Latest articles
by Jonathan Cook / June 23rd, 2021
There’s been a new public fracturing of the intellectual left, typified by an essay last week from Nathan J Robinson, editor of the small, independent, socialist magazine Current Affairs, accusing Glenn Greenwald and Matt Taibbi of bolstering the right’s arguments. He is the more reasonable face of what seems to be a new industry arguing that Greenwald is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, setting the right’s agenda for it.
Under the title “How to end up serving the right”, Robinson claims that Greenwald and Taibbi, once his intellectual heroes, are – inadvertently or otherwise – …
by Edward Curtin / June 23rd, 2021
After fifteen months of assiduous reading, study, observation, and research, I have come to some conclusions about what is called COVID-19. I would like to emphasize that I have done this work obsessively since it seemed so important. I have consulted information and arguments across all media, corporate and alternative, academic, medical, books, etc. I have consulted with researchers around the world. I have read the websites of the CDC, the World Health Organization, and government and non-government health organizations. In other words, I have left no stone unturned, …
by Binoy Kampmark / June 23rd, 2021
To float over such an aqueous body is to find a majestic creature unparalleled in beauty and expanse, stretching at 2,300km. There are other stunning formations on the planet, but the Great Barrier Reef has such dimension, form and cocksure brilliance as to make others shrink, not so much because of beauty as due to sheer scale and ecological variety.
But the Reef’s health record has been patchy. Each year brings a series of negative assessments about the patient. Its ticker is having palpitations; its central mineral supports in the form of coral life is being bleached. Water quality is being …
by C.J. Hopkins / June 21st, 2021
The ultimate goal of every totalitarian system is to establish complete control over society and every individual within it in order to achieve ideological uniformity and eliminate any and all deviation from it. This goal can never be achieved, of course, but it is the raison d’être of all totalitarian systems, regardless of what forms they take and ideologies they espouse. You can dress totalitarianism up in Hugo Boss-designed Nazi uniforms, Mao suits, or medical-looking face masks, its core desire remains the same: to remake the world in its …
by Bruce Lerro / June 21st, 2021
Image from Imgur @i.imgur.com
Orientation
As I was looking at images to place at the beginning of this article, I was struck by how many images and quotes there were of Le Bon. It is pretty amazing for someone whose first work was published in 1895 and whose last works are still around 100 years old. It is especially strange given how unscientific his methods were and how recent empirical studies of crowds like David Miller’s Introduction to Collective Behavior and Collective Action contradicts virtually everything Le Bon claimed. Why is …
by E.R. Bills / June 20th, 2021
I get it.
As a native Texan, I feel your pain.
I, too, was weaned on comic book versions of the Alamo and the Texian War for Independence, and I understand your anger and frustration. We have been betrayed.
The question, now, is what are we going to do about it?
Should we slap AK47s over our shoulders and strap pistols across our beer bellies and stage our own Alamo about what never really happened at the Alamo at the state capitol? Do we need to stand tall with the Texas chapter of the Daughters of the Confederacy and protest these shameless revisions to …
by Todd Smith / June 19th, 2021
Vanderbiltson Cooper of the Cartoon News Network will not accurately report this, but the Biden administration recently moved the “Exit from Afghanistan” goalposts. Again. Despite inheriting a Trump era agreement signed in late February of 2020 for full U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan by May 1, 2021, the Biden folks have decided to push the “pullout” back to September 11. Well, what’s a few more months after nearly 2 decades?
The obsequious Corporate press that ushered in the Biden regime with wildly fawning fanfare, of course, have used the occasion to heap even further praise upon the brilliant Biden, not least …
by Shawgi Tell / June 19th, 2021
While accountability, oversight, and transparency have long been weak in brick-and-mortar charter schools, all three are even weaker when it comes to virtual charter schools, also known as cyber charter schools.
This is troubling in and of itself but also because virtual charter schools are notorious for particularly low graduation rates, abysmal academic performance, and widespread fraud and corruption. The news is regularly filled with stories about scandals plaguing virtual charter schools, even more so than …
by Media Lens / June 19th, 2021
11. The BBC On The Saintly Motives For Waging War On Iraq And Libya
In focusing on the grim future in April, US vice president, Kamala Harris, surely revealed far more than she intended about the grim past:
‘For years and generations, wars have been fought over oil. In a short matter of time, they will be fought over water.’
A remarkable statement. Our search of the ProQuest media database found no mention of it in any UK corporate newspaper.
Four months before the invasion of Iraq, the minutes …
by Binoy Kampmark / June 19th, 2021
After tormenting the man for years, it became clear that the Australian authorities were willing to, for want of a better word, compromise. The more accurate word would be compromising. Instead of banishing former spy turned bean spiller Witness K to a cell and throwing away the key, there was preference for a softer, more hypocritical mode of punishment. He would be spared jail time, showing that the national security state can, when it wishes to sit in judgment, show some mercy.
For those familiar with the case, there was nothing merciful in the finding. A punishment had been levelled for …
USAID does not provide aid, it carries out coups
by Nan McCurdy / June 18th, 2021
Since the Sandinistas won the 2006 election their anti-poverty policies have had enormous success.
The country is 90% self-sufficient in food. 99% of the population have electricity in their homes that is now generated with 70+% green energy; International financial Institutions including the World Bank, the International Development Bank and The Central American Bank for Economic Integration praise Nicaragua for its excellent, efficient project execution. it has one of the best health systems in Latin America praised by the International Monetary Fund, with 20 new state of the art hospitals …
by Binoy Kampmark / June 18th, 2021
My, were they delighted! Politicians across several international jurisdictions beamed with pride that police and security forces had gotten one up on criminals spanning the globe. It all involved a sting by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, led in conjunction with a number of law enforcement agencies in 16 countries, resulting in more than 800 arrests. The European Union police agency Europol described it as the “biggest ever law enforcement operation against encrypted communication”.
The haul was certainly more than the usual: over 32 tonnes of an assortment of drugs including cocaine, cannabis, amphetamines and methamphetamines; 250 firearms, 55 luxury …
by James O'Neill / June 17th, 2021
This Wednesday, the United States president Joe Biden will meet Russian president Vladimir Putin in Geneva in the first meeting of the two since Biden came to power in January 2021. It would be unwise to expect too much from this meeting. There are a number of reasons for advancing this view.
The first of these reasons relates to American motives for the meeting. It is clear that the Americans have decided that the greatest threat to their position in the world comes from the Chinese. Their policy is plainly to try and isolate the Chinese. In this endeavour they are …
by Media Lens / June 16th, 2021
After 20 years of Media Lens, it seems only natural that we should look back in gratitude at the support we’ve received. In response to one of our early pieces, a kindly columnist at the Observer commented:
‘Dear David,
‘Thank you very much for sending me a copy of your piece, which strikes me as spot on.
‘Yrs,
‘Nick Cohen’
A Guardian columnist responded with even more effusive praise:
‘This article is brilliant and fascinating David, as ever.’ (George Monbiot)
Alas, our ethical integrity declined precipitously after we subjected our interlocutors to criticism, with Cohen addressing …
by Ramzy Baroud / June 16th, 2021
Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is as much American as he is Israeli. While other Israeli leaders have made their strong relationship with Washington a cornerstone in their politics, Netanyahu’s political style was essentially American from the start.
Netanyahu spent many of his formative years in the United States. He lived in Philadelphia as a child, graduated from Cheltenham High School and earned a degree in Management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1976. He then opted to live in the US, not Israel, when he joined the Boston …
by Gerald E. Scorse / June 16th, 2021
President Biden’s big plans for America rest in part on his plans to pay for them by raising taxes on the rich. He wants the top marginal rate restored to 39.6%. He wants households making more than $1 million a year to pay the same rates on capital gains as regular people pay on income from work. He wants to close a loophole that allows appreciated assets to pass tax-free to heirs.
It’s hard to argue with the president’s focus on the rich. The fiscal pickings are second to none, and polls show that Americans strongly favor his approach. They …
by Binoy Kampmark / June 15th, 2021
Australian officials and paper mad types are running out of ideas as to how to be cruel towards refugees. We need to give them some credit: for years they have tried to do what most autocratic and murderous regimes do in a heartbeat: ignore international law, treat it with disdain and use those feeble excuses in the service of sovereignty.
As with any system of harm and torture, the justifiers cite a hard form of kindness to prolong the depravity of their conduct. The drivel of humanitarian falseness abounds: We need to prevent people from drowning. We hate seeing children perish. …
by Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. S. Davies / June 15th, 2021
Photo credit: BPM Media – Protest at G7 summit in Cornwall UK
The world has been treated to successive spectacles of national leaders gathering at a G7 Summit in Cornwall and a NATO Summit in Brussels.
The U.S. corporate media have portrayed these summits as chances for President Biden to rally the leaders of the world’s democratic nations in a coordinated response to the most serious problems facing the world, from the COVID pandemic, climate change and global inequality to ill-defined “threats to democracy” from Russia and …
by Edward Curtin / June 14th, 2021
It is difficult to talk to addicts about addictions and it is even harder to do so when their embrace of the drug of choice has dire consequences.
I once asked the ether if God had a cell phone, and although God didn’t reply, it was a rhetorical question, so I didn’t expect an answer since I knew God understood grammar and punctuation and had other ways of communicating.
The elites who consider themselves gods, such as those at the World Economic Forum, the World Health Organization, the Bill and Melinda …
by Don Fitz and the Green Party of St. Louis / June 14th, 2021
People the world over are opposing fossil fuel extraction in an incalculable number of ways. It is now clear that burning fossil fuels threatens millions of Life forms and could be laying the foundation for the extermination of Humanity. But what about “alternative” energy? As progressives stand shoulder-to-shoulder with those rejecting fossil fuels and nuclear power, should we despise, ignore, or commend those who challenge the menace to their homes and their communities from solar, wind and hydro-power (dams)? The Green Party of St. Louis/Gateway Green Alliance gave its answer with unanimous approval of a version of the statement below …
by Ramzy Baroud / June 14th, 2021
On May 25, famous American actor, Mark Ruffalo, tweeted an apology for suggesting that Israel is committing ‘genocide’ in Gaza.
“I have reflected and wanted to apologize for posts during the recent Israel/Hamas fighting that suggested Israel is committing ‘genocide’,” Ruffalo wrote, adding, “It’s not accurate, it’s inflammatory, disrespectful and is being used to justify anti-Semitism, here and abroad. Now is the time to avoid hyperbole.”
But were Ruffalo’s earlier assessments, indeed, “not accurate, inflammatory and disrespectful”? And does equating Israel’s war on besieged, impoverished Gaza with genocide fit into …
by Ariel Gold / June 14th, 2021
After 12 years, Israel finally inaugurated a new prime minister. While being hailed by many as the opportunity for a fresh start, Naftali Bennett is at best a continuer of Netanyahu’s policies and at worst an ideologue whose positions are to the right of Netanyahu’s.
In 2013, as Middle East peace talks were set to resume after a five-year freeze, Bennett reportedly proclaimed to Israeli National Security Adviser Ya’akov Amidror, “I’ve killed lots of Arabs in my life – and there’s no problem with that.”
In 2014, Bennett, who had previously …
by Binoy Kampmark / June 13th, 2021
Summits often feature grand statements and needless fripperies. In Cornwall, the leaders of the G7 countries were trying to position and promote their relevance as the vanguard of democratic good sense and values. They, the message went, remained relevant, valuable and essential to the order of the earth, despite challenges posed by the autocrats.
Never let contradiction get in the way of such a united front. Babbling about liberal democratic values matters little when it comes to crusty realpolitik. The UK and the US continue to supply armaments to their favourite theocracy, Saudi Arabia, even as they take issue with Russia …
by Colin Todhunter / June 13th, 2021
On 25 May 2021, the Indian Bar Association (IBA) served a 51-page legal notice on Dr Soumya Swaminathan, the Chief Scientist at the World Health Organisation (WHO), for “her act of spreading disinformation and misguiding the people of India, in order to fulfil her agenda.”
The Mumbai-based IBA is an association of lawyers who strive to bring transparency and accountability to the Indian justice system. It is actively involved in the dissemination of legal knowledge and provides guidance and support to advocates and ordinary people in their fight for justice.
The legal notice says Dr Swaminathan has been:
Running a disinformation campaign against
…
by Robert Hunziker / June 13th, 2021
Worldwide chemical emissions are six times global warming emissions. This hidden dilemma is fully exposed in a superbly researched new book by science writer Julian Cribb: Earth Detox: How and Why We Must Clean up Our Planet (Cambridge University Press), scheduled for release August 2021.
The planet has become a toxic soup of tested, untested, and inadequately tested chemicals that includes deadly toxins. Within only a couple of generations, and largely unnoticed, this startling episode is unique to our generation. Far and away, it exceeds global …
by Gary Engler / June 13th, 2021
Canadians like to think of ourselves as less racist, less right wing and especially less violent than Americans. But two recent events coming after a previous series of mass murders has shaken this belief.
Four members of a Muslim family were murdered in a hate crime while out for a stroll last Sunday in London, Ontario; two weeks earlier 215 First Nations children were found buried on the grounds of a Kamloops, B.C. Indian residential school; one year ago 22 died during a shooting spree by a Nova Scotia wannabe …
by Yves Engler / June 13th, 2021
In response to the recent upsurge in pro-Palestinian activism basically every major Canadian media outlet has published stories about rising anti-Semitism. B’nai B’rith claims there were more anti-Semitic incidents in May than all of last year. The government recently acceded to the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) demand for an emergency summit on antisemitism, which will be led by staunch Zionist Irwin Cotler.
But comparatively little attention has been devoted to anti-Palestinian bigotry despite the publicly verifiable evidence that suggests Palestinian Canadians or those identified with them …
by Shawgi Tell / June 12th, 2021
It is well-documented that charter schools intensify segregation on the basis of ability, language, race, and socioeconomic status. Charter school demographics frequently do not reflect the demographics of public schools in their communities. This is because privately-operated non-profit and for-profit charter schools routinely engage in selective enrollment practices even though they are “schools of choice” ostensibly “open to all.” Families may “choose” a charter school but the charter school ultimately decides who is admitted, who stays, and who doesn’t. Public schools, on the other hand, accept all students at …
by Gary Olson / June 12th, 2021
I may well be among the few people here who’ve only recently come across Robin DiAngelo’s immensely popular book, White Fragility: Why White People Have Such a Hard Time Talking About Racism, but I’ll share a few of my reactions. In my opinion, this book starkly epitomizes the dangerous consequences when discussions of white identity are divorced from class analysis. After George Floyd’s death at the hands of the Minneapolis police, Di Angelo’s “antiracism” training manual ascended to the top of Amazon’s best seller list. The author is a …
by Paul Haeder / June 12th, 2021
African Americans must learn the truth about socialism that they may preserve their culture, get rid of poverty, ignorance and disease, and help America live up at least to a shadow of its vain boast as the land of the free and the home of the brave.
— W.E.B DuBois
The Message is the Truth!
He who controls the media, controls the world. And with media, that is everything — curriculum design, product manuals, white papers, legislative treatises, novels, history books, magazines, on-line, off-line, textbooks, music, film, TV, the entire ranch, including The Press.
It was early when I got …
