[alanjjohnstone]

You got your dates wrong. He wasn't foreign minister at the time of Iraq but Leader of the HouseFrom Wiki

Quote:

In March 1998, a diplomatic rift ensued with Israel when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu angrily cancelled a dinner with Cook, while Cook was visiting Israel and had demonstrated opposition to the expansion of Israeli settlements.

 I got the timing wrong too, it was 3 yrs after this incident he got dumped from FS but i'm sure they were happy to see him get fired. The ADL view on Cookhttp://archive.adl.org/international/eu-6-currentpeacemaking.html#.U85lk-OSyz4Your comment moreorless agrees with Chomsky's view on the US/Israel relationship.My real comment was the BBC…i think studies have confirmed this bias by them. I certainly have seen ample anecdotal evidence…"…although Israel disputes this"

[alanjjohnstone]

They did it with the Iranian Press TV on the spurious grounds that its broadcasting policy was government controlled, banning it from all European tv satellites.We also see a lot of bias on the BBC about the Gaza attack…a very obvious reluctance to criticise the Israelis…So much for the smart bombs and the pin-point accuracy and selective targetting that even Kerry can't stomach the propaganda. Wasn't Robin Cook removed as foreign minister at the behest of the Israelis for his lack of 100% support for them? With the contesting theories, unlike the Syrian gas allegations where i was pretty sure it was not the Syrian government, i'm still uncertain, although i tend towards it was the breakaway militia rather than a Ukrainian false flag since the type of attack is too liable to be found out. A lot hoohaa been made out of the militia taking control of the crash site but they have a point…official crash technical investigators had not arrived…just political observers and journalists who are not qualified to judge anything. Seems the stories of looting has dried up so i wonder if those supposed credit cards were actually used…That would be easily verified by Visa or Mastercard…another atrocity tale to tell. Today's Russian info is a bit too much detail…throw in a lot to confuse…Do they say it was a Surface to Air missile that brought it down or an Air to Air from SU-25 flying in the vicinity? Nope. They toss in distractions for the conspiracy theorists. Smoke and mirrors. I read one "expert" doing the rounds of websites demanding the Americans say what their spy satellites saw…totally ignoring the fact that the Russians have their own over-flying…plus i expect several other nations. Ever since the Ukrain civil war started i have witnessed lies and disinformation from both sides. I suspect a lot of old Tankies are behind the pro-russian propaganda while we have some Trots sympathising with the Kiev regime.   

[alanjjohnstone]

Or if you want to be simplistic, his name has become a hook for anybody to hang their coat from.I earlier read a review that simply concentrated solely on Piketty's remarks on education quoting him claiming it being a means towards more equality and the article incorporated Piketty into calls for education reform in America thats being debated. This was that readers take as a solution to poverty , r>g is forgotten and something considered more practical is declared the routehttp://www.minnpost.com/community-voices/2014/07/considering-thomas-piketty-inequality-and-family-fragmentationThey'll pix and mix what they want from the book until its all but forgotten about. 

[alanjjohnstone]

I am just curious to know why LBird does not join the Party.After all you are a communist and so are we despite what you may describe as certain theoretical weaknesses but none are so fundamental in principles not to block you joining us.  Why don't you join?….as you know , you can't get socialism on your own, can you? And its going to be a bit of a problem trying to find an organisation that hold identical position to your analyses. Isn't the SPGB the next best thing for you? Or have you had other better offers?Imagine the riveting enthralled attention you will hold over other members at conference as you lecture on your arguments, mesmerising ALB, YMS and DJP  Plus i am sure there are other more mundane ways you can contribute such as with book reviews and articles in the general agitation and education we try to offer our class. You got the time and energy to devote to this forum…i'm sure you can put it to more effective use in the class war and on its battlefield of ideas out there in the real world of convincing non- and semi-communists. This forum is only a side-show, after all, we got to reach out to many more people than simply talking to ourselves and the already converted. We are only a short click awayhttp://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/membership-application

[alanjjohnstone]

Just to get the thread fully on the Piketty line, i read this Right idealogues critique of the book, more and more of which are coming online, since i was taken by the title… Piketty is the Anti-Marxhttp://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/piketty-is-the-anti-marx/Which he also elaborates on herehttp://www.theamericanconservative.com/millman/piketty-and-executive-pay/

Quote:

"…Piketty, appears to update Marx’s analysis for our own era and to put the question of the distribution of wealth back in the center of economic and political analysis. But Piketty’s doorstop book is very different from the one Marx wrote, almost its opposite both methodologically and in its implicit politics…. Although his book is titled to recall Marx’s, Marx told a story about how capitalism changed economic relations, tearing apart old hierarchies in a ruthless quest for efficiency. Piketty tells a story about how capitalism did not change economic relations. Heredity mattered a lot in Balzac’s Paris, but it surely mattered even more in Louis XIV’s—and Piketty argues that it matters more now than it did in 1950 and will matter in the future as much as it did in 1850. Piketty’s book could have been titled The Capitalist Road Back To Serfdom. Which is why Piketty’s politics also differ dramatically from Marx’s. Marx was an apocalyptic optimist. He saw the horror wrought by industrialization, but he also saw the extraordinary power industrialization unleashed, and he imagined a way that the power would ultimately make it possible—inevitable, actually—for the horror to be overthrown…"

I'll leave all the detailed disagreement on anyalyses to those who have read the book to discuss if valid or not.Even though it is from an unashamed capitalist apologist and with an intention or contaext  that we do not share, this author's concluding comment is appropriate.

Quote:

He is to be commended as well for demanding a humbler empiricism from the community of economists. But if we are to proceed from analysis to action, we still need a more robust theory of what is actually causing the problem …

 

[alanjjohnstone]

To get back on economix track.

Quote:

"we can proceed to place Piketty's book in its proper perspective. It's a bible for supporters of capitalism, not a handbook for Communists."

Apparently their bible and handbook according to the Independent is an out of print "Business Adventures" by John Brooks.Did it ever get reviewed when it was published in the 60s. Has anybody read it and want to challenge Gates and Buffet on its worth?http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/business-adventures-by-john-brookes-a-bible-for-billionaires-9619919.html

[alanjjohnstone]

The American Trotskyist, James Cannon

Quote:

Socialism and communism are more or less interchangeable terms in the Marxist movement. Some make a distinction between them in this respect; for example, Lenin used the expression socialism as the first stage of communism, but I haven’t found any other authority for that use. I think that is Lenin’s own particular idea. I, for example, consider the terms socialism and communism interchangeable, and they relate to the classless society based on planned production for use as distinct from a system of capitalism based on private property and production for profit.

https://www.marxists.org/archive/cannon/works/1941/socialism/ch02.htmHis What Socialist America Will Look Like is also interesting speculation

Quote:

But after a certain period, where there is abundance and even superabundance, the absurdity of strict wage regulation will become apparent…The accounting arrangements automatically registered by money wages based on gold will at a certain stage be replaced by labour certificates or coupons, like tickets to the theatre. But even that, eventually, will pass away. Even that kind of accounting, which would take up useless labour and be absolutely purposeless, will be eliminated. There will be no money, and there will not even be any bookkeeping transactions or coupons to regulate how much one works and how much he gets. When labour has ceased to be a mere means of life and becomes life’s prime necessity, people will work without any compulsion and take what they need. So said Marx.

[alanjjohnstone]

Quote:

A worker can have a better understanding of the world than a professor. Professors are stupid.

Quote:

The words of a physicist; surely worth a discussion by anyone

As on all the previous occasions, i now bow out when the debate gets to, for me, at least, exchanges of philosophical gobbly-gook between "the stupid". As a worker i have a better understanding of the world. Try not to derail the thread too much. Still a lot to talk about with Piketty i think. I haven't heard too much about just how fundamentally different he is from Robert Reich or Joseph Stiglitz – the Three Stooges as i will now call them. The three do indeed seem to see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil when it comes to the actual capitalist system and restrict their cticism to inequality and offer up reforms and solutions devised by the the Marx brothers rather than anything from Karl. Just how unique is Piketty other than being a very competent number cruncher, maybe a bit slow though if it did really take 10 years of research to produce these figures. At least Karl had an excuse for his tardiness in producing his Capital – i don't mean the boils on his bum.Piketty claims not to be Keynesian, unlike one of his fan-club Paul Krugman. How accurate is this, particularly in regard to Piketty pro- European financial fiscal integration? Has Piketty started a new school of economcs? I read one review that from now on, economc courses in university will have to set aside a few classes for his theory either to advocte or refute it.  

[alanjjohnstone]

LBird wrote:

DJP wrote:

LBird wrote:

Entrepreneurs are sociopaths.

What a profound and nuanced analysis.

Yeah, perhaps too profound for both Piketty and you?Wake up.

This may be of interest to the pair of you. It also relevant to a brief exchange i had with StuartW on the thread http://www.sott.net/article/268449-Empathic-people-are-natural-targets-for-sociopaths-protect-yourself

[alanjjohnstone]

Patrick Cockburn on them herehttp://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/the-truth-about-conspiracy-theories-is-that-some-require-considering-9616863.html

[alanjjohnstone]

KAL 007 and Iran Air 655

Quote:

Two days after the Iranian passenger jet went down in flames, killing 290 people, the Times (7/5/88) editorialized that "while horrifying, it was nonetheless an accident." The editorial concluded, "The onus for avoiding such accidents in the future rests on civilian aircraft: avoid combat zones…

[alanjjohnstone]

You omitted to say that the American response to their shooting down of the Iran jet was to later award the commander who gave the order a medal for outstanding service rather than serve time in a military prison for incompetence…if, of course, it was a mistake, and not an act of provocation. 

[alanjjohnstone]

More recently in 2001, Ukraine shot down a civilian Russian plane killing 66. The Ukranian government denied it was a mistake made during a military exercise until eventually the proof was overwhelming. The SOYMB blog refers to the common practice of airlines flying over war zones as detours cost money. I have overflown Iraq when they were still busy trying to shoot down aircraft landing at Baghdad airport. Fortunately the militias didn't have the missiles capable hitting high altitude planes as the Air Malaysia was which appear as mere chemtrails in the sky.Unverified is the claim that the pro-Russian secessionists did capture a BUK AA system but at the time the Ukranians said it was made inoperative by their troops.These systems require quite sophisticated radar to track targets usually separate from the firing unit. Its not a matter of point and launch. At the moment, who did it is anybody's bet. Hopefully, it may act as a de-escalation of the situation there with Russians reining in their proxies and the Ukranian government temporarily holding back their offensive. Well, we can only hope.  

[alanjjohnstone]

This is worth a readhttp://www.truth-out.org/news/item/25024-common-minerals-lifeblood-of-the-economic-system-disappearing-along-with-fossil-fuelsOne of the comments to the article is very apt and supportive of our view that the Earth is sustainable if properly organised. (Paul Palmer from zero waste institute).

[alanjjohnstone]

Shameful and dishonest and inaccurateI have heard similar because we didn't offer ourselves up as sacrificial lambs to jingoism. Surely the fact that as a PARTY we had an agreed position to oppose the war should have at least been mentioned, rather than, as the speaker acknowledged, the others were divided and only groups within them opposed the war from the outset. The BSP split eventually, for instance. Hopefully we can counter such omissions in the upcoming anniversary of the war. 

[Author]

Posts