:: Analysis

The combination of a new phase of the recession, perpetual austerity and mindless imperial wars can turn the current mass malaise and diffuse hostility against the economic and political elite toward socialist movements, parties and trade unions

New book by James Petras, includes the Executive Summary of the GOLDSTONE REPORT

Introduction: Despite almost a decade of warfare, including an invasion and occupation, the US military and its allies and client state armed forces are losing the war in Afghanistan. Outside of the central districts of a few cities and the military fortresses, the Afghan national resistance forces, in all of their complex local, regional and national alliances, are in control, of territory, people and administration.

Will the intensified conflicts between the US and China inevitably lead to a global conflagration? If recent past history is any indication the answer is a resounding yes. The most destructive wars of the 20th century were the result of confrontations between established (EIP) and rising (RIP) imperial powers. The practices and policies of the former serve as guides to the latter.

The run-up to presidential elections is a time of heightened state-sponsored repression as Asia's foremost ‘death squad democracy' wages war on its progressive rural medical workers.

In each of the three decisive moments of recent history, Greece has been pulled backwards from a chance for social transformation, political independence and freedom from external tutelage by one and another of the Papandreou family.

Asian capitalism, notably China and South Korea are competing with the US for global power. Asian global power is driven by dynamic economic growth, while the US pursues a strategy of military-driven empire building.

The deep and ongoing crises of leading capitalist countries, especially the United States, has provoked a debate over the causes, consequences and appropriate policies to remedy it.

These extraordinary times–unprecedented in modern history–are marked by a worldwide depression and regional wars involving all the major imperial powers. This book exposes the roots of the crisis in the unsustainability of the United States\’ military-driven empire building based on a volatile speculative economy, and influenced by Zionist policy makers committed to the colonialist state of Israel

Colonial style empire-building is making a huge comeback, and most of the colonialists are late-comers, elbowing their way past the established European and US predators.

We know in some detail of the willing and gratuitous support, which tens of millions of American citizens have bestowed on the White House and Congressional perpetrators of crimes against humanity.

The role of the mass media (MM) in influencing mass and class behavior has been a central concern among critical writers, especially since the turn of the Twentieth century.

There are two opposing approaches to the analysis of ecological destruction and the emergence of Indian movements in Latin America: the liberal and the Marxist.

In order to explore the perspectives for socialism in the 21st century, it is essential to recover some of the basic postulates, which inform the socialist project.

Inflation and all of its repercussions for wage and salaried workers, fixed income middle classes, as well as manufacturers and transport industries is splashed all over the financial pages of the major newspapers throughout the world.

An interview with James Petras :: It\’s pure Stalinism, to say that an insurgent group with 40 years of struggle is playing imperialism\’s game is pure idiocy; imperialism functions well enough in Venezuela without need for a guerrilla movement

Throughout modern imperial history, ‘Divide and Conquer' has been the essential ingredient in allowing relatively small and resource-poor European countries to conquer nations vastly larger in size and populations and richer in natural resources.

French President Sarkozy has twice appeared in the spotlight of the world's mass media announcing his determination to free French-Colombian dual citizen, Ingrid Betancourt, held captive by the Colombian guerrilla movement, Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-Peoples Army (FARC-EP).

In recent days all the major international banks (IMF, World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, Asia Development Bank etc), all the major financial newspapers and mass media have been forced to recognize that there is a major food crisis, that hundreds of millions of people face hunger, malnutrition and outright starvation.

China's drive toward economic superpower status in the world economy has accelerated in recent years. As China's economy becomes globalized, fundamental changes in its financial markets have opened opportunities for overseas expansion as well as increasing risks of financial crisis.

Turkey and Latin America have experienced many similar historical and contemporary political processes and socio-economic changes despite significant cultural and historical differences. For example, Turkey is the center of a former empire, an Islamic country and member of NATO – Latin America is none of those. For purposes of this article, I want to focus on the contemporary socio-economic and political similarities and differences.

We live in a time of imperial-driven destructive wars in the name of ‘democracy', savage exploitation in the name of ‘emerging world powers', massive forced population displacement in the name of ‘immigration' and large-scale pillage of natural resources in the name of ‘free markets'.