August 12, 2021 will go down as the day the Taliban avenged America’s invasion and struck the blow that brought down its man in Kabul by Pepe Escobar, posted with permission and first posted at Asia Times August 12, 2021. History will register it as the day the Taliban, nearly 20 years after 9/11 and the subsequent toppling of their 1996-2001 reign by American bombing, struck the decisive blow against
By Pepe Escobar and Quantum Bird – Special for The Saker Blog The Empire of Chaos could never be accused of deploying Sun Tzu subtlety. Especially when it comes to dealing with the satrapies. In the case of Brazil, former BRICS stalwart reduced to the status of a proto-neo-colony under an aspiring Soprano-style “captain”, the Men Who Run the Show applied standard procedure. First they sent the Deep State, as
Publication by Michael Hudson : Sage Journals Abstract Marx and many of his less radical contemporary reformers saw the historical role of industrial capitalism as being to clear away the legacy of feudalism—the landlords, bankers, and monopolists extracting economic rent without producing real value. However, that reform movement failed. Today, the finance, insurance, and real estate (FIRE) sector has regained control of government, creating neo-rentier economies. The aim of this
City after city have fallen from government to Taliban control but Afghanistan’s end-game is still unclear by Pepe Escobar, posted with permission and first posted atAsia Times The ever-elusive Afghan “peace” process negotiations re-start this Wednesday in Doha via the extended troika – the US, Russia, China and Pakistan. The contrast with the accumulated facts on the ground could not be starker. In a coordinated blitzkrieg, the Taliban have subdued
Original link: http://middleeastobserver.net/nasrallah-suggests-lebanese-politicians-aiding-militants-in-syria-behind-nitrate-shipment-to-beirut-port/ Hezbollah’s leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah comments on the political exploitation and investigation findings of the Port of Beirut Disaster that took place one year ago in Lebanon’s capital.Source: Spot Shot (YouTube)Date: August 8, 2021 (Please help MEO keep producing independent translations for you by contributing a sustainable monthly amount https://www.patreon.com/MiddleEastObserver?fan_landing=true) Transcript: Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s Secretary General: And after a year has passed, they (i.e. Lebanese groups leading the anti-Hezbollah campaign
http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/66352 The event took place at the initiative of Prime Minister of the Republic of India Narendra Modi. India holds the presidency of the UN Security Council in August 2021. * * * President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr Prime Minister, my dear friend, Mr Modi, ladies and gentlemen, Let me thank you, Mr Prime Minister, for the fact that you, as someone who is currently holding the UN Security Council presidency, convened this Security Council meeting to discuss an important and sensitive topic, namely, modern challenges and threats in maritime security. Your
By Pepe Escobar and cross posted with insideover.com You don’t argue with the Tatmadaw – the Myanmar Armed Forces. It’s always their way, or the highway. Since the mid-20th century, the Chinese have come to understand it quite well. How Beijing approaches the Myanmar maze is conditioned by four variables: natural gas; water; the drug trade; and the fractious clashes between the Tatmadaw and a dizzying patchwork of over 135
By Cynthia Chung for The Saker Blog “But I don’t want to go among mad people,” Alice remarked. “Oh, you can’t help that,” said the Cat: “we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.” “How do you know I’m mad?” said Alice. “You must be,” said the Cat, “or you wouldn’t have come here.” – Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” We are living in a world where the degree
by Francis Lee for The Saker Blog Nomenclature Below – Men and Ideas 1. INTERACTIONISM/PHENOMENOLOGY Wilhem Dilthey (1833-1911) Edmund Husserl (1859-1958) Max Weber (1864-1920) Alfred Schutz (1899-1959) Heinrich Rickert (1863-1936) Karl Mannheim (1893-1947) 2. EXISTENTIALISM F.Nietzsche (1844-1900) Martin Heidegger (1899-1976) Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1985) 3. HUMANISTIC MARXISM Georgy Lukacs (1885-1971) Karl Korsch (1886-1961) 4. THE FRANKFURT SCHOOL Herbert Marcuse Walter Benjamin Theodor Adorno Max Horkheimer Erich Fromm Neo-Frankfurt Jurgen Harbermas PART
Note by the Saker: considering the fact that the anti-COVID-Crusaders desperately want to peddle their theories on this blog (Ron Unz just got hit with over 1200 comments!!) I am not allowing comments under this (excellent) report by Mansoureh Tadjik. I apologize to Mansoureh and to all the sane readers: I am swamped with work, I am about to interview a very famous personality (in 2 weeks) and I have
The main news of the day is the Biden administration’s effort to sell 40 155mm M109A6 Medium Self-Propelled Howitzer artillery systems, 1,698 precision guidance kits for munitions, spares, training, ground stations and upgrades for previous generation of howitzers, to the island of Taiwan in a deal worth up to $750 million. China is, to say the least, livid. https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202108/1230698.shtml Military Drills: US ‘large-scale’ military exercises cannot scare China, Russia The
by Pepe Escobar, posted with permission and first posted at Asia Times Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi was sworn in as the 8th president of Iran this Thursday at the Majlis (Parliament), two days after being formally endorsed by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Khamenei. Representatives of the UN secretary-general; OPEC; the EU; the Eurasia Economic Union (EAEU); the Inter-Islamic Union; and quite a few heads of state and Foreign Ministers
https://www.mid.ru/en/foreign_policy/news/-/asset_publisher/cKNonkJE02Bw/content/id/4834791 1. The goal of the 76-th session of the UN General Assembly (GA) is to reaffirm the central and coordinating role of the Organization in international affairs. Owing to its representativeness and universality, the UN is rightfully viewed as a unique platform for an equitable dialogue aimed at reaching compromise solutions with due regard to different opinions. Attempts to undermine the authority and legitimacy of the UN are, in
By Francis Lee for the Saker Blog ‘The dependency thesis, like all good (and great) theories can be summed up in a single phrase: Modern ‘’underdevelopment’’ is not ‘’historical backwardness’’ the result of late and insufficient development; it is the product of capitalist development, which is polarizing by nature’. (Andre Gunder Frank -1996.) The leader of the UK Conservative Party, Mrs Thatcher, first came to power in the UK in
From Seyed Mohammad Marandi at https://english.almayadeen.net As Iran is literally depicted as illegitimate and derogatorily labeled a “regime,” these “experts” can inform their audiences without irony of the rising “menace” of Iran and the growing threat it poses to regional stability. Under US occupation Afghanistan has become the beating heart of global opium cultivation and distribution, but for Iran haters, just a whiff of unrest anywhere in the country is
China and Russia will be key to solving an ancient geopolitical riddle: how to pacify the ‘graveyard of empires’ By Pepe Escobar, posted with permission and first posted at Asia Times So this is the way the Forever War in Afghanistan ends – if one could call it an ending. Rather, it’s an American repositioning. Regardless, after two decades of death and destruction and untold trillions of dollars, we’re faced
by Batko Milacic for the Saker Blog The world Olympic movement has always been based on the principles of equal and impartial attitude towards athletes – representatives of all states of the world. The Olympic Games were designed to stop wars and political strife, to unite representatives of all countries of the International Olympic Committee. One of the main Olympic principles was peacekeeping – the opportunity for the strongest athletes
by Pepe Escobar with permission and widely cross-posted Assaulted by cognitive dissonance across the spectrum, the Empire of Chaos now behaves as a manic depressive inmate, rotten to the core – a fate more filled with dread than having to face a revolt of the satrapies. Only brain dead zombies now believe in its self-billed universal mission as the new Rome and the new Jerusalem. There’s no unifying culture, economy or geography knitting
http://middleeastobserver.net/iranian-analyst-on-irans-efforts-in-afghanistan-role-of-taliban/ Description: In a political talk show appearance on RT Arabic earlier this month, Iranian political analyst Amir al-Moussawi commented on Iran’s stance towards the US army’s withdrawal from neighboring Afghanistan, and concerns surrounding the potential threat posed by the Taliban towards Kabul and the wider region. Al-Moussawi is the director of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Tehran. Source: RT Arabic (YouTube) Date: July 9, 2021 (Please help
By Hans Vogel for the Saker Blog What is a journalist? Essentially, a journalist is a person who writes articles for a newspaper or a website. Journalists come in two varieties: reporters, who tell what they see on location, and investigative journalists, who work with looser deadlines. The latter has a broader perspective, trying to give the public a fuller picture of what is truly going on. It is the
