Neoliberalism is - literally - burning. And from Ecuador to Chile, South America, once again, is showing the way. Against the vicious, one-size-fits-all IMF austerity prescription, which deploys weapons of mass economic destruction to smash national sovereignty and foster social inequality, South America finally seems poised to reclaim the power to forge its own history.
Three presidential elections are in play. Bolivia's seem to have been settled this past Sunday - even as the usual suspects are yelling "Fraud!" Argentina and Uruguay are on next Sunday.
Blowback against what David Harvey has splendidly conceptualized as
accumulation by dispossession is, and will continue to be, a bitch. It will eventually reach Brazil - which as it stands continues to be torn to pieces by Pinochetist ghosts. Brazil, eventually, after immense pain, will rise up again. After all, the excluded and humiliated all across South America are finally discovering they carry a Joker inside themselves.
Chile privatizes everythingThe question posed by the Chilean street is stark: "What's worse, to evade taxes or to invade the subway?" It's all a matter of doing the class struggle math. Chile's GDP grew 1,1% last year while the profits of the largest corporations grew ten times more. It's not hard to find from where the huge gap was extracted.
The Chilean street stresses how water, electricity, gas, health, medicine, transportation, education, the salar (salt flats) in Atacama, even the glaciers were privatized.That's classic accumulation by dispossession, as the cost of living has become unbearable for the overwhelming majority of 19 million Chileans, whose average monthly income does not exceed $500.
Comment: Stalker Zone published this summary from Komsomolskaya Pravda correspondent Aleksandr Kots: As Kourosh Shamlou told RT: "It is a successful meeting. More important for Vladimir Putin, because Russia is now filling up the gap left by the US. The US is now pulling out all its forces and Russia is coming in." After being informed of the deal last night by Putin via phone, President Assad reportedly thanked Putin and expressed his full support for the decision. After the meeting, the Turkish Defence Ministry announced that there was no longer any need to carry out a new military operation in Syria "at this stage."
The meeting came after the conclusion of the 5-day US-mediated ceasefire, after which the US told Turkey that all terrorists had withdrawn from the area in question - to which Cavusoglu responded: "However, it does not mean that there are no terrorists there. They could be hiding in tunnels or other places. We took the US guarantees into account and halted the operation, but that does not mean that it is over." It may not be over, but the Russian-Turkish deal provides a bit more breathing room. Erdogan says Turkey will resume the operation if the U.S. and Russia fail to keep their respective promises. Pompeo says Trump is "fully prepared" for military action against Turkey should misbehave - but Washington prefers diplomacy. As for Trump, he's naturally claiming all the credit, but will also remove sanctions against Turkey as a result of the new developments.
Sputnik shared a proposed map resulting from the deal, showing zones in question, plus the 15 observation posts to be manned by the Syrians (full size here):
The Syrian live map is showing the entire stretch of the M4 highway from Ayn Isa east under the control of the Syrians.
Moscow is demanding the US end its occupation of al-Tanf, which blocks a major border crossing with Iraq.