Znet

Last week, Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon declared that if the Palestinians did not soon take significant steps to curb "violence", he would begin a unilateral "separation plan" to disengage entirely from any negotiations with the Palestinian Authority.

Nine months after the invasion, deteriorating living conditions marked by constant lack of electricity, a severe gasoline shortage, and massive unemployment highlight the failure of the US-led reconstruction of Iraq.

It's a nightmare on two levels. First, it's a nightmare in terms of human and animal health; animals in large numbers have died in Europe, particularly England, and now humans are dying.

Israeli occupation forces left the center of Rafah, although as is normal the Israelis remain at the border they have created.

Saddam is in custody, but the war's not over yet. The U.S. faces several important hurdles in the bringing the war to an end and extricating U.S. troops from a seemingly endless fracas.

Saddam Hussein is one of the world's great monsters. Nothing would be more welcome than to have him put on trial, a trial which could offer Iraqis and the world an honest accounting of his many crimes.

Will the counter-insurgency plan in Iraq repeat the mistakes of Vietnam?

How's the economy doing? This is shaping up to be the number one question affecting President George W. Bush's re- election bid.

What's true in Indonesia is also the case in Central America and the Caribbean. The apparel companies are ruthlessly consistent in their unscrupulous efforts to fix the outsourcing game in their favour.

There are, naturally enough, efforts afoot to nail down a cause for the suicide bombings that have lately claimed at least 50 lives in Istanbul. Turkey, after all, did not join the "coalition of the willing".

Staff Sergeant (res.) Liran Ron Furer cannot just routinely get on with his life anymore. He is haunted by images from his three years of military service in Gaza and the thought that this could be a syndrome afflicting everyone who serves at checkpoints gives him no respite.

The Bush administration has brought the notion of the "marketization" of American life to heights unequalled in history.

No links between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda, no weapons of mass destruction, and now no question that the invasion of Iraq has led to a massive increase in the threat of terrorism, as the series of bombings across Iraq, in Riyadh, Casablanca, Jakarta and Istanbul have made horrifically clear.

Facing the most serious escalation in U.S. casualties in Iraq, with the New York Times proclaiming "Iraq Policy in Crisis," and with the spectre of Viet Nam-style quagmire hovering over the 2004 elections, the Bush administration has issued two major policy pronouncements. by Phyllis Bennis

Good news has arrived for people concerned with workers' rights and the state of the environment in the hemisphere: When trade ministers meet in Miami this month to negotiate the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), their talks will probably fail. by Mark Engler

Message sent by Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos to the opening of the "EZLN 20 & 10, Fire and Word" campaign and to the presentation of the book of the same name, written by Gloria Muñoz Ramírez.

A talk by Robert Jensen at the University of North Dakota on October 10, 2003, sponsored by BRIDGES, a student group that works to remove the university's "Fighting Sioux" nickname and logo.

Was there a certain complacency after Lula's election, an idea that now Brazil was 'saved' and the people could relax?

Whether Ronald McDonald cuts the ribbon in time and makes the dream come true, however, will depend to a large extent on the outcome of a US-convened donor's conference that opens here today.

"A hundred years ago, the United States defeated the Spanish colonizers of the Philippines only to take over the islands for itself." By Stephen R. Shalom

Picture this scenario. Hardcore terrorist lands in a large Asian metropolis. His mission: to attack a summit of world leaders about to happen in town.

The new resolution, designed as much for Bush's domestic political gain as for international purposes, does nothing to make the occupation acceptable, and we remain adamantly opposed to it.

"Like animals they kill us. They come to surround us with planes and helicopters and tanks; not even animals are killed like this, there are children here …yet they're entering people's houses, to look for leaders. Here's the proof--the bullets..."

Cancun stands as a victory of democracy over dictatorship, of fairness over injustice, of the South over the North, of the poor over the rich, of people over profits, and of life over death. By Vandana Shiva

Protesters in El Alto have been maintaining the most intense road blockades in the country for weeks, cutting off the main route to La Paz. As a result, La Paz has been experiencing a severe shortage of gasoline, food and other supplies.

The reality of hunger and malnutrition is too harsh to be even properly understood. Hunger cannot be removed by producing transgenic crops with genes for Vitamin A. Hunger cannot be addressed by providing mobile phones to the rural communities. by Devinder Sharma

Politicians are schooled in the art of compromise and cautious speech, especially in the United States. They often forget that the unvarnished truth can at times be a powerful weapon. And this is one of those times. by Mark Weisbrot

Still committed to its war drive in Iraq, Washington stands more isolated than ever. Its trade aims were defeated at the World Trade Organization in Cancun.

The USA shoots itself in the foot; or worse

End of the Line for the WTO?