Orwell’s 1984 is a paranoid piece of anti-communist propaganda [a critical review]

Click here to access article by Rainer Shea, a re-post of the article on his own website earlier in the month, and posted on The Greanville Post.

This is a contemporary expression of an old Stalinist view on George Orwell re-regurgitated by Shea, a young blogger in northern California. Yes, like Patrice Greanville, editor and founder of The Greanville Post, I too have been impressed with his knowledge of history. 

However, I soon became aware of his immaturity. He is like a typical 19-year-old blogger who views history as led by stereotypically good guys and bad guys, not as human beings with strengths and weaknesses, and people who make errors. He can say nothing bad about Stalinists (and often defends them--see here and here) and criticizes as "bad guys" like George Orwell who, at the risk of his life and health, went and fought against openly fascists and on the side of the democratically elected Spanish Republic in 1936 in a civil war that proved to be a dress rehearsal for WWII. Shea's citing as supporting documentation, a clearly Stalinist website (The Stalin Society), in this article is suggestive evidence that he has been coached by someone who has an old-fashioned pro-Stalinist view of the Soviet Union.

My readings regarding the Soviet Union, the anti-Bolshevik crusade led by British imperialist Winston Churchill and other capitalist cold warriors has led me to the following view on George Orwell. Orwell was influenced by his experience primarily in the Spanish Civil War as detailed by his book Homage to Catalonia. In this war he fought against the fascist forces of Germany and Italy who came to the rescue of the democratically elected Spanish Republic against the right-wing opposition. Meanwhile, the leading capitalist nations of USA, Britain, and France cynically stood by in neutrality and pretend isolationism. 

Stalin's behavior was informed by his superficial commitment to communist ideology and most of all by his authoritarian desire to maintain power which was reinforced by a nationalist view of the Soviet Union. Briefly put, this orientation led him to a visceral hatred to anyone challenging his authority and his support for the protection of the Soviet Union. Thus purges characterized his rule. When he saw the growing support by Western capitalist countries for Hitler's aggression, he supported the popular front as a first means of preventing the threat of Germany's invasion of his country. (A few years later he signed a non-aggression treaty with Germany as a means to provide time to enable the buildup of Soviet forces.) This support of Stalin's popular front policy occurred while Orwell was fighting in Spain, and led to the Soviet Union withdrawing support for the forces defending the Spanish Republic. 

However, Stalin not only withdrew support of Russian forces, but actively fought against those defending the Republic that they had previously supported. Orwell understandably could not tolerate this betrayal and especially their use of specious, self-serving propaganda to justify this betrayal. This is described graphically in his book Homage to Catalonia, and it left a deep impression upon him. Hence, his book Nineteen Eighty-Four published in 1949, and which is widely viewed by capitalist agents as an exclusive attack on the Soviet Union. But what is less popular is a view that all self-serving ruling classes can, and do, use such propaganda techniques. Orwell saw the British ruling class use such techniques to support the cynical war effort to preserve their Empire, and he merely extrapolated their advanced use in the future. Stalin and his supporters merely used these techniques to rationalize his rule and his supporters in the self-serving bureaucratic ruling class using the Communist ideology that Lenin and Trotsky had created. The reality of Stalinist rule clashed severely with this ideology.

Stalin to this day is widely popular in Russia among people who saw him as successfully defending their country. These people ascribe too much to his leadership and not enough to themselves, or rather, their ancestors who fought for their country against the fascist invaders who wanted to make them slaves of the Third Reich. Most of the captured Soviet fighters ended up as slaves put to work in Nazi weapons factories and were worked literally to death. (In 1957-58 I served in a medical unit of the US Army while stationed in Germany. A sergeant in my unit visited a cemetery associated with Bergen-Belsen prison camp, and to his surprise he didn't find many Jewish names, but mostly Russian names on graves of people who died in the concentration camp.)

The author of this article, Shea, has resurrected an old, tired debate among communists and communist-minded historians: the Trotskyists versus Stalinists. I come down on the side of Trotskyists and Leninists who foresaw that the communist revolutionary movement could not succeed in such a backward country as Russia. Rather they saw a need for revolutions in more advanced countries, especially Germany, as necessary to advance what would become an international workers movement to take power for themselves and support their interests. This did not happen largely because the nascent German ruling class of capitalists in 1919 foresaw the dangers of this movement and assassinated both Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, leaders of the Communist Revolutionary party in Germany, and ruthlessly put down the socialist movement existing in Germany after WWI.

Thus, the history of the human species reveals that this species could not overcome their DNA to protect and advance their own small groups. This defect had served their species for nearly 200,000 years which was characterized by families and clans and ruling classes instead of workers of all countries. When capitalist ruling classes arose based on the private ownership of economic property, they became obsessed with wealth and power through their exploitation both workers, who created marvelous economic benefits, and nature. These ruling classes in their ignorance and arrogance could not adapt to nature and its web of life, and like all other such species, have doomed their human species to extinction.

Posts that I especially recommend today: Tuesday, January 21, 2020

• How did climate change get so controversial? by John Cook from Skeptical Science.

• The Capitalocene and Planetary Justice by Jason W. Moore from Titanic Lifeboat Academy.

• How To Be A Mentally Sovereign Human by Caitlin Johnstone from her weblog.

Posts that I especially recommend today: Monday, January 20, 2020

• NASA, NOAA Analyses Reveal 2019 Second Warmest Year on Record from NASA.

• Australia's heat and bushfires are signs of fundamental shifts in its climate by Peter Sinclair from Yale Climate Connections. 

• Climate change “spin” as Davos gathering confronts mounting environmental and economic crisis by Nick Beams from World Socialist Web Site.

• Why 'Corporate Social Responsibility Is a Hoax by Álvaro de Regil Castilla from Climate & Capitalism. (Note: The headline offers old news, but the author goes on to argue that "Subsequently, I gradually realized that an even larger hoax is our belief that we live in democratic societies."

• Trump’s Latest Plan for Iran: Regime Disruption by Eli Lake from Bloomberg. (Note: What is significant about his argument is that some top geopolitical analysts are supporting his argument. See this and this.)

• Yes Minister Fan Fiction by Craig Murray from his weblog (British). (He satirizes British politicians regarding Britain's treatment (use of social identity politics) of Julian Assange. Murray may explain why British activists did, and are doing, so little to protest and rescue Assange.)

Posts that I especially recommend today: Sunday, January 19, 2020

• Global Warming and the Future of Investing by Eric Zuesse from The Duran (based in Cyprus). Author of the foolish statement "That’s not what capitalism was supposed to be." ends his report with a rather favorable statement about BlackRock:

As regards the letter to “CEOs,” it’s telling them to transition as fast as is reasonably possible out of fossil-fuel investments and into renewable-fuel ones, in order to become less vulnerable to the shock, when it does hit. This makes good sense: keeping the clients comfortable, while telling the CEOs: “Make major moves on this ASAP!”

If you think for a moment that capitalist ruling classes are serious about global warming, "I have a bridge to sell you" (def).

• Australia’s Fires Give Us a Glimpse of What’s Coming by Jeff Sparrow from Jacobin.

• In neoliberalism’s end, a new world’s beginning an editorial from New Frame (based in South Africa). (Note: These folks still have hope.)

• How Khalifa Haftar’s secret ties with Israel fuel chaos in Libya from TRT World (based in Turkey).

• Secret Wars, Forgotten Betrayals, Global Tyranny. Who Is Really in Charge of the U.S. Military? by Cynthia Chung from Strategic Culture Foundation (independent. international, and based in Russia).

• Ayn Rand with Prof. Lisa Duggan from Chris Hedges' show "On Contact" from RT via YouTube. 

On the show this week, Chris Hedges, discusses the outsized influence of the writer, Ayn Rand, on America’s business and financial elite with New York University professor and author, Lisa Duggan.

 Duggan’s new book is entitled “Mean Girl: Ayn Rand and the Culture of Greed.” 

• How America Became Capitalist - book review by Dominic Alexander from Counterfire (Britain).

• MAJOR: 16 U.S soldiers killed in Iranian strikes on al-Asad base in Iraq by Joaquin Flores from Fort Russ News (apparently based in Belgrade, Serbia).

Posts that I especially recommend today: Friday, January 17, 2020

• How climate change influenced Australia's unprecedented fires by Dana Nuccitelli from Yale Climate Connections.

• Lords of Food from Maize.

• No Crisis gone to waste: IMF celebrates signs of approaching global financial crisis by Joaquin Flores from Fort Russ News.

• Trump’s Feeble Phase 1 China-US Trade Deal by Jack Rasmus from his weblog.

• How a Hidden Parliamentary Session Revealed Trump’s True Motives in Iraq by Whitney Webb from Mint Press News. 

Posts that I especially recommend today: Friday, January 17, 2020

• The Rumbling Methane Enigma by Robert Hunziker from CounterPunch.

• Could Humans Go Extinct Within Years? from Arctic News.

• Climate crisis dominates the top risks in World Economic Forum report ahead of Davos by Rachel Koning Beals, News Editor at Market Watch. 

• Critique of Capitalism – Dr. Marguerite Mendell from Post-Capitalist Possibilities. (Note: Dr. Mendell still has hope.)

• Battle of the Ages to stop Eurasian integration by Pepe Escobar from Asia Times. 

• America’s Long History of Meddling in Russia by Ted Rall from CounterPunch. (Note: This cartoonist misses the larger historical fact that the USA and its secret "intelligence" subversive services has meddled in most countries of the world since WWII while building the US/Anglo/Zionist Empire.)

Posts that I especially recommend today: Thursday, January 16, 2020

• Climate explained: why some people still think climate change isn’t real from The Conversation. (Note: The article's explanation is especially true of capitalist societies organized to promote the wealth and power of these ruling classes.)

• The Australian firestorms: portents of a planetary future by Andrew Glikson from Arctic News. 

• Murdoch under fire over climate ‘denial’ stance from Asia Times.

• Critique of Capitalism – Jason W. Moore, a 9:39m video featuring Moore via YouTube.

• Why Iraq is contemplating buying long-range Russian air defence missiles by Paul Iddon from The New Arab.

• Reading Sun Tzu in Tehran by Alastair Crooke from Strategic Culture Foundation. 

• JPMorgan’s Historic Earnings Confirm that Fed Loans Are Subsidizing Profits on Wall Street by Pam Martens and Russ Martens from Wall Street on Parade. (Note: With the economy overwhelming controlled by major corporations, most especially financial institutions, I don't see why people are surprised by the latter serving their own interests. The Fed, which is privately owned by major banks which, in turn, are owned by major capitalists, is in control of our currency and the issuing of loans to themselves. The fact that the law regarding the Fed states that the institution should serve the needs of the nation is another illustration of how laws are made to camouflage the dominance of major capitalists.)

• Capitalism in America: How a Dismal Decimal is Robbing Americans Blind by Jon Hellevig from A bird's eye view of the Vineyard. 

• US War of Terror Continues: Assassinating Iran's Top Anti-ISIS General by Tony Cartalucci from his weblog Land Destroyer Report.

• BBC chiefs deny propaganda role as papers reveal links to intelligence services by Steve Sweeney from the Morning Star (British newspaper).

Posts that I especially recommend today: Wednesday, January 15, 2020

• King Tides and Who’s King of the Hill? by Paul Haeder from Dissident Voice. (Note: I visited Waldport, Oregon, a small town on the Pacific coast, many times while living in Eugene, OR to visit a friend. It sounds like Haeder like myself is becoming pessimistic about American culture shaped by advanced capitalism and its ability to cope with global warming which is so obvious to the inhabitants of Waldport.) 

Yep, we were sleeping when all the psy-ops, info-wars, algorithmic predictive shit came barreling into our lives. And complicit in the entire colonization of our minds, bodies, hearts, souls, futures and fates by a Brave New World corporate SOP and a big brother government. 

• World pulling back from petrodollar: Russia, China — Saudis next? "'Boom Bust' host Christy Ai joins Rick Sanchez [of RT America via YouTube] to discuss the US dollar and its exclusive relationship with oil and how it is traded."

• Slaveship Earth & the World-Historical: Imagination in the Age of Climate Crisis (Pdf) by Jason W. Moore from Pews News. (Note: You will need to have a Pdf reader on your device to access the article.)

Posts that I especially recommend today: Tueday, January 14, 2020

• Iraq is the Next battleground by Elijah J Magnier from his weblog.

• The Long Planned U.S. Assassinations In Iraq Will Increase Its Political Chaos by Bernhard (based in Germany) from his weblog Moon of Alabama.

• How long will you stay complicit? A Question for UK, Canada, France, and Germany by Tom Winter from Fort Russ News. 

• Dylan Howard on Epstein's rich and powerful friends from RT America via YouTube.

• Military campaign pushes forward – Erdogan’s imperial ambitions threaten Libya (this is a followup news item posted yesterday) from Fort Russ News. 

• How the chicken nugget became the true symbol of our era by Raj Patel and Jason W Moore from The Guardian.

An explanation of why I will be emphasizing more posts on the destruction of our Earth's habitat

The lies and confusing information supplied by Western media corporations are becoming overwhelming particularly since the murder of Qassem Suleimani, the beloved anti-terrorist general of Iran. Media corporations are now piling lies upon lies to protect their agenda to crush any opposition to the US/Anglo/Zionist world that they serve. I with many others in alternative media have tried (largely in vain) to alert citizens of countries that are ruled by their self-serving capitalist ruling classes to expose these lies. I with only a handful of others have tried to explain what they are doing is logically and inevitably derived from the capitalist system.

I've tried to explain that this Empire was rooted in the outcome of WWII which left the USA relatively undamaged. WWII started as result of support by Western capitalist ruling class for fascist Germany and its aims to counter Bolshevism in the Soviet Union, but the British Empire soon became threatened by the monster that they had co-created. The US capitalist ruling class foresaw their opportunity to establish their own capitalist empire by supporting the British. Later international Jewry associated with the fascist Zionist Movement also joined this embryonic empire after they took over Palestine thanks to the British. Zionist Israel were allowed to join the Empire after demonstrating their fealty and support of Empire objectives in the Middle East.

One of the weapons promulgated by the US ruling class throughout their growing Empire, the nations of which pretended to be democracies, was the systematic use of advanced propaganda methods to persuade their populations to go along with their class ambitions to accumulate wealth and power throughout the world. Logically the Empire pursued policies of containment and roll-back of the Soviet Union and any nation that were attracted to socialist ideas, that is, the public ownership of any significant enterprises. The empire builders with their secret services gradually took over control of all media and entertainment corporations, every other institution including even educational institutions to install fake versions of history and contemporary affairs. The people of the Empire, particularly in the USA, have been saturated so long with capitalist and Empire propaganda that they have been thoroughly indoctrinated to believe in a fake version of their geopolitical world.

With the rise of China, Russia, and Iran and associated countries, who insist on a multi-lateral world, all of which have more mixed economies, the Empire has in past few years experienced dramatic setbacks. The Empire and its ruling capitalist classes are severely threatened by this situation, and their obsession with unimpeded capitalism under their control has brought the world into numerous crises. Added to these crises is contradictory position of capitalism with the health of our Earth's habitat that can support human and many other species. Because the rising countries are devoted to raising the standard of living of their inhabitants, they understandably have mixed feelings about this destruction of the planets ecosystem and their contributions to such destruction by the use of fossil fuels. This, I believe, is a brief description of where we are today.

All of the preceding commentary is supplied to explain why I am overwhelmed with the task of countering the incessant and pervasive propaganda that has led to a warped consciousness of most citizens living in the Empire. Although feel inadequate to free people's consciousness from the Empire's propaganda regarding their political opponents, in future posts I will concentrate more on our understanding of our terminal existence as a species due to the capitalist system's assault on the ecosystem of our planet Earth. 

I will continue to post articles countering only the most outrageous lies. But I advise my readers to follow posts on my recommend list of websites (at the right) to correct the lies, and I recommend following RT (for American readers, I advise following Rich Sanchez news) for more current news of the world.

Posts that I especially recommend today: Monday, January 13, 2020

• Breakfeast with Blackrock & Co. translated and posted on German economist Norbert Häring's weblog. (Note: there is every reason to believe that some members of the major asset management giants are also members of the highly secretive Deep State, the directors of the US/Anglo/Zionist Empire.)

Jens Berger, editor of the popular progressive German Website "NachDenkSeiten", has just published an eye-opening book on the power of the three asset management giants BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street (in German). I have been allowed to publish the first chapter as an appetizer, which translates as "Breakfeast with BlackRock & Co." 

• The former Head of Turkey’s Military Intelligence: a turning point for the Middle East by Elif İlhamoğlu from United World (independent website based in Turkey).

• The Tenuous Deployment of US Troops in Iraq by Abdul Rahman from Internationalist 360°. 

• Heads of Libya's warring sides in Russia for talks from Al Jazeera (based in Qatar). 

• Understanding France’s General Strike in the Context of the Yellow Vests and Global Class Warfare from Radical Education Department. 

• USA: Overview of Auto Workers' Strike by Internationalist Workers’ Group and posted on Libcom. 

• Under US pressure, social media companies censor critical content and suspend Venezuelan, Iranian, and Syrian accounts by Ben Norton from The Grayzone.

• World War III by CJ Hopkins, master political satirist, from his website Consent Factory. (Note: Caitlin Johnstone's effort in her latest article is entering the competition.) 

• Unearthing the Capitalocene: Towards a Reparations Ecology by Jason W. Moore and
  Raj Patel from Roar. (Note: We learn from sociologists from their article written in 2017 that the climate crisis is caused by capitalism. But all evidence by the majority of climate scientists suggests that this was written before the extinction of our human and most other species became inevitable.)

Posts that I especially recommend today: Sunday, January 12, 2020

• So The US Is Invading Iraq Again by Caitlin Johnstone from her weblog.

• CNN Video of U.S. Airbase Ruins: Iran entirely destroys Airbase – ‘Unimaginable damage!’ by Joaquin Flores from Fort Russ News. 

• Will Qassem Soleimani's Letter Reach Its Destination? by Onur Sinan Güzaltan from United World (independent based in Turkey).

• Syrian Pres. Adviser: Assad & Putin surprise meeting part of Axis response to Soleimani’s killing from Middle East Observer (sourced from Al-Mayadeen TV in Arabic and translated).

• The Fed Protects Gamblers at the Expense of the Economy by Ellen Brown from TruthDig. 

• How Arctic Ocean Blue Ocean State Will Crush Humanity Like a Bug by climate scientist Paul Beckwith from his weblog.

• Debunked Australian Bushfire Conspiracy Theories Were Pushed by Alex Jones, Murdoch Media by Justin Mikulka from Desmog.

• Death to the Jackals by Alberto Tundo from Maize. 

Posts that I especially recommend today: Saturday, January 11, 2020

• Iran: Ukrainian plane brought down 'due to human error' from PressTV (Iran).

• Iranian Armed Forces Say They Inadvertently Shot Down The Ukrainian Plane - Updated by Bernhard from Moon of Alabama.

• Iraqi PM asks US to begin withdrawal process in Iraq from Al-Masdar Al-'Arabi ("The Arab Source", based in Lebanon). 

• France strikes: nurses, teachers and lawyers join pension protests by Angelique Chrisafis from Defend Democracy Press.

• Cabin Porn from Maize.

See if you have the stomach to read today's articles: Friday, January 10, 2020

• The Deeper Story Behind the Assassination of Soleimani by Federico Pieraccini from Strategic Culture Foundation.

• A New Middle East “made in Iran” is about to be born by Elijah J Magnier from his weblog.

• The Democrats pass Pelosi’s phony antiwar resolution by Patrick Martin from World Socialist Web Site. 

• “Trump Didn’t Get the Message!” Iran’s Military, Iraqi Militia Pledge More Retaliation! from A bird's eye view of the Vineyard.

• Iran’s Hero has Fallen, and Now the World is an Even More Dangerous Place by Andre Vltchek from New Eastern Outlook. 

• Why Trump's Iran Conflict Cannot Be Stopped Or Unwound from The Jimmy Dore Show.

• Iran’s IRGC Aerospace Chief on US casualties/damages/future retaliation steps posted on Middle East Observer. 

• VIDEO – American Soldiers Heard in Tape of Iran’s Retaliation by Joaquin Flores from Fort Russ News.

• Strikes Paralyze France for Fifth Consecutive Week from Fort Russ News.

• ‘Deathly silent’: Ecologist describes Australian wildfires’ devastating aftermath by Dyani Lewis from Nature. 

• As the World Burns, the Powerful Go on Holiday by Kenn Orphan from CounterPunch.

• Ice-free Arctic Ocean allowed ancient carbon leaks by Tim Radford from Climate News Network.

As the US/Anglo/Zionist Empire crumbles, we will see increasing chaos

By Ron Horn

The recent assassination of Suleiman, a beloved leader of Iran, by the US continues the desperate coping by the Empire confronted by its own disintegration. There are so many indications that the capitalist Empire is threatened by a myriad of problems. Among these are the European countries which are seeking and implementing cheaper Russian energy and lucrative trade with China, the indebtedness and the problematic economy of the US as depicted by numerous honest articles on the internet (see, for example, Wall Street on Parade), the ongoing conflicts between the Deep State and the Trump administration, the continuing subversion of Bolivia by US agents, the revelations of fake reports by US commanders in Afghanistan as reported by The Washington Post, the ongoing imprisonment and torture of truth-tellers (Assange and Manning), extreme weather events, etc. 

Things could very easily spiral into a nuclear war conflagration. Even if we avert this nightmarish scenario, the Earth's habitat that supports our human species and most others is being destroyed by capitalist ruling classes and their obsession with profits and power.

While enduring all this, most Americans are firming sticking their heads in the sand by mostly believing what their told by media corporations (I include so-called public media corporations like PBS and NPR) and diverting their attention to sport events. In the days ahead we shall see increasing chaos in our lives.   

How the U.S. Created the Cold War (A re-post of an error ridden commentary on 12/22/2019)

(Note on this commentary: I feel it is necessary to re-post an important article and my commentary which I posted on 12/22/2019--since corrected--that included inappropriate links and a confusing explanation. On that date I inadvertently found a link to another version on his article posted on Washington's Blog (Sept. 9, 2019) that was also posted on Strategic Culture Foundation earlier in May. The latter article edited out some of his statements about capitalism which are included in this post.)

How the US Created the Cold War

Click here to access article by Eric Zuesse from Washington's Blog.

Unfortunately, the false history of WWII has been written by the ruling classes of the current US/Anglo/Zionist Empire through their well-paid propaganda agents throughout institutions of the Empire. In contrast, Zuesse offers a valuable source of the real truth, but his insights are limited by his social-democratic political orientation. 

This article (not the article posted in Strategic Culture Foundation) cleared up a number of questions I had about Eric Zuesse, the author. I have written several (at least) commentaries complaining about his use of the feudal term "aristocracy" instead of "ruling class" in his numerous articles. I saw this as reflecting his indoctrination in capitalist views mostly influenced by many years of education in US schools that he obviously had experienced. I was not wrong. In this article he clearly defines himself as a "progressive" by which he means his commitment to social democracy, a subset of capitalist ideologies, as illustrated by what has existed in the Scandinavian countries particularly after WWII when they had elaborate social welfare programs constructed on top of capitalist economies. Also, he is an admirer of FDR who saw the necessity of more elaborate welfare programs to preserve capitalism through the Great Depression. I gathered this from several paragraphs in the article such as:

Even other parts of that post-FDR system, such as the IMF, have served as siphons from publics around the world into the bank-accounts of the U.S. aristocracy and of its allied aristocracies. That’s not what capitalism was supposed to be. [Really?]

 And another quote:

Those weren’t “socialist” countries; they were dictatorial socialist (i.e., communist) countries, as opposed to democratic socialist (i.e., progressive) countries such as in Scandinavia — the proper term for what the Soviet alliance was is “communist,” not “socialist” — and there was a very big difference between the Scandinavian countries, versus the communist countries (though the U.S. regime wants to slur one by the other so as to sucker fools against democratic socialism — progressivism).

In other words, his "progressivism" is social democratic. He evidently believes that capitalism could be compatible with a sustainable Earth and that it could remain peaceful and just in spite of abundant contrary evidence throughout the relatively short history of capitalism.

Of further interest to me was a link in this article that brought me to an article in a publication that is followed by a section of the ruling class. This was published in Foreign Policy and entitled "The Bomb Didn’t Beat Japan … Stalin Did" that added a great deal of clarity regarding the use of atomic bombs on Japan as well as the budding Empire's intentions toward the Soviet Union.

Zuesse's contributions to the geopolitical realities of our world are essential, but what isn't essential is his left-liberal views (capitalism can be reformed, his use of "aristocracy" instead of "ruling class", etc.) about these realities.

Posts that I especially recommend today: Tuesday, January 7, 2020

• US cannot afford conflict with China by Elif İlhamoğlu from United World (based in Turkey). (Note: This is based on an article appearing in Foreign Affairs, a publication of the Council on Foreign Relations which I believe is the primary secretive organ of the US Deep State. As such, it is very important, but it does not necessarily represent the Council as a whole. It represents the thinking of at least a section of the Council.)

• Blowback From The Soleimani Assassination Increases As Iraq Reveals How Trump Tried To Steal Its Oil by Bernhard from his weblog Moon of Alabama.

• Soleimani assassination only one of many (and not the most consequential) US acts of war against Iran by Stephen Gowans from his weblog. (Note: I can't agree with Gowans that the recent assassination of the beloved Iranian leader is not the "most consequential", but he does remind of us of the longtime aggressive acts against Iran conducted by the US government and the CIA.)

• Lies, the Bethlehem Doctrine, and the Illegal Murder of Soleimani by Craig Murray from his weblog. 

• In Redux of Iraq War Run Up, Media Cheers on Assassination of Soleimani by Alan Macleod from Mint Press News. (Note: I can't agree that corporate media was uniform in its approval of the assassination. What I saw is the core of the ruling class--Council on Foreign Relations and their media, the NY Times, Washington Post, etc, and the Democratic Party--as reporting this event as narrowly tied to Trump thereby adding fuel to their drive of ousting Trump. To be sure, they always falsely painted Suleimani as a prime terrorist who is guilty of many deaths.) 

• On The Idiotic Partisan Debate Over Regime Change In Iran Or Syria by Caitlin Johnstone from her weblog. 

• BREAKING: U.S Announces Movement out of Iraq – Trump Threatens Sanctions from Fort Russ News.

Posts that I especially recommend today: Monday, January 6, 2020

Trump seems to be "losing his marbles"--maybe as a result of the Deep State's impeachment proceedings--as reflected in his assassination of Iran's number two beloved leader while he was visiting Iraq as illustrated by his recent threats toward both Iraq and Iran.

• Trump threatens Iraq with ‘very big sanctions’ unless it pays back BILLIONS for an airbase if US troops are forced to withdraw from RTAmerica.

• Trump Doubles Down on Iran Warning, Says US to Strike Back 'Perhaps in a Disproportionate Manner' from Sputnik News.

Informed commentaries on the assassination of Suleiman:

• Fragmentation in the Axis of Resistance led to Soleimani’s death by Elijah J Magnier from his weblog. 

• The Assassination of Gen. Qasem Soleimani by Gary Leupp from CounterPunch.

• In photos: Anti-war protests held across the U.S. and the world by Rebecca Falconer from Axios.

• US Empire’s Passion For Iraqi Democracy Magically Disappears by Caitlin Johnstone from her weblog. 

• Iraqi PM reveals Soleimani was on peace mission when assassinated, exploding Trump’s lie of ‘imminent attacks’ by Max Blumenthal from The Grayzone.

And the growing climate crisis:

• US banned climate from UK trade talks by Jean Blaylock by Jean Blaylock from ISDS (Investor-State Dispute Settlement).

• Global heating drives daily weather change by Tim Radford from Climate News Network. 

Posts that I especially recommend today: Sunday, January 5, 2020

• What comes next after the US Assassination of Qassem Soleimani? The Options. By Elijah J Magnier from his weblog.

• Thousands of Iranians flock to streets of Ahvaz to attend Qassem Soleimani’s funeral: video supplied by Al-Masdar Al-'Arabi (The Arab Source) based in Beirut, Lebanon.

• Iraqi parliament calls for expulsion of foreign troops from Al Jazeera. (Note with my emphasis: "Parliament resolutions, unlike laws, are non-binding and the move would require new legislation to cancel the existing agreement."

• Soleimani murder SITREP: Funeral and Vote – IRAQI VOTE UPDATE IS IN – U.S. MUST OUT from A bird's eye view of the Vineyard. 

• Iraqi Parliament Expels Foreign Militaries From Iraq by Bernhard from his weblog Moon of Alabama (based in Germany). Quotes from the article:

Parliament voted on a five-point action plan that would require the Iraqi government to end the presence of foreign troops in the country, and withdraw its request for assistance from the anti-ISIS global coalition. This would require new legislation to cancel the existing agreement.

Parliament also called on the government to ban the use of Iraqi airspace by any foreign power.

The Iraqi foreign minister has been directed to head to the UN to lodge an official complaint against the US strike.

Posts that I especially recommend today: Saturday, January 4, 2020

With the killing of a high ranking Iran official while visiting Iraq is a signal that the US/Anglo/Zionist Empire is now baring its fascist claws for all to see. Only diehard and thoroughly indoctrinated Americans and their sycophants across the world will be blind from seeing what the last capitalist empire is made of. No, not democracy or the rule of law, but the fascist style of mafia gangsters that capitalists have become. It appears that our capitalist masters have decided to use violence against their resisting enemies to prolong their rule and have abandoned their quest to overcome the more powerful environmental threats of nature. They know something that most of us do not: they cannot defeat nature. But it's a pity that we will go down with them.

These are today's posts mostly about our descent into the gangster world:

• US starts the Raging Twenties declaring war on Iran by Pepe Escobar from Asia Times.

• The murder of Qassem Soleimani and assassination as state policy by Bill Van Auken from World Socialist Web Site.

• OPCW leaks expose ‘criminal’ Syria cover-up — and US media is silent by Aaron Maté from The Grayzone. 

• Ruling class bereft of answers while catastrophic fires escalate across Australia by James Cogan from World Socialist Web Site.

• Few countries on track to meet Paris climate goals by Sarah Kennedy from Yale Climate Connections.

Are you sure you want to read today's posts? If you do, these are my recommendations for today: Friday, January 3, 2020

Iranian crisis:  (I don't know where, but in one of the many articles I read refers to an Iraqi group by the name of Kataeb Hezbollah. Michelle Greenstein explains (from RT) what she knows about this group.)

• US assassinates top Iranian general as 4,000 troops readied for Iraq intervention by Bill Van Auken from World Socialist Web Site.

• U.S. Will Come To Regret Its Assassination of Qassim Soleimani by Bernhard from Moon of Alabama.  

• Iran says US crossed ‘red lines’ by assassinating Qassem Soleimani from Al-Masdar Al-‘Arabi (The Arab Source). 

• US Assassination Of Top Iranian Military Official May Ignite World War by Caitlin Johnstone from her weblog. (You should know what PMF refers to.)

• Fear of a Major Mideast War by Joe Lauria from Consortium News.

• Angry Iranians rally in huge numbers to call for revenge from PressTV (Iran). 

• Iran Leader vows 'harsh revenge' following assassination of Gen. Soleimani from PressTV (Iran).

• Irreplaceable General: Will war in the Middle East follow the death of Soleimani? from United World (based in Turkey). 

Other posts that may interest you:

• Turkish Parliament Approves Invasion of Libya from Internationalist 360°.

• Libya: The Battle for Tripoli Enters its Final Days originally from Al Arab but translated and posted on Internationalist 360°.

• The Crisis in Mediterranean from Defend Democracy Press. 

• How the US was hoist by its own petard in Iraq and the wishful thinking of its thinktanks. By Elijah J Magnier from his weblog.

• The Dangers of Privatized Intelligence by Joyce Nelson CounterPunch.

• Why Is Wall Street the Only Industry in America With Access to the Fed’s Endless Money Machine? by Pam Martens and Russ Martens from their weblog Wall Street on Parade.  

• Assange and Manning: The Slow Execution of the Voices of Freedom by Massoud Nayeri from Global Research. 

• ‘US is torturing Chelsea Manning’: Top UN official says her treatment is ‘cruel and degrading’ from RT.

• Chelsea Manning should be a hero – Galloway on UN support for Whistleblower a 7:12m video from RT. 

Capitalism's ongoing degradation of our home planet Earth:

• ‘Insect apocalypse’ poses risk to all life on Earth, conservationists warn by Damian Carrington from Defend Democracy Press.

• Australia’s Angry Summer: This Is What Climate Change Looks Like from Defend Democracy Press. 

• Atlantic current could falter before 2100 by Tim Radford from Climate News Network. (This conservative website always underestimates the acceleration of climatic events, in my opinion.)

Two posts by Stephen Gowans that I especially recommend today: Thursday, January 2, 2020

I consider Gowans to be one of a handful of top geopolitical analysts in today's world. Here are two very recent posts by him:

• Washington’s Xinjiang smear

• Kim Jong Un: Until the US shows it’s interested in peace, North Korea will continue to build strategic weapons

Posts that I especially recommend today: Wednesday, January 1, 2020

• Full-Spectrum Fubar by Paul Edwards from CounterPunch.

• These Charts Show Why the Fed Is Still in a Panic Over the Repo Loan Market by Pam Martens and Russ Martens from their weblog Wall Street on Parade.

• Putin Reminds the West: Those Who Ignore History Are Doomed to Repeat it by Matthew Ehret from Strategic Culture Foundation. (Note: Putin's understanding of history is absolutely correct.)

• The Left is Dying Because it’s Turned Into a Bonfire of Vanities by Australian Umair Haque from Eudaimonics. (Note: I think Patrice Greanville, editor, is absolutely correct in his note prefacing the re-posted article in The Greanville Post.)

• Climate crisis: 11,000 scientists warn of ‘untold suffering’ from Defend Democracy Press. 

• Allseas will not resume work on Nord Stream II project. Germany miffed, but will do nothing. Gazprom subsidiary will finish it. A translated re-post originally from Deutsche Welle, a mainstream German publication, on Fort Russ News.

Examples of what I think are "grasping at straws" in the US/Anglo/Zionist Empire:

• Bank of England unveils climate stress test by Kieran Cooke from Climate News Network. 

• The super-cool materials that send heat to space by XiaoZhi Lim from Nature.

Posts that I especially recommend today: Tuesday, December 31, 2019

• What we're told about ISIS is a lie (full show) reported by Michele Greenstein on the Rick Sanchez program from RT. Although guest-speakers on this program engage in rapid-fire delivery of their comments, Greenstein focuses on the Deep State and its propaganda organs, and as such I view the first 20:10 minutes as essential viewing.

• US Embassy in Iraq evacuated amid angry protests over airstrike on PMU from PressTV (Iran).

• As Honduras Collapses, Its People are Forced to Flee by Laura Carlsen from CounterPunch.

• Congress Just Passed Nightmare Legislation that Strips Trillions in Wealth from the Middle Class by Pam Martens and Russ Martens from their weblog Wall Street on Parade. 

• Bolivian Vassals Are Merely Aping Their Imperial Masters by Stephen Karganovic from Strategic Culture Foundation.

• Police in Hong Kong Brutalized by Rioters While Attacked by the Western Press by Andre Vltchek from Dissident Voice. 

• ‘I’m slowly dying here’: ‘Sedated’ Assange tells friend during Christmas Eve call from UK prison as health concerns mount from RT.

• Fires create hellish conditions across Australia by Mike Head from World Socialist Web Site.

Posts that I especially recommend today: Monday, December 30, 2019

• Social Media and Social Control: How Silicon Valley Serves the US State Department by Morgan Artyukhina from Mint Press News.

• Beating the Western Media Blockade: Ideas, Infrastructure, Solidarity by Jorge Capelán and Stephen Sefton from Internationalist 360°.

• The class war election by Des Freedman from CounterFire (Britain).

Two posts that I especially recommend today: Sunday, December 29, 2019

• Chronicles of a fading-out civilization from Maize.

• On giving up hope by Jeppe Dyrendom Graugaard from Pattern Which Connects.

Posts that I especially recommend today: Saturday, December 28, 2019

• America, Where Great Literature Kicked the Bucket by Andre Vltchek from New Eastern Outlook. 

• China detaining millions of Uyghurs? Serious problems with claims by US-backed NGO and far-right researcher ‘led by God’ against Beijing by Ajit Singh and Max Blumenthal from The Grayzone.

• From Colluding With Hitler Against the USSR to an Anti-Hitler Coalition by Yuriy Rubtsov from Strategic Culture Foundation. (Note: You might also be interested in my commentary that I wrote for a post entitled "Countdown to 'Full Spectrum Dominance'")

Posts that I especially recommend today: Friday, December 27, 2019

• Limited Hangout: A Deep State Psyops Few Know About by Guy Crittenden from Solarian.

• We Are the Ones Who Will Awaken the Dawn by Vijay Prashad from The Tricontinental.

• Goldman Sachs Federally-Insured Bank Loses $1.2 Billion in Interest Rate Derivative Bets by Pam Martens and Russ Martens from their weblog Wall Street on Parade. 

Posts that I especially recommend today: Thursday, December 26, 2019

• End-of-life anxiety and finding meaning in a collapsing climate by Leonie Joubert from Our Burning Planet (aka Daily Maverick--New Zealand) (Note: I didn't know what to do about this post because this website blocks access to those computers who block ads. Another website you can access the article is Living Resilience, but one can't access the links in the latter website. I have ad blocking software on my primary browser; so to access such articles from blocking sites, I have downloaded a second web browser which I use to access articles on such websites and don't load any ad blocking software to the browser. That way I don't have to remember to re-activate or mess with my ad blocking software on my primary browser. Incidentally, the ads on Our Burning Planet are not obnoxiously all over the article as in more commercial websites.)

• The Amazon at a Tipping Point by Robert Hunziker from CounterPunch.

• Trump and the Stock Market Are the Winners in the Fed’s Repo Loan Binge; Here’s the Losers by Pam Martens and Russ Martens from their weblog Wall Street on Parade. 

• Banking Nature, a 1:26:39 video posted on Thought Maybe. (I thank an activist, Caren, for this recommendation.) 

• Planetary arson and amplifying feedbacks: No alternative to CO2 drawdown by Andrew Glikson, an Earth and climate scientist, posted on Arctic News.

Sanctions, Security and the Nord Stream 2 Pipeline

Click here to access article by Binoy Kampmark from OffGuardian. 

This is huge. And I think it is the beginning of the end for the US/Anglo/Zionist Empire. European politicos are logically adamant about securing cheaper energy from Russia to fuel its profit-making industries, and they don't mind smacking the Empire (see this and this) to secure this energy. US sanctions against Europe will only increase the independence of Europe from the core Empire which includes Britain. I also think that Eric Zuesse is correct when he argues that "UK’s Tory Victory Likely to Bind U.S. & UK against Europe & Asia". 

However I can't go along with his elaborate argument that racism which is in the history of the Britain Empire accounts for this. Zuesse is a social-democrat and must find a way to justify this turn of events--see his remarks related to his statement "That’s not what capitalism was supposed to be". Racism was very prevalent around the turn of the century till late 1930s. But it has been diminishing in the post-war era as a useful divide and conquer weapon of the Empire's capitalist ruling classes (against workers) as color minorities have increased in population (customers) throughout the Empire. Anti-immigrant sentiment is now used in place of racism or as a substitute for racism.

So, what comes next? Either the Empire will execute an all-out attack against Russia, China, and Iran or the Earth's habitat will no longer support human life, or both. We ordinary people are "screwed" one way or another.

How the US Created the Cold War

Click here to access article by Eric Zuesse from Washington's Blog.

Unfortunately, the false history of WWII has been written by the ruling classes of the current US/Anglo/Zionist Empire through their well-paid propaganda agents throughout institutions of the Empire. In contrast, Zuesse offers a valuable source of the real truth, but his insights are limited by his social-democratic political orientation. 

This article (not the article posted in Strategic Culture Foundation--an edited version that left out his statement about "capitalism"--cleared up a number of questions I had about Eric Zuesse, the author. I have written several (at least) articles complaining about his use of the feudal term "aristocracy" instead of "ruling class" in his numerous articles. I saw this as reflecting his indoctrination in capitalist views mostly influenced by many years of education in US schools that he obviously had experienced. I was not wrong. In this article he clearly defines himself as a "progressive" by which he means his commitment to social democracy, a subset of capitalist ideologies, as illustrated by what has existed in the Scandinavian countries particularly after WWII when they had elaborate social welfare programs constructed on top of capitalist economies. Also, he is an admirer of FDR who saw the necessity of more elaborate welfare programs to preserve capitalism through the Great Depression. I gathered this from several paragraphs in the article such as:

Even other parts of that post-FDR system, such as the IMF, have served as siphons from publics around the world into the bank-accounts of the U.S. aristocracy and of its allied aristocracies. That’s not what capitalism was supposed to be. [Really?]

 And another quote:

Those weren’t “socialist” countries; they were dictatorial socialist (i.e., communist) countries, as opposed to democratic socialist (i.e., progressive) countries such as in Scandinavia — the proper term for what the Soviet alliance was is “communist,” not “socialist” — and there was a very big difference between the Scandinavian countries, versus the communist countries (though the U.S. regime wants to slur one by the other so as to sucker fools against democratic socialism — progressivism).

In other words, his "progressivism" is social democratic. He evidently believes that capitalism could be compatible with a sustainable Earth and that it could remain peaceful and just in spite of abundant contrary evidence throughout the relatively short history of capitalism.

Of further interest to me was a link in this article that brought me to an article in a publication that is followed by a section of the ruling class. This was published in Foreign Policy and entitled "The Bomb Didn’t Beat Japan … Stalin Did" that added a great deal of clarity regarding the use of atomic bombs on Japan as well as the budding Empire's intentions toward the Soviet Union.

Zuesse's contributions to the geopolitical realities of our world are essential, but what isn't essential is his left-liberal views (capitalism can be reformed, his use of "aristocracy" instead of "ruling class", etc.) about these realities. 

Posts that I especially recommend today: Friday, December 20, 2019

• Capitalism and the Limits of Greening by Carl Boggs from CounterPunch.

• Corbyn was our Father Gapon. They have yet to meet our Lenin by John Wight from his weblog. (Note: you will need to know what "PLP" means.)

• US-China (Still Unsigned) Phase 1 Trade Deal by Jack Rasmus from his weblog.

• After addicting US to opioids, they’re selling cure. Mollye Barrows joins Rick Sanchez on his RT program to share her research. 

• The War on Terror - The Plot to Rule the Middle East. Bonnie Faulkner interviews Christopher Bollyn on her one hour program Guns and Butter which is carried live from WBAI in New York City and several affiliated stations across the Pacific Network. Her program was banned last year from KPFA in Berkeley, California (see this and this).

Posts that I especially recommend today: Thursday, December 19, 2019

• COP25: Never have so many governments done so little for so many by Pete Dolack from his weblog Systematic Disorder.

• Extinction in 2020? from Arctic News.

• Biosphere Collapse? by Robert Hunziker from CounterPunch.

• Indo-Pak Nuclear Confrontation: First Use Policy and the Race Towards Armageddon by N.D. Jayaprakash from CounterPunch.

• Washington’s Refined Art of Torturing China May Ignite a War by Andre Vltchek from New Eastern Outlook. (Note: I found striking similarities in travel experiences with that of the author who is nominally an American journalist (in essence a citizen of the world). I experienced the same phenomenon in my short trip to the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) in about 1983 that he experienced in his travels in Russia in the early years of Yeltsin rule and more recently in China: the notable effect of Western propaganda on the citizens of Russia and China.)

Posts that I especially recommend today: Wednesday, December 18, 2019

• The News Churn Memory Hole: How The MSM Lies Even When Telling The Truth by Caitlin Johnstone from her weblog. (Note: She sounds exasperated, but keeps plugging away at exposing the truth in the face off overwhelming presence of fake news and gaslighting (def.) furnished by corporate media. Other individual voices have tried to do the same--click on links to access their latest efforts: like satirist C.J. Hopkins and humorists like Lee Camp and Jimmy Dore; truth tellers like Bernard of Moon of Alabama, Eric Zuesse, Eva Bartlett, Vanessa Beeley, Abby Martin; whistleblowers like Edward Snowden, and persecuted whistleblowers like Julian Assange and Chelsea/Bradley Manning. But nothing seems to change.) 

• When the End of Human Civilization Is Your Day Job by John H. Richardson from Esquire.

Posts that I especially recommend today: Monday, December 16, 2019

• Who is responsible for the climate crisis? by Jason Moore from Maize. (Note: one of my "best posts")

• Glacial melt creates Andes time bomb by Kieran Cooke from Climate News Network.

• COP25 video: Messages from climate marchers to politicians by Josh Gabbatiss from Carbon Brief.

•  No Justification For The Existence of Any Kind of Charter School by Shawgi Tell from Dissident Voice.

Note to readers: Change of policy

Many times in the past I've made clear that humans face two fundamental threats to their existence: one from a catastrophic nuclear war brought on by mostly the transnational capitalist class in the US/Anglo/Zionist Empire; and two, a longer range problem due to the operations of the capitalist system which is well on its way to destroying our ecosystem that supports humans and so many other species. Previously I have limited all posts to one month from the current date, however because the second threat to our human existence moves more slowly (although it is picking up speed due to its accelerating momentum), I've decided to remove this requirement from posts related to this general subject.

Posts that I especially recommend today: Sunday, December 15, 2019

• Dr Peter Carter | Expert IPPC Reviewer | COP25 from Extinction Rebellion via YouTube.

• New Study: Greenland is melting seven times faster than 30 years ago. A post from Just Have a Think via YouTube.

• “The conversation we need to have with our children about climate change” by Jeppe Dyrendom Graugaard (Denmark) from his weblog Refiguring.

• COP25 video: Messages from climate marchers to politicians by Josh Gabbatiss from Carbon Brief (based in Britain).

Posts that I especially recommend today: Friday, December 13, 2019

Early news and commentary on yesterday's British elections

• How Boris Johnson’s election gamble paid off by Elizabeth Piper from Reuters (a news service mostly owned by the British ruling class).

• Jeremy Corbyn: ‘I will not lead Labour at next election’ from BBC.

• Campaigners demand law banning political lies as think-tank warns 'disinformation is becoming normalised' in elections by Cahal Milmo from Inews.

• National (counter) Revolution wins over Radical Reformism, Neocons win over Globalisers, War wins over Peace from Defend Democracy Press.

• Someone Interfered In The UK Election, And It Wasn’t Russia by Caitlin Johnstone from her weblog.

• Corbyn’s Defeat has slain the Left’s Last Illusion by Jonathan Cook from his weblog. (The best analysis in my opinion.)

• UK's Johnson wins parliamentary majority, Corbyn to stand down from PressTV (Iran).

• Corbyn Is the Lesser Evil from Russia Insider.

Other commentary and news:

• In its anti-‘Medicare for All’ push, the health insurance industry pulls from an old playbook from The Conversation. 

• Award-Winning Journalist Vanessa Beeley Faces “Deplatforming” at Six Canadian Venues by Michael Welch from Global Research (based in Canada). 

• Media bias: Why Putin-Ukraine deal gets no coverage from Rick Sanchez's show on RT America.

Two cynical videos for our entertainment in the last days of our species for Thursday, December 12, 2019

• MSNBC’s Fake Concern For The Climate Crisis, a 7:50m video from Lee Camps show Redacted Tonight via YouTube.

• Obama/Bush/Trump Lied Repeatedly About Afghan War-- Documents Reveal, a 27:04m video from The Jimmy Dore Show via YouTube.

Posts that I especially recommend for yesterday and today: Wednesday, December 11, 2019

• NIST Publishes New FAQ on Its Refusal to Release Key Building 7 Data by Ted Walter from Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth.

• Trump-Pelosi Trade Maneuvers: USMCA, China Tariffs, & Brazil-Argentina Steel by Jack Rasmus from his weblog. (Note: You will need to know who AMLO is.)

• Human Rights from an Indigenous Perspective by Ollantay Itzamná from Internationalist 360°. 

• The true legacy of US central banker Paul Volcker (1927–2019) by Nick Beams from World Socialist Web Site.

• WADA Sporting Ban is Part of West’s New Cold War Against Russia. This post features an interview with 21st Century Wire's Patrick Henningsen via RT. 

• NATO Secretary General Targets ‘Rising China’: Why Cold War Newspeak Never Went Away by Cynthia Chung from Strategic Culture Foundation.

• The Art of Doublespeak: Bellingcat and Mind Control by Edward Curtin from his weblog. 

• Russiagate media smears against Corbyn brought to you by US and UK military-intelligence apparatus by Ben Norton and Max Blumenthal from The Grayzone.

• The Deep State by Alex Diaz from BSNews (Britain). (Note: More about smearing Corbin.)

• The Most Significant Afghanistan Papers Revelation Is How Difficult They Were To Make Public by Caitlin Johnstone from her weblog.

• How Many Types of “Good” Capitalism Are There? by Shawgi Tell from Dissident Voice. 

• A system that steals from our future by Ian Angus from Climate & Capitalism.

• The portent of runaway greenhouse warming by Andrew Glikson from Arctic News.

Commentary regarding yesterday's post: Wikipedia Fraud EXPOSED

Click here to access article by the "administrator" of Disruptive Fare. 

First, I need to apologize to the activist who sent me this article. It was re-posted on Tyler Durden's Zerohedge which he sent me. I, out of habit, saw that the original post was from Disruptive Fare, and I gave them credit for the post. (Actually, as an aside comment, I have a strong suspicion that both websites are run by the same person or persons.)

I thought the post was very revealing to those who have over the years came to trust Wikipedia as an honest and independent source of information. It still is for many entries, but over the years the website has seen powerful/rich influences that have subverted many entries to serve their interests. All that they needed was a lot of money to hire people to do their subversive work by submitting 500 entries, following their rules of documenting, and qualifying as an "editor". It didn't matter that the documentation was from spurious or self-serving sources. Long ago I saw this weakness and knew that Wikipedia was eventually to succumb to those with vast amounts of money. But that's true of every institution in capitalist society. They and their supporters with their concentrated wealth/power have been harnessed to serve only the interests of the capitalist class: the preservation of their system, the accumulation of wealth, and power.

Fortunately, Karl Marx and his followers have long ago contributed to an understanding of classes and how societies are structured according to the needs of the dominant class. This class analysis is, in my opinion, the greatest of all of his gifts toward the understanding of social and historical development of societies. This commentary intends to use class analysis to understand why the website Disruptive Fare have used this issue of the corruption of Wikipedia.

While perusing the website of Disruptive Fare, I noticed several clues to its class identity: the sidebar that cited stock market data and the supportive passages of Trump's policies, in a addition to the incisive and thorough analysis of the Wikipedia issue. And the latter post attacks some main institutions of capitalist society: CIA and Big Pharma, an industry that has grown to be a self-serving behemoth that interferes with attempts to provide affordable healthcare for all Americans. This take on the issue of Wikipedia frames the issue much like left-wing analysts do--the corruption of a website due to the power and money of concentrated wealth. Yet the "administrator" as an author of the commentary is very supportive of Trump. What gives?

I've long ago pointed to the resentment of the older ruling capitalist class toward the neo-conservatives who have taken over the ruling capitalist class beginning most demonstrably with the Reagan administration. I pointed this out more than five years ago with my commentary to Amed's post "Who the hell are the Henry Jackson Society?" (now located here). I identified this new group of capitalists as neoconservatives who as transnational capitalists under the US Empire were taking over for the transnational ruling capitalist class of the US/Anglo/Zionist Empire. 

Since then there have been signs that the older ruling class, which I will identify as "old-fashioned capitalists", have terrifically resented this takeover. These latter people include Ron Paul, Pat Buchanan, Paul Craig Roberts (he served in the Reagan administration and his comments are always positive in relation to this administration which brought in the "neocons"), Tyler Durden, the Mises Institute, and a host of others. Ron Unz is the latest to establish a website to counter the influence of the neoconservatives by appealing to a variety of ruling class critics and posting their articles. But there is a whiff of antisemitism to his website with increasing references to "Jews" rather than Zionists. This trait, too, is common among old-fashioned conservatives.

What these two capitalist factions have in common is their basic contempt for working people who do not live off of Wall Street stocks and bonds, but instead live off of their labor producing actual goods and services. This theme runs like lace through all of their commentaries mostly by totally ignoring the contributions of working people, the overwhelming majority of people.

I won't belabor this commentary further, but will cite an obviously biased take on the Zerohedge website which can apply to all old-fashioned conservatives.

Two posts that an activist sent me to further your understanding of these difficult times

• This is what mind control looks like uploaded to YouTube by Robert Boudrias.

• Wikipedia Fraud EXPOSED: Troll farms and the CIA have hijacked the once open platform by the "administrator" of Disruptive Fare. (This post needs some analysis; but in general it is quite revealing. I have posted several articles (here, here, here, and here) in the past referring to Wikipedia's subversion by powerful interests. Furthermore, I found the website Disruptive Fare most interesting, but I don't have time today to analyze it--probably tomorrow. For now, look at other posts on his home page--you will need to scroll down past the lead article to view his other posts.)

Posts that I especially recommend today: Monday, December 9, 2019

• “The Cost Of Sanity, In This Society, Is A Certain Level Of Alienation” by Caitlin Johnstone from her weblog.

• Journalist: Newsweek Suppressed OPCW Scandal And Threatened Me With Legal Action by Caitlin Johnstone from her weblog.

• West Point Professor Builds a Case Against the U.S. Army by David Swanson from World Beyond War. 

• On Those Questionable Jobs Numbers….Again! by Jack Rasmus from his weblog. (Note: Is the ruling capitalist class desperate enough to lie to extend their predatory system?)

• Why the UK establishment hates Jeremy Corbyn by Johanna Ross from Brics.

• US and UK military-intelligence apparatus campaigns to destroy Jeremy Corbyn by Ben Norton and Max Blumenthal from The Grayzone.

• The Planned 1933 Fascist Coup in America by Larry Romanoff from Global Research. (Note: For history buffs like myself who have wondered why FDR seemingly colluded to cover up this crucial event.)

• Capitalism versus Life on Earth by Ian Angus from Climate & Capitalism.

Posts that I especially recommend today: Friday, December 6, 2019

While waiting for the ecosystem to collapse, I'm hearing sounds that suggest the destructive iceberg of the US/Anglo/Zionist Empire and its army, NATO, is breaking up. What do you think? Even Canada, the Empire's colony to the north, is part of this noisy background. 

• NATO is “Brain Dead” by Peter Koenig from New Eastern Outlook.

• NATO Splits Reveal Alliance is Redundant, an editorial from the Strategic Culture Foundation.

• Hong Kong — Pure Western Insanity by Peter Koenig from New Eastern Outlook.

• Fake News By Omission :  The Mass Media’s Cowardly Distortion Tool by Caitlin Johnstone from her weblog.

• Bolivia Returned to Being a Country Governed by the U.S., Neo-Nazis and Narcos translated from Misión Verdad and re-posted on Internationalist 360º.

• Latin America: Imperialist Subversion Forges Full Speed Ahead posted on Granma (Cuba) and re-posted on Internationalist 360º (probably safer for you to read).

• Greenland ice melt feeds glacier instability by Tim Radford from Climate News Network.

NATO summit dominated by growing inter-state conflicts

Click here to access article by Alex Lantier from World Socialist Web Site.

Lantier summarizes what I believe are the signs to the collapse of the capitalist US/Anglo/Zionist Empire which rose from the ashes of the German Nazi version of this capitalist Empire. WWII was not fought to end fascism as the Empire's propagandists want you to believe, but the ultimate contest between a German-capitalist led and a British-capitalist led fascist capitalism. The Nazi Empire was originally funded and supported by Western capitalists of all countries, but as soon as they saw Nazis stalled at the gates of Moscow, the capital of a first socialist experiment, they immediately allied themselves with the preservation of the British Empire. The current fascist Empire (in "democratic" clothes) has been the final result of the devastating conflict of WWII. 

But this Empire is seeing its end days. To revise a weather folklore, I believe that the Empire will not go out like a lamb, but like a wounded lion which thrashes around to impress his fellow lions (capitalists) that he is still dominant among the creatures of the earth--think Bolivia and Venezuela after the Syrian debacle. The Fed is stuffing our failing banks with their "printed" money to stave of the massive debts that the Empire has created to impose its dominance on the rest of world. The signs are everywhere.

But let me not assure you that we residents of the Empire will not suffer "the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune". The ensuing series of catastrophes will soon engulf us and end in the extinction of humans. In contrast to this inspiring video we are doomed as a species. We might have changed things back in 2012, but we surely can't while approaching 2020. The artillery of our oceans and skies are so locked and loaded with capitalist-produced carbon that our fate is already decided. 

We are entering a new "brave world" in which our capitalist masters may still be brought to justice--hopefully! For us, this can only be a bitter-sweet reward to see that this class of sociopathic people, who have destroyed ours and so many other species, and whose exploitation of the Earth and all of its working people has brought them so much temporary wealth and power, will finally share in our fate--extinction.

Posts that I especially recommend today: Tuesday, December 3, 2019

(Blogger's note: I have been fighting influenza for nearly a week; so if the posts are not up to the standard of previous ones, I apologize.)

• Leading climate researchers: we are in a climate emergency, facing existential risks by David Spratt from Climate Code Red.

• Failed Action On The Climate Crisis Makes Resistance Imperative by Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese from Popular Resistance.

• The fantasy world continues by Michael Roberts from his weblog.

• Venezuela's Counter-Attack by Eric Striker from National Justice.

• Technocracy now: The US is working to turn Lebanon’s anti-corruption protests against Hezbollah [part 1 of 2] by Rania Khalek from The Grayzone.

• Crack down on genomic surveillance by Yves Moreau from Nature.