Eve Ottenberg

Silver Spring

29 novels, 2 short story collections and articles in The New York Times, Vanity Fair, The Nation, The New Yorker's Briefly Noted section, CounterPunch & more.

Articles

Pope Francis: a Loss for Humanity

1 month ago | counterpunch.org | Eve Ottenberg

We should have seen it coming – pope Francis had been sick, old and frail for some time.
The coming Sinophobic calamity

2 months ago | johnmenadue.com | Eve Ottenberg

Neither the red wave nor the blue one materialised in the latest election, which removes some of the impetus for the coming congressional Sinophobic rampage. Some, not all. The relatively good results for Biden mean that for the moment he no longer needs the Beijing boogeyman and could afford to be gracious toward Chinas leader, Xi Jinping at the G20 summit. But the GOP won by enough last week to say that so did Sinophobia.
The contrast between China and the US as the Covid debacle rolls on

2 months ago | johnmenadue.com | Eve Ottenberg

“The U.S. represents 4% of the worlds population, 25% of global covid deaths, 23% of covid cases and 35% of all Monkeypox cases….The U.S. is a public health fiasco. The Centres for Disease Control tells us exposure no longer requires quarantine, and for the public generally, everyones so done with masks. Thats the state of the disease for us proles do nothing to prevent catching it, while hoping, irrationally, that you wont. Things are quite different at higher media and political altitudes.
The Biden-Trump persecution of Julian Assange

2 months ago | johnmenadue.com | Eve Ottenberg

For a good while one could blame Trump for the prosecutorial monstrosity perpetrated on journalist Julian Assange. But now its time for Trump to move over. The single worst assault on the first amendment and a free press in recent centuries is no longer solely his. Biden owns it. Biden could end this state persecution of a journalist today, if he felt like it. A persecution that a U.N. expert has called torture. A persecution that could easily lead to Assanges death. But maybe thats the point.
Social Security Under Attack: From Plutocrats, of Course

2 months ago | counterpunch.org | Eve Ottenberg

Insults, slurs, nasty comments and contempt for Social Security sprout up everywhere these days in Washington. Although Trump himself insists he will protect the program, his underlings sure hate it, and by extension, the nearly 70 million elders who rely on it; and “rely” is an understatement – for many it’s their sole lifeline. These people voted for Trump in their multitudes.
War With Iran is a Lousy Idea

Feb 14, 2025 | counterpunch.org | Eve Ottenberg

Generally speaking, starting a war out of the blue is a bad idea. This is the lesson, if such was needed, of the utterly unprovoked 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, and one our rulers would do well not to forget – a war with millions of displaced Iraqis, hundreds of thousands of dead ones, tens of thousands of American soldiers KIA, a refugee crisis in Europe, and all for what? For nothing, that’s what.
Whodunit? The Attack on TurkStream

Jan 31, 2025 | counterpunch.org | Eve Ottenberg

Did Washington plan to blow up another Russian gas pipeline? That’s the question of the month after Ukrainian drones attacked the TurkStream compressor station January 11. It was also a question directly posed in RT January 16.
The Homeless Have No Rights

Jan 24, 2025 | counterpunch.org | Eve Ottenberg

The homeless are a class apart, out American untouchables. It goes without saying that in America the homeless have no right to shelter. They also have no right to sleep, be seen in public, go to the bathroom or keep their jobs. In short, the gradual deprivation of rights for unhoused people, sped by iniquitous supreme court decisions, is leading inexorably to the homeless lacking the right to exist.
Tik Tok! The Feds Are Coming for Your Free Speech

Jan 17, 2025 | counterpunch.org | Eve Ottenberg

Federal banditry regarding TikTok proceeds apace. Back on April 23, president Joe Biden signed the bill that led us to the current precipice, over which 170 million American TikTok users now teeter. Why proscribe this wildly popular platform that a full half of all Americans use and enjoy? Because nitwits in congress lost it over China holding a one percent stake in the mother company. The mega-brains on the supreme court appear poised to agree with them.
The West Makes War; the East, Peace

Jan 9, 2025 | counterpunch.org | Eve Ottenberg

While the west subsidizes carnage in Gaza and Ukraine, the east does the opposite. For instance, one potential far east flashpoint has long been the India/China border, but that’s changing – for the better, due to high-level meetings in December between political bigwigs from both countries.