We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Thursday, June 18, 2015

Pepe Escobar [is interviewed by Eric Draitser on China's strategies]

Click here to access the podcast recording of this interview from CounterPunch in which two of the of world's top independent journalists discuss the various dramatic ventures of China. I don't usually post long interviews like this (70 minutes), but the material these top notch journalists discuss is of vital importance in our attempt to understand the world we live in.
This week, CounterPunch Radio host Eric Draitser sits down with journalist and author Pepe Escobar to talk geopolitics and the emerging conflicts of the 21st Century. Eric and Pepe discuss the much publicized tensions between the US and China in the South China Sea, examining some of the principal motivations of China and its neighbors and competitors. They go in depth about the Chinese New Silk Roads strategy and what it means for political and economic development and integration in Eurasia. Eric and Pepe also explore the vast implications of the Chinese and Russian moves, and the ways in which the West is attempting to counter some of these developments, including Washington's corporate-sponsored power grabs of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), Transatlantic Trade & Investment Partnership (TTIP) and Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA).
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