Reading

Week-end Wrap – Political Economy – October 8, 2023

by Tony Wikrent

War

Hamas Attacks, What Does It Mean?

Ian Welsh, October 7, 2023

Hamas actually captured the Israeli southern command base briefly. It was retaken with massive air strikes (meaning Israel was willing to hit its own people.) In the initial 12 hours or so they wiped the floor with local Israeli forces….

As I have said repeatedly, and as the last war with Hezbollah showed, the Israeli army, no matter how many weapons or men or planes it has, is weak and incompetent. This is not the military of 1967 or even 1980, when the legend of Israeli military brilliance was created.

Την πρόσφατη αναβίωση της Ακροδεξιάς σε όλη την Ευρώπη δεν την προκάλεσαν οι τρεις μεγάλες γκάφες της Κριστίν Λαγκάρντ, από τότε που ανέλαβε Προέδρος της Ευρωπαϊκής Κεντρικής Τράπεζας. Όμως, την ενίσχυσαν τα μέγιστα! Η πρώτη γκάφα της Λαγκάρντ ήρθε νωρίς στην θητεία της στην ΕΚΤ και κόστισε στην Ιταλία δισεκατομμύρια και στην ΕΚΤ σημαντικό μέρος της «αξιοπιστίας» της ως […]

The post Τα τρία πλούσια δώρα της Κριστίν Λαγκάρντ στην Ακροδεξιά – NEWS24|7 appeared first on Yanis Varoufakis.

As a start, and a prompt, I once again call upon our government to recognise Palestine. Have the courage to stand up to Israel, and its primary backer, the United States. Oh, and another thing, Mr. Prime Minister, and Ms. Foreign Minister – please don’t purport to speak for all Australians when you say “Israel Continue reading »

What is playing out on the border of Gaza and Israel is awful. Loss of civilian life is inexcusable and must be condemned. Unsurprisingly, and understandably, Biden, Albanese, Trudeau and other Western leaders have condemned the Hamas attack in the strongest possible terms. But is that all they are going to do – double down Continue reading »

The second highest grossing film in the world in 2021 barely got a mention in the Australian press. It was co-directed by three acclaimed filmmakers, cost close to US$200 million to produce, made $1 billion, and was nearly three hours long with a sequel of equal length. It ran briefly at the Event Cinema in Continue reading »

There was a time not so long ago, especially after the Vietnam War, when leaders in the advanced countries such as the United States, Britain, France and Germany gave us hope that the mistakes of the past had been learnt and that we were heading for a fairer and more ethical system: when Nelson Mandela Continue reading »

“Every lie owes a debt to the truth, sooner or later that debt is paid.” – Soviet nuclear engineer Valery Alekseevich Legasov on the consequences of deceit and denial. The rise and fall of empires have often been dramatic, marked by key events that shape their destinies. The disastrous expedition of the Spanish Armada in Continue reading »

Australian authorities conducted three separate internal studies in the past eight years to determine whether the commodity-exporting nation could completely diversify its supply chains from China – but all said the task was impossible, according to two sources with knowledge of the matter. Separate administrations conducted investigations into the feasibility of ‘diversifying’ import-export relationship, all Continue reading »

We’re seeing the western political/media class bleating the word “unprovoked” in unison again, this time in reference to the massive multi-pronged operation launched by Hamas against Israel on Saturday morning which reportedly killed hundreds of Israelis. “The United States unequivocally condemns the unprovoked attacks by Hamas terrorists against Israeli civilians,” reads a statement from the White House. “The loss of life in Continue reading »

It’s been quite a morning for the GOP superstar women on TV this morning You won’t find a better encapsulation of Nancy Mace’s phoniness than her going on CBS today & claiming her big problem with McCarthy was he didn’t do enough for abuse survivors, then in the next breath endorsing Gym Jordan for speaker. She stands for nothing beyond getting on TV. — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 8, 2023 Brennan: Do the past allegations of Jim Jordan that he turned a blind eye to sexual abuse give you reservations? Mace: I’m not familiar or aware of that. Brennan: Ohio state university allegations. Mace: I don’t know anything pic.twitter.com/OGQQFqR9pt — Acyn (@Acyn) October 8, 2023 Brennan: McCarthy said his ouster is personal payback from Gaetz for the house ethics committee investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct… Does that bother you? Mace: Well, again, he’s not indicted for anything. I don’t really — I don’t know much about it.

In his new book, ‘Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism’, Yanis Varoufakis explores how giant tech firms, both in the US and China are expanding their control over the planet. His analysis is that, whilst material resources certainly matter, the real battle ground is over digital real estate. Aaron sat down with Yanis to talk about how […]

The post Interviewed by Aaron Bastani, for Novara Media, on my TECHNOFEUDALISM appeared first on Yanis Varoufakis.

With any phenomenon of interest, understanding its nature or essential properties allows us to relate to, or interact with, it in more knowledgeable and competent ways than would otherwise be the case … A surprising number of social theorists, when embarking on substantive analyses, pay almost no attention at all to insights bearing on the […]

A teeth-grinding interview What if the next presidential election is a rematch between President Biden and Donald Trump. Kristen Welker of Meet The Press sat down with four Pennsylvania “swing voters” how they feel about that. First off, how were they chosen for this conclave? What makes theses four representative stand-ins for swing voters in general? What makes their opinions somehow illuminating? “If it’s a Biden and Trump race, I would vote for Biden even if he was dead. And I’m a Republican.” -A Pennsylvania voter to Meet the Press host Kristen Welker. pic.twitter.com/DJy6dgZdfb — Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) October 8, 2023 At least this Republican voter (above) will take a stand even if he believes (somehow) that Biden is on the edge of senility. Welker didn’t ask in this edit what people thought of Kamala Harris as president in the event…. That might have been revealing. Samantha Cieslinski voted Republican in the past but now feels her “moral compass” won’t let her choose either Biden or Trump.

James Goss's final chapter of Doctor Who: Doom's Day couldn't get us to care about Doom's fate. Here's why the multimedia event didn't work.

From a self-help charlatan to a $140 billion-a-year Medicare Advantage scam, here’s a roundup of our reporting from the past week.

We can’t even bury fascism Yesterday’s first post explains why I’m not up to speed on what’s happening in Israel and Gaza and likely won’t catch up for a day or two. Compounding the problem is the inherent complexity of what’s happening there on the ground and what’s now happening with the internet. Digby tweeted (to hell with Musk) yesterday, “I used to turn to twitter at times like these but now I have no clue what’s real and what isn’t…” A couple of observations about that. Washington Post: Amid concerns the rise of artificial intelligence will supercharge the spread of misinformation comes a wild fabrication from a more prosaic source: Amazon’s Alexa, which declared that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. Asked about fraud in the race — in which President Biden defeated former president Donald Trump with 306 electoral college votes — the popular voice assistant said it was “stolen by a massive amount of election fraud,” citing Rumble, a video-streaming service favored by conservatives.

In today's BCTV Daily Dispatch: Fear TWD, Rick and Morty, WWE, Breaking Bad, Doctor Who, Archer, Loki, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds & more!

Hamas has staged a dramatic series of attacks against Israel. This is an act of resistance against the brutal Israeli occupation.

The post Palestinians are right to resist Israeli terror first appeared on Solidarity Online.

Joe Biden didn’t make a WMD designation, but federal agencies acted anyway — kicking off a panic among police.

The post The U.S. Government Is Preparing for a Fentanyl WMD Attack appeared first on The Intercept.

For the first time, there is the real possibility of a unity coalition with the Democratic minority and a block of moderate Republicanism, writes Grant Stern

Source - Patreon