Why the Rise of Fascism is Again the Issue

by John Pilger   http://johnpilger.com (February 26 2015) The recent 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz was a reminder of the great crime of fascism, whose Nazi iconography is embedded in our consciousness. Fascism is preserved as history, as flickering footage of goose-stepping blackshirts, their criminality terrible and clear. Yet in the same liberal …

The Great Decoupling

The one graph that ties together the strands making a New America. The Fabius Maximus Website (February 25 2015) https://fabiusmaximus.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/decoupoling-mcafee.png?w=1250&h=852 Andrew McAfee (December 12 2012) -  Click to enlarge. http://fabiusmaximus.com/2015/02/25/inequality-middle-class-one-percent-victory-79494/

What Progress Means

by John Michael Greer The Archdruid Report (February 18 2015) Last week's post here on The Archdruid Report appears to have hit a nerve. That didn't come as any sort of a surprise, admittedly.  It's one thing to point out that going back to the simpler and less energy-intensive technologies of earlier eras could help …

Is Japan’s Prime Minister the Next Putin?

by John Feffer Foreign Policy in Focus (February 25 2015) In the ads in the back of old comic books, a skinny little kid is hanging out at the beach when a bully comes along and kicks sand in his face. The little kid, who weighed 97 pounds at the time, was Angelo Siciliano. He …

European Banks versus Greek Labour

Michael Hudson says Greece's Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis is proposing austerity on the banking class, rather than the working class, to balance the budget. The Real News Network (February 24 2015)      SHARMINI PERIES, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, TRNN: Welcome to The Real News Network. I'm Sharmini Peries, coming to you from Baltimore. The four-month extension …

The Battle Behind the Fog of Propaganda

The "Exceptional" US Suffers Crushing Defeat in Debaltsevo    by Mike Whitney CounterPunch Weekend Edition (February 20 to 22 2015) There's no city left. It's destroyed. -  Anonymous Ukrainian soldier following the battle of Debaltsevo In less than a year, the United States has toppled the democratically-elected government of Ukraine, installed a Washington-backed stooge in …

Crown Prince Warns …

... of need to remember World War Two 'correctly' Japan Today (February 23 2015) Japan's crown prince has warned of the need to remember World War Two "correctly", in a rare foray into an ideological debate as nationalist politicians seek to downplay the country's historic crimes. In an unusual intervention in the discussion, Naruhito's mild-mannered …

This is Why

Hewlett-Packard is Firing 58,000 by Tyler Durden Zero Hedge (February 24 2015) The biggest scandal in today's release of Hewlett Packard Q1 earnings was not that, just as the Nasdaq is knocking on 5000's door, it reported revenues of $26.8 billion missing consensus expectations of $27.3 billion, while beating non-GAAP EPS by one cent to …

Why Now North Korea?

by F William Engdahl New Eastern Outlook (February 16 2015) I try to start from the premise that people do certain things for a reason, although often not for the reason they claim. This is certainly the case with US Presidents, especially since the CIA and Pentagon ganged up to assassinate John F Kennedy a …

Year of the Sheep, Century of the Dragon?

New Silk Roads and the Chinese Vision of a Brave New (Trade) World by Pepe Escobar TomDispatch (February 22 2015) BEIJING - Seen from the Chinese capital as the Year of the Sheep starts, the malaise affecting the West seems like a mirage in a galaxy far, far away. On the other hand, the China …