Tag "Francis Lee"
by Francis Lee for the Saker Blog During the late nineteenth century, the United States was the world’s most advanced capitalist country. According to orthodox (and I emphasise orthodox) Marxist theory this should have resulted in the rise of socialist movements. The development of capitalism and its internal contradictions was considered to eventually produce the situation and means that will bring about the termination of the capitalist order and establishment of socialism. Why, then, has there
by Francis Lee for The Saker Blog ‘‘A party of order or stability, and a party of progress and reform, are both the necessary elements of a healthy state of political life’’. Wise words – John Stuart Mill. But unfortunately not the reality in the present political dispensation. (1) It is interesting to note that the current global political and social turbulence has been both cause and effect of deep
By Francis Lee for the Saker Blog The referendum on Britain’s vote to Remain or Leave the EU – Brexit – has raised deeper issues than simply whether or not the UK retains its European membership. The real issue is that of the whole Transatlantic bloc from Seattle to Warsaw, its, culture, institutions, politics, and economics has also been undergoing deep structural changes – not necessarily for the good. The
By Francis Lee for the Saker Blog The men and women who run global corporations are the first in history with the organization, technology, money, and ideology who are attempting to structure the world as an integrated economic unit. (1) THE RISE OF CORPORATE POWER. Scroll down another six decades (or thereabouts) and this statement has hardened into an objective fact – and moreover has turned out worse than the
By Francis Lee for the Saker Blog PART 1. In 1851, France had the misfortune to fall victim to a coup by the nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte, Charles-Louis Napoléon Bonaparte, who styled himself Napoleon III. Karl Marx had been an enthusiastic supporter of the French 1848 uprising – one among those which had taken place throughout Europe – and viewed the coup as the work of a buffoon who happened
by Francis Lee for the Saker Blog The ongoing process of political degeneration which has been happening in the UK Labour Party is basically part of a deep-going movement which has been taking place in all left-of-centre parties in Europe. In political/ideological terms, they have been swept away by the rampaging neo-liberal globalist forces – circa 1980 onwards and have, like good little boys and girls, trimmed their sails to
by Francis Lee for the Saker Blog The American ruling class as represented by its own nomenklatura have been guilty of the sins of the French Bourbons in a different age: ‘’They have learnt nothing and forgotten nothing.’’ (1) I can hardly remember a US Presidential campaign/election carried out with virtually zero intelligent inputs and policies. It was as if it started at zero but then actually descended deep into
By Francis Lee for the Saker Blog Historically speaking “left” ‘’right,” and ‘centre” has been the political configuration dating from the French Revolution. In the 1789 French National Assembly, the nobility and high clergy sat to the right of the chair, while the third estate and lower-status clergy sat on the left. The benches in the middle became associated with political moderation. Over the next century-plus, most European polities allowed
By Francis Lee for the Saker Blog There is a human tendency to cling on to cherished beliefs even in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. There was a time, during the heady days of Jacques Delors and the Social Chapter, when the EU appeared to represent a social-democratic and neutral geopolitical bloc; a third force between the USSR as it then was and the US/NATO – this,
By Francis Lee for the Saker Blog Globalization – i.e., neo-liberalism writ large – is essentially a negative phenomenon destroying the sovereignty and cohesion of nation states and thereby depriving markets of the social and political guidance without which they cannot function effectively…The result will be a socially divisive, politically destructive, ethically abhorrent and even economically inefficient structure.(1) JOINED AT THE HIP Transnational Corporations (TNCs) can be compared to a
By Francis Lee for the Saker Blog The present economic/political crises is not amenable to solutions which might have been effective in the past. We seem to be fighting today’s battles with yesterday’s tactics and weapons. ‘’The ultimate reason for all real crises remains the poverty and restricted consumption of the masses as opposed to the drive of capitalist production to develop the productive forces as though only the absolute
by Francis Lee for The Saker Blog ‘’ … the malaise and disunity within exhausted and fearful Western countries makes it more difficult for them to negotiate together a new international set-up with the world’s rising nations. Also providing them with a convenient foreign scapegoat for the West’s economic troubles the rise of China helps Westerners evade the genuine roots of their economic issues which are closer to home. These
By Francis Lee for the Saker Blog Many if not most Americans have always been in denial about the imperial ambitions and practices of US foreign policy. There are honourable exceptions – Noam Chomsky, Tulsi Gabbard come immediately to mind. But on the whole the direction of US geopolitical strategy has been guided and implemented by a small cabal of geopolitical fanatics; these are ensconced in various state and non-state
By Francis Lee for the Saker Blog For the benefit of Frau Merkel & Nordstream-2 No sovereignty = No democracy: If a State is subordinate to another State or group of states it is no longer sovereign. That is to say if it ceases to exercise control over its vital policies, economic, political, social and cultural. Moreover it follows that if it is not sovereign it cannot be democratic since
by Francis Lee for the Saker Blog Victor Yanukovich was elected President of the Ukraine in 2010 narrowly defeating Yulia Timoshenko with 49% of votes cast to Timoshenko’s 45%. The Ukrainian Presidential term of office lasts for five years. Yanukovich’s Party, the Party of the Regions, together with its coalition partner the Communist Party of the Ukraine, also had a majority in the Ukrainian Parliament, with Mykola Azarov as Prime
by Francis Lee for the Saker Blog It speaks volumes about the gravity of the current political and economic situation that the leading US investment bank Goldman-Sachs has seen fit to issue a sombre warning. ‘’Goldman Sachs Group Inc. put a spotlight on the suddenly growing concern over inflation in the U.S. by issuing a bold warning on Tuesday that the dollar is in danger of losing its status as
by Francis Lee for the Saker Blog Europe is tending to bring the society and culture of the continent into harmony with those of the United States, exulting the characteristics of the latter into models and objects of an uncritical and overwhelming admiration … There is no longer at present a European project. A North American project … under American command has replaced it … The hegemonism of the United
by Francis Lee for the Saker Blog Of all the enemies to public liberty, war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; and from these proceed debt and taxes; and armies, and debts, are taxes of the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few … no nation could reserve
Reviewed by Francis Lee for The Saker Blog It would be true to say that in official or mainstream ‘left’ political circles the economic theories of J.M.Keynes (1883-1946) enjoy a dominant and in my view somewhat privileged position. He was a life-long Liberal and member of the fashionable ‘Bloomsbury Group’. *(see below). He joined H.M.Treasury and in due course became the UK’s chief negotiator during the Bretton Woods conference in
by Francis Lee for The Saker Blog The open support given by the entire western media and political establishments to the regime now ensconced in Kiev should give cause for concern, but of course it doesn’t. After all it would not do to profess open backing for a staged coup by neo-nazi militants orchestrated and paid for by EU and US through non-government channels. Of course the CIA was involved
