Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.Tuesday, November 24, 2015
Turkey NATO Member Shoots Down Russian Fighter Jet Over Syria; Putin Vows Revenge / Politics / Syria
This is the kind of thing that happens when you put ten different armies, taking orders from at least ten different commanders, in the same theater.
Last night a Russian fighter was flying in and out of Turkish airspace and Turkey shot it down. Then local rebels (Syrian Turks) shot the pilots as they parachuted to the ground.
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Tuesday, November 24, 2015
Finally, Return to Athens / Politics / Eurozone Debt Crisis
That’s right, I am at last able to come back to Athens, starting today. Alas, without Nicole Foss, who was supposed to join me in the city earlier this year but is back in New Zealand now. Why that plan never materialized, and why I couldn’t return myself, is all about the illness and subsequent passing of my mother, a process I write about in Eulogy for Johanna.
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Monday, November 23, 2015
Donald Sutherland Confirms Hunger Games is Allegory for the United States / Politics / US Politics
Here is a short clip featuring Donald Sutherland, who acted in The Hunger Games movie series, to learn in some detail what he thinks about them. He says flatly, it is an allegory pertaining to the United States, which is just what I wrote about a year ago. You can see the Sutherland video clip:
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Monday, November 23, 2015
Who Should Pay For The Syrian Refugees? / Politics / US Politics
Last week the US House dealt a blow to President Obama's plan to resettle 10,000 Syrians fleeing their war-torn homeland. On a vote of 289-137, including 47 Democrats, the House voted to require the FBI to closely vet any applicant from Syria and to guarantee that none of them pose a threat to the US. Effectively this will shut down the program.
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Sunday, November 22, 2015
Redefining ‘The Human Rights’ In The Context Of The Rise Of Islamism And The Onslaught Of The Western Democracies / Politics / ISIS Islamic State
ISLAMISM has emerged as the Greatest Threat to Democracy and Human Rights, besides the very existence of the Progressive Modern Societies shaped by Capitalism, Corporatism and Modern Technologies. It is thousand times deadly than Fascism for it is taking back the Humanity to the Age of Primitive Desert Tribal Gods, Wars, Culture , Caliphates and Social Order burying down Democracy, Equality, Freedom, Principles of Human Right, Open Society and Progressive Social Order.
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Saturday, November 21, 2015
Hang Onto Your Wallets: Negative Interest Rates, the War on Cash and $10 Trillion Bail-in / Politics / War on Cash
Remember those old ads showing a senior couple lounging on a warm beach, captioned “Let your money work for you”? Or the scene in Mary Poppins where young Michael is being advised to put his tuppence in the bank, so that it can compound into “all manner of private enterprise,” including “bonds, chattels, dividends, shares, shipyards, amalgamations . . . ”?
That may still work if you’re a Wall Street banker, but if you’re an ordinary saver with your money in the bank, you may soon be paying the bank to hold your funds rather than the reverse.
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Friday, November 20, 2015
European Borders May be Redrawn as Europe Embraces Nationalism / Politics / European Union
Ryan W. McMaken writes: In the wake of the Paris attacks, Europe is being pulled in two directions at once. On the one hand is the rise of localist nationalism in the form of border closings, border fences, and Euroskepticism. On the other hand is the rise of renewed militarism as the French state calls for even more aggressive foreign policy from its European allies in the name of security. In some ways, these two trends appear to be at odds, but they are really just different expressions of nationalism.
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Friday, November 20, 2015
Syrian Refugees and the Republicans’ Rhetoric of Hate and Fear / Politics / US Politics
Fear, laced with paranoia, is driving the American response against allowing Syrian refugees into the United States.
President Obama has said he would accept 10,000 refugees, all of them subjected to intense scrutiny before being admitted to the country. France, with a population about one-fifth that of the United States, despite the worst attack on its soil since World War II, will accept 30,000 refugees.
Wednesday, November 18, 2015
The World's First Cashless Society Is Here - A Totalitarian's Dream Come True / Politics / Global Financial System
By Nick Giambruno
Central planners around the world are waging a War on Cash. In just the last few years:
- Italy made cash transactions over €1,000 illegal;
- Switzerland proposed banning cash payments in excess of 100,000 francs;
- Russia banned cash transactions over $10,000;
- Spain banned cash transactions over €2,500;
- Mexico made cash payments of more than 200,000 pesos illegal;
- Uruguay banned cash transactions over $5,000; and
- France made cash transactions over €1,000 illegal, down from the previous limit of €3,000.
Wednesday, November 18, 2015
ISIS May Be Our Ally Some Day / Politics / ISIS Islamic State
Ferghane Azihari writes:“ISIS is certainly not a state” said Obama in a recent statement. This is the official line Western governments use to describe ISIS. The label terrorist is often used to describe dangerous and aggressive organizations. However, these characteristics are not used to describe organizations that don’t threaten the strategic interests of states that dominate the international community.
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Wednesday, November 18, 2015
After Paris Attacks The Eurozone Is Hanging By a Thread / Politics / Euro-Zone
Ed Bugos writes: On September 13th, the exact end-date of the Shemitah and the beginning of what we said was going to be a crisis period that would erupt in the fall, we wrote, "Eurozone Collapses, Borders Erected Across Europe on Shemitah End Day ".
Many on the Internet said we were exaggerating or blowing a "temporary issue" out of proportion.
Yet, here were some of the headlines, just a day before the Paris Attacks (more on that below) on November 12th.
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Wednesday, November 18, 2015
Bottom Line from the Paris Global Warming Summit / Politics / Climate Change
The political climate after the carnage in Paris has shifted the main stream media’s attention to terrorism, security concerns and foreigner migration, disguised as refugees. The climate change cultists are not under the same spotlight, before the blood flowed in the streets of the City of Light. Even the twisted attempt At Democratic Debate, Bernie Sanders Says Climate Change Helps Terrorism Spread, is not rejected out of hand.
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Wednesday, November 18, 2015
European Union Challenged from Right and Left / Politics / European Union
The heinous ISIS attack in Paris is a game changer in Europe. In addition to the horrific amount of individual casualties, the attack has also threatened severe damage to the long term survivability of the European Union as a political entity. Based on the unpopularity and unfeasibility of immigration controls under the EU's Schengen Plan, the events have opened up the Union to renewed attacks from the right, just as its support from the left is crumbling as a result of opposition to EU-mandated fiscal austerity. This two-front onslaught may be too much for the Union to endure.
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Wednesday, November 18, 2015
Paris Terror Attacks, Death Pangs of a Dying Religion, and Impact on BrExit EU Referendum / Politics / ISIS Islamic State
It's 4 full days since 8 Islamic State terrorists went on a bloody rampage in 6 separate locations across Paris, with the latest death toll put at 129 killed and with some 55 people critically ill in intensive care. Whilst the people of Paris and France have been in a state of shock, grieving at the magnitude of the death toll, remembering and paying tribute to all those who were killed, Hollande's government has already launched its first retaliatory strikes against ISIS, dropping 20 bombs Monday night alone on the Syrian city of Raqqa, and vowing to destroy Daesh / Islamic State.
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Tuesday, November 17, 2015
CFPB - Another U.S. Government Agency Running Wild / Politics / Government Intervention
Everybody likes to get money back from the government. Now there’s a new way to cash in on Uncle Sam.But like many government programs, this one has a few issues.
If you bought a car in the last few years, you might get a check from the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau(CFPB), as long as you live in the right (or I guess, the wrong) neighborhood and have a certain-sounding last name.
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Monday, November 16, 2015
Ominous Parallels: The Roman Empire, The European Union, And Mass Migration / Politics / Immigration
This weekend’s Paris attacks, occurring in the middle of one of history’s largest mass-migrations, has the feel of uncharted territory. But it’s actually an eerie echo of something that happened nearly two thousand years ago in more-or-less the same place.
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Monday, November 16, 2015
Paris Terror Attack and What Should Be Done / Politics / War on Terror
The horrific attacks in Paris on Friday have, predictably, led to much over-reaction and demands that we do more of the exact things that radicalize people and make them want to attack us. The French military wasted no time bombing Syria in retaliation for the attacks, though it is not known where exactly the attackers were from. Thousands of ISIS fighters in Syria are not Syrian, but came to Syria to overthrow the Assad government from a number of foreign countries -- including from France and the US.
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Monday, November 16, 2015
Israel's New War on Palestine / Politics / Palestine
Israel’s war on Palestine rages into its 7th week, extrajudicial assassinations occurring virtually daily, thousands of Palestinians wounded from live fire and other military assaults, over 1,000 civilians imprisoned for political reasons, including children and women.
Sunday saw no letup. Unrestrained Israeli brutality continued. With world attention on Paris, Netanyahu’s terror war rages almost unnoticed - two Qalandiya refugee camp Palestinians the latest victims, gunned down in cold blood during a raid to demolish an alleged attacker’s home.
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Sunday, November 15, 2015
No, the U.S. Military Has Not Withered Away Under Obama / Politics / US Military
Ryan McMaken writes: It is common to see articles and columns in the Conservative media claiming that President Obama is engaging in “historic defense cuts.” There are claims that not in decades has the military ever endured such budget slashing. “Romney blasts Obama over military cutbacks” one headline blares.
Upon closer examination of these claims, one notes that the authors are careful to never mention actual dollar amounts in context, or any meaningful historical context beyond single recent year-over-year comparisons.
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Sunday, November 15, 2015
Grandmaster Putin Beats Uncle Sam at His Own Game / Politics / GeoPolitics
Imagine that you despised your brother-in-law and wanted to kill him. But you didn’t have the guts to do it yourself so you hired a hit-man to do the job for you.
Would you still be guilty of murder?
You’re darn right, you would be. So let’s apply this same rule to US foreign policy: Would it be just as wrong to invade a country, kill its people and topple its government with militants that you funded, armed and trained as it would be with your own US troops?
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