Peg Birmingham: A Lying World Order: Political deception and the threat of totalitarianism (Arendt) argues that while the ancient sophists were satisfied with a passing victory of the argument at the expense of truth, modern sophists want a great deal more, namely, modern sophists want “a lasting victory at the expense of reality itself.” From… Read More A Lying World Order
Biden’s plan to cozy up to Arab dictators is right out of Donald Trump’s playbook — but even worse. Aída Chávez WHY DOES Joe Biden insist on pursuing a foreign policy of blind support of Israel’s war on Gaza? In addition to the moral calamity — on full display as Israel bombed Palestinian refugee camps in… Read More Joe Biden’s Terrible Israel Policy Is Really About Getting in Bed With Saudi Arabia
Kannan Srinivasan in New York Even as colonialism & formal empire were abandoned, two key policies enabled the continued transfer of global wealth to the West. By the first, the US allowed Britain to effectively default <https://thewire.in/banking/how-india-paid-to-create-the-london-of-today> on its wartime debt to India (including Pakistan) & Egypt of money owed for exports to the United… Read More The Current Hegemony (criminality as policy)
One of the founders of modern Existentialism, KARL JASPERS has since the downfall of Hitler become a spokesman of Germany’s highest conscience. The present article was part of a lecture he delivered at Geneva on September 13, 1946 “World empire means world peace through the conquest of all by one, by a single power. World… Read More Karl Jaspers: Is Europe’s Culture Finished ? Paths Toward a New Creativity (1946)
Modi’s ambitions for India, and perhaps for himself, have already been scaled down from ‘Vishwaguru’ (World Leader) to ‘Vishwa Bandhu’ (Friend of the World) in his party’s election manifesto. It is being made clear to him and subsequent Indian governments that follow, that no one expects a friend to enter their homes and commit a… Read More Why the Rambo script won’t work in India
David Painter and Gregory Brew, The Struggle for Iran: Oil, Autocracy, and the Cold War, 1951–1954 Reviewed by MARC MARTORELL JUNYENT Munich (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – The figure of Mohammad Mosaddeq, Prime Minister of Iran from 1951 to 1953, is an uncomfortable one for both sides of the US-Iran rivalry. For the US, Mosaddeq… Read More The Origins of the West’s Iran Crisis: Oil, Autocracy and Coup
NB: A welcome speech, AOC, but its too late to save America’s reputation as either liberal or a democracy. The USA is a racist and imperial plutocracy, whose main export is war and weaponry. Save your souls and save your consciences as well as you can. It’s my impression the rest of the world will… Read More Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez calls Israeli Gaza campaign an ‘unfolding genocide’ (see AV)
By ALFRED MCCOY Empires don’t just fall like toppled trees. Instead, they weaken slowly as a succession of crises drain their strength and confidence until they suddenly begin to disintegrate. So it was with the British, French and Soviet empires; so it now is with imperial America. Great Britain confronted serious colonial crises in India, Iran… Read More Facing three global crises, the American empire may be nearing final collapse
Historians will find many reasons for the end of this American era, but the siege of TikTok reminds us that its largest cause was the epoch-defining rise of China… The US, that apostle of laissez-faire and free speech, now wants to save 170 million American TikTok users from themselves by banning an app. It’s hard to be… Read More TikTok, tick-tock
Bharat Bhushan There is strong suspicion in Nepal that the revivalist demand for abandoning secularism and restoring Nepal as a Hindu Rashtra is being encouraged by the Hindutva forces in India. Nepal’s politics has once again taken an unexpected turn with Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, aka Prachanda, breaking his alliance with the Nepali Congress. Prachanda’s Communist… Read More Not China, Nepali Congress forced Prachanda’s hand
After the truth-shower 