Syriza & Podemos: A European Red Spring?

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Before we get started, it would be useful to remember that the founding “parents” of the “conservative revolution” or “neo-liberalism” as it is known in Europe, Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, both died of Alzheimer´s disease … This might not be the cause of the ongoing disaster, but it sure is a nifty metaphor for the situation we are in.

Regular readers know that one of my favorite hobby horses is criticizing the blockheadedness of post Cold War politicians who seem to have totally lost their fear of popular wrath.

Those who are cheerfully going about the work of dismantling the welfare state seem blissfully unaware that the welfare state was created by men as, or even more conservative then themselves (Bismark, for example), in order to avoid revolutionary social movements which would destabilize and jeopardize the entire economic system and society itself. This was a strategy that was so eminently successful that it practically has destroyed revolutionary praxis.

Great Women Of Muslim History: Padishah Hatun of Iran

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Safvetuddin Padishah Hatun is described by historians as beautiful and intelligent at the same time. In fact, she possessed such beauty that it reached the ears of Ilhan Abaka, the son of the famous Mongol Hulagu Khan, who asked for her hand. In spite of the opposition of Padishah Hatun’s stepbrother, Sultan Hajjâj, Türkân Hatun accepted Ilhan Abaka’s — a very beneficial decision because her marriage guaranteed a long time of justice and mercy of the Mongols towards the state of Kirman.

On the sudden death of Abaka Khan in 1282, Hulagu’s seventh son Teküdar was chosen to succeed him. His first objective was to strengthen Mongol authority in the Islamic world so he became a Muslim by taking the name of Ahmet. It was during the reign of Ahmet Teküdar that Türkân Hatun lost her throne. This caused her daughters Bibi Hatun and Padishah Hatun much grief. But as a result of the power struggle between Ahmet Teküdar and his nephew Argun, the latter was finally recognized as Ilhan (chieftain).

A short while later, when her brother Soyurgatmısh was summoned to Ordu, he saw that the situation was dangerous. Argun treated him with great harshness for having supported Ahmet. At the same time, he had a number of powerful enemies there, such as Bibi Türkân and Padishah Hatun. In the end the judges decided that Sultan Jelâüddîn Soyurgatmısh and Padishah Hatun should rule Kirman together to guarantee political stability.

Mining The Earth & Fracking The World: Keystone Showdown

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Kate Lanier’s collects global energy and climate news. This week, she has a special focus on the fight over the Keystone XL Pipeline in Congress including:

Keystone XL Pipeline, US Senate: Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) of the senate’s Energy and Natural resources Committee blasted the Senate’s Keystone XL pipeline bill. Sanders is concerned about the US Senate rejecting science and efficient renewable energy, while Warren concentrated on the pipeline benefitting the Canadian oil industry and not US families. Update: “Democrats plan tough votes for GOP on Keystone pipeline bill.”

Meanwhile, from Vatican City: Pope Francis has added his voice in opposition to mining, fracking, and disregard for the earth in general. He appears in a movie, La Guerra Del Fracking de Pino Solanas (The Fracking War), banned in Argentina (where the government calls fracking “non-conventional gas”), but now on YouTube.” Pope Francis also spoke to the urgency of focusing on youth, the future.

Alabama: Radioactive (tritium) leak at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant near Athens, after which TVA said “the leak was quickly contained and presented no public risk.” Not the only TVA radioactive leak, nor the only one at Browns Ferry.

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