nous les 99%

Published on Global Research.ca, by Prof. James Petras, June 24, 2014.

… In terms of cost to the United States, hundreds of thousands of soldiers who had served in the war zones have sustained severe physical and mental injuries, while thousands have died directly or indirectly through an epidemic of soldier suicides. The invasion and occupation of Iraq has cost the United States trillions of dollars and counting. Despite the immense costs to the American people, the military-industrial complex and the pro-Israel power configuration continue to keep the US government on a wartime economy – undermining the domestic social safety net and standard of living of many millions.   Continuer la lecture de « The Soaring Profits of the Military-Industrial Complex, The Soaring Costs of Military Casualties »

Published on Russia Today RT, June 23, 2014.

Ukraine nationalists have clashed with police outside the citadel of the Orthodox Church in Kiev, the Pechersk Lavra, as the churchgoers and monks were about to hold a peace service praying for an end to violence in Ukraine.   Continuer la lecture de « Kiev nationalists clash with police outside Orthodox monastery »

Published on Intrepid Report, by Frank Scott, June 23, 2014.

The destruction of Iraq, which began under the conservatively emotional Bush regime, continues under the liberally placid Obama administration. There are differences in style when an intelligent landscaper replaces a slack jawed gardener but the plantation they serve differs only in the cosmetic facade it sells the public, not the diseased crop it produces … // Continuer la lecture de « The warfare state of capital »

Published on World Socialist Web Site WSWS, by Johannes Stern, 21 June 2014.

The German bourgeoisie is responding to the debacle of US imperialism in Iraq by intensifying its campaign for militarism and war.

On Tuesday, during her first official visit to the US, German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen spoke out in favour of a strong Bundeswehr (German armed forces) participation in an international military intervention. Germany had “key positions and capabilities, which other countries do not”, she said. The UN had asked her “that Germany one day also lead a United Nations military peace mission”, and the defence ministry was considering how the Bundeswehr could be more heavily involved.   Continuer la lecture de « German militarism and the US debacle in Iraq »

Published on Dissident Voice, by Ellen Hodgson Brown, June 20, 2014.

… When the US Federal Reserve bought an 80% stake in American International Group (AIG) in September 2008, the unprecedented $85 billion outlay was justified as necessary to bail out the world’s largest insurance company. Today, however, central banks are on a global corporate buying spree not to bail out bankrupt corporations but simply as an investment, to compensate for the loss of bond income due to record-low interest rates. Indeed, central banks have become some of the world’s largest stock investors.   Continuer la lecture de « Buying up the Planet »

Published on rabble.ca /blog, by PENNEY KOME, 12 Jun 2014.

… Only a decade ago, a person who graduated with a five-year Masters of Business Administration degree could expect immediate six-figure salary offers. Now the Degree Bubble has burst. Between dumbed-down public education systems, an overabundance of graduates, and endless corporate and small business campaigns to drive down wages across the board, the value of degrees has suffered drastic deflation in the seven years between 2007, when our grad entered university, and his graduation this year.   Continuer la lecture de « A question of (academic) degrees »

Published on Labour List, by Emma Burnell, June 19, 2014.

How does social democracy work when there isn’t any money? That is the question that has been taxing those at the top of the Labour Party for some time.

Our immediate, Keynesian response to the crisis staunched the wound and arguably stopped a recession becoming a depression. But the crisis itself showed up the weaknesses of the late 20th century model of social democracy – that of relying on the redistribution of the proceeds of growth, not of changing how that growth affected people early and for the better.   Continuer la lecture de « We need a new vision that is worthy of our people and our past »

Published on Spiegel Online International, by Philip Bethge, June 16, 2014 (Photo Gallery).

Over one third of humanity is undernourished. Now a group of scientists are experimenting with specially-bred crops, and hoping to launch a new Green Revolution — but controversy is brewing.

It may not make his family wealthy, but Devran Mankar is still grateful for the pearl millet variety called Dhanshakti (meaning « prosperity and strength ») he has recently begun growing in his small field in the state of Maharashtra, in western India. « Since eating this pearl millet, the children are rarely ill, » raves Mankar, a slim man with a gray beard, worn clothing and gold-rimmed glasses … // Continuer la lecture de « Miracle Crop: India's Quest to End World Hunger – part 1 »

in english

Audio with Paul Craig Roberts: The Crisis in Ukraine & The Geopolitical Chess Game, 70.18 min, uploaded by Red Ice Radio, June 15, 2014;

uploaded by RT:   Continuer la lecture de « Ukraine »

Published on The Guardian, by Chris Arnade, June 15, 2014:

Cecily McMillan is behind bars, unlike any of the architects of the financial crisis. In an exclusive conversation with the Guardian, she explains why her sentence serves a purpose …;

A former banker visits the only member of Occupy Wall Street to receive a prison sentence: it sounds like the set-up of a joke or a parable of the modern age. Instead, it was a real scene last Thursday, when I went to see jailed OWS activist Cecily McMillan at Rikers Island.   Continuer la lecture de « An Ex-Banker and Occupier walk into a Jail, guess which one’s serving Time? »

Published on ZNet (first on Portside), by Peter Dreier, June 14, 2014.

An idea that only a year ago appeared both radical and impractical has become a reality. On Monday, Seattle struck a blow against rising inequality when its City Council unanimously adopted a citywide minimum wage of $15 an hour, the highest in the nation.   Continuer la lecture de « Seattle’s $15 Minimum Wage Origins »

The Thai fishing industry is built on slavery, with men often beaten, tortured and sometimes killed – all to catch ‘trash fish’ to feed the cheap farmed prawns/shrimps sold in the west – Published on The Guardian, June 10, 2014: A six-month Guardian multimedia investigation has, for the first time, tracked how some of the world’s big-supermakets – Tesco, Aldi, Walmart and Morrisons are using suppliers relying on slave labour to put cheap prawns on their shelves. Slavery is back and here’s the proof … Thai ‘ghost ships’ that enslave and even kill workers are linked to global shrimp supply chain, Guardian investigation discovers modern day slavery:     Continuer la lecture de « Trafficked into slavery on Thai trawlers to catch food for prawns »

Interview with Paul Craig Roberts – Published on OpEdNews, by Rob Kall, June 12, 2014.

As AUDIO, 116.54 min
(and rough, incomplete notes):

I talk for almost two hours with Paul Craig Roberts On Russia, De-dollarization, capitalism, Psychopaths, Ed Snowden and NSA, Monsanto GMO. Corporatization of the FDA and more … //

… Rob: What are your thoughts about Monsanto and GMO. You mentioned that in Russia, GMO seeds and farming are being treated as terrorism.   Continuer la lecture de « On Russia, De-dollarization, Psychopaths, Monsanto GMO and more »

Published on Intrepid Report, by Paul Craigh Roberts, June 12, 2014 (see Paul Craigh Roberts also on World People’s Blog).

In my column, The Lies Grow More Audacious, I mentioned that Obama and the British prime minister, whom Obama has as a lap dog, just as George Bush had Tony Blair as lap dog, had managed to celebrate the defeat of Nazi Germany at the 70th anniversary of the Normandy invasion without mentioning the Russians.

I pointed out the fact, well known to historians and educated people, that the Red Army defeated Nazi Germany long before the US was able to get geared up to participate in the war. The Normandy invasion most certainly did not defeat Nazi Germany. What the Normandy invasion did was to prevent the Red Army from overrunning all of Europe.   Continuer la lecture de « World War II: The Unknown War »

Published on The Real News, by Paul Jay: … Mr. Johnson says the scale of the political investment of finance – six, seven hundred million dollars – is overwhelming. With the political power of finance, do we still have a democracy?

• Finance Is Building the Architecture of Their Own Rules, (3/8), 14.39 min, June 10, 2014;
• Reaganomics Was Crazy (2/8), 14.55 min, June 9, 2014;
• Growing Up in the Cauldron of 1960’s Detroit (1/8), 1.10 min, June 8, 2014.   Continuer la lecture de « Reality Asserts Itself – 3 Videos with Robert Johnson »