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Class War Weapon of Choice – For the Holidays and All Days

Joel S. Hirschhorn, COA News January 3, 2007 Joel S. Hirschhorn, COA News

The motto of the United States of Consumption is "In More We Trust." The contribution of American culture to humanity is consumption obsession. Our epidemic of obesity, our land gluttonous suburban sprawl, our monster-size environmental footprint, our ravenous automobile addiction, and our heartless greed are symptoms of a deep-seated, sick mental state that keeps the economy humming. And it keeps increasing economic inequality and apartheid.

Saparmurat Niyazov

What Transition for Turkmenistan?

Rene Wadlow January 2, 2007 Rene Wadlow

The death of the President-for-Life of Turkmenistan, Saparmurat Niyazov, on 21 December 2006, the shortest day of the year, has again proved that all humans are mortal, and that death is the great equalizer.  The Turkmenbashi, "Father of all Turkmen" had set the stage for his own immortality, having written down from heavenly sources a two-volume book The Ruknama (The Book of the Soul) on the model of the Koran which was dictated to but not written by the Prophet Muhammad.

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In Gaza: Democracy and Its Discontents

Ramzy Baroud January 2, 2007 Ramzy Baroud

It's all too convenient for the BBC website to describe the ongoing bloodshed between Hamas and Fatah supporters in the Gaza Strip as "inter-factional rivalry", and it's equally fitting for the Washington Post to narrate the same unfortunate events - which have left many Palestinians dead and wounded - as if they are entirely detached from their adjoining regional and international milieus.  

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Hold those responsible for Iraq accountable

Gary Olson December 28, 2006 Gary Olson

I've been struggling to write something new about the war in Iraq but failed to find any appropriate words. Despite everything we now know about the war, the U.S. occupation continues. While policymakers procrastinate and parse the finer points of withdrawing all U.S. troops, more flag-covered coffins relentlessly emerge from the bowels of giant wing-tipped hearses in Dover, Del.

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Russian labor: On the road to resurgence?

Dan Read December 27, 2006 Dan Read

Fifteen years ago, the super power that had once ruled over more than a fifth of the earth's surface collapsed in a conflagration of economic chaos and social upheaval. After all manner of frenzied reforms and adjustments, the entire economic and political apparatus of  the USSR imploded in the process ushering in a whole new era of global politics.