Articles by James Petras
We found 138 results.
Laughter for All (Financial) Times
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
25 Feb 2019
16 Feb 2019 – In these times, when the United States pursues an unprecedented military build-up, promotes coups and trade wars, breaks weapons agreements, organizes the illegal seizure of overseas financial accounts, building barriers and walls along the southern border, Washington can count on the mass media to provide a variety of propaganda messages, ranging from the predictable ‘yellow ’ to the sophisticated ‘serious press’.
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US ‘Regime Changes’–The Historical Record: Latin America, Caribbean
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Feb 2019
4 Feb 2019 – As the US strives to overthrow the democratic and independent Venezuelan government, the historical record regarding the short, middle and long-term consequences are mixed. We will proceed to examine the consequences and impact of US intervention in Venezuela over the past half century. We will then turn to examine the success and failure of US ‘regime changes’ throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.
→ read full articlePeculiarities of US Imperialism in Latin America
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Feb 2019
28 Jan 2019 – Understanding imperialism as a general phenomenon loses sight of its modus operandi in any specific and meaningful context. While the exercise of imperialist power is a common strategy, its motives, instruments, objectives and engagement vary, depending on the nature of the imperial ruler and targeted country.
→ read full articleUS Mass Mobilizations: Wars and Financial Plunder
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Dec 2018
25 Nov 2018 – This paper will begin by discussing the major wars of our time, namely the two US invasions of Iraq. We will proceed to analyze the nature of the popular response and the political consequences. In the second section we will discuss the economic crises of 2008 -2009, the government bailout and popular response. We will conclude by focusing on the potential powerful changes inherent in mass popular movements.
→ read full articleCultural Imperialism: Linguistic Perversion and Obfuscation of Empire Building
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Nov 2018
12 Nov 2018 – In the contemporary world, western imperialist propagandists, particularly journalists and editors of the mass media, have resorted to perverting everyday concepts and the language of politics. The use and abuse of the language of politics has served to blame victims and to justify imperial aggressors. The consequences are multiple, both in legitimizing war crimes and economic plunder, as well as neutralizing domestic opposition.
→ read full articleBig Business Strikes Back: The Class Struggle from Above
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
29 Oct 2018
26 Oct 2018 – Bankers, agro-business elites, commercial mega owners, manufacturing, real estate and insurance bosses and their financial advisers, elite members of the ‘ruling class’, have launched a full-scale attack on private and public wage and salary workers, and small and medium size entrepreneurs (the members of the ‘popular classes’).
→ read full articleBrazil’s Neo-Liberal Fascist Road to Power
James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
15 Oct 2018
10 Oct 2018 – The decisive electoral victory of far-right Brazilian presidential candidate, Jair Bolsonaro startled politicians and analysts of the traditional parties of the left and right. The possible implications for the present and near future raises a number of fundamental questions whether it represents a ‘model’ for other countries or is the result of the specific circumstances of Brazil.
→ read full articleLatin America: Rightwing Interlude and the Death Rattle of Neoliberalism
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Sep 2018
5 Sep 2018 – Beginning in 2015, business writers, neo-liberal economists and politicians in North America and the EU heralded Latin America’s embrace of a ‘new wave of free markets and free elections’. By early 2018 the entire neo-liberal edifice was crumbling, the promises and predictions of a neoliberal success story were forgotten. This paper will discuss the recent rise of a so-called ‘neo-liberal wave’ or right turn and the regimes directing it.
→ read full articleImmigration: Western Wars and Imperial Exploitation Uproot Millions
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 Jul 2018
26 Jun 2018 – “Immigration” has become the dominant issue dividing Europe and the US, yet the most important matter which is driving millions to emigrate is overlooked is wars. In this paper we will discuss the reasons behind the massification of immigration, focusing on several issues.
→ read full articleAppeasement as Global Policy
James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Jun 2018
The world is riven with class conflicts in Latin America, political conflicts between the Anglo-Americans and Russians, and economic conflicts between Washington against Europe and Asia. The conflicts have called into question the capacity of ruling elites to promote growth, to secure international stability and to foster global as co-operation.
→ read full articleDe-Briefing Academics: Unpaid Intelligence Informants
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 May 2018
3 May 2018 – Many academics are frequently engage in what government officials dub ‘de-briefing’! They meet and discuss their field-work, data collection, research finding, observations and personal contacts over lunch at the Embassy with US government officials or in Washington with State Department officials.
→ read full articleImperial Road to Conquest: Peace and Disarmament Agreements
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 May 2018
In recent years US imperial strategy has sought to lessen the cost of defeating and overthrowing independent countries.
→ read full articleLatin America in the Time of Trump
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
30 Apr 2018
22 Apr 2018 – President Trump cancelled his attendance at the Summit of the Americas meeting of all the 35 presidents of the region and delegated VP Pence in his place. Pence, a known nonentity with zero experience and even less knowledge of Latin America–US relations, indicates the Trump regime’s disdain and low opinion of the eighth meeting of the tri-annual Summit.
→ read full articleWhy the UK, the EU and the US Gang-Up on Russia
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2018
20 Mar 2018 – For the greater part of a decade the US, the UK and the EU have been carrying out a campaign to undermine and overthrow the Russia government and in particular to oust President Putin. Fundamental issues are at stake including the real possibility of a nuclear war.
→ read full articleBlackouts and Flashpoints in 2018
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
29 Jan 2018
26 Jan 2018 – The prophets and forecasters for the coming year have already set out their global vision ranging from rising economies to catastrophic global wars.
→ read full articleUS Enemy List: Prospects and Perspectives
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Nov 2017
24 Nov 2017 – For almost 2 decades, the US pursued a list of ‘enemy countries’ to confront, attack, weaken and overthrow. This imperial quest to overthrow ‘enemy countries’ operated at various levels of intensity, depending on two considerations: the level of priority and the degree of vulnerability for a ‘regime change’ operation.
→ read full articleChina’s Pivot to World Markets, Washington’s Pivot to World Wars…
Prof. James Petras – Global Research,
23 Oct 2017
15 Oct 2017 – China and the United States are moving in polar opposite directions: Beijing is rapidly becoming the center of overseas investments in high tech industries, including robotics, nuclear energy and advanced machinery with collaboration from centers of technological excellence, like Germany. In contrast, Washington is pursuing a predatory military pivot to the least productive regions with collaboration from its most barbaric allies, like Saudi Arabia.
→ read full articleThe Middle East Pivot: Erdogan’s Turkey Seven Deadly Sins
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
16 Oct 2017
Multiple wars ravage the Middle East. Turkey has inserted itself into the middle of most of these regional conflicts and ended up a loser. Under President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkey has intervened and formed alliances with a rogue’s gallery of imperial warlords, terrorists-mercenaries, Zionist expansionists, feudal potentates and obscure tribal chiefs, with disastrous economic, political and military consequences for the Turkish nation.
→ read full articleThe Politics of Military Ascendancy
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 Sep 2017
15 Sep 2017 – Clearly the US has escalated the pivotal role of the military in the making of foreign and, by extension, domestic policy. The rise of ‘the Generals’ to strategic positions in the Trump regime is evident, deepening its role as a highly autonomous force determining US strategic policy agendas.
→ read full articleAnti-Populism: Ideology of the Ruling Class
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Jul 2017
7 Jul 2017 – Throughout the US and European corporate and state media, right and left, we are told that ‘populism’ has become the overarching threat to democracy, freedom and . . . free markets. The media’s ‘anti-populism’ campaign has been used and abused by ruling elites and their academic and intellectual camp followers as the principal weapon to distract, discredit and destroy the rising tide of mass discontent with ruling class-imposed austerity programs, the accelerating concentration of wealth and the deepening inequalities.
→ read full articleElections: Absenteeism, Boycotts and the Class Struggle
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Jun 2017
19 Jun 2017 – The most striking characteristics of recent elections is not who won or who lost, nor is it the personalities, parties and programs. Across the world, majorities and pluralistic, of citizens of voting age, refuse to even register (unless obligated by law); refuse to turn out to vote, (abstain); or vote against all the candidates (boycott).
→ read full articleLatin America in Search of an Alternative
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Jun 2017
16 Jun 2017 – The financial media present the ‘right’s’ socially regressive policies and strategies as ‘reforms’, a euphemism for the re-concentration of wealth, profits and property into the hands of foreign and domestic oligarchs. Leftwing intellectuals and journalists paint an image of socio-economic transformations under Latin America’s ‘left’ regimes where ‘the people’ take power, income is redistributed and growth flourishes.
→ read full articleThe United States and Iran: Two Tracks to Establish Hegemony
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Jun 2017
Presented to the Conference: “United States, Human Rights and the Discourse of Domination”. Sponsored by Iranian World Studies Association. Tehran, July 2, 2017
→ read full articleGlobal Turmoil: Flatulence or Substance
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Apr 2017
Every day and throughout the world we read and hear of turmoil, of threats, violence, divisions, wars for peace and peace for wars, freedom as oppression and oppression as freedom. In a world where words have lost their meanings and meanings have no words, how do we go about understanding turmoil?
→ read full articleDeath on the Prescription Plan. The ‘White Plague’ of the 21st Century
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Apr 2017
6 Apr 2017 – Over the past two decades hundreds of thousands of Americans have died prematurely because of irresponsibly prescribed narcotic ‘pain killers’ and other central nervous system depressants, like tranquillizers and their deadly interactions.
→ read full articleChina’s Great Leap Forward: Western Frogs Croak Dismay
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Mar 2017
23 Mar 2017 – From their dismal swamps, US academic and financial journal editorialists, the mass media and contemporary ‘Asia experts’, Western progressive and conservative politicians croak in unison about China’s environmental and impending collapse.
→ read full articlePeace Accords or Political Surrender? Latin America, the Middle East and Ukraine
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Mar 2017
Time and again throughout the world, imperial-brokered peace negotiations and accords have served only one goal: to disarm, demobilize, defeat and demoralize resistance fighters and their allies.
→ read full articleThe Rising Tide of Militarism in the 21st Century: From Clinton, Bush, Obama and Trump
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Mar 2017
US militarism expanded exponentially through the first two decades of the Twenty-First Century, and was embraced by both Democratic and Republican Presidents. The mass media’s hysteria towards President Trump’s increase in military spending deliberately ignores the vast expansion of militarism, in all its facets, under President Obama and his two predecessors, Presidents ‘Bill’ Clinton and George Bush, Jr.
→ read full articlePresident Trump: Nationalist Capitalism, an Alternative to Globalization
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
30 Jan 2017
During his inaugural speech, President Trump clearly and forcefully outlined the strategic political-economic policies he will pursue over the next four years. Anti-Trump journalist, editorialists, academics and experts, who appear in the Financial Times, New York Times, Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal have repeatedly distorted and lied about the President’s program as well as his critique of existing and past policies.
→ read full articleRegime Change Comes Home: The CIA’s Overt Threats against Trump
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
23 Jan 2017
17 Jan 2017 – The norms of US capitalist democracy include the election of presidential candidates through competitive elections, unimpeded by force and violence by the permanent institutions of the state. Voter manipulation has occurred during the recent elections, as in the case of the John F. Kennedy victory in 1960 and the George W. Bush victory over ‘Al’ Gore in 2000.
→ read full articleWall Street and the Pentagon: Pre-mature Political and Military Ejaculations
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Nov 2016
2 Nov 2016 – Wall Street and the Pentagon greeted the onset of 2016 as a ‘banner year’, a glorious turning point in the quest for malleable regimes willing to sell-off the most lucrative economic resources, to sign off on onerous new debt to Wall Street and to grant use of their strategic military bases to the Pentagon.
→ read full articleWashington’s ‘Pivot to Asia’: A Debacle Unfolding
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
31 Oct 2016
In 2012 President Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Ashton Carter launched a new chapter in their quest for global dominance: a realignment of policies designed to shift priorities from the Middle East to Asia. Dubbed the ‘Pivot to Asia’, it suggested that the US would concentrate its economic, military and diplomatic resources toward strengthening its dominant position and undercutting China’s rising influence in the region.
→ read full articleOverview of Class Struggle in Latin America
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Oct 2016
17 Oct 2016 – The class struggle from below has taken different forms and directions, with greater or lesser intensity, between countries and within countries in different time periods.
→ read full articleWashington’s Global Economic Wars
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Oct 2016
18 Oct 2016 – During most of the past two decades Washington has aggressively launched military and economic wars against at least nine countries, either directly or through its military aid to regional allies and proxies. US air and ground troops have bombed or invaded Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Yemen and Lebanon.
→ read full articleBrazil: The Billion Dollar Coup
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Oct 2016
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff was removed from office through a well-organized, carefully planned operation among the corrupt Brazilian political elite, closely linked to the stock-market, financial institutions and foreign energy companies.
→ read full articleBarbarism in Words and Deeds
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Oct 2016
Barbarism: the Deed – Over the past decade and a half, the US and its allies have invaded, occupied, killed, wounded and dispossessed over ten million people, in countries from Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Libya, Syria, Yemen and Lebanon. Military and civilian officials have systematically destroyed entire economies, fostered ethno-religious wars, undermined ancient community and family ties and placed corrupt political puppets in power.
→ read full articlePropaganda Techniques of Empire
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Oct 2016
Washington’s quest for perpetual world power is underwritten by systematic and perpetual propaganda wars. Every major and minor war has been preceded, accompanied and followed by unremitting government propaganda designed to secure public approval, exploit victims, slander critics, dehumanize targeted adversaries and justify its allies’ collaboration.
→ read full articleThe Politics of Bombing: Wholesale, Retail and Improvised
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Oct 2016
Bombs, domestic and foreign, are defining the nature of politics in the United States, the European Union and among radical Islamist groups and individuals. The scale and scope of bomb-politics varies with the practitioner.
→ read full articleAgriculture: Trade Wars and Food Wars. Obama and the Multi-Nationals
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Sep 2016
19 Sep 2016 – Potash Corp and Agrium have combined into a $30 billion monopoly over the world fertilizer market. Dow Chemical and DuPont combine in a $130 billion dollar deal in the seed and agricultural chemicals sector. ChemChina prepares to takeover Syngenta in a $44 billion acquisition. Bayer is preparing to buy out Monsanto for $56 billion and further concentrate control over worldwide seed and chemical markets. A quarter of a trillion dollars worth of mergers and acquisitions is poised to concentrate control of global agriculture prices, profits and markets in four directorates.
→ read full articleUS Proxies and Regional Rivalries
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Sep 2016
US empire building depends on regional regimes’ support, especially in the Middle East, Asia and Latin America. These proxy regimes fulfill valuable military roles securing control over neighboring regions, populations and territory. In recent times, however, we witness the same proxies developing their own tendency toward expansionist policies – in pursuit of their own mini-empires.
→ read full articleThe Financial Times: Megaphone for Mass Murder
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Sep 2016
The Financial Times editorial page carries a logo that proclaims: “Without fear and without favour”. Indeed the editors have shown no fear when it comes to. . . fabricating lies, promoting imperial wars decimating countries and impoverishing millions, whether in Libya, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen and now Venezuela.
→ read full articleChina’s Pivot to World Markets, Washington’s Pivot to World Wars, and the Debacle of the Latin American Left
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
29 Aug 2016
The US ‘pivot to Asia’, with its heavy dependence on military threats and intimidation has cost billions of dollars in lost markets and investments. China’s ‘pivot to advanced technology’ demonstrates that the future lies in Asia not the West. China’s experience offers lessons for future Latin American leftist governments. First and foremost, China emphasizes the necessity of balanced economic growth, over and above short-term benefits resulting from commodity booms and consumerist strategies.
→ read full articleErdoğan’s Coup: Purging Domestic Critics, Gaining External Allies
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
25 Jul 2016
“President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan prepared a list of targets for arrest even before the coup (sic) was launched”, European Commission official on Turkey (FT 7/19/2016). In the end Erdoğan may have secured power and undertaken a vast domestic purge of his enemies, but he has lost the regional war while bearing the consequences of millions of war refugees and a deeply entrenched jihadi terrorist threat within Turkey.
→ read full articleWashington’s ‘New Managers’ in Latin America: Oligarchs, Bankers and Swindlers
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Jul 2016
Amid raging corruption, social pathologies and outright political thuggery, a new gang of vassal regimes has taken-over Latin America. The new rulers are strictly recruited as the protégé’s of US financial and banking institutions. Hence, the financial press refers to them as the “new managers” – of Wall Street.
→ read full articleAnglo-America: Regression and Reversion in the Modern World
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Jun 2016
What does it mean when the US and British financial systems launder hundreds of billions of dollars of illicit funds stolen by world leaders while their governments turn a ‘blind eye’, and yet the very same Anglo-American officials investigate, prosecute, fine and arrest officials from rival governments, rival banks and political leaders for corruption?
→ read full articleThe Imperial Empire: The Sun Never Sets but the Mote Remains in the Emperor’s Eye
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
23 May 2016
Post-colonial empires are complex organizations. They are organized on a multi-tiered basis, ranging from relative autonomous national and regional allies to subservient vassal states, with variations in between.
→ read full articleThe Brazilian Left: Business Accommodation and Social Debacle
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 May 2016
In ‘Cardoso’s Brazil: A Land for Sale’ (2003) we described how President Cardoso had sold off the major public resources, banks, petroleum and iron resources to foreign capital for rock bottom prices. The 2002 election of President Lula Da Silva of the Workers’ Party did not reverse Cardoso’s sell-out. Indeed, Lula accepted his predecessor’s neo-liberal policies – embellished them – and set about forging an alliance between the Workers’ Party and the economic elites, replacing Cardoso’s Party!
→ read full articleClass Struggle in Latin America
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Apr 2016
It is our fervent hope that our modest text will help academics and scholars shed their blinders, recognize and take account of the centrality of the class struggle, in all its variants, and how it influences the formation and decline of regimes, development models, productive systems and variations in the way countries insert in the world economy.
→ read full articleTwilight of the Idols: Rise and Fall of the Personalist Left
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Mar 2016
Over the past three years Latin American leftist leaders, who presided over heterodox ‘free trade’ and commodity based welfare economies, lost presidential, legislative and municipal elections and referendums or faced impeachment.
→ read full articleEpilogue: Argentina – The End of Post Neoliberalism and the Rise of the Hard Right
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
22 Feb 2016
The class struggle from above found its most intense , comprehensive and retrograde expression in Argentina, with the election of Mauricio Macri (December 2015). During the first two months in office, through the arbitrary assumption of emergency powers, he reversed, by decree, a multitude of progressive socio-economic policies passed over the previous decade and sought to purge public institutions of independent voices.
→ read full articleInternational Monetary Fund’s Rogues Gallery: Crooks, Rapists and Swindlers
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Jan 2016
The IMF has been under the control of the US and Western European states and its policies have been designed to further the expansion, domination and profits of their leading multi-national corporations and financial institutions. The executive directors of the IMF are Europeans; their counterparts in the World Bank are from the US.
→ read full articleImperialism and Capitalism: Rethinking an Intimate Relationship
Prof. James Petras and Prof. Henry Veltmeyer – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Dec 2015
16 Dec 2015 – The literature on imperialism suffers from a fundamental confusion about the relationship between capitalism and imperialism. The aim of this paper is to remove this confusion.
→ read full articleLatin America: The Aborted Neo-Liberal Offensive
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Dec 2015
Progressive social legislation has come to a virtual halt even before the recent political advances of the US-backed right-wing parties with their neo-liberal economic agenda. Any attempt to ‘unmake and reverse’ the social advances of the past decade will be met with (1) militant resistance, if not open class warfare; (2) institutional and political constraints; (3) and low commodity prices drastically limiting export revenues.
→ read full articleWars: US Militarist Factions in Command
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
23 Nov 2015
19 Nov 2015 – Over the past 15 years the US has been engaged in a series of wars, which has led many writers to refer to the ‘rise of militarism’ – the growth of an empire, built primarily by and for the projection of military power – and only secondarily to advance economic imperialism.
→ read full articleState Terror or Capitalist Terror, Military Coup or Capitalist Coup
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Oct 2015
Democratic critics of military seizures of power commonly refer to them as military coups. They adopt a very narrow and misleading conception of what is taking place.
→ read full articlePutin and the Press: The Demonology School of Journalism
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Oct 2015
The major influential western print media are engaged in a prolonged, large-scale effort to demonize Russian President Putin, his politics and persona. There is an article (or several articles) every day in which he is personally stigmatized as a dictator, authoritarian, czar, ‘former KGB operative’ and Soviet-style ruler; anything but the repeatedly elected President of Russia.
→ read full articleFive Leaders Challenging Western Imperialism through Diplomacy, Persuasion and Public Pressure
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Oct 2015
Pope Francis, Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, Hassan Rouhani, and Jeremy Corbyn
→ read full articleColombia’s Killing Fields: Peace Is War
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Sep 2015
Colombia has received more US military aid–over $6 billion dollars in the past decade—than any country in the Western Hemisphere. For its part, Colombia allowed the Pentagon to build seven military bases, more than all the other countries in the region combined.
→ read full articleThe Right-Left Crossfire and the Post Neo-Liberal Left
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Jul 2015
The post neo-liberal regimes which flourished in five Latin American countries in the first decade of the 21st century were a product of three inter-related historical processes.
→ read full articleRightwing Radicalization, Militarization, and the Boomerang Effect
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
29 Jun 2015
Throughout Europe, the Middle East and Asia, rightwing governments have increasingly adopted extremist socio-economic policies, slashing social expenditures, labor and welfare legislation, while increasing corporate subsidies and reducing taxes for the elite. The euphoria, arrogance and smirks, which accompanied the rise of rightwing radicalism, are dissipating into foul sulfurous odors only waiting for a fresh wind to blow them away.
→ read full articleTechno-Financial Capital and Genocide of the Poorest of the Poor
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 May 2015
Today, the ‘poorest of the poor’ are superfluous to empire and thus the policy of genocide. The current world war between the classes has become a war between exterminators and those who would fight to survive!
→ read full articleThe Myth of ‘Value-Free’ Social Science or The Value of Political Commitments to Social Science
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Apr 2015
For many decades, mainstream social scientists, mostly conservative, have argued that political commitments and scientific research are incompatible. Against this current of opinion, others, mostly politically engaged social scientists, have argued that scientific research and political commitment are not contradictory. For the serious critical academic, in answering the question of ‘knowledge for whom?’: they would do well to follow Karl Marx’s wise adage, ‘The object of philosophy is not only to study the world but to change it.’
→ read full articleLatin America and the Anglo-American Booby-Left
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Apr 2015
Numerous prominent progressive US pundits, whose political pronouncements carry great weight in the alternative media, have proclaimed ‘Latin America’s decisive break’ with US domination and have gone on to announce the beginning of a new ‘post-imperial epoch’.
→ read full articleObama’s War in Our Hemisphere and Venezuela’s National Liberation Struggle
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
16 Mar 2015
Why did Obama declare a ‘national emergency’, claim that Venezuela represents a threat to US national security and foreign policy, assume executive prerogatives and decree sanctions against top Venezuelan officials in charge of national security, AT THIS TIME?
→ read full articleUS and Venezuela: Decades of Defeats and Destabilization
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 Mar 2015
US policy toward Venezuela is a microcosm of its larger strategy toward Latin America. The intent is to reverse the region’s independent foreign policy and to restore US dominance; to curtail the diversification of trading and investment partners and re-center economic relations to the US; to replace regional integration pacts with US centered economic integration schemes; and to privatize firms partly or wholly nationalized.
→ read full articleFifty Years of Imperial Wars: Results and Perspectives
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 Mar 2015
1 Mar 2015 – Over the past 50 years the US and European powers have engaged in countless imperial wars throughout the world. The drive for world supremacy has been clothed in the rhetoric of “world leadership”, the consequences have been devastating for the peoples targeted.
→ read full articleThe Assassination of Greece
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
23 Feb 2015
The Greek government is currently locked in a life and death struggle with the elite which dominate the banks and political decision-making centers of the European Union. What are at stake are the livelihoods of 11 million Greek workers, employees and small business people and the viability of the European Union.
→ read full articleChina’s Second ‘Cultural Revolution’
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
29 Dec 2014
China is in the midst of its second ‘cultural revolution’ in a half century. While the first (under Chairman Mao Tse Tung) was intended to ‘revitalize socialism’; the current is directed to ‘moralizing’ capitalism.
→ read full articleThe Rise of German Imperialism and the Phony “Russian Threat”
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
8 Dec 2014
The principle Nazi ideological prop that secured massive financial and political support from Germany’s leading industrialists was the Communist and Soviet threat. The main Nazi military drive, absorbing two-thirds of its best troops, was directed eastward at conquering and destroying Russia.
→ read full articleThe Fall of the Berlin Wall and the Multiplication of Western Walls
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 Nov 2014
While NATO regimes celebrate the ‘Fall of the Berlin Wall’ as the highest expression of freedom, these same political leaders support, finance and promote Israel’s Separation Wall dividing and caging millions of Palestinians.
→ read full articleThe Pentagon and Big Oil: Militarism and Capital Accumulation
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Nov 2014
There is no question that, in the immediate aftermath and for several years following US military conquests, wars, occupations and sanctions, US multi-national corporations lost out on profitable sites for investments.
→ read full articleUkraine – Truce or Trojan Horse: Retreat, Re-Armament and Relaunch
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
22 Sep 2014
The NATO proxy war in the Ukraine started with the violent US-EU-sponsored overthrow of the elected government via a mob putsch in February 2014. This was well financed at $5 billion, according to President Obama’s Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland.
→ read full articleObama Buggers Europe: Sanctions Deepen the Recession
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
25 Aug 2014
By submitting to Washington’s doctrine of permanent wars, Europe eschews the only road out of permanent crisis: peaceful co-existence. The mega-buggers in Washington and the bootlickers in Europe have chosen sanctions over trade and destruction over prosperity.
→ read full articleIsraeli Genocide and its Willing Accomplices
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 Aug 2014
Outside of Israel and its organized supporters in the major Zionist organizations, world public opinion and most experts in international law see the Jewish State’s invasion of Gaza and its systematic attack on civilians and basic infrastructure as a crime against humanity. The purpose of this essay is 4-fold.
→ read full articleThe Emperor’s Rage: Let Chaos Envelop the World!
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Aug 2014
Chaos reigns and spreads as enraged leaders in the US, Europe and their clients and allies pursue genocidal wars. Mercenary wars in Syria; Israel’s terror bombing on Gaza; proxy wars in the Ukraine, Pakistan, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Somalia.
→ read full articleFoundation of the US Empire: Axes of Evil
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Aug 2014
Empires are not easy to sustain given the multiple enemies that they provoke: at the international level (imperial rivals and emerging new powers), at the national level (national resistance movements, unreliable clients and untrustworthy ‘Sepoy’ armies) and at the local level (boycotts, sabotage and strikes).
→ read full articlePositive Thoughts on Dark Times
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Jul 2014
Despite this generally gloomy picture, important positive developments have emerged raising the possibility of fundamental changes to reverse the current reactionary wave. I will proceed by outlining these positive developments, taking account of the retrograde context in which they occur.
→ read full articleThe Soaring Profits of the Military–Industrial Complex and the Soaring Costs of Military Casualties
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Jul 2014
There are two major beneficiaries of the two major wars launched by the US government: one domestic and one foreign. The three major domestic arms manufacturers, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon have delivered record-shattering returns to their investors, CEOs and investment banks during the past decade and a half.
→ read full articleAn Open Letter to the Graduates of West Point: Refuting President Obama’s Lies, Omissions and Distortions
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 Jun 2014
On May 2014 President Obama delivered the commencement address to the graduates of United States Military Academy at West Point. Beyond the easy banter and eulogy to past and present war heroes, Obama outlined a vision of past military successes and present policies, based on a profoundly misleading diagnosis of the current global position of the United States.
→ read full articleThe Rise of the European Right: Reaction to the Neoliberal Right
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Jun 2014
The European parliamentary elections witnessed a major breakthrough for the right-wing parties throughout the region. The rise of the Right runs from the Nordic countries, the United Kingdom, the Baltic and Low countries, France, Central and Eastern Europe to the Mediterranean.
→ read full articleLatin America: Class Struggle from Above and Below
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 May 2014
To approach the role of class struggle in a dynamic mitreux we will focus exclusively on Latin America over the past two and a half decades 1990 – 2014, a period of significant changes in economic models, political regimes and class structure.
→ read full articleUS Proxy Terror War on Venezuela
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Mar 2014
Protest, dissent and terrorist wars are obviously very distinct forms of expressing opposition and bringing about change. The Obama-Kerry regime claim that the opposition in Venezuela is a “protest movement” a “peaceful democratic opposition” expressing discontent with economic conditions and that the democratically elected Maduro Administration is an ‘authoritarian regime’ violently repressing dissent.
→ read full articleViolence and Terror: The Ukrainian and Colombian Road to Empire Building
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Mar 2014
The two paths to 21st century empire-building-via-proxies are illustrated through the violent seizure of power in the Ukraine by a US-backed junta and the electoral gains of the US-backed Colombian war lord, Alvaro Uribe. We will describe the ‘mechanics’ of US intervention in the domestic politics of these two countries and their profound external effects – that is how they enhance imperial power on a continent-wide basis.
→ read full articleSaudi Arabia: A Retrograde Rentier Dictatorship and Global Terrorism
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Jan 2014
Saudi Arabia has all the vices and none of the virtues of an oil rich state like Venezuela. The country is governed by a family dictatorship which tolerates no opposition and severely punishes human rights advocates and political dissidents. Hundreds of billions in oil revenues are controlled by the royal despotism and fuel speculative investments the world over.
→ read full articleThe Changing Contours of US Imperial Intervention in World Conflicts
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
30 Dec 2013
Following the Vietnam War, US imperial intervention passed through several phases: In the immediate aftermath, the US government faced a humiliating military defeat at the hands of the Vietnamese liberation forces and was under pressure from an American public sick and tired of war. Imperial military interventions, domestic espionage against opponents and usual practice of fomenting coups d’état (regime change) declined.
→ read full articleOligarchs, Demagogues and Mass Revolts … against Democracy
Prof. James Petras - Global Research,
30 Dec 2013
In ancient Rome, especially during the late Republic, oligarchs resorted to mob violence to block, intimidate, assassinate or drive from power the dominant faction in the Senate. While neither the ruling or opposing factions represented the interests of the plebeians, wage workers, small farmers or slaves, the use of the ‘mob’ against the elected Senate, the principle of representative government and the republican form of government laid the groundwork for the rise of authoritarian “Caesars” (military rulers) and the transformation of the Roman republic into an imperial state.
→ read full articleThe Decline of the US (and Everyone Else …)
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Dec 2013
The world political economy is a mosaic of cross currents: Domestic decay and elite enrichment, new sources for greater profits and deepening political disenchantment, declining living standards for many and extravagant luxury for a few, military losses in some regions with imperial recovery in others.
→ read full articleThe Logic behind Mass Spying: Empire and Cyber Imperialism
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 Nov 2013
Allied regimes have uniformly condemned NSA espionage as a violation of trust and sovereignty, a threat to their national and economic security and to their citizens’ privacy. The ever-expanding technology of spying strengthens the police state. The list of targets is endless and bizarre. Nothing and no one will be missed!
→ read full articleIsrael Buys the US Congress: Sabotaging the US-Iran Peace Negotiations
Prof. James Petras - Global Research,
4 Nov 2013
As the US and the 5 other countries attempt to negotiate with Iran , they face enormous obstacles overcoming Israel ’s power over the US Congress. Over past decades Israel ’s agents have bought the loyalties of the vast majority of Congress people, training them to recognize and obey the whistles, signals and script from the war mongers in Tel Aviv.
→ read full articleFifteen Minutes an American President
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Oct 2013
Obama’s rhetorical exercise in ‘peace talk’ at the United Nations General Assembly impressed few delegations and even fewer Americans: Far more eloquent are his five years of wars, military interventions, cyber-spying, drone murders, military coups and the merciless prosecution of patriotic truth tellers.
→ read full articleLatin America: Class Struggle and Resistance in the Age of Extractive Capitalism
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Aug 2013
Class struggle is central in framing the issues of political rule, the relations of classes, the economic structures and strategies and the distribution of wealth.
→ read full articleWashington and the Breakdown of the Colombia-Venezuela-FARC Peace Process
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Jun 2013
Washington has devised a dual strategy toward Latin America. This involves a new set of ambitious imperial initiatives designed to undermine the principal anti-imperialist governments (Venezuela), social movements and armed insurgency (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia), while dismantling Latin America-centered integration and regional alliances, such as ALBA, Petro-Caribe, UNASUR and MERCOSUR.
→ read full articleBoston and Venezuela: Terrorism There and Here
Prof. James Petras – Global Research,
6 May 2013
Two major terrorists’ attacks took place almost simultaneously: in Boston, two alleged Chechen terrorists set off bombs during the annual Boston Marathon killing three people and injuring 170; in Venezuela, terrorist-supporters of defeated presidential candidate, Henrique Capriles, assassinated 8 and injured 70 supporters of victorious Socialist Party candidate Nicolas Maduro, in the course of firebombing 8 health clinics and several Party offices and homes.
→ read full articlePresident Obama’s Second Term: Selling Death and Buying Assassins in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
8 Apr 2013
As President Obama enters his second term with a new Cabinet, the foreign policy legacy of the past four years weighs heavily on their strategic decisions and their empire-building efforts. Central to the analysis of the next period is an evaluation of the past policies especially in regions where Washington expended its greatest financial and military resources, namely the Middle East, South Asia and North Africa.
→ read full articlePresident Chavez: A 21st Century Renaissance Man
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 Mar 2013
President Hugo Chavez was unique in multiple areas of political, social and economic life. He made significant contributions to the advancement of humanity. The depth, scope and popularity of his accomplishments mark President Chavez as the ‘Renaissance President of the 21st Century’.
→ read full articleThe Greek Catastrophe: Three Generations of Greek Workers
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Mar 2013
As Greece enters the sixth year of Europe’s worst economic depression, with 30% of its labor force unemployed and over 52% of its youth jobless, the entire social fabric is unraveling; a suicide rate are skyrocketing and close to 80% of the population is downwardly mobile.
→ read full articleAn Argument in Defense of Haredim Jews and Against Secular Zionist Militarism
James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
25 Feb 2013
Israel is heading towards a profound internal crisis: a Jew on Jew confrontation, which, however, has major implications for its relations with Palestinians, as well as its Middle East neighbors. The conflict is between the highly militarized Zionist state and the Haredim religious movement over a number of issues, including recent proposals by Netanyahu to end the religious exemption of Haradi youth from serving in Israel’s colonial armed forces.
→ read full articleThe Religious and Social Crises and Political Consequences
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Jan 2013
The opening long decade of the 21st century (2000-2012) has been a period of repeated and profound economic and social crises, of serial and prolonged wars and declining living standards for the vast majority of Americans. How have people responded to this crisis?
→ read full article“Legal Imperialism” and International Law: Legal Foundations for War Crimes, Debt Collection and Colonization
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Dec 2012
By now we are familiar with imperial states using their military power to attack, destroy and occupy independent countries. Boatloads of important studies have documented how imperial countries have seized and pillaged the resources of mineral-rich and agriculturally productive countries, in consort with multi-national corporations.
→ read full articleLondon: Parasites’ Paradise (Or the Best Criminal Sanctuary Money Can Buy)
Prof. James Petras – TRANSCEND Media Service,
22 Oct 2012
Whenever financial swindlers prosper at the expense of investors or a bank jiggers interest rates to bugger their competitors or tax evaders flee fiscal crises or rent gouging petrol monarchies recycle profits or oligarchs pillage economies and drive millions to drink, drugs and destitution they find a suitable secure sanctuary in London.
→ read full article