Digital Archive....

End human rights imperialism now | Stephen Kinzer Global development news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk Groups such as Human Rights Watch have lost their way by imposing western, 'universal' standards on developing countries For those of us who used to consider ourselves part of the human rights movement but have lost the faith, the most intriguing piece of news in 2010 was the appointment of an eminent foreign policy mandarin, James Hoge, as board chairman of Human Rights Watch . Hoge has a huge task, and not simply because human rights violations around the world are so pervasive and egregious. Just as great a challenge is remaking the human rights movement itself. Founded by idealists who wanted to make the world a better place, it has in recent years become the vanguard of a new form of imperialism . Want to depose the government of a poor country with resources? Want to bash Muslims? Want to build support for American military interventions...

Paul Krugman: The New Voodoo Economist's View Republicans used to claim that tax cuts paid for themselves so that they could rail against the deficit and cut taxes at the same time. Though some in the GOP still resort to this defense of tax cuts, now that the "tax cuts pay for themselves" myth has been exposed, Republicans are turning to a new defense of simultaneously cutting taxes and giving "impassioned speeches denouncing federal red ink" that is every bit as flimsy as the old one: The New Voodoo, by Paul Krugman, Commentary, NY Times : Hypocrisy never goes out of style, but, even so, 2010 was something special. For it was the year of budget doubletalk — the year of ... railing against deficits while doing everything they could to make those deficits bigger. ... In the first half of 2010, impassioned speeches denouncing federal red ink were the G.O.P. norm. And concerns about the deficit were the stated reason for Re...

Why Can't Europe Avoid Another Crisis? Why Can't the U.S.? The Baseline Scenario By Simon Johnson Most experienced watchers of the eurozone are expecting another serious crisis to break out in early 2011.  This projected crisis is tied to the rollover funding needs of weaker eurozone governments, i.e., debts falling due in March through May, and therefore seems much more predictable than what happened to Greece or Ireland in 2010.  The investment bankers who fell over themselves to lend to these countries on the way up, now lead the way in talking up the prospects for a serious crisis. This crisis is not more preventable for being predictable because its resolution will involve politically costly steps – which, given how Europe works, can only be taken under duress.  And don't smile as you read this, because this same logic points directly to a deep and morally disturbing crisis heading directly at the United States. The eurozone needs to – and...

It's time to focus on poor people – not poor countries Global development news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk A new approach to reducing poverty is needed in 2011 if people are not to be left behind while their countries get steadily richer One little noticed story of 2010 was that five more developing countries officially lost their "poor" status. When the World Bank carried out its annual reclassification in July, Senegal, Tuvalu, Uzbekistan, Vietnam and Yemen all graduated to middle-income status – countries that have reached the $1,000 (£644) or so GDP threshold. Taken by themselves, not big news perhaps, but add to that 22 other countries which, since 2000, are no longer considered officially poor, then a quite profound global change is under way: in short, most of the world's poor no longer live in "poor" countries. China was upgraded in 2001 (based on 1999 data) and India, Pakistan, Nigeria and Indonesia are among the o...

Sachs: America's Political Class Struggle Economist's View Jeff Sachs says the "level of political corruption in America is staggering," and that "powerful forces, many of which operate anonymously under US law, are working relentlessly to defend those at the top of the income distribution. ... The Republican Party's real game is to try to lock that income and wealth advantage into place." However, while the "rich will try to push such an agenda,... ultimately they will fail": America's Political Class Struggle. by Jeffrey D. Sachs, Commentary, Project Syndicate : ...This month's deal ... to extend the tax cuts initiated a decade ago by President George W. Bush is being hailed as the start of a new bipartisan consensus. I believe, instead, that it is a false truce... Since Ronald Reagan became President in 1981, America's budget system has been geared to supporting the accumulation of vast wea...