What does Kim want? After all, Moon took down the South Korean loud speakers blasting anti-North Korean propaganda into the empty demilitarized zone. Kim should reciprocate with a good faith gesture such as dismantling his nuclear program and missiles before complaining about U.S.-South Korean joint military exercises practicing an invasion of North Korea. The US thinking of using the Libyan model for North Korea should not be a problem either -- there are no Islamic jihadists in North Korea that can overthrow his government. Trump has generously offered to save North Korea from annihilation if Kim will just trust us and do what we say. It was predicted all along by the Western press that Kim would try and derail these peace talks and it seems that the predictions were correct. Trump still deserves the Nobel Peace Prize for trying, after all, its impossible for the US to actually make peace given our war driven economic system.
Friday, May 18, 2018
Friday, May 11, 2018
Israel's "Tonkin Bay"?
1. Israel claims Iranian forces fired 20 rockets at their forces in the occupied Golan Heights -- they all missed!
2. Israel strikes backs with well coordinated and preplanned air assault violating Syrian airspace and international law.
This has all the earmarks of a "Tonkin Bay" set up to justify an attack.
3. Israel has been agitiating for war with Iran for years now because Iran supports groups objecting to the occupation and subjection of the Palestinians -- Israeli behavior condemned by almost very country in the world!
4. Both countries are run by theocratic fanatics with no respect for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
5. The US, instead of trying to fairly mediate between these two equally pathetic excuses for civilized governments, has decided to support one against the other.
6. We can only expect the situation to get worse when the world's largest super power steps up to bat for one of two criminal gangs because the rest of the world will sympathize with those caught in between -- the Palestinians who are the innocent victims who have been occupied and denied their human rights by one of the gangs: the other gang, by default, will be supported as the underdog.
7. Solution: The UN, EU, US, China and Russia guarantee the security of Israel and force the evacuation of the West Bank and Golan Heights by Israel and also guarantee the security of a Palestinian state.
8. This is the rational solution: unfortunately emotion, jingoism, racism, relgious intolerance, and lust for the contol of the region's fossil fuels will win the day since all talk about morality and human rights is basically a cover for forces seeking to dominate the Midde East for its mineral wealth and the people of Israel and Iran are both on the receiving end of this dynamic.
2. Israel strikes backs with well coordinated and preplanned air assault violating Syrian airspace and international law.
This has all the earmarks of a "Tonkin Bay" set up to justify an attack.
3. Israel has been agitiating for war with Iran for years now because Iran supports groups objecting to the occupation and subjection of the Palestinians -- Israeli behavior condemned by almost very country in the world!
4. Both countries are run by theocratic fanatics with no respect for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
5. The US, instead of trying to fairly mediate between these two equally pathetic excuses for civilized governments, has decided to support one against the other.
6. We can only expect the situation to get worse when the world's largest super power steps up to bat for one of two criminal gangs because the rest of the world will sympathize with those caught in between -- the Palestinians who are the innocent victims who have been occupied and denied their human rights by one of the gangs: the other gang, by default, will be supported as the underdog.
7. Solution: The UN, EU, US, China and Russia guarantee the security of Israel and force the evacuation of the West Bank and Golan Heights by Israel and also guarantee the security of a Palestinian state.
8. This is the rational solution: unfortunately emotion, jingoism, racism, relgious intolerance, and lust for the contol of the region's fossil fuels will win the day since all talk about morality and human rights is basically a cover for forces seeking to dominate the Midde East for its mineral wealth and the people of Israel and Iran are both on the receiving end of this dynamic.
Wednesday, May 09, 2018
Ready For Prime Time: Marx TV Show
Well, what the Chinese say about Marx and why the Soviet Union fell apart is all true. Every CP should be following the Chinese example in Marxist education. The NYT does add its own snide comments along the way but they can be ignored especially such stupidities as "The Chinese Communist Party these days rarely mentions class struggle, and has embraced markets since Deng Xiaoping’s era in the 1980s." "Rarely mentions class struggle"-- perhaps the NYT reporters should be reading The Communist Manifesto themselves! The "markets" the Chinese "embrace" are subject to state control and monitoring and are not "free" in the Western sense at all (subject to uncontrolled crisis and collapses as occurred in 2008). The only thing this show lacks is English subtitles and a spot for binge watching on Netflix.
Wednesday, May 02, 2018
Democratic Protest in Russia
A lesson for Russophobes in the US and West who follow the U.S. propaganda line that Putin is a dictator and Russia is a dictatorship. Dictatorships or tyrannical oppressors shoot down demonstrators (Israel, Egypt) or their leaders exhort their followers to use violence (the U.S., Philippines) but this anti-government demo was peaceful and had a permit to march and protest. The story also indicates that the Russian government's internet ability is not as sophisticated as portrayed in the West and the Russians may not be actually able to carry out the kind of cyber attacks the U.S. alleges -- it couldn't properly manipulate an app from a Russian company! The Russian people, at any rate, don't seem cowed.
Sunday, April 29, 2018
Sunday Meditation 4-29-18
On the Rapprochement Between North & South Korea
Doesn't the U.S. have to be aggressive vis a vis North Korea? It is the structural necessity of U.S. imperialism to expand militarily to justify both the huge expenditures spent on the military-industrial complex and to project its power in all parts of the world in the service of the expansion of capital. Alliance with fascist groups overseas is a tried and true measure that all U.S. presidents resort to [when other means fail] in order to support the reactionary elements in a country that are the natural allies of U.S. imperialism. Obama helped install a fascist government in Honduras-- as well as rightists and their fascist allies in Ukraine. The U.S. supports fascists and semi-fascist governments in Egypt, Israel, Indonesia and elsewhere (e.g. India and Pakistan). President Moon of South Korea is not playing his assigned role as an anti-communist U.S. ally and his rapprochement with the North threatens the raison d'être of the 25,000 U.S. occupation force in South Korea and a vitally important U.S. military base as part of our encirclement of China and Russia. Trump's apparent willingness to go along with this is contraindicative of the logical response of an imperialist power to a reduction of its military dominance in a sensitive region of the world. Predictions are risky but we can perhaps expect a barrage of criticism of Trump from the foreign policy establishment and the right-wing leadership of the Democratic Party as well as sub rosa pressure from the Pentagon and his own party leadership. The U.S. will try and find some way to reject this rapprochement and blame the failure of diplomacy on the North Koreans. It will probably involve impossible demands for the complete destruction of the North's nuclear weapons without a concomitant pledge of no first strike from the U.S. as well as a demand for a continued military presence even after a peace treaty and the normalization of relations between North and South Korea. Stay tuned.
Doesn't the U.S. have to be aggressive vis a vis North Korea? It is the structural necessity of U.S. imperialism to expand militarily to justify both the huge expenditures spent on the military-industrial complex and to project its power in all parts of the world in the service of the expansion of capital. Alliance with fascist groups overseas is a tried and true measure that all U.S. presidents resort to [when other means fail] in order to support the reactionary elements in a country that are the natural allies of U.S. imperialism. Obama helped install a fascist government in Honduras-- as well as rightists and their fascist allies in Ukraine. The U.S. supports fascists and semi-fascist governments in Egypt, Israel, Indonesia and elsewhere (e.g. India and Pakistan). President Moon of South Korea is not playing his assigned role as an anti-communist U.S. ally and his rapprochement with the North threatens the raison d'être of the 25,000 U.S. occupation force in South Korea and a vitally important U.S. military base as part of our encirclement of China and Russia. Trump's apparent willingness to go along with this is contraindicative of the logical response of an imperialist power to a reduction of its military dominance in a sensitive region of the world. Predictions are risky but we can perhaps expect a barrage of criticism of Trump from the foreign policy establishment and the right-wing leadership of the Democratic Party as well as sub rosa pressure from the Pentagon and his own party leadership. The U.S. will try and find some way to reject this rapprochement and blame the failure of diplomacy on the North Koreans. It will probably involve impossible demands for the complete destruction of the North's nuclear weapons without a concomitant pledge of no first strike from the U.S. as well as a demand for a continued military presence even after a peace treaty and the normalization of relations between North and South Korea. Stay tuned.
Wednesday, April 25, 2018
NYT: Chinese Government Pitted Against Students!
This is an article that is typical of the NYT -- it reports a protest in China and tries to create an anti-Chinese government angle (fake news?). Here students are protesting against a university covering up sexual harassment and trying to intimidate a young woman activist. She is being supported in a big way and so the NYT reports " The debate has pitted students and professors against a government that appears increasingly intolerant of dissent. President Xi Jinping, who rose to power in 2012, has discouraged the propagation of Western influence at universities and has urged stricter oversight of classes and professors."
So it appears that the government and Xi Jinping are against the students (anti-women) -- but towards the end of the article we read that: "People’s Daily, the Communist Party’s main newspaper, published an online commentary on Tuesday saying that “schools and students are not antagonists,” and adding that universities should seek to better understand the thoughts and actions of young people." Here Peking University, the school in question, is being admonished to listen to the students and drop its hostile attitude. The article also implies that schools throughout China should pay more attention to the views of young people. Does this indicate the government is "pitted" against the students?
The last time I looked, Xi Jingping was the head of both the Communist Party and the government of China.
So it appears that the government and Xi Jinping are against the students (anti-women) -- but towards the end of the article we read that: "People’s Daily, the Communist Party’s main newspaper, published an online commentary on Tuesday saying that “schools and students are not antagonists,” and adding that universities should seek to better understand the thoughts and actions of young people." Here Peking University, the school in question, is being admonished to listen to the students and drop its hostile attitude. The article also implies that schools throughout China should pay more attention to the views of young people. Does this indicate the government is "pitted" against the students?
The last time I looked, Xi Jingping was the head of both the Communist Party and the government of China.
Sunday, April 22, 2018
Sunday Meditation
Sunday Meditation: April 22, 2018
“I knew it. I knew this would happen to me. They were never going to let me be president.”-- Hillary Rodham Clinton, election night 2016 [NYT 4/22/18] "They" were the working people and minority people who failed to show up at the polls to vote. If HRC had gotten off her derriere and vigorously campaigned in the working class areas of the vital swing states on a more progressive union leaning platform and was less of a hawk she would have been president. She has learned nothing and still thinks Assange and Putin defeated her!
“I knew it. I knew this would happen to me. They were never going to let me be president.”-- Hillary Rodham Clinton, election night 2016 [NYT 4/22/18] "They" were the working people and minority people who failed to show up at the polls to vote. If HRC had gotten off her derriere and vigorously campaigned in the working class areas of the vital swing states on a more progressive union leaning platform and was less of a hawk she would have been president. She has learned nothing and still thinks Assange and Putin defeated her!
Democrats File Frivolous Russia Conspiracy Lawsuit
Both the DNC and the RNC attack "American" democracy every day -- their good cop bad cop shenanigans (left-wing versus right-wing neoliberalism) are all carried out for the benefit of the oligarchical 1% meanwhile we should be simultaneously working to get rid of the Clinton neoliberal DNC and replace it with Our Revolution people, build third party progressive alternatives, and fight against the pro business anti-progressive labor leaders who have not transcended the short term opportunistic backing of 1%er Democrats. Meanwhile, this frivolous lawsuit, the last gasp of the Clintonites to blame anyone but themselves for their defeat, shows the DNC would rather reactivate the cold war, alienate swing voters and lose the midterms than actually self-critically reform themselves.
Thursday, April 19, 2018
Is German Rap anti-Jewish?
Rap is a reflection of youth culture not a cause of it. There are progressive rappers and reactionary rappers. The undertow of NAZI anti-semitism that still permeates European Christian culture mixed with the anti-Zionism the policies of the ultra-right Israeli government generates by its barbaric repression of the Palestinians is blending together in the consciousness of many confused youths. This toxic brew differs from country to country. In Germany you have a government t...
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Wednesday, April 18, 2018
Who Poisoned the Skripals?
It doesn't matter anymore what really happened to the Skripals -- their poisoning was blamed on Russia and used to justify bombing Syria and further an anti-Russian narrative put out by the US and its NATO puppets because the Russian government won't allow the US/NATO a free hand in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Any new evidence coming out as a result of the official investigation, which is still in progress, will be strictly back page news and won't deter further US/NATO aggressive acts nor the continuing flood of fake news about Russia and Putin in the MSM. Try getting your news from The Intercept, Consortium News, Democracy Now, and other independent sites not affiliated with imperialist governments and the right-wing.
Tuesday, April 10, 2018
Congress and Sex Workers
"Sex worker rights groups have long argued that initiatives targeting child trafficking end up hurting the most marginalized workers by broadly criminalizing the industry. That includes queer and transgender people, the homeless and others who have been excluded from traditional employment." The Republican Congress and traitor Democrats, as usual, attack the victims not the causes of our social problems. People "excluded from traditional employment" -- i.e., victims of prejudice, discrimination, violence, and hatred. Instead of passing laws prohibiting the marginalization of people, Congress passes laws against the people. These disgusting politicians should all be dumped in the upcoming elections and people put in office who will enact three types of legislation: 1) laws relating to a guaranteed minimum income for all so that people can live with dignity; 2) laws that put an end to the "maginalization" of people because of differences that arouse prejudice and hatred in the uneducated and insensitive elements of the population; 3) laws that put in place educational standards that end the continued deformation of the moral character and intellectual level of American children that our present school system creates: prejudice, hatred, and insensitivity towards others is learned behavior (except in rare clinical exceptions) and the state is duty bound to run an educational system that fights it not perpetuates it. Dragonian laws can be enacted against child trafficking without sweeping up thousands of marginalized people who are only trying to survive in this putrid capitalist environment the majority of our present legislators have preserved and/or created for us.
Monday, April 09, 2018
Hungarian Baby Trump Seeks Reelection
Bourgeois democracy is no guarantee against fascist or authoritarian dictatorships from taking power. The Nazis came to power in Germany under a bourgeois democratic system and Trump (as did Bush) came to power against the democratic will of the majority of the people under a constitution designed to thwart the majority vote in the interests of the ruling class. We need to build a working class led people's majority government and call a convention to write a people's constitution that will prevent the possibility of anti-democratic forces taking power. The original slaveholder's constitution for all its amendments failed to prevent the Civil War (i.e., to peacefully bring about the end of slavery) and it cannot protect the vast majority of the American people from being exploited and used by the major corporations and banks who profit from their sufferings and the foreign wars and military conflicts they incite to make their super profits. Hungary is a miniature version of what awaits us under continuing Republican and/or the right-wing corporate faction of the Democratic Party rule.
Sunday, March 25, 2018
Sunday Meditation 3-25-2018
Sunday Meditation
(For the last Sunday
of Woman's History
Month we are reminded
what kind of society we live in.)
"Violated, wading in blood,
dripping filth --there stands
bourgeois society."-- Rosa
Luxemburg (1915, "Junius
Pamphlet")
Wednesday, March 21, 2018
Putin Reelected President of Russia
"There was no real need for extensive rigging, however, because of Mr. Putin’s genuine popularity." It's difficult for many to believe, brought up on much anti-Putin reportage in the MSM, that Russia has actually conducted a free and fair election, as far as these kinds of elections occur anywhere, and a popular president has been democratically reelected by the Russian people. I know it's difficult to believe, but this particular Russian election was more democratic than our own in which the winner was the person with the lesser number of votes than the loser. All the comments about election sham, rigged election, voter suppression, etc., is better reserved for the US electoral system than for the election that has just been won by Mr. Putin.
The CPRF got 13% of the vote -- what kind of undemocratic authoritarian government allows a Communist Party to openly exist, run in elections, and be the second largest political party in the country?
The CPRF got 13% of the vote -- what kind of undemocratic authoritarian government allows a Communist Party to openly exist, run in elections, and be the second largest political party in the country?
Saturday, March 17, 2018
For Fans of Bertrand Russell
- Thomas Riggins, and Peter Stone. ... Bertrand Russell Society Bulletin Spring 2017 1 ... BertrandRussell’s Impressions of Soviet Russia by Thomas Riggins, p.
Monday, March 12, 2018
How Democrats Can Regain the House
"In their quest to pick up 24 seats, congressional Democrats have focused heavily on courting moderate, suburban voters who dislike Mr. Trump, and for whom issues like trade and union rights are remote considerations." To focus on this group of basically middle class professionals to the neglect of an equal focus on the blue collar union and non union working class would be fatal to any Democratic attempt to retake the House. The Party has to undo its Clinton era blunders resulting in its retreat from the traditional alliance with the union movement. The Left should be agitating for working class issues both within and outside of the confines of DP thus exerting a progressive "gravitational pull" on wavering so-called moderate Democrats.
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