Skip to main content

Posts

Greece’s colossal cave in

by Robert Hunziker Europe’s Left has finally renounced the Syriza Party (acronym for Coalition of the Radical Left), as Jean-Luc Mélenchon of France Insoumise or “Unsubmissive France” calls for Greece’s Syriza booted out of the Alliance of Leftists. Greece’s PM Tsipras of the Syriza Party faux Left is way too far Right! In stark contrast to Syriza’s Greek PM Alexis Tsipras, Monsieur Mélenchon, a Member of the European Parliament (“MEP”), calls for (a) an end to “presidential monarchy in France,” (b) enhanced environmental protections, (c) increased labor rights, and in harmony with his hard left sympathies, lo and behold, (d) a 100% income tax on those earning over €360,000 a year. As for Syriza, Mélenchon says it has become “impossible to rub shoulders” with Syriza and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras given attacks on working people. Unfortunately for hard working Greeks, that may be a gross understatement. It now appears they were sold a bill of good

Will petrodollar give way to petroyuan? China makes first move this March

Wall Street is bracing for a potential shake-up as China is set to launch its first-ever crude oil futures contract late March at the Shanghai Futures Exchange. The move, which had been laid out in 2012 but faced delays over possible market turbulence, could represent a bold step forward in China’s rise as an economic superpower and global hegemon. The contracts will be priced in China’s currency, the renminbi or yuan, marking the birth of what many are calling the “petroyuan.” Despite pessimism over China’s currency shift in U.S. business publications, the introduction of a petroyuan marks one of the most significant bids to date by countries seeking to dump the U.S. “petrodollar.” The move will also strengthen the ability of China — the world’s top oil importer in the biggest oil-consuming region on the globe — to determine the price of crude oil sold to its neighbors. As a result, China may soon become the strongest player in global crude markets. Full

The scourging of Julian Assange

by John Wight Julian Assange’s latest attempt to have his outstanding UK arrest warrant dropped has failed in what stands as one of the most blatant and cruel examples of the British legal system being wielded as an instrument of persecution against a man whose only crime is speaking truth to power. The judge presiding over his case, and who summarily dismissed it, was ‘Lady Arbuthnot of Edrom’. Yes, you read that right. In the second decade of the 21st century the UK legal system is still dominated by the kind of people whose morning workout consists of flogging the butler. Lady Arbuthnot also happens to be the wife of Tory peer and former junior Defence Minister Lord James Arbuthnot, whose father was Major Sir John Sinclair Wemyss Arbuthnot. By now you should be getting the idea. These ridiculous products of privilege and the British public school system (private education for those unfamiliar with the quixotic and arcane code of the British ruling elit

US imperialism: the wounded beast strikes out for oil in Venezuela

Oil is indispensable for US capitalism. Black gold is their vital sap. All of their lavish and unsustainable American Way of Life is based on the consumption of petroleum. It is the country of the world that consumes the most hydrocarbons daily: 20 million barrels per day. The country that follows, the People’s Republic of China, barely reaches half of this figure: 10 million barrels per day. Between their immeasurable industrial base, the monumental quantity of individually owned automobiles and their means of mass transport that mobilize their population and the gigantic military apparatus at their disposition (plus a strategic reserve, calculated at 700 million barrels), their thirst for this element is insatiable. The petroleum business is in fact one of the biggest in the world: the second after the military industry (35 thousand dollars per second spent on arms). The US oil companies, all private, are among the largest in the planet: mega-monsters of global sc

Regime change fails: is a military coup or invasion of Venezuela next?

by Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers Part 1 Speaking at his alma mater, the University of Texas, on February 1, Secretary of State Tillerson suggested a potential military coup in Venezuela. Tillerson then visited allied Latin American countries urging regime change and more economic sanctions on Venezuela. Tillerson is considering banning the processing or sale of Venezuelan oil in the United States and is discouraging other countries from buying Venezuelan oil. Further, the US is laying the groundwork for war against Venezuela. In a series of tweets, Senator Marco Rubio, the Republican from Florida, where many Venezuelan oligarchs live, called for a military coup in Venezuela. How absurd — remove an elected president with a military coup to restore democracy? Does that pass the straight face test? This refrain of Rubio and Tillerson seems to be the nonsensical public position of US policy. The US has been seeking regime change in Venezuela since Hugo Chavez was