Feb. 6—If historians will have the opportunity to look back on the human race in 2024, they will undoubtedly identify this period as a defining moment in history. No, not because of a showdown between “democracy” and “autocracy,” nor over “liberal” versus “traditional” values. Nor because of a “culture war” or a fight over our national or personal identities. This moment will be a defining period because it’s the end of a system which can no longer continue to exist, no matter which culture, ideology, or political system takes power. The oligarchical system is dying, and resistance to it, along with a passionate commitment to build a better future, is growing. |
Jan. 29—Last week’s International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling in The Hague has put the world dynamic into stark relief. It was always a misnomer to discuss the war in Gaza as merely an issue of Israel’s occupation and the ensuing response to that by Hamas. While that certainly plays a factor, it is a managed factor, a mere player on the stage of a poorly-directed drama. But it is directed, nonetheless. |
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Jan. 22—“We are in a period of tectonic changes, and when you are in a period of the collapse of one system and the emergence of a new one, the rules of the so-called ‘rules-based order’ somehow don’t function anymore. The method of manipulation of the population is quickly reaching the point which Lincoln talked about, that you cannot fool all the people all of the time, and this is one of those moments coming true.” |
Jan. 17—After over 100 days of carnage in Gaza, wherein the Biden Administration has performed never-before-seen acrobatics in their attempts to defend Israel’s brutal assault on Palestinians, Secretary of State Blinken finally let the truth slip out. During a panel discussion at the Davos World Economic Forum Wednesday, Jan. 17, Blinken admitted that U.S. policy in Southwest Asia is not actually to defend Israel’s security interests, it’s certainly not to defend Palestinians or a two-state solution, and it’s not to help the region as a whole to develop economically and improve the quality of life of its people. Rather, it is simply to isolate Iran, and play the game of geopolitics in attempting to maintain the image of “American leadership.” |
Jan. 8,—It used to be understood that governments exist for the benefit of the lives of their people, and were expected to enact policies to such effect. Imperial and geopolitical wars, and other such wasteful things were rightly seen as distractions from the true mission of government—to advance their nation and their people toward a better future. |
Jan. 1—There have not been many, if any, years that began as tumultuously as the current one. As 2024 commences, we see wars across the globe, indescribable amounts of suffering and destruction, combined with dysfunctional governments and institutions at every turn. Despite how dramatic these events may seem, they are actually less significant than the much larger process which they betray: The end of the modern neocolonial world system. As EIR has pointed out since the 1970s proposal of Lyndon LaRouche’s International Development Bank idea as the core of a new, anti-colonialist system, this process is the actual play on the stage of history, despite most others’ failure to recognize this fact. |
Dec. 28—The daily news is increasingly reading like an obituary for the Western world, with more new failures, embarrassments, or flat-out disasters occurring. On Dec. 27, the Biden Administration announced yet another funding package for Ukraine, despite the well-known fact that that conflict cannot be won and has been a catastrophe for Ukraine and NATO countries as a whole. The White House is now looking for a way out of this, as is discussed in a recent article in Politico, given that Ukraine is running out of troops and matériel, and the U.S. is running out of political support. |
Dec. 17—The death toll in Gaza has now risen to over 18,000, although that number may quickly be eclipsed by a growing health emergency which is beginning to reach catastrophic proportions. “The perfect storm for disease has begun. Now it’s about, ‘How bad will it get?’” stated James Elder, chief spokesperson for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). |
Dec. 15—The former chief of Israel’s Shin Bet domestic security service, Ami Ayalon, made the insightful comment earlier this week, that part of the cause of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack lay in the September announcement of the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEEC), which was to be an economic corridor connecting Israel to Europe and the Indian Ocean. The project, which was announced with tremendous fanfare by the U.S., Israel, and others, never once mentioned Palestine or its proximity to the project. |
Dec. 12—A resounding defeat for the “rules-based order” was delivered today with the United Nations General Assembly vote for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza. This resolution passed overwhelmingly, with 153 in favor, 10 against, and 23 abstaining. Compared to the last UN vote in October which called for a “humanitarian truce,” at 120-14 and 45 abstentions, this shows that the world is increasingly opposed to the barbaric slaughter being conducted by Israel, and that the U.S. and its allies are isolated to a degree never seen before. |
Dec. 8—“It’s pretty savage.” That’s how BBC’s Jeremy Bowen concluded his Dec. 8 coverage of Israel’s war on Palestine, in describing the way Israel is conducting its indiscriminate destruction of the territory of over 2 million people. |
Nov. 27—The world is writhing over the ongoing situation in Southwest Asia, and unexpected openings are popping up right and left. After a successful four days of hostage releases and accompanying “humanitarian pause,” a two-day extension was announced Monday evening, Nov. 27, thereby extending the pause until Thursday morning, Nov. 30. The question lingering in front of the world, however, remains: Can this temporary pause be turned into a real, lasting peace? And what’s required to actually achieve that? |
Nov. 25—The brief, although successful ceasefire achieved this week between Israel and Hamas represents a substantial opening in the efforts to avoid a rush to world war. |
Nov. 9—November 9 saw demonstrations break out around the world in a new phase of protests, sit-ins, and marches against the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Despite the efforts to intimidate, slander, and censor those speaking out, the resistance to this policy is growing, and it is getting stronger. The nonlinear process is not going to be put back in the bottle. |
Nov. 7—These days, when we consider the candidates running for office, the question has not been do we actually support their policies, but would we at least stand a chance of surviving if they were to be elected to public office. A number of candidates that we recently felt might meet that minimum standard have since made war mongering comments that have caused us to question their commitment to any principles whatsoever. |
Nov. 7—When great evils occur, traumatizing those who live through them, there is no law that requires one to perpetrate more evil in return. There is a law however, the law of tragedy, which paves the path of doomed civilizations—civilizations which fail to find a human solution to an otherwise pre-determined fate. That solution—that idea—is what must urgently be discovered if the world is to survive. |
Nov. 6—Protests reaching into the hundreds of thousands are breaking out around the world in condemnation of the atrocities being perpetrated in Gaza. From London to Paris to Berlin to Washington, D.C., it cannot be explained in terms of already-existing factions or contingencies—something different has been ignited which is only likely to grow as this crisis worsens. |
Oct. 31—Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stringently defended his nation’s brutal assault on Palestinian civilians with the justification that the wrong committed by Hamas on Oct. 7 allowed for it. This is clearly a disingenuous manipulation of words to justify a horrific act, and many have pointed out that there have been a long train of abuses by Israel going back decades that must be taken into consideration, in order to resolve the current crisis. Further, a former Israeli Foreign Minister has said that this reconciliation must actually go back to at least 1948, with the beginning of the founding of Israel, and the expulsion of Arabs in former British Palestine from their lands. But consider: Can going back to any of these prior wrongs committed solve the current crisis? |
Oct. 21—Saturday saw the convening of an emergency peace conference in Cairo, aiming to halt the rapid escalations in the Israel/Palestine theater. Heads of state and other government representatives came from across the world to add their voice for peace and call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. The host of the event, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, in regards to the unfolding events, asked: “Where are the values of human civilization that we have built over long millennia and decades? Where is equality of human souls without discrimination or segregation or double standards?” |
Oct. 12—Over the last several days, Western governments and societies are being lined up behind the defense of Israel in a way that would make even a drill sergeant blush. As U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said when he arrived in Israel today: “We have the back of the Israeli people. We have their back today. We’ll have it tomorrow. We will have it every day.” Even Blinken was outdone by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, however, who laid on the guilt Oct. 12, when he said: “Our own history, our responsibility arising from the Holocaust, makes it a perpetual task for us to stand up for the security of the State of Israel.” |
Oct. 3—In a shocking development Tuesday evening, Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was ousted from his position in the US House. While the details and fallout from this will become more clear in the coming days, the vote is undeniably a sign of the overall revolt against the faceless tragic force that is driving the US, and the world, into the abyss. |
Sept. 29—Hopeless would be the wrong way to describe the current situation in the world, although it certainly may appear that way to one who is dispirited. Reports over the recent days have indicated that a new banking crisis may be being ignited, now sparked by what should be the protected bastion of safety: U.S. Treasury Bonds—which have been infected by leveraged investments from hedge funds. This speculative phenomenon runs deep, as the news is only the latest development in a process that has been underway for decades, literally rotting out the economies and nations of the trans-Atlantic from underneath. |
Sept. 24—All reports are indicating that President Biden told Zelenskyy last week that U.S. ATACMS long-range missiles will be sent to Ukraine. If confirmed, this indicates an escalation of not only the war in Ukraine, but of the danger that the world as a whole will enter into a full-scale global war. |
Sept. 18—Today the UN General Assembly Debate begins, and will likely be one of the most tumultuous such assemblies in the organization’s history. The world is polarized on a historic scale, and not because of a so-called divisions between “democracies” and “autocracies,” as bobble-heads like Tony Blinken would have us believe. |