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I have recently been reading a lot about the potential for rapid collapse of idustrial society. As an exercise in compare and contrast I decided to read the classic Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Gibbon. Gibbon is of course a man of his times. His prejudices, in favor of monarchy over republican forms of government, against people of color (Arabs, . . . → Read More: Arms in the decline and fall My rainy day Saturday got a little sadder today. Glenn Greenwald: …US policy planners have adopted an explicit doctrine of “endless war”. Obama officials, despite repeatedly boasting that they have delivered permanently crippling blows to al-Qaida, are now, as clearly as the English language permits, openly declaring this to be so.It is hard to resist the conclusion that this war has no purpose . . . → Read More: Endless War We are faced by an oligarchy that is tending to steer the ship toward the rocks; we should expect it to hit the rocks. When that happens the people will rise up, and will be confronted by the power system violently. I believe that when confronting the real power in the system, the aroused people will face violence both privately from the oligarchs and publicly from the state. . . . → Read More: Somnabulism Eric Hobsbawm passed away. I remember reading some of his work in University. Timothy Snyder wrote a eulogy at CNN which had a clear regard for the power of the narrative of communism for the subject of history. He puts an interesting spin on it by comparing it to a contemporary capitalist narrative: Private property must stay, not be abolished. The state must . . . → Read More: Eric Hobsbawn – RIP Greed is good Gordon Gekko is alive and well. His paean to greed is being echoed in the values and narratives of the people and the politicians and the economists that support a particular class in the US. Well, ladies and gentlemen, we’re not here to indulge in fantasy, but in political and economic reality. America, America has become a second-rate power. Its . . . → Read More: Greed and power narratives Drone manufacturers are considering offering police the option of arming remote-controlled aircraft with (nonlethal for now) weapons like rubber bullets, Tasers, and tear gas… . . . → Read More: Weapons for US based drones coming soon to a sky near you Michael Hudson traces the history of debt, war and credit in this interview that we review. . . . → Read More: Debt and civilization Glenn Greenwald is great on irony in this article on The “very scary” Iranian Terror plot. All in all it does look like the administration is manufacturing reasons to get tough with Iran, producing a faked-up and improbable smoking gun to justify McCain’s refrain “Bomb, Bomb, Bomb Iran.” Foreign Policy has a beautiful article called “Revolution U” on the Center for Applied NonViolent Action and Strategies (CANVAS). The group grew out of The Serbian resistance – Otpor, which means Resistance. The tactics they teach and have taught in over 50 countries) are a distillation of clear nonviolent revolution of the sort which was successful in Tunisia and Egypt. I have long . . . → Read More: Revolution University The Times of India notes under a provocative headline that a New Chinese law is aimed at wiping out Tibetan identity. I was particularly struck by the law’s requirement that Tibetans seek permission for reincarnation (presumably prior to death since I don’t think Communists can access that Bardo state). . . . → Read More: May I have permission to reincarnate, please? |
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