July Pages

7/31 UN Human Rights chief Mary Robinson claims she was forced out by the US.

7/30 The question of whether race is a biologically useful category apparently remains unresolved.

Good article from Counterpunch about global music censorship. Wasn't the fall of communism supposed to create a freer climate in Eastern Europe?

Add Jordan (traditionally one of the closest US allies in the Middle East) to voices questioning the US war drive against Iraq.

The first voice in this piece badmouthing the Bush war drive on Iraq is an analyst for Lehmann Brothers. The second is a member of the Kuwaiti royal family. Kind of makes you think.

7/29 The Welfare Reform law, by pushing women with young children into the paid workforce, is apparently creating a class of children not raised by their parents.

7/28 Bush's Cuba policy, which mixes right-wing extremism with electoral opportunism (in Florida) has begun to generate opposition among Republicans.

7/27 It seems likely that the most effective opposition to a US war on Iraq domestically will come from military officials skeptical about such a campaign.

Bush spent about four times as much as Gore on the Florida recount campaign. But then, Enron and Haliburton's jets are expensive...

Is Saudi Arabia on the brink of collapse?

Brazil has put in place a giant radar system to spy on the Amazon. Pretty good op-ed piece today in the NY Times about felony disenfranchisement, the scandal of American democracy. But for some reason, the article fails to specify the way that Jeb Bush used this law to disenfranchise many African American voters, hiring a legal firm to hunt for African American names on registers of voters to question as possible felony offenders. Many legal voters were denied the right to vote as a result.

7/26 More on the Nigerian women's protests. See this earlier article as well.

William Pfaff on how Europe might exercise power against the wishes of the US.

7/25 How serious is the problem of US national debt?

The world economy is having trouble because the US is lagging. But the US these days seems uninterested in any meaningful concept of world leadership.

Guess whose tried to block a vote on a torture convention in the UN?

7/24 The US refuses to participate in international goals, others will step up. People around the world will notice.

Great quotes from the former king of Afghanistan (remember him? He was shoved aside when he became a champion for Afghan liberals rather than the warlords the US supports):

A FEW WEEKS back, Zahir Shah, the former king of Afghanistan who was brought back to Kabul he has a palace in the capital but no actual powers to provide at least an image of continuity, talked with an Italian reporter form La Stampa in what he thought was an off-the-record conversation.

As always, it's when people aren't talking from a script that they're most likely to talk the truth. The war against the remnants of the Taliban and Al Qaeda had become, "stupid and useless," remarked the ex-king. "The sooner it is ended the better."

The rest of this article is interesting in comparing the war on terrorism to Vietnam, but I think it overestimates how easy it will be for the US to get in and out of Iraq, and also overestimates Bush's desire to wrap up the war on terror.

7/22 Article in Le Monde Diplomatique suggests that the WHO has been corrupted by a pro-corporate attitude in its leadership.

How does the agenda of corporate advertisers shape even the most creative TV shows? This tidbit from E!online's Ask Wanda is revealing.

7/21 Robert Kagan believes the US and Europe see things so differently that the former should basically disregard the opinions of the latter.

7/20 The New York Times today has an article claiming hundreds of civilian deaths as a result of the US bombing campaign in Afghanistan. Apparently a war fought almost exclusively from the air, guided by warlords, isn't that exact. Not exactly breaking news, but why in the Times, why now?

7/19 'Breaking protocol', poor countries of the ACP critique wealthy--perhaps they feel empowered by Europe's increasing dissafection with the US?

7/18 Article in the Times today about protests in Peru against free market capitalism. A particularly good example of the way the Times only seems capable of viewing Latin America through the eyes of international financiers.

7/17 Interesting article about Nigerian women's successful protesting tactic: threatening to shame Chevron by stripping naked. Which raises the question: what could possibly shame Bush et al?

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