Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Friday, December 18, 2009
Is Obama Preparing for War in South America? / Politics / US Politics
By: Mike_Whitney
Interview with Eva Golinger
Mike Whitney----The US media is very critical of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. He's frequently denounced as "anti-American", a "leftist strongman", and a dictator. Can you briefly summarize some of the positive social, economic and judicial changes for which Chavez is mainly responsible?
Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Audit The Fed, Then Abolish It / Politics / Central Banks
By: Mike_Shedlock
Pawns For The Fed: George Will, Robert J. Samuelson, Bonddad, Time, Others
The Fed is fighting tooth and nail Ron Paul's Audit The Fed proposal. Along the way it has picked up backers in some surprising places.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
A New World War for a New World Order, The Origins of World War Part 2 / Politics / New World Order
By: Andrew_G_Marshall
Zbigniew Brzezinski, former National Security Adviser in the Jimmy Carter administration, co-founder with David Rockefeller of the Trilateral Commission, and arch-hawk geopolitical strategist, was interviewed on CNN shortly after the protests began. When asked how the situation could be worked out to resemble Eastern Europe, as in, successful colour revolutions putting western puppets in power, Brzezinski responded, “Well, I think it will not work out the way Eastern Europe worked out, and hopefully it will not end the way Tiananmen Square ended. Eastern Europe became intensely pro-Western, pro-American, and so forth.” Further, he explained, “If there is a change of regime in Iran, there is a greater chance of accommodation, and I think that is to be fervently wished for. But that requires patience, intelligent manipulation, moral support, but no political interference.”[97]
Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, December 17, 2009
A New World War for a New World Order, The Origins of World War III / Politics / New World Order
By: Andrew_G_Marshall
In Parts 1 and 2 of this series, I have analyzed US and NATO geopolitical strategy since the fall of the Soviet Union, in expanding the American empire and preventing the rise of new powers, containing Russia and China. This Part examines the implications of this strategy in recent years; following the emergence of a New Cold War, as well as analyzing the war in Georgia, the attempts and methods of regime change in Iran, the coup in Honduras, the expansion of the Afghan-Pakistan war theatre, and spread of conflict in Central Africa. These processes of a New Cold War and major regional wars and conflicts take the world closer to a New World War. Peace can only be possible if the tools and engines of empires are dismantled.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Times, Bernanke Joins a Long List of Infamous Underachievers / Politics / Central Banks
By: Money_Morning
Martin Hutchinson writes: There's a culture in our society that rewards bad behavior. Take the Fort Collins, Colo. couple that pretended to send their 6-year-old boy up in a homemade balloon so the family could star in a reality show?
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Is Obama Ready To Rumble Over Bank Bonuses? / Politics / Credit Crisis 2009
By: Brady_Willett
When President Obama summoned the heads of the nations 12-largest financial institutions 3 neglected to show up in person and 2 others used the day of the meeting to announce that they would be paying back the money they owed the government. Apparently bank executives were not very pleased with the President’s ‘fat cat’ line, and they intended to leave Obama in the position of the fat girl pleading for a prom date.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
U.S. Takes a Significant Step Towards War with Iran / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
United States House of Representatives - Statement Opposing the Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act
I rise in strongest opposition to this new round of sanctions on Iran, which is another significant step toward a US war on that country. I find it shocking that legislation this serious and consequential is brought up in such a cavalier manner. Suspending the normal rules of the House to pass legislation is a process generally reserved for “non-controversial” business such as the naming of post offices. Are we to believe that this House takes matters of war and peace as lightly as naming post offices?
Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Tony Blair's Justification for Waging War in Iraq / Politics / Iraq War
By: Washingtons_Blog
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair told the Iraq War investigation that - whether or not Iraq had weapons of mass destruction - he would have backed the Iraq war.
Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Time Magazine's Kiss of Death to You! / Politics / Central Banks
By: Mike_Shedlock
Bernanke is probably pleased to be name Time Magazine Person of the Year 2009.
The story of the year was a weak economy that could have been much, much weaker. How the mild-mannered man who runs the Federal Reserve prevented an economic catastrophe.
Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Congressman Ron Paul’s “Free Competition in Currency Act” Won’t Solve the Problem But Still Raises Vital Issues / Politics / Fiat Currency
By: Richard_C_Cook
While Congressman Ron Paul’s Free Competition in Currency Act is not a workable proposal, it points to a deeply serious problem with the Federal Reserve System that must be faced if the U.S. economy is to have a future.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
How Washington Will Mess with Your Money in 2010 / Politics / Financial Markets 2010
By: Money_Morning
Martin Hutchinson writes: In this era of growing government involvement, it's no surprise that Washington is poised to be the biggest economic wild card of the new year.
Indeed, investors who are trying to estimate the impact that politics will have on their portfolios in 2010 are likely finding this attempt at analysis to be an exercise in futility.
Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Don't Blame the Federal Reserve for Prescience of Financial Crisis / Politics / Central Banks
By: Stephen_Mauzy
Long ago I quit criticizing the Federal Reserve chairman for failing to avert the latest systemic financial disaster, though I still pity him for enduring the endless Socratic essays, polemics, and indignant soliloquies of his detractors. Criticizing the Fed chairman for a lack of prescience is like criticizing a dog for an inability to recite the alphabet. When something is physiologically impossible, why bother?
Monday, December 14, 2009
Fed's Monopoly Money / Politics / Central Banks
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Last week, in the name of protecting the little guy from Wall Street, the House passed HR 4173 to increase the little guy's false sense of security in the financial system. This mammoth piece of legislation would massively increase government regulation and oversight in the banking industry under the misguided reasoning that more government could have stopped faulty lending practices, when in actuality it caused them. This bill would also greatly increase the powers of the Federal Reserve, which too many in Congress still see as savior rather than perpetrator in this mess.
Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, December 14, 2009
Major Powers Scramble for Energy Security in Africa's Resources / Politics / Energy Resources
By: OilPrice_Com
China’s completion of an historic natural gas pipeline with Kazakhstan bypassing Russia this week tightens the Asian behemoth’s grip on energy resources needed to fuel a burgeoning economy, a desire also forcing it on a quest for oil and gas wealth in other corners of the globe.
Monday, December 14, 2009
Gossip from the Wall Street Journal's Future of Finance Initiative / Politics / Credit Crisis 2009
By: Janet_Tavakoli
Last week I was a participant in the Wall Street Journal's Future of Finance Initiative in England. WSJ has written a summary of the conference highlights, and missed some key points. Allow me to fill in the blanks.
Monday, December 14, 2009
American Fractionalized Banking Madness / Politics / Credit Crisis 2009
By: Douglas_French
Some analysts see the outlook for America's banks to be bright for the coming year; just earlier this year the financial sector looked to be toast. Those who follow the industry at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods believe all will be well for at least the banking behemoths. As a sign that things are looking up, Charlotte banking giant Bank of America (BofA) just managed to issue $20 billion in stock to help repay the $45 billion in Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funds the government infused into the bank during the financial meltdown a year ago.
Monday, December 14, 2009
America's Race to the Bottom / Politics / Recession 2008 - 2010
By: Submissions
David Michael Green writes: I sure hope that there is a full and speedy recovery to the massive recession we are all now suffering under.
But, I'll be honest. I doubt that there will be. Most of the upticks following our latest national downturns have been dismal enough that economists have had to invent a new term for them. The phrase is "jobless recovery", and the implications are as ugly as they sound.
Monday, December 14, 2009
Malalai Joya's Afghanistan Solution Withdraw All Foreign Troops / Politics / Afghanistan
By: Mike_Whitney
Malalai Joya: "Afghans Are Fed Up With the U.S. Occupation and the Corrupt, Mafia-state of Hamid Karzai "
Book Review
It's too bad Barack Obama didn't consult with Malalai Joya before giving his Nobel acceptance speech on Thursday. The ex-Afghan Parliamentarian could have helped the president to see that the ongoing US occupation is damaging to both American and Afghan interests.
Read full article... Read full article...
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Nassim Taleb, Time to Nationalize US Banking System / Politics / Credit Crisis 2009
By: Submissions
Nassim Nicholas Taleb argues that banks should be regarded as performing a function similar to that of utility companies, and should ...
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Financial, Economic and Climate Crisis Ushering In Brave New World 2009 / Politics / New World Order
By: James_Quinn
O wonder!
How many goodly creatures are there here! How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world! That has such people in't! -
William Shakespeare – The Tempest
“Most human beings have an almost infinite capacity for taking things for granted. That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons of history.”- Aldous Huxley
Read full article... Read full article...