Politics

NOVANEWS Congress Set to Renew Patriot Act Spy Provisions By Tom Burghardt Global Research Antifascist Calling... As night follows day, you can count on Congress to serve as loyal servants and willing accomplices of our out-of-control National Security State. Last week, in another shameless demonstration of congressional "bipartisanship," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) forged a filthy backroom deal that reauthorizes insidious surveillance provisions of the Patriot Act for an additional four years. "Like clockwork," the ACLU reports, Reid and McConnell "introduced a bill, S. 1038, that will extend the provisions until June 1, 2015." As of this writing, the text of that meas...

NOVANEWS   By Mike Whitney   Global Research,   It's all about perception management. The media is trying to dig up as much dirt as they can on Dominique Strauss-Kahn so they can hang the man before he ever sees the inside of a courthouse. It reminds me of the Terry Schiavo case, where devoted-husband Michael was pegged as an insensitive slimeball for carrying out the explicit wishes of his brain-dead wife. Do you remember how the media conducted their disgraceful 24 hour-a-day Blitzkrieg with the endless coverage of weepy Christian fanatics on the front lawn of the hospital while Hannity, Limbaugh and O' Reilly fired away with their sanctimonious claptrap? And now you're telling me that that same media is just "doing their job?" Give me a break. Whoever wan...

NOVANEWS Global Research, May 22, 2011 "Truth has to be repeated constantly, because Error also is being preached all the time, and not just by a few, but by the multitude.  In the Press and Encyclopaedias, in Schools and Universities, everywhere Error holds sway, feeling happy and comfortable in the knowledge of having Majority on its side."   --Goethe Dear Readers, Thank you for visiting Global Research! We are reassured to know that you have come to this site because you are looking to find the truth, the REAL truth behind the "news", to understand the political, social and economic forces shaping the world you live in. Though Goethe made his insightful observation two hundred years ago, his words hold more meaning today than ever in history. Error can indeed be found thr...

NOVANEWS By Dr. T. P. Wilkinson Global Research, The declassification of official secrets is often seen as either a challenge or a prerequisite for obtaining accurate data on the history of political and economic events. Yet at the same time high government intelligence officials have said that their policy is one of 'plausible deniability'. Official US government policy for example is never to acknowledge or deny the presence of nuclear weapons anywhere its forces are deployed, especially its naval forces. The British have their ‘Official Secrets’ Act. When the Wikileaks site was launched in 2007 and attained notoriety for publication of infamous actions by US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, this platform was heralded and condemned for its disclosures and exposures. &nbs...

NOVANEWS   Spanish Voters Reject Austerity by Stephen Lendman Since mid-May, Spain’s M-15 movement began protesting for “Real Democracy Now,” drawing large numbers of students, activists, unemployed workers, and other “los indignados” (the outraged ones) on streets throughout the country, defying a ban ahead of May 22 municipal and regional elections. Tens of thousands said “No nos moveran” (We shall not be moved), opposing government imposed austerity to repay bankers at their expense. Experiencing its worse economic crisis in decades, official figures show around 45% of Spanish youths unemployed, a crisis affecting all workers facing worsening, not improving conditions, some of the worst in Europe. In response to growing needs, Jose Luis Zapartero’s Socialist Workers Party (PSOE) ...

NOVANEWS What did I ever do to you? Did I ever bring danger to your home, What injustices old or new? What did I ever do or say- That could possibly justify the things You are doing to me this day? Right now they’re only whispers of wonder But tomorrow they’ll rage like the thunder. What did we ever do to you- Are we children of a lesser god Not as shiny and not as new? What did we ever do or say That could possibly justify the things You are doing to us this day? And yet through all this madness you wonder Why our outrage is rising like thunder… When all we want is just to live In the peace we’ve always needed And not stare in the face of death As the conquered and defeated As children of a lesser god We are sacrificed and slaughtered And not allowed to shed a tear As we b...

NOVANEWS   By James Petras   The attempted rape and sexual abuse of an African cleaning woman by the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn (DSK) embodies, in microcosm, the entire historical and contemporary legacy of colonial neo-colonial relations. Efforts to portray this criminal act as an individual obsession or a personal failing or a “Latin idiosyncrasy” fail to take account of the ‘deep history’ in which these psychological pathologies are embedded. The first clue is evident on the very surface – skin deep – of the antagonists: On the one-hand, a powerful white European politician representing the collective will of an organization representing the global capitalist class, one with the financial resources to severely punish poor a...

NOVANEWS   Stephen Lendman Interview by Kourosh Ziabari / STAFF WRITERStephen Lendman is a prolific political commentator, author and radio host. He is a research associate with the Canada-based Center for Research on Globalization. His articles have been widely published on a variety of news websites and magazines across the world and translated in several languages. He is based in Chicago and has written extensively on war and peace, social justice in America and many other national and international issues. Stephen Lendman is a recipient of a 2008 Project Censored Award, University of California at Sonoma. Lendman’s articles have appeared on Leworockwell.com, Dissident Voice, Counter Punch, Counter Currents, Intifada Palestine, Palestine Telegraph, The Greanville Post, Palestine...

NOVANEWS by Yamin Zakaria I know the title will cause offence to some, but perhaps it’s time that they learn to swallow their own medicine of ‘free’ speech, that is frequently used to insult Islam and Muslims; and in the spirit of free speech, I am going to elaborate on the title, rather than throw crass insults at an entire group of people. Thus, based on the example of some or even many, I won’t be tempted to class all white males as rapists or serial killers and make the tenuous link to their religious or racial identity. Those who are committed to free speech would be expected to persevere and remain, whereas the bigots and the nasty foulmouthed Islamophobes have probably already exited the room. Anyway, without further ado, let us proceed. Everyone knows the bifurcation of, the...

NOVANEWS   Press TV Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast says only the appearance of US new Middle East policy differs from Washington’s previous approaches. The change might have been believable for people if the US had admitted its mistakes and attempted to correct its wrong policies, Mehmanparast said on Sunday in reference to US President Barack Obama’s speech on Thursday. Mehmanparast added that reviewing the US new policies, however, did not reveal any change compared to the past.  In a televised speech about Middle East developments on May 19, US President Barack Obama talked about marking a “new chapter in American diplomacy.” “For six months, we have witnessed an extraordinary change take place in the Middle East and North Africa… I would like to...