JULIE HYLAND—Claiming that NATO was founded to safeguard “the freedom of its peoples”, the authors assert that, for 70 years, the US-led bloc has stood for the “defence of democracy, individual liberty, the rule of law and the UN Charter.” In fact, from its foundation in April 1949 until the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact in July 1991, NATO’s role was dictated by confrontation with the Soviet Union. To this end, it not only fomented a nuclear arms race but was involved in numerous conflicts and interventions from the Korean War to Cuba.
Default Editor Patrice de Bergeracpas
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BOOKS—Ron Chernow’s Grant: An able and compelling new biography
29 minutes readANDRE DAMON—The shocking extent of Klan violence in the post-Civil War period is rarely taught in schools. As Chernow writes, “Americans today know little about the terrorism that engulfed the South during Grant’s presidency. It has been suppressed by a strange national amnesia. The Klan’s ruthless reign is a dark, buried chapter in American history. The Civil War is far better known than its brutal aftermath.”
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LUCIANA BOHNE—Because international law and human rights declarations are all on the side of the Palestinians in their right to resist occupation and fight for independence, “neutrality” is hardly an issue. However, in the fifty years since 1967, the United States’ has assumed the mantle of “honest broker” in the neutrality charade called “the peace process,” inviting the whole “international community” and the Palestinians themselves to support a two-state solution, while doing nothing to stop Israel’s illegal construction of colonies in the Occupied Territories
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HASSAN NASRALLAH—O my brothers and sisters, and O people of Palestine: they wanted this decision to be the beginning of the end for Al-Quds and for the Palestinian cause. Let us join forces to make this stupid and evil American decision the beginning of the end of this usurping entity, forever! And let our slogan, our way and our program be “Death to Israel”! [The crowd of protesters chants “Death to Israel!”] We must turn this threat into an opportunity, this danger into success and this diplomatic and political defeat for the Arab governments into victory for the Community, for the peoples, for Palestine and for the holy places.
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ED CURTIN—That is why so many people will be having a special guest for Christmas. Possessed by their possessions, while disbelieving in Luther’s Satan, the American people are in the process of bringing Satan home for the holidays. Unseen but present, he will have a place of honor at Christmas dinner tables throughout the land. But don’t worry, he has a parsimonious appetite and just nibbles. My sources tell me that he likes turkey and ham, but isn’t too keen on vegetarian fare, and forget vegan. Yet I am told he has a ravenous appetite for presents, so get shopping.