Diana Johnstone is the author of ‘Fools’ Crusade: Yugoslavia, NATO and Western Delusions’. She spoke to NLP on the wars in the former Yugoslavia, western involvement and the trial of Slobodan Milosevic.

“Canadian cardiac surgeons say there was no need for the premier of Newfoundland and Labrador to cross the border for world-class health care.

The treatment Danny Williams received in the United States is available in at least four Canadian centres including hospitals in Vancouver, Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto, doctors told CBC News.

Williams has made no apologies for following what he said were doctors’ orders in flying to Miami to have “minimally invasive” surgery earlier this month to repair a leaky heart valve.

However, Montreal cardiac surgeon Dr. Hugues Jeanmart finds that medical advice puzzling.

“I was very surprised, especially for the reason he [Williams] advanced, saying that we didn’t have this kind of expertise in Canada, which I completely disagree with,” he said.

Jeanmart repairs heart valves using the latest in robotic technology. Instead of open-heart surgery, the operation is performed through an incision under the arm, so there is no large chest scar and there are other benefits as well, Jeanmart said.”

“To put this in perspective, what is happening is equivalent to the Supreme Court of Germany (presided over by a judge who swore loyalty to the Nazi Government) responding to the request of the Nazi Party and passing judgment on the only judge who had dared to try the crimes committed by the Nazi regime. This is what is happening in Spain. And the “official” international media remain silent.”

Umberto Eco, in his discussion of “eternal fascism,” also argued that any updated version of fascism would not openly assume the mantle of historical fascism; rather, new forms of authoritarianism would appropriate some of its elements, making it virtually unrecognizable from its traditional forms. . . Eco contended that fascism, if it comes to America, will have a different guise, although it will be no less destructive of democracy.

“Having been in Pakistan from time to time in the 1980s, and knowing President Zia, I learned a bit about Congressman Wilson, and, seized by distaste and mirth, came to despise his pompous ignorance and bizarre lifestyle. He was an immoral, fatuous and pathetic humbug.
So here, again, is the review, which could have been written today. Only a few words and tenses are altered.”

Gary Leupp provides an excellent history of the revolution in Nepal for readers of Counterpunch.

“On no other major civilization do self-regard, self-congratulation and denigration of the ‘Other’ run as deep, nor have these tendencies infected as many aspects of their thinking, laws, and policy, as they have in Western Europe and its overseas extensions.”
An enlightening article on history by M. Shahid Alam.

A brief chronicle of the decline of America’s left over the last 5 decades by Alexander Cockburn.

“Paralyzed by the betrayals of the Stalinists, the European working class was unable to stop the spread of fascism and the movement toward war. Trotsky concentrated his energies on the founding of the Fourth International. “The world political situation as a whole,” he wrote in early 1938, “is chiefly characterized by a historical crisis of the leadership of the proletariat.” [6]

The Stalinists countered Trotsky’s efforts by escalating their violence against his closest co-thinkers and supporters.”

-Examines the use of revisionist Stalinist-era documents in the creation of Robert Service’s self-described character assassination of Trotsky. Explains the truthful history of Trotsky and the Great Terror of Stalin.

The remains of popular Chilean singer Victor Jara will be reburied in Santiago – 36 years after he was killed in the aftermath of a military coup.

“They check in, but they don’t check out. They get lured into battle, and then get bogged down in a quagmire they cannot win.”

A “Necessary War” — for a Gas Pipeline | By Gary Leupp

An excellent article on the history of the conflict in Afghanistan. I highly recommend reading it to anyone who has an interest in the background of the war.

“The 300 delegates to the Québec solidaire convention voted unanimously, with a standing ovation, to endorse the campaign for boycott, divestment and sanctions “against Israeli occupation, colonization and apartheid.” … The Coalition pour la Justice et la Paix en Palestine comprises 17 – now 18, with the inclusion of Québec solidaire – organizations in Quebec: Jewish, Muslim and Christian groups, NGOs, the Quebec Federation of Women (FFQ) and a major teachers’ union affiliated with the Confederation of National Trade Unions (CSN).”

Leftist groups in Anglophone Canada are risking being left behind on the wrong side of history by not endorsing the BDS campaign.

The Waffle should be judged as part and parcel of the still vibrant sovereignty movement and the growing self-confidence that Canadians have about Canada’s survival independent of the United States.

Transcript of a wide ranging lecture delivered by Wallerstein at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

“We are entering a gridlock of the system, from which the world will find it extremely difficult to extract itself. The gridlock will express itself in the form of a constant set of ever wilder fluctuations, which will make short-term predictions — both economic and political — virtually guesswork. And this in turn will aggravate the popular fears and alienation. … The question is no longer, how will the capitalist system mend itself, and renew its forward thrust? The question is what will replace this system? What order will be chosen out of this chaos?”

Lenin’s Tomb on the history of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan

By Judy Rebick | The Waffle was a youthful, radical, left nationalist and socialist formation within the New Democratic Party. Wonder when the last time was someone in our NDP used the world socialist?

Reagan and ‘people power’: The 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall offers a chance to demolish some of the myths | Doug Saunders

Case claims Russian newspaper called into question Soviet dictator’s honour and dignity

I think there is no question about his lack of both. And that is the least one can say about the tyrant.

“Within a few weeks many of the Western media can be expected to turn on their propaganda machines to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the tearing down of the Berlin Wall, November 9, 1989. All the Cold War clichés about The Free World vs. Communist Tyranny will be trotted out and the simple tale of how the wall came to be will be repeated: In 1961, the East Berlin communists built a wall to keep their oppressed citizens from escaping to West Berlin and freedom. Why? Because commies don’t like people to be free, to learn the “truth”. What other reason could there have been?”

Read this article and find out.

“At least we can take some comfort in the fact that Harper is just another hypocritical and self-serving politician and not a history teacher.”

–Some analysis of the underlying issues in Honduras that have lead up to the coup.