Does DPRK Need NUCLEAR WEAPONS?

Is North Korea’s recent nuclear test, its third, to be welcomed, lamented or condemned? It depends on your perspective. If you believe that a people should be able to organize their affairs free from foreign domination and interference; that the United States and its client government in Seoul have denied Koreans in the south that right and seek to deny Koreans in the north the same right; and that the best chance that Koreans in the north have for preserving their sovereignty is to build nuclear weapons to deter a US military conquest, then the test is to be welcomed. If you’re a liberal, you might believe that the United States should offer the DPRK (the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, North Korea’s official name) security guarantees in return for Pyongyang completely, permanently and verifiably eliminating its nuclear weapons program. If so, your position invites three questions.

Obama and the Illusory State of the Empire

Barack Obama would never be so crass as to use a State of the Union (SOTU) address to announce an “axis of evil”. No. Double O Bama, equipped with his exclusive license to kill (list),…

African Union, Algeria, Mali: West's War Against African Development Continues

Africa’s classic depiction in the mainstream media, as a giant basketcase full of endless war, famine and helpless children creates an illusion of a continent utterly dependent on Western handouts. In fact, the precise opposite is true – it is the West that is reliant on African handouts. These handouts come in many and varied forms. They include illicit flows of resources, the profits of which invariably find their way into the West’s banking sector via strings of tax havens (as thoroughly documented in Nicholas Shaxson’s Poisoned Wells). Another is the mechanism of debt-extortion whereby banks lend money to military rulers (often helped to power by Western governments, such as the Congo’s former President Mobutu), who then keep the money for themselves (often in a private account with the lending bank), leaving the country paying exorbitant interest on an exponentially growing debt.

An Insightful Documentary on Mumia Abu-Jamal

An important film documentary about the life of Mumia Abu-Jamal premiered in New York City on Feb. 1. “Long Distance Revolutionary: A Journey with Mumia Abu-Jamal” explores through prison interviews, archival footage and narrations, the…