Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Monday, August 07, 2017
Vladimir the Great Sums Up Pope Francis the Fake! / Politics / Religion
By: Antonius_Aquinas
Vladimir Putin has once again demonstrated why he is the most perceptive, farsighted, and for a politician, the most honest world leader to come around in quite a while. If it had not been for his patient and wise statesmanship, the world may have already been embroiled in an all encompassing global configuration with the possibility of thermonuclear destruction.
His latest comments on the purported head of the Catholic Church may have been his most perceptive as of yet and should be heeded not only by Western secular leaders, but by the globe’s one billion or so Catholics, most of whom regard Jorge Bergoglio as pope.
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Saturday, August 05, 2017
Four Maps That Show How Russia Could Strike Back Against US Sanctions / Politics / Russia
By: John_Mauldin
BY GEORGE FRIEDMAN, XANDER SNYDER, EKATERINA ZOLOTOVA : The US Congress has passed new sanctions targeting Russia’s energy companies.
Recognizing that a vital sector in its economy has even less chance of relief than it once had, Russia has retaliated. It has reduced the number of diplomats it has in the US and has seized property used in Russia by US diplomats.
Energy sales are an important source of revenue in Russia. But it’s more than that. For Russia, energy is also an instrument of geopolitical power. They give Moscow considerable influence over the countries dependent on Russian energy exports.
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Friday, August 04, 2017
Iran: Public Image Versus Historical Reality Part 2. Iran: The Last Century to the Present / Politics / Iran
By: Raymond_Matison
Iran: Part 2. Iran: The Last Century to the Present is a sequel to the first part of this report on Iran. The reading of both parts is necessary for a more complete understanding of how Iran has evolved to its present media perceived status in the world, and how reality diverges from popular perceptions. Part I, traces historical events which have shaped Iran’s evolution and development from its great Persian empire of over two thousand years ago to those taking place in the 20th century.
Friday, August 04, 2017
US Military May Soon Deploy Millions Of Drones—Which Presents A Big Investment Opportunity / Politics / US Military
By: John_Mauldin
BY PATRICK WATSON : If you were to ask me what the most inefficient US market sector is, I would probably say defense.
Now, that’s something no one likes to hear.
How come the one sector the US government spends the most money on—the FY 2018 defense budget is $824.7 billion, more than that of the next nine countries combined—is the most inefficient?
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Thursday, August 03, 2017
Here’s Why The US Sanctions Against Russia Threaten Germany’s Interests / Politics / GeoPolitics
By: John_Mauldin
By Antonia Colibasanu : The US House of Representatives has passed a bill to renew and expand sanctions against Russia that were imposed after Russia’s annexation of Crimea. The bill, however, could also have a negative impact on some European energy projects that are linked to Russian companies.
Since the initial bill was first approved by the Senate on June 15, the European Union has been lobbying US lawmakers to revise the proposed legislation and reduce its effects on third-party countries.
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Wednesday, August 02, 2017
Trump, the CIA and the Yokeldom / Politics / US Politics
By: Raul_I_Meijer
The western world is mired in a mile-deep political crisis and nary a soul seems to notice, or rather: everyone just sees their own little preferred echochamber tidbits of it. Which is not a good thing, because that crisis is bound to trigger other bigger crises that are much more damaging. And I’m sorry to say it, but Donald Trump is not your main problem. Not even close.
The main problem is the collapse of western political systems. While that is what brought Trump to power in the first place, he didn’t cause the collapse. The collapse is also what ‘gave you’ Brexit, and Trump didn’t cause that either. Moreover, in the next step, on the far end of all this, Trump may well be the only thing standing between you and CIA warfare. I know, who wants to hear that, right?! Who’s ready for that next step?
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Tuesday, August 01, 2017
Can Germany Be Made Great Again? / Politics / Germany
By: Antonius_Aquinas
When Germany Was Great!
Ever since the start of the deliberately conceived “migrant crisis,” orchestrated by NWO elites, the news out of Germany has been, to say the least, horrific. Right before the eyes of the world, a country is being demographically destroyed through a coercive plan of mass migration. The intended consequences of this – financial strain, widespread crime and property destruction, the breakdown of German culture – will continue to worsen if things are not turned around.
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Tuesday, August 01, 2017
Trump’s Trade War Will Trigger The Biggest Wave Of Automation in History / Politics / Robotics
By: John_Mauldin
BY PATRICK WATSON : War is coming—the signs are everywhere.
Last week, US and Chinese negotiators met in Washington to cap the 100-day dialogue that Presidents Trump and Xi promised at their April summit.
It didn’t go well.
The joint statement reported no new agreements, and both sides canceled their planned press conferences.
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Tuesday, August 01, 2017
The Myths and Realities of Duterte’s Infrastructure Initiative / Politics / Asian Economies
By: Dan_Steinbock
A huge upgrade of infrastructure is vital for Philippines economic future. That’s why it is contested by entrenched interests, including foreign powers. This is the first in a series of occasional commentaries about the Philippines transformation from an international viewpoint.In the past year, President Duterte has initiated a series of economic reforms to accelerate economic development. Despite much “political noise,” the government seeks sustained growth around 6.5- 7% in 2017, by banking on multiple initiatives, especially higher infrastructure spending.
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Monday, July 31, 2017
Exposing the US Government As Terrorist Organization / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
I recently had the opportunity to speak on Iran’s PressTV channel. It was great being able to speak a bit of truth about the state of the world and evil transgressions perpetrated by the US government on a relatively well-known network.
The first thing I was asked about was what kind of repercussions the US sanctions on Russia, Iran, and North Korea will have? I responded by bringing up the great anarchist, Frederick Bastiat’s, quote “When goods don’t cross borders, Soldiers will.”
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Saturday, July 29, 2017
America – Then and Now – Part 1 / Politics / US Politics
By: Andy_Sutton
Yesterday Andy had a chance to go on Liberty Talk Radio and talk about what is going on economically. We decided that despite what we felt was a great show, that it didn’t even scratch the surface in terms of the differences between how things used to be and how they are now. Particularly disturbing is the relative lack of understanding or willingness to even accept the changes that have taken place by the majority of the population. The latter is called ‘normalcy bias’. It is something ingrained in each of us as a human and either reinforced or stunted by our experiences. We aren’t sure how far down the road of ‘Then and Now’ we’ll get in today’s installment. There may be future installments.
Saturday, July 29, 2017
Potential Winners in Space Exploration / Politics / Technology
By: Rodney_Johnson
In the pre-dawn hours of Saturday, October 12, 1957, a cold north wind blew through the streets of Baltimore. The temperature hovered around 40 degrees, but many of the people standing outside weren’t concerned about the chilly air.They trained their binoculars on the sky. A small, glowing object streaked through the darkness and changed their world forever. Footage shot from down below by a local TV cameraman ended up on the national news.
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Friday, July 28, 2017
Why Russia’s Slumping Grain Yields Are So Bad For Putin / Politics / Russia
By: John_Mauldin
By Geopolitical Futures : Russia relies on wheat more than any other foodstuff as an important component of its food supply. In fact, roughly 70% of wheat produced in Russia annually is consumed domestically. From Siberia to the westernmost regions bordering Europe, wheat is a staple in most parts of the country.
In 2016, Russia became the world’s top grain exporter with a record production of 120 million tons of wheat, according to Russian statistics agency Rosstat. But poor weather conditions have affected this year’s production.
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Thursday, July 27, 2017
China May Not Have Stopped North Korea’s Nuclear Program Deliberately / Politics / GeoPolitics
By: John_Mauldin
BY GEORGE FRIEDMAN : The United States and China met to discuss trade issues.
The meeting ended without agreement on anything. The obligatory joint press conference after the talks, where everyone pretends that everything was fine, was canceled.
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Thursday, July 27, 2017
Congress Is Hopeless Against Trump’s Plans To Impose Trade Sanctions / Politics / US Politics
By: John_Mauldin
Trade is the global economy’s bloodstream. The more freely it flows, the better for all.
As David Ricardo explained 200 years ago, different peoples have unique characteristics that enable them to produce certain goods at lower opportunity costs than others can. Free trade gives consumers access to the best goods and services at the lowest prices.
However, what we now call “free trade” is not what Ricardo had in mind. We have instead managed trade designed to benefit certain favored parties and to disadvantage others.
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Wednesday, July 26, 2017
Iran: Public Image Versus Historical Reality - Part 1: An Abridged History to the 20th Century / Politics / Iran
By: Raymond_Matison
Part I, traces historical events which have shaped Iran’s evolution and development from its great Persian empire of over two thousand years ago to those taking place in the 20th century.
Over the last several decades Iran has been labeled by the United States a terrorist state, a state that needs to be restricted or otherwise controlled. Consequently, Iran has been under frequent, broad and severe sanctions over the last several decades, whereby it was impeded from selling its oil to generate revenues, and foreclosed to use the SWIFT system of international money transfer. It is a state, according to the international community, which cannot be permitted to develop nuclear arms. President George W. Bush identified Iran as part of a global axis of evil. More recently President Trump has noted on his recent trip to the Middle East that Iran “is the biggest sponsor of terrorism, and that Iran must never be allowed to possess a nuclear weapon”. He called on “all nations of conscience to isolate Iran”.
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Tuesday, July 25, 2017
Trump’s “America First” Trade Frictions Are About to Begin / Politics / US Politics
By: Dan_Steinbock
After the US-Sino Comprehensive Economic Dialogue, trade issues are alienating not only China and America’s NATO allies – but its NAFTA partners, Canada and Mexico.As the Trump administration’s first US-Sino Comprehensive Economic Dialogue (CED) ended in Washington, it could only agree on three no’s: canceled news conferences, no joint statement and no new announcements on market access by the US to China, or by China to the US.
A simple scenario is that the CED has paved way to a major trade conflict between the US and China. Yet, despite tough political rhetoric, economic realities do not seem to support such a view, at least yet.
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Tuesday, July 25, 2017
GOP Leadership Betrays Trump Voters on Obamacare & Debt / Politics / US Politics
By: MoneyMetals
The single-digit approval rating of Congress means precious few people still expect much from the politicians running Washington DC.
Expectations should now ratchet even lower as representatives once again demonstrate just how far their words are from their deeds.
We’ll start with healthcare. The U.S. Senate failed in yet another effort to repeal and replace Obamacare. The prospects for reform any time soon are approaching zero.
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Monday, July 24, 2017
Saving Illinois: Getting More Bang for Its Bucks / Politics / Debt Crisis 2017
By: Ellen_Brown
Illinois is insolvent, unable to pay its bills. According to Moody’s, the state has $15 billion in unpaid bills and $251 billion in unfunded liabilities. Of these, $119 billion are tied to shortfalls in the state’s pension program. On July 6, 2017, for the first time in two years, the state finally passed a budget, after lawmakers overrode the governor’s veto on raising taxes. But they used massive tax hikes to do it – a 32% increase in state income taxes and 33% increase in state corporate taxes – and still Illinois’ new budget generates only $5 billion, not nearly enough to cover its $15 billion deficit.
Monday, July 24, 2017
Macbeth, King Lear and Trump / Politics / US Politics
By: Raul_I_Meijer
Mea culpa. Yesterday I wrote Scaramouche, Scaramouche, will you do the Fandango?, and not long after publishing it, I figured I missed the target I was going for. Not 100%, and it’s not all bad, as people’s reactions have confirmed, but…
The thing is, Trump’s nomination of Anthony Scaramucci as White House Communications Director was not the main point of my piece. Tempting, because everybody knows the Queen song, but not the main one, and it certainly shouldn’t have been the title of the piece.
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