Dependency theory emerged in the 1960s and 1970s to explain the development of Latin America in its dependent relationship with advanced capitalist economies, the US in particular. It served a practical purpose of orienting Latin American Marxists in the revolutionary struggles of that period, following the inspiration of the Cuban revolution and the crises across the region in Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and Chile, amongst others. | more…
Rather than believe in Santa Claus or fairy tales, far better that the dynamics of capitalism be grasped in their full dimensions. Only by understanding how and why, and drawing appropriate conclusions, rather than simply observing, can the world’s exploited — the vast majority of humanity — hope to see a better world come into being, a world that will have put capitalism into the history books. | more…
Book of the year? A very bold “yes!” But it is also the book of the next year, and the year after that, and the year after that. | more…
Horne’s book is primarily a synthesis of information found in secondary sources, but it is a masterful blend of the interrelated events happening in Europe, Africa, West Asia, North, Central, and South America, and the Caribbean in the critical centuries before and after 1492. | more…
John Bellamy Foster reminds us that there are powerful people who spend their days seeking to justify the use of nuclear weapons and trying to morally justify that use. | more…
U.S. leaders appear increasingly willing to unleash the military because they cannot accept a new multipolar world order in which the U.S. is not the pre-eminent economic power. | more…
…Russian leaders believe, probably correctly, that this is a fight for their survival. Ukrainian leaders, ditto – except there’s no “probably” about it; it’s definitely. And it is pointless to attempt to judge those leaders under such circumstances. But for American leadership, this is a proxy war. It is not existential. It is a proxy war of choice. | more…
Bill Resnick, host of KBOO’s “Old Mole Variety Hour,” recently talked to John Bellamy Foster about the future of the planet and what we call “civilization.” Foster is convinced that humanity possesses the resources and technologies to succeed in limiting climate change to manageable levels while building authentic democracies. They discussed several issues: the time remaining to reduce greenhouse gas concentrations and stop global roasting; the risks of thinking in terms of decades; and whether capitalism and its exponential growth can continue on a finite planet.
Listen at KBOO- Portland | more…
The presentation is novelistic: there is a rising action as tensions build before the war begins. Once the conflict starts, there’s gripping escalation, then brief falling action as the war concludes. Questions posed throughout keep engagement high while also allowing time for contemplating new pieces of information. The result is illuminating… | more…
(Read on, if you know Indondesian) Dalam ekonomi global saat ini, sebagian besar produksi terjadi di negara-negara “berkembang” seperti Tiongkok, India, dan Indonesia. Namun, sebagian besar keuntungan dari produk-produk yang dihasilkannya tetap menggunung dalam dompet para kapitalis di Eropa, Amerika, dan Jepang. Enak saja! Kok bisa? | more…
There is no evidence that Vietnam veterans were spat on. Nor could they have been, at least not in the manner described in the most often told stories. Those stories tell of landing at San Francisco Airport and being met by groups of spitters, often hippies. But flights from Vietnam landed at military airbases like Travis outside San Francisco; protesters could not have gotten on the airbase, much less near deplaning troops. | more…