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First World War and Imperialism. Dr. Jacques Pauwels

Imperialism, the worldwide expansion of capitalism, motivated by the lust for raw materials such as petroleum, markets and cheap labour, involved fierce competition among great powers such as the British Empire, czarist Russia, and the German Reich, and thus led to the Great War of 1914–1918, later to be known as the First World War or World War I.

The First World War was the product of the nineteenth century, a “long century” in the view of some historians, lasting from 1789 to 1914. It was characterized by revolutions of a political, social, and also economic nature, especially the French Revolution and the Industrial Revolution, and ended with the emergence of imperialism, that is a new, worldwide manifestation of capitalism, originally a European phenomenon. This essay focuses on how imperialism played a decisive role in the outbreak, course, and outcome of the “Great War” of 1914–1918; it is based on the author’s book,

The Great Class War 1914–1918, James Lorimer, Toronto, 2016.

When the French Revolution broke out in 1789, the nobility (or aristocracy) constituted the ruling class in just about every country in Europe. But because of the French Revolution and other revolutions that followed – not only in France – in 1830 and 1848, the haute bourgeoisie or upper-middle class was able, by the middle of the century, not to unseat the nobility, but to join it at the apex of the social and political pyramid. Thus was formed an “active symbiosis” of two classes that were in fact very different. The nobility was characterized by great wealth based on large landownership, had a strong preference for conservative political ideas and parties, and tended to cultivate clerical connections…

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

A Lawless World Driven to Brink of War and Political Assassinations. “Signs of Endgame Collapse”

On Monday May 20th, with the UN’s International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor issuing arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Defense Minister Yoav Gallant along with three Hamas leaders for war crimes, and President Joe Biden again repeating, “What’s happening is not genocide. We reject that,” still insisting that Zionist Israel is not engaging in genocide against Palestinian people, we live in an increasingly dangerous world. This comes just days after a failed assassination attempt on an EU national leader, and then the sudden death of Iran’s president and foreign minister, today’s outrageous tempo of disturbing world events is extremely ominous.

The fact is, every single day now we are waking up to more perilously foreboding signs of endgame collapse, imminent world war between top nuclear powers, political assassinations, and yes, a polarized, seemingly out-of-control world, chaotically growing exponentially more unstable and violent by the week. This unending stream of unfolding incidents signify escalating global destabilization, the globalists’ deliberate controlled demolition of our planet gone mad. None of this is by chance nor by accident. It simply reflects the systematic breakdown by diabolical design of all life as we’ve known it. Destructive omens of accelerating upheaval and potential mass death appear near daily now, coming in large shocking doses.

Image source

Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico was nearly murdered last Wednesday May 15th. He is only one of two EU national leaders friendly to Russia opposing military aid to Ukraine, and the only national leader alive in this world investigating Pfizer and the powerbroking co-conspirator culprits behind the COVID kill shot holocaust, determined to publicly hold them criminally accountable.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

The Blood-Red Sunset of the West. Strengthening of the Sino-Russian Relations

On President of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping’s invitation, President Vladimir Putin paid a state visit to China.

It is not a formal act, but a further step in strengthening economic, political, and military relations between the two countries.

China produces a third of the world’s manufacturing products, more than the United States, Germany, Japan, South Korea, and Britain combined.

After the major gas pipeline Nord Stream, which transported its gas to Europe, was interrupted by US-NATO military sabotage and the country was subjected to sanctions by the EU – Russia is supplying more and more gas and oil to China and imports from there the industrial products that it previously imported from Europe.

The strengthening of relations between the two countries is part of the BRICS: this intergovernmental organization — made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa — has extended to Saudi Arabia, Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates. Several other countries want to join this international organization, chaired this year by Russia, which aims to create a multipolar world order alternative to the unipolar one of the West.

To maintain dominance in a changing world at all costs, the West resorts to war in a scenario that ranges from Europe to the Middle East and East Asia.

In his speech at the May 9th Parade for the 79th Anniversary of the Victory of the 1941-1945 Great Patriotic War against Nazi Germany, President Putin describes this scenario as follows:

“Feeding revanchist sentiments, mocking history and trying to justify the current followers of Nazism is part of what is the common policy of the Western elites to fuel regional conflicts, inter-ethnic and inter-religious struggles and to contain the sovereign and independent centre of global development.”

Western Liars Aggressively Promote WWIII in Europe

Things appear no better this week on WWIII’s European front. That unelected worm, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at a Monday May 13th meeting of the Policy Exchange think tank, actually stated:

[If Russia succeeds in Ukraine, UK] might be next, [adding that Moscow’s] recklessness has taken us closer to a dangerous nuclear escalation than at any point since the Cuban Missile Crisis.

All these Western puppets read from the same central banking cartel mono-script.

This City of London weasel actually accused Russia of cutting off the West’s gas/oil supply when it was Western puppets following orders of their moneychanging masters to destroy Russia with unending economic sanctions that is chiefly the cause of the West’s mess today.

Now facing the worst economic collapse ever, unable to heat their homes and factories during the winter, the West is undergoing the elites’ controlled demolition, gutting out all Western economies assured to bring the intended outcome, the plotted diabolical death of Western civilization itself.

Yet another of Rishi’s false projections blames Russia for weaponizing the immigration crises to achieve its goals.

These little mindless maggots in the West are always ordered to falsely blame globalist invented enemies Russia, China and Iran for all their own malevolent crimes against humanity. It’s a never-ending broken record of nonstop lies that never stop flowing from these mealy-mouthed demons.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova responded to this litany of bogus allegations:

Sunak’s lies are so desperate that one could even feel sorry for him. Russia did not stop gas supplies even for a second.

Maria reminded Sunak that it is the wars led by the US-UK in Libya, Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria that led directly to the thousands of displaced war refugees pouring into Europe and has nothing to do with Russia. Of course, we know that today’s unprecedented worst migration crisis on earth is the sole doing of the globalist masters creating every conflict and warzone that are responsible for this deliberately engineered global crisis. Be it the wide-open borders in both Europe and America, neither are Russia’s doing.

Regarding Rishi Sunak blaming Russia for “nuclear escalation,” again Maria reminded simpleton it was the West greenlighting Zelensky’s repeated shelling of Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant at Zaporozhye NPP that endangered the entire European continent, not Russia.

And that it again was the US/NATO members that banned Russian energy imports, not Moscow.

Maria confronted that Russia stopped its energy deliveries to Europe, correcting him that it was not Russia but US-UK criminal collaborative betrayal that destroyed supposed ally Germany’s energy lifeline with Russia, the sabotaged the Nord Stream pipelines.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Ecological Disruption and Militarization of Antarctica Will Push the Planet Closer to Tipping Points

Antarctica, a continent about 40% larger than Europe in area, has also been called the world’s largest desert and the coldest, windiest, loneliest continent. Such descriptions do not exactly make this the most attractive continent, but in keeping with our times, those looking for minerals and geo-strategic advantages can find their own allurements.

So far this continent has been among the relatively better managed places in the world, but this can change rapidly with the increasingly emerging fearful possibilities of ecological disruption and even militarization.

If such a drift takes place, this will be a tragedy much beyond this continent as Antarctica has a very important role in protecting the badly endangered ecology of the entire planet.

The vast ice sheets which cover this continent almost entirely make an important contribution in maintaining heat balance by naturally deflecting sun rays, and this has an increasingly more protective role for earth. This continent contributes also by maintaining the water circulation system.

The glaciers here are estimated to have 70 per cent of the freshwater supply of the world.

This is a habitat for many species which are found only here, and some of the species found here, such as the larger whales, have important protective roles on their own.

Although best known for its many species of penguins and seals, Antarctica is also home to its unique krills which provide food for many species apart from playing other ecologically important roles.

Although ecologists have been warning against increasing dangers of plastics, other pollutants and above all invasive species being introduced here in recent times as well as the threat posed by destructive fishing practices, on the whole the continent has been reasonably well protected so far in terms of any locally caused ruin…

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Reaching the end of offshored industrialization

Reaching the end of offshored industrialization

Moving industrialization offshore can look like a good idea at first. But as fossil fuel energy supplies deplete, this strategy works less well. Countries doing the mining and manufacturing may be less interested in trading. Also, the broken supply lines of 2020 and 2021 showed that transferring major industries offshore could lead to empty shelves in stores, plus unhappy customers.

The United States started moving industry offshore in 1974 (Figure 1) in response to spiking oil prices in 1973-1974 (Figure 2).

Figure 1. US industrial energy consumption per capita, divided among fossil fuels, biomass, and electricity, based on data from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). All energy types, including electricity, are measured their capacity to generate heat. This is the approach used by the EIA, the IEA, and most researchers.

Industry is based on the use of fossil fuels. Electricity also plays a role, but it is more like the icing on the cake than the basis of industrial production. Industry is polluting in many ways, so it was an “easy sell” to move industry offshore. But now the United States is realizing that it needs to re-industrialize. At the same time, we are being told about the need to transition the entire economy to electricity to prevent climate change.

In this post, I will try to explain the situation–how fossil fuel prices have spiked many times, including 1973-1974 (oil) and more recently (coal in 2022). I will also discuss the key role fossil fuels play. Because of the key role of fossil fuels, a reduction in per-capita fossil fuel consumption likely leads to a transition to fewer goods and services, on average, per person. A transition to all electricity does not seem to be feasible. Instead, we seem to be headed for increased geopolitical conflict and the possibility of a financial crash seems greater.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Hoot of the Day: No One Wants Green Energy if It’s Too Cheap

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen wants the EU to hike tariffs on China just as the US did.

Curbs on Cheap Chinese Exports

The Guardian reports Janet Yellen urges EU to join US in curbs on cheap Chinese exports

Janet Yellen, the US treasury secretary, has urged the EU to intervene urgently to dampen the growing export levels of Chinese cut-price green technology including solar panels and wind turbines, pushing European leaders to move to a full-scale trade war.

At the same time she urged German bank executives on Tuesday to step up efforts to comply with sanctions against Russia and shut down efforts to circumvent them to avoid potential penalties themselves that could see the US cut them off from dollar access.

Her remarks, in Frankfurt, come just hours after the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, gave her strongest hint yet that the EU would join the US and impose tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles after a soon-to-be completed investigation into alleged state subsidies into the automotive industry in China.

Wind turbine manufacturers in the EU have protested that Chinese rivals are undercutting them by 50% in a move that is appealing to cash-strapped state and regional authorities facing targets in reductions of greenhouse gases.

China has signaled it will retaliate against any tariffs with potential duties on French brandy, EU wine and dairy products.

Von der Leyen said Europe would take a different approach to the US. While an increase in tariffs is expected, they are unlikely to match the rate imposed by the US.

Von der Leyen told the Financial Times that China had “massive overcapacity” that was “flooding” the EU market with “artificially cheap products”.

She said she expected the investigation into alleged Chinese state subsidies launched last September and due to be finished by 5 June, to conclude there were “excessive production subsidies”.

Wind Power

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The Rise of Pro-Palestine Encampments in Calgary, “The Police Went into Full War Mode in Riot Gear”. Robert Inlakesh

This interview was recorded for the Global Research News Hour. Published May 18, 2024. Find a link here:

University Encampments and the Freedom Flotilla: Fighting Back Against Historical Racist Genocide – Global ResearchGlobal Research – Centre for Research on Globalization

Robert Inlakesh is a journalist, documentary film-maker, writer and political analyst, who has lived in and reported from the occupied Palestinian Territories. He has written for publications such as MintPress NewsMondoweissMEMO, TRT, and various other outlets. He currently works with The Last American VagabondPress TV and Quds News. Director of: ‘Steal of the Century‘ Trump’s Palestine-Israel Catastrophe

In this interview, RObert speaks of the uprisings of many university students against the Israeli actions in Gaza. He also talks about the decision by Israel to reject the ceasefire proposal they  submitted to Hamas only to reject it when Hamas agreed!

Global Research: You’re currently based in Calgary. Were you part of the pro-Palestine encampment at the University of Calgary, which was recently torn down by police?

Robert Inlakesh: Yes, I arrived there. I probably spent a good six hours there covering it.

I was filming with a bunch of the protesters and observing what was going on and wanting to document how it all played out. Of course, it took a violent turn due to the fact that the university, according to the information that I received from the students, they wanted to negotiate with the university. The university refused.

It said that we won’t listen to you, called the police in. The police arrived. The private security shut down all of the buildings.

…click on the above link to read the rest fo the article…

David Stockman on Why Washington DC is the War Capital Of The World

David Stockman on Why Washington DC is the War Capital Of The World

War Capital Of The World

Ultimately, there is no mystery as to why the Forever Wars go on endlessly. Or why at a time when Uncle Sam is hemorrhaging red ink a large bipartisan majority saw fit to authorize $95 billion of foreign aid boondoggles that do absolutely nothing for America’s homeland security.

To wit, Washington has morphed into a freak of world history—a planetary War Capital dominated by a panoptic complex of arms merchants, paladins of foreign intervention and adventure and Warfare State nomenklatura. Never before has there been assembled and concentrated under a single state authority a hegemonic force possessing such unprecedented levels of economic resources, advanced technology and military wherewithal.

Not surprisingly, the world’s War Capital is Orwellian to the core. Its endless pursuit of war is always and everywhere described as the promotion of peace. Its jackboot of global hegemony is gussied-up in the form of alliances and treaties ostensibly designed to promote a “rules-based order” and collective security for the benefit of mankind, not simply the proper goals of peace, liberty, safety and prosperity within America’s homeland.

Unfortunately, the whole intellectual foundation of the enterprise is false. The planet is not crawling with all-powerful would-be aggressors and empire-builders who must be stopped cold at their own borders, lest they devour the freedom of all their neighbors near and far.

Nor is the DNA of nations infected with incipient butchers and tyrants like Hitler and Stalin. They were one-time accidents of history and fully distinguishable from the standard run of everyday tinpots which actually do arise periodically. But the latter mainly disturb the equipoise of their immediate neighborhoods, not the peace of the planet.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

China Shock II Is Coming, the EU Will Be Hit Hard, Then the US

China Shock

Eurointelligence discusses China shock in its article Technology Is Why We Are Losing.

We are not sure that the effect of high tariffs on Chinese electric cars will work quite as intended. We are also skeptical of hydraulic theories of global trade flows – of Chinese goods suddenly starting to swamp European markets.

The much bigger problem at least for German industry has nothing to do with trade policy, but with China crowding in on previously monopolistic and oligopolistic markets dominated by German firms.

Handelsblatt alerts to research just published by the economics team of Allianz that in our view comes much closer to explaining the current dynamics. Previously, the partnership between Germany and China was complementary. The Germans built the factories and the Chinese made the consumer products. Or the Germans specialized in fuel-driven cars, and the Chinese in electric cars. China is now challenging Germany in areas Germany dominated previously. These are the largest parts of the German industrial economy: machines, chemical and electrical engineering. The study says that in many segments of the market, the Chinese are more successful than the Germans. Ludovic Subran, the Allianz chief economist, predicts that the China boom will be followed by a China shock.

We see this similarly. In our own research on the shifting nature of German competitiveness, we find that the most important issue is not trade, but technology. Digital technologies are encroaching on classic engineering. Apple’s latest commercial of a large steel press crushing a whole bunch of analogue devices caused a lot of criticism. Apple apologized, but the commercial is a good visualization of what is currently happening to parts of the German economy…

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Russia Confiscates €800 Million From Deutsche Bank, Unicredit And Commerzbank

Russia Confiscates €800 Million From Deutsche Bank, Unicredit And Commerzbank

After two years of being on the receiving end of a weaponized global reserve currency, getting booted from SWIFT, countless (toothless) sanctions and watching some $350 billion of its assets be frozen and soon confiscated, Moscow has had enough, and over the weekend the FT reported that a St Petersburg court seized around €800 million worth of assets belonging to three western banks – Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank and UniCredit.

The seizure marks one of the largest moves against western lenders since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine prompted most international lenders to withdraw or wind down their businesses in Russia. It comes after the ECB told Eurozone lenders with operations in the country to speed up their exit plans.

According to court documents, the court seized €463 million-worth of assets belonging to Italy’s UniCredit, equivalent to about 4.5% of its assets in the country, according to the latest financial statement from the bank’s main Russian subsidiary.

Frozen assets include shares in subsidiaries of UniCredit in Russia as well as stocks and funds it owned, according to the court decision that was dated May 16 and was published in the Russian registrar on Friday.

According to another decision on the same date, the court seized €238.6mn-worth of Deutsche Bank’s assets, including property and holdings in its accounts in Russia. The court also ruled that the bank cannot sell its business in Russia; it would already require the approval of Vladimir Putin to do so. The court agreed with Rukhimallians that the measures were necessary because the bank was “taking measures aimed at alienating its property in Russia”.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Notes from the edge of civilization: May 12, 2024

Notes from the edge of civilization: May 12, 2024

Solar flares could cause disruptions – are you ready?; conflicts could bubble over – is the US military ready?; and how classical music can help with cognition, memory, and emotion.

Aurora Borealis · Free Stock Photo

Skywatchers across the country saw dazzling northern lights this week, reaching as far south as Georgia, Florida, and Texas. The phenomenon was sparked by intense solar activity causing geomagnetic storms.

Back in March, Cyrus D. Harding told Collapse Life viewers this would happen: “We will see solar flares increasing in number and intensity,” he said, explaining that this is both a good and bad thing.

On the plus side, increased solar flares and sun spot intensity can block harmful cosmic energy coming in from outside our solar system. But, Harding cautioned that satellite communications, navigation systems, and electrical power grids can be affected and could create havoc in our daily lives.

That threat hasn’t passed yet; it could actually get worse. So gird yourself and your family to be vigilant and have some backups in place for power, food, and water. You know, follow the old adage: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.


The term ‘flare up’ is often used to refer to conflicts and unrest that break out quickly and unexpectedly. Flare is also a term used in the oil and gas business. For anyone paying attention, there‘s zero surprise we sit at the precipice of some very difficult and potentially violent times, should saner heads not prevail. Just today, an unmanned Ukrainian drone hit a Lukoil refinery in Volgograd, Russia. That’s a ‘flare-up’ in both the literal and figurative sense. Between these incursions and news that F-16s are making their way to Ukraine, the collective West seems to be on a collision course with a rather unsavory conflict in which no one wins.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

A Concise History of the Global Empire

A Concise History of the Global Empire

Like all past empires, the Global Empire has gone through its parable of growth and glory and is now starting to decline. There is not much we can do about it; we must accept that this is how the universe works.

For everything that exists, there is a reason, and that’s true also for that gigantic thing that we sometimes call “The West” or perhaps “The Global Empire.” To find that reason, we may examine its origins in an older but similar empire: the Roman one.

As someone might have said (and maybe someone did), “Geography is the mother of Empires.” So, the Romans exploited the geography of the Mediterranean basin to build an empire based on maritime transportation. Rome was the center of a hub of commerce that outcompeted every other state in the Western region of Eurasia and North Africa. It was kept together by a “Lingua Franca,” Latin, and by a financial system based on coinage, in turn based on the availability of gold and silver mined from the Empire’s mines in Spain. More than all, it was based on a powerful military system created by the Roman wealth.

Like all empires, the Roman one carried inside the seeds of its own destruction: the limited amount of its mineral resources. Roman gold and silver were used to pay not just for the legions but also for expensive commodities coming from China that the Empire couldn’t produce in its territory. As long as the Romans could keep producing precious metals, the amounts lost to China to pay for silk and spices didn’t matter so much…

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

The Biggest Risks of This Decade

Energy Contrarian Featured Image

Since the 2020 pandemic, many things have changed, but nothing more than geopolitics. Wars and clashes that used to be largely national have given way to more regional conflicts that threaten to upend the current world order. The Ukraine War and Israel-Iran conflicts have the potential to lead to world war.

The international arena once dominated by the United States has gradually changed into a more multipolar stage. China and India have grown in economic and military significance, and Russia and Iran have reasserted their influence. Rising world powers are increasingly challenging the over-extended leading power.

“The disintegration of the old order is visible everywhere…It is close to collapse.”

The Economist

Half of world’s nations feel that they are victims of economic and political inequality. A similar sentiment is found in the rising tide of populism—even in rich countries—because most people know that their economic situation has worsened in recent decades. At the core of both is the higher cost of energy and materials.

Figure 1 shows that oil price, inflation and interest rates rise and fall in tandem, and are considerably higher now than during the period before the Covid pandemic. The Ukraine War contributed to an energy shock that has moderated but oil prices have averaged nearly 60% higher after 2020 than they were in the six previous years. U.S. interest rates and inflation are more than three times higher.

Figure 1. U.S. inflation and oil price fell in 2023 but federal funds rate increased. Inflation was lower in Q1 2024, oil price rose and federal funds rate was marginally higher.
Source: St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank, EIA & Labyrinth Consulting Services, Inc.
Figure 1. U.S. inflation and oil price fell in 2023 but federal funds rate increased. Inflation was lower in Q1 2024, oil price rose and federal funds rate was marginally higher.
Source: St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank, EIA & Labyrinth Consulting Services, Inc.

French president Emmanuel Macron observed in 2022 that these changes are probably secular.

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I’ve Got A Bad Feeling About This

I’ve Got A Bad Feeling About This

Ideally, I would have written this on May 4th not 14th, but I am going to talk Star Wars.

I was a fan in 1977, kept the flame alive when only battered VHS cassettes of the original trilogy existed, and was delighted to get prequels. Until the opening crawl announced, “The taxation of trade routes to outlying star systems is in dispute.” I recall thinking, “This is my job – boring!” But the prequels were better than the sequels and all the TV shows I don’t watch. Indeed, the prequels’ clunky theme of democracy crumbling into autocracy, dispute over trade routes, then war, seems even more prescient than my 2016 ‘Thin Ice’ report, which underlined how the 21st century could echo the 20th, and our more detailed fragmented ‘World in 2030’ report in 2020.

In just the last week: the IMF warned the world risks splitting into walled-off FX/trade blocs; The Economist stated “The liberal international order is slowly coming apart,” with “a worrying number of triggers that could set off a descent into anarchy”; Germany flagged conscription for all 18-year olds and spending over 3% of GDP on defenceChina introduced military training for all High School students; Biden raised tariffs on Chinese EVs to 102.5%, and Trump said he would make it 200%, with tariffs on used cooking oil likely next; Bloomberg warned “The US, China, Russia are in a spiral towards war”; the manager of the Hong Kong trade office in London was arrested for spying; and, as some underline Russia has shifted to a full war economy that incentivises the martial, my prediction that markets will serve national security going forwards came true in Putin firing his defence minister to appoint an economist to the role instead.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

 

Olduvai IV: Courage
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Olduvai II: Exodus
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