Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Wednesday, March 20, 2019
Vietnam, Part I: Colonialism and National Liberation / Politics / US Politics
By: Raymond_Matison
By late 1960’s America’s involvement in the Vietnam War had become the most divisive issue in the nation’s history since the Civil War of the1860s. This involvement extended over the terms of six Presidents making it America’s longest war. President Truman and his Secretary of State Dean Acheson believed that if Southeast Asia is swept up by Communism, as had China, and if Vietnam was allowed to fall, other countries in a domino fashion would follow suit.
The American people, born of anti-colonial revolution, were hostile to colonialists by tradition. President Roosevelt in his early years in public life had been a proponent of imperial control. Echoing very much the French mission civilisatrice (civilizing mission), FDR thought it justifiable and necessary for the United States to impose the blessings of her civilization on the more backward and less fortunate peoples, by force if necessary. But by the time of Pearl Harbor he had become a committed anti-colonialist. European colonialism had helped bring on both the First World War and the current one, he was convinced, and the continued existence of empires would in all likelihood result in future conflagrations. He went so far as to say that Western sway over much of Asia and Africa was no less threatening to world stability than German expansionism. Therefore, all colonies should be given their independence. FDR never retreated from his belief that the continued existence of European colonial empires undermined the peace of the world.
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Wednesday, March 20, 2019
Collapse of Society Almost Complete / Politics / Social Issues
By: BATR
The experiences from South America provide lessons totally applicable to the United States. If you think that the bread lines in Venezuela cannot come to our country, take a look at what is happening in the rest of Latin America. While economic failures contribute to the slide in prosperity and government expansion adds to greater indebtedness, the complicity of their citizens provides the environment for even bigger demands. Daniel J. Mitchell is a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute writes in Brazil, Big Government and Mitchell’s Theorem of Societal Collapse. His summary is accurate and precise.
Tuesday, March 19, 2019
The Economics of Happiness / Politics / Demographics
By: Harry_Dent
It always strikes me as odd that the happiest countries tend to be in cold-as-hell places like Scandinavia and Canada. It’s kind of similar stateside, too.This weekend I saw a recent study by WalletHub that shows that the happiest states in the U.S. tend to be in the upper Midwest region – you know, where the Arctic vortex comes on through! In order of happiness, we have Minnesota, North Dakota, Iowa, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Wisconsin.
Those in the less-frigid-but-still-cold Northeast are also generally happier. We’re also talking just south of there: Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia. And of course, the west coast is largely happy, except Oregon. The Rockies also, except Wyoming. And then there is the Southwest… Well, except for New Mexico.
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Tuesday, March 19, 2019
The Average American Can’t Save Enough to Retire / Politics / Pensions & Retirement
By: John_Mauldin
How much money do you need to retire?Answering this question is one reason a good financial advisor is worth every penny you pay them. But let’s talk about some generalities.
Say you want to stop working at 65. You’re in good health and your family tends toward long lives. You expect to reach 90, having been retired for 25 years.
Will Social Security alone be enough? Probably not.
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Monday, March 18, 2019
Development Should Guide US-Philippine Mutual Defense Treaty Review / Politics / Phillippines
By: Dan_Steinbock
In times of great uncertainty, strategic ambiguity offers little clarity. The review of the U.S.-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty should be guided by the quest for sovereignty and economic development.During his recent visit in the Philippines, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad met Murad Ebrahim, the Filipino Muslim rebel leader who became a regional governor under the Malaysian-brokered peace deal. In the course of the meeting, Mahathir told to Murad that “it’s easy to shoot and kill, but it’s difficult to develop. If there is peace, then everything will come.”
Mahathir’s words offer guidance in intra-country divides, but also in inter-country friction, including the review of the decades-old Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) with the United States.
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Monday, March 18, 2019
"This is for Tommy Robinson" Shouts Knife Wielding White Supremacist Terrorist in London / Politics / UK Politics
By: John_York
UKIP's embrace of Tommy Robinson has fuelled one of Britain's foremost hate preacher to reach a broad audience many of whom have been radicalised into committing acts of violence, thank fully nothing on the scale of last weeks New Zealand terror attack. However, copy cat attacks are taking place right across the UK that Britains' tough gun laws have prevented resulting in carnage on anywhere near the same scale as that witnessed in New Zealand.
One such attack that is being widely reported on by the mainstream media was in London on Saturday near Heathrow airport where a white male after an near hour of hurling racist and white supremacist abuse on the street at passers by including "death to all muslims","I want to kill muslims", and "this is for Tommy Robinson" as reported on by witnesses, eventually went and stabbed an asian teenager in a nearby Tesco car park.
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Sunday, March 17, 2019
UKIP Urged to Change Name to BNP 2.0 So BrExit Party Can Fight a 2nd EU Referendum / Politics / BrExit
By: John_York
The far rights near total takeover of UKIP, the party that played a pivotal role in delivering a LEAVE victory at the June 2016 EU Referendum under Nigel Farage's leadership. Which given the collapse in electoral support from a high of 18% of the vote to today's polls barely registering 5% support ensures that should there be a 2nd EU referendum then there is virtually ZERO chance that LEAVE would win a new vote. Even if Nigel Farage manages to get his new BrExit party of the ground.
As today's UKIP's primary objective is no longer for the UK to LEAVE the EU but to perpetuate and magnify hatred of all things muslim, that even resulted in UKIPS former leader Nigel Farage resigning membership of the party in the wake of its growing obsession with Islamophobia, increasingly embracing right wing extremist ideologies most notable of whom or Tommy Robinson (fake name) and Katie Hopkins, as UKIP continues to trend towards becoming BNP 2.0. Which soon becomes apparent when visiting any of the popular UKIP facebook groups, that UKIP / BNP 2.0 is no longer a party focused on the UK leaving the EU but rather in disseminating hatred of muslims with many similar tropes posted as found at the heart of the right wing extremist terrorist's so called manifesto focused on the 'Great Replacement'.
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Saturday, March 16, 2019
Tommy Robinson Looks Set to Become New UKIP Leader / Politics / BrExit
By: John_York
The final act in UKIP's drift into the arms of the far right will be when the extremist Tommy Robinson takes the helms of what's left of a party that once stood for Britain LEAVING the European Union, but now is focused virtually wholly on its hatred of Muslims, that even in the wake of the New Zealand massacre chose to join the the right wing chorus from an extremist Senator in Australia downwards seeking to blame the victims for migrating to New Zealand rather than those who perpetuated the act of terror.
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Saturday, March 16, 2019
UKIP Brexit Facebook Groups Reveling in the New Zealand Terror Attacks Blaming Muslim Victims / Politics / BrExit
By: John_York
It's not just far right Austrailian Senators who are busy blaming the victims of Friday's New Zealand terror attack and then seen punching teens in the face.
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Saturday, March 16, 2019
Australian Senator Punches Teen in the Face after Blaming New Zealand Victims for Immigrating / Politics / Austrailia
By: John_York
Australian far right Senator Fraser Anning who in comments blamed the victims of the New Zealand massacre for emigrating to the New Zealand, 49 of whom were killed on Friday, in response to a brave teen smashing an egg on his face that resulted in the Senator letting fly with several punches at the teens face.
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Saturday, March 16, 2019
Islamophobic Hate Preachers Tommy Robinson and Katie Hopkins have Killed UKIP and Brexit / Politics / BrExit
By: John_York
As New Zealand attempts to come to terms with shock Islamophobic terrorist attack that claimed 49 innocent victims, the usual Islamophobic suspects such as Tommy Robinson (fake name) and Katie "final solution" Hopkins have gone silent after a near 3 year campaign espousing far right hatred against Europe's muslim population, who in the UK like media whores have sought to ride on the back of the June 2016 EU referendum result, seeking to capitalise upon Brexit despite likely having very little to do with why most of the 17.4 million voted to LEAVE the European Union.
However, the consequences of their and other popular right extremists is to effectively have Killed UKIP, the party that under Nigel Farage's leadership played a pivotal role in bringing the BrExit outcome about by mobilising 17% of the electorate that helped tip the vote in BrExit's favour.
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Thursday, March 14, 2019
US Conservatism / Politics / US Politics
By: Raul_I_Meijer
Commenting on my own essays has never been my favorite activity, because before you know it you land into Russian doll territory. But a few recent comments from readers have me rethinking that, for once.
Of course I understand that my expressed views over the past two years and change on the era of Donald Trump and his presidency do not please everyone out there, whether they’re long time Automatic Earth readers or new to the site. It’s just that a surprising -to me- number of people let their thoughts and opinions be shaped by media that primarily follow the color of politics and money, not objective facts.
Or perhaps it shouldn‘t be all that surprising, given the amount of attention the mainstream media still manages to gather. Then again, if the MSM would have been right on more issues, there would never have been a place for the Automatic Earth and many other ‘alternative’ media sources. So yeah, I’m a bit of two minds on that.
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Tuesday, March 12, 2019
Authentic American Populism / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
In the age of President Trump the public characterization of an American First movement bears the sharpest criticism and condemnation from the Deep State and foreign enemies. Those sincere patriots who retain a valid historic understanding of the post World War II era, recognize that the New World Order was the actual victory of that contrived conflict. With the death of the American Republic, the globalist international community of oligarchs has imposed a planetary enslavement. Part of their goal is to obliterate independent nation states and destroy indigenous cultures. Genuine populism is the foe of this elite demonic crime syndicate, who is promulgating hell on earth.
Tuesday, March 12, 2019
Theresa May BrExit Back Stab Deal Counting Down to Resignation, Tory Leadership Election / Politics / BrExit
By: Nadeem_Walayat
With much fanfare Britain's subservient Prime Minister Theresa May on Monday rushed to Strasbourg to hold a theatrical press conference with Junker to announce a solution to the Irish Back Stab deal, one that seeks to lock the UK permanently in the European Union via Northern Irelands land border that the EU and Southern Ireland have been using as a means of either seeking to keep the UK permanently locked in the EU or to annex Northern Ireland from the UK by shifting the EU border with the UK into the middle of the Irish sea.
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Friday, March 08, 2019
The Real New Deal / Politics / Environmental Issues
By: Raul_I_Meijer
While we’re on the issue of the Green New Deal, here’s an article by Dr. D. with an intro by Dr. D., one he sent me in the mail that contained the actual article, and that I think shouldn’t go to waste. I hope he agrees.
Waste being the key term here, because he arrives at the same conclusion I’ve often remarked upon: that our societies and economies exist to maximize waste production. Make them more efficient and they collapse.
Ergo: no Green New Deal is any use if you don’t radically change the economic models. Let’s see AOC et al address that, and then we can talk. It’s not as if a shift towards wind and solar will decrease the economic need for waste production (though it may change the waste composition), and thus efficiency is merely a double-edged sword at the very best.
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Thursday, March 07, 2019
How the New “Green Deal” Has Already Worked / Politics / Environmental Issues
By: Rodney_Johnson
If you have assets, income, or both, then you are responsible for every bad thing that has happened in the U.S. But don’t worry! The Green New Deal, co-sponsored by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Ed Markey, will give you a chance to fix it.All you have to do is sign over, well, everything to the central government, which will then use its wisdom to determine how we should live for the foreseeable future so that all outcomes are equalized and no one is left behind.
Good-paying jobs? Check.
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Tuesday, March 05, 2019
America's 30 Blocks of Holes / Politics / Social Issues
By: James_Quinn
“If you have been voting for politicians who promise to give you goodies at someone else’s expense, then you have no right to complain when they take your money and give it to someone else, including themselves.” ― Thomas Sowell
“The fact that so many successful politicians are such shameless liars is not only a reflection on them, it is also a reflection on us. When the people want the impossible, only liars can satisfy.” ― Thomas Sowell
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Monday, March 04, 2019
NASDAQ and DOW – Two Spectrum’s of the Stock Market / Politics / Stock Markets 2019
By: Chris_Vermeulen
Our researchers believe the NQ and YM chart illustrates a very different dynamic which is currently at play in the US Stock Markets. The NQ, the Technology heavy NASDAQ futures, appears to have stalled near the 75% Fibonacci price retracement level whereas the YM, the Blue Chip heavy DOW futures, has already rallied past this level and is setting up a “double top” formation near 26268. It is our belief that the US Stock Markets are already nearing an intermediate top rotation price area and that traders need to actively protect their long trades/profits right away. We believe a downside price rotation may take place very quickly over the next 5~10+ days and that the markets may rotate downward by a minimum of 4~6% in what we are calling a “momentum rotation setup”.
Sunday, March 03, 2019
The Looming UK Brexit Mess / Politics / BrExit
By: Dan_Steinbock
After the misguided referendum three years ago, the Brexit end-game is about to begin. In the UK, it means political division and fiscal erosion. Moreover, global growth prospects will not remain immune to turmoil in the world’s fifth largest economy.
Initially, London’s goal was to wheel and deal the best possible deal with Brussels. That became more difficult after mid-January when the House of Commons rejected PM May’s EU withdrawal agreement. The rejection compounded the odds for a risky and disorderly no-deal Brexit scenario.
The risks for volatility are also fueled by the impending European Parliament election in May 25-26, which is likely to strengthen Euroskeptics, anti-immigration forces, and radical right and left, at the expense of mainstream parties.
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Friday, March 01, 2019
View From The Brextanic / Politics / BrExit
By: Raul_I_Meijer
Longtime Automatic Earth friend Alexander Aston talks about finding himself at Oxford at a point in time when the British themselves appear overcome by a combo of utter confusion and deadly lethargy, and one can only imagine what it must be like for ‘foreigners’ residing in Albion, who face large potential changes to their lives and know there’s not a thing they can do about it, not even vote.
I like the observation that the entire British political system, the place where decisions are made, is the size of a small village. That’s a visual we can all relate to. It’s a physical limit as well as a mental one. I’m all for sovereignty and self-determination, but how’s that going to work if you can’t even see the boundaries of your own territory?
Guys, it’s 4 weeks to D-Day today. How about we call off the landing, get a few pints instead, and talk? First round’s on me.
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