BY ALEX MILLER
“WHY TORTURE?”
Eloquent caption indeed, despite the typos and the clueless technician at CNN.
BY STEVEN JONAS
UPDATED: OCT 17, 2007 The Political Junkies.net Column No. 167
The US government use of torture is in the news once again, and as long as BushCheney are in power it will be, off and on. For they have made its use into US government policy. Of course, they describe whatever it is that is being done as “not torture.” They then go on to say that a) “we can’t give you any details because: a) it’s classified and b) anyone who spills the beans will be “aiding and abetting terrorism and terrorists” (as if such persons didn’t already know from first-hand experience with Georgite torture at the hands of either US torturers or those of allies such as Egypt). This is done, and was done in a picture-perfect version by the White House Press Secretary in response to the revelations of the current secret program of torture carried out after Bush said “we-don’t-torture,” because that’s what they want to have the discussion on: “what’s torture?” Continue reading ‘“WHY TORTURE?”’
Bush’s Shadow Army
BY JEREMY SCAHILL
Bush’s “Whores of War,” or, maybe, more appropriate, the boys from the “Coalition of the Billing.”
TOPICS OF PERMANENT INTEREST
Crosspost at THE NATION, where it originally appeared, and to whom we are grateful: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070402/scahill_vid
[first posted online on March 15, 2007]
Jeremy Scahill reports on the Bush Administration’s growing dependence on private security forces such as Blackwater USA and efforts in Congress to rein them in. This article is adapted from his new book, Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army (Nation Books). Continue reading ‘Bush’s Shadow Army’
It’s the Resistance, Stupid
The Iraqi resistance may merely want the Americans and other westerners out of Iraq, but bin Laden’s goal is more ample: to rid the entire Middle East of “crusader” influence. Though bin Laden is an unapologetic religious fundamentalist, it is his nationalist “foreign policy” that gains him as many supporters among the Arab masses as his strong beliefs in the infallibillity of the Koran.
BY PEPE ESCOBAR
The ultimate nightmare for White House/Pentagon designs on Middle East energy resources is not Iran after all: it’s a unified Iraqi
resistance, comprising not only Sunnis but also Shi’ites.
“It’s the resistance, stupid” - along with “it’s the oil, stupid”.
The intimate connection means there’s no way for Washington to
control Iraq’s oil without protecting it with a string of sprawling
military “super-bases”. Continue reading ‘It’s the Resistance, Stupid’
photo: ranson-polizzotti
By Sadi Ranson-Polizzotti
Out of the School Yard and into the Boardroom: The New American Bully, On Film, In Life // A Compleat Guide to Harassment from Unexpected Quarters
All over the world, and most especially, in corporate America, a terrible war is being waged, one that seems so unlikely and preposterous. It is woman against woman, and it is a systematic and conscious marginalizing of smart, talented, women of all looks, race and shape who face a daily work-place assault by the least likely of oppressors- their female supervisor - one who subjects her underlings to such extreme and inappropriate behavior that if a man did it (and with today’s laws, he wouldn’t, not if he were smart anyway), would be facing a sexual harassment suit faster than you could say “Anita Hill.” Bullying is now recognized by the American Medical Association (AMA) as a serious public health problem. Continue reading ‘The Ways and Whys of Female-to-Female Bullying’
By character and class consciousness Pelosi is simply reacting to events as the wealthy bourgeoise she is. If revolution and true defiance to the status quo will come they won’t come from creatures ensconced in privilege.
TAKE ONE: A VIEW FROM THE LEFT
House Speaker Pelosi lashes out at antiwar protesters
By Patrick Martin \ Dateline: 15 October 2007
Crosspost with the World Socialist Web Site www.wsws.org, which originated the article.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the most powerful Democrat in Washington, normally maintains a public display of sympathy towards the mass opposition to the war in Iraq—an opposition which propelled the Democrats into control of the House and Senate in the congressional elections last November. Continue reading ‘THE DEMOCRATS’ BETRAYAL—TWO UNUSUAL TAKES’
CINEMA CLASSICS: The Unreal Reality
Directed by Georges Franju
The Georges Franju horror classic reviewed for the Criterion Collection by David Kalat
There is a moment in Eyes Without a Face you’ll know it when you see it, when, according to L’Express, the spectators dropped like flies. At the Edinburgh Film Festival, seven viewers actually fainted, prompting director Georges Franju to crow undiplomatically. Now I know why Scotsmen wear skirts. The movie scandalized viewers so much, the outraged French critical establishment tried to deny that the film even existed. The only English reviewer to admit that she liked it was nearly fired. Continue reading ‘FILM REVIEWS—Eyes Without a Face’
By Jim Holt
London Review of Books
Editors’ Note: The LRB and Holt are British mainstream liberals, conservative at times, a position Cyrano is certainly not comfortable with nor endorses. But this article presents a plausible explanation for what otherwise would have to be a case of historically unprecedented and criminally insane meddling in the affairs of another nation. But the fact this analysis posits a rational scenario for this murderous war is not exactly comforting.
Iraq is ‘unwinnable’, a ‘quagmire’, a ‘fiasco’: so goes the received opinion. But there is good reason to think that, from the Bush-Cheney perspective, it is none of these things. Indeed, the US may be ‘stuck’ precisely where Bush et al want it to be, which is why there is no ‘exit strategy’. Continue reading ‘It’s the Oil —hard lessons in realpolitik’
Like most global corporate media conglomerates, TIME-Warner (which includes CNN) is unrelenting in its promotion of war and idealization of military duty. A new Nuremberg should one day include media barons and their top hirelings as defendants for high crimes against humanity.
BY JOHN STEPPLING // DIALOGUES FROM VOXPOP
Editor’s Note: Our special blog on culture and politics — and countless other topics— VOXPOP uses a dialog format between its co-editors, Guy Zimmerman and John Steppling, both playwrights. This is just one of many excerpts from what is truly a unique public epistolary.
Guy—
The entire MoveOn.org ad spectacle was a perfect example of both the trivializing of American politics, and of the seemingly endless adoration this society has for the military. It was also yet another blow to free speech. The erosion of the first amendment (and the second, and the….) is now at critical mass. Is there any free speech anymore? Well, only in a prescribed fashion, in limited less than public ways. The mantra of this worship of authority and militarism is “support the troops”. I will say again, no, I don’t support the goddamn troops. I feel compassion for those young men and women foolish enough (and economically coerced enough) to join up, but I don’t support them. Continue reading ‘The Worship practice of our new Mortuary Cult’
Balthazar, finally at peace. This film by Bresson is probably the most haunting film ever made.
C L A S S I C >>>>F I L M
Movie Reviews \\\ Editors’ Note: At Cyrano we do not intend to reinvent the wheel. When we have a movie review written by one of our editors or associates, we run it. When we don’t, we still run the film and use a review in public distribution that we think does the job. The point is not ego but education of the public sensibilities, especially since we believe that all great art is moral. This ecumenical approach is further suggested by the rise of the Net, and of citizens’ journalism, which provide a wealth of reviews from different quarters: readers’ commentary on films, professional evaluations by well-known critics, and so on. Cyrano’s reviews tap all of these sources without prejudice, as amateur reviews are often freer in their expression than commercial ones. But rarely does one single review capture all there’s to be said about an important film, so sometimes we run two or even three “takes” on a given title. When we do, we think they deserve it.
Continue reading ‘FILM REVIEWS: Au Hasard Balthazar by Robert Bresson’
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INTRO & REMINDER TO THE READER Betrayed by the rightwing social-democrat Friedrich Ebert (whom Luxembourg had once tutored in economics) and at his behest, Rosa was captured by the Freikorps (a rightwing militia of decommissioned soldiers soured by the First World War defeat and manipulated by the German plutocracy) and promptly assassinated. Luxemburg’s last known words, written on the evening of her murder, were about her belief in the masses, and in the inevitability of revolution: Continue reading ‘Socialism or barbarism?’ |