On June 28-29, an “Open National Antiwar Conference†was held in Cleveland, called by a newly minted National Assembly to End the Iraq War and Occupation. Over objections from the conference organizers, centrally Socialist Action, the assembly voted to change the name to include reference to the war on Afghanistan, and to emphasize the connection with U.S. backing for the Zionist occupation of Palestine. (The sponsors of the confab were so right-wing that they feared losing “unity†with Democratic Party supporters of Israel and the Afghanistan war!) What did not change at all was the popular-front character of the new outfit, tying it to the bourgeois parties despite the fig leaf of electoral “independence.†Making this utterly clear, it was decided not to call a national antiwar mobilization prior to the November elections explicitly in order to court those forces who wish to aid the Democrats (and therefore want to avoid making problems for the presumptive Democratic nominee, Barack Obama). Here is the leaflet issued by the Internationalist Group at the conference.

There is no easy fix for the ailing U.S. economy, and Barack Obama and John McCain are not prepared to make the necessary changes that will protect the interests of working people. Comparing the economic plans of the two candidates, it does not matter whether McCain or Obama is elected in the 2008 Election; the economic programs that have been outlined by both candidates will only produce minor differences to the present Bush White House.

* During mid-June 2008 the Iberian counter-information collective A Las Barricadas www.alasbarricadas.org posed several questions to the MLC www.mlc.acultura.org.ve, an affinity group of Cuban anarchism abroad. The complete text of this interview follows.

There will be no more oil for the United States and the price will go to $300 per barrel.

Bending over is the american way! as of late

Todo lo que Stiglitz condena al enfocar la política tributaria fue implementado por Borda, para financiar la juerga de unas pocas decenas de burócratas del gobierno

System criticism is often repressed. Private vice does not bring public virtue. Everyone pursuing self-interest does not usher in public welfare. Inequality, competition, growth and market fundamentalism are not panaceas or inevitabilities but false securities.

In a July 14, 2008 New York Times Op Ed, Barack Obama says:

"As I’ve said many times, we must be as careful getting out of Iraq as we were careless getting in. We can safely redeploy our combat brigades at a pace that would remove them in 16 months. That would be the summer of 2010 — two years from now, and more than seven years after the war began. After this redeployment, a residual force in Iraq would perform limited missions: going after any remnants of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, protecting American service members and, so long as the Iraqis make political progress, training Iraqi security forces."

In other words, he does not plan to get all of the troops out of Iraq and he will only get most of the troops out in two years. And what does he explain he will do with these troops? Redeploy them. Redeployed where? His rhetoric has been clear: Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran.

Obama goes on to call for a surge in Afghanistan as well as war in Pakistan:

"Ending the war [in Iraq] is essential to meeting our broader strategic goals, starting in Afghanistan and Pakistan [...] As president, I would pursue a new strategy, and begin by providing at least two additional combat brigades to support our effort in Afghanistan. We need more troops, more helicopters [...]"

bush paraguay, bush paraguay, its all starting to make a terrible type of sense...

The high oil price and the food crisis threaten the existence of over a hundred million people. (Walden Bello) "People in rich countries must starve so the rich can continue driving their cars." Growing plants for biofuels is a crime against humanity.