000-tobecategorised

Does Trump’s Attempted “Dismantling” of Spook-Infested, Regime Change Agency USAID Herald a New Foreign Policy Era? https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2025/02/will-trump-doge-sink-spook-infested-regime-change-agency-usaid-and-does-assault-herald-a-new-foreign-policy.html by Conor Gallagher February 5, 2025

USAID’s funding often supports media outlets, educational programs, and NGOs that promote pro-Western narratives. https://x.com/DD_Geopolitics/status/1886208239991431607 

Trump’s takedown of USAID, like much of his 2nd term, motivated by vengeance for the Russiagate hoax. The left-liberal-center spectrum that drove Russiagate for 4 years has since forgotten about it, but for MAGA Russiagate is red hot live & a great mobilizer.  https://x.com/MarkAmesExiled/status/1886192778608070749 

https://x.com/RnaudBertrand/status/1886082749779607997 Hegemony was going to end sooner or later, and now the U.S. is basically choosing to end it on its own terms. It is the post-American world order - brought to you by America itself.

Even the tariffs on allies, viewed under this angle, make sense, as it redefines the concept of "allies": they don't want - or maybe rather can't afford - vassals anymore, but rather relationships that evolve based on current interests.

How India has signalled a shift in the way it views climate crisis  https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-climate/how-india-has-signalled-a-shift-in-the-way-it-views-climate-crisis-9821960/  by Amitabh Sinha   The country has questioned the “excessive preoccupation” of the international climate regime to achieve a specific temperature goal and argued that for developing countries like itself, adaptation must take precedence over reducing emissions.

...The shift in India’s emphasis seems to be prompted by a reassessment of ground realities. The world is nowhere close to meeting its emissions reduction targets for 2030 or 2035 due to inaction largely on the part of the developed countries. In fact, global emissions are still on the rise.

 Appreciable benefits of mitigation accrue only when the world as a whole reduces emissions by a significant amount. Also, these benefits are not witnessed immediately as global warming is caused not by the amount of greenhouse gases being emitted, but by their concentration in the atmosphere over time...

Currently, India only seems to be asserting that the choices of low-carbon development, and the pace of energy transition, should be decided by itself and not dictated by others. While that is a fair and reasonable ask, it is more on India than the rest of the world to make this happen. For example, if manufacturing and technology capabilities related to clean energy are not scaled up significantly, India will continue to remain dependent on foreign supply chains. The country would also not be in a position to make independent choices on energy transition.

How Progressive Civil Society Became Professional NGO Culture  https://jacobin.com/2024/12/civil-society-working-class-democrats

Right now, progressive civil society is poorly equipped for this task. Broadly defined to include left-leaning advocacy groups, NGOs, think tanks, and public forums — such as publications, podcasts, social media networks, and community spaces — progressive civil society has come too close to abandoning mass politics to build working-class alliances and support for left visions.

The road to building much stronger ties between progressive politics and working-class communities will surely be arduous. Leftists will need to try a multitude of approaches and take risks. Advocacy organizations, think tanks, writers, and activists of all sorts need to engage more deeply with working-class communities and forge ties that go beyond the traditional progressive base.

This must include not just speaking to working-class people and communities but creating spaces for their direct contributions to a democratic left, ensuring participation in decision-making and shaping agendas. It could also mean contributing to an emerging left media sphere that speaks to working-class tastes, centers working-class voices and experiences, and invites many more people to see themselves as respected members of the democratic left. This would involve working with unions and other existing left-leaning groups that already have meaningful community ties, such as the Working Families Party, Common Defense, and the Rural Urban Bridge Initiative. Leftists might also forge new relations with nonpartisan groups in working-class communities open to partnering on specific causes...