Unintended Consequences

… Obama traces origin of ISIS to Bush-era Iraq invasion, President Barack Obama speaks with ICE news – Video published on Russia Today RT, 2.59 min, March 17, 2015.

Obama stated that he is “confident” a coalition consisting of 60 nations “will slowly push back ISIL out of Iraq,” but added that the challenge of stopping extremism won’t stop unless there is a political solution to the internal strife affecting so many countries in the Middle East.   Continuer la lecture de « Unintended Consequences »

Basic income and the anti-slavery movement

Modern-day ‘abolitionists’ need to frame labour exploitation so that it fits the narrative of their funding sources – Published on openDemocracy, by NEIL HOWARD, March 12, 2015:

Unconditional basic income is not only feasible, but it also has more emancipatory potential than any other single policy because it targets economic vulnerability, the heart of all labour exploitation.

Last May, I argued in a piece for Al-Jazeera that the emerging global anti-slavery movement risks becoming no more than a fig leaf for structural political-economic injustice. I suggested that unless it faces that injustice head-on, it will waste a generational opportunity to make the world more just, focussing instead on making consumers and activists “feel better about feeling bad” … //

… Slavery and the market: … //

… Basic income: Continuer la lecture de « Basic income and the anti-slavery movement »

Assange on Asylum – Interview

Published on ZNet (first on teleSUR English ), by Chris Spannos and Julian Assange, March 14, 2015.

Swedish authorities announced Friday their willingness to finally interview WikiLeaks’ editor-in-chief Julian Assange, but a secret U.S. investigation has trapped the insurgent publisher without charge in Ecuador’s London embassy. Monday, March 16 will mark 1,000 days since Assange sought asylum there. In an exclusive interview with teleSUR English, Assange said there is growing recognition that the situation is unjust. Assange spoke with teleSUR editor Chis Spannos//

… CS: So in this larger context, what does the Swedish investigation represent?   Continuer la lecture de « Assange on Asylum – Interview »

Why Should We Care about Greece?

Published on American Thinker, by Michael Booth, March 14, 2015.

… The answer has several parts; political, economic, ideological and perhaps — given Greece’s history — even philosophic, all blended together into an acrid, ruinous stew.

Greece is routinely painted in the Western MSM as the feckless child, and over the decades there’s truth in this. The Greeks are the author of their current situation. But that history of economic fantasy changed in the last Greek election, with the empowerment of a reality-based coalition.   Continuer la lecture de « Why Should We Care about Greece? »