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Today's Stories

March 22, 2004

Greg Moses
A Report from Houston

Lenni Brenner
Report from NYC: Old and Young Parade for Peace

March 20 / 21, 2004

Alexander Cockburn
Gay Marriage: Sidestep on Freedom's Path

Jeffrey St. Clair
Intolerable Opinions in an Age of Shock and Awe: What Would Lilburne Do?

Ted Honderich
Tony Blair's Moral Responsibility for Atrocities

Saul Landau / Farrah Hassen
The Plot Against Syria: an Irresponsibility Act

Gary Leupp
On Viewing "The Passion of the Christ"

William A. Cook
Fence, Barrier, Wall

Phil Gasper
Bush v. Bush-lite: Chomsky's Lesser Evilism

Ron Jacobs
Fox News and the Masters of War

John Stanton
Which Way John Kerry? The Senator's Inner Nixon

Justin Felux
Kerry and Black America: Just Another Stupid White Man

Mike Whitney
Greenspan's Treason: Swindling Posterity

Augustin Velloso
Avoiding Osama's Abyss

Lawrence Magnuson
Eyes Wide Open: Is Spain Caving in to Terrorism?

Kathy Kelly
Getting Together to Defeat Terrorism

Tracy McLellan
Scalia & Cheney: Happiness is a Warm Gun

Kurt Nimmo
Emma Goldman for President!

Luis J. Rodriguez
The Redemptive Power of Art: It's Not a Frill

Mickey Z
The Michael Moore Diet

Jackie Corr
When Harry Truman Stopped in Butte

Niranjan Ramakrishnan
The Great Trial of 1922: Gandhi's Vision of Responsibility

Poets' Basement
Stew Albert & JD Curtis

Website of the Weekend
Virtual World Election

 

March 19, 2004

Jeffrey St. Clair
Zapatero to Kerry: Back Off, Senator, Our Troops are Coming Home

Ann Harrison
So Protesters, How Well Do You Know Your Rights?

William MacDougall
Fortress Britain's War on "Economic Migrants"

Greg Moses
Sold American: Cowboy Nation Gets Ready to Vote

Cynthia McKinney
Haiti and the Impotence of Black America: Roll Back This Coup, Mr. Bush

Norman Solomon
Spinning the Past; Threatening the Future

John L. Hess
"Missing" Evidence and the NYTs

Vicente Navarro
The End of Aznar, Bush's Best Friend

Website of the War
Naming the Dead


March 18, 2004

Gila Svirsky
Rachel Corrie, One Year Later: She Never Lost Faith in Decency

Christopher Brauchli
Drilling a Hole in the Sanctions: How Halliburton Made $73 Million from Saddam

William Kulin
Report from Iraq: Just Another Baghdad Car Bombing

Mike Whitney
Resistance: a Moral Imperative

Rep. Ron Paul
Broadcast Indecency Act: an Indecent Attack on the First Amendment

Josh Frank
The Nader Question

Jack Random
They Lied & They Lost: Madrid and the Lessons of Democracy

Greg Bates
What Makes a Nader Voter Tick? A Survey

Sam Hamod / Alfredo Reyes
Contempt of the World: Hastert, Bush and Cheney on Spain

Gary Leupp
The Madrid Bombings: the Chickens Come Home to Roost

Website of the Day
Privatizing Armageddon: Buy Your Own Doomsday Key

 

 

March 17, 2004

Marjorie Cohn
Spain, the EU and the US: War on Terror or Civil Liberties?

David MacMichael
Untruth and Consequences

Michael Donnelly
Wear the Green, But Skip the Green Beer

Tom Stephens
"Steady Leadership": Let the Buyer Beware

Wayne Madsen
Sen. Kerry, Let Me Help You Out

Karyn Strickler
Who Owns the Sierra Club? Anonymous Donors and Rigged Elections

Peter Linebaugh
Bush: Blanc Blanc

 

 

March 16, 2004

Lenni Brenner
James Madison: the Anti-Clerical Father of the Bill of Rights

Scott Boehm
Madrid Diary: How to Change World Order in Four Days

Alexander Lynch
From Franco to Aznar: the History Behind the Spanish Elections

Sam Hamod and Alfredo Reyes
The Truth About the Spanish Elections: Aznar Was Going Down Anyway

Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
You Wouldn't Do a Dog This Way: Executing David Clayton Hill

Mike Whitney
The Case for a Nuclear Iran

Robert Fisk
The Bloody Price of the "War on Terror"

Bill Christison
The Aftershocks from Madrid

CounterPunch Photo Wire
The Passion of St. Teresa

Website of the Day
Join the War on Art!

 

March 15, 2004

Harry Browne
Terror Nothing New to Europe

Mike Whitney
Justice Not Murder: the Tragic Symmetry of Terrorism

Lidice Valenzuela
Haiti: a Coup without Consultation

Greg Moses
Lessons from the Texas Primaries: Looking for a Coalition with Legs

Mickey Z.
Depraved Indifference: C-Sections, Patriarchy & Women's Health

Asaf Shtull-Trauring
AWOL in New York: From Refusenik to Organizer

CounterPunch Wire
Gen. Gramajo Executed by Bees!

 

March 12 / 14, 2004

Gabriel Kolko
The Coming Elections and the Future of American Global Power

Saul Landau
Oh, Jesus...It's the Movie!

William Blum
Neo-Con(tradictions)

William S. Lind
Why They Throw Rocks

Rahul Mahajan
The Meaning of Madrid: War on "Terrorism" Makes Us All Less Safe

Neve Gordon
Demographic Wars

Kurt Nimmo
Kerry and the Progressive Interventionists

Mickey Z.
The "New" UN Blames the Poor

Mike Whitney
War Games: the American Media Leads the Charge

Helen Scott and Ashley Smith
Aristide's Fall: What Led to the Coup?

Justin E.H. Smith
Loïc Wacquant: Against a Sociodicy of the American Prison

Brandy Baker
Him Again? Al Gore Needs to Move On

Robin Philpot
Nobody Can Call It a "Plane Crash" Now: the Report on the Assassination of Rwandan President Habyarimana

Mokhiber / Weissman
The Meat Monopoly Takes a Rare Pounding

Dave Zirin
She Turned Her Back on the War: an Interview with Toni Smith

Daniel Wolff
The Lord's Pier

 

 

March 11, 2004

Ron Jacobs
Bedtime for Democracy

Bill Kauffman
Hey, Ralph! Why Not Another Party of the People?

James Hollander
Slaughter in Madrid: Consolidating an Ally?

Norman Solomon
They Shoot Journalists, Don't They?

Patrick Gavin
The Salvation of Dan Quayle: Family Values Return

Becky Burgwin
You're Messing with the Wrong Generation

John Sugg
The FBI is on My Trail

March 10, 2004

Hammond Guthrie
Read This Book!: "Who the Hell is Stew Albert?"

Chris Floyd
Operation Enduring Sweatshop: Another Bush Brings Hell to Haiti

Elizabeth Corrie
Remembering the Death of Rachel Corrie

Mike Whitney
US Press Torpedoes Aristide

M. Junaid Alam
An Anti-Civilizational War?

Bob Feldman
The Occupation of Haiti: Recalling 1915-1934

John L. Hess
An Overload of Crises

Gary Leupp
On Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and the Uses of al-Qaeda "Links"

 

March 9, 2004

Greg Weiher
The Zarqawi Gambit, Part 2

Ben Tripp
Word Up! Let's Have a Conversation

Tom Barry
Neo-Cons Target Syria

Sharon Smith
The Hypocrites in the Catholic Church

Robert Fisk
The Same Old Iraq

Doug Giebel
The Bush Strategy: Laughing All the Way

Ralph Nader
Pension Rights, the Trail of Broken Promises

Daniel Estulin
In Memory of Ricardo Ortega: a Great Journalist, Killed in Haiti

Dave Lindorff
Martha Stewart's Cloudy Day

Saul Landau
Will the Filthy Rich Dump Bush?

Website of the Day
Imperial Armies in the Garden

 

March 8, 2004

Amy Goodman
An Interview with Aristide

Eric Ruder
An Interview with Robert Fatton on the Coup in Haiti

Robert Jensen
The Presidential Library Terrorist Connection

Mike Whitney
Expel the US from the Security Council

Jason Leopold
How Cheney Helped Cover Up Pakistan's Nuclear Proliferation

Mazin Qumsiyeh
Why is Apartheid Touted as a Solution?

Kevin Alexander Gray
The Legacy of Strom Thurmond

Derek Seidman
Radical Continuity: an Interview with Paul Buhle

Steve Perry
Kerry Fiddles While He Could be Burning Bush

Website of the Day
Patriot Act Game

 

March 6 / 7, 2004

Alexander Cockburn
Understanding the World with Paul Sweezy

Robert Pollin
Remembering Paul Sweezy

Jeffrey St. Clair
The Politics of Timber Theft

Tom Reeves
Bush's Mass Deportations: 63,000 and Counting

Charles Lewis
Who Mugged Howard Dean in Iowa: Kerry, Torricelli and a Mysterious Frontgroup

Tom Jackson
My Breakfast with Sen. Judd Gregg

Kurt Nimmo
Is Venezuela Next?

Alan Cisco
A Report from Caracas

Jack Random
Haitian Democracy be Damned

Colin Piquette
Oh, Canada: the Coup Coalition

Lee Sustar
Labor's State of Emergency

William D. Hartung
Iraq and the Costs of War

David Sally
Rebuilding Amérique

Mark Scaramella
When God Mooned Moses: Test Your Bible Knowledge

Mickey Z.
What We Can Learn from Ashcroft's Gallbladder

Ron Jacobs
Politics and Baseball

Dave Zirin
The Longest Jump: the Blackballing of Phil Shinnick

Poets' Basement
John Holt and Larry Kearney

Website of the Weekend
National Day of Action for Rachel Corrie

 

 

Hot Stories

Alexander Cockburn
Behold, the Head of a Neo-Con!

Subcomandante Marcos
The Death Train of the WTO

Norman Finkelstein
Hitchens as Model Apostate

Steve Niva
Israel's Assassination Policy: the Trigger for Suicide Bombings?

Dardagan, Slobodo and Williams
CounterPunch Exclusive:
20,000 Wounded Iraqi Civilians

Steve J.B.
Prison Bitch

Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber
True Lies: the Use of Propaganda in the Iraq War

Wendell Berry
Small Destructions Add Up

CounterPunch Wire
WMD: Who Said What When

Cindy Corrie
A Mother's Day Talk: the Daughter I Can't Hear From

Gore Vidal
The Erosion of the American Dream

Francis Boyle
Impeach Bush: A Draft Resolution

Click Here for More Stories.

 

 

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March 22, 2004

Assassinating Sheikh Yassin

Sharon Edges Closer to World War

By GILAD ATZMON

Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin was murdered at daybreak on Monday. Israel Air Force helicopters fired missiles at the car carrying the wheelchair-bound head of the Islamic group as he left a mosque near his house in Gaza City. It also appears Ariel Sharon was in direct command of the assassination operation, not entirely surprising considering his bloody history.

For those who fail to realise, today's barbaric Israeli act is an open call for a world war. It is the final wake up call for every Muslim around the world. It is violent proof that Israel isn't only against the Palestinians but rather against Islam. Israel killed a prime spiritual leader on his way out of the mosque. I have no doubt that this Israeli act won't be forgiven. I also have no doubt that many Israelis will pay with their life for Sharon's act. Moreover I am sure that sooner rather than later many innocent non-Israelis around the world will die just for being near by an Israeli embassy, Israeli consulate, a synagogue or even an American bank...This is the reality Sharon favours the most.

This is exactly what Israel wants: to turn the entire world into a victim of terror. This might help us to realise the main difference between the Israeli left and right. While both believe in the right of the Jews to live in Zion at the expense of the Palestinian people, the Israeli right wing rely on maintaining a bloody struggle, oppressing the Palestinian people (in particular) and humiliating Arabs (in general). While the Israeli left would attempt to come up with some unrealistic righteous suggestions to appease the Palestinian people and the world community (Oslo accord for instance), the right wing Israelis will suggest that the only method to guarantee Israeli security is to maintain the conflict with the Palestinian people and to let it escalate into an international battle.

On the surface it seems bizarre considering Sharon was just recently pretending to suggest a plan of Israeli disengagement from the Gaza strip. Today he gave us a real chance to peep into his mind. The 'disengagement plan' was just another of Sharon's tricks. In fact, Sharon and the Israeli right wing need the Palestinians, they need them oppressed and humiliated, they need their terror. Israeli right wing hegemony is fed by terror. And now there is a new need emerging. Israel is facing a demographic disaster. Within five years there will be a Palestinian majority in the territories controlled by Israel (between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River). This is literally the end of the Zionist dream. Eventually Israel will have to give away its Jewish identity. While the Israeli left remains confused about this reality, the Israeli right wing is fully prepared. For years Israeli warmongers have openly discussed 'transfer': the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people. Considering the current world affairs and general opposition to Israel it is hard to believe that large scale ethnic cleansing would go ahead unless some colossal catastrophe was in place. Sharon is preparing the ground for such a disaster. He needs a war, a big one, something that will allow him to go wild, to go out of control, to initiate a campaign in which Israeli soldiers will become murderous squads ready massacre against the Palestinian civilians. Sharon wants to re-launch the 1948 Nakba. Sharon fully understands that this is what the Israeli public want. He is very good at reading their innermost desires.

The killing of Sheikh Yassin pushed the violence far beyond any recognisable measure. It is pushing the Palestinian masses towards martyrdom. According to the Israeli military doctrine, Israel would never be defeated by terror. But at the same time every Israeli realises that the Zionist adventure will be categorically defeated by a demographic crisis. The assassination of Sheikh Yassin is there to push the Palestinians towards acts that will allow the Israelis to impose the most murderous measures against the Palestinian civilians. Mr Sharon, a world acclaimed war criminal and serial murderer proved again that at least when blood games are concerned, he is one step ahead of the game.

Gilad Atzmon was born in Israel and served in the Israeli military. He is the author of the new novel A Guide to the Perplexed . Atzmon is also one of the most accomplished jazz saxophonists in Europe. His new CD, Exile, was just named the year's best jazz CD by the BBC. He now lives in London and can be reached at: atz@onetel.net.uk

 

Weekend Edition Features for March 20 / 21, 2004

Alexander Cockburn
Gay Marriage: Sidestep on Freedom's Path

Jeffrey St. Clair
Intolerable Opinions in an Age of Shock and Awe: What Would Lilburne Do?

Ted Honderich
Tony Blair's Moral Responsibility for Atrocities

Saul Landau / Farrah Hassen
The Plot Against Syria: an Irresponsibility Act

Gary Leupp
On Viewing "The Passion of the Christ"

William A. Cook
Fence, Barrier, Wall

Phil Gasper
Bush v. Bush-lite: Chomsky's Lesser Evilism

Ron Jacobs
Fox News and the Masters of War

John Stanton
Which Way John Kerry? The Senator's Inner Nixon

Justin Felux
Kerry and Black America: Just Another Stupid White Man

Mike Whitney
Greenspan's Treason: Swindling Posterity

Augustin Velloso
Avoiding Osama's Abyss

Lawrence Magnuson
Eyes Wide Open: Is Spain Caving in to Terrorism?

Kathy Kelly
Getting Together to Defeat Terrorism

Tracy McLellan
Scalia & Cheney: Happiness is a Warm Gun

Kurt Nimmo
Emma Goldman for President!

Luis J. Rodriguez
The Redemptive Power of Art: It's Not a Frill

Mickey Z
The Michael Moore Diet

Jackie Corr
When Harry Truman Stopped in Butte

Niranjan Ramakrishnan
The Great Trial of 1922: Gandhi's Vision of Responsibility

Poets' Basement
Stew Albert & JD Curtis

Website of the Weekend
Virtual World Election


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