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We don’t need the CIA

The Real News Network   Chris Hedges and John Kiriakou discuss the CIA, how it has evolved, how it sees its mission, what it does, how it works, and the effects of its clandestine operations around the globe. John Kiriakou worked for the CIA from 1990 to 2004, first as an analyst, and later as a counterterrorism operations officer overseas in Bahrain, Athens, and Pakistan, where he was the CIA’s Chief of Counterterrorist Operations. He became the sixth whistleblower indicted under the Espionage Act by the Obama administration and was sent to prison for two and a half years. 

Francis Fukuyama is right: Socialism is the only alternative to liberalism

In Liberalism and Its Discontents, Francis Fukuyama diagnoses the political and psychological malaise caused by capitalism. His analysis makes one thing clear: liberalism is incapable of addressing the social, economic, and ecological crises it faces.    by Samuel McIlhagga  Part 3 - The End of History — From Nietzsche to Freud   In The End of History , Fukuyama argued that, over the long term, the whole world will converge on variations of the liberal democratic capitalist model. This was because there were, in his mind, no other existing models that could rationally organize modern societies. Rivals, such as Islamic and Christian theocracy, were culturally and geographically restricted — only liberalism, after the end of socialism, could bestride the world as a global system. In his first book, Fukuyama was keen to stress the fact that history’s ending would not occur synchronously across geographical regions; instead, active outliers in the Global South would eventually catch up aft

Pablo Iglesias: There were illegal moves to stop Podemos reaching office

Since Podemos’s breakthrough in the 2014 European elections, Pablo Iglesias has been a central figure on the international left, with an impact spreading far beyond Spain. After several internal crises, ruptures, and general elections, today Podemos is part of his country’s ruling coalition, led by Pedro Sánchez’s Socialist Party. After the regional elections in Madrid in 2021, Iglesias left all positions in both the government and his party, and returned to political communication with La Base, a podcast for Público newspaper. But this did not end his influence on Spanish politics. In July, he returned to the center of the news with the emergence of audio featuring exchanges between journalist Antonio García Ferreras and former police commissioner José Manuel Villarejo. The recordings proved the fabrication of fake news to damage Podemos’s image on the eve of the 2016 elections. Iglesias spoke to Jacobin ’s Martín Mosquera about Spain’s government, the inflation crisis, and the progre

The British establishment chose Boris Johnson as its weapon to defeat the Left

Boris Johnson’s disastrous time in office has spluttered to an ignominious conclusion. Many of those now deploring his record sided with Johnson when it really mattered because they wanted to block a left-wing government that could transform British society.   by Daniel Finn   Part 5 - The Liberal Arts The Financial Times had a real dilemma on its hands in the 2019 election. On the one hand, the paper’s editorial board firmly believed that Britain should either stay in the European Union or negotiate a close trading relationship with the EU if that proved to be impossible. A victory for Boris Johnson would take both options off the table, while a Labour-led government would hold a second referendum on EU membership, with a soft-Brexit deal as the alternative on the ballot paper. For self-styled Remainers, the choice should have been an easy one. On the other hand, Labour under Corbyn and John McDonnell had drawn up an ambitious program of social democratic reforms that would transform

Roger Waters destroys CNN host about Ukraine & Taiwan

The Jimmy Dore Show   Pink Floyd founding member and outspoken activist Roger Waters appeared on CNN recently and took advantage of the opportunity to school host Michael Smerconish on a range of topics, including the truth about the Ukraine War’s origins, Russia’s role in winning World War II against the Nazis and Taiwan’s relationship to China. 

The Uber leak exposes its global war on workers

The “Uber Files” leak reveals the power of the company’s multimillion-dollar lobbying effort — and how it worked with governments around the world to undercut workers’ rights.   by Paris Marx  Part 4 - Uber Must Be Stopped Counter to what Uber wants the public to believe, it has not changed. It’s still aggressively committed to controlling how people get around and decimating the rights of workers in the process — both for the benefit of its shareholders and any company trying to pass off the fiction that using an app should allow it to evade regulations that have traditionally governed the industry in which it operates. But winning those battles is key to Uber’s next stage. After more than a decade of bleeding cash, including more than $20 billion since 2015 alone, the easy money may finally be drying up as interest rates are seriously hiked for the first time since the Great Recession. During the pandemic, Uber shed its big bets on things like autonomous vehicles and flying cars that

Mexico’s President gives Joe Biden a big history lesson

Latin American nations are putting themselves on the front line for the sovereignty of certain countries, and are backing progressive processes in others   by Rodrigo Guillot   Part 2 - López Obrador’s history lessons In his speech in the Oval Office, López Obrador recalled that when former US President Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) came to power after the economic crash of 1929, he found the United States in crisis due to the global recession and stock market crash. At that time, Roosevelt promoted state intervention to develop welfare programs, namely a mixed-Keynesian system known as the New Deal. In addition to FDR’s New Deal, the United States eased, but did not cease, its interventionist policy in Latin America. It withdrew its troops from Haiti and allowed the elimination of the Platt Amendment, which undermined the sovereignty of Cuba. Driven by the imminent threat of World War II, the United States was forced to seek solidarity in the American hemisphere to protect its interests

Ukraine: Ukrainian fighting tactics endanger civilians

Military bases set up in residential areas including schools and hospitals   Attacks launched from populated civilian areas       Such violations in no way justify Russia’s indiscriminate attacks, which have killed and injured countless civilians    Part 1   Ukrainian forces have put civilians in harm’s way by establishing bases and operating weapons systems in populated residential areas, including in schools and hospitals, as they repelled the Russian invasion that began in February, Amnesty International said today. Such tactics violate international humanitarian law and endanger civilians, as they turn civilian objects into military targets. The ensuing Russian strikes in populated areas have killed civilians and destroyed civilian infrastructure. “ We have documented a pattern of Ukrainian forces putting civilians at risk and violating the laws of war when they operate in populated areas, ” said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General. “ Being in a defensive pos

Greek PM under pressure over tapping of opponent’s phone

An eavesdropping scandal that sees Greece’s intelligence chief and the head of his personal office resign within minutes; calls for further resignations amid revelations of “dark practices”, and a spy crisis likened to Watergate. The Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, is facing his toughest hour in office following the discovery that the mobile phone of his political opponent, the leader of the country’s third largest party, was tapped by order of EYP, the intelligence service that reports directly to his office.  “ I never expected the Greek government to spy on me using the darkest practices, ” the Pasok party head, Nikos Androulakis who is also a member of the European parliament, said in a televised address late on Friday as the extent of the espionage became apparent. “ It is our democratic duty to protect the human rights and freedoms of Greek citizens. Today is a moment of truth for those whose arrogance and sense of impunity make them capable of anything. ” The prime mi

Day 1215: Julian Assange still in prison and under slow-motion execution by the Anglo-American imperialist criminals

failed evolution   On 11 April 2019, the Ecuadorian government of traitor Lenin Moreno, invited the Metropolitan Police into the Ecuadorian embassy in London, and they arrested Julian Assange . Since then, Assange is kept in Belmarsh high security prison in London, without actual charges.   The real reason world's number one political prisoner is still kept in this high security prison, is because he exposed 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.   And the Anglo-American axis has now become officially a fascist coalition , framed by the rest of its Western pets. UK's Home Secretary Priti Patel, one of the most ruthless ever, decided to extradite Julian Assange to US. No surprise of course. The only question we had in mind is