Surviving Capitalism (Not) : Will Russia and China Hold Their Fire Until War Is the Only Alternative?

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Monday, September 29, 2014

Will Russia and China Hold Their Fire Until War Is the Only Alternative?

Click here to access article by Paul Craig Roberts from Institute for Political Economy.

Having served in the Reagan's administration at a high level, Roberts is very well connected with the levers of political power. Although his outlook is constrained by a multi-polar capitalist world perspective, he has many valuable insights about the existing power arrangements in the world.

This article, I think, contains some of the most useful in understanding what is going on in the global world of capitalist elites in which national boundaries are increasingly being erased. Here I am thinking of the information he provides about the subversive influence of Empire-based neoliberals that he locates within the ruling classes of Russia and China.

The solution, of course, is not a return to nationally based capitalist elites--which is impossible--but the replacement of the very system that has produced the dangerous and destructive world we live in. Only the world's underclasses can do that. But, will they? Stay tuned. Better yet, stay active and informed.