For this YouTube video I must express my profound appreciation to "Don Quijones" (likely a pseudonym) for posting and recommending it as "an absolute must-watch documentary" on his website Raging Bull-Shit. After viewing it last night, I completely agree with him as to its importance.
The one hour and 17 minute video ties together all the many crises that humans face today including, but not limited to, climate destabilization, never-ending wars, terrorism, austerity policies, and growing inequality as stemming from the dysfunctional system of capitalism. To be absolutely clear, I don't mean a certain kind of capitalism with the implication that there is a good kind--I mean the dynamic, evolutionary system of concentrated private ownership of economies that is presently engulfing and mauling the entire world. The film has been produced according to the highest professional quality standards of the film industry. And, more importantly, Ahmed brilliantly weaves together evidence and arguments to show how the various crises have most of their origins in the system of capitalism.
Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed, who wrote the script and narrated it, is the Executive Director of the Institute for Policy Research and Development in Britain, an investigative journalist, author, and environmental writer for The Guardian. The script is based on his 2011 book with a similar title, A User’s Guide to the Crisis of Civilization. The film was also released in 2011 and initially shown at several international film festivals. Now in September of 2014 is the first time I have heard of it, and apparently the first time that this British blogger living in Barcelona has heard of it. I ask myself, "why is that?".
Well, I have my suspicions, suspicions that are solidly based on a long history of similar experiences while living in the center of the world's dominant capitalist empire. It is because the ideas advanced by Ahmed in this book and film are very threatening to capitalist ruling classes. Thus, I deduce that the main directors of these ruling classes went to work right away to prevent the wide circulation of both the book and film among the people by insuring that these products never received any reviews or recognition in mainstream media. (I am very curious as to exactly how they manage this type of censorship. I wish that there were renegade whistle-blowers within mainstream media circles who would report on this subject.)
In contrast to the lack of reporting about this film and book, notice the wide advanced reception given to Naomi Klein's new book This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate in the Empire's liberal media (see this, this, and in The Guardian!). Ahmed's own book apparently was not regarded by The Guardian as being sufficiently worthy to be reviewed even though he is featured as their environmental writer. I noticed also that one couldn't purchase the DVD of Ahmed's film from a US source such as Amazon, but you could purchase it from Amazon's British website, and have it shipped from Britain!
For further discussion of this phenomenon of capitalists' methods of censorship, see my other posting of today.
Saturday, September 20, 2014
Naomi Klein: "This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate" (Book Excerpt)
Click here to access Klein's excerpt from her recently published book by the above title, posted on Democracy Now!.
I have to admit that I was very excited earlier this summer to learn of Klein's new book by the above title. Most critics of culture and politics avoid using the term "capitalism", and hence my excitement that one prominent as Klein was going to point a finger at this system. I then pre-ordered the book which I expect to receive today. However, after reading this quite extensive excerpt, I am very discouraged. I really should know better than to be deluded by liberals such as Klein. Permit me to digress a bit to explain how many left-liberals function before I launch into a criticism of Klein's treatment of capitalism.
You see, the left-liberal spectrum in the US consists of people who for various reasons refuse to cross "red lines" drawn by the directors of ruling class media. The red lines consist of questioning the authenticity of ruling class media coverage about events such as the many assassinations (the Kennedys, Martin Luther King, etc), 9/11, the Boston Bombing, and now the sudden appearance of ISIS. Such people range from academics like Noam Chomsky who I believe respects these red lines in order to have opportunities to speak on various campuses and be published in left-liberal media outlets. Regarding others, there is much reason to believe that they receive funding from ruling class sources via non-profit foundations to respect such red lines. This I believe to be true of Democracy Now!.
Democracy Now! has been cited as one media outlet among many that have received ruling class foundation money as reported by Edward Ulrich in his article "Media Outlets Such as 'Democracy Now!' are Establishment Controlled News Sources". Stuart Bramhall and others have reported on the history of the CIA and other government agencies infiltrating news organizations to disseminate false information up until Church Committee investigations in 1975, after which foundations took over to launder such funding in order to influence alternative media that might pose too critical a threat to media coverage controlled by the ruling One Percent.
This type of non-profit funding mainly functions to limit what left media outlets cover and how they cover controversial topics. This would explain why the popular left-wing media program "Democracy Now!" has always refused to interview knowledgeable people about evidence that puts in doubt the official reports about 9/11, the Boston Bombing, and other terrorist incidents.
Okay, now back to Naomi Klein and her provocative title of her new book This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate. Based on the extensive quote in this post, I am led to the conclusion that she is functioning in a "damage control" mode. I believe that she is doing so because there are increasing numbers of left critics who are questioning the system of capitalism and examining its weaknesses. I think this is especially true due to the glaring fact of growing inequality pointed out by such well-established academic people as Thomas Piketty in his widely reviewed and commented-on book Capital in the Twenty-First Century.
It's clear from my reading of the extensive excerpt that she wants to divert attention away from the way capitalism actually functions to the much safer and narrower ground of "deregulated" capitalism. Hence, it encourages people to look only at the system in terms of its not functioning properly, and therefore to promote (futile) efforts to reform it and make it work properly. Read the article and see how often she refers to "deregulated capitalism". I counted four. And, of course, the timing of the release of book is perfect coming just before the expected huge protests at the People’s Climate March in New York City and across the globe that are expected to point fingers at capitalism.
I have to admit that I was very excited earlier this summer to learn of Klein's new book by the above title. Most critics of culture and politics avoid using the term "capitalism", and hence my excitement that one prominent as Klein was going to point a finger at this system. I then pre-ordered the book which I expect to receive today. However, after reading this quite extensive excerpt, I am very discouraged. I really should know better than to be deluded by liberals such as Klein. Permit me to digress a bit to explain how many left-liberals function before I launch into a criticism of Klein's treatment of capitalism.
You see, the left-liberal spectrum in the US consists of people who for various reasons refuse to cross "red lines" drawn by the directors of ruling class media. The red lines consist of questioning the authenticity of ruling class media coverage about events such as the many assassinations (the Kennedys, Martin Luther King, etc), 9/11, the Boston Bombing, and now the sudden appearance of ISIS. Such people range from academics like Noam Chomsky who I believe respects these red lines in order to have opportunities to speak on various campuses and be published in left-liberal media outlets. Regarding others, there is much reason to believe that they receive funding from ruling class sources via non-profit foundations to respect such red lines. This I believe to be true of Democracy Now!.
Democracy Now! has been cited as one media outlet among many that have received ruling class foundation money as reported by Edward Ulrich in his article "Media Outlets Such as 'Democracy Now!' are Establishment Controlled News Sources". Stuart Bramhall and others have reported on the history of the CIA and other government agencies infiltrating news organizations to disseminate false information up until Church Committee investigations in 1975, after which foundations took over to launder such funding in order to influence alternative media that might pose too critical a threat to media coverage controlled by the ruling One Percent.
This type of non-profit funding mainly functions to limit what left media outlets cover and how they cover controversial topics. This would explain why the popular left-wing media program "Democracy Now!" has always refused to interview knowledgeable people about evidence that puts in doubt the official reports about 9/11, the Boston Bombing, and other terrorist incidents.
Okay, now back to Naomi Klein and her provocative title of her new book This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate. Based on the extensive quote in this post, I am led to the conclusion that she is functioning in a "damage control" mode. I believe that she is doing so because there are increasing numbers of left critics who are questioning the system of capitalism and examining its weaknesses. I think this is especially true due to the glaring fact of growing inequality pointed out by such well-established academic people as Thomas Piketty in his widely reviewed and commented-on book Capital in the Twenty-First Century.
It's clear from my reading of the extensive excerpt that she wants to divert attention away from the way capitalism actually functions to the much safer and narrower ground of "deregulated" capitalism. Hence, it encourages people to look only at the system in terms of its not functioning properly, and therefore to promote (futile) efforts to reform it and make it work properly. Read the article and see how often she refers to "deregulated capitalism". I counted four. And, of course, the timing of the release of book is perfect coming just before the expected huge protests at the People’s Climate March in New York City and across the globe that are expected to point fingers at capitalism.
Friday, September 19, 2014
Shale Fracking Is a “Ponzi Scheme” … “This Decade’s Version of The Dotcom Bubble” … “A Lot In Common With the Subprime Mortgage Market Just Before It Melted Down”
Click here to access article from Washington's Blog.
This blogger assembles a lot of documentation to show that energy extraction is now requiring increasing levels of debt, and compares this to a Ponzi scheme. While there are similarities with a Ponzi scheme, this analogy serves to hide a much bigger dilemma that is faced by global capitalist elites as they come up against resource, particularly energy, limits of the planet.
It is much more revealing to see the capitalism system itself as a Ponzi scheme. This is so because capitalism is a system serving individual or, more importantly in our era, collective owners (corporations) of economic property that are seeking a profit from their operations (income over and above costs). Because energy extraction is growing far more expensive as older, cheaper fields have become exhausted, energy corporations have had to invest in far costlier operations to keep up with the energy demands of a capitalist economy that requires growth.
The new, much vaunted shale-fracking operations to derive energy are proving to be expensive due to rapid depletion rates of such sites. The privately owned financial system inherent in the system of capitalism also seeks a profit through loans to corporations. Corporations must produce a profit to include sufficient income to pay off the loans plus interest charges to banks. Thus, they must always continue to grow or die, or merge with other corporation as we see today in mega-corporations that are global in scale. And, course along with growth comes power to force governments to serve their interests.
What has enabled the rapid rise of economic activity in the last one hundred years has been the abundance of cheap energy in the form of fossil fuels. However, cheap energy is no longer available and there appears to be no viable alternatives in sight to feed the voracious appetite demanded by a system that requires constant growth. What has been keeping the capitalist system going is increasing debts, that is, cheap money supplied by large financial institutions such as privately owned central banks which create money from debt that future generations of entire countries will be required to pay back. Thus, we can only expect more economic crises and more wars in our future under capitalism. This new reality is best explained by a 11:46 minute video presentation by Roger Boyd.
I think that this reality is what has been the driving force behind austerity policies domestically and the aggressive actions abroad by the dominant capitalist entity, the US-led Empire, that we have been witnessing since the end of the Cold War when everyone expected peace to reign.
This blogger assembles a lot of documentation to show that energy extraction is now requiring increasing levels of debt, and compares this to a Ponzi scheme. While there are similarities with a Ponzi scheme, this analogy serves to hide a much bigger dilemma that is faced by global capitalist elites as they come up against resource, particularly energy, limits of the planet.
It is much more revealing to see the capitalism system itself as a Ponzi scheme. This is so because capitalism is a system serving individual or, more importantly in our era, collective owners (corporations) of economic property that are seeking a profit from their operations (income over and above costs). Because energy extraction is growing far more expensive as older, cheaper fields have become exhausted, energy corporations have had to invest in far costlier operations to keep up with the energy demands of a capitalist economy that requires growth.
The new, much vaunted shale-fracking operations to derive energy are proving to be expensive due to rapid depletion rates of such sites. The privately owned financial system inherent in the system of capitalism also seeks a profit through loans to corporations. Corporations must produce a profit to include sufficient income to pay off the loans plus interest charges to banks. Thus, they must always continue to grow or die, or merge with other corporation as we see today in mega-corporations that are global in scale. And, course along with growth comes power to force governments to serve their interests.
What has enabled the rapid rise of economic activity in the last one hundred years has been the abundance of cheap energy in the form of fossil fuels. However, cheap energy is no longer available and there appears to be no viable alternatives in sight to feed the voracious appetite demanded by a system that requires constant growth. What has been keeping the capitalist system going is increasing debts, that is, cheap money supplied by large financial institutions such as privately owned central banks which create money from debt that future generations of entire countries will be required to pay back. Thus, we can only expect more economic crises and more wars in our future under capitalism. This new reality is best explained by a 11:46 minute video presentation by Roger Boyd.
I think that this reality is what has been the driving force behind austerity policies domestically and the aggressive actions abroad by the dominant capitalist entity, the US-led Empire, that we have been witnessing since the end of the Cold War when everyone expected peace to reign.
After the Climate March, Then What? Flood Wall Street
Click here to access article by Rachel Smolker from Huffington Post.
Climate Change is not just an "inconvenience" to be resolved by plugging into some other currency of extraction ("sustainable, green and renewable" energy). It is the defining context of our lives and of this time in the history of life on earth.
To lessen the damages, push back the tides, and save what remains, including our own little skins, will require no small measure of change. No little tweakish reform here or there, a little money trickling down from the 1 percent over there, a green job for him and a solar panel for her will get us close to where we need to go. It will demand system change of a sort we can barely yet imagine.
Naomi Klein's new book This Changes Everything articulates the situation simply and artfully: "the problem is not carbon, it is capitalism."
Thursday, September 18, 2014
Terronoia Theater Presents: Staged ISIS Attacks
Click here to access article by Tony Cartalucci from Land Destroyer Report.
With serial beheadings failing to raise Western public support necessary for an expedient intervention in Syria, more insidious provocations appear to be in the works.
The U.S. Has Already Completed Regime Change In Syria (1949), Iran (1953), Iraq (Twice), Afghanistan (Twice), Turkey, Libya and Other Oil-Rich Countries
Click here to access article from Washington's Blog.
The well documented history that this blogger has dug up shows that the use of ISIS by the Empire conforms to much of Western history in which we find many examples of the old strategy of "divide and conquer" to gain and keep control over this resource rich region. As the blogger stated in a post this summer on the same subject:
The well documented history that this blogger has dug up shows that the use of ISIS by the Empire conforms to much of Western history in which we find many examples of the old strategy of "divide and conquer" to gain and keep control over this resource rich region. As the blogger stated in a post this summer on the same subject:
The Western powers agreed 100 years ago to arbitrarily divvy up the Middle East, without regard for historical boundaries.On the same subject, I couldn't help but notice that Greenwald's new website, The Intercept, has been running articles on ISIS (see this, this, and this) which completely ignores the evidence revealed by many astute bloggers supporting a theory that this terrorist group has been created and promoted by members of the US-led Empire. Instead they stick to the Empire's media script that ISIS just suddenly appeared well equipped and trained militarily with social media expertise out of nowhere! This raises the question in my mind that Greenwald and associates may be running a "gatekeeping" operation. (See also this, this, and this.) They may be receiving funding to keep them from crossing an ideological red line that would expose one of the latest dark secrets of the Empire--their funding and promotion of ISIS. (See also this for an in-depth examination of the issue of gatekeeping.)
Neoconservatives in the U.S. and Israel have long advocated for the balkanization of Syria into smaller regions based on ethnicity and religion.
The goal was to break up the country, and to do away with the sovereignty of Syria as a separate nation. (The same goal has long applied to Iraq and other Arab states as well.)
Theodore Roosevelt and American Racism
Click here to access article by Margaret Kimberley from Black Agenda Report.
I watched one of the PBS segments on the Roosevelts recently with dismay, although not with surprise. It was another piece of ruling class history presented to the American public by one of the prime ideological organs of today's ruling class. As such it provides a good illustration of how history is taught to students in US education. This program series, as well as the teaching of history in general, is designed to do one thing: to indoctrinate Americans in the belief that the ancestors of our ruling class should be revered as near godlike figures to provide cover for all the crimes they committed on behalf of themselves and their class.
Kimberley provides a much needed antidote to this type of brainwashing. I have only one complaint: I think she should have provided more links to accurate portrayals of American history.
I watched one of the PBS segments on the Roosevelts recently with dismay, although not with surprise. It was another piece of ruling class history presented to the American public by one of the prime ideological organs of today's ruling class. As such it provides a good illustration of how history is taught to students in US education. This program series, as well as the teaching of history in general, is designed to do one thing: to indoctrinate Americans in the belief that the ancestors of our ruling class should be revered as near godlike figures to provide cover for all the crimes they committed on behalf of themselves and their class.
Kimberley provides a much needed antidote to this type of brainwashing. I have only one complaint: I think she should have provided more links to accurate portrayals of American history.
Wednesday, September 17, 2014
Freedom or Subjugation: It’s (Not) Your Choice
Click here to access article by Don Quijones from his blog Raging Bull-Shit. (a must-read)
This article is, in my opinion, not important for the conclusion it draws in support of the devolution of nation-states into smaller ones, such as Catalonia or Scotland (the separation of these regions into nation-states will have little benefit to their citizens in a globalized neoliberal world); rather the author provides within his argument some blockbuster revelations that can serve to inform an accurate understanding of power in today's world. If I am correct, then it is necessary that we study and understand them to enable us to wrest control from capitalist elites who currently rule the world (of humans) and are driving it toward the cliffs of a nuclear holocaust and climate destabilization.
His argument in favor of devolution is frequently espoused by capitalist ideologists ranging from liberal (Sen. Bernie Sanders) to libertarian views (Ron and Rand Paul). They want to re-establish an earlier stage of capitalist development which they tend to idealize either as providing social safety nets for workers (the former) or providing many opportunities for small businessmen (the latter). This is simply not possible. Also, I think that a lot of the strident opposition emanating from Spain and Britain is because of the fact that some influential members of the Empire will lose influence due to the reduction of their fiefdoms within the Empire.
Capitalism is a dynamic process that goes through many stages until in reaches a concentration of wealth/power that characterizes what we see today. It is very much like a cancer in that it starts to feed on a small body part until it reaches a level of power that starts spreading (metastasizing) to all other parts. And, you know the end of this development.
Okay, so you ask: what are these all important revelations referred to above? Most important of all is his citation of a global power study in his link "explosive 2011 Swiss study"; but also to the quoted writings of one of the Empire's chief ideological exponents, Zbigniew Brzezinski, who really understands (and approves) where capitalism is leading societies, and to allegations by a former insider at the World Bank, Karen Hudes.
The Swiss study attempts empirically to unravel the very complex world of capitalist power as exercised by the US-led Empire and therefore requires some level of social research training to fully understand it. Having just perused it, I do not fully understand it, but I understand enough to realize that it is worth much more study.
The basic concept used to measure power by the researchers was "ownership", a key component of capitalism which can be ascertained by share ownership in economic entities. Using this component they found networks of power, in which a core network consisting of well-known financial institutions the owners of which possess a very high degree of concentrated control over world affairs. This important conclusion lends support to the intuitive understandings of many critics of power in today's world.
This article is, in my opinion, not important for the conclusion it draws in support of the devolution of nation-states into smaller ones, such as Catalonia or Scotland (the separation of these regions into nation-states will have little benefit to their citizens in a globalized neoliberal world); rather the author provides within his argument some blockbuster revelations that can serve to inform an accurate understanding of power in today's world. If I am correct, then it is necessary that we study and understand them to enable us to wrest control from capitalist elites who currently rule the world (of humans) and are driving it toward the cliffs of a nuclear holocaust and climate destabilization.
His argument in favor of devolution is frequently espoused by capitalist ideologists ranging from liberal (Sen. Bernie Sanders) to libertarian views (Ron and Rand Paul). They want to re-establish an earlier stage of capitalist development which they tend to idealize either as providing social safety nets for workers (the former) or providing many opportunities for small businessmen (the latter). This is simply not possible. Also, I think that a lot of the strident opposition emanating from Spain and Britain is because of the fact that some influential members of the Empire will lose influence due to the reduction of their fiefdoms within the Empire.
Capitalism is a dynamic process that goes through many stages until in reaches a concentration of wealth/power that characterizes what we see today. It is very much like a cancer in that it starts to feed on a small body part until it reaches a level of power that starts spreading (metastasizing) to all other parts. And, you know the end of this development.
Okay, so you ask: what are these all important revelations referred to above? Most important of all is his citation of a global power study in his link "explosive 2011 Swiss study"; but also to the quoted writings of one of the Empire's chief ideological exponents, Zbigniew Brzezinski, who really understands (and approves) where capitalism is leading societies, and to allegations by a former insider at the World Bank, Karen Hudes.
The Swiss study attempts empirically to unravel the very complex world of capitalist power as exercised by the US-led Empire and therefore requires some level of social research training to fully understand it. Having just perused it, I do not fully understand it, but I understand enough to realize that it is worth much more study.
The basic concept used to measure power by the researchers was "ownership", a key component of capitalism which can be ascertained by share ownership in economic entities. Using this component they found networks of power, in which a core network consisting of well-known financial institutions the owners of which possess a very high degree of concentrated control over world affairs. This important conclusion lends support to the intuitive understandings of many critics of power in today's world.
200,000 Climate Protesters Won’t Stop Corporate Agenda at UN Summit
Click here to access article by Nick Fillmore from Common Dreams.
I don't think that political protests, by themselves, have ever conclusively proven that they can stop the ruling capitalist class from doing what they want to do--enhance profit and power opportunities for their class. Appealing to hard-core members who make up the real decision-makers of capitalist classes that are limited to moral or rational arguments will accomplish nothing. That is because these people are thoroughly addicted to the drugs of power and wealth which their system of capitalism delivers to them.
It will now take a global effort by the rest of humanity to save themselves from these drugged-out, suicidal ruling classes. Protests can be a part of this effort by raising consciousness among the world's Ninety-Nine Percent about the dreadful consequences of resigning ourselves to further capitalist mauling of our planet, and thereby promote grassroots actions to overthrow the rule of capitalist elites and replace their suicidal system with a sustainable system.
(In addition to arguments and links presented by Fillmore against capitalists' favorite method of carbon pricing to pretend they are dealing effectively with climate destabilization, I recommend additional sources such as this, this, and this.)
I don't think that political protests, by themselves, have ever conclusively proven that they can stop the ruling capitalist class from doing what they want to do--enhance profit and power opportunities for their class. Appealing to hard-core members who make up the real decision-makers of capitalist classes that are limited to moral or rational arguments will accomplish nothing. That is because these people are thoroughly addicted to the drugs of power and wealth which their system of capitalism delivers to them.
It will now take a global effort by the rest of humanity to save themselves from these drugged-out, suicidal ruling classes. Protests can be a part of this effort by raising consciousness among the world's Ninety-Nine Percent about the dreadful consequences of resigning ourselves to further capitalist mauling of our planet, and thereby promote grassroots actions to overthrow the rule of capitalist elites and replace their suicidal system with a sustainable system.
(In addition to arguments and links presented by Fillmore against capitalists' favorite method of carbon pricing to pretend they are dealing effectively with climate destabilization, I recommend additional sources such as this, this, and this.)
Cuba Sees a Crisis, and Sends Docs; The US Sees an Opportunity and Sends Troops
Click here to access article by Dave Lindorff from This Can't Be Happening!
Lindorff compares the two nations' responses to the ebola crisis in Africa, and suspects that the directors of the Empire see only an opportunity to gain a large foothold in resource-rich Africa.
Lindorff compares the two nations' responses to the ebola crisis in Africa, and suspects that the directors of the Empire see only an opportunity to gain a large foothold in resource-rich Africa.
Anyone who thinks this dispatching of US military personnel to Africa is about combating a plague is living in a fantasy world. This is about projecting US military power further into Africa, which has already been a goal of the Obama administration, anxious to prevent China from gaining control over African mineral resources, and to control them for US exploitation.
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
Energy & The Financial System: What Can I Do?
Click here to access article by Roger Boyd from Humanity's Test.
Boyd, who has had a long career in the financial industry, is one of the exceptional actors in the capitalist system who refuses to stick his head in the sand. He sees what lies ahead as humans come up against the finite limits of this planet. Unfortunately, his views are severely constrained by his experience and education in institutions which have been thoroughly infused with capitalist ideology.
It's unclear whether he is unaware that the problems we are facing today are system based, or if he believes that there is no alternative. We will never know because there is no mention of an economic system in this article. Thus, he offers no solution other than giving some advice to individual "investors" about how best to protect themselves. And, he seems completely unaware of the other threat--climate destabilization. There is no safe passage between the Scylla of disappearing cheap energy and the Charybdis of climate destabilization that we are facing today. If one doesn't destroy us through nuclear wars, the other will through catastrophic climate destabilization.
This is the sort of dreadful thinking that will lead humanity over the cliff to its extinction if the rest of us in the Ninety-Nine Percent refuse for whatever reason to take control and create a sustainable system.
Boyd, who has had a long career in the financial industry, is one of the exceptional actors in the capitalist system who refuses to stick his head in the sand. He sees what lies ahead as humans come up against the finite limits of this planet. Unfortunately, his views are severely constrained by his experience and education in institutions which have been thoroughly infused with capitalist ideology.
It's unclear whether he is unaware that the problems we are facing today are system based, or if he believes that there is no alternative. We will never know because there is no mention of an economic system in this article. Thus, he offers no solution other than giving some advice to individual "investors" about how best to protect themselves. And, he seems completely unaware of the other threat--climate destabilization. There is no safe passage between the Scylla of disappearing cheap energy and the Charybdis of climate destabilization that we are facing today. If one doesn't destroy us through nuclear wars, the other will through catastrophic climate destabilization.
This is the sort of dreadful thinking that will lead humanity over the cliff to its extinction if the rest of us in the Ninety-Nine Percent refuse for whatever reason to take control and create a sustainable system.
Janet Yellen Trolls America's Poor: Tells Them It Is Important To Get Rich
Click here to access article by Tyler Durden from Zero Hedge.
Yellen comes up with what may become a capitalist class slogan issued to pacify the Ninety-Nine percent in the 21st century. Could this be a replacement for "let them eat cake" used by the earlier ruling class of the monarchy-aristocracy?
Yellen comes up with what may become a capitalist class slogan issued to pacify the Ninety-Nine percent in the 21st century. Could this be a replacement for "let them eat cake" used by the earlier ruling class of the monarchy-aristocracy?
Climate Summit: World leaders fiddle while Planet burns
Click here to access article by Anne Petermann from Climate Connections.
One week before world leaders gather here for their Climate Summit, Friends of the Earth International warned that the September 23 ‘talk shop’ will only see leaders fiddling with flimsy pledges instead of committing to binding carbon reductions.Unfortunately for any real change to occur, people must understand the co-relationship between the threat of climate destabilization and the growth-required system of capitalism. The people at both Climate Connections and Friends of the Earth apparently do not understand this.
The Planet Just Had Its Warmest August On Record
Click here to access article by Nick Visser from Huffington Post.
Here in the Seattle area TV weathermen also report on these records, but never in the context of climate destabilization. Often such new records are presented like record smashing in various sports: as something to be celebrated. Such reporting panders to a very narrow view of weather in the Seattle area where temperatures have often been cooler than what is desired. For example, on Aug. 31st we were subject to this type of reporting.
This past August was the warmest since records began in 1881, according to new data released by NASA. The latest readings continue a series of record or near-record breaking months. May of this year was also the warmest in recorded history.We humans are now reading about a regular occurrence--the breaking of heat records across the world.
Here in the Seattle area TV weathermen also report on these records, but never in the context of climate destabilization. Often such new records are presented like record smashing in various sports: as something to be celebrated. Such reporting panders to a very narrow view of weather in the Seattle area where temperatures have often been cooler than what is desired. For example, on Aug. 31st we were subject to this type of reporting.
It's a far cry from the record hottest August (83.7 degrees in 1967) but then again, second place was 80.3 so all years are a far cry from 1967.
So individually, the months were pretty impressive, but combined, it's even more so.
Monday, September 15, 2014
Obama Declares War on Syria: Why the Real Target is Assad Not ISIS
Click here to access article by Mike Whitney from The Greanville Post.
...while there’s no doubt that many Americans will be confused by Obama’s misleading focus on the terrorist organization named ISIL [aka ISIS, IS] the real purpose of the speech was to garner support for another decade of homicidal conflicts in the Middle East. The administration is as determined as ever to plunge the region into chaos, erase existing borders, and install its puppets wherever it can.
ISIS: The monster that grew in plain sight of Washington and Riyadh
Click here to access article by Sabah Ayoub from Al Akhbar.
Ayoub provides many reports that surfaced in various media to support his argument that this "monster...grew in plain sight of Washington and Riyadh".
Although "Bandar Bush" has a long history of mischief in the Middle East on behalf of the Empire, he conveniently dropped out of media sight when he was removed officially from head of Saudi intelligence earlier this year. It seems from this report that the shifty Bandar was off on another assignment for the Empire.
Ayoub provides many reports that surfaced in various media to support his argument that this "monster...grew in plain sight of Washington and Riyadh".
Although "Bandar Bush" has a long history of mischief in the Middle East on behalf of the Empire, he conveniently dropped out of media sight when he was removed officially from head of Saudi intelligence earlier this year. It seems from this report that the shifty Bandar was off on another assignment for the Empire.
German TV Shows Nazi Symbols on Helmets of Ukraine Soldiers
Click here to access article from NBC News!
Of course, it's only a very brief, superficial report, but it seems that even US corporate media feels it necessary to acknowledge some version of reality occasionally.
Of course, it's only a very brief, superficial report, but it seems that even US corporate media feels it necessary to acknowledge some version of reality occasionally.
The ‘Long Con‘
Click here to access article by Philip A. Farruggio from World News Trust.
This son and grandson of Brooklyn, NY City longshoremen has awakened and urges his fellow Americans to wake up.
Farruggio now understands a lot about reality, but he still has a way to go. He doesn't yet identify the problem in terms of a system--capitalism. Instead, he identifies an advanced symptom of the system--militarism and expansion (imperialism).
This son and grandson of Brooklyn, NY City longshoremen has awakened and urges his fellow Americans to wake up.
Farruggio now understands a lot about reality, but he still has a way to go. He doesn't yet identify the problem in terms of a system--capitalism. Instead, he identifies an advanced symptom of the system--militarism and expansion (imperialism).
Using an embedded media, the "Two Party, One Party" political system (created by our Military Industrial Empire) keeps chugging along. Whether it is a Reagan or Clinton, a Bush or a Kerry, a Romney or an Obama, it matters not to the puppeteers who run things. They choose who the so called "field of candidates" will be, and then most of the time let the suckers (we voters) make the final decision from Column A or Column B.
A Simple Primer On "War Propaganda" From An Unexpected Source
Click here to access a quote from an expert on propaganda posted by Tyler Durden on Zero Hedge.
Who’s Paying the Pro-War Pundits?
Click here to access article by Lee Fang from The Nation.
This piece provides an illustration of the military-industrial complex in action. But, it also provides an illustration of the way liberals react in a limited form to government actions that don't conform to prevailing myths about the rule of law and representative government.
Although this liberal source doesn't like the strong ties between the "peoples" representatives and weapons contractors, they carefully limit their criticism by describing the latest planned aggressions in Iraq and Syria as "debatable", and whine about Obama not complying with the constitutional power of Congress to declare war--as if this hasn't already been established as legitimate by precedents from a long history of US engagement in wars without a formal declaration by Congress ever since the Korean War. The shadow government simply relies on members of Congress to approve military spending in support of wars after they make the decision to go to war, thereby avoiding any debate about engaging in military actions.
This piece provides an illustration of the military-industrial complex in action. But, it also provides an illustration of the way liberals react in a limited form to government actions that don't conform to prevailing myths about the rule of law and representative government.
Although this liberal source doesn't like the strong ties between the "peoples" representatives and weapons contractors, they carefully limit their criticism by describing the latest planned aggressions in Iraq and Syria as "debatable", and whine about Obama not complying with the constitutional power of Congress to declare war--as if this hasn't already been established as legitimate by precedents from a long history of US engagement in wars without a formal declaration by Congress ever since the Korean War. The shadow government simply relies on members of Congress to approve military spending in support of wars after they make the decision to go to war, thereby avoiding any debate about engaging in military actions.
...what you won’t learn from media coverage of ISIS is that many of these former Pentagon officials have skin in the game as paid directors and advisers to some of the largest military contractors in the world. Ramping up America’s military presence in Iraq and directly entering the war in Syria, along with greater military spending more broadly, is a debatable solution to a complex political and sectarian conflict. But those goals do unquestionably benefit one player in this saga: America’s defense industry.
New sparks fly between CIA, Senate Intelligence Committee
Click here to access article by Ali Watkins from McClatchy news service.
We first learned about CIA surveillance of Senate members in the mainstream media from Sen. Diane Feinstein (California) who is chairman of a committee (Senate Select Committee on Intelligence) that supposedly supervises on behalf of American people what our intelligence services are doing. It seems that some members of Congress became seriously concerned about government spying on citizens only when they were spied on.
In this piece (the conservative Washington Times provides even more strident coverage of this incident) we learn about a closed door hearing in which this Senate committee exercised their official mandate by questioning John Brennan, the Director of the CIA. From comments following the hearing, it appears that Brennan essentially told them to "stuff it". If some Senate members didn't know before who really runs this country, they know it now. Some will grumble and complain, but they'll soon cooperate or else they will lose their jobs. Others will grumble and threaten the CIA to the national audience in order to maintain the myths about the rule of law and representative government.
We first learned about CIA surveillance of Senate members in the mainstream media from Sen. Diane Feinstein (California) who is chairman of a committee (Senate Select Committee on Intelligence) that supposedly supervises on behalf of American people what our intelligence services are doing. It seems that some members of Congress became seriously concerned about government spying on citizens only when they were spied on.
In this piece (the conservative Washington Times provides even more strident coverage of this incident) we learn about a closed door hearing in which this Senate committee exercised their official mandate by questioning John Brennan, the Director of the CIA. From comments following the hearing, it appears that Brennan essentially told them to "stuff it". If some Senate members didn't know before who really runs this country, they know it now. Some will grumble and complain, but they'll soon cooperate or else they will lose their jobs. Others will grumble and threaten the CIA to the national audience in order to maintain the myths about the rule of law and representative government.
Why the Markets’ Sudden Love for Mexico?
Click here to access article by Don Quijones from Wolf Street.
The author very recently returned from a vacation in Mexico where he noticed some rather startling changes--no, not in the reality of Mexican life, but in perception management not only by Mexican media, but coverage by important capitalist media of the Empire.
The author very recently returned from a vacation in Mexico where he noticed some rather startling changes--no, not in the reality of Mexican life, but in perception management not only by Mexican media, but coverage by important capitalist media of the Empire.
...it’s not just the government-friendly Mexican media that can’t get enough of Peña Nieto’s reformist agenda. Just about every international media outlet of note is on board, including the FT, El PaĂs, The Economist and Time Magazine. At times the coverage is shamelessly, almost embarrassingly gushing. As Daniel Hernandez points out in Vice Magazine, some portions of a piece published in a December 2013 issue of Time sound strikingly similar to a paid advertorial about Mexico.He offers some reasons for this development, but I think he only hints at the broader strategic reasons: Empire capitalists are interested in countering BRIC capitalists (especially Chinese) from seriously competing with them.
Sunday, September 14, 2014
The Dogs of Hell: An Original Jihadi Trashes ISIS
Click here to access article from The Polemicist.
In this article the blogger does an excellent job of digging up new information from a primary source about the latest official terrorist confronting the Empire. It furnishes more evidence that such terrorist groups function, intentionally or not, to support the interests of the Empire and its Mid-East fortress known as Israel.
In this article the blogger does an excellent job of digging up new information from a primary source about the latest official terrorist confronting the Empire. It furnishes more evidence that such terrorist groups function, intentionally or not, to support the interests of the Empire and its Mid-East fortress known as Israel.
To get a glimpse of the kind of thinking that is prevalent in the region, and prevalent even among fellow jihadis, about ISIS, I strongly suggest that you look at the remarkable interview with Nabeel Naiem on Syria News below. (Bear with the rocky translation from Syria News.) I don’t endorse his theories about ISIS, or anything else he says, but if you’re interested in the dynamics of jihadism and jihadi thinking in the region, and of how even the most militant Islamists detest ISIS, you’re unlikely to find anything like it.
The Caliphate's Anti-Imperial/Imperial Dualism
Click here to access article by Bernhard from his blog Moon of Alabama.
I have been wondering about the kinds of appeal inducing people joining up with ISIS and outfits like them. This blogger suggests some themes that might attract such people, and to possible reasons for US ambivalent relations to ISIS. Much food for thought.
I have been wondering about the kinds of appeal inducing people joining up with ISIS and outfits like them. This blogger suggests some themes that might attract such people, and to possible reasons for US ambivalent relations to ISIS. Much food for thought.
After further thinking about that I believe that Peter is right. ISIS, the group now claiming a Caliphate, might have had roots in some sectarian scheme the CIA and the U.S. Special Forces were running in Iraq. But it has by now far exceed that realm. The Caliphate is based on original Wahhabi ideas which were in their essence also anti-colonial and at first directed against the Ottoman rulers.
US Will Use ‘ISIS Airstrikes’ in Syria as Aircover for Rebels, Hit Syrian Military Targets
Click here to access article by Patrick Henningsen from 21st Century Wire.
Henningsen joins many others in exposing the latest lies by the Empire's leading public relations officer, Barak Obama, whose fake explanations of the latest campaign against Syria correspond with his fake title as "President" of the US.
It is clear why he was appointed by the directors of the Empire to function in this role. First of all, he performs brilliantly. Then, with his African-American characteristics he eliminates criticism from liberals who don't want to appear racist by criticizing an African-American appearing person.
I've noticed this locally in my university town in which many auto bumper-stickers formerly attacked Bush Jr. for his actions when he was "President". Similar bumper-stickers have almost entirely disappeared even though the current Empire's front man, Obama, is represented as pursuing the same policies as Bush in the Empire's media. If this sounds similar to the ploy of pro-Israel advocates' use of "anti-semitism" against any critics of Israeli apartheid and genocide policies, it is because it is precisely the same method--but now used to ward off criticism of Empire policies by liberals.
Henningsen joins many others in exposing the latest lies by the Empire's leading public relations officer, Barak Obama, whose fake explanations of the latest campaign against Syria correspond with his fake title as "President" of the US.
It is clear why he was appointed by the directors of the Empire to function in this role. First of all, he performs brilliantly. Then, with his African-American characteristics he eliminates criticism from liberals who don't want to appear racist by criticizing an African-American appearing person.
I've noticed this locally in my university town in which many auto bumper-stickers formerly attacked Bush Jr. for his actions when he was "President". Similar bumper-stickers have almost entirely disappeared even though the current Empire's front man, Obama, is represented as pursuing the same policies as Bush in the Empire's media. If this sounds similar to the ploy of pro-Israel advocates' use of "anti-semitism" against any critics of Israeli apartheid and genocide policies, it is because it is precisely the same method--but now used to ward off criticism of Empire policies by liberals.
Jamie Dimon Gets a Personal Call from the Prez; Seniors Get Garnished
Click here to access article by Pam Martens and Russ Martens from Wall Street on Parade.
The Martens have an exceptional ability to criticize the way the official government functions to serve the rich, however they seem unable to understand the fake nature of the way power is actually exercised in the US in contrast to the way its ideological institutions portray it which they apparently accept.
In this article they refer to a Wall Street Journal report of a phone call by Obama to Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JP Morgan bank, to express their shock and disbelief over this phone call and other official government actions.
The Martens have an exceptional ability to criticize the way the official government functions to serve the rich, however they seem unable to understand the fake nature of the way power is actually exercised in the US in contrast to the way its ideological institutions portray it which they apparently accept.
In this article they refer to a Wall Street Journal report of a phone call by Obama to Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JP Morgan bank, to express their shock and disbelief over this phone call and other official government actions.
Sometimes we have to pinch ourselves to make sure we are not sleepwalking in a Dickensian dream.There have been thousands of such incidents in recent history, which if added up, can only point to a more realistic understanding of who works for whom. Obama, as the Empire's Chief of Public Relations (CPR), actually works for Jamie Dimon who likely functions as a director of the Empire. That explains why Obama calls Jamie Dimon to wish him well. It is the same as any employee "sucking up" to his boss. The fact that JP Morgan is paying a fine is only to maintain the myths about a legitimate rule of law existing in the US. JP Morgan has been a huge beneficiary of essentially no-cost loans from the Fed.
Ukraine – Truce or Trojan Horse: Retreat, Re-Armament and Relaunch
Click here to access article by James Petras from his blog.
Petras provides an excellent summary of events leading to the Ukraine crisis to counter the lies spread in the Empire's media. He then concludes the essay by citing the real reason behind the Empire's actions in Ukraine.
Petras provides an excellent summary of events leading to the Ukraine crisis to counter the lies spread in the Empire's media. He then concludes the essay by citing the real reason behind the Empire's actions in Ukraine.
An independent Russia is the real target and the annexation of the Ukraine is a mere stepping stone on the way to Moscow. Under this strategic (and insane) vision, the US and EU will never accept a neutral (NATO-free), independent, democratic Ukraine.
Groups Slam 'Corporate Takeover' of UN Climate Summit, Call for System Change
Click here to access article by Sarah Lazare from Common Dreams.
"There will be no going back from the climate chaos if we do not fight for real solutions and do nothing to confront and challenge the inaction of our governments’ policy-making being hijacked by polluting corporations,".... "It is crucial for us to unify and strengthen our economic, social and environmental struggles and focus our energies on changing the capitalist system."
Saturday, September 13, 2014
9/11 Attacks Were Used as a Pretext for Launching an Imperial Project
Click here to the transcript of an interview featuring Mathias Broeckers, a German author and journalist, posted on FARS News Agency (Iran).
Mathias Broeckers says that the 19 hijackers who are said to have been recruited by Osama Bin Laden to crash the American Airlines and United Airlines planes into the twin towers of the World Trade Center and Pentagon were being closely monitored by the CIA while they were in the United States, but for unknown reasons, the federal police were prevented from taking legal action against them.
How the West Created the Islamic State
Click here to access article by Nafeez Ahmed from CounterPunch.
Referring to the media blitz of ISIS beheadings and other sordid happenings, Ahmed writes:
Referring to the media blitz of ISIS beheadings and other sordid happenings, Ahmed writes:
Missing from the chorus of outrage, however, has been any acknowledgement of the integral role of covert US and British regional military intelligence strategy in empowering and even directly sponsoring the very same virulent Islamist militants in Iraq, Syria and beyond, that went on to break away from al-Qaeda and form ‘ISIS’, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or now simply, the Islamic State (IS).
Since 2003, Anglo-American power has secretly and openly coordinated direct and indirect support for Islamist terrorist groups linked to al-Qaeda across the Middle East and North Africa.
U.S. Puppet Masters ask new Iraqi PM to ask the U.S. to bomb Iraq so the U.S. can bomb Syria
Click here to access article by Harrison Koehli from Signs of the Times.
The latest decision to bomb Iraq by the directors of the Empire raises some doubts and questions in this author's mind. For example:
The latest decision to bomb Iraq by the directors of the Empire raises some doubts and questions in this author's mind. For example:
...how serious should we take a request for foreign intervention from a government essentially created and installed by the very powers that destroyed the country in the first place, and supported and funded the 'threat' they're being asked to eliminate?!
Springtime for Russophobia
Click here to access article by Mark Hackard from The Soul of the East.
I love this piece with its satiric edge regarding Empire propaganda portraying its various enemies as the latest versions of Hitler. However, only in the final paragraph is there a hint of a deeper insight that is missing from the most of the satire. Aren't we really witnessing what psychologists refer to as "projection", that is the projection of one's own embarrassing qualities onto another as a way of warding off any conscious awareness of these qualities in oneself?
I think this term is very apt with one exception. I don't think that the directors of today's capitalist Empire are unaware of what they are really doing using this type of propaganda. They just don't want us to become aware that they are the new Hitlers and the new Nazis.
Despite the attractive use of "humanitarian" packaging, what is the essential difference in today's world to that of the German capitalist would-be empire? Are we not seeing another capitalist empire engaged in constant bombings and invasions by its NATO armies, by "coalitions of the willing", and by proxy armies against any country that offers any resistance to the Empire's interests?
Anyway, read the article and enjoy a pleasant antidote to the barrage of current Empire propaganda portraying Putin and Russia as the latest incarnation of evil which require the good guys of the Empire to come to people's rescue.
I love this piece with its satiric edge regarding Empire propaganda portraying its various enemies as the latest versions of Hitler. However, only in the final paragraph is there a hint of a deeper insight that is missing from the most of the satire. Aren't we really witnessing what psychologists refer to as "projection", that is the projection of one's own embarrassing qualities onto another as a way of warding off any conscious awareness of these qualities in oneself?
I think this term is very apt with one exception. I don't think that the directors of today's capitalist Empire are unaware of what they are really doing using this type of propaganda. They just don't want us to become aware that they are the new Hitlers and the new Nazis.
Despite the attractive use of "humanitarian" packaging, what is the essential difference in today's world to that of the German capitalist would-be empire? Are we not seeing another capitalist empire engaged in constant bombings and invasions by its NATO armies, by "coalitions of the willing", and by proxy armies against any country that offers any resistance to the Empire's interests?
Super Rich Kids
Click here to access the lyrics from a song by this title performed by Frank Ocean, posted on R&B Genius.
This is another contribution to my occasional practice on Saturdays to run articles about lifestyles of people in our ruling class also known as the One Percent (actually .01 of the 1%, or one out of every 10,000 of us) who, under the rules of capitalism, essentially "own" the economy in which we work--in effect, we all work for them to support their lifestyle. I hope that by doing this that we don't lose touch with their world and their concerns--you know, to promote better understanding. It is important that we become better acquainted so that we can serve them better and make it easier for them to carry out the daily burden of making important decisions, decisions which affect whether we go off to war in foreign lands to kill their enemies, if we have jobs, if we live in a home or under a bridge, if we can afford their health care services, education, etc.
Unfortunately, for some reason they tend to hide their lives from the rest of us behind walls of secrecy, literal walls of guarded gated communities, private clubs, esoteric publications, by traveling with private jets, etc. We should not let that deter us.
Ordinary young people today often idolize rich kids and their opulent lifestyle, but there is a darker side. In the lyrics to this song Frank Ocean puts a spotlight on what life is like for some kids that grow up in households of the rich. Apparently after becoming acquainted with some rich kids, this popular rap artist wrote the lyrics and music to this revealing song. Here is the way it starts:
This is another contribution to my occasional practice on Saturdays to run articles about lifestyles of people in our ruling class also known as the One Percent (actually .01 of the 1%, or one out of every 10,000 of us) who, under the rules of capitalism, essentially "own" the economy in which we work--in effect, we all work for them to support their lifestyle. I hope that by doing this that we don't lose touch with their world and their concerns--you know, to promote better understanding. It is important that we become better acquainted so that we can serve them better and make it easier for them to carry out the daily burden of making important decisions, decisions which affect whether we go off to war in foreign lands to kill their enemies, if we have jobs, if we live in a home or under a bridge, if we can afford their health care services, education, etc.
Unfortunately, for some reason they tend to hide their lives from the rest of us behind walls of secrecy, literal walls of guarded gated communities, private clubs, esoteric publications, by traveling with private jets, etc. We should not let that deter us.
Ordinary young people today often idolize rich kids and their opulent lifestyle, but there is a darker side. In the lyrics to this song Frank Ocean puts a spotlight on what life is like for some kids that grow up in households of the rich. Apparently after becoming acquainted with some rich kids, this popular rap artist wrote the lyrics and music to this revealing song. Here is the way it starts:
Too many bottles of this wine we can't pronounce
Too many bowls of that green, no lucky charms
The maids come around too much
Parents ain't around enough
Too many joy rides in daddy's jaguar
Too many white lies and white lines
Super rich kids with nothing but loose ends
Super rich kids with nothing but fake friends
Friday, September 12, 2014
PR Mind Control: Even Better Than the Real Thing
Click here to access article by Mickey Z. from World News Trust.
This subject has been treated many times before, but it bears repeating many times more because the world's Ninety-Nine Percent just don't seem to understand it.
The author reviews the early history of the ruling class's attempts to manipulate the minds of the US's Ninety-Nine Percent. This all started with garnering public support for US's entry into WWI against German capitalists and on the side of British and French capitalists to whom US bankers had lent so much money. By 1917 the war was going so poorly for these debtors that US bankers began to worry about getting paid back. And, the overwhelming public opinion against US involvement in the war posed a serious problem for them. Mickey Z. explains what happened to solve this problem, and subsequent applications of mind control technology which began with crude methods, but over the decades have been so refined and integrated into every ideological institution that most Americans are completely unaware of its insidious influence on their lives.
This subject has been treated many times before, but it bears repeating many times more because the world's Ninety-Nine Percent just don't seem to understand it.
I could go on and on detailing the damage done by Edward Bernays and his ilk yet never keep up with the deluge. In the era of social media and a 24-hour news cycle, we are now exposed to more propaganda than ever before as Bernays’ PR progeny continue refining and honing their skills -- keeping us passive, divided, and distracted.
The wars, the environmental devastation, the oppression of all life -- this homicidal/suicidal pattern can end one of two ways. We can continue willfully falling for the charade until everything collapses or we can wake the fuck up, rediscover the subversive pleasure of independent thought, and create urgent change.
West's Antics Pushing Russia closer to China
Click here to access article by editors of China Daily.
For the global Ninety-Nine Percent to really make sense of this article, and many others like it, one must translate capitalist language into real ordinary language, especially whenever reference is made to various nations or block of nations. For example in this paragraph:
There is no possibility for cooperation among cancers, and capitalism functions much like a cancer which eventually metastasizes. One must win out over the other until the whole corpus of humanity is destroyed. In contrast to the early 20th century, we now live in an age in which capitalist gangs possess nuclear weapons; and there is little reason to doubt, when push comes to shove, that they will use them. If somehow we miraculously escape a nuclear holocaust, we still have climate destabilization to worry about given capitalism's addiction to growth which requires more burning of fossil fuels.
Are we now witnessing the final days of us humans who appear to be so flawed by a childish worship of authority and so easily distracted by the latest i-Gadgets and mindless entertainments that capitalist authorities give us? Are we in the global Ninety-Nine Percent going to either passively accept the fate that awaits us, or worse, join in with our respective capitalist authorities in their mad quest for dominance? Or, are we going "to take arms against a sea of troubles [caused by capitalist elites and their system], and by opposing end them?" To be, or not to be is the final question that we are all faced with now.
For the global Ninety-Nine Percent to really make sense of this article, and many others like it, one must translate capitalist language into real ordinary language, especially whenever reference is made to various nations or block of nations. For example in this paragraph:
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization [, an organization of capitalist gangs located in Asia,] of course, is no military alliance, and even less a rival of NATO [, the military arm of the US-led capitalist gang]. Its memberNow we are beginning to see the emergence of a much vaunted multi-polar world of capitalist gangs, however it is not the rosy, tolerant competition foreseen by otherwise very astute geopolitical analysts like William Engdahl or independent journalists like Pepe Escobar. Instead we are witnessing the cutthroat attacks on each other for world dominance much like we saw in the 20th century's world wars.states[capitalist gangs] however, are closely watching the US [capitalist gang]-Russian [capitalist gang] match being played out at the western end on the great Eurasian continent. Some, like the Central Asianstates[gangs] are essentially ducking, hedging, or running for cover.China[The Chinese gang], which seeks to defend its own core interests in East Asia and the Western Pacific, looks at the current Russian-American [capitalist gang] competition through the prism of its own relations withWashington and Moscow[each of these gangs].
There is no possibility for cooperation among cancers, and capitalism functions much like a cancer which eventually metastasizes. One must win out over the other until the whole corpus of humanity is destroyed. In contrast to the early 20th century, we now live in an age in which capitalist gangs possess nuclear weapons; and there is little reason to doubt, when push comes to shove, that they will use them. If somehow we miraculously escape a nuclear holocaust, we still have climate destabilization to worry about given capitalism's addiction to growth which requires more burning of fossil fuels.
Are we now witnessing the final days of us humans who appear to be so flawed by a childish worship of authority and so easily distracted by the latest i-Gadgets and mindless entertainments that capitalist authorities give us? Are we in the global Ninety-Nine Percent going to either passively accept the fate that awaits us, or worse, join in with our respective capitalist authorities in their mad quest for dominance? Or, are we going "to take arms against a sea of troubles [caused by capitalist elites and their system], and by opposing end them?" To be, or not to be is the final question that we are all faced with now.
Thursday, September 11, 2014
Ukraine’s uprising against NATO, neoliberals and oligarchs – an interview with Boris Kagarlitsky
Click here to access this interview from CounterFire (Britain). (a must-read article)
Boris Kagarlitsky is the director of the Moscow-based Institute for Studies in Globalization and Social Movements.Kagarlitsky's description of the events in Ukraine, and related events elsewhere, supplemented by an astute class analysis provides an excellent understanding of the current complex nature of the Ukrainian conflict. What we've gotten up till now from most of the alternative media are one-dimensional views portraying the conflict as a popular resistance against a Western sponsored regime in Kiev, or the good versus evil Manichean paradigm. The scene in Ukraine and Europe is much more complicated than that. Just take a cursory look at the following excerpted paragraphs, then read and study the complete article.
This crisis [the global economic crisis in 2008] not only undermined the capacity of the Ukrainian elite to achieve compromise but it also brought in new players such as the EU, the US and Nato. Given the level of crisis in the West, the important factor for stabilising the system became its expansion. And the EU is very much in trouble, especially in the south – the capacity of these societies to reproduce themselves is so undermined by neoliberal policies – that you can hardly say how to keep these societies functioning without moving away from neoliberalism. But this is precisely what the neoliberal elites are not going to allow. The only chance to escape or solve these contradictions is to expand the system, and shift more resources into the system.
****
There is a permanent conflict among the Russian elites, especially after the first wave of sanctions against Ukraine. Sections of the Russian elite began to panic, and also they hate these people’s republics because they are very threatening for the Russian state, raising debates about nationalisation, overthrowing the oligarchy and so on.
****
While there are progressive demands on the one hand from the grassroots, there are also bourgeois elements within the republican leaderships, and also constant pressure from Moscow not to move in these more progressive directions, using its capacity to control the frontier and provide or stop supplies of food and ammunition to blackmail the republics. For example, they tried hard to block nationalisation programmes that were declared in both republics, unfortunately with some success. If they were to go forward, Moscow would cut supplies. So there is a constant struggle. But there is also a constant struggle inside Russia because there is a growing movement to defend these republics, and there’s a growing movement to support these very demands. So it’s a struggle that’s continuing on both sides of the frontier.
Defeat of Ukraine army brings ceasefire, but underlying political conflicts unresolved
Click here to access article by Roger Annis from A Socialist in Canada.
Antiwar protests, for example, have continued in Ukraine following the ceasefire announcement. The population of southeast Ukraine has already taken measures to curb the economic domination of the billionaires who own the large industries in the region. Considering the elite’s support to Kyiv’s war, anti-oligarch measures are likely to deepen. This will appeal to others in Ukraine as the austerity program of President Poroshenko and Prime Minister Yatsenyuk bites deeper. It will also be noticed in Russia, where the economic elite and its corrupt capitalism are not popular. (Coincidentally, the regional government in Crimea has recently seized and will put up for sale the assets of Ukraine’s most notorious, right-wing billionaire, Ihor Kolomoisky.)
Washington Menaces America With Its ISIS Creation
Click here to access article by Tony Cartalucci from New Eastern Outlook.
It is clear that the US has created ISIS, and is to this day using it as both a means to target and attack its enemies across the Middle East, as well as serve as a pretext for direct US military intervention when proxy wars flounder. It is also being used in a third context – on the domestic front – as a manufactured and perpetual threat with which to further justify the militarization and centralization of America’s police forces and the continued expansion of the NSA’s invasive domestic spying.
World's Youth Are Ready to March for Bold Action on Climate
Click here to access article by Afsana Akter from Common Dreams.
When young people are armed with the facts, we can make more informed
decisions to mitigate climate change and prepare for its impacts. I,
along with my peers, no longer want to be a target for misinformation.
Hiding the facts will not eradicate the detrimental consequences, and
though our future may look uncertain, we can’t be afraid of teaching the
truth. We’re better off to face it today and learn how to take action
now, rather than suffer the consequences tomorrow.
There’s no way around it - climate change is the defining issue of my generation.
There’s no way around it - climate change is the defining issue of my generation.
Wednesday, September 10, 2014
The Internet Slowdown Is Here. Join the Fight
Click here to access article by Amy Kroin from Free Press.
...the Free Press Action Fund has teamed up with Demand Progress, Engine Advocacy and Fight for the Future to organize the Internet Slowdown — which could become one of the biggest online protests of all time (step aside, SOPA).
On Sept. 10, the sites for dozens of major tech companies and thousands of organizations will display a slow-loading icon to give people a taste of what the Internet could look like without Net Neutrality. Clicking the icons will take Internet users to a series of actions at battleforthenet.com/september10th. The main push: to get Congress to stand up for the open Internet — and to get Wheeler to drop his proposal.
(Note: after initially succeeding in pasting their icon on my site, it disappeared and I was no longer able to reinstall it.)
On Sept. 10, the sites for dozens of major tech companies and thousands of organizations will display a slow-loading icon to give people a taste of what the Internet could look like without Net Neutrality. Clicking the icons will take Internet users to a series of actions at battleforthenet.com/september10th. The main push: to get Congress to stand up for the open Internet — and to get Wheeler to drop his proposal.
(Note: after initially succeeding in pasting their icon on my site, it disappeared and I was no longer able to reinstall it.)
Revolution in the Age of Social Media: The Egyptian Popular Insurrection and the Internet
Click here to access the transcript of interview by Jadaliyya with author Linda Herrera regarding her new book.
The Arab Spring phenomena generated of controversy which condensed into two views:
The Arab Spring phenomena generated of controversy which condensed into two views:
The compelling story behind [Egypt’s January 25] youth-led revolt of 2011 is not quite the romantic tale of liberation through the emancipatory power of communications technologies that many initially supposed it to be. Nor can Egypt’s internet politics be reduced to widely circulating conspiracies about hidden hands from the United States and elsewhere orchestrating people and events from behind the scenes. But let us be clear: there are some hidden hands that need to be brought to light and understood.I think that the rest of the article suggests that we can learn much about this controversial issue from this author who identifies herself as a political anthropologist.
[Herrera] The memes, messages, and entities circulating on social media are often not what they appear. They require a high degree of “virtual intelligence,” painstaking research, analytical skills, and ability to work across all kinds of disciplinary and professional boundaries to decipher them.
.... It [her book] tells a blended story about the inspirational and oftentimes astounding ways people use new communication tools for freedom, to deliberate, create, organize, and confront oppression and injustice. It also tells a cautionary tale about ways virtual spaces are coopted by vested interests, and how they are susceptible to anti-democratic and even tyrannical regimes that put the lives and liberties of users at risk.
Preparing To Asset-strip Local Government? The Fed’s Bizarre New Rules
Click here to access article by Ellen Brown from her blog Web of Debt.
The rule change may not have much effect in a crash, but where it will have a major effect is on the cost of credit, which will increase for municipal governments and decrease for corporate and financial institutions. The result will be to further shift power and financial resources from the public sector to the private sector.I spent about an hour looking for mainstream financial analysts to address this development, and I found nothing. There were a couple who suggesting dumping municipal bonds, but for other reasons. I also could find nothing to suggest that municipal authorities were at all concerned. However, I cannot see any reason to disagree with the logic of Brown or the Martens on this issue.
Professor fired for Israel criticism urges University of Illinois to reinstate him
Click here to access article by Mark Guarino from The Guardian.
Steven Salaita, a university professor whose appointment at the University of Illinois was withdrawn last month after he was critical of Israel on Twitter, spoke publicly for the first time on Tuesday, saying he should be reinstated on the grounds of academic freedom.I think he will soon learn that academic freedom, or any other kind of freedom that threatens the directors of the Empire, will no longer be tolerated.
Greenhouse gas emissions rise at fastest rate for 30 years
Click here to access article posted on The Guardian.
Concentrations of carbon dioxide, the major cause of global warming, increased at their fastest rate for 30 years in 2013, despite warnings from the world’s scientists of the need to cut emissions to halt temperature rises.
Experts warned that the world was “running out of time” to reverse rising levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) to tackle climate change.
Tuesday, September 9, 2014
Bring your friends to make history
Click here to access article by Eduardo from People's Climate.
So exciting — thousands are joining events around the globe to make the People’s Climate Mobilisation a historic climate moment!See a trailer of a major film regarding climate destabilization just released online a few days ago that is related to this major global event. Then view the whole 52:26m film online here.
Just so you know: right now there are events registered in more than 130 countries which will be joined by many others like you — people from all backgrounds and cultures, holding a common ask for world leaders gathering in New York for the United Nations Climate Summit: it’s time for Actions, Not Words.
Climate change is affecting all of us in many disastrous ways, no matter who or where we are. And pushing heads of state to be serious on climate is not something that just some of us must do — to make our voices really really loud on September 21, we’ll need everyone, everywhere to take action.
The Pentagon — the climate elephant
Click here to access article by Sara Flounders from Workers World.
...it is clear that U.S. corporate power and the monstrous military machine it has funded by expropriating more than half the federal budget every year for decades is an enemy of the people of the whole world and a threat to all forms of life on earth.The author cites report after report issued by US military sources that the military establishment views climate destabilization only as a threat to capitalist rule which they must protect and promote.
Americans Now Fear ISIS Sleeper Cells Are Living in the U.S., Overwhelmingly Support Military Action
Click here to access article by Glenn Greenwald from The Intercept.
This article provides more illustration of the power that capitalist agents of propaganda have over the US population to manipulate the latter's views in support of their war agendas.
This article provides more illustration of the power that capitalist agents of propaganda have over the US population to manipulate the latter's views in support of their war agendas.
Murky Special Ops Have Become Corporate Bonanza, Says Report
Click here to access article by Ryan Gallagher from The Intercept.
Also, along the same lines, you might be interested in this article entitled "Obama’s ISIS War: Profit for Military Contractors" by Kurt Nimmo.
The U.S. government is paying private contractors billions of dollars to support secretive military units with drones, surveillance technology, and “psychological operations,” according to new research.This article is essentially a summary of, and an introduction to, a research report issued by Remote Control Project, a British organization specializing in the examination of a new form of warfare using drones. This new type of warfare is not only controversial because it circumvents international norms and national constitutions, but it also illustrates the fascist component that is driving the Empire's new form of warfare. Fascism is the unvarnished form of capitalist rule which uses corporations, its engines of wealth production, as an integral part of its operations. Fascism is capitalist rule shorn of its decorative covering known as the "rule of law" to reveal the naked fist of violence or the threat of violence against any target that gets in its way toward power and wealth accumulation.
Also, along the same lines, you might be interested in this article entitled "Obama’s ISIS War: Profit for Military Contractors" by Kurt Nimmo.
The Pentagon has converted Iraq with its violent sectarian rivalries into a lucrative business opportunity for a burgeoning mercenary and contractor industry that has blossomed in the wake of the September 11, 2001, terror attacks.
Obama’s ISIS war arrives at an opportune time for contractors.
Losing Credibility: The IMF’s New Cold War Loan to Ukraine
Click here to access article by Michael Hudson from his blog.
Hudson provides many details on the Empire's economic warfare strategies against Russia, and it appears from his analysis that the strategies are rife with contradictions.
Hudson provides many details on the Empire's economic warfare strategies against Russia, and it appears from his analysis that the strategies are rife with contradictions.
The IMF’s Articles of Agreement forbid it to make loans to countries that clearly cannot pay, prompting its economists to complain at last year’s October 2013 annual meeting in Washington that their institution was violating its rules by making bad loans “to states unable to repay their debts.” In practice, the IMF simply advances however much a government needs to bail out its bankers and bondholders, pretending that more austerity enhances the ability to pay, not worsen it. Ukraine looks like a replay of the Greek situation with an exclamation mark! One official last year called its Debt Sustainability Analysis, “‘a joke,’ a [European] commission official described it ‘a fairy tale to put children to sleep’ and a Greek finance ministry official said it was ‘scientifically ridiculous.’”
Monday, September 8, 2014
The human element in the new economics: a 60 - year refresh for economic thinking and teaching
Click here to access article (PDF document) by Neva Goodwin published in the recent journal Real-World Economics Review.
This important paper, published in what appears to be an alternative economics journal, challenges the basic tenets of traditional economics textbooks used in institutions of higher learning in the US. From my cursory reading of the article this morning, I think what the author couches in diplomatic language of academia is really an indictment of economics teaching as mostly propaganda serving the interests of the ruling capitalist class.
According to Goodwin:
Then following the near collapse of the economy in 1907 by their reckless gambles, in order to assure the public that this would never happen again, they constructed the Federal Reserve under their domination to take control of the money supply. Thereafter, this class has remained supreme.
They likewise gained control of every institution in society, not the least of which was education. They saw the urgency of teaching economics to add legitimacy to the system which was the goose that laid their golden eggs of power and wealth. This paper tells that story.
However, don't be reassured that now everything will be fixed with regard to the teaching of economics. It's just that the failures of the capitalist system is becoming so outrageously apparent that they need to come up with better teachings to explain these failures while preserving the legitimacy of the system.
This important paper, published in what appears to be an alternative economics journal, challenges the basic tenets of traditional economics textbooks used in institutions of higher learning in the US. From my cursory reading of the article this morning, I think what the author couches in diplomatic language of academia is really an indictment of economics teaching as mostly propaganda serving the interests of the ruling capitalist class.
According to Goodwin:
This started in the 1890s, when Alfred Marshall wrote the first edition of his text, called Principles of Economics. It went through 8 editions, the last being published in 1920. For a large part of the English-speaking world Marshall’s textbook continued to define the field (especially the microeconomics basics) until the middle of the 20th century, when it was replaced by Paul Samuelson’s Economics (first published in 1948). That set the standard for about the next 60 years.I believe that this development corresponds perfectly with what I regard as the consolidation of power by the US plutocracy in the 1890s when they defeated all opponents which included radical labor organizers and the agrarian Populist Movement. This was a period in which the major capitalists such as Carnegie, Rockefeller, and Morgan, known widely by the people as robber barons, rose to prominence. (read The Lords of Creation by Frederick L. Allen)
Then following the near collapse of the economy in 1907 by their reckless gambles, in order to assure the public that this would never happen again, they constructed the Federal Reserve under their domination to take control of the money supply. Thereafter, this class has remained supreme.
They likewise gained control of every institution in society, not the least of which was education. They saw the urgency of teaching economics to add legitimacy to the system which was the goose that laid their golden eggs of power and wealth. This paper tells that story.
However, don't be reassured that now everything will be fixed with regard to the teaching of economics. It's just that the failures of the capitalist system is becoming so outrageously apparent that they need to come up with better teachings to explain these failures while preserving the legitimacy of the system.
Will the Real ‘Al Baghdadi’ of ISIS Please Stand Up?
Click here to access article by William Engdahl from Boiling Frogs Post.
Engdahl pieces various items of evidence together to unravel the mysteries of ISIS, and they are leading in this direction:
Engdahl pieces various items of evidence together to unravel the mysteries of ISIS, and they are leading in this direction:
Another operation to weaken Iran’s influence in the region & reshape the geopolitical map with the aim of a major energy power shift in gas and oil pipelines
Power Play
Click here to access article by the editors of Jacobin.
The authors review recent oppositional movements which they now declare as deficient for the goal of transforming society.
The authors review recent oppositional movements which they now declare as deficient for the goal of transforming society.
We need a unifying political project that can articulate a compelling vision of a new society, bring together disparate campaigns and organizations on an ongoing and coordinated basis, and mount a general political offensive against the system in its totality.And, they announce their intentions to contribute to this process.
Since its inception, Jacobin has sought to play a role in this process by creating an intellectual space for socialists across organizational boundaries. With the aid of full-time organizers, over the next year we will be expanding the scope of that mission by facilitating nationwide reading clubs and events in order to help cultivate a culture of friendly debate and non-sectarian politicization among young radicals.
Sunday, September 7, 2014
America, ISIS, and Syria: We have to bomb the jihadis in order to save them
Click here to access article from the blogger at The Polemicist.
Political analysis doesn't get any better than illustrated in this article. I hope that readers will not be satisfied with his lead-in short version; because the rest of the article carefully analyses, with a lot of supporting documentation, US foreign policy in this volatile region and leads to an understanding of its extremely devious and Orwellian character.
Political analysis doesn't get any better than illustrated in this article. I hope that readers will not be satisfied with his lead-in short version; because the rest of the article carefully analyses, with a lot of supporting documentation, US foreign policy in this volatile region and leads to an understanding of its extremely devious and Orwellian character.
Saudi Arabia and Israel might have their reasons for wanting jihadis to replace Assad, but what are ours? Do you think it’s because our government consistently adopts the Saudi line? Perhaps the ISIS horror will reveal, to a few more people who think on these questions, how particularly pointless and dangerous it is for America to be playing this game, whoever’s it is.
To evoke yet another stated policy for which today’s jihadis are conveniently helpful, we should recognize that ISIS is finishing off the destruction and breakup of the Iraqi state that the U.S. began with its invasion in 2003. In Iraq, ISIS is executing an American plan, proposed by Joe Biden and Leslie Gelb in 2006, and endorsed by the U.S. Senate in 2007, to split into three parts—Sunni, Shia, and Kurd.30
That plan is itself uncannily similar—pure coincidence, I am sure—to an Israeli plan, The Yinon Plan of 1982....
Ukraine: A Catastrophic Defeat
Click here to access article by Tim Judah from The New York Review of Books.
This article contains the best detailed report on the recent victories by separatist rebels in Ukraine over the Western installed Kiev government. Although the report is laced with some Western biases, on the whole it is probably the best coverage one can get on this event from Western sources.
This article contains the best detailed report on the recent victories by separatist rebels in Ukraine over the Western installed Kiev government. Although the report is laced with some Western biases, on the whole it is probably the best coverage one can get on this event from Western sources.
The fortunes of war have changed dramatically in the past two weeks. In spring, anti-Kiev rebels, taking the new and revolutionary Ukrainian government by surprise, seized towns and cities across the two predominantly industrial and mining regions of Donetsk and Luhansk. At first, Ukrainian forces either fell apart, were captured, or defected to the rebel side. By summer, however, the Ukrainians were better organized and went on the offensive driving the rebels back.
.... Then, in the last two weeks of August, everything changed again.
NATO Wales Summit Heightens Tensions Pouring More Fuel on Fire
Article includes Part 1 and Part 2 by Andrei Akulov from Strategic Culture Foundation.
I found this report to be the most comprehensive and objective on the web. The others were mostly pro-NATO public relations type reports or very cynical reports. I believe an accurate summary would be that the conference produced agreement on mostly threatening gestures against Russia and no agreement on actions against ISIS. Note that the conference was held immediately after the devastating losses suffered by the Western established Kiev government in Ukraine.
I found this report to be the most comprehensive and objective on the web. The others were mostly pro-NATO public relations type reports or very cynical reports. I believe an accurate summary would be that the conference produced agreement on mostly threatening gestures against Russia and no agreement on actions against ISIS. Note that the conference was held immediately after the devastating losses suffered by the Western established Kiev government in Ukraine.
Nato Summit Is Glaring Proof (If Ever Needed) Of Demise Of Representative Government
Click here to access article by Don Quijones from his blog Raging Bull-Shit.
The author tells it like it is in this brief article.
The author tells it like it is in this brief article.
Fear, Loathing and Paranoia in an All-Exclusive Society
Click here to access article by Don Quijones from Wolf Street.
This 5:32m video illustrates one such exclusive housing arrangement near London.
As cities around the globe continue to grow far beyond their city limits, heavily patrolled perimeter fencing and high walls are becoming a common feature of the urban and suburban landscape. Intended to provide a sense of serenity and security for high-income city dwellers, gated communities are sprouting like transgenic mushrooms, including in relatively low-crime regions of North America and Europe.The author points to a growing trend for world's One Percent ruling capitalist classes to insulate themselves from the threatening rabble that they are creating--us.
This 5:32m video illustrates one such exclusive housing arrangement near London.
Saturday, September 6, 2014
The State, Occupy, and Disaster: What Radical Movement Builders Can Learn from the Case of Occupy Sandy
Click here to access article by Easton Smith posted at Occupy Wall Street.
In this rather lengthy but important article, Smith examines a report issued by the Department of Homeland Security regarding the Occupy Sandy project and finds that it offers lessons for future grassroots organizing.
In this rather lengthy but important article, Smith examines a report issued by the Department of Homeland Security regarding the Occupy Sandy project and finds that it offers lessons for future grassroots organizing.
The achievements and pitfalls of the Occupy Sandy’s tactics and strategy contain salient lessons about how to build large scale, direct-aid organizations and broad social movements in horizontal and effective ways. The ways in which Occupy Sandy interacted with the state in a crisis situation can likewise teach us valuable lessons about how to effectively organize radical projects without being co-opted, marginalized or outright repressed. The activist community in the United States as a whole, however, does not know that much about what happened in the weeks and months following the storm, and those who participated in the efforts have few resources for reflecting on and understanding the value of their work.
The History of CIA-Funded Foundations: Why the CIA Deliberately Funds Socialists and Liberals
Click here to access article by Stuart Jeanne Bramhall from Veterans Today.
Bramhall summarizes the information regarding CIA activities to limit dissent in the US and Europe contained in a book entitled Who Paid the Piper: The Cultural Cold War1 by Frances Stoner Saunders published in 1999. Coincidentally I mentioned in yesterday's post, which dealt with a recent CIA-connected journalist, a book I read several years ago entitled The Mighty Wurlitzer: How the CIA Played America (2008) by Hugh Wilford that also covered the same subject and roughly the same period of time.
This raises the question in my mind as to why they both ended their histories when they did when both books were written decades later. Were both authors suggesting that such practices ended then? Or, could it be that more recent material is too risky to write about?
Bramhall summarizes the information regarding CIA activities to limit dissent in the US and Europe contained in a book entitled Who Paid the Piper: The Cultural Cold War1 by Frances Stoner Saunders published in 1999. Coincidentally I mentioned in yesterday's post, which dealt with a recent CIA-connected journalist, a book I read several years ago entitled The Mighty Wurlitzer: How the CIA Played America (2008) by Hugh Wilford that also covered the same subject and roughly the same period of time.
This raises the question in my mind as to why they both ended their histories when they did when both books were written decades later. Were both authors suggesting that such practices ended then? Or, could it be that more recent material is too risky to write about?
How To Reduce Living Standards Without A Revolution: Slowly & Lie About It
Click here to access article by Roger Boyd from his blog Humanity's Test.
The author provides us with an explanation of the various methods the One Percent ruling classes use to reduce payments to Social Security recipients and to disguise the falling living standards faced by all Americans--except, of course, the One Percent.
The author provides us with an explanation of the various methods the One Percent ruling classes use to reduce payments to Social Security recipients and to disguise the falling living standards faced by all Americans--except, of course, the One Percent.
The rich, together with their bought-and-paid-for politicians, saw that it was impossible to explicitly reduce well-regarded programs such as Social Security (government-provided pensions) that benefitted the mass of the population rather than just themselves. So instead, they decided to reduce them a little bit each year by falsifying the CPI, upon which the yearly “cost of living” increases were based, in a way that made it underestimate the actual rate of inflation.
Will We Adopt the Indian Way?
Click here to access article by John Pennington from his blog Class War in America.
Nobody in the world expresses rage at injustice better than Arundhati Roy, complete with all the data and bitter irony that clinches the case. Her recent book, Walking With the Comrades, is enough to boil your blood. Genocide comes to central India, compliments of corrupt government and Big Business, which are more or less identical.
Friday, September 5, 2014
US created ISIS to topple Libya
Click here to access a 21 minute video presentation on the origins of ISIS posted on Brasscheck TV.
To tell the story of the Empire's promotion of terrorist groups in the Middle East and Eurasia in 21 minutes necessitates a rapid fire delivery which is evident in this video. This works best for an audience of people who are reviewing bits and pieces of information that they have been exposed to in the past, but I question its effectiveness in reaching people, the vast majority of Americans, who have relied on mainstream media for their information. And, of course, the promotion and use of terrorist groups in only one part of the picture.
A much broader effort is required: an effort sustained over significant periods of time which includes oil and gas pipelines, the history of the Empire's efforts at destabilizing nations, an understanding of climate destabilization, and an examination of the engine of the Empire, capitalism, that is driving these all these actions. Nothing short of an organized global effort by an independent media network designed to raise people's consciousness will be sufficient to change the nihilistic course of capitalist activities that are now promoting endless wars which could easily lead to a nuclear war, actions that are creating islands of the rich among oceans of the poor, and causing catastrophic climate destabilization.
This is not meant to be critical of the overall effort of Brasscheck who are busy providing other consciousness raising videos. It is meant to be critical of an attitude evident in the concluding remarks of this video that seem to suggest that the problem of terrorism is both isolated from other issues and that it can be solved by talking to our neighbors, etc. We the people of the world's Ninety-Nine Percent must be aware of the enormous task ahead in order to prepare an adequate response. I am convinced that nothing short of a global network of independent media will be adequate to change the deadly course we are now on.
To tell the story of the Empire's promotion of terrorist groups in the Middle East and Eurasia in 21 minutes necessitates a rapid fire delivery which is evident in this video. This works best for an audience of people who are reviewing bits and pieces of information that they have been exposed to in the past, but I question its effectiveness in reaching people, the vast majority of Americans, who have relied on mainstream media for their information. And, of course, the promotion and use of terrorist groups in only one part of the picture.
A much broader effort is required: an effort sustained over significant periods of time which includes oil and gas pipelines, the history of the Empire's efforts at destabilizing nations, an understanding of climate destabilization, and an examination of the engine of the Empire, capitalism, that is driving these all these actions. Nothing short of an organized global effort by an independent media network designed to raise people's consciousness will be sufficient to change the nihilistic course of capitalist activities that are now promoting endless wars which could easily lead to a nuclear war, actions that are creating islands of the rich among oceans of the poor, and causing catastrophic climate destabilization.
This is not meant to be critical of the overall effort of Brasscheck who are busy providing other consciousness raising videos. It is meant to be critical of an attitude evident in the concluding remarks of this video that seem to suggest that the problem of terrorism is both isolated from other issues and that it can be solved by talking to our neighbors, etc. We the people of the world's Ninety-Nine Percent must be aware of the enormous task ahead in order to prepare an adequate response. I am convinced that nothing short of a global network of independent media will be adequate to change the deadly course we are now on.
Grassroots Resistance as 'Police Militarization' Expo Descends on Oakland
Click here to access article by Sarah Lazare from Common Dreams.
As the summer closes on a note of outrage, forces driving police militarization — including defense contractors, law enforcement agencies, and SWAT teams from around the world — are converging in Oakland, California on September 4th through 8th for the 9th annual "Urban Shield" exercise and weapons technology expo that is bankrolled by arms manufacturers and the Department of Homeland Security.
They are being met with protests from grassroots organizations and local residents who say Urban Shield is not welcome in their city — or anywhere.
The CIA’s Mop-Up Man: L.A. Times Reporter Cleared Stories With Agency Before Publication
Click here to access article by Ken Silverstein from The Intercept.
Although Silverstein focuses mostly on one L. A. Times reporter, he also supplies evidence from FOIA documents that other reporters have close ties with the CIA.
Of course, the CIA has a long history of infiltrating media organization and recruiting journalists to serve the Empire's secret subversion service. Hugh Wilford covered much of this early in his 2008 book entitled The Mighty Wurlitzer: How the CIA Played America. Unfortunately, he stops his history in the 1970s with the Rampart revelations, the Pike and Church Committee investigations and leaving the naive reader to believe that CIA activities to influence media ended at this time. It appears from this report that they only became more effective at hiding their activities.
Although Silverstein focuses mostly on one L. A. Times reporter, he also supplies evidence from FOIA documents that other reporters have close ties with the CIA.
Of course, the CIA has a long history of infiltrating media organization and recruiting journalists to serve the Empire's secret subversion service. Hugh Wilford covered much of this early in his 2008 book entitled The Mighty Wurlitzer: How the CIA Played America. Unfortunately, he stops his history in the 1970s with the Rampart revelations, the Pike and Church Committee investigations and leaving the naive reader to believe that CIA activities to influence media ended at this time. It appears from this report that they only became more effective at hiding their activities.
Thursday, September 4, 2014
The concrete roots of capitalism’s magical thinking
Click here to access article by Pete Dolack from his blog Systemic Disorder.
Dolack makes an excellent contribution to an understanding of how capitalists succeed in such a class based system by manufacturing so many illusions to justify their system, to defuse and confuse opposition, and finally to blame the victims of the system when all else fails. Their control over society is rooted in the capitalist concept of property which gives them control over every ideological institution, and thus the ideas and views of its subjects.
Because capitalism requires incessant growth, their system is coming up against finite limits of the Earth. Because the system requires profits for capitalists, the system is also bringing about the destruction of communities and jobs, the slashing of social supports to people who cannot function, wars, economic upheavals, etc. Conditions of human life are rapidly devolving into a tiny class of the rich and a huge mass of the poor, like rich islands in an ocean of the poor. Thus, the engines of indoctrination, propaganda, and distraction are now taking on Orwellian qualities to keep people from being aware of all the crises that are crushing their lives.
Dolack makes an excellent contribution to an understanding of how capitalists succeed in such a class based system by manufacturing so many illusions to justify their system, to defuse and confuse opposition, and finally to blame the victims of the system when all else fails. Their control over society is rooted in the capitalist concept of property which gives them control over every ideological institution, and thus the ideas and views of its subjects.
Because capitalism requires incessant growth, their system is coming up against finite limits of the Earth. Because the system requires profits for capitalists, the system is also bringing about the destruction of communities and jobs, the slashing of social supports to people who cannot function, wars, economic upheavals, etc. Conditions of human life are rapidly devolving into a tiny class of the rich and a huge mass of the poor, like rich islands in an ocean of the poor. Thus, the engines of indoctrination, propaganda, and distraction are now taking on Orwellian qualities to keep people from being aware of all the crises that are crushing their lives.
What They Mean when They Say Peace
Click here to access article from CrimethInc (a worker's collective based in Salem, Oregon)
This article explains how the justification of preserving piece was used recently in the Ferguson riots and the broader meaning of peace that is used by members of the ruling class. It is a peace that preserves their rule and class/race-based justice to subvert its real meaning: peace founded on justice.
It seems that ruling class media directors continue to be successful in diverting attention away from the endemic injustice of their capitalist system by filling their media programs with carefully screened news, entertainment, and trivia. Most Americans will only pay attention to the realities of injustice in society if they are confronted by scenes of riots and militarized police forces in their TV news reports. The authors finally reach this conclusion:
This article explains how the justification of preserving piece was used recently in the Ferguson riots and the broader meaning of peace that is used by members of the ruling class. It is a peace that preserves their rule and class/race-based justice to subvert its real meaning: peace founded on justice.
It seems that ruling class media directors continue to be successful in diverting attention away from the endemic injustice of their capitalist system by filling their media programs with carefully screened news, entertainment, and trivia. Most Americans will only pay attention to the realities of injustice in society if they are confronted by scenes of riots and militarized police forces in their TV news reports. The authors finally reach this conclusion:
Let us not resent those who get out of hand for reminding us of the conflicts that remain unresolved in our society. On the contrary, we should be grateful. They are not disturbing the peace; they are simply bringing to light that there never was any peace, there never was any justice in the first place. At tremendous risk to themselves, they are giving us a gift: a chance to recognize the suffering around us and to rediscover our capacity to identify and sympathize with those who experience it.
For we can only experience tragedies such as the death of Michael Brown for what they are when we see other people responding to them as tragedies. Otherwise, unless the events touch us directly, we remain numb. If you want people to register an injustice, you have to react to it immediately, the way people did in Ferguson.
The Global Reality Freak Show
Click here to access article by xraymike79 from Collapse of Industrial Civilization.
Civilization is not in of itself evil; the problem lies in how it is organized and functions. Capitalism encourages the unregulated growth of gigantic corporations that exploit the environment and people, create economic disparity, promote hyper-consumerism, and usurp and corrupt governments. In addition to using military might for exploiting foreign resources and pools of labor, capitalism encourage war for the sole purpose of profit, i.e the military industrial complex. It also encourages overpopulation by the gross maldistribution of wealth....
Wednesday, September 3, 2014
NATO’s Expansion Would be a Huge Mistake
Click here to access article by Alexander Clackson from New Eastern Outlook.
It appears that the heavily guarded NATO meeting in Wales tomorrow and Friday may be crucial in determining our future. I wouldn't bet on a positive result. The only way for peace and sustainability to be realized in our future is for us in the global Ninety-Nine Percent to throw off the rampaging monster of capitalism, and then construct a new system to insure peace and survival of the human species.
NATO’s Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen made an announcement this week that North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) is for the first time looking to deploy its forces at new bases in Eastern Europe, in response to the Ukraine crisis and in an attempt to deter Russian President Vladimir Putin from “causing trouble in the former Soviet Baltic republics”. He added that the organisations’s summit in Wales on 4 to 5 September 2014 will aim to form an agreement between NATO’s members to send forces from the military alliance to Russia’s borders. Far from deterring Putin, this move would in fact be a grave mistake and a terrible blunder from the West.The recent hyper-aggressive actions of Empire directors continue to amaze me. It seems to me that either the old Cold Warriors are at the helm of NATO policies or else the current directors are functioning from a sense of desperation. If you think about it, there are some astonishing similarities between the Empire and Nazi Germany. Like Germany of the 1930s, could it be that the Empire is so burdened by debts that it must pursue these aggressive policies in order to gain control of more assets to keep from collapsing? The astonishing increase of fabricated news and views in US media looks strikingly similar to the Nazi's outlandish use of fake propaganda to provide cover for its imperialism.
It appears that the heavily guarded NATO meeting in Wales tomorrow and Friday may be crucial in determining our future. I wouldn't bet on a positive result. The only way for peace and sustainability to be realized in our future is for us in the global Ninety-Nine Percent to throw off the rampaging monster of capitalism, and then construct a new system to insure peace and survival of the human species.
Novorussia: independent, associated or (con)federated?
Click here to access article by The Saker from The Vineyard of the Saker.
"The Saker" appears to be a Russian-American living in Florida. His writings suggest a high level of knowledge about Russia and Russian politics. In this very lengthy piece he attempts to both explain, and speculate on the outcome of, the current conflict in Ukraine.
Once again we see a geopolitical analyst touting the goal of a "multi-polar world", and implying that this is all that Russian and Chinese leaders want. Well, that may be true for the time being; but if such a scenario was established, how could we expect Russian or Chinese capitalists to act any differently than Euro-American capitalists?
"The Saker" appears to be a Russian-American living in Florida. His writings suggest a high level of knowledge about Russia and Russian politics. In this very lengthy piece he attempts to both explain, and speculate on the outcome of, the current conflict in Ukraine.
Once again we see a geopolitical analyst touting the goal of a "multi-polar world", and implying that this is all that Russian and Chinese leaders want. Well, that may be true for the time being; but if such a scenario was established, how could we expect Russian or Chinese capitalists to act any differently than Euro-American capitalists?
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