By Ken Leslie for the Saker Blog The Poglavnik of the East[1] “I know no way of judging the future but the past.” Patrick Henry, 1765 “This time, it’s different” Any gambler bleeding thousands of dollars at a table in Las Vegas These days we all seem preoccupied with daily events which are taking a turn for the worse. No, not everything is “bad” but only those who are sound
By Ramin Mazaheri for the Saker Blog If you had said back in May that the CARES Act would be the only fiscal stimulus in the world’s richest country surely you would have responded, “But then by October America will certainly be in pandemonium?” Well… where’s the pandemonium? I can best explain this American exceptionalism – that they go postal only when they should not, instead of when they should
by Mansoureh Tajik for the Saker Blog “In the Name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. In Part I of this topic (See here), the inception of the Islamic Republic of Iran under the leadership of Imam Khomeini was referenced as a specific example of a system in governance based on Imamat and Wilayat as interpreted, implemented, and practiced in Shi’a Islam. Iran was a nation pegged
By Francis Lee for the Saker Blog Globalization – i.e., neo-liberalism writ large – is essentially a negative phenomenon destroying the sovereignty and cohesion of nation states and thereby depriving markets of the social and political guidance without which they cannot function effectively…The result will be a socially divisive, politically destructive, ethically abhorrent and even economically inefficient structure.(1) JOINED AT THE HIP Transnational Corporations (TNCs) can be compared to a
by Ramin Mazaheri and cross posted with PressTV With both parties unwilling to agree on a desperately-needed 2nd Stimulus package amid Great Depression-levels of economic suffering, it should be crystal clear that both Democrats and Republicans are happy to destroy the average American in their lust for power. It’s incredibly devilish, but just to achieve their short-term goal of winning the November elections both parties have proven that the ruin
By Pepe Escobar, posted with permission and first posted at Asia Times Chinese scholar Lanxin Xiang has written a book, The Quest for Legitimacy in Chinese Politics, that is arguably the most extraordinary effort in decades trying to bridge the East-West politico-historical divide. It’s impossible in a brief column to do justice to the relevance of the discussions this book inspires. Here we will highlight some of the key issues –
by Jean-Luc Baslé for The Saker Blog Wall Street is forever rising. The S&P500 index rose to 3,581 on September 2nd, 2020 – the highest level it has ever reached since its creation. This makes no sense. Wall Street is a reflection of the state of the economy which is in recession since February[1], the worst recession since 1929. How can share prices rise when the economy is falling? To
By Pepe Escobar, posted with permission and first posted at Asia Times Everything about US-China hinges on the result of the upcoming US presidential election. Trump 2.0 essentially would turbo-charge its bet on decoupling, aiming to squeeze “malign” China on a multiple Hybrid War front, undermine the Chinese trade surplus, co-opt large swathes of Asia, while always insisting on characterizing China as evil incarnate. Team Biden, even as it professes
By Matthew Ehret for The Saker Blog It is more than a little depressing to consider the impending systemic meltdown that immanently presses upon our current world. Since the 1971 floating of the U.S. dollar, a once proud and productive western industrial economic system has been increasingly asset stripped by bank deregulation, outsourcing, cheap labor and monetarism into a cult of post industrialism which has wrecked moral and economic havoc
by Leif Johnson for The Saker Blog The present lockdown of the Western world and much of the Third World is an attack on China. Here is how it works: Slash Chinese export earnings. The Chinese economy is heavily export-oriented. Seventeen percent of all China’s enormous production is shipped to countries that now, either cannot afford imports, or whose buying power is reduced from months of massive unemployment. What remains
By Peter Koenig for the Saker Blog Palestine under siege for 72 years. A UK-prompted UN decision in 1947 allowed David Ben-Gurion, then the head of the Jewish Agency, to proclaim on May 14, 1948, the establishment of the State of Israel. The United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine, a UN proposal, recommended a partition of “Mandatory Palestine” at the end of the British Mandate. “Mandatory Palestine” (picture to the left depicting Mandatory Palestine
By Ramin Mazaheri for the Saker Blog Since 1996 Americans have proven that they know their own country: polls show they have correctly picked the winner of the popular vote every time. Even though Trump’s approval rating is under 50% and poll aggregates show he trails by 8%, Gallup just asked who they think will win and 56% of Americans picked Trump, including 24% of Democrats, while just 40% picked
by Jimmie Moglia for the Saker Blog It takes strength, endurance, resignation and stomach to like Donald Trump. Not for what he actually is. Under the pen of Alexandre Dumas, for example, Trump may even appear as a not-dislikable Yankee D’Artagnan of sorts. Maybe with less finesse than the original musketeer, whose contained yet French swaggering captivated millions of readers, when reading was still ‘cool’. Rather for some infamous things
by Ramin Mazaheri and cross posted with PressTV Politics is life or death (for the barest illustration of this reality just look at medicine sanctions on Iran, Cuba, etc.), so it’s hard for many of us to get too worked up over Joe Biden telling Donald Trump that he was a “clown” who should “shut up” at their first presidential debate, which is now known as the worst debate ever.
by Mansoureh Tajik for the Saker Blog Bismillah-ir-Rahman-ir-Rahim, “In the Name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Who is qualified to be in the position of governing and based on what rules are two of the most essential questions with which human societies continue to wrestle. We are currently witnessing at the global stage how the fate and wellbeing of nations are tightly linked to the quality of,
By Pepe Escobar, posted with permission and first posted at Asia Times Few geopolitical hot spots across the planet may rival the Caucasus: that intractable, tribal Tower of Babel, throughout History a contentious crossroads of empires from the Levant and nomads from the Eurasian steppes. And it gets even messier when one adds the fog of war. To try to shed some light into the current Armenia-Azerbaijan face off, let’s
by Peter Koenig for the Saker Blog and first published by the New Eastern Outlook – NEO “The Saker” “Only the Dead Have Seen the End of War” – Plato. This wisdom is as valid today as it was 2,500 years ago. Wars go on and on. They are exactly the anti-dote of sustainability. Though, they may be the only “sustainability” modern mankind knows – endless destruction, killing, shameless exploitation
By Francis Lee for the Saker Blog The present economic/political crises is not amenable to solutions which might have been effective in the past. We seem to be fighting today’s battles with yesterday’s tactics and weapons. ‘’The ultimate reason for all real crises remains the poverty and restricted consumption of the masses as opposed to the drive of capitalist production to develop the productive forces as though only the absolute
by Pepe Escobar with permission – first posted at Asia Times Let’s cut to the chase: with or without a sanction juggernaut, China simply won’t be expelled from the global semiconductor market. The real amount of chip supply Huawei has in stock for their smart phone business may remain an open question. But the most important point is that in the next few years – remember Made in China 2025
by Ramin Mazaheri for the Saker Blog So there I was again on the “Job Creator’s Red-Eye” (NYC to Silicon Valley) and I made this fateful, election-shaping decision. The reality is that as a big-time CEO we all knew this was coming – it was announced at the last Bilderburg meeting and re-confirmed at Davos. Trump was there, and he objected, and even though I hate Trump with the same
