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586 Merkel's acceptance speech -- rank: 1000

Angela Merkel's acceptance speech as president of Germany's CDU was particularly assured for a woman from East Germany, who was born after the foundation of the CDU. Possibly her period thinking about the alternatives to East German state socialism has given her a theoretical base which she can combine with skilled manoeuvring as the CDU tries to extricate itself from the era of illegal funding under Kohl. Significant were the the tilt away from centralisation of Europe in Brussels and the gestu ...

Document Size:	5159
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Mon Apr 10 23:46:12 PDT 2000

587 Parsed ideologically: Zimbabwe threatens war with Britain (!) -- rank: 1000

While I am sure Chris Doss would agree this article is suspect it is an object lesson in the imperialist domination of the media. I copy the article with imperialist bias noted ** Chris Burford London At 12:37 07/04/00 -0400, you wrote: > - > WORLD > > > > > Mugabe threatens war with > Britain ** How ridiculous. But on second thoughts how much more ridiculous it would be if Britain went to war with Zimba ...

Document Size:	14222
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Fri Apr 7 15:48:55 PDT 2000

588 Greenspan IQ query -- rank: 1000

At 20:30 06/04/00 -1000, you wrote: >I hate to depart from this common perception (or speculation), but I would >speculate otherwise. Reagan was a smart man who understood how to >manipulate public opinion, the media such that people believed that he was >not as responsible for policies that were unpopular. I felt at the time >that Reagan's IQ might not have been all that high, but he was a sharp and >clever man who understood how power is deployed and maintained.... > > ...

Document Size:	5149
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Fri Apr 7 15:15:29 PDT 2000

589 US, Britain creating chaos: Mandela -- rank: 1000

Bravo yet again to Ulhas Joglekar for repeatedly ensuring we have access to anti-hegemonistic positions taken by Third World figures. This is particularly timely when Britain is flagrantly interfering in the internal affairs of Zimbabwe by trying to oppose the expropriation of colonial land ownership. Chris Burford London At 08:05 07/04/00 +0530, you wrote: >Thursday 6 April 2000 > >US, Britain creating chaos: Mandela >LONDON: Former South African President Nelson Mandela, berating t ...

Document Size:	8610
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Fri Apr 7 00:32:16 PDT 2000

590 form and emptiness (was Re: Platonism in modern science) -- rank: 1000

At 13:40 03/04/00 -0500, Ted (Dace) wrote: >It doesn't matter if our construal of the spider corresponds to its own >self-interpretation. The point is, there is something intrinsic to >spiderness. I'm beginning to come around to the idea that "consciousness" >should be defined broadly. Perhaps when I say "perception of mentality," I >should call that "human consciousness." The something intrinsic are the internal dynamics that make the spiders we e ...

Document Size:	8583
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Mon Apr 3 16:05:32 PDT 2000

591 East Timor vs Somalia -- rank: 1000

At 10:22 30/09/99 +0200, you wrote: <....> >The point about the Timor approach and the "less offensive" use of >Australian and NZ troops in a "humanitarian" exercise is that the West >learned lessons from Somalia. > >The interesting thing about the US intervention in Somalia was that they >could mess it up so badly and get away with it. I think this is a result of >Africa's relative marginalisation from the world economy and the lack of any >rea ...

Document Size:	10662
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Thu Sep 30 15:26:14 PDT 1999

592 Friends of Earth winning -- rank: 1000

Small traces of GM pollen have been found in a beehive 3 miles away from field in England growing a GM crop. Big deal? The battle over GM foods in Europe, particularly Britain, has become intense. It has implications for the entire capitalist system in food production. It has the potentiality for a trade war between US and European imperialist blocs. It is the twentieth century version of the Boston tea party. Friends of the Earth is a totally undemocratic organisation, responsible to the wider ...

Document Size:	6491
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Wed Sep 29 23:30:28 PDT 1999

593 East Timor vs Somalia -- rank: 1000

At 21:27 28/09/99 -0400, Enrique wrote: >- East Timor intervention respects international law. Certainly the US felt more constrained by the formalities. But would-be progressives in the west should not under-estimate the extent to which Indonesians feel that the old colonial borders had no fundamental legitimacy, that the islands of the archipelago need to stick together, and that it is an internal matter of communal divisions between christians and muslims which cannot be allowed to spread. ...

Document Size:	5858
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Wed Sep 29 00:29:57 PDT 1999

594 East Timor vs Somalia -- rank: 1000

Yoshie has argued that all western military interventions have been disastrous, and in the interest of the invaders. Certainly I agree with the latter point, although that does not necessarily mean an invasion is not in someone else's interests too. About the disastrousness of western military interventions, I am not sure if I am quoting Yoshie quite correctly but I do recall her highlighting the negative lessons of the US intervention in Somalia. Recent a British military analyst was arguing th ...

Document Size:	6097
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Tue Sep 28 15:56:41 PDT 1999

595 U.S. foreign debt -- rank: 1000

At 13:57 26/09/99 -0400, Rakesh wrote: >It just seems to me that the problem is the exact opposite of a mass >dumping of US assets. What Rakesh seems to be saying here is the sort of unnatural willingness of other countries to hold dollar denominated assets. This may be partly a hope that the US economy being the most central of the world system will continue to go on, and pain is more likely to be felt in more marginal areas of the world. But it broadly is an expression of the fact that t ...

Document Size:	5070
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Sun Sep 26 23:08:33 PDT 1999

596 U.S. foreign debt and Marx -- rank: 1000

At 02:55 26/09/99 +0000, David Welch wrote: >Silly question, but doesn't an increase in US foreign debt imply that US >capital is flowing abroad, purchasing real assets and hence foreign >countries accumulate dollar claims? So we can infer that profit rates are >too low in the US but large enough elsewhere for a successful expansion >(otherwise why would capital move abroad). Assuming profit rates are >maintained and the US has the military muscle to keep other countries from & ...

Document Size:	12686
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Sun Sep 26 04:03:58 PDT 1999

597 GX reform -- rank: 1000

Economist digest: + The G7 GROUP OF RICH COUNTRIES is likely to set up a new body dedicated to financial reform in developing countries. GX, comprising 20 countries, including the G7 and those regarded as "systemically important", will be a talking shop with the aim of reforming banking systems and avoiding future financial crises. No doubt the agenda will be mainly neo-liberal. But perhaps not entirely. And this committee will have some elements of consultation rather than the IMF or ...

Document Size:	4909
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Thu Sep 23 15:55:52 PDT 1999

598 East Timor, Kosovo, and Kuwait -- rank: 1000

At 20:10 21/09/99 -0400, Nathan wrote: >I find the thumb-sucking pessimism of so many left activists really bizarre. And ridiculous. It is only the dynamics of these e-mail lists that can give a temporary advantage to dogmatic sectarian positions which strike a pose in order to impress, and temporarily throw progressive people onto the defensive. It is part of a mind set that says the only opportunism is right opportunism. A distortion of marxism if ever there was one. There is left opportuni ...

Document Size:	6010
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Thu Sep 23 00:20:16 PDT 1999

599 Challenging US imperialism -- rank: 1000

At 19:07 21/09/99 -0400, Doug wrote: >Chris Burford wrote: > >>What good can forming a society of pure left wingers do? > >Oh, I dunno, maybe we could smash the state or something. No... revolutionary socialites ultimately can do nothing but socialise. >>That you cannot conceive of a global future except one dominated by US >>imperialism is a major constraint. It arises out of the US domination of >>the internet, in lists such as these > >You're kidding. ...

Document Size:	8831
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Wed Sep 22 15:03:51 PDT 1999

600 East Timor, Kosovo, and Kuwait -- rank: 1000

At 11:20 21/09/99 -0400, Yoshie wrote: >Keep in mind that there is (and has been) much brutality in Peru, Columbia, >Russia, etc. -- nearly everywhere. Nathan has no reason to limit his >advocacy to only East Timor & Kosovo. Why, he should be arguing for a >military intervention (be it unilateral, NATO, or U.N.) wherever and >whenever brutality exists. I doubt if Yoshie will change her mind fundamentally, but that does not mean reasoned polemic is pointless, so long as we tr ...

Document Size:	8968
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Tue Sep 21 16:45:14 PDT 1999