Category: Vietnam

Hegseth visits Manila: Washington prepares for war with China + More

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Hegseth visits Manila: Washington prepares for war with China

The language of Hegseth’s press conference in Manila is indicative of the openly aggressive face of US imperialism under Trump. Gone was any reference to what had been the political shibboleth of Washington in the Asia Pacific region: the defense of “freedom of navigation.” Hegseth spoke rather of “preparing for war,” using the phrase more than once. Every time Hegseth mentioned China he termed it “Communist China,” and spoke of its “aggression.” Hegseth referred to US Seventh fleet commander Admiral Samuel Paparo “and his war plans. Real war plans.”

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A Permanent Arms Economy

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

The background to the article reprinted here is the “long boom” of western capitalism during the 1950s and 1960s. It first appeared in International Socialism journal in Spring 1967. On the surface it appeared that the capitalist system had stabilised itself, had broken out of the boom-slump cycle and was now able to offer the workers of Western Europe and North America a steady increase in living standards.

This was a frustrating world for Marxists, who found themselves subject to two temptations. One was to surrender to the claims poured out by the system’s apologists that capitalism had solved its problems and that the path of gradual reform offered a sure road to socialism. The other was to deny the obvious signs of stability and prosperity and assert that capitalism was on the verge of imminent, catastrophic collapse. If these temptations were to be avoided, and Marx’s analysis of capitalism’s contradictions was to hold, then the long boom must be explained.

A Permanent Arms Economy

How Musk Sold Out America’s Veterans – OpEd

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

How Musk Sold Out America’s Veterans – OpEd

Former service members around the country already feel the repercussions, which include cuts to transportation programs for disabled veterans, reduced telephone support for caregivers, and the postponement or cancellation of suicide prevention trainings.

Other veterans report the cancellation of therapy groups and longer wait times for appointments as well as disruptions to medical studies, including a clinical trial on a new medication with the potential to treat cancers of the mouth and throat. Some facilities eliminated staff members especially trained or certified to perform certain roles, delaying the requisition and delivery of medical supplies.

As always happens amid Musk’s ham-handed raids, the cuts at the VA commenced without the slightest foresight or sense. Among many other examples, officials summarily canceled hundreds of contracts with outside providers, only to immediately scale back the reckless decision after realizing they needed the help performing essential work like physician recruitment and burial services.

Kaldahl, who receives hearing aids, eye care, and other services from the VA, has to travel to larger cities, such as Superior, Wisconsin, or Minneapolis, to receive care unavailable at a clinic near his home.

Do Critics of Biological Psychiatry Have an Alternative to a Life of “Whack-A-Mole”?

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)
Economic Manuscripts: Preface to A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy

stablishment psychiatry has recently switched the biological cause of mental illness from a “chemical imbalance” to a “brain circuitry defect.” There is no more important institution in establishment psychiatry than the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), and in 2022, psychiatrist Thomas Insel, NIMH director from 2002-2015, stated in his book Healing, “The idea of mental illness as a ‘chemical imbalance’ has now given way to mental illnesses as ‘connectional’ or brain circuit disorders.”

Do Critics of Biological Psychiatry Have an Alternative to a Life of “Whack-A-Mole”?

From Global Anti-Imperialism to the Dandelion Fighters, China’s Solidarity with Palestine from 1950 to 2024

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Frontier of global anti-imperialist struggle: China’s perceptions of the Palestinian struggle from 1955 to 1976
China is probably one of few states which flipped its diplomatic stance on the “Palestinian-Israeli conflict” in the most dramatic manner from the 1950s to 1970s. In only 20 years, the People’s Republic of China (PRC)’s official foreign policy dramatically changed from almost establishing diplomatic relations with Israel in 1950 to denying any legitimacy of the Israeli state in the 1960s to 1970s. As I aim to demonstrate in this article, the Maoist era, especially from 1955 to 1976, established the foundation of China’s diplomatic support for the Palestinian liberation movement, and this legacy is still one of the main factors guiding China’s official stance on Palestine today.

From Global Anti-Imperialism to the Dandelion Fighters, China’s Solidarity with Palestine from 1950 to 2024

Related:

THE CHINESE PEOPLE FIRMLY SUPPORT THE ARAB PEOPLE’S STRUGGLE AGAINST AGGRESSION

How to DOGE USAID: The Wall Street Consensus under Trump

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

How to DOGE USAID: The Wall Street Consensus under Trump

We often hear that the new Trump administration inaugurates the age of technofeudalism. Just look at Elon Musk, pontificating about so-called “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) democracy from the Oval Office while undemocratically occupying the US Treasury payment system. But is the administration simply using bullying as a mode of power, as Adam Tooze recently diagnosed it, destroying institutions without measure or plan?

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In Pentagon shakeup, some see bid for more secret actions, less oversight

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

The selection of John Daniel Caine as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff may signal a new emphasis on irregular warfare, covert and clandestine operations, enabling swifter action with fewer legal constraints and less congressional scrutiny, say former military and senior defense officials who have worked in the intelligence community, special operations, the Defense Department, and the White House.

In Pentagon shakeup, some see bid for more secret actions, less oversight