Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The new items published under this topic are as follows.
Friday, May 16, 2008
The Geopolitics Of Israel: Historic and Modern / Politics / Israel
By: John_Mauldin
This week we step outside the box of conventional geopolitical analysis to hear the thinking of George Friedman, founder and chief executive officer of Strategic Forecasting, Inc. (Stratfor), on the geopolitics of Israel. George makes the key point that Israel's geography has been fundamentally important to its geopolitical successes and limitations, and has lent a surprising continuity to its foreign policy from the Biblical era forward to the present day.
This is the first in a series of monographs by George on the geopolitics of countries that are currently critical in world affairs, and he has kindly let us have a preview.
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Thursday, May 15, 2008
Ratcheting Up For US War On Iran / Politics / Iran
By: Stephen_Lendman
Led by Dick Cheney, Bush administration neocons want war on Iran. So does the Israeli Lobby, but it doesn't mean they'll get it. Powerful forces in Washington and the Pentagon are opposed and so far have prevailed. Nonetheless, worrisome recent events increase the possibility and must be closely watched.Recall George Bush's January 10, 2007 address to the nation. He announced the 20,000 troop "surge" and more. "Succeeding in Iraq," he said, "also requires defending its territorial integrity and stabilizing the region in the face of extremist challenges. This begins with addressing Iran and Syria. These two regimes are allowing 'terrorists' and 'insurgents' to use their territory to move in and out of Iraq. Iran is providing material support for attacks on American troops. We will disrupt (those) attacks....we will seek out and destroy the networks providing advanced weaponry and training to our enemies in Iraq."
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Wednesday, May 14, 2008
The Battle for America Has Begun- Strategic Forecasts / Politics / New World Order
By: Richard_C_Cook
This article contains several forecasts, including the possible start of a major war with unforeseeable consequences, if the U.S. should happen to attack Iran .
Of course it is in the nature of forecasts to be speculative. There are also forecasts that are intended to serve as warnings and thereby contribute to preventing the events under analysis from ever taking place. The world's financial elite, long having made their homes in the metropolises of Western Europe, also with a major branch in New York City , may be the party that is really behind what could be an attempt to start World War III by pitting the U.S. against the Asiatic land powers, most notably Russia
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Wednesday, May 14, 2008
After Hillary, Voting for Obama's Slick Rhetoric? / Politics / US Politics
By: Joel_S_Hirschhorn
This general election more than most will test the courage of voters to avoid lesser-evil strategic voting that has propped up our two-party plutocracy. People with intelligence and conscience must resist peer pressure and the temptation to vote against John McCain by voting for Barack Obama. Of course, a McCain presidency that pursues much of the same policies and values of the totally inept and morally bankrupt Bush administration is something to loathe. But lesser-evil voting sustains our corrupt political system.
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Tuesday, May 13, 2008
US Government Responsible for the Housing Boom and Bust / Politics / US Housing
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
The House passed two bills attempting to rehabilitate the housing and mortgage market this week. There doesn't seem to be any shortage of criticism and blame for the bad decisions, and rightly so. Lenders and banks do share much of the blame for the overheated market. Lending standards were relaxed, or even abandoned altogether, creating an exaggerated pool of homebuyers that led to ballooning home prices that many, especially real estate investors, expected to continue forever. Now that the bubble has burst, the losses are staggering.Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
UK Tax U-turn Rebates to Buy Votes- Personal Allowances Up by £600 / Politics / UK Tax & Budget
By: Nadeem_Walayat
Gordon Browns Darling today made clear of how he will perform the Tax U-turn alluded to in recent weeks. The U-turn will take the form of an across the board increase in the personal allowances of every tax payer by £600, thus those on the standard tax code of 543L will see their tax allowance rise from 5435 to 6035. This has the effect of handing very tax payer a tax cut of £120 at the basic rate of 20%. The estimated cost of this measure is put at some £2.7 billion which is substantially more than the £700 million of the original extra tax burden placed on the 5 million low paid workers that were hit by the abolition of the 10% tax band.Read full article... Read full article...
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Government Energy Plan Political Pandering / Politics / Energy Resources
By: Mike_Shedlock
Whenever Congress puts together a bill attempting to find a solution to some sort of real or imagined problem, my immediate thought is that the bill do one of four things:
- It will worsen the problem at hand
- It will do nothing to solve the problem but instead create a new problem somewhere else
- It will worsen the original problem and create new problems
- In the very best case it will do nothing at all
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Russia's New Direction Under President Medvedev / Politics / Russia
By: Saleem_Khan
Which way Russia is going to go now that Medvedev has taken office as the President of the Russian Federation? Would it be Putin's way or a new course friendly to the west? Pundits and the media in the west are engaged in guessing game and heavily involved in the art of misinformation. Russian people are optimistic about their future and are anxious to demonstrate to the international community their capacity of teamwork in global affairs.Nevertheless, they are aware of the conflicts in the World and leadership deficit. This, I have concluded in over a decade of contacts and conversations with the leading educators in the former Soviet Union. This desire for an optimistic future and a more peaceful world has emerged as the dominant theme. Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
US Election 2008: Obamanomics Emerges as Clear Front-Runner for Investors / Politics / US Politics
By: Martin_Hutchinson
" Election 2008 " is an ongoing Money Morning series that looks for profit plays emanating from the presidential election campaign.
With contests in both Indiana and North Carolina, today (Tuesday) probably marks the last of the crucial Democratic presidential primary election contests between senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama .
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Sunday, May 04, 2008
Extraordinary Times, Intentional Collapse, and Takedown of the USA - Part 2 / Politics / Global Financial System
By: Richard_C_Cook
Part 1“End Times”
Can it be that the last stage of the U.S. takedown is “The Project for the New American Century”? Is this ambitious plan for “global leadership” through military might that was seemingly invented by the “neocons”—many with dual U.S.-Israeli citizenship—a Trojan Horse?
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Sunday, May 04, 2008
Extraordinary Times, Intentional Collapse, and Takedown of the USA - Part 1 / Politics / Global Financial System
By: Richard_C_Cook
Much has been written about whether a worldwide plan exists to control events and steer them in the direction profitable to an elite of the rich and powerful. Is this a “conspiracy theory”? While it is difficult to be specific about who exactly may be behind such a conspiracy, if it exists, it is at least clear that the privately-managed system of global financial capitalism gives ample opportunity for the world’s richest people to combine for their mutual benefit. Further, global financial capitalism itself is based on the monopolization of money-creation by a world banking system that is largely privately owned, even while working through the central banks of the largest and most prosperous nations.Read full article... Read full article...
Saturday, May 03, 2008
Gordon Brown is New Labour's Grim Reaper / Politics / UK Politics
By: Nadeem_Walayat
Gordon Brown the formerly smart and intellectual chancellor who was thought to have carried a grinning and increasingly shallow Tony Blair to three election victories. Now past events are increasingly being seen in a new light of who carried whom.
Gordon Brown's Labour party was delivered a near knockout punch in the Local elections where the natural party of local government is fast being pushed out of political power. The final Labour scalp to go was its biggest, Ken Livingston the London Mayor replaced by the Tory comedian Boris Johnson.
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Friday, May 02, 2008
Barack Obama Buckles Under Media Pressure / Politics / US Politics
By: Mike_Whitney
Obama is "outraged" - After weeks of blistering attacks by the media, Barak Obama held a press conference yesterday and made it official; his friendship with the Reverend Jeremiah Wright is over, terminated, kaput. He would no longer associate with a man who believed that the United States of America could do horrible things to its people or that 9-11 might have been the result of US foreign policy. As Obama said, that's just "outrageous".Read full article... Read full article...
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Rationing- Food for Thought / Politics / Food Crisis
By: John_Browne
‘Food, glorious food' conjures up the image of Oliver Twist and his brother orphans wailing over a shortage of porridge in Dickensian England.
Last week, a food shortage became an American reality. Costco Warehouse, Wal-Mart and other food stores limited the purchase of certain food staples in bulk form. Purchases of rice in California and of oil and flour in Queens were restricted. Customers were angry, voicing strong concern and questioning whether the situation would worsen.
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Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Barack Obama's Uncomfortable Itch Problem / Politics / US Politics
By: Joel_S_Hirschhorn
I finally figured out why Obama so often looks uncomfortable, impatient and annoyed. He never seems to be a regular guy. One who can enjoy his public opportunities at local eateries and indulge himself like a real American enthralled with delicious unhealthy foods. To joyously let loose and just be a happy black guy able to live in a millionaire´s McMansion and have a shot at being president after hardly learning how to be a senator. Why?Read full article... Read full article...