Re: [Marxism] Trump defends abandoning Kurds by saying they didn't help US in WWII - Business Insider
POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * Your comment was "Totally fucking insane" I agree and I struggled to actually believe what I heard. So the Turks weren't at Normandy - the cowardly bastards. And they weren't in Vietnam either. Hmmm Come to think of it Our President wasn't there either. But seriously how did we come to this? How did the bourgeoisie allow cretins to take over politically? In my own Northern Ireland the business sector face certain disaster if there is a NO Deal Brexit and a hard border emerges, yet they have allowed the Rapturists to dominate the political scene. I keep muttering about the End of Days comradely Gary On Thu, Oct 10, 2019 at 9:24 AM Louis Proyect via Marxism < marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu> wrote: > POSTING RULES & NOTES > #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. > #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. > #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. > * > > Totally fucking insane. > > > https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-abandoning-kurds-syria-didnt-help-during-wwii-allies-2019-10 > _ > Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm > Set your options at: > https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/gary.maclennan1%40gmail.com > _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Fwd: H-Net Review [H-FedHist]: Marx on McFarland, 'John Hay, Friend of Giants: The Man and Life Connecting Abraham Lincoln, Mark Twain, Henry James, and Theodore Roosevelt'
POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * -- Forwarded message - From: H-Net Staff via H-REVIEW Date: Wed, Oct 9, 2019 at 2:57 PM Subject: H-Net Review [H-FedHist]: Marx on McFarland, 'John Hay, Friend of Giants: The Man and Life Connecting Abraham Lincoln, Mark Twain, Henry James, and Theodore Roosevelt' To: Cc: H-Net Staff Philip James McFarland. John Hay, Friend of Giants: The Man and Life Connecting Abraham Lincoln, Mark Twain, Henry James, and Theodore Roosevelt. Lanham Rowman Littlefield, 2017. 384 pp. $27.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-1-4422-2281-6. Reviewed by Claude R. Marx (Independent Scholar) Published on H-FedHist (October, 2019) Commissioned by Caryn E. Neumann Marx on McFarland's _John Hay, Friend of Giants_ Few people have had lives as engaging, varied, and accomplished as John Hay. Serving as a top aide to one iconic president, Abraham Lincoln, and secretary of state to two other presidents, William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt, Hay lived a life many could only dream of. Had Dos Equis beer been doing an advertising campaign at the time, Hay could certainly have been a candidate for most interesting man in the word. With all that to work with, one would think a biography of Hay would be a delightful book and a joy to read. Sadly, that is not the case with Phillip McFarland's_ John Hay, Friend of Giants: The Man and Life Connecting Abraham Lincoln, Mark Twain, Henry James, and Theodore Roosevelt_. McFarland, like many people, finds Hay to be a larger-than-life figure and it is easy to understand why he wanted to write about him. Unfortunately for him (but fortunately for readers), John Taliaferro beat him to the punch with his comprehensive and well-written biography of Hay that came out in 2013, _All the Great Prizes: The Life of John Hay, from Lincoln to Roosevelt_. So rather than attempt another cradle-to-grave biography, McFarland takes a different approach and writes about Hay through the prism of his relationships with Lincoln, Twain, James, and Roosevelt. Sadly, that approach gives McFarland too much material to work with, resulting in an unwieldy book that at times lacks focus. Hay grew up in modest circumstances in a small Illinois town on the Mississippi River but went to the East Coast for college at Brown University. Through his hard work and series of fortunate encounters, he held a series of interesting jobs at a young age, the most important of which was staff aide to Lincoln. He had both a strong intellect and extraordinary networking skills. He was a living embodiment of iconic baseball executive Branch Rickey's observation that "luck is the residue of design." McFarland writes of Hay that "mostly the sun shone down on this capable gentleman" (p. xiv). Hay had several professional achievements during his career, including his work as secretary of state forging major agreements with China and Panama; the latter laid the groundwork for the building of the Panama Canal. But for McFarland, the achievements are a backdrop for a more personal look at his relations with the four iconic figures. While including Lincoln and Roosevelt makes sense, Hay's relationship with Twain and James was less close and McFarland sometimes has to stretch to find adequate material. Too often he winds up writing minibiographies of the others, which takes away from our chance to better understand Hay. McFarland does include some choice nuggets, however, such as Hay's wife, Clara, becoming upset at Twain for laughing too hard while visiting their home on a Sunday. Hay was not particularly devout (although he knew the Bible intimately), but his wife was. Twain has been the subject of so many biographies that perhaps readers would have been better served had McFarland focused instead on Hay's friend and intellectual compatriot, Henry Adams. Adams appears in the book, but McFarland does not paint as thorough a picture of him as his accomplishments merit. The sections on Lincoln and Roosevelt are the most interesting. We see Hay evolve from the admiring, at time worshipful, young aide to an esteemed statesman and social equal of the president. While Hay and Roosevelt had a mostly good relationship, there were strong disagreements that McFarland only touches on. Those wanting a more thorough account should read Taliaferro. The book's major problem is that, rather than focus on his main subject, McFarland goes off on tangents and then takes too long to get back to the main point of the book. Dual biographies can work; Gordon Wood's masterful book about John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, _Friends Divided _(2017), is a great example of that genre. But McFarland's book shows the danger of trying to do too
[Marxism] The Real Threat of ‘Joker’ Is Hiding in Plain Sight
POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * NY Times, Oct. 9, 2019 The Real Threat of ‘Joker’ Is Hiding in Plain Sight By Lawrence Ware This article contains spoilers for “Joker.” Before “Joker” opened last weekend, much was being made of how its tale of a murderous villain echoed news stories of mass shooters and incel threats, and how the film might encourage unbalanced viewers to commit acts of violence. As it turned out, it mainly inspired audiences to open their wallets for the biggest October opening ever. After watching the film, I could understand the concerns: Directed by Todd Phillips and starring Joaquin Phoenix as the deranged clown Arthur Fleck, the title character, “Joker” is simultaneously a well-made film in its own right and a blatant mash-up of “The King of Comedy” and “Taxi Driver.” It nods at classism and winks at the Bruce Wayne family mythos, but at its core the movie is about a mentally ill loner. Still, what struck me most is that what the film wants to say — about mental illness or class divisions in American society — is not as interesting as what it accidentally says about whiteness. For it is essentially a depiction of what happens when white supremacy is left unchecked. It shows the delusions that many white men have about their place in society and the brutality that can result when that place is denied. The fact that the Joker is a white man is central to the film’s plot. A black man in Gotham City (really, New York) in 1981 suffering from the same mysterious mental illnesses as Fleck would be homeless and invisible. He wouldn’t be turned into a public figure who could incite an entire city to rise up against the wealthy. Black men dealing with Fleck’s conditions are often cast aside by society, ending up on the streets or in jail, as studies have shown. And though Fleck says he often feels invisible, had he been black, he truly would have been — except, of course, when he came into contact with the police. They’d be sure to see him. Though Fleck is pursued and investigated by Gotham’s finest, his whiteness acts as a force field, protecting him as he engages in the violent acts of the latter half of the film. Consider his appearance on the live talk show hosted by Murray Franklin (Robert De Niro). A black man acting as strangely as Fleck does would not have been allowed to go on the air. But the white Fleck is given access, and bloodshed soon follows. Or look at how Fleck interacts with others. He is frequently in conversation with people who occupy a lower rung in society than he does: a state-appointed therapist he sees early on; a protective mother who chastises him for playing peekaboo with her son on the bus; his possible love interest, a neighbor who lives in the same building; and the psychiatrist he sees in Arkham Asylum. Every one of these characters is a black woman with whom he eventually has confrontations. Phillips consistently places Fleck in an oppositional or antagonistic position to these women. I don’t know if this is intentional on Phillips’s part, but it is significant. When we learn that his relationship with the neighbor (played with artful restraint by Zazie Beetz) was merely a figment of his troubled imagination, the way he leaves the apartment implies that this realization has led Fleck to kill her and perhaps her child. After his final conversation with the Arkham doctor, his bloody footsteps suggest that he kills her as well. Fleck kills white men because he cannot access their status and is ostracized by them, but his black female victims are so invisible that the film does not bother to show their deaths. We as viewers can and should take note of them. There are other ways that whiteness informs Fleck’s character. He anticipates he’ll be treated as a son by the Wayne family, and assumes he’ll be given medical records just by asking the hospital orderly (played by the great Brian Tyree Henry). The privileges that come with Fleck’s race set him up for these unrealistic expectations. When they’re not met, the consequences are deadly. Whiteness may not have been on the filmmakers’ minds when they made “Joker,” but it is the hidden accomplice that fosters the violence onscreen. _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Trump defends abandoning Kurds by saying they didn't help US in WWII - Business Insider
POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * Totally fucking insane. https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-abandoning-kurds-syria-didnt-help-during-wwii-allies-2019-10 _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] For the Unity of Marxists with the Dispossessed: The Bolsheviks and the State, 1912-1917 - COSMONAUT
POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * A reply to Sophia Burns. https://cosmonaut.blog/2019/10/09/for-the-unity-of-marxists-with-the-dispossessed-the-bolsheviks-and-the-state-1912-1917/ _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Erdogan, the Kurds and Trump's real "betraual"
POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * 'The invasion of NE Syria by Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is now under way. This is an invasion that is planned to be ten miles into that part of Syria. It will cause untold suffering of the present residents of that region. Already, al Jazeera is reporting that “people fled the (border town of Tel Abyad)… en masse amid the beginning of the Turkish offensive.” Al Jazeera quotes an official of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) as saying that Turkish warplanes are bombing civilian areas and that “there is huge panic among people of the region.”... *Regarding Trump's withdrawal:* ' (US capitalist strategist Max) Boot summarized the position of himself and of his class in general by quoting 19th century French statesman, Talleyrand, who had said, “This is worse than a crime. It’s a mistake.”' https://oaklandsocialist.com/2019/10/09/erdogan-the-kurds-and-trumps-real-betrayal/ -- *“In politics, abstract terms conceal treachery.” *from "The Black Jacobins" by C. L. R. James Check out:https:http://oaklandsocialist.com also on Facebook _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Benjamin Kunkel, Red Flag over the White House?, NLR 119, September–October 2019
POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * A great review, unfortunately behind a paywall. https://newleftreview.org/issues/II119/articles/benjamin-kunkel-red-flag-over-the-white-house _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] After Manukha the matchmaker discards Shulem’s dead wife’s clothes, will he call off their marriage? | Louis Proyect: The Unrepentant Marxist
POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * https://louisproyect.org/2019/10/09/after-manukha-the-matchmaker-discards-shulems-dead-wifes-clothes-will-he-call-off-their-marriage/ _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Syria: US Imperialism Deserts the Kurds ? Once Again
POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * Once again: The public comments of different politicians as well as the editorials of the major newspapers in the US can be seen as an indication of the views of the US capitalist class. From the liberals in the Democratic Party to Lindsay Graham and Mitch McConnell to the Pentagon and former top diplomats (e.g. Brent McGurk), Trump's move is unanimously condemned. His previous announcement of a withdrawal did not lead to that step, but it did lead to the "withdrawal" if the last two of his generals in his administration. The neocons? John Bolton opposes his step. The issue is similar to the Ukraine crisis. Let's remember that some months ago, when Trump held up the US aid to Ukraine, Republican senators/supporters of Trump such as Ron Johnson went to Trump and started to question him about that, whereupon Trump released the aid money. In that case, too, Trump was using foreign policy/foreign aid to benefit his own individual political interests vs. furthering the interests of US imperialism. I did find one opinion piece ( https://www.wsj.com/articles/in-syria-kurdish-fighters-prepare-to-battle-turkey-and-residents-fret-11570559654?mod=cx_picks_navSource=cx_picks_tag=contextual_artPos=6#cxrecs_s) in the WSJ that came close to supporting Trump's decision. This column advocates closer ties with Erdogan and implies that US imperialism should dump the YPG, although it doesn't come right out and say it. It is co-authored by somebody from the Hudson Institute, which is the "think" tank founded by Herman Kahn, who was a real outlier by any measure during the Cold War. So I hardly think that it's even accurate to say that the US capitalist class is divided over the issue. What the above cited WSJ column does show, however, is how completely unreliable US imperialism is. It shows that at any time, US imperialism (just like any other capitalist state) will dump an ally if it concludes that it's to its interests. The fact is, though, that US imperialism does not believe that it's to their interests to dump the YPG at this time. I think they are right. (Which doesn't mean that I support whatever is in the interests of US imperialism; it just means that I'm trying to see what's in their interests in order to understand the balance of forces.) John Reimann -- *“In politics, abstract terms conceal treachery.” *from "The Black Jacobins" by C. L. R. James Check out:https:http://oaklandsocialist.com also on Facebook _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] White House letter: Why Democrats aren't planning to vote on an impeachment inquiry - CNNPolitics
POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * Trump is using complex strategy that might forestall or even preempt impeachment proceedings. https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/08/politics/nancy-pelosi-letter-impeachment/index.html _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Democrats Must Admit Joe Biden’s Family Profits Off Him
POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * https://theintercept.com/2019/10/09/joe-hunter-biden-family-money/ _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Syria: US Imperialism Deserts the Kurds … Once Again
POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * The alliance between the US and the precursors of the Syrian Democratic Forces began after ISIS captured Mosul in 2014, which threw the US into a panic. When ISIS also tried to capture Kobane, the US and the Rojava forces formed a tactical alliance to defeat them. The debate now in the US ruling class is whether they still need this alliance. Most seem to think they do. ISIS is still waging a low level war in both Iraq and Syria, and might become a bigger threat if thousands of ISIS prisoners held by the SDF were to escape. The problem for the US ruling class is that Turkey wants to suppress the revolutionary process in northeastern Syria. Following the invasion of Afrin, Erdogan threatened to invade other SDF-controlled areas. But the US opposed this because it would divert the SDF away from the fight against ISIS. US troops were put on the border to discourage a Turkish invasion. But this damaged US-Turkish relations, causing Erdogan to turn towards Russia. Trump thinks that restoring US-Turkish relations is more important than preventing a revival of ISIS. Hence the withdrawal of US troops from a section of the border to permit a Turkish invasion. An alliance with an imperialist power is very problematic for any revolutionary government or movement, for a range of reasons. But sometimes they don't have much choice. Venezuela faces a similar situation, except that in that case the imperialist ally is Russia, and the aim is to deter a US invasion. Chris Slee From: Marxism on behalf of mkaradjis . via Marxism Sent: Tuesday, 8 October 2019 11:57:40 PM To: Chris Slee Subject: Re: [Marxism] Syria: US Imperialism Deserts the Kurds … Once Again POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * Of course I agree with the main messages in this statement: that US imperialism never cared less about the Kurds, that its support for the SDF was just due to a convergence of interests at a particular point, that the illusions expressed by the SDF leadership in the US and its dealings with Assad should be heavily criticised (although I don't think it is possible to condemn anyone for accepting protection, and that's a bigger issue), that betrayal was always going to occur eventually, and of course that the Kurds need to be defended against Turkish invasion. However, I'm not sure that "US imperialism" is keen on betraying the SDF just now. The timing and character of betrayal, of withdrawal, are important to the credibility of US imperialism. Like the last "withdrawal" announcement, this announcement was made by Trump after a phone call with Erdogan. Meanwhile, virtually every other representative of US imperialism that has spoken out, countless leading Republican party figures, including close Trump allies, and the Pentagon, have condemned this move and assert that it is against "US interests." That doesn't necessarily mean that Trump's own view and decision doesn't represent one possible imperialist policy, supported by some faction of the ruling class. The idea that leftist Kurds have outlived their usefulness and that now the US can mend things with a NATO ally by allowing it to have its way with the SDF might well appeal to some sections of US imperialism; and the reality that the more likely outcome is that most of Rojava won't go to Turkey, but to Assad, in a position to force the SDF into subservience in order to "protect" it, is also no long-term problem for US imperialism. And since Russia, Turkey and Iran have been dealing over Syria the last 2 years in the Astana process, somewhat sidelining the US, well, why not buy in via patching things up with Erdogan. But at the moment, that view, that Trump's whim agrees with, is the minority view. Most are expressing views along the lines Pompeo expressed last time, "we can't let the Turks slaughter the Kurds". Lindsay Graham has stated he'll push for sanctions on Turkey "if they step one foot in northeastern Syria" . Even Trump felt compelled to announce that if Turkey does anything wrong he will "totally destroy and obliterate the Economy of Turkey", not that this should be taken seriously, but then is this Trump's "progressive" voice? There are a number of reasons for this. The credibility of US imperialism, the perception that ti does not defend its allies, the use of Rojava as the US's bargaining chip in the
