Over the past few months we have been forced to bear witness to a humiliating farce unfolding in Europe. Greece, which was first accepted into the European Monetary Union under false pretenses, then saddled with excessive levels of debt, then crippled through the imposition of austerity, finally did something: the Greeks elected a government that promised to shake things up. …
Rumbles of military coup as Greek workers demand end to EU austerity – Alex Lantier
Hours before anti-austerity demonstrators flooded the streets of central Athens on Friday, a number of retired Greek military officers publicly called for a “yes” vote in Sunday’s referendum on the European Union’s demands, defying Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’s call for a “no” vote. The contrast between masses of workers denouncing EU austerity and the pronouncements of prominent military figures could …
A Trojan Horse in the Home of Austerity – Pepe Escobar
Greece invented democracy. Greek mythology forged the way the West looks at itself. Greece even invented the denomination of this Eurasian annex – “Europa”. “For it is only criminals who presume to damage other people nowadays without the aid of philosophy.” Robert Musil, The Man Without Qualities. Odysseus/Ulysses took ten years to go back home after the Trojan War. His descendants are now making history …
Keeping Democracy Alive – The Tradition of American Democratic Socialism: 2016 Win? – 06.14.15
Bernie Sanders campaign is on fire at the moment. But it’s been said that when Americans hear the word Socialism, they stop thinking. Yet a clear majority actually agree with socialist positions on issues. Have we come far enough away from the fear used in the 1950s to actually elect a Democratic Socialist? History professor Lawrence Wittner analyzes where socialism has been in America and how it may impact who wins in 2016.
Why We Shouldn’t Look the Other Way on Bush’s Iraq War Crimes – Thom Hartmann
Donald Rumsfeld is this generation’s Robert McNamara. Over 12 years after overseeing and helping to design the 2003 invasion of Iraq – the former secretary of defense is now re-writing his own role in the invasion. In an interview with The Times of London, Rumsfeld called the Bush administration’s approach to Iraq “unrealistic.” He was referring specifically to the Bush …
The End of Higher Education as We Know It by HENRY A. GIROUX
The academy is entering a dangerous time. Academics now find themselves entering a time when a more comprehensive politics that deals with the rise of authoritarianism through a variety of related fundamentalisms–economic, religious, political, and educational–is being overlooked as a result of an emerging limited and depoliticizing politics of civility and trauma. This is not meant to suggest that dehumanizing …
How Trade Agreements Amount to a Secret Corporate Takeover – Joseph Stiglitz
The United States and the world are engaged in a great debate about new trade agreements. Such pacts used to be called “free-trade agreements”; in fact, they were managed trade agreements, tailored to corporate interests, largely in the US and the European Union. Today, such deals are more often referred to as “partnerships,”as in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). But they are not partnerships of …
The Economic Tsunami Gathering Momentum Off the Shores of America – Michael Payne
A massive tsunami, a mega-powerful financial tidal wave, is growing in intensity off the shores of America. This government senses its ominous presence but refuses to prepare for the force that it will unleash. This highly dangerous condition has been brought on by decades of reckless government spending, together with banking and corporate industry policies and actions that further enrich …
Who’s down with TPP?: Big business wins and democracy loses as both parties lie about free trade – BILL CURRY
If you need further proof of your democracy’s ill health, the Senate provided plenty of it this week as it began debating whether to fast track President Obama’s much-beloved Trans Pacific Trade Partnership (TPP). By passing the bill Congress, would divest itself of its constitutional right to amend the agreement. On Thursday, the “world’s greatest deliberative body” signaled it will …
The Secret Corporate Takeover – Joseph Stiglitz
The United States and the world are engaged in a great debate about new trade agreements. Such pacts used to be called “free-trade agreements”; in fact, they were managed trade agreements, tailored to corporate interests, largely in the US and the European Union. Today, such deals are more often referred to as “partnerships,”as in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). But they are not partnerships of …