Nèdeem Elmahjoub's blog

The deal with the military means that the uprising has stopped short from becoming a revolution; it means that the balance of forces has tilted more than ever since the begining of the uprising towards the military leadership and genocidal militia; it means a win for the regional reactionary forces such as the Egyptian regime and the monarchies of Saudi Arabia and the UAE ; it means that the opposition has not been able to split the army, produce a revolutionary figure and create revolutionary organisations that could continue the struggle.

" It is rare for a state to be held liable for failures in UN peacekeeping work ." Extend this: Forget UN peacekeeping work. Within the capitalist legal framework, will ever the U.S. regime and its allies be held liable for their crimes and the destructive consequences of those crimes in Iraq since 1991, for example?  I guess it will never happen. One has to look only at the crimes of the British empire. The chance that the British state will be held liable is almost zero. There is more chance that Bashar al-Asad might one day stand trial, but not the "democratically-elected leaders of the free world."

Unlike Londoners, "Berliners should be able to continue to afford living in the city,” said Michael Müller. “That is why it was and continues to be our intention to buy up apartments wherever we can, so that Berlin can regain control of its property market.” A move in Berlin to renationalise buildings

Luydmila Pavlichenko See also Battle for Sevastopol (free to watch on putlockers.me or putlockers.dance), but the English subtitles are atrocious. And with an unrealistic sniper duel.

Britain and beyond "There is a conspiracy at work here, though it is not of the kind lampooned by critics: a small cabal of the rich secretly pulling the strings of our societies. The conspiracy operates at an institutional level, one that has evolved over time to create structures and refine and entrench values that keep power and wealth in the hands of the few. In that sense we are all part of the conspiracy. It is a conspiracy that embraces us every time we unquestioningly accept the “consensual” narratives laid out for us by our education systems, politicians and media. Our minds have been occupied with myths, fears and narratives that turned us into the turkeys that keep voting for Christmas." I disagree though with Cook in describing Corbyn's election as the Labour Party leader an "accident". Cook should know that even in the most conservative situations, cumulative processes and contradictions create cracks, fissures, and openings, sometimes big, som...

French State violence at home I wonder where the "Je suis Charlie" people are. Je suis sans-papiers /les gilets noirs

Les gilets jaunes? Qu'ils mangent du caviar. "The French (bourgeoisie) way of life"  (NYT)

"Instead of returning the country to its pre-war situation, from the regime’s perspective, reconstruction will help complete the transformative process of Syrian society which was initiated by the war. The regime does not want the old Syria back; it wants a new Syria made of a different, more loyal, social fabric, akin to the one that emerged during the conflict in the areas that remained under regime control. This means that the process of reconstruction will not aim to recreate something that used to be but to perpetuate and complete the transformation that has been occurring over last eight years. The reconstruction, therefore, will emerge as less extensive, inclusive, and expansive than reports and estimates produced by international organizations suggest and will be managed solely by the Syrian government." Assad's reconstruction

State violence and migration Many think that with the coming of Trump things have got bad. Before that there is a rose picture of the U.S. as a good force in the world. Digging into history, not the one of the school curriculum, might be a start for questioning. The article does not tell the whole story, but it provides an idea or two. Also, I would qualify the role of the US regime depending on the country: sometimes the violence was/is significantly stoked by the US, other times it was/is partly caused by American intervenrion and backing of allies. The violence Central American Migrants Are Fleeing Was Stoked by the US

The Jihadis of British business We are against authoritarianism, but it should not be at the expense of our " democracy", " shareholders' democracy ". (Unfortunatley, the article is not accessible for free)

Cities in Revolutions This looks a quality project in documenting the Syrian revolution through what happened in six cities. Example: Zabadani

"A look at the multiple fronts on which U.S. imperialism is operating — in particular the Middle East, Latin America and the growing confrontation with China — shows widely differing scales of strategic importance, but with some common elements. One of the most important and too little appreciated facts is the brutal use of economic sanctions against less powerful countries designated as enemy regimes. While a handful of Democratic poli­ticians have spoken in opposition to U.S. invasion,  hardly any have called attention to the murderous effects of sanctions — which as we know from the example of Iraq are not a substitute for war, but preparation for it." How many wars?

The liberal impartiality/hypocrisy of the BBC "Theresa May condemns Trump's 'go home' remark" Here is what racism and Islamophobia look like in the British establishment: The hard-centre is racist The Tories' Islamophobia problem and Angela Merkel, too. Merking

Stop war, not people /Let's dismantle borders (A photo I took in Genoa, Italy)                 Genoa, Italy 05 September 2018

Saudi Arabia has the backing of an emerging superpower  "Showkutally Soodhun, president of Mauritius’ ruling MSM (Militant Socialist Movement) party and the island nation’s former vice president, also praised the Kingdom for taking the lead in the global fight against terrorism."  Yes, you read it rightly, the leader of "Militant Socialist Movement" party has praised one of the most reactionary regimes in the world .

Greece: Financial terrorism and Tsipras' capitulation "Syriza became yet another party of the state. This was reflected, not just in the predictable results of their management of austerity (poverty continues to rise , the health system is still undergoing perpetual crisis and shortages , etc), but in the wider conservatism of the government. Though it promised to reform foreign policy, democratise the security forces, and support migrants, Syriza wet in the opposite direction on almost every front. Never before, at least since the dictatorship, has the Greek state's foreign policy been so closely aligned to the US and Israel . Tsipras referred to Jerusalem as Israel's capital before Trump did. On immigration, too, Syriza has been servile, bailing Merkel out with a  deal favouring what used to be called  'illegal pushback'. It has deployed security forces against refugee rights movements. The old security state, with its record of corruption and far-right co...

Funnily enough, one  article  that does put the nuclear deal “violation” in some semblance of context appears on none other than Israel’s  Ynet  news website and asserts that “the real violation was that of the Trump administration, which decided to pull out of the nuclear deal altogether and renew sanctions on Iran.” Note: I wonder why Jacobin's editors let slip the "half a million Iraqi children killed by sanctions." Although it is a quote, inaccuracy should be highlighted. The Corporate Media is Aiding Trump's Saber-Rattling

Historical Drama This looks a good South Korean TV series The Nokdu Flower

Extremism Via Michael Roberts "Inequality of wealth is more extreme than inequality of income in OECD countries. On average in the OECD the richest 10% of wealth holders own 53% of all personal (net) wealth, while the richest 10% of income holders own 24% of all personal income. It's wealth that matters - wealth being property and financial assets less any debt. Most people have little wealth at all. But note the ratios are much higher in some countries. In the US, the richest 10% of wealth holders own a staggering 79% of all personal wealth, followed by the Netherlands and social-democratic Denmark. The least unequal major country is Japan where the top 10% own 'only' 41% of all personal wealth. OECD graph (2015)

Capital vs labour  in Indonesia, Germany, India, Turkey, Russia ...