Tom Hayden's Blog, page 49

The Importance of a Fair Trial for Seif Quaddafi

Seif Quaddafi, the surviving son of Libyan dictator Muammar Quaddafi, has a lot to say of global interest – if he doesn’t “accidentally” die while in custody of a revolutionary militia in Zintan. This week the US lobbied for his trial to take place in Libya, instead of the Hague, on the controversial grounds that the new Libya has achieved “minimum standards” of justice. Now the Libyan ruling circle is detaining a lawyer for Seif Quaddafi, Melinda Taylor, sent from the Hague to interview him. The Hague indicted Seif Quaddafi last fall, before the fall of his father’s regime.

The Importance of a Fair Trial for Saif Quaddafi

Saif Quaddafi, the surviving son of Libyan dictator Muammar Quaddafi, has a lot to say of global interest – if he doesn’t “accidentally” die while in custody of a revolutionary militia in Zintan. This week the US lobbied for his trial to take place in Libya, instead of the Hague, on the controversial grounds that the new Libya has achieved “minimum standards” of justice.

For Discussion: Expanding the War Powers Act

The US Constitution and the 1973 War Powers Act provide a crucial role for the democratically elected Congress in approving decisions to go to war. Those protections are fast disappearing in the new age of drone and cyber warfare and the growth of secrecy around the presidency and Pentagon.

No Need for Summer Restart to San Onofre Nuclear Plant, Problems and Costs Continue to Mount

Amidst alarming malfunctions at the San Onofre nuclear power plant and continued inaction by California officials, the top US nuclear regulator says southern California can weather the coming hot summer with the facility still shut down.

Adbusters or Adblusters?

Don’t get me wrong, I love Adbusters, the Vancouver-based magazine that first called for the occupation of Wall Street. They are “culture-jammers” by belief, which means they seek to disrupt the dominant image machinery and, in so doing, awaken a radical culture of resistance. In some ways they are descendants of Marshall McLuhan, also a Canadian, who fostered the 1960s concept that the “medium” itself is “the message” and, more particularly, they idealize the French Situationists who took to the barricades in 1968, and the Zapatistas who rose in 1994. Their roots go back further to their proud identification with the Paris Commune of 1871, which Karl Marx and many others extolled. Anarchists in particular celebrate the Commune as an early example of revolutionary direct action “prefiguring” the new society they imagined would come, with the emphasis on self-management from below. The Commune itself was decimated by the French Army with as many as 20,.000 killed and tens of thousands marched off to prison.

The Heartbreak in Wisconsin

The triumph of Scott Walker and the Tea Party Republicans in Wisconsin is heartbreaking for the many thousands who devoted over one year of their lives to one of the most inspired social movements of the current century.

In Response to The End of Counterinsurgency

I was glad to see evidence-based realism in George Friedman's appraisal of counterinsurgency at Stratfor. Unfortunately, there seems to be a cult trying to resurrect the South Vietnam Phoenix Program – see the US Army-Marine Manual and writings of David Kilcullen.

Mexico’s Obrador Trails by Only Four Points

Left candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador – AMLO - is only four points behind the PRI’s presidential pacesetter Enrique Pena Nieto, according to Reforma, after a year in which the mainstream media and political analysts had written off the PRD presidential candidate. In Reforma’s poll, Nieto led with 29 percent to AMLO’s 26, ahead of the ruling PAN’s candidate, Josefina Vasquez Mota, with 20. The election is not until July 1, so the trends are fluid.

America's Retro Policies in Latin America: Why?

A fascinating theoretical question about the Obama administration's retro policies towards Central and Latin America is simply this one: why?

Assange Future Still Remains Unclear

After ruling 5-2 that Julian Assange can be deported to Sweden, Britain’s Supreme Court has granted a two-week reprieve for consideration of treaty issues not previously heard during the two-year case. With the new hearing unpredictable, Assange also has the further option of appealing his extradition order to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.