NM's blog

An analysis by Eric Toussaint The international policy doctrine made public by the White House in early December 2025 is not simply a temporary shift in US foreign policy but the logical outcome of a process that has been underway for more than a quarter of a century in the context of the ’new Cold War.’. Under Donald Trump, this orientation takes on an unprecedented ideological form that is openly  predatory, violent, reactionary, authoritarian, and neo-fascist . Where previous administrations combined the exercise of imperialist violence with deeply hypocritical liberal and humanitarian rhetoric, the Trump administration has broken with this façade. Human rights, social rights, the protection of migrants, the self-determination of peoples and even the minimal reference to multilateralism have completely disappeared from official strategic discourse. They have been replaced by a worldview based on ’God-given natural rights,’ the absolute sovereignty of dominant states, the hierarc...

A sharp critique of  Hamid Dabashi’s   After Savagery: Gaza, Genocide, and the Illusion of Western Civilization The first essential question arises:  What, exactly, is the West?  Is it a set of institutions? A ruling class? States? Ideologies? Or is it a civilizational essence? The book offers no clear answer. Instead, it moves through sweeping formulations that turn the West into a spectral totality — a ghostly abstraction that, precisely when it should point its finger at concrete structures, replaces them with metaphors. The result is a perilous slippage: the real machinery that produces, distributes, and normalizes violence disappears, replaced by a single icon —  “white civilisation.”  But who constructs this civilization? Who fights within it? What contradictions tear through its interior? Here lies the book’s central flaw: its analysis does not  explain  power; it  assigns  essence. Instead of asking  which institutions, with...

An view by Sirantos Fotopoulos The protests now convulsing Iran are the inevitable revolt of a working-class pushed beyond the limits of survival. Inflation has shredded wages, the rial’s collapse has turned food, fuel, and medicine into luxuries, and millions of people who once lived precariously now find themselves unable to make a living at all. Shopkeepers, bazaar merchants, transport workers, students, and casual laborers are protesting the daily violence of an economy organized to extract obedience through deprivation. When bread becomes unaffordable, dissent is the first step towards survival. The Iranian state’s response has been brutally consistent — repression first, reform never. Security forces have met demonstrations with live ammunition, mass arrests, beatings, and intimidation. Internet blackouts attempt to sever workers from one another, isolating struggles city by city. The message is unmistakable: survival is conditional on silent obedience. To demand wages that keep ...

Describing entrenched poverty as a "monster," Pujol painted a picture of a society radicalised by decades of neglect . "The monster is a mixture of patronage, corruption, and political and economic decisions made against the public interest," Pujol said. Indigenous deaths in custody in Australia hit highest level since 1980 .

When you have a good analysis , but you introduce illusion – illusion in 'a new Bandung', a ‘Bandung'/' South' where class, capital accumulation, repression and oppression and wealth are ignored . Related Dispelling the multipolar myth

“The focus on ethnic or religious identity has surely undermined any prospect of a class-based politics developing . Civil society — once vibrant in the early days of the uprising — has been stifled by state violence, while political parties and trade unions have been dissolved in the name of national transition.” “ While the HTS leadership maintains strict control over many Sunni militias in Idlib, it must now negotiate with non-Sunni communities, such as the Druze and Kurds…” Here the writer is inaccurate. The Kurds are not a non-Sunni community; most if the Kurds are Sunni. According to some estimates,  Kurdish forces lost an estimated 11,000 fighters in the battle against ISIS (a Sunni too), with over 22,000 wounded. 

Total referrals reach record high , with 21% being due to ‘extreme rightwing concerns’ and 10% to Islamist ideology.

“ In trying to solve the puzzle of why people vote in politicians that do little to improve their living standards, Seymour goes for a psychological explanation. “this dismissal of the primacy of the economic is not just surprising coming from one of the foremost Marxist intellectuals in Britain today, but rests upon empirically spurious claims. “Seymour only tangentially acknowledges the role of elites in the rise of disaster nationalism. While he does point out that its political economy is mainly about furthering the interests of domestic capitalists, that is never really explored. “To get a full picture  of the social forces driving the rise of the far right and likely to benefit from it, we need more systematic and comparative analysis of party elites, their donors and their actual economic policymaking when they enter office. This could help better explain the apparent contradiction of the far right as both a rejection and reinforcement of neoliberalism. We also need to bette...

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'Not to weep or laugh, but understand'

  Graeme Harris Sajid Riasat  mate you still treat your women as third class citizens so shut up. Ned Ma Graeme Harris  Yes, many do, Harris. Right now the British, the Americans, the German… regimes have been treating Palestinian women (and children) as non-humans that must be sacrificed at the altar. Many women, east and West, north and south, are treated as commodities, highly sexualised and the gender pay gap is obscene even at the heart of Britain. One should have a bigger picture too otherwise we find ourselves complicit in oppression. The Saudis are ‘our’ friends, aren’t they? Graeme Harris Ned Ma  ide say it’s the Palestinians using their kids as shields for years is a problem. Hamas hiding in hospitals. Palestinians and Arabs world over celebrating when Hamas kidnapped and killed kids. I’ve yet to see an Arab state condemn it. Look at yourselves first then wonder why countries are fed up. Ned Ma Graeme Harris at least two prejudices here: 1. no basic knowled...

 On the Israeli pager attack on Hezbollah Gary Stodel One of the best anti terror strategies ever employed. The stuff of Hollywood films. Ned Ma Gary Stodel  It is called state terror by scholars of terrorism. There is state violence and non-state violence. Jamus Fundi Ned Ma  it's the best actors who invented today's technology playing and toying with the old technology, and the keepers thinking they are safe. Ned Ma Jamus Fundi  That's not related to my comment. I am speaking about 'terrorism' academically, i.e. sociologically, historically, politically, etc. The key word is scholars who have written about violence and forms of violence. Jim Braiden Ned Ma Terrorism is violence directed at civilians for political purposes. This was not terrorism. Ned Ma Jim Braiden  narrowed the definition and ignored who were killled in the attack. That suits his ideological stance towards a state that has used state terror for decades. “Webster's Collegiate Dictionary: '...