World

  • UNITED STATES: Army reservists refuse Iraq duty

    Dustin Langley, New York "I am ashamed to be associated with this mess, and I certainly did not join the army to kill women, children and old men. I just don't see how these innocent people could be a threat to the constitution of the United

  • ARGENTINA: Locking up the activists

    Raul Bassi When Nestor Kirchner was elected president of Argentina in 2003, many both inside and outside Argentina viewed him as a progressive alternative to the rampant neoliberalism of the Carlos Menem years. Menem had governed the country

  • UNITED STATES: Antiwar protest at Bush inauguration

    At least 10,000 protesters from around the country converged on John Marshall Park in Washington, DC, on January 20 bringing a powerful antiwar message to the presidential inauguration of George Bush. The first thing that Bush saw as the presidential

  • ACEH: Military abuses aid effort

    James Balowski, Jakarta The US has given its clearest signal yet that it may consider lifting a 23-year-old arms embargo imposed on the Indonesian armed forces (TNI). A partial lifting of the embargo came soon after the tsunami hit Aceh on December

  • PALESTINE: Presidential election will not bring peace

    Kim Bullimore On January 9, Mahmoud Abbas (also known as Abu Mazen) was elected the new president of the Palestinian Authority, with 62% of the popular vote, following the death late last year of Yasser Arafat. According to the corporate media, the

  • IRAQ: US attack left Fallujah 'unfit for animals'

    Eric Ruder, Chicago After nearly two months of a savage US offensive, the people of Fallujah are returning to their city — to find heaps of rubble and whole neighbourhoods demolished. Operation Phantom Fury, as the US called its assault,

  • IRAQ: Sham elections in deep trouble

    John Catalinotto, New York Former CIA "asset" and current Iraqi "Premier" Iyad Allawi telephoned US President George Bush on January 3 to discuss problems about holding the January 30 national election in Iraq. The big question was whether the

  • In brief

    GERMANY: New left party to be launched In a ballot conducted in the now 6000-strong Electoral Alternative Work and Social Justice in December, an overwhelming 96% voted to formally launch a new left party at an extraordinary congress on January

  • LATIN AMERICA: Cuba and Venezuela strengthen solidarity

    Stuart Munckton In Havana on December 14, Cuban President Fidel Castro and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez signed a new, far-reaching economic agreement between the two nations. Both countries believe that the agreement fits within the framework

  • VENEZUELA: A visit to the colonel

    Russian academic Boris Kagarlitsky recently attended a conference in Caracas organised by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. The following is excerpted from his account of the trip. In Venezuela, a revolution is taking place. In 1992 Colonel Hugo

  • We will reclaim our armed forces!

    Stan Goff The following is an abridged version of a speech given on December 11 at a public meeting in New York City sponsored by Veterans for Peace and Military Families Speak Out (MFSO). It first appeared in the GI Special email bulletin. Goff is