The one verity going into the first presidential debate, not widely recognized, was that it did not matter how Clinton managed and what she said, although a collapse on the stage clearly would have been a decisive enough matter. Continue reading
There is a worrying trend among America’s so-called “liberals” sweeping the country. Any computer security breach and voting irregularity is being blamed by a number of liberals who count themselves as supporters of Hillary Clinton, one-time supporters of Bernie Sanders, or neo-conservatives who abandoned the Republican Party for Clinton as being the fault of Vladimir Putin and Russia. Such fear-mongering is reminiscent of the right-wing’s “Red Scare” tactics of the late 1940s and 50s and the supporters of Wisconsin’s junior senator, the Red-baiting Joseph McCarthy. Continue reading
William Engdahl recently explained how Washington used the corrupt Brazilian elite, which answers to Washington, to remove the duly elected President of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff, for representing the Brazilian people rather than the interests of Washington. Unable to see through the propaganda of unproven charges, Brazilians acquiesced in the removal of their protector, thereby providing the world another example of the impotence of democracy. Continue reading
America’s reckless imperial agenda should terrify everyone, a permanent war policy targeting all nations not serving its interests, wanting pro-Western puppet regimes replacing them—willing to risk destroying planet earth to own it. Continue reading
Over the past weekend the Western press was blasting Russia and Syria for alleged war crimes in their assault on the terrorist controlled part of East Aleppo. A typical headline from The Washington Post read, “US accuses Russia of ‘barbarism’ and war crimes in Syria.” Meanwhile, the Long War Journal declared, “US hits another Islamic State chemical weapons facility in Iraq.” UK’s Foreign Minister Boris Johnson is crying foul that Russia should be investigated for war crimes. Continue reading
Washington journalist sources report that there is something of a revolt taking place at The Washington Post among many of its reporters over the paper’s recent editorial that not only rejected calls for a presidential pardon for National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden but called for his return to the United States from Russia and face arrest, prosecution, and a likely long prison term. The editorial appeared in the September 17 edition of the paper. Continue reading
There are a few certainties in this world: fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly, John Boehner’s gotta cry. Remember how a year ago—just a year ago—the former speaker of the House wept when Pope Francis addressed a joint session of Congress? And then only a couple of days later announced he was stepping down as speaker? Continue reading
Following the first ever United Nations Summit on Refugees and Migrants last week, many civil society organisations and concerned citizens are taking stock of our government’s collective response to this unprecedented global crisis. The UN Summit was two years in the making, and gave a rare opportunity for world leaders to step up their commitments to help refugees, as well as draw up a blueprint for a more effective international plan of action. Central to these negotiations was the need to share responsibility for dealing with the crisis more equitably among member states, which was one of the key principles reaffirmed in the outcome document. Yet there is little promise for the world’s 21 million refugees that wealthy nations will be genuinely sharing—and not further shirking—their responsibilities to fulfill these vulnerable people’s basic rights. Continue reading
Watching Richard Attenborough’s fine 1982 film “Gandhi,” one sees just how a colony of empire operates. The Indian people were treated as not even 2nd class citizens, and with it went all the injustices one can imagine. Continue reading
Monday night was more evasion, distraction and political fraud than anything resembling real debating—like all previous encounters of the same kind preceding them, demagoguery and bad theater instead of substance, failing to give voters real information on where candidates stand on major issues of our time. Continue reading
And so, after all the anticipation, the rampant sports metaphors and the breathless, sensationalized buildup (MSNBC’s headline in the minutes before the event was “Clinton/Trump Showdown”), the first debate is over. Continue reading
The U.N. just announced that due to drought and famine over 300,000 Somali children are suffering from severe malnutrition. This means that over 100 children are already dying every day from starvation. Soon the number will reach many hundreds a day, bringing back memories of the most recent Great Horn of Africa drought in 2011–12 when the U.N. admitted that 250,000, almost entirely children, died from starvation. Continue reading
The final countdown has begun to the 2016 presidential election, and you can expect to be treated to an earful of carefully crafted sound bites and political spin. Continue reading
Ban Ki-Moon’s second term as the Secretary General of the United Nations is ending this December. He was the most ideal man for the job as far as the United States and its allies are concerned. Continue reading
Saturday, I woke to the welcome news that Jeremy Corbyn, who was catapulted to the leadership of the Labour Party in Britain a year ago, had won yet another leadership battle—brought on by disgruntled Members of Parliament within his own party—by extending his extraordinary mandate: he received a whopping 62% of votes to the 38% of his establishment opponent, Owen Smith. Continue reading
Michel Temer heads Brazil’s illegitimately installed coup d’état regime, a deplorable figure, widely reviled at home, scorned by six Latin and Central American nations at the UN’s 71st General Assembly session. Continue reading
The Russian government deceived itself with its fantasy belief that Russia and Washington had a common cause in fighting ISIS. The Russian government even went along with the pretense that the various ISIS groups, operating under various pen names, were “moderate rebels” who could be separated from the extremists, all the while agreeing to cease fighting on successive verges of victory so that Washington could resupply ISIS and prepare to introduce US and NATO forces into the conflict. The Russian government apparently also thought that as a result of the coup against Erdogan, which was said to implicate Washington, Turkey was going to cease supporting ISIS and cooperate with Russia. Continue reading
The New York Post, a Rupert Murdoch tabloid publication that isn’t likely to win a Pulitzer Prize anytime soon, splashed a full page picture of a smiling Jennifer Anniston on its Sept. 21 front cover. In the upper left-hand space it placed all-capitals text: “BRANGELINA 2004–2016.” Inside the Post were four full consecutive pages, and a half page and part of a column deeper in the newspaper, all devoted to one of the most critical social issues facing the country—Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are getting a divorce. Continue reading
There is an ominous operation that will soon appear in south Chicago’s Jackson Park, one that will advance the cause of political disruption and international conflict around the world. The Barack Obama Center and Presidential Library will become a magnet for those malevolent forces wanting to advance Obama’s “existing international order” and a nightmare for nations and leaders hoping to stem the tide of globalization, free trade, open borders, and social and religious bedlam. Continue reading
At a spring 2016 Republican debate attended by the Bushes, George H.W. “Poppy” Bush, looked directly at Donald Trump and gave him the “throat slit” gesture, the traditional threat of murder. The Bushes want the Clintons back in the White House. Continue reading
Proponents of her ouster argued that former Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff was targeted and ultimately booted from office for budgetary wrongdoing or, ironically, corruption. Continue reading
The New York Times’ editorial policy appears driven to reach new abysmal reporting and opinion lows, a deplorable laughing stock, especially on geopolitical issues, notably when America goes to war. Continue reading
Supporters of nuclear power like to argue that nukes are the key to combating climate change. Here’s why they are dead wrong. Continue reading
Events in Syria over this last week have thoroughly shattered the Russian-US ceasefire agreement reached in Vienna on September 9 between US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Continue reading
The US Agency for International Development (USAID) was created by Pax Americana to provide a cover for CIA agents under the pretext of helping the 3rd World. US Imperialism has to do some good or its potential targets would not open their doors to intelligence agents posing as do-gooders, so USAID was created. Continue reading
Greenpeace Netherlands exposed the threats to democracy and climate action contained within the little-known Trade in Services Agreement (TISA) on Tuesday with new leaks divulging several chapters of the clandestine global trade agreement. Continue reading
“A photograph, no matter how emotionally wrenching, can only do so much,” wrote Paul Slovic and Nicole Smith Dahmen in QZ.com. Continue reading
It’s a pity President Barack Obama’s pivot away from the Middle East failed to manifest. Anywhere but here! Despite his sincere-sounding reach out to the Arab world during his early days of presidency when he pledged his commitment to work for a Palestinian state and facilitate an atmosphere of mutual respect, wherever his hand has touched is worse off now than ever before. Continue reading
It’s a good time to repeat what I’ve said before. All the news The New York Times claims fit to print isn’t fit to read. Continue reading
The Russian government’s sincere and diligent effort to prevent chaos in Syria and additional massive refugee flow into Europe, all the while avoiding conflict with Washington and its vassals, has been brought to an end by Washington’s intentional attack on a known Syrian army position, thus wrecking the cease fire agreement that Russia sacrificed so much to achieve. Continue reading
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Is the future a Trump-led apartheid society?
Posted on September 30, 2016 by Bernard Weiner
When I was growing up in the Jim-Crow/apartheid Deep South in the 1950s—in Florida, the second state to secede from the Union—a constant refrain from a good share of white citizens was “the South shall rise again.” Some of those parroting that sentiment were only half-serious; their comment was more wish-fulfillment and resentment at their side having lost the Civil War. But, for many members of the Klan and White Citizens Councils, and their more “respectable” supporters and enablers, they were deadly serious about a future rising to restore their white privileges. Continue reading →