CJ HOPKINS—Elon Musk did not “save free speech” or “rescue Twitter” from a “Woke Mind Virus.” He purchased a corporation and rebranded its product for new market demographic. In so doing, he corralled and neutralized most of the conservative populist resistance to the evolution of the global-capitalist system … which is what the system needed to happen. It makes no difference whether Elon Musk understood his role. He played it perfectly. He is continuing to play it perfectly.
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EDITOR—That said, however, the “known unknown” still remains — namely, Iran’s retaliation to the Israeli attack on October 26. On November 2, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in a video released by Iranian state media, promised “a crushing response” to Israeli attack. Conceivably, the period till January 20 when Trump is sworn in, is going to be critical.
Meanwhile, this week witnessed that Iran and Saudi Arabia have given verve to their detente, which is now manifesting as Riyadh’s solidarity and open support for Iran in its growing confrontation with Israel.
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BRIAN BERLETIC—Despite US voters hoping the incoming Trump administration will end America’s wars abroad, citing apparent interest in divesting in Ukraine as proof of change to come, President-elect Trump and his vice president pick JD Vance have vowed even while campaigning to shift US attention overseas from Ukraine to a much larger and more dangerous confrontation with China.
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EDITORS—An eloquent discussion of the evolution of US imperialism from the end of WW2, when it quickly rose to global supremacy, to its marked 21st century rapid decline. Americans—misled by the political and media classes, live in denial, says Wolff, not to mention the noxious exceptionalist/chauvinist indoctrination all Americans receive, making them practically immune to unpleasant truths about their nation’s realities and despicable deeds around the globe, from Ukraine to Palestine, Europe, and the Far East, all part of Washington’s penchant for constant war, which is now courting a global disaster by seeking a possible nuclear confrontation with Russia, China, and Iran. The Transition, notes Wolff, from FDR social democracy, when the economy was in good shape due to its robust set of income supports, to the free-marketism of “Neoliberalism” in the 1970s, which culminated with Reagan’s presidency and the massive offshoring of jobs and manufacturing to low-wage nations such as China, were the decisive points in US capitalism’s trajectory from affluence and power to oligarchic decrepitude.
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EDITORS—NIMA and Dmitry discuss breaking news around the globe, with a main focus on Ukraine, Palestine, Iran, and China (Taiwan, Far East nations, etc.). The conclusion is that the Trump administration is bound to find a tough set of customers in the areas it may seek to bully, as the rise of BRICS, and the palpable decline of the US empire is now limiting America’s options dramatically compared with just a decade ago.
