Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Queen's New Year Honours, OBEs for Kylie Minogue and Kashaf Walayat / Politics / UK Politics
By: Nadeem_Walayat
The Queen's Honours committee did the rounds today with new year gifts for the famous and many more of the not so famous. The sun may have long since set on the British Empire but the establishment can still pin medals to lapels as reward for contribution to British society.
Kylie Minogue at 39 tops the bill of the famous league by picking up an OBE, Order of the British Empire.
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Monday, December 24, 2007
Perhaps the Universe will Never Blink / Politics / Resources & Reviews
By: Anwaar_Hussain
Bill Bryson's ‘A Short History of Nearly Everything' is a truly remarkable book. It is an ambitious attempt to decipher the mysteries of universe. Genuinely enthralling, it is a unique travelogue of science. Starting from the immensity of the universe, it beams us into the heart of sub-atomic particles and then some more. It is a captivating scientific journal and an extraordinary collection of information.Read full article... Read full article...
Sunday, December 23, 2007
NHS Loses Confidential Records on Hundreds of Thousands of Patients / Politics / NHS
By: N_Walayat
The NHS delivered fraudsters a potentially early Christmas present by nine NHS trusts losing the computerised records of hundreds of thousands of patients across England, as data disks went missing.
Its a case of here we go again..
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Sunday, December 23, 2007
US Presidential Elections are a Sham! / Politics / US Politics
By: Mike_Whitney
Every four years the country is swept up in the pomp and pageantry of presidential elections. And every four years loyal Americans flock to the voting booths to select the candidate of their choice. Elections--we are told---are supposed to be the true expression of democratic government. But they aren't. They're a sham and most people know it. The balloting creates the illusion of choice where there is none. It's become a meaningless ritual that has nothing to do with representative government.Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, December 20, 2007
US 2008 Presidential Election: Important Concepts About Monetary Policy and History / Politics / US Politics
By: Richard_C_Cook
The 2008 presidential election campaign starts in earnest on January 3 with the Iowa caucuses, followed a few days later by the New Hampshire primary. While all of the Republican candidates except Ron Paul have totally ignored economic issues, the Democrats are all sounding more “populist” than at any time since the Great Depression. Nevertheless, with the exception of Dennis Kucinich, they all swallow in its totality the debt-based monetary system overseen by the Federal Reserve which is at the root of the escalating crisis.Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Climate Change and the Economy / Politics / Climate Change
By: Brian_Bloom
The following is the headline of a report to the US Senate, published on December 20th 2007.
U.S. Senate Report: Over 400 Prominent Scientists Disputed Man-Made Global Warming Claims in 2007
Senate Report Debunks "Consensus"
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Thursday, December 20, 2007
Putin's Rebuilt Russia Prepares for US Missile Defense Flash point 2008 / Politics / Russia
By: Mike_Whitney
It's been a lot of hard work, but Russian President Vladimir Putin has finally achieved his goal. He's cleaned up the mess left behind by Yeltsin, put together a strong and thriving economy, and restored Russia to a place of honor among the community of nations. His legacy has already been written. He's the man who rebuilt Russia. The last thing he wants now, is a pointless confrontation with the United States. But how can it be avoided? He understands Washington's long-range plans for Russia and he is taking necessary steps to preempt them. He is familiar with the heavyweights of US foreign policy, like Zbigniew Brzezinski, and has undoubtedly read his master-plan for Central Asia, “The Grand Chessboard”. Brzezinski's recent article in Foreign Affairs, (A publication of the Council on Foreign Relations) “A Geostrategy for Eurasia” summarizes his views on America's future involvement in the region: Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, December 17, 2007
Ron Paul on the Importance of Fiscal Responsibility in US Government / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
As the year draws to a close, the battle over spending in Washington is heating up. The Democrats want to expand government healthcare, while the President has vetoed the second attempt to expand SCHIP.The latest version of the State Children's Health Insurance Program would have expanded the entitlement program and raised taxes, just as the earlier version did and the President showed fiscal restraint with his veto.
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Saturday, December 15, 2007
Iran - Bombed if you do, Bombed if you Don't / Politics / Iran
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
The latest National Intelligence Estimate has been greeted by a mixture of relief and alarm. As I have been saying all along, Iran indeed poses no quantifiable imminent nuclear threat to us or her neighbors. It is with much alarm, however, that we see the administration continue to ratchet up the war rhetoric as if nothing has changed.Read full article... Read full article...
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
NHS - Staggering Scale of Money Wasted / Politics / NHS
By: Nadeem_Walayat
Can Gerry Robinson Fix the NHS?
Gerry Robinson the management guru returns to see if his management reforms implemented a a year ago at a large district hospital in the North of England have taken root and managed to fix the NHS.
Patients continue to lose confidence in the wake of lack of competency in the NHS ability to manage resources resulting in little more than 30p of output for every extra £1 spent on the NHS.
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Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Bush Lack of Intelligence over Nuclear Iran - Oil Deciding Factor / Politics / Iran
By: David_Vaughn
Are you ready to go to war in Iran ? That has been a popular topic for quite some time. It has been believed that Iran is building the capacity to produce nuclear weapons. Can't have that. They'll have to be knocked out with conventional weapons and bunker busters. This subject of possible war has brought on so great speculation both pro and con.Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Why Austrailia's Trade Unions Sponsored Work Study is Worthless / Politics / Austrailia
By: Gerard_Jackson
The aim of Buchanan and Woonay's Australia at Work study is to persuade people that free labour markets drive down real wage rates because labour lacks the power to defend itself against capitalists. Yet every single critic of this so-called study missed this vital point. What we got were conservative economic illiterates like Janet Albrechtsen, Andrew Bolt and Imre Saluszinsky (all of whom are from the Murdoch stable) engaging in ad hominem attacks instead of dealing with Buchanan and Woonroy's underlying assumption that free labour markets are exploitive.Read full article... Read full article...
Saturday, December 08, 2007
Iran Nuclear Intelligence; Now Off the Hook or On the Hook? / Politics / Iran
By: Anwaar_Hussain
The bolt from the blue called the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iran, which was released on Monday the 3rd of December, reported “with high confidence that in fall 2003, Tehran halted its nuclear weapons program ‘because of international pressure'.”
The NIE, in reality, is a final acknowledgement, and a sort of culmination, of a long trail of track-2 diplomacy and intel gathering that the US State department and intelligence agencies have been conducting, and misconducting, with their Iranian counterparts for some time now.
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Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Kasparov Cries - Putin is the New Stalin / Politics / Russia
By: Mike_Whitney
Garry Kasparov should give up politics and do what he does best; stand-up comedy.Watching Kasparov traipse around Moscow with his basket of sour grapes and his entourage of western media-stooges is like watching "Mr. Bean's Excellent Kremlin Adventure"---a particularly lame performance in a dismal B-rated burlesque. It's painful to watch.
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Monday, December 03, 2007
United Russia Victory – Putin Determined to Protect Russias Resources / Politics / Russia
By: Ian_Brockwell
At the time of writing this article the parliamentary elections in Russia were still some hours away, but it is most likely that “United Russia” will win by a landslide (probably receiving in excess of 63 percent of the votes).
President Putin, who heads the United Russia list of candidates, has been accused of abusing his authority and taking an unfair advantage by obtaining more exposure on the state channels, and breaking up opposition rallies.
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Sunday, December 02, 2007
Putin's Party to Win Russian Election with a Landslide / Politics / Russia
By: Mike_Whitney
Is Vladimir Putin the Worlds Most Popular Leader?
On Sunday, Russians will vote in their country's parliamentary elections. The results are a foregone conclusion. Putin's party, United Russia, is expected to win in a landslide. The only question is whether the margin of victory will exceed 70%. If it does, then Putin will continue to be the most powerful player in Russian politics even after he steps down from office next year.
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Friday, November 30, 2007
Afghanistan - A Crude Oil War Of Revenge / Politics / Energy Resources
By: Mike_Whitney
The United States is on its way to losing the war in Afghanistan. The eventual defeat will be political not military. Public sentiment is shifting in Europe. The people have had enough. They want to get out. When European troops withdrawal from Afghanistan; NATO will gradually unravel and the Transatlantic Alliance will collapse. That will be a disaster for America. The US will again be isolated by two great oceans. But not by choice. America's days as an empire will be over.Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Labour Market Economics Sank the Howard Government / Politics / Austrailia
By: Gerard_Jackson
Although it is probably correct to point to rising interest rates and Howard?s admission that he would resign if re-elected as contributing to his defeat, it is still very likely that an autopsy will reveal that the principle cause of the Liberal Government?s demise was its grotesque mishandling of labour market reform. Trying to explain to Liberal politicians what was needed to successfully sell the benefits of free labour markets was an impossible task.Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, November 26, 2007
Russian "Elected” Government and Dictatorship, What's the difference? / Politics / Russia
By: Ian_Brockwell
Garry Kasparov, the former world chess champion, was arrested by Russian authorities on Saturday for helping to lead an unsanctioned procession of at least 1,500 people (against Russian President Vladimir Putin), he was sentenced to five days in prison.Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Coup D'Etat Rumblings in Venezuela / Politics / Venezuela
By: Stephen_Lendman
The Bush administration tried and failed three prior times to oust Hugo Chavez since its first aborted two-day coup attempt in April, 2002. Through FOIA requests, lawyer, activist and author Eva Golinger uncovered top secret CIA documents of US involvement that included an intricate financing scheme involving the quasi-governmental agency, National Endowment of Democracy (NED), and US Agency for International Development (USAID). The documents also showed the White House, State Department and National Security Agency had full knowledge of the scheme, had to have approved it, and there's little doubt of CIA involvement as it's always part of this kind of dirty business. What's worrying now is what went on then may be happening again in what looks like a prelude to a fourth made-in-Washington attempt to oust the Venezuelan leader that must be monitored closely as events develop.Read full article... Read full article...