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The New Print Edition of CounterPunch, Only for Our Newsletter Subscribers! From Nixon to Sarah Palin
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The New Print Edition of CounterPunch, Only for Our Newsletter Subscribers!
From Nixon to Sarah Palin
What’s happened to the Republican Party? What’s happened to populism? Read Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St Clair on the life and death of Nixonland, and the class politics of the war over Sarah Palin. ALSO in our new subscriber-only CounterPunch newsletter, read Serge Halimi on how Russia gave Georgia and the U.S.a well-deserved black eye. PLUS Carrie Dann’s wonderful first-hand account of the fight of the Western Shoshone to reclaim their land. Get your copy today by subscribing online or calling 1-800-840-3683 Contributions to CounterPunch are tax-deductible. Click here to make a donation. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now! CounterPunch books and gear make great presents.
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Today's Stories September 12, 2008 Nikolas Kozloff September 11, 2008 Noam Chomsky Sharon Smith Ron Jacobs Marjorie Cohn Mike Whitney Jeffery R. Webber Paul Cantor Peter Morici Ray McGovern Linn Washington, Jr. Website of the Day September 10, 2008 Paul Craig Roberts Conn Hallinan Ralph Nader Peter Morici Joanne Mariner Laura Tate Kagel / Chuck Spinney Dave Lindorff Scott Campbell Paul Farmer Anne Kilkenny Website of the Day September 9, 2008 Michael Colby Chellis Glendinning Vijay Prashad Jeffery R. Webber/ David Michael Green Brian J. Foley John Ross Pierre M. Sprey / Nicole Colson Marc Gardner William S. Lind Website of the Day
September 8, 2008 Mike Whitney Tariq Ali Pam Martens Bill Quigley Malini Johar Schueller / Robert Jensen Uri Avnery Win McCormack Howard Lisnoff Maria C. Khoury Website of the Day September 6 / 7, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair Linn Washington, Jr. Patrick Cockburn Gary Leupp Nancy Kurshan William Blum Michael Winship Fred Gardner Nikolas Kozloff Wajahat Ali Robert Fantina Karyn Strickler David Yearsley Richard Rhames James L. Secor Missy Beattie Eric Patton Ben Terrall Thom Rutledge Dan Bacher David Macaray Jane Stillwater Grady Harper Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend September 5, 2008 Elizabeth Walters Bill Quigley Alan Farago Dave Lindorff Ira Glunts Peter Morici Deepak Tripathi Manuel Garcia, Jr. Michael Donnelly Martha Rosenberg Website of the Day September 4, 2008 Jeffrey St. Clair Paul Craig Roberts Ron Jacobs M. Junaid Levesque-Alam Andy Worthington Osama Dawoud Stephen Lendman Fidel Castro Website of the Day September 3, 2008 Patrick Cockburn Sen. Mike Gravel Vijay Prashad Nikolas Kozloff Ralph Nader Howard Lisnoff Steve Early / Cal Winslow Shepherd Bliss Bill Quigley Website of the Day
September 2, 2008 Marjorie Cohn Jonathan Cook Robert Weitzel Corey D. B. Walker John Ross Eric Walberg Judith Scherr Richard Morse B. R. Gowani Michael Greenberg Website of the Day September 1, 2008 Nikolas Kozloff C. G. Estabrook Manuel Garcia, Jr. David Macaray B. R. Gowani Saul Landau Charles Orloski Gloria La Riva Website of the Day August 30 / 31, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Bill Quigley Jeffrey St. Clair Andy Worthington Deepak Tripathi Stanley Howard Dave Lindorff Wajahat Ali Robert Fantina Josh Schlossberg Benjamin Dangl Missy Beattie Howard Lisnoff Suzan Mazur Rev. Jim Rigby David Yearsely Serge Quadruppani B.R. Gowani Richard Rhames Poets' Basement Website of the Day
August 29, 2008 Mike Whitney Brian Cloughley David Ker Thomson Joanne Mariner Neve Gordon Chris Genovali Ron Jacobs Michael Donnelly August 28, 2008 Judy Gumbo Albert Paul Cantor Saul Landau / Andy Worthington Ben Terrall Leonard Peltier Niranjan Ramakrishnan Donna J. Volatile Website of the Day
August 27, 2008 Anthony DiMaggio Jordan Flaherty Ralph Nader Melissa Checker Bob Sommer Cynthia McKinney Ali Khan M. Junaid Levesque-Alam Dave Lindorff David Macaray Website of the Day
August 26, 2008 Patrick Cockburn Michael D. Yates Paul Craig Roberts Andy Worthington Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Huwaida Arraf Joseph Grosso Sheldon Richman Binoy Kampmark Website of the Day August 25, 2008 Patrick Cockburn Bill Quigley Jonathan Cook James McEnteer Uri Avnery Will Potter Robert Jensen Stephen Lendman Wajahat Ali Carl Finamore Website of the Day August 23 / 4, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair Patty O'Grady Nicole Colson Steve Conn Deepak Trapathi Robert Fantina Jonathan M. Feldman Joshua Frank Osama Qashoo Howard Lisnoff David Michael Green Dave Lindorff Christopher Brauchli Alan Farago Michael Winship Richard Rhames David Rosen Patrick B. Barr Jamie Newlin Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend August 22, 2008 Boris Kagarlitsky Laura Carlsen Bob Barr Marwan Bishara Peter Morici Manuel Garcia, Jr. Charles Mostoller Sumbul Ali-Karamali Keith Rosenthal John F. Miglio Website of the Day August 21, 2008 Allan J. Lichtman Dave Lindorff Loserville: How Obama Blew It Ralph Nader Joanne Mariner Wajahat Ali Ron Jacobs Rostam Purzal Anthony Papa Website of the Day August 20, 2008 Michael Neumann Ray McGovern Eric Walberg Fidaa Abed Daniel Haack Mike Whitney Website of the Day August 19, 2008 Paul Craig Roberts Deepak Tripathi Marwan Bishara Saul Landau William S. Lind Martha Rosenberg James Brittain Pratyush Chandra David Macaray Website of the Day |
September 12, 2008 What Americans Must Ask ThemselvesU.S. Designs on PakistanBy AYESHA IJAZ KHAN A pattern is beginning to emerge. Every time the Pakistani military and local tribal forces in Pakistan’s north form a successful alliance in the fight against terrorism, US forces launch offensives striking civilians in the area, thereby undermining the Pakistan military’s credibility vis a vis its own population and sabotaging the effectiveness of the joint strategy to combat terrorism in the region. As a result, anti-Americanism in Pakistan has reached record highs and even those Pakistanis who are left-leaning and actively lobbying for an end to the brutality of terrorism are concluding that America’s primary interest lies in destabilizing Pakistan and not in putting an end to terrorism. This should be worrying for a nation that has few friends left in the Muslim world and needs Pakistan’s cooperation desperately if it is to maintain its supply routes in Afghanistan. Following the recent attacks in North Waziristan, Pakistan’s Ary TV aired a short documentary characterizing the United States as an aggressor nation that has not hesitated to maim and kill civilians in various parts of the world, whether it was in Southeast Asia, Latin America, or more recently, the Middle East and South Asia. Let’s just say that it has become almost impossible for the United States to win the battle for hearts and minds as a result of its recent actions. The United States has struck civilians on the pretext that tribes from Pakistan’s side of the border have made incursions into Afghanistan and targeted NATO/ISAF forces. The reality is that both American forces and strategy have failed miserably in Afghanistan and the Karzai government struggles, even after six years, to establish credibility with the Afghans or extend its writ beyond Kabul. The feeling in Pakistan is that the US government needs a scapegoat to dump its incompetence on and Pakistan is just that. The fact that this is election year in the US manifests the sheer desperation of the American forces in launching ground offensives based, at best, on bad intelligence, and at worst, on bad intentions, within Pakistan’s territory, threatening the nuclear-armed state’s sovereignty and killing several women and children. The surprise attack which prompted a stern statement from General Ashfaq Pervez Kiyani, Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff, condemning US actions as beyond the scope of the clearly defined terms of engagement and warning that further attacks of this sort will not be tolerated was the first of its kind and came on the heels of a successful mobilization of awakening forces in Bajaur, a previous hotbed, where the government had partnered with the Salarzai tribe against Taliban operatives and managed to achieve peace so that displaced persons from the area were able to return to their homes. The US attacks changed all that. The tribes have greater reason to sympathize with the Taliban as siding with the government does not appear to ensure tranquillity. While a couple of months ago, several stories in the Pakistani press talked about formulating a “made in Pakistan terrorism policy” and fed up with suicide attacks and violence, Pakistanis were refusing to empathize with the cause of the Taliban, today there is near consensus on the idea that American presence is dangerously destabilizing for the region and must be expelled at all cost. It is once again being viewed as “America’s war”; not “our war”. Adding injury to insult, it is not just the case that America is focused on eliminating Al-Qaeeda supporters from the region, it is also a complicated mess that it has entangled itself in trying to ensure that it does that. In doing so, America has abandoned all democratic norms and values that it claims to want to export. In fact, it has gone further than that. It has actively worked to create obstacles in the way of civilian secular Pakistani movements who had exhibited great courage and valour in supporting the Chief Justice and other members of the superior judiciary ousted by General Musharraf last Novemeber. While the lawyers’ movement in Pakistan has, at great peril, fought for the introduction of checks and balances, constitutional supremacy and rule of law so that Pakistan can call itself a well-functioning democracy, America’s policy has been one of trying to make friends with a select few, whether dictators like Musharraf or corrupt politicians like Asif Zardari, so that it can have blind continuity of a policy that is clearly not working on the Pak-Afghan border. Pakistanis are therefore not wrong in concluding that America does not have the people’s interests at heart. Last month, I was in New York and when I saw McCain and Obama questioned by Pastor Rick Warren, I was heartened at least by Obama’s response to: Does evil exist and what should we do about it? Obama was reasonable enough to comment that in confronting evil America must be mindful that it does not employ evil ways because then it will lose the moral high ground. This is already a fait accompli in the case of American policy in Pakistan and Afghanistan. It will take a long time to repair it. Yet it is lamentable that even left-wing groups in America are talking about taking the war to Afghanistan. Guess what? The war is already in Afghanistan and its not working! It was only when I switched the television on at 12:30 am on a weeknight (I was probably the only one watching) that I heard Bill Maher say, “All wars are bad. Why do we think Afghanistan would be a good war?” Such discussions cannot only be held at odd hours of the night or on the fringes of society. Mainstream media has a responsibility to cover such stories front and centre. America has some desperate soul-searching to do. There is a pretty good reason why anti-Americanism has grown in leaps and bounds in the Bush years. It will take a lot to undo it. The American media is not doing its people any favours by not showing the effects of American raids on civilians in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Having lived in America for a few years myself, I do believe that if Americans were better informed, they would not let their government make the mistakes it makes and trample on the lives of people abroad in the manner that it does. America must ask itself: is it possible after all to mess up so much, destroy so many lives, and not expect pay back? Ayesha Ijaz Khan is a London-based lawyer turned political commentator. She can be contacted via her website www.ayeshaijazkhan.com
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