Month: December 2011

‘It’s So Not Over,’ Say Occupy Protests

Three months into the Occupy Wall Street movement, protesters took their message uptown in a march that surprised the police and many Christmas shoppers, but helped explain what the economic crisis means to average people, writes Danny Schechter.

Occupying Jesus and His Church

It is an inconvenient truth for mainstream and right-wing Christians that Jesus was crucified for taking his protest against income inequality to the power center of Jerusalem, where he challenged how money had perverted religious principles. Now, that tension is returning…

The Rise of Islamist Democracy

The West has long played a double game regarding democracy in the Middle East, replacing popular leaders who nationalized oil or caused “trouble” with autocrats and then condemning Muslims as politically backward. Now that democracy is returning, the West again is uneasy, writes Adil…

Zealots for Zion

Zionist extremists are determined to expand the territory of Greater Israel by seizing more and more land from the Palestinians. But their haste has now led to clashes with Israeli military authorities, as Lawrence Davidson reports.

Pvt. Manning Finally Appears in Court

The long-delayed court martial proceedings against alleged WikiLeaks leaker Bradley Manning finally got under way with supporters of the Army private filling a hearing room at Fort Meade, Maryland. But questions about the fairness of his treatment continue, retired Col.…

How Iraq Maneuvered the US Exit

The neocons’ treasured Iraq War myth of their “successful surge” is belied by the actual history of how Iraqi Shiite leaders collaborated with Iran to tamp down internal violence and then destroy neocon plans for long-term U.S. military bases to project power…

The GOP’s Hazy Cloud of Ignorance

Since the ascendance of Ronald Reagan three decades ago, the Republican Party has evolved into the anti-science (or make-up-your-own-facts) party with a smug know-nothing attitude that is crippling efforts to address the looming crisis of global warming, as Michael Winship notes.

The Christmas Truce of 1914

It might seem odd to anyone who understands what Jesus taught that the U.S. presidential candidates who most stress their Christian devotion are often the same ones urging more wars. But this defiling of Jesus’s message of peace is not…

Will Iraq Debacle Prevent Iran War?

Exclusive: Neoconservatives are livid over President Obama’s declaration that the Iraq War is over, fearing that its disastrous outcome will undercut plans for a new war with Iran. But Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich says, if elected, he stands ready to…

Israel’s Twin Demographic Challenges

Newt Gingrich may call the Palestinians an “invented people,” but how Israel addresses the demographics they represent and the surging numbers of ultra-Orthodox Jews, too  will likely define the future nature of Israeli society, former senior CIA official Paul R.…