World Socialist Web Site

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

3 February 2010

Amid media blackout
Congressional hearing reveals US intelligence agencies shielded Flight 253 bomber

By Alex Lantier, 3 February 2010

A hearing of the House Committee on Homeland Security revealed that US intelligence agencies stopped the State Department from revoking the US visa of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, allowing him to board Northwest Airlines Flight 253 to Detroit.

Obama’s surge: killing spree on both sides of AfPak border

By Bill Van Auken, 3 February 2010

CIA drone missiles attacks claimed the lives of 123 civilians last month alone in Pakistan, while on the other side of the border, US Special Forces have launched an assassination campaign against alleged leaders of Afghanistan’s Taliban movement.

Iraq: Animosities grow over banning of election candidates

By James Cogan, 3 February 2010

The campaign for the March 7 election in Iraq is heightening sectarian tensions within the country’s bitterly divided political establishment.

India nervously watches post-election Sri Lanka

By Deepal Jayasekera, 3 February 2010

Since Mahinda Rajapakse won a second presidential term in Sri Lanka last week, India’s dilemma over how to pursue its interests in the island has intensified.

US trade union membership at lowest level in more than a century

By Jerry White, 3 February 2010

Union membership in the United States fell another 10 percent in 2009 with the number of workers belonging to unions falling 771,000 to 15.3 million.

British postal union seeks to deliver management’s agenda

By Tony Robson, 3 February 2010

Since calling off the national strike last November, the Communication Workers Union has been locked in secret talks with Royal Mail over the fate of the jobs and conditions of the union’s 120,000 members.

Youth protest against French police after fatal scooter chase

By Francis Dubois, 3 February 2010

Youth clashed with police in Woippy after a 19-year-old man died and two were wounded when police chased their scooter.

TARP inspector says bank bailout has increased danger of new financial crisis

By Andre Damon, 3 February 2010

A report from the special inspector general for the US bank bailout states that the fundamental problems in the financial system have yet to be addressed.

German government prepares to implement two-tier health care system

By Dietmar Henning, 3 February 2010

The German government is forcing through the abolition of the country’s state-run health insurance system in favour of a two-class medical insurance alternative.

Political and social crisis grows as Clinton condemns Nigeria

By Trevor Johnson and Ann Talbot, 3 February 2010

Hundreds of people have been killed as communal violence broke out in the Nigerian city of Jos and surrounding areas last month. The official death toll stands at 326 but it is thought to be higher.

Pressure mounts for Australian rapprochement with Fiji

By Patrick O’Connor, 3 February 2010

Pressure is mounting within the Australian foreign policy establishment for Canberra to normalise relations with the Fijian military junta.

New in German

Obama umschmeichelt die Republikanische Rechte

Von Patrick Martin, 3. Februar 2010

Der 90-minütige im Fernsehen übertragene Besuch Barack Obamas am Freitag bei der Fraktion der Republikaner im Repräsentantenhaus hat außergewöhnlich deutlich die breite rechte Front in der bürgerlichen Politik Amerikas gezeigt.

Iran: Die Führer der Grünen Opposition suchen den Kompromiss

Von Keith Jones, 3. Februar 2010

Die drei wichtigsten Führer der "Grünen Revolution", der bürgerlichen Opposition im Iran, haben in öffentlichen Erklärungen versöhnliche Töne angeschlagen, sind von ihrer Forderung nach Annullierung der Präsidentschaftswahlen vom Juni 2009 abgerückt und versichern der Islamischen Republik ihre Unterstützung.

New in Portuguese

Índices econômicos e anúncios de demissões nos EUA apontam recessão prolongada

Por Tom Eley, 3 de fevereiro de 2010

Uma série de relatórios econômicos mais negativos do que o esperado e anúncios de corte de empregos nesta semana ressaltam que, apesar das afirmações oficiais sobre uma recuperação econômica, as perspectivas para os trabalhadores dos EUA irão se agravar.

A renúncia de Oskar Lafontaine e a crise do Partido de Esquerda alemão

Por Ulrich Rippert, 3 de fevereiro de 2010

A decisão tomada por Oskar Lafontaine de renunciar à presidência do Partido da Esquerda e abandonar sua cadeira no parlamento lançou o partido em uma crise profunda.

New in French

Un programme socialiste pour la défense des emplois chez Opel
Pour une rébellion contre la politique nationaliste des syndicats

Déclaration du Parti de l’égalité sociale, 3 février 2010

La décision de la direction de General Motors de fermer son usine Opel à Anvers représente une nouvelle étape dans le conflit concernant l’avenir d’Opel-GM en Europe. Le Parti de l’égalité sociale a diffusé cette déclaration en flamand aux travailleurs de l’usine Opel à Anvers, Belgique.

Belgique : fermeture de l’usine Opel d’Anvers

Par nos correspondants , 3 février 2010

Les syndicats et les conseils d’entreprise qui exercent des activités chez le constructeur automobile Opel ont organisé un simulacre de protestation à Anvers dans le but de couvrir leur propre rôle dans la fermeture de l’usine locale.

Perspective

Obama’s budget reveals the bankruptcy of American capitalism

3 February 2010

There is one overriding message in the budget proposal released by the Obama administration Monday: American capitalism is in decline and faces national bankruptcy.

Earlier Perspectives »

Socialist Equality Party

An Emergency Conference on the Social Crisis and War

As the second decade of the 21st Century begins, humanity is confronted with the worst economic and social crisis since the 1930s and unending war that threatens to spark a new global conflict. The SEP, WSWS and ISSE are calling this critical public conference April 17-18 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, to discuss the political basis to organize the working class to fight back.

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.

The Crisis in American Filmmaking and Cultural Life
WSWS Arts Editor David Walsh to speak at New York public meeting

2 February 2010

At this public meeting, to be held in New York City February 21, David Walsh, arts editor of the World Socialist Web Site, will address the challenging issues involved in the emergence of more critical, socialist minded art work.

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.

Workers Struggles

Australia: Unions called in to sell-out Pluto construction workers

By Terry Cook, 3 February 2010

The 2,000 Pluto strikers ended their week-long stance in defiance of the Labor government and its anti-strike laws after being falsely led to believe that they had forced employers into negotiations with the unions that would genuinely address their grievances.

Arts Review

J.D. Salinger (1919-2010): An appreciation

By James Brookfield, 2 February 2010

American author J.D. Salinger, best known for his 1951 classic The Catcher in the Rye, died Wednesday, January 27. He was 91.

Commentary

US exonerates authors of Bush torture memos

2 February 2010

The Obama Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility has concluded that Office of Legal Counsel lawyers who penned the infamous memos justifying torture under the Bush administration will not be subject to disciplinary action.

US group charged with child trafficking in Haiti

By Bill Van Auken, 2 February 2010

Ten members of a Baptist-affiliated group from Idaho are accused of child trafficking for attempting to spirit 33 Haitian children out of the country, supposedly for adoption in the US. Several of the children said their parents are not dead.

Canada’s Supreme Court strikes down order to repatriate Guantanamo detainee

By Keith Jones, 2 February 2010

Canada’s Supreme Court has unanimously overturned a Federal Court decision ordering Canada’s Conservative government to seek the repatriation of Omar Khadr, a Guantanamo Bay detainee and Canadian citizen.

Science

Spacecraft Kepler discovers five extrasolar planets

By Bryan Dyne, 2 February 2010

NASA reported last month that Kepler, the first spacecraft dedicated to searching for planets beyond our solar system, has discovered its first five extrasolar planets. Though they are uninhabitable for Earth-like life—four of the five are even larger than Jupiter—their rapid discovery indicates that Kepler is fully capable of achieving its primary mission, finding a planet resembling Earth, in future years.

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.