View all posts filed under November, 2007

As the White House and Congress escalate their economic sanctions and military threats against Iran, top military commanders and Pentagon officials have launched a counter-offensive, opposing a new Middle East War.

On November 26, 2007 the Venezuelan government broadcast and circulated a confidential memo from the US embassy to the CIA which is devastatingly revealing of US clandestine operations and which will influence the referendum this Sunday (December 2, 2007).

The debate on which forces determine US Middle East policy has cut across the usual political spectrum: On one side most neo-conservative and progressive writers, academics and journalists argue that the military-industrial complex and Big Oil interests are the most influential forces shaping US policy.

Venezuela’s democratically elected Present Chavez faces the most serious threat since the April 11, 2002 military coup. Violent street demonstrations by privileged middle and upper middle class university students have led to major street battles in and around the center of Caracas.

As the US prepares for what is arguably the most open presidential election since 1928, the last time there was no incumbent president or vice-president on the ballot, the Daily Telegraph\’s Washington correspondents compile a list of the 100 most influential liberals in America. James Petras is #59. Noam Chomsky is #63.

Explanations for the US attack on Iraq range from military-political pretexts to accounts focusing on geopolitical and economic interests. The original official explanation was the now discredited claim that Saddam Hussein possessed chemical, biological and other weapons of mass destructions (WMD), which threatened the US, Israel and the Middle East.