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Eamonn Fingleton gives a stunning account of how the elite press – the Wall Street Journal, The Economist, the New York Times and Washington Post - pilloried US autworkers while systematically concealing the hidden subsidies which have allowed Japan and Korea to destroy Detroit. All this with the connivance of the US government. Also in our latest newsletter: Michelle Obama comes to Merced. Bill Hatch, the Balzac of the Central Valley, gives an uproarious account of Michelle’s state visit to UC’s new campus. Get your new edition today by subscribing online or calling 1-800-840-3683 Contributions to CounterPunch are tax-deductible. Click here to make a donation. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now! CounterPunch books and gear make great presents.
How the U.S. Press Helped Destroy the Auto IndustryOrder CounterPunch By Email For Only $35 a Year !
Meet & Debate (Perhaps Even Date) CPers Online at CounterPunch's New Facebook Page!
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Today's Stories June 2, 2009 Robert Weissman June 1, 2009 Pam Martens Yitzhak Laor Mark Weisbrot Ramzy Baroud Saul Landau Eugenia Tsao Afshin Rattansi Debra Sweet Abdul Malik Mujahid Bill Quigley John Wright Website of the Day May 29-31, 2009 Alexander Cockburn Patrick Cockburn Vijay Prashad Gary Leupp Ray McGovern Rannie Amiri Bill Hatch Chellis Glendinning, Stephanie Mills and Kirkpatrick Sale Phyllis Pollack David Yearsley Jean-Christophe Servant Dave Lindorff James McEnteer Missy Beattie James C. Faris David Macaray Harvey Wasserman Adam Federman David Ker Thomson Mark Seth Lender Stephen Martin Joseph Nevins Sophia Mihic Lorenzo Wolff Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend May 28, 2009 Joan Roelofs Paul Craig Roberts Ralph Nader Mouin Rabbani Joe Bageant James McEnteer Dedrick Muhammad Richard Morse David Macaray Harvey Wasserman Website of the Day May 27, 2009 Joanne Mariner Paul Craig Roberts Walden Bello Dave Lindorff Brian M. Downing Carlos Villarreal Nadia Hijab Adam Federman Laray Polk Isabella Kenfield David Michael Green Website of the Day May 26, 2009 Manuel Garcia, Jr. Mike Whitney Sharon Smith Marjorie Cohn Dean Baker Deepankar Basu Fred Gardner Jordan Flaherty Josh Ruebner Brian Cloughley Website of the Day May 25, 2009 Diane Christian John Ross Kenneth Hartman Uri Avnery Fred Gardner Cindy Sheehan Sen. Russell Feingold Sibel Edmonds Franklin Lamb Dave Lindorff Daniel Wolff Website of the Day May 22-24, 2009 Alexander Cockburn Michael Teitelman Mike Whitney Ray McGovern Sonia Cardenas / Clive Hamilton Conn Hallinan Fred Gardner Carlo Cristofori Dean Baker Rannie Amiri Andy Worthington David Macaray Nadia Hijab Franklin Lamb Ted Newcomen David Ker Thomson David Rosen Mark Weisbrot Robert Fantina Heather Gray Farzana Versey Chris Genovali Ron Jacobs Jay Diamond Dr. Susan Block Ben Sonnenberg David Yearsley Lorenzo Wolff Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend May 21, 2009 Jeffrey St. Clair / Paul Craig Roberts Chris Floyd Gerald Paoli Zach Mason Uri Avnery Andy Worthington Niranjan Ramakrishnan Norman Solomon Dave Lindorff Website of the Day May 20, 2009 Michael Hudson Gary Leupp Michael D. Yates Jonathan Cook Peter Lee Binoy Kampmark Peter Zinn William Loren Katz Gary Lapon Trudy Bond Website of the Day May 19, 2009 Kristoffer Rehder Mike Whitney Ray McGovern Vijay Prashad Mirjam Hadar Meerschwam Mustafa Barghouthi Andy Worthington Binoy Kampmark John Walsh David Macaray Website of the Day May 18, 2009 Dave Lindorff Abdul Malik Mujahid Jonathan Cook Ben Rosenfeld Patrick Cockburn Ralph Nader Stephen Soldz Eugenia Tsao Walter Brasch Roberto Rodriguez Charlotte Laws Website of the Day May 15-17, 2009 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair David Rosen Mike Whitney Bruce Page Jeremy Scahill Fred Gardner Tom Barry Mats Svensson Ramzy Baroud Mark Engler Mark Weisbrot Farzana Versey Ron Jacobs Hannah Wolfe Cal Winslow David Macaray Christopher Brauchli Mark Seth Lender Robert Fantina David Ker Thomson Stephen Martin Charles R. Larson Chase Madar Kim Nicolini David Yearsley Lorenzo Wolff Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend May 14, 2009 Michael Hudson Andy Worthington Paul Craig Roberts Jonathan Cook Ray McGovern Lance Selfa David Green Dave Lindorff Frida Berrigan Sue Udry Website of the Day May 13, 2009 Brian M. Downing Gareth Porter Robert Sandels Ricardo Alarcón Eric Walberg Dave Lindorff Deepak Tripathi William S. Lind Kevin Zeese Franklin Lamb Website of the Day May 12, 2009 Gary Leupp Richard Neville Wajahat Ali Dean Baker Franklin Lamb Norman Solomon Paul Craig Roberts Lisa M. Hamilton Bob Fitrakis / David Macaray Website of the Day May 11, 2009 Andrea Peacock Michael Hudson Patrick Cockburn Ralph Nader John Kelly Saul Landau Dave Lindorff David Michael Green Anthony Papa Paul Krassner Website of the Day
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June 2, 2009 Showdown in TegucigalpaUS-Cuba Policy: "Still Stuck in the Past"By ROGER BURBACH U.S.-Cuba relations are once again front and center as the meeting of the Organization of American States (OAS) in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, begins today. Cuba, expelled from the OAS in 1962 at the height of the Cold War, will not be present at the gathering. But the United States is facing a virtually united front of Latin American nations demanding that Cuba be readmitted. Chilean Jose Miguel Insulza, the secretary general of the organization, declares, “I want to be clear: I want Cuba back in the Inter-American system…Cuba is a member of the OAS. Its flag is there.” The Obama Administration is sending contradictory signals about what it is up to. On April 20, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who will be leading the U.S. delegation to Tegucigalpa, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, “Any effort to admit Cuba into the OAS is really in Cuba’s hands,” referring to past U.S. demands that Cuba change its political system. Two days later, however, the United States proposed reopening discussions on immigration issues that had been suspended early in the Bush Administration. Cuba responded positively to this overture, saying it also wants to talk about regular postal services and to discuss drug interdiction and disaster relief along with immigration concerns. Even before this announcement, Fidel Castro, the retired leader who still exerts considerable influence in the government now headed by his brother, Raul Castro, stated Cuba is willing to dialogue on “narcotrafficking, organized crime, human trafficking, and to expand other forms of cooperation such as fighting epidemics and natural catastrophes.” But the main stumbling bloc to admittance to the OAS and the normalization of trade relations remains Washington’s inisistance that Cuba transform its government. Raul has made clear that there will be no such change, while Fidel declares, “cooperation can exist between peoples with different political conceptions.” Washington needs to get over its dogmatic assertion that Cuba has a represessive and non-representative government that puts it beyond the pale as compared to other communist countries, like Vietnam and China, or authoritarian Middle Eastern regimes like Egypt and Saudi Arabia. The United States has had normal diplomatic and economic relations with those nations for years. Cuba today is hardly a police state. People speak their minds freely in the streets as any visitor to the island can attest. And the country has vibrant social movements that are able to press for their rights. Just this past May 16, marchers in Havana took to the streets to celebrate the national day against homophobia. Mariela Castro, Raul’s daughter, participated in the demonstration, saying, “being gay is not a problem, the problem is homophobia,” adding, “There is a movement in the consciousness of the people that includes government functionaries and leaders.” The Cuban revolution, which just celebrated its 50th anniverary, is in a process of transition and transformation. As Rafael Hernandez, the director of the widely read social and cultural journal Temas told me, “We are rethinking the very nature of society and what socialism means. A discussion is opening up on many fronts over where we are headed, how property is to be defined, what is the role of the market, and how we can achieve greater political participation, particularly among the youth. In the economy, market reforms and experimentation are taking place, especially in agriculture and the selling of food stuffs. Last year, legislation was passed permitting anyone to solicit the government for 10 hectares of idle land that can be held and farmed for an indefinite period of time. Over 80,000 people have petitioned for land and are in the process of getting it. The new farmers have the right to work the land independently and sell their produce on the open market. The tendency is for them to join a cooperative because of the availability of regularized inputs, not because the state is trying to deny them access, but because the coops have more purchasing clout. While an OAS working group has been set up in an effort to reconcile the U.S. and the Latin American positions, it appears to be going nowhere. Wayne Smith, of the Center for International Policy in Washington, D.C., who served as head of the U.S. Interests Desk in Havana from 1979-82, says, “The Obama Administration is trying to appease the Latin American governments by saying it will discuss immigration issues and is open to some degree of engagement with the Cubans.” The OAS could readmit Cuba with the vote of two-thirds of its 30 members. Cuba is not pushing for readmittance, however, with Fidel Castro declaring, “Cuba respects the criteria of the governments of our brothers in Latin America and the Caribbean who think differently, but we do not wish to be part of that institution.” Over the years the OAS has backed U.S. aggression in Latin America, most notably the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in 1961, and then the U.S. occupation of the Dominican Republic in 1965. Regardless of what happens at the OAS meetings, “the United States will come out with egg on its face,” predicts Smith. “U.S. policy is still stuck in the past.” Roger Burbach is the director of the Center for the Study of the Americas (CENSA) and a Visiting Scholar at the University of California, Berkeley.
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