Pander Alert: The New Egypt, A Chip Off The Old Block

An old ruse, culling a trick from the criminal statecraft playbook, one of Mubarak's favorite ploys, the ruling military cabal is striking a anti-West, anti-neoliberal pose. It has just announced that it will not accept loans from the World Bank because they are, they insist, contrary to national interests:

The government has declined a loan from the World Bank because it found the terms of the loan incompatible with the national interest, Egyptian Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Fayza Abul Naga said on Monday.

The minister added that the government would not accept conditions dictated by the World Bank or the International Monetary Fund, especially since the 18-day uprising that toppled former President Hosni Mubarak.[1]

In much the same way King Abdullah of Jordan angrily denounced the Iraq War publicly while enthusiastically supporting it privately, the Mubarak-regime-sans-Mubarak in Egypt is now feigning hostility to international capital when in fact they are an agent of it.

More lies:

Last week, The Wall Street Journal said Egypt was wary of the United States’ recent offer of financial support, doubting possible ulterior motives behind it.

It also said Abul Naga had lodged a complaint with the US Embassy in Egypt, and warned of violating Egypt’s sovereignty by dictating conditions for loans. The complaint came in response to an announcement by the United States Agency for International Development that it would grant Egypt US$165 million to finance projects for education, civic activities and human rights.[1]

The regime's hold on power is for the moment secure but precarious nonetheless. They are doing everything within their means to suppress the revolution, and an essential part of that effort is effective PR. The principal deception is that the military cabal is the revolution, that they represent a break with the past. The maintenance of this delusion is necessary for its survival, and more generally for the defeat of the revolutionary movement and the hegemony of the ruling class in Egypt.

The idea that the ruling junta is at cross-swords with international capital and is unwilling to take their money is a grotesque lie. One made all the more odious by the fact that they have already taken pyramid-sized loans from various branches of the global money network, including the IMF.[2] I guess they meant they refused to take anymore.

For a more detailed account of the largess the cabal has received from its corporate patrons, follow this link:

http://saveourcola.blogspot.com/2011/06/thus-far-egypts-revolution-has-been.html



[1]http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/node/469888

[2] http://www.theage.com.au/business/world-business/imf-to-lend-egypt-3b-ministry-20110606-1fnug.html

Athens protests: Syntagma Square on frontline of European austerity protests

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/19/athens-protests-syntagma-austerity-protests

Rabbinical Court Orders Dog Stoned Update

Gilad Atzmon posted something about this on his blog too. Recently he was confronted by an angry Zionist and he posted the exchange. Here's a portion:

Q: As far as this dog incident is concerned, remember one thing. Those involved are anti Zionist Neturei Karta.

GA: To start with, I am not so sure that this is indeed the case. As far as I am aware it was Jerusalem Rabbinical court. Also, being an anti Zionist is just one aspect of ethical thinking.

Q: The Rabbinical Court followed a system of learning, rather than a blind primitive superstition.

GA: The idea that a Judaic judgement process was involved in a decision to stone a dog actually makes the rabbinical ruling far more sinister.

Please note how the Zio tries to blame the NK (fervently anti-Zionist activist rabbis), and when exposed by Gilad (s)he then makes the astonishing statement in defense of the ruling.

This is one person, and it is always wrong to generalize, but the casuistry necessary to convince oneself that the inanities of other people's cultures are "blind, primitive superstition," and the inanities of one's own are a "system of learning" is a leitmotiv not only of Zionist ideology but of all Fascist thought. Without this particular strain of cognitive dissonance, much of the horrors of the last century would not have been possible, including those suffered by the Palestinians at the hands of the Zionists.

http://www.gilad.co.uk/writings/addressing-some-typical-zionist-questions.html

Hundreds of Salinas Valley Memorial Healthcare workers strike

While the contract talks have been contentious for at least seven months, workers have been angered recently over revelations about former CEO Sam Downing leaving with nearly $4 million in retirement payouts. That news came in the wake of the hospital announcing plans to cut as many as 150 workers.



http://www.thecalifornian.com/article/20110622/NEWS01/106220305

Union warns of UK's biggest strikes over pensions

(Reuters) - Britain could face the biggest wave of industrial action in a generation if agreement cannot be reached on public sector pension reform, the leader of the biggest public sector union warned on Tuesday.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/22/uk-unison-strikes-idUSLNE75L00B20110622

Virgin Atlantic pilots vote to strike over lack of pay increase

Read more: http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/90052233?Virgin%20Atlantic%20pilots%20vote%20to%20strike%20over%20lack%20of%20pay%20increase#ixzz1Q4Fte6tn

The Attack on Social Security Is About to Intensify

The Obama-Republican-Corporate Solutions

Republicans, Obama and Corporate interests are proposing to ‘solve’ the Social Security retirement/disability benefits and Medicare benefits problems with the following measures:

1. Raise the retirement age to 70, which would cover 28% of the projected shortfall

2. Eliminate the annual cost of living benefit increases for retirement benefits, which would cover another 23% of shortfall.

3. Make new state and local government workers go into the social security system instead of receiving negotiated state-local pension plans, saving another 7%

4. Reduce benefits for middle income retirees and significantly for higher income retirees, raising another 39%.

http://talkingunion.wordpress.com/2011/06/22/the-attack-on-social-security-is-about-to-intensify/

S.C. Workers Say Boeing Should Not Break Law to Move Jobs There

Inspirational.

In advance of a politically motivated hearing, South Carolina working men and women called today on lawmakers to focus on creating good jobs instead of mounting a political three-ring circus in defense of Boeing lobbyists and CEOs.

http://www.todaysworkplace.org/2011/06/22/s-c-workers-say-boeing-should-not-break-law-to-move-jobs-there/

OPEN LETTER: THE U.S. OCTOBER 2011 MOVEMENT STANDS IN SOLIDARITY WITH OUR GLOBAL ALLIES

Inspired by the courageous, nonviolent uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen, Greece, Spain, and elsewhere, people in the United States have come together to form the October2011 Movement. This fusion of peace, social justice, environmental, student, and immigrant rights organizations is in solidarity with all who seek a peaceful, just, and sustainable future and stands ready to engage in its own campaign of nonviolent resistance beginning in Washington, D.C., this October. We recognize that your revolution is our revolution, that American Empire prevents you from achieving self-determination and economic justice, and that only together can we achieve our shared goals.

It is about goddam time!

http://www.october2011.org/node/332

Bahrain Sues To Suppress Police State Terror Truths

A government suing a newspaper.

http://www.countercurrents.org/lendman220611.htm

The Great Financial Crisis: Scot-Free Culprits Expose Class Solidarity

A treatise on class struggle and the latest economic collapse.

http://www.countercurrents.org/chowdhury220611.htm

Imperialism 101, by Michael Parenti

I love this man. Great piece.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article28397.htm

Didacticide Update Chicago, June 22: Rahmed Again

Chicago Teachers Vow Renewed Activism Over Revoked Raises

Chicago teachers will earn a total of about $100 million less than expected in the next academic year, as last week the new Board of Education under new Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel voted to deny 4 percent raises scheduled for each year of their five-year contract.

http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/11541/chicago_teachers_vow_renewed_activism_over_revoked_raises/

Wisconsin to be GOP’s Own Privatized Idaho? Or Will Voters Strike Back?

First things first: kudos to the firefighters, who have done the right thing for working people, rather than the right thing for themselves.

Elections are when we get to chose which members of the ruling class will get to sodomize us for the next four years. What is needed is direct action against the state, namely an indefinite general strike, until they force the governor and the misanthropists in the legislature who voted for this to resign. Nothing less will do.

http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/11534/wisconsin_to_be_gops_own_privatized_idaho_or_will_voters_strike_back/

Odisha Land Grab Update, June 22

Odisha government goes ahead with project related work at POSCO site.

The Odisha government has started project related work at the sites acquired so far for POSCO's mega steel project even as it halted land acquisition over controversies regarding allotment of project-related contract work.

Despite stiff resistance to the project from various quarters, the state government said, it would resume land acquisition in Jagatsinghpur district, which was temporarily suspended following the resignation of the president of a pro-POSCO group.

Note the government does not acknowledge tribal/popular resistance as a reason for the delay. Previously the state cited the monsoon for the temporary stoppage, now it's contract work and resignations. It's of no consequence though, capital wants that land and power takes what it wants.

http://www.domain-b.com/companies/companies_p/posco/20110621_project_related.html

New evidence: undercover police triggered Barcelona riot

Photos, video, and text. The video is in Catalan but I'm pretty sure it says that the demonstration was peaceful until the police showed up and charged into the crowd.

During last week’s protests in Barcelona, the peaceful indignados discovered about a dozen police infiltrators in their midst. The undercover riot police, posing as anarchists, were suspected by protesters of instigating violence against police and Catalonian government officials.

http://roarmag.org/2011/06/riot-police-barcelona-infiltrate-protest-provoke-violence/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+roarmag+%28Reflections+on+a+Revolution%29&utm_content=Yahoo!+Mail

Photos Of Spanish Demonstrations

http://roarmag.org/2011/06/photo-gallery-historic-19-j-protests-shake-spain/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+roarmag+%28Reflections+on+a+Revolution%29&utm_content=Yahoo!+Mail

American Exceptionalism: Shame Of America: Desperate Man Robs Store For One Dollar In Order To Go To Jail To Get Health Coverage

http://thetrialbyfire.org/2011/06/21/shame-of-america-desperate-man-robs-store-for-one-dollar-in-order-to-go-to-jail-to-get-health-coverage/

The anti-Greece campaign of the international media

http://roarmag.org/2011/06/greek-debt-crisis-international-media/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+roarmag+%28Reflections+on+a+Revolution%29&utm_content=Yahoo!+Mail

Oceans on brink of catastrophe

Dead fish. Frightening.

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/oceans-on-brink-of-catastrophe-2300272.html