Our Experts in India
Novelist Arundhati Roy explains how India lives in several centuries at the same time and objects to the present globalization drive of the World Trade Organization (WTO). She asks the question on how liberalized imports of agricultural goods can help the 700 million people living in rural areas when there is already an over production of these goods in the country. She refers to Enron's energy projects in India and to its supposedly legal $30-billion contract with the Maharashtra State Electricity Board entailing gross profits between $12 billion and $14 billion. And again she asks if we should give the experts the role to plan and make decisions for more electricity dams. World leaders continue their push for globalization and say that it will work if we have the right institutions, the right governance in place, good laws and honest politicians; but Roy says that if we have in place all such things everything would work, socialism, capitalism and you name it. She says that we need a new kind of politics, a politics of opposition, a politics of accountability, and that the only thing worth to globalize is the kind of dissent India displayed against Enron.

Reference: Shall We Leave It to the Experts? Enron's Power Project in India Demonstrates Who Benefits from Globalization, by Arundhati Roy, Published in the February 18, 2002 issue of The Nation http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0203-03.htm

Statistical Polls
Playwriter Bill Davis highlights the difference between approval rate at the polls and leadership for changing the world for the better, to have peace. President Bush is telling people we have been victorious in the war in Afghanistan, but he still reminds us that we are vulnerable to more attacks and therefore we need more bombs and more homeland defense. Bill Davis concludes that a victory without peace is only a victory at the polls and not a victory for the people.

Reference: Does Approval Rate?, by Bill C. Davis, February 3, 2002 by Common Dreams http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0203-06.htm

Bush and Sharon agree on the war against the axis without looking at their axis first
It is refreshing to read Eric Margolis' sharp articles as he doesn't describe political events but he builds patterns of relationship among these historical events. Bush's 'axis of evil' is a term coming out of a comic book rather than by an understanding of international affairs. Bush's crusade against evil appears to take the form of a crusade against the Muslims as Bush aligns his foreign policies with those of general Ariel Sharon, Prime Minister of Israel. Margolis explains the faulty American policies in the Middle East and concludes that America and Israel should look at themselves in the mirror and destroy their own weapons of mass destruction before going to war against the 'axis of evil.'

Reference: Bush and Sharon Agree on Policy, by Eric Margolis, Published on Sunday, February 3, 2002 in the Toronto Sun http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0203-07.htm

Bushing foreign policies in the Middle East
The United States policies in the Middle East are hurting the possibilities of peace. While the US and Israel advertise to the world the capture of a ship with arms allegedly destined for the Palestinian Authority, they continue a policy of repression as Israel is using most sophisticated military operations to occupy Palestine land, kill civilians and keep Yasser Arafat under siege.

Reference: Middle East Peace Process. U.S. Approach Hurts All Parties, by Ali Abunimah, Published on Sunday, February 3, 2002 in the Philadelphia Inquirer http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0203-04.htm

A new arms race: Europe's cry for more arms to fight American hegemony
The spiral of war and terrorism is increasing as NATO Secretary-General Lord Robertson is responding to U.S. escalation of military spending with this warning "American critics of Europe's military incapability are right. So, if we are to ensure that the United States moves neither towards unilateralism nor isolationism, all European countries must show a new willingness to develop effective crisis management capabilities."

Reference: NATO's Lord Robertson warns of U.S. unilateralism, 2002-02-04 / Associated Press / http://www.etaiwannews.com/World/2002/02/04/1012790128.htm

Another World is Possible
Susan George is most critical of the globalization preached by the WTO and their friends and says that the world didn't change on September 11 as we still have half the world living on less than $2 a day. We have thirty thousand children dying daily and this condition is contrasted with western television reminding of our failures to capture the New World Order of new technologies. She says that the mood is changing and people no longer believe Margaret Thatcher's TINA "There Is No Alternative." Another world is possible.

Reference: Another World Is Possible, by Susan George, Published in the February 18, 2002 issue of The Nation http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0201-01.htm