the unbalanced evolution of homo sapiens

Through his hallowed foundation, the world’s de facto public health czar has been a stalwart defender of monopoly medicine.  by Alexander Zaitchik Part 1 - Advocates for pooling and open science confronted the possibility they’d been outmatched and outmaneuvered by the most powerful man in global public health On February 11, 2020, public health and infectious disease experts gathered by the hundreds at the World Health Organization’s Geneva mothership. The official pronouncement of a pandemic was still a month out, but the agency’s international brain trust knew enough to be worried. Burdened by a sense of borrowed time, they spent two days furiously sketching an “R&D Blueprint” in preparation for a world upended by the virus then known as 2019-nCoV. The resulting document summarized the state of coronavirus research and proposed ways to accelerate the development of diagnostics, treatments, and vaccines. The underlying premise was that the world would unite against the virus. The

Under cover of the pandemic, Greece’s right-wing government has passed a slew of new measures to benefit the wealthy at the expense of workers, while massively expanding police powers. On the back of a decade of austerity, the latest laws are set to transform the country into a client state and playground for foreign tourists.   by Matthaios Tsimitakis/Mihalis Panayiotakis    Part 1 When New Democracy, Greece’s conservative ruling party, won the July 2019 elections following a decade-long austerity crisis, it did so on a ticket promising tax relief, growth, law and order, and nationalism, but also on reassurances of social inclusion. Its leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis, a Harvard-educated scion of one of Greece’s most prominent political families, promised to lead Greece out of the “stagnation” of the Syriza years, deal with the refugee crisis, assert Greece’s position on the international stage, and introduce technocratic governance following five years of “populist mismanagement.” Due to

Corruption and supposed efforts to reduce it have become a neoconservative weapon of choice with which to operate the controls on the funding sluice gates to acolytes of the U.S.-led international neoconservative empire.   by Oliver Boyd-Barrett   Part 3 - The 2014 Ukraine coup Trump had been roundly castigated, and impeached, for pressurizing a new Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, to investigate Trump’s likely rival, Joe Biden, for the 2020 election, in return for expediting U.S. arms support to Ukraine in its struggle against separatist republics of eastern Ukraine (the Donbass). Whatever its legality, Trump’s behavior certainly did not favor Russia. It could be argued that there was a stronger actual tie between Ukraine and President Biden than ever existed between former President Trump and Russia. Trump was unable even to interest Moscow or Russian President Vladimir Putin in a proposal for a Moscow Trump Tower. Biden left a much deeper impression on Ukraine.  In 2014 the

With the potential comeback of Lula da Silva, Brazil may once again be on a path away from fascism and one that puts economic justice and anti-imperialism first.   by Alan Macleod   Part 5 - Impact, political and economic If Lula and the Workers’ Party do come back to power, it seems likely that they will stymie many U.S. foreign policy goals, including isolating Venezuela, China and Russia. Yet Bolsonaro has proven so incompetent a leader and manager that both Ellner and Cannon believe that many in Washington will at least attempt to work with Lula, trying to move him to a more moderate position. However, the currently deeply divided political climate in Brazil does not bode well for centrists, as Ellner explained:                               Most likely, the 2022 elections will be polarizing, which means that more ‘moderate’ candidates will be shunted aside. In that case, it is unlikely that the Washington establishment will distance itself much from Bolsonaro or manifest any sympa

Special Forces, Pentagon Contractors and Intelligence Operatives Will Remain   by Jeremy Kuzmarov  Part 2 - Mercenaries R Us The meaninglessness of President Biden’s announcement becomes apparent when we consider that the Pentagon employs more than seven contractors for every serviceman or woman in Afghanistan; an increase of one contractor for every serviceman or woman a decade ago. As of January, more than 18,000 contractors remained in Afghanistan, according to a Defense Department report, when official troop totals had been reduced to 2,500. These totals reflect the U.S. government’s strategy of outsourcing war to the benefit of private mercenary corporations, and as a means of distancing the war from the public and averting dissent, since relatively few Americans are directly impacted by it. Most of the mercenaries are ex-military veterans, though a percentage are third-country nationals who are paid meager wages to perform menial duties for the military. One of the biggest mercen

του system failure   Με το που έκανε την εμφάνισή της η πανδημία του COVID-19 και άρχισε να φαίνεται το μέγεθος της υγειονομικής κατά κύριο λόγο, αλλά και οικονομικής κρίσης που αυτή θα προκαλούσε σε παγκόσμια κλίμακα, άρχισαν και οι εντατικές προσπάθειες για την δημιουργία ενός αποτελεσματικού εμβολίου.  Όπως ήταν αναμενόμενο, οι θεωρίες συνωμοσίας γύρω από το πιθανό εμβόλιο άρχισαν να διαδίδονται σχεδόν ταυτόχρονα και με μεγάλη ταχύτητα. Οι θεωρίες αυτές προωθήθηκαν κατά κύριο λόγο μέσω του διαδικτύου και ως επί το πλείστον από συντηρητικές και ακροδεξιές ομάδες και διαδόθηκαν από ανθρώπους που αποτελούν την κύρια δεξαμενή υποστηρικτών και ψηφοφόρων του Ντόναλντ Τραμπ, του Μπόρις Τζόνσον, αλλά και άλλων ακροδεξιών δημαγωγών σε διάφορες χώρες της Δύσης. Η "ψεκασμένη" ακροδεξιά έκανε παντιέρα αυτές τις θεωρίες (όπως έχει γίνει και σε άλλες περιπτώσεις), με τα αποτελέσματα που βλέπουμε σήμερα. Αρνητές των εμβολιασμών, σπεύδουν να εκμεταλλευτούν και την παραμικρή αστοχία ενός

The Jimmy Dore Show   Jeffrey Sachs destroys BBC's imperialist, anti-China propaganda attempt live!  

Greek investigative journalist and publisher of Documento newspaper Kostas Vaxevanis has received important information claiming a murder contract may have been set against him within the Greek mafia. In the following text, Vaxevanis explains the facts that are known to him and his team until now.  - I am forced to inform you because you are my only protection - by Kostas Vaxevanis In journalism we usually say that when it comes to reporting about yourself, then the situation is dire. This is the second time I am forced to report about myself. Just as it was the first time, it is the result of pressure and my belief that this is the only way to protect myself. Last time, 9 years ago, an unidentified woman met me and informed me that she was part of a group led by a secret service employee, whose target was to destroy me, first ethically, and then physically.  According to the "source" of that unusual report, the perpetrators had already intruded into my house, and had leaked

by Rob Urie   From the launch of the U.S. war against Iraq to the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic there were over four million ‘excess deaths’ in the U.S., deaths over and above the rates experienced in other rich nations. Given the class distribution of longevity— the rich live a full decade longer than the poor on average, these excess deaths were overwhelmingly concentrated amongst those cast aside by neoliberal economic policies. Should this read as old news, the Lancet provides updated data suggesting that as of early 2021, none of the underlying causal factors have been resolved. Interpretation is that as devastating as the Covid-19 pandemic has been, to date it has been but a bit worse than business as usual in the U.S. of A.   This will no doubt read as a surprise, implausible even, to the managerial class, the PMC, who have benefitted from government policies that have favored them, and the financial economy in general. But consider: excess deaths as measured here (explained be

The Grayzone   Returning to the United Nations, veteran German diplomat and former top UN official Hans von Sponeck calls for an end to the stonewalling of accountability for the OPCW's cover-up of its April 2018 Douma chemical weapons probe.  " The manner in which this serious controversy has been handled by OPCW management... has sought  to cover up any serious questioning of the OPCW through stonewalling and unacceptable smear tactics, " Sponeck says. " The Security Council can not be surprised that there is increasing public pressure for UN leadership to find an unbiased resolution of this troubling controversy. " Sponeck recently spearheaded a Statement of Concern about the Douma scandal, signed by notable global voices including five former OPCW officials. In his comments, Sponeck reveals that that the OPCW has refused to accept the letter, " return[ing] to the sender without comments – an unfortunate act of humiliation. "  Sponeck is the former