FELIX ABT—We also watch in disbelief as the last vestiges of moral decency are turned upside down: Those of us who oppose genocide are accused of condoning it. Those who commit genocide are exercising their right to self-defense! In September, before the paramilitary wing of Hamas overran the Israeli border on October 7, 2023 (a sober analysis can be found here), Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu showed a map of the so-called New Middle East at a session of the UN General Assembly. The Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem had all been incorporated into a Greater Israel. Ironically, he insisted that Israel should extend “from the river to the sea.” Palestine had ceased to exist. Palestinians are forced to choose between death by bombing, disease, exposure, starvation or expulsion from their homeland.
CULTURE & CRITICISM
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Bolivia and Chile Protest Against Argentine Statements
14 minutes readEDITOR—”I demand respect for our country… Chile does not harbor any terrorist group either within its territory or outside it,” Chilean President Gabriel Boric previously stated. [Notice that Boric here, by accepting the US empire’s designation of Hezbollah as a “terrorist” organisation, confirmed his fake-leftist /social democrat creds. Proudly “WOKE”, he’s safely ensconced within the empire’s folds. Boric, a descendant of Croats, a culture of notorious rightwingers and onetime WW2 allies of Hitler, is also among the denouncers of Russia’s SMO in Ukraine, an enemy of Nicaragua, Venezuela y Cuba, while claiming Kiev is a sovereign regime instead of an American puppet. He can’t be expected to push back against Washington or Argentina’s provocations.—Ed.]
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Neocon Realists and Global Neoliberals Dead on Arrival: A Theoretical Autopsy
by Bruce Lerro60 minutes readBRUCE LERRO—More than Realists, Neoliberals put a high preference on ideas. The first think-tanks came out of the Rand Foundation and global capitalists such as the Rockefeller brothers who set up not just think-tanks but foundations and organizations such as the Council of Foreign Relations and the Trilateral Commission, all in the service of opposing communism. New Deal liberal gatekeepers acted as “controlled opposition” such as the Ford Foundation. The Neoliberal notions about human nature are not as bleak as Neoconservative Realists. Under certain conditions, state actors can cooperate. Game theory is a neoliberal attempt to understand the conditions that are likely to promote competition or cooperation among states.
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RAMIN MAZAHERI—On a practical level – could Ukraine have not gone down the path they have chosen?
Absolutely, and easily – but it is a failed state, with a failed ideology, structures, goals, etc and etc. Todd accurately stresses how the proofs of this suicide are legion. What else can we call but suicidal Kiev’s decision to keep courting a totally uninterested (and rapacious, I’d add) EU instead of Russia, with whom its major industries were already linked? A “victory” there is economic suicide, unless they can vastly expand the production of surrogate babies. What can we call the elimination of the Russian language, church and culture – all inextricably linked and seemingly dialects of the same concepts – but more suicidal self-hatred?
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How wildlife crossings protect both animals and people
5 minutes readP. GREANVILLE—This project, which as an added benefit creates jobs in the US, something badly needed at this point, costs a pittance compared to the obscene sums (such as the US$ 95 billion recently approved by our non-representative political class) to be squandered on repulsively criminal regimes in Ukraine and Israel, not to mention to pick an idiotic and equally criminal fight with China. Criminal because a war with China will be mind-boggingly destructive to everyone on this planet, including Americans, who—assuming they survive— will see their already tenuous standard of living plummet dramatically as a result of a conflict “of choice” started by the US establishment.