Hosted by Justin Podur
http://www.zcommunications.org/letter-to-a-zionist-by-justin-podur
It’s been almost a year. Do you remember it? It was a speaking event like any other but it sticks out in my mind even now. A friend from the International Solidarity Movement had come back from the Occupied Territories and was giving his report. Others offered some analysis of the situation there. It was well attended. I was the moderator.
http://www.zcommunications.org/is-the-canadian-media-fueling-conflict-by-justin-podur
http://www.zcommunications.org/canadian-premiers-are-revolting-by-justin-podur
It’s backlash week in Canadian politics. Ralph Klein, Alberta’s neoliberal premier and the closest thing Canada has to George W Bush (Klein would take that as a compliment) sent a letter to the US ambassador to Canada, repudiating the Prime Minister’s (rather ambivalent) anti-war stance and talking about Alberta’s “abiding friendship with the United States, a friendship based not only on mutual interests but also on shared values. In short, the president and your nation have exemplified leadership”
http://www.zcommunications.org/another-modest-proposal-by-justin-podur
There are several proposals floating about how to deal with the “Iraq Problemâ€.
One wrong-headed one was released in December 2002. It suggested that the US arm and support Iran to engage in regime change in Iraq. It argued that because Iran was Shi’ite (like the majority of Iraqis), because Iran had no record of supporting Saddam Hussein (unlike the United States), it was in a better position to invade, occupy, and otherwise liberate Iraq than the United States was.
http://www.zcommunications.org/instead-of-war-by-justin-podur
Inspections, not war?
The world is saying no to war. But demanding inspections as an alternative might not be enough to derail the war.
This must be the most unpopular war in history. Anti-war marches on February 15 brought out a million each in Madrid and Barcelona, a million in London, 800,000 in Paris, over 100,000 in New York, 500,000 in Berlin, 250,000 in Sydney, and many, many more in actions all over the world.
http://www.zcommunications.org/yes-americans-can-understand-suicide-bombers-by-justin-podur
It might be hard to believe, but Americans have within themselves all of the emotional equipment needed to understand suicide bombers. What is required is shock, rage, and an irrational desire for revenge that goes so deep that it ceases to be picky about what the targets for that revenge actually are. Such feelings can then be manipulated into support for bombing innocents.
Continue reading “Yes, Americans can understand suicide bombers”
http://www.zcommunications.org/resolution-1441-by-justin-podur
With the passage of UN Security Council Resolution 1441, the US has removed another obstacle in its path to an escalated war against Iraq.
Years ago I interviewed someone who had traveled all over Central and Eastern Europe and Central and South Asia studying states and civil wars and how and why states failed. ‘People ask me what’s worse, an authoritarian state or no state,’ he said. ‘I’ve been in both. No state is worse.’ I suppose he was saying when there are rules, no matter how cruel or arbitrary, one knows how to avoid punishment, but when there are no rules but only raw power, it makes you even more helpless.