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The New Print Edition of CounterPunch, Only for Our Newsletter Subscribers! From Nixon to Sarah Palin
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The New Print Edition of CounterPunch, Only for Our Newsletter Subscribers!
From Nixon to Sarah Palin
What’s happened to the Republican Party? What’s happened to populism? Read Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St Clair on the life and death of Nixonland, and the class politics of the war over Sarah Palin. ALSO in our new subscriber-only CounterPunch newsletter, read Serge Halimi on how Russia gave Georgia and the U.S.a well-deserved black eye. PLUS Carrie Dann’s wonderful first-hand account of the fight of the Western Shoshone to reclaim their land. Get your copy 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.
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Today's Stories September 11, 2008 Noam Chomsky Sharon Smith Marjorie Cohn Paul Cantor Peter Morici September 10, 2008 Paul Craig Roberts Conn Hallinan Ralph Nader Peter Morici Joanne Mariner Laura Tate Kagel / Chuck Spinney Dave Lindorff Scott Campbell Paul Farmer Anne Kilkenny Website of the Day September 9, 2008 Michael Colby Chellis Glendinning Vijay Prashad Jeffery R. Webber/ David Michael Green Brian J. Foley John Ross Pierre M. Sprey / Nicole Colson Marc Gardner William S. Lind Website of the Day
September 8, 2008 Mike Whitney Tariq Ali Pam Martens Bill Quigley Malini Johar Schueller / Robert Jensen Uri Avnery Win McCormack Howard Lisnoff Maria C. Khoury Website of the Day September 6 / 7, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair Linn Washington, Jr. Patrick Cockburn Gary Leupp Nancy Kurshan William Blum Michael Winship Fred Gardner Nikolas Kozloff Wajahat Ali Robert Fantina Karyn Strickler David Yearsley Richard Rhames James L. Secor Missy Beattie Eric Patton Ben Terrall Thom Rutledge Dan Bacher David Macaray Jane Stillwater Grady Harper Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend September 5, 2008 Elizabeth Walters Bill Quigley Alan Farago Dave Lindorff Ira Glunts Peter Morici Deepak Tripathi Manuel Garcia, Jr. Michael Donnelly Martha Rosenberg Website of the Day September 4, 2008 Jeffrey St. Clair Paul Craig Roberts Ron Jacobs M. Junaid Levesque-Alam Andy Worthington Osama Dawoud Stephen Lendman Fidel Castro Website of the Day September 3, 2008 Patrick Cockburn Sen. Mike Gravel Vijay Prashad Nikolas Kozloff Ralph Nader Howard Lisnoff Steve Early / Cal Winslow Shepherd Bliss Bill Quigley Website of the Day
September 2, 2008 Marjorie Cohn Jonathan Cook Robert Weitzel Corey D. B. Walker John Ross Eric Walberg Judith Scherr Richard Morse B. R. Gowani Michael Greenberg Website of the Day September 1, 2008 Nikolas Kozloff C. G. Estabrook Manuel Garcia, Jr. David Macaray B. R. Gowani Saul Landau Charles Orloski Gloria La Riva Website of the Day August 30 / 31, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Bill Quigley Jeffrey St. Clair Andy Worthington Deepak Tripathi Stanley Howard Dave Lindorff Wajahat Ali Robert Fantina Josh Schlossberg Benjamin Dangl Missy Beattie Howard Lisnoff Suzan Mazur Rev. Jim Rigby David Yearsely Serge Quadruppani B.R. Gowani Richard Rhames Poets' Basement Website of the Day
August 29, 2008 Mike Whitney Brian Cloughley David Ker Thomson Joanne Mariner Neve Gordon Chris Genovali Ron Jacobs Michael Donnelly August 28, 2008 Judy Gumbo Albert Paul Cantor Saul Landau / Andy Worthington Ben Terrall Leonard Peltier Niranjan Ramakrishnan Donna J. Volatile Website of the Day
August 27, 2008 Anthony DiMaggio Jordan Flaherty Ralph Nader Melissa Checker Bob Sommer Cynthia McKinney Ali Khan M. Junaid Levesque-Alam Dave Lindorff David Macaray Website of the Day
August 26, 2008 Patrick Cockburn Michael D. Yates Paul Craig Roberts Andy Worthington Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Huwaida Arraf Joseph Grosso Sheldon Richman Binoy Kampmark Website of the Day August 25, 2008 Patrick Cockburn Bill Quigley Jonathan Cook James McEnteer Uri Avnery Will Potter Robert Jensen Stephen Lendman Wajahat Ali Carl Finamore Website of the Day August 23 / 4, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair Patty O'Grady Nicole Colson Steve Conn Deepak Trapathi Robert Fantina Jonathan M. Feldman Joshua Frank Osama Qashoo Howard Lisnoff David Michael Green Dave Lindorff Christopher Brauchli Alan Farago Michael Winship Richard Rhames David Rosen Patrick B. Barr Jamie Newlin Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend August 22, 2008 Boris Kagarlitsky Laura Carlsen Bob Barr Marwan Bishara Peter Morici Manuel Garcia, Jr. Charles Mostoller Sumbul Ali-Karamali Keith Rosenthal John F. Miglio Website of the Day August 21, 2008 Allan J. Lichtman Dave Lindorff Loserville: How Obama Blew It Ralph Nader Joanne Mariner Wajahat Ali Ron Jacobs Rostam Purzal Anthony Papa Website of the Day August 20, 2008 Michael Neumann Ray McGovern Eric Walberg Fidaa Abed Daniel Haack Mike Whitney Website of the Day August 19, 2008 Paul Craig Roberts Deepak Tripathi Marwan Bishara Saul Landau William S. Lind Martha Rosenberg James Brittain Pratyush Chandra David Macaray Website of the Day |
September 11, 2008 Bad Blood in AzerbaijanCheney in the CaucasusBy MIKE WHITNEY For the past week, Dick Cheney has been traveling through the Caucasus trying to drum up support for punitive action against Russia for its role in the recent fighting in South Ossetia. The Vice President vowed that the Moscow's action "will not go unanswered". Cheney is determined to establish the United States as the regional "cop on the beat", taking charge of all security operations through its cat's paw, Nato. Neither the Kremlin nor the EU are paying much attention to Cheney's fulminations. The negotiations for the security arrangements and the withdrawal of Russian troops are being conducted without US involvement. On September 9, under the revolving leadership of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, the EU hammered out a deal with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev to replace Russian soldiers in South Ossetia with 200 EU observers who are scheduled to arrive by October 1. In exchange, Georgia agreed to Russia's demands not to use force against the two breakaway republics, Abkahzia and South Ossetia. Medvedev's unilateral announcement that Russia would recognize both republics as "independent", did not derail the EU peace process. Rather, both sides focused on the withdrawal of Russia troops and seem reasonably satisfied with the 6-point agreement. Russia has not only scored an important diplomatic victory; it has driven a wedge between Europe and the United States. The reckless behavior of Georgia's President Mikhail Saakashvili has given the Bush administration a black eye and put Nato membership out of reach for the foreseeable future. Saakashvili invaded South Ossetia last month; destroyed much of the capital, Tskhinvali, and killed an estimated 1,500 civilians before his troops were routed by the Russian army. Among the dead were Russian citizens and peacekeepers. Moscow has cut off all relations with Tblisi and President Medvedev has called Saakashvili a "political corpse". The Kremlin now regards its neighbor to the south as an enemy. Cheney's week-long trip to the Caucasus was organized with two objectives in mind; to isolate Russia from its allies in Europe and speed up Nato membership for Georgia and Ukraine. He has failed on both counts. The ashen-faced Veep flew from Baku to Kiev, from Kiev to Tiblisi, from Tiblisi to Cernobbio; rattling his saber and railing in typical Cold War style to anyone who would listen, but his efforts amounted to nothing. No one in Europe wants a confrontation with Russia or another decades-long year nuclear standoff. Besides, Putin has spent the last eight years building partnerships and creating an expansive energy network that provides vast amounts of oil and natural gas to European homes and industries. Europe depends on Russia now and wants to maintain friendly relations. It's different for Cheney who has been seething on the sidelines--bogged down in the Iraqi quagmire--while Moscow has gotten stronger and more independent from its massive energy windfall. Now Russia can fend for itself and has no interest in becoming just another cog in America's imperial machine. When Putin articulated Russia's determination to defend its national sovereignty in Munich nearly two years ago, saying that he rejected the idea of a "unipolar" world, the Council on Foreign Relations and other elite think tanks put Russia on the America's "enemies list" more or less acknowledging that the Kremlin would resist further integration into the so called "international community". (aka-American-led, dollar-based system) Last week, newly-elected Russian President Dmitry Medvedev reiterated the Putin Doctrine word for word as it was originally stated in Munich:
Medvedev has drawn a line in the sand posing a direct challenge to the America's continued dominance in global security. The advancing Russian army has delivered a stinging defeat to the neocons’ imperial ambitions in Eurasia. It is possible that the fighting in South Ossetia will eventually be seen as a tipping point for US adventurism in the region. Russia's ties with Europe threaten to shatter the increasingly fragile Atlantic Alliance which is lashed together by G-7 banking cartel. If Europe sees a continuation of the same belligerent Bush unilateralism under the next US president, the popular backlash in Europe is likely to sever the Alliance once and for all plunging the United States into forced isolation. Reasonable people should want to avoid that possibility. Cheney's Caucasus gambit is a desperate attempt to stir up trouble while making a last ditch effort for the oil and natural gas of the resource-rich Caspian Basin. So far, he and his colleagues in Big Oil have nothing to show for their 20 years of labor except a few under-performing puppets in Ukraine and Georgia. The whole plan has flopped leaving Cheney with another failure on his resume. Just this week, there was more news of Russia's progress in the Central Asia energy sweepstakes in an article by Paul Goble titled "Moscow Wins a Major Victory on Pipelines":
If Cheney is serious about catching-up to Russia, he'll have to act fast. Unfortunately, Cheney is more disliked in Central Asia than he is in the USA where his public approval ratings have been well below sea-level for the last 4 years. In fact, when Cheney arrived in Azerbaijan, neither President Ilkham Aliyev nor Prime Minister, Artur Rasizade, even bothered to meet him at the airport. Politicians everywhere know that its is political suicide to even be seen with him. Aleksandr Pikaev, an analyst from the Institute for World Economy and International Relations, noted that Cheney's unpopularity makes diplomacy virtually impossible. Pikaev said, “ If the Bush Administration really wanted to consolidate the international community behind the U.S. in criticizing Russia, I think they should have found somebody else, not Mr Cheney." But then, no one in the Bush administration cares what anyone else thinks anyway; so the point is moot. Cheney's trip had nothing to do with resolving differences between Tbilisi and Moscow. His real goal was to secure a larger share of the region's dwindling oil supplies before he leaves office. As Linda Heard points out in her article "Driving Russia into Enemy's Arms", the petrocarbon war is being lost in stunning fashion:
Washington has been out maneuvered on every front by Russian businessmen who have learned to use the free market more effectively than their teachers in the US. According to Russia Today: "The Kommersant newspaper reports that Cheney was very annoyed by the results of the meeting with President Aliyev and even refused to attend a ceremonial supper in his own honor." President Aliyev has suggested "that Baku is going to play a waiting game concerning the Nabucco gas pipeline," which is designed to bypass Russia. Aliyev wisely wants to avoid any confrontation with the Kremlin. Indeed, who can blame Aliyev? Anyone can see that Washington's star is waning. Political leaders everywhere are simply nodding politely and and waiting to see whether November's presidential election will restore a bit of sanity to the White House. Until then, everyone is laying low. It is unlikely that anyone will answer Cheney's call to pick a fight with Moscow. The Vice President has dropped all pretense that his trip has anything to do with the fictional "war on terror". He said that his aim is to "develop additional routes for energy exports to promote energy security, which is becoming an 'increasingly urgent' issue. We seek greater stability and security and cooperation in this vital region of the world," Cheney told reporters in Baku. He also met with representatives from BP and Chevron, two oil giants involved involved in the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline that pumps 1 million barrels of crude per day to world markets from the Caspian. It's all about oil. In the second leg of his trip, Cheney headed off for Georgia where the Regnum web site reports:
Trouble in Kiev Cheney's trip was plagued by gaffes and miscues; one-part political kabuki, one-part Vaudeville. He arrived in Kiev just hours after Ukraine's pro-west coalition collapsed, plunging the country into political chaos that could foreshadow an end to US-Ukraine alliance. The political progress the Bush administration felt they had made by fomenting the so called "Orange Revolution", now hangs by a thread. Popular sentiment is increasingly supportive of Moscow over Washington.
Russia's friends in Ukraine have thrown a spanner in Cheney's plans for Nato membership and further integration into the EU. This is a major setback for Cheney and his friends at the far-right Washington think tanks who believed they were well on their way to encircling Russia and achieving their territorial ambitions. Ukraine will not be joining Nato anytime soon. The Bush administration's aggressive lobbying hasn't persuaded any of the main players in the EU to support punitive measures or sanctions against Russia. The EU prefers diplomacy over belligerence. As a result, Cheney has become increasingly irrelevant; a blustery sideshow that everyone ignores except the western media. As for the EU, there's simply no interest in provoking Russia and risking the cutting off cutting off vital resources to energy-dependent European countries. Common sense has prevailed over Bush's "freedom agenda". Cheney delivered his most pointed remarks about the recent conflict in South Ossetia at a global security conference in Cernobbio, Italy where he ended his trip. He said:
It is understandable that Cheney would be upset over Moscow's success in securing crucial hydrocarbons and pipeline corridors via the free market while the US has languished in Iraq and Afghanistan with nothing to show for its efforts except one million dead Iraqis, 4 million refugees, and a legacy of disgrace. But, in truth, Cheney's frustration can be summarized in two words: Sour grapes. He's just a poor loser. The Medvedev Doctrine US foreign policy elites have long dreamed of integrating Central Asia into the western economic and security paradigm. Geopolitical strategist and former national security advisor, Zbigniew Brzezinski, summarized it like this in an article in Foreign Affairs more than a decade ago:
A resurgent Russia--flush with the wealth derived from its vast oil and natural gas supplies--has become a stumbling block for US regional aspirations. Last month's clash with Washington's "proxy" army in Georgia dispelled any illusion among Kremlin powerbrokers that the Bush administration can be dealt with rationally or via normal diplomatic channels. Cheney's incendiary rhetoric just further underscores this point. That's why Russia is preparing for the worst. Medvedev is strengthening ties with the EU, the Central Asian countries (SCO), the BRIC countries (Brazil, India, China) and has also deployed the Russian fleet to the Mediterranean and off the coast of Venezuela for joint-maneuvers. In a recent press conference, President Medvedev announced the five fundamental principles to which his government would strictly adhere. Third on the list was "the protection of life and dignity of Russian citizens no matter where they live”. "There isn’t a single country in the world that would tolerate its citizens and peacekeepers being killed," Medvedev said. Russian citizens and peacekeepers were killed by a proxy army that was trained and advised by "US special forces commandos". So far, no one has been held accountable, but Medvedev and Putin know who is to blame. Putin even suggested that the invasion was planned as a way to improve the chances of one of the presidential candidates to win the election.(McCain) Regardless of the reason, when one country demonstrates that it is willing to kill the citizens and soldiers of another country to achieve its geopolitical objectives; that's when friendship ends and attitudes harden. The events in South Ossetia will play a central role in shaping Russian foreign policy for years to come. The battle-lines have been drawn, the fleet has been deployed, and the armies are being moved into place. Russia does not want war, but it will be ready if one breaks out. Mike Whitney lives in Washington state and can be reached at fergiewhitney@msn.com
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