Obama Requests Funding for Venezuelan Opposition in 2012 Budget

by Eva Golinger from Venezuelanalysis. 

Although she focuses on US tax money to fund the destabilization of her native country, Venezuela, the same observations about funding also applies to many other nations of the world where the US (read "US ruling class") has interests. Such funding has resulted in so many repressive autocratic regimes like the ones in North Africa and the Middle East that their citizens are fighting against.

Included in the whopping $3.7 trillion request is over $670 billion for the Pentagon's ever-increasing annual budget, nearly $75 billion for the intelligence community and $55.7 billion for the State Department and the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

The funds that go to the CIA, USAID, and a considerable portion of the Pentagon's budget is for the sole purpose of promoting, and safeguarding the profits of global capitalists. The reason that the US runs such huge deficits is because the US ruling class refuses to tax itself to pay for these expenses; instead they make the US government, which they essentially own, borrow the money from the Fed, which they own, and whoever else that will buy US Treasury paper--China, Japan, etc.
Thus, taxes have to be bled disproportionately from working people.  

With the economy in shambles, mostly because of the reckless gambling of banksters and other capitalists, many working people are now unemployed and therefore tax revenues are reduced. The solution that the ruling class wants is to slash all public spending that goes to working people. It is now open class warfare, only most working people outside of Wisconsin still don't see it.

This Monetary Reform Bill Will Surely Loosen The Banksters' Bowels

by Gabriel Donohoe from OpEd News.

Great title! Although the bill hasn't the slightest chance of survival, the very idea will be a shock to banksters. I'm curious to see how much Ron Paul and other libertarians support the bill.

Kucinich's Bill, if enacted as written, would take the power of money creation away from the banksters and return it to Congress as the Founding Fathers had originally intended. And in no time, the National Debt would be fully paid off with debt-free, interest-free U.S. Treasury dollars.

Forget about the usual reverence paid to the "Founding Fathers". The latter just hadn't thought up the idea of the Fed at that point in time. They did create a central bank called the Bank of North America by pooling the huge war profits they, and the merchant class, had made off the Revolutionary War, added some foreign loans, and finally, some US Treasury money that they took to supply sufficient funds for their bank. They then made loans to the US Treasury.

Anatomy of Egypt's Revolution Parts 1 and 2

by Esam Al-Amin from CounterPunch. (Part 3 is expected soon.)

We activists have much to learn from the experience of the brave Egyptians. This series is essential study material.

In Part 1 the author expresses what might be viewed as a contradiction by defining "revolution" correctly as "a successful struggle embraced by the masses that radically alters the existing political, economic, and social order." Then, a little later, writing "Although the declared goals of the Egyptian revolution have yet to be fully realized, its primary goal of overthrowing its dictator was spectacularly achieved within a historically short period of time." And clearly with many other statements the author believes that the revolution is continuing and has great promise to fulfill all of its goals.

Part 1

Decentralized and highly organized leadership: This revolution was not leaderless, but the leaders were not visibly identifiable. They cleverly structured their protests and activities without naming a single group or leader.  Dozens were speaking on behalf of the revolution, communicating the same message. Some identified with the youth, others with the diverse opposition movements, while many were independent. The security apparatus was confused and could not identify the major leaders of the revolution.

Part 2

The organizers took pride in the fact that all decisions of the activities of the revolution were based on mutual consultation and democratic principles. Every organizer and group was given the opportunity to voice his or her opinion and vote.

Thus, a new code, dubbed the “revolutionary ethical code,” was established and recognized by all. It encompasses values such as freedom, justice, equality, democracy, participation, solidarity, honesty, transparency, responsibility, and sacrifice- values, which many people had abandoned before the revolution upon feeling that they had no stake in a society ruled by bullies, thieves, and crooks.

The fall of the West's little dictator

by Esam al-Amin from Harakah Daily (Malaysia). 

Although the author focuses on events in Tunisia, we see the same patterns everywhere in the Middle East and North Africa. He concludes his review of events with some key questions that applies to all these countries:

The verdict on the ultimate success of the Tunisian revolution is still out. Will it be aborted by either infighting or the introduction of illusory changes to absorb the public's anger? Or will real and lasting change be established, enshrined in a new constitution that is based on democratic principles, political freedom, freedoms of press and assembly, independence of the judiciary, respect of human rights, and end of foreign interference?

The revolution is now !

by Jon Newton from P2P Net. 

Quite inspirational, and a link to what appears to be an excellent film: "Zeitgeist: Moving Forward". I have been waiting impatiently for the release of this film, and just decided to buy the DVD.

As I get older I worry — really worry — about the world my daughter and her children might inherit.

You Know Those Obnoxious Posters Who Almost Seem Like Alter Egos Of The Same Person? They Actually Might Be ...

from Washington's Blog. 

Our ruling class government appears to be inclined to use the internet to manage our consent.

Though many questions remain about how the military would apply such technology, the reasonable fear should be perfectly clear. "Persona management software" can be used to manipulate public opinion on key information, such as news reports. An unlimited number of virtual "people" could be marshaled by only a few real individuals, empowering them to create the illusion of consensus.

Egypt Rebels Against Mubarak’s Royal Arrogance

by Jamie Johnson from Vanity Fair. 

My favorite US one-percenter contacts a one-percent pal from a former Egyptian royal family to find out what is happening in Egypt.

Class war in Wisconsin

by Lee Sustar from Socialist Worker. 

This article provides graphic details of the class war as it is being fought on the ground by working people in Wisconsin. 

...the one-sided class war is over. Unions in Wisconsin are fighting back--and they're doing so across union lines that have traditionally divided and weakened them. Around the Capitol, it's common to hear conversations from veteran unionists that they'd never seen anything like this from the labor movement--and they couldn't be happier.

But the struggle is far from over--and despite the powerful mobilizations, victory is by no means assured in Wisconsin. Walker has a Republican majority in both houses of the legislature to rely on if he can get a vote. "If this passes, it's going to be nationwide" said Dahnert, the highway worker. "You're going to see the quality of life go way down."

Asked if that means workers have to be prepared to escalate their action, he said: "I believe that's the only choice we have."

Go Wisconsin Workers and Students! "What's Disgusting? Union Busting!" Chant Wisconsin Crowds

from The Nation via War is a Crime. 

More details in the class war being fought in Wisconsin.

Buses and cars arrived from Illinois and Minnesota and as far away as Kansas, as teachers and public employees from those states showed up at what American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union president Gerald McEntee says is “ground zero“ in the struggle for labor rights in America.

Wisconsin Is a Battleground Against the Billionaire Kochs' Plan to Break Labor's Back

by Adele M. Stan from AlterNet.

Class war is now raging across the world. And finally, here in the US the workers are finally fighting back against the determined efforts of capitalist attack dogs. Encouraged by the passivity of the people following the bailout of the banks, the obscene bonuses taken by banksters, the cutbacks of public services, continued serious unemployment with dim prospects for improvement, the right-wing has launched its attack on unions. This battle in Wisconsin may be pivotal. If they can win there, it will be a major setback for working people in the US, one which they may not recover from.

...the Kochs are determined to make Wisconsin a laboratory of corporate oligarchy. Nationwide, the war on public workers -- and government in general -- is not simply a facet of an ideological notion about the virtues of small government. The war on government is a war against the labor movement, which has much higher rates of union membership in the public sector than it does in the private sector.

Labor is seen by corporate leaders as the last strong line of resistance against the wholesale takeover of government (and your tax dollars) by corporations. So, by this line of thought, labor must die.

International Speculation Culprit in Rising Food Prices

by Umberto Mazzei from Americas Program.

He argues that the current food crisis is fueled by the international food cartels and their ability to control prices, and investor speculation.

International cartels now use their control over the global food supply to make huge profits. There are six major corporations that control the purchase and sale of agricultural products: Cargill, Kraft, Bunge & Born, ADM (Archer Daniels Midland), Nestlé and General Mills. Food prices are set at exchanges in Chicago, New York and London.

For a more thorough explanation of this speculation thesis, view/listen/read this excellent interview [22:15m] on Real News with two economists.

The New Latin American “Progresismo” and the Extractivism of the 21st Century

by Carmelo Ruiz Marrero from Americas Program.

I believe that the author is right on the mark in arguing this thesis:

Unlike in neoliberalism, in the new Latin American “progresismo” or “21st Century Socialism” the state has much more participation in the economy and directs part of the foreign exchange funds into social programs, and also China has replaced the United States as the main importer of raw materials. But little else has changed. Instead of post-extractivism now there is neo-extractivism. Extractive activities and the export of raw materials continue as before, but are now justified with a progressive discourse.

It seems, once again, that the more things change, the more they remain the same. Perhaps this is why the Empire has blunted its attacks on the progressive movements in South America.

U.S. Justice v. the world

by Glenn Greenwald from Salon. 

This former constitutional lawyer argues that law and the US Constitution are only applicable to those outside of the ruling class--something I've argued many times in the past. He uses the case of Jose Padilla, an American citizen, to illustrate one of the most egregious examples of ruling class immunity from the law and Constitution.

If an American citizen can't even sue political officials who lawlessly imprison and torture him in his own country -- if political leaders are vested with immunity from a claim of this type -- what rational person can argue that the rule of law or the Constitution binds our government officials?

Boeing’s Multi-Billion Outsourcing Fiasco

by Yves Smith from Naked Capitalism.

 We’ve repeatedly said that offshoring and outsourcing are often not the big cost-savers that the industry promoting them, Wall Street, and the stenographers among the business press would have you believe.

I live near Seattle and thus I hear a lot about Boeing's problems with cost overruns and delays which the author elaborates in this article. She attributes the cause to "hubris". 

I think that their are two main factors that account for dysfunctional outsourcing: the usual anti-union strategy and to develop support for the military-industrial complex's highly profitable wars. I think that the latter is probably the most important factor to account for the weakened state of anti-war opposition in the US. By spreading the jobs around the county, they build up political constituencies for more war spending. See this. Anti-war campaigns are successfully framed in the media as being anti-jobs. Political support for weapons spending continues even when the military establishment doesn't want particular weapons--see this.

Wave of Strikes Challenges Military

by Cam McGrath from IPS News. 

The current insurrections in the Middle East and North Africa are of critical importance to the Empire. If these popular insurrections result in true popular power, and thus the overthrow of friendly, autocratic allies of the US, then the Empire is in real trouble. And, of course, the leaders of the latter are acutely aware of this. What is unreported is all the behind the scenes activities that they are engaged in to "manage" these insurrections. In any case, in contrast to US liberals, who seem unable to comprehend real people power when it actually starts to happen, I will be following these developments as closely as I can.

The iron fist that has kept a tight grip on Egypt’s labour movements for nearly six decades relaxed this week, unleashing a wave of wildcat strikes that is testing the resolve of the country’s new military rulers.

Is Wisconsin Our Egypt? 15,000 Protest Off-the-Wall Right-Wing Governor's Policies

by Rose Aguilar from AlterNet. 

Having been a resident of Madison, Wisconsin in the late 1960s and early 70s, I became acutely aware of that state's extreme political polarization. Madison, the home of the huge University of Wisconsin, is populated by many people on the left of the political spectrum. 

This "left", of course, must be seen as relative to politics in the US where the political spectrum has moved to the right ever since the days of Senator Joe McCarthy (also from Wisconsin) and the right-wing anti-communist hysterical witch hunts. The latter were an organized attack by right-wing capitalists following WWII against all the gains made by working people in the 1930s. 

The campaign purged all left thinking people from Hollywood, institutions of higher learning, media, government, and labor unions. It was highly successful and resulted in the emergence of the military-industrial complex where government increasingly became directed by private interests operating behind the scenes. Many people saw this development as "friendly fascism". Read The Secret Team by Col.(ret) L. Fletcher Prouty, who saw this happening from the inside, for the details.

At first as I read recent articles like this, I thought that the opposition to the Governor's attacks on state workers was largely confined to liberal Madison and would likely go nowhere. I'm not so sure now.

"I've never seen anything like it. It wasn't just teachers and union members from the University of Wisconsin (UW), where I work. There were Steelworkers, Teamsters, Pipefitters, building trades unions and more--unions I've never seen at a rally in 10 years," he said. "The most amazing thing is when the firefighters came in a delegation. Along with police, Walker has exempted firefighters from the legislation, but they came with signs that said, 'Firefighters for workers' rights.' People were crying."

Join Our Letter To Internet Companies

by Jay Stanley from American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

The ACLU is fighting back against government surveillance of its citizens and their right to know what their government is doing.

A few weeks ago, we all learned that the Justice Department had obtained an order demanding that Twitter turn over private information about several of its users in connection with the government’s investigation of WikiLeaks.

Hillary Hypocrisy? Clinton Calls for Free Speech, while Vet Arrested, Abused Before Her Eyes for Exercising Free Speech

by Kevin Zeese from OpEd News.

During that speech Ray McGovern, a veteran who also served for 27 years as a CIA analyst, exercised his freedom of speech by standing and silently turning his back on Secretary Clinton. He was protesting the ongoing wars, the treatment of Bradley Manning and the militarism of U.S. foreign policy. He did not shout at the Secretary of State or interrupt her speech. He merely stood in silence.

There are few people in the US who know more about the war crimes and human rights abuses of the Empire than Ray McGovern. While the Empire's public relations people such as Hillary Clinton sermonize about civil and human rights abroad, this great clip illustrates how the Empire cannot tolerate the mildest form of dissent at home.


  

Scientists Connect Global Warming To Extreme Rain

by Seth Borenstein from The Huffington Post. 

Two studies in Wednesday's issue of the journal Nature link heavy rains to increases in greenhouse gases more than ever before.

Egyptian army hijacking revolution, activists fear

by Jack Shenker from the Guardian. 

Egypt's revolution is in danger of being hijacked by the army, key political activists have warned, as concrete details of the country's democratic transition period were revealed for the first time.

Egypt's thirst for freedom has intensified, even after Mubarak's exit

by Amira Hass from Haaretz.

Even someone in Zionist Israel can recognize the beauty of the human spirit when the yoke of oppression is lifted off of them. She captures some of this spirit in her article.

It is a rare privilege to experience a time when people feel truly liberated and empowered for the first time in their lives. I experienced this spirit when I visited Nicaragua in 1982 when the spirit was still alive after the people got rid of Somoza and established their own government. It is a spirit that is hard to describe. It is a euphoric high like no drug can produce. Love rules everywhere. You can see this in the faces of the people, in their caring behavior toward each other. 

Unfortunately, this event so far in human history usually lasts only for a short time until the yoke of oppression is placed on them again by a ruling class. Nowadays, it is the capitalists who allegedly "own" our economy, or all the major components of it; and to serve their economy means that the rest of us must become powerless wage slaves.

See also this piece entitled, "Transformed by the Revolution", from Socialist Worker that also captures some of this spirit.

Revolutions are schools of profound self-education. They destroy submission and resignation, and they release long-repressed creative energies--intelligence, solidarity, invention, self-activity. In so doing, they reweave the fabric of everyday life. The horizons of possibility expand. The unthinkable--that ordinary people might control their lives--becomes both thinkable and practical.

 

The Shame of Being an American

by Paul Craig Roberts from Foreign Policy Journal.

The lies continue to be revealed: Lies used to slaughter millions of people in foreign lands, to justify police state methods in our own land (USA), to starve the public sector in order to feed the voracious appetite of the profiteering war machine, and to serve the psychotic fantasies of power mad individuals.

The Mysterious Collapse of World Trade Center 7: Case Far From Closed

by Jeremy R. Hammond from Foreign Policy Journal. 

Scientists, engineers, and architects continue to punch holes in the official explanations for the collapse of the 9/11 buildings. This singular event was used to justify an extremely aggressive foreign policy that has resulted in US attacks on Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan resulting in millions of lives lost, many more disabled people, millions of refugees, and numerous related modes of suffering. 

On the other hand, the invasions have created enormous wealth for weapons and war material contractors, and have resulted in the further weakening of civil rights in the core NATO countries to the point where police state methods are increasingly being used against citizens.

Meanwhile, we continue to find resistance from government officials to address the many discrepancies in the official reports related to the 9/11 phenomenon.

The Truth About the Drug Companies: How They Deceive Us and What to Do About It

a book review by John Hoey, M.D. from Want to Know.

In this book, her most recent, Marcia Angell explores pharmaceutical research, deplores the rapidly expanding involvement (and distortion of truth) of Big Pharma, and implores us all (physicians, patients, politicians) to do something about it. 

See also this piece entitled, "Why Almost Everything You Hear About Medicine Is Wrong". Notice that this capitalist publication carefully avoids connecting the issue of false medicines with profit-obsessed capitalism.

Read this piece entitled, "What Drug Companies are Paying Your Doctor", from Pro Publica. 

Capitalism corrupts everything it touches, and it seems to touch everything. It exploits people, it kills people, it creates wars, and it attacks even the planet's ecological system to the point where climate change is now threatening the human race.

Student-Run Collectives Replace Junk Food Franchises on College Campuses

by Barry from Politics of the Plate.

“It’s really about food sovereignty,” he said. “Students having control over the institutions that serve them food.”

Mass protests spread in Middle East as Washington reassures Israel, Arab dictators

by Bill Van Auken from World socialist Web Site. 

The author reports on the spreading liberation of oppressed people in several countries in the Middle East ruled by US favored puppets.

Netanyahu said on Monday that “an earthquake is shaking the Arab world,” and that Israel’s nuclear-armed military is “ready for all eventualities.” He described the Israeli military [sponsored by US taxpayers] as “the foundation of our existence.”

See also the Financial Times [free registration required] report on Bahrain in which they report that "Protesters in Bahrain have taken control of one of the city’s main intersections as police declined to intervene after violence rocked the small kingdom."

See also NY Times report entitled, "Clashes Erupt in Bahrain as Tumult Ripples Across Mideast".

 

Egypt's revolution and Israel: "Bad for the Jews"

by Ilan Pappe from The Electronic Intifada.

This Professor of History and Director of the European Centre for Palestine Studies at the University of Exeter assesses Israeli reaction to the insurrections across the Arab world.

...trust the Israelis not to miss an opportunity to miss peace. They would cry wolf. They would demand, and receive, more funds from the American taxpayer due to the new "developments." They would interfere clandestinely and destructively to undermine any transition to democracy (remember what force and viciousness characterized their reaction to democratization in Palestinian society?), and they would elevate the Islamophobic campaign to new and unprecedented heights.

But who knows, maybe the American taxpayer would not budge this time. 

Carter Harassed with $5 million Suit by Israeli Lawyers

by John V. Walsh from Dissident Voice. 

Zionist "human rights" lawyers are going after Jimmy Carter for stating the obvious--the Israeli practice of apartheid against Palestinians. Israel, the product of a confluence of interests among Zionists and imperialist-minded US and British rulers, is the Empire's well armed outpost in the Middle East guarding its access to cheap oil.

Under the (Egyptian) volcano

by Pepe Escobar from Asia Times Online. 

The author underlines the clash of interests represented by the Egyptian military establishment and its US supporters and the rest of Egypt.

Wisconsin Governor Launches Attack on Public Sector Employees and Unions; Threatens to Deploy National Guard to Quell Labor Protests [14:11m video & script]

segment from Democracy Now broadcast.

Class war is heating up in the US with the current attacks on public employees.

“If Governor Walker pulls this off, if he succeeds in taking away collective bargaining rights from the union, AFSCME, which was founded in Wisconsin back in the 1930s, if he takes down one of the strongest and most effective teachers’ unions, WEAC, in the country, then we really are going to see this sweep across the United States.”

House votes to extend provisions of the PATRIOT Act

by Eric W. Dolan from The Raw Story. 

It didn't pass last week because it was...

...23 votes short of the two-thirds majority needed to pass it under a procedure that allows bills that aren't controversial to pass quickly.

...The measure is now expected to return to the House floor for a regular vote that would require a simple majority to pass. If House members vote then as they did Tuesday, the extension will pass easily.

And today it did.

When the act was first signed into law, Congress put in some "sunset" provisions to quiet the concerns of civil libertarians, but they were ignored by successive extensions. Unfortunately, those concerns proved to be well founded, and a 2008 Justice Department report confirmed that the FBI regularly abused their ability to obtain personal records of Americans without a warrant.

Devastating Freeze in Mexico is Worst Freeze in Over 50 Years--Food Prices to soar

by Sysco Corporation from Food Freedom. 

Once again we find that there is no mention in the article of the possible (probable!) connection to climate change. We continue to see extreme weather, but the havoc it is causing now is only a pale version of events to come. Unless we, the people, change the system that is causing climate instability--capitalism, we will all perish.

All of our growers have invoked the act of god clause on our contracts (force majeure) due to the following release:

The extreme freezing temperatures hit a very broad section of major growing regions in Mexico, from Hermosillo in the north all the way south to Los Mochis and even south of Culiacan. The early reports are still coming in but most are showing losses of crops in the range of 80 to 100%.

Capitalism’s Profit System

by Frank Scott from Dissident Voice. 

After colonialism officially ended, western domination was maintained over former colonies by governments headed by puppets whose regimes were called democratic as long as they remained under the domain of privately controlled markets and adhered to the dictates of Israel [I assume he means in the Middle East]. That minority-dominated system has never been under more pressure as disgusted majorities are crying out “enough is enough”. This global trend may not always be focused on private capital’s anti-democratic control, but that is the core problem which can only be solved by democratic public control of the political economics of all nations. The rise of a previously subjugated population in Egypt heralds a move closer to that solution to humanity’s collective problem.

Sachs Says Democrats, GOP Both `Unrealistic' on Budget [8:15m video]

Jeffrey Sachs on Bloomberg TV. 

The well indoctrinated interviewers on Bloomberg TV seem to have a hard time comprehending what this professor from Columbia University is telling them, I think it is because he is telling it like it is and it doesn't fit with their indoctrination. I hope the professor has tenure. 

America’s Strategic Repression of the ‘Arab Awakening’

by Andrew Gavin Marshall from Global Research. 

This Canadian reseacher associated with the Centre for Research on Globalization in Quebec provides one of the most comprehensive analyzes of Empire strategies to manage and contain opposition that I have seen. There is so much material in this and related articles that provides one with the conceptual tools to understand contemporary political events. Hence, if one doesn't already have these conceptual tools, it is imperative that you study the article closely.

Having stated the above, I have two problems with this presentation. First, and most importantly, he never mentions capitalism or capitalists in the article. This is a glaring omission. He constantly refers to elites, but fails to mention the system that this segment of the population uses to obtain their wealth and power, and to oppress others. Perhaps this is to avoid directly threatening elite power and having to deal with their attacks.

Second, this paragraph introduces some confusion into his analysis:

Historically, revolutions are never the product of a one-sided development. That is, revolutions predominantly do not come about through the actions of one segment of society, often polarized as either an elite-driven or people-driven revolution, but rather they come about through a complex interaction and balancing of various social groups. The context and conditions for a revolution often do not emerge without the awareness of the upper classes, therefore, the upper social strata always or often seek to mitigate, control, repress, influence or co-opt and control the process of revolution. In this context, we cannot dismiss revolutions simply as a top-down or bottom-up process, but rather a mitigation and interaction between the two approaches.

There is not such thing as an "elite-driven revolution". By definition, elites are in power--how can they revolt against themselves? And likewise, it is confusing to refer to a "top-down" revolutionary process. The latter is called counter-revolution.

The Emerging Counter-Revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt

by Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya from Global Research.

This temporary victory of the people in Egypt and Tunisia will be met with capitalist moves to contain the damage to their system and the people who run it. I will attempt to follow this story and that of the counter-revolution as it unfolds. This article provides the early signs. Currently this observer puts the spotlight on some self-appointed spokespeople identified as "Wise Men" attempting to represent the people in Egypt.

The role that the "Wise Men" play is that of a "manufactured opposition" that will keep the interests behind the Mubarak regime in place and also dilute the real opposition movements in Egypt.

Egyptian military asserts authority as strikes, protests spread

by Andrea Peters from World Socialist Web Site. 

Provides some good coverage of worker activism on behalf of real change in Egypt.

Unrest in the Middle East - Monday 14 February

from the Guardian. 

At least for today, this appears to be a good site for up-to-the-minute reports on the fast developing events in the Middle East and North Africa.

4 degrees Hotter

from Climate Action Centre.

The global ruling classes refuse to give up the system which lays their golden eggs--capitalism. Thus, if we, the people, allow them to keep fouling our atmosphere with their polluting gases, the result as determined by scientific research will be an increase of 4 degrees Celsius in global warming by 2100. This assumes that gas emissions do not increase, a very dubious assumption.  

But let's look at what the effects look like if only 4 degrees occur. David Spratt has summarized the findings from the Climate Action Centre:

     * The world would be warmer than during any part of the period in which modern humans evolved, and the rate of climate change would be faster than any previously experienced by humans. The world's sixth mass extinction would be in full swing. In the oceans, acidification would have rendered many calcium-shelled organisms such as coral and many at the base of the ocean food chain artefacts of history. Ocean ecosystems and food chains would collapse.
    * Half of the world would be uninhabitable. Likely population capacity: under one billion people. Whilst the loss will be exponential and bunch towards the end of the century, on average that is a million human global warming deaths every week, every year for the next 90 years. The security implications need no discussion
    * Paleoclimatology tells us that the last time temperatures were 4C above pre-industrial (during the Oligocene 30 million years ago), there were no large ice-sheets on the planet and sea levels were 65–70 metres higher than today. Whilst ice sheets take time to lose mass, and the rise to 2100 may be only 1–2 metres (or possibly a couple more according to James Hansen), the world would be on the way to 65–70 metres.
    * 3C may be the “tipping point” where global warming could be driven by positive feedbacks, leaving us powerless to intervene as planetary temperatures soared. James Hansen says warming has brought us to the "precipice of a great tipping point”. If we go over the edge, it will be a transition to “a different planet”, an environment far outside the range that has been experienced by humanity. There will be "no return within the lifetime of any generation that can be imagined, and the trip will exterminate a large fraction of species on the planet".

Hold the Celebration: Egypt's Struggle Just Began

by Stephen Lendman from OpEd News. 

The author goes a bit too far with his cynicism regarding the Egyptian uprising and removal of Mubarak. He seems to think that "Washington" is all powerful and can always control events. For example:

Euphoria also characterized most US media reports. Notably, however, unless Washington plans war or wants foreign adversaries denigrated, rarely ever are overseas events covered, especially uprisings against purported allies. Yet, for days, Egypt's was main-featured on television and in print, including unheard of anti-regime views, meaning official Washington supported them against an out-of-favor leader.

He disregards all the evidence that US ruling circles supported Mubarak until it was clear after a few weeks that he didn't have control of the situation. 

The uprising was totally spontaneous, all the ingredients were in place--economic hardships, fear of police authorities, extreme wealth and poverty, rigged elections, etc. This exists elsewhere in the world and especially in the Middle East. What other places lack is a well organized revolutionary core, the April 6th Youth Movement, which was able to take the social explosion ignited by the events in Tunisia a few weeks before and channeled the energy into a successful overthrow of the Mubarak regime and, at least temporarily, his US sponsored and trained military. Mainstream US media and the ruling class political operatives really didn't know what to make of this uprising. Read this, this, and this.

This confusion and the fact that these events were so huge made it impossible for them to manage the news coverage. You can be sure, now, that they will increasingly try frame the news to fit their interests in containing this popular uprising that threatens the Empire's rule over the Middle East.

On the other hand, Lendman with good reason knows that the revolution is not finished, and this is an important point to remember. It was a popular coup, but one that was brilliantly carried off against a favored US puppet and succeeded. This was no "colored revolution" engineered largely by the CIA as we have seen previously. Whether "Washington" can contain this firestorm of genuine democratic aspirations not only in Egypt, but in the Middle East, is not clear, and they, most of all, know it. They have been profoundly shaken by the events in Egypt.

Is this a ‘Young Turks’ moment all over again?

by William Bowles from his blog. 

I regard Bowles as one of the more astute commentators on world political events, and especially this one in Egypt. 

This article is only slightly dated having been written as Sulieman was handed power, but his observations appear to be on the mark.

For the past thirty years the US has squandered $60 billion supplying Egypt’s military dictatorship and in so doing it has created an military-owned business dynasty that now owns major chunks of the Egyptian economy. It’s a military-political economy, thus the central dilemma is that in order to transform Egyptian society the military-political cabal that rules Egypt has to be overthrown and disowned of its ill-gotten gains. This means taking on the Army. How can it be defanged?

World Social Forum: Declaration of the Social Movements Assembly

from Global Research. 

It appears that the events in the Middle East have had a large influence on this organization.

Capitalism´s destructive force impacts every aspect of life itself, for all the peoples of the world. Yet each day we see new movements rise, struggling to reverse the ravages of colonialism and to achieve well-being and dignity for all. We declare that we, the people, will no longer bear the costs of their crisis and that, within capitalism, there is no escape from this crisis. This only reaffirms the need for us, as social movements, to come together to forge a common strategy to guide our struggles against capitalism.

And even better, they are calling for future anti-capitalist mobilizations:

Inspired by the struggles of the peoples of Tunisia and Egypt, we call for March 20th to be made a day of international solidarity with the uprisings of the Arab and African people, whose every advance supports the struggles of all peoples: the resistance of the Palestinian and Saharian peoples ; European, Asian and African mobilisations against debt and structural adjusment plans ; and all the processes of change underway in Latin America.

We also call for a Global Day of Action Against Capitalism on October 12th, when we express in myriad ways our rejection of a system that is destroying everything in its path.

The leaked campaign to attack WikiLeaks and its supporters [article of the month]

by Glenn Greenwald from Salon.  

This must-read article from a courageous, former constitutional lawyer has so many lessons to give all progressive Americans about how their society is governed and the class war that is becoming more vicious in recent years. There are many valuable links included (I've featured one following this article), many of which I have yet to access. The article and all the links demand our complete attention if we are going understand what we are up against, and then begin to make changes. Let the Egyptians be our inspiration!

...the real issue highlighted by this episode is just how lawless and unrestrained is the unified axis of government and corporate power.  I've written many times about this issue -- the full-scale merger between public and private spheres --  because it's easily one of the most critical yet under-discussed political topics.  Especially (though by no means only) in the worlds of the Surveillance and National Security State, the powers of the state have become largely privatized.  There is very little separation between government power and corporate power.   Those who wield the latter intrinsically wield the former.  The revolving door between the highest levels of government and corporate offices rotates so fast and continuously that it has basically flown off its track and no longer provides even the minimal barrier it once did.  It's not merely that corporate power is unrestrained; it's worse than that:  corporations actively exploit the power of the state to further entrench and enhance their power.

"Law" is something used to restrain ordinary Americans and especially those who oppose this consortium of government and corporate power, but it manifestly does not apply to restrain these elites.

More Fallout From Anonymous

by John Cole from Balloon Juice. 

One thing that even the dim bulbs in the media should understand by now is that there is in fact a class war going on, and it is the rich and powerful who are waging it. Anyone who does anything that empowers the little people or that threatens the wealth and power of the plutocracy must be destroyed.

If you are still not convinced that a class war is underway in the US, read this brief article AND specifically the comments following the article.

The World Turned Upside Down

by Asa Winstanley from New Left Project. 

The scenes depicted in this article accurately describe what a real social-economic revolution looks like, and thus, provides lessons for all people who strive to build a better world, a world governed by a social-economic system that is compatible with the Earth's ecology and principles of social justice. We must study it and learn from it. The Egyptians have much to teach us.

The massive popular uprising in Egypt is already the most important event in the modern history of the Middle East. It will have wide-reaching reverberations for decades to come. Arab tyrants around the region are already announcing pre-emptive “reforms” in the hope of staving off what US Senator John McCain has called the “virus” of resurgent pan-Arab nationalism.

Scenes from a revolution

by Mostafa Omar from Socialist Worker. 

It is very important that if we bring down Mubarak today, it will not be the end, but the beginning of the revolution. The regime is not just one person, but an entire ruling elite around Mubarak. Our revolution started as a youth revolution, but now it has developed into a people's revolution.

Mubarak resignation staggers Obama administration

by Alex Lantier from World Socialist Web Site.

Obama administration officials reacted to yesterday’s ouster of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak with hypocritical declarations of solidarity with the democratic aspirations of the Egyptian masses. Their comments barely disguised, however, the alarm they felt at the downfall of a dictator the US government has backed for 31 years.

World reacts as Mubarak steps down

from Al Jazeera. 

The picture in this article of Obama reportedly "watching history unfold" says a lot about the concern that the US ruling class has for this great event. Besides their noises about concern for "democracy", US leaders have voiced serious concern about an "orderly and managed transition to democracy" (American style). The whole Egyptian military and state apparatus has been created by Mubarak with the support of the US. Can we expect that the Egyptian people, having tasted real power, are going to go back to their jobs and other daily activities leaving this structure intact? I don't think so.

The US has tremendous influence over the hierarchy of the Egyptian military, but does the Egyptian hierarchy have control over their armies? During the last few weeks the people of Egypt have been fraternizing with the front line troops, and who knows where their allegiance lies? Mubarak and Suleiman evidently didn't trust them to respond to orders. Because the Empire leadership was unable to engineer a quick change of satraps in Egypt and because of the intelligence and bravery of the Egyptian people, the Empire leadership now have a real problem on their hands--and I mean the real leadership (for example, see this and this), not the formal US leadership. 

Obama functions as the public relations officer for the Empire. He, including his advisers, Press Secretary, speechwriters, etc., only have to worry about giving out the right messages to cover the deeds of those who control actions. However, the worried expression on Obama's face in the picture symbolizes perfectly the concern of the directors of the Empire.

The investment in the Egyptian military as a bulwark of regional influence has made sense for U.S. strategic needs: preserving the Egypt-Israel peace accord and projecting U.S. military forces into the Persian Gulf to safeguard energy supplies. 

This victory today, as great as it was, was only a battle. The revolutionary victory for the Egyptian people is not yet finished.

U.S.-Egyptian military partnership comes under stress [8:18 AM Seattle time]

by Tom Curry from MSNBC. 

This is a rare article coming from US media that deals with the close relationship of the Egyptian military and US authorities. It is clear the Mubarak and the Egyptian police state are hideous creatures of US imperialist designs in the Middle East. Although this article doesn't go quite that far, if one has been awake and aware of events since WWII history, one can reach no other conclusion. 

Egypt, of course, is not the only example of such imperialist policies, but Egypt is one of the key linchpins of US control over the Middle East. Therefore, the political actors of the US ruling class and their Empire must maintain control of Egypt. These imperial actors also feel very constrained by all the "democratic" themes behind which they rule the Empire to give it a veneer of legitimacy. Hence, their public pronouncements are increasingly at odds with what is happening on the ground.

Obama continues to make public noises about how Mubarak should take steps toward a democratic transition while we occasionally learn from other voices in the Empire that state unequivocally that the US must support Mubarak and his regime. Thus, we saw this early in this drama that Frank Wisner was sent by capitalist interests to Egypt to advise Mubarak to stay the course. (See also this.) US Vice President Biden said that Mubarak should not step down and that he was no dictator. Other US satraps such as leaders in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, UAE in the Middle East have likewise urged US support for Mubarak's regime and, of course, Israel likewise. 

Typically, when one of US sponsored dictators loses control of their citizens, the US merely replaces them with another. This is the strategy of choice and I'm sure that this is what the US ruling class political operatives are trying to accomplish. But this course of action has been muddled by other Empire actors and by the actions of the brave people of Egypt. There is always a tension between those in the ruling classes who wish to maintain the "democratic" facade and those who are more fascist oriented and who are more inclined to use their instruments of force by supporting Mubarak's regime. 

The US authorities seem to be losing control of the situation; hence, the title of this article, "U.S.-Egyptian military partnership comes under stress". It appears that the relationship between the Egyptian military and the people of Egypt will determine the final outcome. The longer this stalemate continues, the more likely that the lower ranks of the military will be won over by the heroic people of Egypt.

(Just learned that Egyptian military has taken over in Egypt.)

Egypt: Seeds of change [25:14m video]

from Al Jazeera by People & Power. 

According to this presentation, the current Egyptian revolutionary struggle essentially started three years ago by activists who have become known as the April 6th Youth Movement. They made a study of revolutionary strategy and tactics which they practiced and refined over the last few years of activism. I can't imagine that they are prepared to merely remove one US supported tyrant for another. 

From Stalemate to Checkmate; Meet Egypt's Future Leaders

by Esam Al-Amin from Uprooted Palestinians. 

In the first part of this article, the author introduces us to some of the brave, young people who have stood up to the US satrap, Mukbarak, and his US funded army and appear to be winning. Of course, the Empire will do everything it can to manage and tame this revolution so that Egypt continues to serve the Empire. But it is difficult to put a people down once they have drunk the elixir of real participatory democracy. 

The second part subtitled, "Revolution and counter-revolution: A test of two wills", summarizes the events of the fast moving developments in this struggle that include all segments of Egyptian society.

To keep up with these developments, I advise you to watch live Al Jazeera TV.

Labour Unrest Feeds Growing Protests

by Cam McGrath from IPS. 

With international press coverage focused almost entirely on Cairo’s Tahrir Square, few outsiders have grasped the scale of Egypt’s popular uprising, now in its third week. But massive demonstrations, and pitched battles between pro- democracy protesters and the regime’s security forces, are taking place in every corner of the country.
 

Hunkered down in Alexandria

by Linda S. Heard from Online Journal. (Linda S. Heard is a British specialist writer on Middle East affairs.)

Excellent description of neighborhood street scenes in Alexandria and the morale of Egyptians.

They complained about fat cats flying off with millions of dollars. “This is our money,” one said. They told me proudly that they had just flagged down two cars filled with uniformed and plainclothes police who had willingly succumbed to being ordered out of their vehicles for an identity card check. What a difference 10 days make!

Their spirits were high. They wanted me to know that for the first time they feel proud to be Egyptian; their heroes are the people in Tahrir Square who sleep there with bandaged heads, despite the chill of night and the rain or proper food or washing facilities.

Everyone spoke of the new sense of camaraderie they feel sharing cigarettes, food and what little cash they have left with neighbours they had only nodded at before all this. I’ve noticed it, too. Every time I pop my head out of the window, women hanging out washing or watching the world below smile and wave.

Egypt protesters gain ground

from Al Jazeera. 

Labour unions stage country-wide strikes and pro-democracy supporters extend demonstrations to the parliament buildings.

Marxists' views of the Egyptian crisis

from Internationalist Perspective:

On Egypt (3)

On Egypt (2) 

On Egypt (1) 

U.S. Negotiating Mubarak's Severance Package

from The Onion. 

A spoonful of satire can help the bitter taste of imperialism go down.

The Tea Party and civil liberties

by Glenn Greenwald from Salon. 

This constitutional lawyer is not as ecstatic over yesterday's vote which failed to extend three provisions of the Patriot Act as are many liberals in the US.

I'm ultimately quite pessimistic about its ability to produce any meaningful benefits in the near future.  That's because there are far too many impulses among ostensibly "limited government" conservatives which conflict with -- and ultimately negate -- any possibility for meaningful civil liberties defenses.

He provides a close examination and analysis of the vote in which liberals and Tea Party Republicans combined to defeat the extensions.

Indigenous Communities Fighting For Land Rights More Than Ever - Governments & Corporations Fighting Back

by Rachel Cernansky from Tree Hugger.

"On one hand the necessity of secure rights is now widely promoted by climate change negotiators and development specialists," said RRI Coordinator Andy White. "Yet on the other, the rate of recognition is not at all keeping up with the rate of large commercial land acquisitions—so called 'land grabbing'."

Droughts, Floods and Food

by Paul Krugman from the NY Times.

This well known economist and liberal columnist for the NY Times sees climate change happening currently in the world, but so far, he is unable to connect these events with the inherent demands of the capitalist system. I gather he believes that if we just buy more energy-saving light bulbs and refrigerators, install more weather stripping, and buy electric cars that everything will be all right.  

Well, give him credit--he is about the only one in mainstream media that is making the connection between all the extreme weather events and climate change. On the other hand, he doesn't mention the catastrophic events that are in our future due to climate change.                                                

The Egyptian revolution establishes a new social contract and values

by Nawal El Saadawi from Bikyamasr. From Wikipedia we learn that "Nawal El Saadawi (born October 27, 1931) is an Egyptian feminist writer, activist, physician and psychiatrist. She has written many books on the subject of women in Islam, paying particular attention to the practice of female genital mutilation in her society. "

She provides a very poignant description of the people power that is behind the uprising in Egypt.

“We are a popular revolt that establishes a new social contract, not just demands, and our slogan of this revolution is ‘equality of freedom of social justice.’ The people who made this revolution are the ones who should put the rules for the new governance, choose the transitional government, select a National Committee to change the constitution, the committee of wise men of the revolution, so as not to allow opportunists (the owners of wealth and power) to impose on us committees of wise men who did not participate with us in this revolt.”

These people are up against the rulers of the Empire, and particularly the Zionists, who will do everything they can to steer the energy and spirit of this revolutionary struggle into phony "democratic" reforms that are acceptable to the Empire because, then, essentially nothing will change.

Washington Faces the Arab Revolts: Sacrificing Dictators to Save the State

by James Petras from Dissident Voice.

To understand the Obama regime’s policy toward Egypt, the Mubarak dictatorship and the popular uprising it is essential to locate it in an historical context. The essential point is that Washington, after several decades of being deeply embedded in the state structures of the Arab dictatorships, from Tunisia through Morocco, Egypt, Yemen, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and the Palestinian Authority, is attempting to re-orient its policies to incorporate and/or graft liberal-electoral politicians onto the existing power configurations.

'Sheik al-Torture' is now a democrat

by Pepe Escobar from Asia Times Online.

The author looks at US's transition strategy using the US funded Egyptian military to create the appearance of change.

Washington could live with an Egypt like a new Pakistan; a heady mix of unstable comprador elites, some political Islam (via the Muslim Brotherhood), military intelligence and why not, another military dictator. It's not exactly "democracy".

Yet the notion that protesters from all walks of life, from students to lawyers, not to mention Egyptian human-rights groups, would gladly accept the face-lifted Sheik al-Torture as a dialogue-driven democrat speaks Luxor temples about how Washington really despises nationalist, popular movements.

Egypt: Mubarak's Fate in Military Hands

by Cam Mcgrath from IPS. 

This piece provides an in-depth look at the Egyptian military, a key factor in the current revolutionary struggle. 

With nearly half a million men, the military is Egypt’s most powerful institution. But it would be wrong to think of it simply as a massive defense complex. The army is deeply integrated into the national economy and workforce, engaged in civil works, running businesses, and the production of everything from weapons to tea kettles.

Read also Pepe Escobar's view of the Egyptian military, from Asia times.

Reaganomics Sucked Wealth up, Did Not Trickle it Down [8:31m video & script]

Paul Jay interviews Michael Hudson for Real News.

I've become so sickened with US mainstream media's portrayal of Ronald Reagan as a kind of superhero among US Presidents. I remember the Reagan administration in connection with the Contra War (US sponsored Honduran mercenaries) against Nicaraguans seeking independence from the Empire in the early 1980s. I visited that country twice during this period and witnessed the destruction these mercenaries inflicted on health clinics, schools, and cooperatives. I also associate his administration with the attacks on US labor unions, on the rise of the neo-cons in the government.

Of course, like all post WWII Presidents, he was largely a figure head, a second rate actor and former GE salesman whom the public found very personable and likable, much like Obama today.

The Division of Egypt: Threats of US, Israeli, and NATO Military Intervention?

by Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya from Global Research. (I presume this is part 2 following part 1.)

The White House and Tel Aviv do not want a second Iran in the Middle East. They will do whatever they can to prevent the emergence of a strong and independent Egypt.

A free Egypt could prove to be a much bigger threat than non-Arab Iran within the Arab World to the objectives of the U.S., Israel, and NATO.

I thoroughly agree with these statements. They, the US and Israel (and NATO?) will do everything they can to prevent a true popular government from taking power in Egypt. The liberal commentators in the US are far too optimistic and celebratory about real progressive changes ahead for Egypt. For example, Tom Engelhardt writes:

...part of the spectacle of the moment lies in watching that other great power of the Cold War era finally head ever so slowly and reluctantly for the exits.  You know the one I'm talking about.  In 1991, when the Soviet Union disappeared and the United States found itself the last superpower standing, Washington mistook that for a victory most rare.  In the years that followed, in a paroxysm of self-satisfaction and amid clouds of self-congratulation, its leaders would attempt nothing less than to establish a global Pax Americana.  Their breathtaking ambitions would leave hubris in the shade.

The results, it's now clear, were no less breathtaking, even if disastrously so.  Almost 20 years after the lesser superpower of the Cold War left the world stage, the "victor" is now lurching down the declinist slope, this time as the other defeated power of the Cold War era.

US Envoy's Business Link to Egypt

by Robert Fisk from The Independent. 

I doubt that very many people in Egypt and the Middle East were shocked by this incident. I suspect that it is mostly Western journalists and progressives who are shocked. The people in the Middle East have witnessed first hand the many contradictions of official US political propaganda and the realities on the ground. It is mostly people in the West who do not experience the brutal consequences of the Empire's policies that have a difficult time reconciling the contradictions.

See, for example, the NY Times spin that American policy is "complicated". 

It is only complicated because the contradictions are surfacing in some of the mainstream press and the official political apparatus. The Obama administration, has to work overtime trying to cover with democratic rhetoric the real imperial operations of the Empire. Although the capitalist ruling class will continue to maintain a democratic political facade as long as possible, they are perfectly capable of moving into fascism by putting into full operation the police state apparatus that now exists in the US.

Progressives in the US must grow out of all the indoctrination they have been subject to about the formal political institutions in the US. They must begin to see it as an elaborate facade, much like that of a stage play, designed to distract people from the real events that the ruling class tries to hide from view. Obama, Clinton, and the most of the official political figures are little more than mere actors who are hired by the capitalist ruling class to focus our attention on the stage play and away from real events. 

People like Frank Wisner II are often the real political operatives representing the capitalist class, and who really influence events. They mostly function behind the scenes in complete secrecy; but every once in a while, they come into public view as this fellow has, although very briefly, during the Egyptian crisis. His father, Frank Wisner, was a key figure at the beginning of the CIA and headed many of its most nefarious activities.

American Police State: FBI Abuses Reveals Contempt for Political Rights, Civil Liberties

by Tom Burghardt from Antifascist Calling. 

As mass revolt spreads across Egypt and the Middle East and citizens there demand jobs, civil liberties and an end to police state abuses from repressive, U.S.-backed torture regimes, the Obama administration and their congressional allies aim to expand one right here at home.

Why I call myself a socialist

by Wallace Shawn from War in Context. (You may want to skip the introduction and scroll down to the essay entitled, "Are you smarter than Thomas Jefferson?" in which he explains why he is a socialist.)

Wallace Shawn is an Obie Award–winning playwright and noted stage and screen actor. He is co-author of the film My Dinner with André and author of the plays The Fever, Aunt Dan and Lemon, The Designated Mourner, and Grasses of a Thousand Colors.

Our capacity to fantasize about other people and to believe our own fantasies makes it possible for us to enjoy this valuable art form, theater. But unfortunately it’s a capacity which has brought incalculable harm and suffering to human beings.

American Warships Heading to Egypt

from Washington's Blog. 

While Obama and Hilliary make noises about democracy and human rights for public consumption, the mailed fist is brought out to deal with the crisis in the Middle East. And you won't see this covered much in mainstream media, and if it is, it will be for humanitarian purposes only! From Wikipedia we learn:

Kearsarge is fully capable of amphibious assault, advance force and special purpose operations, as well as non-combatant evacuation and other humanitarian missions. Since her commissioning, she has performed these missions the world over, including...the 1999 NATO bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, as a platform for bombing missions against Serb forces in Operation Allied Force....

Revolution: Is 1848 Repeating Itself in the Arab World? PART I

by Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya from Global Research.

This is a very sound history of the dominance of the capitalist class over Western societies. And it very well may be true that "Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it." So read it so that we don't continue to repeat this awful history.

...democracies can be managed and manipulated. Since 1848, the capitalist class has managed to hinder genuine democracy in all its forms, while promoting kleptocracy. Big capital has always managed to carve a place for itself at the helms of the state and has managed to maintain itself through the mercy of liberalism.

Roots of the Egyptian Revolutionary Moment

from The Real News an interview with Mohammed Ezzeldin who is "a graduate of political science from Cairo University, and is doing his Masters' Degree in History at Georgetown University." 

This is somewhat dated in the fast moving developments of the Egyptian revolution, but very relevant because the interviewee provides a lot of recent history leading up to this event.

The death of Israeli [fake] democracy

by Mya Guarnieri from Al Jazeera. 

While Egyptians demand real democracy, Israel's right-wing is moving their country in the direction of fascism. 

At an October protest against legislation commonly referred to as the loyalty oath - a bill that would require non-Jews seeking Israeli citizenship to pledge allegiance to a "Jewish and democratic" state - Gavriel Solomon, a prominent academic and peace activist, likened Israel to Nazi Germany, circa 1935.

That was the year that the Nuremberg Laws - racist legislation that led to the systematic and deadly persecution of Jews - were created.

"There were no [concentration] camps yet but there were racist laws," he said. "And we are heading towards these kinds of laws."

Interview with an Egyptian Protester

by anonymous from InfoShop News. 

This Egyptian activist provides some excellent information on street level tactics using electronic media as well as the general experience of activists in the current effort to overthrow their government. 

End Game in Egypt

by Stephen Lendman from OpEd News. 

The author surveys the history of old, oppressive regimes being toppled by popular demand, followed by new ones, often with capitalist collusion, only to submit once again to the discipline of the international banks. Hence, he is rather pessimistic about real changes in Egypt and nearby countries. 

Workers suffer painfully from neoliberal harshness, often hardened by IMF diktats, including mass privatizations, layoffs, wage and benefit cuts, and public debt service over people needs, causing massive impoverishment and human suffering. Replacing one regime with another with this agenda leaves deep-rooted misery unaddressed.

I share his fears. The Empire has a tight relationship with Egyptian military leaders, most of whom received a lot training in the US. This is the same model the US has been using throughout Latin America in the last 40 years, and only in the past decade have we seen much more independence in that area. It appears to me that the Egyptian people can succeed only if they win the allegiance of lower ranking officers, or if a Chavez-like general emerges to champion the cause of the people. 

Only when the scourge of capitalism is removed from the Earth will people really be able to organize their economies to serve their needs. The system not only preys on people, but on the Earth's ecosystem with the same devastating results. Thus, it is no longer only a matter of social justice, it has become a matter of human survival that is now at stake if we allow capitalism to continue. The extreme weather we currently witnessing across the globe are only the early signs of climate change. Let us pray that it is not too late.

The Egyptian Tinderbox: How Banks and Investors Are Starving the Third World

by Ellen Brown from OpEd News. 

The author explains how Goldman-Sachs and other capitalist casino players are getting rich using the new derivative bets while many people starve in the world.

Underlying the sudden, volatile uprising in Egypt and Tunisia is a growing global crisis sparked by soaring food prices and unemployment. The Associated Press reports that roughly 40 percent of Egyptians struggle along at the World Bank-set poverty level of under $2 per day. Analysts estimate that food price inflation in Egypt is currently at an unsustainable 17 percent yearly. In poorer countries, as much as 60 to 80 percent of people's incomes go for food, compared to just 10 to 20 percent in industrial countries. An increase of a dollar or so in the cost of a gallon of milk or a loaf of bread for Americans can mean starvation for people in Egypt and other poor countries.

Time out

Interview with an anarcho-communist activist in Freedom Square in Cairo

by NEFAC International Secretary from Anarkismo.

The anarchist interviewee provides his political perspective and street-level view of the revolutionary events in Egypt.

The most difficult obstacle Egyptian revolutionaries face is the cutting of communications. Western revolutionaries must put pressure on their governments to prevent the Egyptian regime from doing this. That's for now, but no-one can say what will happen in the long term. If the revolution is successful, then Western revolutionaries must build solidarity with their Egyptian comrades against the expected aggression from the USA and Israel. If the revolution is defeated, then it will be a massacre for all Egyptian revolutionaries. 

Echoes from Tunisia and Egypt: Revolutions Without Self-Proclaimed Revolutionaries

 by Horace Campbell from All Africa.      

About Horace Campbell
















This scholarly specialist in African affairs examines the current African revolution now in progress and argues that they have some unique 21st century characteristics that have been built upon the legacy of 20th century revolutions.

 1) The revolutions are made by ordinary people independent of vanguard parties and self-proclaimed revolutionaries

2) The nature of independent networks of networks and the sophistication of the tools of the revolution

3) The leadership of ordinary people who displayed self-mobilisation for the revolution

4) The building of revolutionary non-violence for self-defence

5) The revolutionary ideas of the people whose ultimate goal is to be dignified human beings and not to be dictators' robots or zealots.

Notice: This week I am taking some time off for relaxation in order to refresh my mental faculties. Hence my posting will be fewer in number, but I will try to post at least one article every day. I should be back tomorrow (Saturday Febr. 5) in full force.

Egypt's Democratic Uprising Exposes the U.S. Corporate Welfare Scheme of Military 'Foreign Aid'
by Ernest A. Canning from The Brad Blog via Amped Status.

William Blum's observations regarding the Egyptian uprising.

The Revolution in Egypt: The End of the New Pharaohs?

by a dissident exiled in North Africa from Infoshop News. 

Unfortunately, the article starts out with a couple of paragraphs repeating themselves; but nevertheless, the article is very thought provoking regarding the meaning of the events in North Africa and nearby areas.

No event occurs in a vacuum; events originate in concrete conditions, and consequently they tend to come in waves. The events in Egypt show that the center of revolutionary impetus is no longer “the West”; this new age of revolution will culminate first in areas where the living conditions are becoming unbearable and the ways of life are not yet completely colonized by capital. However, it would be a mistake to see this as merely the conclusion of an unfinished anti-colonial revolt. It is something much bigger and deeper. The financial crisis is a sign that capitalism is on a declining trajectory. The conditions that precipitated the events in Egypt are rapidly becoming universal across the globe, spelling another cycle of revolution and possibly war. Eventually these same forces will hit Saudi Arabia, Europe, China, and finally even the United States with the strength of a tidal wave.

Catastrophic Weather Events Are Becoming the New Normal

by Bill McKibben from AlterNet. 

We use fossil fuel because it's cheap, and it's cheap because Exxon Mobil and Peabody Coal get to use the atmosphere as open sewer to dump their waste for free. And today you can see the results of that particular business model from outer space.

Extreme weather is now considered the new normal by ruling class media. They rarely mention it in the same breath with greenhouse gases and catastrophic climate change. So, get use to it people--just suck it up! Nothing must get in the way of the ruling class from feeding its profits addiction.

McKibben is a fine environmentalist, but he fails as a political-economic scientist. He never takes issue with the predatory system of capitalism which fosters the exploitation of workers and the environment for the enrichment of a few. This may be a result of his having spent so many years in academia where indoctrination accompanies skill training. Only those who do not ask any serious questions about the system are allowed to pass through.

 

The Arab Nationalist Reawakening in Egypt and Beyond

by Glen Ford from Black Agenda Report. 

Americans have for so long pretended that Arab nationalism is dead, their corporate media fail to recognize an Arab nationalist rebellion when it breaks out in front of their noses. Arab nationalism is more dangerous than Islamist politics to U.S. imperial hegemony, because “the path to mass mobilization can be direct and democratic, as evidenced by the spread of the Pan-Arab conflagration from the spark in Tunisia only weeks ago.” 

Tunisia's Spark and Egypt's Flame: the Middle East is Rising

by Phyllis Bennis from Foreign Policy in Focus.

Stirrings of popular dissent are already underway in Yemen and Jordan too. All the other U.S.-backed monarchies and pseudo-democracies across the region are feeling the heat. The U.S. empire in the region is crumbling.

This commentator from a liberal think tank provides a useful framework to view the events unfolding in the Middle East, especially in Egypt. 

As many pundits in mainstream media have correctly stated, the events there pose some very difficult problems for the US Empire. Egypt is a kind of lynch pin for the Empire's control of the Mid-East. Also, it must be noted that Zionists exert considerable  influence in the US ruling class. If Egypt were to come under the control of real popular power, it would be very threatening to the Empire.  For both of these reasons, I think it is likely that the Empire's agents will do everything they can to prevent any popular regime coming to power in Egypt. Hence, I see some very volatile days ahead for the Egyptian people. Thus, I do not share the optimistic tone with which this writer concludes her essay.

Mubarak must go

by Lee Sustar from Socialist Worker. 

Certainly, the downfall of a hated dictator would be a fantastic achievement by the Egyptian working class. But transforming the miserable conditions of Egyptian workers--and sweeping aside the ruling class that created and protected Mubarak--will take sustained struggle and the revival of independent working-class organization and politics.

Egyptian uprising grows despite regime’s reform gestures

by Barry Grey from WSWS. 

With the popular movement broadening and deepening, despite early attempts to terrorize and repress it—estimates of the dead from police attacks last week range from 138 to 150, but the real figure is likely much higher—there are growing concerns within the bourgeoisie both in Egypt and internationally that the Egyptian capitalist state could be overwhelmed by revolution.

World Revolution Made in America. The Biggest Battlefield yet to come will be in the USA

by Finian Cunningham from Global Research. 

A most interesting perspective on recent developments. 

Right now, the streets of Cairo, Tunis and elsewhere look like battlefields. But the biggest battlefield yet to come will be in the US. And quite fittingly so. As the executive power upholding the capitalist order that has for decades spawned wars, violence, injustice, corruption and fascism around the world to achieve its undemocratic ends, the US is the primary site of struggle for democracy, not just in the US, but also for the rest of the world.

In past decades, the battle lines were obscured by lack of communications and propaganda diversions (the ‘evil Soviet empire, Vietnam, Latin American subversion, war on drugs, and, latterly, this phony war on terror, etc). But with mounting and unrelenting poverty across the US (and Europe), and global communications, the battle lines are now becoming apparent. The real enemy is the US/Western diktat of capitalism – the economic system that enriches the few and impoverishes the majority because it is all about private profit, and increasingly elite private profit.

Inquiry Doesn't Call Crisis Systemic Fraud [8:28m video & transcript]

Interview with Michael Hudson on Real News.

They are discussing the findings of Obama's Crisis Inquiry Commission on the recent economic collapse. The findings are not at all surprising. They always have these "inquiries" for public relations purposes. They are always designed to cover the crimes of the ruling class. 

One of the first, and most outrageous such group that I remember, was the Warren Commission's report on the assassination of President Kennedy. It provided cover for the the insidious secret cabal within our government that rules over us, and who assassinated our President. (If you wish to know more about this, you must view the excellent films entitled, "The Men Who Killed Kennedy, V1 &2.)

What this interview with Hudson most illustrates is how well indoctrinated US intellectuals are. Hudson is a highly trained and intelligent economist. But you must understand that the more training one receives in US institutions of higher learning,  the more one also receives indoctrination in capitalist ideology. If one doesn't absorb capitalist ideology, one is weeded out of the institutions of higher learning at some point in one's education. To get a more detailed explanation of this thesis, you must read Disciplined Minds by Jeff Schmidt. 

When people such as Hudson enter the real world and begin to experience reality, they often feel a sense of outrage as expressed in this interview. At the risk of one's career, one must never go beyond that outrage to grasp the insight that the ruling class makes laws not to apply to themselves, but to control working people. Were he to do so and behave accordingly, he would be banished to the occupational equivalent of Siberia. 

The ruling class of capitalists make laws to create the illusion that our society is governed by a legitimate legal framework. Any laws which get in their way are ignored, while those which serve their interests are vigorously enforced.

Egypt: Cue the Dirty Tricks, False Flags To Discredit Pro-Democracy Movement

by Finian Cunningham from Global Research. 

The looting of Cairo’s world-famous Egyptian Museum over the weekend seems to have engendered the desired news headlines.

‘Looters smash ancient treasures’, ‘Looters decapitate mummies’, ‘Looters rip off heads of artifacts’ etc., read a rash of headlines, following the apparent breaking into the country’s national museum, which is said to house the world’s biggest of Pharaonic antiquities.

However, it has since emerged, although with much less headline coverage, that some of the would-be looters apprehended by protesters outside the museum were identified as working for the state’s interior ministry.

There is more and more evidence being reported that counter-revolutionary forces are deliberately encouraging chaos in order to justify the insertion of overwhelming force by the Empire. Hence, Western media is playing up the themes of looting, property destruction, and chaos. According to a report I heard over NPR radio this morning, the authorities released criminals onto the streets and removed all police forces.  Al Jazeera reports that people are organizing their own police forces in defense of their neighborhoods:

Rude Awakening

by Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich from OpEd News. 

Occasionally I post an article that argues a point of view with which I disagree, but otherwise find useful to pose a counter-argument. 

This one takes a very cynical view of the dramatic events in Egypt and argues that the Empire is manipulating everything to its advantage.  Here the author makes the case that the US is in control of events and merely setting the stage for a replacement of another unpopular dictator. To be sure, this has often happened in the past in such places as Korea, South Vietnam, Chile, Guatemala, etc. I believe her argument that Egypt is following a similar pattern is not correct.

There is no question in mind that the US is trying to gain control of the situation from behind the scenes, but there are striking differences with what is happening in Egypt compared to changes of leadership orchestrated by the US in its other puppet governments. 

First of all, the rebellion was spontaneous, sparked by the upheaval in Tunisia. Second, the rebellion had widespread popular support with millions of people participating. The Empire does not like to see popular uprisings like this. They can too easily get out of their control as happened in Iran with the expulsion of the Shah, another of America's appointed puppets. The Empire much prefers to remove their puppets before the people take to the streets. They much prefer palace coups as has frequently happened in Latin America. These are much easier to engineer. 

(Note: Al Jazeera is clearly the best source of information on these fast moving developments.)

Why Tax Cuts Make Us Weak

by Murray Dobbin from Canadian Dimension.

Although the article addresses the issue of tax cuts in Canada, much of the same points the author makes applies to the US as well. 

Tax cuts are an attack on the lives of ordinary people--their education, health, and welfare. On the other hand, expenditures for military purposes are rarely cut. He makes the point that tax cuts weaken the infrastructure of the country, except of course near corporations. The latter always demand subsidies from local governments in the form of tax relief and funding for related infrastructure. 

But the general deterioration of infrastructure is now less important to the ruling class under neo-liberal policies of "free trade" because of the outsourcing of much of our production to overseas cheap labor markets.

One adverse effect which I didn't see in the article that does apply in the US is that the various levels of governments must, with the reduction in tax revenue, borrow from the banks to keep things running.

Witness the recent decision of the Fed to buy $600 billion of US government bonds. Because of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913, the Fed issues money "out of thin air" to buy government bonds, that is, it gives its magical money to the government for bonds on which interest is added. Thus tax payers continue to go deeper and deeper into debt slavery.