headers
Romi Elnagar | 1 Feb 2012 02:14
Picon
Favicon
Gravatar

The Progressive Librarian's Picks

On my weekly outing to Barnes and Noble last Sunday, I found few titles I think might be worth looking at. 
(Even Barnes and Noble will peddle Marx... ANYTHING... for a buck!  Ha!Ha!)

They are in REVERSE alphabetical order because these days I don't have to wear a watch or do most anything
else in lockstep any more!  I can get up at noon if I like, and I don't have to take small children to the
babysitter's while I work (ugh!).

I look forward to hearing your "take" on any of them.
Best,
Hajja Romi/Blue

Ahmed Rashid.  Descent into Chaos:  The U.S. and the Disaster in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central
Asia.  
http://www.amazon.com/Descent-into-Chaos-Disaster-Afghanistan/dp/014311557X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1328058404&sr=1-1

Peter Maass (for some reason, this author's name rings bells for me, but I can't remember why).  Crude
World: The Violent Twilight of Oil.  

http://www.amazon.com/Crude-World-Violent-Twilight-Vintage/dp/1400075459/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1328058314&sr=1-1

Aaron L. Friedburg.  A Contest for Supremacy:  China, America, and the Struggle for Mastery in Asia.
http://www.amazon.com/Contest-Supremacy-America-Struggle-Mastery/dp/0393068285/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1328057908&sr=8-1
Last night I saw a very interesting interview by Charlie Rose on PBS.  He talked to David Barboza, the
Shanghai correspondent for the New York Times, and it was a fascinating glimpse into post-Mao,
post-Communist China.  You can catch the interview at http://www.charlierose.com/  I'm not sure
that Chinese capitalism is an improvement over the People's Revolution.  
You will have to watch the program and decide for yourself.

Andrew Feinstein.  The Shadow World:  Inside the Global Arms Trade.
ISBN 978-0-374-20838-7
(Continue reading)

Permalink | Reply | 1 comment |
headers
Mark E. Smith | 1 Feb 2012 02:43
Picon
Gravatar

Re: The Progressive Librarian's Picks

I'm reading Andrew Feinstein's book on the global arms trade right now.
Just started reading it, but so far it is a wealth of information.

--Mark

On Tue, Jan 31, 2012 at 5:14 PM, Romi Elnagar <bluesapphire48 <at> yahoo.com>wrote:

> On my weekly outing to Barnes and Noble last Sunday, I found few titles I
> think might be worth looking at.  (Even Barnes and Noble will peddle
> Marx... ANYTHING... for a buck!  Ha!Ha!)
>
>
> They are in REVERSE alphabetical order because these days I don't have to
> wear a watch or do most anything else in lockstep any more!  I can get up
> at noon if I like, and I don't have to take small children to the
> babysitter's while I work (ugh!).
>
> I look forward to hearing your "take" on any of them.
> Best,
> Hajja Romi/Blue
>
>
>
>
> Ahmed Rashid.  Descent into Chaos:  The U.S. and the Disaster in Pakistan,
> Afghanistan and Central Asia.
>
> http://www.amazon.com/Descent-into-Chaos-Disaster-Afghanistan/dp/014311557X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1328058404&sr=1-1
>
>
(Continue reading)

Permalink | Reply | 0 comments |
headers
Bill Totten | 1 Feb 2012 05:36
Picon

[BillTottenWeblog] Waking Up, Walking Away

by John Michael Greer

The Archdruid Report (January 18 2011)

Last week’s Archdruid Report post, despite its wry comparison of
industrial civilization’s current predicament with the plots and
settings of pulp fantasy fiction, had a serious point. Say what you will
about the failings of cheap fantasy novels – and there’s plenty to be
said on that subject, no question – they consistently have something
that most of the allegedly more serious attempts to make sense of our
world usually lack: the capacity to envision truly profound change.

That may seem like an odd claim, given the extent to which contemporary
industrial society preens itself on its openness to change and novelty.
Still, it’s one of the most curious and least discussed features of that
very openness that the only kinds of change and novelty to which it
applies amount to, basically, more of the same thing we’ve already got.
A consumer in a modern industrial society is free to choose any of a
dizzying range of variations on a suffocatingly narrow range of basic
options – and that’s equally true whether we are talking about products,
politics, or lifestyles.

I suppose the automobile is the most obvious example, but it has
dimensions not always recognized and these bear a closer look. To begin
with, the vast majority of cars for sale these days are simply ringing
changes on a suite of technologies that was introduced in the late 19th
century and hit maturity close to fifty years ago. That’s as true of
electric and hybrid cars, by the way, as it is of the usual kind – the
hype surrounding the so-called “hybrid revolution” conveniently fails to
mention that the same system has been used for more than sixty years in
(Continue reading)

Permalink | Reply | 0 comments |
headers
Suzanne de Kuyper | 1 Feb 2012 08:17
Picon

Fwd: NATO and CIA Covertly Arming Syrian Rebels in Order to Weaken Iran

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Suzanne de Kuyper <suzannedk <at> gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Feb 1, 2012 at 8:16 AM
Subject: Fwd: [R-G] NATO and CIA Covertly Arming Syrian Rebels in Order to
Weaken Iran
To: a-list <at> greenhouse.economics.utah.edu

"Such a war, contrary to what some state, will not make the Israel nor the
U.S. safer."  Nor the rest of the world. Over two billion Muslims and
another almost billion Arabs or roughly half of the globe's present
population are intimately affected by what happens in Palestine, Libya,
Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Egypt.  All Arab lands have been
fighting colonisation to recapture their sovereignty. Saudi Arabia is
through it's growing royal family already a U.S. colony for many years.
Bahrain another.

  Over fifty million U.S citizens have not enough food.  The E.U. is
destroying it's middle classes with fiscal austerity that will guaranty the
middle class is gone for generations. Not enough money nor jobs will be
found so they can survive in either continent..  Those populations are
supposed to represent the fruits of democracy.  Many American ( millions)
children go dumpster diving for food to eat. This posting is the blue print
for that re-colonialism in the name of democracy. Installed in blood. The
blowbacks will reverberate revenge for a thousand years..  The lost
children a genocidal amount.  Beginning with those of Palestine, the Gaza
Strip.

U.S. illegal war dead far outstrip Hitler's war dead.    Taking over Syria
is key to owning Iran.  All is the fault of the regime Washington must have
removed to do the final M.E. take-over.. Democratically.   As Hilary
(Continue reading)

Permalink | Reply | 0 comments |
headers
Suzanne de Kuyper | 1 Feb 2012 09:00
Picon

Fwd: Aggression born of American 'exceptionalism' | The Japan Times

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Suzanne de Kuyper <suzannedk <at> gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Feb 1, 2012 at 9:00 AM
Subject: Fwd: [R-G] Aggression born of American 'exceptionalism' | The
Japan Times
To: a-list <at> greenhouse.economics.utah.edu

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Suzanne de Kuyper <suzannedk <at> gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Feb 1, 2012 at 8:59 AM
Subject: Fwd: [R-G] Aggression born of American 'exceptionalism' | The
Japan Times
To: Bill Totten <shimogamo <at> ashisuto.co.jp>

Good to read from a Japanese.   So little push back from Japan.  Like has
the peace treaty ever been signed yet?  The Japanese Constitution changed
from what was ordered in it after 'hostilities' ceased?

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Sid Shniad <shniad <at> gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Jan 31, 2012 at 8:09 PM
Subject: [R-G] Aggression born of American 'exceptionalism' | The Japan
Times
To: Suzanne de Kuyper <suzannedk <at> gmail.com>

*http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/eo20120130hs.html
*
*
Japan
Times
(Continue reading)

Permalink | Reply | 0 comments |
headers
Suzanne de Kuyper | 1 Feb 2012 11:32
Picon

Fwd: WHAT'S WRONG WITH CATERPILLAR?

Another way to exterminate Unions by just doing it.  S.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Sid Shniad <shniad <at> gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Jan 31, 2012 at 8:37 PM
Subject: [R-G] WHAT'S WRONG WITH CATERPILLAR?
To: Suzanne de Kuyper <suzannedk <at> gmail.com>

http://ourtimes.ca/Between_Times/article_188.php

Jan 13, 2012

WHAT'S WRONG WITH CATERPILLAR?*If Caterpillar breaks this local union,
collective bargaining as we once knew it in Canada will be destroyed for a
long time. *

Local 27 members of the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) union were locked out
on New Year's Day by Caterpillar Inc.'s Electro-Motive Diesel in a callous
display of corporate might, by a company that may be intending to leave
Canada.

The 465 CAW members in London, Ontario, voted by 97 per cent on December 30
for strike action and, 24 hours later, just as they were returning to jobs
on New Year's Eve following a holiday shutdown, they were locked out. Paul
Bruder has worked at Electro-Motive Canada (EMC) for 23 years and sees the
company lockout, and their demand for a 50 per cent wage cut, as an attack
on workers' lives.

Electro-Motive Canada (EMC) is owned by the American heavy equipment giant
Caterpillar Inc. through its Progress Rail subsidiary. Caterpillar is a
(Continue reading)

Permalink | Reply | 0 comments |
headers
Sid Shniad | 1 Feb 2012 19:17
Picon

The Harper government's selectivity when it comes to "foreign special interests"

*http://www.vancouversun.com/business/gets+democracy/6083431/story.html

*
* Vancouver
Sun
February 1, 2012
*
Who gets a say in our democracy?
*If the Harper government is concerned that groups like the
California-based William and Flora Hewlett Foundation have given $1.3
million to the Pembina Foundation for Environmental Research and Education,
then they should be even more troubled that, during the same period, the
Hewletts gave $40 million to the government's own International Development
Research Centre. Apparently, the "radicals" fuelled by "foreign special
interests" are as close as the nearest mirror. For the federal
Conservatives - and their Ethical Oil public relations arm - the
environmental interveners are "radical" and disruptive, while corporate
funders are welcome.

By James Hoggan*

The tactics are always the same: From amateurish law school debates to
clumsy public relations campaigns, it seems that whenever someone starts to
think they can't win their point on merit, they fall back on distractions
like personal attacks. They suggest that their opponents have shady
motivations or are otherwise not qualified to comment. They seem willing to
say anything to avoid talking about the real issue.

That's been happening a lot in the public conversation about the pro-posed
Enbridge Northern Gate-way oilsands pipeline. The distraction campaign
(Continue reading)

Permalink | Reply | 0 comments |
headers
Sid Shniad | 1 Feb 2012 19:46
Picon

BDS is Nazism and Omar Barghouti is Hitler says UPenn professor in shocking smear

*
http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/bds-nazism-and-omar-barghouti-hitler-says-upenn-professor-shocking-smear

Electronic Intifada

02/01/2012
**BDS is Nazism and Omar Barghouti is Hitler says UPenn professor in
shocking smear ** *
*by Ali Abunimah*

Whenever you think that smears against the Palestinian solidarity movement
cannot get more inflammatory or sickening, something new appears. In the
latest shot against the upcoming boycott, divestment and
sanctions<http://electronicintifada.net/tags/bds>(BDS) conference
at the University of
Pennsylvania<http://electronicintifada.net/tags/penn-bds-conference>next
weekend,
*the movement is being openly compared to Nazism.*

I have written to University of Pennsylvania President Amy Gutmann asking
her to speak out against these smears and noting that I wish to quote her
response in my conference speech.

Ruben Gur, a professor in the Departments of Psychiatry, Radiology &
Neurology at UPenn, writes in *The Daily
Pennsylvanian*<http://thedp.com/index.php/article/2012/02/ruben_gur_bds_is_hateful_discriminatory/>
:

The purpose of BDS as presented seems similar to what was apparently stated
in *their version of “Mein Kampf” (I am referring to Omar Barghouti’s book
(Continue reading)

Permalink | Reply | 0 comments |
headers
Sid Shniad | 1 Feb 2012 20:52
Picon

Taliban 'poised to retake Afghanistan' after NATO pullout, leaked U.S. report claims

*
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/taliban-poised-to-retake-afghanistan-after-nato-pullout-leaked-us-report-claims/article2322130/

Globe and
Mail

                   Feb. 01, 2012
* * *Taliban 'poised to retake Afghanistan' after NATO pullout, leaked U.S.
report claims
 “Everybody knows that after 10 years, they (NATO) have not been able to
control a single province in Afghanistan because of the wrong policies they
have been following."

*            -- Tariq Azim, member of the Pakistani Senate’s Defence
Committee*
Hamid Shalizi and Mirwais Harooni  Kabul — Reuters

The U.S. military said in a secret report that the Taliban, backed by
Pakistan, are set to retake control of Afghanistan after NATO-led forces
withdraw, raising the prospect of a major failure of Western policy after a
costly war.

Lieutenant Colonel Jimmie Cummings, a spokesman for the NATO-led
International Security Assistance Force, confirmed the existence of the
document, reported on Wednesday by Britian’s Times newspaper and the BBC.

But he said it was not a strategic study.

“The classified document in question is a compilation of Taliban detainee
opinions,” he said. “It’s not an analysis, nor is it meant to be considered
(Continue reading)

Permalink | Reply | 0 comments |
headers
Sid Shniad | 1 Feb 2012 21:00
Picon

Crises of Capitalism - David Harvey

*Crises of Capitalism

Renowned academic David Harvey asks if it is time to look beyond capitalism
towards
a new social order that would allow us to live within a system that really
could be responsible,
just, and humane?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOP2V_np2c0&feature=player_embedded#!*
_______________________________________________
Rad-Green mailing list
Rad-Green <at> greenhouse.economics.utah.edu
To change your options or unsubscribe go to:
http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/rad-green
Permalink | Reply | 0 comments |

Gmane