The demand to give up the illusions about its condition is the demand to give up a condition that needs illusions.

A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right: Introduction

The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness. To call on them to give up their illusions about their condition is to call on them to give up a condition that requires illusions. The criticism of religion is, therefore, in embryo, the criticism of that vale of tears of which religion is the halo.

Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right

Marx and Engel’s Collected Works Volume 3: Karl Marx, March 1843-August 1844 (PDF)

Ukraine: Dysfunctional Politics

Dysfunction Sidelines Ukraine’s Parliament as Governing Force,” is the title of an article published this week by The New York Times in one of the few political critiques that has appeared in the Western press recently. It took two years after the Russian invasion for the grace period of absence of political comments on the Ukrainian authorities to be broken, although always partially and only temporarily. It was the news that included Vitali Klitschko’s words against what he perceived as authoritarian drift that opened the door. Like the current information, that news also lacked the contextualization that politics requires, and it was left unmentioned that the criticism of the mayor of Kiev and the measures by which the protesters were part of a confrontation that went back almost to the beginnings of the presidency of Zelensky. The origin of the rivalry lies in the struggle for power and control of the resources of the State between the two protagonists. What is more, the attempt to Zelensky snatch administratively, the mayor of Kiev Klitschko, a man with powerful connections and political contacts, especially in Germany, is one of the examples that show that the authoritarian drift of Volodymyr Zelensky is not justified in the wartime situation today, but that precedes it in several years to the military intervention of Russia.

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U.S. Funds Ukraine Groups Censoring Critics, Smearing Pro-Peace Voices + More

American taxpayers are footing the bill for Ukrainian NGOs focused on smearing proponents of a diplomatic solution as “Russian disinformation” agents.

U.S. Funds Ukraine Groups Censoring Critics, Smearing Pro-Peace Voices

Related:

U.S. Helps Pro-Ukraine Media Run a Fog Machine of War + Supporting Front Orgs

Pro-Russian “disinformation” network

Ukraine’s ‘Press Freedom’ Score Increases Despite Martial Law, Banned Media

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CRUSH THE PHILIPPINES

CRUSH THE PHILIPPINES

April 28, 2024 by Mauro Gia Samonte

BRIGHT as the sun shines, this is what will happen in our country when the war that the United States has planned to detonate in the Philippines since 2014 breaks out. In the said year, America planned the war in Ukraine. It came true. In the same year, America planned Israel’s war against Hamas. It came true. The parallel plan made in the Philippines by America is what is contained in the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) obtained by the United States (US) in the administration of Benigno Aquino III in 2014. Under the agreement, the US was granted five military base of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to deploy American troops and military equipment that is unlimited in number and cannot be inspected by the Philippine authorities. Entering 2023, the five EDCA bases were increased by Bongbong by four more, which really boiled the tension in the South China Sea. China could not hide its simmering anger.

“Don’t be an idol in America,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry warned the Philippines.

Although the agreement states that nuclear weapons cannot be deployed at EDCA bases, the Philippine authorities have no way to ensure that this will be followed because of the EDCA provision that such American deployments cannot be inspected by the Filipino authority. Based on the double (treasonous) American face in world politics, it can be expected that at the EDCA bases nuclear weapons are already present and deployed, ready to be launched at any time needed.

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U.S. Helps Pro-Ukraine Media Run a Fog Machine of War + Supporting Front Orgs

U.S. Helps Pro-Ukraine Media Run a Fog Machine of War

As Congress debates major new funding to support the Ukrainian war effort, U.S. taxpayer dollars are already flowing to outlets such as the New Voice of Ukraine, VoxUkraine, Detector Media, the Institute of Mass Information, the Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine and many others. Some of this money has come from the $44.1 billion in civilian-needs foreign aid committed to Ukraine. While the funding is officially billed as an ambitious program to develop high-quality independent news programs; counter malign Russian influence; and modernize Ukraine’s archaic media laws, the new sites in many cases have promoted aggressive messages that stray from traditional journalistic practices to promote the Ukrainian government’s official positions and delegitimize its critics.

Related (front organizations):

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Littoral Combat Ship Still Fighting to Prove Its Worth

The Littoral Combat Ship was meant to start the Navy’s operational renaissance. But a chorus of naysayers and critics have put service leaders on the defensive, insisting that the troubled program has turned a corner.

Littoral Combat Ship Still Fighting to Prove Its Worth

They’ve increased the crew size and have been training them to maintain the ships themselves rather than relying on the original contractors. 

Related:

The Littoral Combat Ship: How We Got Here, and Why (PDF)

Littoral Combat Ship: Actions Needed to Address Significant Operational Challenges and Implement Planned Sustainment Approach

USNI Proceedings PodcastLittoral Combat Ships: How the Navy is Employing Them (Ted LeClair, Marc Crawford, Mark Haney)

Previously:

The Inside Story of How the Navy Spent Billions on the “Little Crappy Ship”

The Navy just launched a brand new ship it doesn’t even want

ALBA-TCP Condemns Interventionist Comments by US SOUTHCOM Head

The executive secretary of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America-People’s Trade Agreement (ALBA-TCP), Jorge Arreaza, repudiated the statements of the head of the United States Southern Command (US SOUTHCOM), Laura Richardson. Arreza condemned her statements as interventionist and warlike.

ALBA-TCP Condemns Interventionist Comments by US SOUTHCOM Head

H/T: Chicago ALBA Solidarity