Continued from here.
Issues Pages:
Trump administration 4
Thu, 2018-10-11 13:55
#1
Trump administration 4
Thu, 2018-10-11 14:12
#2
Pentagon Report Points to US Preparations for Total War
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2018/10/11/tota-o11.html
"Over the past two weeks, with next to no media coverage, the US has moved substantially closer toward open military confrontation with both Russia and China, the second and third-ranked nuclear powers in the world..."
Sun, 2018-10-14 19:13
#3
.My concern is that Trump getting another potential supreme court pick. This should be a huge reason for every one the left vote against Trump. I really hope people realize that a supreme court judge means that a for 20 years at least the shape economic, social, and political development in the US. The election turning point for the US, like 2 judges there in Trump pocket. With Trump gone those judges will around for many years after he gone.
My personal thoughts of the court, are your thinking court will lead the way on policy for most people, court is block on radical ideas. I think democrats will he lead rather hiding hoping favorable treatment form court. A consrevative bunch judges he put together. This is huge election that will decide gets another pic for court. This reason you should to polls is to stop 3 judges may be appointed by trump. That should the message imho. It like we don't stop trump he can mess with a country for 4 years. A supreme court with the mess you up 25 years, you may vote left but the power of stacked court be a barrier to progressives for 25 years. This, not an election for 4 years you electing 25 years of Trump, that pivotal nature of any appointment process. It stops here, or get trump in your face for another 25 years. I can not vote in the US but I hope this post will change a few hearts.
Mon, 2018-10-15 09:22
#4
'I'm President and You're Not': Trump Mocks CBS Anchor in Tense 60 Minutes Interview (and vid)
'Trump's big interview to the CBS' Lesley Stahl aired in full on Sunday evening, saw a lot of verbal wrestling..."
Mon, 2018-10-15 10:16
#5
Trump ethics: Trump: Mockery of Christine Blasey Ford ‘Doesn’t Matter. We Won.’
Mon, 2018-10-15 11:17
#6
Mon, 2018-10-15 22:47
#7
I wonder all of this crazyness is more on Trump advisers that trump his self. I heard that Bolden was referred once as crazed monkey in cage throwing puh at visitors. It a good anology I watching him 4-5 year now. This guy is my scale of crazy warlord just 8.8 out 10.0.
For all of trumps failure I have say the constant peace efforts with North Korea, and not going to war to Russia, is pleasant surprise.
Tue, 2018-10-16 13:16
#8
I wonder all of this crazyness is more on Trump advisers that trump his self. I heard that Bolden was referred once as crazed monkey in cage throwing puh at visitors. It a good anology I watching him 4-5 year now. This guy is my scale of crazy warlord just 8.8 out 10.0.
For all of trumps failure I have say the constant peace efforts with North Korea, and not going to war to Russia, is pleasant surprise.
Nobody was going to war with Russia
Tue, 2018-10-16 13:38
#9
alan smithee
A disgusting display of the worst case of partisanship I've ever witnessed on 60 Minutes.
It really is incredibly imperative to vote Democrat in the mid-terms even if it's someone you don't solidly agree with.
Don't listen to the likes of an idiot like Jimmy Dore who at this point is purposely misleading his fan base of politically naive milennials.
The Republicans have proven themselves to be a danger to the US and the world. They got to go.
Fri, 2018-10-19 16:27
#10
Three Colliding Problems Leading To A New Economic Disaster - by Matt Taibbi
"...The sell-off last week was likely just a mild preview of what will happen once the blunt contradictions of Trump's major economic moves - crazy even by his standards - set in. 'We're fucked,' a market analyst friend of mine put it this weekend. 'It's all baked in the cake already."
Fri, 2018-10-19 16:32
#11
Trump's Alliance with Body-Choppers, Death Squads and Child Killers: Saudi Arabia, Brazil and Israel
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/50463.htm
"...We will proceed to discuss the larger political-economic context in which the trio of monsters operate. We will analyze the benefits and advantages which lead President Trump to ignore and even praise, actions which violate America's democratic values and sensibilities. In conclusion, we will examine the consequences and risks which result from Trump's embrace of this trio..."
Sun, 2018-10-21 09:58
#12
US Leaving INF Will Put Nuclear Non-Proliferation At Risk and May Lead To 'Complete Chaos'
"By ending the INF, Washington risks creating a domino effect which could endanger other landmark deals like the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) and collapse the existing non-proliferation mechanism as we know it..."
Trump Vows To Pull US Out of Nuclear Arms Treaty (vid)
"...Trump is not really in charge of his own foreign policy and Bolton is a very dangerous fellow. China is the key..."
Sun, 2018-10-21 11:52
#13
The Collapse of the American Empire?
The Agenda welcomes Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Chris Hedges
The neighbours..."I think Trump is a symptom not the disease."
Sun, 2018-10-21 13:41
#14
The Austerity Hawks Are Coming for Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid
Less than a year ago, Mitch McConnell assured Americans that his $1.5 trillion program of tax cuts for billionaires and multinational corporations would not increase debts and deficits. “I not only don’t think it will increase the deficit, I think it will be beyond revenue neutral,” the Senate majority leader chirped. “In other words, I think it will produce more than enough to fill that gap.”
Even as assessments by groups such as nonpartisan analysts and watchdog groups predicted that McConnell’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act would push the federal deficit to $1 trillion and beyond, the Kentucky Republican declared that the measure he and House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) steered to passage last December was a “revenue neutral tax reform bill.”
Now, amid reports that the deficit had grown by 17 percent to almost $800 billion in fiscal year 2018, and that it is headed toward—you guessed it—the $1 trillion mark, McConnell says it’s not his fault. Nor, he claims, is it the fault of the billionaires and corporations he and Ryan represent.
“It’s disappointing but it’s not a Republican problem,” the Republican leader said when asked this week about Bloomberg reporting that detailed how “the Treasury Department said the US budget deficit grew to $779 billion in Donald Trump’s first full fiscal year as president, the result of the GOP’s tax cuts, bipartisan spending increases and rising interest payments on the national debt” and noted that this represents “a 77 percent increase from the $439 billion deficit in fiscal 2015, when McConnell became majority leader.”
The blame, said McConnell, lies with “a bipartisan reluctance to tackle entitlement changes because of the popularity of those programs.” While most Republicans try to talk around the issue—for obvious reasons—McConnell admits that “we’re talking about Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid.”
The majority leader is lying.....
Wed, 2018-10-24 23:11
#15
US Missile Treaty Withdrawal: 'Prepare for Nuclear War'
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2018/10/24/pers-o24.html
"It is difficult to overstate the criminality and recklessness of this action. The lives of billions of people in Europe and East Asia have been deliberately placed in the crossfire of Washington's nuclear buildup against Beijing and Moscow. American military planners are intent on not only building, but using nuclear weapons in combat..."
Sun, 2018-10-28 03:36
#16
Trump Surrenders To John Bolton on Russia and Arms Control
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/trump-surrenders-to-joh...
"Of course he's not the first president the arch hawk has convinced to ditch a nuke treaty..."
CrossTalk: Powered By Bolton
"Is there now a Bolton Doctrine...?"
Sun, 2018-10-28 04:00
#17
The End Times Of The Liberal Order?
https://spectator.us/end-times-liberal-order/
"An internationalist, utopian worldview, liberalism is full of crusaderly zeal, constantly 'going abroad in search of monsters to destroy.' Liberal internationalists badly want to shape the world. When given the chance, they do manage to shape the world, very badly indeed...Trump is an effect, not the cause, of the last quarter-century of liberal utopianism..."
Tue, 2018-11-27 09:30
#18
Tue, 2018-11-27 09:56
#19
"Trump gets CNN anchor to swear on live TV."
too bad we don´t have Jimmy Dore shows in reference to our own CNN, the CBC!!
Wed, 2018-11-28 14:53
#20
“It Is Not a Natural Disaster”: Dana Frank on How U.S.-Backed Coup in Honduras Fueled Migrant Crisis
quote:
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And Dana Frank, one of the most interesting parts of your book is your portrayal of this enormous and widespread popular movement that develops after the coup against Zelaya. You contrasted, and rightfully so, that back in the 1980s, Honduras was a relatively quiet place while El Salvador, Nicaragua and Guatemala were all embroiled in major civil conflicts and uprisings and government repression. But yet Honduras, I remember being there in 1990, and it was then a terrorized state—there were military all over the place—but there wasn’t the kind of popular movement that somehow developed after the coup against Zelaya. Could you talk about that and how it inspired you and shaped your own thinking of your role as an academic?
DANA FRANK: Yeah. There certainly was an active left in Honduras in the ’80’s, but much smaller scale than in the other countries, and tremendously repressed by some of the figures that are currently popping up again since the coup in Honduras. The Honduran resistance was and still is a tremendously beautiful thing that was a great surprise, although in retrospect, you can see the social movements that were building at the grassroots in the women’s movement, the campesino movement, the indigenous movement and Afro-Indigenous movement and human rights defenders.
And when the coup happened, people poured into the streets and formed this tremendous coalition called the National Front of Popular Resistance, known as the Frente or the Resistencia, which was an amazing coalition, not just of the folks I just named but of the labor movement, the LGBT movement but also people committed to the constitutional rule of law. It wasn’t about so-called Zelaya supporters as it was often framed, but people who were committed to a positive transformation of Honduras, as well as defending the constitutional rule of law, which is something that of course resonates differently in the United States today with Trump threatening the constitutional rule of law all over the place.
That resistance was a very beautiful thing, and in the first chapter of my book, I wanted the reader to really feel the joy of it, both the terror and the joy, of the creativity, of the music, of the humor, the bravery, the graffiti and the way it changed Honduran culture for good and made people proud of their resistance and discovering ties across different social movements in a massive coalition of the kind that we fantasize of in the United States today.
Unfortunately, that resistance has been repressed and repressed and repressed. A lot of key figures are now in exile. People have been killed. Journalists that cover it are killed or are in exile. And so it has been also terrifying to watch that repression, but also Hondurans have that in their hearts that they know what they can do and how they could feel a beautiful sense of solidarity.
Fri, 2018-12-14 19:49
#21
'We are the Masters and You Shine Our Shoes': American Fascist Politicians on American Hegemony
John Bolton Calls Chinese Aid a Form of Colonialism
"Manila Chan reports on US National Security Advisor John Bolton's comments asserting Chinese aid was a new form of colonialism. Bolton stated the US will only send aid to countries when it serves the US' national interest. Manila talks to Gerald Horne, History Prof at the University of Houston."
John Bolton at the Heritage Foundation on the Trump Administration's New Africa Strategy
Full Speech. American exceptionalism on the anti-China offensive of which Canada has clearly agreed to be a junior partner.
Mike Pompeo Lays Out His Vision for American Exceptionalism
"America First, America last."
Pompeo Gives Keynote Speech in Brussels
US Sec State Mike Pompeo gives keynote speech from Brussels. 'Principled Realism.'
Fri, 2018-12-28 10:14
#22
'Until the Rapture' - Holy Shit! (and vid)
https://twitter.com/tommyxtopher/status/1078298857434501120
"Trump's Secretary of State, America's chief diplomat said 'We will continue to fight these battles, it is a never ending struggle...until the Rapture.' Holy shit.
Fri, 2018-12-28 14:48
#23
John Bolton Calls Chinese Aid a Form of Colonialism
Of course he is right.
The US should know - this has long been a key unspoken objective in US aid. It is hard to imagine significant aid being anything but.
However, the US aid colonialism is transactional. Chinese aid is in many cases not designed to be. Chinese aid looks a lot more like US aid used to be: about building relationships with vassel states rather than an imediate transaction in ways Trump would recognize.
It is debatable as to whether either form of aid-colonialism is significantly better than an other. It is also clear that this does not sit in a vacume as the aid itself is not the biggest part of the problem and would not make things better if it went away. The disproportionate vacuuming up of wealth by countries with greater means has made poorer countries require aid such that loosing it would make them worse even if it is a colonial tactic. Countries are being exploited to the point of desperation such that offering goodwill relationships in the context of colonial aid is a bit better than being exploited as they are without that aid.
China, like many colonial powers before them often will invest in leaving something of value. also like colonial powers before them, they do not always do this.
The US may not have changed much in this respect so much as demanding imediatereturn rather than consider anything of value in the relationship over longer terms. Of course that is Trump's worldview as he has torched relationships wholesale.
Fri, 2018-12-28 21:16
#24
Bolton is wrong. Chinese aid isn’t a form of colonialism. Western aid to Africa is not intended to help African nations industrialization. In this way the western nations will always have African nations at a disadvantage and dependent on them.
China aid on the other hand targets infrastructure with the goal of industrialized developments. This is not colonialism for the simple fact that China is helping African Asian nations to become more independent. Colonialism has the opposite effect of strengthening dependency.
Bolton also knows he is wrong therefore he’s lying. And probably pissed off that China is effectively destroying colonialism. And in turn destroying a huge advantage imperialists have!
Sun, 2018-12-30 15:20
#25
Bolton is wrong. Chinese aid isn’t a form of colonialism. Western aid to Africa is not intended to help African nations industrialization. In this way the western nations will always have African nations at a disadvantage and dependent on them.
China aid on the other hand targets infrastructure with the goal of industrialized developments. This is not colonialism for the simple fact that China is helping African Asian nations to become more independent. Colonialism has the opposite effect of strengthening dependency.
Bolton also knows he is wrong therefore he’s lying. And probably pissed off that China is effectively destroying colonialism. And in turn destroying a huge advantage imperialists have!
Sometimes it is important to recognize bullshit for what it is.
The Chinese and the Americans are engaged in a cold war colonialism in African and neither gives a shit about the Africans.
Sick of hearing Chinese propaganda posted here and not called out. Both Chinese propaganda and American propaganda can go in the same waste bin. Both have the same objective which is geopolitical gains for themselves.
If you believe in Chinese altruism any more than Amercian atruism then you cannot be helped but I suspect that this is not based on real belief but in participating to promote this propaganda.
Sun, 2018-12-30 21:13
#26
Lol! Actually when I arrived in Beijing back in early September of this year, there was a major African Chinese summit going on with reps from every African nation but 1. Even started a thread here about it but it got buried fast because no one on babble really cares about Africa
These nations seem to be very eager to establish good relations with China for very good reasons!
If you listen to western bs, you’d think it’s just China trying to win over African nations, but in reality, a good argument can be made for the other way around.
Sounds like the US has sour grapes about Africa. Almost comical that it’s warning African nations to watch out for China because China will be just as bad as the US!
Have any other examples of Chinese colonialism? Or is this a new thing?
Mon, 2018-12-31 01:00
#27
Lol! Actually when I arrived in Beijing back in early September of this year, there was a major African Chinese summit going on with reps from every African nation but 1. Even started a thread here about it but it got buried fast because no one on babble really cares about Africa
These nations seem to be very eager to establish good relations with China for very good reasons!
If you listen to western bs, you’d think it’s just China trying to win over African nations, but in reality, a good argument can be made for the other way around.
Sounds like the US has sour grapes about Africa. Almost comical that it’s warning African nations to watch out for China because China will be just as bad as the US!
Have any other examples of Chinese colonialism? Or is this a new thing?
https://www.panafricanalliance.com/china-africa-colonialism/
Mon, 2018-12-31 01:00
#28
Mon, 2018-12-31 01:06
#29
Mon, 2018-12-31 01:07
#30
Mon, 2018-12-31 01:09
#31
Mon, 2018-12-31 01:10
#32
Mon, 2018-12-31 01:13
#33
Mon, 2018-12-31 01:13
#34
Mon, 2018-12-31 01:16
#35
Mon, 2018-12-31 01:17
#36
Mon, 2018-12-31 01:18
#37
Mon, 2018-12-31 01:26
#38
Now of course China's efforts may be to create dependency and effectively to colonize but whether they will succeed in doing so is another matter. It remains a question as to whether this can be prevented by Africans. The issue is not one of ability or capacity but it is one of means and the massive gap in economic power between potential "partners." While a person here may "lol" when it comes to the situation of Africa and intentions of China, these questions are still valid, notwithstanding Chinese propaganda to the effect that it is just being generous.
These questions ought to be something we can talk about here without a stream of government propaganda from one side or another.
Mon, 2018-12-31 10:02
#39
Now of course China's efforts may be to create dependency and effectively to colonize but whether they will succeed in doing so is another matter. It remains a question as to whether this can be prevented by Africans. The issue is not one of ability or capacity but it is one of means and the massive gap in economic power between potential "partners." While a person here may "lol" when it comes to the situation of Africa and intentions of China, these questions are still valid, notwithstanding Chinese propaganda to the effect that it is just being generous.
These questions ought to be something we can talk about here without a stream of government propaganda from one side or another.
LOL for sure!
No one as far as I'm aware, other than yourself on babble, is claiming/implying that Chinese loans grants and or investments into other nations are tokens of generosity.
But before we get to that there's something that needs addressing first. Countries like China Canada India US Argentina Mexico Vietnam Indonesia all of Africa etc etc etc were actually colonized! And in the process, tens of millions of people were killed and suffered, many lost their lands. Now many countries did fight off colonialism. But many didn't! And many are still recovering.
Did the British Portuguese French Belgium Spanish Dutch etc etc lend money to the Indiginous peoples of the countries they raped and murdered hundreds of years ago so that those peoples can develop their own countries and trade equally with? And then after the Indiginous peoples faultered on these lowns (that never existed) move in and introduce disease famine segregation new laws while at the same time discrediting Indiginous laws and practices right to exist etc etc etc?
I find this claim of China colonialism linked to investment new and odd? Never heard of it during the decades of charities and aid to Africa. Never in reference to the world bank or imf? Sounds like a new form of demonozation.
Now the peoples of all African nations have every right to be cautious and sceptical. However I find it really rich that Sean in Ottawa is all of a sudden really concerned about Africa now that a new acusation is directed towards China.
Not to mention the fact that we're not even in the appropriate thread discussing this very important issue!
Mon, 2018-12-31 10:09
#40
http://www.ketagalanmedia.com/2017/10/09/how-chinas-soft-power-is-buildi...
Anti China link from Taiwan, also racist!
A closer examination of Sino-African relations reveals the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has developed and implemented a neo-colonialist system in sub-Saharan Africa
Mon, 2018-12-31 10:14
#41
So Sean quotes 11 reasonably credible looking articles showing examples and analysis of Chinese neo-colonialism in Africa, and WWWTT, who raised the question to start with totally ignores the content of the articles and presents a confused, bullshit blend of unsupported denial, whataboutism, and (wait for it) a complaint about thread drift, which he himself began.
I know which approach I find more persuasive.
Mon, 2018-12-31 10:34
#42
http://www.ketagalanmedia.com/2017/10/09/how-chinas-soft-power-is-buildi...
Anti China link from Taiwan, also racist!
Where do you see the racism in that article?
Mon, 2018-12-31 10:35
#43
So Sean quotes 11 reasonably credible looking articles showing examples and analysis of Chinese neo-colonialism in Africa, and WWWTT, who raised the question to start with totally ignores the content of the articles and presents a confused, bullshit blend of unsupported denial, whataboutism, and (wait for it) a complaint about thread drift, which he himself began.
I know which approach I find more persuasive.
I actually spent over 30 minutes reading all the links that were presented by Sean in Ottawa! What I found real interesting is that the person who coined the term "neo colonialism" also set out what defined it. And what China has done does not fit this definition.
As well, where was your interest in Africa before this accusation of Chinese neo colonialism?
This was actually a discussion I wanted in a thread appropriately titled. But I'll take what I can get I guess?
Mon, 2018-12-31 11:56
#44
Bolton Threatens To Force Africa To Choose Between the US and China
https://www.blackagendareport.com/bolton-threatens-force-africa-choose-b...
#AFRICOM
https://twitter.com/hashtag/africom?lang=en
"AFRICOM's goal is protecting the free-flow of natural resources from Africa to the global market. Let there be no mistake. AFRICOM's job is to protect American lives and promote American interests." - US Gen 'Kip' Ward - AFRICOM
Mon, 2018-12-31 12:43
#45
Seems to me that people in Canada should stop being so demeaningly paternalistic. This thread seems to consist of the ongoing dismissal of African nations as being so inept that they think the evil Chinese are in fact interested in mutual economic gains. But of course when you live in the belly of the beast you know in your heart of hearts that our imperialism is not exceptional and any other countries trade ties have the same kind of strings attached. If only those governments would not be mislead and instead embrace the Western hegemony they would be so much better off.
Mon, 2018-12-31 13:47
#46
http://www.ketagalanmedia.com/2017/10/09/how-chinas-soft-power-is-buildi...
Anti China link from Taiwan, also racist!
Where do you see the racism in that article?
uses the term ssa (I will only use abbreviations). NDPP also posted a link that uses the racist term, but the person writing the article appears to be a black African so I can not criticize his choice of terms
edited to add
After further research, the editor of black agenda is actually an American! And not African. Therefore I wil criticize his use of the term ssa!
Mon, 2018-12-31 14:50
#47
The fact that China has been the victim of imperialism does not mean that it is not interested in now pusuing a neo-colonial empire. It also does not get a pass for doing so.
It is a big pile of steaming bullshit that I ever suggested that "western" (itself an ethnocentric term) imperialism gets a pass either.
But apparently here we are not allowed to discuss large powerful countries taking advantage of others if they were once communist or once the victims of imperialism becuase that upsets the little agendas that seek to pretend that there is something exceptional going on here on both sides?
My issue is not about race or history in this. It is about the nature of more powerful humans to get together and fuck over less powerful ones. I don't give a shit what spin you put on it this but that is what I thought this place was supposed to discuss.
But this is all about advancing just one side of the story is it??
It is about some stupid game where we raise the flag and don't give a fuck for the people so long as they are properly screwed by a former victim of the big bad US and Europe????
No let's not discuss the maning or merit of any of this when we can raise the Chinese flag and say poor victim now you can screw Africa -- we're sorry.
Frankly this stinks of the same stench of a lot of what screwed up the middle east -- good dose of giving an aggrieved party license to screw someone else becuase we feel bad about screwing them before. If you can't figure that out then I have something better to do.
Tell you what I am against imperialism everywhere and from anyone. So just becuase I challenge your favourite propaganda-approved imperial power does not mean I approve of any others now or in history.
Mon, 2018-12-31 14:52
#48
http://www.ketagalanmedia.com/2017/10/09/how-chinas-soft-power-is-buildi...
Anti China link from Taiwan, also racist!
Where do you see the racism in that article?
uses the term ssa (I will only use abbreviations). NDPP also posted a link that uses the racist term, but the person writing the article appears to be a black African so I can not criticize his choice of terms
edited to add
After further research, the editor of black agenda is actually an American! And not African. Therefore I wil criticize his use of the term ssa!
Stop your friggen smears. State exactly how it is racist or stop leveling the accusation.
Mon, 2018-12-31 14:54
#49
Hey Sean in Ottawa I started the appropriate thread almost 4 months ago and resurrected it today. Interested in posting your links in it up against the ones I found to counter yours? You know, with actual numbers and non racist dialogue.
Mon, 2018-12-31 15:07
#50
There are many terms used that can and ought to be challenged. Many of these terms should be dropped. It does nto mean that we then ought to go and attack every single source that used a term that is no longer accepted and suggest that they no longer have any credibility.
It is utter bullshit to do this -- challenge the word and offer a new one but to attack based on this is a zero sum objective. So then we have to throw out all the African dominated UN agencies who have used the term you want us to abandon retroactively? There are many people who do not deserve to be smeared who have used the word Sub Saharan Africa. It is great to challenge and to argue to move beyond such language it is another thing to go and read for the purpose of finding offence to attack a point that you are trying to avoid and then use it to dismiss arguments.
Your smear saying that you find the word so offensive that you cannot write it out comparable to others we do not use is ridiculous. The people who have been calling for language change themselves do not do this.
It is one thing to call out a word and argue that it should be dropped-- it is another to claim that everyone and every article who/that ever historically used the word is racist. There are many words that ought to be challenged without that determination. In fact by calling out all that is written previously using words that rightfully should be left behind, you make it harder to challenge and for language to evolve away from racist language.
Mon, 2018-12-31 15:11
#51
Hey Sean in Ottawa I started the appropriate thread almost 4 months ago and resurrected it today. Interested in posting your links in it up against the ones I found to counter yours? You know, with actual numbers and non racist dialogue.
You post to protect from and counter accusations that China is acting as an neo imperial power and not to address the claim. You seek to defend China's behaviour at all costs and to suppress through bullshit any examination of it.