Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Gold, Tea Party, Glenn Beck and Covert Operations / Politics / US Politics
By: Mike_Stathis
Subscribers to the AVA Investment Analytics newsletter might recall a few months ago I criticized a nonpartisan think tank for its sudden departure from meaningful discussions related to America's insidious trade policy. Incidentally, abandonment of the organization's position on the detrimental effects of unfair trade coincided with the appointment of its head figure to a top advisory position in Washington.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Pakistan Crippled by Staggering Foreign Debt, Hit by Environmental and Humanitarian Disaster / Politics / Pakistan
By: Global_Research
Damien Millet writes: Because of torrential rains lasting several days Pakistan is facing one of the worst predicaments in human and material terms for the last 80 years. The damage inflicted is stunning. About 22 million people are affected by the floods. Many infrastructures have been unable to withstand the onslaught of rain. Roads and harbours can no longer be used. Millions of people have had to leave their houses, and the UN estimates that there are 5 million left homeless. Makeshift refugee camps have been set up, and some 1 million people already live there in disgraceful sanitary conditions. The south of the country, and more particularly the province of Sindh, has been badly shaken by this catastrophe. Economic losses amount to billions with the farming industry severely hit, large tracts of farmland having been destroyed.
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Saturday, August 28, 2010
Waxman, Waters and Iran, Connect the Dots / Politics / US Politics
By: Katherine_Smith
- July 25 - WikiLeaks of tens of thousands of Army documents related to the war in Afghanistan
- Jul 28 - An out of character vote, by Henry Waxman, an apologist for Bush's wars against the 2010 emergency funding for the Afghanistan
- August 2 - the House Ethics Committee formally brought a case against Congresswoman Maxine Waters, one of America’s most enduring liberal and fierce Anti War politicians
Friday, August 27, 2010
What You're Not Supposed to Know about War / Politics / Government Spending
By: Thomas_J_DiLorenzo
It is a testament to the power of government propaganda that several generations of self-described conservatives have held as their core belief that war and militarism are consistent with limited, constitutional government. These conservatives think they are "defending freedom" by supporting every military adventure that the state concocts. They are not.
Friday, August 27, 2010
In Defence of Alan Greenspan: The Age of Turbulence Re-visited / Politics / Central Banks
By: Andrew_Butter
Plenty of people have been laying into Alan Greenspan since the full horror of the financial catastrophe that threatened to destroy America (and it still might), was laid bare:
Friday, August 27, 2010
The Age of Gas to Result in Oil and Natural Gas Price Collapse / Politics / Natural Gas
By: OilPrice_Com
Major new energy issues are about to transform still further the strategic balance of the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea, with foreseeable consequences for the global energy market over the coming decade. Soon-to-be-evident new wealth in the Red Sea/Horn of Africa region will transform the intensity of conflict there, which in turn will affect not only the region, but the world’s most important trading route: the Red Sea/Suez sea line of communication (SLOC).Read full article... Read full article...
Friday, August 27, 2010
Nobody Gave Us The Bomb - The Reality Of Nuclear Proliferation / Politics / GeoPolitics
By: Andrew_McKillop
Many Internet sites, the press and media, and political leaders in some leading countries seek to
maintain the myth of "atom secrets" held by a very select few countries and principally the 5
permanent members of the UN Security Council, which by no coincidence are also the 5 earliest
countries to have developed, tested and used (in the case of the USA) atomic weapons, before
moving on to their industrial production. These "declared nuclear powers", in their rush to firstly
develop the fission or atomic bomb, then the fusion or hydrogen bomb, themselves repeatedly made
use of so-called "atom spies". Today however they seek to maintain the myth that spies, organized
crime syndicates, rogue governments, greedy industrialists and evil scientists are working to spread
and use the "atom secrets" that only they invented and still own.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Third World America: 'Fast-Tracking to Anarchy' / Politics / Social Issues
By: Janet_Tavakoli
My last post about Arianna Huffington's new book, Third World America: How Our Politicians are Abandoning the Middle Class and Betraying the American Dream talked about the Great Recession, the Great Bailout, and the Great Cover-Up of financial crimes.
Among the future consequences of not fixing our national problems will likely be an increase in social unrest and an increase in crime. A look at Chicago's problems may serve as a call to action for America's middle class. Chicago's city budget is in dire straits. That's also true of the state of Illinois, California, New York and other areas. In Chicago, the same mismanagement that deepened our fiscal crisis has caused a crisis in essential city services.
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Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Iran Sanctions Inflicting Pain At Gas Pump, Stalling Energy Projects / Politics / Gas - Petrol
By: OilPrice_Com
Although the Iranian government insists that countries like China and Russia can make up lost Western investment in the petroleum sector, rising gas prices and stalled energy projects are signs that the regime is beginning to buckle under international sanctions.Read full article... Read full article...
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
The New York Times and Lies about 'Acid Rain' / Politics / Mainstream Media
By: William_Anderson
As one who often reads the Newspaper of the Ruling Class, the New York Times, I tend not to be surprised when the "Newspaper of Record" distorts the record. Furthermore, one could do nothing but write comments refuting the various economic fallacies and outright distortions that accompany each edition of the Grey Lady.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Deficit Busting Tobin Tax Could Save America / Politics / Taxes
By: Money_Morning
Martin Hutchinson writes:
After the Nov. 2 midterm elections, the Obama administration and Congress are going to have to scramble to fill a trillion-dollar hole in the U.S budget, and tax increases may be the only option.
A tax increase won't be good news for an already wheezing economic recovery that seems to get weaker with each new report or indicator that's issued. But the type of tax that's chosen will go a long way in determining just how much damage the U.S. economy will have to endure.
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Wednesday, August 25, 2010
U.S. Strategy to Control The World By Controlling The Internet / Politics / China
By: Global_Research
Chen Baoguo writes: US controls threaten Internet freedom
In May 2009, Microsoft announced on its website that they would turn off the Windows Live Messenger service for Cuba, Syria, Iran, Sudan and North Korea, in accordance with US legislation.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Iraq War Name Change to "Operation New Dawn" / Politics / US Politics
By: Global_Research
Kevin Zeese writes: In the week since the much publicized withdrawal of "combat" troops from Iraq it has become more evident that the Iraq War continues under a new name: "Operation New Dawn."
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Tuesday, August 24, 2010
U.S. Wants the Appearance of Israeli-Palestinian Peace Talks / Politics / Middle East
By: STRATFOR
The Israeli government and the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) have agreed to engage in direct peace talks Sept. 2 in Washington. Neither side has expressed any enthusiasm about the talks. In part, this comes from the fact that entering any negotiations with enthusiasm weakens your bargaining position. But the deeper reason is simply that there have been so many peace talks between the two sides and so many failures that it is difficult for a rational person to see much hope in them. Moreover, the failures have not occurred for trivial reasons. They have occurred because of profound divergences in the interests and outlooks of each side.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Goldman and AIG: Blankfein and Paulson / Politics / Credit Crisis Bailouts
By: Janet_Tavakoli
It’s September 2008. Goldman and AIG are trading in the markets, and Goldman notices that AIG seems to be having very severe liquidity problems. AIG needs to renew repo agreements after investing the trades’ cash in plunging mortgage collateral bought from investment banks, and asks around for various other sources of funding.
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Monday, August 23, 2010
Russia One of the World's Worst Places to Live, Has A Lot To Accomplish? / Politics / Russia
By: Pravda
Switzerland and Sweden took second and third positions, respectively, followed by Australia, Luxembourg, Norway, Canada, Holland, Japan and Denmark. U.S. took only 11th place in the overall rankings. The bottom of the list is occupied by Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Cameroon, Zambia and Uganda.
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Monday, August 23, 2010
Iran and Nuclear Proliferation, Nobody Gave Us The Bomb / Politics / GeoPolitics
By: Andrew_McKillop
The Internet, the press and media, and leading politicians bristle with trenchant prose on the dangers
of atomic weapons proliferation and how it can be stopped dead in its tracks. In the extreme case of
Iran's suspected "double track" approach using civil nuclear technology to make a bomb while
pretending it doesn't want the bomb, the extreme solution to make Iran "come clean" includes simply
bombing all of its nuclear installations. To some this is a practical and real option, whatever the
horrendous civilian "collateral damage" - and the impact on oil prices.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Obama’s Delusions on The Economy and Iraq / Politics / US Politics
By: Shamus_Cooke
If you’ve listened to recent speeches the President has given about the economy and the Iraq war, you’d think that two of the biggest social issues facing working Americans are improving. But facts are stubborn things.
Take for example the numbers of jobs lost in the last two months: 221,000 in June, 131,000 in July.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Has Yet Another Fraud Been Perpetrated By BP & The US Government Against We The People?! / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Tom_Termotto
And What They Represent Concerning The Well In Question & BP Narrative
BK Lim has done it again. He presents here an alarming analysis of the events prior to and after the sinking of the Deepwater Horizon on top of the Macondo Prospect in the Gulf of Mexico. We very much appreciate this great revelatory work by BK Lim.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
U.S. Military Gearing Up to Challenge the Asian Century / Politics / GeoPolitics
By: Rick_Rozoff
The first decade of what more than a generation ago was predicted to be the Asian Century is winding down, marking ten years since the end of the American Century.
China overtook Japan as the world's second-largest economy during the second financial quarter of this year and three-quarters of the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) nations, the world's largest emerging economies, are entirely or primarily in Asia. During its first heads of state summit in Russia last year, BRIC "urged the creation of a new global financial security system." [1] At the time its members accounted for 15 percent of the global economy and 42 percent of international currency reserves [2] even after the advent of the U.S.-triggered world financial crisis in 2008.