We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Sunday, May 5, 2019

Countdown to “Full Spectrum Dominance"

Click here to access article by T.J. Coles from CounterPunch.

1938 Man of the Year in the 
January 2, 1939 issue of Time
It was fascist capitalists in the West who first saw the potential of a powerful fascist Germany as a force that could remove their hated enemy, the Soviet Union, from the globe. Western capitalists promoted the rise of the Nazis in Germany to rid themselves of this existing socialist virus, a disease that could wipe capitalists from the face of the earth. Thus, many aristocrats and capitalists in Britain and America befriended and actively supported Nazis in Germany: the industrialist Henry Ford, financiers like the Rockefellers, J.P. Morgan, etc, many capitalists ensconced in American corporations like IT&T, General Electric, Standard Oil, and General Motors. (Read Big Business and Hitler by Jacques R. Pauwels for a well documented study of this phenomenon.)

However, it was during this time when the British Empire became increasing threatened by the rising power of German capitalists and their ambitions to rule the world under the banner of the Third Reich. British and US capitalists originally thought that the Nazis would go through Czechoslovakia to attack the Soviet Union, a nation that British capitalists has long hated and attempted to overthrow the Russian Revolution of 1917. Instead the Nazis attacked Poland which forced the Brits through treaties to declare a formal war against Germany. However, the British armed forces did little to attack German forces for over eight months after declaring war. This period became known as the Phony War. They waited during this period to see what the Germans would do. When they successfully invaded the Low Countries and France, the British ruling class in particular became very concerned that the Nazis, which they had previously nurtured and supported, would eclipse the British Empire. In addition, they had mutual defense treaties with both Poland and France which forced them to declare war on Germany and come to the aid of France. The French forces under the ruling French capitalists, who were riddled with Nazi sympathizers, fell apart early on. The Germans, particularly the German mixed ruling class of capitalists and aristocracy, clearly resented the false armistice of the WWI and the loss of their colonies. The Germans went on to drive the British armies out of Europe and adopted France as a virtual colony under the control of the Vichy. When the German Nazis turned their weapons on Britain during the aerial Battle of Britain, the British ruling class were convinced that the Germans were a threat to the loss of their empire. However, Hitler admired both Britain and the USA, and evidence is abundant that he would not have invaded Britain. Hitler, in fact, did not--not because he feared the allied effort, particularly the USA behind Britain, but because he turned east to attack the Soviet Union as was his original plan.

Meanwhile, Henry Luce and other capitalists on the Council on Foreign Relations, a "think tank" consisting of powerful members of the emerging US Deep State (see my commentary here if you don't understand this term; for an extensive history of its development read The Anglo-American Establishment by Carroll Quigley) presciently saw the possibility that the fascist powers could replace the British Empire as top dog in the world, and they, the Deep State which was the core of the US capitalist ruling class, wanted a US capitalist empire to rise as a dominant nation from the ruins of a world war. Henry Luce published in February 1941 in his Time magazine an article American Century which signaled to the broader capitalist class their determination to establish an American empire. He essentially urged American capitalist leaders to come out from the banner of isolationism where they were hiding, and support what he foresaw as an "American Century" where American and allied capitalists from other nations could rule the world.

Sure enough, that is what precisely happened. The British Empire emerged at the end of WWII as only a bankrupt shadow of its former self. The British ruling class's empire was in ruins and many of their colonies were demanding independence. The British ruling class saw the necessity of combining with the US ruling class to preserve their power. Together they soon saw the usefulness of a European Jewish colony placed in the middle of Arab Middle East in order to control the abundant fossil fuel resources of this area (read Israel: a Beachhead in the Middle East.) Thus, Israel was born to serve the Empire. And, as they say, the rest is history.

Coles in this post brings us up-to-date on the latest efforts of the Empire to rule the world. 
Back in 1997, the now-re-established US Space Command announced its commitment to “full spectrum dominance.” The Vision for 2020 explains that “full spectrum dominance” means military control over land, sea, air, and space (the so-called fourth dimension of warfare) “to protect US interests and investment.” “Protect” means guarantee operational freedom. “US interest and investment” means corporate profits.
He describes some of these efforts by supplying extensive documentation that shows that the US/Anglo/Zionist Empire is now totally focused on maintaining and expanding the Empire's hegemony over the rest of the world.

Saturday, May 4, 2019

Failed Coup, Medicare 4 All, Embassy Raid & More

Lee Camp and others satirize US policies on his Redacted Tonight Show carried on RT's website.

US policies and actions are so obviously criminal, and coverage by media corporations are so ridiculous that they provide abundant material to satirize. I post this for those people who believe it is better to laugh over our predicament by living in the USA than it is to cry. But notice the alert warning provided by the owner of YouTube, Google, warning us about Russia--you may want to avoid this video ... or not.


Venezuelan Coup Fails & So Does CNN [MSNBC, etc.]

from The Jimmy Dore Show.

Like Jimmy Dore (at 11:15m) I can't figure out why the traditional very conservative Fox News hired Tucker Carlson to deliver more accurate news regarding the US attempt to overthrow the Venezuelan government. Also, I can't figure out what happened to the Democratic Party which formerly at least pretended to represent unions and working people. Has the US political establishment done a flip-flop?

 

Friday, May 3, 2019

Articles recommended for Friday, May 3, 2019

Pentagon Manhunt for Julian Assange Preceded Swedish Rape Allegations

Click here to access article by Ann Garrison from Black Agenda Report. 

What we are witnessing in the USA is a new version of fascism that has been slicked up by the technological advances in advertising and public relations. This expertise has been used as a means of persuading people to think and act in ways that supported official US domestic agendas and imperialist policies which are always in pursuit of wealth and power for the capitalist class. 

These policies and actions were created by the fascist core of the Deep State, a board of directors of the ruling capitalist class that constructed an empire following WWII. The Deep State lies hidden outside of government, and they consist of top leaders mostly in finance and major corporations. They draw their members from a transnational class of top capitalists in the USA, Britain, and Zionists worldwide. They control the government as well as all other institutions of our nation and the nations of their empire. Their efforts at controlling information has resulted in their takeover of every mainstream media corporation. We are now inundated with fake news. Since WWII they have used these advanced methods of propaganda to support their power and wealth agendas in contrast to the real interests of the people.  To construct their Empire, they have committed all sorts of major crimes only some of which I have revealed in posts from alternative media and my commentaries over the past decade.

Julian Assange has been in the forefront of efforts to counter this comprehensive propaganda campaign in order to bring the truth about the real activities of our fascist government. Hence, he has been enemy number one to the Deep State. Garrison in this article reveals some of the early history of this effort to capture and neutralize him.

Thursday, May 2, 2019

Articles I recommend today: Thursday, May 2, 2019

Assange or Khashoggi: Whither Journalistic Standards?

Click here to access article by Barbara Nimri Aziz from CounterPunch.

She compares the accomplishments of two journalists, Julian Assange with Saudi national Jamal Khashoggi, and their treatment by corporate media and the "journalists" they employ. Finally she asks rhetorically:
With the drama of Khashoggi’s death largely forgotten and the U.S.-Saudi status-quo restored, is there any way to compare his contribution to the imprisoned Wikileaks’ director?

Ecosocialist debates

Click here to access article by Louis Proyect from his blog. (The author has an annoying habit of listing abbreviations without, or delayed, references to their sources. Thus FB stands for Facebook and NLR stands for New Left Review.) 

One of the merits of this piece is that it cite references to academics who are debating the Green New Deal and related issues confronting academics who express some concern about the destabilization of our climate and the destruction of human habitat. But I think it also illustrates a lack of seriousness among people who have been inundated for most of their academic lives by capitalist indoctrination and thus exhibit some inhibitions about cutting back of the extraordinary materialist lifestyles that they have enjoyed in the Empire's academic institutions. Even Proyect exhibits some of this brainwashing when he sees Europe free of the domination by transnational capitalists in the US/Anglo/Zionist Empire. Also, his views about Swedish-style social democracy is at least 50 years old and out-of-date.
Even if the Western European GND standards were adopted by a majority of politicians in the USA, there would be overwhelming forces opposed to their adoption by energy, transportation, petrochemical, and banking interests. In fact, the same array of reactionary forces would block the evolution of the USA into a Swedish-style social democracy. Unlike Western Europe, the USA is an imperialist hegemon that would resist all attempts at a New Deal of any sort, either Green or FDR-redux.

Those are the realities we are dealing with and the naïve hopes of the DSA/Jacobin left will crash up against them on day one of a Bernie Sanders presidency. And those who hope in neo-Kautskyist fashion that this will precipitate a general strike and other revolutionary measures are just kidding themselves.
Proyect finishes his essay with this statement:
Let me conclude with a few words about the possible outcome of this debate in the future as economic reality will bring things to a head. In my view, there is an element of truth in Huber’s claim that workers will resist a ceiling on consumption. After all, with television ads 20 times an hour urging you to buy a car or a trip on Norwegian Cruise ship, it becomes a form of brainwashing.

I suspect that a combination of ecological ruin, war, and deepening alienation of the kind that has produced an opioid crisis will eventually turn quantity into quality. Human beings are susceptible to baser temptations that an advanced capitalist economy can produce but the promise of a more peaceful life that offers leisure time and spiritual fulfillment will convince workers that giving up 5,000 square foot homes, SUV’s and meat every night of the week is worth it. A Peaceable Kingdom, so to speak.
 
 It appears to me that most people cited in this debate regard the subject as only an "academic debate"--much like a fashionable topic to entertain themselves over dinner in some fancy restaurant.

“The X Agenda”: what does XR actually stand for?

Click here to access article from Winter Oak (Britain). 

The people at Winter Oak, which appears from its logo to be an anarchist website, see some obvious contradictions in the sudden appearance of  Extinction Rebellion (XR), Britain's counterpart of the Green New Deal which has also suddenly appeared in the USA. Coincidence?

Meanwhile, "back at the capitalist ranch" (def.) in Britain excited business supporters and leaders of XR see exponential profits to be made in this new sustainability market. I think "XR" is code in British business circles that means "extraordinary revenue".

Wednesday, May 1, 2019

Articles recommended for Wednesday, May 1, 2019

In general I strongly recommend following RT, a Russian news website, because of their excellent journalism and that they give space to so many dissident Americans who are otherwise denied access to media in the "land of the free and the home of the brave". 

The Yellow Vests Are Just The Start Of The Global Working Class Revolution That’s Underway

Click here to access article by Rainer Shea posted on The Greanville Post.

I've been a socialist for the past 60 years, and during that time I've always seen the necessity for a revolution that would take away ownership and control of the economy in private hands and put it in the hands of ordinary people to serve their needs. This article is welcome news that at least some of the young generation are waking up to this reality. However, from my vantage point in a milieu that is limited to mostly old people like myself, I still don't see this happening. So, this article evoked mixed feelings in me: skepticism and hope.

Yes, there is growing resistance here in the USA, but it is widely dispersed among people who are directly impacted by the various capitalist crises. Too many Americans seem too comfortable with their circumstances, and their individualism and isolation due to so many years of indoctrination prevents them from uniting behind any organized effort to overthrow their capitalist masters. The Empire's exploitation of the rest of the world and nature has bought off our educated, that is, highly trained and indoctrinated upper-middle-class who have the means of shutting down the economy and make the capitalists scream until they surrender their control (ownership) of the economy. Without these people I fear that the capitalist directors of the Empire will bumble along from one crisis to another until they ultimately face the desperate choice to surrender or engage in a catastrophic nuclear war against its foreign enemies. Actually I think we are approaching this scenario now. 

But what about the more distant future of environmental destabilization and its threat of destroying the habitat of humans and many other species? If I were a betting man, I would bet that it is too late to prevent the extinction of humans. But I also know that humans, like many other species, will fight to preserve their species. It's too late for me to prevent this tragedy from happening, but my last hope is to see the perpetrators of our extinction lose their power at the hands of ordinary people who can no longer tolerate the abuses and crimes of this capitalist class. So, it's a Pyrrhic victory, but it will be a little something for me: a sweet reward for my lifelong efforts at the end of my life. I only hope that I can live that long.

Tuesday, April 30, 2019

The New Silk Roads reach the next level

Click here to access article by Pepe Escobar from Asia Times. 

Vladimir Putin, President of Russia, speaks eloquently about the respect shown to other nations participating in the BRI projects. His words are reinforced with deeds shown to participating members, and that is the key to the success of recruiting members which now number more than the G20.
BRI is now supported by no less than 126 states and territories, plus a host of international organizations. This is the new, truthful, realistic face of the “international community” – way bigger, diversified and more representative than the G20.

The Beijing leadership seems to be aware that transparency is key for the global success of BRI.
This style contrasts sharply with the US/Anglo/Zionist Empire's strategies to engage in economic warfare on various countries, destabilize countries, like Venezuela, which want to pursue a more independent path, sponsor terrorist armies to attack independent countries (like Syria), and continue to threaten nations with both economic sanctions and NATO. 

It appears to me that the capitalist directors of the Empire are seeing their control of their Empire and dominant influence in the world slipping away to the increasing achievements of the independent nations, and are upping their aggressive responses which likely will end in a backlash that will either destroy the Empire or will result in catastrophic nuclear war. While this scene is rapidly unfolding and threatening further crises, most ordinary Americans are blithely ignoring such developments and focusing their efforts on the micro-issues of their insular lives. They have been so confused by the 24/7 (def.) deceptions and distractions of their capitalist masters over the decades since WWII that they cannot function mentally to counteract such developments.

Monday, April 29, 2019

Articles recommended for Monday, April 29, 2019

New Green Bankster Rebellion’ with guest Cory Morningstar

Click here to access this audio interview with Cory Morningstar from in the British broadcast program "Sunday Wire". She is interviewed by hosts American Patrick Henningsen and British Mike Robinson. The interview is located on the audio spectrum between 53:30m and 155:45m.  

Morningstar summarizes her considerable research that have exposed the capitalist roots of the movements in Britain identified as Extinction Rebellion and in USA as Green New Deal.

Trees don’t grow on money – or why you don’t get to rebel against extinction

Click here to access article by Tim Hayward from his blog.

Hayward raises some very important questions and doubts about the seriousness of the latest movements to solve the environmental crises: movements in the USA and Britain which are backed by capitalists such as the Green New Deal and Rebellion Extinction.
A circumstantial puzzle is how an apparently spontaneous social movement of protest comes to have the energetic backing of big business interests and even to receive notable support from influential sections of the corporate media.

Can Twenty-First Century Fascism Resolve the Crisis of Global Capitalism?

Click here to access article by William I. Robinson from Radical Political Economy.

Because I am seeing my energy declining at my age of nearly 83, I debated on whether I should offer a critique of this seriously flawed article. I prefer re-posting articles that really aim at understanding this deteriorating world at the hands of transnational capitalism. 

So, first off, I would answer the question in the headline. No, 21st century capitalism or any capitalism cannot ultimately ever resolve their various crises. Robinson declares that it can: "A fascist outcome to the crisis of global capitalism is not inevitable." Thus, he appears to be a reformist. Secondly, I find his use of "Trumpism" as not valid. "Isms" always imply an ideology. Ascribing Trump's style in the White House does not qualify. 

I also recently read his book Into the Tempest where his outlook on world political and economic affairs was limited to that of the US/Anglo/Zionist Empire's world. This is not the whole world. There are nations that are contesting the neoliberal and imperialist policies of the Empire and succeeding. Russia, China, Iran, and Venezuela come to mind. I think the efforts of those nations could very well impose a major reverse in the actions of the Empire. Europe is showing signs of waffling over their allegiance to the Empire. His book totally ignores this challenge.

I think Robinson is a product of US academia in which he has been exposed to pressures to conform to capitalist views and experienced a lot of censorship in materials he's been exposed to. He in his education was not likely exposed to the writings of Marx, Durkheim, and other radical writers and historians. I know I wasn't. I had to access their views independently by going to the college library, assuming that it is large enough.

Saturday, April 27, 2019

Recommended articles for Saturday, April 27, 2019

The Coming of American Fascism, 1920–1940

Click here to access a review of a new book by Robert authored by Chris Wright from Dissident Voice.
Roberto tells the history of the American political economy in the 1920s and ’30s through this lens, exploring how the fascist structures of our own day were forged between the two world wars.
Although Wright differs with some details, his review of Roberto's book about the roots of fascism in the USA during the period from 1920-1940 sees his history as very accurate. I generally agree with Wright who sees the development of fascism in the USA as continuing after WWII. I think that American fascism took off with the publication of "The American Century" in Time magazine by the well-connected Henry Luce, and continued aggressively right after the war (in contrast to what Wright asserts--see this).

Most of Roberto's history has been expunged by ruling class historians. This is further evidence that a capitalist ruling class controls all institutions of any given nation, and this includes academia. Only honest history books, which most people rarely read, can with difficulty occasionally pass through their censors.  

WATCH: Selling Extinction

Click here if you wish to watch this 23:43m video directly from Wrong Kind of Green. The video was produced by Prolekult.
[Prolekult is a Marxist film, writing and culture platform based in Birmingham, England. The project is presently run by James Bell (writing and narration) and Alex Bushell (editing and filming). The purpose of the project is to provide high-quality film content looking at world politics, culture and economics from a Marxist perspective. You can support them on Patreon and follow them on Twitter.]


It appears to me that Extinction Rebellion is a capitalist organized movement in Britain to enlist ordinary Brits in an effort to preserve capitalism that is threatened by climate destabilization and other environmental causes. As would be expected, and as the video claims, it appears that ordinary Brits will have no opportunity to make any significant decisions about the policies that the movement will promote. 

Likewise, I think these characteristics are the same as the Green New Deal that is promoted by our capitalist masters in the USA. The very name is an attempt to feed off the memory of President Roosevelt's New Deal that prevented the worst effects of capitalist-caused Great Depression. In reality, I think that the devastating destruction of assets (and people) during WWII saved capitalist economies. Major capitalists during the 1930s opposed FDR's New Deal and actively fought it. They even organized a coup attempt against FDR. In response to his critics, he once replied that he actually saved capitalism from his critics.

I don't wish to discourage attempts to rescue us from extinction as a human species. I would advise British activists to get in touch with Green Anti-Capitalist Front. However, this is the last chance at survival and I want us to get it right. To get it right, requires ordinary humans to be in control of such a vital effort, not a tiny segment of capitalists.

Friday, April 26, 2019

Two recommended posts for Friday, April 26, 2019

  • The Veto by Paul Craig Roberts from his blog. 
I bookmarked this film when reported last month by 21st Century Wire, but I have as yet not viewed the film. Credit should go to an activist who alerted me to this post in which Roberts gives people an insight on media corporations and some excellent advice.
... evil has become the profession of the Western propagandists who masquerade as journalists.

If you have an ounce of decency, you will never again turn on CNN, MSNBC, BBC, or any of the other lie factories, or purchase another copy of the New York Times, Washington Post, and The Guardian.

Infiltration alert: "Rebellion Extinction: a capitalist scam to hijack our resistance"

Click here to access article by "The Acorn" posted on Winter Oak.

I know very little about this website and how "The Acorn" is related to them. However, I've noticed in the past 50 years that capitalist directors have often infiltrated their agents into movements to control and/or sow chaos among activist organizations. I've observed this method to destroy the Black Panthers organization, more generally in the Civil Rights Movement, and directly witnessed this in the Anti-Vietnam Movement. I fear this is happening once again in movements trying to stave off the worst effects of the destabilization of our climate caused by the operations of international capitalism.

"The Acorn" discovered signs that in Britain a group identified as "XR Business" appears to be doing just that.

Thursday, April 25, 2019

Savagery and Its Promoters and Profiteers

Click here to access some sort of book review by David Swanson of Max Blumenthal's book entitled The Management of Savagery posted on Washington's Blog.

I wrote the words "some sort of book review" to indicate that Swanson does not offer any comment on Blumenthal's book. Swanson seems to take Blumenthal's interpretations of major political events in the past several decades at face value. In fact, he soon gives up any attempt at evaluation of his arguments and starts listing all of Blumenthal's interpretations of these events. 

Blumenthal apparently believes that Arab jihadists had it in for America because of misguided policies that ultimately targeted Arabs but were designed to be against the former Soviet Union. As for 9/11, well that was a tragic incident that our incompetent government allowed to happen, and that "9/11 Truthers" were taking attention "away from what the U.S. government had done to provoke those crimes and to allow them to occur." The inescapable implication of all this is that our government pursued reckless and mistaken policies against the Soviet Union using fanatics and backing countries like Saudi Arabia. If our government had not pursued such policies, all would be well in the world.

Wow!

I haven't read the book; but if Swanson's reporting is correct, I think that Blumenthal is running some sort of damage control for the Deep State's policies, and he may be employed by them to do just that. The only way that such "alternative" political analysts will be believed if they offer some form of "red meat" to the howling dogs of left-wing critics. Blumenthal appears to have done just that by his online posts criticizing US policies in Venezuela and in the Middle East. However, by characterizing US policies as only mistakes, he relieves the government of major responsibility of criminal acts. Worst of all, he impugns the work of "9/11 Truthers", the efforts of architects and engineers, to obtain the real story of 9/11! It's hard not to believe that he is, in reality, running some sort of damage control among those left-wing critics who have been exposed to evidence of major crimes, coverups, and criminal deceptions engineered by the Deep State via their government officials. 

Obstructiongate!

Click here to access article by C. J. Hopkins from The Unz Review. (The following commentary is intentionally load with sarcasm.)
I’m really sorry about all that stuff I wrote about the corporate media. Rest assured, that won’t happen again. Admittedly, I blew the Russiagate thing, but I promise to do better with Obstructiongate, or Tax-Returnsgate, or Whatevergate. It doesn’t really matter what we call it, right? The important thing is to teach the masses what happens when they vote for unauthorized candidates. We’re only halfway through that lesson. Stay tuned … there’s much, much more to come!
I am so pleased that Hopkins, America's number one satirist, has written an abject apology for being so skeptical after the Mueller report was issued and his many sarcastic comments about it. Yes, Mueller uncovered attempts by Trump to obstruct justice to prevent Mueller from finding that Trump actually colluded with Putin to rig the 2016 elections! Well, maybe he did ... then again, maybe he didn't--I don't know. I had to look up the word "hermeneutics" to make sense of Hopkins' apology, but I'm still a bit confused. Anyway, Hopkins apologized for being skeptical, and that's good enough for me. We should always trust our media corporations to do the right thing. After all, if we can't trust them, who can we trust?

Wednesday, April 24, 2019

Why the United States has a special relationship with Israel. It’s not the Israeli lobby.

Click here to access article by Stephen Gowans from his blog What's Left. (Edited the first paragraph for greater clarity at 6:27 PM CT.)

I regard this Canadian geopolitical analyst as one of the top geopolitical analysts in the world. Fresh from his research on Israel and the author of a new book Israel: A Beachhead in the Middle East, he offers a rather unique perspective on historical and contemporary issues related to the Empire's colony of mostly European and American Zionist Jews planted in the middle of Arab countries and in a land populated by Palestinians. The Palestinians were no match for Europe's Zionist Jews. 

The book is like a breath of fresh air after breathing the polluted Zionist air (propaganda) for the past 60 years. I highly recommend this book, and have placed it on my recommended books list.

Gowans presents a common misperception of US's relations to Israel followed by his thesis:
In contrast, some people believe that US domination of the Muslim world is traceable to the influence of wealthy Jews and the Jewish lobby on US foreign policy decision-makers, and that, in a world without Israel, the United States would not intervene militarily and politically in the Middle East. ....

The United States has used Israel as an instrument for protecting and advancing its economic and related strategic interests in the Middle East since 1967, when the self-proclaimed Jewish state did a great service to Washington and US oil interests by handily defeating Arab nationalism—which opposed US domination of the region under the slogan “Arab oil for the Arabs” —in the June War.
Zionist have early on allied themselves with powerful capitalist countries: Britain with the 1917 Balfour Declaration, colluding with the Nazis to export European Jews to Israel, and serving vital US interests related to Saudi Arabian oil.

Articles recommended to keep you informed for Wednesday, April 24, 2019

Lying, Cheating, & Stealing: Secretary Pompeo Discusses Faith as a CIA Director

The source of this post is TruNews via YouTube, although I couldn't find it posted on the TruNews website. Maybe it was taken down because it revealed too much truth about our government.

One of the US leaders, who was selected by the Deep State of major capitalists to govern us, has demonstrated in a brief moment of candor his sociopathy. He is typical of the many sociopathic fascists that are appointed by the Deep State to commit their crimes.


War on Iran & Calling America’s Bluff

Click here to access article by Pepe Escobar from Consortium News. (the “escape from Malacca”, which he uses as a metaphor, refers to a video game.)

Escobar persuasively argues that the Trump administration (really the Deep State's) economic war on Iran is a very dangerous game fraught with all kinds of hazards and strike's deep in the heart of the economic planning and strategy of China, Russia, and Iran. This analysis accords with my theory that the US/Anglo/Zionist Empire is desperately grasping at all kinds of dangerous straws that conceivably might interfere with activities of their antagonists who want a multipolar world free from domination of the Empire.
Those subscribing to the ultimate U.S, neocon and Zionist wet dream – regime change in Iran – may rejoice at this declaration of war. But as Professor Mohammad Marandi of the University of Tehran has elegantly argued, “If the Trump regime miscalculates, the house can easily come crashing down on its head.”
And Escobar agrees with this warning.
The full–frontal attack on Iran reveals how the Trump administration bets on breaking Eurasia integration via what would be its weakeast node; the three key nodes are China, Russia and Iran. These three actors interconnect the whole spectrum; Belt and Road Initiative; the Eurasia Economic Union; the Shanghai Cooperation Organization; the International North-South Transportation Corridor; the expansion of BRICS Plus.

So there’s no question the Russia-China strategic partnership will be watching Iran’s back.
A major factor that Escobar sees in this dangerous geopolitical game that the Empire is playing is the reaction of those countries who will be affected by the end of the exemptions to economic sanctions against Iran.
... the Trump administration unilaterally smashed a multinational, UN-endorsed agreement, the JCPOA, or Iran nuclear deal. Now the waivers that magnanimously allowed eight nations to import oil from Iran without incurring imperial wrath in the form of sanctions will expire on May 2 and won’t be renewed.

The eight nations are a mix of Eurasian powers: China, India, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Turkey, Italy and Greece.
Once again, we politically aware people must worry where this will lead because the world is entering another dangerous phase because of the capitalist Empire's dangerous games. 

End Of Sanction Waivers For Iran's Oil Will Hurt Trump's Voter Support

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

The author asks an important question at the end of this article:
What is Trump going to do when he finds out that the rising prices, caused by the Zionist demand to subdue Iran, endanger his reelection?
The Deep State or the directorate of the capitalism ruling class, which is under the control of US and British top finance people, neoliberals, and Ziocons have been leaning heavily on Trump since his election with 24/7 anti-Trump propaganda, and they've succeeded every time in getting Trump to comply with their policies.

Trump has excellent instincts for power. He knows not to mess with power, but to compromise with power to get want he wants. Because I can't get into his head to see what he wants as a top priority, I can only assume from his past history that he wants to successfully grow his business empire. On the other hand, he may decide that his compromises have thoroughly undermined his basic support among the American people that he won't run again. If the Deep State directors continue their anti-Trump propaganda--and it looks like they are going to--until the primary elections next year, I think he will decide not to run again because he knows he will lose, and he strenuously avoids being a "loser" (def.).

But this depends on whether the Deep State can come up with a candidate (from either party because they control both) that is 1) free from the contamination of their usual aggressive policies and 2) avoid another financial collapse like 2008. Number 1 suggests that they will insure the nomination of a "safe" woman who is presented in their media as something like a maverick. If a financial collapse happens before the election, all bets are off. Nobody can predict what will happen.

Tuesday, April 23, 2019

Support for action surges, majority say we face climate emergency

Click here to access article by David Spratt from Climate Code Red (Australia). (Some editing was done in the last paragraph at 1:40 PM CT to add greater clarity.)

Australians have awoken to the climate and environmental crisis as indicated by recent polling.
In the first-ever poll of its kind, new research from The Australia Institute (TAI) has found that a clear majority of Australians agree the nation ‘is facing a climate emergency’ requiring emergency action and that, in response, governments should “mobilise all of society” like they did during the world wars.
Now that it has become obvious to the majority of citizens (I believe this is true in most parts of the world), it is the opinion of many scientists like Guy Mcpherson, that it is too late. The ruling capitalist classes successfully soothed us for the last 50 years with tales like that this threat was far too in the future to worry about, that we could create technological fixes for it, or that it was just a bunch of hooey. But now that it is becoming obvious especially to citizens of the West, our capitalist masters have taken charge of the Green New Deal movement so that any environmental fixes won't get in the way of their access to the drugs of profit/power. Like an alcoholic in the advanced stages of addiction, our capitalist masters are willing to risk everything, including human extinction, to continue their access to the drug of power.

But this is not unusual. The capitalist classes have competed in global wars to obtain control over access to cheap resources and cheap labor; and to accomplish this, they have insured that all institutions of their societies supported their interests of profit and power. Having already co-opted the highly trained upper-middle-class with generous salaries and perks to maintain their institutions of indoctrination, little stands in their way of pursuing more wars and exploitation. They will continue to use fossil fuels to do this while fooling us with tales that they are seriously combating climate destabilization and environmental collapse. 

Witness the sordid history of wars which nowadays are never-ending. Our masters in the ruling class encountered no difficulties in getting us to sign up for their wars, leave our families and loved ones and jobs to go over to foreign lands to kill people on their behalf. Every time they asked us in the past, we enthusiastically signed up to do this. They had no difficulty in doing this because they controlled our very minds through their control of every ideological institution of their societies. With their present command of advanced technologies, this control is easier than ever.

With all the evidence around us that indicates we are headed for major environmental crises and because our masters can no longer deny this, we are now signing up for this Green New Deal movement in numbers. The only rub is ... they control this movement as Cory Morningstar argued with evidence in her articles (see the above link). Do you think we can continue to trust these drug addicts to lead us out of the present crisis? In the past I argued that our only solution was revolution: taking the ownership and control of the economy away from our masters and directing it ourselves. Now I think it is likely too late.

Monday, April 22, 2019

Note from America: An Easter Message – When Dissidents Become Enemies of the State

Click here to access article by John W Whitehead from TruePublica (Britain). 
When exposing a crime is treated as committing a crime, you are being ruled by criminals. In the current governmental climate, where laws that run counter to the dictates of the US Constitution are made in secret, passed without debate, and upheld by secret courts that operate behind closed doors, obeying one’s conscience and speaking truth to the power of the police state can render you an “enemy of the state.”

That list of so-called “enemies of the state” is growing.

What If Mainstream Media’s Message About Putin Was Delivered in Orwell’s Language?

Click here to access article by Patrick Armstrong from Strategic Culture Foundation. (I continue to have ongoing problems accessing the articles from this website after I once access them. If you also have problems, you might access the articles from other sources which have re-posted them.)

The author has clearly written this article with tongue firmly planted in cheek (def.). He is obviously arguing that mainstream media (corporate media) is writing in "newspeak", the deceptive and manipulative language that George Orwell long ago warned us about. (This is clear from another article posted on Saker's website.) Have you noticed that newspeak, a language which is increasingly used by our masters in the capitalist ruling class, is projecting onto their enemy du jour, Russia and Putin, what they practice all the time: hundreds of military bases all over the world, dividing up the world in geographic combatant commands under the control of the Pentagon, and interfering with elections and destabilizing countries all over the world.
Putin's influence is spreading: everywhere he is nibbling away at the foundations of democratic society. He is the dictator of Russia; still evil, still an empire; Russians are genetically driven to co-opt and penetrate and gain favour: it's who they are and what they do. Russian scum! Putin interferes in referendums and elections all over the democratic world.

Sunday, April 21, 2019

How Socialism became Public Enemy #1 in America (Abby Martin & Brian Becker)

Click here if wish to access the video directly from YouTube. 

Abby Martin and socialist Brian Becker present and comment on the capitalist ruling class's war on socialism. Of course, this history was exorcised from your history books so that you are completely uninformed about significant socialist movements in our past. This omission is another illustration of how ruling classes control every institution to insure that in their societies capitalism reigns supreme. They have succeeded in brainwashing you beyond their wildest dreams. But, as Becker argues, younger generations of Americans are increasingly open to these socialist ideas.


Saturday, April 20, 2019

Online articles recommended for Saturday, April 20, 2019

Conversion to an ecologically sustainable and just economy cannot happen under the capitalist system. Capitalism’s competitive structure drives blind, relentless growth that is consuming and destroying the biosphere. Its competitive international structure breeds wars for resources, markets, cheap labor, and geopolitical military advantages. With the nuclear weapons of the nuclear powers on hair-trigger alert and a new nuclear arms race now underway, the capitalist system will annihilate us if we don’t replace it with an ecosocialist system first.

US Defeat in Syria Transforms into Campaign of Spite

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

Read this post to see how the author, using excellent documentation (one from the "horse's mouth" (def.): Foreign Affairs, a journal of the directorate of the US ruling capitalist class), reaches this conclusion:
While Washington has lost its war against Syria, it continues its war on peace. It will spoil attempts by Syria to move forward – and by doing so – and more than anything else – illustrating to the world that its own malign interests and agenda wrecked the region – not “ISIS” and not “Iranians” or “Russians.”

The US campaign of spite will continue onward both in Syria and across the rest of the region until an alternative regional and global order can be established that allows nations to sufficiently defend against US aggression and interference and enables the world to move on without those special interests on Wall Street and in Washington driving America’s current battle for hegemony.

Friday, April 19, 2019

Articles recommended for Friday, April 19, 2019

After perusing a number of articles from normally reliable sources, my mind is boggled. I can hardly see what the future has in store for us except anything other than major changes.
  • Middle East Resistance Is Stiffening by Tom Luongo from Russia News Now (I am posting this from the latter website because of ongoing problems with accessing the original post on Strategic Culture Foundation.)

Assessing the Green New Dea

Click here to access article by Eléana Ní Mhurchú from Rebel (Ireland). Added some minor editing to my commentary at 1 AM CT on Saturday, April 21 to add clarity.)

Even this "socialist" website devotes only one line to the realistic fact that only a revolutionary change from a capitalist economy to an economy directed by the people can produce real policies to prevent catastrophic climate destabilization. And, this is only stated in vague, abstract terms by including it in the last paragraph:
Combating climate change, however, ultimately requires expropriating resources from the rich in order to mitigate the worst effects of an increasingly hostile climate.
At this political stage, the Green New Deal is only in a "simple resolution" phase before Congress. That is a notion of intent much like an individual's New Year's resolution to lose weight in the coming year. There are so many legislative tricks to dodge a real implementation of any substantive change in the operations of the economy. The latter is under the control of private individuals realistically identified as a capitalist class, and they won't tolerate their government to meddle in what they regard as their affairs. 

The capitalist class is a (tiny) ruling class that shapes all institutions of society to serve their interests. If you think they are going to allow their funded representatives to pass laws to expropriate their private ownership of the economy, I think you should commit yourself to the nearest mental institution. Besides at this stage of consciousness, the people have been so dumbed-down that they don't even know that capitalism is responsible for the climate crisis. They have been taught 24/7 from birth that the economic system is "free markets" rather than capitalism. Hence, they can't even express in words what the economic system actually is. Their minds have been so manipulated for so long that they have very little comprehension of political and economic realities.

Some revolutionary people are supporting the "Green New Deal" because they have fantasies that eventually people will recover their mental capacities sufficiently that they will get behind an effort to take away the private ownership of the economy and restore this vital societal sphere to societal control. As a life-long socialist I can hardly blame them. To do nothing is to accept defeat. So, I guess we must accept reality for what it is and "grasp at any straws" (def.) that present themselves.  

Thursday, April 18, 2019

Julian Assange’s extraordinary record of investigative journalism

Click here to access article by Oscar Grenfell from World Socialist Web Site.
The illegal arrest of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange inside Ecuador’s London embassy, and the attempt by the US to extradite him on concocted conspiracy charges, are a frontal assault on freedom of the press.

The Trump administration, with the support of the Democrats, and US allies including Britain and Australia, is seeking to establish a precedent that criminalises genuine investigative journalism, including the publication of classified material exposing government illegality.

This is nothing less than an attempt to abolish the function of a genuine free press, established over centuries of struggle against despotism.
Then Grenfell launches into a description of what Julian Assange and Wikileaks has accurately revealed about war crimes committed by the US/Anglo/Zionist Empire which makes it quite a lengthy article. Of course, the directors of this Empire do not want their crimes revealed to the general public. So, if you like such crimes committed in secret by powerful people, you also want Assange punished. They want you to be only "informed" by their media corporations which they control.

Wednesday, April 17, 2019

Articles recommended to deepen your understanding of what is going on in the world as of 4/17/2019

Honest Government Ad

Click here if you wish to this satirical video from YouTube directly. It was produced and uploaded by The Juice Media channel. (I must thank my good friend in Oregon for alerting me to this outstanding satirical video.)


Tuesday, April 16, 2019

Posts recommended for Tuesday, April 16, 2019

VIDEO: How the Pentagon and CIA Push Venezuela Regime-Change Propaganda in Video Games

Click here to access article by Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton from their blog The Grayzone.

I've long been a critic of video war games. It seemed to me that the propaganda agents of the Deep (capitalist) State have used this popular entertainment package designed for youth to prepare them for ongoing wars that they were planning. And, no doubt was in my mind that they would insert their insidious propaganda to further focus the minds of our innocent children's attention on the Empire's "enemies du jour".  All that was needed was a "9/11" type of event. And, sure enough, the 9/11 event happened and our young adults went dutifully off to fight wars in foreign lands because "terrorists" were threatening us. 

The authors report on the involvement of the Pentagon and CIA in video game production.


Monday, April 15, 2019

"The Holocaust" Is a Myth That Conceals Our Shame

Click here to access article by Kevin Barrett posted on The Unz Review. 

The author makes a good point about how history is often distorted by the use of victimization, and with particular emphasis on the current success of the victimization of the Jews that Zionists constantly use. As I was reading, I was wondering where he was going with this because he seemed to imply that it is human nature or institutional religion that are the root causes of this phenomenon. But finally at the end, he finds hope in the mysticism of various religions to rescue human nature and its culture from the "murderous lies" of such mythologies.
Ultimately it is the mystical dimension of traditional religion that holds the most hope for overcoming the murderous lies at the heart of human nature and culture.
I notice that he never mentions class or rulers and the uses of victimization to secure their rule. In contrast, he diverts attention from such a view, from socialists who argue that the analysis of class structure accounts for most of human history, and that the history of WWII in particular was a history of competing capitalist empires for world dominance. The US, Anglo, Zionist Empire won. Hence the ascendance of the myth of Jewish victimization which serves to diminish all the other victims.
... all culture is based on murder and lies, can we ever stop killing and lying? Marxists think a materialist utopia would do the trick. But murderous and uncontrollable mimetic-desire-driven envy is ubiquitous, even (especially) among those whose material needs are fully satisfied.
Perhaps Barrett is also serving the powerful of today.

Uncle Tom’s Empire

Click here to access article by C. J. Hopkins from his blog Consent Factory, Inc.

Hopkins first aims his satirical weapons at the "mandarins of the corporate media" (the talking heads on TV and their bosses in corporate media), but then goes on seriously to make a rather convincing argument, especially as applied to people like Manning and Assange:
The goal of the media and other propagandists is not to deceive or mislead the masses. Their goal is to evoke the pent-up rage and hatred simmering within the masses and channel it toward the official enemy. 
However, I think the "mandarins" mostly do this when the directors of the Empire engage in obviously despicable behavior, but otherwise they do both: deceive and direct anger at their enemies.

A Marriage of Conscience: Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning

Click here to access article by Edward Curtin posted on Titanic Lifeboat Academy, a website administered by dear friends who have dedicated so much of their lives to alerting others that what we are doing is causing the destruction of our very own habitat.

The way I see it, no reference must be made to some obscure painting by a 16th century painter and to ancient mythology that are only known by a few highly educated people in the 21st century.

No, I think because there is so much evidence all around us in the 21st century that suggests that we, the people, have been so ground down, so inured to the suffering of others and the destruction of nature by the ruling capitalist class. Our masters in this class live by the principle that "there is not such thing as society, there are only families" (with some consideration for our neighbors so as not to offend them), and that we should no longer be moved by the suffering of others and the destruction of our habitat.

Unfortunately, our masters have insured that we were taught to believe only in our happiness and comfort and that of "our" patriarchal families (an extension of ourselves), that we, like they, don't care about the plight of others. It is because of such indoctrination that we in the 21st century have become uncaring about the suffering of others because of what we, our neighbors, and our masters do. We look away so as not to be disturbed by these ugly sights.

Like Icarus of ancient lore, Chelsea Manning and Julian Assange refused to follow what they had been taught. They were so stricken with the awareness that what we do causes the suffering of others that they had to report these facts.

Still, the Icarus in each of us cannot be completely disappeared and forever--there is much risk for our masters in such behavior.

Sunday, April 14, 2019

CIA's Vault 7 Files Launched New Case Against Assange - Attack Intends To Prevent Further Leaks

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

This guy in Germany must be congratulated for his efforts to dig deep into issues of major importance to find jewels of truth hidden from our normal view.

In this article he digs up the reports on Vault 7 files that Wikileaks exposed, William Arkin who quit NBC over its collusion with war policies of the Deep State, the imprisoned Joshua Schulte--the alleged leaker of Vault 7, and finally answers his initial important question:
After the arrest of Julian Assange by British police and the unsealing of the U.S. indictment against him, the question is why is the U.S. doing this and why now?

Saturday, April 13, 2019

Articles recommended for Saturday, April 13, 2019

Assange Arrest: The Turning Point is Here — Don’t Let Them Win [a "best post"]

Click here to access article by Whitney Webb from Mint Press News (based in Minneapolis).

I find myself in total agreement with this Chilean commentator.
The world has known for years that Assange would meet this fate. Little was done. Now, the turning point is here. Will we continue to escape into the false realities of television, cinema, video games, and whatever we use to distract us and numb our pain while the actual world in which we live devolves into a technocratic, imperial dictatorship? Will we continue to ignore the obvious threats to our lives and our children’s lives because confronting these threats is uncomfortable and often difficult?

Will we wait until they come for us because our homes are built atop resources they wish to plunder, because we shared information online they found objectionable, because we dared to question why madmen are in control of our country and much of the world?
 

Friday, April 12, 2019

Articles on Assange's arrest and its meaning for Friday, April 12, 2019

FBI Sued for Failure to Provide 9/11 Evidence to Congress

Click here to access a podcast of a nearly one hour discussion conducted by Bonnie Faulkner with people who are prominently involved in this lawsuit and posted on Guns & Butter.

Here is the written introduction:
The Lawyers Committee for 9/11 Inquiry, Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth, along with 9/11 victim family members have filed a joint federal lawsuit against the US Department of Justice and the FBI for their failure to perform a congressionally mandated assessment of any evidence known to the FBI that was not considered by the 9/11 Commission related to any factors that contributed in any manner to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. David Meiswinkle, Mick Harrison, Barbara Honegger and Richard Gage provide a broad overview of both the lawsuit and the filing of a grand jury petition; the seven counts of relevant evidence included in the complaint which also cites the destruction by the FBI of evidence related to the "High Fivers"; the Executive Director and Commissioners of the 9/11 Review Commission along with its twelve staff members; next steps in the legal process and what a successful outcome would look like.

Emergency Meeting for Assange

Consortium News announces an emergency meeting regarding Assange via the internet's web this afternoon at 4 PM ET. (Time Converter)

The Problem With Wikipedia and the Digital Revolution

Click here to access article by Paul Craig Roberts from his blog.

I first noticed this phenomenon about five years ago, and it is getting steadily worse.
Yesterday (April 10, 2019) a reader alerted me to the fact that I am being smeared on Wikipedia as a “vocal supporter of the current Russian government and its policies.” The reader also reports that an article in the Daily Beast calls me a “Putin worshiper.” The reader says that he tried to edit the Wikipedia entry without success, and he urged me to give it my attention.

I do not know whether the person who wrote my Wikipedia entry intended to smear me or is merely uninformed. However, dissenting voices do get smeared on Wikipedia. It is an ongoing problem for many of us. For years readers and people who know me would make corrections to my Wikipedia biography, but as soon as the corrections were made, they would be erased and the smears reinstalled.
He concludes his essay with this frightening statement:
The emergence of technology capable of falsifying reality in real time presages a future in which fact and fiction become indistinguishable. The unintended consequence of this technology may well be the death of truth.

Thursday, April 11, 2019

EU and China sign a Mandate of Trade Heaven

Click here to access article by Pepe Escobar from Asia Times.

China scores again while the Empire plays regime-change games and arrests and jails journalists.
... Beijing’s drive is to configure national champions in virtually every industrial and post-industrial sector, including preeminence in 5G and AI. The crux of the Chinese strategy is not the US but a close relationship with Europe, where opportunities to acquire first-class technology and first-class education are immense. Not to mention that Europe is BRI’s privileged terminal.

Perception is reality. There’s no doubt the Beijing leadership has understood that this EU-China agreement goes a long way to show, especially to its leaders, that they are dealing with a responsible emerging superpower. The contrast with the acrimony and intimidation tactics displayed throughout the US trade war could not be sharper.

Julian Assange arrested after Ecuador tears up asylum deal

Click here to access article from RT. (Added video from Mint Press News at 11:19 AM CT.)
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been dragged out of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London where he has spent the last seven years. That's after Ecuador's president Moreno withdrew asylum.

That's only a day after WikiLeaks Editor-in-Chief Kristinn Hrafnsson claimed that an extensive spying operation was conducted against Assange in the Ecuadorian Embassy. During an explosive media conference Hrafnsson alleged that the operation was designed to get Assange extradited. 
Other coverage:
  • Julian Assange’s legal team make a statement following his arrest. The following video was posted on Mint Press News. 
 

So, you think Washington’s long war on Syria is almost over. Think again.

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

He argues with solid documentation (read especially the link from Foreign Affairs, a publication of the Deep State) that the US has conveniently, with Trump's help, made its war in Syria invisible to the American people. This permits our masters in the Deep State to go ahead, undisturbed by domestic opposition, with their continuing efforts to destabilize Syria using their hybrid war magic weapons: 
... economic warfare, cyber-warfare, covert CIA operations, special operations forces, mercenaries, proxy armies, and allies—weapons of war that can be concealed behind a cloak of secrecy and which minimize the involvement of the US public.
I have a strong hunch that the Deep State has not only intimidated Trump by continuing their attacks on him through their media corporations, but by ignoring his executive orders. I don't think there is any doubt that the Deep State holds the allegiance of the armed forces as well as their super-secret "intelligence" agencies. Trump has instincts for powerful players and attempts to mollify them (notice his neocon appointments like Pompeo and Boldton to major posts) to keep them from forcing him out of office. 

Meanwhile, what passes for a "left" in the USA is enthralled with the candidacy of Tulsi Gabbard. 

Wednesday, April 10, 2019

A World Divided by Ideologies

Click here to access article by Graham Peebles from Dissident Voice.

Peebles uses some research to support a major insight: every ruling class has always used every institution to indoctrinate their subjects in their self-serving ideology.
We have all been the victims of such sociological/psychological conditioning, some more, some less. Conditioned images of oneself and of others are unconsciously built up, attachment to content made firm. Far from creating the security we yearn for, attachment to the construct ensures fear is maintained. .... The image of ‘me’ in contrast to the ‘you’ is formed, the ‘us’ against ‘them’ takes root; my country versus your country, my political party against yours, my God versus your God, my opinions versus yours and so on, and on, and on.

Attachment to the image is strong, defense of its beliefs and ideals fierce. From this narrow, conditioned center thoughts emerge and actions proceed, creating multiple divisions and disharmony, endless wars and violent conflict.
You can see how the present capitalist ruling classes, due to advances of technology and the increased concentration of power, have been enabled to vastly increase their ability to condition the majority of people to support their interests of profit and power. Wars have been the most profitable of all their activities, and have resulted in the concentration of power like never before. This self-serving concentration of power is now threatening human habitat resulting in severe doubt the very survival of humans and many other species.

Tuesday, April 9, 2019

Articles recommended for Tuesday, April 9, 2019

  • Click here to access a book review by Martin Empson of a new book entitled The Biofuels Deception by Okbazghi Yohannes, a professor in the Political Science department at University of Louisville, Kentucky. Posted on Empson's blog ResoluteReader, Climate & Capitalism, and Monthly Review. 

Monday, April 8, 2019

The Looking Glass Splinters

Click here to access article by Alastair Crooke from Strategic Culture Foundation. (Minor editing at 7:10 PM CT for greater clarity.)

I'm not sure that I should have posted this because of its rather difficult writing style for the average reader, but this normally insightful author (a former member of MI6) is very worried about the political-economic scene in Europe. He suggests that Europeans may on the cusp of major changes to their fundamental alliances and relations, but the British leadership, in particular, are behaving according to "business as usual". Is it all pretense? Crooke sees fractures everywhere behind the scenes. Among his concerns are Brexit, China's BRI, central banks, the poor European and world economy that's on the brink of recession, and the ongoing Yellow-Vest protests in France. Consider the following examples of his remarks:
Tectonic shifts like this, are rare. But when they do occur, they throw up the possibility of profound change and realignment.
 And:
"What is astonishing is the apparent continued belief amongst our superior classes that 'ordinary people' aren’t watching and understanding what is afoot.”

From some radical, perhaps? No it is a quote from the former Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce, with 30 years’ experience of UK and EU government.
I have a feeling he is on to something.

Trump’s support for Zionism includes defining US Jews as foreigners

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

Gowans expands on some comments by Trump to illustrate the latter's ignorant view that all Jews look to Israel for their identity. This is only a short step away from seeing Jews as a foreign element in an otherwise Christian society and a legitimate target for hostility. However, this attitude of Jews belonging in the apartheid state of Israel is also shared by Zionist Jews.

Jews as an ethnic group have always excelled in finance because of the Christian and Muslim history of forbidding their members to charge for lending. (Jews also could not charge interest on loans to other Jews.) The almost instinctive attitude against usury was common before capitalism first rose in the 17th century. After the capitalist ruling classes overturned feudal authorities, usury became a common feature of our world. Because Jews had already established a foothold in this business, they became prominent financiers and as such played a very significant role in capitalist enterprise. Ruling classes, both feudal and capitalist, in the past often used hostility against Jews, who were mostly workers, as a "divide and rule" weapon against workers throughout the Christian world.

Gowans goes on to argue that anti-Semites among Western nations favored Zionism and its support for Jews having their own state and thus getting rid of them. This dovetailed well with Zionist objectives. However, Zionist leaders, especially in the 20th century, have nearly always allied themselves with powerful ruling capitalist classes in order to achieve their objectives. Zionist leaders even negotiated with Nazis to facilitate the emigration of German Jews to Palestine. And, as they say, the rest is history.

At this point he argues:
It is not Christian Zionism, or a sincere (though misplaced) effort to protect Jews from anti-Semitism, that motivate Western governments to support Israel. Nor is US foreign policy in thrall to wealthy Jews and their lobbying efforts, a theory propounded by people whose grasp of the forces that shape US imperialism is tenuous at best. Instead, Western support for Israel is grounded in economic interests.
Then he introduces us to British communist Rajani Palme Dutt and his views to further explain why Western capitalist countries have historically supported the state of Israel. Read the article to find out.

Sunday, April 7, 2019

Concerning Humanity’s Future: Interview with Nick Humphrey, Climatologist and Geoscientist

Click here to access an interview with meteorologist/geoscientist Nick Humphrey conducted by "xraymike79" from his blog Collapse of Industrial Civilization: Finding the Truth behind the American Hologram. (ML is "xraymike79")
I first discovered the writings of meteorologist/geoscientist Nick Humphrey with his brutally honest essay The Conversation No One Knows How To Have and since then have followed his posts and comments. He has been featured or quoted in a number of publications such as Mother Jones, New York Times, Washington Post, and Science Alert. Few scientists will publicly tell you how dire things are, but Nick Humphrey is not one to shy away from the truth. What follows is a Q&A interview I held with him on a variety of questions concerning humanity’s future.

The "American Party" within the institutions of the European Union

Click here to access article by Manlio Dinucci from Voltaire Network. (You will need to know what the geometric term "tranversal" means in the metaphorical sense as applied to Europe.)
All this confirms the influence brought to bear by the "American Party", a powerful transversal camp which is orienting the policies of the EU along the strategic lines of the USA and NATO.
I think the author has hit on something very important in understanding the geopolitics of today, and I think this goes beyond its European significance. I'll try to express clearly what I have in mind.

I think that the major nations of the world are headed for a major contest between the US/Anglo/Zionist Empire and the multipolar block (chiefly Russia, China, and Iran, but also includes many ordinary people of the world). This could end in either the dominance of the Empire or lead to a catastrophic nuclear war between the latter two block of nations. 

I see symptoms of this everywhere, and not only to the Empire's transversal relationship with Europe (the Brexit controversy, the recent visit by Chinese officials to Europe promoting cooperation with the Belt and Road Initiative, the Yellow-Vest movement in France, etc): the futile threats (so far) against Venezuela by the USA, the politics of the USA (Russiagate hoax, other fake news put out by corporate media, jockeying of candidates for the 2020 election, even the disappearance of Joe Biden as a Deep State candidate, the abrogation of several nuclear weapons treaties by the USA, the threats to the US Dollar as the main international currency, etc. (many of these are addressed by Paul Craig Roberts in "Where Is The World Headed?"). Of course, the worst outcome of this clash between the Empire and the proponents of a multipolar world would be a nuclear war which would be catastrophic.

Regarding the Brexit issue, I think that this referendum was passed because it basically was a rejection by ordinary people of Britain of the Empire's dominance in European affairs which appears to be most active at the highest levels of the European Union. I also think that some form of union of European nations is desirable, but not the present arrangement under the Empire's control.

Meanwhile, all these matters distract attention from the immediate concern about the destabilization of Earth's climate and the catastrophes awaiting all of the world's people. In the end it is up to the world's people to avoid these catastrophes, but I agree with Jonathan Cook who is rather pessimistic that people can avert the threats which will end with the extinction of humans.
The deeper questions we have been evading force us to address who we are as individuals and as a society, and whether we wish to have a future, to belong to a planet that possibly uniquely in our small corner of the universe can sustain higher life forms and the supreme achievement of our evolutionary branch-line, human beings.

Only in facing those questions can we rid ourselves of our political confusion and our individual anxiety. Standing on the edge of an abyss should be no time for boredom. It is time for deep reflection, and rapid personal and collective growth.