8 March 2014 — FAIR Blog
Here are the highlights from the FAIR Blog this week. Please pass them along to your friends–via email and social media.
Day: March 9, 2014
The Dead and the Quick: Hugo Chávez and His Project By Chris Gilbert
9 March 2014 — MRZine
Praise, especially when empty, is often a way of dismissing a revolutionary historical figure more than preserving his legacy. That is what Lenin said about Marx: by making Marx into an icon, people had castrated and corrupted his thought.
Vlad the Bad steals a march on the West By Eric Margolis (USA)
8 March 2014 — Eric Margolis
Soviet leader Josef Stalin used to shrug off critics by his favorite Central Asian saying: “The dogs bark; the caravan moves on.”
Russia’s hard-eyed president, Vladimir Putin, is following the same strategy over Ukraine and Crimea. Putin swiftly moved his knight into the empty chess square of Crimea, thereby regaining full control of one of Russia’s four strategic port regions: Sevastopol, Murmansk, St Petersburg and Vladivostok.
The NHS, the LibDems & the “Undesirable Contact Man” By Andrew Causon
9 March 2014 — OurNHS
The Lib Dems’s biggest donor isn’t just an alleged arms dealer – he’s also owner of an expanding private sector NHS business providing substandard care to vulnerable patients.
Grand Puppetmaster Brzezinski Directing War Strategies from the Shadows By Mike Whitney
9 March 2014 — williambowles.info
“From the moment the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the United States has relentlessly pursued a strategy of encircling Russia, just as it has with other perceived enemies like China and Iran. It has brought 12 countries in central Europe, all of them formerly allied with Moscow, into the NATO alliance. US military power is now directly on Russia’s borders…This crisis is in part the result of a zero-sum calculation that has shaped US policy toward Moscow since the Cold War: Any loss for Russia is an American victory, and anything positive that happens to, for, or in Russia is bad for the United States. This is an approach that intensifies confrontation, rather than soothing it.” – Stephen Kinzer, “US a full partner in Ukraine debacle”, Boston Globe
Who’s Who in Ukraine’s New “Semi-fascist” Government: Meet the People the U.S. and EU are Supporting By Brian Becker
8 March 2014 — Global Research
The U.S. and European Union countries played a key role in the overthrow of the elected government in the Ukraine headed by Victor Yanukovych and the Party of Regions. Listening to the politicians in Washington or watching the corporate media, it would be easy to believe that the coup in the Ukraine has ushered in new era of democracy for the people of that country.
The West tightens noose around Ukraine’s Economy By Olga Shedrova
9 March 2014 — Strategic Culture Foundation
Economy in doldrums, the Kiev junta is urgently reviving cooperation with the International Monetary Fund. On March 4 a team from the IMF was in Kiev to study the books and consider a loan. Kiev hopes to get the first $3 billion in a month. Yatsenyuk rushed to assure the West that Ukraine is ready to meet all the conditions put forward by the Fund. One can imagine how badly it is going to hurt common people. Continue reading
US against Venezuela: Cold War Goes Hot By Nil Nikandrov
8 March 2014 — Strategic Culture Foundation
During the recent carnival in Venezuela, the isolated pockets of student protests taking place in large cities died out as if by magic. Or, to be more precise, they died out in the privileged areas of the cities. The organisers of the anti-government protests had assured the world that the carnival would not take place, and that the tradition of traveling to Caribbean beaches would be cancelled, since «the dissatisfaction of the people» had reached a climax. Continue reading
US, Europe step up pressure as Ukrainian crisis intensifies By Peter Symonds
8 March 2014 — WSWS
Tensions in Ukraine continued to mount Friday as Russia denounced the threat of US and European Union (EU) sanctions against Russian and pro-Russian Ukrainian officials.
VTJP Occupied Palestine and Israel: News and Articles 8 March 2014
8 March 2014 — VTJP
News
International Middle East Media Center
UN Expresses Concern over Recent Developments in Occupied Jerusalem
IMEMC – The Bureau of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People expressed concern over the recent developments and increased tensions in Occupied East Jerusalem, and especially the increasing incursions by Israeli settlers and political leaders, including government officials, on the Al Aqsa Mosque compound, which provoke Palestinians and other Muslim worshippers. …
Continue reading
The Ukrainian Pendulum By Israel Shamir
9 March 2014 — Information Clearing House
The stakes are high in the Ukraine: after the coup, as Crimea and Donbas asserted their right to self determination, American and Russian troops entered Ukrainian territory, both under cover.
The Dark Ages Have Descended Anew By Daniel Patrick Welch
8 March 2014 — Dissident Voice
The near total blackout of truth in the Western media makes this one of the most dangerous times in history, with coordinated “news” outlets acting collectively as a sort of Ministry of Government Lies. To try to escape this stranglehold, it is necessary to reach outside the echo chamber of massaged and approved opinion in which we are basted day in and day out. Continue reading
Mapping Africa By T. Mayheart Dardar
8 March 2014 — Dissident Voice
In February the World Bank announced an ambitious plan to initiate a $1 billion fund to finance an effort to map the mineral resources of the African continent. Their plan is to use advanced satellite and surveillance technology to, in the words of a World Bank senior manager, “identify the areas with more profitability.”1
The New Dark Age 