This Week at TheNation.com: Republicans Gone Wild. Plus: Stalin’s forgotten victims. This Week at TheNation.com: Republicans Gone Wild. Plus: Stalin’s forgotten victims.
Talk this week has focused on the hailstorm of corporate money battering the political process, largely on the right and almost entirely courtesy the Citizen's United court decision. In my weekly web column for The Washington Post, "Predator's Ball," I explain how the Republicans' reliance on corporate underwriting is no accident: It's buying Republicans who support deregulation and lowering taxes on the richest. Corporate cash also puts an interesting twist on the Ginny Thomas phone call to Anita Hill. As Bruce Shapiro writes in our most read piece this week at TheNation.com, "Clarence Thomas's Ethics Problems, Then and Now," the apology demand came on the same day that the New York Times broke a major story about corporate backing of Mrs. Thomas's political action group. What, then, does the Citizen's United decision and corporate cash mean for the mid-term and long-term health of our democracy? In a very important edition of our Breakdown podcast, D.C. Editor Chris Hayes and Nation contributor Professor Lawrence Lessig explain the real impacts of the Citizen's United decision: Will any of the pending bills on campaign finance reform curb the effects of the Citizens United result? What can progressives can do to limit the damage from Citizens United this year and in 2012? Listen here, and please share widely. Also this week ... BREAKING: Wikileaks Documents Confirm Nation Investigation. In June, The Nation (with the support of the Investigative Fund at The Nation Institute) reported that the three American hikers seized last Summer in Iran had actually been detained in Iraq. The report, by Babak Sarfaraz, made it clear that all three deserve a swift and immediate release. With two of the hikers set to go on trial next month (the third was released) the latest Wikileaks document dump offers definitive proof of The Nation story: A classified American military report asserts that the hikers were on the Iraqi side of the border when they were seized. You can read our original investigation here, as we continue to hold out hope that these reports could lead to the release of Joshua Fattal and Shane Bauer. MEDIA: Two television interviews Monday. I'm excited for Monday, when I'll be discussing the November 2 election in a conversation on GRIT TV with Laura Flanders alongside Hendrick Hertzberg of The New Yorker. It will be the first segment of The Nation on GRIT TV, our weekly collaboration. We'll have video posted here by 5PM. Also Monday I'll be on MSNBC's The Ed Show, discussing the news of the day (and the coming election) between 6-7PM ET. SLIDESHOWS: Election 2010, and Republican's Gone Wild. It would be funny if it wasn't true: Our web team has put together a great slideshow of the craziest and most out-there policy proposals offered by GOP candidates this year. Some of those featured don't have a chance, but others are winning with under two weeks to go. Next week we'll be posting several more election slideshows, exploring which candidates have been helped - or hurt - by their support for progressive priorities like healthcare reform and financial reform. VIDEO: Stephen F. Cohen On Stalin's Forgotten Victims Nation Contributing Editor (and my husband) Stephen F. Cohen was on MSNBC's Morning Joe Wednesday discussing his new book, The Victims Return: Survivors of the Gulag after Stalin. Stalin was responsible for one of the largest mass-killings of the 20th century—but as Cohen writes, this isn't reflected in how he's remembered, in Russia or here in the States. In this video, he explains why Stalin's legacy remains so contradictory today, and the implications this legacy have for contemporary Russian society. "We know the story of people who survived the Holocaust," Cohen says, "but almost nobody has ever written about, or asked about, what happened to the survivors of Stalin's terror." Watch here. The two of us will be discussing the book this coming Wednesday at 4PM at The Harriman Institute in New York City. Admission is free and all the information is here. This is a very personal book for us, sharing untold stories about many close friends. I hope you'll watch the Morning Joe clip, and join us this Wednesday if you can. - - - Finally this week, I'll be at the Fall gathering of the Social Venture Network this weekend, giving a talk about how we counter tough times by advancing a vision of a more just and democratic society. SVN is an important institution, working to build a community of business leaders committed to a just economy and a sustainable planet. In a week dominated by the negative influence of corporations in our politics, I'm honored to spend the weekend with a collection of leaders dedicated to business as a force for good. Join us this weekend, or find out more about SVN here. As always you can follow me on Twitter - I'm @katrinanation - and leave your comments below.
Oct 23, 2010 / Katrina vanden Heuvel
Climate Change Solutions Celebrated on 10/10/10 Climate Change Solutions Celebrated on 10/10/10
This past Sunday, millions of people took part in 7347 related events in 188 countries to demonstrate their determination to work toward a low carbon future.
Oct 15, 2010 / Peter Rothberg
China’s Pipelineistan ‘War’ China’s Pipelineistan ‘War’
China is slowly winning control of the Greater Middle East and Central Asia's energy supplies with deals, strategy and lots of pipe.
Oct 12, 2010 / Pepe Escobar
Slide Show: 10/10/10 Events from Around the World Slide Show: 10/10/10 Events from Around the World
On Sunday, October 10, people at 7347 events in 188 countries celebrated 350.org‘s 10/10/10 Global Work Party by implementing small-scale climate solutions and urging governm…
Oct 11, 2010 / Photo Essay / The Nation
What Are You Doing for 10/10/10? Send Us Your Pictures! What Are You Doing for 10/10/10? Send Us Your Pictures!
This Sunday, thousands of concerned citizens from around the world will be celebrating climate solutions and pressing governments for change. The Nation wants your images of events...
Oct 6, 2010 / The Nation
10/10/10 10/10/10
This Sunday's climate change actions will see the greatest number of recorded protests in a single day in world history.
Oct 6, 2010 / Peter Rothberg
Interview with a Drowning President, Kiribati’s Anote Tong Interview with a Drowning President, Kiribati’s Anote Tong
Kiribati's President, Anote Tong, speaks about the struggles faced by climate refugees, solidarity within his country and getting the international community's attention.
Oct 1, 2010 / David Helvarg
Slavery & Climate Change Slavery & Climate Change
On October 10, more than 7,000 actions in 180 countries will celebrate solutions to climate change in what is expected to be the greatest number of recorded protests in a single da...
Sep 30, 2010 / Books & the Arts / Mark Hertsgaard
The Big Bad Wolf Makes Good The Big Bad Wolf Makes Good
The Yellowstone success story and those who want to kill it.
Sep 28, 2010 / Chip Ward
This Week at TheNation.com: One Nation Working Together. Plus, Our Election 2010 Plans and Two New Videos. This Week at TheNation.com: One Nation Working Together. Plus, Our Election 2010 Plans and Two New Videos.
By now you may have seen Peter Dreier's feature for The Nation, "The Fifty Most Influential Progressives of the Twentieth Century." We'll be taking your suggestions in the weeks to come, featuring your lists and ideas at TheNation.com and in the magazine. Dreier's list is the beginning of the conversation. Click here to contribute your ideas and tell us who we missed. Also this week ... EVENT: The Nation and One Nation Working Together For all the buzz around the dueling Jon Stewart/Stephen Colbert rallies, progressives have a major event coming up even sooner - next Saturday. October 2nd is the big "One Nation Working Together" rally in Washington, D.C., a march organized by the AFL-CIO and the NAACP, and uniting labor and racial justice with environmental, women's, peace and anti-poverty advocates. Organizers have laid out a set of concrete policy goals from the march; you can find out all the details here. The Nation will have coverage online starting next Friday and throughout the weekend, then the week after we'll present slideshows, interviews on The Nation on GRIT TV and more. UPCOMING: Our Election Coverage The Nation is covering both the issues and the key races in election 2010 over the weeks to come. This week we're featuring the Russ Feingold race and profiling Florida Rep. Alan Grayson ("The Counter-Puncher") and we've been running field dispatches online and in print from all over the country. Next week is a special package: is this the year of the (conservative) woman, with essays from Betsy Reed, Jessica Valenti and Rebecca Traister. Starting next month we're rolling out a comprehensive map that charts all our election coverage, and through a variety of slideshows, GRIT TV commentaries and articles we're working to present the voices and views of Election 2010. The best way to track coverage is to bookmark our homepage, and to follow us on Twitter. INTERVIEW: Kumi Naidoo Comes to The Nation Kumi Naidoo, executive director of Greenpeace International and author of Boiling Point: Can Citizen Action Save the World?, paid a visit to The Nation’s offices on September 23. After telling us that reading The Nation helped him “keep his sanity” during a few years living in the US, he talked to us about Greenpeace’s work, his new book and the global environmental movement, and answered questions from Nation staffers and from Christian Parenti, a frequent contributor to The Nation on environmental issues. An edited version of his remarks and the Q&A session can be found here; we'll have video next week. VIDEO: Jeremy Scahill on Blackwater's Secret Relationships with Big Business In his recent piece for The Nation, "Blackwater's Black Ops," Jeremy Scahill reveals how private security firm Blackwater (now known as Xe) has provided security and intelligence services to a range of powerful multinational corporations over the past several years. Blackwater has also provided intelligence and training to foreign governments, including those of Jordan, Canada and the Netherlands. In this conversation with Amy Goodman of Democracy Now!, Scahill explains that the documents he has obtained link Blackwater to the shady intelligence services of corporations such as Chevron and Monsanto. But Scahill's research may be just the tip of the iceberg. "This needs to be investigated," says Scahill, "I'm hoping that other journalists can follow up on what Blackwater was doing...for these powerful multinational corporations." Watch the video here. PODCAST: The Breakdown with Chris Hayes - Does the DREAM Act Have a Future? This Tuesday Senate Republicans successfully filibustered a defense authorization bill to which Democrats had attempted to attach the DREAM Act, leaving immigrant rights activists to question the future of the now-stalled legislation. Standing for Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors, the DREAM Act would allow some undocumented immigrants who came to the US as children to earn legal status by completing two years of college or military service. On this week's episode of The Breakdown, DC Editor Chris Hayes and immigration expert Angela Maria Kelley explore the future of the DREAM Act and possible ways forward for politicians, voters and activists working for humane immigration reform. Listen here or subscribe in I-tunes. VIDEO: Dean Baker on Elizabeth Warren and Solutions to Poverty "Poverty is a one-day event, we get a report released and we're going to talk about poverty. But every day we hear what the stock market does," says Nation contributor Dean Baker. The problem with that kind of coverage, Baker says, is that "many more people will experience poverty than will strike it rich in the stock market." Millions of Americans experience poverty not as a one-day affair, but as a constant, grinding force in their lives. Baker joined The Nation on Grittv via Skype to talk about Elizabeth Warren's sort-of-appointment, the whinging of the rich over tax increases and Bill Clinton's comments about the recession's end. Watch here. Coming up next week on The Nation on GRIT TV: Betsy Reed and Rebecca Traister on conservative women and the "mama grizzlies" (posting Monday) and Eric Foner on his new book about Abraham Lincoln (posting Wednesday. See full episodes at www.grittv.org. - - - - - Finally this week: Editor's Cut may be quiet next week as we set sail for the Annual Nation cruise. The seminar cruise is both a fundraiser for the magazine and a remarkable week of discussion and debate. This year Nation regulars like Calvin Trillin, John Nichols, Jeremy Scahill, Chris Hayes, Richard Kim and Melissa Harris-Lacewell are joined by progressive voices like Amy Goodman and Jim Hightower; you can see highlights of the 2009 cruise here. We'll all be tweeting from the boat as best we can, and we'll bring you video and audio of the sessions here at TheNation.com in the weeks to come. As always thanks for reading. I'm on Twitter - @KatrinaNation - and I welcome your comments below.
Sep 25, 2010 / Katrina vanden Heuvel