Cables from the class war (Aug 2)

Basque Country: more photos from the actions for Basque prisoner regrouping near home

'Guernica' inspired sand sculpture: Basque prisoners and refugees... back home.

Live banner on the sand

Biking by the Guggenheim Museum

Even more photos at La Haine.

Russia: police arrest demonstrators

Showing again that democracy is an empty word in Russia, police has arrested hundreds of demonstrators who staged a sit-in in Moscow, demanding right of assembly and asking for a boycott to the upcoming elections, where hardly any guarantee of transparency exists.

··> Protestation.org (video from Euronews).

Egypt: sharp divisions show up, army evicts Tahrir Sq.

The show of force by the Islamist Fascist mass movement Muslim Brotherhood yesterday has shown that sharp divisions exist within the anti-Junta camp, notably between Secularists and Islamists.

··> Los Angeles Times (caution: possibly biased media, see below).

After this rather scary show by fanatics chanting Shariah Law!, the Junta has evicted the last stronghold of people camping in Tahrir Square.

··> Al Jazeera, see also RT discussion at Protestation.org.

Also Yves Smith at Naked Capitalism discusses how there is trending twist in US (and hence surely worldwide) media reporting on Egypt's events, notably the LA Times (linked above, so caution there) and the Wall Street Journal, which are spreading lies about the military intervention against Tahrir Sq. protesters, in a clear bid to promote the Junta.

Syria, military attack against civilians in Hama

Tanks and heavy artillery are being used to smash civilian protests in Hama, Syria. Russia has asked Damascus to stop using such brutal violence... to no avail.

··> Al Jazeera.


Nepal: Maoist ministers quit government

With Prime Minister Jhalanath Khanal unfazed by pressure to change the Maoist ministers in his cabinet, largest coalition partner UCPN (Maoist) Saturday decided to withdraw its incumbent ministers, and also to withdraw support from the government on Sunday unless Khanal relents.

··> Revolution in South Asia.

USA: where did the Fed's rescue money go?

According to an audit by GAO (pdf), the Federal Reserve generously gave money and more money to their associates: the big banks. The exact list being:

Citigroup: $2.5 trillions ($2,500,000,000,000)
Morgan Stanley: $2.04 trillions ($2,040,000,000,000)
Merrill Lynch: $1.949 trillions ($1,949,000,000,000)
Bank of America: $1.344 trillions ($1,344,000,000,000)
Barclays PLC (United Kingdom): $868 billions ($868,000,000,000)
Bear Sterns: $853 billions ($853,000,000,000)
Goldman Sachs: $814 billions ($814,000,000,000)
Royal Bank of Scotland (UK): $541 billions ($541,000,000,000)
JP Morgan Chase: $391 billions ($391,000,000,000)
Deutsche Bank (Germany): $354 billions ($354,000,000,000)
UBS (Switzerland): $287 billions ($287,000,000,000)
Credit Suisse (Switzerland): $262 billions ($262,000,000,000)
Lehman Brothers: $183 billions ($183,000,000,000)
Bank of Scotland (United Kingdom): $181 billions ($181,000,000,000)
BNP Paribas (France): $175 billions ($175,000,000,000)

Wells Fargo & Co. $159 billions ($159,000,000,000)

Dexia SA (Belgium) ) $159 billions ($159,000,000,000)

Wachovia Corporation $142 billions ($142,000,000,000)

Dresdner Bank AG (Germany) $135 billions ($135,000,000,000)

Societe Generale SA (France) $124 billions ($124,000,000,000)

All others   $2.6 trillions ($ 2,639,000,000,000)

Total   $16.115 trillions ($ 16.115.000.000.000)

Thanks to Atilio Boron, Argentinean economist, who deals with this matter also in Spanish language (notice that the use of the words billion, trillion, etc. is different in English and Spanish, as is also the use of dot and comma in numerals).


USA: former security chief: quit the War on Terror

It's too expensive: $20 million per alleged terrorist per year.

··> Wired.

Cuba: the dismantling of Socialism begins by firing one million state workers

I have the feeling that appointing Raúl Castro to the presidency of Cuba was quite a liquidationist move. Since then, instead of improving socialist democracy, Cuba has been following the same self-destructive path of the former USSR and China: turning to Capitalism by dismantling the social economy.

The firing of up to one million workers (Cuba's population is of just eleven million, so it's almost 10% of the population and maybe as much as 20% of the working force).

··> Al Jazeera.

Japan: Nuclear Physicist to government: What the hell are you doing?

Professor Tashuhiko Kodama, from the Radio Isotopes Department of the University of Tokyo, shake with anger as he spoke of the abusive mismanagement by the government of the nuclear catastrophe:

We should recognize from the start that just like Chernobyl, Fukushima I Nuke Plant has released radioactive materials equivalent in the amount to tens of nuclear bombs, and the resulting contamination is far worse than the contamination by a nuclear bomb.

··> Ex-SKF: part 1, part 2.

Related from Al Jazeera:

• Radiation levels surge at Japan nuclear power plant
• Fukushima: it's much worse than you think
• Japan's desperate nuclear crisis

Today's music: Armas de Barrio

La Furia was Maniática (a band from Villena, Valencian Country) playing The Clash, the best versions of The Clash in Spanish language.