the unbalanced evolution of homo sapiens

Part 1 America's liberal elite is both horrified by Donald Trump, and incapable of mortally wounding him. What's needed instead is a profound leftward shift, led by new faces. Now that yet another week of President Trump's frantic activity is safely behind us, and slowly receding into memory, we can reflect on the chaotic wasteland his foreign trip left behind. The US President visited three places: Brussels - where he met the key European leaders, London - to see Theresa May and the Queen, plus Helsinki - where he held a summit with Vladimir Putin. While most pundits noted the apparently strange fact that Trump was much friendlier to (those perceived as) US enemies than to its traditional friends, this shouldn't surprise us too much. Instead, our attention should turn in another direction. As is often the case with Trump, reactions to his acts are more important than what he actually did or said. Source: https://www.rt.com/op-ed/434142-trump-l

"The flames were chasing us all the way to the water," said one victim. Meanwhile, the bodies of 26 adults and children who apparently died hugging each other were found close to the sea. As the search for missing persons continues, a website has been set up to help relatives trace their loved ones. Hundreds of firefighters have been battling the flames, which have been fanned by winds of up to 60mph (100km/h) and have devastated the seaside village of Mati, engulfing homes and vehicles. Mati is located in the Rafina region which is popular with local tourists, especially pensioners and children attending holiday camps. A number of roads and evacuation routes were blocked by fire and footage of motorists escaping the area shows them driving through thick smoke. One survivor, Nikos Stavrinidis, told ABC News that despite the air-conditioning in his car, he could still feel the heat from outside as he travelled on a highway.

του Πέτρου Παπακωνσταντίνου Καθώς ετοιμαζόταν να αναχωρήσει από την Ουάσιγκτον για τη μεγάλη ευρωπαϊκή περιοδεία του, ο Ντόναλντ Τραμπ εκτίμησε ότι από τα τρία σημαντικά ραντεβού στην ατζέντα του –τη σύνοδο κορυφής του ΝΑΤΟ, την επίσκεψη στη Βρετανία και τη συνάντηση με τον Πούτιν στο Ελσίνκι– το τελευταίο θα μπορούσε, παραδόξως, να αποδειχθεί «το πιο εύκολο». Τις επόμενες ημέρες, φρόντισε να δικαιώσει την προφητεία του. Στις Βρυξέλλες, κατσάδιασε και πάλι τους «τζαμπατζήδες» εταίρους, δεν δίστασε μάλιστα να απειλήσει ότι θα μπορούσε να αποσύρει τις ΗΠΑ από τη Συμμαχία. Στο Λονδίνο, έριξε τορπίλη στις ελπίδες της Τερέζα Μέι για διμερή εμπορική συμφωνία με την Αμερική μετά το Brexit και συντάχθηκε με τον επικεφαλής της εσωκομματικής αντιπολίτευσης Μπόρις Τζόνσον. Αντιθέτως, στη συνάντησή του με τον υπ’ αριθμόν ένα γεωπολιτικό αντίπαλο των ΗΠΑ, ο Αμερικανός πρόεδρος βρήκε την ψυχική γαλήνη που δυσκολεύεται να μοιραστεί με τους συμμάχους του. 'Οχι μόνο δεν σ

Άλλο ένα γνήσιο τέκνο του νεοφιλελευθερισμού ενάντια στη δημοκρατία του Γιώργου Μητραλιά Τα αποκαλυπτήρια του μακρονικού (παρα)κράτους είναι εντυπωσιακά και βυθίζουν ήδη το καθεστώς Μακρόν και συνάμα τη Γαλλία σε μια κρίση που ίσως δεν έχει προηγούμενο. Φυσικά, δεν είναι μόνον ότι ο “άνθρωπος για όλες τις δουλειές” του προέδρου και Νο 2 του προεδρικού του γραφείου αρεσκόταν να κακοποιεί αγρίως με τα ίδια τα χέρια του νεαρούς διαδηλωτές (που τυχαίνει να ήταν Έλληνες), ούτε ότι ντυνόταν μπάτσος και διηύθυνε τις επιχειρήσεις των γαλλικών ΜΑΤ. Είναι κυρίως και πριν απ’όλα ότι ο πανταχού παρών 26χρονος Αλεξάντρ Μπεναλλά έκανε όλες αυτές και πολλές άλλες καραμπινάτες παρανομίες ολκής με τις ευλογίες και την κάλυψη του Γάλλου προέδρου καθότι ετύγχανε -τουλάχιστον- ευνοούμενος, κολλητός και μυστικοσύμβουλός του υπεράνω νόμων, ιεραρχιών, θεσμών και λοιπών παραδόσεων της Γαλλικής Δημοκρατίας! Προς το παρόν, ο συνήθως λαλίστατος κ. Μακρόν που αρέσκεται να σ

globinfo freexchange In previous article we wrote that, the last mutation of capitalism, which has started about four decades ago, appears to contain the tools of its final demolition. Financial capitalism, accompanied with the corresponding neoliberal ideology, created a deeply unequal and unstable system. Another study by The Democracy Collaborative comes to confirm that we live in the most unstable times, where financial crises become more frequent and more devastating. According to the study: It appears that, contrary to the great moderation theory, the occurrence of financial crises has been accelerating in the neoliberal era. An important 2001 paper by a number of economists from Rutgers, Berkeley, and the World Bank found that " since 1973 crisis frequency has been double that of the Bretton Woods and classical gold standard periods and is rivaled only by the crisis-ridden 1920s and 1930s. History thus confirms that there is someth

Από τη ώρα που ο κύριος Κοτζιάς –εφαρμόζοντας την πολιτική της κυβέρνησης ΣΥΡΙΖΑ-ΑΝΕΛ–, παρέδωσε ποικιλότροπα την χώρα στην ευμενή διάθεση των μεγάλων υπερατλαντικών φίλων, συμμάχων και εταίρων, η πολιτική προσωπικότητά του δείχνει να υπέστη ένα είδος μετάλλαξης. του Γιώργου Μαργαρίτη « Η εποχή που θεωρούνταν διπλωματία το να κάνεις την κότα πέρασε. Αυτή είναι μια διπλωματία για κοτέτσι και όχι για εξωτερική πολιτική ». Τα παραπάνω πολύ σπουδαία τα εκστόμισε ο υπουργός εξωτερικών της αριστεροακροδεξιάς κυβέρνησης, ανάμεσα σε πολλά και εξίσου σπουδαία άλλα, σε συνέντευξη που έδωσε στο Αθηναϊκό-Μακεδονικό Πρακτορείο. Και με το γνωστό υπεροπτικό ύφος που τον χαρακτηρίζει εξήγησε ότι ο Σεργκέϊ Λαβρόφ –με τον οποίο «διατηρεί φιλικές σχέσεις»– του ζήτησε (ταπεινά) να τον προσκαλέσει στην Αθήνα. Καθώς η διαδικασία αυτή ακολουθείται στον διπλωματικό χώρο από κυβερνητικούς παράγοντες μικρών χωρών όταν θέλουν να επισκεφθούν την πρωτεύουσα μιας ισχυρής χώρας, ο απληροφόρητος τηλεθ

globinfo freexchange Credit ratings agency Standard and Poor's has upgraded its outlook on Greece to positive, citing improved policy predictability and economic prospects. In a statement published late Friday, the agency said that this reflects a possible upgrade if the authorities unlock Greece's growth potential by boosting competition in product markets, bolstering property rights, simplifying bankruptcy procedures and improving the enforcement of contracts. We are talking about the country that was excluded from the markets and entered the disastrous IMF program supervised by its creditors (ECB, European Commission, IMF), with a debt at 120% of GDP. Guess what: now the euroclowns decided that the country no longer needs to be in the program with a debt at 180% of GDP! And the rating agencies of the global financial mafia decided to upgrade Greece! Previously, Reuters opened the road through the headline ' Greece prepares to fly solo on bond markets '

Ecuador’s President Lenin Moreno traveled to London on Friday for the ostensible purpose of speaking at the 2018 Global Disabilities Summit (Moreno has been using a wheelchair since being shot in a 1998 robbery attempt). The concealed, actual purpose of the President’s trip is to meet with British officials to finalize an agreement under which Ecuador will withdraw its asylum protection of Julian Assange, in place since 2012, eject him from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, and then hand over the WikiLeaks founder to British authorities. Moreno’s itinerary also notably includes a trip to Madrid, where he will meet with Spanish officials still seething over Assange’s denunciation of human rights abuses perpetrated by Spain’s central government against protesters marching for Catalonia independence. Almost three months ago, Ecuador blocked Assange from accessing the internet, and Assange has not been able to communicate with the outside world ever since. The primary f

Part 4 - Security Cooperation and Free Trade: Re-establishing U.S. Hegemony Diplomatic relations between Ecuador and the U.S. had deteriorated severely under Correa’s government. But that wasn’t the result of Correa’s whim, but of over two decades of social mobilization in rejection of U.S. foreign policy in Ecuador and the region, especially its military expansion and promotion of Free Trade Agreements (FTA). It has been over 10 years since social movements, organized civil society and progressive governments in Latin America effectively defeated the U.S.-sponsored Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). However, today “ there is more pressure from Ecuador’s government to the U.S. government to sign a trade agreement… and it is not necessary to bolster exports because many Ecuadorean products are already entering the U.S. with no tariffs, ” David Suarez explains. Pence didn’t visit Moreno to sign an FTA, but because he has been tasked with gaining hemispheric

Since its heyday in the early 20th Century, socialism in the US struggled to win even a tiny following. Now candidates are openly calling themselves socialists and winning elections. by Dave Lindorff Last month, a major earthquake shook the bedrock of New York City politics, sending shockwaves that were felt across the US as 28-year-old Brooklyn-born Puerto Rican socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez trounced Rep. Joe Crowley, a 10-term House of Representatives member who was widely presumed to be the likely successor to long time House leader Nancy Pelosi. A socialist winning an important House race in a country that just elected billionaire capitalist Donald Trump as president, and handed control of both houses of Congress to the Republicans – a party dedicated to unfettered capitalism? How can this be? Clearly, some kind of tectonic shift is underway in American politics, because Ocasio-Cortez is not the only socialist winning elections and ousti