ZIONCONS

ERIC ZUESSE—On 29 September 2015, I headlined about that report, “GALLUP: ‘Iraqis Are the Saddest & One of the Angriest Populations in the World’,” and closed with “Is Uzbekistan really the best place to live? Anyway, it’s one of the few countries that the U.S. didn’t grab control of, either by outright invasion, or by means of a coup.” All of the ten-best-scoring, and ten worst-scoring, nations, in that report, were listed there.

Joe Biden is not likely to lift the blatantly illegal US siege of Venezuela, says Leo Flores on The Grayzone. In fact, his imperialist posture toward Caracas may signify a worsening f tensions between the two countries and their allies. In this episode, Red Lines host Anya Parampil speaks with Leo Flores, the Latin American Campaign Coordinator for CODEPINK, about what the election of Joe Biden will mean for US Venezuela policy. They also discuss Venezuela’s upcoming parliamentary elections and the fractured state of the country’s opposition.

KIM PETERSEN—Is China a paragon of virtue? No. And the US is no paragon of good either. Illegal claims? Do settler-colonialists have a legitimate legal claim to the landmass of the US? To the Hawaiian islands? To Puerto Rico? To Guam? Where is the evidence that US corporations were co-opted or coerced by the Chinese? One hears such claims over and over but never with evidence. Why? Because entry to the Chinese market was conditioned on access to technology, a decision that US corporations could have refused. This is not coercion. That a former CIA head speaks of dens of spies is risible.

CALEB MAUPIN—A wide-ranging discussion aiming to clarify the true sociopolitical nature of the Biden regime (should it come to power). Maupin points to Biden’s numerous links with Silicon Valley magnates and its New Age culture of hyperindividualism grounded in a weird blend of Margaret Ferguson’s “Aquarian Conspiracy” of personal autonomy  in a “decentralized society” with Ayn Rand’s fierce libertarianism. Maupin points out some interesting and concerning facts.

MoA—While Trump’s domestic policies have been as much to the favor of the very rich as those of his predecessors, his foreign policies were remarkably different. A Harris (Biden) regime will return to ‘business as usual’ and be more aggressive. That is the reason why I for one will miss Trump. The unceremonial dethronement of Trump will also have domestic consequences. His voters will inevitably call it a fraud. A Harris (Biden) administration is unlikely to have the funds needed to fight the pandemic and its disastrous economic consequences. That together could give rise to a challenger who combines Trump’s rightwing populism with political competence. That is a prospect everyone should fear.