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'ĂȘtre 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.
Sunday, April 29, 2018
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.
Sunday Meditation
(Women and minorities around the world are still waiting for this Proclamation of the French Revolution to reach them -- including those in France!)
"Freedom consists in the ability to do everything which injures no one else; hence the exercise of the natural rights of each man has no limits except those which assure to the other members of the society the enjoyment of the same rights. These limits can only be determined by law."-- "Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen" French National Constituent Assembly, 1789.
Sunday, March 04, 2018
Democrats & Republicans Team Up to Help Wall Street Not Main Street
"In the typically gridlocked Congress, with the Trump legislative agenda mostly stalled, members of both parties will come together to roll back financial rules, during the 10th anniversary of the biggest banking crisis in nearly a century. And it’s happening with virtually no media attention whatsoever." The article also points out that some "populist" center-left Democrats are sponsors of this anti-people and pro Big Banks legislation. The author concludes that if a "populist Democrat feels they can sponsor such a bill and see political benefit — or at least not face much pain — [it] represents a stark failure on the left to adequately frame and define the conversation around banking, Wall Street, inequality, and the economy." Some think we failed miserably in our duty to the working class by not so framing these issues enough in the 2016 election; let's not repeat our mistakes in the upcoming midterms by uncritically supporting candidates on the Center-Left we are working to elect when they support measures that put profits before people.
Thursday, March 01, 2018
Xi Jingpin and the "Forces of History"
"That history [term limits] suggests that Beijing’s leaders are on what former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton once called a “fool’s errand”: trying to uphold a system of government that cannot survive in the modern era." Granted that Ms. Clinton is an expert on fool's errands, both she and this article are way off base. The mystical and unmeasurable "forces of history" are always trotted out to cover up ignorance of the real situation and to justify mere speculation as knowledge. China introduced term-limits in 1982 to stabilize and strengthen the political situation in the aftermath of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. Nevertheless, Deng Xiaoping remained the "paramount leader" both in and out of office until his death in 1997. The real source of a leader's political power today is in the office of General Secretary of the CPC which is not subject to term limits. The change being proposed is purely cosmetic and all the hoopla in the Western press is nonsense. The stability of the Chinese government is due to the CPCs ability to properly perceive the economic and political realities of the modern world and to guide the Socialist project embarked upon with the triumph of the revolution in 1949.
Sunday, February 25, 2018
Neanderthals and Art
The view that Neanderthals were backwards and slow compared to us is the result of the same racist attitudes that put forth the notion that even within our species there are some groups that are backward and slow compared to others. "Artefacts whose functional value lies not so much in their practical but rather in their symbolic use are proxies for fundamental aspects of human cognition as we know it." That's fine -- but cave art may have been part of a tradition of sympathetic magic in which success of the hunt depended on ceremonies performed involving these art works making them practical as well as symbolic. Taking the knee at football games may be symbolic but it is also practical if it raises consciousness of hypocrisy .
Scientists have found the first major evidence that Neanderthals, rather than modern humans, created the world's oldest known cave paintings -- suggesting they may have had an artistic sense similar to our own.
SCIENCEDAILY.COM
Sunday Meditation
Sunday Meditation
(In remembrance of Billy Graham)
"They prate of God; believe it, fellow creatures,
There's no such bugbear; all was made by Nature.
We know all came from nothing, and shall pass
Into the the same condition once it was,
By Nature's power; and that they grossly lie
Who say there's hope of immortality.
Let them but tell us what a soul is, then
We will adhere to these mad brain-sick men"--
"Christmas Carol" of the Ranters(1650)
[The Ranters were one of a number of nonconformist dissenting groups that emerged around the time of the English Commonwealth (1649–1660). They were largely common people, and there is plenty of evidence that the movement was widespread throughout England, though they were not organised and had no leader.-- Wikipedia]
Monday, February 19, 2018
Iran Threatens Israel?
Thomas Riggins
"But as the rebels have lost ground and no clear threats to Mr. Assad's rule remain, Iran and its allies have stayed, shifting their focus to creating an infrastructure to threaten Israel, analysts say." But Turkey remains anti-Assad and has invaded areas of Syria. The US has bases in Syria and is reported to be planning a permanent (!) presence using Kurdish surrogates, Israel continues to occupy Syrian territory (the Golan Heights), and bombs the country whenever it feels like it, and the US continues to fund the remnants of Syrian rebels to keep alive the fiction of widespread anti-Assad resistance. Israel has been advocating a preventive war against Iran for years so rather than "creating an infrastructure to threaten Israel" the NYT should have said "to deter Israel" -- but we know which side of the conflict the NYT is on. If Israel wants peace all it has to do is give back land it has stolen contrary to international law, quit bombing its neighbors, give up its occupation of the West Bank and let the Palestinians have their independence with East Jerusalem as their capital (and stop calling them 'cockroaches' -- they are human beings). What are the chances that U.S. imperialism, which thrives on war and military conflicts, and it's Israeli hand puppet will take the road to peace rather than exacerbate the situation ? [ Is 'puppet' too strong? Israel takes U.S. handouts and he who pays the piper calls the tune.] Both Israel and its neighbors can live together in peace if that's what the U.S. decides it wants (really wants).
Sunday, February 18, 2018
Mueller Indicts Some Russians
Thomas Riggins
OK, before we go nuts over US government allegations ("Russia" has been accused of trying to subvert the U.S. ever since 1918) lets just ponder some implications from the NYT story.
1. "The indictment does not explicitly say the Russian government sponsored the effort, but American intelligence officials have publicly said that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia directed and oversaw it. " Russia is a capitalist country its capitalists want to get rid of sanctions on their businesses and have normal capitalist relations and competition in Europe and the US. The INTERNET RESEARCH AGENCY despite its name is a private business not an Agency of the Russian government. Wikipedia describes it thusly: "The Internet Research Agency (IRA) (ĐĐłĐ”ĐœŃŃŃĐČĐŸ ĐĐœŃĐ”ŃĐœĐ”Ń ĐŃŃĐ»Đ”ĐŽĐŸĐČĐ°ĐœĐžĐč), also known as Glavset and known in Russian Internet slang as the Trolls from Olgino or kremlebots, is a Russian company, based in Saint Petersburg, that engages in online influence operations on behalf of Russian business interests." This has been known for years -- it didn't take the FBI and the CIA to figure this out.
"Russia" this and "Russians" that in news reports lumps together groups and organizations that are private with those of the Russian government. The Russians do that with us as well. "American spies" include reporters from CBS and NPR or the the New York Times as well as CIA agents -- all lumped together -- the "Americans" are trying to subvert us. Marxists shouldn't fall for these capitalist Spy vs Spy games.
2. IRA instructions: "Their tasks included undermining Mrs. Clinton by supporting her Democratic primary campaign rival, Bernie Sanders, prosecutors said. Those instructions were detailed in internal documents: “Use any opportunity to criticize Hillary and the rest (except Sanders and Trump — we support them).” The goal was to undermine HRC -- either Bernie or Trump would do. Why? Because she was the most openly hostile and anti-Russian candidate advocating a no-fly zone over Syria which threatened a Cuban Missile Crisis type confrontation with the Russian military aiding Syria's legally UN recognized government. She also supported more sanctions against Russian business interests. Since capitalist governments are simply fronts for their 1%er ruling classes this whole "Russiagate" brouhaha has nothing to do with "American democracy and our way of life" with regard to ordinary Americans but is a typical battle between two capitalist ruling classes over the availability of future markets and economic opportunities in the so-called Third World. It's also a justification to increase military spending and profits that brings in. Russian business interests thought either Bernie OR Trump would be better for them than HRC. Therefore:
3. “The indictment alleges that the Russian conspirators want to promote discord in the United States and undermine public confidence in democracy,” Rod J. Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general overseeing the inquiry, said in a brief news conference." The Russian capitalists could care even less about "discord in the United States" and "public confidence in democracy" than our home grown American capitalists care about democracy in the U.S., Russia or anywhere else. Both sets of capitalists are interested in profits and future economic opportunities. The difference is that the American ruling class is the most powerful and dominant ruling class in history and the Russian ruling class is a neophyte from an economically weaker country. It goes without saying that Marxists, supporting the international working class movement, support anything which weakens the grip of US Imperialism and its ruling class. This is a precondition of strengthening the working class movement in our own country as well as the rest of the world.
The defeat of HRC has thrown the US ruling class off balance and it is now divided by infighting and its international position is weakening despite its saber rattling and war mongering talk at home. It is attempting to turn our attention to Russia, we must not let it set our agenda -- we must focus on getting rid of Trump and this struggle is only weakened by our being pulled into exaggerated anti-Russian discourse fabricated by the ruling class.
1. "The indictment does not explicitly say the Russian government sponsored the effort, but American intelligence officials have publicly said that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia directed and oversaw it. " Russia is a capitalist country its capitalists want to get rid of sanctions on their businesses and have normal capitalist relations and competition in Europe and the US. The INTERNET RESEARCH AGENCY despite its name is a private business not an Agency of the Russian government. Wikipedia describes it thusly: "The Internet Research Agency (IRA) (ĐĐłĐ”ĐœŃŃŃĐČĐŸ ĐĐœŃĐ”ŃĐœĐ”Ń ĐŃŃĐ»Đ”ĐŽĐŸĐČĐ°ĐœĐžĐč), also known as Glavset and known in Russian Internet slang as the Trolls from Olgino or kremlebots, is a Russian company, based in Saint Petersburg, that engages in online influence operations on behalf of Russian business interests." This has been known for years -- it didn't take the FBI and the CIA to figure this out.
"Russia" this and "Russians" that in news reports lumps together groups and organizations that are private with those of the Russian government. The Russians do that with us as well. "American spies" include reporters from CBS and NPR or the the New York Times as well as CIA agents -- all lumped together -- the "Americans" are trying to subvert us. Marxists shouldn't fall for these capitalist Spy vs Spy games.
2. IRA instructions: "Their tasks included undermining Mrs. Clinton by supporting her Democratic primary campaign rival, Bernie Sanders, prosecutors said. Those instructions were detailed in internal documents: “Use any opportunity to criticize Hillary and the rest (except Sanders and Trump — we support them).” The goal was to undermine HRC -- either Bernie or Trump would do. Why? Because she was the most openly hostile and anti-Russian candidate advocating a no-fly zone over Syria which threatened a Cuban Missile Crisis type confrontation with the Russian military aiding Syria's legally UN recognized government. She also supported more sanctions against Russian business interests. Since capitalist governments are simply fronts for their 1%er ruling classes this whole "Russiagate" brouhaha has nothing to do with "American democracy and our way of life" with regard to ordinary Americans but is a typical battle between two capitalist ruling classes over the availability of future markets and economic opportunities in the so-called Third World. It's also a justification to increase military spending and profits that brings in. Russian business interests thought either Bernie OR Trump would be better for them than HRC. Therefore:
3. “The indictment alleges that the Russian conspirators want to promote discord in the United States and undermine public confidence in democracy,” Rod J. Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general overseeing the inquiry, said in a brief news conference." The Russian capitalists could care even less about "discord in the United States" and "public confidence in democracy" than our home grown American capitalists care about democracy in the U.S., Russia or anywhere else. Both sets of capitalists are interested in profits and future economic opportunities. The difference is that the American ruling class is the most powerful and dominant ruling class in history and the Russian ruling class is a neophyte from an economically weaker country. It goes without saying that Marxists, supporting the international working class movement, support anything which weakens the grip of US Imperialism and its ruling class. This is a precondition of strengthening the working class movement in our own country as well as the rest of the world.
The defeat of HRC has thrown the US ruling class off balance and it is now divided by infighting and its international position is weakening despite its saber rattling and war mongering talk at home. It is attempting to turn our attention to Russia, we must not let it set our agenda -- we must focus on getting rid of Trump and this struggle is only weakened by our being pulled into exaggerated anti-Russian discourse fabricated by the ruling class.
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