Saudi Arabia vs Qatar: Middle East Controlled-Demolition Plan?
There is trouble in oil paradise. It seems that all the elements of an already explosive geopolitical concoction are getting vigorously stirred. The palace coup in Saudi Arabia, conducted by King Salman’s own son, Prince Mohammad bin Salman, on June 21, 2017, should be understood as the second salvo of a potentially hot war between two […]
Water for Profit: Haiti Comes to Flint
What happens in Haiti doesn’t stay in Haiti. Sooner or later, it comes to places like Michigan’s Benton Harbor and Flint. Our destinies are linked. Zbigniew Brzezinski, a Polish aristocrat who long puppeteered United States presidents from behind the curtains, has written: “America is too democratic at home to be autocratic abroad. This limits the […]
The Madness of King Donald
Historians might scratch their heads a long time to figure out when and why it happened, but by the time King Donald was doing the Arabian sword dance and rubbing King Salman’s magic lantern, he was gone. Well, he was just permanently absent, as if the little lucidity that remained had been switched off. In the midst […]
Water for Profit: Neocolonialism as Cannibalism
The notion of a colonist as cannibal in Haiti is widespread. This idea, called manje moun (eating people), could hardly qualify as superstition, given the experience of colonialism. It is daunting to find a better description for those who grab control of water and food, and then calculate the minimum caloric intake a population needs […]
Water for Profit: Haiti’s Thirsty Season
There is no shortage of water in Haiti. Yet, everywhere on the island, Haitians travel for miles to get water, pay dearly for it if they can find it, and sometimes die on their journey to collect it, like so many antelopes snatched by predators on their way to drink. How does a thing like […]