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Behind the Headlines: Postimperialism: A Template for a New Society and Why It's Necessary

Us troops
© tonyseed.wordpress.comUS troups are present in 156 countries
The evidence is all around that our current global society has reached its nadir. Today, the rampant corruption and psychopathy that define state and global 'leadership' has filtered down to sully all levels of society. From the new phony religion of myopic and obtuse 'science' and the old phony religion of made-up gods and saviors promising eternal bliss in 'heaven' or eternal damnation in 'hell', to sweat shops for the poor and dead-end mind-numbing jobs for the 'rich'.

Our chronically polluted environment is ignored in favor of endless wars on brown-skinned people that provides the rationale for police state measures in the affluent 'West'. Meanwhile, large numbers of the (otherwise) normal human population have responded to such chaos and disconnection with apathy and dissociation into increasingly toxic and pathological 'past times'. Yes indeed, things certainly could be better on our planet. But what can we do to help set things straight?

This week on Behind the Headlines, Joe Quinn and Pierre Lescaudron will be discussing some ideas about how a postimperial global society might be structured and why it is a very good idea that we all begin to seriously consider a future where building society from the 'ground up' is necessary.

Running Time: 01:51:02

Download: MP3


Quenelle - Golden

Israeli-American journalist compares Jewish Iranians to animals in a petting zoo

candle lighting
© AP Photo/Ebrahim NorooziIn this Thursday, Nov. 20, 2014 photo, an Iranian Jewish man lights candles at the at the tomb of Harav Oursharga, one of the holiest Jewish sites in Iran, in the city of Yazd 420 miles (676 kilometers) south of capital Tehran. More than a thousand people trekked across Iran this past week to visit a shrine in this ancient Persian city, a pilgrimages like many others in the Islamic Republic until you notice men there wearing yarmulkes.
Millions of Iranians, including many from the nation's Jewish minority, went to the polls on Feb. 26 to decide their next government.

After the Israeli news agency Haaretz published a photo essay of election day in a Tehran synagogue that doubled as a polling place, one conservative Israeli-American journalist used it as an opportunity to compare Jewish Iranians to animals in a petting zoo.

"Totally spontaneous scenes from a Tehran petting zoo," Goldberg tweeted on Feb. 28, with a link to the Haaretz article.

Goldberg is a neoconservative staff journalist at The Atlantic, and a well-known Zionist once referred to by the New York Review of Books as "the most influential journalist/blogger on matters related to Israel." In an April 2015 report for The Atlantic, he echoed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in arguing that Jews should leave Europe and emigrate en masse to Israel.

Arrow Up

Russia offers assistance to international organizations bringing humanitarian aid to Syria

syrian migrants
© Rodi Said / Reuters
Russian military facilities are offering assistance to humanitarian organizations offering aid to people in Syria, saying their facilities and logistics specialists may be able to resolve the problems they face.

The offer was made on Monday when the Russian Defense Ministry confirmed that the internationally sponsored truce between rebel groups and the Syrian government in Syria is mostly holding.

"In the current conditions the issues of safe return of civilians to their homes and delivery of humanitarian aid take a higher priority," the ministry said in a statement. "It's known that international organizations face difficulties when organizing humanitarian deliveries to Syria, primarily in logistics: storage, packaging, delivery and local distribution."

Comment: The humanitarian crisis in Syria was created by the US and its allies, and without Russia's intervention there would be no ceasefire or possibility of return for all those displaced in the conflict. Russia continues to show her decency and goodwill with the many humanitarian aid deliveries made throughout the world.


Cowboy Hat

Military report: Blundering disregard and 'daredeviltry' at UK nuclear submarine base caused radiation exposures

UK nuclear submarine
© David Moir / Reuters
Blundering 'daredevilry' at Britain's nuclear submarine base exposed up to 20 workers to radiation, according to a Ministry of Defence (MoD) report.

The incidents, which were investigated by the Ferret website, took place aboard nuclear submarines docked at the Faslane naval port in Scotland.

The MoD's report covered four incidents between 2012 and 2013. It took the military two years to release the heavily redacted documents following Freedom of Information (FoI) requests.

Comment: The Trident trap: Replacing UK's nuclear subs 'to cost £167 billion, exceeding all expectations'


Heart - Black

Mexico: Restaurant worker killed in satanic initiation ceremony

Edwin Juarez Palma
© PHEdwin was killed after being fooled into taking part in an initiation ceremony
Tragic restaurant worker Edwin Juarez Palma, 24, died after being strangled, beaten, and slashed in the neck with a broken bottle.

The horrific crime happened near the regional congress building in Chihuahua in the north of Mexico.

A teenage girl named as 18-year-old student Iveth Lopez is among those being held.

The other two suspects were named as Gustavo Dorantes, 18, and Omar Sanchez, 25.

Police say Edwin, known as Piwa, was killed after being fooled into taking part in an initiation ceremony to become part of a satanic cult called the Sons of Baphomet 1.

Dollars

Courting the media: Anonymous hacked messages from Trump shows cozy relationship with MSNBC

Trump MSNBC
© Scott Morgan / Reuters U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump (centre L) talks to host Joe Scarborough during an appearance on MSNBC's Morning Joe cable television show at Java Joe's CoffeeHouse in Des Moines, Iowa.
The hacktivist group Anonymous is believed to have hacked Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's voicemail and leaked messages from 2012, which appear to show how the liberal media in the US is supporting the billionaire.

Gawker published recordings, which were hacked by Anonymous and which contain 21 messages from MSNBC's Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski, and Tamron Hall. The media outlet said it was unable to independently verify the authenticity of the messages, though they do appear to be genuine.

In one message, Scarborough can be heard saying: "We are so, so grateful for everything, Donald, and we just want to call you and tell you how much it means to us." The journalists were believed to be thanking Trump for making a series of charitable donations.

It would also appear that Scarborough confirmed that the messages were genuine after a series of tweets.

Pistol

Shooter on the loose after critically wounding Church's Chicken employee in a table cleaning dispute

Church's Chicken
© wikipedia.org / Reuters
An irritated customer at a restaurant in North Philadelphia has shot and critically wounded a man at Church's Chicken, after one of the staff members reportedly refused to stop cleaning tables next to him. Police are hunting for the suspect who fled the scene.

The shooting took place at a Church's Chicken restaurant in the 3,600 block of North Broad Street, 6abc reported. The suspect, described as a black male, 5 feet 7 inches in height, was eating his dinner while an employee of the restaurant was cleaning tables nearby.

Eye 1

The FBI wants students and teachers to keep an eye out for telltale signs of terrorism

FBI person
© Chip East / Reuters
High school students and teachers across the US are being encouraged to watch their peers for any telltale signs that might indicate they are about to commit an act of terror.

In an advice booklet entitled 'Preventing Violent Extremism in Schools', the FBI says students are "ideal targets" for terrorist recruiters aiming to carry out violent attacks on US soil.

While not as blatant as the 'Red Scare' US loyalty review boards or the neighborly snooping fueled by McCarthyism in the 1950s, the 28-page intelligence pamphlet does suggest young US citizens keep a close eye on one another's activities - even to the extent of monitoring student artwork and essays.

Comment: See also:


Bad Guys

Society unhinged: America's loss of empathy

trump
© Gage Skidmore
Here's a sobering thought for the idealists among us: Even if we someday achieve a truly fair and just society, that society will nevertheless be inhabited by the same species that produced the Holocaust. "Humans are capable of many things," as author Noam Chomsky once told me. "Some of them are horrible, some are wonderful."

Knowing that the human animal's behavioral capacities cover a spectrum from the horrific to the kindhearted, it seems obvious that our challenge going forward is to create social structures that lead to the more desirable outcomes. There's plenty of room for debate over details, but the basic framework of where we want to go shouldn't be very controversial: general prosperity, a healthy and educated population, a government free of corruption and responsive to human needs, a sustainable natural environment, and a safe and free social environment.

Most would agree that the political realm is an important component in achieving such a society, but if that's so we should be concerned about the state of affairs in America today. That is, the country's political dynamics—the interactions between candidates, the policy proposals being considered, and even the conduct of ordinary citizens—increasingly reflect a complete lack of human empathy, a view toward others that is willfully insensitive, if not outright contemptuous. The objective observer is left wondering whether the United States, politically and as a society, is sliding toward ominous realms on that aforementioned spectrum of potential behaviors.

Comment: This complete lack of empathy and moral decay are among the many signs that the US empire may be nearing its demise. It's probably a good time to consider a model for a better world that could flourish in the wake of this global reset:

Post imperialism: A Template for a New Social Order


Nuke

Explosions and fire shutdown nuclear reactor in South Carolina

Oconee Nuclear Station
© Wikimedia CommonsAerial view of the Duke Power Company's Oconee Nuclear Station at Seneca, South Carolina. Circa 1974.
One of the reactors at the Oconee Nuclear Station has been shut down after a series of explosions and a fire damaged a transformed on site. The operator declared the incident "unusual" but emphasized there was no threat of radiation release.

Emergency crews deployed at the scene have managed to contain the fire, and will remain at the scene to assist crews. Oconee Nuclear Station is a nuclear power plant located on Lake Keowee near Seneca, South Carolina.

"Unit #1 was shut down as a precaution," Oconee County Emergency Management said in a statement. "There is NO POTENTIAL FOR RELEASE."

The plant operator Duke Energy said that while "Unit 1 has been safely shutdown" the remaining "Units 2 and 3 continue to operate safely."