In perfect Bush-like fashion, President Obama has invented a bogus pretense for military intervention in yet another Middle East country. The president’s claim that the Syrian government has used chemical weapons — and thus crossed Obama’s imaginary “red line” — will likely fool very few Americans, who already distrust their president after the massive NSA spying scandal. [...]
Archive by Author
Who Killed the Syrian Peace Talks?
Shamus Cooke
The long awaited Syrian peace talks — instigated by power brokers Russia and the United States — had already passed their initial due date, and are now officially stillborn. The peace talks are dead because the U.S.-backed rebels are boycotting the negotiations, ruining any hope for peace, while threatening to turn an already tragic disaster [...]
Syria’s Fake Sectarian War
Shamus Cooke
The fate of Syria and the broader Middle East balances on a razor’s edge. The western media is giving dire warnings of an impending sectarian war between Sunni and Shia Muslims, a war that could drown the Middle East in a flood of blood. Such a war would be completely artificial, and is being manufactured [...]
How Obama and Al-Qaeda Became Syrian Bedfellows
Shamus Cooke
For a president that is executing Bush’s “war on terror” against Al-Qaeda and “its affiliates,” it seems odd that President Obama has targeted the secular Syrian government for “regime change.” Equally odd is that Obama’s strongest military ally on the ground in Syria — the best equipped and effective fighting force against the Syrian Government — is [...]
Syria Endgame Approaching Fast
Shamus Cooke
The tempo of events in Syria has increased in recent weeks. The government forces have scored significant battlefield victories over the rebels, and this has provoked a number of responses from the U.S. and its anti-Assad allies: a mixture of war provocations and peace offers. With Obama’s blessing Israel fighter jets recently attacked Syria on three [...]
The Onion Website Joins the U.S. Anti-Syria Club
Shamus Cooke
The Onion is the most famous fake news website in the world, adored by millions who visit the site regularly for a cheap laugh as well as sharp political satire. But even fake news has certain responsibilities. Recently The Onion began publishing articles that framed the Syrian conflict according to the very biased views of U.S. [...]
Obama and U.S. Military Divided Over Syria
Shamus Cooke
Has Syria crossed the “red line” that warrants a U.S. military invasion? Has it not? The political establishment in the United States seems at odds over itself. Obama’s government cannot speak with one voice on the issue, and the U.S. media is likewise spewing from both sides of its mouth in an attempt to reconcile U.S. [...]
Who Will Save Social Security and Medicare?
Shamus Cooke
Before Social Security and Medicare existed, the elderly were either completely dependent on their children or were left to beg in the streets. These programs thus remain sacred to the vast majority of Americans. They allow the elderly dignity and independence instead of poverty and insecurity. Attacking these programs has always been political suicide for the [...]
How Obama Chose War Over Peace in Syria
Shamus Cooke
With Syria on the brink of national genocide, outside nations have only two options: help reverse the catastrophe or plunge this torn nation deeper into the abyss. Countries can either work towards a peaceful political solution or they can continue to pour money, guns, and fighters into the country to ensure a steady gushing into the [...]
Wie Obama sich für Krieg statt für Frieden in Syrien entschied-Ein ‘klügerer’ Krieg?
Shamus Cooke
A German translation of How Obama Chose War Over Peace in Syria. Nachdem Syrien am Rand eines nationalen Genozids steht, haben außenstehende Länder nur zwei Optionen: helfen, diese Katastrophe rückgängig zu machen oder dieses zerrissene Land tiefer in den Abgrund zu stoßen. Länder können entweder auf eine friedliche politische Lösung hin arbeiten oder sie können weiterhin [...]
Obama’s Still Shopping for a Grand Bargain
Shamus Cooke
President Obama’s recent closed-door sessions with Republican congressmen to reach a “grand bargain” has roused suspiciously little attention in the mainstream media. What scant reporting has occurred presents the following narrative: President Obama is a “middle ground” politician attempting to breach political divides with erstwhile Republican opponents. In reality these meetings are not between political [...]
Chavez Succeeded Where Obama Failed
Shamus Cooke
When President Obama campaigned in 2008 in Portland, Oregon over 70,000 people came to hear his speech. And although I missed the event, I was intrigued by the raw emotion that the candidate’s words inspired in my community. Obama re-visited Oregon during his 2012 campaign, but the inspiration had faded from his voice, and the audience had [...]
Democrats and Labor: A Tale of Abuse
Shamus Cooke
The Democratic Party’s participation in the recent national “sequester” cuts is yet another big dent in their love affair with organized labor. But break-ups are often a protracted process. Before a relationship ends there is usually a gradual deterioration based on irreconcilable differences, until the split becomes inevitable. The decades-long marriage of labor unions and the Democratic [...]
Obama Wades Deeper Into Syria’s Morass
Shamus Cooke
The recent announcement that the United States would increase its “non lethal” military aid to Syria’s rebels shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone. Some speculated that Obama — having been repeatedly proved wrong about the Syria government’s stability — would leave Syria in silent humiliation. Not so. The destruction of Syrian society will continue, indeed, increase. Although [...]
시퀘스터의 진실, 미국 민주당과 공화당 모두 유죄
Shamus Cooke
미국 정치인들은 오랫동안 양치기 소년처럼 긴축에 대해 소란을 피워 왔다. 이제 정치인들은 여론이 그들을 무시하기에 충분한 시간이 지난 지금, 늑대를 풀어주려 한다. 양당이 만든 대량 삭감 대상은 부분적으로 다음과 같다.
Austerity USA Begins March 1st
Shamus Cooke
U.S. politicians have cried wolf over austerity long enough for the public to ignore them. A perfect time, then, for politicians to actually unleash the wolves. Barring an unlikely last minute deal, here’s a short list of some of the massive, national bi-partisan-created austerity cuts, according to the New York Times 600,000 food stamp recipients will be [...]
What the 1% Heard During Obama’s State of the Union Speech
Shamus Cooke
When President Obama speaks, most Americans hear what he wants them to hear: lofty rhetoric and a “progressive” vision. But just below the surface the president has a subtly-delivered message for the 1%, whose ears prick up when their buzzwords are mentioned. Obama’s state of the union address was such a speech — a pro-corporate [...]
Vakbondsmilitant VS: Obama, de man van de 1 procent
Shamus Cooke
This is a Dutch translation by De Wereld Morgen of “What the 1% Heard During Obama’s State of the Union Speech.” Introductie: In de media hier hoor je er nooit iets over, maar er zijn heel wat Amerikanen actief in de vakbonden. Shamus Cooke is er één van. Hij ontrafelt de speech die Obama vorige week [...]
Obama’s Shakedown of Medicare
Shamus Cooke
In a political era of corporate dominance it was inevitable that doublespeak would become the official language of Washington, DC. Now “cuts” to social programs are referred to as “savings,” while the destruction of these programs is “reform.” This is the essence of President Obama’s doublespeakish “Race to the Top” public education “reform,” as well as his [...]
More Austerity Cuts Coming to the States
Shamus Cooke
The Great Recession has quietly devastated public services on a state-by-state basis, with Republican and Democratic governors taking turns leading the charge. Public education has been decimated, as well as health care, welfare, and the wages and benefits of public sector workers. The public sector itself is being smashed. Since the recession began, states have [...]
Obama’s War on Syria and Its Implications
Shamus Cooke
The Obama administration has already declared war on Syria, even if it isn’t “official” yet. Consider the facts, all of them acts of war: The U.S. now recognizes a group of Syrian exiles to be the official government of Syria; the U.S. is providing direct support for rebels attacking the government; the U.S. has coordinated with [...]
Navigating Egypt’s Revolutionary Crisis
Shamus Cooke
As chaos again envelopes Egypt, the revolution is evolving in new directions, along contradictory and confusing channels. It’s tempting to immediately support the “opposition” to the Muslim Brotherhood’s apparent “power grab,” but the situation in Egypt is more complex. The recent events in Egypt are not simply signs of a healthy revolution, they include immediate dangers. Making sense [...]
Why UN Climate Agreements Fail
Shamus Cooke
History will undoubtedly deliver the harshest condemnations of the UN climate talks currently underway in Doha, Qatar. But the conference was laughable before it began; the inept “goals” of the talks stand in tragic-comic opposition to what we already know about climate change — that the climate has already changed in profound ways and its trajectory [...]
Why is Obama Silent Over the New Congo War?
Shamus Cooke
The last Congo war that ended in 2003 killed 5.4 million people, the worst humanitarian disaster since World War II. The killing was directly enabled by international silence over the issue; the war was ignored and the causes obscured because governments were backing groups involved in the fighting. Now a new Congo war has begun and [...]
Una nueva guerra por los minerales estalla en el Congo… envuelta en un silencio atronador
Shamus Cooke
A Spanish translation of “Why is Obama Silent Over the New Congo War?” La última guerra del Congo acabó en 2003 después de causar 5,4 millones de muertos, el mayor desastre humanitario desde la Segunda Guerra Mundial. El silencio internacional permitió aquella masacre al ignorar la guerra y ocultar sus causas porque los gobiernos apoyaban [...]
Labor’s Call to Action: The Grand Bargain Betrayal
Shamus Cooke
The labor movement is in terminal crisis. After decades of declining membership, the union movement has been targeted for destruction: private sector union membership is near eradication, and now the corporations are on a public-sector mopping up mission, using the city, state, and federal budget deficits as an excuse to target public sector unions. Obama’s Race to the Top [...]
The U.S. Role in Israel’s Attack on Gaza
Shamus Cooke
As Obama tours Southeast Asia to strengthen his alliances against China, Gazans are being killed and maimed by the hundreds, with the possibility of an incredibly bloody Israeli invasion. The United States still wields tremendous power internationally; its actions and inactions have direct consequences in international conflicts.
Obama Nudges Syria Toward Regional War
Shamus Cooke
Humanitarian catastrophes are surprisingly easy to predict. Take Syria for instance. Like Iraq, Syria has a complex mix of ethnicity and religion, with a long history of conflict. Enter the United States, who comes with guns and cash that it doles out to certain ethnic/religious groups, and not to others. The ensuing bloodbath is not a [...]
Will Unions Fight Fiscal Cliff Cuts to Medicare and Social Security?
Shamus Cooke
With pro-Obama election posters still visible in most union halls across the country, the President has already taken steps towards selling out not only labor unions (again) but all working people. But this isn’t the “ordinary” sellout that working people have come to expect from Democrats — this is an attack of historic proportions. The [...]
Will the Democrats Tax the Rich to Avoid the Fiscal Cliff?
Shamus Cooke
Literally the day after the election a sudden “urgency” gripped the nation: the imminent danger of the so-called “fiscal cliff” — the national automatic tax increases and spending cuts due in January. The media screamed that the suddenly approaching fiscal cliff would trigger a recession, forcing Democrats and Republicans to consider a “grand bargain” budget deal to avoid disaster.
Portland Anti-Austerity Protest Draws 1,000 Despite Police Violence
Shamus Cooke
It’s difficult to build a pre-election protest with so many labor and community groups busy campaigning for Democrats. Nevertheless, over 1,000 people marched the streets in Portland, Oregon against austerity cuts to education and other public services and the consequent debt accumulated by students.
Five Easy Post-Election Predictions (No Matter Who Wins)
Shamus Cooke
It’s true that Barack Obama and Mitt Romney have many political differences. But they also agree on many essential policies; enough to make the next four years easily predictable, no matter who wins. Here are five predictions based on the most important shared beliefs of the two candidates:
Cinco previsões para depois das eleições
Shamus Cooke
A Portuguese translation of Five Easy Post-Election Predictions (No Matter Who Wins) É verdade que Barack Obama e Mitt Romney têm muitas diferenças políticas. Mas também estão de acordo em muitas políticas essenciais; o suficiente para tornar os próximos quatro anos facilmente previsíveis, seja quem for o vencedor. Eis cinco previsões baseadas nas mais importantes convicções [...]
Portland, Oregon Prepares for Pre-Election Anti-Austerity Protest
Shamus Cooke
On November 3rd Portland community and labor groups will declare “enough is enough” by organizing a first for the U.S. — a large demonstration against government austerity cuts.
Capitalism’s Two Step Survival Plan: Austerity and Structural Reform
Shamus Cooke
The coast is clear, the media tells us; economic disaster has been averted. The Euro Zone is finally stable and the U.S. economy is recovering. Whew!
Articles of Interest
CORE slate re-elected in landslide in Chicago Teachers Union
Richard Trumka: The 'grand bargain' is a dead end
On the Impotence of the Progressive Movement
Revealed: how the FBI coordinated the crackdown on Occupy
Bradley Manning is off limits at SF Gay Pride parade, but corporate sleaze is embraced
Cutting Social Security–More than a Bad Idea
The Forgotten Radical History of the March on Washington
Freedom Rider: Obama and the Class War- Hong Kong Dockworkers Strike Attracts Huge Solidarity
Understanding the Venezuelan Presidential Election Outcome
