Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Something's Fishy in Tripoli / Politics / Middle East
By: OilPrice_Com
Way back in early 2011, members of the U.N. Security Council had no problem getting a resolution through that authorized military force in Libya ostensibly to protect civilians from attacks by forces loyal to strongman Moammar Gadhafi. The year before, lawmakers on both sides of the Atlantic were bickering over who did what and why in terms of the cancer-stricken Lockerbie bomber. This Scottish decision to release him, depending on which U.S. lawmaker you spoke with, was tied to a BP deal to drill for oil in Libya. Despite fractures in the new interim government in Tripoli and reports of renewed protests, a decision by the Italian government to quietly discuss trade relations suggests something isn't quite right in the way Western allies pick their fights.
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Thursday, January 26, 2012
Geithner's Had Enough, Declares Will Not Serve Second Term as Treasury Secretary / Politics / US Politics
By: Bloomberg
BLOOMBERG EXCLUSIVE: Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner spoke to Bloomberg Television's Trish Regan today and said that President Obama is "not going to ask me to stay on, I'm pretty confident. I'm confident he'll be president. But I'm also confident he's going to have the privilege of having another secretary of the Treasury...Something else for me."
Tune in to the full interview on Bloomberg TV tonight at 8pm/ET for "The State of the Economy," a live one-hour special event hosted by Trish Regan.
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Thursday, January 26, 2012
Will Iran Kill the PetroDollar? / Politics / US Dollar
By: Marin_Katusa
Marin Katusa, Casey Research writes: The official line from the United States and the European Union is that Tehran must be punished for continuing its efforts to develop a nuclear weapon. The punishment: sanctions on Iran's oil exports, which are meant to isolate Iran and depress the value of its currency to such a point that the country crumbles.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Restoring the American Dream: State of the Union Pitches an U.S. Economy / Politics / US Politics
By: Money_Morning
Martin Hutchinson writes:
In a speech before the nation last night, President Obama's State of the Union Address spoke of a new American economy that is "built to last."
Of course, in the wake of the dot com bubble, the subprime mortgage fiasco and the funny money of the last decade, that's certainly an objective all of us can heartily agree with.
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Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Bernanke's Dog(ma) / Politics / Central Banks
By: William_Bancroft
Will Bancroft takes a look at central banking, its intellectual foundations, and its most powerful agents today. What does it all mean for investors? We take a good look at the Bernanke Fed and the cartel of central banks, and wonder whether we are being well lead by our financial captains. Read on to learn more and see how these issues are linked to the gold price.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Rational U.S. Tariffs Lower Irrational Trade Deficits / Politics / Protectionism
By: BATR
As historical memory diminishes and the lessons of past centuries are forgotten, the practice of systematically destroying economic independence grows. Forget about real prosperity, the concept of interdependence, coined in popular parlances by the Trilateral Commission, has made the United States economy a post industrial dependency and a bankrupt debtor. The global corporatists despise protective tariffs because these excise taxes must be paid by foreign manufacturing enterprises. Since the rush to escape American shores, the transnational ventures seek not just cheap labor, but scheme to evade any effective regulations for the paradise of third world exploitation.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
America's Education System Teaches "How to Become a Serf" / Politics / Education
By: John_Kozy
How to Become a Serf: Man is a pathetic creature; a brute trying to be god but traveling in the wrong direction.
Educational systems now train workers to fulfill the needs of companies. A society in which people exist for the sake of companies is a society enslaved. But there's a deep problem with the notion that education should equal vocational training. To paraphrase a very famous and renowned person, man does not live by work alone. Indeed, the knowledge and skills needed to earn a living in a capitalist industrial economy are of little use in human relationships, and human relationships are the core of everyone's life. Schools devoted to vocational training provide no venue for teaching cultural differences, for trying to understand the person who lives next door or in another country.
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Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Preparing for America's Next Conquest / Politics / US Politics
By: Global_Research
Richard Lightbown writes: Debkafile reported on 17 January that an imminent joint Israeli-US exercise had been cancelled by Israel’s prime minister, and not by the US as widely supposed. Convinced that Iran has made the decision to become a nuclear power Mr Netanyahu is preparing for possible unilateral attacks on Iranian nuclear sites.
British press reports say agents from the CIA and MI6 are operating within Syria while British and French Special Forces are training members of the Free Syrian Army in Turkey. Pravda has claimed that NATO snipers who fought in Libya have been sent to Syria.
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Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Sovereigns Declare War on US Dollar / Politics / US Dollar
By: Chris_Blasi
Iranian Crisis Evolving into Dollar Hegemony and Western Power Challenge
Profoundly significant news came out of the Middle East on Monday January 23, 2012. The headline via DEBKAfile* reads:
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Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Warren Buffet on Filling the Government Budget Deficit By Taxing the Wealthy / Politics / Taxes
By: Bloomberg
BLOOMBERG EXCLUSIVE: Warren Buffett and Rep. Scott Rigell (R-VA) spoke with Bloomberg Television's Betty Liu in Omaha, NE during their first in-person meeting following Rigell's pledge to give 15% of his salary to help pay down the national debt.
Buffett said he would donate 15% of his income if 10% of Congress would, but that donations are ultimately insufficient and "what is effective is changing the law."
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Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Ron Paul, Stop Internet Censorship / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Although Congress was back in session for scarcely more than a day last week, private citizens across the country managed to cause an uproar felt across Capitol Hill. The uproar took the form of hundreds of thousands of phone calls to both Senators and Representatives, urging them to oppose two draconian new bills that threaten the free and unbridled flow of information on the internet.
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Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Mainstream Media is Harmful if Swallowed, Paychecks, Perception, Propaganda & Power / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
"It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!" - Upton Sinclair
I began to write this article in early December. I had just written an article that attempted to scrutinize how the American public could stand idly by while heavily armed mercenary thugs viciously crushed the Occupy encampments across the country in a Department of Homeland Security coordinated attack at the behest of the ruling oligarchy. Comfortably Numb made a case that the political and economic systems of the United States have been captured by a few evil men and they use their wealth and power to control the message hammered into the psyches of an apathetic, distracted, vincibly ignorant public. I started to tackle the question of why Americans could stand by as the new Greatest Generation was being abandoned, derided, scorned, beaten, tear gassed, and arrested for having the courage and audacity to stand up to a powerful corrupt unholy alliance between Wall Street psychopaths, corporate fascist barbarians, and Washington DC power hungry jackals. But I became overwhelmed with a feeling of disillusionment and hopelessness and was unable to write anything for about a month. I found myself questioning whether it was worth fighting such a powerful foe after seeing how easily they crushed the opposition put forth by OWS. After a month I decided I am not one to love my servitude.
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Monday, January 23, 2012
America's Great Divide Between Rich and Poor / Politics / Social Issues
By: Stephen_Lendman
In 1962, Michael Harrington's "The Other America" exposed the nation's dark side, saying:
"In morality and in justice, every citizen should be committed to abolishing the other America, for it is intolerable that the richest nation in human history should allow such needless suffering."
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Monday, January 23, 2012
Psychology of Tyranny for a Philosophy of Despotism / Politics / Social Issues
By: BATR
The underpinnings that fallaciously attempt to justify despotic regimes rely upon the perverted practice of controlling the public mindset in weak societies. The indisputable evidence that civilization is regressing at lightening speed is all us. Governments are becoming irrelevant with the passage of illegitimate authority consolidating into the hands of oligarchic cabals and global tyrants. An objective study of the voluntary abandonment of individual sovereignty is worthy of an entire scholarly discipline. However, before confused citizens seek psychoanalysis on a couch of technocrat design, the basic principles of a classical education should be applied.
Monday, January 23, 2012
UK Ban of Press TV, The New Media War! / Politics / Mainstream Media
By: Danny_Schechter
The British media regulator OFCOM has pulled Press TV’s license to be seen in the United Kingdom.
The regulator that has done so little to regulate the methods of Rupert. Murdoch’s media practices, or BBC’s tilted coverage of the war in Iraq, has suddenly decided that the Iran’s global English language channel must be sanctioned by being removed and silenced. (Ironically, it was Murdoch’s BSKYB channel that carried Press TV in the UK)
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Monday, January 23, 2012
You’d Have To Be Crazy To Start a Global Business in the USA – As a Public Company / Politics / US Politics
By: Ron_Holland
I'll bet you don't know that I may be the first person in recorded history to move voluntarily from the warm beach and golf resort of Hilton Head Island, South Carolina to cold and snowy Toronto, Canada. But Steve Wynn and many other entrepreneurs forced to deal with the multitude of regulatory agencies at the federal, state and local level would likely agree. America’s growing number of bureaucrats – all with their hand out to exchange fees for paperwork – can make it impossible to compete in the global economy from the US.
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Politicians and the Global Financial Crises / Politics / Credit Crisis Bailouts
By: Akhil_Khanna
Political System
The seeds of the global financial crises which were triggered by the collapse of Lehman Brothers in the USA in 2008 had been sown during the last number of decades. The basic reason for the emergence of the crises is the manner in which we select our leaders or politicians in our society. The politicians are the key persons responsible for laying down rules and regulations which the population of the country are expected to follow. The strict, severe and swift penalties for not adhering to the rules and regulations are supposed to act as deterrent for people from breaking the law. In the current system of elections there are some inbuilt weaknesses which do not allow the politicians to follow their basic responsibilities.
Friday, January 20, 2012
A Quartet of Fed Chairmen Body Slam Ben Bernanke / Politics / Central Banks
By: Fred_Sheehan
"Ben Bernanke's quest to make the U.S. Federal Reserve more transparent may be nearing an end as it debates a new statement of goals and strategy that is likely to put a number on its preferred inflation rate. A formal, numerical goal for inflation could become Mr. Bernanke's most durable legacy as chairman of the Fed. It would bind his successors to stable prices; end confusion caused by Fed officials who can have slightly different goals; and by reinforcing the Fed's determination to control inflation in the long-run, it could create space for monetary easing." -- "Fed Nears Inflation Target Decision;" Robin Harding in the Financial Times, January 17, 2012
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Living In A Real World House Of Lies: How Do We Foreclose? / Politics / US Politics
By: Danny_Schechter
If you go to the corner of 8th Avenue and 42nd Street near Times Square in Manhattan, just down from the Wax Museum and around the corner from the bus station, and look up, you’ll see an oversized billboard for Showtime’s, fast -paced “House of Lies,” a new cable TV series that is more like a realistic docudrama about the world of hard-charging management consultants.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
China to Aid Saudi Arabia in Nuclear Power Development / Politics / Nuclear Power
By: OilPrice_Com
Ever since the end of World War Two, the U.S. has come to regard Saudi Arabia as almost its exclusive oil producing enclave.
In February 1945, after the Yalta Conference with Soviet General Secretary Iosif Stalin and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, on his way home U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and King Ibn Saud met aboard the New Orleans-class heavy cruiser U.S.S. Quincy in the Suez Canal's Great Bitter Lake. During the meeting, instigated by Roosevelt, he and Ibn Saud concluded a secret agreement in which the U.S. would provide Saudi Arabia military security, including military assistance, training and a military base at Dhahran in Saudi Arabia, in exchange for secure access to supplies of oil.
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