Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Hezbollah, Radical but Rational / Politics / Middle East
By: STRATFOR
When we discuss threats along the U.S./Mexico border with sources and customers, or when we write an analysis on topics such as violence and improvised explosive devices along the border, a certain topic inevitably pops up: Hezbollah.
We frequently hear concerns from U.S. and Mexican government sources about the Iranian and Hezbollah network in Latin America. They fear that Iran would use Hezbollah to strike targets in the Western Hemisphere and even inside the United States if the United States or Israel were to conduct a military strike against Tehran’s nuclear program. Such concerns are expressed not only by our sources and are relayed not only to us. Nearly every time tensions increase between the United States and Iran, the media report that the Hezbollah threat to the United States is growing. Iran also has a vested interest in playing up the danger posed by Hezbollah and its other militant proxies as it tries to dissuade the United States and Israel from attacking its nuclear facilities.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
The Big Things That Matter And The Little Things That Annoy / Politics / US Politics
By: Paul_Craig_Roberts
I write about major problems: the collapsing US economy, wars based on lies and deception, the police state based on “the war on terror” and other fabrications such as those orchestrated by corrupt police and prosecutors, who boost their performance reports by convicting the innocent, and so on. America is a very distressing place. The fact that so many Americans are taken in by the lies told by “their” government makes America all the more depressing.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
US Planning a Coup d'Etat in Venezuela? / Politics / US Politics
By: Mike_Whitney
It's no fun being on Washington's enemies list. Just ask Hugo Chavez. Last week, the Venezuelan president had to cancel a trip to Cuba after he was told that a coup was underway and his life was in danger. The information came from the same anonymous source who had warned him of the earlier coup in 2002. The letter said: “The execution phase is accelerating..… There is an agreement between Colombia and the US with two objectives: one is Mauricio and the other is the overthrow of the government.… They will hunt down ‘Mauricio’ (and) try to neutralize part of the Armed Forces.” ("Venezuela Pushes for Peace", Coral Wynter, Green Left News)
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Capital Controls, The Real US Border Fence / Politics / US Politics
By: Jennifer_Barry
You probably haven’t heard of capital controls, but they are common around the world. These mechanisms can control the inflows of money into a country or money leaving the nation or both.
Why do countries impose capital controls? Governments may try to limit inflows if they believe their currencies or stock markets are appreciating too fast, or they may slow outflows because they fear crashes like the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997-8.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
The Doomsday Threat Of The "Nuclear Renaissance" / Politics / Energy Resources
By: Andrew_McKillop
Political deciders, corporate elites and mainstream media, almost everywhere, have swung to
virtually total support for nuclear power. Major agencies and entities promoting nuclear power,
such as the OECD's NEA and the WNA announce the industry's 2010-2020 potential for rivalling its
previous highwater mark, in the 1975-1985 period, when it averaged one new reactor on line every
17 days, for 10 years.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Something Stinks About Wikileaks Release of "Secret" Documents / Politics / Conspiracy Theory
By: F_William_Engdahl
Since the dramatic release of a US military film of a US airborne shooting of unarmed journalists in Iraq, Wiki-Leaks has gained global notoreity and credibility as a daring website that releases sensitive material to the public from whistleblowers within various governments. Their latest “coup” involved alleged leak of thousands of pages of supposedly sensitive documents regarding US informers within the Taliban in Afghanistan and their ties to senior people linked to Pakistan’s ISI military intelligence. The evidence suggests however that far from an honest leak, it is a calculated disinformation to the gain of the US and perhaps Israeli and Indian intelligence and a coverup of the US and Western role in drug trafficking out of Afghanistan.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Hurrah for Hugo Chavez / Politics / US Politics
By: Mike_Whitney
It's no fun being on Washington's enemies list. Just ask Hugo Chavez. Last week, the Venezuelan president had to cancel a trip to Cuba after he was told that a coup was underway and his life was in danger. The information came from an anonymous source who had delivered a similar warning prior to the failed coup in 2002. The letter said: “The execution phase is accelerating..… There is an agreement between Colombia and the US with two objectives: one is Mauricio and the other is the overthrow of the government.… They will hunt down ‘Mauricio’ (and) try to neutralize part of the Armed Forces.” ("Venezuela Pushes for Peace", Coral Wynter, Green Left News)
Monday, August 09, 2010
U.S. and the Cycle of Violence in Afghanistan / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Last week the National Bureau of Economic Research published a report on the effect of civilian casualties in Afghanistan and Iraq that confirmed what critics of our foreign policy have been saying for years: the killing of civilians, although unintentional, angers other civilians and prompts them to seek revenge. This should be self-evident.
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Monday, August 09, 2010
Are Democrats Plotting Surprise Election Economic Stimulus? / Politics / Economic Stimulus
By: Money_Morning
Jon D. Markman writes: Data last week showed a job market that’s careening down a steep street with no breaks. Yet investors were able to shrug off employment concerns, as the stock market actually ended the week up 1.5% due to that rockin’ Monday on the first day of the month.
That’s because there is growing speculation that the Democrats are plotting a surprise stimulus in the run up to November’s mid-term elections.
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Monday, August 09, 2010
Targeting Iran, US Administration Planning a Nuclear Attack? / Politics / GeoPolitics
By: Michel_Chossudovsky
The US and its allies are preparing to launch a nuclear war directed against Iran with devastating consequences. This military adventure in the real sense of the word threatens the future of humanity.
While one can conceptualize the loss of life and destruction resulting from present-day wars including Iraq and Afghanistan, it is impossible to fully comprehend the devastation which might result from a Third World War, using "new technologies" and advanced weapons, until it occurs and becomes a reality.
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Monday, August 09, 2010
War Against Iran as a Method of Promoting Globalisation / Politics / GeoPolitics
By: Global_Research
Dmitry Sedov writes: There is little doubt that the US will hit Iran after pulling its troops out of Iraq. Military spending in the US has gained too much momentum to leave any hope that the current dynamics will change in the foreseeable future. The US military-industrial complex and its Pentagon partners have long been preparing the war-against-Iran project, readily resorting to the most unsavory methods in the process.
Monday, August 09, 2010
Who Will Investigate the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission? / Politics / Credit Crisis 2010
By: Janet_Tavakoli
Janet Tavakoli of Tavakoli Structured Finance tells what she thinks of recent fines the SEC has imposed on Wall Street giants and where she would like future investigations take place.
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Monday, August 09, 2010
Obama Economic Team Bails, As Stimulus System Fails To Generate Jobs / Politics / US Politics
By: Danny_Schechter
In Washington, the Obama economic team has sprung a leak. First, Budget Director Peter Orszag, the calculating numbers savant, bailed. And now, “distinguished” economist Christina Romer, the only woman in that inner circle boys club has quit too. (Would you want to be around Larry Summers all day long?)
Monday, August 09, 2010
America's Middle Class in Crisis / Politics / US Politics
By: PhilStockWorld
Very nice reading in the Financial Times this week.
One of my favorite topics since I themed the year with our 2010 Outlook "A Tale of Two Economies" and in the years before that I’ve been bitching about the topic of wealth disparity in America to the point where even arch-Conservatives Alan Greenspan and David Stockman are now forced to agree with me. So that’s two down, 99,999,998 to go! That’s right, just 1/3 of our fellow countrymen now identify themselves as Republicans or Republican’ts, as they are affectionately known on Capitol Hill - where they block every possible effort to change the status quo that’s been eating away at our nation and destroying the middle class for an entire decade now.
Monday, August 09, 2010
No Drama Obama Needs a Strong Second Act / Politics / US Politics
By: Walter_Brasch
The Obama administration is a welcome change from the Bush–Cheney years. Against severe Republican opposition, President Obama has kept campaign promises to reform health care, curb Wall Street excesses, create a federally-funded stimulus program to help bring the nation out of the recession, and to remove American troops from the needless Iraq war, which has already cost Americans more than $740 billion and 4,400 lives. He has also pledged to eliminate the Bush–Cheney tax cuts for the rich, while not raising taxes on the middle- and lower-classes.Read full article... Read full article...
Saturday, August 07, 2010
The Maxine Waters Investigation: What is Iran Doing in this Picture? / Politics / US Politics
By: Submissions
Katherine Smith writes: The timing of an investigation by the House Ethics Committee, which on August 2, 2010 formally brought a case against Congresswoman Maxine Waters, one of America’s most enduring liberal and fierce Anti War politicians, and the WikiLeaks of tens of thousands of Army documents related to the war in Afghanistan may be connected.
Saturday, August 07, 2010
ALERT: Environmental and Health Impacts of the BP Gulf Oil Spill / Politics / Environmental Issues
By: Dr_Tom_Termotto
THE COMING OF THE BLACK WAVE
Nothing in our shared cultural experience will prepare us better for the oncomingBlack Wave throughout the Gulf of Mexico than the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill in Prince William Sound, Alaska. And yet even this environmental catastrophe falls far short of what is coming around the corner in the Gulf. Alaska is not Florida, or Louisiana, or Texas. The Deep South summer here in Tallahassee, FL has been as hot and humid as any we’ve seen. This weather pattern is what will distinguish the BP Gulf Oil Spill from the Exxon Valdez just as the total volume of the spill and use of dispersants have.
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Saturday, August 07, 2010
The Mainstream Media and the State Are Joined at the Hip, Sometimes Literally / Politics / Mainstream Media
By: LewRockwell
S.M. Oliva writes: Jon Leibowitz and Ruth Marcus married in 1994. They were the perfect Washington power couple: He was chief counsel to Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wisc.) and she was a White House correspondent for the Washington Post. Sure, they were just cogs in the establishment, but they were still part of America's ruling class. And over the next decade-and-a-half, they solidified that standing. Marcus – who has worked at the Post for twenty-six years – rose through the ranks to become a member of the paper's editorial board and a regular op-ed columnist. Leibowitz remained with Sen. Kohl until 2000, when he joined the "private sector" as a lobbyist for the copyright industry (aka the Motion Picture Association of America). But in 2004 he returned to his natural habitat, the government, when he received one of five seats on the Federal Trade Commission.
Saturday, August 07, 2010
Gerald Celente American People Have Been Cheated and Betrayed / Politics / US Politics
By: Videos
Gerald Celente – president of the Trends Research Institute and editor of Trends Research Journal – and LRC podcast guest – is interviewed on Russian TV, which tends to be freer than US TV. He discusses the economic collapse and social unrest ahead, and why we can not trust the ruling class or their universities. Americans are rightly angry at the oligarchs of Wall Street and the big banks. They feel cheated, and they have been cheated. They feel betrayed, and they have been betrayed.
Saturday, August 07, 2010
Bring Down the Ruling Elite / Politics / US Politics
By: Gary_North
Ruling elites as recently as 1600 appealed to God to justify their continuing rule. This was called the divine right of kings: rulership beyond any earthly court of appeal. That began to be undermined in the second half of the seventeenth century. A century later, Enlightenment democratic theory had replaced the divine right of kings. The divine right of Parliament or the divine right of the People replaced it.