Oct 07 2007
Cyrano’s Journal Online and its semi-autonomous subsections (Thomas Paine’s Corner, The Greanville Journal, CJO Avenger, and VoxPop) would be delighted to periodically email you links to the most recent material and timeless classics available on our diverse and comprehensive site. If you would like to subscribe, type “CJO subscription” in the subject line and send your email to
By Dr. Habib Siddiqui
10/7/07
On September 25, 2007 President Bush announced “new” sanctions against the military government of Burma, symbolically joining hands with tens of thousands of protesters in the streets of Yangon and challenging the United Nations to join him in a broader “mission of liberation.”
However, as I see it, the older sanctions imposed by the USA and some western countries did not really bite deep into the skin of the SPDC regime that is ruling Burma. There is also crass hypocrisy in how the sanctions have thus far been imposed by the Bush Administration. A multi-national oil company like Chevron was apparently exempted from adhering to the sanction rule book and is allowed to do business as usual in the oil and gas exploration sector with the SPDC.
Why this selective application for an oil company? Well, we don’t have to be reminded that oil is important to the trio - Bush, Cheney & Rice – all linked with the oil industry before joining the Administration. As is also obvious now, it was not the WMD but the control of the oil fields in Iraq that was the primary motivation for why they invaded Iraq. [And of course, there are other reasons too, namely, making the region ‘secure’ for the rogue state - Israel.] I doubt that the Bush Administration is unaware that the Chevron-money goes directly to the pockets of the SPDC regime, providing the necessary blood infusion that it needs to function. [But then again, we are continuously reminded by our Wall Street pundits that if Chevron does not do business, there are many other non-American companies willing to close the deal with the Myanmar regime! They argue: why should a U.S. company suffer the brunt of unfair trading or business practices?] So, if the Bush Administration wants it to be taken seriously, it must go beyond the hollow rhetoric to imposing biting sanctions to isolate the hated regime.
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Jul 27 2007
SPECIAL: From our classic archives
Joseph Goebbels, Hitler’s Minister of propaganda, would have admired the American system’s ability to tell big lies and keep telling them year in year out to fool most of the people.
The presentation of an illegal invasion of a foreign country as a “preventative” or pre-emptive war did not originate with Bush, Cheney or Rumsfeld…It had ample precursors in Nazi Germany. The ongoing US aggression in the Middle East raises the most serious questions about the role of the mass media in modern society. In the period leading up to the invasion, the American [corporate] media uncritically advanced the Bush Administration’s arguments, rooted in lies, distortions and half-truths, for an attack on Iraq. It virtually excluded all critical viewpoints, to the point of blacking out news of mass anti-war demonstrations and any other facts that contradicted the propaganda from the White House and Pentagon.
The obvious aim was to misinform and manipulate public opinion, and convince the tens of millions within the US who were opposed to the Administration’s war policy that they constituted a small and helpless minority…[READ THE REST OF THIS IMPORTANT ESSAY]
Jul 18 2007
Cyrano’s Journal Online, Thomas Paine’s Corner, The Greanville Journal, CJO Avenger, and VoxPop are initiating a weekly email which will include links to both the most recent offerings and to timeless classics available on our very diverse and comprehensive site. If you would like to subscribe, type “CJO subscription” in the subject line and send your email to
By Steven Jonas
7/18/07
In the famous Humphrey Bogart/Ingrid Bergman movie Casablanca, the character Captain Renault of the French police is famously played by Claude Rains. Upon walking into Rick’s (the Humphrey Bogart character) bar near the beginning of the movie, he famously says: “I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on here!” And so, the reaction among many on all sides of the political spectrum to the Libby commutation has been: “shocked, shocked” to find that it has happened.
How could Bush do this? After all, he has always been so strict on the question of commutations, and pardons too. It is so obviously political, or a payback, or a payoff, or a cover-up, or a bone for his “conservative” base, or he is reaching out at least halfway to Sean Hannity (who is saying that well, it’s OK, but now Bush should really go and do the right [in both senses, I guess] thing and pardon the guy.”) Yes, it is obviously most of those things and probably all of them.
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Jul 08 2007
Cyrano’s Journal Online, Thomas Paine’s Corner, The Greanville Journal, CJO Avenger, and VoxPop are initiating a weekly email which will include links to the latest high quality content available on our very diverse and comprehensive site. If you would like to subscribe, type “CJO subscription” in the subject line and send your email to
By Pablo Ouziel
7/8/07
On the 23 of June, I had the opportunity to attend the Friends of Trees Conference in Barcelona. It has taken me a few weeks to digest all the information, which I, together with about 900 other people managed to inhale: The fumes of change, the organic revolution, the climate crisis, the need for solidarity and action. It was a most overwhelming task: and Al Gore’s redundant joke of: “I used to be the next president of the United States,” has hardly helped ease the intensity of the situation.
The crowds clapped at every comment made by the speakers, who endlessly praised each other for their wonderful efforts in shaping the future of our environment. Yet my impressions of the entire event were so off-putting, that is until I listened to a most articulate and powerful Indian woman with a soothing voice and right hook dialogue, called Vandana Shiva. Her genuine commitment to the preservation of the planet, her emotional personal descriptions of the non-violent Chipko movement during the 1970s in the Uttarakhand region of India, her open dialogue about corrupt multinationals and unjust wars, and her inspiring leadership abilities should serve as an example to the rest of the world.
‘Saving the environment’ has become the latest trend in western societies, the new toy of the rich and privileged; this is something I would certainly not object to, if the consequences were not so devastating for those who have fought for environmental values for decades with the social stigma of being labeled with all kind of degrading labels, tree huggers and the likes. I am not a ‘tree hugger’ myself, however over the years I have spent a lot of time with many who are, people who have that characteristic innate in their nature, in their love for humanity, the environment; frankly, Al Gore hardly qualifies as one.
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