The U.S. wars lost in Iraq and Afghanistan showed imperial overreach beyond what even 20 years of war could manage. That the defeats were drawn out for so many years shows that domestic politics and the funding of the domestic military-industrial complex were, more than geopolitics, the key drivers of these wars. Empires can die… Read More Richard Wolff: How the troubled U.S. empire could quickly fall apart
If Assange is extradited and found guilty of publishing classified material, it will set a legal precedent that will effectively end national security reporting, allowing the government to use the Espionage Act to charge any reporter who possesses classified documents, and any whistleblower who leaks classified information, under the Espionage Act. For the past two… Read More Chris Hedges: The most important battle for press freedom in our time
The United States is a nation of militantly ignorant people, arrogant in their beliefs, unable to change their minds and unwilling to try. We lack education. And the lack of education in this country is such a problem that national security adviser Jake Sullivan described it this week as a critical issue for our national… Read More BRIAN KAREM – Dumbass nation: Our biggest national security problem is America's "vast and militant ignorance" / ExxonMobil's campaign to fund climate science denial
NB: After willfully neglecting Fr Stan Swamy‘s bail pleas and subjecting him to unusual punishment without trial, our criminal justice system literally presided over his death in custody. He was 84 years old, weak and ailing; and had suffered enormously in jail. After he died, spokesmen for the government repeated the allegations against him as… Read More Bhima Koregaon: Kin of jailed activists write to authorities to not discontinue telephone calls / How the ‘anda cell’ is used to discipline prison inmates
NB: I have just one comment to make on this issue, communalism of every hue thrives on state support whether open or covert. This is the ideology of choice for the ruling classes of South Asia. It has led to the criminalisation of state structures and the near-complete erosion of justice. It remains to be… Read More Bharat Bhushan: Bangladesh's dysfunctional secularism
Many economic assessments of the climate crisis “grossly undervalue the lives of young people and future generations”, Prof Nicholas Stern warned on Tuesday, before the Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow. Economists have failed to take account of the “immense risks and potential loss of life” that could occur as a result of the climate crisis, he said,… Read More Climate crisis: economists ‘grossly undervalue young lives’
The documents, including an internal post-mortem and one document showing in real time countermeasures Facebook employees were belatedly implementing, paint a picture of a company that was in fact fundamentally unprepared for how the Stop the Steal movement used its platform to organize, and that only truly swung into action after the movement had turned… Read More Facebook Papers paint damning picture of company's role in insurrection
The violence against the Hindu minority in Bangladesh is an ominous development. But it is also a reminder of one cardinal truth: All of South Asia is “tied together in a single garment of destiny,” to borrow Martin Luther King’s phrase from a different context. Violence in one place will spill over to another; freedom… Read More P. B. Mehta – Violence and communalism: South Asia’s disturbing commonality
The Party of Moderate Progress Within the Bounds of the Law (PMPWBL, Czech: Strana Mírného Pokroku v Mezích Zákona (SMPVMZ)) was a satirical political party in Cisleithania (Austro-Hungary), founded by Jaroslav Hašek in 1911. The party campaigned satirically for election to the Imperial Council (Austria). Due to their dual nature as both a political “party”… Read More The Party of Moderate Progress Within the Bounds of the Law
Ibtada-e-Ishq hai rota hai kya / Aage Aaage dekhiye hota hai kya Man Kunto Maula Abi Sampa https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyZZBpxcLMw Cafe De Anatolia – Most Beautiful Songs V https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9w7cDeCguo African Relaxing Music https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Njj4CX4OAMU Isle of Skye Drone Film https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RTMLn7rDRw&t=554s Kamlee: Hadiqa Kiani https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oGSq6iGSjQ Vangelis – Theme from Antarctica https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOwuniIgYXM Oxygene – The Ocean https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aI3yNckfSvU Nawang Khechog – Tibet – Cry… Read More Haroon: Ibtada-e-Ishq hai rota hai kya / Aage Aaage dekhiye hota hai kya
After the truth-shower 