Guardian, November 12 2025 My previous post was a whistlestop, first call Venezuela. On empire’s need, always easily met, for a comprador elite inside a targeted country – “ideally with one of its own as head of state” – I made … Read More »
The sun never set on it – at once both literal truth and vainglorious boast Caitlin’s post today took stock of differences between the British and US empires – direct rule colonialism versus indirect rule by an imperialism I define … Read More »
When I ponder on liberalism at its best (not that I spend a heap of time doing any such thing) I can think of no finer example than Jeffrey Sachs. Like his friend John Mearsheimer – featured in my last … Read More »
Remember that Castlemaine XXXX ad from the eighties? The one where blame for a collapsed pick-up in the Ozzie outback is attributed not to crate after crate of lager bearing down on its creaking suspension, but to two bottles of … Read More »
On a tip off from reader Nick Hefferman, a few posts back, I’m reading Aaron Good’s American Exception: Empire and the Deep State. It does what it says on the tin – or, six chapters in, holds out every promise … Read More »
Meanwhile the West backs its genocidal beachhead in the Middle East and US warships threaten Venezuela on bogus pretext. At the very least Washington is doubling down on the Monroe Doctrine in the face of rising Chinese and Russian commercial presence … Read More »
Having spoken but rarely and long ago on this part of the world, I can’t with confidence say why US warships are headed for Venezuela now, rather than last week .. month .. year or next week .. month .. … Read More »
Should he live long enough – and not receive one of those pardons Latin American leaders are wont to confer on fellow kleptocrats – Alejandro Celestino Toledo will be ninety-nine when he finally leaves his jail cell. Born into the … Read More »
Bolivia’s President Luis Arce with General Juan Jose Zúñiga on the Day of the Army, December 2022. ON TUESDAY Bolivia’s President Luis Arce fired General Zúñiga for threatening to detain former President Evo Morales should he seek another term in … Read More »
I’ve noted from time to time the credulity – I’m being kind here – with which corporate media journalists play their clueless part – there I go again – in relaying Washington’s talking points. I have in mind today the … Read More »