International Viewpoint - online socialist magazine

• USA
  

  Progressives Strategic Failure: A Warning

  12 July, by Dan La Botz

  Democratic Party candidates are perceived by many voters as part of the system, part of the establishment, which indeed most are. The most common profession of Democratic congressional representatives and senators is law. Most don’t seem to share the common experiences of working class and lower middle-class people, because in fact they don’t. Lawyers’ average incomes range between $150,000 and $250,000, while the median income for American workers is $45,000 to $64,000,

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• Germany
  

  Forcing Refugees To Return to Syria is a Bad Idea

  11 July, by Joseph Daher

  “Not only are the conditions for a safe and dignified return to Syria not given. Without economic recovery and the reconstruction of critical state infrastructure a mass return of refugees to Syria would only worsen socio-economic conditions within the country and threaten large sectors of society dependent on remittances to survive.”

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• Palestine
  

  Israel targets and kills children

  10 July, by Édouard Soulier

  Two damning reports show that, in both Gaza and the West Bank, Israel is deliberately targeting Palestinian children.

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• G7 summit
  

  The G7: the imperialist order under Trump’s leadership

  9 July, by William Donaura

  Held in the shadow of Donald Trump, the G7 summit served above all to confirm the alignment of Western powers with US strategic and energy interests. Behind the declarations of principle, this summit points to strengthened imperialist cooperation, still built on the backs of the people.

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• Kenya
  

  Resisting “green capitalism” in Kenya

  8 July, by Paul Martial

  “Carbon credits enable multinationals to offset their carbon dioxide emissions by funding environmental projects. In Kenya, the Northern Rangelands Trust (NRT) specialises in this type of activity. It manages ‘conservancies’, i.e. areas set aside for this purpose.”

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...and the rest of the current issue

• Ecosocialism

  Many Fronts, One Struggle: A Report on the 7th International Ecosocialist Encounters

• USA

  Trump Campaigns on Anti-Communism as Left Opponents Are Indicted

• Venezuela

  215 years after Venezuela’s Declaration of Independence: Long live the republic

• Middle East

  The framework agreement Lebanon-Israel, a capitulation to multiple threats

• Colombia

  Colombia: in the eye of the storm

Recently posted Features

• Series: Banks and the “Too big to jail” doctrine (Part 8)

  Complicity of Dexia in very serious Human Rights violations in the Israeli occupied territories

  1 September 2014, by Éric Toussaint

  In 2001, the Dexia Group (Dexia SA) took over the Israeli bank Otzar Hashilton Hamekomi. It has been disclosed that this subsidiary – now called Dexia Israel – finances Israeli colonies in the Palestinian territories [1]which means Dexia is involved in the occupation of Palestine. As the platform “Palestine occupée – Dexia impliquée( Occupied Palestine - Dexia Involved)” says, “financing these colonies contravenes international law, in particular article 49 of the fourth Geneva Convention, which states, ’The occupying power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own population into the territory it occupies.’” [2]

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• Series: The banks and the “Too Big to Jail” doctrine (Part 7)

  The Big Banks Organise Massive Tax Evasion on an International Scale

  31 August 2014, by Éric Toussaint

  Another example of the “Too Big to Jail” doctrine: International tax evasion and fraud organised by UBS, Switzerland’s biggest bank.
  UBS, which had to be saved from failure in October 2008 by massive injections of Swiss public money, was involved in the LIBOR manipulation scandal, the currency markets manipulation scandal (UBS is the subject of several inquiries by controlling authorities in Hong Kong, US, the UK, and in Switzerland) and the abusive sale of structured Mortgage-Backed (…)

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• Series : The banks and the “too big to jail” doctrine (Part 5)

  Big banks’ tampering with interest rates

  31 August 2014, by Éric Toussaint

  The extremely tolerant approach to the manipulation of interest rates by the governments of the main industrialised countries shows the extent to which the ’Too Big to Jail’ principle is applied. In 2010 the media revealed that a group of eighteen banks had been manipulating the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) from 2005 to 2010. LIBOR is a benchmark rate used for a market of $350 trillion, in assets and financial derivatives, which means it is the second most important benchmark rate in the world after the dollar exchange rate. The rate is based on information provided by eighteen banks about their funding costs in interbank markets. In 2012 evidence was provided of collusion among big banks such as UBS, Barclays, Rabobank, or Royal Bank of Scotland in order to manipulate LIBOR in their own interests.

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• Series : The banks and the “too big to jail” doctrine (Part 4)

  HSBC: the bank with a shameful past and scandalous present

  31 August 2014, by Éric Toussaint

  The British bank HSBC (Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation) employs 260, 000 people, has offices in 75 countries, and 54 million customers. [3]
  From its earliest days, it has been involved in the international narcotics trade. It was founded in the wake of the British victories in the Opium Wars (1839-1842 and 1856-1860) against China. These two wars were very important to the strengthening of the British Empire and the century and a half waning of China. Through the Opium Wars, the British Empire forced China to accept opium importations coming from British India. China tried to oppose this commerce, but British arms, backed by Washington, proved stronger. London established a colony in Hong Kong in 1865, where HSBC was created by a Scottish merchant specializing in the opium trade— the basis of 70% of Hong Kong trade with the Indies.

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