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This week on Uprising:

* Will a Troop Surge Solve Afghanistan’s Problems?
* Empire Notes on Hillary Clinton
* US Economy Needs a Progressive Economic Stimulus
* Black Agenda Report on “The MLK Test”
* Getting Off: Pornography and the End of Masculinity

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Will a Troop Surge Solve Afghanistan’s Problems?

GUEST: Mariam Rawi, member of the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA)

A suicide bomber blew himself up at a luxury hotel in Kabul on January 14th, killing at least 2 people and wounding several others. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack and warned of more attacks targeting foreigners. Earlier, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates recommended that 3000 additional US troops be sent to Afghanistan to quell an expected Taliban surge over the spring. If deployed, the troops would augment the 42,000 foreign troops serving currently from the US and NATO nations. For months now, the US has been unsuccessfully pressuring its European allies to send more troops to the dangerous Southern and Eastern provinces. Republican candidate for president, former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani recommends immediately doubling US troops in Afghanistan. More than 400 members of the U.S. military have died in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan according to the Defense Department. Meanwhile, a military analyst with the UK Ministry of Defense’s own think tank warned that NATO was on the “precipice of failure” in Afghanistan unless it swaps throwing “money and troops” at the country’s problems for a more coherent approach.

RAWA’s website is www.rawa.org.

Read RAWA’s latest statement condemning the US as the main human rights violator in Afghanistan, here: www.rawa.org/events/dec10-07_e.htm

Empire Notes on Hillary Clinton

GUEST: Rahul Mahajan, author of Full Spectrum Dominance and The New Crusade

Empire Notes are weekly commentaries filed by Rahul Mahajan, author of Full Spectrum Dominance and The New Crusade. Today’s commentary is called “Hillary Clinton Meets Karl Rove.”

Empire Notes is online at www.empirenotes.org.

US Economy Needs a Progressive Economic Stimulus

GUEST: Dean Baker, Co-Director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research

President Bush called on Friday for a $140-145 billion mix of tax rebates for Americans and incentives for businesses to provide “a shot in the arm to keep a fundamentally strong economy healthy” and avert a deep slide into recession. According to the latest figures from the Department of Labor, the U.S. economy is experiencing the highest rates of inflation in seventeen years. Consumers have acutely felt the effects at the gas pump and the check-out line. Meanwhile there has also been a significant one-month increase in the unemployment rate. Those who are employed have seen their inflation adjusted wages continue to drop. These economic indicators early in the new year have sparked fears of a possible recession. The Center for Economic and Policy Research has put forward their own proposal for a stimulus package, one that they say is progressive and would work in the long term.

For more information and to download the report on the proposed stimulus package, visit www.cepr.net.

Black Agenda Report on “The MLK Test”

GUEST: Glen Ford is a writer and radio commentator and the Executive Editor of The Black Agenda Report

This week’s commentary is called “The MLK Test.” Visit www.blackagendareport.com for more information.

Getting Off: Pornography and the End of Masculinity

GUEST: Robert Jensen, Professor of Journalism at the University of Texas at Austin, author of several books including “Citizens of the Empire,” “The Heart of Whiteness,” and his latest, “Getting Off: Pornography and the End of Masculinity”

The 2008 Adult Entertainment Expo recently wrapped up after three days in Las Vegas. The event is the largest of its kind featuring almost every imaginable aspect of the pornography industry. Attending the expo was my next guest Robert Jensen, whose years of research into the pornography industry was recently culminated in a new book published by South End Press. The book, entitled “Getting Off: Pornography and the End of Masculinity,” promises to reignite one of the fiercest debates in contemporary feminism.

Robert Jensen teaches journalism at the University of Texas in Austin. His earlier books include “Citizens of the Empire: The Struggle to Claim Our Humanity,” and “The Heart of Whiteness: Confronting Race, Racism And White Privilege,” both of which we’ve featured on Uprising.

For more information, email stoppornculture@gmail.com.

Sonali’s Subversive Thought for the Day

“Pornography tells lies about women. But pornography tells the truth about men.” — John Stoltenberg, feminist activist and writer