Nèdeem Elmahjoub's blog

The projects, mapped across the Middle East, are an effort to consolidate the influence of American capital and rebuff competition from China by creating a physical, economic bulwark that strengthens American and European supply chains. It is about to hit the Middle East

Contrary to what the headline states, Taiwan, Japan, Australia, South Korea and India are not competing for supremacy. They are subordinate states to the U.S. The latter has ‘supremacy’. And because the U.S. cannot control everything everywhere, forges alliances with subordinate states to protect the flow and accumulation of capital.  ‘The countries competing for supremacy’

Although the articles requires a subscription, what is accessible is already most of it. The Need to Mount Long-Term Resistance to Totalitarianism and Ethnonationalist Chauvinism

I disagree with Callinicos’s position on Syriza though. It sounds an ultra-leftist stance for me, and he does not specify when Syriza should have been opposed before the capitulation of Alexis Tsipras or after. A reply to Paul Mason

Between 1918 and 1998, US administrations restricted trade with sanctioned nations 115 times; 64 of these occasions were during the 1990s, and most of them were unilateral. By 1997, the equivalent of half the world’s population was living under some form of US sanction. Current debates within the EU over what to do about Russia have led to some rhetorical contortions. Commission president Ursula von der Leyen appeared to support the US position that ‘Nord Stream 2 could not be excluded a priori from the list of [preventive] sanctions’, adding, ‘We want to build the world of tomorrow as democracies with like-minded partners.’ But among the energy partners that might replace Russia, Von der Leyen cited an oil monarchy (Qatar), a dictatorship allied with authoritarian Turkey (Azerbaijan) and a country under military rule (Egypt)... Playing the white knight calls for spotlessly clean hands. You might think whistleblower Julian Assange, sought by the US and locked up in London, was a dream

What made Russia and ‘the West’ engage in an unrelenting match on the dge of the abyss?

Central Banks as weapons

According to Michael Roberts and Guglielmo Carchedi,  imperialism is “a persistent and long-term net appropriation of surplus value by the high-technology imperialist countries from the low-technology dominated countries.” there are “four channels through which surplus value flows to the imperialist countries: currency seigniorage; income flows from capital investments; unequal exchange through trade; and changes in exchange rates.” “modern imperialism does not deny the persistent existence of colonialism. Colonialism and modern imperialism do not exclude each other… Colonialism contains in itself the germs of modern imperialism.” “the trade of the commodities with high technological content produced in the imperialist countries for the capitalistically produced raw materials or industrial goods produced with lower technological content in the dominated countries” results in “unequal exchange.” “under modern imperialism, technology has become the new battlefield.” “military and ideolog

“ The Western imperialist powers employ hypocritical language about Ukrainian sovereignty in the face of Russian arrogance — but have no intention of straitjacketing that sovereignty any less. Both the West and Putin view Ukraine only as a pawn in their international competition. As for Putin’s regime, there is nothing anti-imperialist about it: it only defends the interests of Russian capitalism, even if that means subjugating other peoples.”  Neither bluff nor ultimatum

Denying the inevitable

Every year the corporate media reminds us again and again of Tiananmen Square massacre. How many times have we seen the same reporting and commemoration of Egypt’s Rab’a Square? It is probable that the number of those killed in the latter in the span of 12 hours was more than what the Chinese government forces killed between 3 and 4 of June. This is corroborated by Human Rights Watch itself not a leftist organisation or Chinese regime sympathisers. Most estimates cited on Wikipedia give a figure very similar to the number killed in Rab’a Square. Egypt is an ‘ally’. The regime is not a threat to ‘us’. Thus the hypocrisy.

“The truth of the matter is, it’s all within our wheelhouse and nobody has to be punished. No one’s standard of living would change. Nothing would fundamentally change.” –Joe Biden The failure of neoliberalism has undercut U.S. capitalism’s ability to compete within—and by extension dominate—the world system. That is why there is broad support among business elites and the political establishment for Biden’s turn and why it is a dangerous illusion to present it as a concession to the Left. His imperialist Keynesianism is designed to re-cohere a deeply divided nation, rehabilitate the foundations of U.S. capitalism, and reassert U.S. hegemony over the world state system—especially against China, its rising imperial rival. Biden’s proposed expansion of welfare state spending will do little to mitigate the profound social inequalities of the U.S. As Susan Watkins argues, if enacted the plans will not even bring the U.S. welfare state up to the current level of those in Europe, which thems

The pandemic slump has raised poverty across the globe

Shutdown Related Pro-market thinking: ministers want it to survive Covid

Historical responsibility for climate change is at the heart of debates over climate justice

“There is enough empty property in China to house over 90m people, says Logan Wright, a Hong Kong-based director at Rhodium Group, a consultancy. To put that into perspective: there are five G7 countries — France, Germany, Italy, the UK and Canada — that could each fit their entire population into those empty Chinese apartments with room to spare… The Chinese state owns almost all of the country’s large financial institutions , meaning that if Beijing orders them to bail out Evergrande or other distressed property companies, they will follow orders “Unless China’s regulators seriously mismanage the situation, a systemic crisis in the country’s financial sector is not on the cards,” says He Wei, an analyst at Gavekal, a research company. “The context of the Evergrande crisis is entirely different from Lehman Bros in 2008. Most obviously, Lehman operated in a free market; Evergrande does not. Lehman’s fate was sealed when banks would no longer lend to it. The bulk of Evergrande’s liabili

The US is “ behind Russia technologically (especially in hypersonic missile and tactical missile defense technologies).” Evidence and fact check is required, I think. One should not exclude recovery while talking about the early stage of decline, i.e. does decline ever happen linearly? I wonder why the author avoids the use of the term imeprialism as an economic and military structure and power relations. Why has the US pulled out of Afghanistan?

A very good analysis. “ If the analysis of the skewed distribution of consumption, decision-making power, and financial capacity all lead us to the same place, it is not by accident. Where we have arrived is at the analysis of class identities, class relations and class power.” I don’t think one can separate the capitalist mode of production and how exploits and generates things and class. After all, upper classes existed before capitalism. It is what capital and capitalism endows that class today makes it a bigger consumer and destroyer of the environment. Climate, Carbon and Class Related “By far the most comprehensive catalogue ever assembled of how climate change is upending our world, the report reads like a 4,000-page indictment of humanity's stewardship of the planet. But the document, designed to influence critical policy decisions, is not scheduled for release until February 2022 - too late for crunch UN summits this year on climate, biodiversity and food systems, some sci

A nation that has often defined its identity against an Other. The US will prefer a China contest to the forever wars