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Articles by Bruce Lerro
One Eyed European Cyclops Continues Its Blind Loyalty to Mordor
The definition of stupid is to continue to do the same thing even though the results are self-destructive. What the European rulers continue to see in the United States defies logic. Mordor is charging these rulers way more than Russia did for natural gas yet these rulers insist that Russia is a threat. This is based on at least two illusions. First, Russia is dependent on Europe for resources. The truth is that Russia has many trading partners in the East.
Why Mordor is a Paper Tiger
Political economist Jack Rasmus asks how bad the collapse is in Mordor. He begins with all the resources going into the unwinnable wars in Iran and Ukraine. Secondly, the U.S. has not been able to compete with China technologically or economically. Thirdly, the presence of an organized multipolar world outside of Europe. Lastly, the growing splits within NATO.
Is This the End of Neoliberalism and the EU in Europe?
This article includes descriptions and videos of protest outbreaks in France, Albania, Italy, Belgium, Spain and Portugal. Every protest is on one hand specific to their country – education in one place, housing in another. But cutting across them all is a decline in the standard of living. Deeper still is the crisis in the economics of 45 years of neoliberalism’s  demand for austerity in the population. Is Russia behind this?
Ruling Class Political Campaigns Resemble Barnum and Bailey Circus Acts
“In politics throughout the entire last century, the rich paid advertising agencies to sell a political agenda to the people like soap. And so, almost always, politicians ruled the West primarily serving the interests of their sponsors rather than the interests of the common people.” “Millions were spent on huge billboards or elaborate TV commercials. Political images were sold rather than the content of what the politician’s program.
American Woman Tells All About Her 10 Years in Moscow: Russophobia Exposed
This is a very good interview with Francesca de Bardin, an American who has lived in Moscow for 10 years and wrote about it in her book Moscow Diaries. She discusses the safety of the public streets and the lack of homelessness with Garland Nixon. Cost of heat and electricity? Either very low or provided by the government. The transportation system is justifiably renowned and contrary to Western propaganda, Putin is very popular.
From Matter to Primitive Consciousness: The Emergence of Internality in Prehuman Nature
Orientation Why socialists should care Why should Marxist materialists give a hoot about how consciousness arose from matter?After all, aren’t there more pressing issues to consider? I want to remind these skeptics that in their early years Marx and Engels were interested in this subject. They read Hegel’s great work, the Phenomenology of Spirit with enthusiasm.
9,000 Workers in Canada Vote to Go on Strike
“More than 9,000 workers across Stellantis’ operations in Canada have voted by 97.3 percent for strike action to fight layoffs and the automaker’s plan to sell off the Brampton Assembly Plant to a producer of military vehicles.” “None of the issues that motivated Stellantis workers to vote for a strike can be resolved within the framework of a collective bargaining struggle.
Amazon Delivery Drivers Organizing to be Direct Employees
The Amazon drivers who deliver packages to our homes are not technically employed by Amazon. Rather they are subcontractors. Why is this? It’s because Amazon does not have to deal with potential higher wages and health benefits. However, this lack of inclusion when it comes to benefits does not stop Amazon from micromanaging the time and timing of these drivers’ deliveries. Many times we have witnessed drivers literally RUNNING to our house from their truck and back.
India Propaganda About Its Borders Is Not Reality
Prime Minister of India Modi forces attempt to propagandize the public about Indian ownership over contested Chinese territories. “First comes an administrative announcement, followed by the names being entered on official maps, and then repeated amplification through the media.” “It hopes it can gradually shape perceptions of the boundary issue among its own public and the international community.
NATO as the Visible Fist of the European Union
The European Union likes to present itself solely as an economic organization that really doesn’t engage in politics. This is like Adam Smith claiming that capitalism works by the “invisible hand” of market forces. But we know from experience that when market forces don’t work so well, the state in the form of the military invades other countries. It becomes capitalism’s visible fist. So too, NATO is the visible fist of the European Union. Both have seen better days. Read more in Global Research
Socialists and Conservatives Unite In Germany Against Neoliberal Globalists
Historically, socialists have thought of themselves as closer to liberals than they are to conservatives. In the United States that might be a fair statement in the times of the progressive movement and the presidency of FDR. However, since 1980 neoliberalism has attacked the progressive movement and the state policies of New Deal liberalism. Meanwhile conservatives, at least in Europe, are anticapitalist and against the EU, NATO, the Ukrainian war and want peace in Russia.
The Dollar is Collapsing but BRICS is Not Ready for the Alternatives
“The truth about dedollarization is that it is unfolding but without a concrete plan….The dollar system is collapsing under its own contradictions while alternatives from the Global South have stalled.” “Lacking an empire like Britain’s, the US could supply dollars only through deficits and, later, financial bubbles. Today the Federal Reserve is trapped between inflation and…bubbles.
Trouble In Paradise: Ongoing Tensions Within Worker Co-Ops
In the history of socialism there has been a tension between anarchists and Marxists about how much of the New World should be built into labor organizing. The experimental nature of worker co-ops are more on the side of the anarchists who say workers co-ops should embody as closely as possible the new world we want to create. Nonetheless, building co-ops in a capitalist society is inherently contradictory. The following tensions are predictable. First, how much to pay workers.
Jack Rasmus Summarizes Alterative Visions
Jack Rasmus announces his final show and reviews past themes and contributions of the show Alternative Visions which examines proposals for a post capitalist society.
Why Are France, Spain and Germany in Flames?
Much of European wealth in the 19th and 20th centuries came from the ripping off of land and labor from the capitalist periphery. After World War II, the Europeans lost their colonies and became dependent on the U.S and its neoliberal policies. Slowly, beginning in the late 1970s Europe allowed its state infrastructure to be dismantled.
Karl Marx Without Capitalist Anti-Communist Propaganda
This is a pretty amazing article about Marx considering all the ground the author tries to cover. He is right to de-couple Marx from the Soviet Union, not because the Soviet Union was a failure but because Marx’s ideas about the exploitation of workers, the concentration of capital and the movement from industrial to finance capital applies to the whole world, not just one country.
Who Will Drive a Stake Through the Heart of the Petroleum Vampires?
“Rising oil and food costs could force countries to choose between essential imports and foreign creditors. Michael Hudson explains the debt squeeze.” Will the creditors take a back seat? We doubt it. And the rulers of the state do not have the political will to stop them in defense of getting the resources their countries need. But what is missing here is that there is a revolt from below in three countries – Spain, France and Germany against the austerity measure against the population.
THE QUEEN OF THE HOP: How Charming Workers Through Dancing Promote Socialism
“You can talk about your Julie and your Peggy Sue You can keep your Miss Molly and your Mary Lou When it comes to the Chicken or doin’ the Bop I got a gal they call the Queen of the Hop” When I started out on my socialist path 57 years ago, I had high expectations about the kind of people socialists were. I read about the anarchists in Spain and how joyful they were. You can see this in many of the pictures of them.
Lula’s Commitment to Centrism May Come Back to Haunt Him
As this article points out the extent to which Lula is progressive, it shows in his stance on international issues not domestic issues. Elections involve the population within a nation state and these folks are more concerned with their standard of living, not the use of alternative international currencies or being pro-Palestine. Lula has lost the first round of elections and is scrambling to throw out improvements for social programs before the second round of elections. Will it be enough?
DSA and the CIA
This is a wonderful lecture by Caleb Maupin on the connections between anti-communist socialists and the CIA beginning in the 1950s. As it turns out, Michael Harrington, the founder of DSA, and the Frankfort school were both connected indirectly to the CIA front, Congress for Cultural Freedom. There is a fascinating overlap between what became of the neocons in the right and the anti-communist socialists on the left. ~ Image from You Tube Watch Garland Nixon interview Caleb on YouTube
Western World War III Has Military, Financial and Informational Dimensions
“In this in‑depth conversation, economist and Global Research founder Michel Chossudovsky lays out how NATO’s proxy war in Ukraine, the genocide in Palestine, economic warfare, and a multi‑trillion‑dollar nuclear rearmament drive all connect into a single, emerging global war.” “He argues that we are already inside a world‑scale conflict—military, financial, and informational—that is widely misunderstood, dangerously normalized, and far closer to a nuclear showdown than most people realize.”...
European Right is Moving Towards Center Stage as Centrists Skulk Off
Political scientists pooling statistics from European states claim that support for nationalist parties has risen from 5% thirty years ago to 23% today. But the National Front in France and the Af D in Germany are now entering the main stage as the liberal centrists skulk off the stage to catcalls and derision.
Rocky Admits the Truth About the War Machine: Way Too Little, Way Too Late
Just like a realist John Mearsheimer now criticizes the futility of the war machine, so too, another Neocon, Sylvester Stallone jumps on the bandwagon. While we agree that it’s better late than never to admit the existence of a war machine, Russell Dobular points out that Stallone was pro-war a lot longer than he claims. He uses a nice metaphor that it’s like John Wayne in old age admitting that after all, the Native Americans weren’t so bad. Have a look at this “anti-war” hero in previous movies.
Carl Jung, Sage of the Neoliberal New Age Has Some Sinister Roots
The birth of neoliberalism as an economic doctrine at the end of the 1970s came about at around the same time as neoliberal psychology discovered Joseph Campbell, Mircea Eliade and Carl Jung. In the case of Jung, he was lauded as a sage by New Deal liberal Bill Moyers at the very time Jung was promoting sinister ideas that were, at the very least, conservative. Matt Ehret’s article links Jung more explicitly to fascism. Read in Matt Ehret’s Insights
Issuing Community Bonds Keeps Housing Cooperatives from Sinking
“Creating housing co-operatives is an excellent way to help alleviate housing shortages, but building them comes with a big price tag. Luckily, there are innovative solutions.” “In this webinar, Lindsay Harris, Executive Director of Propolis Housing Cooperative, talks about how her Kamloops-based co-op raised $1.1 million using community bonds. She shares key learnings from years of hard work, including navigating the technical aspects of issuing community bonds and building community support.
China as an Island of Tranquility in a Sea of Western Turbulence
What are the chances that if you left your knapsack in a public park in Manhattan for an hour you would get it back? Suppose your cell phone slipped out of your pocket on a train. How likely is it that it would be turned in? China is one of the few places in the world where knapsacks and cell phones are returned to the owners. How safe would you feel walking the city streets of Manhattan late on a week night? In China walking alone at night is not a problem.
Whiteout: How Liberal Anti-Communism Reduces Frida to Identity Politics
In a time of capitalist decline neoliberalism is hard-pressed to find heroes or heroines. It seeks rebels but without a cause. In the case of this Frida Kahlo art show, the Communist revolutionary is reduced to a safe, identity-politics framework complete with bisexuality and a multivalent self. There is nothing about her political identity as a member of the Mexican Communist Party. This same whitewashing occurred when Freud’s work on sexuality was suppressed in the United States.
Capitalist Ideology of Why Wars Start and End
“One of the most enduring beliefs held by the bulk of the human population is that wars are fought to be won. Another is that wars are fought to ‘defend’ one or more nation-states against what people are told is a threat to some vital aspect of their national security, A third is that politicians and officers directing the war strategy for your country (or group) are interested in minimizing casualties among your own population”.
Five Hundred Year Global Sociohistorical Earthquake
At least since the end of World War II the United States has ruled a global system in what seems to be a steady-state continuity. This article is about the breakup of that system in terms of the decentralization of power and currency exchange. Furthermore, there are geographical shifts in power from West to East and an increase in volatility between states. Lastly, there are now alternative international organizations starting to replace the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
25 Years of Mordor’s War on Terror a Huge Flop
The United States “war on terror” is just a small piece of a larger pie of Mordor’s 80-year attempt to control West Asia. The results are chilling. Mordor’s attempt to play off Iraq and Iran has resulted in Iraqi devastation and Iran’s rise to a major power. Israel, the base of Mordor’s power, is on the verge of collapse and Mordor’s military bases have been pretty much destroyed, also with the Gulf vassals states. The image is of the ghost of Mordor leaving West Asia. Read more in Middle East Eye
The Political Economy of Cross-Cultural Acculturation: Genuflecting to Transnational Capitalism
Orientation The black sheep of the field of psychology Cross-cultural psychology has been called “the black sheep” of the field. This is because it pokes holes in the more established subjects such as people’s personalities, how people learn and remember and how people reason and emote. Cross-cultural psychology exposes Western interpretations of psychopathology and what kinds of therapy work by showing how these subjects are treated in other cultures.
Even The Eastern Vassals Are Turning on Mordor in Its Hour of Need.
“For the first time in its history, South Korea has refused a US demand to send troops to an American war. This is the same country that sent over 300,000 soldiers to fight in the Vietnam War.” “Regular guest K.J. Noh explains what is behind President Lee Jae Myung’s refusal to join Trump’s war on Iran. The pressure comes from a militant labour movement in the streets, Iran’s warning over Korea’s Gulf assets, and a US empire exposed as a paper tiger.
Video Workers Win First Contract at Microsoft Word
“Workers who make some of the world’s most popular video games, including World of Warcraft and Diablo, won their first union contracts in early September, in an important step forward for organizing in the tech industry.” “The 1,900 workers are employed by Blizzard, which was acquired by Microsoft in 2023 in the largest deal ever in the video game industry.” This was achieved thanks to the efforts of the Communications Workers of America. ~ Quote and image from Labor Notes
The State of the Mordor Working Class With The Expansion of AI
The Orange Blossom Special Schlump brags about how great the economy is doing and that American workers never had it so good. “But the US government’s own data shows that since 2007 both jobs and wages for the working class have barely grown, forcing millions to leave the labor force altogether. The picture has worsened under Trump 2025-26. Job growth has slowed to a crawl and pay stagnated on average, while declining for millions at the median and below.
The Rise of a Multipolar World Through the AfD in Germany
“The AfD’s latest gains have pushed it deeper into the center of Germany’s political debate, with strong results in the East, rising national support, renewed clashes over immigration, energy, Russia, and the limits of the country’s political “firewall.” “From a multipolar perspective, the AfD’s rise is significant because it challenges the post-Cold War consensus on Germany’s alignment with Washington, Brussels, and the Atlanticist system, and raises the question of whether Berlin could...
Eastern Europe Might Not Be Dupes Against Russia
European powers, whether East or West have bought the” threat of Russia” hook, line and sinker. Western Europe has no intention of fighting Russia by themselves or even together. They would rather fight them internationally through the EU or NATO. But both these organizations are overstretched and weak while NATO members are squabbling. What will become of the Eastern countries like Poland and Czechoslovakia?
Democratic Party, DSA and the CIA: Why Liberal Feminism Was Anti-Working Class
What ever happened to liberal feminism? For liberal feminists, questioning whether liberalism was compatible with the Democratic Party was never raised. For DSA the Democratic Party was preferable to alliances with other socialists, whether Leninists or anarchists. For Gloria Steinem liberal feminism was completely compatible with doing CIA work. No wonder working class women did not join. Read more in WSWS
How Big Is the Indian Weak Link in BRICS Militancy?
“The 2026 BRICS summit in New Delhi should have marked twenty years since Putin first gathered its leaders in a UN hallway. Instead, the Delhi Declaration was so watery that even a hawkish Indian foreign policy voice called it a virtue.” “Sushant Singh, consulting editor of Caravan magazine and lecturer at Yale, explains why.
BRICS Conference: All to Do About Nothing
The BRICS countries show of “unity” did not bother to mention who is against it. That is the United States. The US war on Iran has created a global crisis in energy but none of this was mentioned in their unity statement. The tensions between Iran and UAE and the tensions between China and India were swept under the rug. Increasingly, the real opposition to the West including China, Russia and Iran is where we see the real military, economic and strategic opposition.
Are China, Russia and Iran Going Back to Keynes and Bretton Woods?
“Is the world quietly reviving a plan the United States buried eighty years ago? Professor Michael Hudson revisits Keynes’ original Bretton Woods proposals, built on balance, capital controls, and the principle that bad debts should be written off rather than enforced into depression.” “Washington rejected all of it and built the dollar system instead, one designed to keep the world dependent on American credit and American rules.
The Place of Mao in China Today
The attached is a good article about the strengths and weaknesses of Mao and his place in communist history. It goes a long way back into the role Mao played in the countryside before the revolution and well as his relationship with the Soviet Union in the 50s and their later split. We think it doesn’t spend enough time on how his anti-intellectualism affected the develop of Chinese infrastructure before 1976.
How Mordor 911 Spelled the Beginning of the End
Ten years prior to the fall of the Twin Powers in 2001 the Soviet Union fell. The Atlanticists celebrated. Books were written about the end of history. Samuel Huntington dismissed economic explanations for world political dynamics and claimed Islam to be the real enemy of the West. Yet once the United States attacked Iraq in 2001 it amounted to an acceleration in the decline of the US which began in the 1970s.
The Implications for The Atlanticists of The Shanghai Cooperative Organization: Dire Straits
The SCO just had a recent meeting that has frightening implications for the energy systems of the Atlanticists in the future. This is so both in terms of the cost of oil and the dollar as an international currency. In addition, the US debt of 40 trillion dollars doesn’t exactly make its Treasury bonds attractive to other countries. Richard Wolff and Michael Hudson offer their wide ranging perspectives, both cross-culturally and historically. Read/watch Michael Hudson and Richard Wolff
England and Hitler Sitting in a Tree, K-Is-s-i-n-g
Among standard presentations of European history England is presented as the leader. This is the case when it comes to pure facts as opposed to speculation, empiricism as opposed to rationalism and rights against authoritarianism and democracy instead of dictatorship. However, if we examine the political moves of the British ruling class in the 20th century Britain supported fascism before it ever came to Italy or Germany. Read more in The Greanville Post
How Minnesota Unions and Community Groups Melted ICE Occupation
“In this excerpt from the new book This Is How We Win: A Guide to Building Working-Class Uprisings, SEIU Local 26 President Greg Nammacher describes how his union, its members battered and exhausted from ICE attacks, went on the offensive against a federal occupation of Minnesota.” Unfortunately the times unions actually reach out to the communities in which they are embedded is rare but this article is an example of what can happen when they do.
Orthodox Socialism: An Odd Match Whose Time Has Come
The New European Right in Europe has little or nothing to do with the neocons in the United States. It is anti-capitalist, anti-globalist and anti-imperialist and pro state sovereignty. In this article the authors attempt to suggest that a combination of Eastern Orthodoxy and socialism is a natural fit. For traditional Marxists hostile to religion this fit will be a stretch. But the New European Right invites dialogue with Marxists rather that synthesize it into a single system.
China Calls for More Autonomy in Building Security Systems in West Asia
In practical terms, the Chinese call for new security measures in West Asia involve greater regional dialogue among Arab states – Iran, Türkiye – as opposed to external dependence on major powers. It also calls for better mechanisms for crisis management and military communication, stronger regional responsibility for maritime and energy security and reduced reliance on foreign military bases. Why is China proposing this now?
Can Mordor Return to Its Golden Age of 1948-1970?
At the end of World War II the United States stood as the world’s only super power though challenged by the movement of socialism. Since 1970 world-systems theorists and traditional Marxists have statistics proving that Mordor is in steeper decline. Even some of the smarter neocons in power recognize that this “Golden Age” is over. The myopic neocons not only deny this but forge on with new colonial wars in Venezuela, Iran and South America.
Pepe Escobar on the Shanghai Cooperative Organization Conference
Political propaganda is not just about lies or twisting facts. Propaganda is also about censorship of threatening events. Pepe reports on the resounding success of the Shanghai Cooperative Organization Conference which was blocked out in Western media. This organization is a growing powerhouse for geoeconomics integration across Eurasia. They are supporting a development bank to replace the IMF and the World Bank.
US Bonds Getting Dumped as Global Financial Instability Deepens
“Following recent weeks crisis in the Yen carry trade and Japan and US governments’ intervention, this past week US 30 yr. Government bond rates surged past 5% to rates just before the 2007 crash. What’s behind it?” “After the AI stock bubble, legacy software companies’ implosion, private credit market and gold, silver, crypto price crashes, is the 30 Yr. Bond another reflection of increasing US and global financial markets’ instability? What’s the cause? Inflation? US $40 trillion government debt?
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