Assessing Venezuela’s Elections: The Good, the Bad, and the Indifferent

Click here to access article by Eric Draitser from Global Independent Analytics.

It was very interesting to me on a personal level to read Draitser's recent experiences while visiting Venezuela and his assessment of the dramatic losses of the Chavista party known as Socialist Party (PSUV) in the recent elections. 

In late 2005 I toured many of the places he mentioned, was exposed to the many kinds of people who he encountered, and listened to a talk by one PSUV leader who was a member of the government. I was singularly unimpressed with the latter. Subsequently I followed events in Venezuela quite closely in alternative websites and finally concluded that a traditional cultural practice of South America known as clientelism had carried over into the new ruling Chavista party and government and would limit how far the revolution would go. Although there were writings and speeches about a bottom-up political process, the reality was that too many educated people gravitated to the party to enhance their careers, and not for reasons of social justice. Thus political patronage and careerism infected the party and contaminated its political ideology with the result that the party led a government that in reality practiced social democratic principles instead of the truly radical principles that was espoused by Hugo Chávez and his ideologists.

Draitser concludes his assessment of the current political conditions in Venezuela with this observation that rings true for me:

Above all else, there is one common theme that I have heard repeated ad nauseam these last few days: the vote was a vote against the PSUV, not for the MUD. In other words many, if not most, of those ballots cast for the opposition were simply a rebuke of the government, rather than an endorsement of the neoliberal capitalism that MUD represents. While this is undeniably frustrating, it is also heartening in a sense, because it demonstrates clearly that the general principles of the vast majority of the country remain unchanged: they want socialism and the Bolivarian Revolution, they simply want it to be improved. I heard this nearly everywhere I went, from the 23 January to El Valle, from San Agustín to the Simón Bolivar commune.

In other words, Chavismo is alive and well in Venezuela, it is the Party itself that has lost the support of many of the people.

Poisoned Agriculture: Depopulation and Human Extinction

Click here to access article by Colin Todhunter from Global Research. 

Todhunter is a British writer who has lived in India for extended periods of time and has done a considerable amount of study on the deleterious effects of biochemical technology widely used by multi-national corporations engaged in agricultural operations. I have followed Todhunter's essays for a number of years and I regard him as an especially reliable and credible source of information regarding his area of expertise.

In this article he focuses on a recent paper published in a major scientific journal (behind a paywall) authored by Rosemary A. Mason which makes some startling accusations regarding the widespread application of biochemical substances used by agribusinesses throughout the world.

She claims that plans are under way to depopulate the planet’s seven million plus people to a more manageable level of between 500–2000 million by a combination of means, including the poisoning and contamination of the planet’s food and water supplies via chemical-intensive industrialised agriculture. Mason also notes that health-damaging GMOs are being made available to the masses (under the guise of ‘feeding the poor’), while elites are more prone to eat organic food.

Although Mason cites evidence to show that a section of the US elite has a depopulation agenda, given the amount of poisons being pumped into the environment and into humans, the thrust of her argument is that we could all be extinct before this comes to fruition – both rich and poor alike.

Mason's evidence supports Todhunter's numerous findings about this type of agriculture which he studied in India, and he agrees with her conclusion that "the public must place pressure on governments and hold agribusiness to account." He argues that this is not enough, makes vague references to capitalism, but then ultimately arrives at his own recommendations which, in my mind, do not hold much more promise than Mason's: 

...both farmers and consumers must organise to challenge governments, corrupt regulatory bodies and big agribusiness at every available opportunity.

It seems to me that his conclusion negates any suggestion about the role of capitalism in causation of this huge problem. Capitalist directors such as Bill Gates and the Rockefeller clan today have firm control of the Empire's governments along with all other major institutions. So, it may do some temporary good to appeal to, or "challenge", their governments, etc, but how is this going to solve the problem in the long run? If the cause is an economic system, then the remedy is to organize to overthrow the rule of the system and the rule of the tiny fraction of humanity that it serves.

[An encouraging news item that might interest you, but don't count on capitalist appointed judges for future victories.] 

Paris agreement papers over failure to act on climate change

Click here to access article by Patrick Martin from World Socialist Web Site. 

In contrast to corporate media which paints the Paris agreement as a "success", Martin reveals the vacuous agreement that world capitalist leaders came up with to solve the growing problem of climate destabilization as a kind of public relations stunt.

The two-week climate summit could perhaps be summed up with a variation on the saying, “The operation was a success but the patient died.” In this case, the political operation in Paris was a great success for those who organized it, principally Hollande, Obama and other leaders of the major world powers who sought to posture as environmentalists concerned about the future of “the only planet we have.” The prognosis for the planet, however, remains terminal, so long as it remains imprisoned by the global capitalist system.

After the Paris climate talks: stay in the streets

Click here to access article by Elaine Graham-Leigh from CounterFire.

This writer for the mildly left wing British publication agrees with other non-establishment observers that the Paris climate talks were "much ado about nothing". 

A turning point in human history? Elaine Graham-Leigh takes a closer and more critical look at what the Paris talks really mean for our planet

Still she argues that the street protests accomplished a lot by forcing these capitalist officials to make many promises ("pledges") to do better, and that we should "stay in the streets" apparently because that this will be force them to make more promises! One might easily think that this publication could come up with something more radical after perusing the website which makes references to Marxism and socialism. 

For something more accurate and radical, read this article entitled "Paris agreement papers over failure to act on climate change".

Paris deal: Epic fail on a planetary scale

Click here to access article by Danny Chivers and Jess Worth from New Internationalist.

Before the talks began, social movements, environmental groups, and trade unions around the world came together and agreed on a set of criteria that the Paris deal would need to meet in order to be effective and fair. This ‘People’s Test’ is based on climate science and the needs of communities affected by climate change and other injustices across the globe.

To meet the People’s Test, the Paris deal would need to do the following four things:

1. Catalyze immediate, urgent and drastic emission reductions;
2. Provide adequate support for transformation;
3. Deliver justice for impacted people;
4. Focus on genuine, effective action rather than false solutions;

Does the deal pass the test?

Who is the Real Axis of Evil?

Click here to access article by Jim Dean from New Eastern Outlook.

The Russian Defense Ministry won the quote of the week award with its “theater of the absurd” description of the US State Department’s and Pentagon’s denials that they knew anything about Turkey’s aiding and abetting ISIL via the massive oil smuggling operations from Syria. They were lying of course, and admitted that Turkey was guilty for not only the oil smuggling but all the other supplies crossing the border for ISIL.

See also this piece entitled "US accomplice with ruling Wahhabism" which makes essentially the same argument.

How U.S. and EU Manipulate Public Consciousness: Montenegro

Click here to access article by Ion Todescu from A bird's eye view of the Vineyard.

Todescu provides an excellent case study of how Empire subversive directors apply their color revolution scheme. However this time its application is not to overthrow the government and/or dismember the country (that was already accomplished with the dismemberment of Yugoslavia), but to pave the way for Montenegro's integration into NATO.

Since Montenegro had regained its independence the U.S. and the EU have created a multi-layered hierarchical system comprising multiple structures and organizations in order to reshape the public consciousness of Montenegrins and guarantee that the country joins NATO. This sophisticated ‘network of networks’ has engulfed government structures, NGOs and commercial companies working for one purpose. This method proved to be successful in Ukraine, where the U.S. and EU have achieved their goals. As for Montenegro, only time will tell.

Euphoria as Paris finally seals the deal

Click here to access article by Paul Brown from Climate News Network.

Many leaders and website writers are heaping praise for the very recently concluded Paris agreement of climate goals. But, as far as I can see, they are only pledges or promises to do better. And, what has been the record of previous pledges? Very poor. My feelings correspond well with some of the skeptics:

Helen Szoke, executive director, Oxfam, summed up for the doubters: “This deal offers a frayed life-line to the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people.

Only the vague promise of a new future climate funding target has been made, while the deal does not force countries to cut emissions fast enough to forestall a climate change catastrophe. This will only ramp up adaptation costs further in the future.”

And this was the summing-up from one leading British scientist, Professor Chris Rapley, of University College London: “Time will reveal the true nature of the COP21 deal. From epic turning point, to naive expression of hope, it is the real-world actions that follow which will decide. 

Here is interesting 7:20m video from Climate Interactive that presents all kinds of "what ifs" that could bring the global average increase in temperatures below 2°C. 

 

What’s class got to do with it?

Click here to access article by David F. Ruccio from his blog Occasional Links & Commentary.

This economist posts a graph from the St. Louis Federal Reserve to dramatically show the constant increasing inequality in the US, particularly accelerating after every recession. It seems that our capitalist class masters like recessions because they present opportunities for them to increase their wealth (and its associated power). He also provides a commentary on an an article--from a site supported by a government workers union--whose author, Jared Bernstein, provides many graphs of a similar nature.

 


However Ruccio complains about the lack of examination of the system of capitalism contained in Bernstein's series of articles. Such myopia is a disease of many union writers and organizers, and likely the reason that unions have declined in both membership and influence.

AFRICOM’s Secret Empire: US Military Turns Africa Into ‘Laboratory’ Of Modern Warfare

Click here to access article from Mint Press News.

The Obama administration has overseen an unprecedented expansion of American military might on the African continent, with dozens of bases and outposts opening there since he took office.

The article draws our attention to a very unreported phenomenon by corporate media which serves only the interest of capitalism's ruling class. Only alternative media like Mint Press can offer this kind of reporting. Unfortunately it seems that most American minds, and indeed most minds throughout the US-led Empire, have been captured and controlled by the Empire's corporate media. 

Can We Have Our Climate and Eat It Too?

Click here to access article by Richard Heinberg from Post Carbon Institute. 

Heinberg, who has been sounding the alarm over the of global warming for a long time, responds to a recent article (authored by Eduardo Porter) that expresses the ruling capitalist class's view on this issue: "there is no alternative" or (TINA), which was recently printed in the NY Times, the semi-official source of our ruling class. Heinberg writes:

If our market economy cannot work on a finite planet, it is the economy that will give way, though the planet will also suffer in the process. Porter is effectively telling us that the global economy is an airplane incapable of controlled descent, a car without brakes. While degrowth advocates do make an ethical argument, the core of their concern is pragmatic: nothing can grow forever in a limited space with limited resources, and we are seeing urgent signals (climate change, biodiversity loss, soil degradation, ecosystem failure) warning that we have already grown too much. In his article, Porter does not show how infinite economic growth is possible; he merely insists we must have more growth because . . . well, we must. If pressed, he would no doubt cling to one or another of the technofixes we have already questioned. But that’s just not a rational response to the logical and practical necessity of coming to terms with limits. [my emphasis]

What I think Heinberg fails to understand is that our ruling class depends on the system of capitalism for all its power and wealth. Thus they would essentially have to give up these goodies to save the planet. I don't think that there has ever been a ruling class which has ever voluntarily give up their control of any society, and there is no evidence that these capitalist classes will. Instead, much like addicted alcoholics, they indulge in all kinds of fantasies which Heinberg and many others have exposed as mere fantasies. But yet Heinberg and others, who are courageous enough to oppose our masters, try nevertheless to appeal rationally to our masters to give up their addiction. Is this realistic? I think not. 

The only real solution is revolution. We simply must find a way to take power away from this tiny group of addicts in order to save ourselves. If we fail to do this, or simply stand passively by, we are only saving the addicts and destroying ourselves. Sometimes in my weaker moments I can't help but think that we all all suffering from dementia like Evelyn Parker in this Onion piece of humor.

Trump Supporters Disappointed He Only Wants to Ban One Religion

Click here to access article by Andy Borowitz from The New Yorker. (satire)

In conversations with likely Trump voters across the country, reactions ranged from disenchantment to a sharp sense of betrayal as supporters tried to make sense of his decision to ban members of only one faith.

RT parody video: How Kremlin propaganda works (with English subtitles)

Click here if you wish to access this RT produced video directly from OffGuardian. 

I think RT produced this hilarious video as a satirical response to all the claims by Empire officials that RT's coverage is biased. Empire officials must deny the authenticity of RT’s coverage because the Empire’s media reports are so infiltrated with bias, fake news, and false-flag events. Although some of these officials may buy into their media’s coverage, I think most know that their media are lying simply because they feed the media these lies.

US Planning New Military Bases In Middle East, Asia, And Africa

Click here to access article by Dan Wright from Shadow Proof. 

Referring to a report appearing in the NY Times, the Empire's semi-official media source, about a new Pentagon plan for adding more military bases in these areas of the globe, the author writes: 

This plan..., of course, sets the groundwork for another series of wars in the region — wars the U.S. national security elite seem desperate to get into with the primary interest clearly being to keep the war machine rolling. Peace is bad for business and, by setting down bases and other assets, the U.S. can provoke attacks and then justify its use of force on defensive grounds.

The sad and dangerous fact is that wars feed profits and power to our capitalist masters, serve to prop up the ailing economy, and provides well-paying jobs for a few. The more immediate danger is the threat of more mini-wars, more refugees fleeing their homes for safe areas of the world, and more desperate people being recruited to serve in terrorist armies supported by the Empire to serve the latter's interests. This reckless plan by our masters accelerates the descent into a global conflagration of nuclear war with Russia and China. It appears that our masters are so terminally addicted to power and profits that they will risk everything to feed their addictions. 

The only remaining question is whether the vast majority of humans are going to passively stand by and let them do it. This begs other questions. Are we so distracted by local terrorist incidents that we fail to see the larger terror of nuclear war that will destroy all of us? Or, is it possible that we are like deer transfixed by the glaring headlights of war and terrorist propaganda that we are unable to act to save ourselves? Stay tuned, or better yet, stay informed by following credible information sources, and above all, staying active.

(You might also be interested to read the WSWS's take on this plan.) 

COP21: US is 'Major Obstacle' to Climate Change, Says Manuel Criollo

Click here to access article by Simon Holmes from Telesur. 

Manuel Criollo, the director of organizing at the U.S.-based Labor rights and environmental campaign group, made this opening remark in an interview with Telesur:

The story stays the same as it has for the past 20 years during this tragic climate chess game called the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change: on one side the ex-colonial and imperialist powers of Europe, Japan and the white-settler nations of the Canada, New Zealand, Australia and the United States (its ringleader) and on the other side stand the nations and peoples of the Third World (in U.N.-speak often referred as Developing Nations). It’s been a game of attrition, bullying, intimidation, divide-and-conquer and the constant changing of the rules at every turn. 

Facing Opposition Onslaught, Chavismo Must Return to Roots

Click here to access article by Lucas Koerner from Venezuelanalysis.

I read many observers who have already commented on the implications of the recent right-wing victory in Venezuela that will in January install a dominant majority in their legislature. This, I believe, is the best.

The outcome affords the Venezuelan right an unprecedented opportunity to roll back the gains of the Bolivarian Revolution by legal means, without having to resort to coups or other forms of extra-institutional violence. But will they succeed?

I also recommend you read this informative article entitled "Venezuela At An Impasse" posted on The Indypendent to learn more about the awful economic conditions facing Venezuelans.

Towards a New Anti-Capitalist Politics [A must-read]

Click here to access article by Jerome Roos from Reflections on a Revolution (ROAR).

I really connected with this rather lengthy article which as of this time I've only read about two-thirds of it. It offers so much food for thought for activists and for all those who are sensing the downward spiral of today's disturbing neoliberal world order. This piece might also be titled "Neoliberalism...meet neo-revolutionary thought!"

Activists seem to be in a transition period in which they find the thinking of the old left no longer meets today's need. This essay is a plea for, and a contribution to, a new revolutionary mode of thinking.

In contrast to the old left, narrowly concerned with seizing the constituted power of the state, the emerging anti-capitalist politics is not necessarily opposed to the idea of taking power, but finds it much more worthwhile to think in terms of building power and cultivating the social creativity, collective imagination and democratic aspirations of society as such. It recognizes that the left cannot simply “take” power without first building it—democratically—from below.

WikiLeaks - The US strategy to create a new global legal and economic system: TPP, TTIP, TISA

Click here if you wish to access this 8:22m video directly from Wikileaks on their channel via YouTube. (My thanks go to Raging Bullshit and its author for alerting me to this excellent video.)

Exposed: Academics-for-hire agree not to disclose fossil fuel funding

Click here to access article by Lawrence Carter and Maeve McClenaghan from GreenPeace.

A Greenpeace undercover investigation has exposed how fossil fuel companies can secretly pay academics at leading American universities to write research that sows doubt about climate science and promotes the companies’ commercial interests.

This piece of excellent investigative journalism illustrates the influence that capitalism provides rich people to have their way--in this case an environmentally destructive way--in various institutions of any given nation or even internationally. 

Think of money as a kind of power coefficient in which the more money you have, the more influence you at least potentially have in any given institution or situation. That is precisely why sociopathic inclined people go to such lengths to accumulate money. It is not to consume more because, after all, how much more can one consume beyond a million dollars? I don't think I could consume even half that. So, why do we have billionaires? It is simply because these people are far more interested in the power that money provides them. 

Power can be very addicting as I learned from personal experience in Hawaii in the 1970s while dating a daughter of a man who was CEO of a multinational corporation. He and his family had a luxurious place on the beach below Diamond Head which I often visited. I actually think I enjoyed his place far more than he did because he was always traveling. Because I saw no evidence that he indulged in any material luxuries, I concluded that he was completely motivated by the power he held as CEO. 

The same goes for many members of what has become known as the "One Percent" who use their vast stores of money to influence every institution in society so that the operations of these institutions conform to their interests. That is how capitalism functions in societies in which capitalists have consolidated major ownership/control over their economies, and which has permitted them to accumulate enormous wealth. They use their money to influence all institutions to serve their interests, and above all, to protect their system from any threats. They do this in spite of any democratic facade that they might erect to deceive working people in any nation under their control.

Rahm Emanuel Condemns Police Code of Silence Which His Administration Enabled

Click here to access article by Kevin Gosztola from Shadow Proof.

(Note: If you need to be brought up to date on the storm of controversy going on now in Chicago because of the delayed release of a police video showing the shooting of Laquan McDonald about year ago, I recommend this piece entitled "The Chicago police shooting of Laquan McDonald, explained" from Vox.) 

If you are curious about Rahm Emanuel's background, all you need to do is enter "Rahm Emanuel" in one of my search boxes to bring up numerous articles about him. One of the best articles to explain how he rose to prominence in the Democratic Party is this piece entitled "Obama's chief of fixing" in which it also reveals Emanuel's deep Zionist roots.

How ISIS Oil Flows Through Turkey And Israel On Its Way To Europe

Click here to access article by Kit O'Connell from Mint Press News.

It’s widely recognized that Daesh (the Arabic acronym for the terrorist group often called IS, ISIS or ISIL in the West) depends on oil sales to fuel its armies. Until recently, it’s been less clear who is buying Daesh’s oil, and how it ends up in their hands.

However, recent reports suggest that the oil flows to Europe and Asia through a complex process that implicates allies of the United States like Turkey and Israel. The U.S. is also facing increasing criticism for its failure to target the terrorist group’s oil infrastructure in a serious way until recently. [Only after the Russians became involved and were particularly effective in attacking ISIS's oil infrastructure.]

The evidence is overwhelming that the US Empire and its associated medieval Arab allies (Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates), Turkey, and Israel all conspired for different reasons to create this terrorist army to bring the Assad government down. (Simply enter "ISIS" into one of my search boxes to bring up articles loaded with evidence.) I think that this qualifies as another kind of false flag operation because it diverts attention away from the actual perpetrators onto a terrorist organization that has in fact been organized and supported by this coalition of nations.

Central banks have trillions for speculation, none for people

Click here to access article by Pete Dolack from Systemic Disorder. 

Dolack is a master at explaining to ordinary people the financial games that our capitalist masters play because of our ignorance or when we don't pay attention. He explains how they are currently waging this class war and what we could have done with all the free money that the Fed gave to banks and corporations.

Instead of throwing money at speculators and banks in the vain hopes they would spend the money productively instead of pocketing it or directing it toward speculation or boosting stock prices, we could have wiped out all student debt, fixed all the schools, rebuilt aging water and sewer systems, cleaned up contaminated industrial sites and repaired dams, and still have $700 billion more to spend on other needs.

The IMF forgives Ukraine’s debt to Russia

Click here to access article by Michael Hudson from A bird's eye view of the Vineyard. 

Since 1947 when it really started operations, the World Bank has acted as a branch of the U.S. Defense Department, from its first major chairman John J. McCloy through Robert McNamara to Robert Zoellick and neocon Paul Wolfowitz. From the outset, it has promoted U.S. exports – especially farm exports – by steering Third World countries to produce plantation crops rather than feeding their own populations. (They are to import U.S. grain.) But it has felt obliged to wrap its U.S. export promotion and support for the dollar area in an ostensibly internationalist rhetoric, as if what’s good for the United States is good for the world.

The IMF has now been drawn into the U.S. Cold War orbit. On Tuesday it made a radical decision to dismantle the condition that had integrated the global financial system for the past half century.

An example of a US government funded website

by Ron Horn for Surviving Capitalism. 

People often read articles on websites and blogs without realizing that they are being funded by a group or groups that have an agenda. Often they are funded by large capitalist philanthropic organizations, but in this example substantial funding is coming directly from the government. I am referring to a website called Syria Direct that has been publishing articles about Syria since 2013. So, I think one can question the credibility of an article on their website entitled "Russia strikes vital Aleppo water treatment plant: ‘The sight of water flowing from a faucet has become almost like a dream’".

The lesson this offers us is that one must question the independence of any website because they could be influenced to a greater or lessor extent by the source of their funding. The best are subscriber (or listener) sponsored sources or websites that are funded only by authentic activist organizations. Another lesson is that we ordinary people must with our dollars support truly independent journalists, otherwise we risk being lied to. And especially one must be wary of US government or ruling class organization funded sources which have demonstrated their desire to use media coverage as a propaganda weapon many times over the years. See this, this, this, this, and this.

What is Erdogan's Game in Syria and Iraq?

Click here to access article by Pepe Escobar from Sputnik.

The actual evidence is not even discussed by Western corporate media. It's all dismissed as "Russia claims…" Yet not only Sultan Erdogan has been systematically unmasked as a serial liar; the accumulating evidence points to Ankara both as an indirect ally and shady sponsor of the fake "Caliphate". 

Whatever the Atlanticists can come up with to "excuse" the Erdogan system, at least the devastating PR debacle for the "democratic West" is now a fact of life all across the Global South.

At the same time an elaborate shadow play is in progress.

This independent Brazilian journalist provides a closer view of what has been recently happening in Syria and Iraq and the complicated geopolitical games the various players are engaged in. His take on Russian power in the area is much more positive than what "The Saker" has reported. 

Other good articles from independent sources trying to understand what is happening in this area are this, this, and this.

Week Nine of the Russian Intervention in Syria: The Empire Strikes Back

Click here to access article by "The Saker" from The Unz Review.

The Russian born author and independent blogger who resides in Florida reviews recent events that have led up to the present crisis in Syria and nearby Iraq, and the implications that these events have for an extremely dangerous world conflict between nuclear powers. I share his concern.

His argument reminds me of the so-called "appeasement" policies by Western capitalist countries toward the aggressive actions of Nazi Germany in the 1930s. Such policies were aimed at the Soviet Union which had defeated capitalist forces during their revolution of 1917. Such policies encouraged the Nazis to engage in one aggression after another because they had little fear that other capitalist nations would interfere. But the times have changed a bit. Now with NATO having lured many ruling capitalist classes of the nations in Eastern Europe to their fold, it seems that any one member can act with impunity, as Turkey has recently demonstrated, with full Empire approval. So, if somehow the events in Syria and Iraq don't lead to a catastrophic war, another threat to world peace is still likely. Let me review a little history to see some earlier parallels with the present.

After the Soviet forces defeated the backbone of the Nazi armies at Stalingrad in the winter of 1942/1943, the Western allies began to seriously attack Nazi armies with the result that the Allies together with Russia won the war. However the capitalist countries never forgave the Soviets for their "treachery" of rejecting capitalism. This immediately led to the Cold War and many proxy wars up until the collapse of the antiquated version of socialism in the Soviet Union in 1990. However, since then Russia has recovered from the widespread corruption and theft of its industries by oligarchs, and has pursued an independent course among nations. This was still intolerable to Empire directors. 

Simultaneous with this history, the other Allies, the capitalist countries, morphed into the US Empire which pursued the same course of global domination as did their Nazi predecessors, only using much more sophisticated strategies of Gladio programs and many other forms of subversive actions. It has been clear for quite some time that there can be no independent countries in the scheme of these new empire builders. Hence Russia, China, and all other countries--as well as workers in their own countries--must bow down to the authority of the capitalist elites in this New World Order of the 21st century. Or else!

Syria: Ultimate Pipelineistan War

Click here to access article by Pepe Escobar from Strategic Culture Foundation.

Syria is an energy war. With the heart of the matter featuring a vicious geopolitical competition between two proposed gas pipelines, it is the ultimate Pipelinestan  war, the term I coined long ago for the 21st century imperial energy battlefields.

It all started in 2009....

He goes on to explain how these fossil fuel pipelines are critically important strategic factors that influence policies conjured up by the directors of the US Empire to promote their goals of world domination.

The unavowable project for a pseudo-Kurdistan

Click here to access article by Thierry Meyssan from VoltaireNet.

In 2011, Alain Juppé (France) and Ahmet Davutoğlu (Turkey)

 This French geopolitical analyst scores with this exposé of the latest ploys by members of the US Empire involving the use of lies, secret agreements, and co-optation to carve out a Kurdish state in Syria and Iraq to appeal to Turkish and Kurdish authorities while settling the Daesh terrorists mostly in Iraq's Anbar province presumably to continue their efforts to destabilize Syria.  

The latest NATO effort appears to be the Empire's response to Syria's request to Russia and Iran, and the latter's response, to help protect their country from the terrorist army of Daesh (ISIS) that is supported by the Empire and its medieval Arab allies.

- France and the United Kingdom have managed to make their public opinion believe that Resolution 2249 authorises them to intervene in Syria against Daesh. On this basis, they have obtained the authorisation of their parliaments to begin bombing, but without the authorisation of Syria.

- On the ground, they believe they can count on the Turkmen militias (supported by the Turkish army) and the Kurdish YPG (supported by Israël and the Regional Kurdish Government of Iraq).

- The aim of these intervention is not to eradicate Daesh because of its programme of ethnic cleansing, but to displace them to Al-Anbar, and to continue the ethnic cleansing, this time in Northern Syria, to create a pseudo-Kurdistan.

You might also be interested in this report from entitled "Damascus Says US-Led Coalition Is Bombing Syrian Troops, Not ISIS" from Russia Insider.

Escalation in Syria leads to a global war

Click here if you wish to directly access the 4:29 video and transcript from South Front. (Note: my browser, and presumably others, cannot access the video directly from the website. Hence I am reproducing the video via YouTube.)

The Causes and Consequences of Venezuelan Election Results

Click here to access article by Tamara Pearson from Telesur.

Bad news for all progressive people in South America and the world who have been fans of the "Bolivarian Revolution". This setback on top of the right-wing victory in Argentina in October, which I totally missed, is rather foreboding. Of course the Kirchner governments never pretended to be revolutionary, their policies only represented social-democratic efforts to salvage capitalism after the economic disaster of 1998-2002. 

I, too, was initially attracted to the "Bolivarian Revolution" and traveled to that country in late 2005 to find out more about it (see this, this, and this). I was rather disappointed or, at least, not terribly impressed as I was with the Nicaraguan Revolution of the Sandinistas during a similar trip in 1983. Perhaps that was why the US made such aggressive efforts to destabilize it by illegally hiring and training the mercenary army of the Contras who carried out terrorist operations against Nicaraguan clinics, schools, and other social projects.

The author tries to put a positive spin on the results in these two elections:

The consequences are serious, but do not necessarily mark the end. Despite its financial resources and support from international powers and elites, the opposition has not been strategic or intelligent and won't be strategic with this new power. .... Nevertheless, two such losses will no doubt cause some regional demotivation among progressives and have a significant impact on Latin American integration bodies.

2012 DIA ‘Islamic State’ Report Enters National Discourse after New York Times Coverage

Click here to access article by Brad Hoff from Levant Report. 

While the document was referenced and analyzed in literally hundreds of independent/alternative and foreign media reports, major U.S. news maintained its silence, even after Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn (Ret.), head of the DIA at the time the report was prepared, confirmed its accuracy and importance in an Al Jazeera interview with Mehdi Hasan.

Even with Flynn’s public and unambiguous confirmation of the document, the American public remained largely in the dark as to the document’s existence.

While the rest of the world had easy access to the interview which featured lengthy discussion of the document with a man who was in 2012 and prior one of the top three highest ranking intelligence officials in Washington, it did not air on Al Jazeera America, and the program itself remains geo-blocked for Americans wishing to access it through Al Jazeera’s official YouTube channel.

It appears that Hoff was the first to break the news of this very important report (May 19, 2015) which was apparently inadvertently released under a Freedom of Information request by a conservative organization called Judicial Watch. I found it referred to in a Moon of Alabama article a few days later and I have posted other articles referring to it since then (see this and this). Now on November 18th apparently because it has been widely circulating in alternative media, the editors of the New York Times, the Empire's "newspaper of record", have been forced to refer to it in an article entitled "In Rise of ISIS, No Single Missed Key but Many Strands of Blame".

Paris climate talks accomplish nothing to curb global warming

Click here to access article by Daniel de Vries from World Socialist Web Site.

The industrial capacity exists to transition to entirely renewable sources of energy within a matter of a few decades or less, as a recent study by Stanford researcher Mark Jacobson concluded for the United States. However, the level of planning and coordination on an international basis needed to implement such a transition comes into immediate conflict with the division of the world into rival nation-states and private ownership of the world’s productive resources.

The pledges put forward correspond to the needs of the banks and major transnational corporations.

The 800 pound gorilla in the rooms of the Paris conference is the private ownership and control of the world's economies by tiny classes of capitalists. As long as nations are controlled by these people, so long will we be observing conferences where capitalist leaders pontificate about the threats of climate destabilization and make empty promises of doing better to mitigate its effects. 

At the same time we are seeing nations lining up mostly in two blocs, both armed with nuclear weapons, with one bloc (US Empire) thoroughly dominated by capitalists whereas the other bloc (led by China and Russia) using capitalists to drive production at a frenetic pace in order to protect themselves from the virulent imperialism of the first bloc. Whether the latter bloc can maintain control of their own capitalists is a matter of pure speculation. In any case, humanity is caught between the Charybdis of climate destabilization and the Scylla of nuclear war. Only an informed and aroused people all over the world can prevent the extinction of humans.

Paris Climate Talks: What's at Stake for the World's Coasts

Click here to access article by Zahra Hirji and Paul Horn from Inside Climate News.

Infographic outlines how sea level rise triggered by climate change will permanently alter coastlines and how much the resulting damage will cost.

Rising sea levels are mostly a future threat, but an article entitled "Blame Western companies for Southeast Asia’s toxic haze" describes a current threat to the health of people in some parts of the world where industries are concentrated to produce goods for Western consumers. 

Things I have learnt since being at the Paris climate talks

Click here to access article by Kevin Smith from Global Justice Now.

The COP [21] is such a big and complicated beast that it’s almost impossible to make a definitive statement of what’s going on - never has an elephant been groped by so many different blind-folded people. So here’s a smattering of what I’ve picked up since I’ve been here. For something that’s more thorough and comprehensive, I’d recommend the regular briefings from Third World Network, and for a more accessible take, the daily Storify round ups from Climate Justice Info. 

Richest 20 People Have More Wealth Than Half Of All Americans

Click here to access article by Dan Wright posted on MintPress News. (Some editing of the following comments was done for clarity at 8:30 AM Seattle time on 12/6/2015.)

The author uses data from reform oriented Institute for Policy Studies, but reaches an insight that suggests reform is likely impossible: the control of our nation by wealthy capitalists has gone beyond what reform can undo. 

What he doesn't understand is that this process of capitalist class dominance has been developing since at least the early part of the 20th century after the defeat of the Populist (read Democratic Promise by Lawrence Goodwyn) and radical labor movements, and finally achieved after WWII with the growth of secret agencies and the purge of all pro-social elements during the McCarthy period. The hidden capitalist directorate, which grew like a cancer within society, finally demonstrated their nearly absolute power over our nation with the assassinations of John and Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King, and many other important opposition figures during the 1960s.

Massacre Proves Turk, Washington Complicity in Syria Terror

Click here to access article by Finian Cunningham from Strategic Culture Foundation.

This independent free-lance journalist has performed a very significant piece of investigation on a massacre of residents of a Syrian town (see this and this) that happened last year to back up his conclusions in this article. He starts out with the evidence which leads inexorably to the following conclusions:

 
... as the Kessab massacre demonstrates, the so-called "moderate" FSA [Free Syrian Army] is an integral and indistinguishable component of the proxy terrorist army that Ankara and its Washington ally are supporting to overthrow the elected government of President Assad. Any difference is patently just a figment of imaginative propaganda.

Obama, while at the Paris climate change summit this week (appropriately, a "hot-air" conference of world leaders), has this week reiterated calls on Russia to focus its military campaign on the Islamic State and to halt its aerial attacks on "moderate rebels".

The American president and his Turk ally are in no position to lecture anybody about "terrorists" and "moderates". They are all part of the same criminal gang, and that gang includes Obama and Erdogan.

Lobby Planet Paris: A guide to corporate COP21

Click here to access the introduction to a pamphlet by the above title published by the Transnational Institute (TNI) based in Amsterdam.

The pamphlet is a guide to how global corporations are attempting to co-opt the efforts of the UN climate talks such as the one now being held in Paris. Global polluting corporations have wormed their way into these meetings with their funding and are subverting them to protect and serve corporate interests of profit and power.

Defending climate justice means exposing the actions of polluting companies and their lobbies to the public. This guide will propel you into the heart of the apparatus built up around the Paris Summit. It will introduce you to the anti-climate lobbyists and their false solutions, and expose the magnitude of the fossil fuel industry’s pressure on governments. It offers a window onto the extent of public subsidies to dirty energy, the multiple public-private collusions, and the numerous forms of speculation on the climate crisis. 

America reacts to the Planned Parenthood attack

Click here to access article by Jen Sorensen from her website.

COP21, Climate Action 0

Click here to access article by Rob Urie from CounterPunch.

The past-present-future of capitalist ideology moves seamlessly from a crude and environmentally destructive past to an ‘improving’ but imperfect present to a gleaming, prosperous future. The facts are of these various stages existing together motivated by the promise of a future that never arrives. Dirty production was never left behind and ‘developing’ market capitalism will serve as the locus of outsourced environmental destruction for as long as people will put up with it. Environmental commitments are never but one capitalist crisis away from reversal driven by engineered desperation. The careful parsing of these crises as accidents unrelated to the normal workings of capitalism provides cover for imperial machinations posed as facts of nature.

Clean Energy Ponzi Scheme

Click here to access article from Public Good Project.

This succinct article makes some very important points about the influence of capitalist wealth on solutions to the many environmental crises. 

This Is How ISIS Smuggles Oil

Click here to access article by Mike Giglio of BuzzFeed News.

This reporter based in Istanbul provides a very detailed, valid sounding report about how ISIS uses oil smuggling to fund its various activities in collaboration with Turkish authorities.

Turkey is a focal point in the new international fight against ISIS. Its porous, 565-mile border has been a gateway for the foreign extremists who fill the ISIS ranks — and with sky-high domestic fuel prices, it has been a key market for the oil that funds ISIS.

Syrians Who Fled ISIS’s Capital Say They Were Trapped By Fear And Desperation

Click here to access article by Mike Giglio and Munzer al-Awad from BuzzFeed News. 

The authors provide a very graphic report of migrants fleeing from an ISIS held territory in Syria which could very well serve as an illustration of why migrants are now flooding into Europe from the Middle East. While terrorist incidents in Paris, San Bernadino, Boston, etc capture headlines in the West, people in this region experience terrorism daily either from terrorist organizations or attacks from Russian and Western bombing raids. 

How Russia is Smashing the Turkish Game in Syria

Click here to access article by Pepe Escobar from CounterPunch.

To fully understand this analysis, one really needs a knowledge of the complicated Syrian and Iraqi border areas with Turkey and various Kurdish factions. Still, however, I think that this very perceptive Brazilian journalist puts all the important pieces (rat lines or smuggling routes and "safety zones") and players together to form an overall understanding of the current volatile situation in the area. (Unfortunately I can't find a suitable map in time for publishing.)

See also this article entitled "S-300 fully in service in the hands of Damascus and two Iranian squadrons to the T4 in Homs serviced by Russia" from Elijah J M, which I consider a reliable source, for another volatile factor that may influence the outcomes of this complicated war.

Global Angst over US Secrecy Fetish

Click here to access article by Victor Wallis from ConsortiumNews. 

Given the extreme concentration of weaponry (as well as surveillance capabilities) in the hands of the state, and given the disposition of the state to apply such resources even against nonviolent mass movements, the type of defection practiced by whistleblowers – an option available to military and intelligence operatives at all levels – is crucial to any eventual triumph of popular forces over the ruling class.

Whistleblowers thus not only embarrass the government, disrupt its policies, and (assuming adequate diffusion) educate the citizenry; they also are harbingers of a broader crumbling of the capitalist state and the order it defends. Acting largely in isolation and at great risk to themselves, they embody the conviction – or at least the hope – that basic decency has a more universal grounding than does any possible scheme of oppression.

Climate change and the summit smokescreen

Click here to access an interview with Ian Angus, a Canadian activist and editor of Climate and Capitalism, posted on Socialist Worker. 

WHY IS it so difficult for them to come up with a serious proposal that will actually make a difference to the climate situation?

FUNDAMENTALLY, GOVERNMENT negotiators say "we'll reduce emissions," but they don't say "we will reduce our use of fossil fuels," which is what they must do to reduce emissions seriously and long term.

Fossil fuels are so fundamental to the operation of capitalism and the world today that serious reductions, if they were even tried under capitalism, would lead to a period of extraordinary economic disruption. Entire industries would have to stop functioning while they retool, and other industries would just have to disappear.

The only time we've had significant reductions in emissions in a major country was after the break-up of the Soviet Union, when the economy of Russia collapsed.

Angus continues on with a controversial argument that advocates radical activists working with what he regards as serious, already established, non-revolutionary groups.

Aspiring to Rule the World: US Capital and the Battle for Syria

Click here to access article by Stephen Gowans from his blog What's Left. 

This article really consists of two essays: 1) an analysis and exposition of what people outside of the US refer to as "bourgeois democracy", and 2) how the latter influences our policies toward Syria. Essay #1 is Gowans' most important contribution. I regard it as a "must read".

Bourgeois democracy can also be described as "capitalist democracy" because the capitalist class created this fake form of democracy after they took control of the US and France during their revolutions and more gradually in Britain. It became the model that all capitalist countries at least aspire to. This form was a product of capitalist class rule disguised as democracy because of the early embryonic capitalist classes need for the support of the lower classes (peasants, laborers, skilled craftsman, etc) to overturn the rule of monarchs and aristocracy. Thus the lower classes were induced to support the capitalist revolutionaries with vague promises of "freedom" and the rule of law celebrated with such slogans as "liberté, égalité, fraternité". What they really seriously advocated was the sanctity of private property.

Gowans essay #1 provides a very concise understanding of how the capitalist class rules the US behind the facade of "democracy". 

Deutschland 83: The Spy Thriller Is Watching You!

Click here to access article by Joseph Waters from Russia Insider.

Ordinary Americans are seldom conscious of propaganda that is fed to them via corporate media news programs and much less by their entertainment programs. But their propaganda is in the latter in a much more insidious form. Thus it is mandatory for all politically conscious Americans to be aware of all forms of propaganda that corporations are using to manipulate people in support of their many nefarious projects of profits and power. This author contributes to that effort by analyzing the propaganda content in the TV entertainment program series called "Deutschland 83".

Deutschland 83 is another example of “entertainment propaganda” - fictional entertainment laced with propaganda messages - in which anti-heroes are used to reach a left-leaning audience. These individuals are drawn to the anti-hero because he or she personifies the moral ambivalence, disorder and confusion in a society. For those who have difficulty in seeing everything around them in either black or white, the anti-hero’s stumbling path to redemption appeals to their own sense of the complexity, uncertainty and shifting realities of the modern world.

From Pol Pot to ISIS: The Blood Never Dried

Click here to access article by John Pilger from his blog. 

ISIS is the progeny of those in Washington, London and Paris who, in conspiring to destroy Iraq, Syria and Libya, committed an epic crime against humanity. Like Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge, ISIS are the mutations of a western state terror dispensed by a venal imperial elite undeterred by the consequences of actions taken at great remove in distance and culture. Their culpability is unmentionable in “our” societies, making accomplices of those who suppress this critical truth.

In this essay the independent Australian journalist provides a history of the Empire's horrific terrorist actions which have provided fertile ground for indigenous terrorist armies. However his essay is flawed by a myopic view that only targets ruling class directors and functionaries instead of a capitalist system-backed empire that makes such crimes not only likely but necessary. In addition he doesn't adequately distinguish the incidental fostering of the terrorist army of Pol Pot from the intentionally designed terrorism of ISIS. Instead he leaves us with only a moral condemnation of crimes committed by crazy evil-doers acting out their sadistic fantasies on innocent people.

Reviewing Force Multipliers [an introduction to must-read materials]

by Maximilian Forte from Zero Anthropology and archived at Encircling Empire. 

The materials related to the book Force Mulitipliers are extremely important to understand for all people concerned about the direction that the US Empire in its unending search for profits and power seems to heading. The direction is impelled by the system of imperialist capitalism whose directors employ so many new instruments of deception and proxies which they describe as "force multipliers" as well as raw force more typical of earlier forms of capitalist imperialism. It is the new instruments which have been studied and revealed in detail by this author.

I spent a lot of time reading related materials and the original source (pdf format) from a new book entitled FORCE MULTIPLIERS: The Instrumentalities of Imperialism by Forte. The book can be ordered through Lulu Press for about $10 (incl. postage) or read online (I prefer a hard copy and ordered it). Probably the most efficient way of accessing his ideas is a 68 slide show presentation located near the bottom of this posted introduction--here is the direct link.

Here is the "Overview" or introduction from the second slide:

In the drive to accumulate ever more global power for the US state and its allies, both political and corporate, the quest for totalization [global domination] confronts the challenge of “overreach”. To operate using smaller efforts to carry larger loads, US strategists have devised what they call “force multipliers”. Force multiplication is about “leverage”: using partners and proxies in an expanding network. Forces are conceptualized in multi-dimensional terms. Anything in the world of cultural systems, social relationships, and material production can become force multipliers for imperialism: food security, oil, electricity, young leaders, aid, social media, NGOs, women’s rights, schoolgirls, democratization, elections, the G8, the European Union, NATO, the IMF, the World Bank, the World Economic Forum, AFRICOM, development, policing, borders, and epidemics, among others.

Putin’s Revenge? The Fight for the Border

Click here to access article by Mike Whitney from CounterPunch.

Whitney (my "neighbor" in Washington state) finds that the Russian actions are exposing the many lies and false flags used to hide the Empire's project to turn Syria into another failed state that can be controlled to serve the interests of the Empire.

Can you imagine when a request was made by a prominent Iraqi official to attack ISIS (Daesh) oil tankers how this might have caused a US Empire director to pause a few moments to figure out a reasonable answer? Finally the director came up with this excuse: "Daesh trucks that sell oil are ‘civilian targets’ to US"!

To learn more about the various terrorist groups operating in Syria, an article from Sputnik entitled "The Land of Terror: Is Daesh Syria’s Only Deadly Menace on the Ground?" appears to offer some valid answers.

Guess Why The U.S. Is Not (Seriously) Bombing ISIS's Oil Business

Click here to access article by Bernhard from Moon of Alabama. 

The U.S. did not start bombing the Islamic State's oil infrastructure and oil distribution system until the Russian president Putin shamed U.S. President Obama at the G20. Putin showed around satellite pictures of huge oil truck assemblies waiting in the desert to be filled. These were through 13 month of bombing left completely unmolested by U.S. air strikes. The U.S. then bombed a bit and claimed to have destroyed 116 waiting oil trucks while the Russians claimed to have destroyed over 1,000.

So far I have found four reasons given to explain why the U.S. did not bomb, and does not seriously bomb,  the oil truck convoys.

Turkey Refines and Sells Stolen Syrian and Iraqi Oil for ISIS

Click here to access article by Stephen Lendman from Global Research.

Erdogan is an international outlaw, He’s supporting ISIS, US proxy foot soldiers in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere, directly involved in their oil smuggling, refining and sales worth hundreds of millions of dollars on the black market.

America and other Western  nations are well aware of what’s going on, doing nothing to stop it, aiding it by inaction and/or direct support – Russia alone intervening by bombing ISIS’ truck pipeline, transporting oil along with its facilities in Syria.

Read also this piece entitled "Turkey's links to Islamic State" by Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey from Pravda.  

Moving Closer to Europe: ISIL Sets Its Sights on Expansion in Libya

Click here to access article from Sputnik (based in Russia).

The Islamic State has increased its presence in the Mediterranean city of Sirte in Libya from 200 fighters at the start of the year to a force of 5,000 men, including administrators and financiers; the base is the first to be directly established by ISIL outside Syria and Iraq, and brings the terrorists closer to Europe.

This report is corroborated by a similar report in the Wall Street Journal. It has been speculated that the large buildup in Libya has been from ISIS soldiers fleeing from Syria where their forces have been besieged by Russian and Coalition bombing raids, and ground forces of the Syrian and Kurdish armies.

Big Oil, TTIP And The Scramble For Europe

Click here to access article by Colin Todhunter from East by Northwest.

TTIP is too often presented by officials and sections of the corporate media as constituting a well thought out recipe for job creation and economic growth. This depiction forms part of the neoliberal globalisation paradigm that sanctifies the notion of ‘free trade’. In reality, however, what we actually have is trade and markets that are anything but ‘free’: markets are rigged, commodity manipulated and nations coerced, destabilised or attacked in order that powerful players gain access to resources and markets under the banner of free trade and democratic freedoms.

The TTIP is a mandate for corporate plunder and, given recent revelations, for major polluters. It represents a pro-privatisation agenda that enshrines the privileges of the world’s most powerful corporations at the expense of ordinary people, the environment and the climate.

The ultimate aim of TTIP is to draw Europe closer to the US and divide the European continent by side-lining Russia.

The secretive trade agreements that could scupper climate change ​action​

Click here to access article from Grain. 

While all the focus and hope for tackling climate change is on COP 21 in Paris, starting today, secretive global trade deals are already negating any commitments that might be made at the summit.

Hillary Clinton 2016 election parody song: emails, Benghazi and Bill

Click here if you wish to access the video and/or lyrics directly from TomoNews channel at YouTube.

For your amusement on this Monday after a long holiday weekend.

NATO’s Terror Convoys Halted at Syrian Border

Click here to access article by Tony Cartalucci from New Eastern Outlook. 

Cartalucci once again scores with this piece which exposes one of the most dramatic grand schemes in history to crush a sovereign country. Once again he uses solid arguments and evidence to support his exposé. 

Russia’s increased activity along the Syrian-Turkish border signifies the closing phases of the Syrian conflict. .... It is likely Syrian forces will arrive and secure this region as well.

For those that have criticized Russia’s air campaign claiming conflicts can’t be won from the air without a ground component, it should be clear by now that the Syrian Arab Army is that ground component, and has dealt ISIS and Al Qaeda its most spectacular defeats in the conflict.

When this corridor is closed and supplies cut off, ISIS, Nusra, and all associated NATO-backed factions will atrophy and die as the Syrian military restores order across the country. This may be why there has been a sudden “rush” by the West to move assets into the region, the impetus driving the United States to place special forces into Syrian territory itself, and for Turkey’s ambush of a Russian Su-24 near the Syrian-Turkish border....

And, I might add to the last sentence, proposals by many US officials advocating the creation of "safe zones" in northern Syrian to continue their supply lines to their proxy terrorist armies.

Confession of a CIA Agent: They gave us millions to dismember Yugoslavia

Click here to access an interview with a former CIA agent who provides some details of the agency's operation to dismember Yugoslavia. Note that the interview was first published by a Serbian source and translated by the staff at this Serbian-British website, but it is also being picked up by several North American websites.

It often takes years for informed people to leak information about the many nefarious projects sponsored by the Empire's directors. In the destabilization of Yugoslavia we learn from a former CIA case officer some of the details and US government lies almost 25 years after the dirty deeds were done. Note once again the use of NGOs and the bribing of local Yugoslavian media owners to spread lies.

Robert Baer, ​​a former CIA officer, has authored many books which disclosed the secrets of both the CIA and the administrations of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. He has been arrested and detained several times. Mitt Waspurh, a personal friend who worked at the Senate and shared information was killed at gunpoint. As a senior CIA operative, Baer worked in Yugoslavia during the 1991-94 period and in the Middle East. He has worked on several documentaries on National Geographic, accusing the Bush administration of waging war for oil.

The interview was conducted live in Canada, during my trip a few days ago. Robert Baer is currently promoting his book “The Secrets of the White House” in Quebec, where we talked. In an interview we spoke of the background of the war in Yugoslavia.

Open Letter. Please Stop the Hate

Click here to access article by Rowan Wolf from Uncommon Thought Journal.

In our era of globalization we see the same fear/hate methods used by capitalist elites everywhere in the world to control people. We in the USA are certainly no exception to this pattern. One recent illustration of this is the use of fear and hate to promote terrorism targeting Planned Parenthood facilities.

All the hype and repetition aside, the “videos” of the supposed “horrendous” acts of Planned Parenthood are hoaxes. They are cobbled together, and highly edited, to create a story that is not true. Our political leaders (and wanna be leaders) know this, yet some keep pointing to them to rouse us to anger and pull us to support them. Now someone has decided to take justice for a fabricated crime into their own hands in Colorado Springs and 3 people lie dead … because of the lies. [my link]

We have all seen the horror of the attacks in Paris. This has been taken up by some political leaders (and wanna be leaders) to fear monger the population.

Building a global climate movement: COP21 and beyond

Click here to access article by Tabitha Spence from Revolutionary Socialism in the 21st Century (rs21) [Britain]. 

What has become abundantly clear is that...the crisis consists in the fact that the old is dying, but the new cannot yet be born. We are seeing death and destruction on a massive scale as a direct and indirect consequence of climate change, but remain stuck within a logic that insists on putting profits above humanity and the very conditions of our existence.

As we have witnessed in all past failed attempts to reduce emissions, breaking the deadlock cannot occur without recognising the roots of the fundamentally oppressive and exploitative system, and then taking a clear position against it.

What Passing a Key CO2 Mark Means to Climate Scientists

Click here to access article by Andrea Thompson and Brian Kahn from Climate Central.

Humans have burned enough fossil fuels to drive atmospheric CO2 to levels that world hasn’t seen in at least 400,000 years. That’s driven up temperatures, melted ice and caused oceans to acidify. Some extreme weather events around the world have become more likely and stronger because of it, and some will likely only get worse as the planet continues to warm.

Because CO2 sits in the atmosphere long after it’s burned, that means we’ve  likely lived our last week in a sub-400 ppm world. It also means that the reshaping of our planet will continue for decades and centuries to come, even if climate talks in Paris in two weeks are successful.

The elephant in Paris – the military and greenhouse gas emissions

Click here to access article by Nick Buxton from Common Dreams.

A close look at [US] military climate change strategies reveals that their focus is on securing borders, protecting trade supply-routes for corporations, controlling conflicts around resources and instability caused by extreme weather, and repressing social unrest. They turn the victims of climate change into ‘threats’ to be controlled or combated. There is no critical examination of the military’s own role in enforcing a corporate-dominated fossil-fuel economy that has caused the climate crisis.

In fact, there is evidence that many players in this corporate-military-security industrial nexus are already seeing climate change not just as a threat but an opportunity.

Records reveal warming’s first warning

Click here to access article Tim Radford from Climate News Network.

Climate scientists have been warning for decades that the build-up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, as a result of the human combustion of fossil fuels, will at some point tip stable climate zones into new regimes – a shift defined by the researchers as an “abrupt, substantial and persistent” change.

Most climate scientists expect such change to happen in the next few decades, but this new study seems to declare that it has already started to happen.

The Right to an Unfair Trial

Borrowed from a post from cartoonist Jen Sorensen's website.

This is a huge story that many progressives seem to be overlooking. In 2013 the Supreme Court allowed companies — Netflix, T-Mobile, rental cars, banks, private schools, medical practices, online retailers, etc. — to slip “arbitration clauses” into contracts for services and jobs that circumvent the court system entirely. If you have a legal grievance, you will be shunted into their private kangaroo court, presided over by often-laughably biased officials hired by the company. The NY Times has a must-read three part series on this truly incredible overturning of a fundamental Constitutional right.

Class, War And David Cameron

Click here to access article by Colin Todhunter from East by Northwest.

Todhunter starts out this essay by exposing the latest lies of the British prime minister to justify attacks on Syria. But soon he urges us to regard this as only the latest deception by global capitalists to pursue their passions of profits and power throughout the world.

All activists must stop thinking and acting along national lines because our masters among the capitalist elites no longer have any regard for the interests of working people within their respective nations. In this increasing globalized world what occurs in the Middle East, Africa, Europe, or the United States is modulated by the global passions of the capitalist elites who manage their neoliberal world.

This British independent blogger, like many others, illustrates this global perspective by tying issues occurring in various hot spots of the world together. However unlike the global capitalist elites mostly operating under the direction of the US Empire, Todhunter ties together many global issues as a threat to the lives of every working person everywhere. Especially with the following paragraph he sounds the alarm to wake us up to this global war on all workers regardless of nationality.

Cuts to welfare, increases in military spending and events in Syria form part of an ongoing war on working people. That's because militarism is but one arm of a neoliberal agenda that seeks to bend all working people and regional elites - whether Assad, Putin, Saddam or Gaddafi - to the will of Western capital. It is ordinary working people who ultimately pay the price, whether refugees fleeing from conflict, civilian deaths in war zones or those subject to the types of structural violence that ‘austerity’ or other forms of economic warfare brings courtesy of the IMF, World Bank, WTO or trade agreements like NAFTA, TPA and TTIP. And, ultimately, it is the Lockhead Martins, the Blackwaters (XE Services) and the BAEs, the Chevrons and Occidental Petroleums, the Halliburtons and Monsantos and the financial interests on Wall Street and in the City of London that benefit. 

Development From Below

Click here to access an interview by Jacobin a publisher with Vivek Chibber.

In early October, Jacobin publisher Bhaskar Sunkara spoke to Vivek Chibber, a professor of sociology at New York University, about the lessons of past periods of state-led development and what kind of movements could extract real concessions from capital today.

From a working class perspective Chibber offers some very insightful views about economic development experiences of poorer countries in both the nationalistic form of capitalism that was popular in the 20th century and the neoliberalism of the 21st century. Unfortunately he concludes with views about what he sees as the only realistic possibility today: a kind of social democracy. But what else can one expect from a person situated within the comfortable middle class of North American academia?

4 Priceless Moments in ExxonMobil’s History of Climate Denial

Click here to access article by Naomi Ages from Greenpeace.

In preparation for the upcoming climate talks in Paris (COPE21), the author summarizes the recent exposés about the many deceptions of ExxonMobil in their attempt to cover up, and cover over, their earlier findings about carbon pollution and its relationship to climate destabilization. She also demonstrates a naive belief, typical of Greenpeace, that we can use moral persuasion ("hold accountable") to persuade this leading world corporation to change its ways. 

Was The U.S. Involved In The Turkish Attack Against The Russian Jet?

Click here to access article by Bernhard from Moon of Alabama.

Once again Berhard demonstrates an expert sleuthing of evidence which he carefully scrutinizes and analyses to arrive at what I regard as sound and disturbing conclusions in the last three paragraphs.

Video: Interview with ISIL members captured by YPG

Click here to access article from OffGuardian. 

This 7:08 video features some very interesting interviews. Suggest reading the comments following it. It looks very authentic. The only problem I have with it is that the Jewish interrogator seems to suggest that Jews are victims of ISIS. I remember many other reports that indicated Israelis were providing medical assistance to wounded ISIL soldiers, furnishing the latter with intelligence by Mossad, and other types of support (see this, this, this, and this).

Black Slaves, Indians, and the US Colonial Project

Click here to access the 55 minute interview conducted by KPFA's C. S. Soong with Barbara Krauthamer, a professor of history at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. 

Notions of racial hierarchy abounded in the early nineteenth century as missionaries tried to convert Native Americans, federal officials sought to seize Indian lands, and Indians in the southern US bought, sold, and owned black slaves. Barbara Krauthamer relates what happened when people of different races, agendas, and social status encountered one another in the shadow of the US colonial project.