Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Sunday, December 01, 2013
Profiteering from the Pentagon's Vast Wasteful Operations / Politics / US Military
By: Global_Research
Patrick Martin writes: According to reports by two major news organizations, the main payroll and accounting office of the Pentagon doles out tens of billions of dollars to contractors without any rigorous auditing or other financial controls, fueling a system of waste and profiteering.
Under conditions where politicians of both the Democratic and Republican parties claim there is “no money” to maintain even the inadequate level of social services currently provided by the federal government, the US military squanders vast sums in support of the global operations of American imperialism.
Friday, November 29, 2013
Orwell's Frankenfoods Are New Normal / Politics / Food Crisis
By: Andrew_McKillop
THE NUCLEAR SOLUTION
The history of “recycled” nuclear wastes as military DU munitions is relatively well known and dates to the early 1970s. NATO analysts had reported that the Soviet military had developed armor plating for tanks that NATO ammunition could not penetrate. The quest to develop high-penetration anti-tank munitions quickly focused very dense (higher than lead) uranium wastes from “civil” nuclear power, that are also pyrotechnic or quickly inflammable and explosive on impact, and are easily machined into complex nose cones and sheaths for shells and projectiles. Since that time, DU munitions have grown to be held and used by nearly all major armed forces of the planet. Military analysts identify about 78 nations presently possessing DU munitions, that now cover a huge range of ordnance types and sizes, including anti-building, anti-aircraft and anti-personnel weapons.
Friday, November 29, 2013
The Neocons Want Iranian Blood, Will the Comply? / Politics / US Politics
By: LewRockwell
Patrick J. Buchanan writes: When, after the massacres at Newtown and the Washington Navy Yard, Republicans refused to outlaw the AR-15 rifle or require background checks for gun purchasers, we were told the party had committed suicide by defying 90 percent of the nation.
When Republicans rejected amnesty and a path to citizenship for illegal aliens, we were told the GOP had just forfeited its future.
Friday, November 29, 2013
Genetically Modified Politicians Battle to Persuade the Public to Accept GM Food / Politics / GM Foods
By: Global_Research
Lesley Docksey writes: The official UK government policy on genetically modified (GM) crops is “precautionary, evidence-based and sensitive to public concerns”. Who are they kidding?
My heart always sinks when, listening to the BBC’s Today programme, someone from the Department for International Development starts talking about the “international food crisis”, and the starving people in all those poor undeveloped countries (the ones we helped to pauper with our empire building). I know for sure that in the next day or two, in the top political slot on Today, I’ll be listening to Environment Minister Owen Paterson telling us that we must embrace GM technology if we want to feed the world. It normally coincides with his giving a speech or two about the wonders of GM crops and food, full of outrageous and unscientific statements. Prime Minister David Cameron chips in with a comment to the media about how Britain is losing the scientific race to feed the world.
Thursday, November 28, 2013
Monsanto, the TPP, and Global Food Dominance / Politics / GM Foods
By: Ellen_Brown
“Control oil and you control nations,” said US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in the 1970s. ”Control food and you control the people.”
Global food control has nearly been achieved, by reducing seed diversity with GMO (genetically modified) seeds that are distributed by only a few transnational corporations. But this agenda has been implemented at grave cost to our health; and if the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) passes, control over not just our food but our health, our environment and our financial system will be in the hands of transnational corporations.
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Thursday, November 28, 2013
Thanksgiving: A National Day of Mourning / Politics / US Politics
By: Robert_Singer
Thanksgiving commemorates the successful harvest and the time Pilgrims gathered to give thanks. The Pilgrims shared a feast with their Native American neighbors, who had made possible their survival in the New England wilderness.
Writers and textbook publishers of American history have generally omitted or, if mentioned at all, glossed over historic accounts of genocide and inhumane treatment of American Indian populations.
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Thursday, November 28, 2013
U.S. Iran Nuclear Deal Regional Reverberations / Politics / Middle East
By: STRATFOR
What was unthinkable for many people over many years happened in the early hours of Nov. 24 in Geneva: The United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran struck a deal. After a decadelong struggle, the two reached an accord that seeks to ensure that Iran's nuclear program remains a civilian one. It is a preliminary deal, and both sides face months of work to batten down domestic opposition, build convincing mechanisms to assure compliance and unthread complicated global sanctions.
Thursday, November 28, 2013
A Thanksgiving Reality / Politics / Social Issues
By: Walter_Brasch
Segued into a 10-second afterthought, smothered by 60-second Christmas commercials, is the media acknowledgement of Thanksgiving, which nudges us into a realization of all we are thankful for.
But the usual litany, even with the omnipresent pictures of the less fortunate being fed by the more fortunate, doesn’t list well this year. Our thanks seem to be at best half-hearted or at least insensitive and shallow.
Thursday, November 28, 2013
TEDDY ROOSEVELT: US Statism’s Seductive Founder / Politics / US Politics
By: Stephen_Merrill
A recent work sought to identify and rank in a way the few US Presidents over the past century plus whose policies led to greater freedom in the economy. That list did not include, Theodore Roosevelt, TR, the trust-busting lion and hero of San Juan Hill.
To the consternation of many, the work ranked two Democrats, Jimmy Carter and Harry Truman, as possibly the greatest presidential freedom fighters for the economy since 1900. Supporters of several presidents claim other names should have been included, Teddy Roosevelt for one, Ronald Reagan for another and even Bill Clinton.
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Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Zombie Government Armed with Accounting Tricks Bailed out Zombie Banking Industry / Politics / Credit Crisis Bailouts
By: Casey_Research
By Doug French, Contributing Editor
On March 16, 2009, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), a private-sector organization that establishes financial accounting and reporting standards in the US, turned the stock market around and at the same time motivated banks to become the worst slumlords and neighbors imaginable.
Most people believe accounting is conservative, the rules cut and dried. Accountants make economists look frivolous. But accountants are people too, and FASB succumbed to pressure from Capitol Hill in the wake of the 2008 financial crash.
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Understanding the Rise of China / Politics / China Economy
By: Frank_Holmes
If the sweeping economic reforms planned by Chinese leaders during the Third Plenum can be our guide, it looks to be a promising decade for global investors. Details released recently confirmed President Xi Jinping’s concerted efforts to move China toward a market-based economy that mirrors the West.The plan’s comprehensive nature and the level of clarity evidently pleased investors, as many Chinese stocks experienced a pop.
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Tuesday, November 26, 2013
Israelis, Saudis and the U.S. Iranian Nuclear Agreement / Politics / Middle East
By: STRATFOR
A deal between Iran and the P-5+1 (the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany) was reached Saturday night. The Iranians agreed to certain limitations on their nuclear program while the P-5+1 agreed to remove certain economic sanctions. The next negotiation, scheduled for six months from now depending on both sides' adherence to the current agreement, will seek a more permanent resolution. The key players in this were the United States and Iran. The mere fact that the U.S. secretary of state would meet openly with the Iranian foreign minister would have been difficult to imagine a few months ago, and unthinkable at the beginning of the Islamic republic.
Tuesday, November 26, 2013
American Denial, Desperation and Despotism / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
With the death of the American Republic, the headstone sums up the epitaph - stuck on stupid. People celebrate a "Politically Correct" mixed-race president as leader for a society of multiracial special interest groups as the maturing of the country. Very few writers describe the ways diverse and culturally conflicting factions clash with traditional values and tested institutions because any serious discussion, automatically presumes to be racist. Such an adolescent and narrow-minded attitude, surrenders to the forces of anti-intellectualism. It is time to liberate the fabricated guilt and face up to the certainty that our nation is a declared SOS zone.
Monday, November 25, 2013
The Latest from RBS, the Royal Bank of Crooks / Politics / Banksters
By: Money_Morning
Shah Gilani writes: The Royal Bank of Scotland, a huge lender to small- and medium-sized businesses in the U.K. and Europe, is being accused of undermining the businesses it lends to.
Not that this would ever happen in the United States…
Apparently, the too-big-to-fail British bank further stresses borrowers by layering on fees when businesses can least afford them. This can trigger covenants that allow the bank to actually dismantle the borrower, to the benefit of advisors who have less than an arm’s length relationship with the bank.
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Monday, November 25, 2013
Quantitative Easing is Ben's Rocket to Nowhere / Politics / US Federal Reserve Bank
By: Peter_Schiff
Herd mentality can be as frustrating as it is inexplicable. Once a crowd starts moving, momentum can be all that matters and clear signs and warnings are often totally ignored. Financial markets are currently following this pattern with respect to the unshakable belief that the Federal Reserve is ready, willing, and most importantly, able, to immediately execute a wind down of its quantitative easing program. How this notion became so deeply entrenched is a mystery, but the stampede it has sparked is getting more violent, and irrational, by the day.
Monday, November 25, 2013
Iran Nuclear Disaster – For Overpriced Crude Oil / Politics / Nuclear Weapons
By: Andrew_McKillop
IRAN NUCLEAR – ISRAEL NUCLEAR
Alongside Gulf state leaderships and their official news outlets, Israel's Benyamin Netanyahu reacted with fury to the Iran nuclear sanctions-unwinding deal made in Geneva, 24 November. He fulminated: "What was concluded in Geneva last night is not a historic agreement, it's a historic mistake," adding "It's not made the world a safer place. Like the agreement with North Korea in 2005, this agreement has made the world a much more dangerous place".
Monday, November 25, 2013
Can Karzai Save America from Afghanistan? / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
After a year of talks over the post-2014 US military presence in Afghanistan, the US administration announced last week that a new agreement had finally been reached. Under the deal worked out with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, the US would keep thousands of troops on nine military bases for at least the next ten years.
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Monday, November 25, 2013
Pay Day Loans Judgement Day - Could Interest Rate Cap Trigger Ponzi Debt Industry Collapse? / Politics / Debt & Loans
By: Nadeem_Walayat
The government and FCA regulator are finally starting to get their act together concerning the legalised loan sharks that comes perhaps as long as a decade too late for many victims of the Pay Day Loans industry that entices usually inexperienced and desperate borrowers to get into debt at rates of interest that ensure that rolled over debts will soon multiply to many times the original sum borrowed.
Sunday, November 24, 2013
Euro-zone Bashing Germany For Successful Economy, Game of Thrones – European Style / Politics / Euro-Zone
By: John_Mauldin
In 2009-10 it seemed like this letter was all Europe all the time. There was a never-ending crisis from one corner of the Continent to the other. That time seems to have slowly faded from our collective consciousness, but the Eurozone crisis is not over, and it will not end quickly or soon. Even if it seems to unfold in slow motion – like the slow build-up in a Game of Thrones storyline to violent internecine clashes followed by more slow plot developments but never any real resolution, the Eurozone debacle has never really gone away. The structural imbalances have still not been fixed; politicians and central bankers have still not agreed to solve major fiscal problems; the overall economy still disintegrates; unemployment is staggeringly high in some countries and still rising; and the people are growing restless.
Sunday, November 24, 2013
Social Security - The Most Successful Ponzi Scheme in History / Politics / Social Issues
By: MISES
Gary Galles writes: “We paid our Social Security and Medicare taxes; we earned our benefits.” It is that belief among senior citizens that President Obama was pandering to when, in his second inaugural address, he claimed that those programs “strengthen us. They do not make us a nation of takers.”