Abby Martin's second feature film is an anti-imperialist environmental documentary.
Join her on the journey, and help make it possible, at https://earthsgreatestenemy.com
Wednesday, August 31, 2022
Will Europe Go Down to Defeat Before Ukraine?
Dominic Stone: So do you know what’s going to happen?
Eric Finch: No, it was a feeling. But I can guess.
– V for Vendetta (“Beginning of the End”)
During the runup to the financial crisis, your humble blogger pointed out that financial time moved faster than political time. Market players often had better and more comprehensive access to important information than officials did and had strong incentives to act on it.
By contrast, regulated entities were motivated to shuffle their feet and mumble until problems became undeniable…and then the regulators themselves would too often hope gunshot wounds would magically heal themselves, rather than risk having to answer embarrassing questions by going into emergency response mode.
Compounding these institutional and behavioral issues was the fact that decades of deregulation had produced a financial system that was tightly coupled. That means, in layperson-speak, that when a problem starts, it propagates thorough the system too quickly to be stopped. There aren’t enough natural or man-made firewalls to arrest the cascade.
With the Ukraine conflict, commentators have fixated on the timetable for prosecuting the war, trying to argue that the fact that Russia has not already “won” (whatever “won” means) implies Russia is losing, despite Russia and its allies having taken over 20% of Ukraine and continuing to gain ground with a mere peacetime expeditionary force. Russian officials have also made clear that they aren’t following a timetable. Some analysts have even argued that the seemingly slow pace is to Russia’s advantage. It does not merely allow them to continue the conflict without resorting to a general mobilization. It also appears to lead Ukraine to bring the war to the Russian front line, facilitating the destruction of the Ukraine army and equipment away from major cities, where civilian casualties would be greater. And the front line is not all that far from Russia, facilitating resupply.
However, there is also a big difference between when a war is won or lost versus when the vanquished is finally prostrated. For instance, Germany’s World War II fate was sealed in the Battle of Kursk, but it was nearly two full years more before Germany surrendered.
Some Western military experts have argued that Ukraine lost within weeks of the start of the Russian forces’ attack. For instance, Larry Johnson contended Ukraine was a goner as soon as Russia took out its radar, air force command and control, and most of its fixed wing aircraft. Ukraine could not mount a counter-offensive against a military using a combined arms operation when it lacked air support. Colonel Douglas Macgregor also stated publicly that Ukraine had lost a month into the conflict; the only open question to him was how long we kept the fighting going to try to weaken Russia.
In other words, while officials, armchair generals, and the press have been paying at least intermittent attention to the calendar for the military campaign, they’ve not paid much heed to the timeline for the economic war.
We will be so bold as to posit that not only has the sanctions war against Russia backfired spectacularly, but the damage to the West, most of all Europe, is accelerating rapidly. And this is not the result of Russia taking active measures2 but the costs of the loss or reduction of key Russian resources compounding over time.
So due to the intensity of the energy shock, the economic timetable is moving faster than the military. Unless Europe engages in a major course correction, and we don’t see how this can happen, the European economic crisis looks set to become devastating before Ukraine is formally defeated.
Now that European leaders are returning from summer holidays, it appears only now to be dawning on them that Europe is entering a severe and almost certainly protracted economic crisis.
Mind you, they were worried enough in late July to Do Something in the form of agreeing to 15% voluntary energy use cuts starting August 1. The lack of any planning or implementation time, even before getting to the “voluntary” uselessness, confirmed that this measure was a hand-wave.
Emmanuel Macron rattled pundits last week by telling France it faced the “end of abundance,” as in they need to accept a permanent reduction in their standard of living. As Agence France-Presse translated it:
This overview that I’m giving – the end of abundance, the end of insouciance, the end of assumptions – it’s ultimately a tipping point that we are going through that can lead our citizens to feel a lot of anxiety.
Faced with this, we have duties, the first of which is to speak frankly and very clearly without doom-mongering.
Frankly, more doom-mongering is in order. Despite spot market electricity prices sending a dire warning of the consequences of reduced supplies of Russian gas, and citizen and business desperation over recent and expected near-term energy price increases, Macron depicts that as something voters should accept because Ukraine. And that’s before getting to the other stressor that Macron mentioned, food price increases due to droughts and fires.
We’ll stick to the energy crisis for now. As we’ll explain, this shock will be so severe if nothing is done (and as we’ll explain, it’s hard to see anything meaningful enough being done), that the result will be not a recession, but a depression in Europe.
The 1970s oil embargo produced a rapid four-fold increase in US prices, which led to both a serious recession and inflation, the now-infamous stagflation. By contrast, at the end of last week, the one-year forward contacts for electricity in France and Germany were more than ten times higher than a year ago. And that was with the underlying inflation rate in EU countries already being high (9.8% year to year as of July for the European Union).
See the rest of this article here
Also see China Is Aggressively Reselling Russian Gas To Europe at ZeroHedge
Master of disaster - selling corporate BS
If you can believe it, ex-President George W. Bush has announced that he will be teaching a “MasterClass” in leadership that you and anyone else willing to pony up the money can take to learn what Bush has to say on the topic. Whether students will learn the ins and outs of committing war crimes, ignoring the suffering of hurricane victims and overseeing a torture program that continues to this day remains unclear.
Jimmy Dore and comedian Kurt Metzger discuss the curious choice of a colossal f*ckup like George W. Bush to teach a class in leadership.
Tuesday, August 30, 2022
Remembering....
- I began writing this blog in 2005. Many years ago, while working with the black community in Orlando, Florida to help save their historic downtown neighborhood from redevelopment, I got on the mailing list of a national organization that specialized in local housing, jobs and poverty issues. One of the regular writers in their newsletter was an older activist who told lots of stories about his work over the years. It was a great source of learning. His writing inspired this blog.
- I appreciate everyone who drops by here to take a look. I'd love if more people sent me links to live YouTube music videos that are meaningful and relevant to our current economic, political, environmental and cultural times. I'd like to post some of them here on my Sunday song.
- In the last three months the hits to the blog came from the following countries (highest ranking first): France, U.S., Netherlands, Kenya, Germany, South Korea, Romania, Canada and Russia. I can tell when someone has shared something from the blog - hits in one particular nation jump. Thanks to all of you.
- I am just kicking the last of my second bout with covid good-bye. (MB now over it too.) This one was milder. I never got any jabs - don't trust big pharma nor did I trust Fauci - especially after reading RFK Jr.'s expose on the slime-ball. Fauci is nothing but a 2-bit backstreet crook and mafia operator. These are the people who run the US these days - that is why they 'love' Ukraine so much - fertile ground. They want to put themselves right on Russia's border for a long-long-long bloody war that will make them lot$ of cash. They are indeed sick.
- Most of my friends got the shot. Some of them criticized others for not succumbing to the pressure. Now the vast majority of people I know who took the jab (and boosters) have caught covid - even multiple times. I figure I came out ahead on this one. I never put the toxic shots inside of me and still survived the virus infections. I used many alternative therapies suggested by the FLCCC.
- I read the Russian media daily - along with media from many other parts of the world. Maybe because I grew up living on military bases around the world (Germany and England) I was able to learn that Americans are not the smartest, best, brightest, and most qualified to dictate terms to the world. I've long considered myself an American patriot - in the truest sense. I am fighting for liberty, community, local democracy, peaceful relations with others and re-learning to live in harmony with our Mother Earth.
- OMG though. Why does it have to be so damn hard? Why do these oligarchs in charge think they can do the evil they do? What they seem to have lost is the essence of being a human. And we let them just keep rolling along....
- RT reported yesterday: 'Ukrainian drone downed over nuclear plant – Russia. The Defense Ministry has confirmed an unmanned
aircraft was shot down as it tried to attack the Russian-controlled
Zaporozhye facility'. What in god's name are the US-UK-NATO-Kiev lapdogs trying to do. Blow the fucking world up? Why are people around the globe not stomping their damn feet and screaming over this. Russia is not going to hand over this nuclear power plant to a Nazi-led army. I'm with Moscow on that one. This is really crazy.
- Some (not all) of the western corporate media hysteria is now being aimed directly at China. I intend to use the blog to seek good information about China that does not get composed at the CIA and Hollywood. As you see below there are a couple posts that are offering the other side of the western portrayal of Beijing. This is what the US-UK-EU pirates do - they demonize a political leader, take them down, and then loot the country. All with moralistic pronouncements that they are bringing democracy, prosperity and enlightenment.
- The tide is turning though and we are seeing more liberals begin to 'come home'. It's now beginning to get embarrassing having to apologize for Zelensky and Hunter & Joe Biden. These liberals always follow the 'safe path'. That's why they are in such a constant rut.
- We've spent our covid time watching two Netflix series that we'd eagerly recommend. One is called 'Mo' about a Palestinian family illegally living in Houston. Mo is a hoot and a heart breaker. The other is 'Extraordinary Attorney Woo' about a young attorney who is on the Autism Spectrum in South Korea. She is brilliant and we all love Woo.
- Fall is coming soon. Things will heat up on the streets across the west as sanctions blow-back hits home in chilling new ways. Keep paddling.
- The artwork at the top was done by my long ago friend Bill Park. We worked together in Central Florida for many moons. He illustrated most of my work - newsletters, flyers, posters, etc. He passed away a few years ago but I miss him like a true brother. I loved that artist and human being. In the drawing above sadly who don't see the shaky high-heels 'Lady Liberty' is wearing. Really accentuates the piece. Bill Park Presente!
Bruce
Monday, August 29, 2022
What's the real story?
Ben Norton lays it all out:
China is forgiving 23 interest-free loans for 17 African countries, after already cancelling $3.4 billion and restructuring $15 billion of debt from 2000-2019. This debunks the US government's propaganda myth of supposed Chinese "debt-trap diplomacy."
What do we really know about Hong Kong?
It’s now 25 years since #hongkong was returned to #china following 156 years under British rule. As you can imagine, the West are having a hard time coping with China’s celebrations, despite the fact that Hong Kong was initially taken by brute military force after Britain's illegal shipments of heroin to China were confiscated and destroyed by the Qing Dynasty. Here’s a quick history.
By the 1800s, #britain had grown extremely fond of Chinese goods, mainly tea and china. British merchants were making a lot of money bringing Chinese goods back to Britain, but they encountered an issue: Britain didn’t have anything China wanted to buy back, so there was a huge trade imbalance.
Britain decided to play dirty, growing opium, the key ingredient of heroin, in British India for shipment to China in the hope of making enough back in the illicit trade to fund their new addiction to tea. Don’t forget, heroin was illegal in China, but Britain was desperate to even out trade so who cares, right? Before too long, China had millions of heroin addicts which, rightfully so, worried the government who decided they had to act.
In May of 1839, Britain’s Chief Superintendent of trade, a man named Charles Elliot, was forced to hand over more than 1,400 tons of the drug that was being stored in a warehouse in Canton for illegal distribution in China. It was then destroyed, which angered the British side and eventually led to the First Opium War, where the British smashed China militarily, culminating in the take over of Nanjing, which literally means Southern Capital, in late 1842. China was then forced to sign the Treaty of Nanjing, the first of the so-called “unequal treaties”, which ordered the Emperor to not only pay the British for the destroyed opium, but also to cover the cost of the war, open more ports to accept British heroin, and give up Hong Kong which would be used as a trading port to boost the drug trade. The British achieved a 99-year lease of Hong Kong in 1898.
The Treaty of Nanjing is seen as the beginning of China’s “Century of Humiliation,” a very important aspect influencing China’s foreign policy to this day.
Fast forward to 1997, and Hong Kong was to be handed back to its rightful owner after what ended up being 156 years of British rule. What’s infuriating is that the British lie to this day about how Hong Kongers were treated during that time. Many people don’t realize that in more than 150 years of British rule, the island was lorded over undemocratically by white Governors installed by London, giving Hong Kong residents no say in how they were governed.
It’s quite hilarious that Western media like CNN argue that China has waged an “idealogical war against the influence of Western values” in Hong Kong, including “democracy” and “press freedom”. Perhaps the staff should read more history.
Britain always had a suspicion of Hong Kongers and often violently suppressed their calls for democracy on the island. In 1856, Britain’s Colonial Office rejected calls for more local representation, saying Chinese were had no respect for “the main principles upon which social order rests.” Racist much!
Popular grassroots movements on the island were squashed, and the press was censored by Britain in order to stop such movements gaining momentum. So much for “press freedom”.
It was only until Britain was getting ready to hand the island back to China in the 1990s that they started to rush in democratic reform, almost certainly as a way to spite China and cause issues they didn’t want to deal with themselves in their 156 years of rule.
In what seems like a pure irony, Hong Kong rioters waved British flags as they demanded full democracy there, and many young locals seem blatantly unaware of how Britain treated the population while they were in control.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said recently that he won’t give up on Hong Kong, and argued that China had “disturbed” the foundations on which modern Hong Kong had been built. WHAT FOUNDATIONS?! YOU DIDN’T GIVE HONG KONG PEOPLE A SAY IN GOVERNANCE FOR 156 YEARS!!!
Hong Kong people now have more say in their government that they have in nearly 200 years, and that is thanks to China.
Sunday, August 28, 2022
Saturday, August 27, 2022
Biden: 'Look the devil in the eye'
Very spooky Biden words - now we know why the CIA made him president - even though he is mentally failing.
They knew he was an agent of the wicked.
Macron lowers expectations for the future
He uses words like 'the end of abundance', warns of big 'upheavals', 'scarcity of resources', 'loss of democracy and human rights'.
He blames much of these problems on the war in Ukraine which he did little to nothing to stop. France, like most of the west, keeps the war fires fueled by sending weapons to a sinking Ukrainian military.
Macron does not look particularly confident as things collapse across Europe and in France, largely due to the US-EU sanctions on Russia that boomeranged onto the western bloc.
I'm certain that these warnings will not apply to the rich elites in France or across the west. These warnings are aimed at working and poor people.
The message? Your days are numbered.
How will the peasants respond?
Bruce
'Space port' in Michigan's Upper Peninsula
An aerospace group in Michigan wants to build the first rocket launch sites in the Midwest, including a spaceport right along Lake Superior. But many locals are fighting to keep the plan from taking off, citing concerns about environmental impacts. Special correspondent Megan Thompson reports.
Friday, August 26, 2022
What are teachers upset about?
It’s been more than 40 years since the Columbus, Ohio public school teachers have gone on strike, but that streak has now come to an end as the educators in Ohio’s largest city announced a walkout this week. And unlike most strikes, pay is not a central issue – instead the teachers of Columbus are insisting on air conditioning in the classrooms, a solution to vermin infestations and a return to teaching art, PE and music. And this strike may be just the bellwether of more similar labor actions to come across the country.
Jimmy Dore and comedian Kurt Metzger discuss the challenging conditions public school teachers are expected to work under.
UK's next Prime Minister?
Liz Truss (Tory) is asked about her readiness to use nuclear weapons, should the occasion arise.
Though she does not reveal her feelings, Truss firmly states: 'I'm ready to do it'.
Thursday, August 25, 2022
A warning
Carl Sagan wrote:
"I have a foreboding of an America in my children's or grandchildren's time — when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the key manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what's true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness.”
"The dumbing down of America is most evident in the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influential media, the 30-second sound bites (now down to 10 seconds or less), lowest common denominator programming, credulous presentations on pseudoscience and superstition, but especially a kind of celebration of ignorance.”
The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark. 1995
Wednesday, August 24, 2022
'The land of the free'
I am deeply sad, angry and (partially) discouraged.
One of my relatives wrote to me,
saying,
'
is to lie, cheat, steal, kill,
and then lie some more.
Even its own citizens
must have their minds
colonized.
It's a deep and evil sickness.
Tuesday, August 23, 2022
Darya Dugina killer identified
It seems that Russian authorities have found the killer of Darya Dugina.
The killer, one Natalya Vovk, is associated with the Azov Nazis of Ukraine. So is her brother.
Yelensis has details that point to willful murder of Darya Dugina:´
[A]n important clarification was already delivered by the experts: As to the question whether the bomb was on a timer or remote control, the answer already came in: Remote control. This fact has huge ramifications. WarGonzo blogger Semyon Pegov points out that the person who pressed the remote-control button to ignite the bomb, would have been in visual contact with the car and its occupant: “In other words, the terrorists who were supposedly out to blow Dugin up in his own car, would have observed, how Darya got into the car instead. Not the original target. And then they would have had to make a decision: To blow up, or not to blow up? And they took the decision: Go ahead and blow up the daughter. So, Darya became the new target. And this is, it goes without saying, an entirely new level of terrorism. Not even your average ISIS terrorist would take such a low step.”
Aleksandr Dugin, Darya's father, as well as his daughter had been threatened:
The Ukrainians threaten and blacklist everybody in the world who doesn’t give them full and unconditional support.Dugin, however, is a special case, and particularly hated by the West and their proxies. Both Dugin and his daughter are on American/British “sanctions” lists. Dugin has been the recipient of non-stop hate-speech for years now. Westies hate and demonize him because of his philosophical ideas and anti-Liberal ideology. Darya herself has a degree in Political Philosophy and shared her father’s ideology. Both were strong supporters of the Russian “Special Military Operation” against the Ukraine.
Aleksandr Dugin has released a response to Saturday’s car bombing outside Moscow. On Monday, Dugin blamed the Ukrainian government for the murder and said he wanted a military victory rather than revenge.
Such acts of terrorism want to break the will of Russians by targeting the best and most vulnerable among them, Dugin said, adding that the terrorists will not succeed. Wishing for simple revenge or retribution would be “too petty, and un-Russian,” he added.
“Instead, we need victory,” Dugin wrote. “So win, please!”
Russia releases video of suspected Moscow car bomber
Vovk enters the Russian Federation
- Vovk enters the building in which Daria Dugina lived
- Vovk leaves Russia for Estonia
- Screenshots of Vovk in her Minicooper trailing Dugina
- Note the changed front license plates in each clip near the end
Bruce Gagnon Interview: An Objective Look at U.S. Foreign Policy
Events continue to unfold at a quickening pace. Facing an alarming escalation in tensions around the world, we asked Bruce Gagnon for his most current thoughts.
Bruce Gagnon is the Coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, and was a co-founder of the Global Network when it was created in 1992. He was an early member of the Anti-Defense Lobby in the 1980's challenging the U.S. space program. Between 1983–1998, he was the State Coordinator of the Florida Coalition for Peace & Justice and has worked on space issues for 40 years. Bruce has addressed audiences in England, Germany, Mexico, Canada, France, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Japan, Australia, Scotland, Wales, Greece, India, Brazil, Portugal, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Czech Republic, South Korea, Russia, Ukraine, Nepal and throughout the U.S., including numerous college campuses. Bruce is a Vietnam-era veteran and began his organizing career by working for the United Farm Workers Union in Florida organizing fruit pickers.
We focus on the realities of the international power struggle unfolding in real time, specifically addressing the role of the U.S. in the tensions and its capacity to reduce them. We are looking for paradigm-shift ideas for improving the prospects for peace. His responses below of are exactly as he provided.
Here is what Bruce had to say.
Q. We hear a lot of terms and acronyms bandied about. ‘Deep State’ … ‘MIC’ … ‘FIRE sector’ … ‘ruling elite’ … ‘oligarchy’ … ‘neocons’. Who actually defines and sets America’s geopolitical priorities and determines our foreign policy? Not “officially”. Not constitutionally. But de facto.
A. The banksters in London and Wall Street are the essential movers and shakers of US-UK-NATO foreign policy. The CIA is their primary arm of control. Add to them the burgeoning global military industrial complex and the political ‘mis-leaders’ they generously contribute to. The corporate controlled mainstream media are also accessories to the present day crimes. Together they add up to a formidable crew of what I call ‘pirates’ who are stealing the national treasures throughout the western capitalist world and using them to supress and colonize others across the Global South and here at home.
Q. We’ve had decades of international tensions. Recent developments have seen a sharp escalation in the potential for a major war. The U.S. apparently cannot be at peace. “Threats” against the homeland are allegedly increasing in number and severity. The trajectory of our relations with the rest of the world appears to be more confrontations, more enemies, more crises, more wars.
Is the world really that full of aggressors, bad actors, ruthless opponents? Or is there something in our own policies and attitudes toward other countries which put us at odds with them, thus making war inevitable and peace impossible?
A. During the reign of George W. Bush in Washington, at the time of the US ‘shock and awe’ attack in Iraq, I was watching C-SPAN one evening. They introduced then Naval War College instructor Thomas Barnett (author of a book called ‘The Pentagon’s New Map’) and they announced that in the audience were hundreds of top-level Pentagon officers and CIA bigwigs. During his talk Barnett told the assembled that due to globalization of the world economy every nation would have a specific role to fill. In the US he said we won’t make ‘consumer products’ anymore because it was cheaper to send those jobs overseas. Our role in the US, Barnett said, would be ‘security export’. Thus it should be no surprise that the #1 industrial export product of the US today is weapons. When weapons are your #1 industrial export product, what is your ‘global marketing strategy’ for that product line?
Barnett (introduced as Rumsfeld’s ‘strategy guy’) also told the leading brass that the Pentagon would be endlessly fighting to take control of the ‘non-integrating gap’ around the globe – those parts of the world that were not submitting to the authority of corporate globalization. He instructed the audience to go and teach these ‘new concepts’ to those under their authority if they hoped to get promoted within the system in the years ahead.
For more than a year after this Barnett presentation I witnessed him being squired around Washington speaking to Republican and Democrat audiences on C-SPAN. It was evident to me that his ‘new doctrine’ was a bi-partisan plan. Since that time it has become quite clear that this is true as we now see the Democrats leading the proxy war on Russia – using Ukraine as the hammer in this dangerous and provocative attempt to force regime change in Moscow. Pelosi’s recent ill-fated trip to Taiwan also indicates the plan to force regime change in Beijing.
Imagine that Washington and its NATO allies, who limped out of Afghanistan after 20 years of brutal occupation there, are now planning for war with Russia and China. The absurdity is beyond imagination. It reveals much about their psychopathology.
As long as this reality persists then we will move from one war to another. Arundhati Roy says, “Once weapons were manufactured to fight wars. Now wars are manufactured to sell weapons”. She is right on the money….
The bad actors are largely inside of the western capitalist nations whose whole priority is global domination and profit – a continuation of hundreds of years of US-European colonialism. The neocon-led bi-partisan Washington elite have no conscience.
Q. Our leaders relentlessly talk about our “national interests” and our “national security”, warning that both are under constant assault. Yet, we spend more than the next nine countries combined on our military. Why does such colossal spending never seem to be enough?
A. When they talk about ‘national interests’ they are actually talking about the interests of the banksters. When they talk about ‘freedom’ they are talking about their freedom to steal the national wealth from nations with resources and the people around the world. Washington claims that Russia wants to re-create the former Soviet Union and take control of Europe. In 2022 Russia is spending $66 billion on their military. It is a defensive military to protect their vast border regions. The US this year is spending $800 billion plus. When you add up the hidden military spending in the other pots of gold – like the nuclear weapons spending inside the Department of Energy budget – the US total is around $1.2 trillion this year. They are robbing us blind and we keep handing over our hard-earned tax dollars. Why?
Q. It’s evident that you, and the many individuals who follow you and support your work, believe that America’s direction in both the diplomatic sphere and in the current conflict zones represents exercise of government power gone awry. Can you paint for us in broad strokes the specific changes in our national priorities and policies you view as necessary for the U.S. to peacefully coexist with other nations, at the same time keeping us safe from malicious attacks on our security and rightful place in the world community?
A. Reject the neo-con arrogance, hypocrisy, ignorance, and unnatural sense of entitlement. You’d think they’d get embarrassed. Dripping with deceit, they never stop lying to the people.
(CIA controls the keys to this run-away freight train. Democracy was drowned when the CIA assassinated JFK. Every president since then is ‘selected’ by the ruling oligarchs.)
Washington has destroyed any last thin-threads of international respect it had following its recent pirate escapades, aimed at Russia and China.
It’s time to shut these fools (and their ‘international’ lap dogs) down…. before it’s too late.
- We need to convert the military industrial complex (the war machine) to build public mass transit systems, tidal power systems, solar, wind power and the like – all of which would create more jobs than weapons manufacturing does.
- We need to ban corporate funding of elections. We need to open up a multi-party system so that more voices can be heard by the voters.
- We need to end the massive poverty that exists (which will be worsening in the near future) by taxing the rich and corporations. Stop the massive corporate subsides – welfare for the rich.
- We need to close down the more than 800 US military bases around the world and cut the Pentagon budget by at least 80%. We only need a defensive military that protects our borders.
- Do all these things and we might have a chance if we don’t first perish from a red-hot nuclear war or climate crisis.
- We don’t have time to fool around. Folks need to get off their arses and speak out NOW.
Q. The general public, especially when it’s aware of the self-sabotaging results of our current foreign policies and military posturing, clearly wants less war and militarism, preferring more peaceful alternatives on the world stage and greater concentration on solving the problems at home. As peace activists, we are thus more in line with the majority of citizens on issues of war and peace, than those currently in power.
What happens if we determine that those shaping current U.S. policy don’t care what the citizenry thinks, are simply not listening to us? What if we conclude that our Congress, for example, is completely deaf to the voice of the people? What do we do? What are our options then? What are our next concrete steps as political activists in working toward a peaceful future?
A. During WW II Italy’s leader Benito Mussolini defined ‘fascism’ as the wedding of corporations and government. That is what we have in Washington and in most of the EU nations today. Your question is right on – those in power don’t give a damn what the public thinks. Mr. Big (as I call them) wishes to return us to feudalism – neo-feudalism. They want to control everything and they don’t mind killing as many of us as necessary to accomplish their evil designs. Sadly far too many people, including political activists, dare to talk about this reality. They fear what others might think of them. Too many in the public just want to go along to get along. My mother used to tell me all the time that, ‘You can’t beat city hall’. In other words resign yourself to your coming fate. I reject that notion.
So our first step out of this quagmire is to recognize and acknowledge the writing on the wall. We are in a fix, we are in big trouble and we’d better wise up before it is too late. The neo-con ruling class wants to thin the global population and they intend to use every available means to do so – such as war$, starvation, lack of access to good health care, bio-logical weapons and the like.
We’ve all got to ask ourselves what is the #1 job of a human being on earth today? Make money, have a fancy house, car or job? No, I’d say our job as humans is to protect the planet and the future generations. Nothing could be more important than that.
We must all work as hard and consistently as possible to shut down our corrupt government. When our government no longer represents ‘We the people’ then we have an obligation to revolt. Why are people so compliant? Don’t they care about their children and grand-kids future? Do they have a right to just give up? I don’t think so.
We also must reach across political barriers and seek common ground with those who have differing views. One well-tested strategy used by the oligarchs is divide-and-conquer. Those in control want the people to be at each other’s throats. They want us to hate one another. Republican and Democrat are false constructs.
We humans are all related – just as we are related to the things that fly, swim, and crawl, the plants, the air, and the mountains. We are all part of this earth.
We have lost our spiritual connections to life. We must recover that precious connection. Otherwise we will remain lost in space.
• • •
We are grateful to Bruce Gagnon for sharing his valuable and thought-provoking views. The interview was arranged by John Rachel, Director of the Peace Dividend Project. The Peace Dividend strategy is not a meme or a bumper sticker. It is an end-to-end methodology for challenging the political establishment and removing from power those compromised individuals who work against the interests of the great majority of U.S. citizens. The only hope for our hyper-militarized nation is each and every one of us having a decisive voice in determining the future we want for ourselves and our children.
Japanese activist compares Fukushima with Zaporozhye
 |
| Zaporozhye nuclear power plant in Ukraine |
When Japan (to some extent, Tsunami) caused Fukushima,
‘Grey Nuns of the Sacred Heart’ in Canada
sent a short message to a Japanese citizen, to the effect that
“it is ironical Japan, which experienced Hiroshima & Nagasaki,
has caused Fukushima disaster.”
So if Zaporozhye would become a next Fukushima, then it would be
as much ironical that Ukraine, which experienced Chernobyl,
had caused Zaporophye.
People could never be careful enough about any possibility of the worst nuclear disaster.
Fukushima and Japan will never be free from the endless water contamination.
That is a horrible fact we have to face.
It is said that there is abundant ground-water artery deep underneath the site of the NPP.
If so, then, some melted nuclear fuels must have dropped from the broken reactor and
submerged in the ground-water, endlessly contaminating it.
Endlessly. What else is 'endless' in the world, I wonder.
If Zaporozhye would become a next Fukushima, then, exactly the same thing would happen.
That disaster would contaminate the Dnepr, then, the Black Sea, then the Danube.
The endless contamination of water - rivers, seas, ground-water, and thereby land,
can never be contained, belittling the ambiguous Covid-19 pandemic to a nano-particle.
10 years after the Fukushima disaster, so far, 239 cases of childhood thyroid cancer
have been observed in Fukushima, although some experts suggest otherwise.
Poor children, having been sickened and then denied.
Three mile island, Chernobyl, Fukushima. We have had enough, but we soon forget.
Never allow Zaporozhye to follow the line of the nuclear disaster.
People in Ukraine and Europe,
please stop Ukraine forces from launching attacks by missiles and
death drones onto Zaporozhye NPP.
A disaster there would cost children, grandchildren and more,
in most of Europe, endlessly. Please learn from Fukushima.
(from a Japanese citizen)
Monday, August 22, 2022
Get Italy out of the war!
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| Continuing the poisoning of children's minds inside Central Park in New York City |
By Manlio Dinucci (Associazione per un Mondo senza Guerre - CNGNN, Italy)
More and more evident is the fact that the ongoing war is not only between Russia and Ukraine but between Russia and NATO. This is confirmed by the news given by the New York Times: thousands of Ukrainian soldiers are being trained in Britain. The United States, Great Britain, Canada, Denmark, Poland, and other countries have trained and armed thousands of Ukrainian soldiers since 2015, employed against Russia under US-NATO command.
At the same time, a growing campaign is being waged to spread hatred of Russia. In New York's Central Park, a blood-red statue of Putin sitting on a tank was installed in a playground at which children shoot with their toy guns. The type of education where children and young people receive training based on the ideas of white supremacism and neo-Nazism has been implemented for years in Ukraine in the school camps of the Azov battalion and is now spreading in the West.
While the Ukrainian government announces that it will burn 100 million Russian books (including all the literature classics) considered source of Evil, Italy contributes to this type of education by allocating 200 million euros stolen from the Italian School system for the payment of teachers’ salaries of Ukrainian schools.
The growing Italian military engagement on the Eastern front, and in other war scenarios entails increasing military spending. Mario Draghi, from the day of the dissolution of the Chambers (July 21) until today, has transmitted to the Chambers seven armament programs decrees whose cost exceeds 7 billion euros.
This amount includes the arming of US-made Predator drones through an agreement with the US government. Thus, Italian military spending continues to increase rising to 29 billion euros a year in 2022, it is the equivalent of 80 million euros a day and is subtracted from fundamental social expenses.
Serious labor issues in Ukraine
European unions raise money for their neo-Nazi colleague in Ukraine
By Editorial Office of Uralpressinform (Cheljabinsk, Russia Federation)
It has been known for a very long time that the Volodymyr Zelensky administration could care less about the rights of Ukrainian workers. Here are just a few of the most recent reforms that the Kiev team of "quartermasters" actively "sink": the bill "On Labor," the bill "On Amending Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine" (relating to the limitation of trade union activities), the bill "On Amending the Labor Code of Ukraine" (concerning the expansion of the list of grounds for terminating wage earners), and others.
All of these measures share the same goal of limiting employees' rights and giving employers practically limitless power. It is referred to as "liberalisation of the labour market" by Kiev's Western backers. The multinational firms from the US, Britain, France, and Germany that have acquired almost all of the more or less valuable assets in Ukraine intend to drain the local workforce and economy empty. To do that, the employees must be denied their final opportunity to defend themselves at the hands of a puppet named Zelensky. Even the representatives of international trade unions were offended by such a cynical attitude.
The Ukrainian government is in opposition to workers, the general public, and trade unions and is siding with oligarchs and foreign businesses. We condemn the Ukrainian authorities for their careless violations of their international commitments which risk losing the country crucial support in Europe, - desperately claimed Sharan Burrow, General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), a few years ago.
Today, her rhetoric has somewhat softened for political reasons, but the urgency of the issue highlighted in 2020 persists: taking advantage of the martial law, the team of Vladimir Zelensky is tightening the nuts of the national labor legislation to the limit. This will undoubtedly cause the Ukrainian trade unions to feel uneasy. They are aware that resisting drastic advances is essential to their existence.
Vasyl Andreev, the leader of the Union of Builders of Ukraine, is one of those who occasionally openly speaks out "for the rights of workers." Additionally, he serves as the Federation of Trade Unions of Ukraine's vice chairman. Involved in the discussion of the scandalous bills, Andreev loudly stated that if the laws lobbied by Zelensky (and in fact, the collective West) are adopted, “four out of every five workers will be completely outside the provisions of Ukrainian labor legislation regarding protection from trade unions, regulation of working hours, wage rates, as well as control over safe working conditions.
Vasyl Andreyev excels in speaking in elegant and accurate language, but there is only one thing below that: the striving to please colleagues from European trade unions. It is well known that Vasily Andreyev has been a regular attendee of all significant international trade union conferences for many years. The Ukrainian media will undoubtedly run a dazzling piece about Andreev's huge individual contribution to the global labour movement after each of the following congresses, conferences, or forums. The comrades of the Ukrainian trade union leader, however, are not fooled by this glitz; they are aware that Andreev is toiling away to advance to the position of deputy secretary general of the ITUC. Eventually, he may even “push” Madame Barrow away from the role of Secretary General and occupy this position. The timing of the plan is perfect: It is unclear if Andreev will have a place in a denazified and demilitarised Ukraine, thus one should strive to establish a reserve nest in Brussels, Amsterdam, or Paris right now.
Actually, that is why Vasily Andreev has currently developed a hyper-stormy international activity. He frequently pleads to his European colleagues, shooting arrows of righteous rage at the Ukrainian government, urging them to gather as much money as they can for him since he needs it for pickets, marches, and paying attorneys. Andreev isn't afraid to beg for sympathy; he frequently reminds them of the brutal conflict his nation is fighting against "aggressive Russia." Sometimes the trick works, and Europe occasionally sends Andreev more money. For instance, Vasily Andreev is now receiving contributions from labour unions in Denmark.
But for some reason, trustful Europeans do not want to ask themselves a simple question if their money is actually used to protect Ukrainian workers' rights. There are serious concerns about this since Vasil Andreev has been linked to the most fervent Ukrainian nationalists, according to press reports.
We may infer from the information in the report that Andreyev will probably utilise the money obtained from European trade unions for another neo-Nazi project. Like purchasing quad-copters for the fascist National Front, sponsoring another anti-Russian propaganda film, or the installation of a pompous memorial sign dedicated to the "heroes" of the Azov regiment defeated in Mariupol instead of a memorial plaque in honor of the Russian writer Mikhail Bulgakov (that was already removed in Kiev recently).
The rights of Ukrainian employees will be considered later. In these challenging, war times, a savvy trade unionist is attempting to strike while the iron is hot.
Sunday, August 21, 2022
Saturday, August 20, 2022
Something stirring in Germany?
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is set to be questioned for a second time by a state parliamentary committee on Friday over whether he helped a major bank avoid paying back millions in taxes while mayor of Hamburg. The interrogation is part of an investigation by the Hamburg committee into the "cum-ex" tax scam, which cost the government billions. The fraud scheme saw European traders rapidly exchanging company shares among themselves around the time dividends were paid out to claim multiple tax rebates on a single payout. Dozens of people have been indicted over the scandal in Germany, including bankers, stock traders, lawyers and financial consultants.
What questions must Scholz answer?
The focus of the interrogation is on whether Scholz, who was mayor of Hamburg from 2011 to 2018, or other leading members of his Social Democratic Party (SDP) helped a private Hamburg-based bank, Warburg, avoid paying back millions in taxes. The committee is to pose questions surrounding three meetings between Scholz and Warburg Bank's co-owners in 2016 and 2017. At his first interrogation by the committee, Scholz admitted to the meetings but said he could not remember details about their content. Christian Olearius, one of the Warburg owners, has, however, testified that Scholz advised him on a possible way of avoiding the repayment of the €47 million ($48 million) in wrongly refunded capital gains tax. The claim was then scrapped by the tax authorities under a statute of limitations, but the bank eventually had to pay back tens of millions of euros under pressure from the federal government under Angela Merkel. Several recent German media reports say investigators have now seized emails from Scholz's former office manager that suggest the then Hamburg mayor had possibly deleted data pertaining to the matter. Other newly seized documents reportedly suggest that Scholz did raise the subject of reimbursement directly with Olearius despite his denials of having done so. Adding to the mystery surrounding the affair are reports that a former SPD parliamentarian, Johannes Kahrs, was found in possession of around €200,000 in a bank safe deposit box. It is, however, unclear whether the find has anything to do with the finance scandal.
Analysis:
and the current rapid de-industrialization of Germany is escalating pressure on the current national government run by Scholz. Calls are growing in Berlin to allow the start-up of Nordstream 2 natural gas pipeline from Russia to Germany. The US has been demanding it not be turned on. German industry is increasingly angry and citizens are growing restive due to impacts across Europe from the US-EU sanctions on Russia.
