Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Wednesday, November 30, 2016
Referendum Puts Italy's Government to the Test / Politics / Italy
By: STRATFOR
Forecast
- If Italian voters reject a raft of proposed constitutional reforms on Dec. 4, the government will likely resign.
- Should that happen, Parliament could avoid triggering early elections by appointing a caretaker government instead.
- The prospect of a victory by political parties that are critical of the eurozone will continue to create uncertainty in Italy and the rest of the currency area.
Wednesday, November 30, 2016
The Beginning of the End of the European Union / Politics / European Union
By: Jeff_Berwick
Is this the most important time in the EU’s history?
Italy and Austria take votes at the beginning of December that could destabilize or even end the euro and the EU itself.
This is part of a destabilizing trend that we’ve long noted and anticipated, some 16 months ago with the destruction of the EU’s Schengen agreement that used to stand for free-travel throughout Europe.
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Tuesday, November 29, 2016
Prime Minister Modi's War Against Corruption, Black Money and Fake Currency Notes in India / Politics / India
By: Dr_R_M_Mathew
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched relentless war against Corruption and the associated widely circulating Black Money and Fake Currency Notes in India with a surprise move, as part of his election promises. Black money and fake currency notes have grown to the extent of even destabilizing the Indian Economy and the Nation for which the enemies of the nation, within and outside, have been working. From the strategic point of view, especially in the wake of the increasing Islamic Terrorism sponsored by Pakistan, India has no other option but to uproot both Black and Fake Money at any cost, along with Corruption.
Tuesday, November 29, 2016
Can President Trump Really Drain the Swamp? / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
The glorious and providential intervention that provided the courage and motivation for millions of ordinary Americans to vote AGAINST the globalist system, which is the epitome for national betrayal is a once in a lifetime opportunity to eliminate the traitors in our society. Donald J. Trump is only a man. He is not the savior of our civilization, nor is he a miracle worker. Yet his election provides the last best hope that the forces of human enslavement, within our own power structure, can be defeated. Citizens who actually participate in the political process need to practice RealPolitik, when it comes to influencing or shaping public policy.
Tuesday, November 29, 2016
President Trump’s Economic Plan Isn’t Going to Work / Politics / US Economy
By: Mike_Whitney
Will Donald Trump be good for the US economy?
The American people seem to think so. According to a recent survey taken by Gallup “Americans have relatively high expectations (of) the president-elect… Substantial majorities (upward of 60%) believe the Trump administration will improve the economy and create jobs. A slim majority (52%) say he’ll improve the healthcare system.”
Even more impressive, the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index spiked to a 93.8 -high in November, signaling a significant improvement in overall consumer attitudes about the economy.
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Monday, November 28, 2016
President Trump Is Facing Lenin’s Dilemma / Politics / US Politics
By: John_Mauldin
George Friedman: When the Bolsheviks took power during the Russian Revolution in 1917, their intention was to create the dictatorship of the proletariat. They formed an army to fight a civil war against a counterinsurgency of monarchists who intended to destroy the Bolsheviks.
Vladimir Lenin, who led the revolution, appointed Trotsky to form the Red Army.
One problem was that he had never served in an army, let alone commanded one.
But Trotsky was chosen not because he had experience building an army. He was chosen because Lenin trusted Trotsky wouldn’t betray him.
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Monday, November 28, 2016
The US Is Undemocratic by Its Very Nature / Politics / US Presidential Election 2016
By: John_Mauldin
George Friedman : The final irony in an election filled with irony is the refusal of some voters to accept President-elect Donald Trump’s victory. This group includes more than mere protesters. There is a good-sized movement to persuade the Electoral College to vote for Clinton instead of Trump.
The irony is that it was Trump who said he would refuse to accept the results of the election. The Clinton camp charged that Trump was fighting against the sanctity of democracy. Now each has adopted the other’s position. Clinton herself, though, has not sought to overturn the election.
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Monday, November 28, 2016
Fifty Years Later, Moore's Computing Law Holds / Politics / Technology
By: STRATFOR
By Matthew Bey : Gordon Moore, co-founder of Intel Corp., published his now iconic article — Cramming More Components into Integrated Circuits — in the journal Electronics on April 19, 1965. In this paper, Moore observed that the number of transistors fitting on a computer circuit board had roughly doubled each year. A decade later the time-scale was revised to 18-24 months and dubbed "Moore's Law." Following this principle, a computer purchased today would cost about half the price in two years. Processing is now down to one-sixtieth the cost it was a decade ago.
Monday, November 28, 2016
Fidel Castro and the American Empire / Politics / US Politics
By: Antonius_Aquinas
The death of the brutal Cuban Communist dictator Fidel Castro closes the door, in some respect, on another disastrous page in US foreign policy history. For all the denunciations and criticism of Castro from conservative elements and exiled Cubans, his despotic rule was the outcome of decades of American imperialism which began with President William McKinley’s infamous decision to wage war on hapless Spain in 1898.
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Monday, November 28, 2016
To Really 'Make America Great Again,' End the Fed! / Politics / US Federal Reserve Bank
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Former Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Richard Fisher recently gave a speech identifying the Federal Reserve's easy money/low interest rate policies as a source of the public anger that propelled Donald Trump into the White House. Mr. Fisher is certainly correct that the Fed's policies have "skewered" the middle class. However, the problem is not specific Fed policies, but the very system of fiat currency managed by a secretive central bank.
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Sunday, November 27, 2016
Castro Was Not Who You Thought He Was / Politics / GeoPolitics
By: Jeff_Berwick
Castro is dead, but he achieved his purpose, which was to aggravate the Cold War, provide a test case for communism and frighten people about incipient nuclear missile exchanges.
His passing marks the end of the first phase of the Cold War. Now it is very obvious that a second phase is being prepared.
Tensions between Russia and the US are being continually heightened… and no, they are still ongoing even with the election of Trump who, under the guidance of Henry “War Criminal” Kissinger, has pledged his full support for NATO while Putin has replied that he will crush NATO.
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Sunday, November 27, 2016
It's (sigh) President Trump / Politics / US Politics
By: Walter_Brasch
When Sen. Barack Obama was running for the presidency and for most of his two terms, the Tea Party right-wing claimed he was born in Kenya, that he was a radicalized Muslim, and was unfit to be president. The rise of the Tea Party led to a rise of racist ideology and an increase of violence during political rallies.
After Sen. Obama’s election, Sen. Mitch McConnell, Senate majority leader, said the Republicans’ primary direction was solely to block whatever the new President wanted to do. Other Republicans chimed in that President Obama was out to destroy the country. The country did not destruct under the Obama Administration.
Saturday, November 26, 2016
Italy: The Biggest Elephant Jeopardizing Europe and the Euro / Politics / Euro-Zone
By: Jeff_Berwick
Not just the euro, but the entire European Union may be in jeopardy next week when the Italians vote on a constitutional referendum initiated by Prime Minister, Matteo Renzi.
What a Jubilee year it has been. First Brexit, then Trump and now it appears Italy is on the cusp of also escaping the grasp of the European Union.
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Saturday, November 26, 2016
Understanding the Trump Presidency , Beyond Merkel / Politics / GeoPolitics
By: STRATFOR
By Reva Goujon : We hear all the time about how the world "should" work. Self-proclaimed liberals and conservatives, Keynesians and Reaganites, humanists and hawks, globalists and nationalists have crammed the airwaves and filled our Twitter feeds with policy prescriptions, promoting their worldview while scorning others'. But after the emotionally charged year this has been, I suspect many people are growing weary of big theories and cursory character assassinations. Instead, it may be time to replace the pedantry with something more fundamental — and less divisive — in which to ground our thoughts and make sense of the world.
Saturday, November 26, 2016
Germany Pulls the Plug on Market Oracle site for 24 hours, German Election BrExit GerExit Warning Shot? / Politics / Internet
By: Nadeem_Walayat
The Market Oracle site is hosted on its own dedicated server in Nuremberg Germany, which so far has proved highly reliable with ample capacity of more than ten times normal server load to cope with any occasional traffic spikes that tend bring other sites down to a crawl or even offline. So we were surprised to see our site effectively go dead around 1.40pm Friday.
So for the first couple of hours we tried the usual checks, all failed as we had no access to the server at all, it was though the plug had been pulled.Here's a video uploaded 14 hours into the shutdown of what was happening at the time.
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Thursday, November 24, 2016
Establishment Controlled Mainstream Media Launches War on Alternative 'Fake' News / Politics / Mainstream Media
By: Jeff_Berwick
It’s mainstream versus alternative media.
A list of “fake news” has been circulating that includes such prominent conservative and libertarian sources as Zero Hedge, Breitbart, The Blaze, Red State, the Daily Wire, Project Veritas, WND, and Infowars among many others.
These sources are not “fake” however. You can find a lot of truth on them. On the other hand, former GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul recently circulated a list of mainstream reporters who evidently colluded with the Clintons and were named by WikiLeaks for doing so.
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Thursday, November 24, 2016
Breaking News - Spain Launches War on Cash / Politics / War on Cash
By: Jeff_Berwick
India, Uruguay, Australia and now Spain. The Minister of Finance and Public Service, Cristóbal Montoro has reportedly just announced “anticipated measures in order to ‘reduce the use of cash.’
In other words, Spain is going to make cash transactions even more difficult. As of presstime, from what we can tell, this has yet to be reported anywhere in English media except here now at TDV.
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Wednesday, November 23, 2016
Trump Moves as America Stands Still / Politics / US Politics
By: Raul_I_Meijer
Ever since the November 8 election, it’s been hard to write anything that makes actual sense, as evidenced by just about everything I’ve read in the past two weeks, little of which was particularly elevating, because just like before the vote, and just like in pre- and post-Brexit Britain, all there is left in the US are deeply dug-in heels.
Everything and everyone is standing still; dug-in heels do that for you. Problem is, of course, that standing still doesn’t get you anywhere. You’re going to have to move or you’ll be left behind. Somehow it’s wonderfully ironic that Donald Trump is the only main character in this play who’s moving, and he does so in more ways than one. It’s like he’s going head first against the latest braindead internet craze, mannequin. If he does it on purpose, I commend him for it.
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Wednesday, November 23, 2016
A Vote for Trump, Much in Spite of Who He is / Politics / US Politics
By: Rodney_Johnson
It’s hard to keep up with all the labels.According to the mainstream media, anyone who voted for Donald Trump is a hate-filled bigot who objectifies women, can’t stand immigrants, denies global warming, has no education, and earns less today than he did in 1999. He must be resentful that a black man occupies the White House today and apoplectic at the possibility that a woman might do the same thing.
That’s a lot to carry around… and it’s not who I am… even though I voted for Trump.
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Tuesday, November 22, 2016
Why A US-Russia Reset Will Help the Economy / Politics / GeoPolitics
By: AnyOption
Although the Democrats eagerly painted Russia as the enemy throughout the American election campaign, the budding dialogue between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President-elect Donald Trump has some interesting implications. In many ways, both represent the ongoing global shift in political dynamics towards more right-wing governments. While historically these developments have created an environment ripe for conflict and war, the surprising election of Trump may sow the seeds of change to this classical narrative.
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