William Bowles – Essays
-
Libya: I smell a rat By William Bowles
From the very beginning of the Libyan uprising/coup, call it what you will, something didn’t strike me as ‘right’, events unfolded in a vacuum as if overnight, chaos took over. Continue reading
-
Libya: The Empire strikes back By William Bowles
Let’s be clear, this is not about Khadafi whatever you think of the ‘Green Revolution’, it’s about the attempt by the US/EU to intercede directly and militarily into the situation in the Middle East / North Africa, most probably through the use of NATO. Continue reading
-
Is this a ‘Young Turks’ moment all over again? By William Bowles
Mubarak steps down, surely the result of direct US pressure. But what difference will it make, the country has been run by a military clique for three decades, all that’s changed is that now they do it openly. The real issue, is what next? Will the masses now press for Sulieman, all of them to… Continue reading
-
His Master’s Voice By William Bowles
The imperial line is clear: wait it out and in the meantime try to engineer a ‘solution’ favourable to the Egyptian people but one that doesn’t alter status quo, especially in the Region, an almost unlikely outcome but one that depends on the passage of time for it to have the best chance of success.… Continue reading
-
As things fall apart By William Bowles
Are you not amazed by the total synchronicity that exists between the media and the political class? The idea that the US has absolutely no business sticking its nose into other country’s affairs has been airbrushed out of the situation completely. Elsewhere of course the real reason will be articulated, namely ‘US strategic interests’ but… Continue reading
-
Wikileaks: The Book of Revelations? Not if you read the MSM By William Bowles
The revelations come thick and fast, or faster than they were but aside from the odd mention, you wouldn’t know it if you relied on the mainstream media. If ever we needed evidence of collusion between corporate- so-called public broadcasting and the state then the way the diplomatic cables published by Wikileaks have been almost… Continue reading
-
The Media is the Message By William Bowles
It’s more than possible that the entire cables release was engineered in order to justify even more repressive laws under the guise of protecting the agents of the Empire or fighting the ‘war on terror’. Whatever the truth, it’s no longer is it about the cables, it’s all about Julian Assange. Mission accomplished. Continue reading
-
Wikileaks: Prelude to a new wave of ‘legal’ repression? By William Bowles
What is dangerous about the turn of events…is that it if there is an ulterior motive to the release of the cables it might be a new wave of repressive laws, in all likelihood under the infinitely expanding umbrella of the ‘war on terror’. Already, it’s illegal in many countries to ‘assist terrorists’ by putting… Continue reading
-
A conspiracy to silence? By William Bowles
10 December, 2010 ‘Wikileaks has not been charged with a single US crime…and here the country’s financial institutions are taking action on behalf of our state department to extinguish this whistleblower’s website.’ — Jeff Paterson, Project Director of Courage to Resist, ‘KKK OK but not WikiLeaks for some payment processors‘ “What is emerging from all… Continue reading
-
It really is us against them By William Bowles
MPs fiddling expenses and leaked diplomatic cables: what connects them and is the game finally up for capitalist ‘democracy’? Continue reading
-
The Empire strikes back By William Bowles
8 December, 2010 Is Julian Assange a brave fool, foolishly brave or just naive? Of course it’s unthinkable that the Empire will stand by and allow such a challenge and as more is revealed about Assange’s casual encounter with a couple of babes in Sweden (who turned out to be ‘honey-traps’), it tells us just… Continue reading
-
Rebellion in the High Street? By William Bowles
So, a few rumblings of discontent have surfaced, first with the students and now an interesting development, targeting corporate tax avoiders such as Topshop, owned by Sir Philip Green’s Arcadia Group who has his multi-billion empire registered in his wife’s name and who is resident in tax-free Monaco, where of course she’s really busy running… Continue reading
-
Out of the diplomatic bag By William Bowles
3 December, 2010 Wikileaks has committed the unforgivable sin of revealing the inner workings of Empire, what the servants of Empire really think and in so doing it has also revealed the extremely comfortable relationship between the media and the state in making sure that the truth behind the headlines is kept from us. Fascinating,… Continue reading
-
‘Not Red Ed’ – reinventing Labour, again and again… By William Bowles
So what is ‘Not Red Ed’ up to? I hazard the following guess: It must have been pretty obvious that Labour would lose the election and having already stated that they would ‘put off’ cuts in public spending for a coupla years, Ed has predictably attacked the Tory/Lib-Dem govt’s plans to scupper our public services. Continue reading
-
Economism rules ok! By William Bowles
Currently, the only effective force in the country that can mount any kind of opposition to the attacks on our social capital is a much defanged trade union movement. But what are the chances of the organized labour movement leading a successful opposition to this, most likely the last gasp of a bankrupt capitalism before… Continue reading
-
New? ‘old’-new? Labour, the election of Ed Miliband and the left By William Bowles
Following the election of Ed Miliband to lead the ‘new’ ‘old’ Labour Party it seems nothing has been learned from the lessons of the past thirteen years (let alone the previous forty). Continue reading
-
Why does the pernicious BS about ‘peak oil’ persist on the left? By William Bowles
Peak Oil? Why not Peak Water, after all, water is much more crucial to life than oil ever will be and it’s being consumed in vast quantities by the same economic system that chows oil? Continue reading
-
Video review of ‘Plunder – the crime of our time’ By William Bowles
The question to ask of Plunder is: without recognizing the fundamental contradictions of capitalism, that regardless of whatever ‘safeguards’ are put in place, or removed for that matter, does Plunder convince viewers that capitalism is a broke-down system that needs to be replaced? Continue reading
The New Dark Age 