Portside

The obstacles Occupy faced were not significantly greater than any other movement, and the successes of past movements prove that these obstacles are not insurmountable.

The leaders are currently working almost around the clock in their overriding hope for an agreement with Merkel (CDU) and the Bavarian Seehofer (CSU). For them a great deal is at stake. If a new “grand coalition” government is formed they will get fine cabinet posts, in Gabriel’s case the job of vice-chancellor next to Merkel. But if the attempt breaks down they might end up in the party dust bin.

By rejecting a contract that amounted to corporate extortion, employees have taken a stand for the middle class. In making their case, the members who organized against the contract focused on the fact that they would be giving up "hard fought contract negotiations and strikes by generations of Fighting Machinists that came before us. " They warned, "Boeing is hoping you will deny the next generation many of the benefits we have today."

In 2003 when Khatami made the peace proposal, Iran had just declared a small set of nuclear experiments. As of 2006, it began serious nuclear enrichment activities, though UN inspectors have never found evidence of a nuclear weapons program. As Secretary of State John Kerry pointed out Saturday night, if the Bush administration had accepted Iran’s 2003 proposal, the rancor, saber-rattling, sanctions and the rapid advances in Iran’s nuclear program could have been avoided

Over 1 in 10 US jobs is in retail trade. The notion that these workers are mostly young, lazy and unskilled is false.

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Dear Portside reader . . .

The substance of the accord reached in Geneva is a breakthrough, but the politics of the agreement is equally important. President Obama and Secretary of State Kerry signed the deal in explicit, full-frontal defiance of American hawks, neoconservatives and hardliners, the Israel lobby, and anti-Iran partisans in Congress. What exactly has been agreed, what are the next steps and how effective will it be in preventing Tehran from developing atomic weapons?

Detroit’s bankruptcy is, at its core, a cash flow problem caused by its inability to bring in enough revenue to pay its bills. Detroit’s bankruptcy was primarily caused by a severe decline in revenue and exacerbated by complicated Wall Street deals that put its ability to pay its expenses at greater risk.

This video tells the story of the “Detroit Sleeper Cell,” the first terrorism trial after 9/11. Here, a reporter who covers terrorism for The New York Times recalls the charged atmosphere at the time and the consequences for the Justice Department.