Politics Archives - Page 104 of 243

24Apr

By SHOAHNo Comments

Politics

IMF Meeting Signals Descent into Global Trade War

NOVANEWS By Nick Beams World Socialist Web Site In another step toward world-wide trade war, the International Monetary Fund over the weekend became the second major global economic organisation to back away from a commitment to “resist all forms of protectionism.” In the wake of the decision at last month’s meeting of the G20 finance ministers to drop the phrase from its communiqué, the IMF adopted the same course at its spring meeting in Washington. In both cases, the “free trade” commitment was removed as a result of pressure from the Trump administration, in line with the White House’s “America First” agenda. The statement issued by the IMF’s International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC) said it sought to “promote a level playing field in international trade,” dro...

24Apr

By SHOAHNo Comments

Politics

Neoliberal Globalization: In the Shadow of Social Democracy, Right-Wing Challenges and Left Alternatives

NOVANEWS By Ingo Schmidt Socialist Project We live in a paradoxical world. Much debate on the radical left revolves around multitudes of discontented groups – sometimes lumped together as the 99%, sometimes rebranded as precariat – struggling against an abstract empire and its 1% rulers. Capitalism and class – once serving as a compass to navigate left politics through the apparently chaotic sees of everyday life – have turned into subjects of theoretical debate with little to no connection to political praxis. Vacated by the left, a new right adopted the language of class to appeal to those who were steamrolled and marginalized by economic globalization. Many of the policies advanced by the new right could have been taken out of social democratic programs of old but are now l...

2Apr

By SHOAHNo Comments

Africa, Politics

World Bank declares itself above the law

NOVANEWS World Bank Pete Dolack The World Bank has for decades left a trail of human misery. Destruction of the environment, massive human rights abuses and mass displacement have been ignored in the name of “development” that works to intensify neo-liberal inequality. In response to legal attempts to hold it to account, the World Bank has declared itself above the law. At least one U.S. trial court has already agreed that the bank can’t be touched, and thus the latest lawsuit filed against it, attempting to obtain some measure of justice for displaced Honduran farmers, faces a steep challenge. Regardless of the ultimate outcome of legal proceedings, however, millions of people around the world have paid horrific prices for the relentless pursuit of pr...

24Feb

By SHOAHNo Comments

Politics, World

Analyzing the Emerging World Order: The Future of Globalism

NOVANEWS By Levaughn Duran The global community today is clearly in a state of flux. This is not an aberration – we are in the midst of a normal and periodic global reordering. We shall briefly take a “big picture” look at this phenomenon and attempt to glean an understanding as to the direction that we are heading as citizens of a global society. It is my hope that these observations can foster a more in depth discussion between reasonable people; leading to the development of ideas which can then be implemented to improve the human condition. Current Paradigm: We live in a world subdivided by societies: nations and their respective subdivisions. As a matter of fact, there are over 200 nations recognized by the United Nations (UN). We are taught that a society must conform t...

9Feb

By SHOAHNo Comments

Media, Politics

The plain truth about terrorism

NOVANEWS or why the “oops we accidentally let ISIS get our guns” excuse does not work… OffGuardian We get a few people here saying some variant on “ISIS, al Qaeda etc are all the unlooked-for by-product of the criminal western policy in the Middle East.” It’s one of the would-be middle-of-the-road positions occupied as much through fear of what lies beyond it than for any inherent value it contains. It’s still possible to be considered relatively mainstream and hold this position. Sensible people like Robert Fisk and Noam Chomsky promote it. There’s only one problem with it really, namely that it is not true. Recent leaks/releases of government documents have put it beyond question that the US, its Gulf allies and NATO at very least willingly got behind the creation of extreme jihadist ...

6Jan

By SHOAHNo Comments

Politics

2016: How Truth was Destroyed So You’d Buy the Government’s Propaganda

NOVANEWS By Claire Bernish “We’re an empire now,” Karl Rove nefariously asserted in 2004, “and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you’re studying that reality — judiciously, as you will — we’ll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that’s how things will sort out. We’re history’s actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.” Rove might have said that 12 years ago, but the words hauntingly describe our situation in 2016 — Oxford Dictionaries, incidentally, named “post-truth” the international word of the year — with facts seemingly relative, truth debatable, and a falsely-premised war on fake news, Orwell must be rolling in his grave. In fact, given these telling circumstances, perhaps Oxford Dictionaries didn’t...

4Jan

By SHOAHNo Comments

Politics, USA, World

Economic, Geopolitical, Military and Diplomatic Trends in 2016. What Prospects for 2017

NOVANEWS By South Front 2016 marked by important of diplomatic, political and military developments around the world. Britain voted to leave the European Union by 52% to 48% in a national referendum. The outcome of the Brexit referendum has caused strong reaction at home and worldwide. Brexit was supported by the popular majority of Britain and a significant portion of the UK national elite. Even the use of lobbying clout by Cameron’s cabinet did not allow EU supporters to attain victory. Indeed, leaving the EU would allow the UK to control immigration more efficiently, save billions of pounds in membership fees and advocate its own trade deals while leaving all trade conditions between the UK and the EU relatively unchanged – all while getting rid of restrictive EU regulat...

31Dec

By SHOAHNo Comments

Education, Politics

How to remain completely anonymous and hidden online

NOVANEWS by Paul Bischoff VPN & Privacy Maintaining online anonymity is no easy task. Today’s ad-driven and heavily surveilled internet ecosystem endeavors to accomplish the exact opposite result. Be it for national security or to sell you a smartphone, governments and companies want to know everything they can about you. To make them lose your trail is not a simple matter. It is possible to be remain anonymous online, but it’s getting more difficult as time progresses. No measure you take will ever be perfect, but unless you’re a high profile criminal, you can make it more difficult than it’s worth for anyone to expose you. Being anonymous has its benefits. Certain freedoms come with being unrecognizable and untraceable. It also requires sacrifice. Many of the conveniences of the...

24Dec

By SHOAHNo Comments

Politics

Assange and Wikileaks: “Donald? It’s a Change Anyway”

NOVANEWS By Julian Assange and Stefania Maurizi Repubblica When they appeared on the scene for the first time in 2006, few noticed them. And when four years later they hit worldwide media headlines with their publication of over 700,000 secret US government documents, many assumed that Julian Assange and his organisation, WikiLeaks, would be annihilated very shortly. Since 2010 Assange has lived first under house arrest and then confined to the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he has been granted asylum by Ecuador. The country’s officials judged his concerns of being extradited to Sweden and then to the US to be put on trial for the WikiLeaks’ revelations well-grounded. Repubblica met Julian Assange in the embassy, nicely decorated for the Christmas season. These last te...

17Dec

By SHOAHNo Comments

Education, Politics

Capitalism vs. Socialism: A Changed Debate

NOVANEWS By Richard D. Wolff, Truthout (Image: LW / TO; Adapted: Matthew Henry, Damian Gladal) Once again, private capitalism's contradictions, flaws and weaknesses threaten its own existence. Two major global collapses -- first in the 1930s and more recently, since 2008 -- plus periodic downturns every few years have underscored the instability that haunts the system. At the same time, deepening inequality has turned ever-larger populations into capitalism's critics. Talk of reform and revolution has crowded onto political agendas. The capitalism versus socialism debate has returned everywhere. However, it is a changed debate transformed by lessons drawn from the Soviet Union and other similar experiences and experiments. The debate now displays three key alternative systems, not...