AlterNet: The Forest For the Trees, by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

"The most telling aspect of a government, however, is how it distributes the goods of the land. Does it safeguard the commonwealth – the public trust assets – on behalf of the public? Or does it allow the shared wealth of our communities to be stolen from the public by corporate power?"

Fascism is Leftist

"Popular encyclopedias such as Funk & Wagnalls (1983) lump together Hitler's German regime, Mussolini's Italian regime, General Tojo's Japanese regime and Generalissimo Franco's Spanish regime under the single rubric of "fascist" so it seems clear that it is the accepted wisdom that all four regimes were basically similar and differed only in matters of detail. Anyone who knows even a little of the history of the period concerned, however, must realize how far from the truth this is. The feudal warlords of Japan, the antisemitic socialist of Germany, the Catholic monarchist of Spain and the pragmatic socialist of Italy were in fact really united over only one thing: Their dislike of Lenin and Stalin's Communism and "Bolshevism" generally. There clearly is some need, therefore, for us to look at what Mussolini and the Fascists really were and did."

VENEZUELA: Bolivarian Circles in frontline of the revolution

"The Bolivarian Circles, with 2.2 million members, are the backbone of the democratic revolution unfolding in Venezuela. After the attempted US-backed coup against Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez on April 11, 2002, the Bolivarian Circles helped organise the uprising that reinstated the pro-poor president. The Bolivarian Circles have also organised mass resistance against the corporate managers' and corrupt union officials' attempt to destroy the country's oil industry. DR RODRIGO CHAVEZ, coordinator of the Bolivarian Circles in Venezuela, was interviewed by TOM BURKE of the Colombia Solidarity Committee in Chicago."

NYC to GOP: Drop Dead

"Making hay of the dead is also the point of this confab's timing. The 2004 Necropublican National Convention is being held a full month later than normal, from August 30 to September 2. The original plan was to have Bush shuttle between Madison Square Garden and Ground Zero for photo ops to coincide with the third anniversary of the September 11th attacks. Bush's visits to the Trade Center site were quietly canceled a few months back after 9/11 survivors expressed revulsion at the idea. But it was too late to change the date.

Anti-Republican sentiment is rising to a fever pitch here as the dog days tick down to the dreaded affair. A poll cited by the local ABC affiliate shows 83 percent of New Yorkers don't want their city to host the RNC. And many of them are planning to do something about it."

Timeline Index - People, Periods, Places, Events

The Timeline Index is a portal of People, Events, Periods and Places in a chronological context.

Bad Subjects: Political Education for Everyday Life

"Bad Subjects is a collective that publishes a magazine (Bad Subjects: Political Education for Everyday Life) and provides access to both via a public-access website. In 1998, Bad Subjects founded a small educational nonprofit corporation, also called Bad Subjects, which promotes the progressive use of new media and print publications. Donations to the nonprofit go toward funding printed copies of the magazine Bad Subjects (distributed for free), and other related projects, such as Bad Subjects books. Bad Subjects seeks to revitalize progressive politics in retreat. We think too many people on the left have taken their convictions for granted. So we challenge progressive dogma by encouraging readers to think about the political dimension to all aspects of everyday life. We also seek to broaden the audience for leftist and progressive writing, through a commitment to accessibility and contemporary relevance."

Global Eye: Prophet Margin

"Chorus: Who put the armor on Hitler's Panzer tanks? Bush-Walker! Bush-Walker! Who helped the Nazis hide their assets in our banks? Bush-Walker! Bush-Walker! And who kept helping Hitler while he was killing Yanks? Bush-Walker! Bush-Walker!"

Eastern Approaches

"Leading Kremlin hard-liners have recently revealed new insights into both the nature of democracy in Russia and the early stages of the presidential succession battle already smoldering inside the Kremlin. President Vladimir Putin's second term ends in 2008; for the ambitious men close to the source of all power in Russia, it is none too soon to start showing the boss who is tough enough to be designated successor."

Iraqi soccer players upset about Bush campaign ads using team

'"Iraq as a team does not want Mr. Bush to use us for the presidential campaign," Sadir told SI.com through a translator, speaking calmly and directly. "He can find another way to advertise himself."'

The Graphic Works of Charles Joseph Minard

"The following list of graphic works includes all of the known thematic maps and graphic tables produced by Minard from 1844--1870. It was compiled from the catalogs of the École Nationale des Ponts et Chausées (ENPC) and the Bibliotheque Nationale (BNF), together with the works listed in Palsky (1996) and Robinson (1967)."

Sandinistas Revisited / A quarter century after the promise of the revolution, Nicaragua is bitter and exhausted.

"That paradise, in a tiny country historically dominated by the United States, fell apart almost before its people had a chance to savor their victory. I watched the hopeful women and men of the FSLN -- untrained students, priests, soldiers and poets who had the business of running a government fall into their laps before most of them were 30 years old -- grapple with land reform, ambitious literacy and health campaigns and the staggering economic challenges facing the second-poorest country in the hemisphere. I watched as the contra war raged throughout the countryside, killing and terrorizing thousands, undoing the social programs of the revolution and undermining popular democracy in the name of anticommunism."

The Greening of Venezuela

"With all the hullabaloo about Chávez’ alleged authoritarianism, opposition strikes and demonstrations, and a possible recall referendum, you could be forgiven for thinking that nothing constructive is being done in Venezuela and that the nation’s energies are entirely absorbed by political mud-slinging. Indeed, that’s just what the corporate media would like you to think.

But go to alternative websites like Znet, Venezuelanalysis.com or Rebelion, and you’ll find reports on literacy campaigns, health clinics in poor neighbourhoods staffed by Cuban doctors, community-based housing programmes and agrarian reform. Venezuela is undergoing a social transformation the likes of which have not been seen in Latin America since the early years of the Sandinista revolution in Nicaragua."

CHAVEZ WINS !! - Bloomberg.com: U.S.

"Aug. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a former paratrooper who survived a military coup and a two-month strike by oil workers, overcame a referendum to remove him from office two years before his term expires." [ed.AWWYEA!]

The New Republic Online: July Surprise?

'Another official, this one from the Pakistani Interior Ministry, which is responsible for internal security, explains, "The Musharraf government has a history of rescuing the Bush administration. They now want Musharraf to bail them out when they are facing hard times in the coming elections."'

[opportunism knocks]

What shall we do about Moldova?: It is clear that the puppeteer who directs the mafioso regime in Tiraspol is the power in Moscow. Just like it is also the one which guides the separatists in Abkhazia and Southern Osetya, who rise against Georgia. Through them, Russia is trying to counterattack the growing influence of the United States in the region. Very soon, Romania might be forced to state clearly and prove with facts not only what plans it has about Moldova for the future, but also if it is willing to back the US policy in the region.

SLOVENIA LANDMARKS :: Virtual Reality Panoramas of Slovenia

"This presentation is a part of work in progress. Today it consists of 3502 Virtual Reality Panoramas, 1077 high resolution full screen QTVR-s and more than 15.000 photos (also wallpapers in three standard resolutions), which is about 80 % (hm..?) of the project (Slovenia Landmarks only) . Because of its nature, mistakes appear in certain sections, among which are also the English texts. The author apologise for all weaknesses and is striving to improve them."

:: 1924.org :: Contradictions are abundantly clear in Capitalist politics

"The Islamic State, the Khilafah, has no such contradictions. The ideals and principles that Islam commands and propagates are truly the sole reason for which the Khilafah exists. The Khilafah does not conquer lands for their resources, nor does it look to enslave populations. It rather opens lands so that the justice of Islam can be applied on those people, whether they were rich or poor. In this respect the Khilafah makes no secret about its foreign policy and does not have to hide any secret motives, because it has none to hide. It is rather open, truthful and consistent about its motives."

1995: eff list ms rebuts sunday times' Anarchists Use Computer Highway For Subversion, reports coinciding govt clampdown on bbs archivists

"Have you guys seen this story? It's the second in a series in the UK regarding Spunk Press (the first was in Computing magazine). The story is horrendously innacurate, and Mr. Heavens has been suspended from his job at Spider pending an investigation. Word is they have been told by M15 to fire him, I can't confirm. [..] I'd laugh if this was remotely funny, but people I know are getting reamed. Another member of Spunk in Italy had his board (a political BBS, not a hacker board, very anti-Mafia) confiscated just before these stories broke, there was another BBS seizure that the press has related to Spunk in Scotland, although we don't know the guys."

historyofcuba.com - History of Cuba: A linear journey through Cuban history...

'Cuba's history "has a significance out of proportion to its size," writes historian Philip S. Foner in his 1962 book, A History of Cuba and its relations with The United States, Vol. 1. The story of Cuba's struggle for liberation from four-hundred years of Spanish domination is one of the great epics in history. The struggle for over half a century to change its status from a theoretically independent state, dominated by American imperialism, into a truly independent country is equally inspiring."'

President Carter's Trip Report on Venezuela, May 29-June 1, 2004

"The electoral commission announced a day early, on June 3, that adequate signatures have been secured to require a recall referendum. This is a triumph for the democratic process in Venezuela, and all elements of the process deserve credit. President Chavez fulfilled his promise to us and made a positive statement accepting the challenge. We will continue our role as the prime mediator between the government and opposition forces and work for harmony and peace in the country. There will be a massive electoral campaign prior to the vote, which must be before Aug. 19, and The Carter Center will help to ensure a fair and transparent referendum."