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Inside the New Print Edition of Our Subscriber-Only Newsletter! The Cult of the Stranglers
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Inside the New Print Edition of Our Subscriber-Only Newsletter!
The Cult of the Stranglers
William Pinch writes a dazzling essay on criminal conspiracies and religious violence, and the state’s uses of “terror”, from the Indian “thugs” to 9/11. Andrew Cockburn describes Wall Street’s triumphant routing of financial reform. Serge Halimi on the deficit bogy, weapon of the rich. Get your new edition today by subscribing online or calling 1-800-840-3683 Contributions to CounterPunch are tax-deductible. Click here to make a donation. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now! CounterPunch books and t-shirts make great presents.
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Today's Stories December 30, 2009 Stephen Green December 29, 2009 Gareth Porter Patrick Cockburn Steven Higgs Growing Up Toxic: Defeating Autism, Now Susan Albulhawa / Emily Ratner Dave Lindorff David Macaray Rev. William E. Alberts Deepak Tripathi Walter Brasch / Rosemary Brasch Website of the Day December 28, 2009 Uri Avnery Gary Leupp Bouthaina Shaaban Jayne Lyn Stahl Sam Husseini Greg Moses Sonja Karkar Patrick Bond Michael Simmons David Michael Green Alan McConnell Website of the Day December 25-27, 2009 Alexander Cockburn Mark Rudd Ralph Nader Nicola Nasser John Ross Rannie Amiri Christopher Brauchli Shamus Cooke Ramzy Baroud John Blair Michael D. Yates David Macaray Charles R. Larson David Yearsley Kim Nicolini Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend December 24, 2009 Carl Ginsburg Franklin C. Spinney For Better or Worse? the Afghan Escalation and Women's Rights Nadia Hijab Mike Whitney Jayne Lyn Stahl William Loren Katz Martha Rosenberg Stephen Fleischman Anthony Papa Dave Lindorff Website of the Day
December 23, 2009 David Price Dean Baker Andy Worthington Neve Gordon Helen Redmond Debayni Kar Fred Gardner Brian Tokar Dave Zirin Randall Amster Website of the Day December 22, 2009 Paul Craig Roberts Dave Lindorff Ralph Nader David Rosen Laurie Kirby Ron Jacobs Dick J. Reavis Manuel Garcia, Jr. Norman Solomon Rannie Amiri Website of the Day December 21, 2009 Alan Farago Marjorie Cohn Uri Avnery Mike Whitney Mary Lynn Cramer Mark Scaramella Walter Brasch David Michael Green Ingmar Lee Farzana Versey Binoy Kampmark Website of the Day
December 18-20, 2009 Alexander Cockburn Michael Colby Jeremy Scahill Stewart J. Lawrence Mike Whitney Andy Worthington James Ridgeway Saul Landau John Ross Danny Weil Rannie Amiri Franklin Lamb Steve Early Liaquat Ali Khan Fred Gardner D. K. Wilson Missy Beattie Jim Goodman George Wuerthner Charles R. Larson Lorenzo Wolff David Yearsley Ben Sonnenberg Lordura di Napoli: the Best DVDs of the Year Wajahat Ali Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend December 17, 2009 Steven Higgs Barbara Koeppel Dave Lindorff Ramzy Baroud Ron Jacobs Shamus Cooke Christopher Brauchli Binoy Kampmark Norm Kent Patrick Bond Website of the Day December 16, 2009 James Bovard Gregory V. Button Dan Schiller Gareth Porter Farrah Hassen Nicola Nasser Daniel C. Maguire Martha Rosenberg David Macaray Ellen Brown Robert Bryce Website of the Day December 15, 2009 Ellen Cantarow Chris Floyd Anthony DiMaggio Dean Baker Andy Worthington Mike Whitney Jayne Lyn Stahl Jeff Ballinger Raymond Lawrence David Rovics Website of the Day December 14, 2009 Daniel Wolff Bill Quigley Patrick Cockburn Michael Hudson Paul Craig Roberts Rob Stone, MD Dr. Susan Block Pervez Hoodbhoy Mike Whitney Shepherd Bliss Website of the Day
December 11-13, 2009 Alexander Cockburn Carl Ginsburg Joshua Frank / Franklin C. Spinney Anna Vigna Mike Whitney Bill Moyers / Julien Mercille Brian Cloughley Benjamin Dangl Conn Hallinan Christopher Brauchli Fred Gardner David Macaray Limone Tatatjavy Joseph Shansky Belén Fernández Ingmar Lee Ron Jacobs Brenda Norrell Farzana Versey Ramzi Kysia Missy Beattie Charles R. Larson David Yearsley Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend December 10, 2009 William Blum John Ross Björn Kumm Jonathan Cook Mike Whitney Jayne Lyn Stahl Gareth Porter Rannie Amiri Norman Solomon James Faris Website of the Day Kevin Alexander Gray Joe Bageant Stephen Soldz Anthony DiMaggio David Swanson Dave Zirin Thomas Power Martha Rosenberg Susie Day US Peace Groups Website of the Day December 8, 2009 Andrew Cockburn Mike Whitney Brendan Cooney Stephanie McMillian Ron Jacobs Benjamin Dangl Kevin Mink Dave Lindorff Helen Redmond David Macaray Franklin Lamb December 7, 2009 Margot Kidder Patrick Cockburn Gareth Porter Marshall Auerback Clancy Sigal Jeffrey Blankfort Jonathan Cook Brian McKenna Bouthaina Shaaban Charlotte Laws Harry Browne Website of the Day December 4-6, 2009 Alexander Cockburn Ishmael Reed Paul Craig Roberts Vijay Prashad Muhammad Idrees Ahmad Linn Washington, Jr. Eamonn McCann Rannie Amiri Lebanon: an End to Sectarian Politics? David Rosen Benjamin Dangl Dave Lindorff Dan Meek Geoff Berne Todd Alan Price Frank Green John Halle Brian Tokar Brian M. Downing Jim Goodman Bruce E. Levine Charles R. Larson Kim Nicolini David Yearsley Lorenzo Wolff Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend December 3, 2009 Jeff Ballinger Paul Fitzgerald / Elizabeth Gould Christopher Brauchli Laura Flanders Franklin Lamb Mark Weisbrot Gary Leupp Stephen Fleischman Bill Christison December 2, 2009 Paul Craig Roberts Gareth Porter Zoltan Grossman Mike Whitney Ron Jacobs M. Shahid Alam D.K. Wilson Fran Shor Susan Galleymore Jayne Lyn Stahl Website of the Day December 1, 2009 David Price Afshin Rattansi Carlos Benemann Dean Baker Bouthaina Shaaban Rejecting Westocentrism David Rosen Susan Galleymore David Macaray Miriam Pemberton Farzana Versey Website of the Day November 30, 2009 Gary Leupp Mara Ahmed / Mike Whitney Steven Higgs P. Sainath Jonathan Cook Norm Kent Dave Lindorff Normon Solomon David Michael Green How Dare You Clean Up Our Mess? Website of the Day November 27 - 29, 2009 Alexander Cockburn Carl Ginsburg Mike Whitney Franklin Spinney Joshua Frank Saul Landau Heather Gray John Ross David Macaray Franklin Lamb Shamus Cooke David Ker Thomson Martha Rosenberg Ramzy Baroud Ron Ridenour Amanda Mueller James Rothenberg Travis Kelly Don Monkerud Ron Jacobs Charles R. Larson David Yearsley Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend November 26, 2009 Vijay Prashad Greg Moses Jayne Lyn Stahl Jeff Cohen John Blair Ann Robertson / Farzana Versey Sam Husseini Tom Mountain Website of the Day November 25, 2009 Dave Lindorff Marjorie Cohn Belén Fernández Ralph Nader Rannie Amiri Missy Beattie Rob Stone, MD Health Care Delusions: Better Than Nothing? Norm Kent Binoy Kampmark Handing It to France: the Sporting Trial of Thierry Henry Ron Ridenour Website of the Day November 24, 2009 Mary Lynn Cramer Dean Baker George Ciccariello-Maher Eric Walberg Andy Thayer David Macaray Laura Carlsen Gary Leupp Adam Federman William S. Lind Mission Creep: Counter-Insurgency in Salinas? Website of the Day November 23, 2009 Paul Craig Roberts Jonathan Cook Edward S. Herman / David Peterson Bouthaina Shaaban Helen Redmond Rannie Amiri Dave Lindorff Rev. William E. Alberts Mike Whitney Mark Weisbrot David Michael Green November 20-22, 2009 Alexander Cockburn Gareth Porter Mike Whitney Fred Gardner James J. Brittain Jonathan Cook Alan Farago David Macaray Binoy Kampmark Ben Sonnenberg Ron Jacobs David Yearsley Brenda Norrell Ron Ridenour |
The Votes of the Morons will PrevailIsrael RulesBy PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS On Christmas eve, the New York Times delivered forth a call for war. “There’s only one way to stop Iran,” declared Alan J. Kuperman, and that is “military air strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities.” Kuperman is described as the “director of the Nuclear Proliferation Prevention Program at the University of Texas at Austin,” but his Christmas eve call to war relies on disinformation and contradiction, not on objective scholarly analysis. For example, Kuperman contradicts the unanimous report of America’s 16 intelligence agencies, the reports of the International Atomic Energy Agency, and Russian intelligence with his claim that Iran has a nuclear weapon program. Astonishingly, it does not occur to Kuperman that readers might wonder how an academic bureaucrat in Austin, Texas, has better information than these authorities. Kuperman is so determined to damn President Obama’s plan to have other countries enrich Iran’s uranium for Iran’s nuclear energy program and medical isotopes that he commits astounding blunders. After claiming that Iran has a “bomb program,” Kuperman claims that “Iran’s uranium contains impurities” and that Ahmadinejad’s threat “to enrich uranium domestically to the 20 per cent level . . . is a bluff, because even if Iran could further enrich its impure uranium, it lacks the capacity to fabricate the uranium into fuel elements.” What was the New York Times op ed editor thinking when he approved Kuperman’s article? Iran, Kuperman writes, needs “90 per cent enriched uranium” to have weapons-grade material, but cannot reach 20 per cent or even make fuel elements for its nuclear energy. So, how is Iran going to produce a bomb? Yet, Kuperman writes that “we have reached the point where air strikes are the only plausible option with any prospect of preventing Iran’s acquisition of nuclear weapons. The sooner the United States takes action, the better.” It could not be made any clearer that, as with the US invasion of Iraq, a military attack on Iran has nothing to do with weapons of mass destruction. An “Iranian nuke” is just another canard behind which hides an undeclared agenda. One wonders about Kuperman’s non-proliferation credentials. How does a wanton military attack on a country encourage non-proliferation? Aren’t America’s bullying, threats and acts of war more likely to encourage countries to seek nuclear weapons? At the end of the first decade of the 21st century, the United States has wars ongoing in Iraq where the ancient Chaldean Christian community was destroyed--not by Saddam Hussein but by the neoconservatives’ illegal invasion of Iraq--in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, and Sudan. The US initiated a war, which it lost, between its puppet ruler in the former Soviet province of Georgia and Russia. The US, the world’s greatest supporter of terrorism, is the main financier of terrorist groups that stage attacks within Iran. It was American money, weapons, and diplomatic cover that enabled the Israeli war crimes against the Lebanese people during 2006 and against Palestinian civilians in Gaza during 2008-2009, crimes documented in the Goldstone Report. Iran has never interfered in US internal affairs, but the US has a long record of interfering in Iranian affairs. In 1953 the US overthrew Iran’s popular prime minister, Mohammed Mosaddeq and installed a puppet who tortured Iranians who desired political independence. Despite this and other American offenses against Iran, Ahmadinejad has repeatedly expressed Iran’s interest to be on friendly terms with the United States, only to be repeatedly rebuffed. The US wants war with Iran in order to expand US world hegemony. One might expect a non-proliferation expert to take history into account, but Kuperman fails to do so. Kuperman also has nothing to say about Israel’s, India’s and Pakistan’s nuclear weapons. Unlike Iran, none of these countries are signatories to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Israel, India, and Pakistan all developed their nuclear weapons in secret, and many experts believe Israel had American help, an act of treason. All three countries have been rewarded by Washington despite their perfidy. Why is Kuperman concerned about Iran, which submits to the IAEA inspections, but is unconcerned with Israel, a country that has never permitted a single inspection? The answer is that the Israel Lobby, the US military-security complex, and the “Christian” Zionists have succeeded in demonizing Iran. Every real expert knows that an Iranian nuclear weapon would have no function other than deterring an attack on Iran. Ever since the US lost its monopoly on nuclear weapons, after using them offensively and pointlessly against a defeated Japan, nuclear weapons have served no purpose other than deterrence. The US has no conflicting economic interests with Iran. Iran is simply a supplier of oil, an important one. A US attack on Iran, such as the one advocated by Kuperman, would most likely shut down oil flows to the West through the Strait of Hormuz. This might benefit refiners, who sell gasoline to the West and could charge enormous prices, but no one else would benefit. Adding to the war cry are congregations of fake Christians. A great number of them, organized by someone’s money under the banner, “Christian Leaders for a Nuclear-free Iran,” has written to Congress demanding sanctions against Iran that amount to an act of war. The roll call includes the “Christian” Zionist John Hagee, who, according to reports, denigrates Jesus Christ and preaches to his congregation that it is God’s will for Americans to fight and die for Israel, the oppressor of the Palestinian people. Among the signatories of the “Christians” demanding an act of war against Iran, are Dr. Pat Robertson, president of Christian Broadcasting Network, Nixon-era criminal Chuck Colson, and Richard Land, president of Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, Southern Baptist Convention. Obviously, for southern baptists ethics means murdering Islamists, and religious liberty excludes everyone but “Christian” Zionists. It is a simple matter for an educated person to make fools of these morons who profess to be Christians. However, these morons have vast constituencies numbering in the tens of millions of Americans. There are, in fact, more of them than there are intelligent, informed, moral, and real Christian Americans. The votes of the morons will prevail. In the second decade of the 21st century, America’s Zionist wars against Islam will expand. America’s wars in behalf of Israel’s territorial expansion will complete the bankruptcy of America. The Treasury’s bonds to finance the US government’s enormous deficits will lack for buyers. Therefore, the bonds will be monetized by the Federal Reserve. The result will be rising rates of inflation. The inflation will destroy the dollar as world reserve currency, and the US will no longer be able to pay for its imports. Shortages will appear, including food and gasoline, and “Superpower America” will find itself pressed to the wall as a third world country unable to pay its debts. America has been brought low, both morally and economically, by its obeisance to the Israel Lobby. Even Jimmy Carter, a former President of the United States and Governor of Georgia recently had to apologize to the Israel Lobby for his honest criticisms of Israel’s inhumane treatment of the occupied Palestinians in order for his grandson to be able to run for a seat in the Georgia state senate. This should tell the macho super-power American tough guys who really runs “their” country. Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration. He is coauthor of The Tyranny of Good Intentions. His new book, How the Economy was Lost, will be published next month by AK Press / CounterPunch. He can be reached at: PaulCraigRoberts@yahoo.com |
Now Available from CounterPunch Books! Yellowstone Drift:
"Powerful and shocking ..
Waiting for
Lightning
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