:: United States
[Video] An interview with Professor James Petras
Connolly media group :: 05.26.2013On the day before his lecture at the annual Communist Party of Irelands Connolly memorial James Petras came into the DCTV studio for an interview
Boston and Venezuela: Terrorism There and Here
05.01.2013Introduction: Two major terrorists attacks took place almost simultaneously: in Boston, two Chechen terrorists set off bombs during the annual Boston Marathon killing three people and injuring 170; in Venezuela, terrorist-supporters of defeated presidential candidate, Henrique Capriles, assassinated 8 and injured 70 supporters of victorious Socialist Party candidate Nicolas Maduro, in the course of firebombing 8 health clinics and several Party offices and homes.
How the Boston Bombings May Change the World for the Worse!
04.30.2013The relation between the suspected Boston Marathon bombers and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Massachusetts State Police (MSP) and the Boston Police (BP) is a point of contention and controversy.
President Obamas Second Term: Selling Death and Buying Assassins In the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia
03.22.2013Introduction: As President Obama enters his second term with a new Cabinet, the foreign policy legacy of the past four years weighs heavily on their strategic decisions and their empire-building efforts. Central to the analysis of the next period is an evaluation of the past policies especially in regions where Washington expended its greatest financial and military resources, namely the Middle East, South Asia and North Africa.
The Religious and Social Crises and Political Consequences
12.20.2012Introduction: The opening long decade of the 21st century (2000-2012) has been a period of repeated and profound economic and social crises, of serial and prolonged wars and declining living standards for the vast majority of Americans. How have people responded to this crisis?
The Great Social Security Robbery
12.13.2012Introduction: The leaders of both major parties, Congress, the White House, the editorial writers, journalists of all the principle newspapers and most academic economists claim that Social Security and Medicare need to be reformed in order to reduce the unsustainable fiscal deficit and avoid the bankruptcy of these social programs.
Elite Intrigues: Its Not About Sex, Stupid!
11.21.2012Introduction: The headline stories claim that CIA Director General David Petraeus resigned as head of the CIA because of an adulterous relation with his young biographer and that General John Allen, Supreme Commander of US troops in Afghanistan, was under investigation and his promotion to top commander of US troops in Europe was on hold, because, we are told, of his inappropriate comments in the exchange of e-mails with a civilian female friend.
Tropical Storm Sandy: Natural or Political Disaster?
11.13.2012The world-famous New York Philharmonic can play a Requiem for the New Atlantis as more waves inundate lower Manhattan. Meanwhile, the impregnable Wall Street re-locates inland; its move financed by the impoverished upstate municipalities massive tax write-offs to the billionaires
US Elections: From the Lesser to the Greater Eviland the Demise of Critical Liberalism
11.03.2012Introduction: There is ample evidence that the Obama Presidency has pulled the US political spectrum further to the Right. On most domestic and foreign policy issues Obama has embraced extremist positions surpassing his Republican predecessor and in the process devastating what remained of the peace and social movements of the past decade.
The Two Faces of a Police State: Sheltering Tax Evaders, Financial Swindlers and Money Launderers while Policing the Citizens
08.05.2012Never in the history of the United States have we witnessed crimes committed on the scale and scope of the present day by both private and state elites.
The Rise of the Police State and the Absence of Mass Opposition
James Petras and Robin Eastman Abaya :: 07.25.2012Introduction: One of the most significant political developments in recent US history has been the virtually unchallenged rise of the police state. Despite the vast expansion of the police powers of the Executive Branch of government, the extraordinary growth of an entire panoply of repressive agencies, with hundreds of thousands of personnel, and enormous public and secret budgets and the vast scope of police state surveillance, including the acknowledged monitoring of over 40 million US citizens and residents, no mass pro-democracy movement has emerged to confront the powers and prerogatives or even protest the investigations of the police state.
The Massacre of the Afghan 17 and the Obama Cover-Up
03.26.2012The March 11 Massacre of the 17 Afghan citizens, including at least nine children and four women, raises many fundamental issues about the nature of a colonial war, the practices of a colonial army engaged in a prolonged (eleven-year) occupation and the character of an imperial state as it commits war crimes and increasingly relies on arbitrary dictatorial measures to secure public compliance and suppress dissent.
Israels Willing Executioners: AIPAC Invades Washington
James Petras and Robin Eastman Abaya :: 03.15.2012When a country, like the United States, is in decline, it is not because of external competition: Declining competitiveness is only a symptom. It is because of internal rot. Decline results when a nation is betrayed by craven leaders, who crawl and humiliate themselves before a minority of thuggish mediocrities pledged to a foreign state without scruples or moral integrity
Imperialism and the Anti-Imperialism of the Fools
12.30.2011 One of the great paradoxes of history are the claims of imperialist politicians to be engaged in a great humanitarian crusade, a historic civilizing mission designed to liberate nations and peoples, while practicing the most barbaric conquests, destructive wars and large scale bloodletting of conquered people in historical memory.
A Doomsday View of 2012
12.24.2011Introduction: The economic, political and social outlook for 2012 is profoundly negative. The almost universal consensus, even among mainstream orthodox economists is pessimistic regarding the world economy. Though even here their predictions understate the scope and depth of the crises.
Obama Raises the Military Stakes: Confrontation on the Frontiers of China and Russia
12.07.2011Introduction: After suffering major military and political defeats in bloody ground wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and failing to buttress long-standing clients in Yemen, Egypt and Tunisia and witnessing the disintegration of puppet regimes in Somalia and South Sudan, the Obama regime has learned nothing: instead he has turned toward greater military confrontation with global powers, namely Russia and China. Obama has adopted a provocative offensive military strategy on the very frontiers of both China and Russia.
The Obama Doctrine: Making a Virtue of Necessity
11.09.2011After nearly 3 years in deep pursuit of the colonial wars initiated by ex-President Bush, the Obama regime has finally recognized the catastrophic domestic and foreign consequences. As a result the reality principle has taken hold; the maintenance of the US Empire requires modification of tactics and strategies, to cut political, military and diplomatic losses[1].
Argentina: Why President Fernandez Wins and Obama Loses
10.30.2011Introduction: On October 23rd of this year, President Cristina Fernandez won re-election receiving 54% of the vote, 37 percentage points higher than her nearest opponent. The Presidents coalition also swept the Congressional, Senatorial, Gubernatorial elections as well as 135 of the 136 municipal councils of Greater Buenos Aires.
Imperialism and Democracy: White House or Liberty Square?
10.23.2011Introduction: The relation between imperialism and democracy has been debated and discussed over 2500 years, from fifth century Athens to Liberty Park in Manhattan. Contemporary critics of imperialism (and capitalism) claim to find a fundamental incompatibility, citing the growing police state measures accompanying colonial wars, from Clintons anti-terrorist laws, and Bushs Patriot Act to Obamas ordering the extrajudicial assassination of overseas US citizens.
Obama at the General Assembly: Sacrificing Palestine for Zionist Campaign Funds
10.09.2011Introduction: There are two views of Obamas speech to the General Assembly on September 21, 2011, and his opposition to the recognition of Palestine as a sovereign state and its admission to the UN. The common opinion of foreign policy experts was that Obama led the US to an ignominious diplomatic defeat, deepening US isolation in the international system.
Obama: The Assassination of Anwar Al-Awlaki by Fiat
10.06.2011The killing of Anwar al-Awlaki a U.S citizen in Yemen by a CIA drone missile on September 30 has been publicized by the mass media, President Obama and the usual experts on al-Qaeda as a major blow to the jihadist network founded by Osama bin Laden US officials called Awlaki the most dangerous figure in Al-Qaeda (Financial Times Oct. 1 and 2, 2011).
Chavez versus Obama: Facing Presidential Elections in 2012
09.15.2011Introduction: Two incumbent presidents are running for re-election in 2012, Hugo Chavez in Venezuela and Barack Obama in the United States. What makes these two electoral contests significant is that they represent contrasting responses to the global economic crises: