23rd November 2011 was the first anniversary of the artillery exchange between the two Koreas around the island of Yeonpyeong off the west coast of Korea.
The images conjured up sordid memories of decades ago. Two young people laying dead on the ground, shot to death while heavily-armed state policemen were breaking up a public protest.
What a Busted Robot Airplane Tells Us About the American Empire in 2012 and Beyond
In his remarks to the Australian parliament on November 17, President Obama declared that the U. S. was making the Asia-Pacific region a top priority.
We can be sure, however, that as long as Liberty Square and occupations around the world remain sites of contestation, disputed spaces riven by multiple claims, they will continue to be spaces of appearance, stages for actors, action, and the spectacular production of democracy.
The climate conference in Durban has led some observers to conclude that developed countries are engaged in a form of apartheid against the rest of the world. But Nnimmo Bassey hopes negotiators will heed the voices of the people.
Despite repeated expressions of support by President Barack Obama for democratic change during the “Arab Spring”, the United States remains widely distrusted in the region, according to a major new survey of public opinion in five Arab countries released here Monday.
Colombia, traditionally Washington’s best ally in the region, is cozying up to Brazil and building a solid commercial, financial and political network with its neighbor while Washington becomes more and more isolated as a result of the geopolitical restructuring taking place globally and regionally.
Sometimes, just when you least expect it, symbolism steps right up and coldcocks you. So how about this headline for – in the spirit of our last president – ushering America’s withdrawal from Iraq right over the nearest symbolic cliff: “U.S. empties biggest Iraq base, takes Saddam’s toilet.” They’re talking about Victory Base, formerly – again in the spirit of thoroughly malevolent symbolism – Camp Victory, the enormous American military base that sits at the edge of Baghdad International Airport and that we were never going to leave.
The problem here is “governance failure.” Or maybe we should just call it “decadence.” The United States may at this point be so weakened by rot and ideology that it is unable even to act in its own interests, let alone the interests of its people, let alone the interests of humanity as a whole.
Funding for agricultural development – some US$7.7 billion worth – would be directed in large part to genetically modified crop research. In other words, food aid policy for the first time mandates the use of genetic modification technologies.
The nuclear threat, organizers say, extends beyond Tohoku, even beyond Japan. And indeed, this is the message that has been heard around the world, as the anti-nuke protest and politics were staged with specific reference to Fukushima (sadly, rarely with respect to the wider Tohoku region).
On November 6, Otto Perez-Molina was voted Guatemala’s next president. Perez has been accused of genocide and serious human rights violations on numerous occasions.
What happens in Sri Lanka over the next five years might have a lot to do with the way the country looks for the next three decades.
The Complex is forever (at least as its managers see it). Despite modest rumblings in Washington about the Pentagon and intelligence budgets and the deficit, it”s not just considered too big to fail, but generally too big to question, and too deeply embedded to think much about.