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Published by the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI)

1 February 2010

US halts military flights to evacuate Haiti earthquake victims

By Alex Lantier, 1 February 2010

Starting last Wednesday, the US military refused to fly wounded Haitians to the US for medical treatment.

Iran’s Green Revolution leaders seek compromise with Supreme Leader

By Keith Jones, 1 February 2010

All three of the principal leaders of Iran’s “Green Revolution” bourgeois opposition have made conciliatory public statements in recent weeks, backing off from their demand for the annulling of the June 2009 presidential election and reaffirming their support for the Islamic Republic.

US frame-up of Aafia Siddiqui begins to unravel
Pakistani victim of rendition and torture

By Ali Ismail, 1 February 2010

The case against Aafia Siddiqui, charged with the attempted murder of US personnel in Afghanistan, is rapidly unraveling. Her trial in New York is aimed at covering up the torture and rendition to which she and her children were subjected.

Sri Lankan government widens witch-hunt against opposition

By Sarath Kumara, 1 February 2010

Having won a second term in last week’s election, President Mahinda Rajapakse is widening a witch-hunt against political opponents, journalists and critics.

Sri Lankan SEP condemns EPDP thuggery on Kayts

By the Socialist Equality Party (Sri Lanka),
1 February 2010

The Socialist Equality Party (SEP) condemns the attacks of pro-government Eelam People Democratic Party (EPDP) thugs on villagers on the island of Kayts following the government’s poor local showing in the January 26 presidential election.

Prosecutor appeals Villepin’s acquittal in France’s Clearstream Affair

By Olivier Laurent, 1 February 2010

Public prosecutor Jean-Claude Marin appealed the acquittal of ex-Prime Minister Dominque de Villepin on slander charges in the recently concluded Clearstream case.

Afghanistan: Record winter casualties for US-led occupying forces

By Patrick O’Connor, 1 February 2010

Last month 44 US and coalition troops were killed in Afghanistan—the bloodiest month of fighting recorded in the country’s winter season since the 2001 invasion.

Eurozone unemployment increases to 10 percent

By Stefan Steinberg, 1 February 2010

Unemployment in the 16 countries comprising the eurozone increased to an official average of 10 percent in December—the highest level of unemployment since the introduction of the euro in 1999.

“We can make him disappear”
America’s secret prisons for undocumented immigrants

By Andrew Joad, 1 February 2010

There are at least 186 secret detention centers maintained by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) within the borders of the US, according to an article published in the Nation magazine in December and a recent report by Amnesty International.

New in French

La conférence de Londres sur l’Afghanistan : l’occupation pendant des années encore

Par Chris Marsden, 1er février 2010

La conférence de Londres sur l’Afghanistan a établi un plan d’occupation militaire de ce pays pour un minimum de cinq ans à venir, quinze ans si l’on en croit le président afghan Hamid Karzaï.

France : Villepin acquitté dans le procès Clearstream

Par Alex Lantier, 1er février 2010

L'acquittement de l'ancien premier ministre Dominique de Villepin accusé de calomnie dans le procès Clearstream par le président Nicolas Sarkozy qui s'était porté partie civile est un coup significatif à l'encontre de Sarkozy et du système politique français.

Perspective

Obama courts the Republican right

1 February 2010

The 90-minute televised meeting between President Barack Obama and the House Republican caucus, broadcast over the cable networks Friday, was an extraordinary exposure of the right-wing consensus within American bourgeois politics.

Earlier Perspectives »

Socialist Equality Party

Perspective and tasks of the Socialist Equality Party in 2010

By David North and Joseph Kishore, 1 February 2010

The following is an amended version of a report submitted to a national aggregate meeting of the Socialist Equality Party in Ann Arbor, Michigan on January 9, 2010. David North is the national chairman of the SEP. Joseph Kishore is the national secretary of the SEP.

In Defence of Leon Trotsky: David North to speak at Sydney’s Gleebooks

20 January 2010

David North, World Socialist Web Site International Editorial Board chairman, will address a Gleebooks literary event, on February 3, entitled “In the Service of Historical Falsification”. North will discuss the recently published biography of Leon Trotsky written by Professor Robert Service.

Commentary

Tony Blair and the “2010 question”

By Ann Talbot, 1 February 2010

“Sometimes,” said Tony Blair, “what’s important is not to ask the March 2003 question, but to ask the 2010 question.”

Obama’s guilty silence on Haiti

By Bill Van Auken, 30 January 2010

In his State of the Union speech Wednesday President Barack Obama barely mentioned the historic catastrophe unfolding on America’s doorstep, with the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Haitians and millions more left injured, hungry and homeless.

25 years
50 years
75 years
100 years

25 years ago: Australia, New Zealand rebuke US nuclear policy

Responding to mass popular hostility toward the Reagan administration's rapid nuclear build-up, the governments of Australia and New Zealand this week in 1985 delivered separate rebukes to US military planning, rattling the South Pacific military alliance—the Australia, New Zealand, United States Security Treaty, or ANZUS.

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50 years ago: African-American students stage Woolworth’s sit-in

On February 1, 1960, four students of the all-black Agricultural and Technical College of North Carolina staged a sit-in at a Woolworth's store in Greensboro, North Carolina. Woolworth's many stores, like most public spaces in the US South, were segregated, providing no seats for black customers at their service counters.

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75 years ago: Mexico voids British oil contract

The Mexican government on February 4 repudiated all concessions to the Eagle Oil Company, a British firm, on the grounds that they were illegal and against national interests.

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100 years ago: France joins naval race as European tensions mount

The French cabinet on February 7, 1910 announced plans for a major naval expansion. France would appropriate $28,000,000 over the next decade to establish a fleet numbering nearly 200 vessels.

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Mehring Books

January edition of WSWS Perspectives journal now available
10 percent off at Mehring Books with a one-year subscription

1 February 2010

The January edition of WSWS Perspectives—a monthly chronicle of the Perspectives articles posted on the World Socialist Web Site—is now available from Mehring Books.

Tom Eley: The Revolution Betrayed is among the greatest political works of the 20th century

By Tom Eley, 29 January 2010

Mehring Books is continuing its Winter Recommended Reading Series, in which it invites WSWS writers to share their thoughts with readers about works of Marxist literature that have influenced them and explain why.

Social Crisis

Pennsylvania: Braddock hospital closes its doors for good

By Samuel Davidson, 30 January 2010

The University of Pittsburgh Medical System is closing Braddock hospital on Sunday, delivering another blow to this once thriving steel town south of Pittsburgh along the Monongahela River.

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