Trump And His Impossible Return To The Past

• by: Atilio A. Borón

Atilio A. Borón – Photo: en.wikipedia.org

04-05-2025 ~ The radical return to protectionism is not only possible but necessary for an empire facing an undeniable decline. It has been denounced by critical analysts but certified by leading intellectuals of the US establishment, such as Zbigniew Brzeziński in a 2012 text and, subsequently, by several documents of the Rand Corporation. Decline, or dissolution, if you prefer, came hand in hand with critical domestic factors: the slow growth of the economy, the loss of competitiveness in global markets, and the gigantic indebtedness of the federal government. If in 1980 the US federal government’s debt-to-GDP ratio was 34.54%, today it has reached an astronomical level of 122.55%. To this must be added the intractable balance of the trade deficit, which continues to grow and in 2024 amounted to 131.4 billion dollars, representing roughly 3.5% of the GDP. This is the case because the US consumes more than it produces.

To this constellation of domestic factors of imperial weakening should be added the deterioration of democratic legitimacy. The latter was highlighted by the 6 January 2021 assault on the Capitol and by the more recent widespread pardons granted by Trump in favor of some 1,500 attackers who had been convicted by the US judiciary. Instead of bipartisan consensus, today, there is a huge rift undermining the political system, of which Trumpism is but one expression.

To this already challenging picture must be added the epochal changes in the external environment of the United States, transformations that have irreversibly modified the morphology of the international system and its geopolitical imperatives. The phenomenal economic growth of China and the significant advances of other countries of the Global South, such as India and several Asian nations, became objective barriers to the pretensions of Washington. Over many decades, the US has been accustomed to imposing its conditions worldwide without stumbling against too many obstacles. However much Trump may regret it, that ‘golden era’ is gone forever; it is already part of the past because of the economic strengthening and technological advances of the countries of the Global South. This has created a planetary landscape where yesterday’s bravados no longer have the same effect. This is even less the case with commercial wars, where the aggressor ends up being the victim of its own decisions.

As if the above were not enough, the ‘world chessboard’ is further complicated by the unexpected ‘return’ of Russia as a global power contender. This took by surprise the ideologized experts of the empire, fervent believers in the exceptionalism of the United States as ‘the indispensable nation’. Because of their ideological blinders, they were led to believe that after the implosion of the Soviet Union, Russia had been condemned per secula seculorum to be a passive bystander of world affairs, without any capacity to exercise the slightest protagonist role. Add to this picture the greater military response capacity of these countries – especially Russia, as proved in the Ukrainian war – and their achievements in the diplomatic field and in the formation of broad alliances – the BRICS, for example. Then, we will understand the reasons why the world geopolitical balance has tipped in a direction contrary to US interests. Multipolarism has arrived and is here to stay. Read more

Restoring The Wild: How Reintroducing Bison Could Revive Britain’s Landscapes And Ecosystems

• by: Derek Gow

04-04-2025 ~ Reintroducing European bison to Britain, despite their absence from its history, could help restore ecological balance by fostering biodiversity and reversing some of the damage caused by industrial farming practices.

Although there is no evidence that the European bison (Bison bonasus), known as wisent, ever roamed the islands of the United Kingdom, its genetic heritage suggests that it is attuned to the environment. The European bison is a hybrid that descends from the steppe bison (Bison priscus) and the aurochs (Bos primigenius), both extinct species that were once native to the UK.

Britain once hosted a broad range of great beasts. We slaughtered the bears, elk, and lynx many centuries ago. The wolves lasted the longest. Now, only the names of their crags, hills, meres, or the ubiquitous deep pits where we caught and bound them for torture recall their former existence. As with the aquamarine blue moor frogs, black storks, and night herons, humans hastened the end of them all.

Today, one in seven of England’s surviving species is also threatened with extinction. In large part, much of the landscape that appears to be so green is dead. Chemicals and pesticides in the soil have killed smaller species. The disappearance of these minute species has caused a chain reaction within the natural order, starving, poisoning, or otherwise compromising the food chain.

Gone is the food for some creatures or the cover for others. The living space that remains is highly restricted and commonly of poor quality. The absence of one pivotal creature can mean the loss of natural function upon which others depend. Even when our understanding of this is crystal clear, we respond in a reluctant, slow-motion fashion.

The Downside of Conservation
Conservation comes in many forms, and my beginning was not with the wild but with the tame. At a time when you can drive through the landscape and see so many of the old black or spotted sheep, white long-horned cattle, or brick-red pigs more or less everywhere, it’s hard to remember that these relics were nearly extinct by the 1970s. Farming at that time was already set to conquer its Everests of “improvement.”

Rivers of government cash flowed into subsidies for everything imaginable, from the import of faster-growing continental livestock to new and super-productive crops, to fertilizers that flowed from white plastic sacks rather than freely from cows’ backsides, to pesticides that killed their target species, and much more besides.

Guilds of focused advisors in drab brown overalls and tiny vans met farmers free of charge to explain how to employ this largesse. Colleges produced legions of indoctrinated students who marched out in ranks to feed the world. Research stations, laboratories, and experimental farms, all centrally funded, were established throughout the land.

Meadows full of dancing wildflowers or woodlands where spotted flycatchers dipped and weaved to catch beakfuls of insects twirling in sunlit strobes did not fit the narrative of those times. Most were plowed under or ripped free from the soil that had held them for centuries, awaiting incineration on well-prepared pyres.

Birds of all sorts died in myriads when cornfields, old pastures, and orchards were sprayed with new toxins. Frogs returned to breed in the spring to discover their ancestral ponds had vanished. Photographers produced heartbreaking black-and-white images of them sitting in massed aggregations on their drying spawn.

Breeds of livestock with their roots buried deep in Britain’s culture were discarded as well. It did not matter that they had adapted to frugal living to produce something—a little meat, milk, horn, or dung to fertilize small fields—for folk who had nothing and could offer them less.

Who cared if they had been brought by the Norse, the Romans, or the Celts? They were out of time. Small or slow-growing and difficult to handle with independent spirits, the sooner they were all gone, the better. Their qualities of disease resistance, fine wool, or superlative meat meant nothing. Any adaptation to specific environments was meaningless in a time when whole landscapes could be rearranged. Read more

Can We Exit From A World Of Debt?

• by: Vijay Prashad

Vijay Prashad

04-04-2025 ~ In the past two decades, the external debt of developing countries has quadrupled to $11.4 trillion (2023). It is important to understand that this money owed to foreign creditors is equivalent to 99% of the export earnings of the developing countries. This means that almost every dollar earned by the export of goods and services is a dollar owed to a foreign bank or bond holder. Countries of the Global South, therefore, are merely selling their goods and services to pay off debts incurred for development projects, collapsed commodity prices, public deficits, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the inflation due to the Ukraine war. Half the world’s population (3.3 billion) lives in countries that allocate more of their budget to pay off the interest on debt than to pay for either education or health services. On the African continent, of the fifty-four countries, thirty-four spend more on debt servicing than on public healthcare. Debt looms over the Global South like a vulture, ready to pick at the carcass of our societies.

Why are countries in debt? Most countries are in debt for a few reasons:

– When they gained independence about a century ago, they were left impoverished by their former colonial rulers.

– They borrowed money for development projects from their former colonial rulers at high rates, making repayment impossible since the funds were used for public projects like bridges, schools, and hospitals.

– Unequal terms of trade (export of low-priced raw materials for import of high-priced finished products) further exacerbated their weak financial situation.

– Ruthless policies by multilateral organisations (such as the International Monetary Fund – IMF) forced these countries to cut domestic public spending for both consumption and investment and instead repay foreign debt. This set in motion a cycle of low growth rates, impoverishment, and indebtedness.

Caught in the web of debt-austerity-low growth-external borrowing-debt, countries of the Global South almost entirely abandoned long-term development for short-term survival. The agenda available to them to deal with this debt trap was entirely motivated by the expediency of repayment and not of development. Typically, the following methods were promoted in place of a development theory:

Debt relief and debt restructuring. Seeking a reduction in the debt burden and a more sustainable management of long-term debt payments.

An appeal for foreign direct investment (FDI) and an attempt to boost exports. Increasing the ability of countries to earn income to pay off this debt, but without any real change to the productive capacity within the country.

Cuts to public spending, largely an attrition of social expenditure. Shifting the fiscal landscape so that a country can use more of its social wealth to pay off its foreign bold holders and earn ‘confidence’ in the international market, but at the expense of the lives and well-being of its citizens.

Tax reforms that benefited the wealthy and labour market reforms that hurt workers. Tax cuts to encourage the wealthy to invest in their society – which very rarely happens – and a change in trade union laws to allow greater exploitation of labour to increase capital for investment.

Institutional reform to ensure less corruption by greater international control of financial systems. To open the budgetary process of a country to international management (through the IMF) and allow foreign economists to control the fiscal decision-making. Read more

What Will Tech Moguls Do With Their Wealth?

• by: John P. Ruehl

John P. Ruehl – Source: Independent Media Institute

04-03-2025 ~ Tech billionaires are embedding themselves in U.S. economic systems while experimenting with new ways to manage their fortunes. Lacking traditional family dynasties, they must also contend with an unpredictable alliance with Trump.

Few billionaires, including those in President Donald Trump’s Cabinet, wield as much influence as the tech moguls who shadowed him at his inauguration. Elon Musk, now one of the president’s closest allies, is overhauling the federal government at Trump’s request, which will no doubt secure future government funding for Musk’s companies. Trump’s recent dismissals of Federal Trade Commissioners critical of Amazon were meanwhile interpreted as friendly nods to Jeff Bezos, who pulled the Washington Post’s endorsement of Kamala Harris in the 2024 election.

America’s four richest people—Musk, Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and Larry Ellison—all in tech, have aligned themselves with Trump to varying degrees. While politically motivated, they must also navigate the entrenched power of America’s old money, as historically, new wealth has often clashed with established elites. Today’s tech billionaires certainly hold immense power, but their positions may still be more precarious than those of enduring dynasties from different eras and industries.

For generations, the country’s wealthiest families have maintained their dominance by embedding their businesses within the nation’s economic foundations while keeping wealth in the family. Tech billionaires are following suit, but rather than simply passing wealth down to their heirs, they are exploring new financial and legal structures to secure their fortunes. Like the philanthropic efforts of the Gilded Age, these initiatives may appear benevolent but are ultimately designed to consolidate power, both during Trump’s second term and long after.

The Evolution of America’s Ultra-Rich
Though the nation’s founders rejected aristocracy, a landowning elite quickly emerged from former British colonialists. But as immigrants arrived—free from the constraints of a privileged nobility in Europe—new entrepreneurs quickly monopolized key industries. They and their heirs preserved their corporate empires by proving their value to Washington, securing grants, tax breaks, subsidies, and other forms of corporate welfare. Read more

First, They Came For The Venezuelans

• by: Sonali Kolhatkar

Sonali Kolhatkar

03-31-2025 ~ Trump is turning deportation into a weapon of mass destruction. None of us—undocumented immigrants, people with papers, naturalized citizens, or native-born citizens—are safe.

President Donald Trump promised to unleash mass deportations on immigrants during his presidential campaign. But he has gone much further, with the disappearing of hundreds of Venezuelan nationals from the United States to El Salvador’s notorious gulag. It’s a warning shot—one that has serious consequences for all of us, immigrant or not.

The method and speed of his actions are breathtaking. Over several years, there has been an exodus of millions of Venezuelans from the left wing regime of Hugo Chávez, now overseen by President Nicolás Maduro. The U.S. Congress granted them Temporary Protected Status (TPS), enabling nearly 350,000 Venezuelans to legally reside in the United States.

That designation remained on the government’s books until the beginning of 2025. But, within weeks of Trump’s second-term inauguration in January 2025, he rescinded TPS for Venezuelans, invoked a 1798 law called the Alien Enemies Act, and immediately dumped three planeloads of Venezuelan men to El Salvador’s prisons for allegedly being gang members.

When an emergency ACLU-led court hearing resulted in U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ordering an immediate halt to the deportations, including a demand that the flights be turned around midair, the Trump White House defied the order and pressed ahead. Their justification was that the planes were outside U.S. airspace and, therefore, the order didn’t apply.

This action, only one in an overwhelming series of violent political earthquakes unleashed by the Trump regime, is an intentional test of myriad institutional norms and laws.

First, Trump is making clear that this is no longer about deporting undocumented immigrants and that anyone can be disappeared at any time. His government is going after U.S. citizens of color. It is targeting academics of color who are working or studying in the country with valid papers, particularly those who are Muslim or seeking justice for Palestine, such as Mahmoud Khalil and Bader Khan Suri. He is also targeting white Europeans and Canadian tourists, artists, and others. The situation is so dire that Germany and the UK have issued travel advisories against the United States.

Second, Trump is using disinformation so willfully and skillfully that he has news media fumbling on fact-checking him, as they take him at face value. He has asserted “pro-Hamas aliens” have infiltrated college campuses—relying on the bipartisan conflation of anti-Israel criticism with antisemitism—and is ominously taking his lead from a Zionist organization that sent him a list of thousands of potential deportees. Indeed, if Nazis—the worst antisemites—are to be found anywhere, it is among Trump supporters. Read more

Investigating A Bronze Age Mystery: A Cemetery Full Of Princes, But No Palaces In Sight

• by: Brenna R. Hassett

Brenna R. Hassett

03-29-2025 ~ Perched on the edge of a river near the city of Siirt, Türkiye, is an archaeological site that offers a chance to completely rethink one of the most complex human stories: the development of the world’s first cities and states. Sitting up in the rugged flanks of the Botan Valley, a series of fingerling rivers run between the hills, eventually joining with the mighty Tigris River as it flows south through what archaeologists once called “the cradle of civilization.”

This cradle is the land between two rivers, Mesopotamia—the starting point for the agricultural villages that would grow in size and complexity until some 5,000 years ago. These villages became cities and then the world’s first empires, witnessing developments like bureaucracy and giant construction projects that we often label “civilization.”

The answer to why our species should change our ecological niche so radically is one of the most important in anthropological science. Going from foraging to deified kings in a few thousand years seems like a revolution, and indeed, it has been called “the urban revolution.” But what happened in Mesopotamia to prompt such revolutionary changes? Arguments rage; was it a result of the environment? Agricultural surplus? Dense populations? Religious ideology or technological innovation? Priests, princes, or plenty?

The only way to answer these questions is to dig deep, and this is what archaeologists have done for hundreds of years in the tall mounds of built-up mudbrick that are the telltale signs of the ancient cities of Mesopotamia. What they have found in the long march up to the development of cities and kings is a confusing story of increasing complexity, and one of the most striking ways to understand this is through the treatment of the dead.

The Royal Cemetery of Ur was discovered in 1922 by renowned archaeologists Sir Leonard Woolley and his wife Katharine. Tomb after tomb of lavishly appointed burials containing prestige objects were uncovered in the ancient Mesopotamian city of Ur. It was an extraordinary dig, with hundreds of workmen uncovering thousands of bodies. Some of these bodies were richly adorned with jewelry and markers of their status in life—laid out in elaborate tableaux with their precious objects and accoutrement like chariots the cattle drew—in 16 of the “royal” graves uncovered by Woolley, bodies of other human beings were found. The finds in the Royal Cemetery were so sensational that the newspapers of the time ran constant stories about the progress of the dig, and celebrities like Agatha Christie went to visit the site (and gain inspiration for her novel Murder in Mesopotamia). Read more