The Base Heather Stroud
Truth Before Reconciliation: Confronting Residential School Denialism Sean Carleton and Niigaanwewidam James Sinclair (Eds)
Wired for Authoritarianism: American Oligarchies and How to Re-Wire America for the People Charles Derber
The Political Economy of Dissent Peter Blunt
Obsolete: The AI Industry’s Trillion Dollar Race to Replace You–and How to Stop It Garrison Lovely
What I Saw in Ukraine: 2015-2022: Diary of an International Observer Benoit Paré
At the Lost and Found: Personal & Political Dispatches of Resistance and Hope Edward Curtin
Class War, Then and Now: Essays toward a New Left Chris Wright
America's Hijacked Peace Dividend: Long Overdue and Immediately Payable John Rachel
Mind Abuse: Media Violence and Its Threat to Democracy Rose Dyson
During the 2016 US election period, Russia was accorded intense attention. Hillary Clinton took a belligerent stance vis-à-vis Russia, while Donald Trump took a more diplomatic stance.
Trump emerged victorious. Following his inauguration speech a choice became apparent for international relations and the direction a nation may pursue.
Trump has been a mixed bag from a Chinese viewpoint. He has nixed the Trans Pacific Partnership from which Obama sought to exclude China. And Trump has come out as skeptical to American bases, such as in Japan and …
Refugee is a song that speaks to the plight of millions of desperate people forced from their homes, cities or countries as a result of endless conflict, most of which is sponsored in whole or in part by external forces. Whether from Syria, Afghanistan, Libya, Iraq, or Yemen, these people flee in mass (primarily to the “West”) where most face continuing hardship and hostility from their hosts.
— One Earth
The Guardian reports 30 January that the White House has defended its omission of Jews and antisemitism from a statement remembering the Holocaust by saying that Donald Trump’s administration “took into account all of those who suffered”.
In practice the conservative ‘reactionary’ president has succeeded where ultra progressive Jackie Walker failed. Walker was suspended from the Labour Party a few months ago for pointing out that the Holocaust Memorial Day was not wide-ranging enough to include other genocides.
On International Holocaust Remembrance Day last Friday, the White House ‘failed’ …
In an important recent book, the Indian writer Amitav Ghosh refers to the present era of corporate-driven climate crisis as “The Great Derangement”. For almost 12,000 years, since the last Ice Age, humanity has lived through a period of relative climate stability known as the Holocene. When Homo sapiens shifted, for the most part, from a nomadic hunter-gatherer existence to an agriculture-based life, towns and cities grew, humans went into space and the global population shot up to over seven billion people.
Today, many scientists believe that we have effectively entered a new geological …
The diary of this particular US administration is bound to be heavy with incident. Executive orders are now coming out of the Trump administration at pace, and the question of whether they will compel obedience or not looms. In many parts of the US, the answers have already been determined in advance. As ever, it is the US legal system that has stepped in, with flocks of legal eagles ready to add their bit to the unfolding chaos.
One of the hottest issues remains immigration and the fantasy of controlling it in the name of security. As President Donald Trump promised …
The mindlessness is unbearable. Amnesty International tells us that we must “fight the Muslim ban” because Trump’s bigotry is wrecking lives. Anthony Dimaggio at CounterPunch says Trump should be impeached because his Islamophobia is a threat to the Constitution. This is not to single out these two as the mindlessness is everywhere among those whose worldview is defined by Identity Politics.
One might think that Amnesty International should be fighting against the Bush/Cheney/Obama regime wars that have produced the refugees by killing and displacing millions of Muslims. For example, the ongoing war that Obama inflicted on Yemen results in the death …
China Rising: Capitalist Roads, Socialist Destinations
Pivot to AsiaAmerica is no longer a superpower and every American election produces presidents with no idea where the problems lie:
The reality is that the estimated cost of overdue maintenance across America’s aging infrastructure system by 2020 is $3.6 trillion; its NASA’s scientists and astronauts are mostly in their 50s and 60s. On top of that, it is so cash poor that it has to rely on its enemy, Russia (a country still under US sanctions), to transport its oldest …
In his latest piece, Paul Craig Roberts poses and answers his rhetorical question: What became of the left? His answer is that “the European and American left, which traditionally stood for the working class and peace (bread and peace) no longer exists.”
Not a terrible answer since he defined the Left. But the Left does exist. The Left has just been extremely marginalized, and it has been rebranded elsewhere, a rebranding to which Roberts is somewhat gullible.
States Roberts,
The cause championed by those who pretend to be the “left” …
One of the conspicuous absences from the sound and fury last weekend’s protests was the impending executive act of President Donald Trump affirming the US exit from the Trans-Partnership Agreement. Not that that was much in doubt: it had not been ratified nor voted upon in Congress, and that particular body had been cooling towards it.
It was a blow in favour of the populist platform, sharpened by debates on the Left and Right of the political spectrum. It was more than a generous nod to the collective campaigns that had effectively reshaped and kitted out the anti-globalisation effort with teeth. …
During his inaugural speech, President Trump clearly and forcefully outlined the strategic political-economic policies he will pursue over the next four years. Anti-Trump journalist, editorialists, academics and experts, who appear in the Financial Times, New York Times, Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal have repeatedly distorted and lied about the President’s program as well as his critique of existing and past policies.
We will begin by seriously discussing President Trump’s critique of the contemporary political economy and proceed to elaborate on his alternatives and its weaknesses.
President Trump’s …
Here’s why I ask. Maddow devotes many minutes on MSNBC stirring up hatred of Russia in order to establish that there is a vague possibility that President Donald Trump might be corrupted by a foreign government.
But that’s already established beyond any doubt. China’s state-owned Industrial and Commercial Bank of China is the largest tenant in Trump Tower. It is also a major lender to Trump. Its rent payments and its loans put Trump in violation of the U.S. Constitution. Every building approval, extension of credit, tax break, subsidy, or waiver of normal rules that Trump’s businesses get from numerous foreign …
(Short Reprieve)
Hot off the presses! Newsflash! This just in…
If you’re a communist, you’re wrong. If you’re a capitalist, you’re wrong. If you’re a socialist, you’re wrong. If you’re a fascist, you’re wrong. If you’re a liberal, you’re wrong. If you’re a conservative, you’re wrong. If you’re a constitutionalist, you’re wrong. If you’re a libertarian, you’re wrong. If you’re on Team Red, you’re wrong. If you’re on Team Blue, you’re wrong. If you’re on Team Green, you’re wrong. If you’re a control freak, you’re wrong. If you’re a social engineer, you’re wrong. If you’re an authoritarian, you’re wrong. If you’re a tyrant, …
Demurrage
Demurrage is part of the wider system called EnMo economics. In this model the main business of the state is ensuring that people have enough of everything they need of essential goods and services. To this end the state ensures that anyone who wants to work is able to do so, helping to provide those essential goods and services.
There are a couple of basic concepts to understand before explaining a little detail about demurrage.
For the purpose of this essay, demurrage would apply only to state-produced money. For the example shown below, I’ll assume the British state is using the …
Part One of a Two-Part Series
There are two main problems with existing monetary theory. The first is serious, the second is mainly a technical administrative issue.
The first and most serious problem with monetary theory, which is seldom directly addressed, is the fact that money supply is nearly always controlled by a super-rich and powerful minority and, more to the point, is nearly always controlled in such a way that suits the personal interests of the super-rich and powerful – not the interests of society as a whole.
For the purpose of this essay I’ll use a convention that’s quite well known for describing these two distinct …
Americans could save $1 trillion over 10 years by financing infrastructure through publicly-owned banks like the one that has long been operating in North Dakota.
President Donald Trump has promised to rebuild America’s airports, bridges, tunnels, roads and other infrastructure, something both Democrats and Republicans agree should be done. The country needs a full $3 trillion in infrastructure over the next decade. The $1 trillion plan revealed by Trump’s economic advisers relies heavily on public-private partnerships, and private equity firms are lining up for these plumbing investments. In the typical private equity water deal, for example, higher …
Goodbye President Obama! Japan is mourning your imminent departure. It is mourning because you were such a good friend, an exceptionally predictable ruler, and a truly traditional imperialist. You spoke so well, and tormented all those unruly colonies with admirable zeal and effectiveness!
What is soon coming is untested and therefore frightening. Obedient and disciplined Japan historically detests unpredictability.
It doesn’t really mind prostituting itself, but only if it brings great tangible benefits and as long as strict protocol and decorum are fully respected. The upcoming scenario could be frightening: Who knows? That new big ugly chap across the ocean could soon …
The White Man-Woman's Burden: The script that keeps on giving
Interpretation, when applied to myth making, can and does translate ideas into artefacts for the purpose of objectifying the status of subjective reality. A subjective narrative that is woven into a historic narrative can consolidate the common identity of a people. However, without having recourse to mechanisms that can project the voice of the people beyond the local context in which they exist, the opportunity for dialogue is limited.
The sad story of Anne Frank 1929-1945, a Jewish victim of genocide found its final resting place in mythology thanks to the creative efforts of those people intent on keeping her memory …
Throughout his Christmas message and in keeping with the hymn of the time, Pope Francis repeatedly called for Peace in our World. “Not merely the word, but a real and concrete peace” brought about by changing those attitudes, patterns of behavior and socio-economic systems that bring about conflict. Peace not simply in relationship to armed conflict, but peace for all people in a range of situations.
“Peace to our abandoned and excluded brothers and sisters, to those who suffer hunger and to all the victims of violence. Peace to exiles, migrants and refugees, to all those who in our day are …
This past Saturday’s women’s march appeared to be a watershed mark in American activist history. Millions of people all over the world, but especially in the US, marched against the Trump Administration and for women’s equal rights and the rights of all others disenfranchised by the capitalist system: immigrants (documented or not), Palestinians, working poor, etc.
The list of speakers was impressive and widely divergent. With Linda Sarsour, who on the surface and to those unaware of her history, openly spoke of her Palestinian identity to Scarlett Johannson, spokesperson for Israeli oppression of Palestine; capitalist anti-public education leaders like …
For all the environmental devastation, attacks on civil liberties and aggression both overseas and at home that President Trump will likely bring, his greatest crimes thus far are certainly those he and his administration have committed against the English language. Nowhere has this been clearer than in White House Councilwoman Kellyanne Conway’s defense of a number of outright lies told by new Press Secretary Sean Spicer during his first press conference. The contents of Spicer’s lies were puerile: Spencer claiming that the size of the crowd drawn by Trump …
In his inauguration speech, president Donald Trump sounded sincere, and perhaps he is being sincere. But some of his views are deluded and misguided.
Said Trump:
From this day forward, it’s going to be only America first, America first. Every decision on trade, on taxes, on immigration, on foreign affairs will be made to benefit American workers and American families. We must protect our borders from the ravages of other countries making our product, stealing our companies and destroying our jobs.
Alibaba founder Jack Ma denied anyone is stealing from …
Foes of War, Now Silent, Should Celebrate
On day one of Donald Trump’s presidency, he drove a stake through the heart of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), as he had repeatedly promised during his campaign. Foes of war should rejoice and congratulate Trump since the TPP was the economic arm of the “Pivot to Asia”, the military/economic assault on China promoted vigorously by Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, neocons and humanitarian interventionists of every stripe. It was a trade agreement that linked twelve Pacific Rim powers but pointedly excluded China in an effort to isolate and weaken it.
Thus in his first hours in office Trump has, in fact, …
In this analysis we examine Libya’s recent history looking through the eyes of the Guardian, the flagship of liberal western outlets, and its reporting. As with most other western media, the Guardian was an enthusiastic supporter of the NATO intervention that overthrew Gaddafi and threw the country into the disaster that we are about to describe. Faithful to western interests then, the Guardian remains faithful afterwards as well. But imperial designs are laden with contradictions and sometimes drastically change course, but the Guardian dutifully follows. More interestingly, in light of the complex Libyan situation, the Guardian resorts to …
It was predicted, it was warned against, and it happened: Prime Minister Theresa May’s government cannot commence the official process for leaving the European Union without parliamentary approval.
In upholding the decision of the lower court Parliament, deemed the sovereign voice of the UK, was again affirmed as ultimate arbiter, the historical figure of force that cannot be bypassed. This flies well and truly in the face of the semi-authoritarian May, who has used Brexit as alibi and deflector in asserting the state’s famed prerogative powers.
The Crown, it was argued again, had prerogative power to enter into and withdraw from treaties. …
We are free to believe that this is the century of authority, a century tending to the ‘right ‘, a Fascist century. Now liberalism is preparing to close the doors of its temples, deserted by the peoples who feel that the agnosticism it professed in the sphere of economics and the indifferentism of which it has given proof in the sphere of politics and morals, would lead the world to ruin in the future as they have done in the past. This explains why all the political experiments of our day are anti-liberal, and it is supremely ridiculous to endeavor …
Signaling an End to a Western-dominated Era?
No, it was not just ‘another Middle East peace conference,’ as a columnist in Israeli Jerusalem Post attempted to depict the Paris Peace Conference held on January 15, with top official representations from 70 countries attending. If it was, indeed, just ‘another peace conference’, representatives from the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority (PA) would have attended as well.
Instead, it was a defining moment that we are likely to remember: as the one that has officially ended the peace process charade after 25 years.
In fact, if the Madrid Conference of October 1991 was the vibrant official start of peace …
My aching 2003 Toyota Matrix is finally at the mechanic’s for some major surgery. The kind only plastic can pay for. So I’m shut in, housebound – stuck inside with nothing to do but stream DemocracyNow’s coverage of the “March on Washington DC”. I’d planned to watch a bit of it anyway as some recourse to the pharmaceuticals I lack but badly require after bearing witness to the kabuki theater of a sparsely attended anointment of our 45th potentate the day before. Like my car, I’m badly in need of uplift.
All I’ve got is this near frozen bottle of Prosecco, …
This morning, here in Minneapolis, I’ll learn whether six jurors believe beyond a reasonable doubt that Dan Wilson and I are criminals. The court case stems from an action protesting the execution of Jamar Clark, age 24, who died in the early morning of November 15, 2015 outside a north Minneapolis apartment complex. Two Minneapolis police officers, Mark Ringgenberg and Dustin Schwarze, were involved in the shooting. Jamar Clark died after a bullet was fired directly into his head. Several witnesses say that he was handcuffed and motionless when he was shot dead. The police officers have been cleared of …
A victory for world peace enabled by a warring president
Tears flowed freely down my face as I told my partner that Chelsea’s imprisonment is commuted.
Contradictions galore! The jingoist nation’s most warring president just committed the one decent thing in his eight years of war-making against seven nations, conjuring up false enemies with competing capitalist states Russia and China, and harsh treatment against all the whistle-blowers during his contentious term.
During the US’s worst president’s first term, Chelsea Manning sent Wikileaks important secrets—secrets the world had every right to know—about how the US murdered and lied its way across Afghanistan and Iraq. Since then, Wikileaks’ initiator Julian Assange has been …
George H. Haddad
Ever wonder about the people who make our health care system work at a time when reports of greed, fraud, profiteering and harmful malpractice are rampant and remedies are not advanced?
I was recently reminded how hard these proficient and caring physicians, nurses and physician assistants are working day after day and how their commitment to patients and their profession receives so little recognition. The sad occasion for these reflections was the passing this month of Dr. George H. Haddad, an alert 101-year-old surgeon who had worked for many years in New York City’s public hospitals.
Growing up in Egypt, he graduated …
