EDITOR—A MUST-WATCH roundtable discussion of the rapidly deteriorating situation in the conflict between the “collective West” (the US Hegemon plus its vassals), and Russia and its multipolar bloc allies, chiefly China, Iran, North Korea, etc., over the shape of the emerging new world dedicated to national sovereignty for every nation, and non-exploitative trade relations. Ritter and Johnson provide superb explanations for Turkiye’s gradual drift away from the EU/US/NATO bloc and Recip Erdogan’s moves to rebuild the glory of the Ottoman empire. Both analysts agree that Turkiye’s departure from NATO will weaken that organisation considerably and precipitate its dissolution. Turkiye, despite its modernity thanks to Kemal Ataturk’s reforms, is and remains an Islamic nation and civilisation, something that many Western leaders and analysts forget at their own peril. Turkiye’s values are essentially incompatible with the West’s, and its fiercely independent heritage clashes with the American empire’s demand to bow before its hegemony. Larry Johnson and Scott Ritter also eloquently describe the problem the world faces in Ukraine, a nation long-recognised as a grifter’s paradise, now turned into a malignant instrument for reckless (and typically devious) Anglo-American policy. With the public in Europe and the US anaesthetised by massive ignorance and propaganda about the actual situation, and an Anglo-American leadership brimming with moral mediocrity, alarming insularity, and reckless imperialist arrogance, it was not surprising that Russia’s just demands in 2021 for an international order grounded in mutual security were swiftly rejected by “the West”. This criminal posture spawned the Ukraine war, which is now pushing the world literally to the edge of the nuclear abyss, warns Ritter, with Johnson concurring.
CITIZEN TOOLS
-
-
EDITOR—Join us for a new show hosted by Midwestern Marx called The Global Class Struggle. International Affairs analyst and host of The Critical Hour Garland Nixon will break down the latest defeats for U.S. imperialism, from Ukraine to Venezuela.
-
EDITOR—RBN’s Nick Cruse gets into a dust-up with the ADL over whether Jews should feel threatened on campuses. As documented by Keaton and Russell, the smear attempt backfired.
-
EDITORS—Colonial states outside the United States have also implemented AI surveillance. Studying these surveillance measures and the connections between them is necessary because just as each struggle for liberation is intertwined, the tools for repression are shared between nation-states to curb dissent and expand surveillance.
US police forces are known to exchange tactics and training with foreign militaries, such as the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). In Palestine, Israeli government created a facial recognition database of Palestinians in occupied Hebron. This constant surveillance is psychologically disturbing to people experiencing it and can be used to track people, arrest them, and even prevent them from entering the very neighborhoods they live in.
-
BRUCE LERRO—What is the place of shock in the arts? Surely one of the callings of the artist is to move a society beyond the comfortable, the taken-for-granted and the obvious. In the early part of the 20th century, Cubists, Dadaists and Surrealists did this as a reaction to the Renaissance and Baroque conventions. Before a society is crumbling this is a very important calling. However once social cracks appear and spread, too much shock from the arts is counter-revolutionary. The Romantic artist imagines that shocking people might propel masses of people into social action. This may be true. But too much shock can result in anesthetizing, not moving people. Past a certain point artists should be creating constructive visions of the future not tripping over themselves about how to outrage a public already frightened by social conditions.