the unbalanced evolution of homo sapiens

Some of the most incendiary accusations made against Iran’s government by corporate media, celebrity influencers and Western leaders in the past months are little more than fabrications. And most remain uncorrected.   by Setareh Sadeqi and Christopher Weaver   Part 1   Protests in Iran that ostensibly began as a reaction to the death of a woman in police custody in September 2022 have prompted unprecedented international opposition to its government, not only from the usual Western, Israeli and Saudi suspects, but from celebrity social media influencers with no previous record of commenting on Iranian affairs. Iran is now the target of a carefully coordinated information war with a single goal to drive international support for regime change by any means – whether through sanctions, armed insurrection, military intervention, or some combination of the three. Before a largely uncritical audience of billions of admiring Instagram followers who do not speak Farsi and have li...

by Sarantis Michalopoulos   Part 2 - A blow to the rule of law   His opinion triggered strong reactions from all opposition parties and justice stakeholders. A common point of all reactions to the prosecutor’s opinion is that it essentially blocks ADAE’s controls, intimidates and hinders the investigation of the wiretapping scandal. “ The opinion of Mr Ntogiakos is a flagrant violation of the Constitution. No law and no opinion can invalidate the Constitution, and the mission of the ADAE defined there to control and ensure the privacy of communications, ” main opposition Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras (EU Left) said in a statement. Xenofon Contiades, professor and president of the Center for European Constitutional Law, slammed the prosecutor, saying the “ legal community will strongly oppose the unthinkable interference of the prosecutor in the constitutionally and legislatively enshrined mission of ADAE ”. The Greek government said it “ fully respects ” justice and blamed Tsip...

French train drivers, teachers and refinery workers were among those who walked off their jobs on Thursday (19 January) in a nationwide day of strikes against government plans to raise the retirement age by two years to 64.   by EURACTIV.com with Reuters  Part 1 The strikes, and protests expected across the country, are a major test for President Emmanuel Macron, who says his pension reform plan, which opinion polls show is hugely unpopular, is vital to ensure the system does not go bust. The challenge for unions is to transform opposition to the reform – and anger over a cost-of-living crisis – into a mass social protest which would eventually force the government to change tack. “ We need a lot of people to join the protests, ” Laurent Berger, head of France’s largest union, CFDT, told BFM TV. “ People are against this reform … we need to show it (in the streets). ” He and other union leaders, expected to announce more strikes and protests in the evening, said Thursday was j...

Geopolitical Economy Report   In 2020 and 2021, the wealthiest 1% of the world's population sucked up nearly two-thirds of all new wealth - six times greater than the wealth made by the poorest 90%. Yet while billionaires get richer, poverty is increasing, Oxfam warns. 

Western sanctions led Russia to greatly increase trade with Asia, while devastating Europe’s economy. The US tech war against China is damaging its own industry.   by Renate Bridenthal  Part 2 - ‘Extending’ Russia into Ukraine At the moment, the U.S. is in a proxy war with Russia, with Ukraine in the military forefront. Before that, and alongside it now, is a running war of sanctions. The longest cause was the rise to power of Vladimir Putin, who restored Russia’s economic power and sovereignty by undoing some of the predatory effects of Russia’s privatization following U.S.-supported “shock therapy.” An early “Western” strategy to prevent a return of Russia as a great power was to bring many of its bordering states in Eastern Europe into NATO. Ukraine would be the last piece in what Russia perceives to be a military front of potential aggression. Whatever the outcome of that fight will be, sanctions are likely to continue. The U.S. first sanctioned 60 Russian individuals in 2...

The Jimmy Dore Show   It’s become relatively routine now for powerful individuals within the NATO alliance to make statements revealing the truth about the Ukraine War – specifically that NATO is not waging this war for the benefit of the Ukrainian people, but rather to weaken Russia as a global power and funnel endless taxpayer dollars into the pockets of weapons manufacturers and energy interests. The latest statement comes from former UK Defense Staff head of operations Edward Stringer, who told the Wall Street Journal that the West is intentionally funding Ukraine to prolong the war.    Related: Confirmed: US imperialists wanted to drag Russia into a war with Ukraine since at least 2019

A prominent French intellectual has written a book arguing that the United States is already waging World War Three against Russia and China. He also warned that Europe has become a kind of imperial “protectorate”, which has little sovereignty and is essentially controlled by the US.   Emmanuel Todd is a widely respected anthropologist and historian in France. In 2022, Todd published a book titled “The Third World War Has Started” (“La Troisième Guerre mondiale a commencé” in French). At the moment, it is only available in Japan. But Todd outlined the main arguments he made in the book in a French-language interview with the major newspaper Le Figaro , conducted by the journalist Alexandre Devecchio. According to Todd, the proxy war in Ukraine is “existential” not only for Russia, but also for the United States. The US “ imperial system ” is weakening in much of the world, he observed, but this is leading Washington to “ strengthen its hold on its initial protectorates ”: Europe an...

Advancing global de-dollarization, China’s central bank is boosting its gold reserves while signing currency swap deals in yuan with countries like Argentina, encouraging the use of renminbi instead of US dollars.   by Ben Norton  Part 2 - China’s central bank increases its gold reserves In December 2022, the People’s Bank of China publicly disclosed for the first time in three years that it was increasing the share of gold in its foreign-exchange reserves. Bloomberg noted at the time that “ China’s purchases may be part of a plan to diversify its reserves away from the dollar “. In January 2023, Bloomberg followed up indicating that the People’s Bank of China had again boosted its gold reserves. The media outlet speculated that Russia is filling its reserves with gold as well. China and Russia are not alone. Bloomberg reported that central banks around the world are buying gold, reaching a record of close to 400 tons in the third fiscal quarter of 2022, compared to 241 ton...

Geopolitical Economy Report   Introducing Geopolitical Economy Hour: This is the first episode of a show being hosted every two weeks by economists Radhika Desai and Michael Hudson. They present the program and discuss the rise of the multipolar world and decline of US hegemony.

More and more power is concentrated in the hands of a small group of billionaires leading societies to an unprecedented dystopia. The only way to reverse this dark future is to let the workers seize the means of production and run all businesses collectively. — failedevolution (@failedevolution) January 14, 2023