Capitalism Collapsing from Inequality... Blame Russia!

Click here to access article by Finian Cunningham from Strategic Culture Foundation.

The Irish journalist sees capitalism, which has brought so much wealth and power to so few in those elites associated with the US-led Empire, in its death throes as illustrated by its official leaders neurotically declaiming about the wickedness of Russia.

Inequality, poverty and the denial of decent existence to the majority of people stands out as the clarion condemnation of capitalism and its organization of society under private profit. The human suffering, hardships, austerity and crippled potential that flow from this condition represent the crisis of our time. Yet instead of an earnest public debate and struggle to overcome this crisis, we are forced by our elites to focus on false, even surreal problems.

American politics has become paralyzed by an endless elite squabble over whether Russia meddled in the presidential elections and claims that Russian news media continue to interfere in American democracy. Of course, the US corporate-controlled news media, who are an integral part of the plutocracy, lend credibility to this circus. Ditto European corporate-controlled media.

All of this hysterical behavior that we are daily witnessing, he sees as a neurotic response psychologically defending them from the frightful reality that the end of a system and their rule is approaching, a system that has served this tiny ruling class so well over the past several hundred years. And he concludes with a warning to us ordinary people that we need to do something before they take us with them in a nuclear war conflagration or, more slowly, in a deteriorating environment that can no longer support human life.

The biggest disconnect is the obscene inequality of wealth and resources that capitalism has engendered in the 21st century. That monstrous dysfunction is also causally related to why the US and its Western allies like Britain are pushing belligerence and wars around the planet. It is all part of their elitist denial of reality. The reality that capitalism is the biggest threat to humanity’s future.

Do we let these mentally deficient, deceptive political elites and their media dictate the nonsense? Or will the mass of people do the right thing and sweep them aside? 

We are increasingly noticing others who think that capitalism has become thoroughly dysfunctional. Read this review of a book entitled How will capitalism end? by Wolfgang Streeck re-posted in Real-World Economics Review Blog.

Who’s Afraid of Corporate COINTELPRO?

Click here to access article by C.J. Hopkins from CounterPunch. (Updated commentary at 10:45 AM Seattle time.)

... these days most elitist wankers are trained how to write, and read, and think, in MFA conformity factories, where they screen out any unstable weirdos with unhealthy interests in political matters. This is to avoid embarrassing episodes like Harold Pinter’s Nobel Prize lecture (which, if you haven’t read it, you probably should), and is why so much of contemporary literature is so well-behaved and instantly forgettable. This institutionalized screening system is also why the majority of journalists employed by mainstream media outlets understand, without having to be told, what they are, and are not, allowed to report.

Hopkins writes in a chatty style to explain how he learned about the subtle ways corporations have to discourage people from writing or accessing ideas that the ruling capitalist class finds objectionable. The reference to COINTELPRO is intentional to convey the hidden or secret nature of these methods. He doesn't see the methods as constituting outright censorship, but adapted from earlier forms to fit in the contemporary "brave new world" of digital media. As a writer and thinker he tells his personal story of his road to discovery of the pitfalls that any independent thinker/writer should consider when writing for this brave new digital world, or by implication, the difficulties that others might encounter trying to access material by independent thinkers and writers.

Actually the methods aren't all that new because I, personally, have experienced their analogs (def.) while working for bosses throughout much of my life. They have just been re-adapted to fit the online world. You see, our ruling masters want us to continue to believe the myths propagated by their system of indoctrination that all of their subjects (that's us) are exposed to all of their (our) lives; you know, the myths about all the freedoms we enjoy as Americans living in an exceptional country. So, what's a ruling class to do under those circumstances? Well, they have found sure-fire methods to discourage anyone from straying from their capitalist ideology while either writing for, or perusing, the World Wide Web. Read about Hopkins' experience to learn more, and you might find some similarities in your own experience either online or off.

You may also be interested in the growing effort to privatize the internet--the better to (def.) control its content--by reading "'Time to Raise Hell': Internet Defenders Mobilize as FCC Aims to Kill Net Neutrality Within Month".

The Russian Civil War: an international struggle

Click here to access article by Jules Legendre from In Defense of Marxism. (Note: As long as I continue to discover excellent articles on the aftermath of the Russian Revolution, I will post the them.) 

The profound effects of the revolution on the rest of the world only started after the Bolsheviks took power. The capitalist ruling classes throughout the West looked upon this workers state with horror, and from the beginning saw the necessity to crush it. They saw it like a virus that could be spread to workers in their own countries and threaten their rule. In fact, as you will see in succeeding posts, this nightmare for the capitalists shaped most of the subsequent events of the 20th century.

Initially, Lenin seemed to be right when he declared that the civil war phase of the revolution was over and that the Bolsheviks could now concentrate on the peaceful construction of the new regime. But this idea was soon to be shattered by events.

Whereas the anti-communist counter-revolution – also known as the White movement, as opposed to the Reds – was militarily and politically defeated, its leaders who were living on the country's borders received enormous military assistance from the great imperialist powers of the time. This started already in the early days of 1918. White units were equipped with high-tech weaponry, such as tanks and planes: all things that were lacking to the young Soviet republic.

A People’s History of the Russian Revolution pits new scholarship vs. Mainstream Media [part 1 of 5]

Click here to access article by the Iranian-American Ramin Mazaheri posted on The Greanville Post. (This is part 1 of 5 articles that will be posted. It is likely that I will re-post all of them by this excellent political analyst who tells it like it really is--no euphemisms like "market economy" or "Wall Street" for the real thing (capitalism).

It occurred to me this morning that there is another war going on that you may not be aware of. It is a war for your mind, that is, for the control of your mind about all things political. The capitalist US-led Empire is under siege by the new technologies of the Information Age, and the war is being fought over your allegiance to both the Empire and capitalism, the ideological foundation of the Empire. Being aware of this war should encourage you to take much greater care on what to believe about the world you live in. I hope this website and this post contributes to that process.

This series of posts, which is based on new book entitled A People’s History of the Russian Revolution by Neil Faulkner, promises to offer you a much better understanding of the realities and the significance of the 1917 Russian Revolution which has had such a profound impact on subsequent world events. The book, and I think this series, presents a very different view of the revolution that you may be getting from mainstream media or what you were taught in schools.

... on the book’s very first page the author describes the formula of any successful popular revolution, just like the Iranian Revolution of 1979: “In essence, the Russian Revolution was an explosion of democracy and activity from below.”

Mainstream media and all bourgeois (US/West European) democracies have no interest in such explosions, and it is for this reason that they purposely distort not just the 1917 Russian Revolution but all anti-capitalist, pro-socialist, and anti-imperialist cultures. And they always will, because that is the only way they can try to preserve their status quo dominance.

‘The Atlantic’ Commits Malpractice, Selectively Edits To Smear WikiLeaks

Click here to access article by Caitlin Johnstone from The Greanville Post.

Everyone was buzzing about the shocking, bombshell new report by The Atlantic yesterday, which revealed that Donald Trump Jr. and the WikiLeaks Twitter account had engaged in a “largely one-sided” conversation in private messages over the course of several months.

Don Jr. actually comes off looking fairly normal in the report, while WikiLeaks comes off looking weird and sleazy in a way that will likely damage its reputation even further than the mainstream media campaign to smear the outlet already has. 

The author explains how a major capitalist publication manufactured a smear against one of the world's greatest sources of exposures of Empire lies and secrets. Julia Ioffe can expect a "brilliant" and well-paid career ahead of her as a propaganda specialist for media corporations. 

Reforms, Freedoms, Maidan: The Recycled Lexicon of Victoria Nuland's Successor

Click here to access article by Ollie Richardson from Stalker Zone. 

In this article you will learn about how well-indoctrinated US government sociopaths, accompanied by bodyguards, pay phony respects to a monument that they, and their associates, helped to erect in Ukraine. But first, if you are a bit hazy about the history of US interference in Ukraine's affairs, you should see this and this. Then if you are totally clueless about the US interference in their affairs which brought about the establishment of an overt fascist government, you can click on the category "Ukraine" (on the lower right-hand side) to find out more.

Pride, Pain and War

Click here to access poem that was written by Michael John Pike (Spike the Poet) who reads his poem in a video posted by BSNews (Britain).  

Spike is a former [British] soldier, now a poet and peace activist. Once his experiences drove him on a path to self destruction. But through poetry, he has found an outlet. He is now a performance poet and speaker where he attacks the establishment that thrives on war. He is polemic and unswerving in his damning condemnation of the war machine.

It seems to me that many combat veterans like Spike could benefit psychologically by engaging in anti-war and anti-establishment activities that a genuine revolutionary movement could provide for them. The challenge to return such veterans to civilian life is monumental, but mainly the ruling class has taken this challenge by keeping damaged veterans in ideologically controlled "therapy" sessions. In other words, the veterans are lied to by the ruling class to sign up for such killing activities and they lie to them again when they return damaged in body and soul to civilian life by portraying them as heroes, people who have "sacrificed" for some noble cause. It seems to me that a real healing, a real return to psychological health could be provided by a revolutionary movement that would engage these wounded people in activities that would serve to undermine the power of their real enemies: the ruling capitalist class.

Richard Linklater’s Last Flag Flying: The great pressure on artists to pull their punches

Click here to access article by David Walsh from World Socialist Web Site.

...the film (like Ponicsan’s novel [on which it was based] sharply pulls its punches. Given the scale of the crimes involved, millions dead in Vietnam, millions more in the Middle East, the threat of even more horrifying wars… Last Flag Flying hardly begins to come to terms with things. It’s not much more than a mild rebuke.

Too many elements undermine what could have been a much stronger, fiercer work.

In my opinion David Walsh is the best American film reviewer by far, and he certainly demonstrates his skill and moral conscience in this review. I was sad to learn that the film, which Walsh faulted for its obvious suppression of dissent about two of our many wars, was directed by Richard Linklater whose films I've often admired. 

It's clear in the present ideological environment that no one could make a stronger anti-war film that exposed the lies of our ruling class's government. Thus, the film serves as another illustration of the role that Hollywood plays to sell supportive ideological propaganda to brainwash the American people. As Walsh suggests, the ideological climate today is much worse than it was in the early 1970s--which was far from good.

To oppose that [US military establishment] consciously and resolutely, to suggest that the US military is not, in the end, an “honorable” and “patriotic” institution, but a sinister and murderous one, will bring down upon the filmmaker denunciations and threaten his or her career, perhaps his or her life.

What’s China up to in Syria? Economic realpolitik, basically

Click here to access article by Fadi Esber from Asia Times.

Syria's reconstruction will cost hundreds of billions of dollars. China is being clever about getting its share of the pie

Notice how the author frames the economic policies of China in regard to the rebuilding of Syria: it's merely economic realism. That is the only way that this capitalist oriented website can interpret China's policies in Syria so that capitalist indoctrinated people can understand it. The title and especially the above subtitle of this post suggest a rather cynical motivation behind China's policies--it's good for Chinese business. Yes, it is good for Chinese business, but it is also very good for Syria. This is another illustration of the win-win philosophy that informs the policies of China's Communist Party which is in stark contrast to the Empire's (see my commentary here).

Abby Martin Exposes Untold History of U.S. Empire

The following video from a YouTube channel called the Empire Files features two of my favorite people who discuss the gross disinformation and propaganda disseminated by media corporations. Thus I am offering this post as a red pill (The Matrix) that you can take to maintain your (as well as my) sanity and grasp of reality. I think that the post would be better entitled as "Abby Martin and Jimmy Dore discuss the deplorable state of corporate news and other political matters".

Bombshell Report Confirms US Coalition Struck A Deal With ISIS

Click here to access article by Tyler Durden from ZeroHedge.

Durden concludes the article with this perceptive statement:

So it appears that the US allowed ISIS terrorists to freely leave areas under coalition control, according to no less than the BBC, while at the same time attempting to make the case before the public that a permanent Pentagon presence is needed in case of ISIS' return. But it’s a familiar pattern by now: yesterday's proxies become today's terrorists, which return to being proxies again, all as part of justifying permanent US military presence on another nation's sovereign territory.

America's Syrian adventure went from public declarations of “we’re staying out” to “just some logistical aid to rebels” to “okay, some mere light arms to fight the evil dictator” to “well, a few anti-tank missiles wouldn’t hurt” to “we gotta bomb the new super-bad terror group that emerged!” to “ah but no boots on the ground!” to “alright kinetic strikes as a deterrent” to “but special forces aren’t really boots on the ground per se, right?” to yesterday's Mattis declaration of an open-ended commitment. And on and on it goes.

Colin Kaepernick Is Righter Than You Know: The National Anthem Is a Celebration of Slavery

Click here to access article by Jon Schwarz from The Intercept.  (Updated with more commentary at 11 PM Seattle time.)

Strange, but I've never heard of this verse, or heard it sung. So, I googled it, and sure enough Kaepernick is right! Now I will forever associate that verse with the national anthem.

Almost no one seems to be aware that even if the U.S. were a perfect country today, it would be bizarre to expect African-American players to stand for “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Why? Because it literally celebrates the murder of African-Americans.

Few people know this because we only ever sing the first verse. But read the end of the third verse and you’ll see why “The Star-Spangled Banner” is not just a musical atrocity, it’s an intellectual and moral one, too.

Francis Scott Key, the author of "our" national anthem, was obviously from well-heeled and well-educated British stock who saw the US has any opportunist bourgeois of the era saw it: splendid opportunities to grow rich by plundering the American continent. And he apparently unconsciously accepted the Marxist axiom that all value comes from labor by casually accepting the use of human property to create value for this new class of capitalists. The latter just needed workers to work for them to help them plunder and clear the continent of those "savages" who were living there. They couldn't get enough workers from Europe to immigrate, so they captured, imported, purchased, and used Africans to produce their wealth. 

Meanwhile, the British tried to undermine the economy of the USA by offering slaves freedom if they could make it to their Canadian colony. What treachery! Those British scoundrels who taught Americans to believe in the sanctity of property were trying to steal American property!

Recommended articles for 11/13/2017

The Arctic Silk Road: A Huge Leap Forward for China and Russia by Federico Pieraccini from Strategic Culture Foundation.

In this article he not only provides information about the new Arctic Silk Road project, but provides a sort of progress report on the other aspects of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the reasons why China and Russia are pushing it. The BRI is a global network transportation system using high speed rails and sea lanes.

Saudi Arabia Begins System Reform by Petr Lvov from New Eastern Outlook. 

Speculations are heating up everywhere as to the significance of this happening and the eventual outcomes. Pepe Escobar recently reported:

The Saudi “anti-corruption” crackdown led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), which initially netted 11 princes and a few dozen ministers and former ministers, has caught up with hundreds of businessmen, who are being detained in the luxurious Ritz Carlton and other hotels in Riyadh. The Wall Street Journal reports the Crown Prince is targeting an astonishing $800 BILLION in assets believed to be held in 1,700 frozen bank accounts.

In this report by Lvov he goes into considerable detail in some places. For example, about the inter-clan politics and feuds, which boggled my mind and I skipped over most of it to find what interested me. There certainly is little coverage provided by Western media.

There is no escape for the Saudis in any case – in the regional rivalry with Iran, they will almost certainly lose in the current situation precisely because of their obsolescence, inflexibility and deadlock in development. With today’s developments, it will be increasingly difficult for Saudi Arabia to compete with Iran, and the internal problems caused by the artificial inhibition of the development of society are already excessive. In a sense, Wahhabism is re-experiencing the fate of Soviet ideology. Wahhabism also inhibits development. However, the main thing is that it does not respond to contemporary challenges at all, and the niche is beginning to fill with ideas that are far divorced from the Saudi interests. Here, the Islamic state for the lower classes, and the shine of Western liberalism for the upper strata, the contradictions are mounting, and will inevitably tear apart the Saudi society if it does not offer a different alternative that suits the majority. The question is, can this young and ambitious Mohammad [Defense Minister and heir to the throne, Mohammad Bin Salman] pull all these strings into place?

China and the US: Rational Planning and “Lumpen” Capitalism

Click here to access article by James Petras from Dissident Voice. 

Mired down in gossip, idle speculation and petty denigration of its leaders, the Western press has once again failed to take account of the world-historical changes which are currently taking place in China and throughout the world.

World historical changes, as articulated by Chinese President Xi Jinping, are present in the vision, strategy and program of the Congress. These are based on a rigorous survey of China’s past, present and future accomplishments.

The serious purpose, projections and the presence of China’s President stand in stark contrast to the chaos, rabble-rousing demagogy and slanders characterizing the multi-billion dollar US Presidential campaign and its shameful aftermath.

The retired sociology professor contrasts China's activities with US's activities along a number of indices such as economic planning, economic development, dealing with corruption, military, innovation, imperialism and subversion, etc., and measures the results in terms of economic growth. We are a distant number two along any and all of these indices from a positive perspective. 

I think that this is because the Chinese Communist Party which is in control of strategic planning and the overall government remains largely uncorrupted by the growing wealth and number of capitalists in China's economy. I have long feared that the latter would thoroughly corrupt the Communist Party and wrest control of China away from them, but there are few indications that is happening. From all appearances the Chinese Communist Party have under Deng's influence (starting in the late 1970s) demonstrated a strikingly different philosophical orientation from that of Western Capitalism. I am referring to his "win-win" policy, which is continuing under President Xi Jinping, that seeks harmony in relations with others by ensuring that most parties to any economic activity win, that is, achieve mainly what they want.

Thus the Chinese offered their cheap labor as an incentive to capitalists around the world to attain the high profits they desired while the Chinese benefited from the technology that these corporations brought to China. They have learned well and are now leading the way in many technological advancements.

Guiding these actions is the Chinese Communist Party which plans, measures outcomes, and implements corrective actions to ensure that they reach planning goals that offers benefits to China--as a nation, not as a Chinese ruling class--as well as foreign capitalists. Western capitalism has been guided by a zero-sum model in which participants are pitted against each other for a major share of the economic and political pie. 

This winner-loser orientation preceded capitalism and has plagued societies since the beginning of civilization roughly 10,000 years ago. However capitalism fitted well with this conflict model by producing winners and losers guided by the chaotic "invisible hand" of the market. Western capitalism has viewed the concentration of wealth for ruling classes as the ultimate weapon which they saw as useful in conflicts with workers, other capitalists, and other nations. Hence, the history of capitalism has been largely a history of class conflict, wars, and imperialism.