Capitalism’s endgame: private equity – it has captured our everyday lives

These companies now own everything from nurseries to care homes, squeezing vital services for profit while we foot the bill… As a style of ownership, private equity resembles the opposite of democracy. It concentrates power among a small group of exceptionally wealthy dealmakers who reap the benefits of society’s failure to hold them accountable. It’s no surprise… Read More Capitalism’s endgame: private equity – it has captured our everyday lives

Imperial Decline in the Straits of Hormuz

Alfred W. McCoy ( Tomdispatch.com ) – In the first chapter of his 1874 novel The Gilded Age, Mark Twain offered a telling observation about the connection between past and present: “History never repeats itself, but the… present often seems to be constructed out of the broken fragments of antique legends.” Among the “antique legends” most helpful in… Read More Imperial Decline in the Straits of Hormuz

Keyboard warriors

Alex Karp, Palantirianism, and the tech industry’s embrace of total war. By Jacob Silverman Last July, four high-ranking tech executives — all of them involved with artificial intelligence — were sworn into the US Army Reserves with the rank of lieutenant colonel. They were part of a new unit called Detachment 201, also known as the… Read More Keyboard warriors

The Iran war and international law: it’s worse than a mistake; it’s a crime

NB: Barring honourable exceptions, Western establishments are irredeemably racist. For them, it is a rule of thumb that some of don’t count as human beings. Their behaviour reminds us of the Nazi laws on ‘life unworthy of life‘ DS Double standards in Europe and elsewhere are laid bare by the muted response to US and… Read More The Iran war and international law: it’s worse than a mistake; it’s a crime

Children killed, a school turned into a graveyard: even in wartime, we can’t accept this

There are rules and world leaders must insist they be honoured in practice and in spirit. After this atrocity in Iran, a more effective tribunal for crimes against children is essential Gordon Brown The killing of a reported 168 people, primarily schoolgirls, in the bombing of the Shajareh Tayyebeh school in Minab in Iran has shaken to… Read More Children killed, a school turned into a graveyard: even in wartime, we can’t accept this

Epstein and the politics of distraction

Scandal individualises corruption, creating a spectacle that redirects anger away from structural power. By Yoav Litvin After the beginning of Trump’s second term, the connections between capitalism, white supremacy and imperial domination became increasingly clear. These have been highlighted through ICE raids as modern-day slave patrols, global criminal operations such as the kidnapping of Venezuelan… Read More Epstein and the politics of distraction

Trump’s unprovoked attack on Iran has no mandate – or legal basis

US president chooses to take the biggest gamble of his administration… The attack on Iran is a clear violation of the UN charter, in any absence of any credible, imminent Iranian threat to the US. Julian Borger The first war of Donald Trump’s Board of Peace era has begun – an unprovoked attempt at regime… Read More Trump’s unprovoked attack on Iran has no mandate – or legal basis