The Indian economy also grew at 9.6 per cent in 2006-07 and 9.4 per cent in 2005-06.) Those supposedly glory days when we churned out 53 dollar billionaires also nourished India’s plummet to 132nd rank in human development. As so often in history, the rich grew fatter while the poor ate even less BY P.…
Category: International
NATO’s Global Mission Creep
NATO, the main overseas arm of the U.S. military-industrial complex, just keeps expanding. Its original raison d’être, the supposedly menacing Soviet bloc, has been dead for twenty years. But like the military-industrial complex itself, NATO is kept alive and growing by entrenched economic interests, institutional inertia and an official mindset resembling paranoia, with think tanks…
Why Labor Law Doesn’t Work for Workers
Fear of firing is probably the single biggest reason why workers don’t organize unions. According to a recent report from the Center for Economic and Policy Research, “Dropping the Ax: Illegal Firings During Union Election Campaigns, 1951-2007,” by John Schmitt and Ben Zipperer, workers were fired for union activity in thirty percent of all union…
The New York Times Publishes Roadmap for Taliban Talks
The problem with the reconciliation process, officials say, is that it demanded that the Taliban lay down their arms in return for security guarantees, which they did not trust either the government to enforce or the Americans to honor. BY ROBERT NAIMAN Truthout/Perspective INTERNATIONAL Posted by Bulatlat If you’re interested in a “way forward” in…
Memos Provide Blueprint for Police State
Seven newly released memos from the Bush Justice Department reveal a concerted strategy to cloak the president with power to override the Constitution. The memos provide “legal” rationales for the president to suspend freedom of speech and press; order warrantless searches and seizures, including wiretaps of US citizens; lock up US citizens indefinitely in the…
The Rand Papers on Iraq and Afghanistan: The Banality of Occupation
The contradiction rampant throughout the report can be best phrased in the words of US Army Major Justin Featherstone who told the report’s writers after his extensive work with the urban population in southeastern Iraq: “Humanity is what it’s about, a genuine desire to do good by the good people, which can sit side-by-side with…
Missing from the Afghan ‘Surge’: A Congressional Debate
If there were a public and Congressional debate about an exit strategy, about a timetable for withdrawal, about blocking the Pentagon from building permanent military bases in Afghanistan, real change in US policy towards Afghanistan would be happening faster. BY ROBERT NAIMAN Truthout INTERNATIONAL Posted by Bulatlat A key fact about the recent history of…
Financiers Used “Hotline” to SEC Examiners
In a hearing which exposed failures by the government’s financial police, Congressman Stephen Lynch (D-Massachusetts) highlighted the existence of a “hotline,” which he said could be used by Wall Street firms to call off government inspectors. BY MAT RENNER Truthout INTERNATIONAL Posted by Bulatlat Washington, DC – In a hearing which exposed failures by the…
From Bush to Obama: Seven Years of Wartime Propaganda
Despite the public’s long-standing opposition to the war and support for a short timetable for withdrawal, Obama and his generals continue to defy public wishes as they debate whether the occupation will continue for another three years, six years, or indefinitely into the future. Much of the justification for this obstinacy is based on manipulation…
Freeing Up Resources…For More War
The president’s speech had little to say about the plans for escalation, but the few words will come back to haunt: “With our friends and allies, we will forge a new and comprehensive strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan to defeat Al Qaida and combat extremism, because I will not allow terrorists to plot against the…
Commentary on the Stimulus Package
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly A basic problem is that the economic stimulus program is mainly targeting the private sector for job creation. Businesses will not begin to hire until they see more profits to be made. But the government’s efforts to make private businesses more profitable are often at odds with getting…