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

Saturday, August 5, 2017

Trump approves new sanctions against Russia

Click here to access article by Bill Van Auken from World Socialist Web Site. 
While Trump indicated that he agreed with the imposition of sanctions against what he described in his signing statements as the “rogue regimes” in both North Korea and Iran—both of which Washington has openly targeted for regime change—his opposition was based largely on the legislation’s limiting of his power to waive existing sanctions imposed by the Obama administration against Russia.

The inclusion of this restraint was bound up with the unrelenting campaign waged by the Democratic Party and the corporate media, backed by powerful layers within the US military-intelligence apparatus, attacking Trump as the beneficiary of alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Underlying this campaign is opposition within the American ruling establishment to any letup in aggression against Russia, which is viewed as a principal obstacle to the US drive to defend its global dominance by militarily asserting its control over the Middle East, Eastern Europe and the entire Eurasian landmass.
Also see the implications of this bill on Europe in an article by Eric Zuesse entitled "America Declares Economic War Against Europe".
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