America has always fancied itself as a “melting pot” of ethnicities and religions that form a perfect union. The Latin phrase, E Pluribus Unum, “out of many, one,” is even found on the Great Seal of the United States. However, as seen in a recent blow-up between First Lady Melania Trump and now-former Deputy National Security Adviser Mira Ricardel, old feuds from beyond the borders of the United States can result in major rifts at the highest echelons of the US government. Continue reading →
Last week, Donald Trump disgraced himself before his French hosts, US and Allied military veterans, and the entire world by remaining inside the residence of the US ambassador to France and snubbing a memorial service for US dead in World War I. Continue reading →
We’ve seen it all before
When Karl Marx popularized a phrase he borrowed from Friedrich Engels about history repeating itself, first as tragedy and then as farce, he was referring to the tragedy of Napoleon and the subsequent farce of his “grotesque mediocrity” of a nephew, Napoleon the Third. Marx might as well have been writing about monopoly capitalism, as we are now witnessing a repeat of the capitalist grotesqueries of the early twentieth century. But ignorance is bliss, and such mental oblivion precipitates the crude repetitions of time. Continue reading →
Donald Trump’s erstwhile chief strategist and current occasional telephone adviser, Steve Bannon, has made no secret of his admiration for hedge fund tycoon George Soros and his ability to influence elections around the world to benefit neo-liberal politicians and parties. In creating his Brussels-based group, called simply, “The Movement,” Bannon is emulating Soros’s techniques on behalf of the liberal left in providing electoral advice to neo-Nazi, fascist, and white supremacist political parties around the globe. Continue reading →
On the morning of 28 October 2018 Robert Bowers walked into a suburban Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania synagogue filled with worshippers. He was armed with an assault rifle and several handguns. Bowers proceeded to kill eleven people and wound six. It was the deadliest attack on Jews in American history. Continue reading →
With Jair Bolsonaro’s victory in Brazil’s presidential election at the weekend, the doom-mongers among western elites are out in force once again. His success, like Donald Trump’s, has confirmed a long-held prejudice: that the people cannot be trusted; that, when empowered, they behave like a mob driven by primitive urges; that the unwashed masses now threaten to bring down the carefully constructed walls of civilisation. Continue reading →
Yet another shooting. Continue reading →
Although ties between Washington and Tel Aviv are stronger than ever, Israeli leaders are aware of a vastly changing political landscape. The US’ own political turmoil and the global power realignment—which is on full display in the Middle East—indicate that a new era is, indeed, in the making. Continue reading →
Imagining that Trump is the cause of our complete dysfunctionality is folly. He is merely a symptom
Nearly 40 years ago, in his first inaugural address, Ronald Reagan said, “In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.” Continue reading →
Latin America’s “springtime of socialism” is at a close. After over a decade of progressive socialist presidents putting people ahead of cronyism, Latin America’s oligarchs, through the abuse of the courts, parliaments, and electoral systems, have put caudillos in office throughout the region. Unlike the past, when local generals, with a wink-and-a-nod from the local Central Intelligence Agency station chief, would call out the tanks and troops to oust democratically-elected presidents, today’s fascist leaders have discovered that social media, coupled with corrupt judges and legislators, can mount what are, essentially, soft “constitutional coups.” Continue reading →
The Trump administration alliance of the neoconservatives and their penchant for false flag terrorist attacks and the alt-right, which has no problem with carrying out terrorist attacks and claiming credit for them, has proven to be a deadly combination. Continue reading →
A dictatorship does not represent the public but only the aristocracy that, behind the scenes, controls the government. Continue reading →
Living in a representative republic means that each person has the right to take a stand for what they think is right, whether that means marching outside the halls of government, wearing clothing with provocative statements, or simply holding up a sign. Continue reading →
When the global financial crisis resurfaces, we the people will have to fill the vacuum in political leadership. It will call for a monumental mobilisation of citizens from below, focused on a single and unifying demand for a people’s bailout across the world.
A full decade since the great crash of 2008, many progressive thinkers have recently reflected on the consequences of that fateful day when the investment bank Lehman Brothers collapsed, foreshadowing the worst international financial crisis of the post-war period. What seems obvious to everyone is that lessons have not been learnt, the financial sector is now larger and more dominant than ever, and an even greater crisis is set to happen anytime soon. But the real question is when it strikes, what are the chances of achieving a bailout for ordinary people and the planet this time? Continue reading →
The actual reason why Donald Trump praised neo-Nazis and Ku Klux Klan members who marched in the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, as “fine people” is that Trump actually believes in the global goals of the neo-Nazi and white supremacist cause. This is now seen in Trump’s support for the efforts of his erstwhile White House chief strategist, Steve Bannon, in creating an alliance and secretariat of far-right racist political parties in Europe and beyond. Bannon’s operation is called “The Movement.” Continue reading →
It’s a given that Big Brother is always watching us. Continue reading →
Very few Americans know who Sheldon Adelson is and fewer still appreciate that, as America’s leading political donor, when he speaks the Republican Party listens. By virtue of his largesse, he has been able to direct GOP policy in the Middle East in favor of Israel, which might well be regarded as his true home while the United States exists more as a faithful friend that can be produced at intervals whenever Israel finds itself in need of a bit of cash or political cover. Continue reading →
“Who needs direct repression,” asked philosopher Slavoj Zizek, “when one can convince the chicken to walk freely into the slaughterhouse?” Continue reading →
Across the arc of chaos and instability caused by U.S. wars, interventions and sanctions around the world, the past several weeks have seen new flare-ups of deadly violence and worsening humanitarian crises. Continue reading →
It did not take long for Donald Trump to transform the US government into a mob operation, where administration officials use the threat of US travel bans, asset freezes and forfeitures, and punishing trade tariffs to bring other nations and their leaders to heel. Continue reading →
We can pretend that the Constitution, which was written to hold the government accountable, is still our governing document. Continue reading →
The United States is politically fragmenting. It would seem that the various cultural and ideological stresses impacting the nation are destabilizing the country’s two traditional political parties. Continue reading →
Donald Trump’s order to declassify cherry-picked classified documents, including the 2015 secret court order that authorized U.S. intelligence surveillance of Trump campaign adviser Carter Page, will enable Russian and other Eastern European and Eurasian organized crime syndicates to understand how they are targeted by the FBI, National Security Agency, and the CIA. Continue reading →
Before 2012, if you had voiced suspicions that the Australian government had been anything but open and honourable in dealing with East Timor—its newly independent but impoverished neighbour—you would likely have been dismissed as a conspiracy theorist. But it was then revealed Australian Secret Intelligence Service agents had bugged East Timor’s cabinet office during treaty negotiations over oil and gas fields. Continue reading →
Political scientists would argue that the rigors of running for political office coupled with the glaring microscope of press attention would normally weed out any candidate suffering from mental illness. Whether political leaders gain office democratically or from unconstitutional means, the degree of mental illness among the top leadership of nations around the world in recent history has been remarkably high. Continue reading →
Who in US presidential history even comes close to Trump? While corporations run America for all intents and purposes, it has been unusual for a hardcore businessman to take the helm. Founders like Washington and Jefferson were plantation owners. Most were lawyers, military (9 generals), political hacks (including lots of governors, senators and VPs), even a university president (Wilson, Yale). But businessman? Who bragged of making and losing and making a fortune? Continue reading →
It used to be that if you talked back to a teacher, or played a prank on a classmate, or just failed to do your homework, you might find yourself in detention or doing an extra writing assignment after school. Continue reading →
Israel wants to change the rules of the game entirely. With unconditional support from the Trump administration, Tel Aviv sees a golden opportunity to redefine what has, for decades, constituted the legal and political foundation for the so-called ‘Palestinian-Israeli conflict.’ Continue reading →
I and others have warned that enactment of the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act now before Congress would threaten free speech and free inquiry on America’s college campuses and beyond. Continue reading →
American post-WW 2 supremacy, writes Andrei Martyanov in his book, “Losing Military Supremacy” just published by Clarity Press, has been destroyed by America’s narcissism. Continue reading →
Regional international organizations formed to keep the peace are loathe to adjusting borders, even if such changes maintain the peace. For example, when Kosovo President Hashim Thaci recently proposed “a correction” of its border with Serbia, active and retired diplomats on both sides of the Atlantic warned against the idea. Their reasoning is flawed. Continue reading →
I have known a lot of good cops, I have defended a lot of good cops, and I have been fortunate to call a number of good cops friends. Continue reading →
