https://znetwork.org/category/place/north-america/ Independent Left News, Analysis, Vision and Strategy Thu, 26 Feb 2026 07:29:40 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://znetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/cropped-Z_logo_512-32x32.png https://znetwork.org/category/place/north-america/ 32 32 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/trumps-2026-sotu-speech-economic-obfuscation-political-theatre/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/trumps-2026-sotu-speech-economic-obfuscation-political-theatre/#respond Wed, 25 Feb 2026 17:58:52 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1295158 Trump’s 2026 State of the Union speech was historic—but only in the sense of the longest ever at 1 hour and 47 minutes. Apart from that, the speech was one third misrepresentations about the state of the American economy followed by more than an hour of pure political theater which has come to increasingly feature [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/trumps-2026-sotu-speech-economic-obfuscation-political-theatre/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/zvideo/the-suicidal-folly-of-a-war-with-iran/ https://znetwork.org/zvideo/the-suicidal-folly-of-a-war-with-iran/#comments Wed, 25 Feb 2026 17:54:01 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=video&p=1295173 The Laurel and Hardy negotiating team of Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, coupled with Trump’s appalling ignorance of world affairs and megalomania, seem set to push the U.S. into yet another debacle in the Middle East, one the Congress has not approved, and the public does not want. The demands imposed on Iran by the [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/zvideo/the-suicidal-folly-of-a-war-with-iran/feed/ 1 https://znetwork.org/zvideo/natos-war-of-choice-the-sabotage-of-the-istanbul-negotiations/ https://znetwork.org/zvideo/natos-war-of-choice-the-sabotage-of-the-istanbul-negotiations/#respond Wed, 25 Feb 2026 17:48:46 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=video&p=1295170 Professor Glenn Diesen outlines the evidence for how the US and UK sabotaged the peace negotiations in Istanbul to use Ukraine as a proxy to weaken Russia. After NATO built a large Ukrainian proxy army to weaken a strategic rival, it was absurd to assume that Ukraine would be allowed to restore its neutrality and [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/zvideo/natos-war-of-choice-the-sabotage-of-the-istanbul-negotiations/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/tax-the-rich-rally-in-albany-where-was-mayor-mamdani/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/tax-the-rich-rally-in-albany-where-was-mayor-mamdani/#respond Wed, 25 Feb 2026 17:42:46 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1295156 Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani’s election as mayor of the “capital of capitalism” was a tremendous accomplishment and a blow to Zionists, Wall Street and Democratic Party higher-ups. Even The New York Times described his victory as a “surge of anti-establishment discontent.” Just a few of Mamdani’s frequent pre-election critical comments on capitalism include: Do I [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/tax-the-rich-rally-in-albany-where-was-mayor-mamdani/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/ice-agents-bring-home-the-tactics-from-past-wars-abroad/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/ice-agents-bring-home-the-tactics-from-past-wars-abroad/#respond Wed, 25 Feb 2026 17:40:34 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1295164 Last month, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers pulled over several cars in Eagle County, Colorado. They took the people away in handcuffs, according to a witness, and left the cars idling at the side of the road. When family members of the disappeared immigrants arrived, there was no sign of their loved ones. What they found instead [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/ice-agents-bring-home-the-tactics-from-past-wars-abroad/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/francesca-albanese-is-a-powerful-voice-for-justice-which-is-why-the-israel-lobby-is-trying-to-silence-her/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/francesca-albanese-is-a-powerful-voice-for-justice-which-is-why-the-israel-lobby-is-trying-to-silence-her/#respond Wed, 25 Feb 2026 17:10:07 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1295160 Mark Twain and Winston Churchill are both purported to have once said that a lie can travel half-way around the world before truth has had a chance to put its pants on.  On February 7, Francesca Albanese, the current UN Special Rapporteur for human rights in Palestine, gave a short presentation by video conference to [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/francesca-albanese-is-a-powerful-voice-for-justice-which-is-why-the-israel-lobby-is-trying-to-silence-her/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/no-to-the-economic-suffocation-of-cuba/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/no-to-the-economic-suffocation-of-cuba/#respond Tue, 24 Feb 2026 17:01:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1295131 For more than six decades, the United States has been suffocating the Cuban people by imposing anachronistic and inhumane economic sanctions. These measures affect the most vulnerable sectors of the island’s population, particularly the sick, children, the elderly, and pregnant women, and have a dramatic impact on all sectors of Cuban society. Retroactive and extraterritorial [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/no-to-the-economic-suffocation-of-cuba/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/trumped-on-tariffs/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/trumped-on-tariffs/#respond Tue, 24 Feb 2026 17:01:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1295133 Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” just got squashed. The Supreme Court on February 20 denied, by a 6-3 decision, the Trump administration’s power to impose tariffs under the 1977 International Economic Emergency Powers Act (IEEPA). The ruling invalidates tariffs for around one quarter of all imports to the US—those from about 20 countries plus the EU. [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/trumped-on-tariffs/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/how-union-members-pay-it-forward/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/how-union-members-pay-it-forward/#respond Tue, 24 Feb 2026 17:01:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1295135 Anna Bueker went to work at the BFGoodrich plant in Fort Wayne, Indiana, in her early 20s and began building a good life with the wages and benefits provided by her United Steelworkers (USW) contract. But over the next several years, as she navigated divorce and life as a single mom, that contract took on [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/how-union-members-pay-it-forward/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/organize-or-burn/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/organize-or-burn/#respond Tue, 24 Feb 2026 17:00:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1295139 At the time of this writing, Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is about to break 100,000 members, with nearly 14,000 of them in New York City alone. The election of Zohran Mamdani, a longtime DSA activist and New York assemblymember, as the city’s mayor brought unprecedented attention to the socialist group. Thousands of socialist activists have [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/organize-or-burn/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/zohran-mamdani-wants-to-reclaim-efficiency-from-the-right/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/zohran-mamdani-wants-to-reclaim-efficiency-from-the-right/#respond Tue, 24 Feb 2026 17:00:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1295141 One of the core claims of Zohran Mamdani’s campaign for New York City mayor last year was that government can and should work effectively and efficiently for the people it serves, with “public excellence” as one of the thirty-four-year-old democratic socialist’s guiding principles. Mamdani has repeatedly stressed the need to boost efficiency, enhance public services, and reduce [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/zohran-mamdani-wants-to-reclaim-efficiency-from-the-right/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/on-turtle-island-indigenous-food-is-not-the-past-its-the-future/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/on-turtle-island-indigenous-food-is-not-the-past-its-the-future/#respond Tue, 24 Feb 2026 17:00:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1295143 One of my favorite parts of researching The Gastro Obscura Cookbook is talking to leaders in the food world about the recipes that matter most to them. When it comes to Indigenous food of North America, few experts rival Sean Sherman. An Oglala Lakota chef raised on the Pine Ridge Reservation of South Dakota, Sherman has devoted his career [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/on-turtle-island-indigenous-food-is-not-the-past-its-the-future/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/even-in-new-york-reporters-face-prison-for-criticizing-israel/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/even-in-new-york-reporters-face-prison-for-criticizing-israel/#respond Tue, 24 Feb 2026 17:00:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1295145 Attacks on press freedoms have come thick and fast under Donald Trump’s second tilt at the presidency, whether deporting a visa holder for writing an op-ed criticizing Israel or his various lawsuits against news outlets whose coverage displeased him. But not all of the attacks have come from the Trump administration. In fact, at least [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/even-in-new-york-reporters-face-prison-for-criticizing-israel/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/shopping-isnt-a-strategy/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/shopping-isnt-a-strategy/#respond Tue, 24 Feb 2026 17:00:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1295137 An Instagram post of mine about ICE’s top corporate collaborators went viral a few weeks ago. The fact that it got over four million views and over 35,000 shares suggests that people are starting to grasp the central role private businesses play in enabling Trump’s paramilitary thugs. But I was puzzled and a bit frustrated by most people’s reactions. [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/shopping-isnt-a-strategy/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/cuba-under-siege-mexico-and-latin-america-under-threat/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/cuba-under-siege-mexico-and-latin-america-under-threat/#respond Mon, 23 Feb 2026 21:32:52 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1295099 Right now, 90 miles from our shore, the people of Cuba are facing the most extreme attack by the United States in at least a generation. The Trump administration has moved to choke off all remaining fuel access to the island. Venezuela and Mexico—the two countries that have supplied the vast majority of Cuba’s oil—have [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/cuba-under-siege-mexico-and-latin-america-under-threat/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/who-really-wins-from-the-us-critical-minerals-drive/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/who-really-wins-from-the-us-critical-minerals-drive/#respond Mon, 23 Feb 2026 21:09:56 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1295090 The global race for technological supremacy now runs on cobalt, lithium, rare earths, and coltan – the minerals that make possible everything from electric vehicle batteries to semiconductors and artificial intelligence (AI) systems. Rare earths, a group of 17 metals essential to electronics and defence technologies, and coltan, the ore used to produce tantalum for smartphones [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/who-really-wins-from-the-us-critical-minerals-drive/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/21st-century-common-sense/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/21st-century-common-sense/#comments Mon, 23 Feb 2026 20:32:37 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1295074 Rebellions against injustice and poverty go back centuries, millenia, throughout the world. People “on the bottom” of human societies, sooner or later, get themselves organized to put up a fight. Because of this historical reality, when it is combined with changes in consciousness and/or guilt among some middle- and even upper-class people, and despite our [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/21st-century-common-sense/feed/ 1 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/lies-of-omission-as-fresh-american-war-crimes-loom/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/lies-of-omission-as-fresh-american-war-crimes-loom/#respond Sun, 22 Feb 2026 13:49:02 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1295049 The US has amassed the largest military force in the Middle East since the invasion of Iraq almost 23 years ago and is poised once again to commit mass murder and gleefully perpetrate an astonishing amount of war crimes. Yesterday a huge number of planes, from fighter jets to air-to-air refuelling tankers to command and [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/lies-of-omission-as-fresh-american-war-crimes-loom/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/israel-and-american-hawks-are-pushing-us-to-iran-war-with-catastrophic-consequences/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/israel-and-american-hawks-are-pushing-us-to-iran-war-with-catastrophic-consequences/#comments Sun, 22 Feb 2026 13:37:09 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1295043  It seems clear that Israeli proponents of conflict in the Middle East, as well as supporters in the US media and politics, are determined to take America to war with Iran. This observation was forcefully stated by the global affairs analyst, Patrick Henningsen, who has recently returned from Iran.  The causes of the protests have not so [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/israel-and-american-hawks-are-pushing-us-to-iran-war-with-catastrophic-consequences/feed/ 1 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/trump-administration-gives-blessing-for-israel-to-restore-the-empire-of-kind-david-from-the-river-to-the-sea/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/trump-administration-gives-blessing-for-israel-to-restore-the-empire-of-kind-david-from-the-river-to-the-sea/#respond Sun, 22 Feb 2026 13:25:48 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1295038 Mike Huckabee, the United States ambassador to Israel, has suggested that he would not object if Israel were to take most of the Middle East, stressing what he described as the Jewish people’s right to the land.  In a recent interview with a conservative commentator, Huckabee was pressed about the geographical borders of Israel, which [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/trump-administration-gives-blessing-for-israel-to-restore-the-empire-of-kind-david-from-the-river-to-the-sea/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/journalists-jailed-by-ice-are-revealing-the-horrors-of-incarceration/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/journalists-jailed-by-ice-are-revealing-the-horrors-of-incarceration/#comments Sat, 21 Feb 2026 18:35:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1295010 For decades, corporate media and elected officials have shown little interest in reporting by incarcerated individuals on the unchecked inhumane treatment and deplorable conditions inside U.S. jails, detention centers, and prisons. But as a result of the Trump administration’s escalation of anti-immigrant violence and efforts to quell all dissent, professional journalists and writers, who normally [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/journalists-jailed-by-ice-are-revealing-the-horrors-of-incarceration/feed/ 1 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/ice-tripled-its-reliance-on-microsoft-in-last-six-months-leaked-files-reveal/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/ice-tripled-its-reliance-on-microsoft-in-last-six-months-leaked-files-reveal/#respond Sat, 21 Feb 2026 12:59:49 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294994 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has relied extensively on Microsoft’s cloud storage and artificial intelligence products while escalating its campaign of mass arrests and deportations in recent months, files obtained by +972 Magazine, Local Call, and The Guardian reveal. ICE more than tripled the amount of data it holds on Microsoft servers between July [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/ice-tripled-its-reliance-on-microsoft-in-last-six-months-leaked-files-reveal/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/zvideo/jeremy-scahill-despite-ongoing-talks-trump-admin-is-obsessed-with-destroying-iran/ https://znetwork.org/zvideo/jeremy-scahill-despite-ongoing-talks-trump-admin-is-obsessed-with-destroying-iran/#respond Sat, 21 Feb 2026 12:50:10 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=video&p=1294989 Despite chairing the first meeting of his newly formed Board of Peace on Thursday, President Donald Trump continues to threaten war against Iran as the Pentagon positions a massive fighting force in the Middle East. Trump said he would give Tehran about two weeks to reach a deal on its nuclear program, but media reports [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/zvideo/jeremy-scahill-despite-ongoing-talks-trump-admin-is-obsessed-with-destroying-iran/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/hollow-power-why-the-democrats-gains-may-be-fragile/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/hollow-power-why-the-democrats-gains-may-be-fragile/#respond Fri, 20 Feb 2026 17:31:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294954 The current liberal surge feels real, a swell in public sentiment that suggests energy and possibility. Polling numbers rise, and political commentators point to renewed enthusiasm for Democrats, but beneath the surface, the vitality is uneven. Polls show Democrats holding a seven-point advantage over Republicans on voting intention for Congress—their largest lead since the Economist/YouGov [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/hollow-power-why-the-democrats-gains-may-be-fragile/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-us-appears-likely-to-attack-iran-again-we-must-stop-this-illegal-act/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-us-appears-likely-to-attack-iran-again-we-must-stop-this-illegal-act/#respond Fri, 20 Feb 2026 17:31:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294966 President Donald Trump seems to think he is King of the World, not just the United States. Even as he convenes his “Board of Peace” (“Board of Imperial Conquest” would be more apt) it looks like the US will soon illegally attack Iran, again, as it did last June. Congress needs to do its job [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-us-appears-likely-to-attack-iran-again-we-must-stop-this-illegal-act/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/how-the-language-of-humiliation-is-engineering-a-second-american-civil-war/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/how-the-language-of-humiliation-is-engineering-a-second-american-civil-war/#respond Fri, 20 Feb 2026 17:31:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294970 A January 2026 Gallup poll showed that 89 percent of all Americans expect high levels of political conflict this year, as the country heads toward one of its most decisive midterm elections ever. Gallup, however, was stating the obvious. It is a surprise that not all Americans feel this way, judging by the coarse, often [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/how-the-language-of-humiliation-is-engineering-a-second-american-civil-war/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/from-tehran-to-gaza-frontlines-of-resistance/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/from-tehran-to-gaza-frontlines-of-resistance/#respond Fri, 20 Feb 2026 17:31:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294976 Forty-seven years ago, after a millennia of monarchical rule, Iran reinvented its political system. The Islamic Republic was birthed by the Revolution of 1979; considered one of the most consequential historical events of modern times.  The Iranian Revolution profoundly altered the geopolitical landscape of West Asia. By removing the Shah, Iranians severed one pillar of [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/from-tehran-to-gaza-frontlines-of-resistance/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-decapitation-that-failed-venezuela-after-the-abduction-of-president-maduro/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-decapitation-that-failed-venezuela-after-the-abduction-of-president-maduro/#respond Fri, 20 Feb 2026 17:30:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294981 The response within the US political establishment to the attack on Venezuela has been striking. Without the slightest cognitive dissonance over President Maduro’s violent abduction, Democrats call for “restoring democracy” – but not for returning Venezuela’s lawful president. So why didn’t the imperialists simply assassinate him? From their perspective, it would have been cleaner and more cost-efficient. [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-decapitation-that-failed-venezuela-after-the-abduction-of-president-maduro/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/epa-sued-for-backtracking-on-greenhouse-gas-regulation/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/epa-sued-for-backtracking-on-greenhouse-gas-regulation/#respond Fri, 20 Feb 2026 17:30:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294983 Two lawsuits filed Wednesday in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals mark the beginning of a rocky legal road for the Environmental Protection Agency following its reversal of a 2009 rule underpinning federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions. The challenges include a lawsuit brought against both the EPA and its administrator, Lee Zeldin, by a coalition of [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/epa-sued-for-backtracking-on-greenhouse-gas-regulation/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/bernie-sanders-billionaire-tax-now/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/bernie-sanders-billionaire-tax-now/#respond Fri, 20 Feb 2026 17:30:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294985 California’s 2026 election isn’t just another policy fight — it’s a stress test for whether democracy can still regulate concentrated wealth. As Silicon Valley’s billionaire class pours unprecedented money into the governor’s race, ballot initiatives, and down‑ballot contests, the state has become the proving ground for what Politico calls “the big tech flex.” The Guardian [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/bernie-sanders-billionaire-tax-now/feed/ 0