[Marxism] Norway as an imperialist country ?
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Norway supplies raw materials (oil and gas) to the world economy ; that's why it is rich. Norway actually was colonized by Sweden for much of its history. I would not characterize it as an imperialist country. Jeff Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Libya and the Middle Eastern Revolution
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == On the situation in the Arab world: While revolutionary processes are always some dialectical combination of democratic and social revolution, rather than a staged counter-position of one versus the other, I'd agree that at present this is a predominantly democratic revolutionary process, with an objective undercurrent of social revolution centered in Egypt. The subjective element - parties of socialist revolutionaries - is obviously mostly missing, therefore this cannot possibly be analogous to, say, 1917; Instead the period of democratic revolution is likely to have a prolonged life depending upon the rapidity with which a meaningful socialist opposition can be constructed as the only means to guarantee its permanence. That much is obvious. However it is just as obvious that the Arab world is overdetermined by two peculiarities of its superstructure for which even a democratic revolutionary process poses a uniquely grave danger to imperialism. These are the existence of a feudal relic in the form of the House of Saud and its princely Persian Gulf satellites, the ultimate tribal Arabs so beloved of imperialist orientalism and the axial template it wishes to impose on the whole region; And, closely related in structure to this, the American Zionist settler regime, an integral part of the United States projected into the Middle East. Both these features place sharp restraints on imperialism's capacity to maneuver within and against the democratic revolution, these peculiarities on top of an increasing volatile world situation due fundamentally to the deepening capitalist crisis and posing the need to contain contagion (for example see The Global Political Awakening and the New World Order by Andrew Gavin Marshall, inspired by the ever watchful Zbigniew Brzezinski http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=vaaid=19873 - alas our latter-day Wilsonian liberals don't stand a chance despite their man Obama being in the White House). Imperialism might give up the first in extremis but never the second - unless the U.S. is dethroned as leader of imperialism. But the fate of U.S. domination of the imperialist world is itself bound up with the fate of the Arab world and its revolution. Even the progress of a purely democratic revolution here could lead to that dethronement, an event that would mark a sort of democratic revolutionary progress in the imperialist world itself, and especially within the United States. On historical analogies: Though they formally seek to identify commonalities between different historical events, the real usefulness of analogies is to identify the differences, and therefore what is new and different in the present. The analogy with 1848 highlights the expansive and synchronous global character of the mass movements as well as the political weakness of the socialist element. But it is the powerful global synchronicity that stands out as new and different in the present. It's an internationalists dream, a great time to be alive. -Matt Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] From Tobruk: We can depose of the regime ourselves, we don't want foreign intervention
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == A reporter (Stefan Buchen) from German TV (ARD, Tagesschau/Tagesthemen) captured these words from a man in Tobruk -- in my translation to English from German which the reporter or who else translated from Arabic: We are able to deal the death blow to this regime just like the Tunisians and the Egyptians have done. 'We don't want interference from outside, we manage to do it ourselves. http://www.tagesschau.de/multimedia/video/ondemand100_id-video866298.h tml at about minute 2. This was broadcasted in the 20 o'clock news show of last night. Cheers, Lüko Willms Frankfurt, Germany Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] US war plans on the Libyan people taking shape
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == stansfield smith, shallow, phony anti-imperialist troll. Listen, one of my own personal goals in this new revolutionary era that is beginning to open up, is to accomplish the total eradication of a certain trend in the post Russian Revolution socialist left that almost strangled to death revolutionary Marxism. Almost, but I think not quite. There will be scores to settle. That is the honest truth. -Matt Boy, all this talk about the outrages against the people of Libya by Qaddafi just melts away when we are asked to?stand up?against imperialist intervention against them. That's quite a lesson in the phoniness and hypocrasy of the people on this list. Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Norway as an imperialist country ?
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == On Sat, Feb 26, 2011 at 12:08 AM, J L jleftbr...@yahoo.com wrote: == Norway supplies raw materials (oil and gas) to the world economy ; that's why it is rich. Norway actually was colonized by Sweden for much of its history. I would not characterize it as an imperialist country. Jeff The whole obsessive questioning 'is random medium-small country imperialist?' seems both historically backwards and unimaginative. In particular the idea that we should be thinking of imperialism in exclusively or even primarily nation-state terms seems wrong-headed. Geographically imperialism seems today to be defined more by particular centers. Places like New York, Washington DC, London, Brussels, Frankfurt, Tokyo. Perhaps also emerging centers in China, India, and Dubai. Of course there are some countries whose state and military apparatuses play particularly important roles in imperialism, in particular we might think of the US as in some way uniquely imperialist due to its central, though possibly waning role in this whole setup. And yes it is true that there is some level of conflict and competition between different imperialist centers of activity but even so it is a far cry from the sort of inter-state rivalry of nationally-bound capitals that characterized the world of Lenin's day. Is Norway imperialist? In one sense 'no' if you have in mind Norwegian imperialism as being out there in competition with other state-based imperialisms. But in another sense 'yes' as Norway is deeply connected to particular capitalist centers and is part of the EU and NATO, etc which are important imperialist structures. It is part of the capitalist/imperialist 'core' or at least very close and well integrated. In this way it differs from countries like Iran or Venezuela which are capitalist but are also much more peripheral in the overall system. This peripheral character is what has allowed a certain amount of space for the particular political experiments each has undertaken. However, one gets the sense that, worldwide, this sort of space has been rapidly shrinking and that such experiments are increasingly tenuous and difficult to maintain. This is one of the reasons that I think the whole 'campist' approach is likely to founder now in ways that it probably wouldn't have in the past. -dave Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Libya
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == The term sub-imperial has been in use for some time to fill in some of the gaps. But in fact the composition of the core imperialist countries has remained pretty stable. The key sub-imperialist countries are comprised by the BRICs. I don't really understand the question. A key, necessary feature of imperialism is an effective monopoly on the global means of production, which is why it appears that a developed, industrialized country is also always in the imperialist camp. -Matt One issue which puzzles me is the continued persistence of the assumption that the same group of countries that was imperialist a hundred years ago still exclusively comprises the imperialist world today. I can't imagine Lenin or Marx, having such a cramped imagination or understanding as to insist that New Zealand is imperialist, but that no non-white nations aside from Japan can be even considered for such a designation. I have the sense that there's a dawning recognition that China is stepping into imperialist shoes, especially in Africa, but I wouldn't be surprised to see that still debated about a generation hence. Here's a question: can a country be considered industrialized or developed and *not* be imperialist? If not, then de facto, a whole group of nations are either already newly imperialist or are about to become as such. And if so, then the question of living standards and the exploitation of the global South has to go by the wayside to a certain extent. Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] US war plans against Libyan people taking shape
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Matthew Russo wrote: stansfield smith, shallow, phony anti-imperialist troll. Listen, one of my own personal goals in this new revolutionary era that is beginning to open up, is to accomplish the total eradication of a certain trend in the post Russian Revolution socialist left that almost strangled to death revolutionary Marxism. Almost, but I think not quite. There will be scores to settle. That is the honest truth. Fred Feldman comments: I don't make the rules around here, so Matthew Russo is probably in the clear. But I think implicit or explicit threats to settle scores with or eradicate people who hold views the writer doesn't agree with should be banned from the list. Matthew's insistence that this was the honest truth just made matters worse. If Russo feels an irrepressible need to show the world what a tough guy and thug he can be, I suggest he check out the discussion on World Wrestling Entertainment or maybe the National Rifle Association. . Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Libya, phoniness, ad hypocrisy
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Eli wrote Your interpretation suggests that you think the only way the regime will fall is via U.S. intervention which, if it's true, doesn't say much for the Libyan opposition. Eli, the Party of Socialism and Liberation thinks far less of the Libya revolutionary forces than I do. I suggest you re-read the entire article, and not just the equivocating conclusion. The revolt in Libya appears to have started among the long-time opposition to Gaddafi in the city of Benghazi. Initial reports indicated that the movement in Libya was primarily composed of lawyers, judges, doctors and police officers…. the middle-class opposition, which for decades resented Gaddafi’s formerly anti-imperialist stances. The National Front for the Salvation of Libya, an exile group that has been interviewed constantly by foreign media as a leading opposition force, was for decades trained by the CIA Protesters have hoisted Libya’s first national flag, that of the exploitative, U.S.-backed monarch King Idris (1951-1969) over the areas they have seized…. Ok, I get it. The opposition to Gaddafi is led by those who are hostile to the progressive history of Libya and whose exile cheerleaders are on the CIA payroll. Within the country they exhibit a suspicious degree of military sophistication,” and their banner is a symbol Libya’s former domination by imperialism, Check. Of course everything is laboriously qualified but there was one equivocation that particularly ‘struck me: At present, the revolt has not produced any organizational form or leader that would make it possible to characterize it politically Wait a minute here. The Egyptian rising was also marked by the lack of a clear organizational form or leader and that was most definitely characterized positively by the PSL and everybody else. The difference must be that Gaddafi is not a puppet of imperialism like Mubarak was… The article does lack the ringing endorsement of Gaddafi made by Daniel Ortega and the political support Given by Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez, but its political conclusion is the same . All that really matters now is to prepare for a battle against US military intervention which is the call issued by Fidel. The regime is being destabilized by imperialism for the reasons described below. While the U.S. policymakers dream about owning Libya outright, and replacing Gaddafi with a client regime, their main concern is now, as it has always been, stable and guaranteed control over Middle East oil resources. To the extent Washington becomes more “pro-active” against Libya, it will mean they have devised a plan—or found someone better—to do that job. What? I thought the invasion plans were already In m otion and it was time to start screaming hey hey, ho ho outside of some federal building. Regardless, the partners of imperialism as described in Libya are the forces advancing on Tripoli and whether the American military or NATO or a lawyer from Benghazi administers the coup de grace the result will be the same. The article is a mess and tries to be on both sides of a developing revolutionary situation at the same time. Take a side comrade. Castro, Ortega, and Chavez have for the same reasons the PSL advances but then won’t commit to. Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Norway as an imperialist country ?
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == On Sat, Feb 26, 2011 at 3:45 AM, Patrick Bond pb...@mail.ngo.za wrote: From where I write, South Durban in South Africa, the Norwegian regime - which is the North's most left ruling party combo, I think - appears a vanguard of imperialism in the area of climate damage, energy politics and the commodfication of the air: http://links.org.au/node/2008 Indeed. It is very interesting how imperialism has has developed these geographical functional specifications. -dave Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Arhundati Roy on the struggle in Libya
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == The point is well made. But aren't those the views of Willi Langthaler, the writer, responding to Arundhati Roy, who said she was anxious about the support the rebellions enjoy in the western media? -Original Message- From: marxism-bounces+rfidler_8=sympatico...@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu [mailto:marxism-bounces+rfidler_8=sympatico...@greenhouse.economics.ut ah.edu] On Behalf Of sobuadha...@hushmail.com Sent: February 26, 2011 11:18 AM To: rfidle...@sympatico.ca Subject: [Marxism] Arhundati Roy on the struggle in Libya Excerpts from an interview with the Anti-Imperialist Camp discussing Western media support for the insurgents in Libya. http://www.antiimperialista.org/en/node/6844 However, support by the western media machinery won't automatically create a pro-western movement. Of course there are forces in Libya-as well as in Egypt and in Tunisia-who seek salvation in the west, but the main forces of the rebellion are the middle and lower classes, and they combine democratic demands with social and anti-imperialist demands. This also seems to be the case in Libya, where the average standard of living is much higher than in other Maghreb countries, but just as in the oil monarchies of the Gulf, the oil rent is distributed in a very unequal way and political power is monopolised. The rebellion is thus absolutely legitimate, even though it is not motivated by hunger as it is in Egypt.. The jubilations of the western media are very myopic and misplaced indeed, maybe delusional. They are hoping for a colour revolution like those staged in eastern Europe, but the Arab world has been the victim of 150 years of brutal colonialism and neo-colonialism, permanent Israeli aggression, numerous US-led wars, neoliberal pillage decorated with pro-western oil princes who flaunt a Disney Arabia to the starving masses. A few rabid liberal democracy criers won't be enough to turn around the legitimate hatred of the masses against the west which has been nurtured for generations. In the Middle East and in the Arab world, democracy means anti-imperialism. Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Anti-imperialist Fallacies
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == The chief of which is that imperialism WAS NOT intervening in Libya prior to the present uprising. In fact, as has been amply documented on this list, that intervention was occurring via the good offices of the progressive Gaddfi regime. It's a strange concept of imperialism that sees intervention as a purely military phenomenon, when most of the time it intervenes by peaceful means. It is also a notion of imperialism that is alien to the Leninist concept, with all of its theoretical gaps and shortcomings. But what were all those thousands of Americans and Europeans doing in Libya in the first place? Therefore it is also fallacious to counterpose criticizing Gaddafi with a supposedly correct anti-imperialist posture. The correct anti-imperialist stand was to attack the decisive neo-liberal turn of the Gaddafi regime 10 years ago: how's that for opposition in advance? Yet one strains their ears to hear such criticisms from the camp of our socialist political opponents on this list. Thus the anti-Gaddafi revolt appears as an annoying inconvenience to imperialism, requiring a shift in mode of intervention - not a new intervention. Perhaps they can turn this into a new opportunity, but right now they strike me as less than enthusiastic. In the final analysis, the anti-imperialism of our opponents is but empty posturing, a cover for their anxiety over the fate of some historic Latin American currents they've aligned themselves with as the center of their little world. The rest of us can begin by criticizing the Chinese-style neo-liberal turn of the Cuban CP NOW, in advance, for as a neo-liberal turn is is also a turn TOWARDS imperialism. -Matt Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] All quiet in Tripoli -- today's NYT on protests, revolts, and other CIA plots
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == More totally made up CIA propaganda against the revolutionary hero Gadhafi, who has richly earned - we can all agree - the love and total devotion that he is receiving from the Libyan people. In fact, there is no such place as Tripoli. By the way, one of King Idris' descendants-in-exile has endorsed the revolt, proving that it is all a plot to restore the monarchy! Of one thing you can be sure. It's definitely not a real popular revolt if anyone who is not a militant leftist revolutionary endorses it. Fred Feldman February 26, 2011 Long Bread Lines and Open Revolt in Libya's Capital By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/k/david_d_kirkpa trick/index.html?inline=nyt-per TRIPOLI, Libya - A bold effort by Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/q/muammar_el_qad dafi/index.html?inline=nyt-per to prove that he was firmly in control of Libya appeared to backfire Saturday as foreign journalists he invited to the capital discovered blocks of the city in open revolt. Witnesses described snipers and antiaircraft guns firing at unarmed civilians, and security forces were removing the dead and wounded from streets and hospitals, apparently in an effort to hide the mounting toll. When government-picked drivers escorted journalists on tours of the city on Saturday morning, the evidence of the extent of the unrest was unmistakable. Workers were still hastily painting over graffiti calling Colonel Qaddafi a bloodsucker or demanding his ouster. Just off the tour route were long bread lines where residents said they were afraid to be seen talking to journalists. And though heavily armed checkpoints dominated some precincts of the city, in other neighborhoods the streets were blocked by makeshift barricades of broken televisions, charred tree trunks and cinder blocks left over from protests and street fights the night before. I have seen more than 68 people killed, said a doctor who gave his name only as Hussein. But the people who have died, they don't leave them in the same place. We have seen them taking them in the Qaddafi cars, and nobody knows where they are taking the people who have died. He added, Even the ones with just a broken hand or something they are taking away. In some ways, the mixed results of Colonel Qaddafi's publicity stunt - opening the curtains to the world with great fanfare, even though the stage is in near-chaotic disarray - is an apt metaphor for the increasingly untenable situation in the country. On Friday, before the journalists arrived, his forces put down a demonstration in the capital only after firing on the protesters. There were reports that an armed rebel force was approaching the city on Saturday, but Colonel Qaddafi's forces are believed to have blocked the way at the city of Surt, a stronghold of his tribe. He is no longer in full control of the countryside either. Rebels now control about half the populous Mediterranean coast, including the strategic towns of Zawiyah and Misurata, not far from the capital and near important oil facilities. But Tripoli is home to a third of Libya's roughly six million people. Colonel Qaddafi and his special militias have unleashed enough firepower here that it may enable them to keep a firm grasp on the city for some time to come, raising vexing questions about just how the standoff might end. Until Friday night, Colonel Qaddafi's government had imposed a complete ban on foreign journalists, had shut down most Internet access, had confiscated cellphone chips and camera memory cards from those leaving the border, and had done whatever it could to prevent unauthorized images of the unrest here from leaving the country. But he reversed himself on Thursday when his son Seif al-Islam el-Qaddafi http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/q/seif_alislam_e l_qaddafi/index.html?inline=nyt-per said Libya would now welcome the foreign news media and officials began figuring out how to issue visas when many of its embassies abroad had already defected to the rebels. When foreign journalists arrived Friday night, the airport looked like a refugee camp, with thousands jammed into the halls awaiting flights out of the country. Many customs and security officials wore hospital masks in fear of contracting some disease among the hordes. In a midnight news conference for journalists assembled in the luxurious Rixos Hotel, where bread and other food was plentiful, the younger Mr. Qaddafi, dressed in a dark zip-up sweater, acknowledged for the first time the extent of the rebellion, confirming reports that rebels had control of Zawiyah and Misurata despite concerted attempts over the last two days to dislodge them.
[Marxism] Really Bad Reporting in Wisconsin – Who “Contributes” to Public Workers’ Pensions?
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Really Bad Reporting in Wisconsin – Who “Contributes” to Public Workers’ Pensions? David Cay Johnston – Feb. 24, 2011 When it comes to improving public understanding of tax policy, nothing has been more troubling than the deeply flawed coverage of the Wisconsin state employees' fight over collective bargaining. Economic nonsense is being reported as fact in most of the news reports on the Wisconsin dispute, the product of a breakdown of skepticism among journalists multiplied by their lack of understanding of basic economic principles. Gov. Scott Walker says he wants state workers covered by collective bargaining agreements to contribute more to their pension and health insurance plans. Accepting Gov. Walker' s assertions as fact, and failing to check, created the impression that somehow the workers are getting something extra, a gift from taxpayers. They are not. Out of every dollar that funds Wisconsin' s pension and health insurance plans for state workers, 100 cents comes from the state workers. full* *-* http://tax.com/taxcom/taxblog.nsf/Permalink/UBEN-8EDJYS?OpenDocument* Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Fidel: The cynical /danse macabre/ -- more on Libya and the danger of imperialist intervention
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == FYI -- for your information cut --- Reflections by Comrade Fidel THE CYNICAL DANSE MACABRE The policy of plundering imposed by the United States and their NATO allies in the Middle East has gone into a crisis. It has inevitably unravelled with the high cost of grains, the effects of which can be felt more forcefully in the Arab countries where, in spite of their huge resources of oil, the shortage of water, areas covered by desert and the generalized poverty of the people contrast with the enormous resources coming from the oil possessed by the privileged sectors. While food prices triple, real estate fortunes and the treasures of the aristocratic minority reach millions of millions of dollars. The Arab world, mainly Muslim in its culture and beliefs, has seen itself additionally humiliated by the imposition of blood and fire by a State that was not capable of fulfilling the basic obligations that were part of their origin, from the colonial order existing up to the end of WW II, by virtue of which the victorious powers created the United Nations Organization and imposed world trade and economy. Thanks to the treason committed by Anwar El-Sadat at Camp David, the Palestinian State has not been able to exist, despite the UN treaties of November 1947, and Israel became a strong nuclear power, an ally of the United States and NATO. The US Military Industrial Complex supplied Israel with tens of billions of dollars every year as well as to the very Arab States that were submitted and being humiliated by Israel. The genie has escaped from the bottle and NATO doesn't know how to control it. They are going to attempt to wrest the most benefits from the regrettable events in Libya. Nobody can know at this moment what is happening over there. All the figures and versions, even the most implausible ones, have been spread by the empire via the mass media, sowing chaos and disinformation. It is obvious that inside Libya a civil war is brewing. Why and how did this happen? Who will pay the consequences? Reuters Agency, echoing the opinion of the well-known Nomura Bank of Japan, stated that oil prices could go beyond any limits: 'If Libya and Algeria suspend oil production, prices could reach a maximum of more than 220 dollars a barrel and OPEC's inactive capacity would be reduced to 2.1 million barrels per day, similar to levels seen during the Gulf War and when values touched 147 dollars a barrel in 2008', the bank asserted in an article. Who could pay that price these days? What would be the consequences in the midst of the food crisis? The main NATO leaders are all worked up. British Prime Minister David Cameron, ANSA informed, .admitted in a speech in Kuwait that the western nations made a mistake in backing non-democratic governments in the Arab world. One has to congratulate him on his frankness. His French colleague Nicolas Sarkozy stated: The extended brutal and bloody repression of the Libyan civilian population is disgusting. Italian Chancellor Franco Frattini stated as 'believable' the figure of one thousand dead in Tripoli [.] 'the tragic numbers shall be a bloodbath'. Hillary Clinton stated the following: .the 'bloodbath' is 'completely unacceptable' and 'it has to stop'. Ban Ki-moon spoke: 'The use of violence in the country is absolutely unacceptable'. .'the Security Council will act according to whatever the international community decides'. 'We are considering a series of options'. What Ban Ki-moon is really hoping is that Obama pronounces the last word. The president of the United States spoke this Wednesday afternoon and stated that the Secretary of State would be leaving for Europe in order to agree with their NATO allies on the measures to be taken. On his face once could note the opportunity to spar with John McCain, the far-right-wing Republican senator, pro-Israel Senator Joseph Lieberman from Connecticut and the leaders of the Tea Party, in order to ensure the Democratic Party demands. The empire's mass media has prepared the terrain for action. There would be nothing strange about a military intervention in Libya; besides, with that, Europe would be guaranteed almost two million barrels of light oil per day, unless before that events would put an end to the leadership or the life of Gaddafi. Anyway, Obama's role is rather complicated. What will the reaction of the Arab and Muslim world be if blood should flow in abundance in that country as a result of that exploit? Would NATO intervention in Libya stem the revolutionary tidal wave surging in Egypt? In Iraq, the innocent blood of more than a million Arab citizens was spilt when the country was invaded under false
[Marxism] (FT) Britain, Gadhafi: No Line in the Sand
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Financial Times http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/198e48b4-411a-11e0-bf62-00144feabdc0.html Britain and Libya: No line in the sand By James Blitz and Lina Saigol Published: February 25 2011 21:56 | Last updated: February 25 2011 21:56 Stood near a Bedouin tent outside Tripoli on Wednesday March 24 2004, Tony Blair offered what he called the hand of friendship to Muammer Gaddafi. That five-second handshake with the Libyan leader was one of the most remarkable moments in Mr Blairs decade-long premiership and in the recent history of the Middle East. For years, Col Gaddafi had been the pariah of the western world, the man US President Ronald Reagan dubbed the mad dog of the Middle East, the instigator of terrorist attacks across Europe. Yet here was Britains charismatic leader standing alongside him, declaring that the whole world would benefit from Libya becoming a strong partner of the west. EDITORS CHOICE Gaddafi forces open fire on protesters - Feb-25.Chinese oil interests attacked in Libya - Feb-24.Editorial: Time to muzzle Libyas mad dog - Feb-24.Libya refugees flee to Malta - Feb-24.Libya regime admits 300 dead in uprising - Feb-23.Editorial: EU - the feeble monster - Feb-23..That handshake quickly came to be known as the deal in the desert. Col Gaddafi promised to cease sowing terror, in return for which international oil companies would help him extract Libyas huge oil reserves. But seven years on, the deal seems like a cynical and ill-judged act in the eyes of many Britons. In the past seven days, Col Gaddafi has emerged once again as the abominable figure he once some would say always was. As he prepared for what may be his last stand in Tripoli, he called on mercenaries to shoot ordinary Libyans protesting against his 41-year rule, whom he calls rats and cockroaches. He has used helicopter gunships to massacre his countrymen from the skies. In a tirade this week, he threatened to cleanse Libya house by house to keep himself in power. Many in Britain now wonder how on earth their government could have contemplated doing business with this man. To be fair, the UK is not the only nation that has cosied up to the colonel. After he renounced terrorism in 2003, several sought to do business with the despot. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has backed him to such a degree that trade between Italy and Libya is today eight times that between Tripoli and the UK. Unlike his British counterparts, President Nicolas Sarkozy of France has received Col Gaddafi in his capital city, where the Bedouin tent was set up within sight of the Elysée palace. The US, Brazil, Germany have all rushed to do business with his regime. Yet some argue there was something unusually intimate craven, even about the political and business relationship between London and Libya. You cannot exaggerate the role that Blair and Britain played in bringing Gaddafi in from the cold, says Professor Fawaz Gerges of the London School of Economics. In 2004, Gaddafi was still a maverick someone dismissed as an insane, babbling idiot by most serious people. By allowing Gaddafi to rebrand himself, Blair sacrificed principle at the altar of economic gain. The rest of British business duly followed. In spite of the mayhem now being visited on Libya, architects of the deal in the desert maintain it was the right thing to do. In the 30 years before the event, Col Gaddafi had been a serious threat to western security, supporting the Irish Republican Army with weapons and instigating the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am airliner over Lockerbie in Scotland that killed 270 people. Yet Jack Straw, foreign secretary at the time of the deal, insists it was a valuable prize because the Libyan leader surrendered weapons of mass destruction that included important elements of a nuclear programme. The situation on the ground in Libya is difficult enough today, he says. But imagine what it would be like now if he had gone on developing that nuclear capability over the last seven years. We would be dealing with an autocrat of questionable mental stability in charge of a nuclear weapons system. This seems to be forgotten by many people. Others, however, question this argument. Sir Menzies Campbell, former Liberal Democrat leader, accepts there was a clear benefit in convincing Col Gaddafi to surrender WMD. But once this had been secured, he believes, UK government and business leaders were too quick to embrace him. We should have been far more sober and fastidious in the way we dealt with Gaddafi after that, keeping a tough restriction on arms sales and holding him to account on his human rights record, he says. Prof Gerges is more blunt. Business interests were dominant from the very start, he says. We needed to make
Re: [Marxism] All quiet in Tripoli -- today's NYT on protests, revolts, and other CIA plots
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Bang on, Fred!! And don't forget those flags. The official flag of Qaddafi's Libya -- all green, for Islam and the Green Book -- is nowhere to be seen in the photos of mass demonstrations; instead, they are waving the flag of King Idris, of the Kingdom of Libya! (Monarchists, indeed!) Which just happens, of course, to be the first flag of independent Libya, adopted in the early 1950s (in case anyone raises this again): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Libya. ;-) Richard -Original Message- From: marxism-bounces+rfidler_8=sympatico...@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu [mailto:marxism-bounces+rfidler_8=sympatico...@greenhouse.economics.ut ah.edu] On Behalf Of Fred Feldman More totally made up CIA propaganda against the revolutionary hero Gadhafi, who has richly earned - we can all agree - the love and total devotion that he is receiving from the Libyan people. In fact, there is no such place as Tripoli. By the way, one of King Idris' descendants-in-exile has endorsed the revolt, proving that it is all a plot to restore the monarchy! Of one thing you can be sure. It's definitely not a real popular revolt if anyone who is not a militant leftist revolutionary endorses it. Fred Feldman February 26, 2011 Long Bread Lines and Open Revolt in Libya's Capital By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/k/david_d_ kirkpa trick/index.html?inline=nyt-per TRIPOLI, Libya - A bold effort by Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/q/muammar_ el_qad dafi/index.html?inline=nyt-per to prove that he was firmly in control of Libya appeared to backfire Saturday as foreign journalists he invited to the capital discovered blocks of the city in open revolt. [clip] Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] glorious Spring
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Gee. Manuel. It's a good thing you're not trying to catch anybody out and denounce them for deviant politics. I stand by what I actually wrote. If anybody can read that and come away seriously saying that it wasn't about who was wielding power, they should pass the bong ML Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] All quiet in Tripoli -- today's NYT on protests, revolts, and other CIA plots
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Bang on, Fred!! And don't forget those flags. The official flag of Qaddafi's Libya -- all green, for Islam and the Green Book -- is nowhere to be seen in the photos of mass demonstrations; instead, they are waving the flag of King Idris, of the Kingdom of Libya! (Monarchists, indeed!) Which just happens, of course, to be the first flag of independent Libya, adopted in the early 1950s (in case anyone raises this again): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Libya. ;-) Actually, as Louis has pointed out, and there's a link in the archives, the red, black and green flag with the star and crescent is NOT the flag of King Idris at all. It is the flag of Libya, which was then the Kingdom of Libya, which the rsistance fought under when resisting the Italian fascists. The flag of King Idris is an all black field with the creascent and star, which are of course common Islamic images. Cheers, John Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] United Left Alliance Expects to Win 4 Seats in Irish Parliament
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == The Socialist Party of Ireland's Joe Higgins was elected to the Irish Parliament (the Dail) on the United Left Alliance ticket, and expects at least three other ULA candidates to join him to form a relentless, unremitting opposition in the next Dail: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2011/0226/breaking57.html Higgins expects four seats for ULA Elected Socialist Party MEP Joe Higgins expects United Left Alliance candidates to gain four seats, with the possibility of a fifth, allowing it to form a relentless, unremitting opposition in the next Dáil. Mr Higgins, who was elected on the third count in Dublin West, expects his Socialist Party colleague Clare Daly to be elected in Dublin North, with possible gains for the ULA in Dublin South Central and Tipperary South. Richard Boyd Barrett is fighting for the last seat in Dún Laoghaire. Speaking at the Dublin West count centre in Coolmine, Mr Higgins said he was pleased with the new advances made today for the socialist alternative. He described it as a new development in Irish politics and said the Socialist Party would be discussions with fellow ULA candidates about forming a new movement. Obviously there will be many discussions but we in the Socialist Party would be of a mind that there is a huge vacuum on the left. There is a need for a new movement to represent the working class in its widest sense - the public sector, the private sector, pensioners and young people. We will now set our minds to that with our colleagues in the United Left Alliance and others about launching a new movement, he said. We will be putting up the real opposition and the real alternative, not just inside the Dáil, but outside as well. I anticipate movements of people power, movements of workers, movements in communities in opposition to new attacks that will come - perhaps water charges, perhaps a home tax - that these new parties are committed to, which are all simply more burdens on working class people. Mr Higgins was the third candidate to be elected in Dublin West, following Labour's Joan Burton, who was elected on the first count, and Fine Gael's Leo Varadkar who was elected on the second count. Fianna Fáil's Brian Lenihan is poised to take the fourth and final seat. Mr Higgins said it would be a monstrous betrayal were ULA candidates to offer support to the Fine Gael government. No way would we contemplate any such thing. Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Report from the Battle for Wisconsin
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Live feed from the capital http://www.ustream.tv/channel/afl-cio-2010-rally Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Nir Rosen - What this means for Israel and Iran
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == What this means for Israel and Iranhttp://nirrosen.tumblr.com/post/3510120373/what-this-means-for-israel-and-iran Nir Rosen clip – So all this revolution business is not good for Iran for two reasons. The obvious one is that Iran may also be caught up in the wave of popular revolutions sweeping the region. Regardless of what happens inside Iran, it seems quite likely that Iran will lose much of its influence if Egypt regains any of its natural role in the Arab world. Iran had influence in part because nobody else was carrying the flag of Palestine or anti imperialism but if Egypt returns to an Arab nationalist foreign policy and is no longer collaborating with Israel or under the American or Saudi sway then Iran is a big loser. This will also somewhat reduce Hizballah’s regional popularity, they are limited by being a religious Shiite movement (even if everybody loves Seyid Hassan’s speeches and loves the resistance for defeating Israel). The rise of a more independent Turkish foreign policy was already chipping away at Iranian influence (because in the end Iran is Shiite and unfortunately that matters, at least Turkey is Sunni even if too is non-Arab), but now Egypt is unshackled from Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United States (it seems clear from today that the Egyptian demonstrators will not settle for cosmetic changes) and the demonstrators have made their hostility to Israel very clear in their slogans and in their response to Qaradawi’s sermon, so with Arab nationalism reborn Iranian influence will wain. There will be new political and military elites rising up and they will not necessarily be the ones with long standing ties to the Israelis, the Americans, the Saudis. And if you have a more independent and Arab nationalist Egypt it will limit the Saudi ability to meddle in the region. This is good because Saudi money thwarts progress, democracy, development. A nationalist Egypt (as opposed to one that collaborates with Israel and America) means that other Arab countries will have to follow or at least be less collaborationist. It will mean that Jordan will not necessarily accomodate Israel or the Palestinian Authority as much (the Jordanians and senior Fatah leadership dont trust each other much anyway). So Israel is losing its regional partners. And do not think for a second that the revolutions in Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, Libya, and throughout the region are purely economic. They are also deeply political. No new regime that is based on popular will is going to be friendly to Israel. Everybody hates Israel. Just look at whats been happening to Turkey since it became more of a genuine democracy. And listen to what Egyptian demonstrators were chanting about Israel (hint- they want to liberate Palestine). full article - * http://nirrosen.tumblr.com/post/3510120373/what-this-means-for-israel-and-iran?utm_source=Mondoweiss+Listutm_campaign=5cf1e2cf35-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGNutm_medium=email * Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Shoppers Wary of GM Foods Find They're Everywhere
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == [I send this article that just came my way, although mindful of the preemption of discussion right now on this list due to the activity in the middle east and Wisconsin. It's a rapidly spreading phenomenon and another pernicious long-term effect of capital accumulation - the food we eat and its maltreatment. What I remembered when I read this article about the absence of harmful effects of GMO imported into our food are the following: 1) that a few years ago Monsanto was seeking approval of importing a DNA trait of a type of fish across species into the DNA of strawberries in order to utilize the freeze-resistant properties of fish in keeping strawberries from freezing - and the implications entailed; 2) that other countries are successfully managing to keep GMO foods from their farms and markets; 3) that most of the research on the non-harmfulness of GMO food comes from Monsanto labs and Monsanto-commissioned studies, which the USDA and FDA accept as reliable even though not peer-reviewed, nor adequately tested in crucial unexplored or unknown health variables and side-effects over a period of years before it is imposed on consumers; 4) that this process was in no way a response to consumer demand but was foisted on us with considerations of profitability foremost; 5) that Monsanto in the 80s successfully lobbied the GHW Bush administration to steamroll approval of GMO in principle without adequate research or public input; 6) that Monsanto personnel have regularly matriculated between corporate board and regulatory agencies (there are many instances documented of Monsanto executives moving to USDA and FDA, even Mickey Kantor as international trade representative) - and back), and that they successfully lobby and bankroll legislative federal and state election campaigns eliminating government opposition and provision of objective oversight on GMO; 7) that Monsanto and a few compeer cohorts like Basel-based Syngenta are seeking oligarchic control of virtually every aspect of agricultural production, from seed, pesticide and fertilizer to marketing of finished (processed) product; 8) that drift of GMO pollen and seed, bird-and-air-borne, is contaminating organic fields, making it impossible to grow non-GMO-infested produce, and to have alternative foods that are truly organic; 9) that insect resistance to pesticides such as Monsanto's Roundup is well-documented and inevitable, unnecessarily and irreversibly distorting natural growth processes; 10) that US government approval of extending GMO to salmon is pending approval, paving the way to entry of GMOs into every species of plant and animal, so that all marketed foodstuffs will be contaminated with GMO; 11) that comparison of varietal cross-breeding within species to enhance crop characteristics, to genetically engineered crops is an apples/ oranges exercise: the latter is transgenic, incorporating genes from alien sources, with very different compositional correlates and therefore unknown long-term consequences; 12) that even labeling of GMO-containing food to respect consumers' choice is being blocked in the US by this powerful industry; 13) that domestic and world-wide protest against the presence of GMO in our diets has been, with a few exceptions pretty much after the fact such as this article, virtually unmentioned in US media.] - - - - - Published on Friday, February 25, 2011 by the Associated Press http://www.ap.org Shoppers Wary of GM Foods Find They're Everywhere by Mary Clare Jalonick You may not want to eat genetically engineered foods. Chances are, you are eating them anyway. Genetically modified plants grown from seeds engineered in labs now provide much of the food we eat. Most corn, soybean and cotton crops grown in the United States have been genetically modified to resist pesticides or insects, and corn and soy are common food ingredients. The Agriculture Department has approved three more genetically engineered crops in the past month, and the Food and Drug Administration could approve fast-growing genetically modified salmon for human consumption this year. Agribusiness and the seed companies say their products help boost crop production, lower prices at the grocery store and feed the world, particularly in developing countries. The FDA and USDA say the engineered foods they've approved are safe --- so safe, they don't even need to be labeled as such --- and can't be significantly distinguished from conventional varieties. Organic food companies, chefs and consumer groups have stepped up their efforts --- so far, unsuccessfully --- to get the government to exercise more oversight of engineered foods, arguing the seeds are floating
[Marxism] Superb take-down of Peter Ackerman
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == http://quotha.net/node/1570 Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Democracy means...
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == ...never having to say they are sorry as they shoot you. A bloody day today in Iraq, but that's OK, its the will of the people - except that they forgot to add that it was the American democracy and the American people who willed it, for sure in the 2004 elections. A neat synopsis from Angry Arab: How US media cover occupied Iraq: some observations First, notice that US media, especially the New York Times and Washington Post, cover Iraq with barely a mention that the country is occupied and has been occupied since 2003. Secondly, notice that every article about repression and protests in Iraq has to mention that the country is a democracy as if to express amazement at the willingness of Iraqis to protest against it (this is today's NYT: Unlike protests elsewhere in the region, the crowds in this young, war-torn democracy did not call for an entirely new form of government...). Notice that the murder and repression by Iraqi puppet forces are always justified: (in the NYT today it said that people died from clashes: Iraq’s “day of rage” on Friday ended with nearly 20 protesters killed in clashes with security forces.). Thirdly, notice that any protests against the occupation and its puppet forces are instantly conflated with Al-Qa`idah terrorism (this is from today's NYT: But on Friday, he celebrated the fact that there had been no suicide bombings. Their absence was perhaps a fluke, but it suggested that heavy security restrictions... I mean, why should they link the protests to suicide bombings? Unless they are implying--like the sectarian puppet, Al-Maliki, that Bin Laden was behind the protests--just like Qadhdhafi has claimed in Libya). Fourthly, there is no opportunity missed to heap praise on puppet Iraqi repression forces. (Upon learning that some 20 protesters were killed, this is what a US commander has said: Col. Barry A. Johnson, a spokesman for the United States military, said Iraq’s security forces appeared to respond well to the volatile, sometimes violent, crowds. “The Iraqi forces’ response appeared professional and restrained,” he said in an e-mail.). Fifthly, It is hard for US media to accept this, but Iraqis and Arabs in general in particular never treat Iraq as a democracy. It is never treated like a model to emulate. If anything, there is wide contempt for a republic jointly run by an obscurantist Ayatullah in cooperation with US and Iran. Nuri Al-Maliki is seen, rightly, like any other tyrant, no matter if he has sectarian support by virtue of the corrupt sectarian system that the US has set up there. In his speech the other day warning against protests, Al-Maliki sounded like Saddam warning ominously against suspicious forces. In fact, his rhetoric is a replica of that of Qadhdhafi. Sixthly, the absurd myth that Iraqi Kurdistan is a heaven and haven, is shattered by the daily protests and repression there is still being promoted and for that the coverage of protests there is scant. Seventhly, the nature of non-sectarian protests is ignored because Bush taught them that you can only speak of sects in Iraq. [This is why they want to hurry the transition to democracy so they can unleash the repression without reservation or apology] -Matt Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] glorious Spring
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == No apology necessary, Manuel. I didn't intend my response to sound more techy than bemused at the two of us bantering about power, when we both know we mean the same thing. Tell you what, though. If we were in the streets, you could say tomato and I'll say tomato...but we'll rest assured that we'll both be throwing at the same target. Yrs, Mark Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Toward Palestine's 'Mubarak moment' - Opinion - Al Jazeera English#
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == The PA was a trap for the Palestinian people that has worked wonderfully for Israel with the toadying cooperation of the corrupt Fatah leadership This is an an important contribution to the discussion of the way forward for the Palestinian struggle taking inspiration from the Tunisian Egyptian and Libyan struggles http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/02/2011224141158174266.html -- Shared using Google Toolbar Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
