Portside

This is a response by Greg Grandin to a review of his book, The Empire of Necessity: Slavery, Freedom, and Deception in the New World. The review was titled, “Slavery: Not Black or White.” It appeared in the Economist and was unsigned.

Like other states, Israel pleads "security" as justification for its aggressive and violent actions. But knowledgeable Israelis know better. As historically has often been the case, massive bombings and other assaults do not destroy the support of populations for movements or governments, but tend to solidify it. Israeli policy is reducing civilized life for Palestinians in a major way and yet increasing the urge both to fight on and the desire for revenge.

OK, you didn't see this one coming. Canada, yes, Canada, leads the world in forest degradation, according to a new mapping project.

Figuring out where we are in the universe makes "Where's Waldo" look like child's play. Wait, "Where's Waldo" is child's play, but locating our location in the universe is really cool science.

Tax avoidance in the United States contributes to the national debt, but in developing countries it’s literally causing people to go hungry.

Race plays an unmistakable part in the Democratic challenge in conservative states and districts. And it's deeper than just antipathy to Obama; in fact, it goes back half a century.

In a dangerously provocative decision, the heads of state of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) decided last week to deploy a "rapid response force" for Eastern Europe. Citing what it termed "Russian aggression," NATO will develop a "spearhead" of some 5,000 elite troops to deploy against Russia. Russian leaders have long warned against NATO's eastern expansion as a threat to its security and a violation of agreements made to end the the Cold War.

On September 10th advocates for "net neutrality" will launch a global day of protest, the Battle for the Net's Internet Slowdown, simulating what the world wide web may soon look like without concerted action. The action is part of the campaign to prevent the Federal Communications Commission from bowing to the giant cable companies' demand for a two-tier internet system, with arbitrary fees and slow and fast lanes for internet traffic.

The Paris-based Organization of Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD) reports the long-term unemployed in the world's major economies has increased by 85% since the financial crash of 2008, and the "structural reforms" and austerity measures imposed in its wake. The OECD, which supported many of these measures, now warns cyclical unemployment has become structural, and any further cuts in wages or jobs would be "counterproductive" and threaten social cohesion.

The country's largest private prison firms are experiencing strong increases in the price of their shares as a result of the incarceration of thousands of unaccompanied immigrant children in recent months. While these firms have no experience in child welfare, investors nonetheless "see this as an opportunity." For private firms with existing federal contracts to detain immigrants, the increased jailing of unaccompanied minors is "a potentially untapped market."