Mois : avril 2015

Published on Dissident Voice, by James Petras, April 15, 2015.

Harvard professor Joseph Nye, a former senior Pentagon functionary, is one of the longest serving and most influential advisers to US empire building officials. Nye has recently re-affirmed the primacy of the US as a world power in his latest book, Is the American Century Over? And his article, ‘The American Century will survive the Rise of China.’1 These publications are in line with his earlier book, Bound to Lead, and his longstanding view that the US is not a declining world power, that it retains ‘supremacy’ even in the face of China’s rise to global power.   Continuer la lecture de « Mandarin for the Warlords: The Harvard School of Empire Building »

Watch this video: Yanis Varoufakis and Joseph Stiglitz, 62.51 min, uploaded on YouTube by INETeconomics, April 9, 2015 – (found on Corrente/athena1’s blog: I think I get Marx’s basic idea about capitalism).

Links:   Continuer la lecture de « Yanis Varoufakis and Joseph Stiglitz »

Published on Spiegel Onine International, by Sebastian Hammelehle, April 13, 2015 (Photo Gallery: Remembering Günter Grass).

As a writer, he helped define postwar German literature. As a political activist, he helped shape the nation’s conscience. For some 60 years, Günter Grass was one of the most influential figures in Germany (on de.wikipdia, and on en.wikipedia).   Continuer la lecture de « Günter Grass Obituary: Farewell to Germany's Towering Literary Figure »

Published on ZNet, by Farooq Sulehria, April 13, 2015.

It is hard to say when exactly Leon Trotsky’s ideas begin to draw attention in Pakistan. However, by the 1930s his theories as well as his struggle against Stalinism won some support in pre-partition India. In Clash of Fundamentalisms, Tariq Ali narrates the proceedings of a meeting held in Lahore in April 1969 where his Trotskyist ideas were received as a novelty.   Continuer la lecture de « Reading Trotsky in Pakistan »

watch this video with Roman Gaus, 8.3 min, registred on Nov 2, 2011 and published by TEDx Talks on YouTube.

Urban agriculture has been real for decades, starting with the industrialization of Western Europe in the 20th century. Urban agriculture has been also well practiced in poor economies such as Cuba, where it serves as an important way of self-reliance. Today, with conventional agriculture « Big Ag » being at a cross-road in terms of its ecological impact on the environment and the increased food demand of a population growing to 9bn people by 2050, urban agriculture may very well be one key of a solution for the 21st century. As Roman explains, urban agriculture offers the solution to grow potentially enough food in the city to feed its entire population. What’s more, it also creates healthier, wealthier and happier cities, offering consumers with fresh & quality food choices and access to better quality of life … (full text). Continuer la lecture de « Urban Farming »

… only revolution can get us out of this situation – Published on Pambazuka News, April 10, 2015.

Millions of people around the world are burning with outrage under imperialist oppression. Islamic fundamentalism tragically channels this explosive discontent into mindless violence that offers nothing positive. This nightmare will only get worse, unless people fight to take their societies on a radically different path … // Continuer la lecture de « Caught between the deadly, dead-end alternatives of imperialism & religious fundamentalism »

The Black Spider Memos – Published on Dissident Voice, by Binoy Kampmark, April 10, 2015.

Over this month, British officials, with enormous reluctance, will relinquish the contents of 27 letters by Prince Charles to the press termed the “black spider memos” spanning the period between September 2004 and April 2005. A better view into the idiosyncratic views of the prolific letter writing prince might be offered, though it is unlikely to be spectacular. The Royals, notably the British ones, have tended to be fairly open about their antediluvian prancing in a world that has somehow left them behind. Continuer la lecture de « Prince Charles, Secrecy, and the British Government »

Published on Russia Today RT, April 9, 2015.

The creation of the BRICS reserve currencies pool worth $100 billion will allow member states to depend less on negative processes in the world economy and bypass market volatility, said Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.   Continuer la lecture de « BRICS $100bn reserve currency pool to soothe global shocks – Medvedev »

Published on Washington’s Blog, by Ellen Brown, April 8, 2015.

According to a new study from Princeton University, American democracy no longer exists. Using data from over 1,800 policy initiatives from 1981 to 2002, researchers Martin Gilens and Benjamin Page concluded that rich, well-connected individuals on the political scene now steer the direction of the country, regardless of – or even against – the will of the majority of voters. America’s political system has transformed from a democracy into an oligarchy, where power is wielded by wealthy elites. Continuer la lecture de « How America Became an Oligarchy »

uploaded by Financial Crisis – Economic Collapse:

• Transhumanism & the NWO Trojan Horse, 165.56 min, April 7, 2015;
• Paul Craig Roberts on Russia, Ukraine, Monsanto, GMOs and more, 117.18 min, Dec 27, 2014.

(Swisscom still struggles with a correct Internet-connection, my WIFI flows actually as much as the water in California)

Published on Spiegel Online International, by Erich Follath, April 3, 2015 (Photo Gallery).

People in the West tend to have a monolithic view of Iran. But there’s a lot more to the country than the mullah-led theocracy, and it often gets ignored. And national pride is alive and well … // Continuer la lecture de « The Persian Paradox – Iran is much more modern than you think »

Published on Intrepid Report, by Nafeez Ahmed, April 3, 2015.

Debate about the origins of the Islamic State (IS) has largely oscillated between two extreme perspectives. One blames the West. IS is nothing more than a predictable reaction to the occupation of Iraq, yet another result of Western foreign policy blowback. The other attributes IS’s emergence purely to the historic or cultural barbarism of the Muslim world, whose backward medieval beliefs and values are a natural incubator for such violent extremism … //

… Follow the money:   Continuer la lecture de « Islamic State is the cancer of modern capitalism »

Published on naked capitalism, by Yves Smith, April 3, 2015 … Updated later, April 3.

Greece has decided to up the ante in its negotiations with the Troika. The open question is whether the latest move, the press leak via Ambrose Evans-Pritchard at the Telegraph that Greece will miss its April 9 payment to the IMF so that it can continue to make pension payments, and has started to make plans to issue the drachma, are game-changers that Greece hopes they will be.   Continuer la lecture de « Greece Threatens to Miss IMF Payment, Issue Drachma »

Published on Basic Income Earth Network BIEN, by Stanislas Jourdan, March 27, 2015.

A letter published today in the Financial Times signed by 19 economists, including BIEN co-founder Guy Standing, calls on the European Central Bank to adopt an alternative quantitative easing policy. The letter includes a call to distribute cash directly to citizens of the eurozone.   Continuer la lecture de « EUROPE: 19 economists call on the ECB to make ‘QE for the people’ in a letter to the Financial Times »