
Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.Thursday, April 06, 2017
4 Maps That Show Why Europe Is Destined for Extinction / Politics / European Union
By: John_Mauldin
BY GEORGE FRIEDMAN: The European Peninsula runs from Portugal and Britain in the west, to St. Petersburg in the east, and the city of Rostov-on-Don in the southeast. It goes from the Mediterranean and Black seas to the North Sea and Baltic Sea.
Access to rivers, the Mediterranean, and the North Atlantic has let the European Peninsula build trade routes and flourish economically.
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Thursday, April 06, 2017
EU-UK Trade Will Continue Because Germany Needs It To / Politics / BrExit
By: John_Mauldin
BY JACOB SHAPIRO : British Prime Minister Theresa May has signed a letter officially invoking Article 50. That starts the process of the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union.
Almost a year has passed since 52% of British voters opted to leave the EU. But the process for separation has now been initiated. The next issue is how to understand what will happen during the two years of UK-EU negotiations that lie ahead.
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Thursday, April 06, 2017
The BrExit War, Game Theory Strategy for What UK Should Do to Win / Politics / BrExit
By: Nadeem_Walayat
The BrExit Story - BrExit is the latest big story for the people of Britain to believe in, a story that has split the population in half between the Remainer's and the Leavers. The BrExit vote was a reaction to the slow dissolution of what was once the world’s most powerful nation into just another bolt on to the European Union Superstate. For Leavers BrExit is seen as a last ditched effort for Britain to resurrect its golden age. So whilst you read part 2 of my comprehensive BrExit analysis, remember that BrExit is just the latest story built on past stories of glory and it won't be too long before we all move onto the next big story, as that is what humans do best, tell stories and believe them to be true, be they religious, political, social, personal, ethnic or economic stories. But today's story is BrExit.
Thursday, April 06, 2017
The Syria ‘Chemical Attack’ / Politics / Syria
By: Raul_I_Meijer
Reading up on the Syria ‘chemical attack’ issue (is that the right term to use?). The headlines are entirely predictable, and by now that probably won’t surprise anyone, no matter where they are or what views they adhere to. We know there’s been an attack and that some kind of chemical was used. The media talk about sarin.
They also, almost unanimously, blame the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad for it. But that’s the same government that just this week saw both US Foreign Secretary Rex Tillerson and US UN enjoy Nikki Haley point to a significant shift in American policy, towards a view that removing Assad is no longer a priority in US Middle-East policy.
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Wednesday, April 05, 2017
2 Charts Show Just How Close We Are to US Healthcare Collapse / Politics / Healthcare Sector
By: John_Mauldin
BY PATRICK WATSON : Like it or not, Obamacare lives. The question is, for how long?
President Trump is right when he says the Affordable Care Act will collapse on its own. Its condition is terminal, and Congress declined treatment.
Maybe that’s no big deal to you. Maybe you’re on Medicare, or get group health coverage from your employer, or are independently wealthy, or you’re in good health and confident you will remain so.
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Wednesday, April 05, 2017
What Happens to Britain’s Borders After the Brexit? Potential to Fracture the U.K. / Politics / BrExit
By: STRATFOR
Splitting from the European Union will inevitably strain the United Kingdom's territorial integrity. Those pushing for Scotland and Northern Ireland to secede from the United Kingdom are using Brexit to justify their agendas. Brexit will also open a debate between the central government in London and the country's devolved governments about who will control the powers that will be repatriated from Brussels. With authority over policy areas such as agriculture, fisheries, industry and the environment returning to the United Kingdom after Brexit, the administrations of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland will push London to transfer many of those attributions to them.
Tuesday, April 04, 2017
Revolutionize School Education Globally with ‘Dynamic School Knowledge Banks’ / Politics / Education
By: Dr_R_M_Mathew

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Monday, April 03, 2017
Duterte Under Fire, Philippines 'The Punisher' Takes a Beating / Politics / Asian Economies
By: STRATFOR
Forecast
- Challenges to Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's hold on power, whether in the form of an impeachment or a coup, are unlikely to gain momentum while he remains broadly popular.
- But China's unrelenting attempts to extend its maritime boundaries will complicate its detente with the Philippines and undermine Duterte's political support at home.
- Meanwhile, the president's contentious domestic agenda will test the mettle of his ruling coalition.
Monday, April 03, 2017
The Brexit War! EU Fearing Collapse Set to Stoke Scottish Independence Proxy War / Politics / BrExit
By: Nadeem_Walayat
On Wednesday 29th May 2017 Theresa May's post man in Brussels hand delivered a 6 page letter to Donald Tusk the President of the European Council, triggering Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty starting the formal process for the UK exiting the European Union within 2 years' time, with the negotiations expected to begin during May following the conclusion of the French Presidential elections.
Monday, April 03, 2017
The American Empire and Economic Collapse / Politics / Economic Collapse
By: Antonius_Aquinas
Despite the widespread hope among libertarians, classical liberals, non-interventionists, progressive peaceniks, and all those opposed to the US Empire that it may have some of its murderous reins pulled in with the election of Donald Trump, it appears that such optimism has now been dashed. While the hope for a less meddlesome US foreign policy is not completely extinguished and would never have existed had the Wicked Witch of Chappaqua been elected, a number of President Trump’s foreign policy actions, so far, have been little different than his recent predecessors.
Sunday, April 02, 2017
BrExit War - Spain Warned Remember Falklands Over Gibraltar Subversion Attempts / Politics / BrExit
By: Nadeem_Walayat
With barely the Brexit process begun, Spain has already started to play their age old we want Gibraltar card with the EU issuing the following statement in support of Spain's claims on Gibraltar:
"After the United Kingdom leaves the Union, no agreement between the EU and the United Kingdom may apply to the territory of Gibraltar without the agreement between the Kingdom of Spain and the United Kingdom."
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Sunday, April 02, 2017
The Russia US Election Hacking Fiasco: No Evidence Required / Politics / US Politics
By: Mike_Whitney
Here’s what bugs me about the Russia hacking story: Why would the media, whose credibility is already at its lowest point ever, go after Trump when they had no facts to back them up?
Why?
Do the media bosses really think that if they set their hair on fire and run around yelling, “The Russians did it, the Russians did it”, the American people will sheepishly nod in agreement?
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Sunday, April 02, 2017
The American Dream, Twice Removed / Politics / Social Issues
By: Raul_I_Meijer
Nicole Foss is in Christchurch, New Zealand right now for the Living Economies Expo, and sent me, I’m still in Athens, Greece, a piece written by yet another longtime Automatic Earth reader, Helen Loughrey (keep ’em coming!), who describes her efforts trying to find a rental home in Fairfield County, Connecticut.
The first thing that struck me is how effortless and global sending information has become (category things you know but that hit you anyway occasionally, which is a good thing). The second is that the fall-out of the financial crisis has followed the same path as the information ‘revolution’: that is, it’s spreading faster than wildfire.
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Sunday, April 02, 2017
Neocon Fury Over Trump’s Syria Policy / Politics / Syria
By: John_Rubino
Neocon senators John McCain (R. AR) and Lindsey Graham (R. SC) likely believe war is peace. Freedom is slavery, and ignorance is strength - with attribution to George Orwell.
They’re furious about Secretary of State Tillerson, saying “the longer-term status of President Assad will be decided by the Syrian people.”
Separately, US UN envoy Nikki Haley said “(y)ou pick and choose your battles, and when we’re looking at this, it’s about changing up priorities and our priority is no longer to sit there and focus on getting Assad out.”
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Saturday, April 01, 2017
The EU Is One Big Fatal Flaw / Politics / European Union
By: Raul_I_Meijer
The true face of the EU is presently on display in Greece, not in Germany or Holland or France. Brussels must first fix what’s going wrong in Athens and the Aegean, and there’s a lot going wrong, before it can move on towards the future, indeed towards any future at all. It has a very tough job in Italy as well, which it’s trying hard to ignore.|
Saturday, April 01, 2017
The BrExit War - Britain Intelligence Super Power Covert War With the EU / Politics / BrExit
By: Nadeem_Walayat
Britain may have stopped being a military super power shortly after winning World War 2, a war that virtually bankrupted the British Empire leading to its dissolution. However the cold war, another war that Britain played a pivotal role in winning, where despite Britain having one of the world’s most effective intelligence apparatus that apart from the bond movies has done a good job of mostly remaining secret, instead letting the CIA and NSA take the public limelight, however did abysmally fail to avert BrExit from becoming manifest, that virtually all saw as an impossible outcome as the following video of Brexit night illustrates.
Friday, March 31, 2017
The Brexit Has Begun: Now What? / Politics / BrExit
By: STRATFOR
Until now, the Brexit had mostly been a succession of public statements, declarations of intent, veiled threats and wishful thinking. But today, the British government made the United Kingdom's departure from the European Union manifest by officially invoking Article 50 of the EU treaty and delivering formal notification of its departure from the Continental bloc, the first member ever to do so. This started the clock on negotiations over the terms of the divorce and their future relationship, which will leave both the United Kingdom and the European Union considerably changed.
Friday, March 31, 2017
3 Maps That Explain Why South America Is Politically Isolated / Politics / Emerging Markets
By: John_Mauldin
BY GEORGE FRIEDMAN : What makes South America stand out is that it looks like a large island. Oceans split it from others by great lengths.
Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean make a divide between South America and the US. Plus, it is split by the Amazon rainforest and Andes Mountains to form two “islands.”
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Friday, March 31, 2017
3 Maps That Explain China’s Real Goal In The South China Sea / Politics / China US Conflict
By: John_Mauldin
There’s been a lot of media hype over China’s ongoing military buildup in the South China Sea. But as always, the truth lies beyond the headlines.
Chinese action has so far been largely contained to two island groups: the Spratly Islands and the Paracel Islands.
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Friday, March 31, 2017
The Case for Socialized Medicine / Politics / Healthcare Sector
By: John_Browne
Last week the American political establishment was shaken to its foundation when the Republican Party leadership withdrew the American Health Care Act (AHCA) just before the vote was to be taken on the floor of the House of Representatives. Besides being a most unusual procedure, it exposed a fundamental split in the country,reflected not merely in Congress but within the Republican Party. GOP purists, represented by the House Freedom Caucus, demanded more significant roll backs in socialized medicine that were contained in the Ryan plan. Their refusal to back the plan, after years of promising complete repeal, doomed the bill.