[Marxism] Revolution and counter revolution in Syria: A reply to R.L. Stephens

[John Reimann via Marxism]

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"

*Note: We attempted to get this article, plus a shortened version of the
same article, published on the DSA blog site as a reply to an article by
R.L. Stephens, who is also the editor of that site. So far, the editor has
not published it, so we are doing so here.*

In the summer of 2017, the US Department of Defense’s Strategic Studies
institute published a report called “At Our Own Peril”
 in which they
outlined the global threats facing US capitalism. A central feature of
those threats as these strategists for US imperialism saw it, involved both
the rise of the Islamic State and the threat of the Arab Spring –
tendencies which they say emanate from the Arab world but may “metastasize”.

In other words, these strategists for US capitalism see the crisis in Syria
as being at the center of the political crisis of world capitalism. They
may be right. That is why it is crucially important that socialists
understand the nature of this crisis. Unfortunately, the article
written by R.L. Stephens of the DSA NPC
gets it wrong on almost every count.

.
Like much of the left, R.L. Stephens largely pictures the situation as an
inter-imperialist rivalry. He also sees the position of US imperialism as
being similar to that in Iraq, as being a position of “regime change”. This
is entirely mistaken.


*“Regime Change” or Assadism without Assad?*The example of Egypt is
instructive: When the Arab Spring first arose, the position of the US
regime at first was to support Mubarak. Quite quickly, Obama saw Mubarak as
being an obstacle to capitalist stability and called for him to step down.
In Syria, things were a little more complex but essentially the same. That
was why Obama called for Assad to step down, but what he never ever did was
in any way call for “regime change”. In other words, similar to in Egypt,
what the US regime wanted was “Assadism” without Assad. They never had any
intention of carrying out the sort of regime change purge that they carried
out in Iraq."

see full article here:
https://oaklandsocialist.com/2018/05/19/revolution-and-counter-revolution-in-syria-a-reply-to-r-l-stephens/
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[Marxism] The Markles versus the British Tabloids

[Richard Modiano via Marxism]

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On this felicitous occasion we should not be tarnishing the Royal image by
implying they can get by on a miserly purse of £ 100 k a month. Currently
they rake in just over £ 3 million a month, tax free, levied as direct
taxation from working people.

Fortunately this breadline existence is topped up by a healthy £ 321
million p.a. income from the "Crown Estate" (assets that 'go with the job'
e.g. farm rents, harbor moorings and fishery licences). That amount is
rising rapidly. Profits are expected to rise to as much as £450 million by
2020. Lucrative new sources of money include offshore wind farm developers,
who must pay the Crown Estate for the rights to the seabed around Britain's
shoreline out to a distance of 12 miles. There are already 436 turbines
around the 7,700-mile coastline and the number is expected to exceed 6,000
within a decade.

The 'Royals' are smiling politely and waving condescendingly all the way to
the bank. Where do you think the accounting term* royalties *came from?

Richard Modiano
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[Marxism] Nakba as seen from Yarmouk: 'When we return to Palestine, we will take the camp with us' | Middle East Eye

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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http://www.middleeasteye.net/columns/nakba-70-palestinians-suffering-will-not-end-until-they-can-go-home-1669650866
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[Marxism] Mapping Who Lives in Border Patrol's '100-Mile Zone' - CityLab

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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https://www.citylab.com/equity/2018/05/who-lives-in-border-patrols-100-mile-zone-probably-you-mapped/558275/
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[Marxism] Erasing The Naqba is an essential part of the Zionist falsification of history

[Dennis Brasky via Marxism]

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http://mondoweiss.net/2018/05/zionism-intertwined-palestinians/
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[Marxism] First Reformed | Louis Proyect: The Unrepentant Marxist

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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For most film buffs, the movie “Taxi Driver” and the name Martin 
Scorsese are inextricably linked. But for me, the essence of a film is 
the screenplay. It all goes back to Aristotle who in defining tragedy in 
“Poetics” placed plot and character at the top of the six necessary 
ingredients (the other four are diction, thought, spectacle, and 
melody). Martin Scorsese did not write the screenplay for “Taxi Driver”. 
It was written by Paul Schrader, who also wrote “Raging Bull”. If there 
is anything that defines these masterpieces, it is the brilliant 
storytelling (plot) and character development of the screenplay (think 
Travis Bickle and Jake LaMotta). Scorsese deserves credit for helping 
Robert De Niro fully realize two memorable characters and creating the 
spellbinding background against which they stand (think of spectacle as 
cinematography and melody as film score) but without Schrader’s 
screenplay, it would have been all for naught.


In addition to being a screenwriter, Schrader was also a 
director—sometimes with mixed results. I am pleased to report that his 
latest film that opens nationwide today is not only his greatest 
achievement but one of the great American films of the decade. “First 
Reformed” tells the story of Toller (Ethan Hawke), the grief-stricken 
pastor of the eponymous upstate N.Y. Protestant church who delivers 
sermons to less than ten people on an average Sunday. The drawing card 
for the church is not spirituality, but its status as a landmark 
building that draws tourists, including some that can be persuaded to 
buy a coffee cup, baseball cap or t-shirt from the church’s tiny 
souvenir shop.


full: https://louisproyect.org/2018/05/18/first-reformed/
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[Marxism] Have Recent Events Sounded the Death Knell for Iran’s Regional Project?

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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It’s been a rough past few months for Iran’s Velayat-e faqih, Supreme 
Leader, Ali Hosseni Khamenei, and his personal army, the IRGC’s Al Quds 
Force, as well as its ambitious and increasingly edgy leader, General 
Qassim Solemani.


Across the region, from Yemen on the Persian Gulf to Hamas on the 
Mediterranean Sea, many supporters of the “Resistance Axis” are pulling 
back their support, believing it to be fraudulent. Another reason is 
that the region’s civilian population are realizing that Syria’s Civil 
War will not be ending anytime soon as rebels and Islamists rebuild 
their forces and Syria’s army is once again nearly depleted and women 
are once again being conscripted.


The people in this region are becoming tired of Iran’s project and its 
cost in human lives and treasury, not least of whom are the civilian 
populations of Iran, Yemen, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Syria, and 
Lebanon not to mention Russian officials and elements of the Assad regime.


full: 
https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/05/18/have-recent-events-sounded-the-death-knell-for-irans-regional-project/

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[Marxism] Wild at Heart: Keeping Up With Margie Kidder

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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Jeff St. Clair on Margot Kidder.

https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/05/18/wild-at-heart-keeping-up-with-margie-kidder/
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[Marxism] Joseph Daher interview with Ela Liberta: “The Syrian Revolution and the Emancipation of the Palestinians and the Kurds” | Syria Freedom Forever – سوريا الحرية للأبد

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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https://syriafreedomforever.wordpress.com/2018/05/17/interview-with-ela-liberta-the-syrian-revolution-and-the-emancipation-of-the-palestinians-and-the-kurds/
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[Marxism] Dangerous Liaison: Industrial Agriculture and the Reductionist Mindset

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/05/18/dangerous-liaison-industrial-agriculture-and-the-reductionist-mindset/
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[Marxism] Obit to PFLP activist killed kin Israeli murder spree

[Philip Ferguson via Marxism]

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Redline's obit to Ahmad al-Adaini:

https://rdln.wordpress.com/2018/05/18/ahmad-abdullah-abdullah-al-adaini-1981-2018/
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