Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Russia, Ahmadinejad and Iran Reconsidered / Politics / GeoPolitics
By: STRATFOR
At Friday prayers July 17 at Tehran University, the influential cleric and former Iranian President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani gave his first sermon since Iran’s disputed presidential election and the subsequent demonstrations. The crowd listening to Rafsanjani inside the mosque was filled with Ahmadinejad supporters who chanted, among other things, “Death to America” and “Death to China.” Outside the university common grounds, anti-Ahmadinejad elements — many of whom were blocked by Basij militiamen and police from entering the mosque — persistently chanted “Death to Russia.”
Monday, July 20, 2009
Goldman Sachs in Talks to Acquire U.S. Treasury Department / Politics / Credit Crisis 2009
By: Joseph_Toronto
Sister Entities to Share Employees, Money - In what some on Wall Street are calling the biggest blockbuster deal in the history of the financial sector, Goldman Sachs confirmed today that it was in talks to acquire the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
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Sunday, July 19, 2009
Germany And NATO's Nuclear Nexus / Politics / New World Order
By: Global_Research
Rick Rozoff writes: The reunification of Germany and the start of NATO's post-Cold War expansion, drive east and beginning of its transformation into a global military force occurred on the same day, October 3, 1990.
On that date East Germany was absorbed into the Federal Republic and simultaneously into NATO, the first of thirteen additions to the bloc from that time to the present year.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
China Al-Qaeda's Next Front? / Politics / Al-Qeeda
By: Pravda
Al-Qaeda posed a threat to China for the first time, promising to organize acts of terrorism against Chinese workers in Northern Africa in revenge for the death of Moslems-Uygurs, The Times wrote.
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Saturday, July 18, 2009
Paulson Admits Coercion in Handling of Economic Crisis / Politics / Credit Crisis Bailouts
By: Mike_Shedlock
Former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson is attempting to defend the indefensible: himself. He even claims to have "saved this nation from great peril." Please consider his preposterous claims as outlined in Paulson defends his response to economic crisis.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Mainstream Press Has Become Virtual "Escort Services" for Moneyed Elites / Politics / Mainstream Media
By: Submissions
Raw Story writes: More and more mainstream media are brokering cozy relationships between politicians and lobbyists.
The various elite Washington news organizations that have become caught up in the so-called “pay-for-play” or “salon” scandal have now commenced a circular firing squad of sorts—in an effort to distance themselves from their peers whose conduct they are trying to paint as worse than their own.
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Friday, July 17, 2009
The Health Care Bill is a Prescription for Disaster / Politics / US Politics
By: Peter_Schiff
The health care bill unveiled this week by the House of Representatives (with the full support of the Obama administration) is one of the worst pieces of legislation ever drafted. If passed, it will reduce the quality and increase the cost of health care in America. But more importantly, it will severely undermine our already weak economy. To burden a country currently in the throes of a violent recession with such a bureaucratic albatross clearly illustrates the scarcity of economic intelligence in Washington.
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Friday, July 17, 2009
Mainstream Media Pumping the Illusion of Green Shoots of Economic Recovery / Politics / Mainstream Media
By: Michael_T_Bucci
Record profits were posted by Goldman Sachs on July 14, and a surge in profits at J.P. Morgan Chase were reported two days later, along with reports that record bonuses will be paid out too. Meanwhile, RealtyTrac reported that home foreclosures had risen 15% in the first half of this year, year to year. Guess which headline appears at the top of the news and which headline gets blurred? (Answer: The financial firms' surging profits get top billing.)
Friday, July 17, 2009
US Strategy of Total Energy Control over the European Union and Eurasia / Politics / Energy Resources
By: F_William_Engdahl
One of his first foreign visits as new President took Barack Obama to Ankara for a high-profile meeting with Prime Minister Recep Erdogan and other leading Turkish officials. Obama engaged in classical “horse trading” wheeling and dealing. “I give you support for Turkey’s EU membership; you open the diplomatic door to Armenia,” appears to have been the core of the deal. What other inducements the US President gave in the case of Turkish influence within NATO and such is secondary. Obama’s goal was to break a political deadlock in Turkey to construction of a major gas pipeline to Germany and other EU countries in direct opposition to Russian Gazprom’s South Stream pipeline.
Friday, July 17, 2009
Biden States United States Needs To Spend Money to Keep From Going Bankrupt / Politics / US Debt
By: Mike_Shedlock
Inquiring minds are flabbergasted over the latest comments from Vice President Joe Biden: ‘We Have to Go Spend Money to Keep From Going Bankrupt’
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Peter Schiff: Wrong on the Economy, Wrong on Healthcare (Part 2) / Politics / Mainstream Media
By: Mike_Stathis
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Thursday, July 16, 2009
The Privately Owned Federal Reserve Bank Runs the United States / Politics / Central Banks
By: Global_Research
Bob Chapman writes: Last week the Dow fell 1.6%; S&P fell 1.9%; the Russell 2000 fell 3.3% and the Nasdaq slipped 1.8%; cyclicals fell 3.6%; transports 1.5%; consumers 1.6%; utilities 1.4%; banks 2.3% and broker/dealers 2.8%. High tech fell 1.8%; semis 1.8%; Internets 2.1% and biotechs 2.7%. Gold bullion fell $19.50 and the HUI gold index fell 8.4%.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Democrats Abandon the Environment / Politics / Climate Change
By: Global_Research
Shamus Cooke writes: “As a banker, I also welcome the fact that the 'cap-and-trade' system is becoming the dominant methodology for [carbon dioxide] control.”Simon Linnett, Executive Vice Chairman of Rothschild Bank.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
U.S. Reaction to the CIA Assassination Program / Politics / Al-Qeeda
By: STRATFOR
On June 23, 2009, Director of Central Intelligence Leon Panetta learned of a highly compartmentalized program to assassinate al Qaeda operatives that was launched by the CIA in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. When Panetta found out that the covert program had not been disclosed to Congress, he canceled it and then called an emergency meeting June 24 to brief congressional oversight committees on the program. Over the past week, many details of the program have been leaked to the press and the issue has received extensive media coverage.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Financial Crisis Solution, Ban Credit Default Swaps? / Politics / Credit Crisis 2009
By: Money_Morning
Martin Hutchinson writes: Ask U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-CA, about credit default swaps and she’ll offer this warning: Ban them now or expect a reprise of the ongoing global financial crisis – which the derivative securities helped create.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
From WW II To WW III: Global NATO And Remilitarized Germany / Politics / GeoPolitics
By: Global_Research
Rick Rozoff writes: The reunification of Germany in 1990 did not signify a centripetal trend in Europe but instead was an anomaly. The following year the Soviet Union was broken up into its fifteen constituent federal republics and the same process began in Yugoslavia, with Germany leading the charge in hastening on and recognizing the secession of Croatia and Slovenia from the nation that grew out of the destruction of World War I and again of World War II.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
In Promoting Protectionism, American Labor May Be Putting U.S. Workers At Risk / Politics / Recession 2008 - 2010
By: Danny_Schechter
Can Doing What Seems to be The Right Thing Turn Out To Be The Wrong Thing?
Leo Gerard of the United Steelworkers union is one of America’s most progressive and outspoken labor leaders. I met him at a Cornell University conference that brought environmental organizations and labor unions together to fuse a forward looking consensus on the need for green jobs as key to the transformation of our declining industrial base.
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Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Ageing Baby Boomers, the One Mega Trend NO ONE is Talking About / Politics / Social Issues
By: Graham_Summers
Thus far, analysis the financial collapse has been framed almost entirely in terms of money. All the research I’ve seen has delved into lending standards, securitization, inflation, interest rates, housing and the like.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Strategic Calculus and the Afghan War / Politics / Afghanistan
By: STRATFOR
U.S. and allied forces began their first major offensive in Afghanistan under the command of U.S. Gen David Petraeus and Gen. Stanley McChrystal this July. Inevitably, coalition casualties have begun to mount. Fifteen British soldiers have died within the past 10 days — eight of whom were killed within a 24-hour period — in Helmand province, where the operation is taking place. On July 6, seven U.S. soldiers were killed in separate attacks across Afghanistan within a single day, and on July 12 another four U.S. soldiers were reported killed in Helmand.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Fed Independence or Fed Secrecy? / Politics / Central Banks
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Last week I was very pleased that hearings were held on the independence of the Federal Reserve system. My bill HR 1207, known as the Federal Reserve Transparency Act, was discussed at length, as well as the general question of whether or not the Federal Reserve should continue to operate independently.
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