By Yves Engler - May 10th, 2013

While the Harper Conservative government has loudly proclaimed its close ties to Israel most Canadians would be surprised to learn the Tories have decided to make the two countries blood brothers. In the international affairs equivalent of a Mafia initiation ceremony Canada has sworn undying loyalty and to be a faithful soldier in Israel’s cause.

By Bill Fletcher - May 10, 2013

Assata Shakur has never denied having been a member of the Black Liberation Army. She has also never denied being a revolutionary. She has a very well developed critique of US capitalism, imperialism and racism. In no case has anything ever associated with terrorism been alleged against her...[T]he armed actions that were taken never conformed to any approximation of the notion of “terrorism,” i.e., the use of military/violent actions against civilians in order to advance a political agenda.

On May 1, Obama nominated Watt to head the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA).

By Linda McQuaig - May 7, 2013

The willingness of much of the Canadian media to go along with the Conservative narrative about Stephen Harper's "moderation" has allowed the prime minister to wage a discreet class war against working people without attracting too much attention...[T]he Harperites have been adroit at keeping their anti-worker bias under the radar. Instead, they've directed their attacks against unions, portraying them as undemocratic organizations run by "union bosses" who ignore the interests of ordinary workers.

Tom Wheeler is a former top Obama fundraiser. He's an entrepreneur and venture capitalist. He's a former cable and wireless industries lobbyist.

Both men represent the nation's ruling class. They want more wealth transferred from ordinary people to corporate America and privileged elites like themselves. They're back with plan B.

By Jon Queally - April 30, 2013

Recessions hurt, but austerity kills...Despite assurances by financial elites that austerity economics is a prescription to improve the lives of the masses, research contained in a newly published book shows that the push for steep cuts in wages, social programs, and public health programs is literally killing people throughout Europe and the US.

By Gamini Karunasena and Evan Weerasinghe - 29 April 2013

Evidence is mounting that a mass grave found recently in Sri Lanka, containing hundreds of dead bodies, could be a burial site for some of the tens of thousands of rural youth massacred under the United National Party (UNP) government of President R. Premadasa between 1988 and 1990...Altogether, 154 skeletons and material were examined using forensic and archaeological techniques, which indicated that the deaths were caused by blunt instruments, as well as gunshots and decapitation.

By Alejandro López - WSWS

Spanish people have come to dread governmental announcements made on Fridays after the Council of Ministers meeting. The weekly custom is for Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría of the ruling Popular Party (PP) to announce cuts in public spending, tax increases and new attacks on the living standards of workers.

April 27, 2013 - CBC News

The former NASA scientist criticized by Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver earlier this week for his views on the Keystone XL pipeline is responding by calling the Conservatives a desperate and "Neanderthal" government..."The current government is a Neanderthal government on this issue...I have hopes that Canada will actually be a good example for the United States but the present government is certainly not."

By Yves Engler - April 26th, 2013

In 2010 the Auditor General apparently called on the Canada Revenue Agency to “investigate or revoke” the Jewish National Fund’s charitable status. But this request seems to have been ignored in deference to a “charity” that has long participated in the erasure of Palestinians’ presence from their historic homeland.

His war criminal record doesn't matter. America honors its worst.

By John Pilger - April 25, 2013

[Thatcher's] funeral was a propaganda stunt, fit for a dictator: an absurd show of militarism, as if a coup had taken place. And it has. “Her real triumph...was to have transformed not just one party but two, so that when Labour did eventually return, the great bulk of Thatcherism was accepted as irreversible.”

By David Bush - April 22, 2013

The problem is that this reading of austerity as not working papers over the political trappings of the word "working". Who is austerity supposed to be working for? What is it supposed to be fixing? The point here is that the very understanding of social policy as a politically neutral undertaking should be questioned. Austerity is a political answer...to a series of political and economic problems. So when we question austerity, we do it from a political position whether we realize it or not.

On April 20, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel began a week-long Middle East trip. Planned stops include Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Republic (UAE).