in the time remaining, to help us understand how the man-made system of capitalism will lead to the extinction of our human species, and so many others.
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 LappĂ©, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up
Saturday, January 16, 2016
Ultra-Rich 'Philanthrocapitalist' Class Undermining Global Democracy: Report
Lazare reviews a recent study by Global Policy Forum which concludes that the increasing influence of the rich via charitable organizations is having a huge impact on government policies at all levels.
It is widely known that the rich are getting richer and the poor poorer, but it is less well known that the rich have always used their money-power to get rich with the result that they have always had a disproportionate effect on public governing bodies. It's almost obscure knowledge that their system of capitalism with its enshrinement of private ownership of economic enterprise has accelerated the wealth of a few at the expense of the many. This is the reason behind what we see today all around us: a most dramatic phenomenon of extreme inequality and so many problems associated with that reality: wars, rampant crime, huge number of refugees fleeing from war ravaged areas, poverty, huge prison populations, ignorance, etc.
Some have speculated on the motives of the rich and their use of charitable foundations. They range all the way from guilt expiation, to trying to "do good", to tax write-offs, to imposing their capitalist values and methods on the rest of us, or some combination of these motives. What is so clear from the study is that this trend is undermining any pretenses about democratic governing processes. But then, it was never a reality anyhow. So I think this trend could be good if it awakens enough people to change the anti-social, anti-nature system of capitalism into an economic system that can sustain humans with a reasonable amount of dignity and equality and a natural environment that can sustain human life.
Dying to Forget: Oil, Power, Palestine and the Foundations of U.S. Policy in the Middle East – Book Review
In her new book Gendzier has uncovered many unknown facts about US support of Israel following its establishment. For example:
...once the Truman administration determined that Israel would become a strategic U.S. ally, Gendzier notes that it adopted a policy to defer to Israel in matters related to the Palestinians. As early as July 1, 1948, Philip Jessup, the U.S. special delegate to the UN, had argued the case for withholding U.S. pressure on Israel due to its strategic importance and its “strong military position” which was “more than a match for most of Arab states put together.” ...he also stated: “‘From the strategic viewpoint we assume that Palestine, together with the neighboring countries is a major factor presumably in any future major conflict this region would be of vital importance to US as a potential base area and with respect to our lines of communication. Presumably also the oil resources of the area are considered vital.’” As a result Jessup argued for not pressuring Israel regarding the return of refugees.
This realignment came about even though U.S. officials were increasingly aware of Zionist aims in Palestine.
Colonialism Never Died: Puerto Rico's Economic Crisis Made in the USA
Following a brief history of the island and its resistance to US colonialism, Haiphong examines the impoverishment of the island as result of privatization and other capitalist policies.
...colonialism was never truly eradicated from the global picture. African revolutionary Kwame Nkrumah fathered the theory of neo-colonialism to explain this phenomenon. Nkrumah described neo-colonialism as a form of indirect, but no less exploitative, form of colonial domination where a native ruling class administers the plunder of a country on behalf of the former colonizer. One country, Puerto Rico, has remained a colony of the US imperial state.
Today, the people of Puerto Rico are facing a devastating economic crisis made in the USA. To understand the crisis in Puerto Rico, we must look into its root causes.
Why would anyone celebrate the "joy" of war?
Well, maybe "defense" contractors. They seem to be whooping it up and partying like there is no tomorrow. But then military spending creates jobs, doesn't it?! So, I guess it's okay. (sarcasm)
It seems that Canadian arms dealers are happy too. You might want to follow up this bit of satire with a piece entitled "Canada Condemns Saudi Executions, But Arms Sales Speak Louder Than Words".
Capital accumulation
Keynes back in the 1930s tried to reform the capitalist system through re-distributive government policies. Little did he realize that capitalists would have nothing to do with such policies--they wanted it all for themselves--and they proceeded as always to shape the government to serve their needs. Thus the government became entirely as we see today: their government.
But enough of Ruccio who as a professor must not annoy his capitalist masters too much or else join the line at the unemployment office. I want to direct your attention to this political cartoon and its real source at the Capital Drawing Group in London. This group of four cartoonists have drawn numerous cartoons to illustrate various themes about capitalism based on Marx's writings.
The cartoon below illustrates "The General Law of Capitalist Accumulation" as a monster of devouring workers for the wealth benefit of the capitalist pocket shown at the top.
Friday, January 15, 2016
Anthropocene Working Group: Yes, a new epoch has begun
Repeatedly, over hundreds of thousands of years, glaciers expanded south and north from the polar regions, covering much of the Earth with ice sheets several kilometres deep. Twelve thousand years ago, the Earth warmed and the ice retreated — the relatively warm and stable time since then is known to geologists as the Holocene epoch. It’s the time when agriculture was invented and all great human civilizations were formed. Holocene conditions, as Johan Rockström of the Stockholm Resilience Center likes to say, are the only ones in which we know for sure that humans can survive and prosper.
Is the Holocene now over? Has human activity changed the Earth System so much that a new epoch has begun? Are we now in the Anthropocene?
Are US academics who cite WikiLeaks blackballed?
Although the author doesn't offer any final answer to the question posed in the headline, but he provides numerous pieces of evidence that indicate the affirmative.
My own position based partly on my experience at a university and the reading of the experience of others (sources like Disciplined Minds by Jeff Schmidt) clearly and emphatically answers this and a more general question in the affirmative: does US academia act to discourage anti-capitalist ideas or anti-Empire material? This is one part of my theory that the ruling capitalist class has infiltrated their ideologists in every sector of society: mainstream media, entertainment, education, and most of all in the political institutions of the nation.
Jakarta Blasts: ISIS Inc Strikes Again
Cartalucci advances a theory to explain why all the terrorist events are happening in so many areas of the world. I think it makes much more sense than the propaganda put forward by Empire media.
Thursday, January 14, 2016
Thoughts on Rojava: an interview with Janet Biehl
The interviewer, Omrani, asked various questions that were designed to get Biehl's opinion as to how much conformity there was in the actual decision-making operations as practiced by the people in Rojava with the ideology of Bookchin's bottom-up political ideology.
Specifically to Bookchin, the institutions of democratic self-government that they described corresponded to much of what he had envisioned (under the name libertarian municipalism). At the base of democratic confederalism is the citizens’ assembly (in Bookchin) or commune (in Rojava). The commune sends delegates to the confederal council at the neighborhood level, and the neighborhood council sends delegates to the district, and the district to the canton. In this multi-tiered structure, as Bookchin described it, power is to flow from the bottom up.Although Biehl's observations were interesting, I finished reading the interview without any conclusive answers. And I think one should not expect any conclusive answers at this point in time.
Has the vision become real?
One part of the interview compared the historical experience of the Russians during their revolution and their subsequent war with the West which supported factions that were inclined to capitalism (the White armies).
People in Rojava seemed very aware of the danger that a bottom-up system can turn into a top-down system. That’s what happened, after all, in Russia. In 1917, the multi-tiered system of soviets, or councils, all over Russia, was originally supposed to carry power from the base to the summit. But once the Bolsheviks came to power, they were able to use those very institutions as conduits for top-down power, indeed for totalitarian domination.Essentially this question dealt with the question whether such a bottom-up political apparatus could survive particularly in a wartime situation. The specific Russian experience and the latter general question has always intrigued me. My studies of various writings particularly by Trotsky, who commanded the Red Army, and Isaac Deutscher, who studied and wrote about the revolution extensively, caused me to reach a tentative conclusion about what went wrong with the Russian Revolution.
Trotsky and others both in the Bolshevik party and outside did not question the authoritarian structure of a military command once the war began in earnest. Thus they readily adopted it. After the Bolsheviks won the war, they relied on this structure to defend the revolution from all the problems they faced after victory: widespread famine, poor crops, epidemics, destroyed infrastructure, etc. Then it was only a matter of time when the top-down command structure completely replaced any independent power of the Soviets. People such as Stalin, who were particularly susceptible to the addictive power of control and domination (like people predisposed to alcoholism are particularly susceptible to alcohol), took over the command structures of the Communist Party and the Soviet Union.
This always led me to the following questions. Could the Russian Revolution have succeeded if they had adopted a bottom-up command structure to prosecute the war against the White and Western capitalist armies? Given that wartime conditions often see people supporting a tight and efficient command structure, how can a people suddenly dismantle a military command structure and foster a bottom-up political structure after the war is won?
Of course the Communist party leaders always explained the success of the revolution depended upon the revolution immediately spreading to other advanced capitalist countries, especially to Germany, and when this did not happen, deterioration of communist practice was inevitable.
CIA: Undermining and Nazifying Ukraine Since 1953
Madsen has gleaned through some recently released CIA documents (heavily redacted, of course) to discover that various operations under their control have been going on since at least 1953. This corresponds with other information that has been uncovered regarding the efforts of the nascent Empire using both soft weapons of propaganda as is described in this article and more terrorist type organizations such as Gladio (example, Operation Gladio--see this and this) which was used to rig elections, infiltrate, and crush leftist organizations and unions all over Europe and nearby areas.
Although he does not furnish any references for his analysis, I have long held this independent journalist as one of the best. No one is infallible and above criticism, but I consider Madsen as one of the most reliable and qualified sources of information and analysis regarding government secrecy. I've only found very minor errors such as his claim that Asst. Sec. Victoria Nuland spoke to Congress about the $5 billion dollar support of subversive efforts in Ukraine. I've been able to find that she only made this claim to the National Press Club (7:42m).
Climate Holism vs. Climate Reductionism
Heinberg apparently thinks that our capitalist masters are stupid rather than desperate in their actions to support their addiction to power and wealth with which their system supplies them so abundantly. According to him, our masters are guilty of reductionist thinking.
The reductionist mindset is relentless: if one technofix leads to a problem, surely there will be a technofix for that too. Some habitual practitioners of reductionism do realize that their proposed tactics merely buy time before the next crisis hits, but they see no realistic alternative. Still, each new increment of time seems more expensive than the previous one.Actually he doesn't see capitalist masters at all. He separates the economic system ("Wall Street") from government and labor. Apparently "holistic" thinking doesn't apply to capitalism. (sarcasm)
The lure of the technofix is that we won’t have to fundamentally change our behavior. We can go on extracting resources, using energy, and making money, all at an ever-accelerating pace. Wall Street is happy, government is happy, workers are happy. Here’s the thing: this line of action cannot solve the cascading complex of crises that will hammer civilization to bits during the remainder of this century. Until we start thinking holistically and alter our systemic behavior, we are locked into a trajectory that leads inevitably to a chain of mutually reinforcing planetary breakdowns that start with droughts and superstorms and won’t end until everything we hold dear is either destroyed or rendered meaningless.
Wednesday, January 13, 2016
Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman has Western leaders very worried
If Rupert Murdoch's staff at their lead online news site in Australia says that the West (aka "The Empire") is worried, then I think its safe to assume that it's quite true.
HE’S just 30 years old and could soon be one of the most powerful people in the Arab world — and that’s probably not a good thing.While the US Empire directorate may be "worried" about the new Saudi leadership that they have been publicly supporting, the French geopolitical analyst, Thierry Meyssan, has an interesting conspiracy theory about how they may have hidden motives behind their support in an article entitled "Towards the collapse of Saudi Arabia".
The new, 80-year-old king of Saudi Arabia, who suffers from dementia, has been criticised since taking the throne last January for his bloodthirsty style as ruler. But it’s his favourite son who has the Western world really worried.
Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is considered the likely successor of his ageing father.
He is currently the gulf kingdom’s defence minister and has been privately criticised for his dangerous geopolitical gambles in the region as Saudi Arabia plays out proxy wars in both Syria and Yemen.
Another article about the current political situation in Saudi Arabia from what appears to be a solid independent source is this piece entitled "Paul Aarts and Carolien Roelants, Saudi Arabia: A Kingdom in Peril". It is an interview with the authors about their new book.
US Role as State Sponsor of Terrorism Implied in US Congressional Research Service Report on Syria Conflict
Written in October 2015, the report was prepared by the Congressional Research Service, an arm of the United States Library of Congress. The Congressional Research Service provides policy and legal analysis to committees and members of the US House and Senate.
Titled “Armed Conflict in Syria: Overview and US Response,” the report reveals....
Tuesday, January 12, 2016
Russia Breaking Wall St Oil Price Monopoly
The sale of oil denominated in dollars is essential for the support of the US dollar. In turn, maintaining demand for dollars by world central banks for their currency reserves to back foreign trade of countries like China, Japan or Germany, is essential if the United States dollar is to remain the leading world reserve currency. That status as world’s leading reserve currency is one of two pillars of American hegemony since the end of World War II. The second pillar is world military supremacy.However Engdahl finishes his essay by suggesting that this will be good for world peace!
Because all other nations need to acquire dollars to buy imports of oil and most other commodities, a country such as Russia or China typically invests the trade surplus dollars its companies earn in the form of US government bonds or similar US government securities. The only other candidate large enough, the Euro, since the 2010 Greek crisis, is seen as more risky.
That leading reserve role of the US dollar, since August 1971 when the dollar broke from gold-backing, has essentially allowed the US Government to run seemingly endless budget deficits without having to worry about rising interest rates, like having a permanent overdraft credit at your bank.
Step-by-step, Russia, China and other emerging economies are taking measures to lessen their dependency on the US dollar, to “de-dollarize.” Oil is the world’s largest traded commodity and it is almost entirely priced in dollars. Were that to end, the ability of the US military industrial complex to wage wars without end would be in deep trouble.I have long argued that wealth and, especially under capitalism, its associated drug of power has taken hold of the Empire's ruling class in the form of an addiction. I really mean this literally, not rhetorically!
Perhaps that would open some doors to more peaceful ideas such as spending US taxpayer dollars on rebuilding the horrendous deterioration of basic USA economic infrastructure.
So, you know what often results when an opium addict or alcoholic can no longer afford their drugs? Often this results in more violence and criminal activities perpetrated by the addicts to secure money to buy their drugs. This has been the history of capitalist nations for several hundred years during colonialism and nowadays in neocolonialism and neoliberalism. The main difference, and a very dangerous one, is that most of the major nations today have nuclear weapons to fight each other with. I don't see how Engdahl can be so sanguine about the future.
The only peaceful future is one that we ordinary people must secure for ourselves by ending the rule of capitalists and their destructive, unsustainable system. There is simply no other alternative.
(Note: For more background on the petrodollar you might be interested in reading this and this.)
Avaaz: The Online Pro-War Propagandist And Color Revolution NGO
I have posted numerous articles on Avaaz in the past (see this, this, this, this, and this), but I still think that this organization needs more light shed on it. Organizations like Avaaz have often been used in "color revolutions" to destabilize countries that refuse to follow orders from the US Empire or to gain a more friendly ally. And such organizations also are meant to seduce well-meaning liberals and leftists to work for them by their appeals to human rights, democracy, and freedom.
Avaaz is, indeed, part of the color revolution apparatus, having apparently received funds from George Soros’ Open Society Foundation to start up in 2007. Avaaz was founded by Res Publica and Moveon.org, both Soros-funded organizations that attempt to co-opt the American left into supporting ideas and campaigns closely associated with the communitarian foundation oligarchs.
How Corrupt the U.S. Is: An Extraordinary Example
...for imprisonments, the U.S. really does have no close second: it’s the unquestionable global market-leader, for prisons and prisoners.Historian Zuesse examines one significance aspect that law-breaking has regarding the legitimacy of a nation's governance.
...by definition, people are presumed to be in prison for law-breaking, irrespective of whether the given nation’s laws are just — and, if they’re not just, then this fact reflects even more strongly that the nation itself is corrupt. So: a high incarceration-rate does strongly tend to go along with a nation’s being highly corrupt, in more than merely a technical sense — it’s almost more like being the definitive measure of “corruption.” So, the correlation between incarceration rates and corruption must be assumed to be high, and any measure of corruption which fails to at least include countries’ incarceration rates should be rejected.
Another myth busted
Access to capital is by far the biggest factor in producing an individual's wealth under capitalism.
Monday, January 11, 2016
Divergence at the top in the U.S.
Ruccio supplies data to show that there really is a core .01% that is concentrating wealth (and power) in their hands.
Voting Is for Chumps: Veteran Congressional Staffer Says 'Deep State' Already Controls America
This is an illustration of the phenomenon about the rising discussion of the "deep state" or "shadow government" in American discourse, especially in alternative blogs. In general I think it is also an illustration of an attempt at damage control by our masters to prevent radical consequences that such an awareness could bring about. This time the damage controller is surprisingly an editor of Russia Insider.
I'm referring to Waggaman's use of quotes toward the end of the article from an interview by the former Congressional staffer so that we don't reach any "wrong" conclusions. Essentially the former Congressional staffer, Lofgren, asserts that it, the "deep state", doesn't qualify as a conspiracy because it is all done in the open; and that we, the people, already know who runs the US. Yes, Lofgren trots out the old "blame the victim" trick to provide cover for the real deep state, and then Waggaman ends with a joke so that we don't get into a tizzy about it all.
However I'm not sure about Waggaman's point. As always with my commentaries, you must decide.



