CAPITALIST SICKNESS

RAMIN MAZAHERI—What’s sad is that the majority of those arrested are first-time protesters – they simply didn’t know how to deal with cops, how to avoid cops, and how to demand their rights from bullying cops. It’s not the longtime activists who are in prison, but truly the most innocent and the most desperate. Normally in France a sentence of less than 2 years leads to no prison time – a “suspended sentence” – but not for Yellow Vesters.France is not a modern democratic nation but a “rubber bullet republic” led by a “liberal strongman”; it’s not new – Yellow Vests are experiencing what Muslims did during the 2-year State of Emergency.I have only barely discussed the appalling violence, arrests, mass trails and and mass imprisonment of France’s Yellow Vests – these are inflicted by the very cops who Western media repeatedly insist are the greatest heroes of the nation. But only a reactionary believes that – everyone hates the police; only a reactionary hates the Yellow Vests.

PHILIP A. FARRUGGIO— Social Security contributions of 6.2 % per worker and employer currently cap at $ 132,000 in earnings per year. [This is an arbitrary, artificial ceiling. It is not preordained by an act of God, nor does it obey a law of nature.—Ed.] By eliminating that ceiling the Social Security fund would really be in the black forever. Plus, there could be real and generous annual ‘ Cost of living ‘ increases in how much retirees can receive. How many hard working stiffs who rely on that monthly check would really appreciate the added dollars to live more decently?

MIKE FAULKNER—It has been widely recognized, not least by the Nazis themselves, that the foreign espionage and intelligence services of the Soviet Union and, until 1943, of the Communist International, were extraordinarily efficient and effective as well as being composed of many highly motivated and professional anti-fascists.A good example of this is the German journalist, Richard Sorge, who, as a Nazi party member worked as a journalist in Tokyo. But, like Svetlov/Schultz he was actually a Soviet intelligence officer. He was a dedicated Marxist who had worked undercover for the Comintern for many years. In the winter of 1941, when the Germans were at the gates of Moscow and some of the best Soviet divisions were still in the far east because the government feared that Japan would follow Hitler in breaking the neutrality pact signed with the Soviets in April 1941, and launch an attack in the Far East. Sorge learned that Japan would respect the pact and not attack.

JOHN PILGER—WikiLeaks has also revealed how the United States spies on its allies; how the CIA can watch you through your I-phone; how Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton took vast sums of money from Wall Street for secret speeches that reassured the bankers that if she was elected, she would be their friend. In 2016, WikiLeaks revealed a direct connection between Clinton and organised jihadism in the Middle East: terrorists, in other words. One email disclosed that when Clinton was US Secretary of State, she knew that Saudi Arabia and Qatar were funding Islamic State, yet she accepted huge donations for her foundation from both governments.

Distinguished educator and author Professor Grover Furr discusses his research into the Stalin-era and the challenge that recent scholarship poses to the Cold-War and anti-communist interpretations of Soviet History.