U.S. Economic Warfare and Likely Foreign Defenses by Michael Hudson

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by Michael Hudson
Writer, Dandelion Salad
July 22, 2019

Keynote Paper delivered at the 14th Forum of the World Association for Political Economy, July 21, 2019.

Today’s world is at war on many fronts. The rules of international law and order put in place toward the end of World War II are being broken by U.S. foreign policy escalating its confrontation with countries that refrain from giving its companies control of their economic surpluses. Countries that do not give the United States control of their oil and financial sectors or privatize their key sectors are being isolated by a United States imposing trade sanctions and unilateral tariffs giving special advantages to U.S. producers in violation of free trade agreements with European, Asian and other countries.

Chris Hedges: The Alternative Media Shames the Corporate Media Into Doing Their Job

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Dandelion Salad

with Chris Hedges

RT America on Jul 20, 2019

On Contact host, Chris Hedges talks to Kerry-Anne Mendoza, editor-in-chief of The Canary. Created just five years ago, the alternative socialist website is financed by subscribers and advertisers with 3.5 million monthly viewers. It has been accused of “hyper-partisan” owning to its mainly pro-Labor party content, and The Daily Telegraph, an elitist newspaper, called it “the maddest left-wing website in the world.”

Some Like It Hot by William Bowles (updated)

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by William Bowles
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Investigating Imperialism
London, England
July 18, 2019, updated: July 19, 2019

I am nothing if not an optimist, a trait that most on the Left seem to share. A belief in the future, that there is one that includes us. That things, eventually, get better, if we fight for it. ‘Unrealistic’, I hear you say, what is there to be optimistic about? The planet is going to hell and taking us all with it, and there’s nothing we can do about it! Well, maybe so, then this happened, a small event, minute even, in the scheme of things but somehow it triggered a response in me that I could not ignore and which I had to address:

How to Pay for It All by Ellen Brown

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by Ellen Brown
Writer, Dandelion Salad
The Web of Debt Blog
July 10, 2019

The Democratic Party has clearly swung to the progressive left, with candidates in the first round of presidential debates coming up with one program after another to help the poor, the disadvantaged and the struggling middle class. Proposals ranged from a Universal Basic Income to Medicare for All to a Green New Deal to student debt forgiveness and free college tuition. The problem, as Stuart Varney observed on FOX Business, was that no one had a viable way to pay for it all without raising taxes or taking from other programs, a hard sell to voters. If robbing Peter to pay Paul is the only alternative, the proposals will go the way of Trump’s trillion dollar infrastructure bill for lack of funding.

David Harvey, Michael Hudson, David Kotz and Alexander Buzgalin: The End of the “End of History” (Left Forum 2019)

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with Michael Hudson
Writer, Dandelion Salad
July 9, 2019

Left Forum 2019

At the panel, speakers will argue that the decline of neo-liberalism and the growth of a new conservative wave are objectively conditioned. The prevailing model of late capitalism that has led to the domination of the market of simulacra, financialization and stagnation, called the ‘new normality’, cannot ensure the progress of the productive forces that are on the verge of not just another technological revolution, but a qualitative change – the genesis of the economy in which a decisive role will be played not by reproductive, but by creative work.

Pepe Escobar and Eddie Conway: Future Resource Wars

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Dandelion Salad

TheRealNews on Jul 7, 2019

The fantasy of the USA becoming the first global empire in history quickly dissolved in the wake of the Iraq war. Pepe Escobar and Eddie Conway discuss the coming nexus of global competition and climate change.

Trump Administration Dangles $50 Billion Bribe for Palestinian Surrender by Finian Cunningham

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by Finian Cunningham
Writer, Dandelion Salad
East Africa
Crossposted from Strategic Culture Foundation, July 3, 2019
July 6, 2019

President Trump’s senior aide on Mideast affairs Jared Kushner tried last week to sell his much-vaunted “deal of the century” for a Palestinian-Israeli peace settlement. The core of it was a purported foreign investment plan worth $50 billion.

I’m Sick and Tired of This Thing Called “Patriotism” by William Blum

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by William Blum
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Originally published July 5, 2010
July 4, 2019

Some thoughts on “patriotism” written on July 4

Most important thought: I’m sick and tired of this thing called “patriotism”.

The Japanese pilots who bombed Pearl Harbor were being patriotic. The German people who supported Hitler and his conquests were being patriotic, fighting for the Fatherland. All the Latin American military dictators who overthrew democratically-elected governments and routinely tortured people were being patriotic — saving their beloved country from “communism”.

Michael Hudson, David Harvey and Bertell Ollman: Three Marxist Takes On Climate Change, Left Forum 2019

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with Michael Hudson
Writer, Dandelion Salad
July 3, 2019

Left Forum 2019

Essential Dissent on Jun 30, 2019

Panelists: David Harvey, Bertell Ollman, Michael Hudson

The $5,000,000,000,000,000 Question? by William Bowles

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by William Bowles
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Investigating Imperialism
London, England
June 30, 2019

Apparently, if we add up all the ‘values’ that make up Planet Earth, we arrive at the figure of $5 quadrillion![1] We’ve reduced the irreducible to the level of an accountant’s spreadsheet. Yet, it’s exactly this kind of thinking that’s created the disaster that, forget 10 years, it’s already with us and it’s been building to this since the start of the Industrial Revolution approximately 200 years ago.

Chris Hedges: Ralph Nader on the Importance of a Civic Life, Part 2

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Dandelion Salad

with Chris Hedges and Ralph Nader

RT America on Jun 29, 2019

“Trump has taught us a lot about ourselves. He has taught us what happens when we don’t do our homework. He has taught us what happens when we don’t spend time on our civic duties back home….” In the second part of Chris Hedges’ interview with Ralph Nader, activist and attorney, on the importance of a civic life.

Libra: Facebook’s Audacious Bid for Global Monetary Control by Ellen Brown

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by Ellen Brown
Writer, Dandelion Salad
The Web of Debt Blog
June 27, 2019

Payments can happen cheaply and easily without banks or credit card companies. This has now been demonstrated – not in the United States but in China. Unlike in the US, where numerous firms feast on fees from handling and processing payments, in China most money flows through mobile phones nearly for free. In 2018 these cashless payments totaled a whopping $41.5 trillion; and 90% were through Alipay and WeChat Pay, a pair of digital ecosystems that blend social media, commerce and banking. According to a May 2018 article in Bloomberg titled “Why China’s Payment Apps Give U.S. Bankers Nightmares“:

Blowing Up The Armory

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The Essays of The Man From the North by Rivera Sun
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Originally published Jan. 26, 2014
June 26, 2019

We have been losing ground. Corporate politics has invaded many sectors of our lives. In times of tactical retreat (in preparation for later advances), the military uses a tactic called blowing up the armory to describe a situation in which they will destroy any unsecured weapons and munitions to prevent their opponents from capturing them and using the arsenal against the retreating forces.

Are You Complicit? by The Anti-Social Socialist

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Watch the video below

“The trouble with Eichmann was precisely that so many were like him, and that the many were neither perverted nor sadistic, that they were, and still are, terribly and terrifyingly normal. From the viewpoint of our legal institutions and of our moral standards of judgment, this normality was much more terrifying than all the atrocities put together.” — Hannah Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem, 1963

Chris Hedges: Ralph Nader Would Become the Most Effective Advocate for Citizens Subjected to the Abuses of Corporate Power, Part 1

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Dandelion Salad

with Chris Hedges and Ralph Nader

RT America on Jun 22, 2019

Chris Hedges discusses the lifetime achievement of activist and attorney Ralph Nader, in his creation of government regulation and regulatory agencies to protect the rights and lives of the public. His work began with seat belt regulation and lead to the passing of the Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act.