Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.Tuesday, August 12, 2014
Kurdistan Oil, Chaos, Power and Arrogance / Politics / Middle East
Boy, what a day so far; hard to keep up. tell me, is it just me, or has the US really started another round of regime change in Iraq?
Washington wants a new government in the capital, Baghdad, a national unity one, ostensibly to respond to the Islamist State threat.
PM Maliki doesn’t want to go, but also can’t lead such a government (nobody likes him). Iraqi President Fuad Masum then tells him off, so does a court. Maliki sends loyal troops into Baghdad, threatens to take the President to court, and the latter names deputy parliament speaker Haider Al-Abadi as new PM.
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Tuesday, August 12, 2014
Ukraine Will Destroy Itself With New Gas Tax / Politics / Ukraine Civil War
Ukraine doesn't need Russia to take it down-Kiev is doing fine destroying itself, most recently with a new tax code that doubles taxes for private gas producers and promises to irreparably cripple new investment in the energy sector at a time when reform and outside investment were the country's only hope.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on August 1 signed off on a new tax code that effectively doubles the tax private gas producers in Ukraine will have to pay, calling into question any new investment, as well as commitment from key producers already operating in the country.
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Monday, August 11, 2014
The Long Descent – Peak Oil And Decline / Politics / Social Issues
Western Decline Paradigm Redux
The current re-edited version of “The Long Descent” from New Society Publishers, by John Michael Greer was first published in 2008 when things looked mighty different for many things, including the economy. In 2008 oil briefly hit $147 per barrel in Nymex trading. Using the doctored US official CPI figures we would need over $160, or in real terms probably north of $170 to beat that today.
Monday, August 11, 2014
Politics of the U.S. Election Cycle and Policy Spin / Politics / US Politics
Political Spin
The Republicans are coming out in force on their criticism of President Obama`s decision to utilize primarily air strikes to thwart ISIS aggression in Iraq towards the Kurds and the minority Christian group the Yazidis.
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Monday, August 11, 2014
Syria, Iraq... US Picks Wrong Friends, Wrong Enemies, Wrong Fights / Politics / Middle East
There are presidential elections in Turkey today, and current prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan looks set to win. Which means the US will have a definitely uncomfortable bedfellow in the Eastern Europe/Middle East region (the borders between the two are not terribly clear) in the coming years.
Erdogan has recently become a very loud opponent of Israel – and all the world’s Jews – , and US relationships with him had already been cooling way before this latest foray into ‘international diplomacy’.
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Monday, August 11, 2014
They’re Lying To Us - Fake Credit Scores / Politics / Credit Cards & Scoring
Like any other weak-willed entity, an over-indebted country eventually finds that formerly-easy things get harder to do. Today, for instance, banks are having trouble attracting customers with the kinds of credit scores that meet previously-set criteria for mortgages and car loans. As a result they’re writing fewer loans and the economy is seeing less debt-fueled growth than policy makers think is ideal for the run-up to the next election.
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Monday, August 11, 2014
Why America is Ungovernable - The Republicans’ Civil War / Politics / US Politics
Back when the republican party was actually the party of small government it was possible for country club moderates (white guys and their trophy wives who love the status quo and want to preserve the tax breaks that make it possible), Christian conservatives (who want the bible to be the template for the US legal system) and libertarians (who want a limited government that exists almost solely to protect property rights and individual freedoms) to coexist. While disagreeing on some major issues like abortion and foreign affairs, they could unite on taxes, regulation, school choice and enough else to hold the party together.
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Monday, August 11, 2014
US Sanctions on Russia May Sink the Dollar / Politics / US Dollar
The US government's decision to apply more sanctions on Russia is a grave mistake and will only escalate an already tense situation, ultimately harming the US economy itself. While the effect of sanctions on the dollar may not be appreciated in the short term, in the long run these sanctions are just another step toward the dollar's eventual demise as the world's reserve currency.
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Sunday, August 10, 2014
Undercover Look Inside ISIS Islamic State Caliphate - Videos / Politics / ISIS Islamic State
Whilst the Jewish fundamentalist state Israel is busy killing thousands of Palestinian men, women and children these two videos take an undercover look at their new born sibling the Islamic Fundamentalist State, giving a unique window into why they too can so easily kill innocent men, women and children as they, along with Jewish fundamentalists and Evangelical Christian fundamentalists are infected with the same virus that craves fulfillment of prophecy.
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Sunday, August 10, 2014
Foreign Policy And Chaos Theory / Politics / GeoPolitics
Western Primacy in a Multipolar World
This is a nice theory but neither of its two parts exists. John Kerry, for example heavily uses “multipolar world” as his best excuse for the USA's powerlessness because, he says, the multipolar world is so complex and the different parties all disagree. Two absentees from this theoretical world are Russia and China, and India is drifting away, also. The outright debacle of US (and western) foreign policy now playing out in Iraq underlines there is no such thing as western primacy.
Sunday, August 10, 2014
What if There’s a Real War in Ukraine? / Politics / Ukraine Civil War
Russia and the West are at war – over fruits, veggies, pork, and bank loans. The cause is Ukraine, a vast emptiness formerly unknown to the western world, but now deemed a vital national security interest worthy of a risking a very scary war.
Economic embargos such as those launched by the US against Russia may seem relatively harmless. They are not. Trade sanctions are a form of strategic warfare that is sometimes followed by bullets and shells.
Sunday, August 10, 2014
Follow The Money All The Way To The Next War / Politics / GeoPolitics
A lot of people will be paying attention today to the open letter published in his own paper by Gabor Steingart, the publisher of Germany’s leading financial newspaper Handelsblatt. And it’s admittedly not an everyday occurrence when a man like Steingart writes a letter like that. But the content is not that big a deal. He doesn’t call out any lies.
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Sunday, August 10, 2014
President Obama Statement on Israel Gaza War / Politics / US Politics
President Obama delivers an update on the Gaza situation and U.S. position on Israel including authorisation of use of military force, a ball growing event.
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Saturday, August 09, 2014
Ukraine Nuclear Doomsday Scenario / Politics / Ukraine Civil War
No Pleasure To Write This Article
For almost sure but not certainly, if there's a nuance of difference between them, I will be accused of sowing dangerous and seditious ideas, but I have already published on this theme and I am not talking about fantasies – but facts. Removed from the arena of constantly rising western sanctions against Russia and Russian counter-sanctions against the west, the Ukraine civil war goes on.
Friday, August 08, 2014
Iraq - Obama's No-Win Doctrine / Politics / US Politics
Innocent Mr Obama Addresses the Nation
Long ago in politics, in 2011, in his address to the nation from the East Room on March 18 the president said he had to act in Libya. Without international action, he said, there would be "atrocities against [the] people." and "many thousands could die. A humanitarian crisis would ensue. The entire region could be destabilized, endangering many of our allies and partners”. Obama in 2011 also said “The calls of the Libyan people would go unanswered. The democratic values that we stand for would be overrun”.
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Thursday, August 07, 2014
Israel Gaza War Crimes - Soldier's Ordered to Shoot Civilians Including Children - C4News / Politics / Israel
Channel 4 News once more reveals the truth of the Israel's war on Gaza with soldiers apparently ordered / given permission to shoot dead innocent men, women and children as the videoed case of Salem Shamali illustrated. And now supported by interviews with Israeli soldiers who were given permission to SHOOT dead INNOCENT civilians which amounts to war crimes that for justice to take place should land the likes of Netanyahu on trial in the Hague.
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Thursday, August 07, 2014
Israel Engineered the War on Gaza to Kill Palestinians / Politics / Israel
On June 12, 2014, the news agencies of the world reported that three youths, residents of the Israeli town of Gueto, were abducted and possibly killed. Eighteen days later, the government of Israel discovered the bodies of the young people, which according to report, had been shot dead. Mahdi Zanjani *
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Thursday, August 07, 2014
Massive Federated, US Based Pro-Israel Network / Politics / Israel
United Against a Nuclear Iran Donors Identified: Part of Massive Federated, US Based Pro-Israel Network
"We have since worked with a broad coalition of Jewish and non-Jewish groups as well as with United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) to support legislative and regulatory actions requiring divestment from companies that do business with Iran, as well other sanctions. 'Florida has been a leader in adopting strong measures to isolate the Iranian regime in the areas of procurement, divestment and banking. We encourage local communities across the U.S to join Florida to pass similar measures" said Tara Laxer, Florida Director of United Against a Nuclear Iran.' Greater Miami Jewish Federation
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Thursday, August 07, 2014
Surprise Discovery - Crony Democracy Has No Rules / Politics / GeoPolitics
You Are A Liar
When somebody said to Socrates “I know that I know nothing at all” Socrates simply told him he was lying, because he did know something! Know nothing democracy, fausse democratie, crony parties and crony government are all lies. Like the crony economy where “imperfect knowledge” creates false value, that doesn't exist. Alternately of course, the markets are imperfect, but we're working on it.
Thursday, August 07, 2014
The US Needs to Stop Meddling in Russia-Ukraine Politics / Politics / US Politics
West Point Speech & Foreign Policy Philosophy
It is ironic that President Obama in his West Point speech posited that the US couldn`t be the world`s police, and intervene in every single dispute all over the globe; and yet his foreign policy approach has ended up getting involved in every single dispute all over the world.
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