Coming
in October
From Common Courage Press
Today's
Stories
August 27, 2003
Steve Niva
Israel's Assassination Policy: the
Trigger for Suicide Bombings?
Recent
Stories
August 26, 2003
Robert Fisk
Smearing the Dead
David Lindorff
The
Great Oil Gouge: Burning Up that Tax Rebate
Sarmad S. Ali
Baghdad is Deadlier Than Ever: the View of an Iraqi Coroner
Christopher Brauchli
Bush Administration Equates Medical Pot Smokers with Segregationists
Juliana Fredman
Collective Punishment on the West Bank: Dialysis, Checkpoints
and a Palestinian Madonna
Larry Siems
Ghosts of Regime Changes Past in Guatemala
Elaine Cassel
Onward, Ashcroft Soldiers!
Saul Landau
Bush:
a Modern Ahab or a Toy Action Figure?
August 25, 2003
Kurt Nimmo
Israeli Outlaws in America
David Bacon
In Iraq, Labor Protest is a Crime
Thomas P. Healy
The Govs Come to Indy: Corps Welcome; Citizens Locked Out
Norman Madarasz
In an Elephant's Whirl: the US/Canada Relationship After the
Iraq Invasion
Salvador Peralta
The Politics of Focus Groups
Jack McCarthy
Who Killed Jancita Eagle Deer?
Uri Avnery
A Drug
for the Addict
August 23/24, 2003
Forrest Hylton
Rumsfeld
Does Bogota
Robert Fisk
The Cemetery at Basra
Veteran Intelligence Professionals for
Sanity
Insults to Intelligence
Andrew C. Long
Exile on Bliss Street: The Terrorist Threat and the English Professor
Jeremy Bigwood
The Toxic War on Drugs: Monsanto Weedkiller Linked to Powerful
Fungus
Jeffrey St. Clair
Forest
or Against Us: the Bush Doctor Calls on Oregon
Cynthia McKinney
Bring the Troops Home, Now!
David Krieger
So Many Deaths, So Few Answers: Approaching the Second Anniversary
of 9/11
Julie Hilden
A Constitutional Right to be a Human Shield
Dave Lindorff
Marketplace
Medicine
Standard Schaefer
Unholy Trinity: Falwell's Anti-Abortion Attack on Health and
Free Speech
Catherine Dong
Kucinich and FirstEnergy
José Tirado
History Hurts: Why Let the Dems Repeat It?
Ron Jacobs
Springsteen's America
Gavin Keeney
The Infernal Machine
Adam Engel
A Fan's Notations
William Mandel
Five Great Indie Films
Walt Brasch
An American Frog Fable
Poets' Basement
Reiss, Kearney, Guthrie, Albert and Alam
Website of the Weekend
The Hutton Inquiry
August 22, 2003
Carole Harper
Post-Sandinista
Nicaragua
John Chuckman
George Will: the Marquis of Mendacity
Richard Thieme
Operation Paperclip Revisited
Chris Floyd
Dubya Indemnity: Bush Barons Beyond the Reach of Law?
Issam Nashashibi
Palestinians
and the Right of Return: a Rigged Survey
Mary Walworth
Other People's Kids
Ron Jacobs
The
Darkening Tunnel
Website of the Day
Current Energy
August 21, 2003
Robert Fisk
The US
Needs to Blame Anyone But Locals for UN Bombing
Virginia Tilley
The Quisling Policies of the UN in Iraq: Toward a Permanent War?
Rep. Henry Waxman
Bush Owes the Public Some Serious Answers on Iraq
Ben Terrall
War Crimes and Punishment in Indonesia: Rapes, Murders and Slaps
on the Wrists
Elaine Cassel
Brother John Ashcroft's Traveling Patriot Salvation Show
Christopher Brauchli
Getting Gouged by Banks
Marjorie Cohn
Sergio Vieira de Mello: Victim of Terrorism or US Policy in Iraq?
Vicente Navarro
Media
Double Standards: The Case of Mr. Aznar, Friend of Bush
Website of the Day
The Intelligence Squad
August 20, 2003
Robert Fisk
Now No
One Is Safe in Iraq
Caoimhe Butterly
Life and Death on the Frontlines of Baghdad
Kurt Nimmo
UN Bombing: Act of Terrorism or Guerrilla War?
Michael Egan
Revisiting the Paranoid Style in the Dark
Ramzi Kysia
Peace
is not an Abstract Idea
Steven Higgs
NPR and the NAFTA Highway
John L. Hess
A Downside Day
Edward Said
The Imperial Bluster of Tom Delay
Jason Leopold
Gridlock at Path 15: the California Blackouts were the "Wake
Up Call"
Website of the Day
Ashcroft's Patriotic Hype
August 19, 2003
Jeffrey St. Clair
Blackouts Happen
Gary Leupp
"Our Patch": Australia v. the Evil Doers of the South
Pacific
Sean Donahue
Uribe's Cruel Model: Colombia Moves Toward Totalitarianism
Matt Martin
Bush's Credibility Problem on Missile Defense
Juliana Fredman
Recipe for the Destruction of a Hudna
John Ross
Fox Government's Attack on Mexican Basques
Sasan Fayazmanesh
What Kermit Roosevelt Didn't Say
Website of the Day
Tom Delay's Dual Loyalities
August 18, 2003
Uri Avnery
Hero in War and Peace
Stan Goff
The Volunteer Military and the Wicked Adventure
Cathy Breen
Baghdad on the Hudson
Michael Kimaid
Fight the Power (Companies)!
Jason Leopold
The California Rip-Off Revisited: Arnold, Milken and Ken Lay
Matt Siegfried
The Bush Administration in Context
Elaine Cassel
At Last, A Judge Who Acts Like a Judge
Alexander Cockburn
Judy Miller's War
Harvey Wasserman
The Legacy of Blackout Pete Wilson
Website of the Day
Fire Griles!
Congratulations
to CounterPuncher Gilad Atzmon! BBC Names EXILE Top Jazz CD
August 16 / 17, 2003
Flavia Alaya
Bastille
New Jersey
Jeffrey St. Clair
War Pimps
Saul Landau
The Legacy of Moncada: the Cuban Revolution at 50
Brian Cloughley
What Has Happened to the US Army in Iraq?
William S. Lind
Coffins for the Crews: How Not to Use Light Armored Vehicles
Col. Dan Smith
Time for Straight Talk
Wenonah Hauter
Which
Electric System Do We Want?
David Lindorff
Where's Arnold When We Need Him?
Harvey Wasserman
This Grid Should Not Exist
Don Moniak
"Unusual Events" at Nuclear Power Plants: a Timeline
for August 14, 2003
David Vest
Rolling Blackout Revue
Merlin Chowkwanyun
An Interview with Sherman Austin
Adam Engel
The Loneliest Number
Poets' Basement
Guthrie, Hamod & Albert
Book of the Weekend
Powerplay by Sharon Beder
August 14, 2003
Peter Phillips
Inside
Bohemian Grove: Where US Power Elites Party
Brian Cloughley
Charlie Wilson and Pakistan: the Strange Congressman Behind the
CIA's Most Expensive War
Linville and Ruder
Tyson
Strike Draws the Line
Jim Lobe
Bush Administration Divided Over Iran
Ramzy Baroud
Sharon Freezes the Road Map
Tom Turnipseed
Blowback in Iraq
Gary Leupp
Condi's
Speech: From Birgmingham to Baghdad, Imperialism's Freedom Ride
Website of the Day
Tony Benn's Greatest Hits
August 13, 2003
Joanne Mariner
A Wall of Separation Through the
Heart
Donald Worster
The Heavy Cost of Empire
Standard Schaefer
Experimental Casinos: DARPA and the War Economy
Elaine Cassel
Murderous Errors: Executing the Innocent
Ralph Nader
Make the Recall Count
Alexander Cockburn
Ted Honderich Hit with "Anti-Semitism" Slur
Website of the Day
Defending Yourself Against DirectTV Lawsuits: 9000 and Counting
August 12, 2003
Ron Jacobs
Revisionist History: the Bush Administration, Civil Rights and
Iraq
Josh Frank
Dean's Constitutional Hang-Up
Wayne Madsen
What's a Fifth Columnist? Well, Someone Like Hitchens
Ray McGovern
Relax,
It Was All a Pack of Lies
Wendy Brinker
Hubris in the White House
Website of the Day
Black
Mustache
Hot Stories
Dardagan,
Slobodo and Williams
CounterPunch Exclusive:
20,000 Wounded Iraqi Civilians
Steve
J.B.
Prison Bitch
Sheldon
Rampton and John Stauber
True Lies: the Use of Propaganda
in the Iraq War
Wendell
Berry
Small Destructions Add Up
CounterPunch
Wire
WMD: Who Said What When
Cindy
Corrie
A Mother's Day Talk: the Daughter
I Can't Hear From
William Blum
Myth
and Denial in the War on Terrorism
Standard Schaefer
Experimental Casinos: DARPA and the War Economy
Uzma
Aslam Khan
The Unbearably Grim Aftermath of War:
What America Says Does Not Go
Paul de Rooij
Arrogant
Propaganda
Gore Vidal
The
Erosion of the American Dream
Francis Boyle
Impeach
Bush: A Draft Resolution
Click Here
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August
27, 2003
Nuances and North
Korea
Six
Countries in Search of a Solution
By JOHN FEFFER
War so far has not returned to the Korean peninsula.
Negotiators from six countries--North and South Korea, China,
Japan, Russia, and the United States--are about to sit down in
Beijing to keep it that way. In a world dominated by military
"solutions" to obdurate problems, even the muted vote
for diplomacy represented by the upcoming Six-Party Talks should
be cause for celebration.
But few are optimistic about this latest
attempt to solve the current Korean crisis. Most pundits believe
that the best possible outcome of the August 27-29 meetings would
be a time and a date for the next parley. If one of the six doesn't
storm out, the meeting will be a success. The United States has
refused to offer any inducements; North Korea has not diminished
its harsh rhetoric toward the United States. Japan, meanwhile,
has insisted on introducing the issue of abductees, which may
very well torpedo the discussions. Although South Korea, China,
and Russia are eager for a diplomatic solution to the nuclear
issue, they are the least influential of the six.
Good Cop, Bad Cop
The Bush administration has been playing
it very coy, even trotting out a version of "good cop, bad
cop." So, as State Department hardliner John Bolton was
blasting Kim Jong Il by name 41 times in a recent speech in Seoul,
his more moderate colleague Richard Armitage was expressing grudging
admiration for Kim as a "canny" poker player. Even
as  President Bush has repeatedly
insisted on the importance of a diplomatic solution, senior Pentagon
adviser James Woolsey advocated in the Wall Street Journal for
a campaign of 4,000 daily air strikes against North Korea. And
officials in Washington have floated rumors of the carrots they
plan to wave at the talks in Beijing, namely a non-aggression
pact and various economic incentives, only to have other officials
categorically deny that "bad behavior" will ever be
so rewarded.
Disagreements within
the Bush Administration
Most recently, a rough compromise position
has emerged: if other countries offer North Korea incentives
to end its nuclear program, then the United States will not object.
It is difficult to say whether this is a true compromise between
the faction in Washington that believes negotiations to be appeasement
and the faction that predicts that a war will exact a terrible
toll on human life and the president's electoral chances. At
the heart of this disagreement within the administration are
two issues: the underlying purpose of North Korea's nuclear program
and the durability of the government in Pyongyang.
Victor Cha, a Korea specialist at Georgetown
University, has argued that North Korea wants to add nuclear
weapons permanently to its military arsenal rather than trade
this bargaining chip for various goodies. According to this interpretation,
negotiations are futile. Only sticks will compel North Korea
to give up its nuclear deterrent. This argument, however, is
circular. The various strategies that the United States has been
pursuing to undermine the government in Pyongyang will only encourage
North Korea to view its nuclear program more as a deterrent than
a bargaining chip, which will only then necessitate harsher measures
until the regime retaliates or finally collapses.
The Bush administration embarked on the
regime change path based on a mixture of wishful thinking and
unreliable defector testimony that was subsequently dismissed
by the CIA. Thinking the Kim Jong Il regime on its last legs,
the Bush administration backed away from the missile deal that
the Clinton administration had almost negotiated in its final
months. It refused to negotiate with an "evil" country
and ignored potential compromises that emerged after the revelations
concerning North Korea's uranium enrichment project in October
2002. More recently, the administration created the 11-nation
Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) with the stated intention
of restricting the trade in weapons of mass destruction through
interdiction at sea and by air, though the underlying objective
appears to be to shut down the North Korean economy. Hardliners
have also considered inviting large numbers of North Korean migrants
in China to seek asylum in the United States, with the hopes
of stimulating an East German-style collapse. And still the regime
in Pyongyang remains more-or-less intact.
Changes of Nuance
It might seem as though the moderate
wing of the administration has gained an important victory over
the regime change crowd by moving forward with the six-party
talks. Indeed, a good deal of political capital has been expended
to line up the players. On August 8, for instance, the Bush administration
responded to Russian entreaties by declaring Chechen fighter
Shamil Basayev an international terrorist. In what might be viewed
as a quid pro quo, Russia recently participated in unprecedented
military exercises with Japan and South Korea to prepare for
possible government collapse in North Korea and an accompanying
outflow of refugees. Washington has also lobbied hard with Beijing
to turn the screws on its putative ally. With the Pentagon seriously
overstretched and the U.S. public in no mood for another war
so soon, the administration needs at least the appearance of
flexibility. This is what the analysts in Washington call a "change
of nuance," which is apparently several notches down from
a change of policy and perhaps only a shade above a change in
spin.
However, while deal-making and diplomacy
appear to be more prominent at the moment, the hardliners are
by no means dormant. Washington and Tokyo are about to pull the
plug on the most significant achievement of the Clinton engagement
policy, the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization,
which was to substitute two civilian nuclear reactors for North
Korea's nuclear weapons program. And PSI is gathering steam with
a joint naval interdiction exercise scheduled for next month.
And so the Bush administration has yet
to resolve its serious internal differences over North Korea
policy. What might seem like a crafty strategy of carrot-and-stick
is more likely infighting and incoherence. The hardliners likely
believe that the current negotiations will not produce any viable
solutions and are thus willing to bide their time. The Six Party
Talks will probably not be diplomacy's finest hour, for the Bush
administration seems in no rush to work out a solution and, because
of internal dissent, in no position to offer any significant
inducements. However, with the stakes so high on the Korean peninsula,
even half-hearted diplomacy is better than no diplomacy at all.
John Feffer,
editor of PowerTrip:
U.S. Unilateralism and Global Strategy After September 11,, writes
regularly for Foreign Policy
in Focus. He is the author of the forthcoming North
Korea, South Korea: U.S. Policy at a Time of Crisis (Seven
Stories Press).) He can be reached at: johnfeffer@aol.com.
Weekend
Edition Features for August 23 / 24, 2003
Forrest Hylton
Rumsfeld
Does Bogota
Robert Fisk
The Cemetery at Basra
Veteran Intelligence Professionals for
Sanity
Insults to Intelligence
Andrew C. Long
Exile on Bliss Street: The Terrorist Threat and the English Professor
Jeremy Bigwood
The Toxic War on Drugs: Monsanto Weedkiller Linked to Powerful
Fungus
Jeffrey St. Clair
Forest
or Against Us: the Bush Doctor Calls on Oregon
Cynthia McKinney
Bring the Troops Home, Now!
David Krieger
So Many Deaths, So Few Answers: Approaching the Second Anniversary
of 9/11
Julie Hilden
A Constitutional Right to be a Human Shield
Dave Lindorff
Marketplace
Medicine
Standard Schaefer
Unholy Trinity: Falwell's Anti-Abortion Attack on Health and
Free Speech
Catherine Dong
Kucinich and FirstEnergy
José Tirado
History Hurts: Why Let the Dems Repeat It?
Ron Jacobs
Springsteen's America
Gavin Keeney
The Infernal Machine
Adam Engel
A Fan's Notations
William Mandel
Five Great Indie Films
Walt Brasch
An American Frog Fable
Poets' Basement
Reiss, Kearney, Guthrie, Albert and Alam
Website of the Weekend
The Hutton Inquiry
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