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High Stakes Middle East Poker
Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org (Home - Stephen Lendman)
Multiple US-instigated regional conflicts rage, more potential trouble brewing.
Two weekend Israeli acts of aggression against Syria risk possible conflict escalation. Other battles in the country rage - America and its rogue allies opposing Russian-led efforts to resolve years of US-launched war diplomatically.
Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt gave Qatar an unacceptable 13-point ultimatum - designed to be refused.
Will hostile relations escalate to conflict? Will what Washington calls a family squabble erupt into another regional war - possibly pitting Qatar, Iran, Turkey, and maybe Russia against the other Gulf states, Egypt and US-dominated NATO?
Things aren’t likely to go this far, but given escalated regional tensions, anything is possible by accident or design. Small wars become big ones this way.
Irreconcilable Differences Between US and Russia
Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org (Home - Stephen Lendman)
Despite good faith Russian efforts, squaring the circle with Washington remains an unachievable goal.
The geopolitical agendas of both countries are world’s apart. Russia pursues world peace, stability, mutual cooperation among all nations, and multi-world polarity.
America seeks unchallenged global dominance, wars of aggression and color revolutions its main strategies.
Talks between both countries accomplish nothing. Russia’s word is its bond. America breaches all agreements it makes.
Yet Moscow continues diplomatic outreach, knowing the futility of its efforts. On Monday, Sergey Lavrov and Rex Tillerson spoke by phone.
A Russian Foreign Ministry statement said both “diplomats discussed problems related to the settlement of the Syrian crisis, including the necessity to strengthen the ceasefire, in particular via the Astana process, to step up efforts in the fight against terrorist groups and preventing attempts to use chemical poisonous agents.”
Elections: Absenteeism, Boycotts and the Class Struggle
James Petras
Introduction
The most striking feature of recent elections is not ‘who won or who lost’, nor is it the personalities, parties and programs. The dominant characteristic of the elections is the widespread repudiation of the electoral system, political campaigns, parties and candidates.
Across the world, majorities and pluralities of citizens of voting age refuse to even register to vote (unless obligated by law), refuse to turn out to vote (voter abstention), or vote against all the candidates (boycott by empty ballot and ballot spoilage).
If we add the many citizen activists who are too young to vote, citizens denied voting rights because of past criminal (often minor) convictions, impoverished citizens and minorities denied voting rights through manipulation and gerrymandering, we find that the actual ‘voting public’ shrivel to a small minority.
As a result, present day elections have been reduced to a theatrical competition among the elite for the votes of a minority. This situation describes an oligarchy - not a healthy democracy.
Vitally Needed Medicare for All
Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org (Home - Stephen Lendman)
Thousands of US Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP) support the only equitable system - government-sponsored single-payer coverage, Medicare for all, everyone in, no one left out.
PNHP co-founder Dr. Steffie Woolhandler discussed Obamacare, Trumpcare and single-payer coverage in a recent interview. Here are the highlights.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA-Obamacare) “was never a good bill. It left 28 million Americans completely uninsured and tens of millions more with…unaffordable gaps in their coverage, like (unacceptably high) copayments and deductibles and uncovered services.”
Israeli Aggression Against Syrian Tanks
Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org (Home - Stephen Lendman)
Israeli warplanes attack Syrian targets at its discretion, each time unaccountably - the latest incident on Saturday.
Whenever its acts of aggression occur, Israel tries justifying the unjustifiable, a statement following Saturday’s attack saying:
“The IDF will not allow any attempt to harm Israel’s sovereignty and the security of its people, and sees the Syrian regime as responsible for what transpires in its territory.”Israel claimed errant fire landed in illegally occupied Golan. The IDF struck the “origin of launches and two Syrian tanks,” it said.
No Syrian military “projectiles” were fired cross-border, not Saturday or earlier. Any landing in occupied Golan likely came from US and Israeli-supported terrorists - Syria’s military wrongfully blamed for what happened.
Bernie and Jane Sanders Under Investigation for Possible Bank Fraud
Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org (Home - Stephen Lendman)
The Department of Justice (DOJ), FBI, and FDIC are investigating whether Jane Sanders committed bank fraud while serving as president of the now-defunct Burlington College (from 2004 - 2011). Bernie Sanders is a person of interest, explained below.
Under her leadership, enrollment and donations dropped. In 2010, she bought 33 acres of land to expand the school. The strategy failed to increase enrollments.
In 2014, Burlington College was placed under probation. In 2016, it declared bankruptcy and closed down.
Mrs. Sanders allegedly falsified loan application documents for financing to expand the campus, claiming Corinne Bove Maietta pledged $1 million to the school over a five-year period.
Latin America in Search of an Alternative
James Petras
“You can’t build socialism with dollar signs in your eyes”
Fidel Castro
Introduction
Many experts and commentators describe the political process in Latin America as one of ‘alternating right and left governments’. Journalists focus on the abrupt regime changes from democratic to authoritarian; from neo-liberal to progressive programs; and from oligarchs to populists.
The financial media present the ‘right’s’ socially regressive policies and strategies as ‘reforms’, a euphemism for the re-concentration of wealth, profits and property into the hands of foreign and domestic oligarchs.
Leftwing intellectuals and journalists paint an image of socio-economic transformations under Latin America’s ‘left’ regimes where ‘the people’ take power, income is redistributed and growth flourishes.
The rise and demise of left and right regimes are typically attributed to ‘economic mismanagement, social crisis, political manipulation and erroneous strategic policies’.
Mass Incarceration, Prison Labor in the United States
By John Stanton
The Federal Prison Industries (FPI) under the brand UNICORE operates approximately 52 factories (prisons) across the United States. Prisoners manufacture or assemble a number of products for the US military, homeland security,and federal agencies according to the UNICORE/FPI website. They produce furniture, clothing and circuit boards in addition to providing computer aided design services and call center support for private companies.
UNICORE/FPI makes its pitch for employing call center support personnel to firms thinking about off-shoring their call center functions. The logic is that, hey!, they may be prisoners, but it’s keeping the jobs in the USA that matters. Fair enough. That approach cuts out the middleman though, those Americans desperate for any kind of work but, through no fault of their own, are not behind prison bars and employable by UNICORE/FPI
WaPo Debunks Universal Healthcare
Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org (Home - Stephen Lendman)
It’s the only equitable system, no other, supported by thousands of US doctors nationwide.
America is the only developed country without universal coverage, spending on average double the annual per capita amount in these other nations - a deplorable system, designed for profit-making, not providing essential healthcare for people in need.
Marketplace medicine in America is the world’s best - based on the ability to pay. A fundamental human right is commodified, rationed to enrich insurers, drug companies and large hospital chains instead of providing vitally needed universal coverage.
Russia Halts Cooperation with US in Syrian Airspace
Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org (Home - Stephen Lendman)
In response to the US-led coalition downing of a Syrian Su-22 warplane in its own airspace, a lawless aggressive act, Russia’s Defense Ministry issued the following statement:
“As of June 19 this year, the Defense Ministry of the Russian Federation has ended its interaction with the US side under a memorandum for preventing incidents and providing for safe flights during operations in Syria, and demands that the US command carry out a careful investigation and report about its results and the measures taken.”
“The shooting down of a Syrian Air Force jet in Syria’s airspace is a cynical violation of Syria’s sovereignty. The US’ repeated combat operations under the guise of ‘combating terrorism’ against the legitimate armed forces of a UN member-state are a flagrant violation of international law, in addition to being actual military aggression against the Syrian Arab Republic.”
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