Republicans Embrace 'Greedy Geezers'

2011-04-25T10:05:00.000-05:00

By Robert Parry
April 25, 2011

The Republicans are making a cynical bet that Americans over 55 really are the “greedy geezers” of conservative ideology, people who care only for themselves and not for their children and subsequent generations.

Read on.

How Lobbies Distort US Politics

2011-04-23T11:40:00.000-05:00

By Lawrence Davidson
April 23, 2011

The influence of lobbies and special interests is a structural part of the U.S. political system and has been so since the founding of the nation. This being the case, the United States is not really a democracy of individuals. Rather, it is a democracy of competing interest groups or factions.

Read on.

Tea Partiers Run to Big-Money Trough

2011-04-23T10:23:00.000-05:00

By Michael Winship
April 23, 2011

Remember that scene in "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" when Jimmy Stewart arrives in the capital for the first time?

Read on.

Misunderstanding Jesus's Execution

2011-04-23T08:50:00.001-05:00

By the Rev. Howard Bess
April 23, 2011

Christians have special celebrations for the key events of Holy Week, but they often overlook one of the most important.

Read on.

News Flash: Iraq War Was About Oil

2011-04-22T16:43:00.001-05:00

By Ray McGovern
April 22, 2011

Afghanistan may be the graveyard of empires, but Iraq is home to a graveyard sense of humor. Iraqis wonder aloud whether the U.S. and Britain would have invaded Iraq if its main export had been cabbages instead of oil.

Read on.

NATO Pushes 'Regime Change' in Libya

2011-04-22T11:23:00.000-05:00

By Peter Dyer
April 22, 2011

The prospect of regime change in Libya is not so much “mission creep” as it is “mission leap.”

Read on.

Giving War a Chance

2011-04-21T11:27:00.001-05:00

By Robert Parry
April 21, 2011

NATO’s one-month intervention in the Libyan civil war has demonstrated that – whether the West likes it or not – Col. Muammar Gaddafi retains significant political support in parts of the country and that a peace deal with him may be the only way to achieve the stated goal of saving civilian lives.

Read on.

US Military Retreats on Manning Abuse

2011-04-21T11:25:00.001-05:00

By Kevin Zeese
April 21, 2011

After months of pressure, the Obama administration has finally transferred Pfc. Bradley Manning to a military prison appropriately designed for pre-trial detention in Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas.

Read on.

Are Rising Oil and Food Prices a Scam?

2011-04-19T03:35:00.000-05:00

By Danny Schechter
April 19, 2011

The global economy and its recovery, and the living standards of millions of plain folks, are now at risk from the sudden rise in oil and commodity prices.

Read on.

Spy vs. Spy: the First Patriots Day

2011-04-18T17:08:00.000-05:00

By Robert Parry
April 18-19, 2011

Patriots Day commemorates the start of the American Revolution, the battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775, and the staggering British retreat to Boston. What’s less known is how the Americans outfoxed the British at one of their own strengths, intelligence.

Read on.

McGovern Reflects on Truth-Telling

2011-04-18T10:55:00.001-05:00

By Ray McGovern
April 18, 2011

I’m still smarting from Fox News describing me as “an elderly man” who, it was thought, might have had a sign or might have begun to shout out, and thus had to be “escorted out” of the auditorium while Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was speaking at George Washington University on Feb. 15.

Read on.

The Civil War and Founding Principles

2011-04-17T12:46:00.001-05:00

By the Rev. Howard Bess
April 17, 2011

We Americans are observing the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War, also known as the War Between the States, North and South.

Read on.

Israel's 'Lobbification' of Congress

2011-04-17T09:35:00.001-05:00

By Lawrence Davidson
April 17, 2011

Lobbification is a word I have just coined for the corruptive process that bends politicians to the will of special interests – that is to the will of lobbies.

Read on.

How I View the American Crisis

2011-04-17T08:34:00.001-05:00

By Robert Parry
April 17, 2011

Some readers tell me that I devote too much time to the historical context of the American political/media crisis. They say I should focus more on its current manifestations, especially when there are so many to address. And these readers have a point.

Read on.

Twenty Years Ago, a Lost Opportunity

2011-04-15T09:51:00.000-05:00

By Robert Parry
April 15, 2011

Twenty years ago, there was a chance to expose some of the darkest secrets of Ronald Reagan’s presidency: how his men had sabotaged President Jimmy Carter’s reelection campaign and how the Iran-Contra scandal had really begun.

Read on.

Interstates and States of Grief

2011-04-15T07:55:00.001-05:00

By Phil Rockstroh
April 15, 2011

I’m in Atlanta, Georgia, at present, among the scent of pine trees and the reek of Southern denial.

Read on.

Outrage Mounts over Bradley Manning

2011-04-14T12:56:00.001-05:00

By Kevin Zeese
April 14, 2011

The eight months of solitary confinement of Army Pfc. Bradley Manning at the Quantico brig has drawn national and international criticism in the last week. Support is growing for him around the world with 500,000 writing President Barack Obama in the last few days and with hundreds of top U.S. legal scholars criticizing his conditions of confinement.

Read on.

Why Pakistan Resists CIA Strikes

2011-04-14T09:27:00.001-05:00

By Gareth Porter
April 14, 2011

The Pakistani military's recent demands on the United States to curb drone strikes and reduce the number of U.S. spies operating in Pakistan, which have raised tensions between the two countries to a new high, were a response to U.S. military and intelligence programs that had gone well beyond what the Pakistanis had agreed to in past years.

Read on.

America's 'Great Disappointment'

2011-04-13T06:43:00.000-05:00

By Michael Winship
April 13, 2011

I was considering having myself dusted with ash and measured for sackcloth last week, so many are the current predictions of impending apocalypse.

Read on.

Pity the Poor Tea Partier!

2011-04-12T19:39:00.000-05:00

By Robert Parry
April 12, 2011

Just think for a moment about the 55-year-old Tea Party activist who today is caught up in the excitement over Rep. Paul Ryan’s “bold” Republican budget. Picture the activist adjusting his tri-corner hat, waving his yellow “Don’t Tread on Me” flag, and thrilled that finally someone is getting serious about dismantling the socialist tyranny of Medicare.

Read on.

Will NATO's War in Libya Save Lives?

2011-04-12T14:11:00.001-05:00

By Ivan Eland
April 12, 2011

There are many practical reasons why the U.S. military attack on Libya is a bad idea.

Read on.

Reliving Ghosts of a Free-Market Past

2011-04-12T13:28:00.001-05:00

By Lawrence Davidson
April 12, 2011

In Charles Dickens’s 1848 story, A Christmas Carol, the ghost of Jacob Marley roams the earth weighted down by chains symbolizing the wrongs he committed in life.

Read on.

More Twists and Turns in Wisconsin

2011-04-12T09:31:00.001-05:00

By Lisa Pease
April 12, 2011

I’m still mulling over the recent Wisconsin election in general and the actions of Waukesha County’s County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus in particular.

Read on.

Why Americans Are So Easily Conned

2011-04-11T08:26:00.000-05:00

By Phil Rockstroh
April 11, 2011

The technologies that inflicted upon the world the ongoing tragedies in both the Gulf of Mexico and Japan serve a dangerous addiction, an addiction to blind optimism, a habituation of mind that allows us to dwell within provisional comfort zones but renders vast spaces of the world into death realms.

Read on.

Heeding George Kennan's Sage Advice

2011-04-10T12:45:00.001-05:00

By Ray McGovern
April 10, 2011 (Originally published November 3, 2009)

I can’t remember how many times I have said that the U.S. military adventure in Afghanistan is a fool’s errand.

Read on.

Judge Goldstone's Embattled Retreat

2011-04-10T11:47:00.000-05:00

By Uri Avnery
April 10, 2011

There is something tragicomic about the persona of Richard Goldstone.

Read on.

Letting a Cuban Terrorist Go Free

2011-04-09T20:40:00.000-05:00

By Robert Parry
April 9, 2011

The acquittal of right-wing Cuban militant Luis Posada Carriles on charges of lying to immigration officials underscores the U.S. double standard on terrorists, applying delicate legal rules to “ours” and a rough-and-tumble approach to “theirs.”

Read on.

Shutdown Battle Just the Beginning

2011-04-09T20:39:00.000-05:00

By Danny Schechter
April 9, 2011

The Capitol Hill battlefield is still for the moment as the Easter holidays approach and the combatants get a break from the heated polemics and overnight bargaining sessions.

Read on.

NYT Demands Libyan War Escalation

2011-04-08T16:29:00.000-05:00

By Robert Parry
April 8, 2011

Neocon editors who increasingly dominate the New York Times want President Barack Obama to deploy A-10 and AC-130 aircraft for close-combat attacks against Libyan government forces in urban areas.

Read on.

Strange Twist in Wisconsin Battle

2011-04-08T11:38:00.001-05:00

By Lisa Pease
April 8, 2011

A battle for the heart and soul of American democracy is being waged in this country. But it might not be the battle you’re watching.

Read on.

Iraqis Resist Longer US Occupation

2011-04-08T08:14:00.000-05:00

By Gareth Porter
April 8, 2011

President Barack Obama has given his approval to a Pentagon plan to station U.S. combat troops in Iraq beyond 2011, provided that Iraqi Premier Nouri al-Maliki officially requests it, according to U.S. and Iraqi sources.

Read on.

Eliminating Medicare for the Elderly

2011-04-07T09:00:00.001-05:00

By Margaret Flowers, M.D.
April 7, 2011

Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the Republican chairman of the U.S. House Budget Committee, unveiled two proposals this week which if enacted would constitute a mortal threat to our nation’s health – particularly to the health of our seniors and our most vulnerable populations.

Read on.

Rep. Ryan's Free-Market 'Death Panels'

2011-04-07T07:48:00.001-05:00

By Robert Parry
April 7, 2011

The consequences of three decades of anti-government Reaganism and free-market extremism are now coming clearly into view, a cruel and brutish America split sharply between a few lucky haves and many desperate have-nots.

Read on.

Military Tribunals May Hide 9/11 Motives

2011-04-05T22:03:00.001-05:00

By Ray McGovern
April 6, 2011

The Obama administration’s decision to use a military tribunal rather than a federal criminal court to try alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four others means the real motives behind the 9/11 attacks may remain obscure.

Read on.

Getting Crazier about Bradley Manning

2011-04-05T09:08:00.000-05:00

By Kevin Zeese
April 5, 2011

On March 20, Americans, in a vet-led assembly, gathered to support PFC Bradley Manning who is accused of leaking documents to WikiLeaks and who has been held in solitary confinement at the Quantico Marine Base for seven months.

Read on.

WPost Seeks Longer Iraq Occupation

2011-04-04T16:50:00.001-05:00

By Robert Parry
April 4, 2011

The neocon editors of the Washington Post, who have pushed the Iraq War since the beginning, are bummed out over the looming reality of America’s strategic defeat after eight years of fighting.

Read on.

How King's Murder Scars the Present

2011-04-04T10:06:00.000-05:00

By Danny Schechter
April 4, 2011

Before he went over that mountain top in April 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. said he had already seen the other side, as he spent his last days on earth fighting for the garbage men of Memphis while speaking out about the twin evils of war and poverty.

Read on.

Analyzing Goldstone's Gaza Retreat

2011-04-04T08:36:00.002-05:00

By Lawrence Davidson
April 4, 2011

It will be recalled that after the September 2009 issuance of the Goldstone Report suggesting that Israel might be guilty of war crimes, Judge Richard Goldstone was barred from attending his grandson’s bar mitzvah. That is how much resentment was produced by the critical report that bears his name.

Read on.

Libyan War Recalls Afghan Pitfalls

2011-04-02T11:53:00.000-05:00

By Robert Parry
April 2, 2011

The historical parallel most unnerving the Obama administration about the Libyan conflict is not Vietnam or Iraq, but Afghanistan in the 1980s, when the Reagan administration eagerly armed Islamic fundamentalists as a proxy force against Soviet troops only to see these “freedom fighters” morph into the Taliban and Al Qaeda.

Read on.

'Free-Marketeers' Target Labor Unions

2011-04-02T09:09:00.000-05:00

By Michael Winship
April 2, 2011

There’s a joke making the rounds and it goes like this: Big Business, a Tea Partier and Organized Labor are sitting around a table. A dozen cookies arrive on a plate. Big Business takes eleven of them and says to the Tea Partier, "Pssst! That union guy is trying to steal your cookie!"

Read on.

Surreal Rhetoric on Libya

2011-04-01T16:29:00.000-05:00

By Lawrence Davidson
April 1, 2011

Spokespersons for NATO, European politicians, members of the Obama administration, and the President himself have been out and about seeking to articulate justifications for the ongoing intervention in Libya. For better or worse, their public statements do not always make sense.

Read on.

The Looming Government Shutdown

2011-04-01T16:14:00.000-05:00

By Danny Schechter
April 1, 2011

Forget Libya. The real bombing is not underway there. Pay less attention to Pakistan. The drone attacks there pale in comparison.

Read on.

A Wave of Wackiness Sweeps America

2011-04-01T16:12:00.001-05:00

By Don Monkerud
April 1, 2011

Guns in churches, schools and bars. Immigrants expelled to solve financial problems. Morality praised as the key national issue.

Read on.

A Two-Decade Detour into Empire

2011-04-01T16:10:00.001-05:00

By Robert Parry
March 31, 2011

Twenty years ago, in spring 1991, the United States was at a crossroads that would decide the near-term fate of American democracy, but that reality wasn’t apparent to many. What was clear was that the U.S. empire was resurgent.

Read on.

Into the Shifting Sands of Libya

2011-03-30T08:01:00.001-05:00

By Ivan Eland
March 30, 2011

Things are bad when a president who says he wants out of Iraq and claims American soldiers will soon start to withdraw from Afghanistan succumbs to international and domestic pressure to do the heavy lifting in yet another civil war — this time in Libya.

Read on.

Warriors of the Mainstream Media

2011-03-29T10:46:00.001-05:00

By Robert Parry
March 29, 2011

The New York Times and the Washington Post both believe that the United States should have begun bombing Libya before the United Nations Security Council approved the mission – a sign that the two preeminent American newspapers continue their slide into neoconservatism.

Read on.

Afghan War Hawks Strike Again

2011-03-28T21:52:00.001-05:00

By Gareth Porter
March 29, 2011

The announcement by U.S. Deputy Undersecretary of Defense Michele Flournoy in congressional testimony that the United States would continue to carry out "counter-terrorism operations" from "joint bases" in Afghanistan well beyond 2014 signaled that President Barack Obama has given up the negotiating flexibility he would need to reach a peace agreement with the Taliban leadership.

Read on.

Hidden Words of Nuclear Disaster

2011-03-28T20:01:00.001-05:00

By Rory O'Connor and Richard Bell
March 28, 2011

Tsunami is a Japanese word – one sign of the island nation’s intimate relationship with the destructive forces of the ocean that surrounds it.

Read on.

Obama Lacks Clarity on Afghan War

2011-03-28T15:41:00.000-05:00

By Ray McGovern
March 28, 2011

“Let me be clear,” President Barack Obama is fond of saying – and his desire was on full display two years ago when he announced a “comprehensive, new strategy” for the war in Afghanistan.

Read on.

America's Escape from Knowing

2011-03-28T09:17:00.001-05:00

By Phil Rockstroh
March 28, 2011

In Berlin, Germany, in early 1939, at Friedrichstrasse railway station, shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War, my grandmother placed my mother and her older sister, with a few family valuables sown into their clothing, on a Kindertransport bound for Great Britain.

Read on.

The US Muzzling of Muslim Inmates

2011-03-27T09:30:00.000-05:00

By Sherwood Ross
March 27, 2011

If you think the U.S. Bureau of Prisons (BOP) couldn't possibly make its prisons more inhumane no matter how hard it tried, you are wrong. It has created CMUs, or Communications Management Units, where the “management” part consists of denying inmates virtually all communication with their families and the outside world.

Read on.

Israel's Right Lashes Out at Critics

2011-03-26T11:17:00.001-05:00

By Lawrence Davidson
March 26, 2011

Richard Falk, the United Nations Rapporteur on Palestinian human rights, told the world organization’s Human Rights Council that the "continued pattern of settlement expansion in East Jerusalem combined with the forcible eviction of long-residing Palestinians are creating an intolerable situation."

Read on.

The Value of NPR

2011-03-26T09:36:00.000-05:00

By Bill Moyers and Michael Winship
March 26, 2011

Like Jake LaMotta and his brother Joey in the bloody boxing classic Raging Bull, we are gluttons for punishment. So here we are again, third week in a row, defending NPR against the bare-knuckled assault of its critics.

Read on.

'Theater of the Absurd' Comes to Life

2011-03-25T22:22:00.001-05:00

By Danny Schechter
March 26, 2011

It's been a long time since I sat in a college literature class and learned about the theater of the absurd, the work of great writers like Beckett, Ionesco, Genet and Camus, among others.

Read on.

Torture and Bradley Manning

2011-03-25T21:45:00.000-05:00

By Marjorie Cohn
March 25, 2011

Army Pfc. Bradley Manning, who is facing court-martial for leaking military reports and diplomatic cables to WikiLeaks, is being held in solitary confinement in Quantico brig in Virginia.

Read on.

The Neocons Regroup on Libyan War

2011-03-25T12:58:00.001-05:00

By Robert Parry
March 25, 2011

American neoconservatives worried that the pro-democracy wave sweeping the Middle East might take out only "moderate" Arab dictators, but the neocons now see hope that uprisings will topple "enemy" regimes in Libya and Syria.

Read on.

How Auto Ad Dollars Dictate Coverage

2011-03-24T10:38:00.001-05:00

By Bianca Mugyenyi and Yves Engler
March 24, 2011

Last week, Detroit News auto critic, Scott Burgess, resigned after a “Chrysler dealer complained about his review of the Chrysler 200 — the centerpiece of the company’s 'Imported from Detroit' advertising campaign."

Read on.

The Race for Solar Energy from Space

2011-03-23T15:59:00.000-05:00

By William John Cox
March 23, 2011

The failure of the General Electric nuclear reactors in Japan to safely shut down after the 9.0 Tahoku earthquake – on the heels of last year’s catastrophic Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and the deadly methane gas explosion in Massey’s West Virginia coal mine – underscores the grave dangers to human society posed by current energy production methods.

Read on.

Taking On the Teachers

2011-03-23T09:12:00.000-05:00

By Lawrence Davidson
March 23, 2011

The Florida state legislature has passed Bill 736, and Gov. Rick Scott has signed it. So this effort to "reform" teaching practices in the Florida public schools is now law.

Read on.

Ignoring Peace Talks in Libya

2011-03-22T11:36:00.000-05:00

By Marjorie Cohn
March 22, 2011

Since Saturday night, the United States, France, and Britain have been bombing Libya with cruise missiles, B-2 stealth bombers, F-16 and F-15 fighter jets, and Harrier attack jets. There is no reliable estimate of the number of civilians killed.

Read on.

America 'Trapped' by False Narratives

2011-03-22T11:34:00.000-05:00

By Robert Parry
March 22, 2011

On a state visit to Chile on Monday, President Barack Obama deflected questions about U.S. support for the late Augusto Pinochet’s brutal dictatorship by warning against the risks of becoming “trapped by our history.” But a clear and present danger to the United States is that it is being trapped instead by false and misleading narratives.

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War's Corruption of Christianity

2011-03-21T22:07:00.000-05:00

By Gary G. Kohls
March 22, 2011

There is no question that the Christian church of the first three centuries regarded itself as a nonviolent community. It makes perfect sense. Jesus clearly taught and modeled the nonviolent love of friend and enemy, and his earliest followers tried to do so.

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A World in Denial about Nuclear Power

2011-03-20T21:17:00.001-05:00

By Danny Schechter
March 21, 2011

What will it take for our world to recognize the dangers that nuclear scientists and even Albert Einstein were warning about at the “dawn” of the nuclear age?

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Protecting Libyan Civilians, Not Others

2011-03-20T11:02:00.000-05:00

By Robert Parry
March 20, 2011

Even if you think that the incipient Libyan civil war was an unfolding humanitarian tragedy that justified some international intervention, it is hard not to take note of the endless double standards and selective outrage that pervade U.S. foreign policy.

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The Hypocrisy of the Libyan Conflict

2011-03-20T07:51:00.001-05:00

By Lawrence Davidson
March 20, 2011

Whether you believe that the United Nations resolution authorizing extensive intervention in the Libyan civil war is justified or not, and whether you believe that the admittedly eccentric 42-year rule of Muammar Gaddafi over a complex and fractious tribal society has been cruel, there is one thing that all objective observers should be able to agree on.

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Understating Afghan Civilian Deaths

2011-03-18T21:39:00.000-05:00

By Gareth Porter and Shah Noori
March 19, 2011

The number of civilians killed in U.S. Special Operations Forces (SOF) raids in Afghanistan last year was probably several times higher than the figure of 80 people cited in the U.N. report published last week, an IPS investigation has revealed.

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Through the US Media Lens Darkly

2011-03-18T14:35:00.001-05:00

By Robert Parry
March 18, 2011

As Americans turn to their news media to make sense of the upheavals in the Middle East, it’s worth remembering that the bias of the mainstream U.S. press corps is most powerful when covering a Washington-designated villain, especially if he happens to be Muslim.

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Learning Nuke Dangers the Hard Way

2011-03-17T20:13:00.000-05:00

By Lawrence S. Wittner
March 17, 2011

Although people can be educated in a variety of ways, experience is a particularly effective teacher. Consider the Japanese who today are certainly learning how dangerous nuclear power can be.

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Aristide's Right to Return to Haiti

2011-03-17T19:40:00.000-05:00

By Nat Parry
March 17, 2011

The United States government, in violation of international human rights treaties, is trying to prevent the return to Haiti of twice-elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who was deposed in a U.S.-backed coup d’etat in 2004.

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Al Jazeera Shows the Way

2011-03-17T10:02:00.000-05:00

By Danny Schechter
March 17, 2011

When I arrived in the capital of Qatar, as one of the guest participants in the 6th annual Al Jazeera Forum focused on the Arab world in transition, it was clear the mood had changed.

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Why the Jokes about Japan's Tragedy

2011-03-17T09:01:00.001-05:00

By Phil Rockstroh
March 17, 2011

A number of years back, Pauline Kael took Steven Spielberg to task for his depiction of rural Georgia circa 1909 in his movie, “The Color Purple,” averring that Spielberg's only field of reference seemed to be images culled from cinematic history, rendering his movie tone deaf regarding the rhythms and cadences of life during the era.

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The Invasion of Bahrain

2011-03-16T10:18:00.000-05:00

By Craig Murray
March 16, 2011

The hideous King of Bahrain has called in troops from Saudi Arabia, UAE and Kuwait to attack pro-democracy protesters in Bahrain.

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The Return of Nukespeak

2011-03-15T22:27:00.001-05:00

By Rory O'Connor and Richard Bell
March 16, 2011

George Orwell argued that controlling language offered the ultimate tool for getting people to accept the unacceptable – such as the catastrophic risks of operating nuclear power plants.

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Punishing the Truth-Tellers

2011-03-15T17:10:00.000-05:00

By Robert Parry
March 15, 2011

It appears the most serious offense you can commit in Washington these days is telling the truth. You get a pass on torture, aggressive war, killing civilians, lying, destroying evidence and such, but don’t dare give honest information to the American people.

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Not-So-Fool-Proof Nuclear Power

2011-03-15T11:00:00.001-05:00

By Jesse Laird
March 15, 2011

The ecological crisis posed by the exploding and leaking nuclear power plants in Japan following the massive earthquake and tsunami there presents an opportunity for Americans to rethink nuclear power.

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