Climate Change and the Next U.S. Revolution by Shamus Cooke

Image by Dandelion Salad via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

by Shamus Cooke
www.globalresearch.ca
July 24, 2012

The U.S. heat wave is slowly shaking the foundations of American politics. It may take years for the deep rumble to evolve into an above ground, institution-shattering earthquake, but U.S. society has changed for good.

The heat wave has helped convince tens of millions of Americans that climate change is real, overpowering the fake science and right-wing media – funded by corporate cash – to convince Americans otherwise.

Paraguay: Obama’s Second Latin American Coup by Shamus Cooke

An enlargeable map of the Republic of Paraguay (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Dandelion Salad

by Shamus Cooke
www.globalresearch.ca
June 23, 2012

The recent coup against Paraguay’s democratically elected president is not only a blow to democracy, but an attack against the working and poor population that supported and elected President Fernando Lugo, whom they see as a bulwark against the wealthy elite who’ve dominated the country for decades.

The U.S. mainstream media and politicians are not calling the events in Paraguay a coup, since the president is being “legally impeached” by the elite-dominated Paraguayan Congress. But as economist Mark Weisbrot explains in the Guardian:

Obama’s New Iran Sanctions: An Act of War by Shamus Cooke

by Shamus Cooke
Global Research, July 3, 2010

When the UN refused to agree to the severe sanctions that the U.S. wanted, Obama responded with typical Bush flair and went solo. The new U.S. sanctions against Iran — signed into law by Obama on July 1st — are an unmistakable act of war.

If fully enforced, Iran’s economy will be potentially destroyed. The New York Times outlines the central parts of the sanctions:

“The law signed by Mr. Obama imposes penalties on foreign entities that sell refined petroleum to Iran or assist Iran with its domestic refining capacity. It also requires that American and foreign businesses that seek contracts with the United States government certify that they do not engage in prohibited business with Iran.” (July 1, 2010).

Michel Chossudovsky: The Homeland Security State and the Economic Crisis

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Bonnie Faulkner
Guns and Butter
KPFA
May 26, 2010

The Global Economic Crisis: The Great Depression of the Twenty-First Century” with economist and author, Michel Chossudovsky.

The Fight to Save Public Education in America by Shamus Cooke

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by Shamus Cooke
Global Research, March 6, 2010

March 4 was historic.  It will be remembered as the day that people began to fight back against the destruction of public education.  The student and teacher led offensive took place in cities across the country; teachers, students and school workers demonstrated and marched, showcasing the aggressive methods of the struggle.  San Francisco led the way with the biggest numbers.  As many as 15,000 people, mostly students, teachers and social service workers attended a Civic Center rally organized by the three teachers unions and the San Francisco Labor Council.

This can only be the beginning.  The war on public education has been carefully planned for years, orchestrated by corporate interests and implemented by Republicans and Democrats alike.

How Obama’s Health Care “Reform” Kills Health Care by Shamus Cooke

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by Shamus Cooke
Global Research, March 1, 2010

It’s difficult to understand a subject when those explaining it are motivated not by truth, but profit.   In the case of health care, both Democrats and Republicans have huge financial incentives to obscure, mislead, or lie. Instead of common sense and honesty directing the debate, bags of money facilitate the conversation, funneled in from the health care industry via lobbyists into Congressmen’s pockets.  This is the real reason that Obama’s “health care summit” was full of free-market jargon, staged debate and fake rage.

The majority of working people in this country are completely alienated from this nonsense, and are growing progressively hostile to the lies of both parties and their respective media mouthpieces.  Polls continue to show rising opposition to the Democrats’ health care shenanigans, while showing no upgrade in status for the Republicans.

The Drive to Eliminate Social Security in America by Shamus Cooke

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by Shamus Cooke
Global Research, February 23, 2010

In Washington each new day brings a fresh call to “reform entitlement programs” — Social Security, Medicare, etc., (in Congress, the word “reform” now means to eliminate, or drastically reduce).  Tackling Social Security has been on the to-do list of the corporate elite for years, and they’re not waiting any longer.  After years of promoting this cause, conservative think tanks have now garnered solid support from the political establishment as a whole, which includes the Republican and Democratic parties.

The newest liberal recruit to the destruction of Social Security is Thomas Friedman, the influential columnist for The New York Times, who wrote recently:

“The president needs to persuade the country to invest in the future and pay for the past… We have to pay for more new schools and infrastructure than ever, while accepting more entitlement cuts than ever [Social Security, Medicare, etc.] when public trust in government is lower than ever.”  (February 20, 2010).

Another U.S. War? Obama Threatens China and Iran by Shamus Cooke

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by Shamus Cooke
Global Research, February 1, 2010

The possibility of yet another U.S. war became more real last week, when the Obama administration sharply confronted both China and Iran.  The first aggressive act was performed by Obama’s Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, who “warned” China that it must support serious economic sanctions against Iran (an act of war).

Clinton said: “China will be under a lot of pressure to recognize the destabilizing effect that a nuclear-armed Iran would have, from which they receive a significant percentage of their oil supply.”

The implication here is that China will be cut off from a major energy source if they do not support U.S. foreign policy — this, too, would equal an act of war.

The Death of Liberalism in the United States by Shamus Cooke

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by Shamus Cooke
www.globalresearch.ca/, January 12, 2010

It’s no exaggeration to say that President Obama was the Democrats’ last chance to maintain some level of political legitimacy in the eyes of working class Americans.  Now, after a year of solid pro-corporate policies, it’s obvious Obama has failed; and with him the Democratic Party.

Well-known “liberals” are beginning to denounce Obama’s polices, but not the Democrats as a whole. Instead, these esteemed liberals are promoting “real progressive Democrats,” i.e. the Democrats who are used as props by the leadership of the party, and completely ignored by the corporate media.   The Democrat-promoting liberals are a mixed bunch, ranging from university professors to television personalities.  Their ideology has moved distinctly to the right over the decades, to conform to the general rightward movement of the U.S. political/economic establishment.

The Origins of Modern Socialism by Shamus Cooke

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by Shamus Cooke
Global Research, January 2, 2010

Freedom & Democracy cannot exist alongside tremendous inequalities of wealth

The specter of socialism is again haunting the minds of the corporate elite, from the Americas to Europe and beyond. This, after decades of pro-capitalist campaigning from the corporate media, which has always confused “capitalism” with “freedom.”  But of course freedom and democracy cannot exist alongside tremendous inequalities of wealth — or next to corporations wielding absolute power over elections and governments.

These facts helped form the social movements in Latin America that now advocate 21st Century Socialism, a name that implies the prior century’s experiments needed either updating or improving, while also implying that the general socialist “project” was progressive.

Why the U.S. Government Hates Venezuela By Shamus Cooke

By Shamus Cooke
August 04, 2009 “Information Clearing House”

The propaganda wheels are turning fast.  The barrage of anti-Venezuela misinformation that began while Bush was in office has intensified in recent months.  Not a week goes by without the U.S. mainstream media running at least one story about the “dictatorial” Venezuelan government.  Historically, the U.S. government’s foreign policy “coincidentally” matches the opinion of the media and vice versa.

A front page New York Times article on August 2, 2009 cited  “new evidence” that the Venezuelan government “still” supports the FARC — a peasant-based guerrilla group that has fought the Colombian government for decades.

This “new evidence” is a mere recycling of the last tactical attempt to link the Venezuelan government with the FARC:  computers were supposedly confiscated from FARC leaders that showed innumerable ties to Venezuelan government officials.  Of course anybody can write anything on a computer and say it came from somewhere else.  Evidence like this needs only a willing accomplice — the media — to legitimize it.

Obama’s Middle East Imperialism by Shamus Cooke

Dandelion Salad

by Shamus Cooke
Global Research, May 10, 2009

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The velvet gloves are off and the reality of Obama’s Middle East plans are being revealed: a bare-fisted pummeling of Afghanistan and Pakistan — with Iraq’s fate yet to be determined.

The media have been preparing this for months, with incessant talk about the alleged “troop drawdown” in Iraq, the “surge” in Afghanistan and the “immediate threat” that supposedly is represented by Pakistan.

The Big Lie of Recession Politics: ‘Shared Sacrifice’ by Shamus Cooke

Dandelion Salad

by Shamus Cooke
Global Research, March 3, 2009

It’s everywhere you look and in every speech you listen to. Every time a politician or businessmen talks about the recession, an almost in-synch, repetitive mantra can be heard: “Shared sacrifice, equality of sacrifice, hard choices.” Oh my.

There must be something to it, since EVERYBODY seems to be regurgitating the phrase in harmony. Even union bureaucrats have caught the shared sacrifice fever, using it to subdue their members in contract negotiations.

Obama himself has turned this once-extinct phrase into the linchpin of his economics policy: “We will, each and every one of us, have to compromise on certain things we care about but which we simply cannot afford right now.”

Obama has used this reasoning to reduce the wages of auto workers, while also talking about so-called “entitlement programs” like social security, Medicare, and Medicaid.

When asked about how this applied to the 28 new helicopters planned for the White House — costing $11.2 billion — Obama gave a heroic lead to the American people, saying that he “could do without them.”

Will Obama Start the Next Trade War? by Shamus Cooke

Dandelion Salad

by Shamus Cooke
Global Research, February 5, 2009

While campaigning to be president, Obama gave the general impression that he would act “cooperatively” to solve international problems, moving away from the Bush strategy of irresponsible “unilateralism.”

But Obama took an aggressive stance towards China even on the campaign trail, including the accusations of “currency manipulation,” “violating intellectual property rights,” and “devaluing their goods.” Of course the average American cares nothing about these types of  crimes, nor should they.

Some U.S. corporations, however, care very much about such things, as their profits are threatened by China’s rise. U.S. politicians looking for a good scapegoat also aim their fire at China, so they themselves can pretend to do something while continuing to do nothing of substance, aside from using US tax dollars to feed the money-hungry banks.

Obama is now following through with his promise to “aggressively confront China,” and the implications are profound.

It is no exaggeration to say that the U.S.-China economic relationship, which is central to the functioning of the larger world economy, is already in tatters. This precarious partnership was dysfunctional from the beginning: China was to build the world’s products and lend money to the U.S. so that these products would then be purchased.

Such an agreement can work in the short run but is based largely on colossal U.S. debt, the hyper-exploitation of Chinese workers, and the de-industrialization of the U.S. It was not meant to last, nor could it.

Bush worked madly to maintain good relations with the Chinese, brushing off demands of Republicans and Democrats alike to go on the attack.

The Danger of Right-Wing Populism By Shamus Cooke

Dandelion Salad

By Shamus Cooke
December 28, 2008 “Information Clearinghouse”

A strange trend is appearing in the political realm of the Left. Self-proclaimed political conservatives – many current or former members of the Republican Party – are being given considerable room in Left publications, for example in Counterpunch and BuzzFlash. At first it seemed accidental, with only sporadic occurrences. Now these “renegade” right-wingers enjoy ample room in spaces formally reserved for “lefties only.”

How is this to be explained?

If you ask a self-proclaimed progressive why he or she admires a particular conservative pundit, you’ll most likely receive a list of “progressive” positions:

Against the Iraq War
Against free-trade (especially NAFTA)
Against Globalization
Against the bank bailouts
Against the Federal Reserve
Against restrictions on civil liberties