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Last weekend my father, Larry Greenberg, passed away at the age of 93. Several days later, I received an email from the French film director Phillippe Diaz who sent me a link to his soon-to-be-released I Am Gitmo, a feature movie about the now-infamous Guantánamo Bay detention facility. As I was soon to discover, those two disparate events in my life spoke to one another with cosmic overtones. Mind you, I’ve been covering Guantánamo since President George W. Bush and his team, having responded to the 9/11 attacks by launching their disastrous “Global War on Terror,” set up that offshore prison to house people American forces had captured. Previewing Diaz’s movie, I was surprised at how it unnerved me. After so... Read more

Source: “Quaint and Obsolete?” appeared first on TomDispatch.com.

He’s not going to find it Trump told a rally audience last week that he would be coming up with a policy on abortion in the next week. (And yes, everyone made the same joke about “infrastructure week and health care reform in two weeks” joke when he did it.) But he does have to come up with something because his own people are waiting for the magic words he’s been promising that will put this whole thing to rest. Unfortunately for him, it’s not possible: Former President Donald Trump is vowing to solve the abortion dilemma that has dogged Republican candidates since the fall of Roe v. Wade with his singular dealmaking acumen. The presumptive Republican nominee, who has pledged to make a statement on abortion this week, has said for months that if elected he would “come together with all groups” and “negotiate something” that would “make both sides happy,” suggesting that “15 weeks seems to be a number that people are agreeing at.” “We’ll end up with peace on that issue for the first time in 52 years,” he said.

A uniquely Ukrainian strain of Neo-Nazism is spreading throughout Europe, which openly advocates violence against minorities while seeking new recruits. With Kiev’s army collapsing and a narrative of Western betrayal gaining currency, the horror inflicted on residents of Donbas for a decade could very soon be coming to a city near you. Centuria, an ultra-violent Ukrainian Neo-Nazi faction, has cemented itself in six cities across Germany, and is seeking to expand its local presence. According to Junge Welt, a Berlin-based […]

The post Meet Centuria, Ukraine’s Western-trained neo-Nazi army first appeared on The Grayzone.

The post Meet Centuria, Ukraine’s Western-trained neo-Nazi army appeared first on The Grayzone.

It’s even more ghastly when you read the whole thing. I just thought I’d put this up as we go into the final week before the 2016 Stormy Daniels election fraud case begins on the 15th. Think about what he said and the fact that dozens of other women have accused him of the same thing and that he’s even been held liable for defamation and sexual assault for over 90 million dollars. The man is a reprehensible reprobate on a level we’ve never encountered in presidential politics — and we’ve had some real beauts when it comes to womanizing. This man is truly disgusting.

It seems our PM and Foreign Minister remain able only to show a carefully graduated and modified ‘outrage’ over the death of an Australian aid worker in Gaza. Expressed directly to Netanyahu, Albanese could only deliver restrained diplomatese: sought was a “thorough investigation” with “full accountability and transparency”. That hardly rocked Netanyahu to the core: Continue reading »

I recently heard the British-Palestinian Dr. Ghassan Abu-Sittah tell of the horrors of Israel’s total destruction of Gaza’s hospitals and healthcare system. Many children who have lost both parents and extended family in Israel’s inhumane and incomprehensible slaughter of Gazans, have also lost their limbs, eyes and certainly their futures. Dr. Abu-Sittah alerts the world Continue reading »

Dr Sue Wareham OAM, President of the Medical Association for Prevention of War (Australia) talks with Helen McCue AM, recently awarded the Jerusalem peace prize for forty-one years of passionate advocacy and support for Palestine, through her work as founder of Union Aid Abroad – APHEDA. They discuss the destruction of medical facilities in Israel’s Continue reading »

I read Professor Percy Allen’s interesting article (P&I, 28/03/24) and was astounded by the claim based on a list of “invasion” he was given that China was historically an imperial nation and thus dangerous. The fact that China was an imperial nation is as beyond a shadow of doubt as the Pope is Catholic. China Continue reading »

Writing on the heels of Stuart Rees’s recent article in P&I, A Plea for Gaza: ‘Remember humanity & forget the rest’, and as a participant in last Wednesday’s Gaza plea for humanity event at Parliament House, Canberra, I’d like to commend Stuart for his leadership, courage and tireless efforts to bring peace with justice to Continue reading »

Peter Dutton thinks the Coalition is on a winner by promoting nuclear power but unbiased opinion polls find that support for nuclear power in Australia falls short of a majority, that Australians much prefer renewables, and most do not want nuclear reactors built near where they live. A February 26 page-one article in The Australian Continue reading »

This former leader of PNG’s state energy supplier says we should take a leaf from the China playbook by using a “tied aid” model. The leadership turnstile at Papua New Guinea’s state energy provider, PNG Power (PPL), is spinning once again as the search is on for another chief executive. This latest shift at one Continue reading »

A few years ago, I gave a talk at the annual conference of the Australian Institute for International Affairs. Afterwards, one of the local luminaries observed that it sounded like I was channelling Bernie Sanders. It was not meant as a compliment. On the contrary, both of us were clearly regarded as unrealistic and naïve, Continue reading »

Week-end Wrap – Political Economy – April 7, 2024

by Tony Wikrent

 

Strategic Political Economy

Navies are obsolete, but no one will admit it 

[Crooked Timber, via Naked Capitalism 04-04-2024]

 

Rethinking tanks on the modern battlefield

Stephen Bryen [AsiaTimes 04-02-2024]

He’s a tried and true Trumper and I’m sure he believes that Ukraine is responsible for election interference rather than Russia. That’s what Putin told Trump and now half the GOP (at least) believes it. I seriously doubt he meant to say Russia, considering Trump’s fealty to Vladimir Putin. He didn’t misspeak. Some Republicans know otherwise. But will they have the nerve to defy Dear Leader? I’m not so sure:

Some sobering-up music From Jason Statler (LOLGOP) at the I Know How Much You Care substack: I keep hearing Janine Melnitz (Annie Potts) saying, “Yes, of course they’re serious… ” How serious? Statler adds, “But don’t believe me or Trump. Believe the entire Republican establishment.” ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● For The Win, 5th Edition is ready for download. Request a copy of my free countywide GOTV planning guide at ForTheWin.us.

I’m a security researcher working in the journalism field, and I’m here to rain on your dangerous, dumb parade.

The post Forget a Ban — Why Are Journalists Using TikTok in the First Place? appeared first on The Intercept.

Counterrevolution? Counter what? The U.S. is still processing the Civil War and its aftermath over 150 years later. When I arrived from the Midwest as a kid, southerners still tossed around yankee as a slur. Israel hasn’t had even a century to process the Holocaust and isn’t done. Now Israelis have to process Oct. 7. I’m not optimistic where this will go near term: Six months after Oct. 7, Israelis are struggling to recover their bearings, their core, their belief that Jews are safe in Israel. In Israel’s south and north, more than 120,000 people have been evacuated, their neighborhoods transformed into front lines. The homes sit empty, toys still scattered in front yards. In the southern kibbutzim, where 3,000 Hamas-led fighters launched a surprise assault on that indelible Saturday morning, the residents return not to live but to serve as guides for visitors from abroad. They give heart-rending tours, recounting how 1,200 people were slaughtered and 253 hostages were dragged into Gaza, according to Israeli government figures. Evacuees fear that their communities are becoming places frozen in time and loss.

Doctor Who is incomplete without a companion - the Doctor's foil, best friend, and forever unrequited love story in a forever chaotic journey.

Neo-liberals and libertarians have always provided a lot of ideologically founded ideas and ‘theories’ to underpin their Panglossian view on markets. But when they are tested against reality they usually turn out to be wrong. The promised results are simply not to be found. And that goes for for-profit private schools too. Sweden introduced a […]

Economic policy has been erased from the political discourse, which is a problem for Biden — and for democracy.

The ancient amphitheatre was our destination; we had been walking toward it excitedly, with greater and greater speed.

The post My Glamorous Life: Roman Holiday appeared first on Zeldman on Web and Interaction Design.

Depending on your worldview, this coming Monday’s super-hyped solar eclipse may be interpreted as: a). A sign of the impending apocalypse, b). A sign that once in a blue moon, the moon blows in and obscures the sun, giving humanity the impression (for a few heart stopping moments) that the apocalypse has, in fact, arrived, or c). A dollar sign for event promoters, hoteliers, tow truck drivers, and people who sell cheap cardboard sunglasses. I know. I’m a cynical bastard. If the “Great North American Eclipse” forces people to tear themselves away from their 5 inch iPhone screen to gaze up at The Big Sky, and ponder the awesomeness and vastness of the cosmos (and most importantly, humankind’s relative insignificance in the grand scheme of things)…then I’m for it (I Googled “can you view the eclipse with a…” and right after “mirror”, “sunglasses” and “welding mask”, there it was- friggin’ “iPhone”). Do me a favor.

Source - Patreon