Portside

This great doctor taught us there can be no public health without world peace. Despite the specter of nuclear annihilation during the Cold War, Dr. Sidel was an optimist and innovator who preached that community outreach was a critical factor in treating vulnerable populations.

During the Cold War, the supposed threat of Communism was the justification for super-sized budgets and a continuous stream of wars and interventions-some overt, others covert or proxy-none of which had anything to do with defending the United States-and none of which ended in victory. These were sold to the American people as being fought to "defend freedom" or "support democracy." After the Cold War ended it became more difficult to justify such a massive military.

Written one week before the current Wall Street tumble, economist Nomi Prins writes: Watch out. Even in the seemingly best of times, neglecting Wall Street is a dangerous idea. With a rag-tag Trumpian crew of ex-bankers and Goldman Sachs alumni as the only watchdogs in town, it’s time to focus, because one thing is clear: Donald Trump’s economic team is in the process of making the financial system combustible again.

Ex- Bush official confesses. President George W. Bush would have ordered the war even without United Nations support. "That led to a war that resulted in catastrophic losses for the region and the United States-led coalition, and that destabilized the entire Middle East". This should not be forgotten, since the Trump administration is using much the same playbook to create a false impression that war is the only way to address the threats posed by Iran.

The Chinese Communist Party, at its 19th Congress, set the goal to eliminate extreme poverty by 2022 and then begin process of "socialist modernisation." The challenge the country will face is to combine economic growth with environmental protection and to address the extreme inequality within society.

This "very important" book offers a new examination of the role of African Americans in the American Revolution and of how racism was used in the service of creating the United States in the late 18th Century.

When soldiers are idolized, respect for militarism and war grow accordingly. Military training, military expenditures, military intervention, and military escalation become ways to “support the troops” or, at the least, take on a friendlier glow.

Most people who die in US jails, prisons, and immigration detention centers remain invisible, with little and often no information shared with family, friends and the broader public. 

In the fall of 2014, word got around Pendleton, in Indiana, that a crew was coming to make a film, called “O.G.” It was to feature prisoners and guards as actors and extras. No one had ever attempted anything like it.

Bresha Meadows was 14 years old when she took the drastic step of shooting her father, after systems repeatedly failed her. We can learn from Bresha’s case that while she’s free, there is still an epidemic of criminalizing women and girls who fight back against domestic and family violence.