Remember the Maine!
Remember the Maine!
Remember the Maine!
is the meme that comes to my mind with the anti Korean/Russian/Iranian hysteria. The MSM is bent on raising cane with “enemies” and eventually the public will demand war. And there shall be war. Except that one may know how they start but nobody can predict what their outcome will be.
Those that will survive will be those away from civilization centers that can extract basic living from their natural surroundings. The very same MSM that foment the next war will be their own victims.
These MSM are getting the crowds into a lynch mob frenzy. Soon the voice of reason will be drowned and any opposition will be crushed by the steamroller of induced mass fury.
Yet, nobody seems to be able to stop it.
The only way to stop this descent into the abyss would be to close all TVs, Radios and Newspapers and social media for a long time. Maybe then, we would stand a chance of getting back to our senses.
Will anybody do it? I doubt it.

Posted by: CarlD | Jul 12 2017 19:24 utc | 3

Sorry, I’ve ruined this thread with my stupidity..

Posted by: ben | Jul 12 2017 19:33 utc | 5

bad post, ben. You broke the right border by an overlong URL on only the fourth post.
By the way, Afghanistan wasn’t really like that in 1970. I went there two years before, in 1968, and it wasn’t filled with smiling schoolgirls in short skirts. Tha

Posted by: Laguerre | Jul 12 2017 19:36 utc | 7

If you want to see more films about how jolly Afghanistan was in the 1950s, watch the beginning of Adam Curtis’ 2015 documentary Bitter Lake. The URL I had for it has had it deleted, but you can watch it on the BBC i-player. Only if you’re not in UK, you have to spoof a location there, as non-UK people aren’t allowed. Spoofing does work in that case.
In general, Afghanistan was more medieval then than now, and pretty well every woman was veiled.

Posted by: Laguerre | Jul 12 2017 19:47 utc | 9

CarlD @3–
You propose having a Dictator stop the Oligarchy? Wasn’t that sorta what Trump promised to do by draining the swamp?

Posted by: karlof1 | Jul 12 2017 20:03 utc | 11

1. Ralph Peters unhinged on Tucker Carlson while discussing Syria/Russia, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i772m4UdadE 12 minutes of fun but I could only watch it once. Neocon lunatics are not used to being challenged. Carlson’s calm demeanor made Peters look even more deranged because of his inappropriate responses.
2. Dances with Bears discovers the ‘traitor clause’ in the new sanctions bill.
It will punish Russian Oligarchs who are patriots while rewarding those who support dissident groups (I wonder if there is a Putin assassination bonus).
http://johnhelmer.net/us-senate-strikes-for-russian-equality-the-oligarchs-targeted-in-new-sanctions-bill/#more-17836

“(A) An identification of the most significant senior foreign political figures and oligarchs in the Russian Federation, as determined by their closeness to the Russian regime and their net worth.
…
(B) An assessment of the relationship between individuals identified under subparagraph (A) and President Vladimir Putin or other members of the Russian ruling elite.
…
(5) The potential impacts of imposing secondary sanctions with respect to Russian oligarchs, Russian state-owned enterprises, and Russian parastatal entities, including impacts on the entities themselves and on the economy of the Russian Federation, as well as on the economies of the United States and allies of the United States.”

Posted by: Christian Chuba | Jul 12 2017 20:39 utc | 13

Documentation and physical evidence: Diplomatic flights are being used to arm terrorists.
https://trud.bg/350-diplomatic-flights-carry-weapons-for-terrorists/

Posted by: Liveload | Jul 12 2017 21:11 utc | 15

karlof1 @ 6 referenced John Bellamy Foster’s “Revolution and Counterrevolution, 1917–2017. It’s definitely worth checking out. These are the last two paragraphs from the opening:

Today, a hundred years after the Russian Revolution and a century-and-a-half after [Marx’s] Capital, conditions have changed. It would appear that the clock has been turned back, and the forces of global counterrevolution have triumphed. Most of the emancipatory movements that seemed to be gaining ground in the 1960s, primarily in the periphery, have been roundly defeated..
Nevertheless, the material contradictions of capitalist development—particularly in the form of the planetary ecological emergency—are in many ways more serious than ever before. Since the Great Financial Crisis of 2007–09 pulled the veil away, it is abundantly clear that the present phase of global monopoly-finance capital, with its unprecedented levels of inequality, its stagnation and instability, its civilization-destroying bellicosity, its destruction of the environment, and its new forms of political-economic reaction, threatens the future not only of this generation, but that of all generations—the very survival of humanity. As Eric Hobsbawm concluded in his history of the twentieth century, “the price of failure, that is to say, the alternative to a changed society, is darkness.”

Posted by: Mike Maloney | Jul 12 2017 21:56 utc | 17

Christian Chuba @ 13, What an interesting link. I spose everybody knows by now that the fake Syrian chemattack took place on the very day that EU approved Nord Stream II to bring Russian gas to Germany. It was predictable that it would be approved, thus allowing preparation of fake attack.

Posted by: Penelope | Jul 13 2017 1:37 utc | 19

Excerpt from Wm Engdahl:
How does that all fit the demonization today by Trump and by Saudi Prince Salman of Iran as “the number one sponsor of terrorism” and Qatar as a backer of terrorism?
It all fits together when we realize that the current Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, son of Sheikh Hamad, being a more pragmatic sort and realizing that Qatari dreams of a pipeline through Aleppo into Turkey on to the EU had gone up in flames once Russia stepped into the Syrian war, quietly began talks with…Teheran.
This past spring, Qatar began talks with Teheran about finding a compromise on exploitation of the shared South Pars-North Dome gas field. Qatar lifted its moratorium on exploiting the field and carried out discussions with Iran over its joint development. Reportedly Qatar and Iran had come to an agreement on joint construction of a Qatar-Iranian gas pipeline from Iran to the Mediterranean or Turkey that will also carry Qatari gas to Europe. In exchange, Doha agreed to end its support for terrorism in Syria, a huge blow to the Trump-Saudi plans to balkanize a destroyed Syria and control the gas flows of the region.
To prevent that geopolitical catastrophe as Washington and Riyadh and Tel Aviv view it, the unholy three have teamed up to blame Iran and Qatar, ironically home to the Pentagon’s most important bases in the entire Middle East. Qatar they announced is the ‘Evil Knievel’ of world terrorism, with US Defense Secretary “Mad Dog” Mattis actually declaring that Iran was the world’s “biggest state sponsor of terrorism,” while Qatar’s crime allegedly was as key financier of Hamas, Al Qaeda and ISIS. That was maybe then. Today Qatar is pursuing other aims.
http://www.williamengdahl.com/englishNEO24June2017.php

Posted by: Penelope | Jul 13 2017 1:55 utc | 21

add to 21
New US Russian sanctions target the financing of Nord Stream II.

Posted by: somebody | Jul 13 2017 2:22 utc | 23

Started reading Washington’s Long War on Syria recently and thought it might be of interest to MoA regulars. It traces the history of Syrian Ba’athism and the Syrian Arab Republic and contrasts its constitutionally mandated goals (in short: keeping Syria and its people united as a secular nation independent of imperialistic foreign powers, resisting imperialist and Zionist attempts to subjugate Arabs and offering a model of Arab unity based on nationhood rather than religion or subservience to an absolute monarch or dictator) to the United States’ stated goals of destroying independent Syria, and all other likeminded nations, and forcing them into a world order controlled by Washington and its sponsors.
The author raises an excellent point about democracy. In the West, democracy, as defined by the West, is a sacred cow that is unquestioningly assumed to be good and desirable in all countries at all times. Indeed, much of the rhetoric and propaganda designed to sell imperial wars to Western citizens is built on a foundation of bringing “democracy and freedom” to people living in nations ruled by ostensibly sadistic and egomaniacal Hitler clones. How many times have you heard critics or opponents of Western wars say “Well, [insert Hitler du jour’s name here] is no angel but this does not justify war, invasion and slaughter.” In other words they fetishize Western liberal democracy as much as the warmongers do. This is extremely shortsighted.
For a country on the DC/NATO hit list, adopting liberal democracy would be suicidal. It would let Western intelligence agencies step up their covert operations and make it much easier for them to fund and bribe domestic agitators, engineer and exploit sectarian resentment and otherwise undermine, and ultimately destroy, the state and the country. Freedom of expression/speech, the ability to start a political party challenging the government’s legitimacy and so forth , are detrimental to a country under relentless attack form powerful enemies seeking to destroy it.
There is why Washington is so fixated on “pro-democracy activists”, “citizen journalists” and dissidents of all stripes in countries it wants to dominate and why it orchestrates color “revolutions” in the name of “democracy” whenever feasible. An open society is only possible when people are in control of their destiny and free of seditious foreigners waging covert or overt war on their country. That said, Syria is not totally undemocratic as most people here already know. It is, for one thing, light years ahead of American client states Egypt and the KSA, GCC monarchies.
A very interesting read so far and I highly recommend it.

Posted by: Temporarily Sane | Jul 13 2017 4:32 utc | 25

…
A very interesting read so far and I highly recommend it.
Posted by: Temporarily Sane | Jul 13, 2017 12:32:09 AM | 24
(Washington’s Long War on Syria)
I agree. He’s got a July 11 post up.
“The Myth of the Kurdish YPG’s Moral Excellence”
https://gowans.wordpress.com/

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Jul 13 2017 5:36 utc | 27

@ Temporarily Sane #24
Although the West has adopted features of “democracy”, our political constructs are based on electoral politics.
One pivotal feature of Western societies is excluded from the democratic process however: the monetary system.
The political construct:
1 arbitrarily and unilaterally bestowed ownership of the vehicle of exchange unto an un-elected entity
2 imposes said vehicle of exchange by law
3 arrogates unto itself the right to run perpetual fiscal deficits with thorough unaccountability
The outcome of this construct is arithmetical. The only variable is time but the result is arithmetical and it is works through the concentration of profit, thus the concentration of title.
“Democracy” in the West is a relative concept.

Posted by: guidoamm | Jul 13 2017 6:37 utc | 29

Amerika is not a democracy. Last Novembers shit shower underlines this basic fact. That a country of over 300 million can wittle down to a simple binary choice between a turd sandwich and an orangutan! And then handing the reigns of power to the candidate that was unequivocally the least popular (lost the pop vote) for the second time in 20 years! The widespread voter disenfranchisement (normal democracies allow ex-cons to vote), the gerrymandering, the pathetic participation rates, the carte blanche for moneyed interests to flood the media with partisan messages and so on.
Syria does not rank amongst the most democratic countries of the world but it is a far sight more democratic than USA.

Posted by: Køn | Jul 13 2017 8:02 utc | 31

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/273519/Egypt/Politics-/Egypts-Sisi-reaffirms-support-for-reunification-of.aspx

Posted by: Mina | Jul 13 2017 8:26 utc | 33

Penelope @ 18
thanks for that link. Catherine is always a good listen.
i just wish she’d go rogue(she also recognizes that the physics signature of the ‘collapse’ of the twin towers precludes the use of explosives),
but that’s easy for me to say.

Posted by: john | Jul 13 2017 11:10 utc | 35

Patrick Cockburn, “Counting the Dead in Mosul”
https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/07/13/counting-the-dead-in-mosul/

People in west Mosul say that the intensity of the bombardment from the air was out of all proportion to the number of Isis fighters on the ground Saad Amr, a volunteer medic, worked in both east and west Mosul during the nine-month siege. He says that “the airstrikes on east Mosul were fewer but more accurate, while on the west there were far more of them, but they were haphazard.”…
The sighting of a single sniper on a roof, would lead to a whole building being destroyed along with the families inside them. A sign that Isis was not present in any numbers is that, while there are bombed out buildings in every street, there are surprisingly few bullet holes in the walls from automatic rifles or machine guns. In cities like Homs in Syria today or Beirut during the civil war, wherever there had been street fighting of any intensity, walls were always pock-marked with bullet holes.

The article does say that the snipers would heard civilians into the buildings but counted on gratuitous use of coalition air power to increase civilian deaths. This rings true to me. According to most articles linked by wikipedia, 8,000 is a conservative estimate for the total number of civilian deaths in Mosul to defeat about 4,000 ISIS fighters.
I’m not going to rant and rave but I was very put off by the psychotic rantings of Col. Ralph Peters shouting about the criminal acts of the Russians and Assad in Syria, especially because he represents the mainstream of the U.S. Foreign Policy Establishment. No one has perfected bloodless urban warfare. The Syrians were able to liberate Aleppo with no more than 2,000 civilian deaths according to the rebel sympathizing SOHR. I am appalled by the information warriors, they dishonor my country. They may fool my fellow citizens but the people in the M.E. know the real score.

Posted by: Christian Chuba | Jul 13 2017 13:38 utc | 37

Mataman
nice exposé.
I am fairly certain that if Americans just protested an election, went into the voting booths and just submitted blank ballots, they’d still spit out a result at us
the trick is to not vote by not registering to, by not entering the booth in the first place, like something like 90 million eligible voters already do.

Posted by: john | Jul 13 2017 14:44 utc | 39

@25 blues
I think Zionism has plenty to do with Israel, but these are certainly different terms, entities and causes. I like Madsen too, and you must have read his backgrounder: The Dönmeh: The Middle East’s Most Whispered Secret (Part I)
Alison Weir shows how Zionism used the west to create Israel, and terrorized Jews across Europe (in part by using the Nazis) in order to scare them into moving to Israel. Her important book on this, Against Our Better Judgment: The Hidden History of How the U.S. Was Used to Create Israel [Amazon link], also mentions that Rothschild was in at the founding of Zionism, so I surmise that Zionism itself is a tool of sorts for even more powerful interests at play.
I’m not an expert on any of this stuff, and have little stomach for it, or even deeper levels of the rabbit hole, but these two pieces offer a lot of data. Scraps I’ve picked up around the water cooler include that the true tribal affiliations at work here tie Saudi Arabia most intimately with Israel, and that closeness is beginning to show. Further, I gather that the only true Semites in the Middle East are the Palestinians. The so-called Jews appear to be Khazars, with a natural linkage to Ukraine. Completing the circle, the conquest of Crimea is said to be a long-term goal of Zionism as another settlement for Zionists, which may account for so much rage now, after Putin snatched it back out of danger at the last minute, and offered what Sheik Imran Hosein calls the first major defeat to Zionism in its more than 100 years of existence.
That’s all I got.

Posted by: Grieved | Jul 13 2017 15:33 utc | 41

Trump have travelled to France, Macron have earlier threatened Syria with attacks, and so have Trump, and what they will talk about is Syria. Will we see attacks on Syria coming days? weeks?

Posted by: Anon | Jul 13 2017 15:39 utc | 43

COMMUNISM = JUDAISM: https://youtu.be/-iU9kf2EHJw
Is BIG BROTHER JEW, watching you. If not, he and ONLY he, will be, by 2020, according to Brother Nathanael former Jew and now an Orthodox Christian : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPoqrczOp4c
How you will KNOW that JEWS RULE the World, by Brother Nathanael: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzZk_iZOWAg
Then there is a small ray of GOOD NEWS- The REASON why CNN is collapsing : http://www.rense.com/general96/CNNmemwar.html Parasites will suck the life out of their HOST, if they are not controlled, just as Natures Parasites suck the life out of Trees and even some unfortunate animals

Posted by: Freespirit | Jul 13 2017 15:41 utc | 45

@24 Temporarily Sane
I was forutunate to see Gowans on his book tour. He wrote one of the best articles on Syria that I have read:
The Revolutionary Distemper in Syria That Wasn’t

Posted by: Tobin Paz | Jul 13 2017 18:22 utc | 47

@47 hoarsewhisper… yeah – france is fucked.. i mentioned that a moment ago on the new thread..

Posted by: james | Jul 13 2017 18:48 utc | 49

@ Hoarsewhisper #48
My bet: It must be Ambassador Araud ( he was at the UNSC before being sent to DC)and he has been on the Syria file since Sarko. Plus we have two ‘mandarins” at Quai d’Orsay (very pro-American)

Posted by: Yul | Jul 13 2017 20:16 utc | 51

Posted by: Peter AU | Jul 13, 2017 5:56:31 PM | 52
(China’s growing influence on, participation in, and control of the World Economy)
Pure speculation; but China seems to be approaching a position which will oblige it to declare the USD to be a weaponised currency/plague to be avoided at any cost as a medium of exchange, if the world is to prosper peacefully for the common good.

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Jul 14 2017 5:45 utc | 53

Hey b, I asked you for your address to send a contribution but I’ve been so busy with work, I haven’t had a chance to take care of it.
It’s on my list of things to do for this weekend though.
Sorry to have delayed it.

Posted by: mischi | Jul 14 2017 14:49 utc | 55

News is that Russia plan to kick out US diplomats, close compounds in return for the same US move last year.
–
This would be a grave blunder for Russia, and is of course what the neocon msm, elites just want to happen to effectively block Russia/US talks/relations.

Posted by: Anonynous | Jul 14 2017 17:44 utc | 57

hopehely
Why wouldnt it be a blunder? How will it help the US/Russia relations at this point?

Posted by: Anonynous | Jul 14 2017 18:29 utc | 59

hophely
Imho, that type of argument is childish and not realistic, ‘you made a dumb move against me and now I going to do the same against you’, thats not how real diplomacy should work, in fact Russia showed to be very mature by not responding to this bait obama made last year.
Good relations arent created just like that, it takes time, especially in these hysterical times on Russia/Trump..

Posted by: Anonynous | Jul 14 2017 20:31 utc | 61

– Gareth Porter:
Obama was very reluctant to get involved in the war in Syria. But he “buckled” under the pressure of the Golf states and the CIA. But he wasn’t willing to allow US made weapons to be send to the rebels in Syria. David Petraeus (head of the CIA) came up with the plan to ship weapons from Khadaffi’s Libya to the rebels in Syria.
– After a while the Saudis also started to buy weapons from countries in Eastern Europe and from countries that belonged to the Soviet Union (Russia ???).
Source:
https://www.libertarianinstitute.org/scotthortonshow/62517-gareth-porter-obamas-cia-backed-al-qaeda-syria/

Posted by: Willy2 | Jul 15 2017 22:28 utc | 63

An interesting article in RT on some hacked US Department of State files.
https://www.rt.com/usa/396416-state-department-emails-hacking/
Files in pastebin here https://pastebin.com/5Jr2tnu3
“Perhaps you know that the U.S. State Department has a direct bearing on the agenda formation not only at home but throughout the world.
Now you can make sure it’s true. Let me show you the correspondence between the Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Agency Robert P. Otto and his colleagues, CIA officers and other intelligence agencies, as well as representatives of mainstream media, NGOs, international funds and think tanks.
With the respect for privacy I’ve deleted his correspondence with his wife and relatives. The rest of emails will give evidence of who is responsible for different information campaigns, the so-called mythmaking and essentially engaged in the promotion of “American values” throughout the world.”
The address is mega.nz, which I take as Kim Dotcom?
Nothing about it at Kim Dotcom twitter acc https://twitter.com/kimdotcom
Curiosity got the better of me and I downloaded the first file, but have no idea how to open it.
Each time I try a “save” box appears?

Posted by: Peter AU | Jul 16 2017 1:34 utc | 65

@Piotr Berman:
– I would strongly suggest to listen to the podcast before posting any reply.

Posted by: Willy2 | Jul 16 2017 18:22 utc | 67

Posted by: Willy2 | Jul 15, 2017 7:36:25 PM | 64
Yep and Tillerson says UAE hacked Qatari media.
They are playing good cop bad cop extracting protection money from the gulf.
In other news Israel has nixed the Syrian ceasefire agreed by Putin and Trump.

Posted by: somebody | Jul 17 2017 0:17 utc | 69

This info is not from a horrible Nazi Hollycaust denier, but a member of the Knesset!
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/panama-papers-data-leak-king-saudi-arabia-sponsored-netanyahus-campaign/

Posted by: ruralito | Jul 18 2017 16:52 utc | 71

Quite impressive Russia Deploys Terminator-2 in Syria: Unique Weapon with no Analogues in the World

Posted by: ProPeace | Jul 19 2017 2:29 utc | 73

John @35, Interesting that Catherine says the 9-11 collapse signature not consistent w explosives. She clearly thinks it was an arranged event, so I wonder if she subscribes to a small nuke or what?
Btw her Lars Schall interview is funny & interesting. Lars Schall often has high quality programming not found elsewhere, usu financial.

Posted by: Penelope | Jul 20 2017 1:24 utc | 75

– Glenn Greenwald: “With New D.C. Policy Group, Dems Continue to Rehabilitate and Unify With Bush-Era Neocons”
Quote (first paragraph of the article):
“One of the most under-discussed yet consequential changes in the American political landscape is the reunion between the Democratic Party and the country’s most extreme and discredited neocons. While the rise of Donald Trump, whom neocons loathe, has accelerated this realignment, it began long before the ascension of Trump and is driven by far more common beliefs than contempt for the current president.”
Another nice quote:
“Indeed, the likelihood of a neocon/Democrat reunion long predates Trump. Back in the summer of 2014 — almost a year before Trump announced his intent to run for president — longtime neocon-watcher Jacob Heilbrunn, writing in the New York Times, predicted that “the neocons may be preparing a more brazen feat: aligning themselves with Hillary Rodham Clinton and her nascent presidential campaign, in a bid to return to the driver’s seat of American foreign policy.”
Source:
https://theintercept.com/2017/07/17/with-new-d-c-policy-group-dems-continue-to-rehabilitate-and-unify-with-bush-era-neocons/

Posted by: Willy2 | Jul 20 2017 14:18 utc | 77

Richard Nixon,
‘Indians are the most aggressive !@#$%^! around’
Well it gotta take one !@#$%^! to know another right ?
The Butcher of Mosul in bed with the butcher of Gujaraj,
https://sputniknews.com/politics/201706271055015606-us-india-china-standoff/
A partnership made in heaven !
How many heard of Gujaraj 2002 ?
‘Much of the violence unfolded with the full collaboration of the police.
In some cases, police fired at Muslims seeking to flee the mobs.
When asked to help a group of girls being raped on the roof of a building,
police officers demurred, explaining: “They have been given 24 hours to
kill you.” Subsequent investigations confirmed that police knew in advance
of the pogrom and had been instructed not to interfere with it.’
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/mar/01/comment.india

Posted by: denk | Jul 23 2017 2:09 utc | 79

I just saw/read this Naomi Klein interview by Spiegel online and wanted to share.
Here are some good quotes
”
SPIEGEL: You argue that the problems of globalization should be solved through more nationalization. Isn’t that a bit simplistic?
Klein: It makes sense to keep more of the resources within public control, especially in the field of energy. This has happened in Germany in hundreds of cities and towns. As part of the transition to renewables, there has been a remunicipalization of energy, so that communities are not hemorrhaging the profits from energy production. The same is true after three decades of rail privatization in the United Kingdom. In a lot of cases, the answer is not state ownership but more of a public ownership on the commons model — community ownership, different ownership structures and more decentralization. Neoliberalism is in crisis. It has been in crisis since 2008, since the financial crisis.
SPIEGEL: Why aren’t there any alternative ideas to replace neoliberalism?
Klein: The neoliberal project was never just about privatization, deregulation, low taxes and cuts to social spending to offset those low taxes. It centered around the belief that there is no alternative. The left has been far too timid when it comes to proposing a different vision. But we now have a generation of young people who were never subjected to the kind of propaganda that my generation was subjected to. Their entire adult life has been spent after the financial crisis, their coming of age politically was capitalism in crisis and its defenders running for the hills.
”
”
SPIEGEL: Twenty years ago, you helped launch anti-globalization with your book, “No Logo.” Today it has become almost fashionable to campaign against the consequences of unrestrained capital flows. Has your criticism become part of the mainstream?
Klein: I’ve never liked the term “globalization,” it sounds like you’re against the world. What we’re really talking about is the globalization of a specific economic model. The political right is hijacking legitimate frustration about people’s jobs, living standards, the ability to change the direction of the country you’re living in. This is the feeling that Trump, the Brexiters and Marine Le Pen are all tapping into, and they’re mixing it with xenophobic hatred of anything international, with hypernationalism and a toxic anti-immigrant, anti-United Nations, anti-everything global sentiment. The right has been able to do this because centrist political parties abandoned their traditional opposition to these types of policies. They ended up pushing the agenda even further, creating a vacuum for the right to go in. It’s very dangerous.
SPIEGEL: Why did these parties leave this space open?
Klein: You mean, why did they pepper spray us when we raised these issues? It is about the triumph of an ideological project that colonized pretty much every major political party. The reasons are different in South Africa than they are in England than they are in the United States. This is partly what I described in my book, “The Shock Doctrine.”
SPIEGEL: What do you mean by that?
Klein: During the past 50 years, people in various countries voted for political parties that promised the opposite of austerity. Then came a shock, often an economic crisis. Some governments have to go to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank for a loan, and as a condition to that loan, they are told to abide by the rules of these institutions. This is one of the things that concerns me about Trump — his administration is setting the U.S. up for another economic shock by deregulating the banking sector, and by cutting taxes so much that there’s going to be a massive budget crisis. This becomes the pretext for advancing more radical economic projects. Trump ran on a platform promising to protect social security, but all it takes is one economic crisis to say, “Well, sorry. I have to break that promise.”
SPIEGEL: Do you seriously believe Trump is pursuing a strategy that elaborate?
Klein: It’s naïve to think he does not understand the utility of a crisis. His advisers are openly quoting Machiavelli and throwing around this “shock to the system” metaphor again and again. Trump made his first major business deal in the midst of New York’s debt crisis in the 1970s, he has stacked his cabinet with five former Goldman Sachs executives, including a Treasury Secretary who with bloodless focus profited off of the subprime mortgage crash. He has an education secretary who wants to privatize the entire school system of the United States. It is dangerous to just treat him as a buffoon who is incapable of executing any kind of coherent agenda.
”

Posted by: psychohistorian | Jul 24 2017 4:38 utc | 81

– Details of Ivanka’s income have been revealed:
http://money.cnn.com/2017/07/24/news/ivanka-trump-financial-disclosure-form/index.html

Posted by: Willy2 | Jul 24 2017 20:43 utc | 83