Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
Pope Francis And The Third World War / Politics / Religion
By: Andrew_McKillop
Anglosaxon Hegemony is Finished
With the open air decapitation of British hostage David Haines by ISIS psychopaths, the image of the “Anglosaxon world” has suffered another heavy blow. The killing of Haines was preceded by the killing of two American hostages. It is hard to not understand why American and British targets were chosen by ISIS. The role of British, French and American “nation-building” in the Middle East after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in 1917-18 is primordial. Revenge against “the Anglosaxon world” is possibly the main emotional focus of ISIS and other Crony Islamic psychopaths in the region.
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
The Origins and Implications of the Scottish Referendum / Politics / Scotland
By: STRATFOR
The idea of Scottish independence has moved from the implausible to the very possible. Whether or not it actually happens, the idea that the union of England and Scotland, which has existed for more than 300 years, could be dissolved has enormous implications in its own right, and significant implications for Europe and even for global stability.
The United Kingdom was the center of gravity of the international system from the end of the Napoleonic Wars until World War II. It crafted an imperial structure that shaped not only the international system but also the internal political order of countries as diverse as the United States and India. The United Kingdom devised and drove the Industrial Revolution. In many ways, this union was a pivot of world history. To realize it might be dissolved is startling and reveals important things about the direction of the world.
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Tuesday, September 16, 2014
Scottish Independence Bank Run Already Underway - Video / Politics / Scotland
By: Nadeem_Walayat
Whilst most people in the UK or focused on the frenzy of politicking going on in Scotland in the build up to the September 18th referendum. However, unbeknown to most including the mainstream media is that there is already a bank run underway not only in terms of flight of capital from Scottish banks but that is also hitting the whole of the UK hard in terms of accelerating capital outflows.
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
The Yin and Yang of Economic Growth and Power / Politics / GeoPolitics
By: Raul_I_Meijer
These are dangerous times. The dangers come from places hardly anybody ever thought to look for them. And that is a danger in itself.
The world has become an amalgamation of centralized blocks of power on the one hand, and a move away from these blocks on the other. The latter happens for good reason. Not that any such reason should be required. The plain and basic human right to, and desire for, freedom and self-governance should be enough. It isn’t, though, as we shall find out soon enough.
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Monday, September 15, 2014
The Myth of Nuclear Weapons / Politics / Nuclear Weapons
By: Andrew_McKillop
The Hiroshima Bomb
On the 6th August, 1945, US military forces dropped one special incendiary bomb on Hiroshima. According to official sources, the bomb destroyed 1.7 square miles of the city killing a disputed number of persons, due to the blast and fire deaths caused by the bomb being treated separately from radiation deaths caused by the bomb, which were only admitted at a later date. US war officials stated that the bomb weighed “4 to 5 metric tons” and had the power of “13 to 16 kilotons of TNT”. The novelty of this bomb was that it radiated heat, light and gamma radiation whereas all classical incendiary bombs radiate only heat and light.
Monday, September 15, 2014
Bank of England Panic! Scottish Independence Bank Run Already Underway! / Politics / UK Banking
By: Nadeem_Walayat
Whilst most of the people of the UK are focused on the increasing frenzy of the too and fro politicking going on in Scotland in the build up to September 18th referendum, unbeknown to most including the mainstream media is that there is already a bank run underway not only in terms of flight of capital from Scottish banks but that is hitting the whole of the UK hard in terms of capital outflows.
Understand this - It does not matter what the Bank of England states following a YES vote on September 18th - There will be a run on Scottish Banks by panicking depositors just as there was on Northern Rock.
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Sunday, September 14, 2014
Obama Declares War on Syria, Why the Real Target is Assad Not ISIS / Politics / US Politics
By: Mike_Whitney
Invoking the same ominous language as his predecessor, Barack Obama used a prime time presidential address on Wednesday to announce the beginning of a war on Syria. And while there’s no doubt that many Americans will be confused by Obama’s misleading focus on the terrorist organization named ISIL, the real purpose of the speech was to garner support for another decade of homicidal conflicts in the Middle East. The administration is as determined as ever to plunge the region into chaos, erase existing borders, and install its puppets wherever it can. ISIL–which is mainly an invention of western Intel agencies and their treacherous counterparts in the Gulf– conveniently creates the justification for another bloody invasion followed by years of occupation, subjugation, and revolt.
Sunday, September 14, 2014
Why Is Scotland's Referendum Already A Black Swan? Cataclysmic Uncertainty / Politics / UK Politics
By: DK_Matai
1. The pound sterling is falling. It has already fallen by 6% over the past two months. Sterling may yet fall further next week in the absence of official intervention. Investors pulled out around GBP 17 billion from the British economy last month as fears that Scotland could go independent began to hit the prospects of the whole United Kingdom. More money flowed out of British assets in August than at any time since the height of the financial crisis during the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008. Over the course of this year, more than GBP 120 billion has been pulled out of British financial assets, compared to a net gain of around GBP 40 billion in 2013.
Sunday, September 14, 2014
Independent Scotland Will Disintegrate as Unionist Regions Demand Referendum's to Rejoin UK / Politics / Scotland
By: Nadeem_Walayat
Increasingly the big on rhetoric scottish nationalists inhabit a fantasy land of a case of business as usual on the day after a YES vote victory when instead September the 19h will mark the first day of the North of the Island of Britain being hit be waves of ever escalating disastrous events that will start with announcements of dis-investment from Scotland by businesses and individuals and soon followed by an exodus of higher tax paying professional workers that as Deutsche Bank warns would at a minimum plunge Scotland into an prolonged 1930's style economic depression.
Saturday, September 13, 2014
SNP Fanatics Warn of Day of Reckoning for Scottish Independence No Campaigners / Politics / Scotland
By: Nadeem_Walayat
A dark national socialist cloud is descending over Scotland as increasingly NO voters are becoming too scared to voice their opinion in the wake of the rising ferocity of YES campaigners who hurl abuse at NO voters that are being labeled as traitors, as the Scottish Nationalist Party more and more resembles the British Nationalist Party in rhetoric and bully boy tactics.
The mainstream press is becoming full of reports of outbreaks of vandalism, abuse and even assault on NO campaigners and voters, which culminates in today's warning by the former deputy leader of the Scottish National Socialists that there will be a DAY OF RECKONING for NO Campaigners following a YES victory with dark conations that one can only wonder at what this DAY of RECKONING would result in.
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Saturday, September 13, 2014
Scottish Independence Would Shake Up the Global System / Politics / Scotland
By: John_Mauldin
The United States is just starting to think about the upcoming elections (for whatever reason, the vast majority of people don’t focus on politics until after Labor Day), but there is another election happening “over the pond,” where the polls have just made everybody do a double-take. I am of course referring to the referendum on Scottish independence, which will be held next week. Voters opposing the measure were a clear majority for months, but their numbers began slipping a few weeks ago; and as of last few days the contest is basically even, with the election probably to be decided by the undecided.
Friday, September 12, 2014
Main Reason Why Scotland Will Vote NO to Independence, 70% Probability / Politics / Scotland
By: Nadeem_Walayat
The opinion polls paint a picture of a too close to call Scottish Independence vote on September 18th which even saw a 51% to 49% lead for the YES campaign just a few days ago that triggered much panic across the political spectrum and financial markets.
However, as I concluded in my recent in depth analysis that the actual probability for Scotland voting YES is just 30% rather than the near 50/50 proposition that the mainstream press has itself in a frenzy over:
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Friday, September 12, 2014
U.S. Meddling Dims Prospects for Ukraine Peace / Politics / Ukraine Civil War
By: Mike_Whitney
The Minsk Ceasefire Protocol has very little chance of succeeding. In fact, the meeting between the warring parties was not convened to stop the violence as much as it was to buy time for the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) to retreat and regroup. In the last two weeks, the junta’s army has suffered “catastrophic” losses leaving President Petro Poroshenko with the choice of either calling for a truce or facing the unpleasant prospect of complete annihilation. Poroshenko wisely chose to withdraw under cover of the ceasefire agreement. But let’s not kid ourselves, Poroshenko only accepted that humiliation because he had no other choice. Once he gathers his forces and rearms, he’ll be back with a vengeance.
Friday, September 12, 2014
Is Scotland Big Enough To Go it Alone? / Politics / Scotland
By: MISES
Peter St. Onge writes: Back when Quebec was weighing secession from Canada, I was a lowly American undergrad living in Montreal. It was an exciting time, since in America we have our railroads torn up and population starved when we secede. Now that Scotland is going through the motions, I figured I’d stir the pot, economically.
Friday, September 12, 2014
Is the Fed Preparing to Asset-Strip Local Governments? / Politics / US Federal Reserve Bank
By: Ellen_Brown
In an inscrutable move that has alarmed state treasurers, the Federal Reserve, along with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, just changed the liquidity requirements for the nation’s largest banks. Municipal bonds, long considered safe liquid investments, have been eliminated from the list of high-quality liquid collateral assets (HQLA). That means banks that are the largest holders of munis are liable to start dumping them in favor of the Treasuries and corporate bonds that do satisfy the requirement.
Thursday, September 11, 2014
Inside the Washington-Wall Street Corruption Industry / Politics / Market Regulation
By: Money_Morning
Shah Gilani writes: There’s a new twist in an ongoing U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) probe.
For months now, the SEC has been investigating whether anyone in the federal government leaked inside information to a Washington-based investment research firm.
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Thursday, September 11, 2014
Scotland - A Wee Problem for the UK / Politics / UK Politics
By: John_Browne
Last weekend several polls emerged that shockingly forecast Scottish independence from Great Britain is within the realm of political possibilities. Although the September 18th vote had worried a number of people, the evenly split polling results burst upon the world like a thunderbolt, perhaps shattering the image of a steady, genial and conservative Britain. But the ramifications of Scottish independence go far beyond national pride and historical score settling. Watchers of the global economy should be aware of the potentially serious follow-on results.
Thursday, September 11, 2014
The Mass Psychosis Of 9 /11 Will Never Be Healed / Politics / War on Terror
By: Andrew_McKillop
The Cognitive Dissonance Theory
Posted by the group of authors called Cognitivedissonance on twoicefloes.com in its 'Dispatches' series, today 11 September, a very long and well-argued article examines the now intricately or insanely woven strands of the rational and irrational called “9 / 11”.
Trying to separate them is basically impossible but we have to try.
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Thursday, September 11, 2014
Radical Islam's Crisis of Competing Caliphates / Politics / ISIS Islamic State
By: STRATFOR
The rise of the Islamic State will inspire other jihadist groups to claim their own caliphates and emirates. In the long run, the extremism of these contrived dominions and the competition among them will undermine the jihadist movement. However, before that happens, the world will witness much upheaval.
Thursday, September 11, 2014
As More U.S. Bombs Drop, Empire Begins Fall / Politics / US Politics
By: Michael_T_Bucci
On Wednesday evening, September 10, 2014, hours before the thirteenth anniversary of 9/11, President Obama announced his decision to bomb Syria and deploy more troops inside Iraq. While the February events in Kiev could be seen marking the EU's capitulation to neo-fascism in Europe in submission to Washington's hegemonic diktats, Obama's arrogant militancy as presently expressed should be viewed as the beginning of the fall of American Empire. Whether it falls this year, the next, or in three to five years, it will end through military defeat, economic collapse and by forces from within that will - by necessity - fight for self-survival against their own government and their sectarian political oppressors and opponents. America will then inherit the mantle that Germany endured for over fifty years following World War II. At that, the rotating sphere of world dominance will have completed its cycle. Unipolar will be dead. The sun will have set in the West and risen in the East. Many will die fighting against the inevitable. Many will blame everyone but themselves.