Portside

In recent years it has become common to see Martin Indyk, Dennis Ross, Aaron Miller and others responsible for the 22 years of failed U.S. diplomacy in the Middle East relying on their “veteran” status as a credential for continuing their careers.

Whether or not there is a boycott, connecting Putin's systematic attacks on LGBT people to the Sochi Olympics is a stroke of political genius

Detroit, voting rights, housing, U.S. inequality, unemployment

The department will not negotiate with the prisoners and insist that “in the end, it's up to the inmates to decide to end the hunger strike." But many prisoners say they are committed to continuing the hunger strike. After 13 years in isolation, Duguma says that he and the other hunger strikers are “doing what we have to in order to get the people of this nation to say we have suffered enough and no one should be tortured and stripped of their humanity.”

Payday, installment and auto-title lenders have more than 1,400 locations in the state — about one store for every 4,100 Missourians. The average two-week payday loan, which is secured by the borrower’s next paycheck, carries an annual percentage rate of 455% in Missouri, more than 100 points higher than the national average. A coalition of faith groups, community organizations and labor unions decided to put forward the ballot initiative to cap rates at 36%.

It would take great powers of imagination to blame any part of our recent military debacles on leaks and whistleblowers. If someone had leaked the full National Intelligence Estimate on Saddam Hussein’s alleged weapons of mass destruction, would more people have decided—like then-Senator Bob Graham, who voted against the invasion after reading the unredacted report—to oppose the war before it began?

The series of agreements between Haiti and Vietnam, are proof that the South-South cooperation can lead to the fruitful exchange of resources, technology and knowledge. This cooperation provides the framework for a new form of long-term cooperation, which will enable Haiti to address food security, one of its main challenges. The government of Haiti hopes that these agreements will enable Haiti to leapfrog development stages and create a resilient agricultural system.

Bradley Manning spied for us. 50th anniversary March on Washington. Growing an artificial heart. Save Chicago public schools rally. iPhones made by iSlaves? Fast food workers strike: the third wave.

Today Portside is posting another comment on Brooklyn College plans for the Graduate Center for Worker Education. This response comes from Manny Ness to his BC colleague Robin Corey's statement, posted yesterday. The focus for the debate on what is the nature of workers' education programs, who is admitted to them, and how they are run, is at Brooklyn College. However the issues have ramifications for the broader education and labor movement.

Reader Comments - Songs of Immigration; Fruitvale Station; Blow the Whistle, Face Life in Jail; Bradley Manning; On Vultures and Red Wings: Billionaire Gets New Sports Arena in Bankrupt Detroit; U.S. Prison Population; North Carolina Worst Voter Suppression Law; Shorts - You Helped Cut the Pentagon Budget; Justice Department's Bold Voting Rights Move; Conference - The Global E. P. Thompson: Reflections on Making of the English Working Class after Fifty Years Oct. 3-5