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The Democrats Bow to Bush on War: How the Anti-War Movement Failed
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Today's Stories June 9 / 10, 2007 Saul Landau June 8, 2007 Serge Halimi Patrick Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair Brian Cloughley Paul Craig Roberts William Blum Joshua Frank Lance Selfa Dave Lindorff Lawrence Ferlinghetti Website of the Day
Marjorie Cohn Soldz, Reisner
and Olson: Soldz, Reisner
Paul Craig Roberts Bill Quigley Silvia Cattori Carl G. Estabrook Ellen Taylor Corporate Crime
Reporter Brenda Norrell D. K. Wilson Kevin Zeese Website of
the Day
Alain Gresh Gary Leupp Steven Sherman Bruce Dixon Corporate Crime Reporter Brian M. Downing Ron Jacobs George Bisharat Nicole Colson Bruce K. Gagnon Website of the Day
June 5, 2007 Michael Neumann Jonathan Cook David Vest Robert Fantina Hoffman, Parsneau and Chowdhury John V. Walsh Richard Cretan Adam Engel William S. Lind Myles Hoenig Jim Minick Website of
the Day
Nizar Latif Diana Johnstone Gregory Wilpert Paul Watson Susan Rosenthal,
MD Richard Ward Eva Liddell Zahi Khouri Evelyn Pringle China Hand Karyn Strickler Website of the Day
June 2 / 3, 2007 Alexander Cockburn Marc Levy Martin Smith Diana Johnstone John Ross Uri Avnery Sunsara Taylor Richard Neville P. Sainath Missy Comley
Beattie Nisrine Abiad Rannie Amiri Margot Pepper Eric Stewart Ralph Nader Dan Bacher Shaun Harkin Richard Rhames Frederick Hudson Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend
Dave Marsh Saul Landau David Phinney Robert Jensen Stanley Heller Yifat Susskind Robert Weissman Paul Buchheit William S.
Lind Sherwood Ross Stephen Lendman Website of the Day
Robert Bryce Patrick Cockburn Gary Leupp Kathy Kelly Marjorie Cohn Chris Kutalik
Corporate Crime Reporter Dave Lindorff Website of the Day
May 30, 2007 James Ridgeway Franklin Lamb Terrence E. Paupp Uri Avnery Alan Maass Rock and Rap
Confidential Ralph Nader Nirmal Ghosh Jean Daniels Tom Barry Website of the Day
Stephen Soldz Eliza Ernshire Ron Jacobs Dave Lindorff Evelyn Pringle Mike Whitney David Swanson John Holt Cynthia McKinney Martha Rosenberg Website of the Day
Bill Quigley Col. Dan Smith Cindy Sheehan Dr. Susan Block Jeeni Criscenzo Douglas Valentine Website of the Day
May 26 / 27, 2007 Alexander Cockburn Michael Donnelly Patrick Cockburn Franklin Lamb Jean Bricmont Gary Leupp James Petras William Peace Judith and John Sharpe Saul Landau Paul Craig Roberts Democracy in Iraq, Tyranny at Home? Jonathan M.
Feldman Dave Lindorff Missy Beattie Mike Whitney Badruddin Khan Ron Jacobs Zoe Blunt Arjun Chowdhury, Heather Gray N. D. Jayaprakash Joe Allen Poets' Basement Website of
the Weekend
Robert Jensen David Vest John Stauber Evelyn Pringle Corporate Crime Reporter Susan Rosenthal,
MD Roberto Rodriguez Steve Fournier Patrick McElwee Robert Weissman Website of the Day
Franklin Lamb Corporate Crime
Reporter Robert Fantina Norman Solomon Dave Lindorff Sen. Russell
Feingold Fred Gardner Mike Whitney Kevin Parsneau, Arjun Chowdhury
and Mark Hoffman Caroline Paul Eva Liddell Website of
the Day
Patrick Cockburn Rev. William
Alberts Joe DeRaymond Sudhanva Deshpande
Paul Craig Roberts Glen Ford Rannie Amiri China Hand Zoe Blunt Nivien Saleh Website of the Day
Robert Fisk Joshua Frank Harvey Wasserman David Mos Masumoto Sonja Karkar Conn Hallinan Dave Lindorff Jeffrey Kolakowski Evelyn Pringle Jim Baumer Website of the Day
Patrick Cockburn Nicole Colson John Ross Stephen Fleischman M. Shahid Alam Ron Jacobs Peter Rost, MD Alan Farago Paul Buchheit Website of
the Day
May 19 / 20, 2007 Andrew Cockburn Uri Avnery Peter Gelderloos Saul Landau Robert Fantina Fred Gardner Ralph Nader Jean Daniels Reza Fiyouzat Missy Beattie Robert Alvarez Sonja Karkar Dave Lindorff Jeff Sher Julian C. Holmes Clancy Sigal Prairie Miller James Murren Poets' Basement Website of
the Weekend
May 18, 2007 Adam Jones Sharon Smith Christopher Brauchli Peter Rost,
MD Denise Maloney Pictou David Swanson Ali Khan Susan Rosenthal,
M.D. Samer Assad CP News Service Website of the Day
May 17, 2007 Tariq Ali Yifat Susskind Dave Zirin Brian J. Foley W. John Green Eric Johnson-DeBaufre Badruddin Khan Martha Rosenberg China Hand Dan Vojir Website of the Day
Patrick Cockburn Ashley Dawson Joshua Frank Corporate Crime
Reporter Ray McGovern Glen Ford Joe Bageant Sonja Karkar Mickey S. Huff John Chuckman Kaz Dziamka Website of
the Day
May 15, 2007 Michael Neumann Patrick Cockburn Ashley Smith Marc Gardner Dave Lindorff Ben Terrall Ron Jacobs Harvey Wasserman Marcus Mabry Dr. Susan Block Website of the Day
May 14, 2007 Jennifer Roesch Jeffrey St.
Clair George Bisharat Diane Wachtell Ramzy Baroud Rosemary and
Walter Brasch Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed Roberto Rodriguez Jonathan Culp Website of
the Day
May 12 / 13, 2007 Alexander Cockburn Patrick Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair Diane Farsetta Ralph Nader Jean Bricmont Marcus Breen Joe Bageant Conn Hallinan Fred Gardner Juan Santos
Eve Bachrach Missy Comley
Beattie Ron Jacobs Niranjan Ramakrishnan Susie Day Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend May 11, 2007 Patrick Cockburn Kathleen Christison Mike Ferner John Holt Laurie Hasbrook Christopher
Brauchli Margaret Kimberley Dave Lindorff Nicole Colson John V. Walsh Website of the Day
May 10, 2007 Tariq Ali Patrick Cockburn Neve Gordon Marjorie Cohn David Rosen Alan Farago John Hellman Kathy Rentenbach BANCO Richard Rhames Website of the Day
Jeff Leys Patrick Cockburn Glen Ford Paula Rothenberg Kathryn Weber John Chuckman Jordan Flaherty Dave Lindorff Stephen Lendman Website of
the Day
May 8, 2007 Dave Lindorff Patrick Cockburn Corporate Crime Reporter Ralph Nader Malini Johar Schueller Juan Santos Dave Zirin Joshua Frank Evelyn Pringle Eamonn McCann Website of the Day
May 7, 2007 Patrick Cockburn Monica Benderman Greg Moses Rannie Amiri Fitrakis / Wasserman Fred Wilhelms Ramzy Baroud Bruce K. Gagnon T. W. Croft Sonja Karkar Website of the Day
Alexander Cockburn William Blum Uri Avnery Franklin Lamb Fred Gardner Lawrence R.
Velvel Missy Beattie Robert Fantina Carla Blank Linn Washington,
Jr. Stephen F. Jackson P. Sainath Anthony Papa James T. Phillips John Ross Stephen Lendman Ben Terrall CounterPunch
Newswire Poets' Basement Website of
the Weekend
May 4, 2007 Patrick Cockburn Col. Dan Smith Norman Solomon Azmi Bishara Ron Jacobs Dave Lindorff Kevin Zeese Bob Fitrakis Janet Kauffman Website of
the Day
May 3, 2007 Jeff Halper Christopher
Brauchli Dave Zirin Corporate Crime
Reporter Robert Fisk Mike Ferner Mike Whitney Pham Binh Dave Lindorff Michael A.
Johnson Website of the Day
May 2, 2007 Saul Landau Dr. Susan Block Carla Blank Margaret Kimberly Kevin Zeese Carlos Villareal Michael Dickinson Tim Shorrock Alevtina Rea William S.
Lind Website of the Day
Andrew Cockburn Fred Gardner Chase Madar Ralph Nader John V. Walsh Joshua Frank Leslie Radford Shaun Harkin Dave Lindorff Peter Rost,
MD Peter Linebaugh Website of
the Day
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Weekend
Edition An Interview with Ricardo Alarcon, Vice President of Cuba"We Must Find Another Mode, Not Based on Greed"By SAUL LANDAU
Saul Landau: Cuba recently received billions in investment from China and Venezuela. In addition, nickel prices have risen sharply and foreign firms are drilling for oil off Cuba's coast. What will the Cuban government do with this revenue? Ricardo Alarcon: Although we have been producing more and reducing our dependency, we still must import oil and food. And prices of food are rising with this craziness of using grains for bio-fuel. Historically, Cuba has always required lots of buying and selling with other countries. We sell sugar and other things, of course, but still have to pay for services and machinery-and for other imports. Remember, we pay a higher price than anyone else, thanks to the US embargo. SL: The question on the minds of most Americans--after Fidel? RA: After Fidel, after me, after you, life will continue, the revolution will continue. Fidel is one of the few survivors of the generation which fought in the Sierra Maestra. Others have died, retired. Fidel has been healthy, strong, and was young at the beginning. Throughout those years we have developed generations of people with 20-30 years experience in government; another generation of younger people have also accumulated some experience. In other words, I have no doubt the revolutionary process in Cuba will continue. To those who ask the question, I suggest they look at what's been going on throughout the entire region. The revolution has been reproduced successfully around the area. SL-Four of Fidel's ideological sons are now presidents in Latin America? RA: Some actually refer to Fidel as their father, not biological of course. Each revolutionary process, Venezuela [Chavez], Bolivia [Morales], Ecuador [Correa]and Nicaragua [Ortega]--and you'll see more -- are different. Of course, they have certain things in common. But each has its own style, its own response to different realities. The most important fact is that long before Fidel will pass away, they and we can feel very proud of seeing that we succeeded. It could not have succeeded before. Cuba being small and isolated could have been smashed. But now the revolutionary process cannot be stopped. The US desire to crush Cuba all these years failed and with the new revolutions it is impossible to crush revolution. SL Counterrevolution? A federal judge has just released a man accused of terrorism in Venezuela and Cuba. Luis Posada Carriles is accused of sabotaging a Cuban airliner over Barbados in October 1976 [killing all 73 passengers and crew members]. Ironically, five Cubans sent to the US to spy on terrorists were arrested and imprisoned (1998) Posada walks Miami's streets along with other known terrorists. What is Cuba's response? RA- First, what happened to Posada illustrates our reason for sending the five to monitor terrorist activities that were and are being planned against us. We have to try to learn what those terrorists are planning against Cuba. The most important obligation of any government is to protect its people. We have that right and obligation. Cuba has been the object of terrorism, mostly coming from Miami, for decades. And the terrorists have acted with impunity. Many Americans don't realize that. The Posada story repeats the Orlando Bosch story. Bosch is also at large and wanted for the bombing of the Cuban plane -- with Posada. Unfortunately, the U.S., having learned about terrorist plans, has not acted to stop them, has not fulfilled its legal obligation. So, Cuba's only option was to try to discover the attack plans before they occurred and then notify the FBI in the hopes that they will act; they haven't. What kind of regime do you have? A crusade against terrorists? Or one that protects terrorists? Apply Bush's famous Doctrine. "He who protects the terrorist is as guilty as the terrorist" He's been saying this for years. Well, he's protecting them, as he has for years. I don't criticize the federal judge who freed Posada; quite the contrary. Posada was the object of a fake legal process, was not indicted for any serious crime, just for minor alleged immigration violations. The government knew he was on trial in Venezuela for destroying a plane in another country. Posada has even published his autobiography. He gave press interviews to the NY Times and even talked about his terrorist accomplishments. SL- He doesn't suffer from modesty? RA- More like megalomania. On the airplane sabotage, the Bush Administration has been unmasked. There are international agreements that require the US to either extradite Posada to Venezuela, where he escaped from prison, or try him in the United States. Washington has done neither. On punishing criminal acts Article 7 of the Montreal Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Civil Aviation says a country housing somebody wanted in another country for violent attempts against a civilian plane has two options: extradite him or, without any exceptions whatsoever, immediately prosecute him. The US neither warned us nor stopped the act. Two years have elapsed and still Bush has not identified Posada as a terrorist. He cannot be pardoned. It is one thing is to attack someone on earth; another in mid-air. The latter damns everyone. The US Embassy in Caracas transmitted information immediately after the October 6 event, detailing the report of Trinidadian police who captured the 2 individuals who placed the bombs on the plane. Both confessed that Posada and Bosch had hired them. The US Embassy alerted Washington that "we are going to be asked for cooperation and we need instructions." There is another report, fascinating, about taking Bosch out of Venezuela, because he isn't a Venezuelan citizen--Posada is--and they didn't get it done. Something happened. Finally, the Venezuelans had to detain the two because the news had spread all over the Caribbean. I was UN Ambassador at the time and I recall President Carlos Andres Perez, -- the closest US friend in the region -- not Hugo Chavez -- spoke at the UN. I was there. He made a candid, dramatic appeal to the US. He said: "Please help us. Give us information about this case because many in Caribbean nations are accusing the CIA and the US government of being involved in the plane sabotage." It was a big scandal in our area. That's why the Posada affair continues to provoke such reaction around the Caribbean. You have daily editorials, articles, commentaries on every island. People are astonished by the way this case has evolved. There are plenty of documents on this case. Why? Because as Posada himself told the judge, he has been working "with them" for more than 25 years. His connection with the CIA and FBI is so longstanding and so intense that there have to be many documents around over a long period of time. SL: Isn't there a Spanish saying, "when you educate the crows they return to peck your eyes out." Is this case an example? RA: If not, very close to it. SL: To change the subject: you've been watching the war in Iraq. Four years and two months ago Bush announced "Mission Accomplished" and a few months ago he said "we're making a little progress" in securing Baghdad. How do you see the Iraq War from Havana? RA- It's a tragedy for the American people, for the US as a nation and for the entire world. You have an unjustifiable war that has provoked huge suffering for Iraqis. No one knows how many have died! The excuse for war has been so manipulated. The result also can't be ignored by Bush. Terrorism is more of a danger now than at the time of the invasion of Iraq. By invading Iraq, the US has promoted more anger, more resentment, more hate. Remember what Fidel Castro said after 9/11, when he expressed our solidarity with the American people. He warned that war would make the situation worse. What's the solution? No one knows. And the US has become so entangled and no one knows for how long. It has done so in an explosive area in a way that has brought violence and hatred to the area. This is beyond a mistake. It's a human tragedy. SL: We have global warming, the spread of disease and poverty. I see optimism expressed on the billboards [patria es humanidad] in Cuba How do you maintain optimism? How would you turn around this looming disaster? RA: Humanity has reached a
point at which we don't have many options. We must change. Remember
the agreements at the Earth Summit in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro,
attended by President Bush Senior. Humanity must change its patterns
of production and consumption, the only way to face what's going
on in the environment. If we don't, it'll be the end of our troubles.
No one will care about crises in the Middle East. Left and right,
Neo cons and communist alike will have no hope, no future unless
we change our ways. I'm optimistic. History has shown that humans
are the only species who have created spirit, thinking and to
imagine that animal destroying life is unthinkable. I think people
are becoming more aware. This means we must find another mode,
based not on greed and selfishness but solidarity and cooperation.
The other choice -- the end of the world. Saul Landau's new book, BUSH AND BOTOX WORLD, with a foreword by Gore Vidal, is now available from Counterpunch Press. His new film, WE DON'T PLAY GOLF HERE, is available on DVD from roundworldmedia@gmail.com
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