Autumn 2010 Five Years of SoN
Contents
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Ismael Hossein-zadeh
Putting the Brakes on the Neoliberal Race to the Bottom“Stripped from its Orwellian veneer, the President’s ‘national export initiative’ simply means bringing US wages and benefits down on a par with those of China, Vietnam, India, and other less-developed countries so that American manufacturers can compete more effectively in international markets.”
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Richard Greeman
Is There Life after Capitalism?“If betting against the bankruptcy of Greece is the best use the bankers can find for their capital, then capitalism is in big trouble. The unforeseen and too-soon-forgotten Great Crash of 2008 has left in its wake a twilight spectacle of ghoulish speculative capital destroying whole economies so as to feast on their corpses.”
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Ron Jacobs
The Drug War That Never Ends“History makes the likelihood of US involvement in the current drug trade in Afghanistan, Colombia and who knows where else more likely than not.”
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Farzana Versey
Ashtiani’s Stoning: Now Iran Gets the Hollywood Treatment“This is Iran’s way of getting back at the Western propaganda using the means employed by the mainstream western entertainment industry. Sakineh Ashtiani may have been hanged to death, not stoned, but now they just might do it – to spite the international pressure. Or they will keep her alive and titillate the voyeuristic spectators.”
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Fran Shor
Locating the Contemporary Global Crises“Unless we also clearly understand and combat the connections between empire and unending growth with its attendant ‘accumulation by dispossession’, we may very well doom ourselves to extinction.”
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Kenneth Couesbouc
The Binary Production of Wealth“Increasing demand for consumption with monetary creation and debt is a highly expansive process that quickly gets out of hand. And, as public spending both civil and military is essentially consumption, this also applies to budget deficits and government debts.”
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William Cook
One Wall, Two People, No States: The Peace Pretense“A future state for the Palestinians is a mirage; the peace pretense is in fact a delaying tactic to ensure that such a state never exists.”
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Michael Barker
Not-For-Profit Corporate Power: An Interview with Darwin Bond-Graham“I’ve actually come to see philanthropic organizations like foundations and NGOs, and other non-profit organizations (such as universities) as the most effective bulwark against any radical challenges to neoliberalism, as well as many of the inequalities that plague our society.”
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Rod Allison
A System Lacking in Authenticity“Its necessity for war proves that Power has come to rest, not on an economic system that works on its own, but upon the accumulated violence this economic system has delivered to its protagonists.”
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Ismael Hossein-zadeh
Militarization of the World – the Case of Iran“In light of the fact that the U.S. is the most militarized country in the world, its belly-aching about “militarization of Iran” (whose military spending is less than one percent of the U.S.) is patently ironic.”
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Dennis Chapman
S(h)aving Religion with Occam’s Razor: A Comparison of Atheist and Religious Morality“Atheists should combat the damaging parts of organised religion by following a scientific morality which happens to coincide with much of what is in the bible, but which does not rely on any spiritual interpretation.”
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Robert Fantina
Religion and Politics in 2010“Using Christianity as a mask to conceal hatred and intolerance sells well, so why should Tea Party adherents change?”
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Little Big Pine
Intimations of God“Wouldn’t you die laughing, if it didn’t totally creep you out, to discover one day that great numbers of watches around the world have organized themselves into various cults and factions centered around the worship of us, their intelligent designer?”
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“If the United States sought only to maintain regional stability, and curb Soviet expansion, denying aid to civilians and funding both sides of the same conflict hardly seem like relevant strategic policies.”
