Recent content by Tom Reifer

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Zero Dark Thirty & the Question of Torture

It is high time Americans recognize that: “If torture is not wrong, nothing is wrong.”

After the US embrace of torture after 9/11 it was only a matter of time before Hollywood decided to make a tribute to America’s liberal culture of torture for the big screen; Zero Dark Thirty

Beyond the Triangle of Emancipation

In 2009, the song Changes, by Tupac Amaru Shakur, was put on the Pope’s playlist. What is Tupac’s significance, in light of his making the Pope’s playlist and the realities facing African-Americans today in the context of the USA's overpacked prison system, the largest in world history?

Occupy Wall Street: Origins & Prospects

The ancient discussion about the purposes of wealth and the conflict between oligarchy – rule of the rich – and democracy – the rule of the demos/the people comes to the fore once again with the Occupy protests.

9/11: Ten years later, who have we become?

Ten years and two wars later, Americans face the monetary and psychological costs of both militarism and Wall Street materialism, effectively bankrupting the country; not to mention the casualties of war at home, and in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Ten years later, who have we become?

A recommitment to King’s inspired vision might just be the best thing that could ever come out of the horrendous death and destruction of 9/11: a commitment to live, a commitment to love, and a commitment to peace and social justice.

Global Inequalities, Alternative Regionalism and the Future of Socialism

This paper examines global inequalities and the future of capitalism and socialism through an investigation of the oligarchic wealth on which the current global order is based and also looks at growing challenges to these social foundations of the present global system.

The Crime Decline & California’s Priorities in the 21st Century

That increasing numbers of California's youth end up in prison may yield some short term perceptions of declining crime rates, but what about the long-term education deficit?

The Road to Hell is paved with 'humanitarian interventions'

Will the outcome of the Western intervention in Libya be positive for its people? A look at history shows what came of 'good intentions' and promises in the past.

Guantanamo, Torture, and the Perversion of Justice: Obama’s New Executive Order

President Obama ratifies Bush (again): orders indefinite detention without charge for political prisoners at Guantanamo Bay and other torture sites.

The “Arab 1848”: Reflections on US Policy & the Power of Nonviolence

The uprising in the Arab world shows, along with being a textbook example of nonviolence as a mechanism of democratic social change, the crude results of a US policy based on dictatorship promotion.

Obama versus the Polar Bears

President Obama’s decision comes despite the fact that US government and independent models predict an 80% chance Polar Bears will become mostly extinct by 2050, with total extinction this century without cuts in emissions.

Torture, War and Presidential Power: Thoughts on the Current Constitutional Crisis

Despite evidence that torture was used to extract false confessions in the lead up to the war in Iraq, the Obama administration continues to block efforts to abolish torture and restore justice and the rule of law.

Secrecy, Truth, & the Struggle for Peace & Justice: Reflections on the WikiLeaks Revelations

The WikiLeaks saga demonstrates that secrecy plus power results in corruption and crime, and that an informed citizenry is essential to prevent our's from becoming a society where civil liberties are a pipe dream and torture is the norm.

The Torturer in the Mirror

When is torture ever an effective tool of government? Despite Obama promises to end torture (and close Guantanamo), this ineffective, inhumane and unacceptable practice still continues with complicity from the highest levels of the US government.

Beyond divide and rule? From the Washington to the Beijing Consensus

Cold War divisions were central to the rise of Asia-Pacific regionalism, but what factors are influencing alternative visions for Asia in the twentieth century, and what implications do they have for the global system as a whole?

Lawyers, Guns and Money: Wall Street Lawyers, Investment Bankers and Global Financial Crises

Over the last two centuries corporate lawyers and investment bankers have been central to the undemocratic consolidation of private corporate power.

Secrecy, Torture & Human Rights: US War Crimes, European Complicity, and International Law

Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan's role in defending torture and rendition under the Obama administration raises serious concerns about the ongoing failure of the US government to end its own practice of extreme human rights abuses throughout the world.

Secrecy, the Republic and the Supreme Court

Elena Kagan's use of the state secrets privilege to dismiss the case of a German citizen, who was kidnapped and tortured by the CIA, should be a cause for major concern over her recent nomination by President Obama to the US Supreme Court.

The Great reset: The sequel to the Great Depression

Tom Reifer discusses the work of the Italian economist and sociologist Giovanni Arrighi and its relevance in analysing the financial and economic crises.