DANIEL LAZARE—The trouble with Sanders is that he thinks he can win by playing by the rules. But he can’t because the rules are stacked against him. He’d know that if his outlook was more radical. His problem is not that he’s too much of a socialist. Rather, it’s that he’s not enough.

TP WILKINSON—The core of the complaint– to the extent it is not simply sophomoric– is that President Donald Trump refused to execute the foreign policy of the United States. This is also called the “national interest” in the bill– a recognised euphemism for whatever corporate objectives can be imposed through the regime and what it expropriates from ordinary people both domestically and abroad. This is patently ridiculous. It has become a matter of conventional if not explicit constitutional law that the foreign policy of the United States is the prerogative of the Executive, the President of the United States.

ANDRE VLTCHEK—This is a discussion which is clearly encouraged, even invented by the Western regime: a safe discussion which is aimed at diverting dialogue from topics such as the fact that even in the West, a great number of people are living in fear and misery, and that the majority of neo-colonies of North America and Europe are once again being totally, shamelessly exploited.

JAMES COGAN—On January 2, however, Morrison was brought face-to-face with the mass popular anger that is burgeoning over the inaction and indifference of his government and the entire political establishment towards the bushfire catastrophe. Working class residents in the fire-devastated town of Cobargo refused to shake his hand, shouted abuse and demanded that he leave. The encounter in Cobargo revealed the state of class relations in Australia. The fire crisis is triggering the type of shift in popular consciousness that has led to mass struggles and protests in country after country—from France and North Africa to Chile and India—demanding the removal of governments and an end to the relentless attacks on the social position of the working class. Trust in the official establishment is collapsing.

The ecoanimal apocalypse in Australia—long foreseen but swept under the rug or actively denied by the establishment politicos and media—with Murdoch’s properties leading the charge in the climate denialist camp, has now caused, at last, an angry awakening that is quickly sprouting a more combative stance and defiant tactics among the public. We earnestly hope the lessons learned by the Australian population at such ghastly cost will illumine the path of liberation from the claws of capitalism.

CJ HOPKINS—Trump, disciplined Russian agent that he is, held his nerve and maintained his cover, performing his “total moron” act as only a seasoned Russian operative can. While Iran was still mourning, he started publicly jabbering about Soleimani’s dismembered corpse, bombing Iranian cultural sites, and otherwise bombastically taunting Iran like an emotionally-challenged street-corner drunk.

PETER KOENIG—This year some 130 high-ranking guests, protected by international law, are expected – whoever they may be – in addition, to also anticipated 5 Royals, 22 Presidents, and 23 Prime Ministers. They will be shielded by Swiss police and military, a total of about 5000. President Trump will get about 300 special Swiss security police, in addition to his own security contingent, plus a private helicopter, brought in by military cargo from the US.

PHILIP A. FARRUGGIO—The supermarket cashier, someone who has never shown any sort of political thinking the many times I chatted with her over the years, summed it up best the other day. Out of seemingly nowhere, she volunteered the info about her store: ” 90% of our cashiers are part time. I have been full time since I started working here years ago. Some of these people have to work anywhere from two to three part time jobs to stay above water. That’s the reality in our country now.”

“As the environmental crisis worsens, thinking of war as a tool with which to address it, treating refugees as akin to military enemies, threatens us with the ultimate vicious cycle. Declaring that climate change causes wars misses the reality that we human beings cause war, and that unless we learn to address crises nonviolently we will only make them worse.” — Martin Sheen

WAYNE MADSEN—It was Blair who was behind the concerted media and propaganda campaign against Corbyn. Corbyn suffered from the same sort of insidious attack from Labor’s right-wing tendency as that suffered by past traditional baseline socialist Labor politicians like Aneurin Bevan, Harold Wilson, Michael Foot, and Tony Benn. Individuals like Blair and his ilk conveniently forget that the Labor Party was formed at the turn of the last century by colleagues of Karl Marx, someone who definitely saw no place in a workers’ party for those that sought their exploitation.