the unbalanced evolution of homo sapiens

With Lebanon already suffering from a food crisis, currency collapse, and economic sanctions, the devastating explosion at Beirut’s biggest port may be a death knell for the country’s economy. by Alan Macleod  Lebanon’s Prime Minister Hassan Diab today called for a day of national mourning after a massive explosion ripped through the capital Beirut yesterday, killing at least 100 people and injuring at least 4,000 others. The extent of the damage is immense; the city’s governor Marwan Abboud estimated that up to 300,000 have immediately been made homeless and that the blast has caused $5 billion worth of damage. Last night Diab addressed the nation: “ What happened today will not pass without accountability, ” he said, “ those responsible for this catastrophe will pay the price. ” While some, including President Trump, have suggested foul play, the most likely explanation was a fire and explosion at the city’s port, where some 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate was being store

globinfo freexchange Another major victory for the progressive wing of the Democratic Party sent shock-waves to the establishment. This time, Cori Bush managed to defeat the corporate Democrat Lacy Clay, shifting the balance even further to the Left inside the Party.  As The Intercept reported : In an upset that will rock the House Democratic Caucus, Ferguson activist Cori Bush on Tuesday unseated Rep. Lacy Clay, whose family has represented the St. Louis-area congressional district for more than 50 years.  [...] Bush was among the original Justice Democrat recruits in 2018, but lost her first challenge by 20 points. A registered nurse and pastor, she made a second run this cycle, again with the backing of Justice Democrats, the progressive group best known for recruiting Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. “It is historic that this year, of all the years, we are sending a Black, working-class single mother who’s been fighting for Black lives since Fergus

This resolution was adopted unanimously by the membership of the Socialist Equality Party in the United States at its Sixth National Congress, which was held online from July 19 to July 24, 2020.  Part 1 1.The COVID-19 pandemic is a trigger event in world history that is accelerating the already far-advanced economic, social, and political crisis of the world capitalist system. It is creating conditions for an immense intensification of the class struggle on an international scale. The working class is confronted with a crisis for which there is no progressive solution, apart from a revolutionary struggle against capitalism, leading to the conquest of state power, the establishment of democratic control by the working class over the economy, the replacement of the anarchy of the market with scientific planning, the ending of the nation-state system, and the building of a global socialist society dedicated to equality, the elimination of poverty and all forms of oppression and

A disturbing new document outlines plans for a US regime-change scheme against Nicaragua’s elected leftist government, overseen by USAID, to bring about a “market economy” and a purge of Sandinistas. by Ben Norton Part 1 A newly released document exposes a US government operation to overthrow the democratically elected socialist government in Nicaragua. The plot is administered by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), a regime-change vehicle that uses the pretense of “humanitarian aid” to advance Washington’s aggressive foreign-policy interests. The document (PDF) details the creation of a new “task order” called Responsive Assistance in Nicaragua (RAIN) and its plan for “Nicaragua’s transition to democracy” – a euphemism for removing the leftist Sandinista Front for National Liberation (known commonly by the Spanish acronym FSLN) from power. In the pages, the US government agency uses hardline neoconservative rhetoric, referring to

A relentless campaign of aggression against Iran is entering a new phase with cyberattacks on military and civilian targets that aim to cripple Rouhani’s government and set the stage for wider conflict in the Middle East. by Raul Diego  Part 4 - A matter of cyber convenience In May, a purported Iranian cyberattack on six Israeli water treatment plants that was ostensibly foiled by Israeli “cyber” authorities took place. Stories were circulated in the aftermath about how the attack “ could have sickened hundreds, ” despite the fact that no evidence of an attack of any kind was ever produced. Israeli Defense Minister Naftali Bennet pushed for a “strong” response, which eventually manifested as a cyberattack targeting Iran’s Shahid Rajaee Port terminal in Bandar Abbas on the strategic Strait of Hormuz. Another supposed cyberattack on Israel’s water system took place on July 17. Israeli officials claim that “ two attacks were aimed at agricultural water pumps in the Upper

Behind a veil of corporate media PR, the Gates Foundation has served as a vehicle for Western capital while exploiting the Global South as a human laboratory. The coronavirus pandemic is likely to intensify this disturbing agenda. by Jeremy Loffredo and Michele Greenstein Part 7 - Deadly double standards The Gates Foundation has helped engineer global health policy for poor countries for over 20 years, working mainly in Africa and South Asia. Its close relationship with the drug industry seems to have colored that work. While the foundation’s mission statement reads, “ we see equal value in all lives, ” an exploration of this recent history proves otherwise. The foundation appears to see the Global South as both a dumping ground for drugs deemed too unsafe for the developed world and a testing ground for drugs not yet determined to be safe enough for the developed world.  The so-called “ flagship of Bill Gates’ / WHO African vaccine program ” is the diphtheria teta

For over a year, the West’s top anti-corruption NGO, Transparency International, has not said a word about the world’s most prominent jailed transparency activist, Julian Assange. Is US and UK government funding a factor in the organization’s silence? by Patrick Maynard Part 4 - “There is a principle and a precedent at stake … no matter how you feel about Julian Assange” Assange has made some powerful enemies over the years. He angered Republicans by exposing inconvenient truths behind the military interventions initiated by George W. Bush, and infuriated Democrats by dumping a cache of embarrassing emails from Hillary Clinton’s personal server just before the 2016 election.  Parker Higgins, the advocacy director at Freedom of the Press Foundation, argues that individual feelings about Assange shouldn’t get in the way of a clear-eyed view of the gravity of the extradition case.  “ The importance of this case goes far beyond the facts of who Julian Assange is and wh

The current global crisis triggered by Covid-19 is the third capitalist crash in this century. And governments’ incapacity to consider non-capitalist solutions threatens to keep deepening this crisis into capitalism’s worst. by Richard D. Wolff Part 4 - Huge mistake The way ahead presents a stark social choice. Capitalism has shown itself poorly prepared for the pandemic’s arrival, poorly prepared to contain it, and clearly unable to prevent the massively destructive collision of business cycle downturn and viral pandemic. It is now proving poorly adapted to managing the global capitalist downturn. Too much of both the private and governmental responses to date have aimed at “returning to normal.” By that is meant roughly the conditions before February/March of 2020 when pandemic and capitalist crash arrived. Yet, there lies a huge mistake. That normal contained all the seeds and processes that then brought us to the present situation.  A different roadmap

A Trump-like Mexican oligarch, Gilberto Lozano, is leading a coalition of corporate leaders and far-right fanatics called FRENA to try to overthrow President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. by José Guadalupe Argüello III and Ben Norton Part 11 - The next Bolsonaro? Hernán Gómez, the La Octava presenter, prefaced his interview with Lozano by acknowledging that Lozano is an extreme figure. He even published a follow-up column describing FRENA as the “Frente Nazi-onal contra AMLO,” likening the front to the Nazis. But Gómez believed it was important to interview the FRENA leader out of concern that Lozano could become a figure similar to Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro. “ I know there are people who do not agree with giving a platform to these kinds of people, but I am convinced that we cannot underestimate figures like this, ” Gómez said. “ Because some time ago, the president of Brazil was a mediocre legislator who could not get a law passed, a rude and quarrelsome man who, like L

globinfo freexchange Rumours spread around the mainstream quickly on July, 28, when Politico " accidentally[?] published a report that Biden picked Harris as his running mate. The outlet quickly deleted the report, and said it was published by mistake. "For a brief period yesterday afternoon, placeholder text was mistakenly published to the site," Brad Dayspring, Politico's vice president of marketing and communications, told The Hill. " Huh? Politico labeled Sen. Kamala Harris as Biden's running mate... that he chose on August 1 (4 days from now). https://t.co/M3dhmIwZ7o pic.twitter.com/99GDHzWPnL — Mark Bednar (@MarkBednar) July 28, 2020 How did that happen?  Was that indeed a big blunder by the establishment machine? Or, was a deliberate "leak" by the machine to test reactions? The next day, Kamala Harris wrote a quite "presidential" tweet, reflecting perfectly her presidential ambitions. As she