The World

SACSIS seeks to examine global issues, particularly as they relate to South Africa.

Obama at the Precipice

Picture: Jurvetson William J. Astore - TOUGH GUYS DON'T NEED TO DANCE IN AFGHANISTAN It's early in 1965, and President Lyndon B. Johnson faces a critical decision. Should he escalate in Vietnam? Should he say "yes" to the request from U.S. commanders for more troops? Or should he change strategy, downsize the American commitment, even withdraw completely, a decision that would help him focus on his top domestic priority, "The Great Society" he hopes to build? We all know what happened. LBJ listened to the...

The Existential Threat: The US, Iran and Nuclear Terror

Picture: Cecilia Anthony DiMaggio - Iran’s admission that it will be enriching uranium at a second nuclear site was greeted with alarm in the halls of Washington and in American newsrooms on last Friday. Obama has long warned about the “existential threat” that Iran poses to the U.S. and its allies. Concern over a nuclear Iran is understandable for those who are committed to the abolition of nuclear weapons, and for those who worry about the danger that nuclear proliferation poses for human survival. It should...

President Manuel Zelaya Returns to Honduras

Picture: Presidency of the Republic of Ecuador Democracy Now - Democracy Now interviews Andres Conteris of Program on the Americas, director for Nonviolence International and Mark Weisbrot president of Just Foreign Policy about the return of ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya to Honduras.  Zelaya was unlawfully removed from office by a military coup three months ago and returned to Honduras this week where he is being given refuge in the Brazillian Embassy.  The coup government remains in power, despite lacking the support of a...

Japanese Voters Oust Conservative Party, PM-Elect Hatoyama Critical of US 'Market Fundamentalism'

Picture: Nofrills Democracy Now - Democracy Now's Amy Goodman and Sharif Abdel Kouddous talk to Steven Clemons about the recent elections in Japan where voters have ousted the right-leaning Liberal Democratic Party, or LDP, after fifty-five years of nearly uninterrupted governance. In elections on Sunday, the populist Democratic Party of Japan captured a record 308 of the 480 seats in the lower house of parliament. Democratic Party leader Yukio Hatoyama, who is expected to become Japan’s new prime minister, has...

John Walker Lindh: Parents of American Taliban Tell Their Son's Story

Picture: Democracy Now & Ladybugbkt Democracy Now - In their first extended interview, the parents of John Walker Lindh, Marilyn Walker and Frank Lindh, join Democracy Now to tell their son’s story. Lindh was born in Washington, DC in 1981. At the age of sixteen, he converted to Islam. In 1999, Lindh left the United States for Yemen to study Arabic and the Koran. He later traveled to Pakistan and then to Afghanistan, before 9/11, where he received military training from the US-backed, Taliban-run Afghan Army to fight against the...

John Pilger on Honduras, Iran, Gaza, the Corporate Media, Obama's Wars and Resisting the American Empire

Picture: Marjorie Lipan Democracy Now - Award-winning investigative journalist and documentary filmmaker, John Pilger, joins Amy Goodman of Democracy Now for a wide-ranging conversation on Honduras, Iran, Gaza, the media, health care, and Obama’s wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan. *** AMY GOODMAN: From the events in Honduras, we step back to reflect how the media’s been covering the coup in that country. Last week, award-winning investigative journalist and documentary filmmaker John Pilger was visiting the United...