Новости за 06.06.2018

As a Marxist, I’m not very interested in the psychology of the powerful. I don’t think it matters much, and it tends to be pretty uniform and predictable anyway: self-overestimation, self-justification, moral rationalizations for every horrendous decision made, brutal callousness to human suffering beneath (at best) a veneer of concern, energies directed to machinations for More

It was no surprise. Already Colombia had sent personnel to military training schools in Germany and Rome and troops to the Horn of Africa to fight Somali pirates, all under the auspices of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.  Already, in 2013, Colombia and NATO had agreed to cooperate in intelligence-sharing, military-training exercises, and so-called humanitarian interventions. And in May 2017 Colombia and NATO agreed that the former would become a NATO “global partner.” More

The United States is at war with itself. It is actually a function of the nation’s heritage—the past contesting specific aspects of a modern present. This results in traditions in flux. Some examples of this are the racism, the pseudo-frontier mentality, and the religious fundamentalism that persist into the present moment. These are traditions that More

Foreign leaders who discern little logic or consistency in Trump’s foreign policies conclude politely that he is “pragmatic,” or that his actions simply fulfill his campaign promises and are designed to appeal to his  base. All who have met him seem to have been briefed by their intelligence services about his narcissistic personality and know More

How much longer can it be before demand is openly made for universal abandonment and eradication of Capitalism? Already a few wise, principled, deeply informed voices are fiercely, acutely critical of the system.  Some assert it can’t be reformed, ameliorated and argue that efforts to broaden it, make it better, more inclusive, are futile, useless. More

All of Emmanuel Macron, Angela Merkel and Boris Johnson’s entreaties and demonstrations of affection to President Donald Trump were utterly pointless. He responded by humiliating them. Now, he threatens trade and financial reprisals if they fail to break the deal their countries made with Iran three years ago. Trump has reversed the US’s position, and More

As we reflect on the latest brutality against protestors in Gaza and the struggle to end the outrageous Israeli occupation of Palestine and oppression of Israeli Palestinians, it is important to formulate a goal for what we would hope to attain. This goal does not have to be achievable in the near future or even More

This past week, as the Italian populist party, ‘5-Star’, began to form a government, suddenly the realities of the Italian debt (government and bank) and the 7 year stagnating Italian economy got the attention of media, investors and politicians. 5-Star and its parliamentary ally, the League, campaigned during the recent Italian election on a program More

Alexander Dugin is a Russian philosopher and political analyst famously known for being, in the words of Foreign Affairs, “Putin’s brain.” A recent ThinkProgress report outlines the rise of Dugin and his alignment with the far-right in America, including white supremacists such as Richard Spencer, who have offered him a platform outside of Russia (as it More

It all happened at break neck speed. Before the dust settled, Junot Díaz was on plane from Sydney back to the United States. The Sydney Writers’ Festival had received a severe spiking of flavour from another Me Too, stop that and what to do skirmish. The occasion needs some teasing out. It began with fellow More

The instructors of the course were Haitian physicians and US ED physicians and Physicians Assistants. The course was held at New Hope Hospital which is located a few miles south of Cap Haitien. We were outside on the large hospital patio. The patio had a roof but no walls which protected us from the sun More

Around a decade ago, I was talking with a staffer of the Senate Commerce Committee about infrastructure. I gave a list of potential projects, including trains. He interrupted me and said that they don’t care about trains there. I asked if I was hearing him correctly. He explained that trains were a divisive issue among More

Payam Akhavan is a professor of Law at McGill University, a Member of the International Court of Arbitration, and a former UN prosecutor at the Hague. He has discovered in his work as legal counsel for the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Court as well as the European Court of Justice and the More

Isn’t it time? You know it’s dangerous to leave her out there on her own. She’s vulnerable and prone to poor judgment. She forgets to lock doors and who knows what kind of people she’s letting in. She repeats herself incessantly and the words are like totally disconnected from reality. She’s just not taking care of herself More