Don鈥檛 be fooled by their smiles. Ignore the trivia about 鈥渂est friends鈥 and . This is about guns and money, about preserving the 鈥渞ight鈥 of the richest 1% to exploit the world.
Barack Obama
On the eve of US President Barack Obama鈥檚 visit to mark 60 years of the ANZUS military alliance, PM Julia Gillard is not convincing people that Australia must 鈥渟tay the course鈥 in Afghanistan.
A November 4 Roy Morgan poll, taken six days after an Afghan army trainee killed three Australian soldiers and wounded seven, said 72% of people want troops out, the biggest opposition since the war began 10 years ago.
Supporters of the pro-war parties polled closely: 69% of ALP voters and 67% of Liberal-National Party voters want troops out. Among Greens supporters, the figure is 80%.
鈥淎 map of the world that does not include Utopia is not worth glancing at鈥, Oscar Wilde, 鈥渇or it leaves out the one country at which humanity is always landing. And when humanity lands there, it looks out, and seeing a better country, sets sail. Progress is the realisation of Utopias.鈥
On August 19, a Taliban suicide squad attacked the Kabul offices of the British Council, a government-funded institution that 鈥減romotes educational and cultural relations鈥 between Britain and other countries.
The August 20 Guardian said at least 12 people were killed, including a New Zealand SAS soldier and three 鈥渟ecurity contractors鈥 working for multinational security outfit G4S.
The company was contracted to guard the offices.
Six G4S employees were wounded, including three Nepalese, veterans of the British Army鈥檚 Gurkha regiments.
US President Barack Obama's war on whistleblowers has suffered several setbacks.
Two high-profile prosecutions against whistleblowers failed and the mistreatment of alleged WikiLeaks source, military analyst Bradley Manning, has been confirmed.
The cases show a pattern of vindictive harassment against anyone involved in leaking information the US government deems 鈥渟ecret鈥.
These cases are part of a broader attack on the public's right to know what governments do behind closed doors.
The article below is an abridged August 2 editorial from .
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If your eyes are glazing over at the large numbers and the complicated mechanics of the deal to cut US$2.1 trillion from the United States federal budget over the next decade, here鈥檚 a short summary of the agreement: Screw the sick, poor and the elderly while imposing a permanently lower standard of living for working people, all while helping bankers and the rich grab a greater share of society鈥檚 wealth.
Media reports suggested that US President Barack Obama's May 19 Washington DC speech on the Middle East and North Africa contained a new proposal for peace between Israel and the Palestinians. A look at the content shows this is false.
The May 20 New York Times declared: 鈥淧resident Obama, seeking to capture a moment of epochal change in the Arab world, began a new effort [in his speech] to break the stalemate in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, setting out a new starting point for negotiations on the region's most intractable problem.鈥
In his January 25 State of the Union address, US President Barack Obama called for a freeze on government spending and for lowering the corporate tax rate.
In response, Reuters reported on January 26, the US stock index figures rose.
Meanwhile, the situation for US workers and poor remains dire. A January 14 Socialist Project article explained that, 鈥渁s of November the slump in U.S. housing prices had surpassed that of the 1930s. For 53 consecutive months American home prices have fallen.
They are calling it Obama鈥檚 PATCO. US President Barack Obama is proposing a two-year wage freeze for 2 million federal workers.
When then-president Ronald Reagan fired 13,000 striking Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) members in August 1981, he sent a signal to other employers that it was open season on unions.
Now, local and state governments will use the president鈥檚 position to justify their own layoffs and wage freezes. Private industry will do the same.
The easy view to adopt after the drubbing received by the Democrats in the November 2 midterm elections would be that we鈥檙e back to normal, and Americans are just mental.
That is because the people leading the hatred of US President Barack Obama are characters such as Glenn Beck, spokesperson for the right-wing Tea Party. Beck hosts a TV show in which, during the last 18 months, he鈥檚 likened Obama to Hitler 349 times.
Every night, he must tell viewers that Hitler started out with a healthcare plan, then things spun out of control so he invaded France.
Republicans are trumpeting their big gains in the November 2 midterm elections as a mandate to turn the country sharply to the right. Don鈥檛 buy it. Mainstream media commentary on the election was largely set before a single vote was cast. Voters would correct President Barack Obama鈥檚 supposed leftward course in his first two years in office by sending a cabal of right-wingers to Congress. The scale of the Republican victories 鈥 especially in House of Representative races, where the party now holds a comfortable majority 鈥 cemented the media鈥檚 impressions.
US relations with Pakistan have deteriorated as the US continues to extend its war in neighbouring Afghanistan across the border. The US blames the use of sanctuaries in Pakistan by insurgents for the failure of the US-led occupation of Afghanistan to achieve its aims.
Pakistan closed its border with Afghanistan after the September 30 shooting of three Pakistani soldiers by US soldiers in a helicopter. The US soldiers had crossed the border looking for insurgents.
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