Dear World War 4 Report Readers:
We are now half way to our necessary winter fund-drive goal of $2,000.
After Obama took office, the Washington Post announced [1] in a headline: "Bush's 'War' On Terror Comes to a Sudden End." This inevitably leads us to ask if we have outlived out mission.
But in Obama's first two days in office, US air-strikes wiped out civilians in both Afghanistan [2] and Pakistan [3]. As commentator Billy Wharton points out in this month's issue of World War 4 Report, the Obama administration may be equivocating in its pledge to remove all troops from Iraq within 16 months—using an obfuscatory distinction between "combat troops" and "military advisors." A naval task force is heading towards Somalia [4] to combat pirates. And while Obama's executive orders on Guantánamo, CIA use of "coercive interrogation techniques [5]" (read: torture), and restriction of states from imposing auto emission standards exceeding those of the EPA are all good and necessary starts—they only call for a review of the Bush-era policies. We are still waiting to see what the new policies will be.
Meanwhile, the contradictions heighten in the Middle East, and the world capitalist system remains in deep crisis—resulting in a wave of rebellion from Latvia [6] to Mexico [7] to Oakland [8]. There has been much progressive and even revolutionary content to these uprisings—but also ugly instances of xenophobia [9] and Jew-hatred [10].
In other words, while these are definitely much more interesting times than they were a year ago, we aren't ready to let down our vigilance.
So we appeal to our readers to keep us on the web. If you can only give $10, we understand. But its important that all our readers give something, and do it today. We have an upgrade to pay for, and sources of funding we'd depended on have fallen victim to the financial crunch. If each of our readers give only $10, we won't have to extend the fund drive another month.
Once again, those of you who gave $25 or more last year are already on the list to receive the new addition in our pamphlet series, Petro-Imperialism: the Global War on Terrorism and the Struggle for the Planet's Oil, which is now in production, and will include an analysis of the Obama cabinet. If you didn't give $25 last year, this is your opportunity to get it hot off the presses. They will be in the mail to our supporters in March.
Please help us continue our work at this important historical moment. Please give what you can today.
Thank you, shukran and gracias,
Bill Weinberg
Editor, World War 4 Report
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