GAITHER STEWART—I read German writing and the archives of STASI, State Security, or Staatssicherheit about Field-Marshal Paulus. And I pondered the act of crossover from one ideology to another. Crossover for him would have meant changing from everything he had yet experienced in his military and family life to a new morality. Crossover points unwaveringly at transformation. Transformation is more than mere change, a different matter altogether. Though change makes us uneasy and anxious, we are still capable of returning to our original state. Even the change from a familiar place to another may make us feel uneasy. For we have lost a point of reference, a sense of belonging. That sensation of loss triggers our nostalgias. That loss can become a black hole in our existence. So though I feel sorry for the Field-Marshal, I still have not decided what I believe moved Friedrich Paulus.
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France’s “yellow vest” protests and the fraud of Mélenchon’s “citizens revolution”
ALEX LANTIER—A half-century after the May-June 1968 general strike, tens of millions of workers in France and across Europe are looking on and drawing their own conclusions. The “yellow vest” movement is overwhelmingly popular, and a large majority of workers in France want it to continue. This entails drawing broader masses of the working class across Europe into struggle—against attempts by trade unions and populists like Mélenchon to isolate and wind down the movement—and consciously developing it as a Europe-wide struggle against capitalism and for socialism.
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World War II: A Short History
WILLIAM J ASTORE—Operation Torch in November 1942 saw Anglo-American landings in North Africa, in part to assure Stalin that the United States and Britain remained committed to a second front. Superior numbers were telling as Allied forces drove their Axis counterparts towards Tunisia, although the U.S. setback at Kasserine Pass in February 1943 reflected the learning curve for mass citizen armies. Fortunately for the Allies, Hitler sent additional German units in a foolhardy attempt to hold the remaining territory. With the fall of Tunisia in May 1943 the Axis lost 250,000 troops.
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WATCH: Crucifying Julian Assange
In his RT “On Contact” show, Chris Hedges interviews Joe Lauria, Consortium News editor, about the efforts to force Julian Assange out of his refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London so as to prosecute him using the Espionage Act; and the media’s unconscionable participation in this endeavour.
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