Even before the euphoria evaporates, analysts are preaching gloom and doom for Obama on the home front.
The easy part is over. A flourish of executive orders closing Guantanamo, dismantling much of president George W Bush’s architecture for the “war on terror”, allowing family planning promotion abroad. The hard part has begun. United States President Barack Obama is faced with an economy in galloping depression, the worst since the 1930s on all counts.
Hamas and Israel are observing separate ceasefires after a 22-day Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip. Alastair Crooke, founder of the Conflicts Forum think-tank, shares his thoughts on the conflict, the region and what Obama might bring to the mix.
Al Jazeera: Can Israel be said to have achieved its aims through its offensive on Gaza? As time goes on, it will become more and more clear that Israel has not achieved the aims that it set for itself. The intended aim – that by an overwhelming show of force it would make people both docile and deterred – has not been achieved. Read more » |
Much is being made across the political spectrum in the United States about Washington’s waning influence in Latin America. The region has seen an emergence of left and center-left presidents voted into office, many as a result of budding social movements growing democracy from the grassroots. Some pundits and analysts are suggesting that this phenomenon is occurring because of the Bush Administration’s perceived neglect of the region. Rather, what is happening is blowback from Washington’s continued meddling in the economic and political affairs of an area arrogantly referred to as the United States’ “backyard.” Latin America’s growing unity in rejecting the Washington Consensus remains fragile in the face of U.S. opposition. Washington has been quietly using the war on drugs, the war on terrorism, and a neo-cold war ideology to institutionalize a militarism in the region that risks returning us to the not so far off days of “dirty wars.”
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Thousands celebrating in Plaza Murillo. Photo: B. DanglAfter Bolivia’s new constitution was passed in a national referendum on Sunday, thousands gathered in La Paz to celebrate. Standing on the balcony of the presidential palace, President Evo Morales addressed a raucous crowd: “Here begins a new Bolivia. Here we begin to reach true equality.”
In Bolivia’s history, January 25 was historic but getting there violent and uncertain. On July 2, 2006, a new Constituent Assembly was elected. On August 6, it was sworn in, but for six months remained snagged in procedural debates and achieved little. By late December 2007, a new constitution was passed, but the country was as polarized as ever. It still is. On one side, indigenous, popular rights. On the other, elitist interests wanting business as usual. Read more »
One of the most striking features of the current economic environment is the number of charts and graphs of statistical, price or other data that depict cliff-like drops or moon-shot-like jumps. Today’s example, highlighted by Jan-Martin Feddersen, publisher of the immobilienblasen blog, can be found in a post entitled “Number Of The Day: ‘Percentage Of US Companies With A Junk Rating.”
This at the start of a deep and long recession…… After the events of the last 3 month it is valid to wonder how much of this debt will get bailed out ( GM….) or will end up without much disclosure on the Fed´s balance sheet……I wonder how many companies are now on the brink of bankruptcy just because they decided to make big debt financed stock buybacks or megalomaniac takeovers & buyouts…… Read more »
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