January 2021
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Genetic Engineering, Agriculture and Brexit: Treachery in Our Midst
The type of ‘liberation’ Johnson advocates forms part of the usual neoliberal evangelism which this time revolves around the adoption of unassessed genetically engineered crops and food, while overseeing the gutting of food safety and environmental standards, especially in light of a potential post-Brexit trade deal with the US. Continue reading
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ASSA 2021: part two – the radical answers
8 January 2021 — Michael Roberts Blog by michael roberts At the annual conference of the American Economics Association (ASSA), there are sessions hosted by the Union for Radical Political Economics (URPE) for Marxist and other heterodox economists to present papers. At this year’s ASSA 2021, many of the URPE sessions were concerned with the economic impact of COVID-19 and Continue reading
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“The Storming of the Capitol”: America’s Reichstag Fire?
The media are already spinning a narrative around the events in Washington DC. One that bears no resemblance to reality, does not hold up to any kind of scrutiny and will have massive, far-reaching consequences for all of us. Continue reading
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State Terrorism: Remembering General Soleimani
This first anniversary of the assassination of General Qassim Soleimani, provides an occasion to remember not only the man but the nature of the act, the precedent set, and degree to which Iran and the region have become the main hunting ground of post-colonial Western imperialism. It is also relevant to take note of Mossad’s… Continue reading
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Crisis, What Crisis? Hypocrisy and Public Health in the UK
The government is extremely worried about a substance that could be contributing to a spiralling public health crisis that has been decades in the making. It has been detected in food and in urine. The government has therefore decided to carry out mass urine testing. It has found millions of ‘cases’. The more it tests,… Continue reading
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ASSA 2021 – part one: the mainstream dilemma
The annual conference of the American Economic Association (ASSA 2021) was unusual this year, for obvious reasons. Instead of 13,000 academic and professional economists descending on an American city to present and discuss hundreds of submitted papers over a few days, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, ASSA 2021 was virtual. Despite that, there were a host of… Continue reading
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We Are Living in an Emergency That Requires Urgent Action (a note written with Noam Chomsky): The First Newsletter (2021)
7 January 2021 — Tricontinental Dear friends, Greetings from the desk of the Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. The first newsletter of the new year is written in collaboration with our friend, the great linguist and prophetic voice, Noam Chomsky. What follows is a statement by Noam and me. Xiang Wang (China), Extinction, 2020 Continue reading
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Julian Assange News Links 5-7 January 2021
7 January 2021 • 15:40 — The New Dark Age There may be some duplication due to cross-posting and may be updated throughout the day, so please check back The US and UK may not will Assange’s death, but everything they are doing makes it more likely https://dissidentvoice.org/2021/01/the-us-and-uk-may-not-will-assanges-death-but-everything-they-are-doing-makes-it-more-likely/ Assange saga: Real journalism is criminally insane Continue reading
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Revealed: UK sets up media influencing project in Venezuela amid secretive £750,000 ‘democracy promotion’ programme
The UK government has established a journalism project to ‘influence’ Venezuela’s ‘media agenda’ while a Foreign Office-funded foundation is spending £750,000 on a secretive ‘democracy-promotion’ programme in the country, as Britain appears to deepen efforts to remove the Maduro government. Continue reading
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American right-wing funders back GB News ready for launch
By TruePublica: Benjamin Ward, the Deputy Director for Europe and Central Asia Division at Human Rights Watch recently and very publicly accused Boris Johnson of systematically dismantling the democratic fabric of Britain. The illegal suspension of parliament was cited of course, but so was the gaming of appointments to parliamentary committees that scrutinise government policies.… Continue reading
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It Wasn’t 2020, It Was The Ruling Class Trying to Kill You
The sick reality underlying the present situation of poor, working-class, African, and colonized people around the world is that the people who currently have the most power to address our circumstances also happen to be the least interested in our long term survival. A decision was made in the spring that the interests of capital… Continue reading
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PSL Statement: Trump Incites Fascist Insurrection Against Congress — What Comes Next?
Today, a fascist mob — called to action by Donald Trump and acting in obvious collusion with elements of the Capitol Police, the Department of Defense, and possibly other armed forces — stormed the U.S. Capitol building and dispersed Congress. Trump himself spoke at today’s main protest rally outside the White House as part of… Continue reading
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Both Tortuous and Torturous
Magistrate Vanessa Bararitser walked into Westminster Magistrates Court No.1 at 10.12am this morning with the sunniest smile and most carefree disposition I have ever seen her adopt. Her shoulders appeared visibly lifted. She positively beamed at Clair Dobbin, counsel for the US government, as she invited her to put the case for the prosecution as… Continue reading
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US govt-sponsored website Bellingcat disrupts MH17 trial in Netherlands
For six years the British website Bellingcat has promoted Ukraine’s narrative that Russia shot down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17). With the start of the MH17 trial in March 2020, the self-proclaimed “collective of researchers, investigators and citizen journalists” assumed a new role: The US government-funded website began ridiculing the defense attorneys and attempting to… Continue reading
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British Judge Keeps Julian Assange In Prison, Despite Denying Extradition Two Days Ago
A British district judge denied bail for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange after a hearing in which the prosecution argued he had helped NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden “flee justice” and would abscond if released from the Belmarsh high-security prison. Continue reading
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German Government Uses Lockdown to Sneak Deadly Pesticide
Using the conditions of the most recent coronavirus lockdown, the German government’s agriculture minister has made a stealth decision, without open debate, to re-instate a banned class of systemic insecticides known as neonicotinoids. The German move follows a similar move by the French Macron government and puts the entire food security of the EU in… Continue reading
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UK: Will they misuse these powers?
Under cover of Christmas, with less than a day for scrutiny, and with No Deal as the only alternative, Parliament passed the European Union (Future Relationship) Act 2020. The process was described by the venerable Hansard Society as “an abdication of Parliament’s constitutional responsibilities to deliver proper scrutiny of the executive and the law” and a “farce”. Continue reading
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Power Grab: COVID-19 reinfection risk is virtually nonexistent, but ‘experts’ pretend otherwise
You’re not supposed to know that the chances of being infected with COVID-19 twice are so astronomically low that it’s only worth discussing if you also believe it’s important to warn the world about the dangers of falling into a sinkhole the moment you step outside your front door. Continue reading
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The Assange Verdict: What Happens Now
I fully expect that Julian will be released on bail this week, pending a possible US appeal against the blocking of his extradition. Continue reading
The New Dark Age 