NM's blog

A BBC article

A chapter by Jospeh Daher  in  The Future of the Occupation of the Palestinians Territories After Gaza

“Sanctions are  instruments of power  in the world market. They do not fall on states as such; they are transmitted through  prices, access to credit, logistics, and insurance , ending up as  lower real wages  and  higher reproduction costs  for the popular classes. In this sense, snapback is a  coercive economic act  that subordinates a semi-peripheral economy to the security priorities of the core. It invites us to ask: who pays, who decides, and who benefits? “Iran’s claim to  sovereign control  over peaceful nuclear technology is legitimate. The selective use of international law by powerful states is obvious: their allies’ arsenals are tolerated; their adversaries face blockade. The E3’s language of “non-performance” and the U.S. call for compliance reflect this  asymmetry of force —and this is why many inside and outside Iran see the move as  imperial overreach , not neutral rule-enforcement. “ Sanctions are  cl...

“Trump spoke next. He arrived twenty minutes late and nobody clapped. He said it was the most silent room he had ever been in. He told them to applaud. No one applauded. Those senior officers sat and listened to the silence. No one applauded. “ No authoritarian right winger insults all their senior generals and admirals together . Pinochet did not do it. Putin doesn’t do it. Modi would not dream of it. Mussolini did not do it. Netanyahu hasn’t done it. Hitler never did it. It’s mad.”

All the war- propaganda, all the screaming and lies and hatred, comes invariably from people who are not fighting. —George Orwell

Interpreting Trumpism

“The emphasis on Christian identity is deeply weird in a country where public expressions of belief are slightly embarrassing. It points more to the Americanisation of the European far right than to any national spiritual awakening: Robinson’s reinvention as a “citizen journalist” owes much to  American cash  from outfits like the Daniel Pipes–founded Middle East Forum. Yet this also helps the new far right solve a problem. Christianity as an ethnic rallying point cuts across the old racial lines while sustaining a Kulturkampf against Muslims. “ The Unite the Kingdom rally was the product of years of international networking and funding, backed by wealthy, racist Americans.  But the fact that so many people turned out to Robinson’s fascist jamboree cannot be blamed on his donors, or even the platforms that profit from his propaganda. The UK has been on a course to rightist radicalization for years. “‘Unite the Kingdom’ was built during a summer of racist agitation outside...

“How can the Islamic Republic justify such strict enforcement of mandatory veiling when even the Quran does not explicitly require women to cover their hair?” —  Sedigheh Vasmaghi The “broad spectrum of civil disobedience—from women’s public unveiling to the drafting of charters and statements of solidarity in the post-Jina era—reflects a significant shift in public consciousness and a growing commitment to radical democratic change, despite an unyielding state. Many protesters hope that these cumulative acts of resistance will continue to gain momentum , ultimately paving the way for transformative change.”

“From the standpoint of the independent Left, it appears that the BRICS bloc degenerated into a fast-growing yet often-stumbling network of  subimperial  powers that have generally served the interests of international capital and mainly obeyed — and indeed legitimized — neoliberal multilateral institutions. This is especially true in the areas of international commerce, investment, finance, and climate management.”

How the right seized the narrative

Children in the firing line

I haven't any right to criticise books, and I don't do it except when I hate them. I often want to criticise Jane Austen, but her books madden me so that I can't conceal my frenzy from the reader; and therefore I have to stop every time I begin. Everytime I read 'Pride and Prejudice' I want to dig her up and beat her over the skull with her own shin-bone. — Mark Twain , Letter to Joseph Twichell, 13 September 1898

A long, but a coherent and encompassing analysis

Reimagining anti-racism

Corrosion and capture

The march of fascism

See also article here 

It was fuelled by years of Tory & Labour support for anti-immigration policies

Traders sell safety and violence