Politics

By Linda Gorman.- Economists and political scientists have observed that a citizen who votes today is more likely to vote in the future, but determining whether that is the result of unobserved individual attributes, or the effect of voting per…

“The production of opium increased by 102% and cocaine by 20% from 1998 to 2007, despite efforts to destroy crops around the world; in the US close to 500,000 people are in jail for drug offenses, compared with 41,000 in…

“My Administration is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in Government.” So wrote President Barack Obama, back on Jan. 29, 2009, just days into his presidency. “Openness will strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness in Government.”…

If you cannot win them, join them” seems to be the old British political principle that Washington has been applying to its plans to re-design the Arab region, always under the recurrent public pretext of the “war on terrorism.” By…

By Baher Kamal.- “If we, the Spanish people, spoke only of what we know, an immense silence would be generated”. This statement was made by Manuel Azaña, Spanish politician and writer who served as prime minister of his country (1931-1933…

Amy Goodam interviews Ryan Shapiro In a Democracy Now! exclusive, one of the nation’s most prolific transparency activists, Ryan Shapiro, reveals he is suing the NSA, FBI and Defense Intelligence Agency in an attempt to force them to open their…

Sunflower Student Movement March 22, 2014 Kerim What is happening1 in Taiwan? The best introductory text to the events immediately preceding the protest is this piece by J. Michael Cole in The Diplomat: Thousands of Taiwanese were surrounding and occupying the Legislative Yuan (LY) in…

Students and other mostly young protesters made the media as they held banners inside Taiwan’s legislature in Taipei, March 18, 2014. They burst into the Legislative Yuan late Tuesday and fought off police efforts to get them out. Media aired…

Amy Goodman for Democracy Now! The conflict between Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and rebels seeking his ouster has just entered its fourth year. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says more than 146,000 people have been killed since the…

Tony Benn has died this month aged 88. He was a central campaigner in British leftwing politics.  He hated New Labour for abandoning all socialist principles. He was the second son in a family with strong religious ethos. His father…