North America
The War on Weed Part II: Monsanto, Bayer, and the Push for Corporate Cannabis
California’s “Adult Use of Marijuana Act” (AUMA) is a voter initiative characterized as legalizing marijuana use... [read more]
The Populist Revolution: Bernie and Beyond
The world is undergoing a populist revival. From the revolt against austerity led by Syriza to Jeremy Corbyn’s surprise victory as Labour leader... [read more]
Hang On to Your Wallet: Negative Interest, the War on Cash and the $10 Trillion Bail-In
In uncertain times, “cash is king,” but central bankers are systematically moving to eliminate that option. Is it really about stimulating the economy? Or is there some deeper, darker threat afoot?... [read more]
The Inverted World of Niall Ferguson: On the Real Obama Doctrine
Niall Ferguson has a very conservative world outlook which, when applied to the analysis of current social reality, has a tendency to so warp his perceptions that the situation he writes about becomes an imaginary inverted world... [read more]
How Obama Could Beat the Debt Ceiling and Go Out a Hero
The debt ceiling is an unconstitutional gimmick that violates the 14th amendment... [read more]
Time for the Nuclear Option: Raining Money on Main Street
Predictions are that we will soon be seeing the “nuclear option” — central bank-created money injected directly into the real economy... [read more]
Nuclear Deal or Not?
The ratification must be solely entrusted to the U.S. and Iran-- and NOT to Israel and Saudi Arabia... [read more]
Trumping the Federal Debt Without Playing the Default Card
The government can reduce the debt by buying it – and ripping it up... [read more]
Over Forty Percent of US Children are Living in Poverty
A report from Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health reveals that forty four percent of US children are living in poverty... [read more]
From Liberal Hand-wringing to the Political Economy of Assassination: The Charleston Shootings and Mainstream Society’s Complicity in Murder (Part 1)
The larger social architecture defined by the academic, political and corporate ties of the gun lobby helps explain how we could systematically take the fight to the NRA... [read more]
The Fourth of July and the right of revolution
Every schoolchild in the United States is exposed at one point or another to this famous passage from the Declaration of Independence... [read more]
“Sentence First, Verdict Afterwards”: The Alice in Wonderland World of Fast-tracked Secret Trade Agreements
Fast-track authority is being sought in the Senate this week for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)... [read more]
Fast-track Hands the Money Monopoly to Private Banks — Permanently
In March 2014, the Bank of England let the cat out of the bag... [read more]
The Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Death of the Republic
On April 22, 2015, the Senate Finance Committee approved a bill to fast-track the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)... [read more]
How America Became an Oligarchy
According to a new study from Princeton University, American democracy no longer exists... [read more]
California Water Wars: Another Form of Asset Stripping?
In California’s epic drought, wars over water rights continue, while innovative alternatives for increasing the available water supply go untapped... [read more]
Israeli Prime Minister to appear before the US Congress
The much hyped up appearance of Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before the US Congress... [read more]
Swimming With Sharks: Goldman Sachs, Schools and Capital Appreciation Bonds
Remember when Goldman Sachs – dubbed by Matt Taibbi the Vampire Squid – sold derivatives to Greece so the government could conceal its debt, then bet against that debt, driving it up?... [read more]
Why Public Banks Outperform Private Banks: Unfair Competition or a Better Mousetrap?
In November 2014, the Wall Street Journal reported that the Bank of North Dakota (BND), the nation’s only state-owned bank, is more profitable than Goldman Sachs Group... [read more]
The TTIP trade deal will throw equality before the law on the corporate bonfire
The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership is a reckless destruction of democratic principles. But we can beat it, writes George Monbiot.... [read more]
The British government is leading a gunpowder plot against democracy
This bill of corporate rights threatens to blow the sovereignty of parliament unless it can be stopped, writes George Monbiot.... [read more]
Is a Tea Party movement about to kick off in Britain?
A fallen government minister who fought the ‘green blob’ seems to be contemplating a US-style insurgency, writes George Monbiot.... [read more]
Piketty, The Wall Street Journal, and Rational Conservatives
Thomas Piketty's book, Capital in the 21st Century, has almost had the effect of a tsunami on economic thinking in the United States, writes Thomas Riggins... [read more]
New York City Settles Fire Department Discrimination Case
New York City settlement of fire department discrimination is a blow against racism but panned by ultra-right New York Post ... [read more]
Warren’s Post Office Proposal: Palast Aims at the Wrong Target
Investigative reporter Greg Palast is usually pretty good at peering behind the rhetoric and seeing what is really going on. But in tearing into Senator Elizabeth Warren’s support of postal financial services, he has done a serious disservice to the underdogs... [read more]
Give and take in the EU-US trade deal? Sure. We give, the corporations take
I have three challenges for the architects of a proposed transatlantic trade deal. If they reject them, they reject democracy, writes George Monbiot.... [read more]
Free Rolf Kaestel: The prisoner who blew the whistle on a prison blood scandal linked to Bill Clinton
Most of us have read how difficult it has been for whistleblowers Julian Assange and Edward Snowdon since exposing state secrets, now imagine blowing the whistle from behind bars of one of America’s most notorious penitentiaries... [read more]
An Iraq war veteran's reflection
Before President Obama even began the State of the Union address, two people I knew in the audience, from two defining points in my life... [read more]
From Austerity to Prosperity: Why I Am Running for California Treasurer
Welfare payments, health care for the poor, and benefits for the elderly and disabled have been slashed. State workers have been downsized... [read more]
PTSD: From pain to purpose, US veterans Hart and Ethan speak out
I don’t claim to be any expert on rap music but seeing a photo of Snoop Dog in a smart jacket at the White House in the company of Obama was a bit of a let down... [read more]
The JFK Conspiracy Theories and Why they Still Matter Today
It is now fifty years ago, come November 22nd, that John F Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas in an event that had a huge bearing on the course of history from that day on... [read more]
Drop the outrageous charges on CCNY student activists!
The ANSWER Coalition calls for protests and a letter-writing campaign to reinstate Khalil Vasquez and Tafador Sourov, two student leaders at the City College of New York disciplined and charged for trying to stop the closure of a student centre... [read more]
New York City Mayor's Race: Living Wage or Wage Slavery: de Blasio vs. Lhota on the Dignity of Labour
The election for mayor of New York City is less that a month away and Bill de Blasio's lead in the polls appears insurmountable... [read more]
Martial Law and the Economy: Is Homeland Security Preparing for the Next Wall Street Collapse?
Reports are that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is engaged in a massive, covert military buildup, writes Ellen Brown... [read more]
De Blasio and the Sandinistas
According to a recent article in the New York Times two of the candidates running for mayor of New York have become alarmed about the worldview of Bill de Blasio, the front running candidate of the Democratic Party... [read more]
The Leveraged Buyout of America
In a letter to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, US Representative Alan Grayson and three co-signers expressed concern about the expansion of large banks into what have traditionally been non-financial commercial spheres... [read more]
Obama's rogue state tramples over every law it demands others uphold
For 67 years the US has pursued its own interests at the expense of global justice – no wonder people are sceptical now, writes George Monbiot.... [read more]
Banks versus the People: The Underside of a Rigged Game! (Part 2)
The European Central Bank and the Federal Reserve are at the service of the major private banks... [read more]
Stop and Frisk: What Mayor Bloomberg Really Thinks About Minority Youth
New York City Mayor Bloomberg tries to defend the NYPD's massive stop and frisk program directed against minority youth... [read more]
Assata Shakur: Understanding the politics behind the FBI's new attack
On May 2, the FBI suddenly announced that they had placed Assata Shakur on its “Most Wanted Terrorists” list. The FBI's accusations target Shakur as an individual, but the labeling of her as a terrorist is an attack on all revolutionaries says Eugene Puryear... [read more]
It Can Happen Here: The Bank Confiscation Scheme for US and UK Depositors
Confiscating the customer deposits in Cyprus banks, it seems, was not a one-off, desperate idea of a few Eurozone “troika” officials scrambling to salvage their balance sheets reveals Ellen Brown... [read more]
Unchangeable Constitution?
I find it incredible that ordinary US citizens believe that they have the right to keep and bear arms in this day and age writes Susan Walpole... [read more]
The Economy: Happy Days Are Here Again! For Whom?
Last week the stock market made a great leap forward. "Dow Leaps to Record" the Wall Street Journal blazoned on its front page. Thomas Riggins shows that the resurrection and coming again of the Dow is only one expression of the economy... [read more]
Federal IDs for All US Workers: A Trial Balloon?
According to an article in last Thursday's Wall Street Journal, the Senate is considering a bipartisan plan to require all working people in the US to carry a biometric ID card. Thomas Riggins reports... [read more]
Despite the NRA and the Ultra-Right Most Americans Favor Gun Controls
Thomas Riggins states that the majority of Americans support more gun controls to reduce and prevent the epidemic of violence in the US
... [read more]
New York City Stop and Frisk Police Harassment Found Unconstitutional
Thomas Riggins reports on a ruling that states the "stop and frisk" policy used by the NYPD is a violation of the Fourth Amendment of the US Constitution ... [read more]
Betrayal Without Remedy: The Case of the Missing Wages
Thomas Riggins explains how the US company Hostess Brands Inc. took its workers' wages and used them to cover its own expenses ... [read more]
Extreme Weather: The Maya and Us
Two weeks after Superstorm Sandy ravaged New Jersey and New York thousands of people are still without power, food or portable water and are dependent on the city, state and federal government, and increasingly on Occupy Sandy (the volunteers from Occupy Wall Street and related groups) for basic survival goods, writes Thomas Riggins.... [read more]
Call Mr Robeson – a Life with Songs
John Green writes about the life and work of one of America’s greatest singers who was ‘disappeared’ from public life and airbrushed out of the history books... [read more]
Struck Dumb
Despite hurricane Sandy, neither Barack Obama nor Mitt Romney will speak about global warming. The danger this poses is huge, writes George Monbiot.... [read more]
The teratoid of US foreign policy
Since the United States Declaration of Independence in 1776, the US has struggled with its foreign policy and its perceived role within global politics. Finn Bowen discusses the past, present and future of US foreign policy... [read more]
Rhetorically Speaking: US Elections and the Middle East
US elections are manifestly linked to the Middle East, at least rhetorically. In practical terms, however, US foreign policies in the region are compelled by the Middle East’s own dynamics and the US’ own political climate, economic woes, or ambitions, writes Ramzy Baroud.... [read more]
The circulating money supply: Why QE3 won’t jumpstart the Economy—and What Would
The economy could use a good dose of “aggregate demand”—new spending money in the pockets of consumers — but QE3 won’t do it. Neither will it trigger the dreaded hyperinflation. In fact, it won’t do much at all. There are better alternatives, argues Ellen Brown.... [read more]
Romnesia
The parasitical ultra-rich often deny the role of others in the acquisition of their wealth – and even seek to punish them for it, writes George Monbiot.... [read more]
The USA: Glorious Diversity or Cruel Contradiction?
Faysal Mikdadi takes a look at the reality of the 'American Dream'... [read more]
Neocons vs. the ‘Arab Spring’: Back on the Warpath
The neoconservatives are back with a vengeance. While popular uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen and other Arab countries had briefly rendered them irrelevant in the region, Western intervention in Libya signaled a new opportunity, writes Ramzy Baroud.... [read more]
Dance With the One Who Brung You
Protecting the environment, like protecting the welfare of a nation’s poorest and weakest people, requires a sweeping reform of political funding, on both sides of the Atlantic, writes George Monbiot.... [read more]
Racism By Any Other Name Smells
Thomas Riggins reveals the results of a poll conducted by ScienceDaily examining attitudes to the new voter identification laws in the US... [read more]
US Dictat to Pakistan Not Working
Thomas Riggins explains how America's haughty treatment of its ally is leading to a spectacular own goal... [read more]
Never forget that Bradley Manning, not gay marriage, is the issue
John Pilger shows that Barack Obama’s sudden “conversion” to the cause of same-sex marriage barely disguises the prime motives of a president as reactionary and violent as George W Bush.... [read more]
What is NATO, anyway? The reality of the "defensive alliance"
The following is a statement by March Forward! which took part in the protests against NATO in Chicago on Saturday 19th May.... [read more]
New smells, old smells
In the 60's I assigned myself the meditation of walking extremely slowly down 14th Street, Greenwich Village’s northern border, to Union Square, allowing my senses to notice acrid smells, loud sounds, crowded store windows – but not letting my mind grab for any of it, says Jean Claude van Itallie.... [read more]
Trayvon Martin and the Myth of Civil Rights in America
The tragic and senseless killing of black teenager Trayvon Martin in Florida recently once more confirms that racism remains an ever-present corrosive in US society in spite of the election of the nation’s first black president in 2008, writes John Wight.... [read more]
What's behind Kony 2012?
Eugene Puryear describes some of the hidden motivations to bringing Joseph Kony, leader of the Lord's Resistance Army, to justice... [read more]
Trashy beauty queens and the men who rule the world
In 1864, Abraham Lincoln wrote a letter that predicted where the US was heading - the world he warned about is the world we now have as bankers control the money supply having the power to make or break nations. Colin Todhunter explains
... [read more]
The Elephant is Still in the Room
The Republicans have no one to blame but themselves if they appear to be careering to electoral defeat, writes W Stephen Gilbert.... [read more]
The Death Penalty: Flawed Justice
Introducting the death penalty is not only controversial but, as Chris Bath shows, it is too easy for mistakes to be made and for innocent people to die.... [read more]
Cold War in Warm Waters: US-China’s Dangerous Contest for Asia-Pacific
A conflict is brewing, and China, emboldened by astonishing economic growth as well as military advancement, seems to be gearing up to challenge the US’s uncontested military dominance in the region, writes Ramzy Baroud.... [read more]
BDS: Power of the People at Work
The recent University of Pennsylvania BDS conference, organized by student group, PennBDS, was the latest example to illustrate both the effectiveness of the global movement and also of the real worry felt by supporters of Israel in the US, writes Ramzy Baroud.... [read more]
Lucy Parsons: labor activist, writer and revolutionary- A Liberation Black History Month profile
Women of every oppressed nationality are often at the helm of revolutionary movements. Unfortunately, the contributions of women are frequently dismissed or forgotten... [read more]
Militarism mixed with empty liberal rhetoric
Richard Becker dissects Obama's 2012 State of the Union address and shows that the 'CEO of the imperialist ruling class is carrying on with business as usual... [read more]
The Struggle Continues: US vs. Genuine Reforms at the United Nations
The country that has long been known to abuse its powers and privileges in the United Nations is now leading a campaign to reform the same organization, says Ramzy Baroud.... [read more]
Indiana: labor's next big battle
Jeff Bigelow discusses how the state of Indiana has become the latest battleground in the fight to prevent 'right to work' legislation coming into force
... [read more]
Embellishing the Iraq War: Moral Victory, and Selective Body Counts
Someone ought to let mainstream news producers know that the nearly 4,500 US soldiers killed in the Iraq war were not the only victims. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have also been killed as a result of the US invasion, says Ramzy Baroud.... [read more]
Christopher Hitchens - an obit and opinion
Amid the avalanche of articles and obituaries written in tribute to Christopher Hitchens in the wake of his recent passing, we have been reacquainted with the essential condition of western liberalism - moral depravity, says John Wight.
... [read more]
Telling the Players with a Scorecard
How politics is manifested as economics and economics as politics should concern us right now, argues Steven Colatrella.... [read more]
The higher you build your barriers, the taller I become...
Jean Claude Van Itallie shows how a recent crackdown on Occupy protesters in the US will only bring more people out into the streets, as the 99% realise they have the power. ... [read more]
Occupation of Wall Street- going from strength to strength
Jean Claude van Itallie gives an update on the Occupy Wall Street campaign
... [read more]
What might make Christopher Hitchens change his mind about 1492?
On the anniversary of ‘Columbus day’ David Hill questions journalist Christopher Hitchens' admiration of the year 1492... [read more]
These are the days of decision
Jean Claude van Itallie reflects on the recent occupation of Wall Street... [read more]
'Justice' American style
Jean Claude van Itallie tells how the state of Georgia callously executed an innocent man, Troy Davis.... [read more]
The lasting legacy of 9/11
Since the September 11 2001 attacks the world has witnessed the best and worst of humanity, writes John Wight.... [read more]
How the Billionaires Broke the System
The US deficit reduction plan makes no sense – until you remember who’s behind the Tea Party movement. ... [read more]
Whitewashing Defeat
For all his poise and rhetoric, Obama’s indecisiveness is the defining feature of his presidency, says Ramzy Baroud.... [read more]
Stating the Obvious: WikiLeaks Indicts and Vindicates US Diplomats
The Wikileaks disclosures have smashed the US government's edifice of rhetoric and lies about Iraq, writes Ramzy Baroud.... [read more]
Bush Didn't Write No Damn Book
The former US president's autobiography is little more than a revisionist hoax, writes Ahmed Amr.... [read more]
‘Dying to Win’: Newt Gingrich’s ‘Terrorism’
Bush may be gone, but right-wingers in the US are still exploiting public fears of terrorism to pursue their foreign policy agenda, as Ramzy Baroud explains.... [read more]
Regarding US Muslims: A Misguided Debate
Ramzy Baroud on why there is a blinkered and one-sided view of what causes Islamaphobia in America and how best to tackle it.... [read more]
One Crazy Pastor Threatens to Ignite More Than The Quran
Assed Baig on why one man's Islamaphobic beliefs will have big implications around the world.... [read more]
Rebranding Iraq: Playing with Numbers and Human Lives
As the US troop withdrawal begins in earnest, Ramzy Baroud asks: who won? And is the war really over?... [read more]