the unbalanced evolution of homo sapiens

Venezuela’s opposition has long accused the Bolivarian government of corruption and mismanagement. But with Citgo on the verge of liquidation, Guaidó’s officials are too incompetent — or too devious — to save it. by Anya Parampil Part 9 - Running Venezuela’s “government” through WhatsApp Seven months since the US recognized Juan Guaidó as President of Venezuela, the young politician has yet to win control of any tangible government ministry or assemble anything close to resembling a proper cabinet. Instead, Guaidó has leaned on a group of far more experienced, well-connected operatives to serve as his representatives in the US. His blind faith has provoked fellow members of Venezuela’s opposition to warn that he may soon land on face-first on catastrophic failure.   “ I have not been able to reach him on this issue, ” Jorge Alejandro Rodríguez said of Guaidó. He said that he had also admonished Venezuelan lawmakers not to leave the country’s interests “ in the hands of

Gordon Dimmack

The Duran Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, was at the annual UN General Assembly meeting where he emphasized Russia's growing 'alliance' with China and how the US needs to find ways to work within a new global diplomacy framework, rather than force neoliberal regime change wars that destabilize nations and regions.

Democracy Now! Greta Thunberg, is the 16-year-old Swedish climate activist who has inspired millions across the globe. Last year she launched a school strike for the climate, skipping school every Friday to stand in front of the Swedish parliament, demanding action to prevent catastrophic climate change. Her protest spread, quickly going global. Hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren around the globe have participated in their own local school strikes for the climate. Since her strike began in 2018, Greta has become a leading figure in the climate justice movement. She has joined protests across Europe. She has addressed world leaders at the U.N. climate talks in Poland and the European Union Parliament. She has even met the pope.  She is also planning to attend the U.N. climate summit in Santiago, Chile, in December.

Democracy Now! Six years ago, Edward Snowden leaked a trove of secret documents about how the United States had built a massive surveillance apparatus to spy on Americans and people across the globe.  Snowden was then charged in the U.S. for violating the Espionage Act and other laws. As he attempted to flee to Latin America, Snowden became stranded in Russia after the U.S. revoked his passport. He has lived in Moscow ever since.  Snowden just published his memoir, “Permanent Record,” in which he writes about what led him to risk his life to expose the U.S. government’s system of mass surveillance. 

The Real News Network Pink Floyd co-founder and activist Roger Waters speaks to the Real News at the People's Mobilization Against the U.S. War Machine in New York City.

The percentage of commandos deployed to the Middle East is on the rise, according to new statistics provided to The Intercept by U.S. Special Operations Command. On average, more than 4,000 Special Operations forces — Navy SEALs, Army Green Berets, and Marine Corps Raiders among them — are deployed to the region each week, more than anywhere else in the world. The increase comes at a time when the United States is apparently planning a troop drawdown in Afghanistan, despite a peace agreement with the Taliban having fallen apart. It also coincides with President Donald Trump’s announcements that the Islamic State has been defeated and that the U.S. is “ rapidly pulling out of Syria. ” Gone are the military surges that brought tens of thousands of conventional U.S. forces to Iraq and Afghanistan. Gone, too, is the faddish fixation with counterinsurgency, rehabilitated from the Vietnam War dustbin (only to be deep-sixed again) and the military’s “government in a box” pipe dreams.

globinfo freexchange In the UN climate action summit, Bolivian President, Evo Morales, was one of the few voices who dared to speak openly. To point out clearly the root of the biggest problems and challenges that the human kind is facing today. As Morales said: It is unavoidable to talk about the structural causes of the various crises.  Transnational corporations control food. They control water. They control non-renewable resources, arms and technology. These corporations control our personal data and are trying to turn everything into a business in order to accumulate more capital. The world is controlled by a global oligarchy, where a handful of multi-millionaires define the political and economic destiny of mankind. Twenty six people have the same amount of wealth as 3.8 billion people. This is an insult. It's immoral. And it's unacceptable.  The problem ultimately lies in the model of production and consumption, in ownership of natural reso

 by Kshama Sawant Part 2 - A Corporate Tax Haven As he has himself publicly acknowledged, Bezos largely based his decision to launch Amazon in Seattle on his desire to dodge taxes. Washington State has long been a corporate tax haven, having the most regressive tax system in the entire nation. More than anywhere else in the U.S., the tax burden falls most heavily on working and middle-class people, while big business pays next to nothing. This is no small part of why Seattle has become one of the most deeply unequal cities in the nation. The region’s corporate elite means to keep it that way. Bezos made national headlines last year when he bullied Seattle to stop the Amazon Tax on the largest 3% of businesses in the city, aided by corporate-bankrolled Mayor Jenny Durkan and the Democratic establishment. Over a modestly-sized tax, Amazon executives acted like mafia dons: threatening to move 7,000 jobs unless the City Council backed down. After the Council passed it unanimously

Following another catastrophic mass shooting or crisis event, Orwellian “solutions” are set to be foisted on a frightened American public by the very network connected, not only to Jeffrey Epstein, but to a litany of crimes and a frightening history of plans to crush internal dissent in the United States. by Whitney Webb Part 6 - Mossad-backed Panic Buttons, coming to a school near you Carbyne is hardly the only Israeli intelligence-linked tech company marketing itself in the United States as a solution to mass shootings. Another Israeli start-up, known as Gabriel, was founded in 2016 in response to a shooting in Tel Aviv and the Pulse Nightclub shooting in the United States, which took place just days apart. Created by Israeli-American Yoni Sherizen and Israeli citizen Asaf Adler, Gabriel is similar to Carbyne in the sense that elements of its crisis response platform require installation on civilian smartphones as well as devices used by crisis responders. The main diffe

Venezuela’s opposition has long accused the Bolivarian government of corruption and mismanagement. But with Citgo on the verge of liquidation, Guaidó’s officials are too incompetent — or too devious — to save it. by Anya Parampil Part 8 - Deadly sanctions: a cause to celebrate On August 5, Trump signed an executive order to place a total blockade and economic embargo on Venezuela. White House National Security Advisor John Bolton praised the move as the harshest measures taken against a country in the Western hemisphere for over thirty years. In Venezuela, hundreds of thousands of civilians poured into the streets nationwide to denounce the lethal effects of the blockade. While Venezuelan citizens braced for more suffering, Guaidó’s representatives cheered the escalation against their country. “ Venezuela’s opposition on Tuesday celebrated a sweeping U.S. sanctions order… saying the measure would protect Venezuela-owned U.S.-based refiner Citgo from seizure by creditor

globinfo freexchange Επικυρώθηκε με κάθε επισημότητα η μεγάλη απάτη του Μητσοτακικού καθεστώτος και του βρόμικου μιντιακού κατεστημένου της ντόπιας ολιγαρχίας, το οποίο έκανε τα πάντα, προκειμένου να κερδίσει τις εθνικές εκλογές η χειρότερη δεξιά της μεταπολίτευσης.  Μετά τις θεαματικές κολοτούμπες Παναγιωτόπουλου-Βαρβιτσιώτη σε συνέδριο του Economist όσον αφορά το Μακεδονικό, ήρθε η σειρά του ίδιου του Μητσοτάκη να τους μιμηθεί, όχι απλά σε κάποιο συνέδριο, αλλά σε σύνοδο του ΟΗΕ για το κλίμα.  Η δήλωση Μητσοτάκη δεν αφήνει κανένα περιθώριο παρερμηνείας: « Νωρίς το απόγευμα της 23ης Ιουλίου πέρυσι μία μικρή πυρκαγιά ξέσπασε σε λόφο έξω από την Αθήνα. Οι πυροσβεστικές υπηρεσίες αντιμετωπίζουν χιλιάδες τέτοιες φωτιές κάθε χρόνο. Αυτή όμως ήταν διαφορετική. Οδηγημένη από ισχυρότατους ανέμους, εξαπλώθηκε γρήγορα και έφθασε στην προαστιακή κωμόπολη του Ματιού. Μόλις μπήκε στην πευκόφυτη οικιστική περιοχή κατέστη αδύνατο να περιοριστεί… Τα ακραία καιρικά φαινόμενα είναι

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) says that US intelligence agencies are transferring ISIS terrorists to northern Afghanistan. Sergei Beseda, head of the 5th FSB service, warned that the militants were transferred there to be used as a way to destabilize the region on the borders of member states of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), and possibly in the entire Central Asia in the future. He noted that law enforcement agencies and intelligence of CIS states should identify “ dangerous trends ” at an early stage. This is necessary in order to ensure security and prevent the “ destructive influence of external forces. ” On September 23rd, the 16th meeting of the heads of CIS intelligence services was being chaired by the director of the Foreign Intelligence Service, Sergei Naryshkin, in Kazan. The forum is attended by delegations from Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. There have been numerous report

A US drone strike intended to hit an Islamic State hideout in Afghanistan has killed at least 30 civilians who were resting after harvesting pine nuts. Forty people were also injured in the attack on Wednesday night which struck farmers and labourers who had just finished their day’s work at the mountainous Wazir Tangi in eastern Nangarhar province, three Afghan officials told Reuters . “ The workers had lit a bonfire and were sitting together when a drone targeted them, ” tribal elder Malik Rahat Gul told Reuters by telephone from Wazir Tangi. Afghanistan’s defence ministry and a senior US official in Kabul confirmed the drone strike, but did not share details of civilian casualties. “ US forces conducted a drone strike against Da’esh [Isis] terrorists in Nangarhar, ” said Col Sonny Leggett, a spokesman for US forces in Afghanistan. “ We are aware of allegations of the death of non-combatants and are working with local officials to determine the facts. ”  Full report:

The Grayzone The Grayzone ’s Max Blumenthal discusses his reporting trip to Damascus in the aftermath of Syria's proxy war. He interviewed residents who were caught between Western and Gulf-backed extremist insurgents and the Syrian government’s war to retake territory, and who now struggle to recover under a US-led economic blockade.  " They want to attack and intimidate people from the West who want to have cultural and personal contact with Syrians in the area where most Syrians live, " Blumenthal says. " I went there and I took that opportunity to have contact with them because I’ll take any reasonable opportunity to break the media blockade in countries targeted with regime change, and to show my fellow citizens what’s on the other side of the corporate media and the US national security state’s information war. "

984radio Ο δημιουργός του ντοκιμαντέρ  « Μέχρι την τελευταία σταγόνα: Ο μυστικός πόλεμος του νερού στην Ευρώπη» , Γιώργος Αυγερόπουλος, μιλώντας στον 98.4 εξήγησε γιατί η επιχειρηματολογία του βουλευτή Μπάμπη  Παπαδημητρίου περί φθηνού νερού στην Ελλάδα που οδηγεί στην κατασπατάληση του, είναι η ίδια που χρόνια τώρα χρησιμοποιούν όλοι οι οπαδοί της ιδιωτικοποίησης του νερού, χωρίς να λένε την αλήθεια ότι οι ιδιωτικές εταιρείες, βάζουν πλαφόν κατανάλωσης, κάτω από το οποίο προσφεύγουν για υπέρογκες αποζημιώσεις από κράτη ή δημόσιους φορείς.  Εξήγησε ακόμη γιατί, μεγάλες ευρωπαϊκές πόλεις όπως το Παρίσι και το Βερολίνο επανάκτησαν τον δημόσιο έλεγχο του νερού τους, απορρίπτοντας ως αποτυχημένο το ιδιωτικό μοντέλο διαχείρισης που δοκίμασαν για δεκαετίες.  Την ίδια στιγμή η Ευρωπαϊκή Ένωση πιέζει μέσω της Τρόικας τις χρεωμένες χώρες να ιδιωτικοποιήσουν τα δικά τους δημόσια συστήματα ύδρευσης.  Μεταξύ των εταιρικών και δημοσίων συμφερόντων, των λόμπι και της πολιτικής της Ε

 ... and Trump finally kept the worst part of the Obama legacy that leads to war with Iran globinfo freexchange As we already wrote , just when Trump fired the most bloodthirsty, anti-Iran neocon, John Bolton, who was seeking to drag the US into a war with Iran at least since 2003, these "spectacular" drone attacks on two major oil facilities in Saudi Arabia "coincidentally" happened. Everything shows that the ruthless neocons around Trump are gradually and methodically escalating tension with Iran in order to achieve the perfect timing: a US invasion against Iran right after the beginning of Trump's second term. Trump tweeted that he will " hear from the Kingdom as to who they believe was the cause of this attack, and under what terms we would proceed! " Saudi Arabia oil supply was attacked. There is reason to believe that we know the culprit, are locked and loaded depending on verification, but are waiting to hear from the Ki

In a speech to the United Nations Climate Action Summit Monday, Swedish youth climate activist Greta Thunberg lit into world leaders for their " empty words " around solving the climate crisis and said decades of inaction have left her generation without a future. " People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosytems are collapsing. We are at the beginning of a mass extinction and all you can talk about is money and fairytales of eternal economic growth, " said Thunberg. " How dare you! "  Thunberg delivered her remarks during a panel on the climate crisis after she was asked what she thought of the worldwide climate strike movement that she began, alone, 13 months ago. But the youth activist wasn't interested in rehashing the past or praise from politicians. " I shouldn't be standing here, " said Thunberg. " I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean. Yet you all come to me for hope? How dare you! You ha

A committee that will write a new constitution for Syria, a key part of the political transition in a war-torn country, has finally been formed with the United Nations’ backing, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced. The body will convene within weeks for the first time, Guterres told reporters on the sidelines of a UN climate summit in New York. He thanked Russia, Iran, and Turkey, the three countries that have been pushing for years to see the creation of the committee as part of the so-called Astana process. Geir Pedersen, the UN’s Special Envoy for Syria, said the breakthrough came on Monday following meetings with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem and Naser al-Hariri, who represents the opposition’s Syrian Negotiations Committee. Full report: https://www.rt.com/news/469403-constitutional-committee-syria-formed/

 by Kshama Sawant Part 1 In what may turn out to be a preview of the U.S. presidential election, with the ruling class hellbent on stopping Bernie Sanders at all costs, big business in Seattle is carrying out an unprecedented assault of corporate PAC money against socialist and progressive candidates in this year’s elections. The corporate elite are deeply concerned about the rise of socialist politics, whether my election and reelection as a socialist City Councilmember in Seattle, Bernie’s self-described democratic socialist presidential campaign, or AOC’s election to U.S. Congress. Our victories in Seattle, including our historic $15 minimum wage law and landmark renters rights wins, and the growing national fight for Medicare for All and a Green New Deal, are all completely unacceptable to the ruling class. In Seattle, already $450,000 has been spent by Amazon, with nearly $2 million in corporate cash overall, and it seems clear they’re just rolling up their sleeves

Following another catastrophic mass shooting or crisis event, Orwellian “solutions” are set to be foisted on a frightened American public by the very network connected, not only to Jeffrey Epstein, but to a litany of crimes and a frightening history of plans to crush internal dissent in the United States. by Whitney Webb Part 5 - Melding into Silicon Valley Beyond its troubling connections to Silicon Valley oligarchs, Israeli military intelligence and the U.S.-military industrial complex, Carbyne’s recent partnerships with two specific technology companies — Google and Cisco Systems — raise even more red flags. Carbyne announced its partnership with Cisco Systems this past April, with the latter announcing that it would begin “ aligning its unified call manager with Carbyne’s call-handling platform, allowing emergency call centers to collect data from both 911 callers and nearby government-owned IoT [Internet of Things] devices. ” A report on the partnership published by G

Venezuela’s opposition has long accused the Bolivarian government of corruption and mismanagement. But with Citgo on the verge of liquidation, Guaidó’s officials are too incompetent — or too devious — to save it. by Anya Parampil Part 7 - Scavenging off Citgo’s corpse When a court rules that one corporation like Crystallex can seize shares belonging to another like Citgo Holding in order to pay back debt, the shares are not directly transferred from company to company. Rather, the court decides what amount of the indebted company’s assets must be sold off in order to repay the claimant. If the court allows Crystallex to move ahead with its right to seize Citgo, a decision which observers expect could come in early September, it will then initiate the process of liquidating $1.4 billion worth of the company’s assets. Yet Crystallex is not the only vulture looking to scavenge the corpse of Citgo. The refinery currently faces several similar lawsuits, including the one fr

A freaky moment recently transpired on television. In a nonfiction adaptation of “American Horror Story,” Bill Maher, nominally a member of the liberal “Resistance,” led his audience and guests in applauding and paying tribute to the FBI and CIA. To her credit, panelist (and rival talk-show host) Krystal Ball remained stoic, refusing to bring her hands together or smile. But even she allowed the moment to pass without noting the obvious: The CIA and the FBI are two of the most anti-democratic and violent forces in the history of our country. Maher’s weird and historically illiterate “tribute” to two organizations with endless résumés of human rights violations, political persecution of dissidents and overseas coups directed at democratic governments — not to mention stunning failure at the principal tasks of their mission — punctuated his declaration of gratitude for “our safety” since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The comedian and commentator then tried to dress this right-wing, j

The Grayzone The Trump administration continues to threaten Iran after blaming it, without evidence, for the recent bombing of Saudi oil facilities. Instead of beating the war drums, Trita Parsi argues that President Trump has an easy path to resolve the standoff: rejoin the Iran nuclear deal that he abandoned and negotiate additional issues with Tehran. Related: Another false flag operation? The neocon cabal wants to make sure that Trump will stay on the track for war with Iran in his second term

The Grayzone Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has been ordered to remain behind bars until hearings over a US extradition effort begin next year. Kristinn Hrafnsson, editor-in-chief of Wikileaks, says that UK authorities are holding Assange in worse conditions than accused terrorists and 'making it impossible' for him to prepare his case.

If the U.S. military, or Israel or Saudi Arabia, had a viable plan to attack Iran without triggering a wider war, they would have done so long ago. by Medea Benjamin and Nicolas Davies  On Saturday, September 14th, two oil refineries and other oil infrastructure in Saudi Arabia were hit and set ablaze by 18 drones and 7 cruise missiles, dramatically slashing Saudi Arabia’s oil production by half, from about ten million to five million barrels per day. On September 18, the Trump administration, blaming Iran, announced it was imposing more sanctions on Iran and voices close to Donald Trump are calling for military action. But this attack should lead to just the opposite response: urgent calls for an immediate end to the war in Yemen and an end to US economic warfare against Iran. The question of the origin of the attack is still under dispute. The Houthi government in Yemen immediately took responsibility. This is not the first time the Houthis have brought the conflict directl