The Mafia Matrix in Italy, China, and Beyond

https://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/fast-fashion-exploitation-how-the-clothes-hanger-wars-escalated-in-italy-a-a9a0d238-03ab-484d-b7a7-b90567646ac7

There are Chinatowns in most large cities. Growing up I visited the famous district in San Francisco which is certainly impressive. But I was really struck by the Chinatown in Lower Manhattan - so proximate to the old Five Points, the various courthouses, and even Ground Zero, and how it all but overlaps with Little Italy. It caused me to reflect on the nature of these ethnic enclaves and the immigrant experience.

Trump's Threat to NATO

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/aug/04/john-bolton-trump-nato-2024

Some in the name of anti-globalisation would be more than happy to see the US withdraw from NATO. Others make a similar isolationist argument by appealing to Washington's 1796 farewell warning concerning 'foreign entanglements'. For whatever the reason there is a growing voice within Right-wing circles that is exhibiting no small degree of scepticism regarding NATO. For some it's simply a nationalist impulse and an unwillingness to contemplate spending American treasure and lives to defend some European country that most Americans know nothing about. Regardless, this sentiment represents a sharp break within the American conservatism that emerged after World War II.

The Flemish Rambo and Right-wing Extremism in Europe

https://www.politico.eu/article/belgium-jurgen-conings-manhunt-culture-war/

The Flemish Rambo is dead but there are no sighs of relief in Brussels.

The fact that someone like Jürgen Conings would appear on the contemporary stage is surprising to no one. That extreme Right-wing ideology and behaviour should arise in Flanders also makes sense. Flemish hatred of Brussels has only grown in recent years. For them Brussels is the seat of Belgium, a country they view as an artificial nineteenth-century contrivance and it is also the seat of the European Union, a political entity that many have also come to hate as it represents the breakdown and disintegration of not just regional autonomy but traditional culture.

Vietnam and the Anti-China Coalition

https://thegrayzone.com/2021/04/08/pentagon-vietnam-military-china-us-war/

Just a few years ago it seemed the Hanoi and Washington were on the cusp of becoming formal allies. The controversy that surrounded Bill Clinton's restoration of diplomatic relations with Vietnam in the 1990's is long past. Though Vietnam still suffers the effects of the US war in terms of Agent Orange and the like, they are clearly a resilient people and have moved on – ready to deal with contemporary realities. The American War now belongs to another generation. The fear today is with regard to the ancient enemy – not the Americans across the ocean but the neighbour across the northern border, China.

The Guaido Collapse and Perceptions of American Power

Juan Guaido's attempted overthrow of the Maduro government is rapidly losing steam. His May 2019 overreach has taken the wind out of his sails and left him looking weak and vulnerable. There's little doubt that the forces in Washington that backed him and both disappointed and even angry.

The Breaking of Honduras

https://www.france24.com/en/20190215-video-reporters-plus-honduras-drought-climate-refugees-migrants-caravan-usa

Honduras is suffering. It has become a textbook example of how globalisation is a form of imperialism in which the market subjugates the people, strapping them with massive debt for infrastructure projects they don't benefit from. From corrupt business deals to the NGO's and old stand by's like USAID and the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), to the ways in which Wall Street can manipulate the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), the imperial hydra is bleeding the nation dry.

The Cardinal at Bilderberg

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/top-vatican-cardinal-to-join-elite-globalists-in-secretive-bilderberg-meeti

The meeting took place in Turin earlier this month and as usual many watch with great interest who attends and what the official agenda is. Bilderberg, still shrouded in some degree of secrecy has attempted to manage its image by coming out into the open.

Are all attendees part of a grand conspiracy? Are they akin to members of a great freemasonry? Not exactly and yet those who entirely dismiss or downplay the importance of such meetings also err.

Congo's Eastern Provinces

Congo is moving toward another open conflict and like the previous episodes it will likely involve the surrounding nations. The instability in the Eastern provinces of Ituri, North and South Kivu and Tanganyika (formerly part of Katanga) is escalating and not a few commentators are using terms like 'ticking time bomb'.

Mainstream Media's Apologia for Empire

https://www.npr.org/2018/01/03/575288560/journalist-as-u-s-retreats-from-world-stage-china-moves-to-fill-the-void

This Fresh Air interview is related to a Chinese surveillance project I mentioned in a previous article:

http://proto-protestantism.blogspot.com/2017/12/considering-panopticon-beast.html

For those that think that Left-wing thinkers and advocates like Terry Gross and NPR are anti-American, they need to reconsider. These people are thoroughly invested in the American project. I was left somewhat astounded listening to the New Yorker's Osnos paint China's aggressive expansion in terms that made them look somewhat sinister and conniving, even while ignoring US actions and the massive footprint it already possesses. This is never questioned, it's simply assumed and presumed to be a good thing.

History Rears its Head: The Revival of German Militarism

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/waning-us-germany-must-learn-to-take-responsibility-a-1186075.html

There is nothing remarkable about this article. It is but part of a growing chorus calling for German militarism and rearmament. Aside from that ominous call, it tries to dress up the arguments with diplomatic lingo and pretentious ethics. It's a call for Germany to rise up and become once again... the master of Europe.

These are strange words to hear post-1945 but history has come full circle or to put it another way, it has reared its head.

The Nepal Elections and OBOR

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/year-elections-nepal-moves-closer-china-171217065957502.html

For nations like Nepal, caught between the larger powers, the side to choose is becoming obvious. A move toward India would mean inviting in the financiers and New Delhi's war footing-policy based on the new alliance with Washington. Kathmandu doesn't want to be caught in the middle of India's conflict with Beijing.

The Musings of Mutti Merkel

 http://www.euractiv.com/section/economy-jobs/news/back-home-after-icy-white-house-meeting-merkel-calls-for-open-markets/

The Trump Administration is making Europe nervous, even frantic but it is also opening doors. From a European military force to a new Brussels and Berlin defined IMF, to new autonomy in trade, the instability is laying great weight on Merkel... but at the same time she's more powerful than ever.

Max Boot has joined the CIA

Boot recently produced an article entitled Wikileaks has joined the Trump administration at Foreign Policy, the largely Neo-conservative magazine founded by Samuel Huntington of Clash of Civilisations fame.

Indian Cotton and Farmer Suicides

Some will stumble because this link is to a documentary produced by RT. But if you can get past that, there's some helpful information and certainly some contextualisation with regard to GMO cotton and its place in contemporary India.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlYzd8bM9xg&index=2&list=PLCFZLyInePaw4h8dGnwPXrgY1AFus62tI

No doubt at this point many have heard about the thousands of farmers committing suicide. While this phenomenon antedates the Modi administration, his market friendly policies if anything are exacerbating the problem. It's a controversial issue and a great deal of ink is spilled arguing over statistics and causes.

Slovakia: Right-Wing Paramilitaries and the EU

https://apnews.com/cd66f0f8a51b416b93460e37368b42f7

America has been dealing with such paramilitary movements since at least the 1990s but it's startling to see them beginning to appear in Europe as well. Needless to say Europe's history with such groups cannot help but remind one of the Fascist era.

A Vision of China's Future Crisis

This is a link to a somewhat heartbreaking 25 minute video about the children in China that are left behind in the villages while their parents go off to the city for work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MM7BS271jUg

The United States has been in the process of destroying the family and thus the foundation of the social fabric for more than fifty years. China has unintentionally embarked on the same project since the 1980s and yet with far greater zeal. In both the United States and China, the quest for money has played no small part in this unintended consequence and China has yet to really reckon with the fruit of this awful and immoral mistake.

Apple, Ireland and the EU

Apple has formally appealed its €13billion tax bill which was levied when it was determined that Ireland had given the Silicon Valley giant illegal tax breaks. Apple employs thousands within the Irish Republic and has invested millions of dollars into its economy. And Apple is by no means the only American company to do so. Altogether American firms employ over 100,000 people in Ireland and have invested close to $200 billion.

Ireland wants to retain this investment and in particular wants to keep Apple on their shores. The fact that they're using the Republic as a tax shelter and means of asset protection is well known in Dublin. But they're happy to forego the revenue to keep the jobs and investment.

Elections and Establishment: The 2016 US Presidential Drama and the French Centre-Right Primaries

The numbers aren't fully in yet but it would appear that Francois Fillon has won the first round of the French Centre-Right primary and will face Alain Juppe in the second round. Juppe will likely win the primaries and has a very good chance of being the next president of France. This represents a stunning defeat of former president Nicholas Sarkozy. Sarkozy was the obvious favourite of the US Establishment and his defeat will be disappointing to some within the US power structure. This isn't to say they can't work with Juppe as well, but Sarkozy in particular was beloved in Washington for moving Paris solidly into the US and NATO orbit.

Finance Capital and the Shopping Mall

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-property-cmbs-idUSKCN12L0XB

The destructive and wasteful nature of Finance Capitalism is on display. Profit margins must always increase and this imperative produces its much celebrated dynamism.

But how destructive it is! Resources are wasted, communities are in constant upheaval and what is the price that is paid by individuals and families as this system generates, nay is founded on a constant game of instability?

Bearing the Cross in Southern Chile

http://evangelicalfocus.com/blogs/1705/Why_are_churches_burning_in_Chile

This article is interesting for many reasons but I post it here because of a line near the end...

Christianity, they argue, has brought many to leave the defence of their social rights.

The Mapuche people are angry because of their social situation and view Evangelical converts as traitors.