MAIN DESK—BIDEN’S BIG BOY SUMMIT—The roundtable discusses Biden’s carefully scripted but underwhelming “Big Boy” press conference, which, to no one’s surprise, turned out much more an electoral campaign speech—often mumbled—than a presidential presser, the whole concoction punctuated by hilarious gaffes that Biden’s mental deterioration now make almost inevitable (like confusing Zelensky with Putin—of all people). In addition, guest Jeff Brown paints a comprehensive picture of the global strategic situation, with a focus on Asia, where America’s futile attempts to surround China with military bases and alliances in order to stop its rise to global prominence, (already a fait accompli), is opening yet another front for a major kinetic war threatening humanity with nuclear Armageddon. A SECOND VIDEO-THE WEAPONISATION OF IGNORANCE—is also part of this outstanding package.
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ALEKS—Much of what we will discuss in this article will deal with the number of Russian casualties, as alluded to in the introduction. Russia suffered a horrendous number of dead soldiers within the first few weeks of the conflict, maybe up to 10,000. That’s the price of big arrows on modern battlefields with full intelligence/information/reconnaissance/artillery/drone coverage of the battlefields.
However, (up to) 10,000 dead is still a price that would have been worth paying to achieve the goals in Ukraine without going into a full-scale war. Had there been an agreement in Istanbul that would have terminated the conflict, ensured the rights of Russians in Ukraine, and kept Ukraine out of NATO and NATO out of Ukraine, one could remotely argue that “it was worth it.”
We all know what happened instead. As with all agreements that are not guaranteed with a gun on the West’s head, the West will ignore or scrap it at will. As happened with the Istanbul agreement.
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AMARYNTH—In October the US announced the temporary suspension of unilateral coercive measures after the signing of an agreement, known as the Barbados Accords, between the government and the US-backed opposition establishing certain conditions for the elections. The Biden administration later reintroduced wide-reaching economic coercive measures against Venezuela’s oil industry.
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EDITOR—The panel discusses the delicate situation engulfing the EU and the United States, where the anti-immigrant issue has gathered considerable momentum, presenting difficult problems (and opportunities) for the reigning oligarchy. It’s noteworthy, says Dust James, that in both the US (capital/imperial core) and Europe (the periphery, where a “labor aristocracy” developed) the capitalists are drifting toward fascism. In America, where the economy continues to worsen for the working class, and the immigration issue (exploited mercilessly by Trump), adds fuel to the flames, such situation could easily drive some sort of fascistic movement forward, even if Trump himself may not be fully aware (or concerned) about the chaotic consequences of his careless opportunism. Mass immigration is an issue with no easy answers, notes Billy Bob; socialists could arguably defend or oppose either side of the equation. There is no doubt, however, that lowly paid Americans—including many Latinos—are fiercely hostile to “illegal immigration”, since any mass influx of undocumented workers will inexorably depress wages.
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MARK TAYLOR—On this night of a “debate” between two of the most vacuous, vapid, morally devoid and intellectually empty sock puppets in the country, the only voices Americans need to hear tonight are of the screams and sobs of the children we and our NeoNazi Israeli owners are systematically shredding, dismembering and killing in Gaza.
We need to contemplate the shrieks of their grieving parents and devastated grandparents and the stunned silence of their traumatized siblings.
We need to hear the horror of our murderous foreign and military policy and endless echo of our 2,000-pound and illegal fragmentation bombs ripping through tent camps of innocent homeless, starving refugee families … our 21st Century National Anthem.
