NM's blog

“We are betraying everything we claim to believe in.” It implies we were once faithful to high values and principles. That is a liberal approach, not a fact.

A different perspective by Richard Seymour

Trump did not hide that a major reason for the attack and kidnapping of Maduro was aimed at putting the US in control of Venezuela’s vast oil reserves , described as “our oil” by Trump. However, there are other factors behind Trump’s move against Venezuela.  The new  National Security Strategy  makes it clear: the Monrow doctrine of the 1820s is back on steroids.  Back then, President Monroe declared that European nations must not interfere or try to control Latin America, as this was now the ‘sphere of influence’ for the United States of America.  Now under Trump, globalisation has given way to ‘Making America Great Again’ by firmly establishing Latin America as the US imperialism’s backyard.  That means no country can be allowed to resist US policy and interests.  ‘Friendly regimes’ must be installed to enable both privileged American use of resources and the ability to deny those to competitors. That means growing Chinese influence and investme...

The classic mindset of the “neoliberalised left.” Inside the United States, the crisis is reduced to a few violations, a few instances of lawbreaking, or a handful of limited reforms—as if making the process “legal” automatically means power itself has been restrained. The same intellectual currents that, at home, strike an anti-corruption moral pose and limit the debate to legal procedures, show up internationally with vague “anti-imperialist” slogans—without any serious analysis of capital, state power, and global hegemony. The truth that should be kept in full view is deliberately removed: capital is not just markets and companies. Capital is organised political power. Hegemony m eans the ability to set the world’s agenda—to decide what counts as “legitimate,” what is “illegal”,  what is “security,” what is “terrorism,” and who has the right to use force and who does not. The logic of rebuilding empire

The  devaluation  of the world of men is in direct proportion to the  increasing value  of the world of things. — Karl Marx, 1844

Donald Trump are an extension of a long US tradition of interference in the region . Related Rogue State by William Blum on the CIA website

This was published about three months before the ongoing protests.  An article available in 4 languages “ The present crisis is the combined result of past political choices, climate constraints, and economic pressures exacerbated by international sanctions and regional tensions, to which is now added the very real threat of military escalation. For much of the population, this everyday life fuels a feeling of injustice and the constant bitterness of a future with no prospects. Are the absence of ambitious structural reforms and the persistence of external tensions not liable to threaten the country’s internal security and trigger a major internal crisis   ?”

Notice that there is not a single mention of the political economy of refugee. “Fleeing for their lives” and “be returned to a place of danger.” Economic and environmental factors are completely ignored. Thus, the regression is not only in the 'traditional' rights , which have been enshrined in conventions since the end of WWII, but in leaving out new structural factors that compel people to flee one country and seek a better life in another out of the discussion.  The ruling classes in rich nation-states want to maintain their interests, mainly electoral interests, and ‘stability’ by containing the growth of ethno-nationalist movements , adopting some of their demands, and some cases even defections of politicians from the mainstream parties to far right ones.

Kenya’s parliament has accused British soldiers that were stationed at the British Army Training Unit in Kenya (BATUK) base of decades of sexual assaults, killings, maimings, the abandonment of children, human rights violations and environmental destruction. A 94-page report follows a two-year inquiry into accusations surrounding BATUK. The report suggests that the base used dangerous substances like white phosphorus in its field exercises, resulting in serious health and environmental impacts for the local community. The investigating panel also accused the soldiers of refusing to cooperate with the investigation, claiming diplomatic immunity. As Jean-Christophe Servant wrote in 2022 : ‘BATUK, which has been stationed in Kenya since 1964 and trains up to 4,000 British infantry a year, long enjoyed diplomatic immunity, but this ended in 2016 when Nairobi and London renewed their five-year defence agreement. Justice [Antonina Cossy] Bor was the first to follow through on the implication...

“The number of people who believe “Britishness” is something you are born with has almost doubled in two years, according to research that warns of a rising tide of ethno-nationalism in Britain. “Although a majority of the public still believe being British is rooted in shared values, a growing proportion see it as a product of ethnicity, birthplace and ancestry, according to analysis carried out by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) and shared with the Guardian. “About one-third of people (36%) thought a person must be born British to be truly British, up from one in five (19%) in 2023, a YouGov poll carried out this month for the thinktank found. “Supporters of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK held the most  extreme views  of any party backers, with 71% saying that having British ancestry was a prerequisite for someone to be truly British, and 59% saying they believed the nation was an ethnic, not a civic, community.“

 “Right now it’s dangerous because we’re seeing a steady rise of the far right in every aspect of society .”

Love, by its very nature, is unworldly, and it is for this reason rather than its rarity that it is not only apolitical but antipolitical, perhaps the most powerful of all antipolitical forces. ―  Hannah Arendt,  The Human Condition

'US imperialism's policy for a multi-polar world' Related Dispelling the multipolar myth

The BBC on Donald Trump's claim

It is a recommended long read , but subject to subscription access. Volkswagon's driverless car, a forerunner to completely driverless cars, has taken the German company about 18 months to develop, test and now commercially deploy — all in China. It is the fruit of a 700-person research and development team comprised mostly of Chinese software engineers with masters or PhDs and more than five years’ experience.  produced in China. Asked how long it would have taken to deliver something similar back home, Hafkemeyer, who worked with Audi, Chinese state-owned auto group BAIC and tech giant Huawei before joining VW in 2022, sighs with exasperation. Typically, he says, the technology development cycle in Germany is a slog of around four to four-and-a-half years, where ideas are bogged down in endless internal debate and commercial negotiations with suppliers. For decades, China has been the world’s factory and companies have tapped into a low-cost labour force with few protections and ...

“In its bid to attract foreign investment, the government has embraced a  neoliberal model  of economic liberalisation, sharp austerity and a shrinking public sector. These measures have been accompanied by policies and decisions that reinforce the concentration of economic power among the new ruling elite, while the vast majority of Syrians continue to live  in poverty . “So far, the majority of these investments have been in tourism, real estate and financial services, reflecting a focus on short-term profits at the expense of productive sectors such as manufacturing and agriculture.”

Law is not born of nature, beside the springs frequented by the first shepherds; law is born of real battles, of victories, of massacres, of conquests that have their dates and their heroes of horror; law is born from cities set ablaze, from ravaged lands; it is born with the famous innocents who agonize in the breaking dawn. —Michel Foucault,  ‘Society Must Be Defended’: Lectures at the Collège de France, 1975–76 , trans. David Macey, New York 2003 [1997], p. 50. La loi ne naît pas de la nature . . . la loi naît des batailles réelles, des victoires, des massacres, des conquêtes qui ont leur date et leur héros d’horreur: la loi naît des villes incendiées, des terres ravagées; elle naît avec les fameux innocents qui agonisent dans le jour qui se lève. —Michel Foucault, ‘Il faut défendre la société’ footnote

Palestine Action-affiliated prisoner and the arrests of Dr. Ayo Moiett

'Shock and Awe’

By Siomn Tisdall – a liberal who believes in 'international law' Related “I argue that contrary to the traditional understanding, the epoch of ‘formal imperialism’ was not the highpoint of imperialism’s embedding into international law, but that imperialism predated the epoch of formal colonies, and has survived it. There has long been a tendency towards the universalisation of the sovereign state, the fundamental juridical unit of international law, and in a modern ‘anticolonial’ system of international law, imperialism is hidden within law, but I argue that without it, international law could not exist… I argue that coercive political violence – imperialism – is the very means by which international law is made actual in the modern international system. “The international rule of law is not counterposed to force and imperialism: it is an expression of it… In fact… though it is quite true that ‘force decides’, the ‘equal rights’ it mediates are really, and remain, truly equal....