Home » Posts tagged 'ROB URIE'
Tag Archives: ROB URIE
Democracy and the Illusion of Choice
Democracy and the Illusion of Choice Drawing by Nathaniel St. Clair The neoliberal logic of everything for the rich is now so deeply embedded in American political economy that its base assumptions appear untouchable, except in rare and extraordinary circumstances. With the Covid pandemic exacerbating the current crisis of capitalism, political and economic defense mechanisms […]
Strike for the Environment, Strike for Social Justice, Strike!
Strike for the Environment, Strike for Social Justice, Strike! Photograph by Nathaniel St. Clair A very large chasm exists between those in power, including most of the 2020 presidential candidates, and environmentalists and scientists intent on acting now to resolve growing environmental crises. To reiterate what is known, the United Nations, through its IPCC and the IPBES committees, has […]
Neoliberalism and Environmental Calamity
Neoliberalism and Environmental Calamity Photograph by Nathaniel St. Clair Current conditions represent a political emergency of sorts, meaning that ways of solving environmental and social problems will either be worked out or circumstances, led by the environment, will assume a life of their own. Given that these conditions are the result of historical processes that […]
Iran, Venezuela and the Throes of Empire
Iran, Venezuela and the Throes of Empire Illustration by Nathaniel St. Clair With the Trump administration threatening war against Iran and Venezuela, the question of how the U.S. was brought to this point needs to be considered. To argue that current circumstances are particular to this administration is to overlook U.S. history vis-a-vis both Iran […]
Environmental Crisis, Oil Geopolitics and the Trump Diversion
Environmental Crisis, Oil Geopolitics and the Trump Diversion Drawing by Nathaniel St. Clair America in 2019 is a very strange place. The problems of the age: looming environmental calamity, the threat of nuclear annihilation and accumulating class tensions, keep being shoved to the side through diversionary tactics. No sooner had a range of left programs […]
Politics, Democracy and Environmental Rebellion
Politics, Democracy and Environmental Rebellion Pulp Mill, Longview, Washington. Photo: Jeffrey St. Clair. A question worth asking is: what conceivable national electoral outcome would resolve the political dysfunction that currently prevents much-needed programs such as solving climate change and mass extinction, national health care, and an end to militarism from being enacted? While setting aside […]
Iraq’s WMDs Found…In Russia
Iraq’s WMDs Found…In Russia White House photo by Eric Draper In late 2017, actor Morgan Freeman announced in a video created by a who’s who of senior U.S. Intelligence officials that Russia had attacked the United States and that ‘we’ were at war. Freeman, whose net worth is said to be about a quarter-billion dollars, claimed that ex-Soviet ‘authoritarian’ Vladimir Putin, […]
Ecocide as Creative Destruction
Ecocide as Creative Destruction According to the WWF (World Wildlife Fund), since 1970 60% of the mammals, birds, fish and reptiles on the planet have been driven to extinction. To the extent that the WWF has it right, climate change accounts for less than 10% of these losses (graph below). As important and logistically complex […]
Degrowth: Toward a Green Revolution
Degrowth: Toward a Green Revolution The Americanism that people will never voluntarily give up the consumption that is killing the planet represents the triumph of a long con. The problem that consumed (apologies) economists in the early twentieth century was how to get people to want the stuff that capitalism produces. Past the point of […]
Nuclear Weapons are a Nightmare Made in America
Nuclear Weapons are a Nightmare Made in America Photo Source International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons | CC BY 2.0 What transforms American elections from participatory politics into farce is the exclusion of crucial issues. Environmental crisis, the threat of nuclear annihilation and the wildly skewed distribution of political and economic power will affect how […]
Climate Crisis is Upon Us
Climate Crisis is Upon Us One of the more useful allusions hidden in plain sight in the recent IPCC / UN report on climate crisis is the distinction between the pre-industrial and industrial ages that defines the era of climate crisis. Industrial capitalism, a/k/a capitalism, is the cause of climate crisis. Plenty of pseudo-scientific rubbish […]
American Fascism
American Fascism Photo Source Alan Turkus | CC BY 2.0 From Whence ‘We’ Came Fascism is a loaded topic for Americans. The term is usually put forward as oppositional, as the flip side of representative democracy, e.g. authoritarian. Left unaddressed is whose interests’ American representative democracy represents. Twenty years of research by political scientist Thomas […]
Elections and the Illusion of Political Control
Elections and the Illusion of Political Control Photo Source Paul Sableman | CC BY 2.0 As if on special at Metaphors-R-Us, and just in time for the primary elections, CNN published an article on fake buttons that are provided to give people the illusion of control. It seems psychologists determined that fake buttons at crosswalks, […]
Mueller, Russia and Oil Politics
Mueller, Russia and Oil Politics Dunder-Mifflin as Troll Farm The Mueller indictment made public on Friday charges 13 Russian nationals with trolling the American electoral process to ‘sow discord’ by falsely representing themselves as American dissident personas. Once the field of presidential aspirants had been narrowed in 2016, their goal became to support Donald Trump’s […]
Why ‘Russian Meddling’ is a Trojan Horse
Why ‘Russian Meddling’ is a Trojan Horse Prior to the 2016 presidential election, if one were to ask what single act could seal a new Cold War with Russia, align liberals and progressives with the operational core of the American military-industrial-surveillance complex, expose the preponderance of left-activism as an offshoot of Democratic Party operations and […]
