Brian Cloughley: Afghan Bangs and Wimpers!

TS Eliot, The Hollow Men: "This is the way the world ends. Not with a bang but a whimper." Barack Obama, May 21, 2012: "As Afghans stand up, they will not stand alone." The war in Afghanistan is going badly for everyone. The ordinary people of that chaotic country, who are the most important element in the whole horrible shambles, are suffering enormously, and the vast quantities of money poured into their country by US and other taxpayers have not benefited them in any way whatever. But these oceans of cash have certainly benefited several thousand not-so-ordinary Afghans who have siphoned off countless millions of dollars into bank accounts in Dubai and elsewhere. One of these loyal citizens was the country's former vice-president, Zia Masood, who on arrival in Dubai was found to be carrying $52 million, but was allowed to go laughing to the bank without any action being taken. The US Inspector General on Afghan Reconstruction reported last year that : "As much as $10 million a day in cash is being smuggled through Kabul airport," and in March the deputy governor of Afghanistan's Central Bank told Reuters that his countrymen "have been moving up to $8 billion in cash in suitcases and carry-on bags from Afghanistan's airports every year." But it seems there is nothing that the US or anyone else can do about it. This is the totally corrupt country that is expected by Obama to "stand up" within the next year or so, and be left to look after its own domestic security in 30 months. This is the country in which this week five US soldiers were shot by an Afghan soldier. In 2009 Obama declared that "Afghanistan is not lost, but for several years it has moved backwards." Three years later, during his seven hour presidential electioneering visit to the country, during which he did not dare to travel anywhere, he declared "we must finish the job we started in Afghanistan, and end this war responsibly."  

Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich: Blockade the Strait of Hormuz!

George Santayana wisely said: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." Oblivious to history and its lessons, America and its Western allies are repeating their actions of the 1950s, that of imposing an oil embargo on Iran. The American-led alliance has forgotten the past. Iran remembers! When under the leadership of the nationalist Dr. Mossadegh, Iran opted to nationalize its oil industry. The British Royal Navy blocked Iran's oil exports to forcefully prevent it from nationalizing its oil. In retaliation to Iran's nationalistic ambitions, and to punish Iran for pursuing its national interests, the British instigated a worldwide boycott of Iranian oil. In the 1950s, Iran did not have the military might to retaliate to the oil embargo and the naval blockade was aimed at crushing the economy in order to bring about regime change. The subsequent events described in The New York Times article as a lesson in the heavy cost that must be paid when an oil-rich Third World nation goes berserk with fanatical nationalism. Iran leaned that sovereignty and nationalism necessitate tactical, military strength and determination. Not heeding the aftermath of the 1950s, the American led Western allies have once again imposed an oil embargo on Iran. In retaliation, Iran has drafted a bill to stop the flow of oil through its territorial waters, the Strait of Hormuz, to countries which have imposed sanctions against it. This bill is not without merit and contrary to the previous oil embargo. It would appear that Tehran has the upper hand and the heavy cost associated with the embargo will not be borne by Iran alone. The 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea stipulates that vessels can exercise the right of innocent passage, and coastal states should not impede their passage.

Brian Cloughley: Same as Ever, Afghan Bangs and Wimpers!

"This is the way the world ends. Not with a bang, bit with a whimper." TS Eliot, The Hollow Men "As Afghans stand up, they will not stand alone." Barack Obama, May 21, 2012. The war in Afghanistan is going badly for everyone. The ordinary people of that chaotic country, who are the most important element in the whole horrible shambles, are suffering enormously, and the vast quantities of money poured into their country by US and other taxpayers have not benefited them in any way whatever. But these oceans of cash have certainly benefited several thousand not-so-ordinary Afghans, who have siphoned off countless millions of dollars into bank accounts in Dubai and elsewhere. One of these loyal citizens was the country's former vice-president, Zia Masood, who on arrival in Dubai was found to be carrying $52 million, but was allowed to go laughing to the bank, without any action being taken. The US Inspector General on Afghan Reconstruction reported last year that "As much as $10 million a day in cash is being smuggled through Kabul airport," and in March the deputy governor of Afghanistan's Central Bank told Reuters that his countrymen "have been moving up to $8 billion in cash is being smuggled through Kabul airport," and in March the deputy governor of Afghanistan's Central Bank told Reuters that his countrymen "have been moving up to $8 billion in cash in suitcases and carry-on bags from Afghanistan's airports every year." But it seems there is nothing that the US or anyone else can do about it. This is the totally corrupt country that is expected by Obama to "stand up" within the next year or so, and be left to look after its own domestic security in 30 months. This is the country in which this week five US soldiers were shot by an Afghan soldier!   

The Economist: The American Economy - Doldrums!

How long ago seem the promising months of early 2012, when the American economy added jobs at a healthy 225,000 monthly clip, and how disappointing when the labor market slumped back into its now traditional spring-and summer slump. The Bureau of Labor Statistics' June employment report released the June employment report this morning, but it is anti-climatic in its confirmation of the already-too-obvious: Job creation is back in the rut that seems the default position for this recovery. Employers added just 80,000 jobs in June, up negligibly from an increase of 77,000 in May and 68,000 in April. Private employment growth did a bit better once again, coming in at an 84,000 increase for the month. That compares quite unfavorably to the more than 250,000 private positions added in January and February. Government continued to drag down payroll growth, albeit it was a slower pace than earlier in the year. IN the year to June, private employment was up 1.9m, while government at all levels slashed 169,000 jobs. Since the labor market hit a bottom in February of 2010, private employment is up 4.4m jobs, while government employment is down over 500,000. Manufacturing job growth has slowed sharply since the first quarter, unsurprising given the broad weakness in industrial activity in recent months, in America and elsewhere. Perhaps more disconcerting is the disappointing performance of employment in construction. Home prices and sales seem to have reached a bottom and commenced rising, and new permits are up strongly this year, but that has yet to translate into strong residential construction employment growth. The household portion of the BLS survey largely echoes the establishment side, conditions are soft, far softer than they were earlier in the year, or than we'd expect given the gap between potential and actual employment.      

Rebecca Moss: What Ever Happened to Gym Class?

Elaine Gil is the only gym teacher at PS 24, a large and growing dual language elementary school in the heart of Sunset Park, Brooklyn. The 50 year old bounds from class to class in her sweatpants, sneakers and t-shirt, teaching 40 minute periods for kindergarten through fifth graders, one after the other. Yet, of the 750 students at the school, only about 450 are able to take physical education in a given year because of limited space and money, and those who do, have gym class only once a week. The loss of gym time in city schools is not new, but it's become ever more urgent. Slightly more than half of the children in PS 24 have been found to be overweight or obese. "My main goal is to get them moving," Gil said as 23 third graders filed into the second floor gymnasium for their weekly gym period. Gil is a self taught phys ed teacher, using her early childhood education training combined with the internet and common sense. "Most kids, if they have PE, have lost weight." Two decades ago, 42 percent of public school children attended daily physical education classes. Today, like PS 24, gym has been reduced to once a week in many city schools. Nationally, only 4 percent of elementary schools, 8 percent of middle schools, and 2 percent of high schools in the US provided daily physical education or its equivalent for all students in all grades, according to a 2006 report from the Centers of Disease Control. "We try to have incentives and programs that support physical education or its equivalent for all students in all grades, according to a 2006 report from the Centers of Disease Control." "We try to have incentives and programs that support physical education and healthy eating," said PS 24 Principal Christina Fuentes, but creating more gym classes is physically impossible.    

Eric Boehler: Sometimes It's What They Don't Cover That Counts

Turns out internal Fox News talking points about what NOT to discuss on the air might be just as influential as the guidelines that coach hosts on which stories to push each day. What else could explain the fact that it's been 52 weeks since Rupert Murdoch's News Corp phone hacking scandal broke big, yet Sean Hannity has never addressed the story on his show, according to a search of Nexis. And Hannity's prime time partner Bill O'Reilly isn't much better. To date, he's committed just seven minutes to the story, and during his single segment on the story, O'Reilly falsely claimed there hadn't been any "intrusion of this story thus far on News Corp. properties" in the United States. There had. Les Hinton, CEO of News Corp's Dow Jones division, was forced to resign as a result of the widening scandal. The O'Reilly Factor and Hannity have aired more than 500 hours of programming in the last year, but set aside just a few minutes for the hacking story. Amazing. This week marks the one year anniversary of the shocking Guardian scoop about how Murdoch's News of The World tabloid hacked into the voice-mails of an abducted schoolgirl who was later found murdered. The ghoulish revelation catapulted the News Corp's long simmering British phone hacking scandal into the news stratosphere and uncorked a twelve month ride that has been brutal for CEO Murdoch at every turn, as allegations have tumbled out about rampant phone hacking and the paying off of public officials, and there is no end in sight to his woes. Since that scoop, the hacking story has arguably been the biggest media business news story of the year, as the controversy has completely roiled Rupert Murdoch's company, causing him to close an entire newspaper and jettison top lieutenants, including his own son, who became tainted by the scandal.  

James Petras: Rise and Demise and the Soviet Bloc!

One of the most striking socio economic economic features of the past two decades is the reversal of the previous half century of welfare legislation in Europe and North America. Unprecedented cuts in social services, severance pay, public employment, pensions, health programs, educational stipends, vacation time, and job security are matched by increases in tuition, regressive taxation, and the age of retirement, as well as increased security are matched by increases in tuition, regressive taxation, and the age of retirement as well as increased inequalities job insecurity and workplace speed up. The demise of the welfare state demolishes the idea put forth by orthodox economists, who argued that the maturation of capitalism, its advanced state, high technology and sophisticated services, would be accompanied by greater welfare and higher income, standard of living. While it is true that services and technology have multiplied, the economic sector has become even more polarized, between low paid retail clerks and super rich stock brokers and financiers. The computerization of the economy has led to electronic bookkeeping, cost controls and the rapid movements of speculative funds in search of maximum profit, while at the same time ushering in brutal budgetary reductions for social programs. The Great Reversal appears to be long term, large scale process centered in the dominant capitalist countries of Western Europe and North America and in the former Communist states of Eastern Europe. It behooves us to examine the system causes that transcend the particular idiosyncrasies of each nation. There are two lines of inquiry which need to be elucidated in order to come to terms with the demise of the welfare state and the massive decline of living standards. One line of analysis examines the profound change in the international environment: We have moved from a competitive bi-polar system, based on a rivalry between the collectivist welfare states of the Eastern bloc and the capitalist states of Europe and North America to an international system monopolized by competing capitalist states.