Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Sunday, November 23, 2014
Just What is Islamic State? / Politics / ISIS Islamic State
By: LewRockwell
Eric Margolis writes: Sir John Baggot Glubb, better known as Glubb Pasha, was one of the modern Mideast’s most colorful and romantic figures. He and ‘Chinese’ Gordon of Khartoum were the last of the great British imperial officers.
Seconded by Britain to its protectorate, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Glubb built up its small Bedouin army, the Arab Legion, into the Arab world’s finest military force.
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Sunday, November 23, 2014
The Internet Is A Perfect Example of How a Free Market Would and Does Work / Politics / Internet
By: Jeff_Berwick
Some people, apparently, still have a fear of being free (they fear not having violent owners). It's a fear I've never understood... but whenever you mention to them how much better a free market would be than the statist crapitalism we have today they like to say, "Show me one example of a truly free market that works!"
Sunday, November 23, 2014
Strategic, Methodological and Developmental Importance of Knowledge Consumption - Production in Countering Terrorism and Ensuring Peace / Politics / Religion
By: Dr_R_M_Mathew
Conventionally, Knowledge had been associated with the God, Scriptures, Religions, Sacrifices and sometimes even Sex till the development of the Modern Science, Technology, Humanities, Social Sciences, Language and Literature. For terrorists and religious fundamentalists, Knowledge has become a deadly weapon. Knowledge poses several new and unfamiliar Methodological, Theoretical, Strategic and Practical Challenges related to Peace, Development, War and Terror and the very existence of the Humanity. Nobody is fully aware of the potentialities of Knowledge, including the top Think Tanks and Universities for they are dealing with fragmented Knowledge and self-growing bundles of Data.
Saturday, November 22, 2014
Central Bankers, Fear and Other Bad Counselors / Politics / Central Banks
By: Raul_I_Meijer
The original idea behind a central bank is that medium and longer term monetary policy should not be allowed to be held hostage by a short-term prevailing political wind, that an incumbent politician and his/her party should not be permitted and/or enabled to manipulate a nation’s currency for political gain. A central bank was (and still is officially) supposed to be independent of politics, to be a buffer between a society’s long term interests and a politician’s short-term ones.
Saturday, November 22, 2014
Russia and China Rapprochement Akin to Porcupines Mating / Politics / GeoPolitics
By: Casey_Research
That was how the slow and careful rapprochement between Russia and China has been described by Eric Margolis, one of my favorite geopolitical writers.
US shenanigans in Eastern Europe and the East China Sea—fomenting so-called colored revolutions in Ukraine and Georgia (both on Russia’s periphery) and egging on China’s neighbors to make aggressive territorial claims—have pushed the Russian bear and Chinese dragon together. In May, the two uneasy neighbors reached a de facto alliance represented by a 20-year, $400 billion deal for Russia to supply China with natural gas.
Friday, November 21, 2014
That G20 Meeting / Politics / GeoPolitics
By: Alasdair_Macleod
G20 gatherings of world leaders on the surface are all the same: they conclude with a meaningless anodyne statement that everyone can agree with. But these meetings do serve a purpose: they allow the world leaders to meet informally and exchange views.
Since the last G20 in St Petersburg in 2013 when there was a high degree of conviction that economic growth would return, the global economic outlook has instead deteriorated significantly. Instead of last time's mutual bonhomie over the prospect of their collective success, the world's leaders this time are almost certainly worried. They would have learned about the failure of monetary policy everywhere. They would have had this first-hand from Japan's delegation, which is on its way to financial and currency destruction. The despair in the European delegations would have been obvious as well.
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Friday, November 21, 2014
How Americans Came to Oppose Fracking / Politics / Fracking
By: Walter_Brasch
For the first time since high volume horizontal hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as nonconventional fracking, was developed, more Americans oppose it than support it.
According to a national survey conducted by the independent non-partisan Pew Research Center, 47 percent of Americans oppose fracking, while 41 percent support it. This is a 7 percent decline in support from March 2013, and a 9 percent increase in opposition.
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Thursday, November 20, 2014
The Cultural and Political Consequences of Fiat Money / Politics / Fiat Currency
By: MISES
Jörg Guido Hülsmann writes: It may seem unusual that an economist would talk about culture. Usually, we talk about prices and production, quantities produced, employment, the structure of production, scarce resources, and entrepreneurship.
But there are certain things that economists can say about the culture, and more precisely, that economists can say about the transformation of the culture. So what is culture? Well, to put it simply, it is the way we do things. This can include the way we eat — whether or not we dine with family members on a regular basis, for example — how we sleep, and how we use automobiles or other modes of transportation. And of course, the way we produce, consume, or accumulate capital are important aspects of the culture as well.
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Thursday, November 20, 2014
Will Saudi, Emirati Move Anger U.S. Muslims? / Politics / Religion
By: STRATFOR
The UAE Cabinet approved a list of 83 designated terrorist organizations on Saturday, including al Qaeda and the Islamic State. Much more significant, though, was the inclusion of many Muslim organizations based in the West that are believed to be allied with the Muslim Brotherhood movement. Prominent among them are two American Muslim groups: the Council on American Islamic Relations and the Muslim American Society.
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Thursday, November 20, 2014
United States Social Crisis - No One Told You When to Run, You Missed the Starting Gun! / Politics / Social Issues
By: James_Quinn
Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
You fritter and waste the hours in an offhand way.
Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town
Waiting for someone or something to show you the way.
Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain.
You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today.
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you.
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun.
Pink Floyd – Time
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Thursday, November 20, 2014
Putin’s World: Why Russia’s Showdown with the West Will Worsen / Politics / Russia
By: John_Mauldin
Russia and its redoubtable president, Vladimir Putin, have been much in the news lately. The latest flurry came when Putin was taken out behind the woodshed at the G20 conference in the Philippines last weekend over his recent moves to inject more Russian troops and arms into Ukraine.
For today’s Outside the Box we have two pieces that deliver deeper insights into the situation with Russia and Putin. The first is from my good friend Ian Bremmer, President of the Eurasia Group and author of Every Nation for Itself: Winners and Losers in a G-Zero World. You probably caught my mention of Ian’s presentation at the institutional fund manager conference where we both spoke last weekend. He had some unsettling things to say about Russia; and so when he followed up with an email to me on Monday, I asked if he’d let me share the section on Russia with you. Understand, Ian is connected, and so what you’re about to be treated to here is analysis from way inside. (He’ll be presenting at our Strategic Investment Conference again next April, too.)
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Thursday, November 20, 2014
Making Money While The World Burns / Politics / Social Issues
By: Raul_I_Meijer
I was reading this letter to his fund investors by Hugh Hendry, a very intelligent and probably slightly autistic fund manager I’ve liked a lot forever and a day and have written about quite a bit in the past, and it got me thinking about how and why I see the world different from the way he does, and wondering how you see that difference.
Hugh was for years known as a true bear, and then he turned around, changed his views and turned bull, only at the same time he did not. If that makes any sense. I’ll take you through the letter as posted by Tyler Durdenand try to explain what struck me in it. It’s much easier and safer not to write things like this, but I think there are things you must explore, like how do you react when realize your world is falling to bits.
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Wednesday, November 19, 2014
Breakfast with a Lord of War and Nuclear Weapons / Politics / Nuclear Weapons
By: Casey_Research
By David Galland, Partner, Casey Research
For reasons that will become apparent as you read the following article, I was quite reluctant to write it.
Yet, in the end, I decided to do so for a couple of reasons.
The first is that it ties into Marin Katusa’s best-selling new book, The Colder War, which I read cover to cover over two days and can recommend warmly and without hesitation. I know that Casey Research has been promoting the book aggressively (in my view, a bit too aggressively), but I exaggerate not at all when I tell you that the book sucked me in from the very beginning and kept me reading right to the end.
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Wednesday, November 19, 2014
The Government Owns Your Children / Politics / Government Intervention
By: LewRockwell
Scott Lazarowitz writes: Well, the CPS vultures are out there, once again. This time in Seminole County, Florida. In June the county’s Child Protection Services bureaucrats took a 12-day-old baby away from his vegan Seventh Day Adventist mother who insisted on breastfeeding the baby, and, when the baby was losing weight the mother refused to take him to the hospital and instead she provided the baby with a supplemental vegan formula. That diet and method of healing was consistent with her religious beliefs, but her “doctor” believed otherwise, reported her to the “authorities” who arrested her, and had CPS seize her child.
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Wednesday, November 19, 2014
G20 and BRICS Great Schism / Politics / GeoPolitics
By: BATR
Global trade relationships and agreements are moving in very different directions. The public relations press releases hide the undercurrents that are driving the formations of alternative economic alliances. While the G 20, markets its all inclusive umbrella policy forums, the mere formation of a BRICS counterweight forecasts deep and fundamental differences. So what is really behind the creation of a different approach to the post WWII dominate U.S. lead model? A clue can be found in an attempt to modify the operations and direction of IMF functions.
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
Will You Light $180,000 on Fire by Taking Social Security at Age 62? / Politics / Pensions & Retirement
By: Dennis_Miller
On the television series Dragnet, Sgt. Joe Friday was known for his calm demeanor while questioning witnesses. When they began to ramble, he would corral them with comments like, “Just the facts, ma’am.” Sound advice for the witness stand, but when it comes to retirement planning, Sgt. Friday was giving the wrong instructions. Instead of asking for “just the facts” we should ask for “all the facts.”
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
On Obama and the Nature of Failed Presidencies / Politics / US Politics
By: STRATFOR
George Friedman writes: We do not normally comment on domestic political affairs unless they affect international affairs. However, it is necessary to consider American political affairs because they are likely to have a particular effect on international relations. We have now entered the final phase of Barack Obama's presidency, and like those of several other presidents since World War II, it is ending in what we call a state of failure. This is not a judgment on his presidency so much as on the political configuration within it and surrounding it.
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
Globalism Free Trade Immigration Connection / Politics / Immigration
By: BATR
How is your life going under the Global Empire? If you answer honestly, for non billionaires, the response must reflect disappointment if not immense distress. Middle America stands on the precipice of oblivion. While the recent past decades have shown steep declines in financial security and net wealth, the future looks much more ominous. The link between the shift to an internationalist de-industrialization economy and open border immigration has hit the United States hard. This harsh reality is routinely denied in the financial press, but the social chaos that engulfs society is largely caused by this betrayal mindset. Corporatists are waging war against the American public.
Monday, November 17, 2014
Central Banks are Not Innocent Bystanders / Politics / Central Banks
By: MISES
Peter St. Onge writes: In a recent paper cited last month in The Economist, a trio of economists ran a kitchen sink’s worth of correlations on investment numbers. Kothari et al. concluded that profit growth and stock price boost investment, but that interest rates have a negative effect. This claim runs counter to Austrian business cycle theory, so let’s have a look.
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Monday, November 17, 2014
What The Fed Has Wrought, Who Needs Wage Earners Anyway? / Politics / US Federal Reserve Bank
By: James_Quinn
The chart below might be the most powerful indictment of the Federal Reserve and our corporate fascist empire of debt ever created. Some people don't get charts. Charts tell a story. This chart tells the story of elitist bankers supporting the agenda of a corporate fascist state, resulting in the gutting of the middle class. Anyone who views this chart in a positive manner is either a Federal Reserve banker or their paycheck is dependent upon the continuation of the pillaging of the working class. Corporate profits are at all-time highs. Profit margins have always reverted to the mean throughout modern history. If they remain at all-time highs then something is terribly wrong.