Medea Benjamin – Hillary Clinton, the Podesta Group and the Saudi Regime: A Fatal Ménage à Trois

If I told you that Democratic Party lobbyist Tony Podesta, whose brother John Podesta chairs Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, is a registered foreign agent on the  Saudi government’s payroll, you’d probably think I was a Trump-thumping, conspiratorial nutcase. But it’s true. The lobby firm created by both Tony and John Podesta in 1988 receives $140,000 a month from the Saudi …

Eric Zuesse – Gallup: Ukrainians Loathe the Kiev Government Imposed by Obama

On December 23rd, Gallup headlines “Ukrainians Disillusioned With Leadership,” and reports that “nearly nine in 10 Ukrainians (88%) say corruption is widespread in their government, and about eight in 10 (81%) see the same widespread problem in their country’s businesses.” 8% of Ukrainians now say they “have confidence … about the national government.” 17% approve of the job-performance of their President, Petro …

Michael Hudson – The IMF Changes its Rules to Isolate China and Russia

The nightmare scenario of U.S. geopolitical strategists seems to be coming true: foreign economic independence from U.S. control. Instead of privatizing and neoliberalizing the world under U.S.-centered financial planning and ownership, the Russian and Chinese governments are investing in neighboring economies on terms that cement Eurasian economic integration on the basis of Russian oil and tax exports and Chinese financing. …

Jonathan Marshall – How ‘Obscure’ Bureaucrats Cause Wars

History isn’t just made by impersonal forces and “great men” or “great women.” Sometimes relatively obscure men and women acting in key bureaucratic posts make a real difference. Thus, the international crisis in Syria traces back in part to the decision of President Barack Obama’s first ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford, to reject peaceful rapprochement with the Damascus regime in …

WHY AMERICANS SHOULD CLOSELY WATCH UNFOLDING EVENTS IN GUATEMALA, PART 2

ESSAY Guatemala’s current situation and tragic history can be traced back to the CIA-led coup in 1954 that ousted the democratically elected government of President Jacobo Arbenz and installed the military dictator Carlos Armas. Arbenz was an advocate for land reform and was loved by the poor. The wealthy hated him. And when the CIA couldn’t bribe him, they ousted …

James Howard Kuntsler – Tick Tick Tick

Did Charlie Rose look like a fucking idiot last night on 60-Minutes, or what, asking Vladimir Putin how he could know for sure that the US was behind the 2014 Ukraine coup against President Viktor Yanukovych? Maybe the idiots are the 60-Minutes producers and fluffers who are supposed to prep Charlie’s questions. Putin seemed startled and amused by this one on Ukraine:how could he know for …

Peter Koenig & The Saker – Western Sanctions on Russia, Russia-China Cooperation: A Tectonic Shift of the Global Economy?

Peter Koenig: Let’s begin with what are ‘sanctions’? – Sanctions are (economic) punishments by the self-proclaimed empire in Washington and its European minions on any country that does not follow the dictate of the empire. Actually, it’s worse. The European spineless puppets participate despite their own losses, lest they may be sanctioned themselves by the empire. In some cases, they are …

Neocon Fugitive Given Ukraine Province By Robert Parry

The latest political move by the U.S.-backed “pro-democracy” regime in Ukraine was to foist on the people of Odessa the autocratic Georgian ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili, a neoconservative favorite and currently a fugitive from his own country which is seeking him on charges of human rights violations and embezzlement. New York Times correspondent David M. Herszenhorn justified this imposition of a …

My Journey to the War Zone of Eastern Ukraine – Halyna Mokrushyna

From April 13 to April 17, 2015, I participated in a press tour to Donbas, the region in eastern Ukraine torn by armed conflict between Ukrainian military forces and local insurgency. The people of Donbas (the region includes the oblasts of Donetsk and Lugansk), rebelled last year against Kyiv’s imposed integration with the European Union and its new, official history and ideology …

Ukraine’s spate of suspicious deaths must be followed by credible investigations – John Dalhuisen

The killing of journalist Oles Buzyna on a Kyiv street this week was shocking enough in and of itself. According to Ukraine’s Interior Ministry, the 45-year-old journalist – who was widely known for his pro-Russian views – was gunned down by masked assailants in a drive-by shooting. But what makes his murder especially chilling is the fact that it is …