In his recent interview with RT, Lavrov reviewed some of the many seemingly missed opportunities to solve the issue of Palestine, most of those he reviewed being within the last 20 years, but there are many more going well back to the initial 1923 Mandate.
"roughly 8 billion people are being held hostage by perhaps one million, or maybe only 500,000 people"
It's worse than that. You may be aware of a study done a few years ago which determined that - IIRC- approximately 2,000 corporations owned eighty percent of the world's wealth. And of that 2,000, IIRC approximately 200 controlled 80% of the 2,000 corporations.
Now how many people are on the Board of Directors of a major corporation? 10? 20? Which means 2,000-4,000 people control eighty percent of the world's wealth.
A fellow over at LinkedIn posted an article a couple years ago that said the top billionaires in the world own $24 TRILLION dollars IN CASH. That's not including their stocks, bonds, corporate ownership, mansions, yachts, airplanes and cars - just CASH in the bank. He said they could give away $12 TRILLION IN CASH and STILL have $12 TRILLION IN CASH.
This didn't happen by accident, as you well know. It was designed. And as you also know, everything that happens geopolitically and domestically is controlled by these people.
These people got's to go. First their money needs to be hacked out from under them, and then they got's to go - by any means necessary, as the saying goes.
While the "true colours" of the neo liberal project have been visible to those who knew what they were looking at, the vast majority of citizens in the West were complacent as they still had a pretty good life and little inkling of the exploitation of the ROW that enabled this.
There was also an aspect that most people didn't want to believe that their own governments would be so shamelessly dishonest.
Even the blind can see that this is no longer the case and that modern Western governments have or show little interest in the well-being of their populations.
Gotta keep educating, enlightening while feeding our own brains. The Prairie Populists got the highest percentage to listen, but it wasn't quite the majority for several reasons. Might have been different given 100% franchise, but there was no democracy then either.
Thank you karlof. There is only one accommodation necessary for a commencement toward Palestinian justice and a long term peace. Israel to return to its UN determined borders way back in the mid 20th century, Palestine to recieve substantial international support to reestablish its fractured past and lost decades of development, Israel to be substantially disarmed. That is the one set of circumstances that will begin to reverse the brutal colonial past that has caused so much human misery, theft of resources, undermining of the United Nations, and global antagonism.
Not ceasefire, not pause - universal recognition of Palestine, restoration of lands to neighbouring states and and end the colonial mendacity of the past decades - almost century. A return to the global rules based order and a refutation of the colonial rules based disorder.
Although I see the majority of you post as beginning point of a resolution; I see one large issue as a non-starter, the disarming of Israel. Given that the ideological/religious associations of the region almost always align against Israel,, it would be necessary for Israel to be sufficiently armed to withstand the combined forces of these actors.
Many countries in the RoW have intellectually sound and pragmatic plans which they are implementing.
"The Essential Nation" [TM] is quickly squandering its position and it is oblivious to the global rearrangement of power.
Russia's strategy in the SMO is to slowly and forcefully apply pressure so USA/NATO are forced to be part of a new world order.
The Zionists have gone so far this time, and the RoW knows what is happening, so the status quo will change. It is not feasible to murder 2.3 million Palestinians.
The small group of extremely wealthy companies and individuals could change politics rapidly if they are under threat.
Because explicit, immoral, and dramatic genocide is happening every day, the RoW can see the true colors of the colonial project.
I have become aware of 'a narrative' WRT this current genocide in Gaza that calls loudly for some type of violent reaction by Arabia and Muslim Nations in general.
It seems obvious that such a reaction is being implicitly sought by Netanpyscho's government and the power's behind the Washington DC policy makers, which is expressed in much the same way that a school boy bully loudly intimidates the smaller boys to inaction in order to reinfore their sense of vulnerability.
The bully has a little gang of needy minions, because he has the tuck shop keys, and a reputation or history of violence. Unfortunately for the bully things have changed. The smaller boys aren't intimidated anymore because their not that much smaller anymore. They would rather not fight, so the bully's intimidation doesn't work anymore. Is the bully brave enough to attack, is the punk feeling lucky? We will see.
Our sense of individual helplessness in the face of the Gaza genocide shouldn't lead us to believe that international vigilatism is a better solution than using the international legal system that the Outlaw American empire ignores and distorts.
I don't know about neo-liberalism as the dominant theme.
The US has painted itself as the shining house on the hill ever since WW II and woe be anyone contradicting that meme. They certainly had me for decades. The Vietnam War was an eye opener.
Neoliberalism is Financialized Imperialism; its construction began in the late 1870s. The skeletons in the Outlaw US Empire's closet in 1945 were many and have only become more numerous. The geography is sublime; its political development horrific. For many years, it was possible to escape to somewhere usually better within the nation, but that ability is much rarer today. It would be very cool if 80% of the populace would recognize that there's a social contract implicit within the Constitution's Preamble, but that seems to be as impossible to reach as most dreams are.
where he argues that two wrongs don't make a right, only in the Palestinian context. Imagine if the Russians had not somehow found a way to recover from the Yeltsin mistakes. Pehaps Russia would now be reduced to a bunch of failed states exploited, raped and plundered by the West. Because that is the explicit Neocon plan: regime change and balkanization.
I don't know if the Russians were lucky to have Putin and his cadre or ifthat carde existed because of where Russia was on the EROEI spectrum while the West was already sliding into incompetence. In any case, the Russian leadership didn't seem to take on the violence necessary in any way lightly; more like a sacred duty to defend their people. Maybe that's just the way I see it.
Time will tell whether the Arabs and the ROW will somehow change the tides for Palestine. It seems to me that the world, as a whole, needs that.
1990s Russia remains very confusing as there were many factions. I read Kargalitsky's account of Yeltsin's war on the Supreme Soviet in 1993, where Yeltsin was 100% in the wrong but was told by Clinton to attack. Dzokar Dudayev's Chechen Revolution seemed organic at first then was co-opted by the CIA. After 1994, I was aloof from contemporary Russian happenings as I sought to learn its history and that of other lands. I was in Hawaii then and used the excellent resources at UH Manoa.
The story goes that Yeltsin had a sobering moment in late 1998 that made him see what he'd done to Russia and its people and that Putin became his weapon of revenge. And in many respects, that's what Putin has become. IMO, Putin will eventually be compared to Russia's greatest Tsars and Tsarinas, but he isn't done yet, although he's remaining mum on reelection in 2024. IMO, that's a no-brainer as all major Russian projects are aimed at a 2030 completion date, which would coincide with Putin's finally retiring as President.
Interesting inforgraphic, thx. Esp the 4th - 10th places. Food for thought!
Agreed on your take on Putin. Beyond that, I'd suggest the world is lucky to have him where he is right now. My own personal memories only go back to JFK and Nixon, but it sure seems we had much more capable leadership then than we do now. Not only a single president, but those around that president. But hey, it's a limited sample.
The cadre around Putin seems exceptional by today's standards. That too, is a big part of leadership. He is certainly working to prepare for the succession.
Thanks for this sketch and introducing me to the condition pleonexia which I had to look up: "the insatiable desire to have what rightfully belongs to others." Well, there it is - settler colonialism in a nutshell. Zionists like all malignant narcissists, meglomaniacs, and pleonectics are untreatable and incorrigible. When it comes to treaties, accords, or solutions they are agreement incapable which is why the "Two-State Solution" is nothing more than a chimera.
and without any clues where to go, what to do next.. ? No links. Nothing. Will there be a second instalment? Well 'instalment' not really the right word: not telling a tale here.. more describing a truth. Well it has been outlined beautifully; now we need expansion, detail filled in. With the same lucid prose.
I don't understand the political catchphrases: 'neocons', 'neoliberals', 'US imperialists' etc. and don't know how what these things sound like: ideologies for theorists, translate into actual 'villains' ( part of the 'maybe 500,000' ) that are doing and have actively done tangible things to bring about this awful mess.
So elucidation would be much appreciated I think, if possible at all?
Yes, I agree a definitional bibliography essay including key sources would be something I'd want to see. I see there's a way to pin such an essay at the top of the postings list. It won't get done tomorrow. It would also be capable of editing and updating.
Yes, it was a sketch, not the beginning of a lecture series. You can read the series of Xi's speeches and the APEC Leaders' Declaration to see what direction we might head.
Your links, a couple of comments after a quick look around:
The first one looks interesting but immediately provided a link to define 'neoliberalism' which took me straight to the second one.
and it defines it as 'internal colonialism' but doesn't define further
but I found a link: 'neoliberalism: a primer' and the first thing it says is that the term is interchangeable with 'casino capitalism'
and it defined 'casino capitalism' perhaps by reference to a phrase my John Maynard Keynes and then immediately featured a quote (with pic) from a book 'Tragedy and Hope...' by Prof Quigley (1966).
It (the quote) seemed to be all about 'financial capitalism' which it doesn't define but 'the powers' of it had an aim. That aim seems to have been a pyramid of control world wide topped by the Bank for International Settlements in Basle. It goes on to say that the growth of financial capitalism made possible a centralisation of power and the use of it for direct benefit of financiers and indirect injury of all others.
So I then turned to the third link and the book (?) mt-pelerin which immediately claimed neoliberalism is anything but a succinct clearly defined political philosophy.
And then proceeds to muddy the waters entirely by throwing in streams of abstruse references.
So essentially I now believe 'neoliberalism' to an ill defined and (therefore) poorly understood concept liable to be thrown around by all and sundry to the confusion of the masses and often, possible, for precisely that purpose.
I do find softpanorama an interesting a potentially valuable site for its interest in Unix and TCP/IP. So I'm very happy to have that brought to my attention.
"roughly 8 billion people are being held hostage by perhaps one million, or maybe only 500,000 people"
It's worse than that. You may be aware of a study done a few years ago which determined that - IIRC- approximately 2,000 corporations owned eighty percent of the world's wealth. And of that 2,000, IIRC approximately 200 controlled 80% of the 2,000 corporations.
Now how many people are on the Board of Directors of a major corporation? 10? 20? Which means 2,000-4,000 people control eighty percent of the world's wealth.
A fellow over at LinkedIn posted an article a couple years ago that said the top billionaires in the world own $24 TRILLION dollars IN CASH. That's not including their stocks, bonds, corporate ownership, mansions, yachts, airplanes and cars - just CASH in the bank. He said they could give away $12 TRILLION IN CASH and STILL have $12 TRILLION IN CASH.
This didn't happen by accident, as you well know. It was designed. And as you also know, everything that happens geopolitically and domestically is controlled by these people.
These people got's to go. First their money needs to be hacked out from under them, and then they got's to go - by any means necessary, as the saying goes.
Good summation Karl.
While the "true colours" of the neo liberal project have been visible to those who knew what they were looking at, the vast majority of citizens in the West were complacent as they still had a pretty good life and little inkling of the exploitation of the ROW that enabled this.
There was also an aspect that most people didn't want to believe that their own governments would be so shamelessly dishonest.
Even the blind can see that this is no longer the case and that modern Western governments have or show little interest in the well-being of their populations.
Gotta keep educating, enlightening while feeding our own brains. The Prairie Populists got the highest percentage to listen, but it wasn't quite the majority for several reasons. Might have been different given 100% franchise, but there was no democracy then either.
Thank you karlof. There is only one accommodation necessary for a commencement toward Palestinian justice and a long term peace. Israel to return to its UN determined borders way back in the mid 20th century, Palestine to recieve substantial international support to reestablish its fractured past and lost decades of development, Israel to be substantially disarmed. That is the one set of circumstances that will begin to reverse the brutal colonial past that has caused so much human misery, theft of resources, undermining of the United Nations, and global antagonism.
Not ceasefire, not pause - universal recognition of Palestine, restoration of lands to neighbouring states and and end the colonial mendacity of the past decades - almost century. A return to the global rules based order and a refutation of the colonial rules based disorder.
Consider this excellent report by Adrian Kreutz at the Cradle: https://new.thecradle.co/articles/to-palestine-lessons-from-overthrowing-the-french-in-algeria
Although I see the majority of you post as beginning point of a resolution; I see one large issue as a non-starter, the disarming of Israel. Given that the ideological/religious associations of the region almost always align against Israel,, it would be necessary for Israel to be sufficiently armed to withstand the combined forces of these actors.
Many countries in the RoW have intellectually sound and pragmatic plans which they are implementing.
"The Essential Nation" [TM] is quickly squandering its position and it is oblivious to the global rearrangement of power.
Russia's strategy in the SMO is to slowly and forcefully apply pressure so USA/NATO are forced to be part of a new world order.
The Zionists have gone so far this time, and the RoW knows what is happening, so the status quo will change. It is not feasible to murder 2.3 million Palestinians.
The small group of extremely wealthy companies and individuals could change politics rapidly if they are under threat.
Because explicit, immoral, and dramatic genocide is happening every day, the RoW can see the true colors of the colonial project.
Those "true colors" have been visible to the Global majority since Vietnam, just not as intensely. I was surprised by the tenor of the APEC Leaders's Declaration, which was entitled "Creating a Resilient and Sustainable Future for All,' https://www.apec.org/meeting-papers/leaders-declarations/2023/2023-leaders-declaration
There's vision impeded by those erecting impediments. The main issue forever is "those."
the RoW has to know something about Arabia and Muslims, now, too, I think, don't they? Just as the Palestinians do.
Not quite sure what you are implying Arthur.
I have become aware of 'a narrative' WRT this current genocide in Gaza that calls loudly for some type of violent reaction by Arabia and Muslim Nations in general.
It seems obvious that such a reaction is being implicitly sought by Netanpyscho's government and the power's behind the Washington DC policy makers, which is expressed in much the same way that a school boy bully loudly intimidates the smaller boys to inaction in order to reinfore their sense of vulnerability.
The bully has a little gang of needy minions, because he has the tuck shop keys, and a reputation or history of violence. Unfortunately for the bully things have changed. The smaller boys aren't intimidated anymore because their not that much smaller anymore. They would rather not fight, so the bully's intimidation doesn't work anymore. Is the bully brave enough to attack, is the punk feeling lucky? We will see.
Our sense of individual helplessness in the face of the Gaza genocide shouldn't lead us to believe that international vigilatism is a better solution than using the international legal system that the Outlaw American empire ignores and distorts.
reinforce not reinfore
Hint: at the end of you comment, in the bottom right hand corner, are a series of three dots ... Click on them and you can edit your own comment.
This has saved my ass many times! Otherwise I would have to post a series of comments upon comments to correct my own produced errors.
Cheers Don.. just seen them and tried it out :o)
I don't know about neo-liberalism as the dominant theme.
The US has painted itself as the shining house on the hill ever since WW II and woe be anyone contradicting that meme. They certainly had me for decades. The Vietnam War was an eye opener.
Neoliberalism is Financialized Imperialism; its construction began in the late 1870s. The skeletons in the Outlaw US Empire's closet in 1945 were many and have only become more numerous. The geography is sublime; its political development horrific. For many years, it was possible to escape to somewhere usually better within the nation, but that ability is much rarer today. It would be very cool if 80% of the populace would recognize that there's a social contract implicit within the Constitution's Preamble, but that seems to be as impossible to reach as most dreams are.
Yes. Doubleplus good, again.
Charles Eisenstein has article up:
https://charleseisenstein.substack.com/p/war-is-always-justified
where he argues that two wrongs don't make a right, only in the Palestinian context. Imagine if the Russians had not somehow found a way to recover from the Yeltsin mistakes. Pehaps Russia would now be reduced to a bunch of failed states exploited, raped and plundered by the West. Because that is the explicit Neocon plan: regime change and balkanization.
I don't know if the Russians were lucky to have Putin and his cadre or ifthat carde existed because of where Russia was on the EROEI spectrum while the West was already sliding into incompetence. In any case, the Russian leadership didn't seem to take on the violence necessary in any way lightly; more like a sacred duty to defend their people. Maybe that's just the way I see it.
Time will tell whether the Arabs and the ROW will somehow change the tides for Palestine. It seems to me that the world, as a whole, needs that.
1990s Russia remains very confusing as there were many factions. I read Kargalitsky's account of Yeltsin's war on the Supreme Soviet in 1993, where Yeltsin was 100% in the wrong but was told by Clinton to attack. Dzokar Dudayev's Chechen Revolution seemed organic at first then was co-opted by the CIA. After 1994, I was aloof from contemporary Russian happenings as I sought to learn its history and that of other lands. I was in Hawaii then and used the excellent resources at UH Manoa.
The story goes that Yeltsin had a sobering moment in late 1998 that made him see what he'd done to Russia and its people and that Putin became his weapon of revenge. And in many respects, that's what Putin has become. IMO, Putin will eventually be compared to Russia's greatest Tsars and Tsarinas, but he isn't done yet, although he's remaining mum on reelection in 2024. IMO, that's a no-brainer as all major Russian projects are aimed at a 2030 completion date, which would coincide with Putin's finally retiring as President.
An infographic prepared from a US News & World Report places Russia as the world's #1 Leader, https://strategic-culture.su/news/2023/11/19/this-country-is-world-biggest-leader/
Interesting inforgraphic, thx. Esp the 4th - 10th places. Food for thought!
Agreed on your take on Putin. Beyond that, I'd suggest the world is lucky to have him where he is right now. My own personal memories only go back to JFK and Nixon, but it sure seems we had much more capable leadership then than we do now. Not only a single president, but those around that president. But hey, it's a limited sample.
The cadre around Putin seems exceptional by today's standards. That too, is a big part of leadership. He is certainly working to prepare for the succession.
Thanks for this sketch and introducing me to the condition pleonexia which I had to look up: "the insatiable desire to have what rightfully belongs to others." Well, there it is - settler colonialism in a nutshell. Zionists like all malignant narcissists, meglomaniacs, and pleonectics are untreatable and incorrigible. When it comes to treaties, accords, or solutions they are agreement incapable which is why the "Two-State Solution" is nothing more than a chimera.
Absolutely bloody great and finished too soon...
and without any clues where to go, what to do next.. ? No links. Nothing. Will there be a second instalment? Well 'instalment' not really the right word: not telling a tale here.. more describing a truth. Well it has been outlined beautifully; now we need expansion, detail filled in. With the same lucid prose.
I don't understand the political catchphrases: 'neocons', 'neoliberals', 'US imperialists' etc. and don't know how what these things sound like: ideologies for theorists, translate into actual 'villains' ( part of the 'maybe 500,000' ) that are doing and have actively done tangible things to bring about this awful mess.
So elucidation would be much appreciated I think, if possible at all?
Yes, I agree a definitional bibliography essay including key sources would be something I'd want to see. I see there's a way to pin such an essay at the top of the postings list. It won't get done tomorrow. It would also be capable of editing and updating.
Yes, it was a sketch, not the beginning of a lecture series. You can read the series of Xi's speeches and the APEC Leaders' Declaration to see what direction we might head.
we may get folks weighing in here in the comments with links they feel may be appropriate to the endeavour, though. :)
OK Then. (some research links)
Neocolonialism as Financial Imperialism and Alliance of Transnational Elites
Neoliberalism is inseparable from imperialism and globalization
https://softpanorama.org/Skeptics/Political_skeptic/Neocolonialism/index.shtml
Neoliberalism -- a new, more dangerous form of Corporatism (Fascism)
https://softpanorama.org/Skeptics/Political_skeptic/Neoliberalism/index.shtml
and
http://eprints.qut.edu.au/58620/1/Six_Theories_of_Neoliberalism.pdf
and
the road from mont pèlerin - The Making of the Neoliberal Thought Collective (in 1947)
http://uberty.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/mt-pelerin.pdf
Thank you for that. I appreciate it.
Your links, a couple of comments after a quick look around:
The first one looks interesting but immediately provided a link to define 'neoliberalism' which took me straight to the second one.
and it defines it as 'internal colonialism' but doesn't define further
but I found a link: 'neoliberalism: a primer' and the first thing it says is that the term is interchangeable with 'casino capitalism'
and it defined 'casino capitalism' perhaps by reference to a phrase my John Maynard Keynes and then immediately featured a quote (with pic) from a book 'Tragedy and Hope...' by Prof Quigley (1966).
It (the quote) seemed to be all about 'financial capitalism' which it doesn't define but 'the powers' of it had an aim. That aim seems to have been a pyramid of control world wide topped by the Bank for International Settlements in Basle. It goes on to say that the growth of financial capitalism made possible a centralisation of power and the use of it for direct benefit of financiers and indirect injury of all others.
So I then turned to the third link and the book (?) mt-pelerin which immediately claimed neoliberalism is anything but a succinct clearly defined political philosophy.
And then proceeds to muddy the waters entirely by throwing in streams of abstruse references.
So essentially I now believe 'neoliberalism' to an ill defined and (therefore) poorly understood concept liable to be thrown around by all and sundry to the confusion of the masses and often, possible, for precisely that purpose.
I do find softpanorama an interesting a potentially valuable site for its interest in Unix and TCP/IP. So I'm very happy to have that brought to my attention.
Thank you for it. :)
Perhaps this three-way conversation may be of use Arthur.
https://rokfin.com/post/155831/Restructuring-of-the-Global-Economy--Michael-Hudson-Alexander-Mercouris--Glenn-Diesen
Good essay. We are living in interesting times as they say.