Reading

Created
Tue, 12/09/2023 - 04:58
When the Cold War ended in 1991, the West, and particularly the United States, found itself at a fork in the road. One road led to peace, justice, cooperation, nuclear disarmament, a revitalised UN, inclusiveness, pluralism, human rights, multilateralism, fair trade, regulated markets, food security, energy transition, sustainability, and humane governance. The other road led Continue reading »
Created
Tue, 12/09/2023 - 04:57
I have come now to the bitter realisation that from no matter what angle you consider it, the Henoko New Base plan has become a ‘solid block of injustice.’” – Urashima Etsuko Paid little attention either elsewhere in Japan or in countries closely tied to Japan such as Australia, a huge and grossly unequal struggle Continue reading »
Created
Tue, 12/09/2023 - 04:55
At end July 2023, there was an all-time record 2.554 million temporary entrants in Australia. The crucial policy question is whether that will be a peak or whether the number of temporary entrants in Australia will keep rising? If the latter, what will that mean for the number of temporary entrants in ‘immigration limbo’ – Continue reading »
Created
Tue, 12/09/2023 - 04:54
Marise Payne’s tenure as Australia’s Foreign Minister was rightly marked with criticism. Australia’s international and strategic interests went backwards during her time. But was she really Australia’s worst Foreign Minister as some commentators assert? It’s important to consider the root cause of the damage done to Australia’s national interests: the belligerent interference and harm done Continue reading »
Created
Tue, 12/09/2023 - 04:53
Current articles on the government’s climate policies increasingly use words such as reckless, hypocrisy and betrayal referring to approval of coal mines. But it is even more difficult to find words to describe the gas industry’s infliction of pain on humanity by the approval of gas mines. It is a shock to many that coalmine Continue reading »
Created
Tue, 12/09/2023 - 04:52
Australia Post’s $200.3 million loss for 2022-23 is only the second in its corporate history. It also confirms that, with Christine Holgate gone, Australia Post is once again being set up to fail to justify removing its community service obligation and possible privatisation. Australians need to pay attention to issues like bank branch closures and Continue reading »
Created
Tue, 12/09/2023 - 04:50
That Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese chose to confirm his visit to China almost two months in advance after his “frank and constructive” meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit in Jakarta last week shows his earnestness to further improve Sino-Australian relations. Albanese told the media after his Continue reading »
Created
Tue, 12/09/2023 - 04:00

In my latest article (open access) for Environment and Planning F I explore Latin American contributions to the debates surrounding the concept ‘mode of production’ (MOP). I specifically explore the contributions of José Carlos Mariátegui and René Zavaleta as two of the continent’s most original Marxist thinkers.

The post Debating Modes of Production in Latin America appeared first on Progress in Political Economy (PPE).

Created
Tue, 12/09/2023 - 03:45

Today, Chileans mark the 50th anniversary of the bloody US-backed military coup d’état that killed President Salvador Allende, putting an end to democratic rule and unleashing a systematic reign of terror to crush thousands of supporters of the socialist government in Chile. That day and the seventeen years that followed saw our loved ones brutally […]

Created
Tue, 12/09/2023 - 03:30

The faucet fills my glass with water, but I don’t dare take a sip yet. As I squeeze the lemon into my drink, I mentally levitate. It’s true that I am now earthier and less judgmental. With just one sip of lemon water, I feel myself become effortlessly radiant.

I skip my morning coffee because I’m high on vitamin C. My body is detoxing, and I feel more in tune with the miraculous rhythms of life. I tell my boss I won’t be coming into work today, or ever again. My corporate marketing job has always felt beneath me. When my boss sends me a threatening email in response, I forward it to a reputable journalist. For I am a whistleblower. My senses feel heightened, and I am suddenly porous to the universe and all it offers me.

During my eight-mile run, I barely sweat. A passerby points at me, asking whether I’ll give the eulogy at his funeral. I am now an empath and tell him his stage four cancer is not actually a death sentence. Has he tried lemon water? I imagine a cable news anchor asking me what it feels like to save lives for a living.

“It feels good, Anderson. It feels damn good.”

Created
Tue, 12/09/2023 - 03:00
It runs in his family… On Sunday night Donald Trump threw down the gauntlet at the feet of Rupert Murdoch and his sons, Joe Biden and the “WSJ heads.” He posted this cri de guerre on his social media platform Truth Social: In a phony and probably rigged Wall Street Journal poll, coming out of nowhere to soften the mental incompetence blow that is so obvious with Crooked Joe Biden, they ask about my age and mentality. Where did that come from? A few years ago I was the only one to agree to a mental acuity test, & ACED IT. Now that the Globalists at Fox & the WSJ have failed to push their 3rd tier candidate to success, they do this. Well, I hereby challenge Rupert Murdoch & Sons, Biden, WSJ heads, to acuity tests! He added: I will name the place and the test, and it will be a tough one. Nobody will come even close to me! We can also throw some physical activity into it. I just won the Senior Club Championship at a big golf club, with many very good players. To do so you need strength, accuracy, touch and, above all, mental toughness. Ask Bret Baier (Fox), a very good golfer.
Created
Tue, 12/09/2023 - 02:32

The Government’s latest anti-strike laws, introduced by the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act, threaten striking frontline workers with the sack and trade unions that fail to comply with being sued into bankruptcy.  The laws have faced a barrage of criticism from civil liberties organisations, NHS employers, race equality groups, employment lawyers and, of course, the […]

Created
Tue, 12/09/2023 - 00:30
How’s that for retribution? The FB post below deserves a wider audience. Sara Robinson is a futurist friend who’s written for Orcinus with David Neiwert and for America’s Future and AlterNet. She commented a few weeks ago on Vivek Ramaswamy’s plans for “revolution” in Washington, D.C. Ramaswamy’s pitch is another riff on Republicans’ and the Heritage Foundation’s plan to “Schedule F” away the “administrative state” both by replacing tens of thousands of career civil servants with MAGA ideologues and by killing off entire agencies. Think of the Trump administration on steroids. For the MAGA faithful who still believe their spray-tanned savior was cheated of his rightful kingship by the deep state, eliminating 75 percent of the federal workforce may hold retributive appeal.
Created
Mon, 11/09/2023 - 23:59

Today marks the fiftieth anniversary of the military coup in Chile on 11 September 1973. The bloody overthrow of Chile’s democratically-elected Popular Unity government and the death of socialist President Salvador Allende coronated a far-right military dictatorship under General Augusto Pinochet, which would last for seventeen years. Tens of thousands of socialists, trade unionists, and […]

Created
Mon, 11/09/2023 - 23:00
Same old, same “too old” Stop the handwringing, okay? Mehdi Hasan Sunday night addressed the press promotion of the “Biden’s too old” narrative. Meantime, President Joe Biden, 80, is out bicycling. Had a conversation just yesterday with a voter who brought up the “Biden’s too old” concern. Why? Because the media’s all aflutter with it and one thing Democrats are good at is self-doubt. Listen, the next general (not just presidential) election is 14 months out. Between now and then much can happen, usually does, and probably will. Yes, it’s important for Democrats to hold the White House. But it’s also important that they retain the Senate, take back the House, and regain strength in state legislatures where Republicans are running laboratories of autocracy. I’m focused on keeping this lunatic out of North Carolina’s governor’s mansion. The irony is that however tight polls suggest that race looks today, it’s a long way to Tuesday, November 5, 2024. Between now and then, there is a lot of work to do.