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Is Manning, Alleged WikiLeaks Source, Being Held Illegally?
David MacMichael, who commanded the facility where Manning is being held, last week wrote a letter to General James F. Amos, Commandant of the Marine Corps. The letter reads in part: “I wonder, in the first place, why an Army enlisted man is being held in a Marine Corps installation. Second, I question the length of confinement prior to conduct of court-martial. The sixth amendment to the U.S. Constitution, guaranteeing to the accused in all criminal prosecutions the right to a speedy and public trial, extends to those being prosecuted in the military justice system. …
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The Real Context of the GE Appointment
Thomas Ferguson said today: “Volcker out and Immelt in, because the administration now wants to emphasize ‘recovery’ and ‘jobs’ instead of ‘crisis stabilization’? Since when did any stabilization not include jobs as a top priority? What we actually have here is the disappearance from the scene of the best known and most visible critic of the excesses of the financial sector and his replacement by the sitting CEO of a company that is heavily dependent on government aid of all sorts, including diplomatic assistance to invest more in China. This is not about jobs, but political money — the White…
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Interviews Available with Tunisians: “A Third Way”
In Tunisia, activist Houeida Anouar said today: “Ben Ali has left, but we still have his party. People are in the streets every day now calling for officials from this party to step down from the interim unity government and for that party to be dismantled. This party is very powerful, with offices in every neighborhood. Many people feel that this party infrastructure is still doing the dirty work. People in this party and other Ben Ali loyalists still control lots of institutions and media outlets.
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As House Votes to Repeal “Obamacare,” Vermont Moving Toward Single Payer
Margaret Flowers is congressional fellow for the 18,000-member Physicians for a National Health Program; Mark Almberg is the organization’s communications director. Flowers said today: “The Republican repeal of the health law in the House yesterday would initiate a race to the bottom. Their plan to open the sale of insurance across state lines would lead to an administrative nightmare for patients and providers and further lower the quality of health insurance plans. We need a real and simpler solution: improved Medicare for all. Fortunately states like Vermont are picking up where the federal government has failed and are much closer…
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U.S.-Chinese Relations
Henry Rosemont is visiting professor of religious studies at Brown University and author of several books including A Chinese Mirror: Moral Reflections on Political Economy and translations of Chinese classics. He said today: “China is a threat to the United States only if the United States assumes that it is, and pursues an aggressive foreign policy that serves only our own and not China’s interests. The best hope for a less tension-filled world is for both countries to reduce military spending significantly …
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“From Military-Industrial Complex to Permanent War State”
Gareth Porter just wrote the piece “From Military-Industrial Complex to Permanent War State,” which states: “Fifty years after Dwight D. Eisenhower’s January 17, 1961 speech on the ‘military-industrial complex,’ that threat has morphed into a far more powerful and sinister force than Eisenhower could have imagined. It has become a ‘Permanent War State,’ with the power to keep the United States at war continuously for the indefinite future.
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Obama’s New Approach to Regulation Is “Misguided”
President of Public Citizen, Robert Weissman said today: “The dominant fact of American life in recent years has been grossly inadequate public protections. In the past several years, under-regulation and corporate disregard of safety rules have resulted in multiple salmonella and E. coli outbreaks, a flood of lead-tainted toys, a massive and environmentally devastating oil spill, deadly mine disasters and the collapse of our economy, which has cost eight million American jobs. We need to focus most urgently on fixing these problems and others, not burden agencies, which already are overworked and under-resourced, with more internal reviews and red tape.…
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Tunisian Academic: “Will Not Recognize This Band of Thugs”
NOUREDDINE JEBNOUN, [beginning Tues. 2:00 pm ET] Available for a very limited number of interviews with major media outlets, Jebnoun is visiting assistant professor at the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown University. He said today: “Today, in Tunisia, a new government has been announced and mainly led by the same old guard of criminals from the Constitutional Democratic Rally, which is neither ‘constitutional’ nor ‘democratic’ but an aggregation of thugs and criminals that Tunisian people, who sacrificed themselves for freedom and dignity, must place under trial. …
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Haiti: Return of Jean Claude Duvalier
EZILI DANTO Danto is president of the Haitian La…
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Tunisia: U.S. Backing Dictatorship over Pro-Democracy Movement
CNN is reporting: “Police in Tunisia’s capital city used batons and tear gas to clear a peaceful demonstration on Friday. … [This occurs] after days of riots that have killed at least 21 people.” STEPHEN ZUNES Zunes just wrote the piece “Pro-Democracy Uprising Fails to Keep Washington From Backing Tunisian Dictatorship.” Zunes is professor of politics at the University of San Francisco and senior policy analyst for Foreign Policy in Focus. CHRISTOPHER ALEXANDER Alexander is director of the Dean Rusk International Studies Program at Davidson College in North Carolina and a specialist on Tunisia. He is author of Tunisia: Stability…
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Howard Zinn