Re: [Marxism] Fwd: Comeytose in Washington

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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On 5/12/17 11:56 PM, Ralph Johansen via Marxism wrote:


Well,  US megacorps have never been some sort of monolith, but rather
have been segmented according to their various, competing, far-flung
interests. And one of the mitigating factors for labor has been
capital's centrifugal tendencies. If only we understood how to exploit
that fact in an organized manner.


Keep in mind that American corporations doing business in Nazi Germany 
were mainly operating sub rosa except for Ford that was owned by an open 
anti-Semite.


Take GE. This was not exactly an American corporation. GE in Germany was 
owned 70 percent by German investors.


Coca-Cola operated in Nazi Germany but not with its own brand name but 
as Fanta.


IBM sold tab machines that were used for the census but again like GE, 
through a subsidiary that was 90 percent German-owned.


None of this is meant to get these outfits off the hook but there is a 
huge contrast with the way American companies operate today:


http://www.businessinsider.com/mcdonalds-in-russia-2016-1

McDonald's announced today that it plans to open 60 new restaurants in 
Russia over the course of 2016.


The company's focus on affordable menus and local suppliers has proved 
successful in the economic crisis, and it intends to ramp up expansion 
efforts over the coming year.


The chain is one of the greatest symbols of American impact around the 
world. Business Insider visited one in downtown Moscow during a trip to 
Russia in 2013 — here's what it was like inside.


https://www.thestreet.com/story/14060903/1/take-a-look-at-this-massive-store-nike-just-opened-in-economically-ravaged-russia.html

Even Putin could probably find a sneaker that he likes inside Nike's 
(NKE) new Moscow store.


The sneaker giant cut the ribbon on Sunday to a massive 23,455 square 
foot, five-story store in the Russian capital. Similar to other Nike 
flagship stores, the Moscow location features a Nike+ Running Trial 
Zone, Nike+ Football Trial Zone and areas for product customization such 
as engraving (some pictures below). There is even space for a person to 
get their shoes cleaned, while the second floor is mostly dedicated to 
limited-edition sneakers.

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Re: [Marxism] Fwd: Comeytose in Washington

[Ralph Johansen via Marxism]

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Well,  US megacorps have never been some sort of monolith, but rather 
have been segmented according to their various, competing, far-flung 
interests. And one of the mitigating factors for labor has been 
capital's centrifugal tendencies. If only we understood how to exploit 
that fact in an organized manner.


US corporations doing business with Germany when the US entered the war 
in 1941 (and this article doesn't mention the privileged, complex 
entanglements of finance capital):


"The year following the end of World War II, GE stood accused of 
criminal conspiracy with Krupp, a major German munitions firm. Their 
partnership artificially raised the cost of U.S. defense preparations 
while helping to subsidize Hitler’s rearmament of Germany. The 
arrangement continued even after Nazi tanks smashed into Poland. GE was 
not alone among U.S. big business in having cordial, profitable 
arrangements with the corporations of Nazi Germany. Kodak, DuPont and 
Shell Oil are also known to have had business dealing with Germany. Due 
to a recent reparations case, the activities of General Motors and 
Ford..." http://www.ranknfile-ue.org/uen_nastybiz.html



   Louis Proyect wrote

Friction with Russia only sharpened after Ukraine and Syria erupted. 
Despite Roger Annis, Stephen F. Cohen, Mike Whitney, David Duke, Michel 
Chossudovsky, Robert Parry, Noam Chomsky, Diana Johnstone and Marine Le 
Pen, the American ruling class did not view Putin in the same way it 
viewed Brezhnev. Remember that George W. Bush referred to Putin as 
Pooty-Poot and that Hillary Clinton called Assad a reformer. Plus, Exxon 
was partners with Russian energy companies in massive exploration 
projects. Not to speak of these bastions of American capitalism doing 
business in Russia:


https://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2016/08/03/headline-halah-t/

Here's who's doing business with the bad guys.

On July 13, Pfizer closed a joint venture agreement with Russian 
pharmaceutical company NovaMedica.


Boeing has been in Russia for decades. About five years ago, it 
announced plans to invest $27 billion over the next 30 years. In July 
2015, an agreement was signed between Russian titanium manufacturer 
VSMPO-Avisma Corporation, Boeing and the Ural Federal University for 
joint research and development projects.


Ford has been in Russia for 13 years. In April 2015, the joint 
Russian-American venture Ford Sollers launched the production of the 
Ford Transit. The American brand launched four new vehicles in Russia 
last year, including the Focus and Fiesta models sold here.


U.S. companies with an existing presence in Russia include, PepsiCo PEP 
-0.12%, Procter&Gamble, McDonald's, Mondelez International, General 
Motors, Johnson & Johnson, Cargill, Alcoa, and General Electric. GE 
recently signed a joint venture with oil firm Rosneft in expectation 
that Washington will actually one day lift sanctions on oil firms.



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Re: [Marxism] Fwd: Comeytose in Washington

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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On 5/12/17 9:14 PM, Joaquin Bustelo via Marxism wrote:


Behind the Russia hysteria: a major dispute over foreign policy
http://hatueysashes.blogspot.com/2017/03/behind-russia-hysteria-major-dispute.html



And Russia is the key to the policy change. For several years now, a 
faction of war mongers in our political class (Hillary Clinton prominent 
among them) has been pushing for a policy of increasing provocations and 
confrontation with Russia since "terrorism" was getting worn-out as the 
justification for wars abroad and the creeping police state at home. If 
Russia gets cast in the role of the heavy again, it would be hard to 
sell pulling away from Europe.


---

I don't buy this.

Friction with Russia only sharpened after Ukraine and Syria erupted. 
Despite Roger Annis, Stephen F. Cohen, Mike Whitney, David Duke, Michel 
Chossudovsky, Robert Parry, Noam Chomsky, Diana Johnstone and Marine Le 
Pen, the American ruling class did not view Putin in the same way it 
viewed Brezhnev. Remember that George W. Bush referred to Putin as 
Pooty-Poot and that Hillary Clinton called Assad a reformer. Plus, Exxon 
was partners with Russian energy companies in massive exploration 
projects. Not to speak of these bastions of American capitalism doing 
business in Russia:


https://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2016/08/03/headline-halah-t/

Here's who's doing business with the bad guys.

On July 13, Pfizer closed a joint venture agreement with Russian 
pharmaceutical company NovaMedica.


Boeing has been in Russia for decades. About five years ago, it 
announced plans to invest $27 billion over the next 30 years. In July 
2015, an agreement was signed between Russian titanium manufacturer 
VSMPO-Avisma Corporation, Boeing and the Ural Federal University for 
joint research and development projects.


Ford has been in Russia for 13 years. In April 2015, the joint 
Russian-American venture Ford Sollers launched the production of the 
Ford Transit. The American brand launched four new vehicles in Russia 
last year, including the Focus and Fiesta models sold here.


U.S. companies with an existing presence in Russia include, PepsiCo PEP 
-0.12%, Procter&Gamble, McDonald's, Mondelez International, General 
Motors, Johnson & Johnson, Cargill, Alcoa, and General Electric. GE 
recently signed a joint venture with oil firm Rosneft  in expectation 
that Washington will actually one day lift sanctions on oil firms.

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Re: [Marxism] Fwd: Comeytose in Washington

[Joaquin Bustelo via Marxism]

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I don't know that Comey was quite as important a figure in the 
resistance to Trump's changes to U.S. policy as Carl describes ... I 
tend to think not. But that was a part of it.


But mainly Trump fired him, I think, for exactly the reasons Trump said, 
showboating, grandstanding, and for being a loose cannon.


Of course those things precisely made Comey useful to opponents of 
Trump's policies, but this firing wasn't driven by some desperate need 
to thwart the investigation or the political opposition. On the 
investigation, I don't believe there was anything concrete to be 
thwarted, nothing to be covered up in relation to the elections.


That's different from Nixon. Behind the Saturday night massacre there 
were very specific, concrete things he was trying to hide.


No one has yet to articulate just *what*  is being investigated. 
Collusion between team Trump and team Putin. But collusion to do what? 
Stuff ballot boxes? Rig voting machines? Use RT's massive influence over 
Americans to get them to vote for Trump?


I don't think this is about a cover-up. Instead, and above all, Trump 
wants people in top government positions loyal to him, investigation or 
no investigation, it doesn't matter.  He is clearly a bonapartist 
figure, and he simply has to have it.


He made it explicit as hell in his "fuck you" letter to Comey. He said, 
I know you promised not to cross me by repeatedly saying I wasn't under 
investigation [basically, telling Comey that he, Trump, understood that 
thereby Comey had compromised himself and made himself vulnerable to 
Trump], but that's not good enough. Today Trump tripled underlined the 
message with his tweet about tapes.


The *WAY* Comey was fired was a very important part of the message. It 
was vindictive and as humiliating as could be to Comey. I joked on the 
radio show I do (www.radioinformacion.org) that Comey got to find out 
via CNN while giving a talk to FBI agents because Francis Ford Coppola 
wasn't available to direct the putting of the head of a decapitated 
horse in Comey's bed. And he got really lucky that they didn't have a 
fish handy to wrap in a bullet-proof vest.


That said, I think Mark is way off. On the overall political framework 
Carl is right, I believe. Trump came in projecting a significant shift 
in U.S. foreign policy. Whether the until-now dominant wing of the 
"national security state" or "political class" or "military industrial 
complex" or however you want to conceive of it has completely derailed 
or even convinced Trump to reverse course is another matter.


An additional factor in it all is that the Democrat nomenklatura needs 
the Russian plot and Comey sabotage to explain away Clinton's loss to Trump.


And --this is important-- she did lose. Factoring out California, 
Clinton lost in the rest of the country by a million votes. Take out New 
York also and her 48-state deficit was three million votes. Sure, if 
Comey hadn't back-stabbed her she would have squeaked through. But she 
should have won by a landslide.


But that aside, it has been obvious to me from the outset that 
Russiagate is largely a dispute about the direction of U.S. foreign 
policy. Trump came in wanting a sharper, more demanding stance towards 
"our" traditional allies because they are in fact "our" main 
competitors. And all the stuff a bout collusion and so on is just total 
bullshit. I've written a series of blog posts going over this so I won't 
repeat all the arguments here:


The Russian White House Coup ... and what Karl Marx has to do with it
http://hatueysashes.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-russian-white-house-coup-and-what.html

The Russian election hack: bullshit
http://hatueysashes.blogspot.com/2017/03/the-russian-election-hack-bullshit.html

Behind the Russia hysteria: a major dispute over foreign policy
http://hatueysashes.blogspot.com/2017/03/behind-russia-hysteria-major-dispute.html

'No evidence' means that we didn't mean to wiretap Trump's people ...
http://hatueysashes.blogspot.com/2017/03/no-evidence-means-that-we-didnt-mean-to.html

The NY Times channels Joe McCarthy
http://hatueysashes.blogspot.com/2017/05/the-ny-times-channels-joe-mccarthy.html

Joaquín

On 5/12/2017 10:33 AM, Mark Lause via Marxism wrote:


There's absolutely no evidence for this . . . no more than for the idea
that it's all about who gets to control the captured UFOs . . . .

On Fri, May 12, 2017 at 9:17 AM, Carl G. Estabrook via Marxism <
marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu> wrote:



The White House fired Comey because he was the point-man in the campaign
of the US political establishment (Democrats-neocons-spooks etc.) to
prevent Trump from carrying out his 

Re: [Marxism] Fwd: Comeytose in Washington

[Gary MacLennan via Marxism]

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This was so wonderfully full of acerbic wit.  A delight to read and a tonic
for the weary traveler.  Well done Jeffrey. Now I am inclined to agree with
Mark in all this. The trouble is that we do not attribute enough power to
STUPIDITY when we are reconstructing the motives of people like Trump.

His problem is that he was born into wealth.  A master surrounded by slaves
created by his father.  The task of the slave is ever to kiss ass and to
protect the master from ever finding out what the real world is about. The
slaves around Trump have done an admirable job.

Now though he has got to the level where there is no hiding place.  True,
there are still ranks upon ranks of ass kissers everywhere, but every so
often the realization that the Administrative system does have its own
special rules and the sad truth slowly emerges that one cannot always shit
on the carpet and get away with it.

It will take a socialist revolution of immense dimensions to clean out the
Augean Stables of the American State, but in the mean time we can have a
quiet smirk as the System slowly, timidly, and oh so relutcantly but
inevitably girds its loins to tell the POTUS "You're fired".

comradely

Gary


On Fri, May 12, 2017 at 10:51 PM, Louis Proyect via Marxism <
marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu> wrote:

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>
> The blending of hubris and stupidity on display in the Comey affair is a
> recipe for political comedy and legal disaster. By concocting a false story
> for Comey’s expulsion, the Trump team, including the President and the
> Attorney General, have exposed their consciousness of guilt and laid the
> groundwork for charges of obstruction of justice against them. If there’s
> anyone left in the Justice Department or the Congress with the guts to
> bring it. Perhaps Ralph Nader will sue, as he did in 1973, when he won a
> seminal verdict in federal court that Nixon’s firing of special prosecutor
> Archibald Cox was illegal.
>
> full: http://www.counterpunch.org/2017/05/12/comeytose-in-washington/
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Re: [Marxism] Fwd: Comeytose in Washington

[Mark Lause via Marxism]

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You seem to be either confused as to what these articles evince or as to
what you were asserting.

I don't think you can legitimately counterpose the "US political
establishment (Democrats-neocons-spooks etc.)" to the executive branch of
the government and the majority in both houses of Congress.

It does not seem to me Comey was not a point man for some grand "deep
state' conspiracy to throw a monkey wrench into Trump's plans for new
diplomatic relations with Russia.

As far as that goes, it isn't even clear that he was the point man for the
most serious investigation of Trump's ties with Russia.

You seem to me to be conjuring structures that aren't there and motives
that aren't apparent.

ml
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Re: [Marxism] Fwd: Comeytose in Washington

[Carl G. Estabrook via Marxism]

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http://www.atimes.com/article/trump-ignores-status-quo-apologists-engage-russia/
 


http://www.atimes.com/article/us-decides-send-delegation-chinas-obor-summit/ 


http://www.counterpunch.org/2017/05/12/comeytose-in-washington/ 




> On May 12, 2017, at 9:33 AM, Mark Lause  wrote:
> 
> There's absolutely no evidence for this . . . no more than for the idea that 
> it's all about who gets to control the captured UFOs . . . .
> 
> On Fri, May 12, 2017 at 9:17 AM, Carl G. Estabrook via Marxism 
> mailto:marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu>> wrote:
>   POSTING RULES & NOTES  
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> *
> 
> The White House fired Comey because he was the point-man in the campaign of 
> the US political establishment (Democrats-neocons-spooks etc.) to prevent 
> Trump from carrying out his campaign promises of rapprochement with Russia.
> 
> 
> > On May 12, 2017, at 7:51 AM, Louis Proyect via Marxism 
> > mailto:marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu>> wrote:
> >
> > The blending of hubris and stupidity on display in the Comey affair is a 
> > recipe for political comedy and legal disaster. By concocting a false story 
> > for Comey’s expulsion, the Trump team, including the President and the 
> > Attorney General, have exposed their consciousness of guilt and laid the 
> > groundwork for charges of obstruction of justice against them. If there’s 
> > anyone left in the Justice Department or the Congress with the guts to 
> > bring it. Perhaps Ralph Nader will sue, as he did in 1973, when he won a 
> > seminal verdict in federal court that Nixon’s firing of special prosecutor 
> > Archibald Cox was illegal.
> >
> > full: http://www.counterpunch.org/2017/05/12/comeytose-in-washington/ 
> > 
> > _
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> 
> 
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Re: [Marxism] Fwd: Comeytose in Washington

[Mark Lause via Marxism]

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There's absolutely no evidence for this . . . no more than for the idea
that it's all about who gets to control the captured UFOs . . . .

On Fri, May 12, 2017 at 9:17 AM, Carl G. Estabrook via Marxism <
marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu> wrote:

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>
> The White House fired Comey because he was the point-man in the campaign
> of the US political establishment (Democrats-neocons-spooks etc.) to
> prevent Trump from carrying out his campaign promises of rapprochement with
> Russia.
>
>
> > On May 12, 2017, at 7:51 AM, Louis Proyect via Marxism <
> marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu> wrote:
> >
> > The blending of hubris and stupidity on display in the Comey affair is a
> recipe for political comedy and legal disaster. By concocting a false story
> for Comey’s expulsion, the Trump team, including the President and the
> Attorney General, have exposed their consciousness of guilt and laid the
> groundwork for charges of obstruction of justice against them. If there’s
> anyone left in the Justice Department or the Congress with the guts to
> bring it. Perhaps Ralph Nader will sue, as he did in 1973, when he won a
> seminal verdict in federal court that Nixon’s firing of special prosecutor
> Archibald Cox was illegal.
> >
> > full: http://www.counterpunch.org/2017/05/12/comeytose-in-washington/
> > _
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>
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Re: [Marxism] Fwd: Comeytose in Washington

[Carl G. Estabrook via Marxism]

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The White House fired Comey because he was the point-man in the campaign of the 
US political establishment (Democrats-neocons-spooks etc.) to prevent Trump 
from carrying out his campaign promises of rapprochement with Russia.


> On May 12, 2017, at 7:51 AM, Louis Proyect via Marxism 
>  wrote:
> 
> The blending of hubris and stupidity on display in the Comey affair is a 
> recipe for political comedy and legal disaster. By concocting a false story 
> for Comey’s expulsion, the Trump team, including the President and the 
> Attorney General, have exposed their consciousness of guilt and laid the 
> groundwork for charges of obstruction of justice against them. If there’s 
> anyone left in the Justice Department or the Congress with the guts to bring 
> it. Perhaps Ralph Nader will sue, as he did in 1973, when he won a seminal 
> verdict in federal court that Nixon’s firing of special prosecutor Archibald 
> Cox was illegal.
> 
> full: http://www.counterpunch.org/2017/05/12/comeytose-in-washington/
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