Israeli-Palestinian conflict explodes
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is escalating to a new crisis level, with unforeseen dangers, including full-scale war, which could engulf not only Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, but the entire region as well.
Liberia descends into chaos
Rebel forces broke the cease-fire in the West African nation of Liberia and began bombarding the capital city of Monrovia again this week. Fighting between rebels, many backed by neighboring Cote d’Ivoire and Guinea, and the Liberian army entered the center of the city, marking the greatest threat yet to the government’s hold on power.
Vietnams socialist market economy
Vietnam shifted to a socialist market economy in 1986 after failing to meet economic output targets of its five-year plans. Similar problems began to appear in the mid-1970s in the USSR and European socialist countries.
Cuban doctors to treat Venezuelas poor
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced that almost 1,000 Cuban doctors will begin to arrive this week to work in severely under-serviced and impoverished areas of the country. Venezuelan medics have refused to work in these areas.
Britain not quite a parallel media universe
Opinion The people of Britain and the United States are living in parallel, yet substantively different, media universes. Bonds of language and overlaps of mass culture are obvious. But a visit to London quickly illuminates the reality that mainstream journalism is much less narrow here than in America.
Communist parties pledge Cuba solidarity
Communist and workers’ parties from over 50 countries meeting in Athens, Greece, June 19-20, called for vigorous campaigns in solidarity “with the Cuban people and its heroic struggle for the defense of national independence and sovereignty the socialist system of Cuba and the achievements of the Cuban people.” The parties noted the new level of imperialist hostility towards the socialist nation.
Iraq quagmire echoes Vietnam
Talk of a U.S. quagmire in Iraq is mounting as attacks on U.S. and British soldiers ratchet upward. A harrowing report in the London Evening Standard June 15 gives a graphic picture of traumatized American soldiers trapped in a Vietnam-like war among a hostile population.
U.S. agribusiness seeks global control
A wide range of organizations, from the Sacramento Central Labor Council to Action for Social and Ecological Justice of Burlington, Vt., will converge on Sacramento, Calif., in late June to protest a move by U.S. agribusiness to take over the agriculture of the world.
Colombian rural union leader describes struggles
CHICAGO – Liliany Obando is an official of the National Federation of United Agricultural Workers (FENSUAGRO) in Colombia. On a recent visit to Chicago she made several presentations, and was interviewed by the World.
Cinco de Mayo has many lessons
Cinco de Mayo is an important national holiday for the Mexican people.It is a celebration of the victory of freedom and national sovereignty. Often, commemorations focus on the military victory by a Mexican people’s army over a larger force of well-trained French troops in the battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. But a look at the whole story finds important parallels for our own time, for Mexico and others.
