Public Forum

It's pop-quiz time when it comes to the American way of war: three questions, torn from the latest news, just for you. Here's the first of them, and good luck!

Two weeks ago, 200 U.S. Marines began armed operations in...?:

a) Afghanistan

b) Pakistan

c) Iran

d) Somalia

e) Yemen

f) Central Africa

g) Northern Mali

h) The Philippines

i) Guatemala

Turmoil Over Contentious Video Spreads to Yemen and Iran

Thursday, 13 September 2012 09:28 By Nasser Arrabyee and Alan Cowell, The New York Times News Service | Report

http://truth-out.org/news/item/11509-turmoil-over-contentious-video-spreads-to-yemen-and-iran

Sana, Yemen - Turmoil in the Arab world linked to an American-made video denigrating the Prophet Muhammad spread on Thursday to Yemen, where hundreds of protesters attacked the American Embassy, two days after assailants killed the American ambassador in Libya and crowds tried to overrun the embassy compound in Cairo.

News reports also spoke of a separate protest in Tehran, where around 500 Iranians chanting “Death to America” tried to converge on the Swiss Embassy, which handles United States interests in the absence of formal diplomatic relations with Washington. Hundreds of police officers held the crowds back from the diplomatic compound, witnesses said.

Middle East Protests at US Embassies Spread in Uproar Over Anti-Muslim US Film

Thursday, 13 September 2012 12:31 By Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez, Democracy NOW! | Interview and Video

http://truth-out.org/news/item/11518-middle-east-protests-at-us-embassies-spread-in-uproar-over-anti-muslim-us-film

Protests are spreading in the Middle East over a movie made by a U.S. filmmaker considered blasphemous to Islam. Earlier today, hundreds of Yemeni demonstrators stormed the U.S. embassy in Sana’a, smashing windows and burning cars before breaking through the compound’s main gate. Protests have also occurred in Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Tunisia and Bangladesh, as well as the occupied Gaza Strip. We get updates from journalists Iona Craig in Sana’a and Sharif Abdel Kouddous in Cairo.

Gar Alperovitz: "The Pluralist Commonwealth"

Thursday, 13 September 2012 10:37 By Gar Alperovitz, Truthout | Book Excerpt

http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/11512-gar-alperovitz-the-pluralist-commonwealth

Alperovitz suggests the "Pluralist Commonwealth" model offers a way to enhance equality, liberty, democracy, economic efficiency, transparency, enterprise accountability and human development.

This Chapter Six, is Part 10 of Truthout's continuing series of excerpts from Gar Alperovitz's "America Beyond Capitalism."

This is an exclusive Truthout series from political economist and author Gar Alperovitz. We will be publishing weekly installments of the new edition of "America Beyond Capitalism," a visionary book, first published in 2005, whose time has come. Donate to Truthout.

Increasing numbers of Americans concerned with equality, liberty and democracy have begun to despair that traditional strategies to achieve the nation's most fundamental values simply no longer work. If corporate capitalism (to say nothing of the socialist model) appears unable to sustain equality, liberty and democracy, is there any conceivable, logically coherent way forward?

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[-] 2 points by shadz66 (19985) 12 years ago

From Tom Engelhardt's article (1st link above) :

"Washington may be mobilized for permanent war. Special operations forces may be operating in up to 120 countries. Drone bases may be proliferating across the planet. We may be building up forces in the Persian Gulf and “pivoting” to Asia. Warrior corporations and rent-a-gun mercenary outfits have mobilized on the country’s disparate battlefronts to profit from the increasingly privatized twenty-first-century American version of war. The American people, however, are demobilized and detached from the wars, interventions, operations, and other military activities done in their name. As a result, 200 Marines in Guatemala, almost 78% of global weapons sales, drones flying surveillance from Australia -- no one here notices; no one here cares. --- War: it’s what we do the most and attend to the least. It’s a nasty combination."

fiat pax ...