America’s defeat in Afghanistan is one in a string of catastrophic military blunders that herald the death of the American empire. With the exception of the first Gulf War, fought largely by mechanized units in the open desert that did not – wisely – attempt to occupy Iraq, the United States political and military leadership… Read More Chris Hedges: The real tragedy behind the collapse of the American empire
One might refer to the fascist movements as the wounds, the scars, of a democracy that, to this day, has not lived up to its own concept: Theodor Adorno First things first: to speak of ‘Bolsonarismo’ is not the same as speaking of Bolsonaro voters. Evidently, whatever we can call ‘Bolsonarismo’ must have been a factor… Read More Rodrigo Nunes: Of what is Bolsonaro the name?
Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century is an indispensable book for anyone interested in learning more about the unequal distribution of wealth in the world today. As I read this major 950-page study, which is supplemented by a large amount of statistical data and tables available on Internet), it became obvious that the Occupy Wall Street movement… Read More Concentration of wealth in the hands of the 1% // The evolution of wealth inequalities over the last two centuries
On this planet of ours, America is the emperor of weaponry, even if in ways we normally tend not to put together. There’s really no question about it. The all-American powers-that-be and the arms makers that go with them dream up, produce, and sell weaponry, domestically and internationally, in an unmatched fashion. You’ll undoubtedly be… Read More TOM ENGELHARDT: The United States as a Mass-Killing Machine / Ioan Grillo: US-made guns are ripping Central America apart and driving migration
COVID-19 is not a random event. It is a symptom of a global economic system that is destroying the living planet and killing off our magnificent wildlife. COVID-19 might be the first pandemic many of us have experienced. But unless we change course, it will almost certainly not be the last. So before we spend… Read More George Monbiot: In 2008, we bailed out the banks. In 2021, we need to bail out the planet
Northern Ireland has been rocked by six successive nights of violence with 55 police officers injured in a level of unrest “not seen in years”. Serious unrest has spilled on to the streets since Good Friday in pockets of unionist areas in Derry, Belfast and other towns in County Antrim. Cars have been set on… Read More Northern Ireland unrest: why has violence broken out?
In the United States, there is one set of rules for rich people (especially if they are also white) and another set for everyone else. That unjust and anti-democratic system is reflected across American society. The country’s wealth and income inequality is so extreme (especially the race-wealth gap) that it more closely resembles that of… Read More Donald Trump – Supreme white collar criminal
American exceptionalism pretends that it has nothing to do with European-style colonialism. But the US is a colonising country. The difference is that Americans call their colonialism “the American Dream”. American mythology casts white settler violence as “regenerative”, versus the “degenerative” violence of Native peoples, enslaved black people, and their descendants. In this mythology, a black… Read More From colonialism to Covid: Viet Thanh Nguyen on the rise of anti-Asian violence
On Wednesday, dozens of prominent Black business executives released a joint statement condemning the wave of voter suppression measures in states across the U.S. and calling on major corporations to publicly oppose them. The statement, coordinated by Merck CEO Ken Frazier, former American Express CEO Ken Chenault and the Black Economic Alliance, was signed by… Read More Black Executives in the USA Pressure Corporations To Oppose Racist Voter Suppression
Three letters: NRA. Beginning in the 1970s, the National Rifle Association transformed itself from a shooting sports organization into a political lobbying arm of the Republican Party. How did we get from a little NRA indoor firing range with .22 target rifles to an entire convention hall filled with weapons of war and nostalgia for… Read More America's gun madness: How guns went from tools to ideology to identity. By LUCIAN TRUSCOTT
