I sat in Court 4 in the Royal Courts of Justice in London yesterday with Stella Moris, Julian Assange’s partner. I have known Stella for as long as I have known Julian. She, too, is a voice of freedom, coming from a family that fought the fascism of Apartheid. Today, her name was uttered in court by a barrister and a judge, forgettable people were it not for the power of their endowed privilege.
Counter Punch
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Rehabilitating Rumsfeld, Erasing Empire: On All Those U.S. War Crimes in Iraq
Nearly twenty years out from the U.S. invasion of Iraq, it’s much more comforting to continue nursing establishment narratives about the war that emphasize it as a failed or bungled effort – as costly mistake of the past. (more…)
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The passing of the present and the decline of America
When it comes to America’s role in the world, however, it becomes difficult to profess even modest optimism. If Biden clings to a calcified and militarized conception of national security — as he appears intent on doing — he will put his entire presidency at risk. Rather than restoring American primacy, he will accelerate American decline…The American experiment in dictating the course of history has reached a dead end. (more…)
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Pentagon Papers failed to cure servile pro-war media
The mainstream media nowadays often show more distrust and indignation about peace than about war. (more…)
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How the United States helps to kill Palestinians
The U.S. corporate media usually report on Israeli military assaults in occupied Palestine as if the United States is an innocent neutral party to the conflict. In fact, large majorities of Americans have told pollsters for decades that they want the United States to be neutral in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. (more…)
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Washington’s Delusion of Endless World Dominion
Empires live and die by their illusions. Visions of empowerment can inspire nations to scale the heights of global hegemony. Similarly, however, illusions of omnipotence can send fading empires crashing into oblivion. So it was with Great Britain in the 1950s and so it may be with the United States today.
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America Radiates Violence: Challenging the Politics of Isolated Incidents
In light of the tragic violence that has unfolded once again in the form of mass shootings in Boulder, Colorado and Atlanta, Georgia, it becomes clear that another pandemic defines the United States–a pandemic of violence. The figures speak for themselves. (more…)
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Let’s build something decent from the rubble of this empire
The US empire will fall sooner or later. All empires do. So, this crisis, just at the start of the Biden and Harris years, is a fine time to begin thinking about what might be built in its place. (more…)
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How Steve Bannon tried to destroy Pope Francis (Counter Punch 3 Jan, 2021)
At the outset, I cannot emphasize enough the tremendous value and insight provided for the framing of this reportage by What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About #MeToo by JoAnn Wypijewski, an important anthology of sex crime journalism offering an essential lens for analyzing our neurotic social mores about sex, crime, public hysteria, and justice. Its important chapters on the Boston clergy abuse scandal gave me the backbone to write the following report (more…)
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Noam Chomsky: Three major threats to life on earth that we must address in 2021
Large parts of the world—outside of China and a few other countries—face a runaway virus, which has not been stopped because of criminal incompetence by governments. (more…)
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The coup in Washington: Why is anyone surprised by Trump’s fascist politics?
As I write this, pro-Trump protesters have stormed the U.S. Capitol building seeking to impose Trump’s attempted coup on America. Trump’s hand in stoking the coup is apparent on multiple fronts. He’s been disseminating and mainstreaming baseless electoral fraud conspiracies for months – years really. (more…)
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Brexit bluster exposes the waning of English power
I met pleased and gloomy people in the first half of last year when I travelled around the UK writing about the potential impact of Brexit. But by far the happiest of those I interviewed were veteran Irish republicans in Belfast, mostly present or past members of Sinn Fein, who had devoted their lives to opposing British rule.
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Even the Opposition Believes Venezuela’s Election Was Legitimate. A failed US coup attempt
Before the National Assembly elections on December 6 in Venezuela, the United States government began a campaign to delegitimize the process.
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Ending America’s Forever Wars (CounterPunch, Dec. 4)
There was a time, almost two decades ago, when America was not at war throughout the greater Middle East. Events in November 2020 boosted the hope that such a time might return sooner rather than later. That was when Trump installed a group of officials in the defence department who are apparently more responsive to his decision to wind down U.S. forever wars. (more…)
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Election 2020: a Democratic Mandate or a Vote Against Trump? (CounterPunch Nov 24, 2020)
Every election year is accompanied by countless analyses of why Americans voted the way they did. The 2020 election is no different.
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The 8.1 Million Vote Landslide (CounterPunch Nov 11, 2020)
Some folks are seeing this election as a squeaker for Biden since we saw close races in key states. This has concealed the fact that Biden actually is winning the popular vote by a large margin. Since many votes are still not counted across the country I thought I would do a simple exercise where I projected margins for the votes outstanding in each state.