‘At the core of both our nature, and our way of being within nature, is a relentless, collective conversation about what is good and what is true.’ Richard Bernstein Richard J. Bernstein. The Vicissitudes of Nature: From Spinoza to Freud. New York: Polity Books, 2022 During the past few decades, our practices have been destroying nature,… Read More Alex Betancourt reviews The Vicissitudes of Nature
Frances Stonor Saunders on MI5 and the Hobsbawm File First posted March 26, 2015 On 25 January 1933, the 16-year-old Eric Hobsbawm marched with thousands of comrades through central Berlin to the headquarters of the German Communist Party (KPD). When they arrived at Karl Liebknecht Haus, on the Bülowplatz, the temperature was –18°C. They shuffled and… Read More British Intelligence (MI5)’s file on Eric Hobsbawm
Pranjali Bandhu A stalwart of India’s freedom movement, Gandhian economic philosopher, pioneer in the development of village and cottage industries and advocate of a decentralised, localised economy of permanence and freedom, it is unfortunate that J C Kumarappa (1892-1960) remains practically unknown to the present generation of Indians. The reasons for this are many, but… Read More J C Kumarappa’s Concept of an Economy of Permanence
Golestan Palace in Tehran, a world heritage site, and buildings in historic city of Isfahan harmed, despite Unesco sending coordinates Julian Borger and Deepa Parent The governor of the historic Iranian city of Isfahan has accused the US and Israel of a “declaration of war on a civilization” as heritage sites across the country suffer… Read More Dismay as ancient heritage sites across Iran damaged in US-Israel bombing
Stephen Harding on the Modernist Poet and His Fascist Politics By the spring of 1939, the widely acknowledged dean of Anglo-American Modernist poetry, fifty-three-year-old Ezra Pound, had lived in Europe for three decades. After leaving the United States in 1908 at the age of twenty- three, the poet had initially settled in London, then moved… Read More Literary Celebrity, Mussolini’s Mouthpiece, and American Traitor: Who Was Ezra Pound?
By Dilip Simeon Ideology is the most devilish variation of the lie: Hannah Arendt To speak of reaction is to counterpose it with progress. This terminology is not helpful. Stable issues of political life, such as legitimate authority, justice, transparent government, clarity on the means vs ends problem; along with issues of character such as… Read More Domination and chaos: India’s radical conservatism
Ernst Junger (1895-1998): Jünger found his countrymen’s discriminatory treatment of French Jews unacceptable. In his Parisian diaries, the writer wrote on 7 June 1942 that he had encountered for the first time the yellow star carried by three little girls who were passing by in the Rue Royale, and that he considered that day as fundamental in his personal history,… Read More An Aesthete at War
Since 9/11, the US has engaged in three full-scale wars, bombing at least 10 countries under four presidents By Marium Ali Despite promising to end United States involvement in costly and destructive foreign wars, President Donald Trump, together with Israel, has launched a massive military assault on Iran, targeting its leadership and nuclear and missile infrastructure.… Read More How many countries has the US bombed since 2001, and how much has it cost?
The ‘indispensble nation‘ marches on, toward a sinkhole of crashed empires, killing and maiming along the way ++++++++++++++++++++ Self-shafting America Homeland Empire Unsolicited thoughts from an elder citizen Natalia Ginzburg: Our Monstrous Ideas Biblical Archaeology and the Judeo-Christian legends / The Deconstruction of the Walls of Jericho Zionism Breaks Hundreds of prominent Jews and Israelis urge world powers to… Read More America’s Abyss of Uselessness
Alfred McCoy, author most recently of the history book Cold War on Five Continents, makes clear today, by now Donald Trump and decline have (or at least should have) become literal synonyms in his increasingly nightmarish second term in the Oval Office. In almost every imaginable way, he now seems intent on taking this country down… Read More America’s Date With Destiny
After the truth-shower 