Global
Peter Kuznick answered the following questions from Mohamed Elmaazi of Sputnik Radio and agreed to let World BEYOND War publish the text.
1) What’s the significance of Honduras being the latest country to join the UN’s Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons?
What a remarkable and ironic development, especially after the U.S. had been pressuring the previous 49 signers to withdraw their approvals. It is so fitting that Honduras, the original “banana republic,” pushed it over the edge–a delicious fuck you to a century of U.S. exploitation and bullying.
2) Is it possibly a bit of a distraction to focus on countries that have no nuclear capability?
Not really. This treaty represents the moral voice of humanity. It may not have a universal enforcement mechanism, but it clearly states that the people of this planet abhor the power-hungry, annihilation-threatening madness of the nine nuclear powers. The symbolic significance can not be overstated.
With the railroaded Supreme Court appointment of Amy Barrett, Team Trump has lit the final fuse on his 2020 coup d’etat. With Barrett, Roberts and Kavanaugh, Trump’s Trifecta, because they all did it before in Bush vs Gore. Read on.
Barrett, Roberts and Kavanaugh, Trump’s Trifecta, did it all before in Bush vs Gore. Read on.
As of right now, with the all-but-certain compliance of Supremes Neil Gorsuch and Samuel Alito, and with the agreement of enough Republican-held state legislatures, there is no legal barrier to Trump’s second term, no matter what the voters say.
In real terms, the only practical wall against such a coup might be a massive anti-Trump national vote—-but it would have to be overwhelming enough to make his would-be dictatorship politically unsustainable.
As for the Constitutional path, the road has been cleared. The calculation is simple.
BANGKOK, Thailand -- Thailand's U.S.-backed authoritarian leader
seized power six years ago in a military coup but now appears
bewildered, vulnerable and unable to stop two months of street
protests against the government and previously monarchy.
Some people wonder if Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha can stay at the
top, who might replace him, and will bullets be used against the tens
of thousands of peaceful, idealistic youths demanding revolutionary
changes.
Many Thais predict the protesters will not be able to curtail the vast
influence and wealth of 68-year-old King Vajiralongkorn.
"Now it is understood that the country needs people who love the
country and love the monarchy,” the constitutional king said in a
speech on October 16.
Prayuth agreed and recently said, "What the government needs to do is
to protect the monarchy.
"There are millions of people who are loyal to the monarchy, and they
are in all provinces. So please help us defuse the tension."
University students and school children have been blocking afternoon
traffic in scattered cities, voicing often vulgar speeches against
A Brief History of Fascist Lies is the title of a new book by Federico Finchelstein, the author of a number of books on fascism and populism. Finchelstein both draws distinctions that slot politicians into categories (such as fascist or populist) and points out the overlaps and the shades of gray, the forerunners and the enablers.
Not only have there been politicians who resembled Trump in other countries in recent decades, but the appearance of Trump — I think — depended on the regimes of Bush the Lesser and Obama. And the Trumplike politicians sprouting up today come out of their own countries’ traditions as well as feeding off and feeding into fascist tendencies in the United States.
Trump is supposedly a populist rather than a fascist, because he is elected (even if he cheats?), and because he encourages bigoted violence but has no plan for genocide. Of course he drops tens of thousands of bombs a year on parts of the world not labeled “white,” advances climate collapse, and risks nuclear war, but that stuff can’t make him anything other than “American,” since every U.S. president does those things.
The change the country needs in this election, close polling observers agree, can only happen through four plausible avenues--- Biden wins PA ( the most likely way) or, if Trump manages to keep the state’s rust belt red there, through 3 alternative Sunbelt routes : capturing often-slippery Florida, winning NC, or the long detour of AZ plus Omaha’s one electoral vote.
On Thursday, just hours before millions watched a debate that changed few minds, a handful of Republican operatives quietly took actions that could well change the November outcome in two of the critical swing states.
Lawyers in both PA and NC advanced alarming federal court litigation to cut back acceptance of absentee ballots, asking the Supreme Court to rule on shrinking the time window for receiving countable ballots by 3 days in PA, by 6 days in NC. This could put Trump’s second term in the hands of just nine voters – the same black-robed set (with some new faces) that effectively installed George W in the White House.
The outdated notion that China ‘just wants to do business’ should be completely erased from our understanding of the rising global power’s political outlook.
Simply put, Beijing has long realized that, in order for it to sustain its economic growth unhindered, it has to develop the necessary tools to protect itself, its allies and their combined interests.
The need for a strong China is not a novel idea developed by the current Chinese President, Xi Jinping. It goes back many decades, spanning various nationalist movements and, ultimately, the Communist Party. What sets Xi apart from the rest is that, thanks to the unprecedented global influence acquired by Beijing during his incumbency (2013 - present), China is now left with no alternative but to match its ‘economic miracle’ with a military one.
I don’t have any use for PEP politicians (progressive except on the Pentagon), but there are going to be serious members of the U.S. Congress next year who aren’t afraid of flags and war songs. There are going to be a lot more than (AOC+3) four of them.
CORI BUSH
One is going to be Cori Bush from St. Louis who won her primary against a long-time incumbent. She’s recently tweeted the following:
“If you’re having a bad day, just think of all the social services we’re going to fund after we defund the Pentagon.”
“Militarization makes up 64% of our federal budget. Medicare & Health are 6%. Education is 5%. Social Security, Unemployment, and Labor together are 3%. Ignorance is thinking those priorities keep our families safe.”
“220K+ people, including 1,700 healthcare workers, have died from COVID-19 due to our government’s inability to protect its citizens & pass pandemic relief. Ignorance is Trump’s Pentagon taking $1 billion in funding designated for PPE production to make jet engine parts.”
The documentary Hopper/Welles, which screened at the 34th annual AFI Fest (https://fest.afi.com/), is to film history what 1989’s When Harry Met Sally… is to romcoms. It consists of a conversation/interview between two renegade actor/directors who made touchstone movies but were nevertheless Hollywood outcasts. Following a stunning career as a radio and Broadway wunderkind, Orson Welles starred in, co-wrote and directed his first Hollywood feature when he was only 25. That 1941 masterpiece Citizen Kane scored the Best Writing, Original Screenplay Oscar for Welles and Herman Mankiewicz and received eight more nominations, including in the Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor Academy Award categories. But as far as the Tinseltown studio system went, it was all downhill from there in terms of directing for RKO, et al, for poor Orson.
As with many wars around the world, the current war between Azerbaijan and Armenia is a war between militaries armed and trained by the United States. And in the view of some experts, the level of weapons purchased by Azerbaijan is a key cause of the war. Before anybody proposes shipping more weapons to Armenia as the ideal solution, there is another possibility.