R.I.P. Industrial USA. The Banksters Win, Even When They Fail
A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford
… Barack Obama put the finance capitalist Steve Rattner in charge of finally bankrupting the auto industry – which left economist Stanley Aronowitz has described as the largest exercise in union busting in U.S. history. President Obama’s own website brags that his White House was even “more aggressive” than the Bush Administration in wrenching concessions from the United Auto Workers union. The “New GM,” now 60 per cent owned by the people of the United States, will be allowed to build small cars – in China. Obama apologists actually believed that the unused auto infrastructure might be massively converted to building public transportation, or other green industries. They failed to understand that Obama is the bankers’ president, and the bankers build nothing useful or productive. That is the crux of the current crisis of capitalism: the refusal of capital to invest in productive enterprise except under conditions of extremely low wage labor. Nothing will replace General Motors until the bankers – and the politicians who serve them – are driven out of power. ..
Read the full article / Leggi l’articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.de/?p=54989
|
|
Israel Cracks Down on Minority Rights
Analysis by Mel Frykberg
Three bills recently making the rounds in the Israeli parliament have caused outrage amongst Israel’s Arab minority. “They reveal an obscene and dangerous targeting of the individual and collective rights of Palestinian citizens,” the independent BADIL Resource Centre for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights in Israel said in a press release. One bill sought to prohibit marking the day Israel declared its independence as a day of mourning. A second prohibi ts negating the existence of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state. The third bill would have required Israeli citizens, including Arabs of Palestinian descent, to sign oaths of loyalty to the state, its flag and national anthem, and to perform military or civil service…
Read the full article / Leggi l’articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.de/?p=54991
|
|
Panetta: Too Dangerous To Release Torture Tape Docs
Zachary Roth
Do we have yet another case of the Obama administration mimicking its predecessor’s notorious penchant for government secrecy? The CIA argued yesterday that Bush-era documents detailing the videotaped interrogations of detainees should not be released, citing national security concerns, reports the Washington Post. The videotapes, which depicted harsh interrogation tactics, were famously destroyed in 2005. As part of a wide-ranging lawsuit, the ACLU is seeki ng the release of CIA emails discussing the tapes, handwritten notes taken after reviewing the tapes, and a photograph of one high-value detainee, Abu Zubaydah, among other items relating to the tapes…
Read the full article / Leggi l’articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.de/?p=54985
|
|
From Guantánamo To The South Pacific: Is This A Joke?
Andy Worthington
Let’s face it, when it comes to Guantánamo, there’s little to laugh about, unless you’re an Islamophobic sadist — in which case, there’s still nothing for the rest of us to laugh about. The Associated Press reports that, in a desperate effort to rid itself of the toxic human debris of Guantánamo, the Obama administration is eyeing up the tiny Republic of Palau, an island nation in the Pacific Ocean, some 500 miles (800 km) east of the Philippines, to d ispose of some, or all of the 17 Uighurs in Guantánamo…
Read the full article / Leggi l’articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.de/?p=54987
|
|
Afghan Official: US Soldier Threw Grenade Into Crowd of Civilians
Military Insists Allegations ‘Unfounded’
Jason Ditz
The head of the provincial council of Afghanistan’s Kunar Province reported today that a US soldier had thrown the hand grenade that struck a crowd of civilians in a bustling market, killing two and injuring 56 others. The crowd had gathered around a stalled American military vehicle when the grenade hit. The council chief said dozens of civilians had seen the soldier throw the grenade, calling it “a complete cruel crime against civilians.”…
Read the full article / Leggi l’articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.de/?p=55000
|
|
NYT Two-Faced On Journalist Detentions
Moon of Alabama
The New York Times editors opine today on North Korea’s Cruel Verdict, the sentencing in North Korea of two journalists to twelve years of hard labor for spying. The journalists were caught trespassing on North Korean ground and presented varying explanations of their intent. Still:Whatever the case, they do not deserve to be sent to a brutal labor camp where, [...] With no access to lawyers or due process, the two journalists did not have anything approaching a f air chance to defend themselves. Since September 2 2008 Reuters cameraman Ibrahim Jassam is detained by the U.S. military in Iraq without presenting any evidence and despite a court order to set him free..
Read the full article / Leggi l’articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.de/?p=55002
|
|
Your request is being processed… Hamas Endorses Obama’s Israeli Settlement Demands
SALAH NASRAWI
The top leader of the militant Hamas group said Tuesday that President Barack Obama’s pressure on Israel to freeze construction in West Bank settlements was an essential step toward restarting peace efforts…Leader Khaled Mashaal’s endorsement of Obama’s push also included an appeal for the international community to consider Hamas a “positive element” in the search for Middle East peace. “There is a new language from Presi dent Obama, but we expect real pressure on Israelis,” Mashaal said. “There are demands Israel stop the settlements but this is not the price we are after … although it’s an essential step.”..
Read the full article / Leggi l’articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.de/?p=54986
|
|
* * * NOT SATIRE * * *
Peled proposes Israeli sanctions on US
By GIL HOFFMAN AND HILARY LEILA KRIEGER , Jerusalem Post
In a sign of growing concern in Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s government over US President Barack Obama’s Middle East policies, Minister-without-Portfolio Yossi Peled proposed Israeli sanctions on the US in a letter to cabinet ministers on Sunday. In the 11-page letter, obtained by The Jerusalem Post from a minister on Monday, Peled recommends steps Israel can take to compensate for the shift in American policy, which he believes has become hostile to Israel…
Read the full article / Leggi l’articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.de/?p=54988
|
|
|
