La noticia, difundida el lunes por la BBC, de que varios militares británicos y canadienses han sido acusados de transportar heroína a Europa aprovechando la falta de control en los vuelos militares de regreso del frente, no hace más que reforzar la sospecha sobre los intereses económicos reales que hay detrás de la guerra de Afganistán. El tráfico «militar» de heroína descubierto entre las bases de la OTAN del sur de Afganistán (Helmand y Kandahar) y el aeropuerto militar de Brize Norton (Oxfordshire, Inglaterra), será despachado con la consabida explicación de las «manzanas podridas», del caso aislado que implica a unos pocos individuos. Pero lo más probable es que sea la punta del iceberg o, mejor dicho, las migajas de un tráfico mucho más importante y organizado que sus principales gestores ―militares y servicios secretos usamericanos― dejan a sus aliados, evidentemente más torpes que ellos a la hora de encubrirlo.

Doy fe de que “ser” guerrillero colombiano es simple. La clave: por algún medio informativo exprésese objetivamente sobre el gobierno o algún otro ente estatal. Demuestre que los servicios de seguridad, fuerzas armadas y sus paramilitares torturan, asesinan y hacen desaparecer a indefensos ciudadanos por miles, haciéndolos pasar por guerrilleros. Insista en mostrar las tantísimas pruebas que hacen de muchísimos representantes de ese Estado honorables narcos paramilitares. También sirve que exprese sus deseos de una paz con dignidad para todos los colombianos, o la necesidad de un diálogo con la guerrilla. Ya con esto es más que suficiente.

There are no longer any major institutions in American society, including the press, the educational system, the financial sector, labor unions, the arts, religious institutions and our dysfunctional political parties, which can be considered democratic. The intent, design and function of these institutions, controlled by corporate money, are to bolster the hierarchical and anti-democratic power of the corporate state. These institutions, often mouthing liberal values, abet and perpetuate mounting inequality. They operate increasingly in secrecy. They ignore suffering or sacrifice human lives for profit. They control and manipulate all levers of power and mass communication. They have muzzled the voices and concerns of citizens.

Edward Bernays, the American nephew of Sigmund Freud, is said to have invented modern propaganda. During the First World War, he was one of a group of influential liberals who mounted a secret government campaign to persuade reluctant Americans to send an army to the bloodbath in Europe. In his book Propaganda, published in 1928, Bernays wrote that the "intelligent manipulation of the organised habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society", and that the manipulators "constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power in our country". Instead of propaganda, he coined the euphemism "public relations". Such spin is in place with the pull-out from Iraq, but it is a poor disguise for America's determination to keep waging war.

While now trumpeting the nobility of an Iraq war effort that he'd initially disparaged as "dumb," Barack Obama is polishing a halo over the Afghanistan war, which he touts as very smart. In the process, the Oval Office speech declared that every U.S. war -- no matter how mendacious or horrific -- is worthy of veneration. With his commitment to war in Afghanistan, President Obama is not only on the wrong side of history. He is also now propagating an exculpatory view of any and all U.S. war efforts -- as if the immoral can become the magnificent by virtue of patriotic alchemy.

En las últimas semanas ha habido un gran esfuerzo por parte de los conservadores –e incluso por parte de muchos centristas– para alentar el odio contra los trabajadores del sector público por cuenta de sus pensiones. La historia sería que los trabajadores públicos tienen mejores pensiones que sus colegas del sector privado. Debemos tomarnos el ataque a los trabajadores públicos como lo que es: un sórdido caso de chivo expiatorio que lo único que pretende es desviar la atención de los verdaderos villanos en esta economía, los chicos de Wall Street y los ineptos estrategas de la política económica que han llevado a la economía a la ruina y que parecen empeñados en dejarla ahí.

En el marco de la lucha por el presupuesto universitario, un grupo de estudiantes tomamos el edificio de Ciencias Sociales como una medida de presión hacia las autoridades universitarias

While much of the media is focused on the logistics of the misleading withdrawal of the "last combat brigade" from Iraq on August 19 - some accentuating the fact that the withdrawal is happening two weeks ahead of the August 31 deadline - most of us are guilty of forgetting Iraq and its people. When the economy began to take center stage, we completely dropped the war off our list of grievances. But this is not about memory, or a way of honoring the dead and feeling compassion for the living. Forgetting wars leads to a complete polarization of discourses, thus allowing the crafters of war to sell the public whatever suits their interests and stratagems.

By temperament and upbringing, I had always taken comfort in orthodoxy. In a life spent subject to authority, deference had become a deeply ingrained habit. I found assurance in conventional wisdom. Now, I started, however hesitantly, to suspect that orthodoxy might be a sham. I began to appreciate that authentic truth is never simple and that any version of truth handed down from on high -- whether by presidents, prime ministers, or archbishops -- is inherently suspect. The exercise of power necessarily involves manipulation and is antithetical to candor.

A corporate offensive is rolling down upon us, aimed at wholesale privatization of the public sector. If the Left has learned anything in the last year and a half, it should be that President Obama is Wall Street’s guy, having “delivered the highest return on corporate campaign investment in the history of bourgeois democracy.” In this struggle, the people will be left to their own devices. Obama and finance capital began an early, thoroughly vetted, and white hot love affair that was anchored in mutual contempt for those who would challenge the rule of money.