The Source of the Economic Crisis: A Chicago State of Mind

By Maidhc Ó Cathail. Published in Media Monitors Network, June 26, 2009.

Worried about the global economic crisis? It’s all in your head, says a leading financial expert.

And that’s the problem, according to Jeff Gates, author of the
highly-regarded Democracy at Risk: Rescuing Main Street from Wall Street, a sequel to The Ownership Solution: Toward a Shared Capitalism for the 21st Century, which was described by one reviewer as “the best book on economics for a generation,” and praised by Ralph Nader as “a Capitalist Manifesto, a blueprint for spreading the benefits of capitalism more equitably.”

In an interview with Japan’s Kansai Time Out magazine, Gates, a former counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance (1980-87), identifies the source of the current economic crisis as a “shared mindset” into which we have been induced to put our faith, to the grave detriment of the majority — but to the immense benefit of a very few.

Japan’s Embrace of a Phoney War

By Maidhc Ó Cathail. Published in Kansai Time Out, June 2009.

In Client State: Japan in the American Embrace, Gavan McCormack demonstrates how Japan’s apparent nationalist turn owes much to the need to conceal the country’s increasing subordination to American imperial designs. However, a closer examination of the driving forces behind the US Empire in the 21st century suggests that both countries may be serving a quite different agenda.

The Real Pirates of Somalia

By Maidhc Ó Cathail. Published in Kansai Time Out, May 2009.

Sending the Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyers Sazanami and Samidare 12,000 kilometres from Japanese shores to combat piracy off the coast of Somalia clearly marks a further dimunition of Japan’s postwar pacifism. While it has been suggested that China’s decision to send some of its fleet to the region was the catalyst for Tokyo to join the international naval operation, the predominant motive is more likely to have been Japan’s eagerness to flex its substantial but as yet unused military muscle on the world stage.

Mr. Dickerson Goes to Yokota

By Maidhc Ó Cathail. Published in Kansai Time Out, April 2009.

A high-ranking U.S. Air Force officer and his Turkish wife, alleged to be part of an international weapons smuggling ring by an FBI whistleblower, moved to Yokota Air Force Base in Japan in 2006. According to former FBI translator Sibel Edmonds, Lieutenant Colonel (then Major) Douglas Dickerson and her fellow translator Melek Can Dickerson tried to recruit her to this network in late 2001. If Edmonds is to be believed – and there seems little reason to doubt her credibility – the implications could be very serious for Japan.

A Call for Solidarity

By Maidhc Ó Cathail. Published in Kansai Time Out, March 2009.

As last year drew to a close, while Kansai dwellers were indulging in the typical debauchery of the seasonal bonenkai (forget the year gathering), the people of Gaza had little cause for celebration and even more reason to forget 2008.

Hard Times Ahead

By Maidhc Ó Cathail. Published in Kansai Time Out, February 2009.

2008 was the worst year for the Japanese economy for a long time. Exports were down 27 percent from the previous year, and the country experienced its largest trade deficit in nearly three decades. Industrial production fell by 8.1 percent from October to November last year, the greatest ever monthly drop since such data was first recorded in 1953. Unemployment increased by 100,000 to 3.9 percent, a figure which is deceptively low since it doesn’t include those who have already given up looking for work. Will 2009 be any better? Or might it be even worse?

Wall Street – The Real Government

By Maidhc Ó Cathail. Published in Beo! January 2009.

The events on Wall Street since September 2008 have taken many by surprise, not least the “experts” in the mainstream media. It was all too predictable, however, if people knew the nature of the financial system, whom it benefits, and how they shape the political process.

No Change for the Palestinians

By Maidhc Ó Cathail. Published in Beo! December 2008.

“Change we can believe in” – whatever is meant by “change” – was the marketing slogan of Barack Obama’s successful presidential election campaign. The next president of the United States quickly let it be known, however, that there would be no change in American policy toward Israel, with his first appointment as White House Chief of Staff – Rahm Emanuel.

Moon’s Millions: The Unholy War on Democracy

By Maidhc Ó Cathail. Published in the Kansai Time Out, October 2008.

Reverend Moon’s Unification Church is probably best known for its mass weddings of strangers. Less well-known, however, is the Korean cult’s political significance. For almost half a century, the Moonies have in fact played a crucial role in one of the world’s defining struggles – the right’s covert war against democracy.

The Dirty Secrets of Wildlife Conservationists

By Maidhc Ó Cathail. Published in Beo! September 2008.

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) is the world’s largest conservation organisation, with an income of $200 million a year. The WWF is familiar to most people with its easily recognisable symbol – the panda. Less well-known, however, is the secret history of this powerful organisation.