Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Thursday, July 10, 2014
Ukraine II - Why Moldova Urgently Matters / Politics / Eastern Europe
By: STRATFOR
Robert D. Kaplan writes: "NATO's Article 5 offers little protection against Vladimir Putin's Russia," Iulian Fota, Romania's presidential national security adviser, told me on a recent visit to Bucharest. "Article 5 protects Romania and other Eastern European countries against a military invasion. But it does not protect them against subversion," that is, intelligence activities, the running of criminal networks, the buying-up of banks and other strategic assets, and indirect control of media organs to undermine public opinion. Moreover, Article 5 does not protect Eastern Europe against reliance on Russian energy. As Romanian President Traian Basescu told me, Romania is a somewhat energy-rich island surrounded by a Gazprom empire.
Thursday, July 10, 2014
U.S. Federal Reserve June 2014 - Noise / Politics / US Federal Reserve Bank
By: Fred_Sheehan
On June 18, 2014, and July 2, 2014, Federal Reserve Chairman Janet Yellen announced her bureaucracy will let inflation do its own thing. She is steadfast in her determination to meet the Fed's dual mandates under the Bernanke-Yellen dispensation, that is, she will not interfere with either the central bank-induced asset or price inflations.
A discussion of asset inflation will follow, with a quick note first about the June 18 press conference. Yellen stated: "Let me just say inflation continues to run well below our objective." This was not true. The Fed's measurement for inflation (Personal Consumption Expenditure) was 1.6% in May (1.8% in June, announced after this press conference.) By every other measure, inflation is above 2.0%. The all-items, PCE price index, published by the Dallas Fed, rose at a 2.8% annual pace in May.
Thursday, July 10, 2014
UK Public Sector on Strike, Schools Closed - Silverdale Sheffield Example / Politics / UK Politics
By: Nadeem_Walayat
An estimated 1 million public sector workers that includes most teachers have gone on strike today to protest against the sub-inflation 1% pay cap and for some even ZERO pay increases of the past few years that the Labour union movement has labeled as the 'cost of living crisis' as inflation each year erodes the purchasing power of earnings.
Thursday, July 10, 2014
Persecution of the Jewish Race Continues, Israel's Dark DNA Secret Revealed / Politics / Israel
By: Nadeem_Walayat
As I write the descendants of the Jewish race in Israel / Palestine are once more suffering ritual slaughter with the number of dead at this time inevitably soon to escalate into the hundreds, a blood letting that is periodically unleashed on an near annual basis in Palestine in response to the Jewish races quest for freedom from persecution of that which has claimed more than 60,000 lives since the year 2000 alone.
Thursday, July 10, 2014
Central Bank Smackdown / Politics / Central Banks
By: John_Mauldin
Smackdown: smack·down, ˈsmakˌdoun/, noun, US informal
1. a bitter contest or confrontation.
"the age-old man versus Nature smackdown"
2. a decisive or humiliating defeat or setback.
The term “smackdown” was first used by professional wrestler Dwayne Johnson (AKA The Rock) in 1997. Ten years later its use had become so ubiquitous that Merriam-Webster felt compelled to add it to their lexicon. It may be Dwayne Johnson’s enduring contribution to Western civilization, notwithstanding and apart from his roles in The Fast and The Furious movie series. All that said, it is quite the useful word for talking about confrontations that are more for show than actual physical altercations.
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Wednesday, July 09, 2014
Impact of IMF SDRs on Commercial Trade / Politics / Global Financial System
By: BATR
The global corporatist economy works differently from business transactions at your neighborhood convenience store. Ostensibly, the International Monetary Fund was set up to allow the G20 nations to umpire the ground rules to play nice in macro trade. Platitudes about promoting job growth or third world development are the realm of public relations for the central banks. The impact of the IMF on virtually all countries, vividly seen in every crisis whether real or contrived, always has a political objective that underpins the economic functions. As confidence in national currencies falter, the big sugar daddy loves to intervene, provided they pull the strings.
Tuesday, July 08, 2014
ISIS And The New Crusade / Politics / Middle East
By: Andrew_McKillop
From Jakarta to Madrid
Shown on hundreds of blogs and used by newswires like Reuters for extracted images, video footage of speakers from ISIS shows them proclaiming the World Jihad as the forerunner to the Global Caliphate. In related ISIS group videos posted to Web sites in June, British ISIS members appealed in English for Muslims across the world to join their cause.
Tuesday, July 08, 2014
The Inevitability of U.S. Foreign Entanglements / Politics / GeoPolitics
By: STRATFOR
George Friedman writes: The Fourth of July weekend gave me time to consider events in Iraq and Ukraine, U.S.-German relations and the Mexican borderland and immigration. I did so in the context of the founding of the United States, asking myself if America has strayed from the founders' intent with regard to foreign policy. Many people note Thomas Jefferson's warning that the United States should pursue "peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations -- entangling alliances with none," taking that as the defining strategy of the founders. I think it is better to say that was the defining wish of the founders but not one that they practiced to extremes.
Tuesday, July 08, 2014
Why I’m Grateful to Live in America / Politics / Social Issues
By: Frank_Holmes
An important principle of our investment process at U.S. Global Investors is a belief that government policies are a precursor to change. As a result, we closely monitor the fiscal, monetary and other impactful governmental policies of the world’s largest countries, both in terms of economic stature and population. We’re always listening for the proverbial shot heard around the world. As we celebrated America’s Independence Day over the weekend, this belief rings especially true.
Monday, July 07, 2014
America Has Ceased to Exist - Video / Politics / US Politics
By: Casey_Research
By Doug Casey, Chairman
“America is a marvelous idea, a unique idea, fantastic idea. I’m extremely pro-American. But America has ceased to exist,” says Doug Casey. Watch him in this fascinating interview with Reason TV’s Nick Gillespie discuss the political, social, and economic challenges the US must conquer as well as lessons we can learn from failed states.
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Monday, July 07, 2014
Ron Paul - Hobby Lobby Decision Creates Small Island of Freedom in Ocean of Statism / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
This week, supporters of religious freedom cheered the Supreme Court's ruling in the Hobby Lobby case. The Court was correct to protect business owners from being forced to violate their religious beliefs by paying for contraceptives. However, the decision was very limited in scope and application.
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Monday, July 07, 2014
The Chilling Threat Of Nuclear Civil War In Ukraine / Politics / Ukraine Civil War
By: Andrew_McKillop
Playing With Fire
The WNA-World Nuclear Association which tirelessly promotes nuclear power presents Ukraine as a poster child of civil nuclear power. It says that after construction of Ukraine's first-ever civil nuclear power complex – at Chernobyl in 1970 – Ukraine's present 15 NPPs (nuclear reactors) grouped into 4 major complexes operated by State monopoly NNEGC Energoatom had a combined capacity of about 13 900 MW and were all VVER-type reactors (mostly VVER-320s) of Soviet design. Using 2009 data, they produced about 48% of Ukraine's total electricity output of 177 billion kWh of which 4 billion kWh was exported.
Sunday, July 06, 2014
Iraq Reverse Evolution - Iraqi Warriors Scattered Sand / Politics / Iraq War
By: Stephen_Merrill
Reverse EvolutionThe geographical region of Iraq is the place in the world most credited with starting human civilization, circa 3100 B.C., along the Euphrates Valley. Ancient Mesopotamia was the very tip of modernity at the outset of recorded history.
Now it seems Iraq is bent on undoing civilization altogether with a return to the chaos of a state-of-nature, where warlords, religious and secular, terrorize the population.
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Sunday, July 06, 2014
What the Hobby Lobby Ruling Means for Obamacare / Politics / Healthcare Sector
By: Money_Morning
Tara Clarke writes: This morning (Monday), the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling in the hotly contentious Burwell v. Hobby Lobby case. Here's how it went down, and what the Hobby Lobby ruling means for Obamacare ...
Christian-owned craft store chain Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood Specialties Store, a Pennsylvania wood manufacturer owned by a family of Mennonites, said the Obamacare contraception mandate violated their religious freedom by forcing them to pay for certain types of employees' contraception such as the morning after pill.
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Saturday, July 05, 2014
Judaism and Christianity - 2,000 of Lies, 66 Years of State Terrorism / Politics / Religion
By: Submissions
Laura Knight-Jadczyk writes: A few years ago, when my book The Secret History of the World was published, I rashly promised that volume 2 would soon be completed and ready for publication. After all, I pretty much knew what I wanted to zoom in on - the topic of Moses and the creation of Judaism - and I already had a good hypothesis and had tons of supplementary support material. I even had a title: The Horns of Moses (triple entendre!) It should be a piece of cake, I thought. And so, I sat down to write.
Saturday, July 05, 2014
If All Else Fails, You Eat Your Kids / Politics / Social Issues
By: Raul_I_Meijer
The global financial system owns our societies, banks, politicians, the whole lot. It therefore owns us too, which includes you, and it’s very counterproductive to deny that. It can do what it wants and what it pleases with impunity. It took the finance wizards surprisingly long to figure that out, but they have. This has enabled them to buy everything and everyone they wanted to buy.
Thursday, July 03, 2014
France And The End Of 'Sarkozyism' / Politics / France
By: Andrew_McKillop
Once Upon A Time
Not so long ago, but a long time in politics, Nicolas Sarkozy and his win-all neolib political gimmick called “Sarkozyism” was riding high. French voters seemed to love it. But times change.
Thursday, July 03, 2014
Iraq: Examining the Professed Caliphate / Politics / Iraq War
By: STRATFOR
Summary
The Islamic State, previously known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, has changed its name, but otherwise the militant group remains the same. Over the past weekend, a spokesman for the group announced that it had established a caliphate stretching from Diyala province, Iraq, to Aleppo, Syria. The caliphate is a political institution that the Islamic State claims will govern the global Muslim community. "Iraq" and "Levant" have been dropped from the organization's name to reflect its new status.
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Wednesday, July 02, 2014
Similarities Between 1914 And 2014 / Politics / GeoPolitics
By: GoldSilverWorlds
As we approach the 100th anniversary of the start of World War I, the (non-mainstream) media is starting to talk about the parallels between then and now. Could it be true that there are similarities? In this article, I would like to discuss some of the intriguing, and frankly disturbing, parallels I see between the period just prior to WWI and today. I think that understanding these parallels is of utmost importance, not only because the events leading up to WWI are, in my view, also the indirect cause of the Second World War, but they are important to understand the similar problems we could be facing today.
Wednesday, July 02, 2014
Bill Gates On The High Cost Of Being Poor / Politics / Social Issues
By: Andrew_McKillop
Energy Energy Energy
Bill Gates has rotated and swiveled 180-degrees from his former self-righteous stance on the Global Warming issue, or “threat”, and the instant no brainer elite solution of using a lot less energy. Fossil of course. Now he says poor countries must use more energy but we could take the “US paradigm”. The US is a very long way from being an oil exporter and is still a long way from being a natural gas exporter – but is a large and growing coal exporter. The US exports energy! Exporting coal along with Windows (whose constant “upgrades” are always more difficult to beat into usable shape) makes economic sense. This coal is cheap energy – very cheap energy.