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, January 12, 2022

Posts that I especially recommend for Wednesday, January 12, 2022

As of now, the province is looking to make this financial penalty “significant” claiming that something like $50 or $100 is not significant enough. However there is no estimation of what the cost will be as of yet.
 
[Premier] Legault also stated that “the vaccine is the key to fight the virus,” a common talking point used by politicians and health authorities that is not backed up by science. Mounting evidence continues to indicate that the vaccine does not prevent COVID-19 transmission and is not necessary for younger individuals as their rates of severe disease are extremely small. This means by blanket mandating vaccines and boosters, many people’s lives are unnecessarily being put at risk.
But before we begin talking about that, Professor Hudson, another reason I wanted to have you today is to talk about a big story that went viral. It was just published, and it’s on the website Wall Street on Parade. It went so viral that the website actually went down, because it was being shared so much.

This is an article just published at Wall Street on Parade. I have it up in the archive because the website is down. And the article is titled, There’s a News Blackout on the Fed’s Naming of the Banks that Got Its Emergency Repo Loans; Some Journalists Appear to Be Under Gag Orders. And this is by Pam Martens and Russ Martens, published on January 3.
 
(Note: I posted this article from Wall Street on Parade on Jan. 4, 2022--second from the bottom.)
 
My reaction: The moral of this (short) story is "go to the source of this issue" (the critiques of Wall Street contained in Wall Street on Parade's weblog rather than read this lengthy transcript. The only reason for this interview is because of Hudson's publication of Super Imperialism (back in 1972) after which he attracted many leftist critics. Since then, Hudson has played it safe (def.) mostly to preserve his career at the University of Missouri.
The populist left has slowly understood that the institutions and networks of power that rule over us are systematically corrupt, and that they will continue on the current ecocidal path to maintain their power. This left is internally divided – and largely ineffective – because it cannot agree on whether the remedy is to be more assertive in seeking reform or to work towards overthrowing the corrupt system. 
 
But soon he gives another related insight to the title of this post:
 
Those who try to open up a little space – in politics, academia, and journalism – to think critically about our society and how power is misused are the chief targets. Western establishments have grown increasingly concerned about the expansion of popular freedoms that arrived with social media a decade or so ago, which have allowed us to analyze and critique elite interests and strategies. This has posed a very obvious threat to the establishment’s continuing ability to propagandize us and has led to far more unpredictable and unstable social and political landscapes.

Our increased ability to bypass corporate, billionaire-owned media has led to inevitable polarization. We have seen the emergence of three antagonistic tribes, based largely on the way each consumes media. 
High-level international banking officials and organizations last month gathered in Israel for a global “war game” exercise simulating the collapse of the global financial system.

The tabletop exercise was reminiscent of “Event 201” — the pandemic simulation exercise that took place in October 2019, shortly before COVID-19 entered the global scene.
The breakdown of the messy Kazakh op necessarily starts with the usual suspects: the US Deep State, which all but “sang” its strategy in a 2019 RAND corporation report, Extending Russia. Chapter 4, on “geopolitical measures”, details everything from “providing lethal aid to Ukraine”, “promoting regime change in Belarus”, and “increasing support for Syrian rebels” – all major fails – to “reducing Russian influence in Central Asia.”

That was the master concept. Implementation fell to the MI6-Turk connection.
 
Escobar's final sentence is: "Beware the rage of a humiliated Empire."
  • The Straight Gas on Kazakhstan’s Recent Upheaval by Phil Butler from New Eastern Outlook. My reaction: Butler provides initial evidence that subversive agents were behind the chaos in Kazackhstan. I've found throughout foreign events since WWII that when major US "news" outlets initially interpret foreign events in one way before the "dust has settled", it is a sure sign of US involvement behind the events.
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