the unbalanced evolution of homo sapiens

Through his hallowed foundation, the world’s de facto public health czar has been a stalwart defender of monopoly medicine.  by Alexander Zaitchik Part 1 - Advocates for pooling and open science confronted the possibility they’d been outmatched and outmaneuvered by the most powerful man in global public health On February 11, 2020, public health and infectious disease experts gathered by the hundreds at the World Health Organization’s Geneva mothership. The official pronouncement of a pandemic was still a month out, but the agency’s international brain trust knew enough to be worried. Burdened by a sense of borrowed time, they spent two days furiously sketching an “R&D Blueprint” in preparation for a world upended by the virus then known as 2019-nCoV. The resulting document summarized the state of coronavirus research and proposed ways to accelerate the development of diagnostics, treatments, and vaccines. The underlying premise was that the world would unite against the virus. The

Under cover of the pandemic, Greece’s right-wing government has passed a slew of new measures to benefit the wealthy at the expense of workers, while massively expanding police powers. On the back of a decade of austerity, the latest laws are set to transform the country into a client state and playground for foreign tourists.   by Matthaios Tsimitakis/Mihalis Panayiotakis    Part 1 When New Democracy, Greece’s conservative ruling party, won the July 2019 elections following a decade-long austerity crisis, it did so on a ticket promising tax relief, growth, law and order, and nationalism, but also on reassurances of social inclusion. Its leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis, a Harvard-educated scion of one of Greece’s most prominent political families, promised to lead Greece out of the “stagnation” of the Syriza years, deal with the refugee crisis, assert Greece’s position on the international stage, and introduce technocratic governance following five years of “populist mismanagement.” Due to

Corruption and supposed efforts to reduce it have become a neoconservative weapon of choice with which to operate the controls on the funding sluice gates to acolytes of the U.S.-led international neoconservative empire.   by Oliver Boyd-Barrett   Part 3 - The 2014 Ukraine coup Trump had been roundly castigated, and impeached, for pressurizing a new Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, to investigate Trump’s likely rival, Joe Biden, for the 2020 election, in return for expediting U.S. arms support to Ukraine in its struggle against separatist republics of eastern Ukraine (the Donbass). Whatever its legality, Trump’s behavior certainly did not favor Russia. It could be argued that there was a stronger actual tie between Ukraine and President Biden than ever existed between former President Trump and Russia. Trump was unable even to interest Moscow or Russian President Vladimir Putin in a proposal for a Moscow Trump Tower. Biden left a much deeper impression on Ukraine.  In 2014 the

With the potential comeback of Lula da Silva, Brazil may once again be on a path away from fascism and one that puts economic justice and anti-imperialism first.   by Alan Macleod   Part 5 - Impact, political and economic If Lula and the Workers’ Party do come back to power, it seems likely that they will stymie many U.S. foreign policy goals, including isolating Venezuela, China and Russia. Yet Bolsonaro has proven so incompetent a leader and manager that both Ellner and Cannon believe that many in Washington will at least attempt to work with Lula, trying to move him to a more moderate position. However, the currently deeply divided political climate in Brazil does not bode well for centrists, as Ellner explained:                               Most likely, the 2022 elections will be polarizing, which means that more ‘moderate’ candidates will be shunted aside. In that case, it is unlikely that the Washington establishment will distance itself much from Bolsonaro or manifest any sympa

Special Forces, Pentagon Contractors and Intelligence Operatives Will Remain   by Jeremy Kuzmarov  Part 2 - Mercenaries R Us The meaninglessness of President Biden’s announcement becomes apparent when we consider that the Pentagon employs more than seven contractors for every serviceman or woman in Afghanistan; an increase of one contractor for every serviceman or woman a decade ago. As of January, more than 18,000 contractors remained in Afghanistan, according to a Defense Department report, when official troop totals had been reduced to 2,500. These totals reflect the U.S. government’s strategy of outsourcing war to the benefit of private mercenary corporations, and as a means of distancing the war from the public and averting dissent, since relatively few Americans are directly impacted by it. Most of the mercenaries are ex-military veterans, though a percentage are third-country nationals who are paid meager wages to perform menial duties for the military. One of the biggest mercen

του system failure   Με το που έκανε την εμφάνισή της η πανδημία του COVID-19 και άρχισε να φαίνεται το μέγεθος της υγειονομικής κατά κύριο λόγο, αλλά και οικονομικής κρίσης που αυτή θα προκαλούσε σε παγκόσμια κλίμακα, άρχισαν και οι εντατικές προσπάθειες για την δημιουργία ενός αποτελεσματικού εμβολίου.  Όπως ήταν αναμενόμενο, οι θεωρίες συνωμοσίας γύρω από το πιθανό εμβόλιο άρχισαν να διαδίδονται σχεδόν ταυτόχρονα και με μεγάλη ταχύτητα. Οι θεωρίες αυτές προωθήθηκαν κατά κύριο λόγο μέσω του διαδικτύου και ως επί το πλείστον από συντηρητικές και ακροδεξιές ομάδες και διαδόθηκαν από ανθρώπους που αποτελούν την κύρια δεξαμενή υποστηρικτών και ψηφοφόρων του Ντόναλντ Τραμπ, του Μπόρις Τζόνσον, αλλά και άλλων ακροδεξιών δημαγωγών σε διάφορες χώρες της Δύσης. Η "ψεκασμένη" ακροδεξιά έκανε παντιέρα αυτές τις θεωρίες (όπως έχει γίνει και σε άλλες περιπτώσεις), με τα αποτελέσματα που βλέπουμε σήμερα. Αρνητές των εμβολιασμών, σπεύδουν να εκμεταλλευτούν και την παραμικρή αστοχία ενός

The Jimmy Dore Show   Jeffrey Sachs destroys BBC's imperialist, anti-China propaganda attempt live!  

Greek investigative journalist and publisher of Documento newspaper Kostas Vaxevanis has received important information claiming a murder contract may have been set against him within the Greek mafia. In the following text, Vaxevanis explains the facts that are known to him and his team until now.  - I am forced to inform you because you are my only protection - by Kostas Vaxevanis In journalism we usually say that when it comes to reporting about yourself, then the situation is dire. This is the second time I am forced to report about myself. Just as it was the first time, it is the result of pressure and my belief that this is the only way to protect myself. Last time, 9 years ago, an unidentified woman met me and informed me that she was part of a group led by a secret service employee, whose target was to destroy me, first ethically, and then physically.  According to the "source" of that unusual report, the perpetrators had already intruded into my house, and had leaked

by Rob Urie   From the launch of the U.S. war against Iraq to the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic there were over four million ‘excess deaths’ in the U.S., deaths over and above the rates experienced in other rich nations. Given the class distribution of longevity— the rich live a full decade longer than the poor on average, these excess deaths were overwhelmingly concentrated amongst those cast aside by neoliberal economic policies. Should this read as old news, the Lancet provides updated data suggesting that as of early 2021, none of the underlying causal factors have been resolved. Interpretation is that as devastating as the Covid-19 pandemic has been, to date it has been but a bit worse than business as usual in the U.S. of A.   This will no doubt read as a surprise, implausible even, to the managerial class, the PMC, who have benefitted from government policies that have favored them, and the financial economy in general. But consider: excess deaths as measured here (explained be

The Grayzone   Returning to the United Nations, veteran German diplomat and former top UN official Hans von Sponeck calls for an end to the stonewalling of accountability for the OPCW's cover-up of its April 2018 Douma chemical weapons probe.  " The manner in which this serious controversy has been handled by OPCW management... has sought  to cover up any serious questioning of the OPCW through stonewalling and unacceptable smear tactics, " Sponeck says. " The Security Council can not be surprised that there is increasing public pressure for UN leadership to find an unbiased resolution of this troubling controversy. " Sponeck recently spearheaded a Statement of Concern about the Douma scandal, signed by notable global voices including five former OPCW officials. In his comments, Sponeck reveals that that the OPCW has refused to accept the letter, " return[ing] to the sender without comments – an unfortunate act of humiliation. "  Sponeck is the former

Moderate Rebels   Ben Norton discusses Ecuador's 2021 election results, and how the US government and intelligence-linked billionaire foundations spent decades funding and cultivating liberal environmental groups and rightist Indigenous leaders to divide the left and weaken the socialist Citizens' Revolution movement launched by former President Rafael Correa.  State Department cables released by WikiLeaks show how the US embassy recruited members of the Indigenous confederation CONAIE and its political arm Pachakutik, which has been directly supported by US government soft-power weapons like the NDI. CIA cutouts USAID and the NED poured tens of millions of dollars into building a fake "left" opposition to Correísmo, using "anti-extractivism" as a cover. The result was Pachakutik/CONAIE and its coup-supporting neoliberal candidate Yaku Pérez got more than 1 million extra Ecuadorians to vote null in the April 2021 vote, compared to previous elections, thereby

globinfo freexchange   Ποιος θα το περίμενε ότι θα κατέρρεε και η τελευταία γραμμή άμυνας της καθεστωτικής προπαγάνδας και μάλιστα από ένα άκρως φιλοκυβερνητικό μέσο;   Η εκκωφαντική διάψευση απέναντι στα τερατώδη ψέματα του Μητσοτάκη, των στελεχών του καθεστώτος και των χειραγωγούμενων από το καθεστώς ανδρείκελων,  γύρω από την ταχύτητα των εμβολιασμών, ήρθε  από το Money Review της Καθημερινής . Όπως διαβάζουμε :                                Στο μέτωπο των εμβολιασμών, ωστόσο, τα στοιχεία της DBRS δείχνουν ότι η Ελλάδα έχει μείνει πίσω σε σχέση με τις άλλες χώρες της Ευρώπης, οι οποίες το τελευταίο διάστημα επιταχύνουν σημαντικά τα προγράμματά τους. Για την ακρίβεια, η Ελλάδα είναι αυτή τη στιγμή η τελευταία ανάμεσα στις χώρες που εξέτασε ο οίκος αξιολόγησης με βάση το ποσοστό του  πληθυσμού που έχει λάβει τουλάχιστον μία δόση του εμβολίου. Επιβεβαιωνόμαστε για άλλη μια φορά, πλήρως. Όπως γράψαμε στις αρχές Απριλίου, ο Μητσοτάκης προεξόφλησε ότι η ΑΥΤΟΔΥΝΑΜΗ κυβέρνησή του θα έπεφ

Corruption and supposed efforts to reduce it have become a neoconservative weapon of choice with which to operate the controls on the funding sluice gates to acolytes of the U.S.-led international neoconservative empire.   by Oliver Boyd-Barrett   Part 2 - The contribution of RussiaGate demonization There were many solid grounds for an upswell of both establishment and public alarm as Donald Trump eked out electoral victory in 2016 and as he unfolded his agenda over the succeeding four years. His relations with Russia were not among them. Far more important and evidentiary was his stubborn refusal to acknowledge the threats of climate change. Not only did he repudiate evidence that climate change might well lead to the end of the human species within a generation or two, but he actively reversed weak countermeasures already in place. Worse, he malevolently sought to amplify the threat, among other things by boosting fossil fuel interests and doubling back on transition to lower fuel em

With the potential comeback of Lula da Silva, Brazil may once again be on a path away from fascism and one that puts economic justice and anti-imperialism first.   by Alan Macleod   Part 4 - Resisting efforts to divide the Pink Tide Using the “divide and rule” tactic, U.S. officials tried to separate “good” leftist leaders (like Lula), who refrained from expropriating resources from Western corporations and pursued more reformist measures from the “bad left” of Chavez, Morales, Correa and Cuba’s Fidel Castro. But Lula would have none of it, openly campaigning for Chavez’s re-election in 2012. “ Chavez, count on me, count on the Brazilian Worker’s Party, count on the solidarity and support of each…democrat and each Latin American. Your victory will be ours…and thanks, comrade, for everything you have done for Latin America, ” he said in an endorsement speech.    Thus, many Pink Tide leaders saw themselves as part of the same struggle against the American-dominated economic and political

Special Forces, Pentagon Contractors and Intelligence Operatives Will Remain   by Jeremy Kuzmarov  Part 1 On Wednesday April 14th, President Joe Biden announced that he would end the U.S.’s longest war and withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan on the 20th anniversary of the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks. Over 6,000 NATO troops will also be withdrawn by that time. “ War in Afghanistan was never meant to be a multigenerational undertaking, ” Biden said during his remarks from the White House Treaty Room, the same location from which President George W. Bush had announced the war was beginning in October 2001. “ We were attacked. We went to war with clear goals. We achieved those objectives. Bin Laden is dead and al Qaeda is degraded in Afghanistan and it’s time to end the forever war. ” Biden’s claim that he is ending the forever war is misleading. As The New York Times reported, the United States would remain after the formal departure of U.S. troops with a “ shadowy combinati

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) issued a report alleging Russian interference in the 2020 election, contradicting November statements that there was no meddling, while ignoring documented interference from top US ally Colombia.   by Dan Cohen   Part 5 - “Election integrity” as a foil for geopolitical agenda   So why does the so-called intelligence community tell us that State Department-designated Official Enemy countries tried to interfere in the elections without providing a shred of evidence while ignoring the mounds of evidence that the U.S.’s closest ally in Latin America repeatedly interfered? It’s because accusations of interference have nothing to do with protecting election integrity and everything to do with advancing a narrow, imperialist political agenda. See, back in late January, Biden had signed an arms treaty with Russia – a necessary step to prevent a hot war, but bad for the image the spy agencies and Western media present of Russia as an ev

An April 8 LA Times profile of the “KHive” attempted to put a positive spin on Twitter’s nest of Vice President Kamala Harris super fans, omitting the group’s online abuses, offline harassment, and alarming origins. Describing the KHive as “ the type of modern political army that politicians increasingly rely on for both support and defense, ” the LA Times painted its members as political realists united by a desire to defend one of the most powerful politicians in the country from unfair attacks.  It turns out that Harris’ “modern political army” was manufactured with the aid of an even larger army of fake Twitter accounts. After the term “KHive” was formally branded by MSNBC pundits like Joy Reid, KHive leaders received a boost from a Democratic Party operative-controlled bot farm. One of the people most advanced by the botnet is the widely recognized founder of KHive, Bianca Delarosa.  According to Vox , KHive credited Delarosa with organizing KHive in a Facebook group that start

globinfo freexchange   It's almost grotesque the fact that many fans of capitalism still don't realize that capitalism is dead . And it's certainly grotesque the fact that they use the same, typical and obsolete bullshit arguments (coming straight from the bankrupt neoliberal ideology), to defend it.   It was UK's PM this time, Boris Johnson, who used such an argument to defend the already dead capitalism. An argument coming straight from the dustbin of history and from the grave of one of the most unpopular and unsuccessful PMs in UK's history: Maggie, the Iron Lady. According to a Johnson's private call with Conservative MPs that has been circulated by the mainstream media, the British PM hailed the fact that more than 28 million people have been given a first jab in the UK, saying: “ The reason we have the vaccine success is because of capitalism, because of greed my friends. ”   The response to this BS not only came almost immediately, but it also came fr

Last week's cyberattack on an Iranian nuclear facility, reportedly by Israeli intelligence, is the latest gambit from the coalition of Israeli leaders, Christian fundamentalists, and hawkish Washington neocons who want to block a US return to the Iran nuclear agreement. If they're successful, millions of ordinary Iranians suffering under draconian sanctions will pay the price.   by Ariel Gold/Medea Benjamin   Just as talks between the United States and Iran were taking place last week in Vienna, a cyberattack was carried out on Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility. Reports are that the Mossad, Israel’s intelligence agency, was behind the attack that blacked out the facility just one day after Tehran launched new advanced uranium enrichment centrifuges, and as US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin was in Israel speaking about the United States’ “enduring and ironclad” commitment to the Jewish state. This is the latest in a series of Israeli attacks on Iran designed to scuttle negotiati