International Politics: April 2007 Archives

The Chavez-Correa Model

By STEPHEN LENDMAN

Ecuadorean President Raphael Correa took office January 15 promising his people progressive, revolutionary social and economic change unlike anything this country of mostly impoverished people ever had before under its right wing only governments beholden solely to capital interests. Correa promised a "citizens' revolution" beginning by drafting a new Constitution in a Constituent Assembly for which a national referendum was held April 15 allowing Ecuadoreans the right to decide on it, not politicians.

Yesterday the people spoke loudly and clearly in favor of proceeding. The referendum was passed overwhelmingly by 78.1% in favor against a mere 11.5% opposed (with remaining ballots left blank or were void) according to a Cedatos-Gallup exit poll conducted among 40,000 voters with a margin of error around 2% that will be very close to the final official vote count due out in a week according to Ecuador's Supreme Electoral Council (TSE).

Full story: Ecuador Votes for Revolutionary Change

"Her whole piece is a riff on victimological whining, and she delivers a virtuoso performance"

First They Came for the Spies

Why is the Wall Street Journal in favor of espionage?

by Justin Raimondo

The title of Dorothy Rabinowitz's Wall Street Journal [a prominent mainstream newspaper] screed defending two accused spies, "First They Came for the Jews," telegraphs the strategy apologists for Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman will be using when the two AIPAC officials' trial on charges of espionage, scheduled for June 4, finally begins. It is also a smear so outrageous it almost defies belief. What that headline communicates is the warped conception that the U.S. government, in prosecuting two prominent lobbyists on behalf of Israel for handing over sensitive classified information to Israeli officials, is the equivalent of the Nazi regime. What's next - the WSJ editorially attacking "Bushitler"?

Rosen, long the spark plug of AIPAC's very effective lobbying efforts, and Weissman, AIPAC's Iran specialist, are charged with espionage on Israel's behalf: here is the indictment. It shows that Rosen and Weissman weren't just "ordinary citizens," as Rabinowitz characterizes them, or even just high-powered lobbyists, acting, as is their right, to influence government policy. They were the leaders of a spy ring that was in the business of gathering classified information from their sources inside the U.S. government and feeding it to Israeli officials...

Full story: First They Came for the Spies

"In 1997, nearly half of French people saw Le Pen's ideas as unacceptable; now only a third do. His popularity speaks much about the continued disillusionment with the political leadership within French society."

Lionel Walsh

MANY French voters thought he was down and out. But 78-year-old Jean-Marie Le Pen, France's far-right presidential candidate, has bounced off the ropes and is back in the ring. He will be running for president for the fifth time next month. The blustering founder of the French National Front says he is sure to win in the run-off vote on May 6. And his opponents are treating his return as more than a well-worn performance by an old entertainer.