Hysterical 24/7 Western spin conveys the impression Ukraine will be annexed by a (mostly bankrupt) EU tomorrow. No so fast!His argument supports this thesis:
...Ukraine is on the road to become legally bound to NATO’s overall project. Along with other independent analysts, I’ve argued from the start that this whole geopolitical drama is first and foremost about NATO annexing Ukraine.
To put the numbers in perspective, Omidyar’s six visits compare to four visits during the same period by NBCUniversal chief Stephen Burke, two by Fox News boss Roger Ailes, two by MSNBC’s Phil Griffin, one by New York Times owner Arthur O Sulzberger, and one each by Dow Jones’ Robert Thompson, Gannett/USA Today’s Gracia Martore and Omidyar’s fellow tech billionaire turned media owner, Jeff Bezos.Although I applaud the evidence the author has dug up regarding media visitors to the White House, I think by focusing so much interest on one tree, the Omidyars, he misses a view of the forest.
While human right crusades are dominated by headlines involving the “homophobic” Russian government and tales of homosexuals being strung up across Iran, there is a larger, more sinister violator of human rights operating right within an intentional, self-imposed media blackhole created by the West. That violator is Saudi Arabia, who not only has outlawed homosexuality, but reserves execution as punishment if caught.
The global financial crisis, which began in 2008, has significantly altered the way many speculators and financial institutions invest. Rather than taking huge risks with dodgy derivatives like credit default swaps and mortgage-backed securities, both of which have proven to be particularly volatile, many speculators have instead begun to invest in the most tangible asset of all: land.
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| Capitalist politicians discussing global warming (by Isaac Cordal) |
Hundreds of thousands of protesters protested against government imposed austerity measures in Madrid, Spain.
Shortly after dark, protesters and police clashed in central Madrid.
What those who are promoting the notion that Bitcoin is some real, if virtual, money fail to comprehend is that all market transactions involving production and sales in any developed nation are organized through the use of that nation’s money denominated legal contracts.When Bitcoins first made a splash in the media (I think it was nearly a year ago), I immediately thought that it could not be considered legal money. Yet, so much of Wall Street and mainstream media took it seriously. I was extremely puzzled because the control of money is vital to the power of any ruling class and their governments. Any contracts involving such fabricated money would not be enforceable in their courts of law. I wanted to issue a statement explaining why Bitcoins were not legal money, but I thought that others, with far more credentials than I have, would do so. I have had to wait until now with this piece. But, this puzzling phenomenon begs an obvious question: why has Bitcoin been taken so seriously so long by the One Percent ruling class?
Money (or currency), whether fiat or backed by gold or silver, is therefore defined as that thing that by delivery discharges all legal contractual obligations. Only the government, as the enforcer of contractual obligations, can determine that thing that is legally MONEY, i.e., what thing(s) will discharge contracts under that nation’s civil law of contracts.
The conscience of the killer has been sterilized, the drone operator, fully alienated from the act he is committing, can walk out the door after his shift is over and calmly order an IPA at the local microbrew or play a round of golf under the desert sky. He is left with no blood on his hands, no savagery weighing on his conscience, no degrading images to stalk his dreams.
Drone strikes, Camus would argue, are not just meant to kill. They are programmed to terrorize. In this regard, whether the missile strikes its intended target or incinerates a goat-herder and his flock is incidental. In fact, the occasional killing of civilians may well be a desired outcome since collateral deaths intensify the fear. This is punishment by example, not for any particular crime or impending threat, but merely because of who you are, where you live, what you might believe. These new circuitries of death are meant to humiliate, subdue and dehumanize.
...Washington has scored the first point: the mounting tension in Europe enables the U.S. to increase its influence over its European allies.It is quite literally a game to these capitalist elites, but a game which often has dire consequences for us. As long as we allow them and their system to exist, we will never have peace or a sustainable ecosystem.
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| Wage slaves in USA |
“This weather really has me down,” he shivered, wrapped in a khaki wool coat and a Russian-style military hat. “And then you realize you’re out of favor and that everyone hates you,” he complained.The rest of the article points to other people, particularly an Italian friend named Bella, who are bothered by such feelings, but mostly I think they are understated. I think that they don't want to be seen by us as wallowing in self-pity. After all, they are our masters and we must look up to them for leadership.
“How can you say that?” I asked in disbelief. “Who hates you?”
“Them,” he shivered, eating the lonely saltine left in the cellophane wrapper, crumbs pouring onto his rough, woolen trousers. “We used to run this town. Now I feel like they want to run us all out.”
...goes to a swanky bar and meets a woman friend.... “These days, I have to wear a reversible fur when I go downtown,” [I guess this must be a comment on the cold weather] one of the queens of couture sighed with disbelief, knocking back a cosmopolitan at an uptown hotel bar....
“I mean, the very fact that I would be jeered at and pilloried in my own backyard for wearing a sheared dyed mink,” she droned on. “Well it’s just unconscionable. I don’t jeer at them for not showering and shaving and wearing patchouli oil, which I find equally offensive.”
A variety of capitalists and state actors must be evaluating these protest movements as a way to pursue politics by other means. As more resources flow into the hands of reactionary participants in social struggles, we will likely see more developments like those in Ukraine and Venezuela.I argue that states (and their governments) are creations of the capitalist class to serve the competing interests of capitalist players and to establish the legitimacy of their class rule in the eyes of their working class subjects. Capitalist propaganda has always portrayed the state as serving all of society. This is explicitly expressed in national documents where one encounters such words as "of the people, by the people, and for the people", "inalienable rights" of people, and a "Bill of Rights" as in the US constitution. They have continually affirmed in their propaganda and indoctrination that they have established "democratic" governments and the "rule of law" that supports all people. (Of course, the reality is completely different: rights and access to their legal system, as well as everything else, all depends on how much money you have.)
Likewise, powerful governments will not stand by and let common people get a taste for overthrowing them. They will be pressed to intervene, as Russia has in Ukraine, in hopes that war can trump insurrection. War is a way of shutting down possibilities—of changing the subject. It is a risky business, however—it can help governments to consolidate their power, but history shows that it can also destabilize them.
With war looming, even the limits of violent nationalism become obvious. Mere protest militancy is worthless in the face of the Russian military; only contagious disobedience could serve to even the odds when a social movement does battle with a superpower. This is the one thing anarchist opposition to the state has going for it today: in a globalized world, all insurrections must ultimately become international or perish.
“It recognises the aspiration of the people of Ukraine to live in a country governed by values, by democracy and the rule of law, where all citizens have a stake in national prosperity,” said European Council President Herman Van Rompuy.
They meet at birthday parties, over breakfast meetings, during cocktail receptions; so just how close are Europe’s dirtiest industries to senior politicians and regulators?And they will give specific examples:
“Early July I had the pleasure of sharing a dinner table with Commissioner Oettinger at the birthday celebrations of Dr Klaus Mangold in Munstertal [Executive Adviser to the Chairman of DaimlerChrysler] .... I was wondering if he [Oettinger] would have some time either after the breakfast, or perhaps over dinner the evening before, to continueThey go on to discuss the massive lobbying efforts of industry. They report on closed door meetings between business leaders and government officials which are followed up by formal meetings where the former are again given priority over those concerned about carbon emissions. They acknowledge that there is a revolving door between industry and government positions. But, they stop short of recognizing that there is a ruling class consisting of capitalists who thoroughly control political institutions along with all other institutions in society. They always stop short of recognizing the basic contradiction between the short-term profit dynamics of capitalism and a sustainable biosphere.
our conversation from Munstertal about the future of energy and CO2in Europe.”
Email from Shell executive to the European Commission
"Once you realize that trickle-down economics does not work, you will see the excessive tax cuts for the rich as what they are--simple upward redistribution of income, rather that a way to make all of us richer, as we were told."
Some days I wake up and despise the monotony and pettiness of this culture and its followers: its celebrity worship, its staged news reporting, its chameleon politicians, its conniving marketers of consumerism, its cookie-cutter neighborhoods, its push-button surveillance state, and its clueless masses all working together to create the illusion of normalcy. Everyone goes along with this mindless program like obedient slaves, afraid of the social stigma attached to questioning any radical deviation from what constitutes normal. God forbid anyone openly discusses the cliff we are fast approaching....
When allies bicker over tactics, you can be certain vanity is ruling the day. ....
Please also understand that deriding others for not adhering to your finely tuned sense of purity (violent, non-violent, or whatever) is more about soothing your ego than about creating the changes we all seek.The One Percent's domestic social controllers use a broad spectrum of methods to contain dissent, one of the more effective ones has been the insertion into activist circles the virtues and necessity of non-violence. Through their efforts the practice of non-violence has been raised to almost a religion, and the very meaning of non-violence has been broadened to mean attacks on property. It is so ironic that the most violent regime on earth and in history has succeeded in hamstringing US activist circles by causing them to engage in endless debates about non-violent tactics.
My aim is to raise enough funds so that I can put aside a good deal of time from my various other time-consuming projects so that I can focus exclusively on the book and get the first edition done as soon as possible. But this requires actual funds, and I am far from having anything close to the amount necessary to dedicate meaningful time to this project. I hate asking for money, but I have come to terms with being an intellectual prostitute for the time being. However, I would rather prostitute my mind for the benefit of the wider public – and most especially the youth of the current “lost generation” to which I belong – as opposed to whoring my mind and efforts out to some various institution. At this point, however, I am essentially unemployable in almost every field, and so my options are rather limited. But I think that through my work, I can help others see that as a species, we do have other options, but that requires us to come to a common understanding, and to engage in common action. We cannot change the world, or steer humanity off the course of seemingly-inevitable extinction, alone. We need each other.I agree. Everyone who is concerned about the growing use of violence and debt to bring all the people of the world under the domination of the One Percent must now choose essentially one of two courses: 1) join together with all the other activists of the world's 99 Percent in efforts to free ourselves from the evolving nightmare of existence and create a new world which will permit people to live in dignity and harmony with one another and nature; or 2) just keep going along with the existing systems of power out of habit, or because you think it is the easiest way to live, and watch the current problems of wars, unemployment, debt slavery, a growing police state, and climate catastrophes continue to worsen.
THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.Only now we do not merely live in a country, but in the world. And, of course, we are now much more aware that it was never "our country", but a country that was mostly owned and, even more so, controlled by a small minority of landowners like Washington, Hamilton, and Adams. Now we see a world that is mostly owned and controlled by their descendants. the class of people known nowadays as the One Percent.
As documented yesterday the "leaked" Russian non-paper which demanded constitutional reform in the Ukraine and more autonomy for its regions was at least partially accepted by Secretary of State Kerry....Regardless of these worthless agreements, from now on the future of Ukraine will be controlled by events on the ground. This, of course, begs the question: who will control events on the ground? Unlike in Israel where such events are controlled by a Zionist government, events in Ukraine will be controlled to a large extent by the Ukrainian people as well as the Empire's puppet government, the IMF, etc and the Russian government. I think, and fervently hope, that the Ukrainian people will be the deciding factor in this contest between capitalist powers.
In case you haven’t figured it out yet, there is a right way and a wrong way to help yourself to other people’s money on Wall Street. The right way propels you into the one percent replete with mansions and yachts, your name memorialized on buildings, a golden parachute, an office and car for life fronted by defrauded shareholders and regular invitations to appear on CNBC and lecture others on how to structure the financial system.
Then there’s the wrong way....
Finally, who in the United States oversees the NED? Not President Obama, who shows no intention of checking even the publicly known outrages of the NSA and CIA, let alone the mostly unknown ones of the NED. Not the Democrats or Republicans in Congress, who in 1983 created the NED “to promote democracy” abroad. Not the federal judiciary, needless to say. And not the press; surely not the New York Times, which, without Christopher Marquis, who died of AIDS in 2005, hasn’t employed anyone since who has shown an interest in shedding any light on the activities of the NED, certainly not in Venezuela and Ukraine today.I find it difficult to understand why so many political analysts and observers resist the idea of a shadow government that rules our nation. They continue to be astonished by the lack of change between the Obama regime and the previous Bush Jr regime, but refuse to go any further. It's like a young child who believes in Santa Claus refusing to believe adults who tell him that this is just a myth. It's (past) time for progressives to grow up!
...Americans aren't told what America has done is turn over the foreign policy basically to the neocons. It is as if Obama has adopted Dick Cheney's military policy...with an exclamation point.And, he continues with a rant about Obama. Obama, of course, is only an employee of the ruling class. He functions in the capacity of a public relations officer and takes orders from this ruling class who hired him. If he were to disobey them, he would be removed one way or another--assassinated if necessary.
Objective U.S. journalists would insist on a truthful narrative that conveys these nuances to the American people, not simply behave as clumsy propagandists determined to glue “white hats” on the side favored by the State Department and “black hats” on everyone that the U.S. government disdains. But virtually the entire mainstream press corps has opted for the propaganda role....In a typical liberal fashion he whines about the lack of objectivity and media's role of supporting Washington propaganda, but avoids any attempt to explain this phenomenon. He refuses to see this coverage as reflecting the concentration of power in a ruling class who control both government and the media along with all other important institutions in society. Such coverage is arguably worse than ever before, but I wouldn't want to pursue that argument because media has always served ruling class interests. This is especially true since media ownership became concentrated in major corporations beginning in the early 20th century. Read The Brass Check by Upton Sinclair and his scathing attacks on corporate journalism during this period, and read Even the Gods Can't Change History by George Seldes in which he as a journalist reviewed the numerous lies he saw printed in the nation's media over a half century in support of imperialist ambitions.
...personal setting of priorities is precisely what troubles some in the science establishment. Many of the patrons, they say, are ignoring basic research — the kind that investigates the riddles of nature and has produced centuries of breakthroughs, even whole industries — for a jumble of popular, feel-good fields like environmental studies and space exploration.Other negative consequences? Well, they are touched on throughout the article, but they are frequently balanced, if not overwhelmed, by positive testimonials and a lot of information about the enormous funding that billionaires devote to their pet projects. Yes, basic research will suffer because billionaires like to focus on such "practical things as drugs, jets and gadgets, rather than fundamental insights into the mysteries of nature." Also, with regard to diseases, they are more likely to donate to finding cures for diseases that affect white people. Barely mentioned is the fact that the interests of billionaires might influence the findings of research itself which we've seen with regard to climate change.
The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) covers a huge range of issues and sectors, including food safety, genetically modified products, toxic chemicals, highly polluting fuels and data protection. The talks threaten to weaken or roll-back democratically agreed safeguards put in place to protect the environment and citizens – for the sake of corporate profits.
The talks are likely to favour safeguards for corporate investments over safeguards for citizens and the environment, allowing companies to seek compensation when government decisions affect their profits. This could benefit companies seeking to exploit natural resources through hazardous technologies whose activities may be affected by environmental or health regulations.
Climate change is real, andI doubt that there is any place on earth where people are experiencing worse extreme weather events as they are in Australia. I am reminded of this every year when I watch tennis players competing in temperatures over 100 degrees at the Australian Open in January. Tournament tennis officials were forced to put a roof on top of some of their stadiums to handle this, but I think they will soon need air conditioning if they want to continue to hold the Australian Open.it[is] man-made, Australia’s policies are a joke, renewable energy investment is leaving Australia, wind and solar do not add costs to the grid, they don’t need new back-up, and they have been reducing prices. And the world is changing while Australia stands still.
Ms. Nuland and Mr. Pyatt agreed that the right kind of minister for Ukraine to serve western interests was Mr. Arseniy "Rats" Yatsenyuk while vigorously rejecting the EU choice for the position.Instead of my usual practice on Saturdays to post an article about our fellow citizens of the One Percent (actually .01 of the 1%, or one out of every 10,000 of us) to promote better understanding, I am posting this article which reports on one of them, John Kerry, who is directing our nation's policies with respect to Ukraine. It is important that we understand what he is doing on behalf of freedom and democracy so that we can wholeheartedly support him and, if necessary, stop what we are doing, enlist in the army, and go overseas to kill Russians who, it seems, are planning to do nasty things to Ukraine, or maybe just Crimea. Besides those Russians are probably commies, and we all know what they are like.
Their purpose is to provide the appearance of doing something while, in fact, fending off a challenge to capitalism by permitting a fossil-fuel-based economy to continue for as long as possible, and, to the extent that transition from fossil fuels does occur, placing as much of the cost as possible on the working class and the developing world.
The problems faced by rice farmers have only been compounded, however astronomically, by the current regime's ill-conceived, failed vote-buying scheme. Farmers are facing increasing hardships that began long before this latest national disaster - and hope of rectifying any of them seems remote at best.
Another grave and growing concern is the increasing monopolies held by foreign big agricultural corporations who have set about miring Thailand's farmers in a web of debt and perpetual servitude toward chemicals and genetically modified organisms (GMO).
The cycle of chemicals and industrial scale monoculture (the dependence on only a single crop) leave farmers entirely dependent on both large agricultural corporations to grow their crops, and big-retail to sell them.
...it is important to consider that the survival of truth ina democracy[any society] rests on the outcome of an information war that is based largely on psychological operations and propaganda.
With regard to the truth about 911, the history of corporate media reporting is reminiscent of Gandhi’s famous statement: ”First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”The author goes on to explain how this theme is reflected in media coverage of the 9/11 research.
In this essay I shall use “deep state” in the larger sense, to include both the second level of secret government inside Washington and those outsiders powerful enough, in either the underworld or overworld, to give it direction. In short I shall equate the term “deep state” with what in 1993 I termed a “deep political system:” “ one which habitually resorts to decision-making and enforcement procedures outside as well as inside those publicly sanctioned by law and society.”
"I would just encourage members of the Senate to take their time to make sure that they don’t overstate what they claim and what they probably believe to be the truth. These are some complicated matters.”I have no doubt that the conflict will be quietly handled in favor of an aggressive shadow government and its secret agencies, and aided by their media executives who will make sure that their talking heads on TV handle the issue appropriately so that the public goes back to sleep. I see this incident as one more indication that our ruling class is intent on moving further toward fascist rule.
As Crimea prepares to vote on Saturday March 16th in a crucial referendum on its future, the rhetoric coming from the West and its propaganda machine has hit a new and ridiculous low. Not only has US President Barack Obama and his administration done everything to undermine democracy in Ukraine, they have now resorted to the most naked forms of hypocrisy in an attempt to delegitimize the democratic process.
Be sure to appreciate the meaning of the...phrase: a tattletale is someone who reports "something bad or wrong" to an authority. And that is precisely what Snowden has done. He has entrusted the documents to "responsible journalists," who have adopted the rationales and methods of the States themselves. Moreover, these "responsible journalists" work together with "government stakeholders" to determine which documents may be "safely disclosed" on the basis of factors that are explained in only the vaguest and most vacuous of terms. We haven't escaped the oppression and abuses of authority: we have only added to the authorities who decide what we will be allowed to know.In other words, Snowden "told" on the NSA to the state who, of course, have little concern other than protecting those secrets from the public which all parties are effectively doing. This framing of the events, once again illustrates how the state does not serve the people: it is not, as it pretends to be, "of the people, by the people, and for the people". Well, then, for all the naĂŻve or slumbering citizens out there, this begs the question: who does it serve?
1. How (relatively) important is Kiev’s claim on sovereignty over the Crimea, transferred from Russia to Ukraine by the stroke of Nikita Khrushchev’s pen in 1954?
2. How (relatively) important is it that neo-fascist groups, in particular the Svoboda Party, played a significant if not decisive role in the toppling of the elected President Viktor Yanukovich, installing Arseniy Yatsenyuk (who has announced in advance an “unpopular” austerity regime); and now hold major cabinet posts, including minister of defense, and control the National Security Agency?Because of the extensive collaboration with the Nazis by Svoboda during WWII and the abundant evidence of anti-Jewish attitudes among Svoboda party leaders, it occurred to me that I've seen little concern coming from Zionist sources over their key role in the coup and the new government of Ukraine. I looked at Zionist sources such as JINSA's website where I only found criticism of Obama for not being sufficiently aggressive with Russia in the Ukrainian events. I also looked at the online edition of Haaretz, a major liberal publication in Israel, and found only the mildest sort of concern expressed along with a considerable amount of anti-Russian propaganda. So, I ask myself: are Zionists more concerned about promoting the capitalist empire than protecting Jews?
The legal bases of these lawsuits are the over 3000 international investment treaties in existence to date. They contain far-reaching protections of private property enshrined in catch-all clauses such as “fair and equitable treatment” and “protection from indirect expropriation”. The trouble is that these clauses have been interpreted so broadly that they gave a carte blanche to corporations to sue states for any regulations that could be deemed to affect current or future profits. Moreover, investment treaties grant corporations rights to protection, without giving equivalent rights to states to protect their own citizens.So far they have succeeded so well that the debts of nations owed to them, according to Bloomberg News, is now estimated at over $100 trillion! (I can't even comprehend how much money that is.) This new age of neoliberalism is looking more and more like old-fashioned feudalism. These new lords of the global manor can now merely sit back and live off the interest we pay them by cutting back on expenses that go to our health, education, recreation, retirement pensions, transportation, and general welfare.
Seattle has proved this demand is not only possible, but is a key demand to re-spark the labor movement. If labor and community groups around the country united behind implementing this demand across the country, city by city, the workers’ movement would be revitalized, as it is in Seattle.Campaigns such as this could be used to educate people on the complexities of working for gains within the existing capitalist system, but I doubt that much effort will be expended to do this. Instead, I think it is more likely that advocates will not go further than their existing narrow focus on raising the minimum wage. This article is an example of that narrow focus.
When these articles, as they so often do, tell their readers that one of the nations is imperialist and the other anti-imperialist, they are telling their readers to support a government (the "anti-imperialist" one) that oppresses its own people. No good can come from this!However, I think there are ruling classes that are worse than others--in fact, much worse with regard to peaceful relations between ruling classes.
What these articles fail to grasp is that when two nations (by which I mean two ruling classes) are in conflict, there is no need to support one in order to oppose the other. Doing so means taking the side of the oppressor against the oppressed in the so-called "good" nation.
I wasn’t really researching Gandhi’s views on diet or natural cures, I was following the caste trail, and in the process I stumbled on the race trail, and eventually, through all the turbulence and mayhem, I found coherence. It all made sense.It was consistent, and consistently disturbing. The fact is that whatever else he said and did, and however beautiful some of it was, he did say and write and do some very disturbing things.