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On Syria, a U.N. Vote Isn’t Optional

By Oona A. Hathaway and Scott J. Shapiro The New York Times
The question Congress and Mr. Obama must ask now is whether employing force to punish Mr. Assad’s use of chemical weapons is worth endangering the fragile international order that is World War II’s most significant legacy.

The Environmental Consequences of Privatizing Mexico’s Oil

Christopher Sellers Dissent Magazine
Today’s American readers will find the arguments favoring Peña Nieto’s energy reform familiar. They center around the flaws of the state-run enterprise: its corruption and inefficiency, its coddling of unions, and its monopoly in the national market for consumer goods such as gasoline, which has kept prices high. But thus far, the debates have hardly touched upon the local consequences of this reform for regions that will be most affected.

Bay Area Chilean diaspora commemorates the 40 anniversary of 9/11

By Fernando Andrés Torres Portside
The Chilean 9/11 created a community in California and around the world of Chileans that fled to escape the brutal military regimen. The Bay Area Chilean community commemorates September 11, every year with a cornucopia of cultural and art events. “This is part of our history as a community here in the Bay Area,” said Marci Valdivieso, one of the organizers.

How Intelligence Was Twisted to Support an Attack on Syria

Gareth Porter Truthout
A careful examination of the Obama administration's summary of the intelligence on which it is basing the case for military action to punish the Assad regime for alleged use of chemical weapons reveals misleading language evocative of the infamous 2002 Iraq WMD intelligence estimate.

Organized Labor's Decline in the US is Well-known. But What Drove it?

Richard Wolff The Guardian
To reverse organized labor's decline and to rebuild the left requires either reviving the old New Deal coalition or forming a new comparably powerful alliance. That means confronting and outwitting the long demonization of unions and the left....More importantly, it requires a strategy to reposition labor unions and their allies as champions of broad social gains for the 99%.