Pages: << 1 ... 429 430 431 432 433 434 435 436 437 438 439 ... 1261 >>
In praise of Russell Brand’s sharing revolution
Adam Parsons
The political conversation on sharing is growing by the day, sometimes from the unlikeliest of quarters. And at the present time, there is perhaps no-one calling louder for a new society to be based on sharing than Russell Brand, the comedian-cum-activist and revolutionary. It is easy to dismiss much of Brand’s polysyllabic and self-referential meanderings, as do most of the establishment media in the USA and Britain, but this only serves to disregard his flashes of wisdom and the justified reasons for his popularity.
His latest book is clearly not meant to be taken entirely seriously as a roadmap to “systemic change on a global scale”, hence the various crude digressions and contradictions. Yet as pointed out by Evan Davies at the beginning of his second BBC Newsnight interview, Brand has probably engaged more young people in thinking about serious political issues than any politician, despite his infamous disavowal of voting in parliamentary elections. On this basis alone, there’s every reason to take seriously Brand’s call for a revolution based on the principles of sharing, cooperation and love. But what does his idea of a caring, sharing revolution actually mean in practice?
Systemic Injustice in America
by Stephen Lendman
Monday's grand jury exoneration of Ferguson, MO police officer Darren Wilson didn't surprise. Injustice triumphed.
A previous article called justice in America a four-letter word. Killer cops mock it. Nearly always with impunity. A badge lets them brutalize and kill.
Blacks, Latinos, ethnic minorities and Muslims suffer most. They're targets of choice. Police violence occurs multiple times daily across America.
In big cities. Small ones. Urban areas. Rural ones. Militarized police make their own rules. Operating extrajudicially.
Killing with impunity. On August 9, officer Darren Wilson murdered 18-year-old Michael Brown. In cold blood. Without probable cause.
Brown was unarmed. Posed no threat. Had no criminal record. An independent autopsy showed he was shot six times.
Ukraine’s PR Talking-Points Focus Now Against Stalin, to Justify New War Against Russians
Eric Zuesse
Ukrainians are increasingly waging war over whom their enemy was in World War II: Adolf Hitler, or Joseph Stalin. On November 21st, the communist Soviet Union’s Georgian leader, Stalin, was twice cited by Ukrainian officials on two separate occasions as representing the Russia that today’s Ukraine fears, and must wage war (with help from the West) to defeat.
At the United Nations in NYC, Ukraine voted no on a resolution against resurgent nazism. As the UN’s press release about the vote recounted, “the representative of Ukraine said Stalinism had killed many people in the Gulag, condemning Hitler and Stalin alike as international criminals. Calling on the Russian Federation to stop glorifying and feeding Stalinism, he said he could not support the draft text.”
If the public only knew – US aid to Ukraine monsters
By George Eliason
The money they appropriate will go directly into the murder of innocent people, torture, and rape.
Within a few days the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is going to meet with Ukraine’s best and brightest. They are coming to ask for money, weapons, and start lobbying for direct intervention. The thought that the halls of the US Congress can be sullied with this kind of people treading on its floors is beyond my imagination. You don’t need to care about Ukraine on this issue. American moral authority and the well being (electability) of some good Congressmen that only hear the propaganda might be at stake. Please take the time to read through and if this is not acceptable tell your Senator why.
Albert Woodfox: 41 Years in Solitary Unjustly
by Stephen Lendman
One of this writer's earliest articles was titled The US Gulag Prison System: The Shame of the Nation and Crime Against Humanity.
Around half of all inmates are incarcerated for nonviolent offenses. Half of those drug related. Mostly simple possession.
nses misdemeanors. Punishable by warnings and/or small fines. Rare imprisonments. Never longterm.
America's gulag is world's largest. One of its harshest. Blacks and Latinos suffer most. So do Muslims. Guilty of being in America at the wrong time. Scapegoated unjustly.
Thousands of political prisoners are wrongfully incarcerated. Others endure longterm solitary confinement. Barbaric by any standard.
Deadlocked Iran Nuclear Talks
by Stephen Lendman
Interim terms were agreed on last November. Subsequent talks remain deadlocked.
Longstanding US/Israeli anti-Iranian hostility persists. Without just cause. Sabotaging chances for resolving things responsibly.
Hours remain before an agreed on midnight November 24 deadline. Chances for resolving remaining issues by then are virtually zero.
Except perhaps claiming resolution on some things. Agreeing to extend talks on others. More on this below.
Hagel Sacking Suggests More War
by Stephen Lendman
On Monday, Pentagon controlled Stars and Stripes said Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel resigned under pressure. Code language for sacking.
"(A)fter bruising midterm elections. (A)mid mounting criticism of (Obama's) security and foreign policies."
Hawks want more wars than already. Stepped up belligerence in ongoing ones. In February 2013, Hagel succeeded Leon Panetta.
The former Obama CIA director/Clinton White House chief of staff sees an ongoing "30-year war." Beyond current theaters.
Obama erred, he said. He "lost his way." By not maintaining more US troops in Iraq, he believes. A residual force able to confront internal opposition.
Israel: Racist Pariah State Writ Large
by Stephen Lendman
Israel finds new ways to prove its pariah state status. On Sunday, extremist cabinet ministers added more controversy to their collective rap sheet.
Voting 14 - 6 to permit drafting a new Basic Law. For Knesset consideration. Cabinet members:
"(D)efining the identity of the State of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people, and to anchor the values of the state of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state in the spirit of the principles of the Declaration of the Independence.
All Likud, Yisrael Beytenu and Jewish Home ministers supported the new measure. Except for Culture and Sports Minister Limor Livnat (Likud).
Votes against included Finance Minister Yair Lapid, Education Minister Shai Piron, Science Minister Yaakov Peri, Health Minister Yael German, Welfare Minister Meir Cohen, and Justice Minister Tzipi Livni.
Proposed legislation will declare "the right to express national self-determination within the State of Israel only to the Jewish people."
Why Do We Allow Ukraine's Government to Write the Official Report on Their Shoot-Down of MH17?
Eric Zuesse
There are only two suspects in the shoot-down of the MH17 Malaysian airliner over Ukraine on July 17th: the separatist rebels, whom the Ukrainian Government charge had shot it down mistaking it for one of the Ukrainian Air Force bombers that routinely drop bombs onto the separatists and their families and indiscriminately onto everyone else in that region; or otherwise the UkrainianAir Force itself, as a means for President Obama to be able to win increased international sanctions against Russia for Russia’s support of those blamed rebels.That’s it, and that’s all. One of these two suspects, the Ukrainian Government, was granted by the other three member-states of the official MH17 ‘investigating’ commission, a veto-power over anything that’s written into that ‘investigating’ report.
In other words, basically what exists is this: The Ukrainian Government gets to write the official ‘investigation’ report on that ‘accident.’ The other three Obama-allied nations will place their signatures onto it — or else there simply won’t be any such ‘final report.’
Afghanistan: War Without End, Permanent US Occupation
by Stephen Lendman
On November 21, The New York Times headlined "In a Shift, Obama Extends US Role in Afghan Conflict," saying:
"(A)uthoriz(ing) a more expansive mission for (America's) military than originally planned…(A) move that ensures American troops will have a direct role in fighting in the war-ravaged country for at least another year."
More on this below. On October 28, 2007, candidate Obama said:
"I will promise you this, that if we have not gotten our troops out by the time I am president, it is the first thing I will do."
<< 1 ... 429 430 431 432 433 434 435 436 437 438 439 ... 1261 >>
