KIT KLARENBERG—Those few analysts who predicted the invasion of Ukraine well in advance universally failed to anticipate Berlin would support and facilitate any U.S. counterattack, particularly in the financial sphere. They believed Germany possessed the requisite autonomy and sense not to commit willful economic suicide in service of Empire. After all, the country’s stability, prosperity and power were heavily dependent on cheap, readily accessible Russian energy. Voluntarily ending that supply would be inescapably disastrous. For this failure, they can be forgiven. Berlin, particularly in the wake of reunification, has successfully presented itself to the world as sovereign, led by sensible people acting in the best interests of their nation, and Europe. In truth, ever since 1945, Germany has been a heavily occupied nation, drowning under the weight of U.S. military installations, and its politics, society and culture aggressively shaped and influenced by the CIA.
CAPITALIST SICKNESS
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EDITOR—Iran carried out a strike over the weekend of April 13 and 14 in retaliation for the Israeli bombing on April 1 of the Iranian embassy in Damascus, Syria. Embassies are the sovereign territory of the country represented, effectively making it an Israeli attack on Iran.
In the West, the Iranian response, which was announced in advance and targeted only a military base, has received significantly more attention. Pundits and politicians called it a grave escalation, the opposite of reality.
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BEN NORTON—Argentina’s libertarian President Javier Milei ordered his intelligence agency to give full power to the CIA, while the US spy agency’s director is welcomed to Buenos Aires. Ben Norton discusses how self-declared “anarcho-capitalist” Milei withdrew from BRICS, allied with Israel, and is implementing neoliberal shock therapy, selling off the South American nation in mass privatizations, as most workers live in poverty.
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The truth about China’s economy: Debunking Western media myths
10 minutes readBEN NORTON—Political economists Radhika Desai and Michael Hudson are joined by Beijing-based scholar Mick Dunford to discuss China’s economy and debunk Western media myths, addressing accusations that consumption is too low, fears of “Japanification”, the role of exports, and the new Chinese growth strategy.
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For What Is Worth: Fact Sheet— Ballistic vs. Cruise Missiles
12 minutes readEDITOR—Missiles and rockets have been around for a long time, as part of artillery and—as in the case of ICBMs—as the ultimate strategic weapons. But now they are being used in more flexible ways, as the Ukraine War battlefields and the recent Iranian barrage on Israel have shown. It’s now a fact that tactical missiles have made much of the billion-dollar US and NATO blue water navies obsolete. The humble but brave Houthis have demonstrated that, for example. Think of what the Russians or Chinese could do. And drones, missiles and other forms of relatively inexpensive weapons have also significantly damaged the formidable Russian navy in the Black Sea. The world is changing,