Hurricane Sandy, coming fast and furious after the numerous storms of this century, is one more wake-up call for humans to retreat from the wrong headedness of private accumulation of wealth.

The response of the Public Affairs Officer of AFRICOM shows that AFRICOM takes its media management seriously. The fact is that the retirement of General Carter Ham was announced on October 18 in the context of a review by the Pentagon of the events of September 11/12, 2012 in Benghazi, Libya.

The fact that the Department of Defense issued a press release on October 31 on the status of Carter Ham does not change the fact that the General will be replaced if and when David Rodriquez is confirmed.

The progressive scholarly community and the peace movement takes no comfort that Carter Ham is to be replaced by Army Gen. David M. Rodriguez. The historic close relationship between David M. Rodriquez and retired General Petraeus (as revealed in the biography of Petraeus, ‘All in: the Education of David Petraeus’) should elicit close scrutiny if the U.S. Congress does its work. Ultimately, whether General Carter Ham is retiring because of ‘long planned leadership succession deliberations’ or he was strongly advised to retire does not change the realities of the insecurity in Libya after the NATO intervention.

This author will accept the word of Benjamin Benson of the media management division of AFRICOM that Carter Ham was not, 'removed.' Whether removed or retiring because of 'succession deliberations' we await the full audit from General Ham of what happened in Libya and how AFRICOM contributed to the present lawlessness in Libya by this intervention.

Horace G Campbell
Professor of African American Studies and Political Science at Syracuse University

The extramarital affair cited for the resignation of CIA chief Gen Petraeus is insignificant by far compared to his belonging to a section of US military and intelligence elite pursuing a complex right-wing global agenda.

President Obama won re-election thanks to the amazing organisational capability of his campaign team and the massive outpouring of a new political coalition in America inspired by the new energy of the Occupy Wall Street Movement of the past two years.

The November 6 US elections form one component of the struggles to advance peace, environmental justice and health for all. The initiative is in the hands of those who will mobilize to defeat Romney and to hold Obama accountable.

The United Nations and other international actors must now create a different plan for the restoration of peace and decent livelihoods to the people of Libya.

Propping up the US financial system is a clever ploy that vests power in the top one per cent globally, with dire consequences on commodity prices and forward planning. The peoples of Africa and the global South must adopt measures to respond to this cascading economic and political maelstrom.

The fact that China has been given a terminal to buy US debt directly, bypassing Wall Street, must be viewed in the context of the "architecture" of global capitalism which is a product of recent decades of the rise of financial-driven capitalist globalization.

The recall election serves as a wakeup call for progressives. The future of the struggles against capitalism cannot be decided by electoral struggles, which are one of the many forms of mobilization.

It is important for the Egyptian revolutionaries to build new structures outside of parliament and outside of the rigged game that is called elections.

As central bankers from China to Venezuela and from Argentina to Japan are seeking ways to exit from the contagion of the speculative trading of US bankers, progressive forces must renew the call for the nationalization of the big banks, which are supposed to be too big to fail.

The unification of the water resources of Africa is one of the primary bases for African unity, with a system of canals linking rivers and lakes in the kind of infrastructure planning that ensures that all will have water.

The BRICS leaders have seen concretely that there is no alternative to moving from a unipolar world to a multipolar world that is based on mutual respect and an end to hierarchies.

The killing of Trayvon Martin serves as an inspiration for those who want to speak out against the demagoguery and hatred that has been spread in the United States in the midst of the capitalist depression.

‘This Kony2012 video has reinforced my own conviction that demilitarization and peace in Africa is intricately connected to demilitarization and peace in the United States.’

Pan Africanists must take the lead to ensure that those who commit genocidal violence and crimes against humanity are tried in the court of public opinion and isolated in every way.

The Obama administration has been complicit in the support for the expansionist policies of Israel. In this current economic and financial crisis a war with Iran will not only be about Iran: It will have global implications.

President Wade wants a third term in office over the dead bodies of Senegalese people. Yet this is the same man who has tried to identify with Pan-Africanism. After Sunday’s elections, popular struggles for a better Senegal will continue.

There was no mistake about the message that Madonna wanted everyone to take away from her Super Bowl performance in a society that is gung-ho on war. But did the warmongers get the point?

Last year the African Union recognised the great work of Dudley Thompson and accorded him the status of the first citizen of the United States of Africa. Thompson was insistent that Africa should be free and united by 2017.