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

Wednesday, December 25, 2019

Sanctions, Security and the Nord Stream 2 Pipeline

Click here to access article by Binoy Kampmark from OffGuardian

This is huge. And I think it is the beginning of the end for the US/Anglo/Zionist Empire. European politicos are logically adamant about securing cheaper energy from Russia to fuel its profit-making industries, and they don't mind smacking the Empire (see this and this) to secure this energy. US sanctions against Europe will only increase the independence of Europe from the core Empire which includes Britain. I also think that Eric Zuesse is correct when he argues that "UK’s Tory Victory Likely to Bind U.S. & UK against Europe & Asia". 

However I can't go along with his elaborate argument that racism which is in the history of the Britain Empire accounts for this. Zuesse is a social-democrat and must find a way to justify this turn of events--see his remarks related to his statement "That’s not what capitalism was supposed to be". Racism was very prevalent around the turn of the century till late 1930s. But it has been diminishing in the post-war era as a useful divide and conquer weapon of the Empire's capitalist ruling classes (against workers) as color minorities have increased in population (customers) throughout the Empire. Anti-immigrant sentiment is now used in place of racism or as a substitute for racism.

So, what comes next? Either the Empire will execute an all-out attack against Russia, China, and Iran or the Earth's habitat will no longer support human life, or both. We ordinary people are "screwed" one way or another.