Sunday, April 29, 2018

How Will US Respond to Korean Rapprochement?

Doesn't the U.S. have to be aggressive vis a vis North Korea? It is the structural necessity of U.S. imperialism to expand militarily to justify both the huge expenditures spent on the military-industrial complex and to project its power in all parts of the world in the service of the expansion of capital. Alliance with fascist groups overseas is a tried and true measure that all U.S. presidents resort to [when other means fail] in order to support the reactionary elements in a country that are the natural allies of U.S. imperialism. Obama helped install a fascist government in Honduras-- as well as rightists and their fascist allies in Ukraine. The U.S. supports fascists and semi-fascist governments in Egypt, Israel, Indonesia and elsewhere (e.g. India and Pakistan). President Moon of South Korea is not playing his assigned role as an anti-communist U.S. ally and his rapprochement with the North threatens the raison d'être of the 25,000 U.S. occupation force in South Korea and a vitally important U.S. military base as part of our encirclement of China and Russia. Trump's apparent willingness to go along with this is contraindicative of the logical response of an imperialist power to a reduction of its military dominance in a sensitive region of the world. Predictions are risky but we can perhaps expect a barrage of criticism of Trump from the foreign policy establishment and the right-wing leadership of the Democratic Party as well as sub rosa pressure from the Pentagon and his own party leadership. The U.S. will try and find some way to reject this rapprochement and blame the failure of diplomacy on the North Koreans. It will probably involve impossible demands for the complete destruction of the North's nuclear weapons without a concomitant pledge of no first strike from the U.S. as well as a demand for a continued military presence even after a peace treaty and the normalization of relations between North and South Korea. Stay tuned.

Wednesday, April 25, 2018

Chinese Government Pitted Against Students!

This is an article that is typical of the NYT -- it reports a protest in China and tries to create an anti-Chinese government angle (fake news?). Here students are protesting against a university covering up sexual harassment and trying to intimidate a young woman activist. She is being supported in a big way and so the NYT reports " The debate has pitted students and professors against a government that appears increasingly intolerant of dissent. President Xi Jinping, who rose to power in 2012, has discouraged the propagation of Western influence at universities and has urged stricter oversight of classes and professors."
So it appears that the government and Xi Jinping are against the students (anti-women) -- but towards the end of the article we read that: "People’s Daily, the Communist Party’s main newspaper, published an online commentary on Tuesday saying that “schools and students are not antagonists,” and adding that universities should seek to better understand the thoughts and actions of young people." Here Peking University, the school in question, is being admonished to listen to the students and drop its hostile attitude. The article also implies that schools throughout China should pay more attention to the views of young people. Does this indicate the government is "pitted" against the students?
The last time I looked, Xi Jingping was the head of both the Communist Party and the government of China.
About this article
A debate over sexual harassment has pitted students and professors at Peking University in Beijing against a government that has grown increasingly intolerant of…
NYTIMES.COM

Sunday, April 22, 2018

Democrats File Frivolous Russia Conspiracy Lawsuit


Both the DNC and the RNC attack "American" democracy every day -- their good cop bad cop shenanigans (left-wing versus right-wing neoliberalism) are all carried out for the benefit of the oligarchical 1% meanwhile we should be simultaneously working to get rid of the Clinton neoliberal DNC and replace it with Our Revolution people, build third party progressive alternatives, and fight against the pro business anti-progressive labor leaders who have not transcended the short term opportunistic backing of 1%er Democrats. Meanwhile, this frivolous lawsuit, the last gasp of the Clintonites to blame anyone but themselves for their defeat, shows the DNC would rather reactivate the cold war, alienate swing voters and lose the midterms than actually self-critically reform themselves.
About this article
The lawsuit accuses Mr. Trump’s associates of illegally working with Russian intelligence agents to interfere with the outcome of the 2016 election.
NYTIMES.COM

Thursday, April 19, 2018

Is German Rap Anti-Jewsih?

Rap is a reflection of youth culture not a cause of it. There are progressive rappers and reactionary rappers. The undertow of NAZI anti-semitism that still permeates European Christian culture mixed with the anti-Zionism the policies of the ultra-right Israeli government generates by its barbaric repression of the Palestinians is blending together in the consciousness of many confused youths. This toxic brew differs from country to country. In Germany you have a government t...
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About this article
The prize set off a debate about anti-Semitism in Germany’s hugely popular hip-hop music scene, and among young people.
NYTIMES.COM

Wednesday, April 18, 2018

Who Poisoned the Skripals?


It doesn't matter anymore what really happened to the Skripals -- their poisoning was blamed on Russia and used to justify bombing Syria and further an anti-Russian narrative put out by the US and its NATO puppets because the Russian government won't allow the US/NATO a free hand in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Any new evidence coming out as a result of the official investigation, which is still in progress, will be strictly back page news and won't deter further US/NATO aggressive acts nor the continuing flood of fake news about Russia and Putin in the MSM. Try getting your news from The Intercept, Consortium News, Democracy Now, and other independent sites not affiliated with imperialist governments and the right-wing.
An alternative explanation to the mystery surrounding the poisoning of Russian double-agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter may involve a possibility that neither the British nor Russian governments want to talk about, as Gareth Porter explains. By Gareth Porter Special to Consortium News
CONSORTIUMNEWS.COM
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