Portside

The administration is about to launch a ferocious propaganda blitz that will engulf a wide range of U.S. media. And as a fallback, the president is reserving the option of attacking Syria no matter what Congress does.

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%.

In a press release after the end of the Congress, Alexis Tsipras stated: “The founding Congress of SYRIZA constitutes a big step, a historical landmark for the Greek Left and for democracy. Approximately 3500 delegates from all over Greece sealed the birth of the new political subject. With an open and lively democratic debate. ...To stop social destruction and rebuild Greece”.

Cablevision workers from Brooklyn, invited by the National Action Network to perform at the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, took the stage with their latest rap, "Dear Mr. Dolan: Where The Papers At?" It's a call for fairness from the company that has refused to bargain a fair contract for the 280 workers.

The government account expresses "high confidence that the Syrian government carried out a chemical weapons attack" on August 21. The Mint report (Mint Press News) bore the headline "Syrians in Ghouta Claim Saudi-Supplied Rebels Behind Chemical Attack." Which of these two versions should we find more credible?

Two perspectives on Labor Day plus a music video by Cablevision workers fighting for a contract.

Nuclear hotspots around the world, namely, North Korea; Iran and Israel in the Middle East; and Pakistan and India in South Asia [keep me awake at night.] Of equal concern, however, is getting all countries to take nuclear safety and security seriously. There are no simple technical fixes. International cooperation at all levels is required to ensure that world-class nuclear safety and security is practiced at all nuclear sites.

Newly disclosed budget documents for America’s intelligence agencies show how aggressively the United States is now conducting offensive cyberoperations against other nations, even as the Obama administration protests attacks on American computer networks by China, Iran and Russia.