STWR - Share The World's Resources

Amid all the rhetoric about America being the "greatest democracy in the world," it often seems impossible to figure out exactly who controls our government. But every now and then, the public gets a fleeting glimpse into who is really running the show, writes David Sirota.

President George W. Bush, already weakened at home by the soaring cost of oil, is finding that it's also eroding his ability to achieve his foreign-policy goals.

The specter of Anglo-American market capitalism dominated France's student unrest in March and April, and motivated popular rejection in France a year ago of the proposed new European Union constitution, argues William Pfaff.

IMF wins mandate for ‘multilateral surveillance’

Is the United States a superpower? I think not. Consider these facts:

Developing nations left the weekend's joint meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) with few gains, while the rich countries that dominate the boards of the two lenders managed to shape the agenda almost entirely to serve their own interests, say analysts here.

Some retrospective entertainment about World Water Day, the U.N.-mandated aqua-celebration each March, read Rule 12 of the World Bank's "Principled Pragmatism & Rules for Reformers." It goes: "Reforms must provide returns for the politicians who are willing to make changes." And the Bank report gives us proof that water reforms "can be good politics." It holds up two Indian politicians it sees as highly successful with water reforms. Chandrababu Naidu and Digvijay Singh.

"It's a wrenching decision to think about leaving. But America is turning into a country very different from the one I grew up believing in."

That’s the state to live and die in . . . . r-r-rich — Charles Dickens, Our Mutual Friend