Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Saudi Troops Storm Into Bahrain / Politics / Middle East
By: STRATFOR
Forces from Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries will enter Bahrain to help the Bahraini regime quell unrest, according to a number of media reports, including by Bahrain’s Alyam newspaper, known for its close links with the ruling al-Khalifa family. The reports come one day after clashes occurred between Shiite protesters and police in the capital, Manama. Meanwhile, Bahraini state media reported that the Independent Bloc (a parliamentary bloc of the Bahraini parliament) asked Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa to enforce martial law to contain the unrest.
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Monday, March 14, 2011
Japan Nuclear Melt-Down? The Government to the Rescue / Politics / Nuclear Power
By: LewRockwell
Mike (in Tokyo) Rogers writes: The nuclear power plant failures and explosions near Fukushima, Japan are an excellent case example of the failure of government. Here, the Japanese government has been horribly derelict before, during and after this incident. This freak occurrence would be a tragedy of comical proportions if only it weren’t so grotesque and a real-life horror show. It has been a brutal tragedy of errors that makes me wonder why anyone would trust or believe anything the government says.
Monday, March 14, 2011
WTO Sides With Chinese State Capitalism Against the U.S. / Politics / US Politics
By: Ian_Fletcher
The World Trade Organization has a long history of anti-American actions. They’ve just handed us another one, and in the process handed a big freebie to Chinese state capitalism.
Unbeknownst to most Americans, huge sections of our nation’s trade policy aren’t set in this country anymore. They are set by panels of WTO judges in Switzerland, to whom we have signed over the right to rule on the legitimacy of our policies.
Monday, March 14, 2011
The Gathering Political and Economic Storm / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
"Still, if you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed, if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not so costly, you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance for survival. There may be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no chance of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves." - Winston Churchill - The Second World WarRead full article... Read full article...
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Free Trade and the Tea Party: Puppets or Rebels? / Politics / US Politics
By: Ian_Fletcher
My job deprives me of the luxury of partisanship, as I have to reach out to both sides on the issue of free trade--a disastrous policy one can give impeccably liberal or conservative reasons to be against. So I can't offer any opinion of the Tea Party movement per se. But I can tell you that the way they're handling the issue of free trade reveals a lot about them.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Britain's Bungling "Secret Intelligence Service" in Libya / Politics / UK Politics
By: Global_Research
Felicity Arbuthnot writes: "Do not hold the delusion that your advancement is accomplished by crushing others.": (Marcus Tullius Cicero,106-43 B.C. Roman Statesman, Philosopher.)
British Style "Liberation": Beware the Ides of March.
Even by the standards of a near bancrupt island off Europe, run currently, largely, by a bunch of seemingly gung-ho, out of out of touch millionaires, the gun boat diplomacy of Messrs Cameron, Fox and Hague (Prime Minister, Defense Minister and Foreign Minister respectively) was a monumental farce of historic proportions.
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Sunday, March 13, 2011
The Financial Consequences of the Middle East Protest Movement? / Politics / Middle East
By: Bob_Chapman
Just as we pointed out after the Tunisian episode, this was the beginning of CIA, MI6 and Mossad planned activities in the Middle East. As usual there were several objectives. The first was a distraction to cover up the financial troubles in the US, UK and Europe. The second was to remove Mubarak from his dictatorial position, because of his refusal to participate and agree to an invasion of Iran and to cause chaos in the region, so that those who were pro-Iran would not give it assistance in the event of war. There was also the matter of controlling Libya’s oil and toppling its dictator Gadhaffi. The US and the Brits want Libya’s oil among other things.
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Sunday, March 13, 2011
Five Principles That Made America Great / Politics / US Politics
By: Gary_North
Assume that you are traveling abroad. You get into a discussion with a foreign national who wants to know what makes America unique. He asks you to summarize the origins of America's success in a sentence or two. What would you say?
No matter what you say, if he asked ten other Americans the same question, he would not get the same answers. America is a complex society. Its citizens have widely varying views on what makes America tick.
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Saturday, March 12, 2011
Japan Nuclear Meltdown Would have Worldwide Implications / Politics / Environmental Issues
By: Chris_Ciovacco
The concerns continue to mount after Japan’s devastating earthquake and subsequent tsunami, which may further heighten recent anxiety in the financial markets. An explosion near the No. 1 reactor at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power station has industry experts talking about the possibility of a meltdown. According to Bloomberg:
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Saturday, March 12, 2011
Japan's Chernobyl, Nuclear Power Plant Explodes, Meltdown in Progress / Politics / Environmental Issues
By: STRATFOR
A March 12 explosion at the earthquake-damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Okuma, Japan, appears to have caused a reactor meltdown.
The key piece of technology in a nuclear reactor is the control rods. Nuclear fuel generates neutrons; controlling the flow and production rate of these neutrons is what generates heat, and from the heat, electricity. Control rods absorb neutrons — the rods slide in and out of the fuel mass to regulate neutron emission, and with it, heat and electricity generation.
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Saturday, March 12, 2011
The Day of Gold-Plated Public Sector Pensions are Numbered / Politics / Pensions & Retirement
By: Arnold_Bock
Public sector employees, the workforce ‘elite’ led by state and municipal workers, are now storming legislative chambers to preserve their special status. Wisconsin is the current case study in what happens when the government, a monopoly service provider, confronts the fact that the taxpayer is tapped out and can’t take it anymore – when there simply isn’t enough money. Those realities are going to result in major adjustments in worker incomes, future pensions and benefits and their overall standard of living. Let me explain.
Friday, March 11, 2011
Why So Many Americans Hate Obama / Politics / US Politics
By: Joel_S_Hirschhorn
I can explain why so many Americans are angry about President Obama and dislike or hate him with passion, and why it has little to do with his actions and policies. But first I must examine the confluence of two historical inflection points that explains so much resentment and opposition to Obama.
Friday, March 11, 2011
Libya Food Aid and the Global Food Crisis / Politics / Food Crisis
By: Andrew_McKillop
The Libyan food and refugee crisis is a dramatic reminder, and part of the world food crisis that is specially powerful and deep-rooted in the Arab world. Simply because of this, events are driven further and faster than many persons appreciate at first glance, and underline that world attention to the fundamental importance of food shortage must and will grow.
Friday, March 11, 2011
Banks Cheap Money is Economic Poison / Politics / Credit Crisis 2011
By: Chris_Kitze
Ron Robins writes: Developed world bankers continue to proclaim that enforced low interest rates—cheap money—will lead their countries back to economic prosperity. But didn’t the same policies a few years ago help bring us to the precipice of financial and economic collapse? Do they still not understand that cheap easy money led to many large US and European banks becoming gambling institutions, eventually failing and bailed out at taxpayers’ expense?
Friday, March 11, 2011
Fox News BUSTED For Manipulating Footage of Wisconsin Worker Protests (Video) / Politics / Mainstream Media
By: Chris_Kitze
As teachers and students protested for three weeks in the state capitol of Wisconsin in a fight to let state workers keep their collective bargaining right, Fox News created facts that were far from the truth to push across their political agenda, fabricating poll results, broadcasting fake video, and spinning stories about reporter abuse. RT's Anastasia Churkina reports.
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Thursday, March 10, 2011
FREEDOM, Ideas Can Overthrow Regimes / Politics / Social Issues
By: Robert_Murphy
The political upheaval in the Middle East underscores one of the most profound aspects of Ludwig von Mises's worldview: all governments ultimately rely on the consent of the governed.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
The Fed's Credit Report; No Light in the Tunnel / Politics / Credit Crisis 2011
By: Mike_Whitney
On Monday, the Federal Reserve released its Consumer Credit Report which showed that consumer credit rose at an annual rate of 2.5% in January. That might sound impressive, but things are not what they seem. Non-revolving credit increased at a rate of 7% per anum, while revolving credit decreased at an annual rate of 6.5%. So, people are taking out more loans, but keeping their credit cards tucked away in their wallets. But there's more to this story than meets the eye, and it's important, because economists monitor credit expansion closely to see how the economy is doing. You see, when wages stagnate--as they have for the last 30 years---the only way that working people can increase their spending is by borrowing. And since consumer spending is roughly 70% of GDP, if consumers don't borrow, then the economy doesn't grow.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Stealing from Social Security to Pay for Wars and Bailouts / Politics / US Politics
By: Paul_Craig_Roberts
The American Empire is failing. A number of its puppet rulers are being overthrown by popular protests, and the almighty dollar will not even buy one Swiss franc, one Canadian dollar, or one Australian dollar. Despite the sovereign debt problem that threatens EU members Greece, Ireland, Spain, and Portugal, it requires $1.38 dollars to buy one euro, a new currency that was issued at parity with the US dollar.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Protectionism of the Future vs. Protectionism of the Past / Politics / Protectionism
By: Ian_Fletcher
Protectionism is frequently tarred as a backward-looking policy which merely preserves yesterday’s jobs at the expense of tomorrow’s. This is a snappy-sounding canard, but it has nothing to do with the contemporary critique of free trade. It does, however, have something to do with some of the cruder protectionist impulses that have sometimes surfaced in the past. As a result, it’s worth distinguishing between forward-looking protectionism (the good kind) and backward-looking protectionism (the bad kind.)
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Thursday, March 10, 2011
Central Banks Lying About Everything, Global Economy Scam Goes Critical / Politics / Credit Crisis 2011
By: Andrew_McKillop
Quote: The US Federal Reserve tells us we need inflation to overcome the overhang created by debt and inflation. This inflation does not create jobs – it just distorts prices upward. We are told by the head of the Fed, Mr. Bernanke, that he can end inflation whenever he thinks it is necessary. That is not true, because if inflation ends deflation takes command and the economy collapses. There is no finely honed instrument for turning these two opposite effects on and off (March 5, Bob Chapman's International Forecaster Weekly)