Independence Holiday in the USA becomes a time when citizens tend to reflect on the nations two hundred forty year history.

It is a history typical of six European empires in the areas of genocide and plunder.

Genocide: 1. the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic group or nation. plural: genocides [Google Dictionary]

Americans hoping to make US mass murderous crimes against humanity that are prosecutable under Nuremberg Principles law appear to be less than genocide, attempt to employ the old and outdated dictionary meaning of genocide wherein its scope and intention is defined as the utter and complete extermination of a group, race or nation.

The USA, like its parent colonial power the British Empire, before it, has had its undeservedly wealthy elite through their private speculative investment banks continually investing in genocide in order to both maintain its power over society, accumulate capital and extend its power wherever and whenever regardless of laws, regardless whether religious, common or statutory.

Ah, July 4th. Of all the national orgies of self-congratulation, militarism and, of course shopping, this one stands out. Even more than say Memorial Day it perfectly captures the combination of myths and ignorance that make up the fairy tale view we hold of our national origins and character.

Fortunately, a new generation of scholars is bringing new research and perspective to our understanding of what really happened and especially why white racism is so intractable. One reason is that its roots run so much deeper than most whites even begin to understand or acknowledge. (A partial list of essential recent books appears at the end of this article.)

What most of us think the Declaration of Independence says is this and only this:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

But there was much more to the Declaration than those famous words. Far more attention was dedicated to a long list of grievances that the founding fathers had with the King. One of them was that the British were in cahoots with, "the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages." Another complaint which didn't make it into the Declaration but was included in a precursor document, the Virginia Constitution, complained that the British were "prompting our Negroes to rise in arms against us..."

Steve Topple and Elizabeth Mizon contributed to research for this story.

The latest coup attempt against Jeremy Corbyn within the Labour Party is being led by an elitist Blairite network who have always seen his sudden rise to leadership as a threat to their waning control of the party.

An investigation by The Canary reveals that the organisers of the campaign are part of a pro-Blair 'old guard.'

In the run-up to the Labour leadership elections in September 2015, they had tried to re-model the party along the lines of a pro-war, pro-corporate vision linked to the US Democrat Party's neoconservative wing.

But Jeremy Corbyn's victory completely scuppered their plans.

15 shadow secretaries of state and nine shadow ministers who have resigned from Corbyn's opposition cabinet all have affiliations to, or are involved with, the Fabian Society - the London think-tank affiliated with the Labour Party.

The Fabian Society was a major force in establishing the intellectual basis of New Labour under Blair's premiership and has remained closely aligned to Blair's supporters in the party. It was also the main force attempting to re-impose a Blairite vision on the party before Corbyn's surprise leadership victory.

Conor McGinn and Hilary Benn

According to Sky News political correspondent Sophy Ridge, the flurry of resignations from Corbyn's Shadow Cabinet have been "choreographed" largely by one man: Conor McGinn, Labour MP for St Helens North.

In 2009, Hillary Clinton, then U.S. Secretary of State, presented her Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, with a "reset" button she thought symbolized a new era for Russian and American diplomacy.

Lavrov pointed out the word the Americans had chosen, "peregruzka," meant "overcharged," not "reset." Though the two leaders laughed off the mistake, the mistranslated button was a symbol of persistent misunderstanding between the two nations.

Russia has long been characterized by many in the West as enigmatic; indeed, almost beyond understanding. It was Winston Churchill who in October of 1939, mere weeks after the invasion of Poland by Nazi armed forces, speculated on the role of Russia in the war, famously depicting Russia as "a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma."

He added: "...but perhaps there is a key. That key is Russian national interest. It cannot be in accordance with the interest of the safety of Russia that Germany should plant itself upon the shores of the Black Sea, or that it should overrun the Balkan States and subjugate the Slavonic peoples of south eastern Europe. That would be contrary to the historic life-interests of Russia."

In what has become a presidential race based almost solely on scorn for the candidates, the establishment, fraud at the polls — and, hell, the entirely stale and wholly rigged electoral process — it's clear no one will win in the traditional meaning of the word.

While third party candidates have experienced growing success in the dearth of acceptable duopoly offerings, a dark horse has emerged.

According to Public Policy Polling, 'Giant Meteor for President' now ranks as a serious contender — garnering "far more support than the third party candidates actually on the ballot."

No, this most certainly is not the Onion.

"[W]e find that the Meteor would poll at 13% ... with Clinton at 43% and Trump at 38%," with the Libertarian Party's Gary Johnson the favorite among just 5 percent and Green Party candidate Dr. Jill Stein winning just 2 percent of votes.

Yes, seriously.

In fact, the PPP notes, "The Meteor is particularly appealing to independent voters, functionally in a three way tie at 27% to 35% for Clinton and 31% for Trump."

Speeches and discussions by European politicians and businesspeople at SPIEF 2016 suggests an early end to sanctions.

Earlier this month I wrote a piece for The Duran in which I said that the sanctions policy forced on the EU by Angela Merkel and the US is cracking. At SPIEF 2016 the evidence of that was everywhere.

The Russians hosted at SPIEF 2016 three EU heavyweights: EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, Nicolas Sarkozy - the past and possibly future President of France - and Matteo Renzi, the current Prime Minister of Italy.

Juncker had little to say in public though he held extensive discussions with the Russian leadership. However Sarkozy and Renzi both made clear in their very different ways their utter exasperation with the sanctions policy.

The person who stole the show was Renzi, the most important politician present and the leader of what was by a fair distance the strongest European delegation at the Forum. The Russians treated Renzi as the main guest and together with Putin and President Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan Renzi delivered one of the speeches at the plenary session.

Americans are viewed more negatively today than during the darkest days of the ill-fated Bush era.

A recent Pew Research report suggests that the sun may be setting on America's international hegemony. People polled around the world favor Russian President Vladimir Putin over a leading US presidential candidate for the first time, and a growing number of the world's inhabitants now have a negative view of Washington's economic and political influence.

Presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump appears to be not only one of the lowest-rated politicians among Americans since public opinion polling began in the 1960s, but he also seems to be affecting the country's reputation abroad.

Trump received a negative rating by every single political party around the world, often by a measure of 10 to 1. Even voters from the anti-immigrant, populist UKIP and Forza Italia parties oppose the Republican by a 2 to 1 count. Overall, only 9% of respondents believe that Donald Trump would "do the right thing" in international affairs, compared with 85% who say they have no such confidence.

Away from the distractions caused by the British Brexit vote the process of Eurasian construction has just taken another big step forward with the agreement of India and Pakistan to join the Chinese and Russian led Shanghai Cooperation Organisation as full members.

Iran is expected to follow shortly, leaving the whole of Eurasia united under the umbrella of this organisation apart from a few small countries and the states of Europe which are part of the Western alliance. Even countries like Turkey and Azerbaijan, which are aligned with the West, now have have relations with it.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation is not an "eastern NATO" - a sort of Warsaw Pact of eastern and central Eurasia - but neither is it the empty talking-shop Western commentators sometimes pretend it is.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation has a constitution and structure, and it most definitely does have a security dimension even if it is one which in theory is focused on anti-terrorism in Central Asia rather than in meeting any conventional security threat from the West.

Sanctions against Russia should be lifted as soon as possible, France's Minister of Foreign Affairs said on Wednesday following a meeting with his Russian counterpart, while insisting that implementation of the Minsk agreements still remain key to the process.

"Sanctions is not a goal in and of itself," Jean-Marc Ayrault said in Paris, adding that his country looks forward to scrapping the restrictive measures against Moscow.

The process of lifting the Western sanctions on Russia is still related to Minsk agreements that aim to put an end to the crisis in southeastern Ukraine, Ayrault added, saying that "Russia should play a positive role" in their implementation.

Moscow and Paris have been closely working together "in the Normandy format," Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said after the meeting. The countries' foreign ministries have been "closely cooperating" and their aides have been involved too, Russia's top diplomat said. The Normandy format includes Russia, France, Ukraine, and Germany.

So what started as a gamble by David Cameron on an outlet for domestic British discontent, to be used as a lever to bargain with Brussels for a few more favors, has metastasized into an astonishing political earthquake about the dis-integration of the European Union. The irrepressibly mediocre Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, posing as a "historian", had warned that Brexit, "could be the beginning of the destruction of not only the EU but Western political civilization in its entirety".

That's foolish. Brexit proved that it's immigration, stupid. And once again, it's the economy, stupid (although the British neoliberal establishment never paid attention). But serious bets can be made the EU system in Brussels won't learn anything from the shock therapy - and won't reform itself. There will be rationalizations that after all the UK was always classically whiny, obtrusive and demanding special privileges when dealing with the EU. As for "Western political civilization", what will end - and this is a big thing — is the special transatlantic relationship between the US and the EU with Britain as an American Trojan Horse.

So of course this all goes monumentally beyond a mere match between a hopelessly miscalculating Cameron, now fallen on his sword, and the recklessly ambitious court jester Boris Johnson - a Donald Trump with better vocabulary and speech patterns.
Scotland, predictably, voted Remain, and may probably hold a new referendum — and leave the UK — rather than be dragged out by white working class English votes. Sinn Fein already wants a vote on united Ireland. Denmark, the Netherlands and even Poland and Hungary will want special status inside the EU, or else. Across Europe, the extreme right stampede is on. Marine Le Pen wants a French referendum. Geert Wilders wants a Dutch referendum. As for the vast majority of British under-25s who voted Remain, they may be contemplating one-way tickets not to the continent, but beyond.