:: Analysis
Rebellion in the Suites: Tax Collectors and Businesspeople
09.08.2016Introduction: Large-scale political and economic challenges are confronting the US multi-national corporate elite. Apple, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Pfizer and scores of other multinational tax evaders are facing the triple threat of multi-billion dollar fines, the redistribution of their wealth and the possible reintroduction of equitable socio-economic programs, which could undermine their power.
China’s Pivot to World Markets, Washington’s Pivot to World Wars, and the Debacle of the Latin American Left
08.20.2016Introduction: China and the United States are moving in polar opposite directions: Beijing is rapidly becoming the center of overseas investments in high tech industries, including robotics, nuclear energy and advanced machinery with collaboration from centers of technological excellence, like Germany.
Brexit: A Workers’ Response to Oligarchs, Bankers, Flunkies and Scabs
07.14.2016Introduction: The European Union is controlled by an oligarchy, which dictates socio-economic and political decisions according to the interests of bankers and multi-national business. The central organs of power, the European Commission (EC), the European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have systematically imposed austerity programs that have degraded working conditions, welfare programs, and wages and salaries.
Anglo-America: Regression and Reversion in the Modern World
05.31.2016Introduction: What does it mean when the US and British financial systems launder hundreds of billions of dollars of illicit funds stolen by world leaders while their governments turn a ‘blind eye’, and yet the very same Anglo-American officials investigate, prosecute, fine and arrest officials from rival governments, rival banks and political leaders for corruption?
Terror Bombing in Brussels and Paris: Europe’s Islamist Legionnaires Come Home to Fight
04.08.2016Introduction: The terror bombings in Paris and Brussels have raised a cacophony of voices, ranging from state officials, Prime Ministers and Presidents, to academics, journalists and media consultants. Tons of ink and print have focused on the psychology, networks and operations of the alleged perpetrators - radicalized young Muslim citizens of the EU.
Global Economic, Political and Military Configurations
03.08.2016Introduction: Mapping the emerging global economic, political and military configurations requires that we examine regions and countries along several dynamic policy axis:
International Monetary Funds Rogues Gallery. Crooks, Rapists and Swindlers
12.25.2015Introduction: The IMF is the leading international monetary agency whose public purpose is to maintain the stability of the global financial system through loans linked to proposals designed to enhance economic recovery and growth.
Imperialism and Capitalism: Rethinking an Intimate Relationship
Henry Veltmeyer and James Petras :: 12.18.2015The literature on imperialism suffers from a fundamental confusion about the relationship between capitalism and imperialism. The aim of this paper is to remove this confusion.
The Demise of Incumbents: Resurgence of the Far Right and the Absence of the Consequential Left
11.06.2015Introduction: Incumbent politicians and parties, both center-left and right, have suffered serious defeats in recent elections. The principal beneficiary has been the extreme right. Nowhere did the consequential left register a victory, although in a few instances it marginally increased its vote.
Western Mainstream Extremism: Distortion, Fabrication and Falsification in the Financial Press
11.03.2015Introduction: With the collapse of the Communist countries in the 1990s and their conversion to capitalism, followed by the advent of neo-liberal regimes throughout most of Latin America, Asia, Europe and North America, the imperial regimes in the US and EU have established a new political spectrum, in which the standards of acceptability narrowed and the definition of adversaries expanded.
Vietnam: From National Liberation to Trans-Pacific Vassalage 1975-2015
10.18.2015Introduction: In 1975 the people of Vietnam successfully ended one of the longest and bloodiest anti-colonial wars in world-history defeating the US, the worlds biggest imperial power, after 20 years of struggle. Barely forty years later the Vietnamese regime signed off on the US-Japanese dominated Trans-Pacific Free Trade Agreement (TPFTA), which essentially converted Vietnam into a vassal state.
Putin and the Press: The Demonology School of Journalism
10.11.2015Introduction: The major influential western print media are engaged in a prolonged, large-scale effort to demonize Russian President Putin, his politics and persona. There is an article (or several articles) every day in which he is personally stigmatized as a dictator, authoritarian, czar, former KGB operative and Soviet-style ruler; anything but the repeatedly elected President of Russia.
Five Leaders Challenging Western Imperialism through Diplomacy, Persuasion and Public Pressure
10.05.2015Pope Francis, Vladimir Putin, Xi, Jinping, Hassan Rouhani, and Jeremy Corbyn
US-China Relations: the Pentagon versus High Tech
09.19.2015Introduction: Step by step, Washington is inexorably setting up a major provocation against China. Until now, the Obama regime tightened a military encirclement of China, expanding its armed forces agreements with Japan, the Philippines and Australia. In addition, it has promoted the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP), a regional trade agreement which openly excludes China.
China: Reformers and Compradors
09.11.2015Chinas wealthiest classes have secured their recent fortunes through various means, both legal and illegal: These include (1) the privatization of public enterprises; (2) the savage exploitation of cheap labor after destroying workers rights , protections and social welfare legislation; (3) large-scale, long-term corruption of government officials; (4) the often violent state-sponsored land-grabs from towns, villages and farmers and the land transfer to private investors; (5) real estate speculation; (6) changes in state regulatory policies leading to oligopolistic control of markets; (7) large-scale tax evasion, money laundering and offshore transfers of profits and (8) state policies dictating low wage and salaries and repressing workers collective action.
The Two Faces of Capitalism and Left Options
09.06.2015Introduction: Rightwing politics now dominate the globe. Broadly speaking, the Right can be divided into a US-centered rightwing bloc and a variety of anti-US rightwing regimes and social forces.
Greek Elections: January and September 2015 - From Hope to Fear and Despair
08.26.2015Introduction: Eight months will have passed since the election of Syriza on January 25 up to the snap elections in September. During that time Syrizas leaders play-acted their opposition to austerity and then knelt down in submission to the Troika.
The Age of Imperial Wars
08.22.2015Introduction: 2015 has become a year of living dangerously. Wars are spreading across the globe. Wars are escalating as new countries are bombed and the old are ravaged with ever greater intensity. Countries, where relatively peaceful changes had taken place through recent elections, are now on the verge of civil wars.
Greece and the European Union: First as Tragedy, Second as Farce, Thirdly as Vassal State
07.26.2015Introduction: The Greek peoples efforts to end the economic depression, recover their sovereignty and reverse the regressive socio-economic policies, which have drastically reduced living standards, have been thrice denied.
The Radical Reconfiguration of Southern European Politics: The Rise of the Non Leftist Left
06.21.2015Introduction: Over the past decade fundamental changes have taken place in Southern Europe, which have broken with previous political alignments, resulting in the virtual disappearance of traditional leftist parties, the decline of trade unions and the emergence of middle class radicalism.
Syriza: Plunder, Pillage and Prostration. (How the Hard Left embraces the policies of the Hard Right)
06.15.2015Introduction: Greece has been in the headlines of the worlds financial press for the past five months, as a newly elected leftist party, Syriza, which ostensibly opposes so-called austerity measures, faces off against the Troika (International Monetary Fund, the European Commission and European Central Bank).
Pillage and Class Polarization: The Rise of Criminal Capitalism
06.11.2015Introduction: About 75% of US employees work 40 hours or longer, the second longest among all OECD countries, exceeded only by Poland and tied with South Korea. In contrast, only 10% of Danish workers, 15% of Norwegian, 30% of French, 43% of UK and 50% of German workers work 40 or more hours.