LUCIANA BOHNE—Because international law and human rights declarations are all on the side of the Palestinians in their right to resist occupation and fight for independence, “neutrality” is hardly an issue. However, in the fifty years since 1967, the United States’ has assumed the mantle of “honest broker” in the neutrality charade called “the peace process,” inviting the whole “international community” and the Palestinians themselves to support a two-state solution, while doing nothing to stop Israel’s illegal construction of colonies in the Occupied Territories
December 18, 2017
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HASSAN NASRALLAH—O my brothers and sisters, and O people of Palestine: they wanted this decision to be the beginning of the end for Al-Quds and for the Palestinian cause. Let us join forces to make this stupid and evil American decision the beginning of the end of this usurping entity, forever! And let our slogan, our way and our program be “Death to Israel”! [The crowd of protesters chants “Death to Israel!”] We must turn this threat into an opportunity, this danger into success and this diplomatic and political defeat for the Arab governments into victory for the Community, for the peoples, for Palestine and for the holy places.
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ED CURTIN—That is why so many people will be having a special guest for Christmas. Possessed by their possessions, while disbelieving in Luther’s Satan, the American people are in the process of bringing Satan home for the holidays. Unseen but present, he will have a place of honor at Christmas dinner tables throughout the land. But don’t worry, he has a parsimonious appetite and just nibbles. My sources tell me that he likes turkey and ham, but isn’t too keen on vegetarian fare, and forget vegan. Yet I am told he has a ravenous appetite for presents, so get shopping.
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ANDREW LEVINE—The American equivalent is the “modern orthodoxy” of Jared Kushner and the observant Trump cronies currently charged by the Donald with getting Israelis and Palestinians to make an “artful” deal. The likelihood that those ignoramuses can do anything like that is is about the same as the likelihood that the Trump-Republican tax cut will “make America great again.”
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Rise and Decline of the Welfare State: Class Struggle and Imperial Wars as the Motor Force of US History
27 minutes readJAMES PETRAS—The American welfare state was created in 1935 and continued to develop through 1973. Since then, over a prolonged period, the capitalist class has been steadily dismantling the entire welfare state. Between the mid 1970’s to the present (2017) labor laws, welfare rights and benefits and the construction of and subsidies for affordable housing have been gutted. ‘Workfare’ (under President ‘Bill’ Clinton) ended welfare for the poor and displaced workers. Meanwhile the shift to regressive taxation and the steadily declining real wages have increased corporate pro ts to an astronomical degree.
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