Recent Blogs
Green Time TV Can We Build a Healthy Future? by Don Fitz People across the globe are seeking ways to improve health – from breastfeeding to controlling genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in food to redesigning health care. December Green Time episodes delve into some of these efforts in Missouri, the US and Denmark. What is Read more…
— Nasir Khan, November 16, 2016 In 1971, the people of East Pakistan achieved their political separation from West Pakistan at a very high cost. The country since then called Bangladesh like many Asian countries has been a traditional country where religions in the lives of its people have played an important part as a Read more…
Go to source It happened. Yes, I was surprised. Since I spend a lot of time in western Pennsylvania, I knew there was more support for Trump than the media let on, but he just seemed too incompetent, incoherent, and disorganized a candidate to defeat the Clinton machine. I enjoyed torturing my friend who has Read more…
Home » Making of History Facebook VK blogger LiveJournal Twitter Google+ Email Print Share Political philosophy 12.11.2016 Nasir Khan “Men make their own history, but they do not make it as they please; they do not make it under self-selected circumstances, but under circumstances existing already, given and transmitted from the past. The tradition of Read more…
Michael Moore talks nonsense sometimes but, credit where due, he was completely on target months ago about how and why Trump could pull off a victory. Angry white people in states like Ohio & Michigan, knowing damn well they’ve been screwed over by decades of trade deals, would use Trump as their “human Molotov Cocktail”. Read more…
Hail King Prick! The vain glorious dick has been elected King Prick. A mourning of victory for all the worlds pricks! Hide your son from the colours, go lock up all your daughter’s ships. For hear a World full of slaughter happily skips. Calamity of blind rages, has spoke a joke for all our ages. Read more…
What are poetics given to power? First, metaphors cannot be substantiated by references to reality. So they start referring to each other using erudition and authority, a hopelessly futile exercise in insulated creativity. Second, it is masculine in intent and hence inherently damage-bent. Third, it grows inward as it pretends to reach outward. the poet Read more…
“Working at UPS should be the best job in America and it just isn’t.” — — a Teamster negotiator to a UPS official during the tense 1997 national contract negotiations. I was once a package driver for a brief time back in the 1970’s at a non-union local Silver Spring MD delivery company. I did enjoy being Read more…
Earlier this year my book Anarchist Accounting: Accounting Principles for a Participatory Economy was released in both a Swedish and an English version (www.anarchistaccounting.info). The book outlines a proposal for an accounting system in a post-capitalist economy. Do we really need accounting in a Libertarian Socialist Economy? Do we really need an accounting system, or Read more…
At present, nuclear disarmament seems to have ground to a halt. Nine nations have a total of approximately 15,500 nuclear warheads in their arsenals, including 7,300 possessed by Russia and 7,100 possessed by the United States. A Russian-American treaty to further reduce their nuclear forces has been difficult to secure thanks to Russian disinterest and Read more…
Nasir Khan Kemal Ataturk was the first Muslim ruler who understood that religion and State have to be separated in the interest of the people. He had seen the decadent Ottoman Caliphate and the abysmal stagnation of State and society under its Sultans and Caliphs. For a long time decaying Turkey was regarded as the Read more…
Go to source. As an old SDS-er, I found it hard to see Tom Hayden go. However meandering his path, he was at the heart of radical history in the 60s, an erstwhile companion, if not always a comrade, on the route of every boomer lefty. One of his finer moments for me, which I’ve Read more…
Nasir Khan, October 27, 2016 “They wrote in the old days that it is sweet and fitting to die for one’s country. But in modern war, there is nothing sweet nor fitting in your dying. You will die like a dog for no good reason.” ― American author and journalist Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961) ————– At Read more…
Nasir Khan Islam is a religion, a great religion, but it is not a political ideology for multicultural, multi-religious and multi-ethnic societies of the present times. It contains some golden principles such as equality, fairness and justice that are applicable in politics because such universal principles are recognised as the pillars of democracy and open Read more…
The Wall Street Journal just published an article with the headline INFANT MORTALITY SOARS IN VENEZUELA WITH HOSPITALS SUFFERING A CATASTROPHIC LACK OF SUPPLIES, THE COUNTRY’S BABIES ARE DYING AT A RATE HIGHER THAN SYRIA’S The article reported Venezuela’s overall infant mortality rate—defined as deaths within the first year of life—is currently 18.6 per 1,000 Read more…
Go to source This Sunday’s New York Times (NYT) article by Amy Chozicko, headlined “Issues in Hillary Clinton’s Past Leave Her Muted in Furor Over Donald Trump” (“Clinton Treads Lightly Amid Furor Over Trump” in the print edition) provides a fine example of how the mainstream press covers up Hillary Clinton’s problems, even when they Read more…
Green Time TV Barriers to Better Being by Don Fitz It seems like every plan to improve the environment is met with barriers that get in the way for a month, a year or a century. November Green Time episodes delve into surmounting some of those barriers, including criminalization of medical marijuana, power grid disruption, Read more…
This is a reply to a specific part of this article: http://www.workerscontrol.net/authors/spectrum-trajectory-and-role-state-workers%E2%80%99-self-management In the fifth paragraph the authors of this article mention the participatory economics (parecon) model – as developed by Albert and Hahnel. As an advocate of that model I want to address what seem to me to be some misunderstandings of the way Read more…
Nasir Khan, October 10, 2016 The Twin Towers in New York did fall on 9/11. In fact, the third high building, not far from the twin towers, also mysteriously fell without any plane crashing into it on the same day. There are two main versions of the tragic happening. First, the official version that has Read more…
Nasir Khan, October 7, 2016 Despite Indian army’s blinding of hundreds of Kashmiri youth and terrorising millions of Kashmiris in the recent weeks, there is only one outcry that is reverberating throughout the Kashmir Valley: Azadi, Azadi (Freedom, Freedom) from the Indian occupation of Kashmir. Instead of heeding to the demands of the people who Read more…
The chart below lists avoidable child deaths in various countries calculated as the difference between the number of child deaths listed by UNICEF for 2015 and the numbers of child deaths there would have been if each country had Cuba’s child mortality rate. There is no excuse for any country in the Western Hemisphere having a child Read more…
Hillary Clinton, in the first presidential debate, pointed out that Trump didn’t pay any federal tax one year, and added that he probably didn’t pay in other years as well. Trump responded to her by saying “That makes me smart”. The appropriate rejoinder is “that makes you corrupt” but Hillary Clinton and Trump, her husband’s Read more…
I wrote this blog post the other day which said that the UK Labour party should completely reject the neoliberal dogma that the central bank (Bank of England in this case) should be independent of the elected government. The UK Independent just ran an article which brought up the questions posed in my blog post. Read more…
Nasir Khan, September 30, 2016 Russian think tank Katehon’s journalist Anastasia Zhukova interviewed me recently per telephone. The following is her summary of the interview: The Palestinian Authority (PA) has been under the virtual control of Israel and its authority limited to the West Bank. It has no control over the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian Read more…
I am delighted that Jeremy Corbyn was re-elected leader of the Labour party in the UK. John McDonnell, Corbyn’s right hand man and go-to guy on economic policy, recently talked about the importance of monetary policy and that it should not be narrowly focused on inflation. That was excellent, but why in the world is McDonnell guaranteeing Read more…
The ‘end justifies the means’ Machiavelli’s axiom that was gleefully consumed by the powerful & that capitalism proudly lives by, is a ridiculous & mistaken denial of consequence. It leads to the desperation & violent terror of war on all its terrible scales & blindly guides our Titanic environmental collision. Those who do whatever to Read more…
In early September 2016, Donald Trump announced his plan for a vast expansion of the U.S. military, including 90,000 new soldiers for the Army, nearly 75 new ships for the Navy, and dozens of new fighter aircraft for the Air Force. Although the cost of this increase would be substantial―about $90 billion per year―it would Read more…
Green Time TV Looking Forward by Don Fitz Did you ever ask what a positive future for all of us might include? October Green Time episodes look forward to when MLK Blvd is fixed up as nice as the Delmar Loop, when solar panels can be a key part of efficient home energy use, when Read more…
Although the mass media failed to report it, a landmark event occurred recently in connection with resolving the long-discussed problem of what to do about nuclear weapons. On August 19, 2016, a UN committee, the innocuously-named Open-Ended Working Group, voted to recommend to the UN General Assembly that it mandate the opening of negotiations in Read more…
Nasir Khan, September 4, 2016 In response to my today’s post “Indian forces’ atrocities and murders in Kashmir continue” in a Facebook group (“Daring Facts”) one Mr Jaffar Safi wrote a comment. I am producing his comment, which was not directly related to my post but I replied to him where I tried to clarify Read more…
Check out the following headlines as captured by Google today: Now if Corbyn had said “I am wealthy” he would also have been mocked by the press: “Deluded Corbyn think’s he is ‘wealthy’ with net worth of 650K when Richard Branson’s is 3.8 billion!” “Corbyn thinks he is in the same class as Richard Branson Read more…
Shortly after the Democratic Party’s platform committee concluded its deliberations this July, Bernie Sanders announced: “Thanks to the millions of people across the country who got involved in the political process . . . we now have the most progressive platform in the history of the Democratic Party.” Although the Sanders forces didn’t obtain all Read more…
Nasir Khan, August 24, 2016 Dr Richard Falk looks at the present situation in Turkey under Erdogan from different angles, and he weighs in both positive and negative sides of the likely scenarios after the July 15 coup. Shifting political partners and allies is a common addiction of all power-hungry leaders. We who have the Read more…
Nasir Khan, August 21, 2016 This is a scholarly paper, originally in Swedish, authored by Lars Djerf in which he has concentrated mainly on the Arabic inscriptions on the Dome of the Rock (DR), their meaning and purpose in a wider political and religious context at a time when Islam had emerged as a dominant Read more…
Chomsky has been pursuing his simple method to generate the underlying structure of natural languages for several decades now. Gone are his social and political antenna, in his obsession for the minimalistic magic formula that will describe a natural language. Even Newton did not make his discovery alone, he was helped by the ideas of Read more…
Here’s a very brief quiz for readers of the UK media. Which newspaper just posted on online quiz desperately trying to equate Donald Trump and Jeremy Corbyn? Was it the farcically right wing Daily Mail or the “Labour supporting” Daily Mirror? Hint: not a single British newspaper with any significant readership editorialized against the failed Read more…
Green Time TV Our Future Environment by Don Fitz We can look backward to the way politicians and businessmen have ignored the need to plan for land usage and the harm of levees. Or, we can look forward to socialized medicine and creating clean energy. September Green Time episodes explore the need to do both. Read more…
Nasir Khan, July 31, 2016 From a Humanistic point of view, followers of all religions should be respected and their concrete good work for other people should be admired and acknowledged. In this connection, it is important to underline that such respect and admiration is not due to their inherent or internalised beliefs and dogmas, Read more…
Nasir Khan, July 26, 2016 At present, I have about three thousand Facebok friends who come from different parts of the world. This list also includes a few hundred friends from Pakistan or who are of Pakistani origin. Over the last few weeks, when Indian army unleashed its brutal crackdown in Kashmir, killing, blinding and Read more…
If asked to identify the world’s superpowers today, most people would name the United States, Russia, and China. Although many citizens of these countries maintain that this status is based on the superiority of their national way of life, the reality is that it rests upon their nations’ enormous capacity for violence. Certainly none has Read more…
Nasir Khan, July 16, 2016 Today Professor Raj Bhat, himself a Kashmiri, raised a few questions and asked for my response. I am repoducing his comment followed by my reply. Our readers will see that we two have different views on the Kashmir issue: Raj Bhat: Nasir Khan Sahab: I have raised human issues which Read more…
Green Time TV Preparing for Danger by Don Fitz Many dangers to the environment and human health could be lessened enormously if we would pay close attention to warning signs. August Green Time episodes explore warning signs for the US health care system, misuse of water and energy efficiency, as well as positive developments among Read more…
Nasir Khan, July 15, 2016 The partition of India in 1947 was because of a number of factors. As a child living in Poonch (Kashmir) I had seen the destructive blood-letting and communal frenzy. The so-called ‘Two-Nation Theory’ was a misleading and absurd idea to start with. But there was not only one party to Read more…
My friend wants to do graduate study in public affairs or public policy (Masters or PhD) at a university in the US. She is a Cuban-American, politically progressive but not radical despite my efforts, especially in relation to economic class. She is considering applying to Princeton and other universities, but will consider other schools that I recommend. Read more…
At the present time, an increase in U.S. military spending seems as superfluous as a third leg. The United States, armed with the latest in advanced weaponry, has more military might than any other nation in world history. Moreover, it has begun a $1 trillion program to refurbish its entire nuclear weapons complex. America’s Read more…
Nasir Khan, July 2, 2016 In his paper Luis Lazaro Tijerina fills in much-needed information to understand Russian and Syrian relationship. While discussing the salient aspects of the relationship, first, between the Soviet Union and Syria and, then, after the fall of the Soviet Union, between Russia and Syria, the author has provided a sound Read more…
Nasir Khan, June 23, 2016 The tragedy that started in 1947 in the shape of Pakistan and in the name of Islam has continued uninterrupted since then. In this country, Islam was transformed into a cult of ignorance and darkness and then into a cult of death and violence. Muslim leaders and politicians initiated their Read more…
This article by Julian Borger on Venezuela’s economy sates that “By IMF figures, it has the world’s worst negative growth rate (-8%), and the worst inflation rate (482%). The unemployment rate is 17% but is expected to climb to near 30% in the coming few years.” The IMF values that Borger reports are projections for 2016, not confirmed data Read more…