Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Friday, January 09, 2015
U.S. Inner City Turmoil and Other Crises: Ron Pauls Predictions for 2015 / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
If Americans were honest with themselves they would acknowledge that the Republic is no more. We now live in a police state. If we do not recognize and resist this development, freedom and prosperity for all Americans will continue to deteriorate. All liberties in America today are under siege.
It didn't happen overnight. It took many years of neglect for our liberties to be given away so casually for a promise of security from the politicians. The tragic part is that the more security was promised -- physical and economic -- the less liberty was protected.
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Friday, January 09, 2015
The Widening Wealth Gap / Politics / Social Issues
By: Submissions
Antonius Aquinas writes: A recently released Pew Research Center study confirms what every thinking American has understood for quite some time: the wealth gap between rich and poor has widened considerably since the onset of the financial crisis in 2008. The study’s statistics probably underestimate the plight of struggling families and individuals compared to upper-income groups as the median wealth of upper- income families totaled $639,000 in 2013, 6.6 times the median wealth of middle- income families of $96,000. This compares with 4.5 times the gap In 2007 between the two groups.
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Friday, January 09, 2015
France Attack Multicultural Catastrophe - Fundamentalism a Reaction to the Threat of Islamic Reformation / Politics / Religion
By: Nadeem_Walayat
The terrorist attack on the offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo that left 12 dead in an apparently well organised assault by subsequently identified as French born brothers, an attack that was said to be conducted in the name of God as an act of vengeance against a series of offensive cartoons depicting Islam published by the French magazine over a number of years that to be frank were just as extreme in their ideology of 'Freedom to Offend' as the muslims that attacked them are in terms of Islamic extremist ideology.
Thursday, January 08, 2015
Je Suis Charlie – Virer Les Islamistes - From Blasphemy to Bigotry / Politics / Religion
By: Andrew_McKillop
Criticising the particularly dumb religion called Islam is still a capital offence – as proven in Paris, you can get killed for poking fun at Mahomet. Self-proclaimed defenders of his faith are still at their gory and psychopathic work in Syria and Iraq, but when they meet YPG fighters and Peshmerga of Kurdistan they receive a 9 mm bullet right between their eyes. Stone dead. There are no prisoners and no survivors in this real war against vermin pretending to “defend Islam”.
Thursday, January 08, 2015
Savage Murder In Paris Shows Freedom, Western Societies and Economies Vulnerable / Politics / Social Issues
By: GoldCore
The savage attacks on the satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo, in Paris leaving 12 dead yesterday shows how vulnerable western societies and economies are to the twin threats of terrorism and war.
The attacks pose threats to our already under attack freedoms – freedom of the press, freedom of privacy, freedom of religion, freedom of conscience, freedom of speech, expression and thought.
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Thursday, January 08, 2015
Paris Terror Attack Underscores a Deeper Islamic Malaise / Politics / Religion
By: STRATFOR
Wednesday's deadly attack against a French satirical publication has the potential to upset relations between European states and their Muslim citizenries. The strategic intent behind such attacks is precisely to sow this kind of crisis, as well as to influence French policy and recruit more jihadists. Even though Islamist extremism is, at its core, an intra-Muslim conflict, such incidents will draw in non-Muslims, exacerbating matters.
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Thursday, January 08, 2015
Germany Caves On Greek Debt; Italy Takes Note / Politics / Eurozone Debt Crisis
By: John_Rubino
Global financial markets breathed a sigh of relief today on news that Germany might cut Greece some slack after the latter elects an anti-austerity government:
Wednesday, January 07, 2015
Politicians and the France Charlie Hebdo Attack / Politics / Social Issues
By: Raul_I_Meijer
French magazine Charlie Hebdo’s website now shows the image above. In French, Je Suis Charlie doesn’t only translate as I Am Charlie, but also as I Follow Charlie. Let’s. And let’s not allow the US and all the other western governments to blemish the memories of those who were killed today by using their deaths to promote empty slogans about liberty. Because that’s not what Charlie Hebdo stood for, empty slogans.
There’s a long-running gag in the Anglo world that claims French people are not very courageous. We can now once and forever erase that claim. The people who were shot and killed today were exceptionally brave. Of course the comparison with the North Korea/Sony hack situation will be made, but it really shouldn’t. It would take away way too much from the staff at Charlie Hebdo, and add way too much undeserved praise to Seth Rogen, Sony and Obama.
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Wednesday, January 07, 2015
EU Showdown: Greece Takes on the Vampire Squid / Politics / Eurozone Debt Crisis
By: Ellen_Brown
Greece and the troika (the International Monetary Fund, the EU, and the European Central Bank) are in a dangerous game of chicken. The Greeks have been threatened with a “Cyprus-Style prolonged bank holiday” if they “vote wrong.” But they have been bullied for too long and are saying “no more.”
A return to the polls was triggered in December, when the Parliament rejected Prime Minister Antonis Samaras’ pro-austerity candidate for president. In a general election, now set for January 25th, the EU-skeptic, anti-austerity, leftist Syriza party is likely to prevail. Syriza captured a 3% lead in the polls following mass public discontent over the harsh austerity measures Athens was forced to accept in return for a €240 billion bailout.
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Wednesday, January 07, 2015
What True U.S. Health Care Reform Would Look Like / Politics / US Politics
By: MISES
Matt Battaglioli writes: With the relatively recent passing of America’s new healthcare law; the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), the topics of healthcare, health insurance, prices and reform have been particularly hot lately. This of course does not mean that the controversies surrounding the American healthcare system are anything new. Healthcare prices are getting higher with many hospital visits for certain conditions totaling bills of millions of dollars. Also, the laws regulating the industry are getting heavier by the day. People have known for a while that a solid reform of the system has been in order, though it is unfortunate that most of these people calling for reform have a tendency to find their influence for such reform across the ocean.
Wednesday, January 07, 2015
The End Of French 'Multiculturalism' / Politics / France
By: Andrew_McKillop
Europe Too
Very similar to the UK, and similar to several other EU28 countries including Italy, Belgium, Spain and Portugal, France's elites engaged a wrongheaded, anarchic and born-to-fail “multicultural experiment' in the 1960s. In the French case this came immediately after its total defeat in France's vicious and bloody colonial war in Algeria (1956-63) aimed at keeping Algeria an integral part of the French state and nation. Today's French far-right nationalist passionara – Marine Le Pen – was a schoolgirl when her father Jean-Marie Le Pen was a French army officer in Algeria, where he lost an eye. He later bragged about his feats of torture and “elimination” of Algerian resistance fighters, already including Muslim religious cadres engaged in a fight to the death “against the white infidels”.
Wednesday, January 07, 2015
Oil Price Blowback - Is Putin Creating a New World Order? / Politics / Russia
By: Mike_Whitney
It’s hard to know which country is going to suffer the most from falling oil prices. Up to now, of course, Russia, Iran and Venezuela have taken the biggest hit, but that will probably change as time goes on. What the Obama administration should be worried about is the second-order effects that will eventually show up in terms of higher unemployment, market volatility, and wobbly bank balance sheets. That’s where the real damage is going to crop up because that’s where red ink and bad loans can metastasize into a full-blown financial crisis. Check out this blurb from Nick Cunningham at Oilprice.com and you’ll see what I mean:
Tuesday, January 06, 2015
Saudi Arabia Faces Challenges in 2015 / Politics / Saudi Arabia
By: STRATFOR
Michael Nayebi-Oskoui writes: The Middle East is one of the most volatile regions in the world — it is no stranger to upheaval. The 2009 uprisings in Iran and the brinksmanship of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government were followed by the chaos of the Arab Spring, the spillover of the Syrian conflict into Iraq and a potential realignment of the U.S.-Iranian relationship. Unlike recent years, however, 2015 is likely to see regional Sunni Arab interests realign toward a broader acceptance of moderate political Islam. The region is emerging from the uncertainty of the past half-decade, and the foundations of its future are taking shape. This process will not be neat or orderly, but changes are clearly taking place surrounding the Syrian and Libyan conflicts, as well as the region's anticipation of a strengthened Iran.
Tuesday, January 06, 2015
Catholic Church New World Order Pope - Frankie the Fake / Politics / Religion
By: BATR
The Catholic Church has a long history, for good and bad, that has shaped the political fortunes of Western Civilization for over two millenniums. From the conversion of the Roman Empire under Constantine to the pagan ridden culture of feast days and devotions to the Great East–West Schism of the 11th century, the “Church” has invited skepticism and criticism while the spiritual teachings of Jesus Christ took a back seat to the temporal lust for power and dominion. Throughout the turmoil of the Common Era, scholarship and core doctrine professed a profound belief in the teachings in the Gospels, the promise of salvation and the sanctity of individual life.
Monday, January 05, 2015
Transiting to the Next Paradigm. How do we do it, Tom Paine? / Politics / Social Issues
By: Michael_T_Bucci
It seemed to me as far back (or as recently) as 2003 when DSL first arrived in this rural area of Northern New England and two years after blanket dragnet surveillance by NSA became clandestine state policy, that the prospect for the development of a "technological totalitarianism" in American society seemed assured. Even the most savvy and intelligent winced at my words when they didn't openly condescend. Today, it is here and I estimate 90%+ of the American population know about it and 90%+ care little about it. Acquiescence by the "great silent majority" enables it and gives sanction to our ever-expanding political suppression, oppression and to the myriad forms of unConstitutional governance that have emanate from the "war on terror". Wince at my words, but don't blame oppressors entirely; also include the people.
Sunday, January 04, 2015
Oil, Power and Psychopaths / Politics / GeoPolitics
By: Raul_I_Meijer
Iran has a – very – long running dispute with the US about its nuclear technology. The US wants Assad (Bashar Al-Assad) out of Syria, while Iran and Russia support Assad (Russia’s sole proper base in the Middle East), who’s an Alawite (a Shi-ite branch), a people historically persecuted by Sunni’s. ISIS (or Daesh in the region) is Sunni. So are the Saudi’s. Iran is Shi’ite. Bahrain is ruled by Sunni but has a majority Shi’ite population. And I could go on for a while. A long while.
All this plays into the oil game, the falling oil prices. Blaming OPEC for the recent price fall is seeing the world from a child’s perspective. OPEC and its major voteholder, Saudi Arabia, are no more to blame for the plunge than the US, Russia or other non-OPEC producers. Everybody produces as if there’s no tomorrow, and the Saudi’s have merely concluded that their only choice is to do the same. It’s a race to the bottom.
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Saturday, January 03, 2015
Did the U.S. and the Saudis Conspire to Push Down Oil Prices? / Politics / Crude Oil
By: Mike_Whitney
Are falling oil prices part of a US-Saudi plan to inflict economic damage on Russia, Iran and Venezuela?
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro seems to think so. In a recent interview that appeared in Reuters, Maduro said he thought the United States and Saudi Arabia wanted to drive down oil prices “to harm Russia.”
Bolivian President Evo Morales agrees with Maduro and told journalists at RT that: “The reduction in oil prices was provoked by the US as an attack on the economies of Venezuela and Russia. In the face of such economic and political attacks, the nations must be united.”
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Saturday, January 03, 2015
The Meaning of Your Life is Other People / Politics / Social Issues
By: Raul_I_Meijer
In his 1944 play Huis Clos (loosely yet officially translated as No Exit, or Closed Door), French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre said: “L’enfer, c’est les autres.” Or: Hell is (the) other people. Which can be very true. And Sartre makes his point in a masterful way. He describes a group of people locked up together with no escape, and for eternity, who have a bitter go at each other. Something we all recognize. People can be a nuisance, and even drive one as far as suicide.
Saturday, January 03, 2015
Washington D.C. “Watchdog” Finally Bares Its Teeth / Politics / Market Regulation
By: Money_Morning
Shah Gilani writes: It’s 2015, and things are changing, especially on Wall Street. I just know it.
For example, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) finally figured out that high-frequency traders (HFT) have an advantage over most other investors and traders
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Friday, January 02, 2015
Where Have All the Statesmen Gone? / Politics / GeoPolitics
By: Marin_Katusa
One of the most striking things about the Colder War—as I explore in my new book of the same name—has been the contrast between the peevish tone of the West’s leaders compared to the more grown-up and statesmanlike approach that Putin is taking in international affairs.
Western leaders and their unquestioning media propagandists appear to believe that diplomatic relations are some kind of reward for good behavior. But it’s actually more important to establish a constructive dialogue with your enemies or rivals than your friends, because that’s where you need to find common ground. Indeed, it’s been the basis for diplomacy since time immemorial.
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