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Obama's Way: Waging Financial War on Humanity
by Stephen Lendman
Class war rages in America. Institutionalized inequality defines it. Obama continues what began decades ago. He exceeds the worst of his predecessors.
He supports capital's divine right. He transferred unprecedented wealth amounts from ordinary Americans to Wall Street, war profiteers, other corporate favorites and privileged elites.
He's ideologically over-the-top. He's no progressive. He's polar opposite. He's not what most people expected. He's not what they deserve.
He's pro-business, pro-privilege, pro-super wealth, anti-populist, and anti-government of, by and for everyone equitably.
Israeli/Palestinian Peace Talks: Let the Charade Begin
by Stephen Lendman
According to Israeli Energy and Water Resources Minister Silvan Shalom, talks will begin next week in Washington. They'll start Tuesday.
Imagine one side going into the enemy camp's heartland. Imagine its legitimate government denied participation.
Imagine being represented by a longtime Israeli collaborator. Imagine a betrayal and failure scenario. It's certain. It's guaranteed. Palestinians deserve better. They have no say. Maybe next time. Not now.
Kerry Uses Arabs to Bully Palestinians*
By Nicola Nasser**
A new tactic by US Secretary of State John Kerry is causing a split within the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) ranks regarding further talks with Israel. Kerry is apparently using the Arab League’s Follow-Up Committee on the Arab Peace Initiative (FCAPI) to bully the Palestinians into accepting new ground rules for the talks to which they had objected in the past.
In his sixth tour of the region as secretary of state, Kerry did something unusual. Instead of visiting Israel, as he always does, he left it out of his itinerary, deciding instead to hold most of the talks in the Jordanian capital Amman. While there, he conferred with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as well as members of the FCAPI. As the talks progressed, it became clear that Kerry was no longer focussing on Israel, the country that has torpedoed all previous attempts at peace, but on the PLO. His aim is to get the latter to offer more concessions than any they have accepted in the past.
Egypt Under Empire, Part 2: The "Threat" of Arab Nationalism
Andrew Gavin Marshall
Part 1: Working Class Resistance and European Imperial Ambitions
In 1945, the British agreed to renegotiate the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty of 1936, with the British seeking to protect their large military presence with their base at the Suez Canal. The negotiations had become frustrated with the Egyptians demanding the unconditional removal of all British troops, a prospect that was reviled by both the British and Americans, who were first and foremost interested in maintaining their imperial hegemony over the region.[1] One of the major threats to Western imperial domination of the Middle East and North Africa (and thus, of Asia and Africa more generally) was the "rising tide" of Arab Nationalism.
Arab Nationalism was considered a threat for a number of reasons: it presented the possibility of small countries being able to unite as a common force, chart their own paths and determine their own sovereignty, remain 'neutral' in the Cold War, and threaten the West's control of the region's oil resources and transport routes long considered vital to energy, trade, and military expansionism. In short, Arab Nationalism was a threat precisely because it presented an 'alternative' for the poor nations and peoples of the world to follow, an independent form of nationalism not tied to or dependent upon the imperial powers, instead seeking to unite the 'Third World' - with its vast natural resource wealth and strategic locations - and thus, could potentially bring the downfall of Western imperial domination of the world.
Do “Peace Accords” Lead to Peace, Justice and Security for the People? (Lessons from El Salvador for the Columbian FARC) In Memory of Manuel Marulanda, Farabundo Marti and Augusto Sandino
James Petras
Introduction
It is commonly assumed that “peace agreements” between pro-US rightwing regimes and leftwing insurgents lead to peace, justice and greater security. A number of peace agreements which were signed and implemented in the 1990’s in Central America, South Africa, Philippines and elsewhere provide us with ample data over two decades to confirm or reject this commonplace assumption.
We will examine the case of El Salvador where a powerful guerilla movement (FMLN) signed off on a peace accord in 1992.
Method of Evaluating the Peace Accord
In approaching the analysis of the Peace Accord it is important to begin by focusing on the evolution of the FMLN – the ideological, organizational and political changes that led to the negotiations, the eventual pact with the rightwing regime and the socio-economic and political results. The second part of the essay compares and contrasts the socio-economic and political results and policies which followed from the pact and how they affected the mass of the people. This allows us to see who benefited and who lost; what socio-economic class and political structures emerged; what foreign policies were followed.
Obama Plans Full-Scale War on Syria
by Stephen Lendman
He exceeds the worst of George Bush. He's currently waging multiple direct and proxy wars. He's insatiable.
He's a war criminal multiple times over. He's got lots more killing and destruction in mind. His agenda prioritizes war on humanity. He lusts for conquest.
He wants unchallenged US dominance. Millions of lost lives don't matter. They're a small price to pay. He's got lots to answer for.
Survival's up for grabs on his watch. Dismissive Americans don't understand. Perhaps they don't care. They're letting him get away with mass murder.
Daniel McGowan: Victimized by US Injustice
by Stephen Lendman
He's an environmental/animal rights activist. A previous article discussed him. He was victimized by "green scare."
It refers to legal and extralegal government actions against animal liberation and environmental activists.
In October 2001, the USA Patriot Act created the federal crime of "domestic terrorism." It applies to US citizens and aliens.
It was used against McGowan. It was done disgracefully. He's no terrorist. He was unjustly charged with multiple criminal counts. They included:
"unlawfully and willfully caus(ing) and aid(ing), abett(ing), counsel(ing), command(ing), induc(ing), and procur(ing) the malicious damaging and destroying, by means of fire and an explosive, of a building and other real and personal property used in interstate commerce and used in activities affecting interstate commerce, namely, a building and its contents located at Superior Lumber Company (Oregon)."
Snowden Wins Whistleblower Award
by Stephen Lendman
In America, he's a wanted man. He's a fugitive. He's a world hero. He connected the dots for millions. He told people what they need to know.
Doing the right thing is its own reward. Transparency International Germany gave him its Whistleblower Award. He's "(t)his year's winner," it said.
In 1999, it was established. It's sponsored by the Association of German Scientists (VDW) and the German branch of the International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms (IALANA).
He'll receive 3,300 euros (about $4,400). He's seeking Russian asylum. Since June 23, he's been in Moscow limbo. He's living in Sheremetyevo Airport's transit zone.
He awaits provisional documents to enter Russia. They're expected soon. Perhaps today. He'll be allowed to travel freely.
PROLOGUES: Conversations on the Arts, Politics and Science Between a Russian and an American (Honored Guests Included!)
Part One
With Gary Corseri and Victor Postnikov
Corseri: Hello Victor. …I believe it is about 1 month since our last electronic exchanges. Much has happened!
Referring to your note about the Russian/American anthology of poetry that looms ahead for you... and, especially, your comment that "the poets of both cultures should be conversing with one another," and certainly not forgetting your comment that you would be "delighted" if we were to work on such a project together (as I would be), I want to run a certain idea past you now.
In the past couple of weeks, tensions between the US and Russia have been much in the news here--first, concerning divergent approaches and alliances regarding Syria, the G-8 meeting, etc. Following that, even more news of tensions relating to the spying case of Edward Snowden, statements made by Obama and Kerry here and Putin and Lavrov there.
Brazil: Extractive Capitalism and the Great Leap Backward
James Petras
Introduction
Brazil has witnessed one of the world’s most striking socio-economic reversals in modern history: from a dynamic nationalist industrializing to a primary export economy. Between the mid 1930’s to the mid 1980’s, Brazil averaged nearly 10% growth in its manufacturing sector largely based on state interventionist policies, subsidizing, protecting and regulating the growth of national public and private enterprises. Changes in the ‘balance’ between national and foreign (imperial) capital began to take place following the military coup of 1964 and accelerated after the return of electoral politics in the mid-1980’s. The election of neo-liberal politicians, especially with the election of the Cardoso regime in the mid-1990’s, had a devastating impact on the strategic sectors of the national economy: wholesale privatization was accompanied by the denationalization of the commanding heights of the economy and the deregulation of capital markets.[1] Cardoso’s regime set the stage for the massive flow of foreign capital into the agro-mineral, finance, insurance and real estate sectors. The rise in interest rates as demanded by the IMF and World Bank and the speculative market in real estate raised the costs of industrial production. Cardoso’s lowered tariffs ended industrial subsidies and opened the door to industrial imports. These neo-liberal policies led to the relative and absolute decline of industrial production.[2]
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