Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Sunday, June 15, 2014
Mena War Fever And The Iraq Crude Oil Price Spike / Politics / Iraq War
By: Andrew_McKillop
Libyan Precedent
Whatever Libya's oil production is, this week, it is a lot less than the approximate 1.6 million barrels a day it regularly extracted and shipped during the Muammar Gaddafi era. Libya has no effective government and its last prime minister Ali Zedan fled to Europe in March, replaced by a shifting coalition of rival forces with changing strongmen. His supposed replacement, former Defence minister Abdullah el-Thinni has since late April kept a low profile, sometimes saying he has “stepped down”, and sometimes not. As recently as June 4, he told Reuters that he was stepping down but was also staying on as “interim PM”!
Saturday, June 14, 2014
Black Flags Over Mosul / Politics / Iraq War
By: Mike_Whitney
"The whole of Mosul collapsed today. We’ve fled our homes and neighborhoods, and we’re looking for God’s mercy. We are waiting to die." – Mahmoud Al Taie, resident of Mosul, Wall Street Journal
An army of Sunni fighters affiliated to al Qaida crossed the Syrian border into Iraq on Tuesday, scattering defensive units from the Iraqi security forces, capturing Iraq’s second biggest city of Mosul, and sending 500,000 civilians fleeing for safety. The unexpected jihadi blitz has left President Barack Obama’s Middle East policy in tatters and created a crisis of incalculable magnitude.
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Saturday, June 14, 2014
Governments Stealing Savings Accounts / Politics / Savings Accounts
By: Jeff_Berwick
Governments, by definition, are violent institutions. And taxation, by definition, is theft. These are blatant facts to all but the most indoctrinated and brainwashed. However, governments worldwide are ramping up all manner of other thefts by almost any means necessary.
Friday, June 13, 2014
Who Is To Blame For Iraq? / Politics / Iraq War
By: Andrew_McKillop
Bloomberg Tells All
In a strange article signed only “The Editors” and posted to Bloomberg's web sites, 13 June, its few published Comments were mostly flippant. One said Iraq is or was an illusion that could only be propped up by bombs, but destroying the illusion would also need bombs – therefore Iraq was or is a paradox. In fact, as I have argued in several articles, Iraq was an artificial entity, not created for any specific purpose other than developing its then unknown-size oil resources, without any credible claims to national identity – or unity – and created with no particular life expectancy or “shelf life”, that is either short, medium or long. Concerning the Kurds, however, the Iraq of post-1923 obliterated an existing and functional national entity – Kurdistan – which as we know has returned to the headlines, this week, because it can and will effectively resist any attempt by ISIS, formerly 'Al Qaeda in Iraq' to encroach on Kurdistan. Kirkuk is probably now under Kurd military control.
Friday, June 13, 2014
Iraq Perfect Storm as ISIS Islamic End Times Prophecy Seeks Fulfillment in Sham / Levant / Politics / Iraq War
By: Nadeem_Walayat
It's mission accomplished for George Bush the 'manchurian candidate's' decade long the war on Iraq which has finally succeeded in delivering the country to the Saudi funded ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham), even more extreme than Al-Qeeda that it split from just over a year ago in Syria, who's ultimate aim is to create an Islamic state spanning Syria and much of Iraq that they seek to pull back in time to the 7th century.
Thursday, June 12, 2014
Obamacare Obamination: This One-Act Tragedy Is Nothing But a Bill of Goods / Politics / US Politics
By: Money_Morning
Shah Gilani writes: I’ve never before written anything about the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare.
That’s because I didn’t want to jump into the debate on one side or the other before letting some dust settle and seeing what there really is to see.
As the old Johnny Nash song goes, “I can see clearly now the rain is gone. I can see all obstacles in my way.”
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Thursday, June 12, 2014
How Smugglers Made America / Politics / Protectionism
By: Mark_Thornton
Whenever I receive a book to review that is written by some hotshot ivy leaguer, I brace myself for all the deception and tomfoolery that I will have to endure. Peter Andreas’s Smuggler Nation, however, turned out to be a very pleasant surprise. Indeed, I can recommend this book to anyone interested in a true history.
Thursday, June 12, 2014
Iraq Worsening Violence Threatens Regional Security / Politics / Iraq War
By: STRATFOR
Battles continue to rage across northern Iraq, pitting jihadist group the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant against Iraqi security forces and their allies. The growing reach of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant has escalated an already brutal campaign in Iraq. Alarmingly quick advances by the militants across an important region of the Middle East could draw in regional powers as well as the United States
Thursday, June 12, 2014
The Fiction Of Iraq / Politics / Iraq War
By: Andrew_McKillop
Can You Trust This Man
Iraq was a prime example of post-World War I dithering and influence trading among the three Allied Powers, in Iraq's case especially concerning the UK and US. Everybody has heard about its early version with a 19th Province called Kuwait, and Imperial Iraq's incorporation – totally against their will – of the Kurds from 1923 to 2005. Its president today, Nouri el-Maliki is probably the last who can pretend the country is united and has “internationally recognized borders”, but he is not just anybody. Levering him into power, and his attempts at staying there, only since 2003, have cost more than one hundred thousand human lives and well over 100 billion US dollars.
Thursday, June 12, 2014
Networks and Hierarchies / Politics / Technology
By: John_Mauldin
I have a big-picture piece for you today from a big-time thinker, my good friend Niall Ferguson. This is a little bit different for Outside the Box, but then isn’t that what this letter is supposed to be? Something to make us think and to come at a problem with a little bit different viewpoint?
At our recent Strategic Investment Conference, Niall focused on the dangers of US isolationism, the degeneration of American culture, and the immense problem of government debt whose trajectory is in the hands of a dysfunctional political system. In today’s Outside the Box, Niall examines a related issue: the dynamic interplay of networks and hierarchies that has led to the creation and destruction of economic systems in generations past… and will ultimately drive political outcomes in today’s unbalanced and rapidly changing global economic system.
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Wednesday, June 11, 2014
Is Inequality Caused by Capitalism or Statism? / Politics / Social Issues
By: John_Browne
The French economist Thomas Piketty has achieved worldwide fame by promoting a thesis that capitalism is the cause of growing economic inequality. Unfortunately, he is partially right. However, the important distinction missed by Piketty and all of his supporters is that state capitalism, not free market capitalism, has reigned supreme in recent decades in the world's leading democracies. It is this misguided attempt to wed the power of the state to the private ownership of capital that has led to the mushrooming of economic inequality. If the public cannot be made aware of the distinction, we risk abandoning the only system capable of creating real improvements for the vast majority of people.
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Wednesday, June 11, 2014
The West Has Gazprom in its Crosshairs / Politics / Oil Companies
By: Money_Morning
Kent Moors writes: Almost 45 years ago I signed an agreement with Uncle Sam…
The government essentially said it understood my soul may belong to God, but the rest of the anatomy was going to be theirs until further notice.
That was what brought me into a sometimes ill-defined segment of public service. It’s a job you never really have the option of leaving – at least easily and preferably while still drawing a breath.
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Tuesday, June 10, 2014
European Borderlands: The View Beyond Ukraine / Politics / Eastern Europe
By: STRATFOR
I traveled between Poland and Azerbaijan during a rare period when the forces that shape Europe appear to be in flux, and most of the countries I visited are re-evaluating their positions. The overwhelming sense was anxiety. Observers from countries such as Poland make little effort to hide it. Those from places such as Turkey, which is larger and not directly in the line of fire, look at Ukraine as an undercurrent rather than the dominant theme. But from Poland to Azerbaijan, I heard two questions: Are the Russians on the move? And what can these countries do to protect themselves?Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, June 10, 2014
Birmingham Trojan Horse Islamic State Schools - Britain's Multiculturalism Catastrophe in Action / Politics / Educating Children
By: Nadeem_Walayat
Britain's deceitful politicians are apparently waking up to the consequences of decades of the default position in furtherance of the policy of multiculturalism namely that of all imported population's cultures being of equal value and should equally be fostered, supported and sponsored with tax payer monies the consequences of which has been to dilute and corrupt British culture putting Britain on the path towards resembling the third world backward religious 'flat earth' based cultures from whence the immigrant populations originally came.
Monday, June 09, 2014
Obama's Foreign Policy Rhetoric Does Not Match US Actions / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
President Obama's recent foreign policy speech, delivered at this year's West Point graduation ceremony, was a disappointment to anyone who hoped the president might be changing course. The failure of each US intervention thus far in the 21st century might have inspired at least a bit of reflection.
Monday, June 09, 2014
Taliban Release Video - America Does Do Deals with Terrorists - Surrender in Afghanistan / Politics / US Politics
By: Nadeem_Walayat
The following video clip shows the Taliban releasing Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl to U.S. special forces as they great one another as apparent equals as filmed by the Taliban ahead of which the U.S. released 5 senior Taliban commanders to the luxury of Qatar.
Monday, June 09, 2014
NRA - An Assault Upon Our Civility / Politics / Social Issues
By: Walter_Brasch
For awhile, it appeared the NRA leadership committed an act of sanity. But, a few hours later, the pills wore off.
The story begins with a group called Open Carry Texas (OCT). This fringe group rubbed both its brain cells together, wrapped itself in what it erroneously believes is the Second Amendment, and decided it would be great theatre to bring semi-automatic carbines into family restaurants. Waving the yellow “Don’t Tread on Me” flags, a common sight at Tea Party rallies, OCT members handed out leaflets, proclaimed their rights to carry weapons and confronted citizens who had little desire to be in a place where civilians were carrying weapons and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, any one of which could shred any one of their internal organs.
Sunday, June 08, 2014
D-Day Normandy Landing World War II Lies Grow More Audacious / Politics / Propaganda
By: Paul_Craig_Roberts
If there were any doubts that Western “leaders” live in a fantasy make-believe world constructed out of their own lies, the G-7 meeting and 70th anniversary celebration of the Normandy landing dispelled the doubts.
The howlers issuing from these occasions are enough to split your sides. Obama and his lap dog Cameron described the Normandy landing on June 6, 1944, as “the greatest liberation force that the world has ever known” and took all the credit for the US and Britain for the defeat of Hitler. No mention was made of the Soviet Union and the Red Army, which for three years prior to the Normandy landing had been fighting and defeating the Wehrmacht.
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Friday, June 06, 2014
Dumbing Down D-Day / Politics / GeoPolitics
By: Andrew_McKillop
Darwin Couldn't Explain
If he was still alive, Darwin would have big problems explaining Dumbed Down D-Day. It wasn't natural evolution. It was probably “saltationist evolution” literally meaning an evolutionary leap – in the dark. D-Day ceremonies are laughed off by some, as antique or even pathetic, but that ignores their strange or bizarre evolution, showing that something else is happening.
Friday, June 06, 2014
Obama's Climate Plan Is Leaking Methane / Politics / Climate Change
By: OilPrice_Com
The Environmental Protection Agency's new regulations aimed at reducing carbon emissions by 30 percent will no doubt lead to a cleaner economy. But the road there will be paved with methane. By requiring reductions in the energy intensity per megawatt-hour of electricity generation, utilities will have the ability to choose from an array of options for how to meet the targets.
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