Global

We reached 88,000 Palestinian civilian casualties (29,700 killed and 57,800
injured) in Gaza: that is 3.5% of the population of 2.3 million. That is
equivalent to killing 12.5 million US citizens. And 70% of residential
buildings destroyed!!! If that is not genocide/holocaust, we do not know
what is genocide. On Eastern Orthodox Christmas eve (Saturday 6 January),
we still held our weekly briefing on Gaza (69 attended). Since it is three
months since the carpet bombing of Gaza started, I decided to focus less on
analysis and focus on the people of Gaza. 88,000 casualties and 1.9 million
homeless are not numbers; they are/were great people with dreams, and life.
So I selected few pictures and stories (not seen in Western Media) enough
for a half hour presentation and the latter part of it is also inspiring
stories of Gaza. But it was very emotional and twice I could barely speak.

When Trump’s Fascist-leaning, Anti-democratic Collage of Corporatist Multibillionaires, White Supremacists, World Economic Forum Tycoons, Washington DC Insiders, Christian Dominionists, War-Mongering Militarists, Holocaust Deniers and Climate Change Deniers Try to Impose Their Will on the Voters Who Did Not Technically Vote for Fascism

“We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.” — H. L. Mencken (Baltimore Sun 26 July 1920)

“Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.” – Voltaire

“It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished – unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.” — Voltaire

This article was written shortly before Israel assassinated the Deputy Head of Hamas Political Bureau Saleh al-Arouri in Beirut on January 2. The assassination is a further illustration of the Israeli government's desire to escape the consequences of its disastrous war in Gaza, by igniting a regional conflict. 

The clashes between Hezbollah and Israel are the closest to an actual war that the Lebanon-Israel border has seen since the war of 2006, which resulted in a rushed Israeli retreat, if not outright defeat. 

 We often refer to the ongoing conflict between Lebanon and Israel as ‘controlled’ clashes, simply because both sides are keen not to instigate or engage in an all-out war. 

Obviously, Hezbollah wants to preserve Lebanese lives and civilian infrastructure, which would surely be seriously damaged, if not destroyed, should Israel decide to launch a war. 

Now that he is safely dead let us praise him,

build monuments to his glory,

sing hosannas to his name.

Dead men make such convenient heroes.

They cannot rise to challenge the images

we would fashion from their lives.

And besides,

it is easier to build monuments

than to make a better world.” -- Carl Wendell Hines

“Now That He Is Safely Dead” is the poignant poem that was written by black poet/musician Carl Wendell Hines soon after Malcolm X was assassinated in 1965. The poem has since then been appropriately associated with the death of Martin Luther King and his legacy of nonviolent struggle for black liberation, freedom, equality, economic justice and the pursuit of happiness for all.

And now the same thing is happening to Nelson Mandela, the latest black liberation activist-hero whose name has been exalted (but by lip service only) by the very international ruling elites who once tried to obstruct everything that Mandela stood for.

Sustainable ecological value monetized will have profound four-fold global benefits. Creating sustainable ecological value is the easiest path toward quickly mitigating climate change, expanding ecological global economic growth, pursuing a radical reduction in pollution depletion and ecological damage, and sharply reducing rampant global inequality. It is the basis for the pursuit of the New Wealth of Nations.

Including ecological value in global market dynamics is the missing piece needed to enable the price system and the pursuit of profit to help radically diminish the attraction of externalities by making the market send price signals realistically valuing and rewarding sustainable conduct to increase profit. Regulatory schemes and taxes on polluters have not stopped the global march toward ecological catastrophe. Monetizing ecological value is both a recognition of the inescapable importance of the global ecosphere under catastrophic assault, and a crucial improvement in the incentives of the price system embracing ecological sanity in the name of profit as well as survival and justice.