the unbalanced evolution of homo sapiens

by Chris Hedges The investigative reporter Seymour Hersh, in his memoir “Reporter,” describes a moment when as a young reporter he overheard a Chicago cop admit to murdering an African-American man. The murdered man had been falsely described by police as a robbery suspect who had been shot while trying to avoid arrest. Hersh frantically called his editor to ask what to do. “ The editor urged me to do nothing, ” he writes. “ It would be my word versus that of all the cops involved, and all would accuse me of lying. The message was clear: I did not have a story. But of course I did. ” He describes himself as “ full of despair at my weakness and the weakness of a profession that dealt so easily with compromise and self-censorship. ” Hersh, the greatest investigative reporter of his generation, uncovered the U.S. military’s chemical weapons program, which used thousands of soldiers and volunteers, including pacifists from the Seventh-day Adventist Church, as unwittin...

by Craig Murray Even the neo-con warmongers’ house journal The Guardian , furious at Trump’s attempts to pull US troops out of Syria, in producing a map to illustrate its point, could only produce one single, uncertain, very short pen stroke to describe the minute strip of territory it claims ISIS still control on the Iraqi border. Of course, the Guardian produces the argument that continued US military presence is necessary to ensure that ISIS does not spring back to life in Syria. The fallacy of that argument can be easily demonstrated. In Afghanistan, the USA has managed to drag out the long process of humiliating defeat in war even further than it did in Vietnam. It is plain as a pikestaff that the presence of US occupation troops is itself the best recruiting sergeant for resistance. In Sikunder Burnes I trace how the battle lines of tribal alliances there today are precisely the same ones the British faced in 1841. We just attach labels like Taliban to hide the ...

Part 1 In September, Argentine president Mauricio Macri accepted the 2018 Atlantic Council’s Global Citizen Award. In attendance were many of world’s neoliberal power players and policy makers, among them International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Christine Lagarde. Facing the crowd, Macri gleefully admitted that “ with Christine, I have to confess we started a great relationship some months ago, ” referring to a series of loan agreements with the IMF amounting to $57.1 billion dollars. “ I expect that this is going to work very well, and we will end up with the whole country crushing on Christine, ” he continued. This dynamic of chasing an improved image with the world’s big banks and the dominant economies in the West is emblematic of Macri’s priority to secure a relationship with the IMF and improve the country’s image with global financial institutions. But it comes at a devastating cost for the majority of the population who will suffer from neoliberal pol...

While “Mad Dog” Mattis was by no means a “hero,” it is almost a given that his replacement will be far more pro-war and pro-intervention than the outgoing secretary of defense. by Whitney Webb Part 1 On Thursday, President Donald Trump announced via Twitter that Secretary of Defense James “Mad Dog” Mattis would be “retiring” in February and that a replacement for Mattis would soon be named. Mattis’ departure had been the subject of speculation since late June, when it was reported that Mattis was already being kept out of the loop on major administration decisions such as the unilateral withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, which Mattis had supported keeping intact. Rumors of Mattis’ exit as the Pentagon’s top official were then revived in September when it was reported that Trump was “actively discussing” his replacement. Many top U.S. politicians — both Democrat and Republican — have mourned Mattis’ resignation. Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) called news of Mattis’ ...

The Guardian did not make a mistake in vilifying Assange without a shred of evidence. It did what it is designed to do, says Jonathan Cook. by Jonathan Cook Part 6 - Deeper Malaise What this misses is that The Guardian ’s attacks on Assange are not exceptional or motivated solely by personal animosity. They are entirely predictable and systematic. Rather than being the reason for The Guardian violating basic journalistic standards and ethics, the paper’s hatred of Assange is a symptom of a deeper malaise in The Guardian and the wider corporate media. Even aside from its decade-long campaign against Assange, The Guardian is far from “solid and reliable”, as Greenwald claims. It has been at the forefront of the relentless, and unhinged, attacks on Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn for prioritizing the rights of Palestinians over Israel’s right to continue its belligerent occupation. Over the past three years, The Guardian has injected credibility into the Israel lobby’s ...

globinfo freexchange The UK government and other Western governments and the US in recent years have had increasing difficulties persuading enough of their populations as to the legitimacy of the foreign policies that they have been pursuing. And at the same time, Western countries have been going through a period of political crisis and economic crisis. Piers Robinson, Chair in Politics, Society and Political Journalism at the University of Sheffield, further explains: I think a lot of this drive is as much about trying to shore up shaky official narratives and trying to shore up political systems in a situation of political crisis, as it is actually about countering Russian propaganda. I would suspect that that's a little bit of an excuse here to really what's going on of problems much closer to home. This is not just to do to UK, this is Europe-wide. And there are also indications from the documents that they are intending to start to have some k...

Ο φασισμός είναι παιδί του καπιταλισμού και αδελφός του νεοσυντηρητισμού όσο και του νεοφιλελευθερισμού. Επί της ουσίας φασίστες, νεοσυντηρητικοί και νεοφιλελεύθεροι, έχουν παραπλήσιες αντιλήψεις για την κοινωνία, όσο και αν επιφανειακά διαφέρουν. Θέλουν μια ζούγκλα, όπου οι αδύναμοι καλώς μένουν απροστάτευτοι και οι ισχυρότεροι δίκαια τα παίρνουν όλα. Όλοι τους συμμερίζονται τη θεώρηση του κοινωνικού δαρβινισμού. του Σπύρου Μαρκέτου Μέρος 2ο - Η πραγματική ταυτότητα του φασισμού - Τα φασιστικά καθεστώτα προωθούν βίαια τα συμφέροντα των εργοδοτών, τα οποία συγκλίνουν με τα συμφέροντα του φασισμού έστω και αν δεν ταυτίζονται πάντοτε μαζί τους Η ανάλύσή μας αναφορικά με τον φασισμό στηρίζεται σε νεότερες προσεγγίσεις, χωρίς να υποτιμά τις κλασικές κομμουνιστικές αναλύσεις, οι οποίες τελικά αποδείχτηκαν επαρκείς για την εποχή τους, αφού κατεύθυναν τότε την πάλη των λαών που κατόρθωσε να τον συντρίψει. Ωστόσο, σήμερα δίνουμε διαφορετικό αγώνα, καθώς δεν έχουμε μαζικό και...

From David Harvey's A Brief History of Neoliberalism Part 10 – How Margaret Thatcher systematically destroyed the British industry along with the trade unions While there were many elements out of which consent for a neoliberal turn could be constructed, the Thatcher phenomenon would surely not have arisen, let alone succeeded, if it had not been for the serious crisis of capital accumulation during the 1970s. Stagflation was hurting everyone. In 1975 inflation surged to 26 per cent and unemployment topped one million. The nationalized industries were draining resources from the Treasury. This set up a confrontation between the state and the unions. In 1972, and then again in 1974, the British miners (a nationalized industry) went on strike for the first time since 1926. The miners had always been in the forefront of British labour struggles. Their wages were not keeping pace with accelerating inflation, and the public sympathized. The Conservative government, i...

For centuries, the “left” hoped popular movements would lead to changes for the better. Today, many leftists seem terrified of popular movements for change, convinced “populism” must lead to “fascism.” But it needn’t be so, says Diana Johnstone. by Diana Johnstone Part 4 - The Government Misses the Point Initial government responses showed that they weren’t listening. They dipped into their pool of clichés to denigrate something they didn’t want to bother to understand. President Macron’s first reaction was to guilt-trip the protesters by invoking the globalists’ most powerful argument for imposing unpopular measures: global warming. Whatever small complaints people may have, he indicated, that is nothing compared to the future of the planet. This did not impress people who, yes, have heard all about climate change and care as much as anyone for the environment, but who are obliged to retort: “ I’m more worried about the end of the month than about the end of the ...