The Oil Road: Journeys from the Caspian Sea to the City of London

Click here to access article by Dominic Alexander from CounterFire (Britain). 

The author's review of this book suggests that it sheds much light on the complex workings of giant energy corporations in controlling the political processes of nation states to secure the interests of the One Percent--power and wealth--at the expense of local populations.

Observations threaded through the narrative of this book show the primary importance of political and economic power relations in constructing the precise ways in which the oil industry contrives to make such a valuable, basic commodity into a source of violence, local environmental and social destruction, and, of course, war.

6 Ways Our Supreme Court Has Defiled Our Constitution

Click here to access article by Gary Corseri from Uncommon Thought Journal.

American writer Corseri gives us some history lessons about how one branch of our government has well served the interests of the One Percent ruling class. You won't get this material in the schools controlled by this class, so it is a must read if you want to free yourself from class based indoctrination.

However, I must take issue with his headline which suggests that the US Constitution was essentially defiled. Here I am addressing the original constitution as proposed by the propertied elite after their successful conclusion of the War of Independence from Britain. The ten amendments were added to the property focused document as icing to their cake because of the widespread opposition voiced by ordinary people throughout the 13 states. Yes, a "spoonful of sugar [does help] the medicine go down". The amendments served as an inducement to quell this opposition so that the elite could get on with plundering their new continent. 

And, plunder and exploit they did, both the natural riches of the land and the energy and creativity of its inhabitants--except, of course, the original inhabitants, the Native Americans who were shunted off onto worthless lands. The story of plundering and exploiting has been the sordid history of these United States during which time the elite's Supreme Court ignored or interpreted the 10 amendments to suit their purposes.

Digital Grab: Corporate Power Has Seized the Internet

Click here to access article by Norman Solomon from Global Research.

Huge corporations are now running roughshod over the Internet. At the illusion-shattering core of Digital Disconnect are a pair of chapters on what corporate power has already done to the Internet — the relentless commercialism that stalks every human online, gathering massive amounts of information to target people with ads; the decimation of privacy; the data mining and surveillance; the direct cooperation of Internet service providers, search engine companies, telecomm firms and other money-driven behemoths with the U.S. military and “national security” state; the ruthless insatiable drive, led by Apple, Google, Microsoft and other digital giants, to maximize profits.

People so often forget, or never understood, that a social system consists of many subsystems all of which must be mostly compatible with the major organizing system of a society. In our contemporary societies this organizing system is capitalism. It was established by a certain class of people who became known as capitalists for their benefit. Hence, it is not surprising that the world wide web has gradually developed into mainly a vehicle for the private accumulation of wealth. Still it provides a very useful vehicle for social change; and to the extent it does so, we will see increasing attacks made against the dissemination of information that even questions the major organizing system.

The society of commodity

Click here to access article by Efor from Eagainst (Greece).

There is much food for thought here. Consumerism drives the profit machinery of capitalism, but it also impacts our minds.

Mass societies produce individuals who instead of undertaking political responsibilities and initiatives, become addicted to following and voting for the political choices someone else has prepared for them, exactly as they don’t  get to decide what kind of goods they want to produce, how to produce them or in which way they want to distribute them.

The Madness of America’s Arabs

Click here to access article by Ibrahim al-Amin editor of Al Akhbar. 

This writer exposes the results of Empire strategy of using Arabs against Arabs.

Suddenly, the Arabs have all been exposed. There are no major countries left in the Arab world.

In the Arms of Dictators: America the Great… Global Arms Dealer

Click here to access article by Andrew Gavin Marshall from his website. 

If you want to know the details of one section of the US economy that is booming, you need to read this report. All empires require the use of force to rule, and with 30 percent of the global market, the US governing class together with other governing sections of the Empire are determined to maintain their hegemony over most of the world. 

...geographical trivialities have never been a concern to imperialists who believe that the world belongs to them and it was a mere accident of history that all the resources exist outside of the empire’s home country. Therefore, with such a rationalization, the United States – and the West more broadly – have a “right” to “defend” themselves (and their economic and political interests) everywhere in the world, and against everyone in the world. Any other nation which poses a challenge to Western domination of the world and its resources is thus a “threat” to whichever region it belongs, as well as to U.S. “national security.”

While there is much discussion of restricting the sale of arms within the US mostly by liberal-left activist groups who have essentially made the practice of non-violence into a religion, there seems to be no debate about the lucrative business of supplying the worst dictatorships, terrorist groups, and drug dealers throughout the world with weapons.

See also this article entitled "Mexico: study says arms smuggling keeps US dealers in business". 

Confirmed: US Shipping Weapons to Syria - Al Nusra's "Mystery" Sponsors Revealed

Click here to access article by Tony Cartalucci from Land Destroyer Report.

The author refers to a recent report from the NY Times which confirms earlier reports from a variety of sources that the Empire is sponsoring terrorist groups in Syria. This is a deliberate strategy that Empire agents have used in the past to destabilize countries. It's called the Salvador Option. Although tried out earlier in the Vietnam War, it was perfected in El Salvador to create chaos so that the people could not effectively fight against Empire-backed forces. 

If you need further information on this diabolical strategy, I suggest reading this, this, this, and this.

Fortune’s fools

Click here to access article by Phil Rockstroh from Intrepid Report. 

This poet and philosopher always has me running to my (online) dictionary whenever I read his articles. But, I'm always rewarded with special insights so creatively expressed. In this piece he expounds on some insights he has had following the recent birth of his son.

As of late, my darkest thoughts and angst-engendered imaginings have involved the following: The ecological debasement of the earth, the ongoing degradation of daily life within U.S. society, and the attenuated destiny of the individual under the yoke of late stage, global capitalism. My ruminations have been, in large measure, engendered and inflamed by the following: On Tuesday, Feb. 26, of this year, a son was born to my wife, Angela and myself.

 The main insight I take away from this is that, in order to save ourselves, we must dig down deep within our souls by paying attention to the "sounds" that our souls make regarding our present ominous circumstances. By turning away from the many distractions that capitalist sources supply us with, and learning to listen to these messages from within, we can find our way out of this dangerous mess.

Deep down, your life’s calling is encoded within you. Throughout your lifetime, it will arise as inchoate yearnings, reveal itself as implausible daydreams, or as dream-borne symbols that seem, in regard to your daytime exigencies, abstruse or useless. You may know it as a hollow ache in your chest. Or a nettling voice, in the recesses of your awareness, that asks, “how did it come to this?”

George Carlin, Muse of the 99%: The Legacy of a Truth Teller

Click here to access article by Nozomi Hayase from culture unplugged.

Hayase re-posted this classic video clip and her commentary on its significance.

In the past people laughed at, and were entertained by, Carlin's scathing attack on the fantasies surrounding the propaganda theme known as "the American dream". Now they are no longer laughing. They are waking up in increasing numbers to realize that Carlin wasn't joking!

How to overcome the Climate Crisis?

Click here to access article by Pablo Solón from Climate Space. 

...we need to come out of the endless growth paradigm that is the basis of the capitalist system, and seek for a new kind of society that is grounded on care for each other and nature. A society that seeks happiness for all and not profit for a few. A society based on a different concept of prosperity and well-being. A bio-society for life that includes humans and nature.

What worries me the most is that too many of us will passively accept the lies of people addicted to a system of endless growth, and will not fight for humanity's survival.

We are in a fight that we cannot lose. It is the fight for the survival of all humanity. In this long struggle for our future, we can and should fight for concrete goals that can invigorate our movement. Closing a coal mine, stopping a pipeline and a fracking project, banning GMOs, taxing carbon and over consumption, killing a free trade agreement[2], dismantling a military base, confronting corporate impunity, preserving indigenous territories, sinking carbon markets, stopping the privatization of water, ending land grabbing, occupying financial speculative markets and numerous other targets are all  milestones in this crucial fight.

President Obama’s Second Term

Click here to access article by James Petras from his website. 

This retired sociology professor provides a grand overview of US administration policies from Clinton until today as a basis for predicting what is likely to happen in the near future.

In contrast to other geo-political analysts such as Noam Chomsky who see a convergence of interests between more traditional US imperialists and American-Israeli Zionists, he argues that US foreign policy is driven mainly by Zionists ensconced in key government and media positions, a political force he often refers to as a Zionist "fifth column".

No US leader, past or present (or any other imperial ruler), has so faithfully echoed and embellished the lies of such a bloody colonial power and its US-based Fifth Column with greater fervor than Obama’s degrading effort to satisfy his Zionist handlers in Washington. His performance far exceeded their highest expectations of US servility. In style and substance he fulfilled and over-fulfilled their demands for unconditional US subordination to the Jewish state. In fact, one might suspect that in doing so he set a new standard for the boot-licking belly crawl so familiar to observers of US Congressional servants to Israel. Needless to say, the entire Zionist propaganda apparatus from neo-cons to liberals were ecstatic. Here was a Shabbat goy out-Zionizing the most fanatical Zionist.

I'm sure Obama's handlers directed him to perform his recent (and past) "bootlicking" exercise in his visit to the Empire's powerful outpost in the Middle East, Fort Israel, but one can hardly argue that there is total US conformance to Israeli goals when the latter have failed for a number of years to get US to attack Iran. And, they have not initiated their own attack obviously because they could not count on US support. The truth lies somewhere in the middle between the views of Chomsky and Petras, but I would not be surprised if reality was not closer to Petras' view.

Writing for Revolution: A Crash Course in Contemplating the World

Click here to access article by Andrew Gavin Marshall from his website. 

This Montreal based activist-writer has chosen to serve us with his intellectual gifts instead of a much more secure and lucrative career in academia which mostly serves the One Percent. We simply must support him, and others like him!

Kerry Demands Iraq Stop “Arms Flow” to Syria even as US Arms/Funds Al Qaeda

Click here to access article from Land Destroyer.

The article essentially describes another example of unintended consequences of imperial actions. The US imperial masters after the successful and criminal invasion of Iraq set up what they thought would be a compliant puppet government overwhelming dominated by Shiites. It appears that this was done in part out of retaliation against the Sunni-based Bath party that previously led Iraq, but mostly as a divide and rule strategy to promote inter-sect antagonisms. (Giving the Iraqi Kurdistan province nearly complete autonomy was a part of this strategy.) Imperial masters seemed to have overlooked the fact that Shiites are dominant in other Empire adversaries in the Middle East: Iran and Syria. Now it appears that Iraqi Shiites have been assisting their fellow Shiites in Syria, and the imperial masters are hypocritically crying "foul".  

Geoengineering Is a Dangerous Solution to Climate Change

Click here to access article by Rachel Smolker from Huffington Post.

The capitalist system requires the use of fossil fuels to run its engines of never-ending growth. Their ruling class can no longer deny the fact of rapid global warming stemming from the use of fossil fuels. So what do they do? They will not be deterred from operating the system which gives them so much power and wealth, so they are now promising a geo-engineering fix. 

Carbon dioxide air capture and biochar, despite their potentially massive impacts in terms of energy, water and land requirements, are among the geoengineering proposals that are considered more benign. They are being promoted in part to soften up public opinion for other more intuitively objectionable forms of geo-engineering, such as spraying vast amounts of sulphur particles into the stratosphere or manipulating clouds over large areas.

Those approaches would indeed be guaranteed to produce rapid effects. Among them: immediate crop-failures, acid rain and ozone destruction. In sum, geoengineering options amount to "picking your poison."

Banks versus the People: the Underside of a Rigged Game! (Part 7) The Mockery of Banking Discipline

Click here to access article by Éric Toussaint from the Committee for the Abolition of Third World Debt. 

Letting bankers police themselves in order to prevent economic crises is very much like letting foxes guard the hen-house. This is essentially the conclusion reached by this author as spelled out in his final paragraph after a piercing analysis of the various anemic proposals put forth by agents of the gargantuan banking institutions who now rule the world. His final sentence contains a heretical, but obvious recommendation:

Since banks use our money, enjoy state guarantees, and must provide the fundamental services society needs they must be socialised and placed under citizen’s control.

EU Caught Playing Dirty and it’s all about Russian Gas

Click here to access article from OilPrice.

The article provides a rather convincing behind-the-scenes analysis of the forces at play in the banking crisis in Cyprus.

Oil and gas, that’s all it’s ever been about …

There was a lot going on this week, but it’s all being overshadowed by the fascinating geopolitical game over Cyprus. This is a stage on which a country’s pending financial collapse hinges explicitly on its hydrocarbons potential, and whoever turns up with aid will win access to exploration blocks.  

International Recruiting of Syria Mercenaries in Africa and Asia by Al-Qaeda continues

Click here to access article by Christof Lehmann from nsnbc.

The author provides more sources of evidence for widespread allegations... 

...that organized recruiting is taking place, targeting especially the socio-economically under privileged youth and unemployed in the Maghreb, but also in Asia.

And, who do you imagine are hiring the recruiters?

Richard Wolff on Capitalism’s Destructive Power

Click here if you wish to access the transcript of this 30:22m video segment of this week's Bill Moyers PBS TV program. 

This is one half of his program, the other being an interview with Sheila Bair who once served as chairman of the FDIC, one of the regulatory agencies of the government. She, like several people in government, express a sense of frustration and powerlessness with regard to regulating banks-- they are much too powerful in their eyes. 

I find this segment featuring an interview with Prof. Richard Wolff much more interesting. It is, indeed, rare when anyone is allowed to question capitalism in media controlled directly by the ruling class or indirectly through their government controlled media as is the case here. Moyers hints at this in his concluding statement: "This is all very provocative and very controversial." These are code words to indicate that the material discussed is "verboten" in capitalist polite society. You, see, capitalism functions very much like a religion: one can be excommunicated, that is, punished in a variety of ways if one is critical of the fundamental tenets of the religion--private ownership and control of the economy being a cornerstone of capitalism. I hope that Moyers is not fired by PBS as essentially happened before. 

However, Wolff is careful not to use words like "revolution" or "socialism" and seems to suggest that worker cooperatives can be set up on a large scale legally within the capitalist system. This, of course, is nonsense. Capitalists can, and do, tolerate occasional such enterprises, but not on any scale that threatens their rule.  But, he does argue that our current economic problems are "systemic" and for the principle of democratic control of enterprises, and that sort of argument is bordering on blasphemy.

My point is that workers ought to be-- all of us who work in an office, a factory or a store—ought to be in the position of participating in the decisions governing that enterprise. And I do that not only because I believe in democracy. And let me say that if you do believe in democracy, it's always been a mystery to me why that democracy that you believe in doesn't apply to the place where you work. After all, five out of seven days of every week, most of your adult life, you're at work.

Hey Iraqis: How’s that “Liberation” Stuff Workin’ Out For Ya?

Click here to access article by Kevin Carson from CounterPunch.

There have been many writers who, on this 10th anniversary, have made a critical examination of the US invasion of Iraq, however in my opinion this is among the best.

A Tale of Two Londons

Click here to access article by Nicholas Shaxson from Vanity Fair. 

There was a time when I posted articles every Saturday on the rich and powerful mostly as revealed through the eyes of Jamie Johnson who frequently wrote for Vanity Fair. But, alas, when the Occupy movement in the US took off in 2011 with their protests against the "One Percent", Johnson's column was dropped from this publication. 

Johnson, an heir to the Johnson & Johnson fortune, has made two excellent films (Born Rich and The One Percent) about the über-rich whom he knows intimately. The rich have always tried to keep a low profile for obvious reasons, and Jamie suffered a lot of criticism for exposing aspects of their lives that they don't want ordinary mortals to know about. 

In this piece we learn about where today's rich (and powerful) like to keep their money away from meddlesome ordinary people and their strange laws that prohibit capitalist methods of stealing and tax evasion: it is the City of London, a semi-private corporation that rules over a section in the center of greater London (see map). This oasis of capitalism has a rich history dating back some 800 years, yet few ordinary Americans know about it. This article will fill you in on many of the details.

...to understand why so much of the world’s money goes to London in the first place, you need to go back hundreds of years, to the emergence of what must be the most peculiar, the oldest, the least understood, and perhaps one of the most important institutions in the menagerie of global finance: the City of London Corporation. It is the local authority for “the Square Mile,” the pocket of prime financial real estate centered on the Bank of England and located about three miles to the east of Knightsbridge, along the Thames River. But the corporation is also much more, its identity embedded in—and slightly apart from—the British nation-state. The corporation has its own constitution, “rooted in the ancient rights and privileges enjoyed by citizens before the Norman Conquest, in 1066,” and its own lord mayor of London—not to be confused with the mayor of London, who runs the Greater London metropolis, with its eight million inhabitants.

....

The City Corporation and closely linked think tanks issue streams of publications explaining why finance should be less tethered by taxes and regulation. The corporation also has its own official lobbyist, with the delightfully medieval-sounding name of The Remembrancer (currently one Paul Double), lodged permanently in Britain’s Parliament. Local elections in the City are unlike any other in Britain: multi-national corporations vote alongside and vastly outnumber the tiny borough’s 7,400 human residents.

Over the centuries the City has thrived, thanks to a simple advantage: it has had money to lend when governments or monarchs needed it.