LeadAShip.com
International Relations, GeoStrategy and Political Economy Journal

By Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman
November 23, 2004

The Republican head of the Board of Elections in Franklin County, Ohio, manipulated the supply of voting machines on November 2, denying thousands of likely Democrats the right to cast their votes in a fair and timely manner.      As indicated in the sworn testimony below, offered here for the first time, the election was engineered to make voting as difficult as possible for inner city residents, and to drive away those who could not afford to stay away from work or families, or whose health made it imprudent or impossible to endure the long, cold, wet lines.

By Ahmed Amr
editor NileMedia.com
November 1-7, 2004

Osama Bin Laden was destined to be a major factor in this election from the moment the first plane struck the World Trade Center. The memories of that assault are deeply etched in the collective American psyche.

Two days after the attack, George Bush assured a shaken nation that "The most important thing is for us to find Osama bin Laden. It is our number one priority and we will not rest until we find him." 

By Stephen Zunes, Foreign Policy In Focus
November 1-7, 2004

Earlier last month, in a widely quoted interview in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Dov Weisglass--Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's senior adviser--acknowledged what most independent observers have known all along: that the Israeli government is not actually interested in a peace agreement with the Syrian government or the Palestinian Authority. Israel has occupied the Palestinian West Bank and Gaza Strip and the Syrian Golan Heights since these territories were seized by the Israeli armed forces in 1967, expelling thousands of Arabs and then colonizing these territories with Jewish settlers in contravention of international law.

By Tom Engelhardt
November 1-7, 2004 

Looked at realistically Osama bin Laden's intervention in our presidential election was undoubtedly an act of immediate organizational weakness, not strength. Had he had been capable of orchestrating the bringing down of another American tower or its equivalent, he certainly would have done so, but it was no less ingenious for that.

His last major intervention, his self-scripted action-adventure film in real time, The Humiliation of America, cost his organization hundreds of thousands of planning dollars and 19 suicidal believers (plus the price of airplane tickets, box-cutters, and mace).

By Ahmed Amr
editor NileMedia.com
November 1-7, 2004

"We're not going to beat George Bush by being Bush Lite. The way to beat George Bush is to give the 50% of Americans who quit voting because they can't tell the difference between the Democratic Party and the Republican Party - give them a reason to vote again." Howard Dean

If the polls are anywhere near the mark, George Bush has an even chance of polluting the White House for four more years. Given his record, the only reason Dubya remains a viable candidate is John Kerry.

By Ahmed Amr, Editor NileMedia.com
October 25-31, 2004
What can one buy with 1.2 billion dollars? For starters, you might be able to afford a four-year lease on the White House. If you can spare a few extra billion, you have the luxury of running a slate of candidates for the available slots in Congress.

America is a free country with very expensive elections. Constructing a political machine for a single presidential race requires the investment of substantial resources by certain interested parties. The Financial Times just reported that "the presidential and congressional elections will cost $3.9bn, up 30 per cent from the $3bn spent on elections four years ago."

By Robert Jensen
October 25-31, 2004

It's ironic that John Kerry's character is under assault for the most courageous political act of his life -- his opposition to the Vietnam War.  
It's pathetic that instead of highlighting that part of his political history, Kerry is downplaying it. 
But the saddest aspect of the whole affair is that a campaign controversy that could help the United States come to terms with bigger truths about its brutal history of empire building is being used by both parties in ways that obscure the truth.

By Ahmed Amr, editor NileMedia.com
October 25-31, 2004
One of the curious things about this election is that both candidates refuse to talk to the press. You would think both would be anxiously mugging for the cameras to land some free advertising. Yet, George Bush has spent his whole term dodging reporters. And John Kerry last held a press conference in August.

By Robert Jensen and Pat Youngblood
October 18-24, 2004

We have two great fears about Election Day 2004:
The first is that George W. Bush will be elected.
The second is that John Kerry will be elected.

Those fears are rooted in an understanding that the threats to global justice and world peace come not from a single person or party but from systems, and that no matter who is elected, those systems -- empire and capitalism -- remain in place.