For years and decades now, the West has been destabilizing Somalia. Kenya and Ethiopia, two staunch allies of the West in the region, are playing a deadly game, incessantly. Thousands of civilians have already died.I have only had time to scan this lengthy article by Horace Campbell, a very knowledgeable observer of African affairs, posted in Pambazuka, but it appears that he provides many more details of the background of this tragic event involving Western oil companies and Kenya's invasion of Somalia.
Kenya is one of the closest allies of the West in Africa, with both US and UK military bases all over the nation, and with Israeli intelligence personnel on the Swahili coast and elsewhere.
That brutal invasion [by Kenya into Somalia] is not discussed, of course: in the Kenyan media and in the international press, the war and the attack on the shopping mall are carefully separated, disconnected.
Saturday, September 28, 2013
What Really Happened at Westgate
Click here to access article by Andre Vltchek from CounterPunch.
News Release: Concern as IPCC Bangs the Drum for Geoengineering
Click here to access article from ETC Group.
It's clear to me that capitalist directors refuse to give up on their system which rewards their tiny numbers with so much wealth and power. They are so addicted to this hideous system that is destroying an ecosystem capable of sustaining human and many other life forms that they cannot imagine any alternative. Hence, they are grasping at their last straw of geo-engineering.
This solution was inserted in the final paragraph of the Summary for Policymakers (IPCC report):
It's clear to me that capitalist directors refuse to give up on their system which rewards their tiny numbers with so much wealth and power. They are so addicted to this hideous system that is destroying an ecosystem capable of sustaining human and many other life forms that they cannot imagine any alternative. Hence, they are grasping at their last straw of geo-engineering.
This solution was inserted in the final paragraph of the Summary for Policymakers (IPCC report):
"It’s the paragraph that should never have been," explained Neth Daño, ETC Group's Asia Director." The explicit purpose of Working Group I is to report on the latest climate science, not to discuss response measures. The report doesn't discuss solar power or electric cars; it doesn't discuss public transport, carbon markets or any other actual or potential policy response to the climate crisis, so why have the authors chosen to devote the concluding paragraph to this highly speculative and dangerous technofix?”Well, I think the answer is obvious. Solar power, electric cars, public transportation, and other significant measures would require a very expensive conversion of the existing infrastructures and dramatic cutbacks of fossil fuels in capitalist countries that would severely impact profits in the next few decades. It would also require economies to be on a war footing that would necessitate extensive government planning, controls, and direction. It's so much easier for capitalist directors to continue with business as usual and simply adding a geo-engineering fix which many scientists regard as a fantasy at best, and a dangerous gamble at worst.
The IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report
Click here to access article from Climate News Network.
A note from the Climate News Network editors: we have prepared this very abbreviated version of the first installment of the IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) to serve as an objective guide to some of the headline issues it covers. It is in no sense an evaluation of what the Summary says: the wording is that of the IPCC authors themselves, except for a few cases where we have added headings. .... In the following days and weeks we will be reporting in more detail on some of their findings.
Friday, September 27, 2013
Recovery hype: American capitalism's weapon of mass distraction
Click here to access article by Richard Wolff from The Guardian.
Referring to government officials and mainstream media that has been celebrating the theme of economic "recovery", he writes:
Referring to government officials and mainstream media that has been celebrating the theme of economic "recovery", he writes:
Here is the "recovery" that they see. The top 1% of income-earners in the US took 19% of the national income in 2012, the largest share since 1928. That 1% also saw their average income rise by 31.4% from the current crisis's low point in 2009, through 2012. The top 1% certainly enjoyed a recovery.And then proceeds to set the record straight by providing a lot more real information about how the "recovery" has affected us by starting with this fact:
In total contrast, income for the other 99% rose by an average of 0.4% during the same period.
Looting the Pension Funds
Click here to access article by Matt Taibbi from Rolling Stone.
In the final months of 2011.... Led by its newly elected treasurer, Gina Raimondo – an ostentatiously ambitious 42-year-old Rhodes scholar and former venture capitalist – the state declared war on public pensions, ramming through an ingenious new law slashing benefits of state employees with a speed and ferocity seldom before seen by any local government.
....
The dynamic young Rhodes scholar was allowing her state to be used as a test case for the rest of the country, at the behest of powerful out-of-state financiers with dreams of pushing pension reform down the throats of taxpayers and public workers from coast to coast. One of her key supporters was billionaire former Enron executive John Arnold – a dickishly ubiquitous young right-wing kingmaker with clear designs on becoming the next generation's Koch brothers, and who for years had been funding a nationwide campaign to slash benefits for public workers.
Is climate change already dangerous ( Part 5 of 5): Climate safety and an unavoidably radical future
Click here to access article by David Spratt from Climate Code Red. (Commentary updated at 5:37 Seattle time.)
This five part series of articles reports on the latest scientific findings, including the just released UN report, regarding climate change. While the five part series goes into considerable detail about scientific findings, it is interesting to contrast this with mainstream TV media reports. In this series the author provides findings such as this:
CBS TV provides this 2:25m report in which the program segment focuses on the temporary halt of air temperature increases since 1998. Scott Pelley frames the report with this very skeptical introduction:
Then the CBS reporter, in an introduction to another person identified as "head of a climate change think-tank", refers back to the temporary halt in the rise of global air temperatures by saying that climate change skeptics are now given "more ammunition" to doubt global warming. CBS then allows the scientist about a total of four seconds to respond to the reporters question: "does this [the findings] remove the urgency [to reduce carbon emissions]? Yes, he replies, and goes on to state that the current goals of carbon reduction are unrealistic, and the world should now be focusing on building more flood barriers!
It seems reasonable to believe that this "expert" made his statement about unrealistic goals because of the existing track record of various countries since the Kyoto Accords which promised efforts to reduce carbon emissions and failed to deliver. This is not surprising given the fact that capitalism requires growth. What is not surprising is that nearly everyone ignores the 800 pound gorilla in the room--the capitalist system. In other words, there is no alternative to the capitalist system--so get used to it and learn to cope with the consequences.
NBC's 1:01m report provides more accurate, but even briefer coverage:
I am unable to determine if Fox News broadcast any report, but their website does provide this article which emphasized that scientists were unable to explain the lull in the rise of air temperatures ("surface temperatures") since 1998, and inserted other comments that suggested doubts about global warming.
Update: I saw really good coverage lasting close 2:24 minutes on ABC's evening news broadcast.
Generally speaking, US mainstream TV media directors, if they report any information at all, continue to manage information about global warming to mass audiences by downplaying its effects and questioning its validity.
This five part series of articles reports on the latest scientific findings, including the just released UN report, regarding climate change. While the five part series goes into considerable detail about scientific findings, it is interesting to contrast this with mainstream TV media reports. In this series the author provides findings such as this:
The World Bank and PriceWaterhouseCoopers have recently published reports which complement a wide range of scientific research which concludes that the world is presently heading for 4ºC or more of warming this century, and as soon as 2060. Reuters correspondent Michael Rose (2012) quotes IEA Chief Economist, Fatih Birol as saying that emission trends are “perfectly in line with a temperature increase of 6°C, which would have devastating consequences for the planet”.Let us now look at what amount of air time and the quality of reporting on the latest UN report by the leading TV networks which shape the opinions of most Americans.
Anderson says there is a widespread view amongst scientists that “a 4°C future is incompatible with an organised global community, is likely to be beyond ‘adaptation’, is devastating to the majority of eco-systems and has a high probability of not being stable”.
CBS TV provides this 2:25m report in which the program segment focuses on the temporary halt of air temperature increases since 1998. Scott Pelley frames the report with this very skeptical introduction:
Anyone expecting it [the UN report] to show steadily rising air temps would be in for a surprise.CBS reporter Mark Phillips then prefaces his report with this cynical statement:
Another inconvenient truth has emerged on the way to the apocalypse. The UN report on climate change is expected to blame man-made greenhouse gases more that ever for global warming. But there's a problem: global atmosphere hasn't been warming lately. .... Since 1998 atmosphere temperatures have not gone up. ....He then introduces a scientist who explains that the extra heat has gone into the ocean, and ocean temperatures have been steadily rising. Apparently all is well because the ocean is not a part of the globe (sarcasm).
Then the CBS reporter, in an introduction to another person identified as "head of a climate change think-tank", refers back to the temporary halt in the rise of global air temperatures by saying that climate change skeptics are now given "more ammunition" to doubt global warming. CBS then allows the scientist about a total of four seconds to respond to the reporters question: "does this [the findings] remove the urgency [to reduce carbon emissions]? Yes, he replies, and goes on to state that the current goals of carbon reduction are unrealistic, and the world should now be focusing on building more flood barriers!
It seems reasonable to believe that this "expert" made his statement about unrealistic goals because of the existing track record of various countries since the Kyoto Accords which promised efforts to reduce carbon emissions and failed to deliver. This is not surprising given the fact that capitalism requires growth. What is not surprising is that nearly everyone ignores the 800 pound gorilla in the room--the capitalist system. In other words, there is no alternative to the capitalist system--so get used to it and learn to cope with the consequences.
NBC's 1:01m report provides more accurate, but even briefer coverage:
I am unable to determine if Fox News broadcast any report, but their website does provide this article which emphasized that scientists were unable to explain the lull in the rise of air temperatures ("surface temperatures") since 1998, and inserted other comments that suggested doubts about global warming.
Update: I saw really good coverage lasting close 2:24 minutes on ABC's evening news broadcast.
Generally speaking, US mainstream TV media directors, if they report any information at all, continue to manage information about global warming to mass audiences by downplaying its effects and questioning its validity.
Thursday, September 26, 2013
Dangerous Addiction to Secrecy
Click here to access article by Robert Parry from Consortium News.
Parry assembles several dramatic examples of governments hiding the truth from the people and often making up stories in place of the truth. However, he demonstrates a naiveté that infects the political understanding of so many people when he makes statements such as this:
The fact that ruling class players do not share information they have in their disputes with other ruling classes demonstrates that their respective subordinate classes are inconsequential. Why is it so difficult to understand this fact and stop looking at political events and international rivalries through the lens of ruling class propaganda framed as "democracy"!
It's long past time for progressives to grow up! We will have no peace or social justice or a sustainable ecological system until we, the people, get rid of class structured societies and create societies where there is genuine, inclusive rule by all the people. To accomplish this, we must remove all arrangements which favor any set of people over the rest of society.
Parry assembles several dramatic examples of governments hiding the truth from the people and often making up stories in place of the truth. However, he demonstrates a naiveté that infects the political understanding of so many people when he makes statements such as this:
The secrecy addiction among major world powers is deeply corrosive to democracy and makes a mockery of popular rule.Whenever you have class-structured societies, you obviously have ruling classes. Under capitalism the basis of this arrangement is the principle of private ownership of the economy. "Democracy" in the form of carefully managed elections is only a public relations cover for their class rule based on this arrangement.
The fact that ruling class players do not share information they have in their disputes with other ruling classes demonstrates that their respective subordinate classes are inconsequential. Why is it so difficult to understand this fact and stop looking at political events and international rivalries through the lens of ruling class propaganda framed as "democracy"!
It's long past time for progressives to grow up! We will have no peace or social justice or a sustainable ecological system until we, the people, get rid of class structured societies and create societies where there is genuine, inclusive rule by all the people. To accomplish this, we must remove all arrangements which favor any set of people over the rest of society.
Rouhani surfs the new WAVE
Click here to access article by Pepe Escobar from Asia Times Online.
As stated by Escobar, there is only one alternative to more wars in the Middle East-- maybe even a major one:
As stated by Escobar, there is only one alternative to more wars in the Middle East-- maybe even a major one:
The key points of the road map ahead are clear. Total clarification of details regarding Iran's rightful peaceful nuclear program should proceed with dismantling of sanctions. Washington's nasty financial blockade of Iran's oil sales is not working; no one, from China to India and beyond, will stop buying Iranian energy because the US says so. And Iran should also be reinstated in the global bank exchange mechanism.Will the directors of the Empire come to their senses or will we have more wars? I am not optimistic.
Russia Opposed to NATO States` Attempt to Repeat Libya Scenario and Blackmail
Click here to access article by Christof Lehmann from nsnbc.
Russian Diplomats stress that Russia opposes NATO States`Attempt to repeat a Libya Scenario in Syria. Russia has [claimed] that the USA has gone so far as to attempt to Blackmail Russia into voting in favor of a Security Council resolution that would leave a loophole for a repetition of the Libyan disaster in Syria.
50,000 march on Golden Dawn headquarters in Athens
Click here to access article by Jerome Roos from Reflections on a Revolution.
Once again we see a ruling capitalist class resorting to the use of thugs to protect their system.
Once again we see a ruling capitalist class resorting to the use of thugs to protect their system.
...official investigations by the Financial Crimes Unit show that Golden Dawn is actually being funded by a group of wealthy businessmen, ship-owners and priests....See also this coverage from Eagainst of the anti-fascist mass demonstrations all across Greece which includes many photos and one video.
Pakistani National TV Reveals Obama's Claim To Have Killed Osama Bin Laden Is 'An American Hoax'
Click here to access article by Paul Craig Roberts from World News Trust.
The Pakistani TV interview displays so much authenticity which is in such sharp contrast to the US government's story. Roberts does an excellent job of framing the posting with all the lies that the government has been telling us over the years.
The Pakistani TV interview displays so much authenticity which is in such sharp contrast to the US government's story. Roberts does an excellent job of framing the posting with all the lies that the government has been telling us over the years.
The Obama regime’s story of the murder of bin Laden is nonsensical. The fact that the regime would tell such a preposterous story indicates that Washington regards the American and international public as gullible morons, people lacking any ability to discern the truth of what they are officially told.
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
Is there a crisis of credibility in the human sciences?
Click here to access article by Bert Olivier from Mail & Guardian Online (South Africa).
"Although thirty years ago it was common to find challenges to the capitalist exploitation of the environment emanating from social scientists who were then on the environmentalist fringe, today the main thrust of environmental social science has shifted to ecological modernization – a managerial approach that sees sustainable technology, sustainable consumption, and market-based solutions (indeed “sustainable capitalism”) as providing the answers …The author provides an excellent answer as to why this is.
“Thus as natural scientists have become more concerned about the detrimental effects of the economic system on the environment, and correspondingly radicalized, asking more and more root questions, social scientists have increasingly turned to the existing economic system as the answer.”
Obama's 'independent' NSA review board staffed with administration insiders
Click here to access article from RT.
President Barack Obama said in August that an independent panel will review the United States’ surveillance capabilities in the wake of damaging NSA leaks. One month later, though, that group’s game plan is being called into question.This is always the strategy of choice in dealing with potentially damaging issues facing the directors of the ruling class--they appoint an "independent commission" to investigate. Such commissions are used to fulfill some pre-determined goal. This is done by stacking them with the right people and/or limiting their budget, time to work, ability to work, and authority. We saw this with the Warren Commission and the 9/11 Commission, and now this commission.
New 'anti-Brotherhood, anti-military' front launched to 'achieve revolution goals'
Click here to access article from Ahram Online.
A new front, dubbed "Revolution Path Front" aimed at providing an alternative to the current "polarisation" between the military and Muslim Brotherhood has been launched on Tuesday in a press conference attended by tens of leading political figures, activists and groups.
Apparently the Egyptian revolution has still not been killed by the Empire's satrap Al Sisi.
 | ||||||||||
| Def. Sec. Hagel in Cairo to give orders to satrap, Apr 2013 |
A new front, dubbed "Revolution Path Front" aimed at providing an alternative to the current "polarisation" between the military and Muslim Brotherhood has been launched on Tuesday in a press conference attended by tens of leading political figures, activists and groups.
Apparently the Egyptian revolution has still not been killed by the Empire's satrap Al Sisi.
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
Time to Leave Wonderland: Facing Reality and Imagining New Possibilities
Click here to access article by Kali Ma from The Hampton Institute.
The contribution of this author lies with her arguments for the necessity of critical thinking so that we can face reality and imagine new ways of living. The glaring weakness is that she can only identify the problem as being the "hierarchical system". This is especially discouraging coming from a website that bills itself as "A Working Class Think Tank".
If you read the literature from or about the Populist Movement of the late 19th century (e.g. Democratic Promise by Lawrence Goodwyn), early 20th century literature related to socialism and anarchism (Eugene Debs, Upton Sinclair, etc), the history and literature of the 1930s activists, you would view this article as rather naive politically. The power of the indoctrination agencies which she elaborates on is also illustrated by her total inability to identify the system which drives these agencies--capitalism. Hierarchy, like indoctrination, is only another method used by the capitalist ruling class to maintain control of working people and of society.
It has become clear to me that WWII and its aftermath which featured ruling class attacks on radicals and labor unions was incredibly successful in wiping out this heritage of critical political thought in the US.
The contribution of this author lies with her arguments for the necessity of critical thinking so that we can face reality and imagine new ways of living. The glaring weakness is that she can only identify the problem as being the "hierarchical system". This is especially discouraging coming from a website that bills itself as "A Working Class Think Tank".
If you read the literature from or about the Populist Movement of the late 19th century (e.g. Democratic Promise by Lawrence Goodwyn), early 20th century literature related to socialism and anarchism (Eugene Debs, Upton Sinclair, etc), the history and literature of the 1930s activists, you would view this article as rather naive politically. The power of the indoctrination agencies which she elaborates on is also illustrated by her total inability to identify the system which drives these agencies--capitalism. Hierarchy, like indoctrination, is only another method used by the capitalist ruling class to maintain control of working people and of society.
It has become clear to me that WWII and its aftermath which featured ruling class attacks on radicals and labor unions was incredibly successful in wiping out this heritage of critical political thought in the US.
Rise of the Petro Yuan: End of US Dollar
Click here to access article by Dan Collins from The 4th Media.
The author makes a decisive point about the diminishing power of the US dollar and the rise of Chinese currency. This is especially being driven by the increasing erosion of trade in petro-dollars. Also, Chinese capitalism has been using its cheaper exports based on cheap labor to dominate world production, while US capitalists have increasingly relied on military and subversive forces and financial instruments--which have destabilized the economy of many countries--to attain short-term profits. In other words, Chinese capitalists are outsmarting US Empire capitalists.
This, of course, is not good news in spite of what you might read from those who see a multi-polar world as beneficial. This is so because this new multi-polar world is still a capitalist world where rivalry can easily breakout into major military conflicts. And with the billion or so Chinese buying more cars, refrigerators, etc., we can only expect the acceleration of global climate destabilization.
The author makes a decisive point about the diminishing power of the US dollar and the rise of Chinese currency. This is especially being driven by the increasing erosion of trade in petro-dollars. Also, Chinese capitalism has been using its cheaper exports based on cheap labor to dominate world production, while US capitalists have increasingly relied on military and subversive forces and financial instruments--which have destabilized the economy of many countries--to attain short-term profits. In other words, Chinese capitalists are outsmarting US Empire capitalists.
This, of course, is not good news in spite of what you might read from those who see a multi-polar world as beneficial. This is so because this new multi-polar world is still a capitalist world where rivalry can easily breakout into major military conflicts. And with the billion or so Chinese buying more cars, refrigerators, etc., we can only expect the acceleration of global climate destabilization.
Monsanto & Seed Patent Laws
Click here to access a 4:24m video on the John Stewart's The Daily Show.
Notice at one point in the dialog the farmer expresses a fundamental insight: "Monsanto patenting our plants is a theft of our genetic heritage."
I've always wondered why most people cannot see that our economy is also a social heritage and as such cannot be owned by private individuals or "corporate persons"?
Notice at one point in the dialog the farmer expresses a fundamental insight: "Monsanto patenting our plants is a theft of our genetic heritage."
I've always wondered why most people cannot see that our economy is also a social heritage and as such cannot be owned by private individuals or "corporate persons"?
Myths About the Syrian “Revolution”
Click here to access article by As'ad AbuKhalil from Al Akhbar.
The author is to be commended for acknowledging his mistakes in interpreting the early stages of the Empire's Syrian destabilization project. It is absolutely mandatory that he and others will now learn from this experience to identify the process early on to prevent such social catastrophes in the future.
Israeli's Mossad and other Western agencies specialize in such subversive activities to destabilize countries, and it is imperative for people-powered and peace loving activists all over the world to quickly identify these activities and organize to oppose such actions.
How many national disasters does it take for people to wake up and learn what is happening!
The author is to be commended for acknowledging his mistakes in interpreting the early stages of the Empire's Syrian destabilization project. It is absolutely mandatory that he and others will now learn from this experience to identify the process early on to prevent such social catastrophes in the future.
Israeli's Mossad and other Western agencies specialize in such subversive activities to destabilize countries, and it is imperative for people-powered and peace loving activists all over the world to quickly identify these activities and organize to oppose such actions.
How many national disasters does it take for people to wake up and learn what is happening!
What We Could Do with a Postal Savings Bank: Infrastructure that Doesn’t Cost Taxpayers a Dime
Click here to access article by Ellen Brown from Web of Debt.
While I thoroughly agree with this proposal as a theoretical step in the right direction, I disagree with its proponents that it is a realistic step in itself. Private banking institutions, and that especially includes central banks that are disguised as quasi-public institutions, are at the very center of global capitalism. Public banking operations do exist in various places, but they play a very limited role in their national economies. Banksters are the very heart and soul of capitalism, and therefore they will never allow a public bank to play a major role in the economy, and it is extremely unlikely that the aggressive US capitalists will allow such a proposal to make any headway through their government.
Realistically, pursuing this project could be beneficial if it is seen as a tactic in an overall strategy to generate anti-capitalist propaganda and thereby to undermine the legitimacy of the system. Thus, pursuing the establishment of such a bank and/or in any way undermining the power of the Federal Reserve could be effective if sufficient numbers of people recognize the need for an alternative to private control of our money supply. While this battle is raging, people might become aware of the benefits of putting our entire economy under public control. On the other hand, it might only serve as another distraction using up energy needed to attack the system more directly.
It's past time for progressives to grow up!
While I thoroughly agree with this proposal as a theoretical step in the right direction, I disagree with its proponents that it is a realistic step in itself. Private banking institutions, and that especially includes central banks that are disguised as quasi-public institutions, are at the very center of global capitalism. Public banking operations do exist in various places, but they play a very limited role in their national economies. Banksters are the very heart and soul of capitalism, and therefore they will never allow a public bank to play a major role in the economy, and it is extremely unlikely that the aggressive US capitalists will allow such a proposal to make any headway through their government.
Realistically, pursuing this project could be beneficial if it is seen as a tactic in an overall strategy to generate anti-capitalist propaganda and thereby to undermine the legitimacy of the system. Thus, pursuing the establishment of such a bank and/or in any way undermining the power of the Federal Reserve could be effective if sufficient numbers of people recognize the need for an alternative to private control of our money supply. While this battle is raging, people might become aware of the benefits of putting our entire economy under public control. On the other hand, it might only serve as another distraction using up energy needed to attack the system more directly.
It's past time for progressives to grow up!
Is climate change already dangerous? ( Part 4): Tipping points and climate modelling
Click here to access article by David Spratt from Climate Code Red.
The author questions the methods used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) which have resulted in predictions such as ice sea loss that field data does not support. He argues that this body ignores feedback factors which, although not fully understood, must be taken into account in forecasting future ecological events.
IPCC plays a critical role in any international effort to reduce the effects of climate destabilization. According to Wikipedia:
The author questions the methods used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) which have resulted in predictions such as ice sea loss that field data does not support. He argues that this body ignores feedback factors which, although not fully understood, must be taken into account in forecasting future ecological events.
IPCC plays a critical role in any international effort to reduce the effects of climate destabilization. According to Wikipedia:
Thousands of scientists and other experts contribute (on a voluntary basis, without payment from the IPCC) to writing and reviewing reports, which are reviewed by representatives from all the governments, with a Summary for Policymakers being subject to line-by-line approval by all participating governments. Typically this involves the governments of more than 120 countries.
The IPCC does not carry out its own original research, nor does it do the work of monitoring climate or related phenomena itself. A main activity of the IPCC is publishing special reports on topics relevant to the implementation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), an international treaty that acknowledges the possibility of harmful climate change. Implementation of the UNFCCC led eventually to the Kyoto Protocol.
Monday, September 23, 2013
Dying for Control: An Exhausted Culture, Founded on Psychological Manipulation
Click here to access article by Arthur Silber from Once Upon a Time....
I haven't followed this blog, so I am not absolutely sure what the author really means by this essay. By referencing "culture", it would seem to suggest that this mass neurosis is culture specific. But nowhere in the essay is this made explicit, and it often suggests that it is an inherent human flaw--thus, it cannot be culture specific.
I would argue that psychological manipulation is a coping mechanism that enables people to function well in a capitalist system and a capitalist culture. I agree that the vast percentage of people succumb to this type of socialization, but it is clear even from his essay that they don't succumb without consequences. That is, they don't function well as human beings. This to me indicates that capitalist culture is not conducive to human development. Let me develop my views on this further.
It seems to me that there are two basic types of psychological adjustment to capitalism that people form as they develop. The first is the transference of their allegiance from parents to all authority figures in one's life. Such a person never develops into adulthood, never really develops beyond a rebellious stage, if indeed, they ever experience this stage. They simply and naively adopt the world views of people in authority. The second type I would label as a sociopathic personality: they learn to become experts at manipulating people to obtain rewards and/or to escape punishments, and they are conscious of doing this. The author of this piece seems to emphasize the latter type.
Although under capitalism such adaptations are, I believe, highly exaggerated because of the enormous control of rewards and punishments of the ruling capitalist class, I believe that these adaptations are found in all class structured societies. Unfortunately, our knowledge about pre-class structured societies is very limited, but there is some evidence that various people have uncovered (see Noam Chomsky's view here and chapter 5 at this link). There is also psychological evidence from studies of people who for various reasons have been insulated from capitalist or class influences in their socialization.
From reading only this piece, I'm not sure what he suggests is the alternative, that is, what his "one in five or ten thousand" personality development is like. What is clear to me is that the latter development usually carries with it huge penalties which the author does not acknowledge in this essay.
The great task for mankind is to develop a classless society in which the highest potential of human beings can be actualized.
I haven't followed this blog, so I am not absolutely sure what the author really means by this essay. By referencing "culture", it would seem to suggest that this mass neurosis is culture specific. But nowhere in the essay is this made explicit, and it often suggests that it is an inherent human flaw--thus, it cannot be culture specific.
I would argue that psychological manipulation is a coping mechanism that enables people to function well in a capitalist system and a capitalist culture. I agree that the vast percentage of people succumb to this type of socialization, but it is clear even from his essay that they don't succumb without consequences. That is, they don't function well as human beings. This to me indicates that capitalist culture is not conducive to human development. Let me develop my views on this further.
It seems to me that there are two basic types of psychological adjustment to capitalism that people form as they develop. The first is the transference of their allegiance from parents to all authority figures in one's life. Such a person never develops into adulthood, never really develops beyond a rebellious stage, if indeed, they ever experience this stage. They simply and naively adopt the world views of people in authority. The second type I would label as a sociopathic personality: they learn to become experts at manipulating people to obtain rewards and/or to escape punishments, and they are conscious of doing this. The author of this piece seems to emphasize the latter type.
Although under capitalism such adaptations are, I believe, highly exaggerated because of the enormous control of rewards and punishments of the ruling capitalist class, I believe that these adaptations are found in all class structured societies. Unfortunately, our knowledge about pre-class structured societies is very limited, but there is some evidence that various people have uncovered (see Noam Chomsky's view here and chapter 5 at this link). There is also psychological evidence from studies of people who for various reasons have been insulated from capitalist or class influences in their socialization.
From reading only this piece, I'm not sure what he suggests is the alternative, that is, what his "one in five or ten thousand" personality development is like. What is clear to me is that the latter development usually carries with it huge penalties which the author does not acknowledge in this essay.
The great task for mankind is to develop a classless society in which the highest potential of human beings can be actualized.
Behind the US budget conflict, a renewed bipartisan campaign to cut social programs
Click here to access article by Patrick Martin from World Socialist Web Site.
There is a consensus in the US financial aristocracy, which dominates both parties, that federal social spending be slashed, as part of the overall program of driving down living standards and attacking the social rights of the working class. The divisions between the two corporate-controlled political parties, as well as within the Republican Party, between its Tea Party wing and the congressional leadership, largely concern the tactics for imposing these cuts, not the direction or goals.What basically divides the two capitalist parties is the hyper-aggressive strategy of the Republican Party to eliminate all costs to social programs versus the more gradual approach favored by the Democratic Party. The latter prefers this "boiling frog" strategy because it is less likely to provoke a backlash by the American people.
US presses for UN resolution to justify war on Syria
Click here to access article by Peter Symonds from World Socialist Web Site.
It's clear that the Empire directorate is determined to attack Syria. They only need to find a convincing lie to justify it to the American people. This article provides the details on the latest attempt to do an end-run around the Security Council and use the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons located at The Hague, Netherlands to provide the needed excuse. What would be desirable would be information about this organization that gives such confidence to the Empire's directorate to provide them with this excuse.
It's clear that the Empire directorate is determined to attack Syria. They only need to find a convincing lie to justify it to the American people. This article provides the details on the latest attempt to do an end-run around the Security Council and use the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons located at The Hague, Netherlands to provide the needed excuse. What would be desirable would be information about this organization that gives such confidence to the Empire's directorate to provide them with this excuse.
Sunday, September 22, 2013
The New Privateers: Civil Forfeiture, Police Piracy, and the Third-Worldization of America
Click here to access article by Jim Kavanagh from his blog The Polemicist.
When I first learned of this practice in the 1980s as a part of the "War on Drugs", I was absolutely astonished at how the ruling class could get away with this--it was so blatantly unconstitutional!
All the while operatives of the One Percent were importing drugs into the US and making sure it was distributed in Black ghettos across the country (see this, this, this, and this). This was their response to the Black Power Movement, especially the Black Panther part of it.
When I first learned of this practice in the 1980s as a part of the "War on Drugs", I was absolutely astonished at how the ruling class could get away with this--it was so blatantly unconstitutional!
Amendment VYet, only a relative handful of people objected to this practice. Apparently the minds of most people were so anesthetized by the hysterical propaganda promoting the "War on Drugs" that they couldn't think straight. Also, as the blogger explains, the One Percent's media only publicized the seizure of major drug operators.
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation. [my emphasis]
All the while operatives of the One Percent were importing drugs into the US and making sure it was distributed in Black ghettos across the country (see this, this, this, and this). This was their response to the Black Power Movement, especially the Black Panther part of it.
Kerry Can Not Be Trusted
Click here to access article by Bernhard from his blog Moon of Alabama.
The author has been closely following events related to the Syrian deal negotiated between Kerry and Lavrov, Russia's Foreign Minister. It appears that the Empire's directorate will be doing everything they can to undermine the deal. A major part of this effort will be to convince the American people that an attack is necessary. It remains to be seen how they will accomplish this.
If you are not already knowledgeable about how consent and dissent is managed by the ruling One Percent, watching government/media actions to justify an attack on Syria should be an excellent lesson for you.
The author has been closely following events related to the Syrian deal negotiated between Kerry and Lavrov, Russia's Foreign Minister. It appears that the Empire's directorate will be doing everything they can to undermine the deal. A major part of this effort will be to convince the American people that an attack is necessary. It remains to be seen how they will accomplish this.
If you are not already knowledgeable about how consent and dissent is managed by the ruling One Percent, watching government/media actions to justify an attack on Syria should be an excellent lesson for you.
Degradation of Superpower or Obama’s Vitamin Cocktails
Click here to access article by Nil Nikandrov from Strategic Culture Foundation.
The Obama’s administration is in a deadlock. The ruses it had successfully resorted to before start to fail now. The mobilizing speeches of President sound less and less convincing. Obama is exhausted by constant need to come up with lies in public; one can see it having a look at his appearance. He evidently lost weight, his eyes are not that lively anymore, and his smile lost its naturalness. I won’t be surprised to know he started to consume vitamin cocktails to support him.I sometimes even feel sorry for Obama, but this is the price you pay for selling one's soul to the devil, or in this case, the ruling One Percent class.
Is climate change already dangerous? ( Part 3): Consequences from current greenhouse gas levels
Click here to access article by David Spratt from Climate Code Red.
Whereas only a few years ago mainstream media directors were smearing climate scientists and creating doubts about their research, nowadays after numerous extreme weather events they briefly make benign reference to "climate change" when reporting these events. Well, I guess that's progress. But they still do not report about current scientific research. One has to go to independent sources such as Climate Code Red.
The author surveys the latest research to answer the question posed by the title--"Is climate change already dangerous?" Here is only one example of what he reports to answer this vital question:
Whereas only a few years ago mainstream media directors were smearing climate scientists and creating doubts about their research, nowadays after numerous extreme weather events they briefly make benign reference to "climate change" when reporting these events. Well, I guess that's progress. But they still do not report about current scientific research. One has to go to independent sources such as Climate Code Red.
The author surveys the latest research to answer the question posed by the title--"Is climate change already dangerous?" Here is only one example of what he reports to answer this vital question:
With current CO2 levels at 400 ppm, a useful comparison is the Pliocene (3–5 million years ago). The research body is large and growing in this area...:
Rohling, Grant et al. find that during the mid-Pliocene, when greenhouse gases were similar to today, sea levels were more than 20 metres higher than today “we estimate sea level for the Middle Pliocene epoch (3.0–3.5 Myr ago) – a period with near-modern CO2 levels – at 25±5 metres above present, which is validated by independent sea-level data”. Likewise Hansen, Sato et al. find that “during the middle-Pliocene… we find sea level fluctuations of 20-40 metres associated with global temperature variations between today’s temperature and +3°C”.
Saturday, September 21, 2013
The Global Crisis of Legitimacy and Liberation
Click here to access article by Nozomi Hayase from CounterPunch.
The author attempts a lot in this essay and I leave it to you to see if she always succeeds. She reports that the legitimacy of our ruling institutions is dissipating among wide sections of our nation. The ruling class instruments of social control rooted in public relations, modern advertising, and representative government are no longer as effective as they once were for most Americans. She offers various theories to explain this crisis of legitimacy and how it developed.
As her essay appears to be heading in the direction of us becoming "good Americans" like the "good Germans" under the Nazis, she argues for a much more positive development. However, I think it might be a bit too hopeful, but that is for you to decide.
The author attempts a lot in this essay and I leave it to you to see if she always succeeds. She reports that the legitimacy of our ruling institutions is dissipating among wide sections of our nation. The ruling class instruments of social control rooted in public relations, modern advertising, and representative government are no longer as effective as they once were for most Americans. She offers various theories to explain this crisis of legitimacy and how it developed.
As her essay appears to be heading in the direction of us becoming "good Americans" like the "good Germans" under the Nazis, she argues for a much more positive development. However, I think it might be a bit too hopeful, but that is for you to decide.
Is Capitalism to Blame for the Syrian War Drive?
Click here to access article by Shamus Cooke from Workers Action.
While acknowledging the merits of the essay entitled "The People Against the 800 Pound Gorilla” posted in CounterPunch a week ago, Cooke argues that the authors ignored all the other capitalist gorillas who are playing major parts in this tragic drama, and explains the role they play.
While acknowledging the merits of the essay entitled "The People Against the 800 Pound Gorilla” posted in CounterPunch a week ago, Cooke argues that the authors ignored all the other capitalist gorillas who are playing major parts in this tragic drama, and explains the role they play.
Of course, the Israeli lobby, AIPAC, deserves a special place in any analysis of U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, and the authors deserve credit for taking to task those who ignore this gorilla. But this primate expresses its power best as part of a coalition of pro-war powerhouses, not independently.
US Congress moves to cut billions in food aid
Click here to access article by Andre Damon from World Socialist Web Site.
The class war heats up as US capitalism runs into trouble. However, I see the ruling class attack on poor people as entirely rational from their point of view--the capitalist system was designed to serve only one class.
The class war heats up as US capitalism runs into trouble. However, I see the ruling class attack on poor people as entirely rational from their point of view--the capitalist system was designed to serve only one class.
The fact that programs that keep millions of people out of poverty are on the chopping block, while unlimited amounts of cash are made available to the handful of multibillionaire financial parasites, is an expression of the irrationality of the capitalist system, which sacrifices the needs of the vast majority of society for the direct enrichment of the financial elite.
Golden Dawn and the extremism of the center
Click here to access article by Jerome Roos from Reflections on a Revolution.
The author sees through the ruse of a civil war between two extreme factions which ruling capitalist directors would like to use as a cover for a police-military crackdown on all dissent. The quote by Sinclair offers a useful political equation to suggest that capitalism will resort to murder whenever their other strategy doesn't work. Their other strategy is obviously liberalism. Thus, I think it logically follows that capitalism minus murder equals liberalism. In both equations I see capitalism as a constant, while the independent variable is the legitimacy of class rule among the larger population, with fascism and liberalism the dependent variables.
Framing the relationships this way suggests that liberalism is only another facade that hides the exploitative system of capitalism. In university philosophy and history classes liberalism is taken far too seriously as a thing in itself that somehow influenced the rise of capitalism. The agency is the other way around. Liberalism as expounded by Adam Smith, John Locke, David Hume, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Thomas Paine, etc, whether they were consciously advancing property rights--the core concept of capitalism--or not, their ideas were strongly advanced by key capitalists as a major ideological weapon in the struggle against aristocratic rule. Liberalism was used as a cover to justify the elimination of all barriers to capitalist enterprises and the capitalist class's exclusive claims to the wealth derived from these enterprises. Hence, liberalism was, and continues to be, merely political propaganda and a tool to insure the rule of capitalists.
The author sees through the ruse of a civil war between two extreme factions which ruling capitalist directors would like to use as a cover for a police-military crackdown on all dissent. The quote by Sinclair offers a useful political equation to suggest that capitalism will resort to murder whenever their other strategy doesn't work. Their other strategy is obviously liberalism. Thus, I think it logically follows that capitalism minus murder equals liberalism. In both equations I see capitalism as a constant, while the independent variable is the legitimacy of class rule among the larger population, with fascism and liberalism the dependent variables.
Framing the relationships this way suggests that liberalism is only another facade that hides the exploitative system of capitalism. In university philosophy and history classes liberalism is taken far too seriously as a thing in itself that somehow influenced the rise of capitalism. The agency is the other way around. Liberalism as expounded by Adam Smith, John Locke, David Hume, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Thomas Paine, etc, whether they were consciously advancing property rights--the core concept of capitalism--or not, their ideas were strongly advanced by key capitalists as a major ideological weapon in the struggle against aristocratic rule. Liberalism was used as a cover to justify the elimination of all barriers to capitalist enterprises and the capitalist class's exclusive claims to the wealth derived from these enterprises. Hence, liberalism was, and continues to be, merely political propaganda and a tool to insure the rule of capitalists.
Is global warming in a hiatus?
Click here to access article by Andy Pitman from The Conversation (Australia).
This scientist offers several possible explanations for some slight cooling in global temperatures from 1998. As one can see from the graph, there are other periods of temporary cooling.
This scientist offers several possible explanations for some slight cooling in global temperatures from 1998. As one can see from the graph, there are other periods of temporary cooling.
Friday, September 20, 2013
Richard D. Wolff on Economics in Media
Click here if you wish to access the source of these video interviews on Media Channel via YouTube.
Danny Schechter interviews Wolff who explains some of the economic issues that mainstream media refuses to discuss, and explains why, and how media is a primary means of social control by the ruling class.
Danny Schechter interviews Wolff who explains some of the economic issues that mainstream media refuses to discuss, and explains why, and how media is a primary means of social control by the ruling class.
Newspapers Are Becoming the Toys of Billionaires
Click here to access article by Roberto Savio from Inter Press Service.
Newspapers, and now media in general, have been not merely "toys" for the rich, but instruments of social control for well over a century. Recall how the Hearst papers strongly influenced the start of US imperialism in the Spanish-American War? Read Upton Sinclair's Brass Check (1919) in which he cites hundreds of examples of how newspapers publishers manufactured news to serve their interests and protect their system of capitalism.
...concentration of the media in fewer and fewer hands is a global phenomenon. Some media observers see in this a turn to the right, propelled by those with money. It is not a plot; it is simply that 100 people who own a Ferrari tend to have a more similar view of things than, for example, 100 people who own a Volkswagen.I think that Savio is being a bit disingenuous or naive here. Most directors in the ruling class know how indispensable media are to shaping the opinions of the 99 Percent, and consciously use it accordingly. The same applies to all the other institutions of indoctrination--schools, Hollywood films, etc. That is patently obvious to anyone awake and reasonably aware of the history of media to support wars, to discredit labor organizing and strikes, to fear Muslims, etc, and how the CIA has infiltrated media to plant fake stories and influence others (see this and this).
Newspapers, and now media in general, have been not merely "toys" for the rich, but instruments of social control for well over a century. Recall how the Hearst papers strongly influenced the start of US imperialism in the Spanish-American War? Read Upton Sinclair's Brass Check (1919) in which he cites hundreds of examples of how newspapers publishers manufactured news to serve their interests and protect their system of capitalism.
Neoliberalism Plays Key Role in Economically Forced Mexican Migration to US
Click here to access article from Truthout featuring an interview with author David Bacon.
Few Americans realize that migrant workers from Mexico and Central America are usually forced to move north in order to survive due to neoliberal policies enacted since the late 1990s.
Few Americans realize that migrant workers from Mexico and Central America are usually forced to move north in order to survive due to neoliberal policies enacted since the late 1990s.
NAFTA allowed the dumping of corn, meat and other agricultural products in Mexico at low prices by huge corporations whose costs in the US are subsidized by the US farm bill. They did this in order to take over the market....In spite of political rhetoric coming from the mouths of corporate-sponsored right-wing sources, corporations and the ruling class in general love migrant workers. Because they are so vulnerable they will work cheaply, will not complain about hazardous working conditions, and will not try to organize unions. They are the ideal source of labor to create better bottom lines in corporate financial statements.
Help Kickstart World War III!
Click here if you wish to access the source of this video created and posted by The Second City Network.
This is political parody at its best, and produced by a comedy theater group that has its roots in Chicago's Second City Theater. When I lived in Madison, Wisconsin during the Vietnam War years, I occasionally drove to Chicago to enjoy their wonderful satire directed against the US war machine.
Obama, even more so than Bush, Jr., deserves this kind of parody because he has been packaged and sold to liberal Americans as an alternative to the ruling class's other puppets who more obviously have served their interests.
This is political parody at its best, and produced by a comedy theater group that has its roots in Chicago's Second City Theater. When I lived in Madison, Wisconsin during the Vietnam War years, I occasionally drove to Chicago to enjoy their wonderful satire directed against the US war machine.
Obama, even more so than Bush, Jr., deserves this kind of parody because he has been packaged and sold to liberal Americans as an alternative to the ruling class's other puppets who more obviously have served their interests.
US Covered-Up For Decades The Largest Use Of Biological And Chemical Weapons In History
Click here to access article by Jeffrey Kaye from The Public Record.
The actions of the U.S. government for decades on the matter of biological and chemical weapons demonstrate that it cannot be trusted on this matter. The government was intimately involved with cover-ups on the use of these weapons. Their cover-up is likely still ongoing.
Thursday, September 19, 2013
Failure to Withdraw: The CIA, the Taliban, and the Strategy of Tension in Afghanistan
Click here to access free transcript of the Corbett Report by James Corbett from his website.
If you simply cannot afford a subscription from Boiling Frogs website in order to access the full 16:20m video report, you can read the transcript of the report at the above link. It provides some rather astonishing insights on developments there.
If you simply cannot afford a subscription from Boiling Frogs website in order to access the full 16:20m video report, you can read the transcript of the report at the above link. It provides some rather astonishing insights on developments there.
By any reasonable standard, the US-led NATO-powered invasion and occupation of Afghanistan, now entering its 13th year, has been an unmitigated failure.
The economic costs of the war are easy enough to calculate, although difficult for the average person to comprehend. Even the most conservative estimate of the cost of the Afghanistan war shows that the US government alone has spent $659 billion dollars in the past 13 years of its occupation of the country. The UK government has spent a further 37 billion pounds on the war.
....
Of course, NATO does not measure the outcome of its mission by reasonable standards. They have their own entirely different yardstick by which they gauge their operations, and by that standard, the Afghan war has been an unqualified success.
The Armageddon Looting Machine: The Looming Mass Destruction from Derivatives
Click here to access article by Ellen Brown from her website Web of Debt.
Although I've found this financial critic very helpful at times in explaining financial issues, I've also found her critique of the capitalist system limited entirely to the banking sector. In other words, she believes that if our central bank were owned and operated by the government, there would be no significant problems in terms of social justice.
My view is that control of banking by private parties is at the very heart of capitalism, and certainly at the very core of capitalist ruling classes. In other words, we can't remove private control from banking as long as we have the capitalist system.
With that said, I recommend this piece because she is honest and informed about financial issues. I am not well informed on the phenomenon of what she refers to as the "shadow banking system", but she has links in the article that are helpful to understand this system. It is based on the use of the new "financial instruments" or derivative gambling scams. From what she reports, it appears that nothing really has substantially changed with Wall Street or the major banks in spite of all the Congressional hearings and laws that have been passed. Both are major players in the completely unregulated "shadow banking system", and it appears that we are headed for yet another economic meltdown because of their activities while still trying to recover from the last one. Ain't life wonderful?
Although I've found this financial critic very helpful at times in explaining financial issues, I've also found her critique of the capitalist system limited entirely to the banking sector. In other words, she believes that if our central bank were owned and operated by the government, there would be no significant problems in terms of social justice.
My view is that control of banking by private parties is at the very heart of capitalism, and certainly at the very core of capitalist ruling classes. In other words, we can't remove private control from banking as long as we have the capitalist system.
With that said, I recommend this piece because she is honest and informed about financial issues. I am not well informed on the phenomenon of what she refers to as the "shadow banking system", but she has links in the article that are helpful to understand this system. It is based on the use of the new "financial instruments" or derivative gambling scams. From what she reports, it appears that nothing really has substantially changed with Wall Street or the major banks in spite of all the Congressional hearings and laws that have been passed. Both are major players in the completely unregulated "shadow banking system", and it appears that we are headed for yet another economic meltdown because of their activities while still trying to recover from the last one. Ain't life wonderful?
Attacking Net Neutrality Once Again
Click here to access article by Alfredo Lopez from Dissident Voice.
...the corporations’ argument against the FCC’s net neutrality ruling isn’t only about bandwidth use. They are claiming the right to ban or restrict content and are rejecting the idea that the government can impose criteria for what they ban and restrict. The bottom line is that huge corporations, if they get their way, would be able to ban your website from any visitor — the would have that power — and that’s the very power used in countries like China and Iran where Internet use is repressed.
Is climate change already dangerous ( Part 2): The Arctic
Click here to access article by David Spratt from Climate Code Red.
It is now clear that the Arctic is heading quickly for summer periods free of sea ice. A linear extrapolation of sea-ice mass loss suggests it may occur within a decade or so. An exponential fit, which is a better fit for the current data, suggests it might occur within a few years .
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
How Occupy reinvented the language of democracy
Click here to access article by Jerome Roos from Reflections on a Revolution.
The author provides an excellent evaluation of the Occupy movement in the US:
To answer this question, you and I and all the other activists must study information such as the author provides in this article. Please do not merely skim it. There is so much here. View the video link to study police strategy and tactics. Read the many links to other sources of valuable information that the author provides. For example, I was astonished to learn from one link a lot about the Domestic Security Alliance Council--an organization that I had never heard about before. It is an archetype and a perfect illustration of a fascist organization: a direct integration of corporations and government enforcement agencies to control domestic dissent.
The author provides an excellent evaluation of the Occupy movement in the US:
...Occupy’s critique of representation and its reinvention of the democratic narrative virtually killed off the last remnants of party and state fetishism within the grassroots movements of the anti-capitalist left. Occupy’s horizontalism did not so much smash the vertical structures of the institutional left — reformist and revolutionary alike — but simply dissolved them through its emphasis on radical equality and open-ended inclusiveness, and its revolutionary vision of the directly democratic urban commune.But, he also sees the necessity to build on this experience:
...what’s next? It’s self-evident that Occupy reinvigorated anti-capitalist struggles in the US and across the world. But how can we now create the autonomous spaces (both physical and social) within which to carry on our experiment in radical democracy and from which to re-launch our disruptive direct actions against the 1%?"What's next?", of course, depends on you and I and all other social justice seeking activists across the county.
To answer this question, you and I and all the other activists must study information such as the author provides in this article. Please do not merely skim it. There is so much here. View the video link to study police strategy and tactics. Read the many links to other sources of valuable information that the author provides. For example, I was astonished to learn from one link a lot about the Domestic Security Alliance Council--an organization that I had never heard about before. It is an archetype and a perfect illustration of a fascist organization: a direct integration of corporations and government enforcement agencies to control domestic dissent.
On Money
Click here to access article by Carol Brouillet from Community Currency.
This article, while offering considerable valuable information, is weak on analysis. Although I have not thoroughly studied it, what I have read from the article directly and indirectly through the sources it links to, I have concluded that its focus is on central banks as the focus of all evil apart from the system of capitalism. Thus, you will find that its material would be supported by old-fashioned conservatives and US libertarians because of its narrow focus. The author and her linked sources appear to have no problem with other small, privately owned banks issuing their own money in the form of bank notes as has occurred in much of US history, or as we continue to see today in the form of loans through the practice of fractional reserve banking.
Money is a very complicated subject and its history has been obviously and deliberately obscured by the ruling class whose core is made up of major bankers. Money when issued by private banks is usually the most lucrative capitalist operation of all.
Bankers, or people acting as bankers, discovered this long ago. Central banks are major banks functioning as a consortium of banks that are granted a monopoly by a government to issue its money and is backed by the full enforcement powers of the government. Major bankers are able to achieve this feat and get away with it because they are the core part of any capitalist ruling class. They play a key role in what gets produced in any society, and of course, what gets produced is always the most profitable regardless of consequences to society. War is the most extreme example.
For more information to help you to understand money creation, I recommend this source which is organized as a series of lessons designed by someone by the pseudonym of "Smithy". Smithy has degrees in mathematics and economics, and she works as a consultant calculating investment risk for financial institutions. For this reason, she can't reveal her real name. I also recommend a book entitled The Lost Science of Money by Stephen Zarlenga, but it is rather expensive. You could also check out my past articles using the label "money" in the "Categories" section for more information.
This article, while offering considerable valuable information, is weak on analysis. Although I have not thoroughly studied it, what I have read from the article directly and indirectly through the sources it links to, I have concluded that its focus is on central banks as the focus of all evil apart from the system of capitalism. Thus, you will find that its material would be supported by old-fashioned conservatives and US libertarians because of its narrow focus. The author and her linked sources appear to have no problem with other small, privately owned banks issuing their own money in the form of bank notes as has occurred in much of US history, or as we continue to see today in the form of loans through the practice of fractional reserve banking.
Money is a very complicated subject and its history has been obviously and deliberately obscured by the ruling class whose core is made up of major bankers. Money when issued by private banks is usually the most lucrative capitalist operation of all.
Bankers, or people acting as bankers, discovered this long ago. Central banks are major banks functioning as a consortium of banks that are granted a monopoly by a government to issue its money and is backed by the full enforcement powers of the government. Major bankers are able to achieve this feat and get away with it because they are the core part of any capitalist ruling class. They play a key role in what gets produced in any society, and of course, what gets produced is always the most profitable regardless of consequences to society. War is the most extreme example.
For more information to help you to understand money creation, I recommend this source which is organized as a series of lessons designed by someone by the pseudonym of "Smithy". Smithy has degrees in mathematics and economics, and she works as a consultant calculating investment risk for financial institutions. For this reason, she can't reveal her real name. I also recommend a book entitled The Lost Science of Money by Stephen Zarlenga, but it is rather expensive. You could also check out my past articles using the label "money" in the "Categories" section for more information.
Frackademia: The People & Money Behind the EDF Methane Emissions Study
Click here to access article by Steve Horn from DeSmogBlog (based in Canada).
The information provided in this article on shale fracking illustrates how an important section of the ruling class, energy producers, use academia to promote, or more accurately, to cover for their environmentally destructive practices. This is only a more dramatic example of how the ruling class in general uses institutions of higher learning to promote their values, their history, and their system of capitalism that delivers to them so much wealth and, even more importantly, power.
The information provided in this article on shale fracking illustrates how an important section of the ruling class, energy producers, use academia to promote, or more accurately, to cover for their environmentally destructive practices. This is only a more dramatic example of how the ruling class in general uses institutions of higher learning to promote their values, their history, and their system of capitalism that delivers to them so much wealth and, even more importantly, power.
Study sponsors listed in the 'Acknowledgments' section of the report include Anadarko Petroleum, BG Group, Chevron, Encana, Talisman and ExxonMobil subsidiary XTO Energy in addition to EDF. These are the obvious "frackademia" culprits raising red flags regarding the study's findings.
But that only scratches the surface.
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
The empire blinks
Click here to access article by Larry Chin from Intrepid Report.
This political analyst also sees that the power-addicted Empire directors will continue their imperialist agenda in the Middle East despite any deal regarding chemical weapons.
This political analyst also sees that the power-addicted Empire directors will continue their imperialist agenda in the Middle East despite any deal regarding chemical weapons.
...even as this murderous agenda rolls ahead with no end in sight, it fails. Central Asia and the Middle East have been sent into chaos, nation after nation gutted, but the empire is no closer to its goal of a petro-economic salvation or lasting geostrategic control. Desperate military violence and brute force do not change the fact that the days of easily recoverable oil and gas are over, and with it capitalism as usual. The world economy shows no sign of lasting recovery, and severe internal stress. The US government is bankrupt, financially as well as morally, while the disillusionment of the American populace grows.
Climate case overwhelming, say scientists
Click here to access article by Alex Kirby from Climate Code Red.
Eleven days before the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change publishes its latest report, a group of eminent scientists says there is massive evidence of human responsibility.
Monday, September 16, 2013
Snowden Disclosures Finally Hit 12 on a Scale of 1 to 10
Click here to access article by Kevin Drum from Mother Jones.
I am only posting this piece as an illustration of a liberal take on the issue of government surveillance. While in the past I have been aware of how this and other liberal media sources function to limit critical examination of ruling class policies and actions, I still try to approach their articles with an open mind to glean valuable information that they sometimes provide.
The first cue that the author was engaging in arguments to protect the ruling class was when he first used the term "bad guys"; and following that, how Snowden's revelations helped them.
Whether he is a liberal who identifies with the capitalist ruling class or a sociopathic journalist on the payroll of a government "security" service, the intent is to limit the damage that the revelations may have had on many people who were shocked by them and have started to question government policies. Judging by the comments following the article, many people were not deterred from questioning government surveillance.
I am only posting this piece as an illustration of a liberal take on the issue of government surveillance. While in the past I have been aware of how this and other liberal media sources function to limit critical examination of ruling class policies and actions, I still try to approach their articles with an open mind to glean valuable information that they sometimes provide.
The first cue that the author was engaging in arguments to protect the ruling class was when he first used the term "bad guys"; and following that, how Snowden's revelations helped them.
...this is truly information that plenty of bad guys probably didn't know, and probably didn't have much of an inkling about. ....
Now every bad guy in the world knows for a fact that commercial crypto won't help them, and the ones with even modest smarts will switch to strong crypto techniques that remain unbreakable. It's still a pain in the ass, but it's not that big a pain in the ass.Clearly, the author buys into ruling class propaganda about "evil doers" and what logically follows from that assumption--a domestic police state combined with an aggressive foreign policy. He functions like a ruling class operative by framing Snowden's revelations this way. I would not be surprised to learn that he is on the payroll of the CIA, FBI, or NSA while writing for a liberal publication that hides behind the image of the real, historical Mother Jones, an IWW activist, who risked her life to help miners in 1914 at the Rockefeller coal mine in Ludlow, Colorado, and many other workers in actions across the US.
Whether he is a liberal who identifies with the capitalist ruling class or a sociopathic journalist on the payroll of a government "security" service, the intent is to limit the damage that the revelations may have had on many people who were shocked by them and have started to question government policies. Judging by the comments following the article, many people were not deterred from questioning government surveillance.
False Flag Operation against Syria? Lessons from the Vietnam War and the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
Click here to access article by Timothy Alexander Guzman from his blog Silent Crow News.
The Obama administration wants war with Syria. It has been planned for quite some time. It does not matter what kind of deal was made. It does not mean that the crisis in Syria is over and that a peaceful solution is in a matter of time. The US will attempt anything to get into another war including a “False Flag” operation, which could be well on its way.Also, I recommend this article by Tony Cartalucci from Land Destroyer entitled "Syria's "Rebels" Threaten UN - Will Use US Weapons".
Bumper Year for Corporate Donations Reveals Profit Motives
Click here to access article by Rick Cohen from CorpWatch.
...millions of U.S. workers...have been laid off from their jobs in the corporate world during the long and deep recession.... They can’t get their jobs back, because at the current rate of hiring, corporations and other sectors are hiring so slowly that it will take until 2020 before the U.S. economy reaches pre-recession unemployment conditions. Despite this, the companies have billions to give away?Read the article to find out why.
To confront the climate emergency we need to dismantle the WTO and the free trade regime
Click here to access article from La Via Campesina.
Launched in 1995, the World Trade Organization (WTO) completed the Bretton Woods trio with the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund in promoting neoliberalism and corporate globalization. The WTO was particularly special in its power to legally enforce and penalize countries, taking away the policy space of governments, and on several occasions, forcing them to change their national laws in order to implement global free trade rules.
The article provides examples of how international trade agreements usurp local control of the economy. It also shows what policies are needed to promote a healthy, ecologically sustainable economy. However, it fails to identify the system of capitalism which of necessity promotes harmful policies. In spite of this omission the article reaches a sound, although rather vague conclusion:
Launched in 1995, the World Trade Organization (WTO) completed the Bretton Woods trio with the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund in promoting neoliberalism and corporate globalization. The WTO was particularly special in its power to legally enforce and penalize countries, taking away the policy space of governments, and on several occasions, forcing them to change their national laws in order to implement global free trade rules.
The article provides examples of how international trade agreements usurp local control of the economy. It also shows what policies are needed to promote a healthy, ecologically sustainable economy. However, it fails to identify the system of capitalism which of necessity promotes harmful policies. In spite of this omission the article reaches a sound, although rather vague conclusion:
To really address the climate crisis, a world without the WTO and the FTAs, one that is not dominated by transnational corporations and the global free trade regimes, is necessary! We have to change the system, and we have to do this now.
Is climate change already dangerous? Part 1
Click here to access article by David Spratt from Climate Code Red.
This is a first installment in an unknown number of series that tries to determine if the human race is already "screwed" due to their extravagant use of fossil fuels and other assaults on the Earth's ecosystem.
This is a first installment in an unknown number of series that tries to determine if the human race is already "screwed" due to their extravagant use of fossil fuels and other assaults on the Earth's ecosystem.
In a compelling survey, this report answers the question many are afraid to ask: is climate change already dangerous?
This science survey measures the current manifestations and impacts of climate change against the "safe boundaries" metric; surveys the literature on tipping points and non-linear climate events; and provides a detail study of significant recent events in the Arctic.
Sunday, September 15, 2013
Controlling the Flow: Thoughts on the Free Flow of Information Act
Click here to access article by Tricia Todd from The Huffington Post.
This proposed legislation is another illustration of how constitutional guarantees can be rather easily subverted by the ruling class whenever they are seen as impediments to their rule. In this case we might see a direct assault on constitutional guarantees of press freedom. In most cases unconstitutional actions are engaged in through various means such as government secrecy, control of major media, persecution of leakers, even targeted assassinations of journalists (see this, this, and this), control of courts, and international agreements such as the so-called "free trade" agreements.
While many Mainstream Media outlets support the law, it does little to benefit the freelancers who frequently provide robust coverage of under-reported stories. Further, it specifically targets those who publish in what some members of Congress would deem questionable outlets, such as watchdog groups or independent blogs.This discusses a key piece of legislation before Congress that could mark a major turning point in the control of information that we now have access to. This law might be an effort at constructing a noose to hang many independent journalists and others like myself who pass on their reports.
This proposed legislation is another illustration of how constitutional guarantees can be rather easily subverted by the ruling class whenever they are seen as impediments to their rule. In this case we might see a direct assault on constitutional guarantees of press freedom. In most cases unconstitutional actions are engaged in through various means such as government secrecy, control of major media, persecution of leakers, even targeted assassinations of journalists (see this, this, and this), control of courts, and international agreements such as the so-called "free trade" agreements.
A Short History Of The War On Syria - 2006-2014
Click here to access article by Bernhard from his blog Moon of Alabama.
This very astute political analyst provides an excellent summary of the events leading up to this current crisis and the agreement, but he is a lot more optimistic than I am about the recent agreement between Russia and the US over Syrian chemical weapons to provide any kind of stable peace in the region.
This very astute political analyst provides an excellent summary of the events leading up to this current crisis and the agreement, but he is a lot more optimistic than I am about the recent agreement between Russia and the US over Syrian chemical weapons to provide any kind of stable peace in the region.
The people of the United States have, for the first time in decades, stopped a war that their president wanted to pursue. That is a huge victory and a precedence. They should remember it well when the next manufactured war on this or that small country comes up. They have the power to stop it.While the argument that the Obama administration needed and got a face-saving way out of their "red-line" attack on Syria because of a lack of public support, I think that there is far too much momentum behind the effort to destabilize Syria, and far too much at stake for the Empire's ambitions in this key area of the world to simply cease and desist from their plans. The directors of the Empire likely see this as only a temporary setback, and who knows what nefarious actions they will come up with to continue with their Middle East agenda.
The catastrophic management of catastrophe
Click here to access article by Jerome Roos from Reflections on a Revolution.
...there will eventually have to be a point where the irresistible force of market fundamentalism runs up against the unmovable object of popular resistance. The social collision course upon which the ruling elite has embarked is now playing out in front of our very eyes. A global class war is unfolding.Well, I agree, but it seems likely to me that it will be too late to save an ecosystem capable of sustaining human life.
Saturday, September 14, 2013
Syrian Complexities And The Geopolitical Context – Analysis
Click here to access article by Zaakir Ahmed Mayet from The Palestine Chronicle.
The world seems to be spiraling out of control. As murder, death and wanton destruction becomes the order of the day; these realities are demonstrated in Syria. The mass slaughter occurring within the borders of Syria appeals to the humanitarian in most, except for those that seek to rain cruise missile democracy upon the Syrian populous.The author carefully follows the evidence related to Syria's internal war and finds that the trail leads to Israel and Zionist regional ambitions.
Washington maneuvers in Syrian negotiations to lay groundwork for war
Click here to access article by Bill Van Auken from World Socialist Web Site.
The author lays out the evidence which supports the view that Western and Zionist forces are intent on using the current Syrian peace negotiations in order to provide a pretext for an attack.
Referring to a French resolution regarding Syrian chemical weapons, the author writes:
The author lays out the evidence which supports the view that Western and Zionist forces are intent on using the current Syrian peace negotiations in order to provide a pretext for an attack.
Referring to a French resolution regarding Syrian chemical weapons, the author writes:
The resolution is designed to create a series of triggers for military attack. Like similar conditions imposed on the government of Saddam Hussein before the US invasion of Iraq, it aims at forcing the Syrian government to prove the impossible, that it is not hiding a single chemical weapon within its territory, and creates the conditions for riding roughshod over the country’s sovereignty in order to better prepare a war for regime change.
No More War for Israel?: The People Against the 800 Pound Gorilla
Click here to access article by Jean Bricmont and Diana Johnstone from CounterPunch.
An American friend who knows Washington well recently told us that “everybody” there knows that, as far as the drive to war with Syria is concerned, it is Israel that directs U.S. policy. Why then, we replied, don’t opponents of war say it out loud, since, if the American public knew that, support for the war would collapse?
Chemical weapons arsenals and the hidden truths about the "Convention"
Click here to access article by Manlio Dinucci from VoltaireNet.
The hammering by politicians and the corporate media about chemical weapons use in Syria, which, according to secret CIA "evidence" was used by government forces, has generated the widespread false impression that it is only Syria that now possesses such weapons and threatens the rest of the world with them. That’s the power of the weapon of mass distraction....
Labor Leaders, Obamacare, and the Fate of the Unions
Click here to access article by Shamus Cooke from Workers Action.
A funny thing happened a couple of months ago: labor leaders finally awoke from their coma and realized that Obamacare was not only bad for unions, but for working families in general.
Once the biggest salespeople of the bill’s passage, union leaders are suddenly full of rage and “shock” at the realities of Obamacare.
Friday, September 13, 2013
China stitches up (SCO) Silk Rd
Click here to access article by Pepe Escobar from Asia Times Online.
As ordinary people across the world, if we continue to be used as pawns in the rivalries between various capitalist gangs, we can only expect more wars with greater devastation, and the inevitable clash with our planet's ecosystem that is capable of sustaining human life.
... we have to come back to the ultimate adage of the times; while the (Washington) dogs of war bark, the (Chinese) caravan does deals.While the Empire threatens more chaos in the Middle East, Escobar reports on all the quiet developments in Eurasia focusing on the Chinese capitalists to create an infrastructure...
..."economic belt along the Silk Road" is a supremely ambitious, Chinese-fueled trans-Eurasian integration mega-project, from the Pacific to the Baltic Sea; a sort of mega free-trade zone. Xi's rationale seems to be unimpeachable; the belt is the home of "close to 3 billion people and represents the biggest market in the world with unparalleled potential".And the Chinese and Russians are increasingly seeing the need to collaborate to counter the imperial designs of the West. While such plans are seemingly motivated to create a "multi-polar" world, you can be certain that the future will be see deadly inter-capitalist rivalries just as we witnessed in the horrors of the 20th century world wars. Capitalist competition never remains in a benign state. Chinese and Russian capitalists are no more moral than our own or what we saw from fascist Germany, Italy, and Japan in the 20th century. That is precisely why the US Empire is now doing everything it can to thwart the plans of these rivals.
As ordinary people across the world, if we continue to be used as pawns in the rivalries between various capitalist gangs, we can only expect more wars with greater devastation, and the inevitable clash with our planet's ecosystem that is capable of sustaining human life.
Defeating AIPAC Starts with Syria
Click here to access article by Philip Giraldi from AntiWar.
AIPAC operates with a budget exceeding $50 million and has several hundred full time staff. Let there be no mistake about what the organization is and what it stands for: it wants the United States to start what almost certainly would quickly escalate into a major war on behalf of another country as a prelude to yet another war against yet another Middle Eastern country.
Thursday, September 12, 2013
Rania Masri and Chris Hedges On Obama's Syria Address
Click here if you wish to access the transcript of part 1 of this interview from Real News Network.
Part 2 of 2 of this interview:
Part 2 of 2 of this interview:
Repression and Violence in Honduras Do Not Just Happen--They Are Policy
Click here to access article by Dana Frank from Rights Action. (This post was forwarded to me from Rights Action, a humanitarian group working for social justice in Honduras and Guatemala.)
I receive postings like this constantly from sources in Central America. Honduras and Guatemala are disasters as societies, and have been made that way with the close supervision of US and Canadian authorities. Occasionally liberals in Congress make moralistic noises about the many human rights crimes and civil rights violations against indigenous and opposition groups by multi-national corporations operating there or by the Honduran and Guatemalan militaries, but nothing is ever done to hold them accountable. News of these violations are rarely reported in US media with an occasional exception as we see here in this guest article published by the Miami Herald.
I receive postings like this constantly from sources in Central America. Honduras and Guatemala are disasters as societies, and have been made that way with the close supervision of US and Canadian authorities. Occasionally liberals in Congress make moralistic noises about the many human rights crimes and civil rights violations against indigenous and opposition groups by multi-national corporations operating there or by the Honduran and Guatemalan militaries, but nothing is ever done to hold them accountable. News of these violations are rarely reported in US media with an occasional exception as we see here in this guest article published by the Miami Herald.
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
The (farcical) emperor is naked
Click here to access article by Pepe Escobar from Asia Times Online.
In this article Escobar shows real insight on the fake government that millions are led to believe governs the US while pointing at the real people who manage the puppets from behind the screen of corporate media. However, it appears that fooling people is getting harder and harder.
In this article Escobar shows real insight on the fake government that millions are led to believe governs the US while pointing at the real people who manage the puppets from behind the screen of corporate media. However, it appears that fooling people is getting harder and harder.
It's as if Dick Cheney had never left the building; paperboy Barack is Dick Cheney with a ''human'' face. The only good outcome in this multi-sorrowful tale is that the real ''international community'', all around the world, has seen the naked Emperor in all its (farcical) glory.
Kevin Ryan Exposes “Another 19″ 9/11 Suspects
Click here to access the 44:53m audio interview with Kevin Ryan by James Corbett.
Author Kevin Ryan's research has come up with another list of 9/11 suspects who had the means, motive, and opportunity to carry off the 9/11 operation.
Author Kevin Ryan's research has come up with another list of 9/11 suspects who had the means, motive, and opportunity to carry off the 9/11 operation.
9/11 researcher Kevin Ryan...joins us once again to discuss his new must-read book, “Another Nineteen: Investigating Legitimate 9/11 Suspects.” We discuss some of the individuals and corporations identified in his book and those who have helped to cover up investigations of them, as well as what works like this can accomplish and where the 9/11 truth movement should head from here.Also, you might be interested in this 45:07m video which suggests that much of what we saw on TV during and following 9/11 might have been a Photoshop-type production.
Too Many Years Of Lies from Mossadeq to 9/11
Click here to access article by Paul Craig Roberts from his website.
The plutocracy through their corporate propaganda organs commemorates 9/11 today so that you will never forget that we are are constantly threatened and must pursue wars of self-defense and humanitarianism indefinitely. Besides, it's good for the stock market, and the stock market is good for America.
I hear some doubters out there who claim that the true story will inevitably come out about 9/11. Ha, ha. Well yes, but you will have to wait a bit.
The plutocracy through their corporate propaganda organs commemorates 9/11 today so that you will never forget that we are are constantly threatened and must pursue wars of self-defense and humanitarianism indefinitely. Besides, it's good for the stock market, and the stock market is good for America.
I hear some doubters out there who claim that the true story will inevitably come out about 9/11. Ha, ha. Well yes, but you will have to wait a bit.
If 60 years is the time that must pass before Washington’s crimes can be acknowledged, the US government will admit the truth about September 11, 2001 on September 11, 2061.
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
Russia Throws Obama a Life Preserver on Syria
Click here to access article by Jim Lobe from Inter Press Service.
With President Barack Obama facing increasingly certain defeat in his quest for Congressional authorisation to carry out military strikes against Syria, the Russian government Monday appeared to offer the White House a way out of the crisis.
Seizing on what seemed to be an offhand remark by Secretary of State John Kerry during a London press conference, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov pledged that Moscow would support any effort to put Syria’s chemical weapons under international control and eventually destroy them.The "offhand remark"?
“Sure, he could turn over every single bit of his chemical weapons to the international community in the next week – turn it over, all of it, without delay and allow the full and total accounting,” ... “But he isn’t about to do it, and it can’t be done.”
Why the US, UK, EU & Israel hate Syria
Click here to access article by Adrian Salbuchi from RT.
A young, soft-spoken girl living the Syrian tragedy spells it out with far more common sense, truth and honesty than powerful Western governments and their money-controlled mass media puppets.
In this article the author expands on comments made by her in a YouTube video in which she cited “eight reasons why the NWO (New World Order) hates Syria.”
Also, you might want to watch her and her friend debate so-called "Free Syrian Army" advocates on an Australian TV political program.
By viewing her YouTube videos you will learn a lot about Syria that is never reported in corporate media.
A young, soft-spoken girl living the Syrian tragedy spells it out with far more common sense, truth and honesty than powerful Western governments and their money-controlled mass media puppets.
In this article the author expands on comments made by her in a YouTube video in which she cited “eight reasons why the NWO (New World Order) hates Syria.”
Also, you might want to watch her and her friend debate so-called "Free Syrian Army" advocates on an Australian TV political program.
By viewing her YouTube videos you will learn a lot about Syria that is never reported in corporate media.
Does your local government have a “black budget” too?
Click here to access article by Matthew Cagle from American Civil Liberties Union.
As we learn more about the US intelligence community's top secret, multi-billion dollar "Black budget" and how the NSA pays technology companies to comply with the Prism spying program, another mostly unnoticed pipeline moves billions of federal surveillance dollars from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to local governments for dragnet surveillance systems that include video camera networks, automated license plate readers, facial recognition, and even drones and tanks.
The art of building a new world: Freedom according to the Zapatistas
Click here to access article by Raúl Zibechi from Americas Program.
It takes seven hours to traverse the 100 kilometers that separate San Cristóbal and the Morelia caracol. The caravan (containing thirty cars and trucks) left late and advanced at a tortoise pace. Around 2:00 am, we arrived at the caracol, and a maze of buildings that house the institutions of the autonomous region, made up of three municipalities, twelve regions, and dozens of communities governed by the Good Government Board.In August the author attended "La Escuelita", or Little School, arranged for people in other lands to come to Chiapas and learn about the new society that the Zapatistas are creating. This is a report on his visit and his observations about the new society.
One week of protests: what’s going on in Romania?
Click here to access article by Grecu Cristian-Dan from Reflections on a Revolution.
In the last couple of years, people from Romania forgot that they had a voice, that they had power, that they could change something. Many accepted the current situation of poverty and corruption, and forgot that they could unite and fight together. But Chevron and RMGC (the Roşia Montană Gold Corporation, which is the Romanian arm of the Canadian mining corporation) with the complicity of the state obliged us to wake up!
Monday, September 9, 2013
Is The United States Going To Go To War With Syria Over A Natural Gas Pipeline?
Click here to access article by Michael Snyder from MND.
The author presents considerable evidence that this is, indeed, the case. But, is this reason so surprising given the history of the US? Read General Butler's book entitled War is a Racket on how he saw his career:
Now the Empire is threatening another war in the Middle East and pretending that it is for humanitarian reasons while it is actually over pipelines which are essential conduits for control of energy in their competition with Russian and Chinese capitalists. To sell the public on these wars, they must always justify them using humanitarian or security reasons. The latest form of this old ploy is now being used again to fool the American people.
The author presents considerable evidence that this is, indeed, the case. But, is this reason so surprising given the history of the US? Read General Butler's book entitled War is a Racket on how he saw his career:
I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents.If you had read independent historical sources, you would know that both world wars in the 20th century were primarily over which capitalist empire ruled the world: Anglo-American or German. As we know, the Anglo-American capitalists won and they have continued fooling the American people about their wars with some of the more recent wars being the Gulf of Tonkin incident and the Vietnam War, the Kuwaiti incubators and the first Gulf War, the Racak massacre and the war in Kosovo, Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction and the second Gulf War, and threats of a humanitarian nature to the people of Libya and the Libyan war).
Now the Empire is threatening another war in the Middle East and pretending that it is for humanitarian reasons while it is actually over pipelines which are essential conduits for control of energy in their competition with Russian and Chinese capitalists. To sell the public on these wars, they must always justify them using humanitarian or security reasons. The latest form of this old ploy is now being used again to fool the American people.
Dogs of War Slaver over Syria, Powder keg for Disaster
Click here if you wish to access the source of this interview from RT via YouTube.
At 4:25m into the interview Galloway refers to an attack on a Christian community called Maaloula in Syria by Al Qaeda affiliated rebels. One can find more information on this from Al Akhbar here.
At 4:25m into the interview Galloway refers to an attack on a Christian community called Maaloula in Syria by Al Qaeda affiliated rebels. One can find more information on this from Al Akhbar here.
Preparations for regional war
Click here to access article by Thierry Meyssan from VoltaireNet.
Both the United States and France are busy with preparations for the bombing of Syria, although such action corresponds to no strategic objective for either state. Russia and the Axis of Resistance are therefore preparing their riposte. The major difficulty consists in transforming this aggression into a regional war while avoiding the Third, (and final?) World War. Whatever happens, if they engage in war, the Western world will have to deal with a long and wide-ranging conflict like nothing they’ve experienced since Vietnam.
An Interview with Naomi Klein on the Climate Crisis
Click here to access article from Earth Island Journal.
The author of No Logo and The Shock Doctrine discusses her upcoming book on climate change. She sees some promising changes in the fight against climate chaos.
The author of No Logo and The Shock Doctrine discusses her upcoming book on climate change. She sees some promising changes in the fight against climate chaos.
Right now it’s under the radar, but I’m following it quite closely.
Sunday, September 8, 2013
Depravity Redefined: Selling US Slaughter in Syria
Click here to access article by Tony Cartalucci from Land Destroyer Report.
The corporate interests driving the United States, its resources, and policy, have invoked dead children in the latest and grisliest propaganda campaign yet, directed at the American public to build support for an otherwise unjustified and universally unwanted war with Syria.
The Senate's Syria Resolution Has a Huge Secret Giveaway to the President
Click here to access article by Garrett Epps from The Atlantic.
The Obama administration has claimed that Obama has the authority to attack Syria based on the 1973 War Powers Act even without Congressional approval. This is clearly false. However, this article specifically focuses on the evolution of this false interpretation of war making powers of the president from the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) that congress passed after the 9/11 event. The latest attempt to strengthen the powers of the executive branch is revealed by Epps in the resolution just passed by the Senate's Foreign Relations Committee. This is another lie compounding all the other lies in relation to Syria that a faction of the shadow government is using to justify the Obama administration's commitment to attack Syria.
The Obama administration has claimed that Obama has the authority to attack Syria based on the 1973 War Powers Act even without Congressional approval. This is clearly false. However, this article specifically focuses on the evolution of this false interpretation of war making powers of the president from the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) that congress passed after the 9/11 event. The latest attempt to strengthen the powers of the executive branch is revealed by Epps in the resolution just passed by the Senate's Foreign Relations Committee. This is another lie compounding all the other lies in relation to Syria that a faction of the shadow government is using to justify the Obama administration's commitment to attack Syria.
Though Congress plays at narrowing Obama's authority, the draft authorization could actually give him and future presidents sweeping new powers to intervene overseas.For another take on this evolution toward dictatorship, read Mickey Z's article which compares the Empire's management of a crisis (for Empire directors the crisis was a democratically elected socialist government!) located in Chile in 1973 with that of present day Syria.
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