the unbalanced evolution of homo sapiens

globinfo freexchange On Monday, 3 Sept, Roger Waters of Pink Floyd will perform his classic 'Wish You Here' for Julian Assange outside the Home Office (interior ministry) in Marsham Street in the heart of London. John Pilger will be speaking. Join us at 6pm in solidarity with Britain's political prisoner. On Monday, 3 Sept, Roger Waters of Pink Floyd will perform his classic 'Wish You Here' for Julian #Assange outside the Home Office (interior ministry) in Marsham Street in the heart of London. I will be speaking. Join us at 6pm in solidarity with Britain's political prisoner. pic.twitter.com/Lytg2GCZVQ — John Pilger (@johnpilger) August 30, 2019  

globinfo freexchange Abby Martin spoke with renowned Marxist Economist Richard Wolff to discuss the growing popularity of Socialism under Trump and its historical roots in America, misconceptions about Russia and China’s economic success and Marx’s theory of alienation and monopoly capitalism. Wolff explains: A hundred years ago, 1916 to be precise, was the first time that the Socialist Party of America put forward a candidate for president. His name was Allan Benson and he ran for president a hundred years ago and he got 600,000 votes in the United States. That worked out to three percent of the vote . The Socialist Party thought that was a good beginning, so they ran again four years later, in 1920, little less than a hundred years ago, and they had a different candidate. A man named Eugene Victor Debs , a head of the railway Workers Union, very good orator. And he did better. He got 900,000 votes. That's a 50% increase in four years, four percent of the total...

The Grayzone / The Last American Vagabond With its bombings of Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon, is Israel trying to stop an attack from Iran and its allies, as it claims, or is it trying to provoke one? Rania Khalek analyzes Israel's escalating violence and how it could potentially help jihadist groups in the region.

The very biggest fear among corporate elites is that Warren or Sanders could win—and then use the presidency to push back against oligarchy. by Norman Solomon For plutocrats, this summer has gotten a bit scary. Two feared candidates are rising. Trusted candidates are underperforming. The 2020 presidential election could turn out to be a real-life horror movie: A Nightmare on Wall Street . “ Wall Street executives who want Trump out, ” Politico reported in January, “ list a consistent roster of appealing nominees that includes former Vice President Joe Biden and Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Kamala Harris of California. ” But seven months later, those “ appealing nominees ” don’t seem appealing to a lot of voters. Biden’s frontrunner status is looking shaky, while other Wall Street favorites no longer inspire investor confidence: Harris is stuck in single digits, Booker is several points below her, and Gillibrand just dropped out of t...

The Real News Network What the United States needs is a real discussion about the systematic structural bias against politicians and political movements that question corporate control over the news, say RootsAction.org founders Jeff Cohen and Norman Solomon.

The Grayzone Glenn Greenwald of The Intercept joins Aaron Maté to discuss the disappearance of Russiagate after Robert Mueller's testimony; how Andrew McCabe has become the latest former U.S. intelligence official to join either CNN and MSNBC; and the absence of accountability for those who continue to promote what he calls the "moronic, irrational, baseless, conspiracist narrative" of Donald Trump as a Russian asset. 

The US bank Citibank blocked, in August this year, part of the funds destined to import 300 thousand doses of insulin, a criminal act that affects more than 450 thousand patients, the Venezuelan Ministry of Economy and Finance reported. On the other hand, the BSN Medical laboratory, based in Colombia, after receiving payment for the purchase of 2 million units of antimalarial treatment, denied the clearance of the drugs. The ministry indicated that this fact caused the Swiss bank UBS AG to block the transactions made by the country with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), destined for the purchase of vaccines for the immunization program. Given this circumstance, Venezuela and PAHO sought alternatives with banks from other countries, although this situation led to a 4 month delay in the immunization program. The national government also revealed that other pharmaceutical transnationals such as Pfizer and Novartis refuse to sell medicines, reagents and supplies to ...

του Αρη Χατζηστεφάνου  Στην ελληνική δημοσιογραφία υπάρχει μια ιδιότυπη ομερτά. Οι δημοσιογράφοι δεν ασκούν κριτική σε συναδέλφους τους, ακόμη και όταν γνωρίζουν ότι διακινούν ψευδείς πληροφορίες εξυπηρετώντας συγκεκριμένα συμφέροντα. Ομολογουμένως ο έλεγχος θα έπρεπε να γίνεται από εξειδικευμένα όργανα, όπως το πειθαρχικό της ΕΣΗΕΑ, ή από πρωτοβουλίες πανεπιστημιακών ή της κοινωνίας των πολιτών, όπως τα παρατηρητήρια (media watch) που υπάρχουν σε άλλες χώρες. Όταν όμως δημοσιογράφοι μπαινοβγαίνουν σε κυβερνητικά πόστα, ο έλεγχός τους γίνεται και επισήμως καθήκον όλων των υπολοίπων δημοσιογράφων. Η περίπτωση του Ιάσονα Πιπίνη ανήκει σε αυτή την κατηγορία. Δυστυχώς τα περισσότερα σχόλια που κυκλοφόρησαν στα μέσα κοινωνικής δικτύωσης τον παρουσιάζουν σαν γραφικό ή ακόμη και αφελή, με αποτέλεσμα η κριτική να μεταφέρεται από τις δικές του πράξεις στην απόφαση του πρωθυπουργού να τον προσλάβει ως σύμβουλο. Η εικόνα αυτή οικοδομείται εδώ και χρόνια. Οι προηγούμενες επι...

Hong Kong’s increasingly xenophobic protests are devolving into chaos with help from US government regime-change outfits and a right-wing local media tycoon with close ties to hardliners in Washington. by Dan Cohen Part 4 - Teenager Vs. Superpower, with help from a bigger superpower Joshua Wong was just 17 years old when the Umbrella Movement took form in 2014. After emerging in the protest ranks as one of the more charismatic voices, he was steadily groomed as the pro-West camp’s teenage poster child. Wong received lavish praised in Time magazine, Fortune , and Foreign Policy as a “freedom campaigner,” and became the subject of an award-winning Netflix documentary called “Joshua: Teenager vs. Superpower.” Unsurprisingly, these puff pieces have overlooked Wong’s ties to the United States government’s regime-change apparatus. For instance, National Endowment for Democracy’s National Democratic Institute (NDI) maintains a close relationship with Demosistō, the politica...

On the campaign trail, Joe Biden has boasted of his role in transforming Colombia and Central America through ambitious economic and security programs. Colombians and Hondurans tell The Grayzone about the damage his plans did to their societies. by Max Blumenthal Part 9 - Hondurans take to the streets, wind up in US-style supermax prisons By 2017, the movement in Honduras that had galvanized against the US-orchestrated 2009 coup saw its most immediate opportunity for political transformation at the ballot box. President Hernández was running for re-election, violating a constitutional provision on term limits. His opponent, Salvador Nasrallah, was a popular broadcast personality who provided a centrist consensus choice for the varied elements that opposed the country’s coup regime. When voting ended on November 26, Nasrallah’s victory appeared certain, with exit polls showing him comfortably ahead by several points. But suddenly, the government announced that a power outag...

The Grayzone Glenn Greenwald of The Intercept discusses the record-setting Amazon forest fires, the struggle against Brazil's far-right government, and how his reporting revealed to the world how all of this came about: a high-level plot that imprisoned Lula da Silva and prevented him from running in the last presidential election. 

AJ+ The Amazon rainforest is literally burning as we write this. Climate change is a huge threat, and it's no secret that it's being driven by capitalism and greed. Newsbroke dives into the rising waters of the global climate crisis, swimming past capitalism's fake solutions and surfacing with the only viable solution for survival: changing our economic model.

The Grayzone The Grayzone 's Max Blumenthal discusses his heated exchange with a former Obama official and a member of Venezuela's far-right opposition over the basis for crippling US sanctions on Venezuela. Max also recounts his recent reporting trip to Venezuela, where he witnessed the impact of US economic warfare and the Venezuelan people's defiant resistance. 

The nuclear incident that killed five scientists at a Russian range on August 8 was related to the development of weapons being built in response to the US decision to withdraw from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in 2002. “ The nuclear accident that occurred had nothing to do with nuclear testing and is not under the purview of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty [adopted by the UN in 1996], ” Aleksey Karpov, Russia’s deputy permanent envoy to international organizations in Vienna, said on Monday. Karpov said the testing related to “ retaliatory measures in connection with the US unilateral withdrawal ” from the landmark 1972 arms control treaty to limit anti-ballistic missile systems (ABM treaty), which the US withdrew from in 2002. According to Russian nuclear agency Rosatom, the accident happened on board a sea platform in the Arkhangelsk region, while the scientists were working on an “ isotope power source” for a “ liquid-propellant engine. ” According to the R...

Tehran has discussed with Baghdad the possibility of reopening a pipeline linking Iran and Syria through Iraqi territory to avoid using the Strait of Hormuz for oil transportation in the Persian Gulf. The pipeline would link Iran with the Syrian port city of Biniyas on the Mediterranean Sea, al-Sumaria television channel reported, citing a source said to be familiar with the proposal. The trans-Iraq pipeline would allow Iran to sidestep the Strait of Hormuz for oil transportation and circumvent US sanctions “ amid growing fears [the Strait of Hormuz] may be closed in case of direct military confrontation between the United States and its allies with Iran. ”  According to the source, the pipeline would consist of two parts.  First, Iran would construct a new 1,000km pipeline through Iraq into Syria, going through the Nineveh plain in northern Iraq and entering Syrian territory through Deir al-Zour province, leading to the Syrian coast.  Secondly, Iran would r...

globinfo freexchange Ο μηχανισμός του εγχώριου νεοφιλελεύθερου καθεστώτος επιδόθηκε τις τελευταίες μέρες σε έναν καταιγισμό επιχειρήσεων αποπροσανατολισμού προς τέρψιν του πόπολου, το οποίο έδωσε αυτοδυναμία στην πολιτική του συνιστώσα. Δηλαδή, στη χειρότερη δεξιά της μεταπολίτευσης. Μετά το ταξίδι Μητσοτάκη στη Γαλλία, όπου είδαμε ένα χιλιοπαιγμένο έργο, το σόου του αποπροσανατολισμού ξεκίνησε από το Μάτι. Εκεί είχαμε ένα διπλό χτύπημα. Από τη μια τον Μητσοτάκη να ποζάρει στα καμμένα, διατυμπανίζοντας τη δήθεν αποτελεσματική του κυβέρνηση. Από την άλλη, την διαφήμιση των "καλών ιδιωτών", οι οποίοι ως καλοί Σαμαρείτες, ανέλαβαν δήθεν αφιλοκερδώς (Αφιλοκερδώς ΑΕ, όπως έλεγε και ο αξέχαστος Τζιμάκος), να καθαρίσουν την περιοχή από την επικίνδυνη καύσιμη ύλη. Αμέσως μετά, απολαύσαμε άλλη μια κωμωδία από τις δυνάμεις καταστολής που έκαναν έφοδο στα Εξάρχεια για να τα "καθαρίσουν" από τους μετανάστες. Οι νεοφιλέλεδες της δεξιάς και τα ακροδεξιά δεκανίκια τους...

by David Lazarus   One of the biggest lies foisted on the American people is that as rich people get richer, we all benefit — the so-called trickle-down theory. For decades, working families have been told not to worry about the growing wealth gap between the nation’s haves and have-nots. A rising tide lifts all boats, we’ve been told with encouraging smiles and pats on the back. The magnitude of the deception borders on monstrous. William Darity, a professor of public policy at Duke University, said it’s “nonsensical” to think that greater wealth for the rich translates to improved fortunes for everyone else. “ Otherwise we would not have observed such an obscene increase in the degree of income inequality that has restored the magnitude of levels that existed on the eve of the Great Depression, ” he told me. “ I have not seen anyone make a serious claim for a trickle-down effect with respect to wealth. ” Put simply, there is no empirical evidence — none whats...

globinfo freexchange Τα παγκόσμια τσιράκια του συστήματος έκαναν άλλη μια απόπειρα (τυπικού πλέον) νεοφιλελεύθερου αναθεωρητισμού, αλλά έφαγαν, για άλλη μια φορά, τα μούτρα τους. Οι επιτηδευμένα ημιμαθείς νεοφιλελεύθεροι λαγοί δέχθηκαν σφοδρή επίθεση στο Twitter, καθώς επιχείρησαν να πετσοκόψουν την ιστορία στα μέτρα τους.  Ο γνωστός Βρετανός δημοσιογράφος, Paul Mason, εφόρμησε στο Twitter, γράφοντας πως πριν από ογδόντα χρόνια, ο Στάλιν υπέγραψε συμφωνία με τον Χίτλερ, διαίρεσε την Πολωνία και έδωσε το πράσινο φως για την κατάκτηση της Ευρώπης από τους Ναζί. Και σαν να μην του έφτανε αυτό, κριτίκαρε ως δήθεν μεροληπτικό τον τίτλο της τότε Daily Worker, για να καταλήξει σε ένα κλασσικού, πλέον, τύπου μότο των νεοφιλελέδων/ακροδεξιών, ότι ο Σταλινισμός καταστρέφει ότι αγγίζει.  Σχεδόν αμέσως και για κακή του τύχη, ο Αμερικανός δημοσιογράφος, Ben Norton, τον έβαλε στη θέση του με μια σειρά από tweets. Συνοψίζοντας, ο Norton απάντησε:  Σταμάτα να αναμασάς τη...

Hong Kong’s increasingly xenophobic protests are devolving into chaos with help from US government regime-change outfits and a right-wing local media tycoon with close ties to hardliners in Washington. by Dan Cohen Part 3 - ‘British colonial past gave us the instinct to revolt’ Such xenophobic propaganda is consistent with the clash of civilizations theory that Jimmy Lai has promulgated through his media empire. “ You have to understand the Hong Kong people – a very tiny 7 million or 0.5 percent of the Chinese population – are very different from the rest of Chinese in China, because we grow up in the Western values, which was the legacy of the British colonial past, which gave us the instinct to revolt once this extradition law was threatening our freedom,” Lai told Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo . “Even America has to look at the world 20 years from now, whether you want the Chinese dictatorial values to dominate this world, or you want the values that you treasure [to] co...

On the campaign trail, Joe Biden has boasted of his role in transforming Colombia and Central America through ambitious economic and security programs. Colombians and Hondurans tell The Grayzone about the damage his plans did to their societies. by Max Blumenthal Part 8 - Gutting public healthcare, driving more migration The Alliance for Prosperity also commissioned the privatization of health services through a deceptively named program called the Social Protection Framework Law, or la Ley Marco de Protección Social. Promoted by Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández as a needed reform, the scheme was advanced through a classic shock doctrine-style episode: In 2015, close associates of Hernández siphoned some $300 million from the Honduran Institute for Social Services (IHSS) into private businesses, starving hospitals of supplies and causing several thousand excess deaths, mostly among the poor. With the medical sector in shambles, Hondurans were then forced to...

globinfo freexchange Emmy Butlin spoke with Gordon Dimmack about the incident as she was present during the process. She also made a related request to the Ministry of Justice. According to Butlin:                     The judge read out her sentencing remarks from a pre-prepared document on her screen. At some point she mis-characterised the sexual misconduct allegations he [ Julian Assange] faced claiming he had been charged/indicted in Sweden. Julian Assange interrupted to correct her statement, she continued reading without interrupting but when she finished reading, she acknowledged it was correct that he had not been charged. Full request: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/request_for_the_uncorrected_sent#incoming-1414807 Butlin also said that Assange already looked very thin, he looked 'skin and bones'. His clothes were hanging off him and she and others who w...

Leaked documents show that Jair Bolsonaro's government intends to use the Brazilian president's hate speech to isolate minorities living in the Amazon region. The PowerPoint slides, which democraciaAbierta has seen, also reveal plans to implement predatory projects that could have a devastating environmental impact. The Bolsonaro government has as one of its priorities to strategically occupy the Amazon region to prevent the implementation of multilateral conservation projects for the rainforest, specifically the so-called “Triple A” project. " Development projects must be implemented on the Amazon basin to integrate it into the rest of the national territory in order to fight off international pressure for the implementation of the so-called 'Triple A' project. To do this, it is necessary to build the Trombetas River hydroelectric plant, the Óbidos bridge over the Amazon River, and the implementation of the BR-163 highway to the border with Suriname, ...

Thom Hartmann Program Why are working people fighting each other instead of working together against the billionaire class ruling countries? Professor Richard Wolff joins Thom Hartmann to expose how racism is intrinsic to capitalism and the goal of capitalist: dividing the working class and putting them against each other. How can we stop the rich from dividing the working class? 

globinfo freexchange Well-known British journalist, Paul Mason, attempted to propagate some typical neoliberal revisionism on Twitter. Then, immediately got destroyed by a storm of responses from people who, apparently know the historical facts. Mason tweeted: Eighty years ago Stalin signed his pact with Hitler, dividing Poland and green-lighting the Nazi conquest of Europe. Here's how the Daily Worker (now Morning Star ) reported it. Stalinism destroys everything it touches. Never forget.  Ben Norton responded: Stop regurgitating right-wing fake history. The USSR offered to send 1 million troops to invade Nazi Germany in August 1939. The UK and France rejected the offer. When Socdems and Trots blame the bogeyman of "Stalinism" for WWII, it's Holocaust revisionism. The Soviet Union wanted to send 1 million troops to crush Nazi Germany before WWII. But the UK only had " 16 combat ready divisions, leaving the Soviets bewildered by Britain...

globinfo freexchange Bernie Sanders proved again why he should be the next president of the United States. This time, he declared war on the neoliberal fascists who are destroying the planet on behalf of the corporate beasts. Bernie tweeted:                     Climate change is a global emergency. Bolsonaro and his corporate cronies are burning the Amazon rainforest for personal profit and jeopardizing our planet's survival. My Green New Deal will impose climate sanctions against corporations that threaten our global climate goals. Climate change is a global emergency. Bolsonaro and his corporate cronies are burning the Amazon rainforest for personal profit and jeopardizing our planet's survival. My #GreenNewDeal will impose climate sanctions against corporations that threaten our global climate goals. https://t.co/erZzHozviQ — Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) Augus...

The Real News Network A Real News investigation reveals how the political power structure of policing allows brutal cops to silence victims with public money.

The Grayzone The Grayzone 's Max Blumenthal reports from Managua, Nicaragua on the 40th anniversary of the Sandinista Revolution, which toppled a US-backed dictator.

Bolivia’s President Evo Morales announced on Wednesday that Bolivia had purchased a Boeing 747 ‘Supertanker’ to help extinguish huge forest fires in the Amazon have that spilled over from Brazil. By Wednesday evening, the government confirmed that the tanker is arriving in the country and will be operational on Friday.  The ‘Supertanker’ can carry more water than any other aircraft in the world, capable of flying with 115, 000 litres, equivalent to a 100 regular air tankers. Prior to the tankers arrival, the military will fly planes over the region to assess where exactly the tanker should focus. There will also be three new helicopters, working with the three already in operation, working to extinguish the fires. Other measures include the creation of an ‘emergency cabinet’ and the dispatch of an extra 500 troops on Thursday morning, as reinforcement for the firefighters on the ground. There will also be around 10 light aircraft, putting out fires by fumigation. On the ...