ALEX COCKBURN—Many J-schools continue to regard PBS’ Mac Neil-Lehrer Report as the gold standard for “professional journalism” but this adoration only underscores the myopic acceptance of corporate values in the reporting of reality. Meantime, as media critic Alex Cockburn dissects here, the Newshour continues to exude the priggish civility of those who can speak of great injuries at several comfortable removes…—P. Greanville
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Fallout Of Trump’s Syria Withdrawal – Why Erdogan Does Not Want To Invade
MOA—Erdogan had planned to only occupy a 10 miles deep strip along the Syrian-Turkish border. Some 15,000 Turkish controlled ‘Syrian rebels’ stand ready for that. He would need some 50-100,000 troops to occupy all of east Syria northward of the Euphrates. It would be a hostile occupation among well armed Kurds who would oppose it and an Arab population that is not exactly friendly towards a neo-Ottoman Turkey. Erdogan knows this well.
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Capitalism on a collision course with nature
JOEL KOVEL—I expect that many will find the views of The Enemy of Nature too one-sided. It will be said that there is a hatred of capitalism here which leads to the minimization of all its splendid achievements, including the “open society,” and its prodigious recuperative powers. Well, it is true that I hate capitalism and would want others to do so as well. Indeed, I hope that this animus has granted me the will to pursue a difficult truth to a transformative end. In any case, if the views expressed here seem harsh and unbalanced, I can only say that there are no end of opportunities to hear hosannas to the greatness of Lord Capital and obtain, as they say, a more nuanced view. Nor is hatred of capital the same, I hasten to add, as hating capitalists, though there are many of these who should be treated as common criminals, and all should be dispossessed of that instrument which corrupts their soul and destroys the natural ground of civilization.
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USN submarine research killing whales and other marine life
There has been an unprecedented amount of marine-life washing up on shores by the thousands either dead or dying. When still alive, they appeared in most cases to be clearly disoriented. Ones that were helped back to the water would only find themselves right back on the beach, and in some cases internal and external trauma was apparent; periodically dolphins and even whales have been found with perforated ear drums. Some showing up dead with dozens of pounds of toxic plastic waste inside their stomachs. The timeline of these unusual events perfectly coincide with the US Navy’s planned five-year test of underwater sonar and sonic weaponry that commenced in 2014 and will last until 2019. One weapon being tested manipulates a tiny ball of plasma to produce incredible noise.
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