Category: Foreign Policy
Noam Chomsky I have been asked to speak on some aspect of academic or human freedom, an invitation that offers many choices. I will keep to some simple ones. Freedom without opportunity is a devil’s gift, and the refusal to provide such opportunities is criminal. The fate of the more vulnerable offers a sharp Read more…
Edward S. Herman The hunt is on once again for war criminals, with ongoing trials of accused Serbs in The Hague, NATO raids seizing and killing other accused Serbs, and much discussion and enthusiasm in the media for bringing Pol Pot to trial, which the editors of the New York Times assure us would be Read more…
Clara James: Haiti: The Roof Is LeakingClara James On April 6, Haiti held elections to fill one-third of the Senate seats and positions on over 500 communal and town councils. The only problem was, most Haitians did not go to the polls. Only about 5 percent of those eligible to vote even bothered. Almost before local commentators could react, Washington Read more…
George Wright: Mobuto Was ChaosGeorge Wright As this article is being written in early May, the 32-year regime of Zairean President Mobutu Sese Seko is coming to an end. A guerrilla offensive carried out by the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Zaire-Congo (ADFL), led by Laurent Kabila, has control of 75 percent of the country, Read more…
For more than half a century, the United Nations has been the main forum for the United States to try to create a world in its image, maneuvering with its allies to forge global accords about human rights, nuclear tests or the environment that Washington insisted would mirror its own values." So runs postwar Read more…
The Philadelphia Inquirer (Inky) is widely regarded as a very good newspaper. This reputation derives in part from its great superiority over its predecessor, Walter Annenberg’s Inquirer, notorious as a partisan Republican rag and instrument of Annenberg’s personal vendettas (most famously, his refusal to allow mention of the name of the liberal Democratic Governor Read more…
David Bacon Since January 14, pitched battles have raged in the streets of Seoul. Outside the Myongdong Cathedral, union leaders have been directing the general strike paralyzing South Korea, and phalanxes of police have tried to disperse thousands of demonstrators. The strike has become, not just a movement of workers, but a pro-democracy movement Read more…
Edward S. Herman Every so often the mainstream media’s pack response to a story throws a powerful light on their deep collective biases. Such was the case following the publication of Gary Webb’s series in the San Jose Mercury News on the CIA’s connection to the drug epidemic in Los Angeles. Characteristically, the media failed Read more…
To a casual observer, the reality, or otherwise, of a threat to humankind would appear to be determined by inexact but essentially rational calculations based on evidence, hard facts, and best guesses all wrapped up in a framework of concern for the general well-being of people and planet. Not so. In fact, the perceived seriousness Read more…
Novak (CrossFire), the McLaughlin Group, and Rush Limbaugh and Limbaugh clones; and even PBS is saturated with right-wing regulars (Buckley, Brown, McLaughlin, Wattenberg). The Pitiful Giant Syndrome Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) recently listed 52 national media figures of the right, from Roger Ailes to Walter Williams, most of whom have proclaimed the Read more…