the unbalanced evolution of homo sapiens

Under the cover of counterterrorism, AFRICOM is beefing up Nigeria’s military to ensure the free flow of oil to the West, and using the country as a proxy against China’s influence on the continent.   by TJ Coles  Part 6 - The US escalates involvement   In the context of the “war on terror,” the Pentagon saw Boko Haram as an opportunity to train Nigeria’s military and employ it for its objectives. The primary US goal was ensuring that the oil-rich regions did not fall into enemy hands. The Congressional Research Service noted that by the time AFRICOM was founded in the late-2000s, Africa “ supplie[d] the United States with roughly the same amount of crude oil as the Middle East. ” An Armed Services Committee report in 2011 noted: “ Nigeria’s oil rich Niger Delta is a major source of oil for the United States outside of the Middle East. ” The US Energy Information Administration states: “ Nigeria is the largest oil producer in Africa. It holds the largest natural gas reserves on the con

Even if we were to accept all the accusations against the WIV regarding their alleged subpar safety standards, none of it has any relevance to the Covid-19 pandemic unless it can be shown the WIV possessed SARS-CoV-2 in its lab before the outbreak, and there is no evidence of that.   by Joshua Cho    Part 5 - Experiments with bat viruses in BSL-2 labs   MIT’s Technology Review article “Inside the Risky Bat-Virus Engineering That Links America to Wuhan” cited a few scientists critical of the WIV conducting similar experiments to the heavily scrutinized 2015 Nature study, led by virologist Ralph Baric (which has frequently been misrepresented as “gain-of-function” research), at a lower biosafety setting than the ones conducted at the University of North Carolina:                    The Chinese work was carried out at biosafety level 2 (BSL-2), a much lower tier than Baric’s BSL-3+….                    Today a chorus of scientists, including Baric, are coming forward to say this was a m

The media’s latest ahistorical freak-out over Afghanistan is further evidence of its de facto merger with the U.S. national security state   by Gareth Porter   Part 2 - Sounding a phony terrorism alarm   Steven Erlanger, the New York Times chief diplomatic correspondent in Europe, set the tone for the new stage of media alarmism over Taliban control in an August 17 article. “ Now that the Taliban are back in power, ” Erlanger wrote, “ there are already worries that Afghanistan will again become a breeding ground for Islamist radicalism  and terrorism, aided by new technologies and social media. ”  Erlanger acknowledged that the “ experts ” disagreed on “ how big a threat ” the Taliban “ might become — or how quickly. ” However, he claimed that “ many doubted at the time that the Taliban would or could keep its promises ” in the February 2020 agreement with the Trump administration not to allow al Qaeda or anyone else to “ to use Afghanistan to threaten the security of the United State

Angela Merkel’s tenure will be remembered as Germany’s, and Europe’s, cruelest paradox. On the one hand, she dominated the continent’s politics like no other peacetime leader — and is leaving the German chancellery considerably more powerful than she had found it. But the way she built up this power condemned Germany to secular decline and the European Union to stagnation.   by Yanis Varoufakis  Part 3 - Episode 2: Pan-European Austerity When Lehman Brothers went bust in September 2008, its last CEO begged the US government for a gigantic credit line to keep his bank afloat. Suppose that, in response, the US president had replied: “No bailout and, also, I am not allowing you to file for bankruptcy!” It would be utterly absurd. And yet that was precisely what Angela Merkel told the Greek prime minister in January 2010 when he desperately begged for help to avoid declaring the Greek state bankrupt. It was like telling a falling person: I am not going to catch you, but you are not allowed

The Grayzone   Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton speak with economist Michael Hudson about his book "Super Imperialism: The Economic Strategy of American Empire." Professor Hudson just published a 3rd edition that updates his analysis for the 21st century, discussing the new cold war on China and Russia and the ongoing transition from a US dollar-dominated financialized system to a " multipolar de-dollarized economy. " 

globinfo freexchange   Half century passed from Richard Nixon's economic reform. The "Nixon shock" included " the unilateral cancellation of the direct international convertibility of the United States dollar to gold. Although Nixon's actions did not formally abolish the existing Bretton Woods system of international financial exchange, the suspension of one of its key components effectively rendered the Bretton Woods system inoperative. While Nixon publicly stated his intention to resume direct convertibility of the dollar after reforms to the Bretton Woods system had been implemented, all attempts at reform proved unsuccessful. By 1973, the Bretton Woods system was replaced de facto by the current regime based on freely floating fiat currencies. "   And so, one of the worst presidents in the history of the United States opened the door to the domination of financial capitalism and the correlated destructive neoliberalism.    Two years after Nixon's s

failed evolution   World's number one political prisoner, Julian Assange, still in high security prison for exposing horrendous war crimes carried out by the US imperialists and their allies.   The ruthless Western imperialist regime wants to punish the No1 real journalist in the world and make him an example for any Whistleblower or real journalist who will attempt to expose its big crimes in the future.   The only thing that stands between the ruthless imperialists and their plans to exterminate Julian Assange are the thousands of people protesting against his extradition to the US. Among them, famous names from the global political, economic, academic, intellectual and arts sectors.   More and more people should join the fight until full drop of charges against Julian Assange and his release.   So, until then, we should make sure that the clear message will reach the power centers of the worst liberal establishment ever: if you dare to harm Julian Assange, get ready for a non-

The Grayzone   Corporate media outlets have absurdly accused China of "neocolonialism" in Latin America, while whitewashing nonstop US imperialist intervention.

Zach Dorfman, Sean D. Naylor and Michael Isikoff   Part 3 - The immediate question facing Pompeo and the CIA was how to hit back against WikiLeaks and Assange   On April 13, 2017, wearing a U.S. flag pin on the left lapel of his dark gray suit, Pompeo strode to the podium at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a Washington think tank, to deliver to a standing-room-only crowd his first public remarks as Trump’s CIA director. Rather than use the platform to give an overview of global challenges or to lay out any bureaucratic changes he was planning to make at the agency, Pompeo devoted much of his speech to the threat posed by WikiLeaks. “ WikiLeaks walks like a hostile intelligence service and talks like a hostile intelligence service and has encouraged its followers to find jobs at the CIA in order to obtain intelligence, ” he said. “ It’s time to call out WikiLeaks for what it really is: a non-state hostile intelligence service often abetted by state actors like

What was billed as a cooperative venture between Palestine and Israel is merely the occupation of water in disguise   by Jessica Buxbaum    Part 2 - Soldiers aiding settlers in water attacks   Saturday’s protest was calm and without clashes, but the event was underscored by earlier violence. Tuesday of that week, at least 60 masked Israeli settlers raided Mfakara — throwing stones, turning over cars, cutting water pipes and slitting the throats of sheep. Five children were injured during the attack, including a four-year-old boy who was sent to the hospital after being pelted in the head with rocks. Israeli soldiers watched from the sidelines — during what activists are describing as a “pogrom”– intervening only to fire tear gas, stun grenades and rubber-coated steel bullets at Palestinians. Earlier in September, a CFP protest to deliver water to Palestinian communities was met with violence from Israeli soldiers. Six Israelis and two Palestinans were injured — including Rabee, who was