Would you like to know how many people have visited this page? Or how reputable the author is? Simply
sign up for a Advocate premium membership and you'll automatically see this data on every article. Plus a lot more, too.
I have 8 fans: Become a Fan. You'll get emails whenever I post articles on OpEd News
Bill Van Auken (born 1950) is a politician and activist for the Socialist Equality Party and was a presidential candidate in the U.S. election of 2004, announcing his candidacy on January 27, 2004. His running mate was Jim Lawrence. He came in 15th for the popular vote, receiving 1,857 votes. [1] In November 2006, Van Auken ran for the United States Senate seat held by Hillary Clinton[2]. He finished in fifth place, with 11,071 votes [3]
Van Auken is a full time reporter for the World Socialist Web Site, and resides in New York City.
In the U.S. presidential election, 2008 he was the vice presidential nominee of the same party.
SHARE Saturday, June 1, 2013 Syrian Opposition Fighters Arrested With Chemical Weapons
The Obama administration has repeatedly declared the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government to be a "red line" or "game changer" that would trigger unspecified US intervention. At the same time, Washington and its European NATO allies have turned a blind eye to evidence of chemical weapons use by the Islamist militias.
(1 comments) SHARE Thursday, May 30, 2013 Syria Escalation Poses Growing Risk Of Regional War
The crisis of the so-called rebels and the reversals the Islamist militias have suffered recently in combat with the Syrian army have only served to escalate the US and Western European preparations for direct intervention. Washington and its allies are determined to pursue their war for regime change as part of a broader strategy for redrawing the map of the entire region to serve their own predatory interests.
(2 comments) SHARE Saturday, May 11, 2013 Karzai reveals US plan for permanent Afghanistan bases
Afghan President Hamid Karzai stressed that he was amenable to the US demand to maintain nine military bases after the formal deadline for US withdrawal, indicating that he was willing to trade the bases for promises of a continued flow of economic aid from the West and security for his puppet government. Another likely condition is US support for the election of his handpicked successor in an election set for next year.
SHARE Tuesday, April 30, 2013 Braying for war against Syria
One of the most vocal proponents of US intervention, Senator Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina Republican, nearly gave the game away in a Sunday television interview when he declared that if the US did not intervene militarily in Syria, "we're going to start a war with Iran because Iran's going to take our inaction in Syria as meaning we're not serious about their nuclear weapons program."
(1 comments) SHARE Saturday, April 20, 2013 Obama comes to Boston
It is no wonder that Obama does not care to ponder what underlies the bloody events from Tucson, to Aurora, to Newtown to Boston. Any serious examination going beyond incomprehensible "evil" would inevitably involve an indictment of himself, his government and the social order over which he presides.
SHARE Thursday, April 4, 2013 Washington Escalates Syria Intervention
Washington has ordered the training of some 3,000 officers for the so-called Syrian rebels to be completed sooner than originally planned. The aim is to finish the training program by the end of this month to exploit advances made by anti-government militias along Syria's 230-mile border with Jordan.
(1 comments) SHARE Tuesday, April 2, 2013 Costs of Iraq, Afghanistan wars could rise to $6 trillion
Donald Rumsfeld put the cost of the invasion & occupation of Iraq war at $50 billion. Americans will be saddled with the debt of the Iraq & Afghanistan wars for decades.
(1 comments) SHARE Thursday, March 21, 2013 Hands off Syria!
Starting a two-day visit to Israel on Wednesday, US President Barack Obama issued bellicose threats against both Syria and Iran. The visit, which plainly has the character of a US-Israeli war council, makes clear that 10 years after the US invasion of Iraq, US imperialism is preparing even greater crimes in the Middle East.
(6 comments) SHARE Saturday, March 2, 2013 Washington escalates Syrian bloodbath
Syria, following in the wake of Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya, has seen its entire society torn to pieces as a result of a US-backed war for regime change, with tens of thousands killed and wounded, the country's economy devastated and its population confronting a humanitarian crisis of tragic proportions.
(1 comments) SHARE Wednesday, February 27, 2013 US troops to Niger: A new stage in the scramble for Africa
States can justify the most outrageous & self-serving aggression as long as they have a straw dog to conceal their real predatory purposes. Witness the U.S. & France attacking "Al Qaeda" in Africa.
(2 comments) SHARE Sunday, February 10, 2013 The US Drone Assassination Program And The Threat Of Dictatorship
Those comforting themselves with the old adage, "It can't happen here," should think again. The lurch to the right by the entire American political establishment and its irrevocable break with the democratic principles enunciated in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights are very far advanced.
SHARE Wednesday, January 30, 2013 US Secures Drone Base in Northwest Africa
Obama & the Pentagon move their drone program to Niger, Northwest Africa, where in conjunction with bases in Ethiopia and Djibouti & the secret air fields in the Arab peninsula, they will be in a position to include Mali while continuing drone strikes & assassinations in Somalia and Yemen.
SHARE Saturday, January 5, 2013 Obama signs Pentagon bill maintaining Guantanamo and military detention
The shutdown of Guantanamo within one year was Obama's key promise on his first day in the White House. Four years later, 166 detainees remain imprisoned there, the vast majority for a decade without having been accused of any crime, much less brought to trial. The language inserted last year in an attempt to mollify liberal supporters in advance of the 2012 presidential election was seen as no longer necessary.
(1 comments) SHARE Sunday, December 30, 2012 Syria Faces Humanitarian Catastrophe
The crisis of Syria's health-care system, which previously was one of the most effective in the region, is especially acute. According to the World Health Organization, the fighting has partly or completely destroyed half of the country's 88 public hospitals and 186 of its 1,919 local health care centers.
(2 comments) SHARE Friday, December 7, 2012 US tightens military noose around Syria
Washington now has 17 warships, 70 fighter-bombers and 10,000 military personnel within close striking distance of Syria. This is in addition to the Air Force's 39th Air Base Wing stationed at the Incirlik base in Turkey together with tens of thousands of US ground troops deployed in Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
(6 comments) SHARE Saturday, October 27, 2012 Institutionalized State Assassinations and the November 6 Election
With "kill lists," assassinations, assorted extrajudicial killings & drones incinerating men, women & children around the world, what are the chances that the November election will save American democracy?
(2 comments) SHARE Friday, October 19, 2012 FBI entraps Bangladeshi student in fake terror plot
The predominant role in the alleged conspiracy appears to have been played by an undercover FBI agent posing as an "Al Qaeda facilitator." Even the act of delivering the fake bomb to the site of the Federal Reserve building was carried out by the FBI agent, as Nafis does not know how to drive.
SHARE Friday, September 7, 2012 The Obama Administration and the Cover-up of CIA Torture
A Human Rights Watch report based on interviews of victims & classified CIA-Libyan Intelligence documents yet again reveals America's appalling embrace of torture & assassination, policies designed & supported by our financial oligarchy.