the unbalanced evolution of homo sapiens

Ukrainian fascists who previously fought in a US-backed neo-Nazi militia joined the anti-China protests in Hong Kong, sharing their tactics and showing off their tattoos. by Ben Norton Part 3 - Neo-Nazis take campus On December 2, the Ukrainian fascist visitors posted photos of themselves on the campus of Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU), a site of violent protests. PolyU has been a crucial base of operation for the separatist uprising. A total of 3,989 petrol bombs, 1,339 pieces of explosives, and 601 bottles of corrosive liquid were recovered at the school, as of December 2, according to reports. Serhii Filimonov has faced legal troubles in the past, appearing in court for allegedly brawling with police. The photos Filimonov posts on social media make two things abundantly clear: He is a Nazi and wants as many people as possible to see him shirtless while bearing heavy weapons. Other members of Gonor have published photos on Instagram holding guns. A vid

Anglo-Zionists and UK religious leaders in cahoots with Israeli hardliners are going all-out to prevent Jeremy Corbyn from becoming UK prime minister in December 12 elections — because of his anti-war, progressive agenda.  by Stephen Lendman He advocates a peace and stability foreign policy, increased National Health Service spending, free higher education, free broadband for all UK residents, free childcare and early education, aid for disabled children and the homeless, higher public sector pay, and other social justice policies — polar opposite how Britain is governed under Tories and Labor Blairites. He opposes austerity, wants public welfare cuts reversed, backs nuclear disarmament, supports greater spending for social justice, and stands for peace, equity and justice. He’s smeared as anti-Semitic over his justifiable criticism of Israeli apartheid abuses and support for long-suffering Palestinians. Anti-Zionism isn’t anti-Semitism. The long ago discredited canard

Hundreds of confidential interviews with key figures involved in prosecuting the 18-year US war in Afghanistan have revealed that the US public has been consistently misled about an unwinnable conflict. [...] Two major claims in the documents are that US officials manipulated statistics to suggest to the American public that the war was being won and that successive administrations turned a blind eye to widespread corruption among Afghan officials, allowing the theft of US aid with impunity. The long-term nature of the manipulation of statistics was detailed in an interview with an individual identified only as a senior “National Security Council official”. “ It was impossible to create good metrics. We tried using troop numbers trained, violence levels, control of territory and none of it painted an accurate picture, ” the official told interviewers in 2016. “ The metrics were always manipulated for the duration of the war. ” The papers depict the view of many people

Days before Britain’s historic election, the UK’s military-intelligence apparatus is turning to the corporate media and US government-funded NATO cut-outs to smear Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn with evidence-free Russiagate allegations. by Ben Norton and Max Blumenthal Part 1 The popular socialist leader of Britain’s Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, could be on the verge of becoming prime minister of the United Kingdom. And the mere possibility is terrifying British intelligence services and the US government. Since Corbyn was elected to the head of the Labour Party in 2015, in a landslide victory after running on a staunch leftist and anti-war platform, the corporate media has waged a relentless campaign to demonize and delegitimize him. With just days remaining before UK’s national election on December 12, British intelligence agencies and US government-backed organizations have escalated their attacks on Corbyn, borrowing tactics from America’s Russiagate hysteria and goi

Journalists revealed to me the tactics they use to sell stories painting Venezuela as a socialist dystopia. One described himself as a “mercenary,” explaining how he aims to please his employer’s funders. by Alan MacLeod Part 1 It is clear that mainstream US media correspondents are no fans of the Venezuelan government. But rarely do you hear them speak so openly about their biases. One Caracas-based correspondent now working for the New York Times told me on the record that he employs “sexy tricks” to “hook” readers on dubious articles demonizing the socialist government of Venezuela. Anatoly Kurmanaev made this revealing comment and many more to during an interview I conducted with him for my PhD and book on the media coverage of Latin America.  At the time, he was a correspondent for Bloomberg , and had just published a very dubious story on how condoms supposedly cost $750 per pack in Venezuela. The misleading article was picked up and repeated across the medi

Luego de presidir el golpe en Bolivia, los Estados Unidos declararon a Nicaragua como una “amenaza a la seguridad nacional” anunciando nuevas sanciones, al mismo tiempo que Trump designó a los carteles del narcotráfico en México como “terroristas” sin descartar una intervención militar. por Ben Norton Parte 3 -  Mas sanciones agresivas contra Nicaragua El principal servicio de información del gobierno de los Estados Unidos, Voice of América (VOA), indicó que la extensión de la orden ejecutiva vendrá acompañada con más ataques económicos. Carlos Trujillo, el embajador de Washington ante la Organización de Estados Americanos (OEA), le dijo a VOA que “continuará la presión contra Nicaragua”. El representante ante la OEA agregó que Trump anunciará en las próximas semanas una nueva ronda de sanciones contra el gobierno nicaragüense. VOA claramente manifestó que “Nicaragua, junto a Cuba y Venezuela, es uno de los países latinoamericanos que se ha vuelto prioridad en el em

After presiding over a far-right coup in Bolivia, the US dubbed Nicaragua a “national security threat” and announced new sanctions, while Trump designated drug cartels in Mexico as “terrorists” and refused to rule out military intervention. by Ben Norton Part 4 - Trump dubs drug cartels in Mexico “terrorists,” refuses to rule out drone strikes While the US targeting of Nicaragua and Venezuela’s governments is nothing new, Donald Trump is setting his sights on a longtime US ally in Mexico. In 2018, Mexican voters made history when they elected Andrés Manuel López Obrador as president in a landslide. López Obrador, who is often referred to by his initials AMLO, is Mexico’s first left-wing president in more than five decades. He ran on a progressive campaign pledging to boost social spending, cut poverty, combat corruption, and even decriminalize drugs. AMLO is wildly popular in Mexico. In February, he had a record-breaking 86 percent approval rating. And he has earned thi

The Jewish community’s alienation from Labour has been years in the making - but it is Johnson's Conservatives who have embraced hostility to minorities Jonathan Cook Part 5 - Unpopular Miliband It is important to remember that antipathy towards the Labour Party from many in the British Jewish community is nothing new – and long predates Corbyn’s leadership. Perhaps most revealing on this score was the dismal polling among Jews of Corbyn’s predecessor, Ed Miliband, who is himself Jewish. A Jewish Chronicle survey in early 2015 found that only 22 per cent of Jews intended to vote for Labour under Miliband’s leadership, compared to 69 per cent who backed the Conservative party. Also, five times more British Jews thought Tory leader David Cameron was good for their community than Miliband. The reasoning of many was indicated by their answer to a further question: 73 per cent said the parties’ attitude towards Israel and the Middle East would be “very” or “quite” impo

While Lebanon’s protests remain focused on the economy and widespread corruption, Washington is increasingly determined to exploit the movement as a geopolitical weapon in the region. by Rania Khalek Part 3 - Rising up against a failed oligarchy On October 17, protests erupted spontaneously in downtown Beirut in reaction to a raft of regressive taxes. These included a tax on Whatsapp, one of the only free methods of communication in an otherwise expensive telecommunications market. But the levies were themselves preceded by a series of events that led to the inevitable explosion. In early October, Lebanon’s forests were devastated by wildfires due in large part to government negligence and ineptitude. The state had for instance failed to even pay for the most basic maintenance of the helicopters needed to put out the fires. At the same time, a shortage of US dollars, which Lebanon’s economy depends on, led to panic about a looming collapse — something economists have b

Bolivian coup leader Luis Fernando Camacho is a far-right multi-millionaire who arose from fascist movements in the Santa Cruz region, where the US has encouraged separatism. He has courted support from Colombia, Brazil, and the Venezuelan opposition. by Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton Part 8 - Mesa and Camacho: a marriage of capitalist convenience Back in Bolivia, Carlos Mesa occupied the spotlight as the opposition’s presidential candidate. His erudite image and centrist policy proposals put him in a seemingly alternate political universe from fire-breathing rightists like Camacho and Marinkovic. For them, he was a convenient front man and acceptable candidate who promised to defend their economic interests. “ It might be that he is not my favorite, but I’m going to vote for him, because I don’t want Evo, ” Marinkovic told a right-wing Argentine newspaper five days before the election. Indeed, it was Camacho’s practical financial interests that appeared to have neces