Monthly Archives: December 2019

Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light. Though wise men at their end know dark is right, Because their words had … Continue reading →

New York Magazine: Over the weekend, the New York Times revealed the central role that Chase Manhattan Bank played in persuading the Carter administration to let the deposed Shah of Iran into the United States, an action that triggered the Iran … Continue reading →

Citigroup analysts have also used the word plutonomy to describe economies “where economic growth is powered by and largely consumed by the wealthy few.”[4] In three reports for super-rich Citigroup clients published in 2005 and 2006, a team of Citigroup analysts elaborated … Continue reading →

But the easy money currently provided by central banks to restore growth – easy for capital but not, of course, for labour – further adds to inequality, by blowing up the financial sector and inviting speculative rather than productive investment. … Continue reading →

Guardian: Days before the Srebrenica massacre in July 1995, John Major was warned France had possibly brokered a secret deal with the Bosnian Serbs to halt airstrikes in return for the release of western military hostages. This claim, detailed in a secret … Continue reading →

By the standard model of democracy, I mean the peculiar combination, as had come to be considered normal in OECD capitalism after 1945, of reasonably free elections, govern­ment by established mass parties, ideally one of the Right and one of … Continue reading →

All of us need an alibi so that we can say we were not silent, that we informed people, that we did everything to bring knowledge about this to the public. —Simon Wiesenthal, in Roy Gutman, A Witness to Genocide, … Continue reading →

For the decline of capitalism to continue, that is to say, no revolutionary alternative is required, and certainly no masterplan of a better society displacing capitalism. Contemporary capitalism is vanishing on its own, collapsing from internal contradictions, and not least … Continue reading →

I told a 30-something man that there was one word missing from all the text here: Vietnam. It’s really true. Why Brandstiftung? Mord? Entführung? Because terrorism – it’s that simple. Those people were dangerous troublemakers. Schmidt had the answer to … Continue reading →

The Historical Center is the right-most third of the building – the left side is a restaurant and bar, which were doing a rocking business this afternoon. There is a definite tourist trap feel. Visitors are buzzed in through the … Continue reading →

The museum is jammed full of dioramas, letters, photographs, models, posters – it’s got the feel of a museum. There are three floors, the first focuses on the Ardennes, and relates the experience of the inhabitants. Photographs show the destruction … Continue reading →