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Arab World: Political Disintegration and Search for Reason
Dr. Mahboob A. Khawaja
Terror is the engine of war. And terror is what all sides in this conflict produce in overabundance …….We torture hostages in our black sites and choke them to death by stuffing rags down their throats. They torture hostages in squalid hovels and behead them. We organize Shiite death squads to kill Sunnis. They organize Sunni death squads to kill Shiites. We produce high-budget films such as “American Sniper” to glorify our war crimes. They produce inspirational videos to glorify their twisted version of jihad. The barbarism we condemn is the barbarism we commit. The line that separates us from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is technological, not moral. We are those we fight. …..“From violence, only violence is born,” Primo Levi wrote, “following a pendular action that, as time goes by, rather than dying down, becomes more frenzied.” (Chris Hedges, “The Terror We Give Is the Terror We Get” Truthdig: 2/08/2015)
Snubbing Russia, Reinventing History
by Stephen Lendman
The self-styled "indispensable nation" wages shameless political and economic war on Russia.
It bullies other nations to support its imperial agenda, or else. It bludgeons nonbelievers.
It wages permanent wars of aggression on humanity, It blames victims for its high crimes.
No nation in world history did more harm to more people over a longer duration than America. Without Soviet Russia's enormous contribution and sacrifices, Hitler might have won WW II.
Why the Western Alliance Is Ending
Eric Zuesse
World leaders — heads of state especially — tend to be tactful people, whatever else might be said about them. When they discover that one of their number happens to be incredibly arrogant and psychopathic (and some leading psychopaths are skilled charmers; they’re not necessarily blatant about their aggressive intents like Hitler was), they don’t generally publicize the discovery of this unpleasant fact, because doing so would be worse than tactless: it would be downright stupid — it would jeopardize lots of the interdependencies that nations have with one-another. It would be counterproductive.
Obama's War on Russia
by Stephen Lendman
Obama's lunatic neocon infested administration declared war on Russia. Its lawless Ukraine policy alone shows it.
It's raging politically through vicious propaganda, economically through illegal sanctions, and militarily by US-dominated NATO's relentless push east.
It's surrounding Russia with menacing bases. They risk sparks able to ignite conflict. Lunatics making policy in Washington may start WW III. It's no exaggeration calling today the most perilous time in world history. Global peace hangs by a thread. Things ominously resemble events preceding WW I and II.
US Provocations on Russia's Borders
by Stephen Lendman
Madness drives US policy. Its provocative actions head things perilously closer to direct military confrontation with Russia.
Obama represents imperial lawlessness on steroids. He deplores peace and stability. He's waged multiple direct and proxy wars throughout his tenure.
He supports Israel's war machine and Palestinian persecution whatever regime holds power.
He risks the unthinkable - possible US initiated nuclear war with Russia.
Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Calls America a Hemispheric Threat
by Stephen Lendman
The whole world knows America threatens humanity. Few public officials openly admit what's well known.
Hugo Chavez courageously spoke forthrightly about threatening US imperialism.
In 2006, he addressed General Assembly members the day after George Bush.
"The devil came here yesterday, and it smells of sulfur still today," he said.
"Yesterday, ladies and gentlemen, from this rostrum, the President of the United States, the gentleman to whom I refer as the devil, came here, talking as if he owned the world."
He "came to share his nostrums to try to preserve the current pattern of domination, exploitation and pillage of the peoples of the world."
Few leaders have the courage to speak this forthrightly. Doing so made Chavez special.
Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino spoke candidly with Sputnik News.
Jerusalem on the Boil
by Stephen Lendman
London's Guardian published what US major media won't touch - a leaked EU report discussing a "vicious cycle of violence…increasingly threatening the viability of the two-state solution."
It blames collapsed peace talks, settlement construction in "sensitive" Jerusalem areas, Al-Aqsa Mosque provocations, home demolitions and dispossessing Palestinians from their land.
The report is prepared annually by EU nations' Jerusalem-based heads of mission. It suggests policy measures in light of Israeli actions.
Netanyahu pledged continued settlement construction and no Palestinian state on his watch if reelected.
How the U.S. Is Allied with ISIS & Al Qaeda
Eric Zuesse
The United States is allied with Sunni Moslem aristocracies (and therefore with Sunni-headed nations), against Shia Moslem aristocracies (and therefore also against Shia-headed nations). Sunni aristocracies provide the huge ($1 million and larger) financial donations that sustain ISIS, Al Qaeda, and other jihadist armed movements, commonly called “terrorists.”
Islamic terrorism is virtually entirely a phenomenon of Sunni Islam, and the U.S. is allied with the aristocracies that fund it.
The only major Shia organization that is even slightly comparable to those Sunni terrorist organizations is Hezbollah, which is based in Lebanon and answers to Shia Iran; but, as wikipedia has noted:
"The Gulf Cooperation Council,[15] Canada,[16] and Israel[17] have classified Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, though in 2015 an assessment from the U.S. director of National Intelligence removed it from its list of terror threats.[18] The European Union and New Zealand have proscribed Hezbollah's military wing, but do not list Hezbollah as a whole as a terrorist organization.[19][20] "
From basic income to social dividends: sharing the value of common resources
By Rajesh Makwana
It’s time to broaden the debate on how to fund a universal basic income by including options for sharing resource rents, which is a model that can be applied internationally to reform unjust economic systems, reduce extreme poverty and protect the global commons.
Few debates highlight the many complex issues around how governments should share a nation’s wealth and resources as much as the current discourse on basic income. Also referred to as a citizen’s income, the policy generally refers to the unconditional and universal payment of a regular sum of money to a country’s residents, usually as a replacement for a range of existing state benefits such as pensions, child allowances, tax credits and unemployment payments. Unlike many other policies that challenge the status quo, the scheme commands substantial support across the political spectrum – from progressives who hope it can reduce inequality and improve social justice, to neoliberals seeking to further diminish the role of the state in delivering a full range of welfare services. The idea also has a long historical precedent, with Thomas Paine, John Stuart Mills, Martin Luther King and Milton Friedman featuring among the numerous prominent figures who have supported the idea, in one form or another, since the late 1800s.[1]
EUROPE: OLD FRIENDSHIPS, HESITANT ALLIANCES
Gaither Stewart
In the late 1950s many signs of the carpet bombing of Germany were still evident. Though the factories had been at work since soon after war’s end, the first wave of post-war, cheap and hurried housing construction was the rule. Germans were still rebuilding train stations, several of which I followed like an urban planner, including the Frankfurt/Main and Munich stations. The restoration of the great gothic cathedrals of Cologne and Ulm proceeded at snail’s pace.
Most urban areas of the cityscape still had gaping holes where important buildings had once stood. While one spoke widely of denazification, the general atmosphere in the country still smelled of war, unjustifiably accompanied by what seemed to be fervent positive hopes for the future. I think now that only foreigners perceived a certain bitter sweet romanticism in the general destruction; Germans were too busy rebuilding to romanticize their situation.
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