16 Articles

Sunday, August 23, 2009
Reflecting on Iran's Presidential Election
(2 comments) I can think of only two interpretations of Mr. Mousavi's assertion of “stolen elections.” The charitable interpretation is that he was led by his campaign architects to honestly believe he could not lose. The more likely interpretation, however, is that he colluded with the powerful interests behind his campaign not to accept defeat.

Saturday, June 13, 2009
Obama's Doublespeak on Iran
(2 comments) On the US-Iran relationship, President Obama seems to be talking from both sides of his mouth. From one side we hear promising messages of dialogue and a "new beginning" with Iran; from the other side provocative words that seems to be coming right out of the mouth of his predecessor, George W. Bush.

Monday, February 2, 2009
"Too Big to Fail": A Bailout Hoax
(15 comments) Government policy makers, Wall Street financial gamblers, and the mainstream media are misrepresenting the ongoing financial difficulties as a problem of illiquidity or lack of cash. In reality, however, it is a problem of insolvency or lack of trust and, therefore, of hoarding cash. The current credit crunch is a symptom, not a cause, of the paralyzed, unreliable financial markets.

Friday, December 19, 2008
Whose Mandate Will Shape Obama's "Change"?
(3 comments) People pressure is needed to counterbalance the pressure from the Wall Street lobbies that are busy dictating Obama's choice of economic advisors, as well as his economic agenda. Only when pressure from below threatens the established order, will radical reforms in a progressive direction stand a chance.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Misrepresenting the Financial Crisis: It Is Not Lack of Liquidity; It Is Insolvency and Lack of Trust
(2 comments) The bailout scheme imposed by the United States government misrepresents the ongoing credit crunch as a problem of illiquidity, i.e. lack of cash. In reality, the problem is a lack of trust due to widespread insolvency in the financial market. In such an environment of widespread insolvency and lack of trust, owners of cash rush to safety: buying treasury bills, investing abroad, or hoarding their cash.

Monday, September 8, 2008
Are They Really Oil Wars?
(2 comments) This essay argues a case that behind the drive to war and military adventures in the Middle East lie some powerful special interests (vested in war, militarism, and geopolitical concerns of Israel) that use oil as an issue of "national interest"-as a fa�ade or pretext-in order to justify military adventures to derive high dividends, both economic and geopolitical, from war.

Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Is There an Oil Shortage?
The popular perception of the recently skyrocketing oil price is that there is an oil shortage in global energy markets. Claims of an oil shortage are not supported by facts. Evidence shows that there is no discrepancy between production and consumption of oil on a global level. War and geopolitical instability in oil markets explain the skyrocketing oil prices.

Friday, June 13, 2008
Worried about Price of Gas? End U.S. Wars
(1 comments) Not only are the raging wars in the Middle East responsible for energy price inflation, they are also responsible for price inflation of many other commodities, especially grains and other foodstuff, whose production and transportation depend on fuel.

Sunday, December 23, 2007
Distorting Fascism to Demonize Iran
(9 comments) Neoconservative champions of war and militarism often use terms and adjectives such as fascist or Hitler to characterize opponents of US-Israeli policies in the Middle East in order to justify their agenda of 'regime change' in the region.

Friday, September 14, 2007
Hurricane Katrina and War-what Is the Connection?
On the face of it, there is no connection between Katrina's tragic devastation of New Orleans and the recent U.S. wars of choice. It can be shown, however, that the death and destruction wrought by Katrina have been a submerged or invisible part of the enormous costs of the escalating war and military spending. The huge costs of Katrina, in terms of both blood and treasure, can be called opportunity costs of war.

Sunday, July 8, 2007
Parasitic Imperialism
(5 comments) How recent U.S. wars of choice, driven largely by war profiteering, are plundering not only defenseless peoples and their resources abroad, but also the overwhelming majority of U.S. citizens and their resources at home.

Friday, May 4, 2007
Redistributive Militarism: Escalating Military Spending as Disguised Income Redistribution from Bottom to Top
(1 comments) How Escalation of War and Military Spending Are Used as Disguised or Roundabout Ways to Reverse the New Deal and Redistribute National Resources in Favor of the Wealthy

Monday, January 15, 2007
Why the US is Not Leaving Iraq
(4 comments) Powerful beneficiaries of war dividends, who are often indistinguishable from the policy makers who pushed for the invasion of Iraq, have been pocketing hundreds of billions of dollars by virtue of war. More than anything else, it is the pursuit and the safeguarding of those plentiful spoils of war that are keeping US troops in Iraq.

Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Islamic Fascism?
President George W. Bush and the neoconservative handlers of his administration have added a new bogeyman to their long and evolving list of enemies: "Islamic fascism," also called "Islamofascism." This wonton flinging of the word "fascism" in reference to radical movements and leaders of the Muslim world, however, is not only inaccurate and oxymoronic, but it is, indeed, also ironic.

Monday, August 28, 2006
Behind the Plan to Bomb Iran
(3 comments) The driving force behind the neoconservatives' war juggernaut must be sought not in the alleged defense of democracy or of national interests but in the nefarious special interests that are carefully camouflaged behind the front of national interests.

Monday, July 24, 2006
U.S. Iran Policy Irks Senior Commanders: The Military vs. Militaristic Civilian Leadership
(1 comments) Some observers attribute the simmering discord between the military and militaristic civilians to Rumsfeld's cavalier attitude and his unwillingness to accept responsibility. While there are elements of truth to this explanation, there is also a deeper and more general historical pattern-often shaped by the economics of war-to the conflict.