Latest articles
by Yves Engler / October 22nd, 2022
Real internationalism requires a proper assessment of global power dynamics, capacity to see through stark media bias and willingness to hold one’s own government accountable. As such, it trips up liberals who fundamentally trust the media and worry about being isolated from power.
Recently Chrystia Freeland delivered a speech at the influential Brookings Institute in Washington DC where she laid out the case for “friend-shoring” and building a new alliance of democracies. In the question period Freeland responded to an attendee’s question about Ukraine drawing resources that may have otherwise gone to his West African country by telling him Africans …
by Roger Stoll / October 21st, 2022
On October 12, 2022, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) passed a resolution rejecting the accession to Russia of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia regions in Ukraine.
The resolution is titled, “Territorial Integrity of Ukraine: Defending the Principles of the Charter of the United Nations.” It reads, in part:
[The UNGA] Declares that the unlawful actions of the Russian Federation with regard to the illegal so-called referendums held from 23 to 27 September 2022 in parts of the Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine that, in part, are or have been under the temporary military control of the …
by Robert Hunziker / October 21st, 2022
Imagine the impact of a United States white-glove clean power system with costs benefits to individual homeowners in a Virtual Power Plant network (VPP) extending coast-to-coast with every household, en mass, involved in electrical power generation for the entire nation.
It’s coming. It’s a future where everybody benefits as greenhouse gas emissions such as CO2 dissipate as homeowner electric bills shrink and utility grid brownouts and blackouts cease. It’s a sun-worshipping wonderland of clean energy that works without intermittency 24/7. And, it’s coming, quietly but surely.
A prototype in New England has already proven hugely successful. Sunrun, a global leader in solar …
by Allen Forrest / October 21st, 2022
I have no doubt that the C19 shots are our modern holocaust, which will cost more human lives than WW2. The implementation of Agenda 2030 is rapidly accelerating. Many people stand on the sidelines and do nothing. They just say – “wake me up when this is over”. Their inaction contributes to the rapid, insidious progression of the globalist agenda.
— Vera Sharav, holocaust survivor and founder of Alliance for Human Research Protection
by Ralph Nader / October 21st, 2022
Imagine Donald Trump dining with two of his supposed political advisers. Being an advisor to Donald means you soak up Donald’s political comments and feed them back to him. At this dinner, Donald was spouting off about the Democratic Party.
“Hey guys, know why the GOP is ahead in the polls?” “Why?” the two advisors replied in unison. Donald responded, “Because the Democrats are busy losing all by themselves, backtracking out of fear. Fearing a Party they are supposed to be fighting is what I call ‘beating themselves.’”
“Tell us more,” urged the two advisers.
“The Democrats are beyond stupid. They’ve contracted out …
Enter Boris Johnson -- Again?
by Peter Koenig / October 21st, 2022
After just six weeks in Office, the UK Prime Minister, Liz Truss – a Tory – quits. The shortest ever PM in British history. Rumors have it that Boris Johnson, her immediate predecessor – may also be the favored candidate as her successor.
Boris Johnson and Liz Truss. Composite: PA/Getty images
Could well be.
It would be a little-veiled game.
And as usual, no coincidence; not that Boris resigned, not that Liz Truss entered, nor that she resigned after only a short period. And it will not be coincidence …
“Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living”
by Mickey Z. / October 21st, 2022
(credit: Clare Yaffa)
What if I told you this story connected poverty, Tony Fauci, the Military-Industrial Complex, the Prison-Industrial Complex, crack, the Civil War, Covid, AIDS, Lou Reed, and my grandfather — and that’s just for starters?
Hart Island is located at the western end of the Long Island Sound, off the coast of the northeastern Bronx. Despite being only one mile long and 1/3 mile wide, it’s home to more than one million souls. It could be the tenth most populous city in …
by Don Fitz / October 21st, 2022
The suffering of US women under the iron heel of abortion is intensifying, especially for women of color. This makes it imperative to closely examine possible paths forward. As a teenager during the 1960s I witnessed two political paths that remain imprinted on my mind.
LBJ and 14 (b)
Even before classes began in 1963, I had organized the first high school Young Democrats chapter in Texas. By 1964 Houston Young Democrats were attending rallies for presidential candidate Lyndon B. Johnson, carrying signs reading “All the Way with LBJ – Repeal 14 …
by Binoy Kampmark / October 20th, 2022
When are you going to govern? The only thing you have governed for the past year is your own survival.
— Jess Phillips, Labour MP, October 20, 2022
British politics has revealed hidden depths, each one being sought as each prime minister succumbs. The announcement by Liz Truss that she would be resigning came after a mere 45 days in office. In terms of duration, this would make her the shortest serving PM since the Tory George Canning, who died of tuberculosis in August 1827 after holding office for 119 days.
The sequence of events from the moment Truss entered Downing Street on …
by Paul Haeder / October 20th, 2022
There’s so much to unpack when it comes to propaganda propagating a society, or in this case, the collective west, that is collectively insane. “Amazing” is not really the operative word, since there are so many allusions to and examples of “good Germans” throughout the collective west, even before Hitler and Bernays and Goebbels and hasbara.
Milgram experiment, remember?
The experiments began in July 1961, a year after the trial of Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem. Milgram devised the experiment to answer the question:
‘Could it be that Eichmann and his million accomplices in the Holocaust were just following orders? Could we call them …
by Mickey Z. / October 20th, 2022
Yellow Fever hit New York City in the late eighteenth century. The Big Apple population at the time was 60,000 and over the course of five years, eight percent of those New Yorkers succumbed to the disease (or related malfeasance).
Adjust that ratio for 2022 and the death count would approach 675,000.
Yellow fever is described by the always trustworthy World Health Organization as “an acute viral hemorrhagic disease transmitted by infected mosquitoes.” It can incubate in your body for up to 6 days but is often asymptomatic. If symptoms do arise, mild …
by Ramzy Baroud / October 19th, 2022
This headline in the Israeli newspaper, the Jerusalem Post, only tells part of the story: “The Lions’ Den, Other Palestinian Groups are Endless Headache for Israel, PA.”
It is true that both the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority are equally worried about the prospect of a widespread armed revolt in the Occupied West Bank, and that the newly formed Nablus-based brigade, the Lions’ Den, is the epicenter of this youth-led movement.
However, the growing armed resistance in the West Bank is causing more than a mere ‘headache’ for Tel Aviv and Ramallah. If this phenomenon continues to grow, it could threaten …
by Bertrand Renouvin / October 19th, 2022
Four years ago, Coralie Delaume published a book whose title was a provocation – The Franco-German Couple Doesn’t Exist: How Europe has become Germany and why that will not last. Taken by illness in December 2020, Coralie has not lived to confirm the pertinence of her prediction.
The false couple, where each party cultivates from its own side the illusory virtues of an imaginary model, is today confronted with a flagrant failure. Yes, it has not lasted. At Berlin, the givers of lessons are confronted with inflation in two figures and the prospect of a recession harshly marked by shortages.
Reputedly …
by David Penner / October 19th, 2022
Everyone is the other and no one is himself.
— Martin Heidegger, Being and Time, 1927
The Branch Covidian putsch is the most heinous crime ever perpetrated in the history of medicine, and some would argue, in the history of the world. Its success is attributable to the strong presence of Nazi bioethics within the ranks of Western physicians, as well as a broad base of support from the ranks of neoliberals. This inhuman cult dogma, so destructive to the human spirit and antithetical to democracy, is anchored in a contempt for informed consent, and is fueled by careerism, hubris, blind obedience, …
Why the Linear Political Spectrum is Bankrupt
by Bruce Lerro / October 19th, 2022
Orientation
The linear political spectrum is bankrupt! How does it explain why socialist China is making alliances with capitalist Russia and even with fundamentalist Saudi Arabia? Why is it that so-called socialist Social Democrats support imperialist United States rather than socialist China? Why is it that right-wing fundamentalist states like India and Brazil are supporting Russia and socialist China instead of being rabid anti-communists? The linear political spectrum is not just simplistic. It serves the interests of neoliberals and New Deal liberals as we shall see.
All over the world, centrist parties are …
by Binoy Kampmark / October 19th, 2022
Sports stars are often adored like dumb show animals, suitably pretty, happily disposed to the cause they are paid for. For the FIFA Men’s World Cup being held in Qatar next month, football can count on the face of former English star David Beckham as its prized animal. This month, the principle-free player signed a 10-year contract worth £150 million to be the state’s culture and tourism ambassador.
For a Gulf state with an appalling human rights record, be it in terms of mistreating migrant workers, discriminating against women and criminalising homosexuality, this was quite a coup. In a …
Watch it free on October 18!
by Mickey Z. / October 18th, 2022
The scariest movie of the Halloween season is here…
From Children’s Heath Defense:
Throughout the pandemic, the truth has always been here.
Organized forces have worked diligently to suppress the truth and misrepresent data. We have seen them consistently demonstrate a real and blatant disregard for true science.
Their continual suppression of truth threatens our democracy, our health, and our freedoms.
Soon, you will have the opportunity to see suppressed evidence, learn of Fauci’s disastrous COVID-19 pandemic response, understand his deep conflicts of interest with the pharmaceutical …
and other questions related to the fluoridation chemicals being added to U.S. water supplies
by Jenny Miller / October 18th, 2022
1. Why would anyone be opposed to water fluoridation? Doesn’t fluoride occur in the water naturally anyway?
The fluoride products used in water fluoridation (sodium fluoride or fluorosilicic acid) are classified as hazardous waste products of the fertilizer, aluminum, and nuclear industries. They are even more toxic than naturally-occurring fluoride, since they contain other components, such as arsenic, lead, barium, and/or aluminum.
Water fluoridation also causes more lead to be leached from pipes into the water supply.
However, even naturally-occurring fluoride, in areas with high concentrations (over 1 ppm) has …
by William Manson / October 17th, 2022
A few decades ago, responding to the growing market for improved anti-depressant drugs, several drug companies developed “selective-serotonin re-uptake inhibitors” (Prozac, Zoloft, etc.). While under its exclusive patent (20 years), a new drug is expensively-priced, thus generating huge profits for its maker. (This accounts for the constant introduction of new drugs which, despite claims to the contrary, may not be any more effective than their now-generic precursors.) Nonetheless, the SSRIs, with fewer side-effects, seemed a distinct advance. The drugs focused on the neurotransmitter serotonin: by inhibiting its re-absorption, the drugs artificially prolonged its active circulation in the brain, thus modulating …
by Daniel Borgström / October 17th, 2022
A lot has been going on at KPFA/Pacifica, much of it bad or not so great. So brace for the bad news.
An election for the LSB (Listener Station Board) was scheduled for this year, but it didn’t happen. Pacifica didn’t have funds for it. As you probably know, Pacifica is in a dire financial crisis. The situation is not improving. Of the 5 Pacifica stations, KPFA is doing the best, it’s surviving, but not doing great. It’s not meaningfully increasing the listenership.
Is radio utterly passé? Can this radio network …
by Robert Hunziker / October 17th, 2022
A mysterious uptick in atmospheric methane (CH4) was first detected 15 years ago. Of major concern, CH4 is a potent greenhouse gas that’s ~80 times greater than CO2. It’s like a turbo-charged booster heating up the planet. It is a climate change event that keeps scientists up at night, sleepless bouts of tossing, turning, sitting up, screaming on occasion.
“In the past few years, however, that uptick has accelerated into a surge. The implications for global warming are immense.” ((L. Hook and C. Campbell, “Methane Hunters: What Explains the Surge in the Potent Greenhouse Gas?” Financial Times, August 22, 2022.))
Every year …
by Ramzy Baroud / October 17th, 2022
The moment that Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba was ousted by his own former military colleague, Captain Ibrahim Traore, pro-coup crowds filled the streets. Some burned French flags, others carried Russian flags. This scene alone represents the current tussle underway throughout the African continent.
A few years ago, the discussion regarding the geopolitical shifts in Africa was not exactly concerned with France and Russia per se. It focused mostly on China’s growing economic role and political partnerships on the African continent. For example, Beijing’s decision to establish its first overseas military base in Djibouti in 2017 signaled China’s major geopolitical …
by Binoy Kampmark / October 17th, 2022
The Tory Party is like a knight dying in his armour.
— Peter Hitchens, Mail on Sunday, October 16, 2022
Liz Truss is proving to be the architect of her own spectacular demise. She laid the mines in a fit of drunken ecstasy and decided to skip across them with an almost childish arrogance that has stunned her own party members. Along the way, a few have gone off, doing her what can only be regarded as terminal political damage.
The effort to shift sole responsibility for the abysmal economic plan on tax cuts outlined in the “mini-Budget” to her Chancellor suggested a …
A debate
by Pedro Aibéo, John Keane and Saskia Sassen / October 17th, 2022
Can we, as limited cognitive beings, ever be able to cope with the growing complexity of cities and be a part of its decision-making structure or are we doomed to go into an automated democracy?
One thing we can say about a city, unlike a power regime, is that cities have very long lives. They may suffer massive destruction, but they recover in a way that a king etc might not. Cities are resilient. ((Fraccascia, L., Giannoccaro, I., & Albino, V. “Resilience of complex systems: state of the art and directions for future research,” Complexity, 2018. “A common property of many …
Short and Long and of United States’ Destruction of the Palestinian People
by Dan Lieberman / October 16th, 2022
The Short Letter
Dear President Barack Obama,
You entered office with a call “for a new start to relations between the Muslim world and the West based on common interests and mutual understanding and respect.” We assumed your statement and dedication to social justice would orient your administration policies into halting Israel’s oppression of the Palestinian people and finding an equitable solution to the Middle East crisis.
During your eight years in the Executive office, the destruction of the Palestinian people continued unimpeded. In September 2016, less than two months before a national election …
As imagined
by Allen Forrest / October 16th, 2022
“You can’t depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.” — Mark Twain, “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court”
by Eric Zuesse / October 16th, 2022
by Peter Koenig / October 16th, 2022
To the superficial observer, it may be a blessing the despots and dictators, human rights abusers, like Argentina’s Mauricio Macri, Colombia’s Iván Duque; Ecuador’s Lenin Moreno; Chile’s Sebastián Piñera; to name just a few, are gone, have disappeared from the Latin American political arena, in what was made believe to be democratic elections.
Good, you may think. These countries have a better future ahead. So, who are the new “leaders” of just these four “demo-countries”?
Argentina: Alberto Fernández; label “center-left”;
Colombia: Gustavo Petro; label “left”;
Ecuador: Guillermo Lasso; officially described as “the country’s first center-right president in nearly two decades”. What a lie! Moreno …
by Visualizing Palestine / October 15th, 2022
How oppression affects food sovereignty.
by Allen Forrest / October 15th, 2022
What will one notice going on around one self when not gazing into one’s own hand-held device?
