September 30, 2006
Hurricane report censored
Image source: AP
In the same week as California became the first state in the US to cap emissions of greenhouse gases, the Bush administration (again) blocked a report that warns of the continued use of fossil fuels and their contribution to global warming. This isn't political any more. It's criminal neglect.
September 20, 2006
Not much to smile about in the land of 4 million smiles
Image source: AFP
More than 160 NGOs boycotted the IMF and World Bank meetings in Singapore this week to protest against a clampdown on free speech and the banning of activists; some of whom plan to sue the Singapore government. The super organised event has been so 'over-stage-managed' that even someone as right-wing as the World Bank president himself, Paul Wolfowitz, has declared that Singapore had inflicted "enormous damage" to its reputation because of its reluctance to admit people who were already accredited by the World Bank and IMF. Not good PR for a country looking to boost its tourist dollar me thinks. Gayle Goh has all the gory details.
September 03, 2006
The UnAmerican Century
Image source: www.utah.indymedia.org
There is an excellent essay by Deborah Campbell in Adbusters this week on how an over-reliance on military force has seen American soft power--the cultural capital accumulated over the course of a century--melt away very quickly. I remember, growing up in England in the 1960s and 1970s, my parents always spoke of the US with great respect and this obviously rubbed off on me. As I have documented on this blog before, this was a sentiment quite common in postwar Europe with the Marshall Plan still fresh in people's minds. The goodwill started to dissipate with the Vietnam war and this gained momentum with a succession of imperialist (and sometimes subversive) foreign policies since. What little goodwill remained coming into the 21st century, Dubya and his neo-con puppeteers (a.k.a The Project for the New American Century (PNAC)) have completed obliterated in one foul swoop with their so-called 'war on terror'. Now, as Campbell notes, a recent international poll by the Pew Research Center shows that the US is now viewed by most of the world as the number one threat to global security.