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Today I’m talking to Joti Brar, one of the leaders of the Communist Party of Great Britain, the editor of the party’s publication, and the Spokesperson for the World Anti-Imerialist Platform.

Joti Brar of CPGB-ML is the daughter of the late Harpal Brar.

“Neutrality Studies” is some Swiss nonsense, but at least they’ll listen to communists and anti-imperialists.

What makes a man turn neutral? Lust for gold? Power?

Despite the arduous efforts of Israeli censors to hide the devastation Iran inflicted on Israel with its barrage of ballistic missiles during the 12-Day War, information is emerging that destroys the myth that Israel had an impregnable air defense. The map at the head of this article reveals the sites targeted by Iran. Based on the videos of strikes in Haifa and Tel Aviv, I think this map accurately portrays the massive scale of the Iranian attack. For the first time in its history, Israel took a major beating.

About 11,000 news pieces were published around the world in 2024 by some of the most read and most watched news outlets claiming that droves of millionaires were fleeing countries in record numbers. This was a huge exodus, we were told, with economic consequences, and the root of it all was supposedly taxes on the super-rich. But here’s what all this media reporting left out, these record numbers of millionaires leaving represented just 0.2% of all millionaires. In other words, almost 100% of millionaires did not move to another country, yet somehow this was spun a full 180 into an exodus. So where does this story come from? Well, it’s based on a report published by a firm called Henley and Partners, which helps sell golden passports to the super rich. Golden passports were just ruled to be unlawful by the European Court of Justice, thanks to a challenge by the European Commission, which said golden passports impose a serious risk of corruption, money laundering, tax evasion. Our review of the Henley and Partners report shows that there were several issues with the report’s methodology, its sample and its reporting. But what the media reported and what governments listened to was a fiction, based on questionable data published by a firm that helps the super-rich buy their way out of rules that apply to everybody else. Scare stories like these are used to block the positive change people want.

Part of our mission is to introduce MMTers to socialism and socialists to MMT. We’ve had a few metaphorical doors slammed in our faces along the way. Former friends from the MMT community now delight in slinging accusations worthy of a HUAC hearing, while some socialists suspect modern monetary theory is just a sideshow of bourgeois economics. So, we didn’t know what to expect when we reached out to Justin and Jeremy, co-hosts of a podcast we’ve long admired. Compared to the vicious rejection we sometimes encounter, their good faith skepticism felt like a warm embrace. They invited Steve and Virginia to come onto Proles Pod and make a case for the radicalizing potential of MMT.

The conversation goes into the role of the state in currency issuance, the coercive nature of taxation, and how MMT can critique and unveil the inherent power dynamics within capitalism. Austerity, that devastating weapon of class warfare, is not a glitch; it’s a feature.

Virginia asks that listeners stop using the expression taxpayer money. “Even if you’re not ready to wrap your mind around MMT, just start calling it public money. You might not believe where it comes from but just stop. It's public money.” Given the classist, racist implications of relying on taxpayers to fund the government, a change in language is a good first step. Steve adds: “Whatever you tax, you immortalize. Whatever you tax, if you believe it's funding, you need forever.” The state is the source of currency; let’s stop elevating billionaires.

They look at the relationship between currency manipulation, inflation, and global economic dominance. They also touch on Gramsci and the impact of cultural hegemony. Ultimately, they agree on the necessity of a class-based analysis as a prerequisite for revolutionary change.

Proles Pod is a podcast about history, politics, and culture... without the liberalism

Paywall bypass: https://archive.today/huHxi

The ministers attended an annual gathering of top defence officials of the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation member states in the eastern seaside city of Qingdao. The China-led security bloc also includes Belarus, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Now in its 22nd edition, the meeting was hosted by China’s Defence Minister Dong Jun.

The pressure is mounting on European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. On Wednesday, a group of right-wing MEPs announced that they had secured enough support to table a no-confidence against von der Leyen over concerns about her leadership style, lack of transparency and growing accusations of bypassing democratic norms within the EU’s institutional framework.

The initiative, launched by Romanian MEP Gheorghe Piperea, stems from the ongoing “Pfizergate” scandal, which escalated in May when the EU General Court issued a landmark ruling against the Commission for failing to disclose text messages exchanged between von der Leyen and Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla during negotiations in 2021 for the purchase of up to 1.8 billion doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine at a mind-boggling cost of €35 billion.

The motion was supported by 74 MEPs from various cross-party groups — 32 from the conservative ECR group, 23 from the sovereigntist ESN group (formed on the initiative of the AfD), 4 from the Patriots for Europe Groups, 14 independents and even 1 from the EPP, von der Leyen’s own group. The vote is expected to take place in July 2025, though an exact date has not been set.

While the motion has little chance of succeeding due to the high bar of a two-thirds majority —the EPP has the relative majority in the Parliament — this nonetheless represents a serious political hurdle for von der Leyen: for the first time the European Parliament will be forced to have a public and official discussion about a scandal that for years has been confined to newspaper reports and courtrooms. “The initiative is fundamentally about upholding transparency and ensuring a fair and genuine democratic process”, Piperea said. He acknowledged that the chances for it to succeed were slim, but said it offered a “crucial opportunity for constructive and substantiated criticism towards von der Leyen.

This is about more than just Pfizergate. Since her re-election in 2024, von der Leyen has been fiercely criticised from various quarters for her authoritarian approach and systematic sidelining of the Parliament. Last month, for example, the Commission proposed using an emergency clause in the EU treaty to shut Parliament out of approving a €150 billion loan scheme to boost joint procurement of weapons by EU countries, known as SAFE.

In response to European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, who threatened legal action against the European Commission, von der Leyen defended the move, arguing that the emergency clause is “fully justified” as SAFE is “an exceptional and temporary response to an urgent and existential challenge”.

In this sense, Pfizergate symbolises a broader process of supranationalisation, centralisation and “Commissionisation” of the bloc’s politics, where the Commission has progressively increased its influence over areas of competence that have previously been considered the preserve of national governments — from financial budgets and health policy to foreign affairs and defence. Piperea’s motion also mentions this alleged “procedural abuse”. He “calls on the European Commission to resign due to repeated failures to ensure transparency, persistent disregard for democratic oversight and the rule of law within the Union”.

Thus, while the motion is largely driven by right-wing and conservative factions, it exposes growing dissatisfaction across ideological and party lines. Socialists, liberals and even some Greens — who backed von der Leyen’s re-election — have become increasingly vocal in their criticism over von der Leyen’s leadership style, particularly regarding transparency issues and her withdrawal of a greenwashing law without parliamentary consultation. However, these groups explicitly stated they would not support a “far-right”-led motion.

Ultimately, the no-confidence motion will not topple von der Leyen, but its symbolic force is undeniable. Long-standing concerns over the concentration of power within the Commission can no longer be dismissed as fringe or conspiratorial. By compelling a public debate in the European Parliament, the initiative may begin to tear open the institutional façade of unity and consensus, revealing a growing unease even among mainstream parties with the EU’s escalating techno-authoritarian regime. Whether or not the motion passes, it signals that the age of unquestioned executive authority in Brussels may be nearing its limits — and that a reckoning over the future of EU governance may be fast approaching.

Journalist Peter Byrne joins us to discuss Military AI Watch. Hosted by Project Censored, Military AI Watch “exposes the hidden forces behind the AI arms race, the corporations cashing in, and the dire consequences for global security and democracy. Based on two years of extensive research, Byrne’s reporting sheds light on what powerful interests don’t want you to know.”

https://americanexception.com/