Page 383 – Toward Freedom

Official: The US is a Leading Terrorist State

Noam Chomsky October 22, 2014 Noam Chomsky

Imagine that the lead article in Pravda reported a study by the KGB that reviews major terrorist operations run by the Kremlin around the world, in an effort to determine the factors that led to their success or failure, finally concluding that unfortunately successes were rare so that some rethinking of policy is in order. Suppose that the article went on to quote Putin as saying that he had asked the KGB to carry out such inquiries in order to find cases of “financing and supplying arms to an insurgency in a country that actually worked out well. And they couldn’t come up with much.” So he has some reluctance about continuing such efforts. read more

Indigenous Communities Constitute a Global Movement for Alternatives to Climate Crises

Christin Sandberg October 22, 2014 Christin Sandberg

Representatives from the world’s indigenous people had a prominent place on the global stage for a few days in New York. At the UN World Conference on Indigenous People, they demonstrated that they are not alone in their struggle for rights, but rather constitute a global movement.

Ebola, The African Union and Bioeconomic Warfare

Horace Campbell October 22, 2014 Horace Campbell

As the Ebola outbreak rages, and there are projections of more than 1.4 million persons infected in the next few months, the African Union and ECOWAS has taken a back seat as the international media uses this virus to stigmatize Africa and Africans.

Britain’s Real Promise to Israel: A “Symbolic” Vote on Palestine

Ramzy Baroud October 22, 2014 Ramzy Baroud

Sixty-six years after ending its “mandate” in Palestine, Britain remains a party in a bloody conflict where Israel is still carrying out the same policies of colonial expansion, using western - including British - funds, arms and political support.

The Neo-Scramble for Africa

SALIM MUWAKKIL October 22, 2014 SALIM MUWAKKIL

Source: In These Times

Our first black president’s approach to Africa doesn’t feel like a first.

In the new race for Africa, the United States staked its position in early August, when President Obama convened four dozen African heads of state for the first-ever U.S.-African Leaders Summit. The three-day gathering was the most direct expression of the United States’ growing concern with China’s deepening influence on the continent.

According to the Brookings Institution, China overtook the United States as Africa’s largest trading partner in 2009 and has been widening the margin ever since. China’s not acting out of altruism, of course. It has developed an insatiable appetite for Africa’s mineral and petroleum resources. read more

Venezuela at the UN, Washington At Bay

Greg Grandin October 22, 2014 Greg Grandin

Source: The Nation

Last week, 181 member states of the United Nations voted yea in Venezuela’s favor, allowing Caracas to take one of the two non-permanent seats on the Security Council reserved for Latin America.

Tongues clucked and fingers wagged. In the run-up to the vote, editorial boards, columnists and members of congress urged Washington to whip together the sixty-five nations needed to block Venezuela’s two-year term. But in the end, Samantha Power, the US ambassador to the UN, could only secure only eleven opposing votes. Venezuela was Latin America’s unanimous choice to replace outgoing Argentina, joining Chile, which has one more year left. Kenneth Roth, the executive director of Human Rights Watch, tweeted his concern: “Shameful that Latin America 1) proposes abusive #Venezuela for UN Security Council, and 2) no one else, so no choice.” read more