Geopolitical Outlook

  The original, cringe-worthy dedication title card of Rambo III , before being edited out in subsequent post-9/11 DVD copies and television airings. The Taliban were one of the groups that sprang from the U.S.-created and U.S.-backed Mujahideen, who were made with the ultimate goal in mind of destroying the Soviet Union. The United States saw an opportunity for its anti-communist goals in the exiled, ousted, reactionary, neo-feudalist landowning class who were willing to betray their country, to undo all the revolutionary gains and progress (which included women's emancipation) made by the popular socialist People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan, and to bring the country back to what is essentially the stone ages. While the United States does not necessarily preach Wahhabist or Salafist ideology itself, they were very useful tools, due to their highly sectarian nature, in countering the progressive anti-imperialist forces -- whom they saw as foils and bitter 'archenemies...

  Generally speaking, things are not going so well; and so we might as well prepare for survival. Here is a list of things that you could do. Suggestions are welcome, and more may be added later. 1. Get both doses of the vaccine AND continue wearing the masks regardless  of vaccination status.   The pandemic isn't over yet and the virus is still circulating, and it's not over until we've actually stopped it from circulating at such an astronomical rate. And like it or not, fully vaccinated people are still, figuratively speaking, inside "the eye of the storm" as much as the unvaccinated are; 'pandemic' means prevalent over a whole country and/or the world. COVID-19 has not even reached endemic levels. I don't think I need to explain why vaccines are great preventative measures, that should already be a given. Yes, of course the vaccines are still extremely helpful, very useful, and lifesaving; but it doesn't necessarily mean they will 100% stop yo...

  In the former USSR, the Soviets understood that sports were originally supposed to be for the physical and communal benefit, as well as the genuine enjoyment, of the people. By taking capital out of the equation and by allowing the expansion and encouragement of mass participation, the arena of sports actually  flourished under the first socialist state  when it became accessible to the masses. Under such a system, there was no ‘star system’ where a considerable amount of money was poured into handpicking a select, privileged few individuals and turning them into brand names, sponsored, sports “superstars” who received the lion’s share of scholarships and payments (thus defeating the purpose of team work) — while not-so-famous talented athletes from working class backgrounds have no choice but to work second jobs in order to sustain themselves.  If anything, the current Russian Federation owes it to the former Soviet Union for continuing to be a strong Olympic cont...

  Allegory with a portrait of a Venetian senator (Allegory of the morality of earthly things) , by Tintoretto, 1585. Objective, material reality can be measured. In accordance with that, beliefs about the nature of  novel viruses [1] or beliefs about our Solar System evolve over time and are subject to change; and it is because of  ongoing observations, measurements, and advances in science .[2] In contrast to that, morality– or rather, bourgeois morality, does not change on such grounds because it is purely social and cultural.[3] At best, it is a weak argument for or against an issue. There have always been competing doctrines, ideologies, and theories; but ongoing methodical and investigative analyses of evidence points to one of those ideas or concepts as being correct, most accurate, or most principled. For instance, communists who take a principled anti-imperialist stance do not have a problem with North Korea (a.k.a. the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) build...

  My very short blog post which was originally published in January under the title, " 'The health of the individual is the concern of society as a whole' - Defeating Disease ," has been edited, expanded upon, and republished under a new title and can be found on New Power  by clicking here . It has been expanded quite significantly so that it is now a full-length OP-ed and reflection. The COVID-19 global pandemic is now in its second year at the time of this writing.

"Imperialism, or the domination of finance capital, is that highest stage of capitalism in which this separation reaches vast proportions. The supremacy of finance capital over all other forms of capital means the predominance of the rentier and of the financial oligarchy; it means that a small number of financially “powerful” states stand out among all the rest. " —V.I. Lenin, Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism . Ch. 3. At the time of this writing, most people by now are probably aware of the news story surrounding the "controversy" of a Reddit-based community called 'WallStreetBets' buying stocks on GameStop (and AMC) [1], hurting Wall Street short-selling hedge fund managers' profits in the process and pushing Melvin Capital to the brink of bankruptcy. These short-selling [2] billionaire investors have lost a staggering $70.8 billion during the month of January, 2021 [3]; this was partly because of a very determined group of small, amateur...