Modi’s ambitions for India, and perhaps for himself, have already been scaled down from ‘Vishwaguru’ (World Leader) to ‘Vishwa Bandhu’ (Friend of the World) in his party’s election manifesto. It is being made clear to him and subsequent Indian governments that follow, that no one expects a friend to enter their homes and commit a… Read More Why the Rambo script won’t work in India
David Painter and Gregory Brew, The Struggle for Iran: Oil, Autocracy, and the Cold War, 1951–1954 Reviewed by MARC MARTORELL JUNYENT Munich (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – The figure of Mohammad Mosaddeq, Prime Minister of Iran from 1951 to 1953, is an uncomfortable one for both sides of the US-Iran rivalry. For the US, Mosaddeq… Read More The Origins of the West’s Iran Crisis: Oil, Autocracy and Coup
NB: A welcome speech, AOC, but its too late to save America’s reputation as either liberal or a democracy. The USA is a racist and imperial plutocracy, whose main export is war and weaponry. Save your souls and save your consciences as well as you can. It’s my impression the rest of the world will… Read More Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez calls Israeli Gaza campaign an ‘unfolding genocide’ (see AV)
By ALFRED MCCOY Empires don’t just fall like toppled trees. Instead, they weaken slowly as a succession of crises drain their strength and confidence until they suddenly begin to disintegrate. So it was with the British, French and Soviet empires; so it now is with imperial America. Great Britain confronted serious colonial crises in India, Iran… Read More Facing three global crises, the American empire may be nearing final collapse
Historians will find many reasons for the end of this American era, but the siege of TikTok reminds us that its largest cause was the epoch-defining rise of China… The US, that apostle of laissez-faire and free speech, now wants to save 170 million American TikTok users from themselves by banning an app. It’s hard to be… Read More TikTok, tick-tock
Bharat Bhushan There is strong suspicion in Nepal that the revivalist demand for abandoning secularism and restoring Nepal as a Hindu Rashtra is being encouraged by the Hindutva forces in India. Nepal’s politics has once again taken an unexpected turn with Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, aka Prachanda, breaking his alliance with the Nepali Congress. Prachanda’s Communist… Read More Not China, Nepali Congress forced Prachanda’s hand
First posted November 28, 2011 Archer Kent Blood (March 20, 1923 – September 3, 2004) was an American diplomat in Bangladesh. He served as the last American Consul General to Dhaka, East Pakistan. The Blood telegram (April 6, 1971) was seen as one of the most strongly worded messages ever written by Foreign Service Officers to the State Department. It was signed… Read More The Blood Telegram
The West voted against the rest of the world on United Nations General Assembly resolutions, opposing democracy, human rights, and cultural diversity, while supporting mercenaries and unilateral coercive measures (sanctions). By Ben Norton / Geopolitical Economy Report Western governments frequently claim that their foreign and domestic policies are motivated by “human rights” and “democracy”. They often… Read More West Votes Against Democracy, Human Rights, Cultural Diversity at UN; Promotes Mercenaries, Sanctions
Bharat Bhushan The indictment by US agencies of Indian criminal Nikhil Gupta for plotting the murder of Sikh separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun on behalf of an Indian government agent may cause the unravelling of a macho narrative being prepared for the general election of 2024. The unfortunate events may have emerged from the virile foreign… Read More Has the fallout from the Pannun incident really been capped? Brazen overreach backfires for India
‘no legal notice was more gratifying than the one CounterPunch received when Ken Silverstein published these photos of Henry Kissinger picking his nose during a press conference on Brazil. As Ken noted, “Kissinger was OK having his picture taken with murderers like Pinochet but upset when outed as a snot eater‘ (The Cabinet of Dr.… Read More Henry Kissinger: the Dr. Caligari of American Empire
After the truth-shower 