The Wisdom of the People – the Populist Rationale

By Michael Collins

The citizens of the United States have excellent judgment. They have shown it consistently over time. When that judgment shifts briefly allowing a failed policy, it is a result of the vilest forms of propaganda by a small clique of liars. (Image: PS-OV-ART)

The people were right about the invasion of Iraq

We know that the plan to invade Iraq began just days after Inauguration Day, 2001. The opportunity to launch the most disastrous and costly military effort in our history came on 9/11. The destruction of the World Trade Center towers and attack on the Pentagon became the pretext for war. The manipulators launched their fraudulent storyline in earnest with confidence that they would get their war.

But in December of 2002, the public wasn’t buying it. The people didn’t have access to all of the information. They knew one thing for sure — the invasion was a very bad idea unless Iraq posed an imminent threat to the country with weapons of mass destruction. An in depth Los Angeles Times public opinion poll asked this question:

Strong Unions – The Worst Nightmare for the Financial Elite

Michael Collins

Man wouldn’t pay you unless he had to. Chris Rock

The antiunion movement in the United States keeps us underpaid and represents a serious impediment to economic growth. Despite that, the antiunion sentiment remains strong among the political establishment and their patrons. Why?

Worker rights and a decent wage represent a toxic brew to the ruling elite. In the past, they expressed their antiunion position in a crude fashion. From the 1870s through the 1920s, industrialists fought union growth with hired thugs and complicit law enforcement officials. Organizers and union members were harassed, maimed, and killed throughout the country for simply acting on the right to organize and participate in a union.

Mubarak unleashes thugs on peaceful protesters

By The Real News Network

With the Egyptian army standing with the people demanding dictator Mubarak’s removal from power, Mubarak sent in a private corps of thugs using machetes, water cannons, batons, tear gas, tanks and horses to disperse the protesters who peacefully held the square for nine days. The Egyptians fully understand that the tear gas, tanks and guns are US-made.

UN: Pressure Mounts on Security Council to Rein in Israel

Palestinians carry the body of Jawaher Abu Rahmah during her funeral in the West Bank village of Bilin.A report has indicated that Israeli troops are knowingly using a deadly tear gas against Palestinians who take part in peaceful demonstrations. The report followed the death of a Palestinian woman, who lost her life after inhaling gas fired by Israeli troops.

By Haider Rizvi         IPS News see UPDATE below

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 6, 2011 (IPS) – Calls are growing for a swift international response to the situation in the Middle East, as Israel continues to build new settlements in Palestinian territories with increased military actions against civilians.

However, there is no sign that the 15-member Security Council intends to take any immediate measures to rejuvenate the stalled peace process led by the U.N., the United States, the European Union and Russia.

“I don’t want to prejudge anything at this moment,” Ivan Barbalić, president of the Security Council for this month, told IPS in response to a question about whether or not the Council would soon be holding a meeting to discuss the Middle East situation.

Last week, the Palestinian envoy Riyad Mansour sent a letter to U.S. ambassador Susan Rice, who was then president of the Security Council, in which he described the current situation in Palestine as “grave” and said it required “urgent attention and serious action” by the international community, including the Security Council.

Whom Does the State Represent?

By Numerian

“Where are Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan when you need them?” So lamented CNBC business commentator Larry Kudlow yesterday in response to riots in Greece over proposed financial cutbacks. Greek protesters, numbering over 10,000, shut down commerce, took over the Acropolis – Athens’ ancient birthplace of democracy – and firebombed office buildings and police stations. Three employees died of smoke inhalation in a fire at a bank – the first deaths in a Greek protest since 1991.

Kudlow asserted that these riots were the work of the unions, and what Greece needed was a tough guy in the mold of Thatcher or Reagan who would stand up to the unions. Public sector unions are certainly at the forefront in organizing these protests, but Greek authorities say that the violence is being perpetrated by “anarchists” – youth in their 20s who show up at a protest scene dressed all in black, with black hoods or masks, and who then begin to throw stones at the police and Molotov cocktails at bank buildings.

Sudanese Police Beat & Arrest 13 Women & Girls for Wearing Pants in Public

Sudanese journalist to be imprisoned for wearing pants

By Halima Mohamed

Today, a Sudanese court in Khartoum sentenced Sudanese journalist Lubna Hussein to a fine of $200 or a one month imprisonment, in the case of non-payment.

Lubna Hussein was apprehended July 3 by a public order police raid of a restaurant in Khartoum. Among the 13 women detained with the journalist, 10 were fined and flogged, in the absence of defense and their families. Some of the accused were minors and Christians.

Tibet in 3rd generation of martial law

By Scott Ludlam

Dharamsala is a capital without a country; home to the Central Tibetan Administration and the Parliament in Exile, the Tibetan Children’s Village, and key cultural institutions. It is a refuge, a time capsule, a seedpod, a living archive and seat of an active democracy. At the home of the Parliament, the Speaker gives us a wry insight into the world of Tibetan democratic intrigue as we try to get our heads around the complex politics of the Diaspora.