I. The Ghost Who Walks Last week, the reappearance of a figure from the recent past briefly stirred the amnesiac fog that enfolds the brutal reality of the American empire. Former Panamanian ruler Manuel Noriega was taken from the American prison which has been his home for the past 21 years and flown to Paris, where he is to stand trial for decades-old drug-trafficking charges. The extradition was itself illegal. Noriega, who was captured after the illegal American invasion of his country in 1989, was classed by the United States as a "prisoner of war." In fact, he is the

This meander down the river is dedicated to Mr. Mark Floyd, a most potent conjuror of primeval spirits.      

Listen now to a further point: no mortal thing Has a beginning, nor does it end in death and obliteration; There is only a mixing and then a separating of what was mixed, But by mortal men these processes are named ‘beginnings.’ — Empedocles *** "Dream delivers us to dream, and there is no end to illusion. Life is a train of moods like a string of beads, and as we pass through them they prove to be many-coloured lenses which paint the world their own hue, and each shows only what lies in its focus." — R.W. Emerson ***

There was a striking story in the papers on Friday: “Congress OKs Surge in Undeclared War against Iran!” Well, that wasn’t exactly the headline – but it was the truth behind the reports about the vote in the House of Representatives to tighten the ligature of sanctions around the neck of Iran, as Antiwar.com reports. In accordance with the “diplomacy” of the Peace Laureate in the Oval Office, the House wants to “cripple” the Iranian economy by starving the human beings who live there of gasoline and other vital goods necessary to maintain a modicum of ordinary life. In other

Arthur Silber is back, with piercing insights that rip the veil which even self-proclaimed dissenters still draw across the blood-soaked reality of what Silber aptly calls the “Death State” that has long “wrapped the world in flames” (to quote the preferred method of resolving diplomatic conflicts famously voiced by Abe Lincoln’s secretary of state) from its mephitic base on the Potomac. As always with Silber, you must read the whole piece (and follow the links) to get the full force of the argument, which is nuanced, multifarious and deeply considered, but here is just the briefest excerpt to send you

For those shedding tears of admiration at the Big Dog’s visionary New York Times op-ed marking the anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing, James Bovard has a few choice words, and a few choice facts, to put the elder statesman’s soaring words in perspective: Clinton declared that “we do not have the right to resort to violence — or the threat of violence — when we don’t get our way. “ Unless you’re the government. The four million Americans arrested for marijuana violations during Clinton’s reign were victims of government violence and government threats of violence.  The “fact” that Clinton

The other day I was reading the New York Review of Books in a bookstore café. I saw a large ad in the bottom corner of a page; it began with this quote, in bold capitals:   "WHY IS IT A CRIME FOR ONE MAN TO MURDER ANOTHER, BUT NOT FOR A GOVERNMENT TO KILL MORE THAN A MILLION PEOPLE?"   My first reaction, before I read further, was a feeling of surprise that someone had articulated the case against the Iraq war so clearly – and had bought expensive space in the magazine to bring this unpunished, unrepented –

In the light of this: Iraq War Vet: “We Were Told to Just Shoot People, and the Officers Would Take Care of Us” (Dahr Jamail, Truthout.org) and this: Support the Troops? (John Caruso, A Tiny Revolution) and this: Tears of Rage, Tears of Grief: Mass Death Returns to Ishaqi (Empire Burlesque) and this: Dead Souls: The Pentagon Plan to Create Remorseless Warfighters (Empire Burlesque) is there anything really suprising about this? (From Monday’s New York Times): U.S. Troops Fire on Afghan Bus, Killing at Least 5 Civilians American troops raked a large passenger bus with gunfire near the southern city

Just think, it was once a “scandal” that an American secretary of state gave the green light to a program of “targeted killings” — assassinations — murders — that he knew was about to take place. This was once considered a deeply serious matter — so staining and shattering to the official’s reputation that he has spent almost 35 years lying about it, and having other people lie about it for him: Cable Ties Kissinger to Chile Scandal (AP): As secretary of state, Henry Kissinger canceled a U.S. warning against carrying out international political assassinations that was to have gone