Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
Toxic Nationalism Or Natural Reaction? / Politics / US Politics
By: Andrew_McKillop
THE RENTACROWD LIBERALS SAY
In a recent 'Wall Street Journal' opinion piece, Robert Kaplan wrote: "Western elites believed that universal values are trumping the forces of reaction. They wax eloquent about the triumph of human rights, women's liberation, social media, financial markets, international and regional organizations and all the other forces that are breaking down boundaries separating humanity". He went on to say this is great for producing Me Tooism - but only for elites - on a global scale. Calling nationalism and national identity "regressive and exclusivist", Kaplan then sheds liberal tears for what happened to the hoped-for liberal western smartphone-enabled 'revolution' that Western journalists thought was happening in Cairo, Tunis, Benghazi and other Arab capitals nearly two years ago, at the start of 2011.
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
The Fiscal Cliff Is Not the Problem, Looking on the Bright Side / Politics / US Politics
By: John_Mauldin
It is Christmas and not the time for long letters – just a brief note on why the fiscal cliff is not the End of All Things, and to point out a worthy cause led by some good friends of mine who are helping people who truly have no options in life. And we’ll start things off with a movie review of sorts to launch us into a positive take on the year behind and the year ahead.
Monday, December 24, 2012
Ron Paul on Gun Control, Why Government Security is Just Another Kind of Violence / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
The senseless and horrific killings last week in Newtown, Connecticut reminded us that a determined individual or group of individuals can cause great harm no matter what laws are in place. Connecticut already has restrictive gun laws relative to other states, including restrictions on fully automatic, so-called "assault" rifles and gun-free zones.
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Sunday, December 23, 2012
Fiscal Cliff Reality / Politics / US Politics
By: Stephen_Lendman
Political Washington theater continues. Republicans and Democrats agreed years ago to erode America’s social contract en route to eliminating it altogether.
Crisis conditions create opportunities. Former White House chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, explained.
“You never want to let a serious crisis go to waste,” he said. “What I mean by that is that’s an opportunity to do things you couldn’t do before.”
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Sunday, December 23, 2012
Scandalous Market Regulators / Politics / Market Regulation
By: Mark_Thornton
The Democratic Party had its message on the economy well-prepared for the recent election. From President Obama to his campaign directors to campaign advisor-hacks, all the way down to the local party patsies, the message was uniform and well rehearsed. “We do not want to return to the failed economic policies of four years ago. Those policies caused the economic crisis that almost put the country back in a great depression. We cannot return to the naïve policy that deregulation is good for the economy.
Sunday, December 23, 2012
Humanity’s Factions: America’s 21st Century Revolution / Politics / Social Issues
By: Stephen_Merrill
There have always been competing factions in the contest for power over others, now called politics and economics. Parallels of political struggles are found in all societies, whether a republic or an authoritarian state. Which political faction may prevail over the others in a particular conflict is often up in the air.
Sunday, December 23, 2012
Natural Energy Cycles, Human Arrogance and Economic Consequences / Politics / Energy Resources
By: Brian_Bloom
Below is a quote from an article on “tight oil” production that appeared at http://www.econbrowser.com/archives/2012/12/future_producti.html . It captures the overall thrust of the article itself and also of the comments that flowed from readers.
“The 2005 to 2011 rate of decline in the GNE [Gross Net Exports of oil]/CNI [China and India consumption of oil] ratio, if extrapolated, suggests that China and India would be consuming 100% of Global Net Exports of oil in the year 2030, which is 18 years from now. Of course, I don’t think that will actually happen, and there is already some suggestion of a slowing demand from the Chindia region or at least a decline in the rate of increase in consumption, but the trend through 2011 is pretty clear, and the rate of decline in the GNE/CNI ratio accelerated from 2008 to 2011, versus 2005 to 2008.”
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Saturday, December 22, 2012
LIBOR This - HooHa: Finally, A Few Bankers Face Criminal Prosecutions For Conspiracies / Politics / Banksters
By: Danny_Schechter
New York, New York: When most mainstream media outlets discuss conspiracy theories, it is usually to debunk the views of dissenting and critical thinkers who are routinely denounced as simplistic, paranoid or worse.
You have frequently seen the mantra questioning their motives and conclusions as if the idea of people or officials acting together covertly to advance their interests in illegal ways is something new in history.
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Saturday, December 22, 2012
UK Dash for Shale Natural Gas - A Faustian Bargain / Politics / Natural Gas
By: Raul_I_Meijer
The UK is set to embark on its second dash for gas. The first, beginning in the early 1990s, occurred when gas was first permitted to be used for power generation. Prior to that it had been considered a premium fuel too valuable to be used in this way. The regulatory change initiated a substantial building programme for combined cycle gas plants, fuelled by North Sea gas. Very quickly gas generation became a major component of baseload in the UK, despite warnings that North Sea gas was a temporary bonus and its depletion would leave a structural dependency on Russian gas.
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Saturday, December 22, 2012
Mayan Apocalypse Myth And New Age Degeneracy / Politics / Religion
By: Andrew_McKillop
FAST BURNOUT
Wikipedia tells us that the Spanish conquest of Yucatán and then other Mayan regions in today's Guatemala and Belize was above all rapid - it took at most 20 years - but was much slower than the two-year total wipeout of the Aztec, further south in central America, through 1519-1521.
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Eurozone 2013 Breakup Now Even More Likely / Politics / Eurozone Debt Crisis
By: Money_Morning
Martin Hutchinson writes:
To the complete shock of several analysts, the Eurozone managed to make it through 2012 without breaking up. However, 2013 is another story.
Now that Italy's Prime Minister Mario Monti has resigned, there's a good chance that Italy will be in the forefront of a new Eurozone crisis.
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Thursday, December 20, 2012
Doha Hoha - Global Warming Hits A Scientific Iceberg / Politics / Climate Change
By: Andrew_McKillop
World media has already forgotten the Doha COP18 climate jamboree earlier this month, during which the Qatari conference director, oil minister Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiya joked that soon Qatar, and the world will no longer need any fossil fuels at all, eliminating any problem of burning them and causing planetary warming. The debate soon lost itself on the strange, almost theological subject of climate treaties and loss or damage payments and awards to small island states and low income countries.
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Obama's Last Chance To Become A Great President / Politics / US Politics
By: Raul_I_Meijer
Barack Obama has one last, fleeting chance of becoming known to posterity as a Great President.
His first four years were nothing to write home about, but with the burden of seeking re-election gone, you could argue that he can now throw off the shackles that held him back - and down - since January 20, 2009, and at last show his true face and intentions.
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Thursday, December 20, 2012
NRA BE DAMNED! / Politics / US Politics
By: Michael_T_Bucci
Several days after the tragic shootings of December 14 in Newtown, Connecticut, I spoke to another writer and asked him to share his thoughts and feelings about this horrible event. He, an avowed enemy-of-the-people in the eyes of American Conservatives because he is committed to "Peace"; he, who never owned a gun and wrote occasional pleas advocating controlling the most dangerous of these firearms that George Bush and like-minded Republicans unleashed from restrictions; he, who has given every inch in justifying the Constitutional "rights" of everyone, including gun owners, replied: "The next time I hear someone yell '2nd Amen!' and recite specious propaganda or endlessly repeat conspiracy theories produced for gain by the NRA, I'm going to put down my pen, go out, buy a gun, and I'm going to shoot him! NRA? 2nd Amen? Be damned!"
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Thursday, December 20, 2012
Praise The Lord And Pass The Ammunition, Slaughter of the Innocents / Politics / US Politics
By: Danny_Schechter
New York, New York: The late December holidays in America used to be known as “the season to be jolly,” with our streets festooned with bright lights, groups caroling, shopping galore, gift-giving and cheer.
This year, there’s a pall over all the light heartedness because of the horrific violence that claimed the lives of 20 young school children and their teachers in a still unexplained shooting incident in Connecticut, the latest of a string of similar events involving widely available deadly weapons often in the hands of mentally ill people.
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Wednesday, December 19, 2012
The Geopolitics of Shale Oil and Gas / Politics / GeoPolitics
By: STRATFOR
Robert D. Kaplan writes: According to the elite newspapers and journals of opinion, the future of foreign affairs mainly rests on ideas: the moral impetus for humanitarian intervention, the various theories governing exchange rates and debt rebalancing necessary to fix Europe, the rise of cosmopolitanism alongside the stubborn vibrancy of nationalism in East Asia and so on. In other words, the world of the future can be engineered and defined based on doctoral theses. And to a certain extent this may be true. As the 20th century showed us, ideologies -- whether communism, fascism or humanism -- matter and matter greatly.
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Al Capone And The Bible, Newtown-Type Terror And Economic Terror / Politics / US Politics
By: Andrew_McKillop
According to Dr. John R. Lott, described as one of the USA's leading gun experts, banning gun-free schools, or gun-free zones inside schools, and allowing teachers to carry concealed weapons at all times "could help eliminate mass shootings at schools". For Lott, gun-free schools or zones inside them are like smaller and weaker nations. They become “a magnet” for deranged killers and World Tyrants who hope to burn their names into history books by running up the highest-possible body count.
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Why the Federal Reserve Is So Dangerous / Politics / Central Banks
By: Money_Morning
Shah Gilani writes:
The Federal Reserve System is a government-sanctioned private enterprise that functions as a socialist tool.
It was conceived in 1910 and constructed for the benefit of the private bankers who control it. Congress blessed the scheme in 1913 with passage of the Federal Reserve Act.
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Tuesday, December 18, 2012
American Gun Culture of 2012 / Politics / US Politics
By: Walter_Brasch
Jan. 8, 2011, Tuscon, Ariz.: A man had gone to a political town meeting at a supermarket, with the intent to murder Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. He killed six and wounded 14, including Giffords, who was shot in the head. On Jan. 25, 2012, Giffords, still in recovery from the shooting, walked onto the House floor to a standing ovation. Congress and the President have no plans to restore the assault weapons ban that expired under the Bush–Cheney Administration or to tighten gun laws.
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Mass Murders in American State Schools / Politics / US Politics
By: Jack_D_Douglas
In my early life [born 1937] I lived all over the U.S. I saw lots of guns. I was present at various gun incidents in arguments and fights. Few ever ended in shootings. My mother's employer threatened my stepfather with a pistol to stop his beating my mother. He stopped. I did know people who were shot or shot other people. A younger brother shot the husband of one of my mother's sisters near the heart to stop him from beating our aunt. [It was a 22. He lived with the bullet in place. My brother was sent to a minimum security camp for months and eventually walked away and came to live with us.] The employer of that aunt caught a robber in the act where she worked and shot him to death with a shot gun.