Mostly Water

pBy William Blum - Dissident Voice/p pWhat is it that makes young men, reasonably well educated, in good health and nice looking, with long lives ahead of them, use powerful explosives to murder complete strangers because of political beliefs?...I’m speaking about American military personnel of course, on the ground, in the air, or directing drones from an office in Nevada...Do not the survivors of US attacks in Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Pakistan, Somalia, Libya and elsewhere, and their loved ones, ask such a question?/p pa href=http://mostlywater.org/boston_marathon_thing_called_terrorism_and_united_states target=_blankread more/a/p

pBy Gerry Caplan - May 4, 2013/p pA href=http://www.truthdig.com/arts_culture/item/kill_anything_that_moves_20130312/iKill Anything That Moves: The Real American War in Vietnam/i/a is not just another history book. Its implications for today are both profound and unnerving. It will haunt you every time the United States launches yet another military adventure somewhere in the world in the name of American idealism./p pa href=http://mostlywater.org/kill_anthing_moves_americas_shameful_history_vietnam_finally_revealed_review target=_blankread more/a/p

pBy SHELDON RICHMAN - Counterpunch Weekend Edition/p pWhen it comes to conserving the national-security state, it matters little which party is in power./p pa href=http://mostlywater.org/state_torture_america target=_blankread more/a/p

pBy Noam Chomsky - Sunday, May 05, 2013/p pIn this episode of iPress TV's/i documentary program renowned American academic Noam Chomsky says the United States would be recognized as a leading terrorist state if international law is applied./p pa href=http://mostlywater.org/noam_chomsky_us_top_terrorist_state_video target=_blankread more/a/p

pBy Mark Weisbrot - May 05, 2013/p pRecent events indicate that the Obama administration has stepped up its strategy of “regime change” against the left-of-center governments in Latin America, promoting conflict in ways not seen since the military coup that Washington supported in Venezuela in 2002. The most high-profile example is in Venezuela itself, during the past week. As this goes to press, Washington has grown increasingly isolated in its efforts to destabilize the newly elected government of Nicolas Maduro./p pa href=http://mostlywater.org/us_seeks_get_rid_left_governments_latin_america target=_blankread more/a/p

pHart represented a number of Guantanamo prisoners. Disturbing questions about his death remain unanswered. Believe nothing at face value. Official accounts often turn out untrue. It won't surprise if later evidence suggests or proves murder./p pa href=http://mostlywater.org/andy_p_hart_suicide_or_murder target=_blankread more/a/p

pOn May 2, Obama named Froman his new US trade representative. He's a former Harvard law school classmate. He's currently a key adviser./p pa href=http://mostlywater.org/usstyle_free_trade_good_hands_michael_froman target=_blankread more/a/p

pMay 04, 2013 - Znet/p pWhen nations such as Greece, Spain, Portugal and Italy tried to slow down the rate at which their debts were rising, the results were absolutely devastating. A full-blown economic depression is raging across southern Europe and it is rapidly spreading into northern Europe. Eventually it will spread to the rest of the globe as well./p pa href=http://mostlywater.org/20_signs_next_great_economic_depression_has_already_started_europe target=_blankread more/a/p

pObama's already waging multiple direct and proxy wars. He's incrementally heading toward another. Syrian intervention appears likely. Libya 2.0 could happen anytime./p pa href=http://mostlywater.org/false_flag_chemical_attack_syria target=_blankread more/a/p

pTerrorists R us. Washington bears full responsibility. Numerous schemes are planned. Some are alleged and foiled. Others involve violent plots. Media scoundrels convict innocent people in the court of public opinion./p pa href=http://mostlywater.org/us_hatched_terror_plots_0 target=_blankread more/a/p

pBy Yves Engler - May 3rd, 2013/p p...[P]erhaps the epithet “union boss” is not really aimed at the presidents, secretary-treasurers or other heads of unions at all. Rather, it is an insult aimed at all workers, who these right-wing minions think are too stupid to participate in the democratic process of choosing a leader...These yes men of the super rich cannot conceive of workers running their own organizations. When you make your living as a toady you have a hard time imagining anyone else thinking for him or herself./p pa href=http://mostlywater.org/why_are_union_reps_called_union_bosses target=_blankread more/a/p

pBy Ingo Schmidt - May 1, 2013/p pAusterity is the only policy game in town at this point in the core capitalist countries. But it has growing doubters amongst ruling elites and is deeply resented by the working classes. In the zones of severe crisis, the free market ideology is losing even more credibility...An upsurge in right-wing populism in many countries...is one of the expressions of the deep crisis of legitimacy that is befalling neoliberal capitalism in the midst of continuing economic crisis and another sharpening of economic inequalities./p pa href=http://mostlywater.org/may_day_2013_fragile_economies_aggressive_bosses_and_struggling_workers target=_blankread more/a/p

pBy David Brown - 3 May 2013/p pMay Day protests in Seattle, Washington ended with 17 arrests as police clashed with protesters. Like last year, the Seattle Police Department (SPD) used the marches as an opportunity to experiment with crowd-control techniques and test out new equipment...“iThey’re making this into a war zone when it’s not. If you’re in a crowd and you’re surrounded by police in riot gear, you get defensive./i”/p pa href=http://mostlywater.org/seventeen_arrested_may_day_protests_seattle target=_blankread more/a/p

pBy Noam Chomsky - May 2, 2013/p pIt's rare for privileged Westerners to see, graphically, what many others experience daily - for example, in a remote village in Yemen, the same week as the marathon bombings...The strike terrorized the villagers, turning them into enemies of the United States - something that years of jihadi propaganda had failed to accomplish./p pa href=http://mostlywater.org/boston_bombings_gave_americans_taste_terrorism_us_inflicts_abroad_every_day target=_blankread more/a/p

pEvents in Syria resemble the run-up to Obama's Libya war. Victims are called aggressors. Pretexts are created for intervention./p pa href=http://mostlywater.org/tiptoeing_toward_war_syria target=_blankread more/a/p

pTom Wheeler is a former top Obama fundraiser. He's an entrepreneur and venture capitalist. He's a former cable and wireless industries lobbyist./p pa href=http://mostlywater.org/communications_giants_good_hands_tom_wheeler target=_blankread more/a/p

pBy Maya Shlayen - May 2, 2013/p pRecently, a girl named Rehtaeh Parsons committed suicide. After having been allegedly gang-raped by four boys, a picture of the incident was passed around to her classmates, who then went on to humiliate and harass her...Unfortunately, all of the discussions about the story so far have focused on bullying...as if what happened to her could have happened to anyone. In reality, her story had a lot to do with being female in a patriarchal society. Rehtaeh was killed by misogyny./p pa href=http://mostlywater.org/rehtaeh_parsons_was_victim_misogyny_not_bullying target=_blankread more/a/p

pBy Bill Van Auken - WSWS/p pAt least 100 detainees being held at the Guantanamo prison camp remained on hunger strike Wednesday, a day after President Barack Obama told a White House press briefing that he would “re-engage Congress” on closing the facility...A spokesman for the US prison at the Guantanamo Bay naval base in southeast Cuba reported Wednesday that 23 of the hunger strikers were being subjected to force feedings and that four of them were being held at the prison hospital./p pa href=http://mostlywater.org/guantanamo_hunger_strike_force_feedings_continue target=_blankread more/a/p

pBy Dave Zirin - Znet/p pWhat is certain is that the means by which people have historically felt a sense of having a stake in this country have been inexorably altered in the post-9/11 world. This is now a nation defined and scarred by the cruel anti-immigrant policies of both Presidents Bush and Obama. It’s now a nation defined and scarred by pushing people away from that historic safe haven for immigrants otherwise known as competitive sports. It’s a nation that spawned the brothers Tsarnaev./p pa href=http://mostlywater.org/tamerlan_tsarnaev_sports_and_american_dream target=_blankread more/a/p

pSyria's being systematically destroyed. Washington planned doing so years ago. Sovereign independence isn't tolerated. It's longstanding US policy./p pa href=http://mostlywater.org/whats_ahead_syria target=_blankread more/a/p