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Reflections on the history of imperialism and empire-building. Understanding past and current trends, and how the past shapes the present material conditions in the global order, especially with regards to international relations. 

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U.S. Imperialism is the reason for the Taliban's recent successes in Afghanistan

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  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...
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Venezuela - Link, Photo, and Video Roundup 1/23/2019

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Having successfully won the May 20, 2018 elections (and many election cycles prior) with the clearly popular vote, Nicolas Maduro was sworn into office on January 10, 2019. And yet, despite there being no evidence of rigging or electoral fraud -- especially when the ever-so cautious Bolivarian government always makes sure to invite a UN inspector to observe -- the U.S.-backed right-wing opposition continues to cry foul and react violently, resorting to acts terrorism against the Venezuelan population. This week, we see renewed calls for regime-change and a bloody coup from the United States and its allies. Even more outrageous: we see several Western political figures recognizing opposition leader Juan Guiado as the country's "interim president"! If the U.S. were to actually start militarily attacking Venezuela, their proxy forces will most likely be coming from Venezuela's long-time enemy, Colombia; and also Brazil, given that Bolsonaro is virulently anti-Venezuel...
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The GameStop Saga and the Crisis of Capitalism

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"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...
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