IV500 - September 2016

For most of the time, Rousseff’s impeachment was an act of the gangster Eduardo Cunha, supported by former allies of the PT government, that set up an institutional coup a la Honduras and Paraguay. Also in these little brother countries in Latin America, elected governments were dismissed by parliamentary-judicial maneuvers trampling their own constitutions.

Like a terrible reedition of the practices of the Nazis and the racist apartheid regime in South Africa, the government of the coup (which fomented the impeachment process against Dilma Rousseff), presided over by Michel Temer, has just given a very clear signal, one that tramples on the human rights of the community “of African descent”.

The European Commission has ordered the computer giant Apple to pay €13 billion in back taxes to the Irish government, ruling that over and above the low rates of corporation tax Ireland levies to encourage the installation of multinationals, the “sweetheart deal” offered to Apple gave it unfair advatages over rivals. The Irish government is appealing this decision and thus refusing this tax income. [International Viewpoint]

By now, the story of Syriza’s capitulation to the European creditor institutions is well-known.

Syriza came to power in January 2015 with a mandate to resist the imposition of austerity. Instead, Syriza folded under the pressure of the troika, accepting intensified austerity measures and dashing the hopes of its supporters.

In this interview with George Souvlis, economist Elias Ioakimoglou describes the resultant crisis that continues to wreak havoc on Greece a full year after. According to his figures, the Greek depression is now deeper and more severe than the American Great Depression of the 1930s. The following transcript has been edited for style and clarity. [Jacobin]

While the big powers and their allies attempt to reach agreement on a transition which includes Assad, Turkey has launched a military operation in Syria, as it has long wanted to do, in order to strengthen its hand at the negotiating table.