Video available on YouTube The Canadian Progressive recommends: Human Rights Watch: Challenges for Rights After Arab Spring Canada’s Human Rights Reputation is Fast Becoming a Myth Cornel West Is Upset Obama Was Sworn In On Martin Luther King’s Bible U.S. pressuring Bradley Manning to implicate Julian Assange (VIDEO) The Young
Continue readingTag: Arab Spring
The Canadian Progressive: Human Rights Watch: Challenges for Rights After Arab Spring
The willingness of new governments to respect rights will determine whether those uprisings give birth to genuine democracy or simply spawn authoritarianism in new forms.
Continue readingDeath By Trolley: Society is handcuffed in the Prisoner’s Dilemma: How fear, distrust and a lack of organization continually does us in
From Wikipedia: “The prisoner’s dilemma is a canonical example of a game analyzed in game theory that shows why two individuals might not cooperate, even if it appears that it is in their best interests to do so. It was originally framed by Merrill Flood and Melvin Dresher working at
Continue readingRedBedHead: Egypt: Crisis Deepens As Mobilizations Continue
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Continue readingRedBedHead: Egypt: Morsy Struggles To Get Out Of Crisis
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Continue readingRedBedHead: Egypt: Between Victory & Danger
The situation is moving fast in Egypt and it’s hard to get a sense for what is happening on the ground. News media is reporting that President Morsy, 24 hours after saying he would change nothing, has agreed to postpone the constitutional referendum scheduled for December 15. No details have
Continue readingRedBedHead: Egypt: Between Victory & Danger
The situation is moving fast in Egypt and it’s hard to get a sense for what is happening on the ground. News media is reporting that President Morsy, 24 hours after saying he would change nothing, has agreed to postpone the constitutional referendum scheduled for December 15. No details have
Continue readingRedBedHead: Egypt: "A Real Uprising Against The Muslim Brotherhood"
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Continue readingRedBedHead: Egypt In The Balance
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Continue readingRedBedHead: Israel Blind To Its Own Isolation
I wrote less than two weeks ago that Israel was in an accelerating decline as a result of changed geopolitical realities in the Middle East, most recently and acutely the Arab Spring. That Arab Spring is now in the throes of a 2.0 reawakening and reconstitution of last year’s settlements,
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Egypt: Will the colonels now step in?
Whither Egypt?Egypt is in turmoil, with secular forces facing Islamic forces in the streets, and mobs gathering outside the High Court:But the credibility of the referendum was questioned when the national Judges Club indicated late Sunday that the ju…
Continue readingRedBedHead: Gaza & The Not So Slow Decline Of Israel
Not alone any more: Egyptian protestors in Tahrir last year In some ways what just went down in Gaza was business as usual. Israel provoked a mini-war with Gaza killing a leading Hamas politician (who was, in fact, the chief negotiator for a long term ceasefire with Israel) after engaging
Continue readingRedBedHead: Arab Revolutions Put Iran Attack On Back Foot
There can be little doubt that the Arab revolutions have already transformed the Middle East and look set to continue and deepen that transformation. Dictators in Tunisia, Yemen and, most spectacularly thus far, Egypt have gotten the boot. In Tunisia and Egypt the working class played a sizeable role in
Continue readingCanadian ProgressiveCanadian Progressive: Occupied Ottawa to celebrate one year anniversary
Occupied Ottawa (formerly Occupy Ottawa) activists return to Confederation Park on Monday to celebrate the movement’s one year anniversary with art, performance, music, speeches and educational workshops. Occupied Ottawa, a part of the global grassroots Occupy movement against economic disparity and social injustice, “occupied” the park from October 15, 2011, until
Continue readingRedBedHead: The Syrian Endgame: Bye Bye Bashar?
Who won’t celebrate the (probably nasty) end of Bashar al-Assad’s rule in Syria? This is a regime that has suppressed pretty much all forms of internal dissent and democratic participation and ruled with an iron fist for the better part of the last 40 years. There are no independent trade
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Defining Democracy
Just back from a very brief holiday in western New York, I’m still feeling a bit too relaxed to post anything lengthy, but I do have a reading recommendation for anyone concerned about democracy in its various forms. Earlier this year, The Star’s Rick Salutin took time off from his
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