FRANK SCOTT—As we stagger towards the ultimate expression of our fake democracy in November it’s important to acknowledge what won’t be changing a bit whichever of the two parties of capital come out ahead with a minority of the American electorate’s support. The richest people in the nation, an ever-smaller group as inequality, showing massive growth of poverty, disease and the profits of warfare, will not only maintain their historic control but also exercise more of it than ever in the past. The capitalist pandemic and economic collapse will get worse before things get better and they won’t get better until we stop swallowing the republican-democratic party line about what high ideals this nation stands for in contradiction to the low reality of what it is.
CAPITALIST SICKNESS
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CALEB MAUPIN—It’s the system, stupid, not just vile individuals. How John Steinbeck explained this basic truth about capitalism decades ago in his classic The Grapes of Wrath. The Dems & GOP national conventions: lies, misleading narratives and abject content. Either party is no more just a lesser evil, only a different kind of evil.
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Everything Going According to Plan in China
14 minutes readPEPE ESCOBAR—China plans not only in years, but in decades. Five year plans are complemented by ten year plans and as the meeting chaired by Xi showed, 15 year plans. The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is in fact a nearly 40-year plan, designed in 2013 to be completed in 2049. And continuity is the name of the game – when one thinks that the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, first developed in 1949 and then expanded by Zhou Enlai at the Bandung conference in 1955 are set in stone as China’s foreign policy guidelines.
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ANDRE VLTCHEK—While there are, undeniably, few optimistic success stories, including the Russian vaccine, China’s and Vietnam’s ability to contain the pandemic without ruining economy and livelihood of the citizens, the great majority of the world is undoubtfully in disarray. Hundreds of millions of people are literally tossed into the gutter. Other billions, all over Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, and to some extent, the United States and the U.K. are locked in, unable to travel abroad, and unwilling to accept visitors from other countries.
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THE SAKER—The Belarusian military is dramatically different from the Ukrainian military which had practically lost its combat readiness decades ago, which was then purged from all real patriots, and which was fantastically corrupt. In contrast, the comparatively small Belarusian military is, by all accounts, very well-trained, decently equipped and commanded by very competent officers. I think that it is a safe bet to say that the armed forces are loyal to Lukashenko and that they would probably welcome a full reunification with Russia.