EU – ZERO ANTHROPOLOGY

Brexitannia: The Faces and Voices of Brexit

First shown at London’s East End Festival in June of 2017, Brexitannia was the very first documentary about Brexit. It is a striking and deeply pensive film, in contrast with the Brexit movie reviewed in the previous article. Brexitannia (2017) is a superb documentary that is remarkable for its sensitivity, balance, and the ability to […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Brexit, the Uncivil War: Watering Myths with the Teardrops of the Ruling Class

What have been billed as momentous EU Parliament elections are taking place this week (May 23–26), and it seemed like the right time to review some Brexit films—one is entertainment, the other is a documentary. The reason for the Brexit theme has to do more with 2019 than with 2016, especially since the Brexit Party, […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Review of 2018, Part 3 (July–September): The Trade War plus Cold War II

JULY June was a month so heavily saturated with key turning point events, that it seemed like the longest month of the year—but then July came. Already, on the first day, we were treated to a very unusual sight: an obviously chastened and tamed John Bolton, just back from his visit with Vladimir Putin in […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Review of 2018, Part 2 (April–June): Dealing in Danger and Diplomacy

APRIL The Trade War Begins? April continued many of the same themes from March, beginning with the apparent start of a trade war between China and the US as China made good on its threats of retaliation in a major way. China expanded its list of tariffs, targeting 128 US exports with up to 25% […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

The Helsinki Summit: Trying to Turn the Page on the New Cold War

Finally, on Monday, July 16, 2018, the Helsinki Summit bringing together Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump took place, despite shrill demands that it be stopped, canceled, or turned into a platform for more aggression. “President Trump should cancel his meeting with Vladimir Putin until Russia takes demonstrable and transparent steps to […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

The Trade War is Here: Some of the New “Facts of Life”

In Madeleine Albright’s new book, dramatically titled Fascism: A Warning, she slams the anti-globalization crowd, claiming yet again that globalization is here to stay—it’s a “fact of life”. It must be another of those facts of life that we are seeing today, like “Donald Trump will never be elected president” or “UK voters will ultimately […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

What Happened to the American Empire?

Has anything out of the ordinary happened to the US as an imperialist power since the ascent of Trump to office? While the continuities between Trump and his predecessors are considerable, have there been any significant discontinuities that mark the first year of this presidency? Is there any reason to think that the rise of […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Did the Belgian Authorities Purposely Trigger the Brussels Attacks?

Updated March 27, 2016, 3:30pm EST. Among the dense clouds of speculation from mainstream journalists and the many supposed national security experts whose expertise lies in repeating nothing (“I have been briefed, but I cannot say anything further as it would compromise sensitive intelligence sources during an ongoing investigation”) one is forced to make one’s […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

The Shape of Things to Come in Libya (Part 1 of 2)

There is another rush to war in Libya. Driven by US public alarmism over ISIS, and fronted by Italy, we are now being told by the Italian Defence Minister that war is coming before spring: “We cannot imagine waiting until spring while the situation in Libya is still frozen. Efforts to resolve the Libyan crisis […]

by Brendan Stone

Regime Change: 10 Things You Need to Know about Ukraine

1. The U.S. government, through Victoria Nuland, was caught interfering directly in Ukraine’s politics. Her “fuck the EU” phone call demonstrates the high level of U.S. State Department involvement. Our media focused largely on the negative PR caused by the “fuck the EU” comment, but skirted around the content of the phone call. The widely-leaked conversation featured […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Sochi, Sexuality, and Empire

Only When in Russia When were the last modern Olympic games that openly endorsed gay rights? Where were those Olympic games held? The short answer is: never, nowhere. However, suddenly, gay rights issues matter when deciding to attend the Olympics. Sochi, for reasons that are not altogether mysterious, now stands out as an exception being […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Slouching Towards Washington

Does the U.S. have “friends and allies”? Or does the world merely consist of targets and tools? As we learned today the U.S. National Security Agency has been spying on a series of buildings and offices of the European Union, spying on Internet communications, phone calls and more. NATO headquarters has been used to spy […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Reflected Hypocrisy: Russia Holds Up a Georgian Mirror (1.6)

Principles, Etched into Thin Air From my own limited schooling in International Law, what I took away was that there was no “international law” as such, as a single codified corpus of laws that all nations could or would agree with, or helped to formulate, and then remained permanent. Instead, like current forms of “world […]