Author: jimmy

Bankers, Bradburys, Carnage And Slaughter On The Western Front

“The government should create issue and circulate all the currency and credit needed to satisfy the spending power of the government and the buying power of consumers….. The privilege of creating and issuing money is not only the supreme prerogative of Government, but it is the Government’s greatest creative opportunity. By the adoption of these principles, the long-felt want for a uniform medium will be satisfied. The taxpayers will be saved immense sums of interest, discounts and exchanges. The financing of all public enterprises, the maintenance of stable government and ordered progress, and the conduct of the Treasury will become matters of practical administration. The people can and will be furnished with a currency as safe as their own government. Money will cease to be the master and become the servant of humanity. Democracy will rise superior to the money power.”

Excerpts From Snowden’s Letter Requesting Asylum in Ecuador

I, Edward Snowden, citizen of the United States of America, am writing to request asylum in the Republic of Ecuador because of the risk of being persecuted by the government of the United States and its agents in relation to my decision to make public serious violations on the part of the government of the United States of its Constitution, specifically of its Fourth and Fifth Amendments, and of various treaties of the United Nations that are binding on my country.

US Rulers Fear American People

What the disclosures of former CIA contractor Edward Snowden show perhaps above all else is just how petrified the leaders of the United States have become – of ordinary citizens both in the US and around the world. When we say “leaders” we mean the ruling elite – the top one percent of the financial-corporate-military-industrial complex and its bought- and paid-for politicians.

Information Wars

Asked the other day about the whereabouts and official policy toward NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, US Secretary of State John Kerry hit us with a doozy: “I would urge them (Russia and China) to live by the standards of the law because that’s in the interest of everybody”. Laudable words: strict commitment to the rule of (just) law is an essential component of any democratic system. Let us examine such US commitment.

This 2010 Mark Weisbrot article summarizes a few examples (from a list of many) of US ‘interventions’ in South America (until 1996 here, and another more recently updated list here).

The De Warande Conclave – Wrecking the Welfare State in Secret

A golden staircase greets guests to De Warande, an exclusive club in central Brussels.  Built in the late eighteenth century, this mansion was acquired in 1907 by François Empain, a banker who helped his royal chum Leopold II loot the Congo.  With its historical association to imperial conquest, it is surely an apt venue for furtive talks on how to […]

“I Am Sorry That It Has Come to This”: A Soldier’s Last Words

I am sorry that it has come to this.

The fact is, for as long as I can remember my motivation for getting up every day has been so that you would not have to bury me. As things have continued to get worse, it has become clear that this alone is not a sufficient reason to carry on. The fact is, I am not getting better, I am not going to get better, and I will most certainly deteriorate further as time goes on. From a logical standpoint, it is better to simply end things quickly and let any repercussions from that play out in the short term than to drag things out into the long term.

A Brazilian Autumn?

For more than a week Brazilian workers have taken to the streets. Yesterday, the country witnessed its biggest demonstrations since the fall of the dictatorship. But the situation on the ground has confounded many international commentators.

Interviewing for Jacobin, Mark Bergfeld sheds light on new developments with Miguel Borba de Sa — a university lecturer at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. He is the author of Bolívia – Passos das revoluções and has written extensively on indigenous struggles in Latin America.