U.S. and the World
Commodity Market Strong…For Cocaine
The Bush administration insisted its anti-drug efforts by federal law enforcement were succeeding because of reported spikes in the price of cocaine—an indicator that counter-narcotics raids were causing a shortage in the drug market. But the Wash... read more
How to be a Successful Pirate: Rich Galen
In light of last week’s media maelstrom over Somali pirates capturing a American sea captain, GOP operative Rich Galen decided it was time to review some key rules for the modern-day privateer to follow:
Rule #1: If you’re going to take hostag... read more
Obama Takes up the White Man’s Burden: Eric Margolis
A little more than a century ago, when the United States was just beginning to take its first steps toward becoming a world power, Rudyard Kipling’s poem, “The White Man’s Burden,” became all the rage in political circles. The poem captured the mi... read more
Pirates Currently Hold 260 Hostages
Lost in all the celebratory coverage of an American merchant captain’s rescue by Navy SEALS is the fact that 17 ships and approximately 260 hostages are still being held by pirates from Somalia. While the United States took umbrage over the captur... read more
Saudi Arabia Bans USA License Plate, Allows Marriage of 8-Year-Old
In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, a man cannot drive a car with “USA” on his license plate—but he can marry pre-pubescent girls, according to separate media reports coming out of the Middle East country. The restriction on automobile license plates ... read more
75-Year-Old Professor Beaten as China Prepares for Tiananmen Anniversary
As the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre approaches, the Chinese government has launched a public relations campaign claiming that the human rights situation China will soon improve. However, actions speak louder than words. Last w... read more
More Health Risks from China
Household problems ranging from corroded plumbing to serious skin rashes all are coming from the same source—China—according to experts in the United States and in other countries. For many Americans living in as many as 100,000 new homes built du... read more
Judge Rules Apartheid Victims Can Sue Ford, GM and IBM
Manhattan Federal District Judge Shira Scheindlin is allowing some claims against companies that allegedly did business with the racist South African government during the 1970s and 1980s to go forward. More than a dozen lawsuits were initially f... read more
The Myth of Normal Life in Baghdad: Dahr Jamail
The American media have been happy to parrot the message coming out of the US military that things are better in Iraq these days, based solely on the fact that American soldiers aren’t dying in the numbers they were three or more years ago. But th... read more
Taliban on the Web…Hosted in Houston
For all their qualms about modernity, the Taliban know how to use the Web. Last week, a blogger discovered that a website, Alemarah1.com, belonging to the “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,” was hosted in the United States. The Houston-based company... read more
Retrial Ordered in Murder of American Nun
A three-judge panel has ordered a Brazilian rancher to again stand trial for the murder of Dorothy Stang, a 73-year-old nun from Ohio who was murdered in 2005 while campaigning to save the Amazon rainforest. Vitalmiro Bastos de Moura was first tri... read more
Pfizer to Pay $75 Million Fine in “Constant Gardener” Case
One of the most challenging class action cases ever pursued against a pharmaceutical company has resulted in a $75 million settlement by Pfizer, which was accused of illegally testing a drug on African children. During a meningitis epidemic in Nig... read more
Growing Refugee Crisis in Pakistan
The American-Pakistani campaign to eliminate the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Pakistan has created an enormous humanitarian crisis affecting one million people who have fled their homes to escape the fighting, including 546,000 who have already registe... read more
G-20 Summit…Three Steps Backwards: Cavanagh and Broad
World leaders attending last week’s G-20 summit took three big steps backwards with their solutions for solving the current international economic crisis, according to John Cavanagh, director of the Institute for Policy Studies, and Robin Broad, p... read more
U.S. Anti-Drug Aid to Mexico: Pledged-$1.4 Billion; Spent-$7 Million
While drug-related violence continues to spiral out of control in Mexico, the federal government has dallied in its efforts to spend more than a billion dollars that Congress authorized to fight drug trafficking south of the border. Out of $1.4 bi... read more
Unhappy China
A new bestselling book, Unhappy China, is stirring debate in China and alarm in the West because of its aggressive nationalism. Millions of web pages have sprung up to address the book since its release last month. In the book, five Chinese schola... read more