Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Governments Worldwide Adopting FATCA Style Legislation / Politics / Taxes
By: Jeff_Berwick
It seems the US has created a new model for the world of draconian taxes and penalties. New powers at HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) in Britain allow the body to "raid the bank accounts" of anyone who owes more than £1,000 in tax or tax credits. Under the new system, HMRC would have the power to seize money from bank accounts after they contacted the debtor several times.
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Russia Looks East as Relations with Europe Deteriorate / Politics / Russia
By: OilPrice_Com
The standoff between the U.S. and the EU on one hand, and Russia on the other, intensified pretty quickly late last week. The U.S. quickly slapped heavier sanctions on Russia after its annexation of Crimea, leading to a mutual escalation of retaliatory measures. However, it appears that the West gained a bit of leverage at the moment, as the Russian economy has shown some cracks amid uncertainty over how bad this is going to get.
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Monday, March 24, 2014
The G7 Debtor's League Demotes Putin / Politics / GeoPolitics
By: Andrew_McKillop
The Group of 7 Most Insolvent Nations
Angela Merkel has officially cast out and demoted Russia from the G8, reverting it to G7. This highly-charged political act also reflects a major global economic reality – G8 included Russia which has avoided, or been unable to pursue the G7 path of massive sovereign debt growth, only compensated by the G7's monetary chiefs – the US, Japan, Germany, France and UK – having the ability to print “reserve currency” fiat money, led by the USD and EUR but also including the JPY and GBP.
Monday, March 24, 2014
Ron Paul - U.S. 'Democracy Promotion' Destroys Democracy Overseas / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
It was almost ten years ago when, before the House International Relations Committee, I objected to the US Government funding NGOs to meddle in the internal affairs of Ukraine. At the time the "Orange Revolution" had forced a regime change in Ukraine with the help of millions of dollars from Washington.
Monday, March 24, 2014
Bernanke Exit, Yellen Entry - Federal Reserve Continuity of Committing Fraud / Politics / US Federal Reserve Bank
By: Jas_Jain
There has been lot of commentary about the transition at the head of the Federal Reserve. During the past four months, Janet Yellen has appeared for confirmation hearing, testimony to the Congress, and a Q&A session following her first meeting as the Chairperson of the Fed.
Sunday, March 23, 2014
Will Russia Sanctions Backfire? / Politics / Energy Resources
By: Pravda
Russian "energy kings" Igor Sechin and Alexei Miller may be added to the list of persons whose European accounts will be frozen in light of the application of sanctions against Russia. In addition, the heads of the state companies fall under EU visa restrictions. What are the possible consequences of such pressure on the key players in the energy market for the EU?
Sunday, March 23, 2014
Will Ukraine Power Game Raise EU Energy Prices By 100%? / Politics / Energy Resources
By: Raul_I_Meijer
If I were a citizen of the European Union, especially of either the more eastern countries or of Britain, I’d be getting worried right now. I wouldn’t be so sure that what the Boys from Brussels are concocting is in my best interest. It’s one thing to hear the leadership declare that when it comes to gas, Putin needs Europe more than the other way around, but is that really true or is that war talk that may even be based primarily on a lack of knowledge and/or competence? And if the EU bluff pans out wrong, what are going to be the consequences for the people in the EU? As in: how fast and now much can prices rise?
Sunday, March 23, 2014
The Evil of NATO Marching Us into War / Politics / GeoPolitics
By: LewRockwell
Patrick J. Buchanan writes: Sweeping through Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania this week, Joe Biden reassured all three that the United States’ commitment to Article Five of the NATO treaty remains “solemn” and “iron clad.”
Article Five commits us to war if the territory of any of these tiny Baltic nations is violated by Russia.
Sunday, March 23, 2014
France Advanced Tech And Retarded Diplomacy / Politics / France
By: Andrew_McKillop
Sell Russia Weapons – Then Apply Sanctions
France's sale to Russia of two high tech Mistral-class military ships, described as helicopter assault, electronic warfare support, and local area missile capable “invasion platform” fighting ships, for a total of about 1.4 billion euros enabling more than one thousand jobs at French shipyards in a region of high unemployment, has become collateral damage in Europe's sanctions war against Putin. Russian military and diplomatic officials are openly mocking European sanctions imposed on them over Crimea. They point out that the Mistral-class ship sales were officially hailed, previously by the French, as a signal for the complete and final end to the Cold War.
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Saturday, March 22, 2014
Debt and Taxes / Politics / US Debt
By: Peter_Schiff
The red flags contained in the national and global headlines that have come out thus far in 2014 should have spooked investors and economic forecasters. Instead the markets have barely noticed. It seems that the majority opinion on Wall Street and Washington is that we have entered an era of good fortune made possible by the benevolent hand of the Federal Reserve. Ben Bernanke and now Janet Yellen have apparently removed all the economic rough edges that would normally draw blood. As a result of this monetary "baby-proofing," a strong economy is no longer considered necessary for rising stock and real estate prices.
Friday, March 21, 2014
Feed the Rich and Starve the Middle Class: There’s Only So Much To Go Around / Politics / Social Issues
By: Money_Morning
Shah Gilani writes: The Dow fell 200 points yesterday when Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen dared to suggest a timetable for raising interest rates.
But then they recovered and ended down only 114 points on the day.
Gee, that was a close one, the 1% sighed.
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Friday, March 21, 2014
Birth of a New Ukrainian Nation? / Politics / Eastern Europe
By: OilPrice_Com
Interview with Robert Bensh
Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula is now Russia's. It was done with an impressively organized non-violent military operation, and supported by the foregone conclusion of a referendum on independence from Ukraine. One Ukrainian soldier was reportedly killed on 18 March, after Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the treaty to annex the Crimea and troops moved to take over a Ukrainian military facility in Simferopol. The US has imposed largely symbolic sanctions on Russian officials who have no American assets to freeze and would be fine foregoing trips to the US, but the game is over.
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Thursday, March 20, 2014
An Injunction Against the First Amendment / Politics / US Politics
By: Walter_Brasch
Vera Scroggins of Susquehanna County, Pa., will be in court Monday morning.
This time, she will have lawyers and hundreds of thousands of supporters throughout the country. Representing Scroggins to vacate an injunction limiting her travel will be lawyers from the ACLU and Public Citizen, and a private attorney.
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Thursday, March 20, 2014
France Wakes Up To The Fragile Case For Nuclear Power / Politics / Nuclear Power
By: Andrew_McKillop
First the Politics
March 18, newswires starting strangely with Kuwait's KUNA, reported that protesters from French environmental action groups, headed by Greenpeace and supported by activists of the EELV political party which is part of French president Hollande's parliamentary coalition, broke into France's oldest nuclear power plant (NPP) at Fessenheim located on the Franco-German border in Alsace, and occupied several parts of the operating section and its roof. Their claims were given considerable coverage by French media, if only to keep minds off Putin's victory in Crimea, fustigated as an “illegal act” by Hollande and his Foreign minister. One immediate result of this is the halt to construction, in French shipyards of two high tech missile-launch destroyers for the Russian navy, one of the ships named 'Sebastopol', in a contract worth about 1.5 billion euros.
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
Obamas America Starting to Look Like Maos Communist China / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
Many like to watch movies or read fiction novels as a way to relax and get away from work and other stresses of day-to-day life. I, on the other hand, find non-fiction to be much more interesting than almost anything dreamed up by a fiction writer. So, when I want to relax and get away from things I like to read and watch non-fiction books and documentaries.
Given what is going on in China lately I have been nearly obsessed learning about China's history. It is easily one of the most interesting cultures on Earth with thousands of years of dynasties, warlords, communism, capitalism, wars and atrocities.
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Tuesday, March 18, 2014
Putin's Energy Stranglehold On Europe / Politics / Energy Resources
By: Andrew_McKillop
Outdated Geopolitical Musing
March 17, world stock exchanges from Moscow to New York and Frankfurt to Shanghai gave a whoop of joy at the symbolic-only prospect of European and American “hard hitting sanctions” being set against Russia for its Crimean action. The wait was over, the panic wasn't needed, at least not yet, so jobbers and traders got back to doing the thing they know best of all – talking up share prices. The media and press, however, did what they could to keep the story going, for example Garry Kasparov's raging in the 'Wall Street Journal', telling us that Putin “is another Saddam Hussein or Slobodan Milosevic” and should be treated by the West the same way. Kill him!
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Tuesday, March 18, 2014
Russia Examines Its Options for Responding to Ukraine / Politics / Russia
By: STRATFOR
The fall of the Ukrainian government and its replacement with one that appears to be oriented toward the West represents a major defeat for the Russian Federation. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia accepted the reality that the former Eastern European satellite states would be absorbed into the Western economic and political systems. Moscow claims to have been assured that former Soviet republics would be left as a neutral buffer zone and not absorbed. Washington and others have disputed that this was promised. In any case, it was rendered meaningless when the Baltic states were admitted to NATO and the European Union. The result was that NATO, which had been almost 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) from St. Petersburg, was now less than approximately 160 kilometers away.
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
Madness of Stirring War With Russia Over Ukraine / Politics / GeoPolitics
By: BATR
The psychopathic propaganda power brokers are inciting hysteria over expanding their Ukrainian coup operation. Pushing Russia to accept a hostile empire on their border is irrational. Belligerence and intimidation makes indefensible foreign affairs relationships. Those who swallow the “wag the dog” script that circulates in the Western mainstream media, deceived or brainwashed, are incapable of any independent thought. The forces that seek unremitting interventionist intrusions that thrive on self-induced chaos are the true threats to world peace.
Monday, March 17, 2014
Russia Eyes Crimea’s Oil and Gas Reserves / Politics / Energy Resources
By: OilPrice_Com
According to Reuters , Crimea may nationalize oil and gas assets within its borders belonging to Ukraine, and sell them off to Russia. Crimea’s Deputy Prime Minister hinted at the possibility that it would take control of Chornomorneftegaz, a Ukrainian state-owned enterprise, and then “privatize” it by selling it to Gazprom. “After nationalisation of the company we would openly take a decision - if a large investor, like Gazprom or others emerges - to carry out (privatisation),” Deputy Prime Minister Rustam Temirgaliev said.
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Monday, March 17, 2014
Lost Plane MH370 and the Crimea Triangle / Politics / GeoPolitics
By: Raul_I_Meijer
It’s somehow eerily comforting to know that an entire Boeing 777 plane can completely disappear from everybody’s view, leading to an area from Kazachstan to Australia now being searched, in the days when it’s become common knowledge that the NSA and its global sister organizations track billions of phone calls and internet communications on a daily basis.