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Today's Stories December 20, 2007 Alan Farago The Huckster and the Wreckage: Jeb Bush and the Subprime Mortgage Crisis December 19, 2007 Saul Landau Is the NIE Bush's Watergate? Paul W. Lovinger Hillary the Hawk Norman Solomon The Mad Corporate World of Glenn Beck Dave Zirin George Mitchell's Drugs of Choice Marjorie Cohn Bush Still Spinning Iranian Nukes Sen. Russell Feingold The Iraq War is Exhausting Our Nation Sonja Karkar A Christmas Reflection on Palestine Anthony Papa Open the Drug Gulags Christopher Ketcham Pave the Holy Lands with Good Intentions Davey D Britney's Little Sister is Pregnant: Should We Blame Hip Hop? Website of the Day When Republicans Use the F-Word on TV   December 18, 2007 R. F. Blader The Politics of Teen Pregnancy George Wuerthner Gunning for Wolves in Idaho Steven Higgs Can the NAFTA Superhighway be Stopped? Vijay Prashad Encounters with Ghadar David Macaray The Free Rider Problem Ralph Nader Nine Books That Make a Difference: a Reading List for the Holidays Eva Liddell Privatizing War Abroad, Invading Privacy at Home Martha Rosenberg While the Bodies are Still Warm: Drugs, Shrinks and Shooters Dave Lindorff When Impeachment is Out of Print Peter Morici The Consequences the Trade Deficit Website of the Day Ron Paul: How Fascism Will Come to America   December 17, 2007 Mike Whitney Staring Into the Abyss Tom Barry Planning the War on Immigrants Uri Avnery A Gaza Masada? Greg Moses Crossing the Line in Texas Allan Nairn Terrorism; Counter- Terrorism: Excuses for Murder Patrick Bond South Africa's Fight Between Hostile Brothers Stephen Lendman Police State America Charles Jonkel Grizzly Right of Way Laray Polk An Inside-Out Crisis in Gaza Stephen Fleischman Pawns in Their Game December 15 / 16, 2007 Peter Linebaugh A People's Penny for the Magna Carta Howard Zinn Bomb After Bomb Standard Schaefer The Greening of Big Tobacco Raymond J. Lawrence Let's Take Christ Out of Christmas Alan Farago Down on Desolation Row: the Vultures and the Growth Machine Saul Landau Lord Byron and the Bad Tourists Jenna Orkin Lying to "Reassure" the Public: Bush's EPA and the Post-9/11 Toxic Air Cover-Up Ahmad Samih Khalidi Why a Palestinian "State" is a Punitive Construct Robert Fantina Politics By Photo-Op Missy Comley Beattie Resistance Amid the Ruins Ramzy Baroud Of Mormons and Muslims James L. Secor A Vision for China's Future Elijah Wald Ike Turner's Music Won't be Forgotten Website of the Weekend The Alliance for the Wild Rockies Needs (and Deserves) Your Support   December 14, 2007 JoAnn Wypijewski The Dirty Cad: What Giuliani's Sex Life Tells Us About Him John Ross Iraqi Refugees Return: One Cruel Hoax Jacob Hornberger Terror Suspects Belong in Federal Court Andy Worthington Guantánamo and the Supreme Court: What Happened? Allan Nairn "Shoot Them on the Spot": Rewarding War Crimes Dave Zirin The Mitchell Report: Absolving the Owners Dave Lindorff The First Cut is the Deepest Misty MacDuffee Toxic Grizzlies Ben Terrall What Happened to Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine? Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi Prerequisites for Peace Website of the Day Sen. Kit Bond: "Waterboarding is Like Swimming"   December 13, 2007 Paul Craig Roberts Shrinking the Dollar from the Inside-Out Mike Whitney Dershowitz for the Defense--of Waterboarding Ron Jacobs Blank Check DemocratsL the Great War Funding Conspiracy Norman Solomon The USA's Human Rights Daze Peter Morici The Dragon and the Toothless Dog: China Doesn't Flinch Sandy Mayes Blocking the Strykers: 13 Days of War Resistance at Port Olympia Franklin Lamb The UN in Lebanon: Whose Mission Is It Fulfilling? Jacob Hornberger Don't Reform the CIA, Abolish It Nadim Rouhana An Interloper in My Own Land Dave Zirin On Pigskin and Petrol Website of the Day Rachel's Needs (and Deserves) Your Support! December 12, 2007 Allan Nairn US Intelligence is Tapping Indonesian Phones Alan Farago How Sprawl Eats Its Young Ray McGovern Torture, Lies and Videotape Winslow T. Wheeler The Phony Pentagon Budget Cuts Evan Jones The Raid on Great Western: Why an Australian Bank Might Spell Doom for the US Farm Belt James Petras An Open Letter to Sarkozy on the Exchange of Political Prisonsers Joel Hirschorn The Horserace Fiction: Clinton, Obama and the Democratic Machine Joshua Frank Why Ron Paul Deserves Our Attention Sherry Wolf Why the Left Should Reject Ron Paul Dan Bacher Survey of a Fish Graveyard Website of the Day Men Eating Bugs   December 11, 2007 Patrick Cockburn What's Really Happened During the Surge? Diana Johnstone The Next Kosovo War Paul Craig Roberts It's Waco All Over Again: Preventive Detention and the Constitution David Macaray Impasse in Hollywood Ralph Nader Gail Collins Versus the Underdogs Andy Worthington Guantánamo Britons to be Released: a Mixed Result Martha Rosenberg No Holiday for High Risk Sex Workers Steve Champion / Anthony Ross Words for Our Brother, Tookie Williams Kim Nicolini Tangled Up in Dylan Michael Dickinson Say Goodbye to Purgatory: Pope Rat Gets Indulgent Website of the Day A Charming (and Worthy) Pitch December 10, 2007 Uri Avnery How They Stole the Bomb From Us Debbie Nathan The Perils of Journalism and Child Porn JoAnn Wypijewski Is There a Left Here Left? If So, What Can It Do? Steve Kelly Cheap Chips, Counterfeit Wilderness Donna J. Volatile Welcome to the Revolution   December 8 / 9, 2007 Alexander Cockburn The Coup Against Bush and Cheney Brenda Norrell Seize the Land, Chain the Peace Activists Saul Landau The Ruins of Empire R. F. Blader A Rape in Every Drink? Ray McGovern Spinning Iran's Centrifuges Allan Nairn Imposed Hunger in Gaza, the Army in Indonesia Linn Washington, Jr Spotlight on Death Row Paul Craig Roberts When Will Bush Come Clean?   December 7, 2007 Sean Penn Piano Wire Puppeteers Arthur Versluis Mining Water in the Desert M. G. Piety Racism and the American Psyche: Some Thoughts on Race and Intelligence Pam Martens Banksters Gone Wild Alan Farago Will the Free Market Kill Suburbia? Sprawl and the Credit Crisis Allan Nairn It Takes (Out) a Village Col. Dan Smith Bush, Iran and the Politics of Doomsday Alice Slater The Iran Opening Robert Weissman The Story of Stuff Website of the Day Something About Mitt   December 5, 2007 Mike Whitney Why the CFR Hates Putin Sharon Smith The Anti-War Enablers: Tom Hayden and the Dead End Democrats James Petras Venezuela in the Aftermath Ron Jacobs The Iran Charade Dave Zirin Kicking a Dead Man: the Sliming of Sean Taylor John V. Whitbeck Two States or One? Time to Choose Peter Zinn Covered in New Orleans Niranjan Ramakrishnan Impeach Pelosi Instead Alan Farago The Credit Bomb Detonates in Florida Heather Gray US Meddling in Australian Politics Website of the Day A Donner Summit Night Before Xmas   December 4, 2007 Alexander Cockburn Jackboot State Stubs Its Toe in Ann Arbor Andy Worthington Guantánamo and the Supreme Court Paul Craig Roberts The Lies at the End of the American Dream Ray McGovern No-Nuke Iran Winslow T. Wheeler Admiral Mullen and the Defense Budget: When White Elephants are Too Small Allan Nairn The Regime Still Stands in Burma, Where "the People Just Want Food" Russell Mokhiber The USA v. Al Arian Nikolas Kozloff As Chávez Falters: Raising the Stakes for the South American Left John V. Walsh Peace Movement Paralyzed Ghada Ageel Will Peace Cost Me My Home? Stephen Soldz The Facts be Damned!: Psychologists' President Defends Psychologist Involvement in Interrogations Website of the Day Hands Off the People of Iran     December 3, 2007 Tariq Ali Venezuela After the Referendum Bill Quigley New Orleans: Bulldozers for the Poor, Tax Credits for Developers Eric Walberg The Bible and Middle East History Uri Avnery After Annapolis Marjorie Cohn Operation Iraqi Freedom Exposed Dave Lindorff Vengeance Isn't Sweet Stephen Fleischman Homeless in Paradise Martha Rosenberg Perp Walks for the Mink Clad on Chicago's Mag Mile Website of the Day So Just Lead!   December 1 / 2, 2007 Alexander Cockburn Emblems of the Bush Age: Adrift in a Sea of Booze Jeffrey St. Clair The Bear Minimum: the Grizzly and the Future of the Rocky Mountain West Mike Whitney "Iraq Doesn't Exist Anymore": an Interview with Nir Rosen Shemon Salam A Visit From the FBI Roger Burbach The Battle in Bolivia Benjamin Dangl New Politics in Old Bolivia Brian M. Downing The Quiet on the Middle Eastern Front: How Much Credit Goes to the Surge? Greg Moses Night of the Living Redneck: a Texas Horror Story Sonja Karkar The "Never-Never" Peace Conference Saul Landau Ethics and Evil in South Boston Margaret Kimberley Black America Left Behind John Ross What are the Prospects for a New Mexican Revolution? Reza Fiyouzat Exit on the Left: When Che's Children Visited Iran Judith Scherr Berkeley Turns Right for the Holidays Lance Olsen Of Forests and Finance: Logging for the Wealthy Christopher Brauchli Mr. Bush and the Despots Robert Fantina Iraq as U.S. Colony Dan Bacher Fish Triage on Prospect Island Michael Donnelly Remembering How to be Human: John Trudell and the Music of Urgency Website of the Weekend Appalachian Voices   November 30, 2007 Peter Stone Brown The Re-Packaging of Bob Dylan Wajahat Ali The Volatile Mistress: an Interview with Javed Jabbar, Pakistan's Former Minister of Information Allan Nairn Cold-Blooded Celebrity: Thomas L. Friedman and the Bali Bombers Alan Farago The Sorrows of Suburbia: Politics, Sprawl and the Housing Crash John Ross The Death of Latin America's First Revolution Corporate Crime Reporter America's Corporate Crime Capitals Lucia Alvarez Diego Gonzalez Argentina's Political Future James Rothenberg The Iraqi Miracle Website of the Day Bio-Bling?   November 29, 2007 R. F. Blader The Most Dangerous Kind of Bribe Ismael Hossein-Zadeh Distorting Fascism to Demonize Iran Stephen Soldz War on the Couch: Fear, Aggression and Empire Sheldon Richman Iraq 3.0 George Wuerthner Forest Fires, Lies and Chainsaws Felice Pace Did All Things Considered Self-Censor on Annapolis? Col. Dan Smith The Meaning of Annapolis Harvey Wasserman Terror Target Nukes Nikolas Kozloff Primetime Hate Debate: Lou Dobbs, Immigration and Campaign '08 Paul Krassner Huffington Post Bloggers Go On Strike! Dave Lindorff News Not Fit to Print: US Coup Planned for Venezuela? CP News Service The One State Declaration Website of the Day A Native View of Yellowstone Bison Slaughter November 28, 2007 James Petras CIA Destabilization Memo Surfaces on Venezuela Jeff Halper Annapolis: When the Roadmap is a One Way Street Pam Martens Crashing Citigroup Peter Morici Economy in Crisis: Avoiding a Recession Mohammed Khatib Separate and Unequal in Palestine Helen Redmond The Horror and the Hope: Health Care in America William S. Lind In the Fox's Lair: Quiet Before a New Iraq Storm? Ben Tripp We, the People: a Trope for All Seasons Liaquat Ali Khan Pakistan: First, Restore the Constitution and Reinstate the Judges Jeff Berg Holbrooke Says Bush Won't Attack Iran Website of the Day The Lies of Joe Klein   November 27, 2007 Joe DeRaymond On the Road to the Torture School Paul Craig Roberts Meet the Only Two Candidates Worse Than Bush and Cheney: Hillary and Rudy Marjorie Cohn Remembering Victor Rabinowitz Mike Whitney A Dollar the Size of a Postage Stamp Ron Jacobs The Myths of Military Progress Col. Dan Smith The Pentagon's "People System" Still Doesn't Work Ralph Nader Family Learning Karim Makdisi Annapolis and the Unholy Alliance: the View from Beirut Christopher Ketcham Memo to Hollywood Writers: Strike Until You Drop Ronan Bennett Martin Amis Does a Coulter Website of the Day Celebrating the Uncensored Media   November 26, 2007 Kathleen and Bill Christison Heading for Annapolis Paul Craig Roberts The End of All That David Macaray Enter Mediator Sameer Dossani Pakistan's Wounded Dictator Roger Burbach The Final Battle in Bolivia Mark Scaramella Guns and Greed in the Emerald Empire Brian McKinlay Howard's End Rick Kuhn The Fall of a Racist Union Buster Binoy Kampmark Ruddslide and Dull Alec Monica Benderman What Do You Know of War? Brenda Norrell Return to Alcatraz Website of the Day Ghostworld by DJ Spooky   November 24 / 25, 2007 Alexander Cockburn The Ordeal of Catherine Wilkerson, MD Robert Fisk Darkness Falls on the Middle East Saul Landau Norman Mailer will Not R.I.P. Jeffrey St. Clair Justice Stephen Breyer, Cancer Bonds and the Origins of Neoliberal Environmentalism Rannie Amiri Beirut's Black Friday Christopher Brauchli Iraq Embassy as Gilded Palace Daniel Gross The Gap and Black Friday Mike Whitney "A Generalized Meltdown of Financial Institutions" Marjorie Cohn Iran and the 2008 Elections David Rosen Senior Sex: the Real Sexual Life of Aging Americans David Michael Green If Conservatism is the Ideology of Freedom .... Kenneth Rexroth When Euripides Played the Hindu Kush: Greeks and Buddhists in Afghanistan Muhammad Iqbal Trans. Shahid Alam Ghazal Website of the Day Aerial Footage of Delta Fish Kill November 23, 2007 Gary Leupp Killing the Buddha in Pakistan's Swat Valley Laura Carlsen Coming to Terms with Diversity in Bolivia: an Interview with Alvaro Garcia, Bolivia's VP David Macaray Keeping Labor Unions Out Andy Worthington Former Guantánamo Detainee Seeks Asylum in Sweden Clifton Ross Trashing Chavez: Keith Olberman's Toxic Rant Seth Sandronsky Battling Sodexho Dan Bacher Death in the Delta: Thousands of Fish Stranded by Bureau of Reclamation William A. Cook The Myth of Middle East Peace Website of the Day Waiting for the Guards: Stress Techniques as Torture, a Short Film   November 22, 2007 Alan Farago Who Lost America's Everglades? Greg Moses A Thanksgiving Basting Dave Lindorff Impeachment is Back on the Table Mike Ely Native Blood: the Myth pf Thanksgiving Omar Azfar Gore for President of Pakistan?   November 21, 2007 Vijay Prashad Our Dictator, Their Democracy Martha Rosenberg Undercover at a Turkey Slaughtering Plant Manuel Garcia, Jr. Epiphany on the Glacier John Ross The Last Days of Mexican Corn Brian McKenna Cancer Terrorists Unmasked Stephen Soldz Isolation Torture Routine at Guatánamo Monica Benderman Needing Peace Ben Terrall Slavery in the Fields: The Real Price of Sugar Website of the Day Mercy for Animals               Subscribe Online

December 20, 2007 New Thinking Even in Miami? Cuba Changes, US Policy Stagnates By WAYNE SMITH and JENNIFER SCHUETT Change and continuity are the two words that best describe Cuba and its relations with the United States. After nearly 50 years of the predictable leadership of Fidel Castro, presidential power has transferred to his brother Raul. But this is not the topic of discussion; rather it is the official recognition of longstanding problems, the easing of restrictions on private businesses, and the official encouragement of public discussion that has everyone talking about change in Cuba. Cuban-American community politics in Miami are also evolving. "The Miami of 10 years ago is not the Miami of today," notes Alfredo Duran of the Cuban Committee for Democracy. Miami's Cuban-American community, which was once known for its hard-line positions against the Castro regime, has grown disenchanted with the U.S. foreign policy of isolation and embargos. Community leaders are now talking about the need for a foreign policy of dialogue and engagement. But continuity, not change, reigns in Washington. The Bush administration is sitting on the sidelines, failing to take advantage of the new opportunities for meaningful engagement. Unfortunately, this continuity in Cuba policy is expected to persist until after the presidential elections. A Call for Debate In his last major policy speech in November 2005 Fidel Castro warned that Cuban socialism might be destroyed from within. He cited a rampant black market-from pilfered goods to illicit businesses-as the main culprit, and he called for increased state controls and the end of private restaurants and taxis. But Raul Castro recently said the black market exists as a result of low wages. To remedy this, Raul Castro ordered that the government pay farmers what it owed them, and he tripled the official price paid for beef and milk. What's more, private restaurants and taxis have not been shut down. In his first major policy speech this past July 26, Raul Castro ridiculed the bureaucracy and the dysfunctional agricultural system. He called for structural changes and a debate as to how best to bring about these changes. Will the United States be in a position to take advantage of the changing situation in Cuba? According to Col. Larry Wilkerson of the College of William and Mary, "The United States hasn't been capable of anything resembling diplomacy since Sept. 11, 2001. Its whole foreign policy is broken and in many situations it is being written off as irrelevant." Calling U.S. Cuba policy "the dumbest policy on the face of the earth," Wilkerson says that he can't think of a better way to signal that the U.S. government is once again capable of diplomacy and a sensible foreign policy than by having it announce in January 2009, following the inauguration, that we are moving to engage with Cuba and to lift travel controls. Once the travel controls are removed, the entire Cuba policy will begin to unravel, predicts Wilkerson. But he asks, "Will the winning Democratic candidate be prepared to make such an announcement?" After the Democrats gained control of both houses of Congress, many expected rapid progress toward a new Cuba policy. But the prospects for reform of the failed Cuba policy have suffered from the failure of the presidential candidates to criticize current policy. The presence of a strong lobby in favor of the present policy has also obstructed change. Shamefully, the Democrats have failed to push forward new legislation that would lift travel restrictions-even though preventing Americans from traveling violates their rights and is entirely counterproductive to foreign policy goals. Worse than the congressional standstill on the travel ban was the defeat in August 2007 of an amendment introduced by Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) to simplify the complicated process under which Cuba pays for agricultural produce exported by the United States. According to the U.S. International Trade Commission, this legislation would have spurred a $92-$195 million increase in sales annually for American farmers. Sixty-six Democrats-most of whom were encouraged by donations from a conservative Cuban-American political action committee-joined with the Republican majority to defeat the bill. But there is good reason to remain optimistic about the prospects for policy reform after the presidential elections. The Cuban-American community, which until recently has been against any change in policy, is coming around to a more constructive position. New Thinking in Miami Miami has long been known as home to the Cuban-American community. For years it served as the base for hard-liners pushing for a punitive embargo against Cuba. The concentration of citizens with emotional and historical connections to Cuba makes this community a passionate advocacy group and at times the only constituency with a voice in the matter of U.S. foreign policy toward the island. Led by the powerful Cuban American National Foundation (CANF), along with a Bay-of-Pigs veterans' organization, Cuban-Americans have historically demanded a tight embargo and many continue to prepare for a post-Castro government in Cuba. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1992, the community held emergency meetings to decide the fate of the island, drafted two constitutions and a peace accord, and prepared reconstruction plans. However, all of these proved to be futile and ineffective attempts to shape Cuban domestic affairs. "Miami has its own foreign policy," explains former CANF member and Bay-of-Pigs' veteran Tony Zamora, who recalls that as the 'foreign minister' of Miami he would "encourage foreign diplomats to take a hard-line against Cuba." "The Miami of 10 years ago is not the Miami of today," says Duran. Like other former CANF members, he and Zamora are now calling for engagement, not confrontation. One indication of the change underway in Miami is voter-registration patterns. Increasingly Cuban Americans are turning away from the Republican Party. Today, 25% of Hispanic voters in Miami are registered Democrats, but political observers say that percentage of voters who identify with the Democratic Party is much higher. The reason for the discrepancy, as Duran observes, is that the "Grandmother Factor" comes into play since many younger Cuban-Americans don't want to reveal to their grandmothers that they are Democrats. Especially in the 21st and 25th congressional districts, represented by Lincoln Diaz-Balart and Mario Diaz-Balart respectively, polls indicate that a majority of Cuban Americans does not agree with current U.S. policy. Change But Opportunities Still Limited Despite the gradual changes in Cuba and changes in the Cuban-American community, Washington hasn't budged. According to Dan O'Flaherty of the National Foreign Trade Council, "Until the current law is changed, there will be no broad opportunities for trade." In fact, trade with Cuba has decreased in the past two years as a result of the highly restrictive Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act. The Cuban economy, however, has been growing at annual rates of 11% on the average. The relative stability of the Cuban economy is due in large part to high nickel prices, Venezuelan oil subsidies, and doubled trade with China. The discovery of five potentially high-quality oil reserves in the Florida Straits has also boosted economic prospects, as bidding for drilling rights comes from Malaysia, China, and Canada, among others. Timothy Deal of the U.S. International Business Council says that it is "hard to be optimistic" about the prospects for U.S. investment in Cuba. Before 1958, 90% of all foreign direct investment in Cuba was American. But today there are numerous obstacles constructed by both the U.S. and the Cuban governments. The embargo, the Cuban American Democracy Act, and the Helms Burton Act effectively block American investment. On top of this, Robert Muse of Muse & Associates notes that there are more than 5,900 certified property claims totaling $1.9 billion that need to be resolved. From the Cuban side, Law 52 (passed in 1982) limits foreign partners to 49% ownership. Likewise, Law 77 (passed in 1995) restricts the types of business ventures that foreign investors may undertake. "Cuba seeks limited foreign investment on limited terms," explained Deal. The Cubans do not want McDonalds or Wal-Mart. Though the number of foreign firms in Cuba has dropped in recent years, foreign currency reserves have increased due to the increased involvement of Venezuela and China. In addition to the legal barriers, American investors regard Cuba as a relatively small market with high risks, and are thus less inclined to push for a change in U.S. foreign policy. However, Deal believes that a bilateral investment treaty could reduce some risk, creating greater interest in investment in the growing Cuban economy. Former Sen. George McGovern, who visited Cuba in October 2007, notes that conditions in Cuba for dramatically increased U.S. agricultural sales to the island are excellent. McGovern says that the U.S. government, rather than addressing economic underdevelopment and social injustice in the hemisphere, is absorbed by its fear of Fidel Castro. He added that not much had changed in that respect since 1963 when he gave his first speech before the U.S. Senate, entitled "Our Castro Fixation vs. the Alliance for Progress." Although the Cuban economy is growing, agricultural production remains weak. Cuba has launched efforts to increase production, but it will need to import much of its foodstuffs for years to come. Meanwhile, U.S. farmers have a marked advantage in that they are the closest major producers, allowing for lower cost and faster deliveries. American farmers began selling agricultural products to Cuba in 2001 under the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000. By 2006 Cuban agricultural purchases had reached $600 million. "They could have gone much higher," explains McGovern, "but the Bush administration imposed a cumbersome system of payments through international banks." If Cuba were to pay for products as other countries do, U.S. agricultural exports to Cuba could climb to at least $1.5 billion annually. Cusp of Change Cuba is on the cusp of change. By contrast, there has been little change in Washington. U.S. policy toward Cuba remains as ill-conceived and counterproductive as ever. There is hope, however, that the changing political equation in Miami, pressure from economic interest groups interested in trade and investment, and support by the majority of Americans for normalization of relations with Cuba will lead long overdue policy change after the 2008 elections. Wayne Smith, a former head of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, is a Center for International Policy senior analyst. Jennifer Schuett is a program associate with CIP's Cuba Program, providing analysis for the Americas Program at www.americaspolicy.org. This article draws on comments by participants at the Imperatives for a New Cuba Policy conference sponsored by the Center for International Policy in October 2007. Your Ad Here

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