Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Wednesday, July 12, 2017
Kim Jong-un: Biography of a Young Despot / Politics / North Korea
By: John_Mauldin
Cult of personality: a situation in which a public figure (such as a political leader) is deliberately presented to the people of a country as a great person who should be admired and loved. —Merriam Webster
North Koreans have lived under a cult of personality for decades. It is assumed by analysts that North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un himself believes in his own demigod myth. Let’s look at how Kim grew up.
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Tuesday, July 11, 2017
California Communists at War with America / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
There has always been a distinct California disconnect from the heartland. Anyone who has travelled the lower 48 knows that the allure of El Dorado panned out when the gold mines ran out of bullion. That appeal transformed into a fantasy stargaze that has little to do with the values and traditions of our long history as a nation. In order to understand the query, California Dreaming or a Nightmare?; one needs to appreciate the reasons why the population migration has shifted over time.
Thursday, July 06, 2017
Here’s Why This G20 Meeting Doesn’t Really Matter / Politics / Global Economy
By: John_Mauldin
BY GEORGE FRIEDMAN : Anyone who has ever been to a meeting knows that meetings are often confounding, frustrating affairs. Most of them are designed simply to be held. The people who attend them are unlikely to agree on anything except maybe the date of the next one.
The G-20 summit is no exception.
But that’s only because the people who attend it, the leaders of the countries with the world’s 20 largest economies, think of themselves as decision-makers when really they are hostages to history.
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Thursday, July 06, 2017
This Graphic Shows the Reach of North Korea’s Most Successful Missile Test / Politics / North Korea
By: John_Mauldin
RiskEdge: Kim Jong-un is variously seen as a fantasy-sodden rattler of sabers or a mad and dangerous threat to global peace.
Whichever more closely approximates the truth, the world is watching North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile quest ever more uneasily.
And on May 14, the pariah state embarked on its most successful missile test yet:
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Thursday, July 06, 2017
North vs. South Korea: The Human Divide / Politics / North Korea
By: John_Mauldin
RiskEdge : The wildly differing trajectories of North and South Korea since they were divided at the end of World War II are well known.
Slightly murkier are the very human statistics illustrating the differences between the two. The paranoically secretive nature of North Korea means that a wealth of data is difficult to come by, but the most reliable data available is striking.
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Wednesday, July 05, 2017
A North Korean EMP Attack: The Dark Possibility / Politics / North Korea
By: HAA
Shannara Johnson : As the tension between North Korea and the US continues to grow, the possibility of war is rapidly evolving into a probability. Now some military experts worry that an attack via EMP (electromagnetic pulse) on the US mainland might be a feasible option for Pyongyang.
The signs are certainly there: Having recently completed the ninth missile test of 2017, Kim Jong-un promised to send the US an even bigger “gift package.”
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Tuesday, July 04, 2017
Shadow Government Hates America's Independence Day / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
The only conclusion any honest American citizen can come to is that the Republic is dead. Once again the flags wave and the songs play as the parades march to celebrate another 4th of July. Picnic meals are eaten while children frolic in the warn sunshine of summer. Few people reflect on the true meaning that established the solemn commemoration of the nation's birth. The reality of this post federation of independent state sovereignty is that a centralized federal behemoth has superseded the original intent of Thomas Jefferson's vision: "That government is best which governs least". Today the society that exists demands compliance or compels obedience by way of punishment.
Monday, July 03, 2017
Nikki Haley: Warmonger Extraordinaire! / Politics / US Politics
By: Antonius_Aquinas
It must now be a prerequisite of those who become an American ambassador to the UN to possess certain characteristics and traits, the most important of which are rabid warmonger, child killer, and outright liar.
Remember it was Madeleine Albright when asked about the US blockading Iraq which prevented medicine and medical equipment from entering the country that resulted in the estimated death of a half a million children who coldly responded: “I think that is a very hard choice, but the price, we think, the price is worth it.” Then there is Colin “Weapons of Mass Destruction” Powell who told a bald-face lie about Iraq’s nuclear capabilities which paved the way for the US destruction of the country.
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Friday, June 30, 2017
Soft Fake BrExit as Theresa May Destroys Britain's Strong EU Negotiating Stance / Politics / BrExit
By: Nadeem_Walayat
So everyone got the 2017 UK general election outcome WRONG. Which included my UK house prices based analysis that was the most accurate predictor of the 2015 general election, however this time based on April house price data implied a Conservative win on 342 seats. So despite being the most accurate of all of the forecasts out there, nevertheless did get the election outcome wrong i.e. unlike for Trump there was no betting markets profits bonanza for this election.
Thursday, June 29, 2017
5 Maps That Explain The Modern Middle East / Politics / Middle East
By: John_Mauldin
BY GEORGE FRIEDMAN AND KAMRAN BOKHARI : Nation-states are the defining feature of the modern political era. They give people a collective identity and a pride of place… even when their borders are artificially drawn, as they were in the Middle East.
However, transnational issues like religion and ethnicity often get in the way of the notion of nationalism. Those can’t be contained by a country’s borders.
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Wednesday, June 28, 2017
Mainstream Media Feeding Frenzy in the Echo Chamber / Politics / Mainstream Media
By: Raul_I_Meijer
The best comment on the June 13 Jeff Sessions Senate testimony, and I’m sorry I forgot who made it, was that it looked like an episode of Seinfeld. A show about nothing. Still, an awful lot of voices tried to make it look like it was something life- and game-changing. It was not. Not anymore than Comey’s testimony was, at least not in the sense that those eager to have these testimonies take place would have liked it to be.
Comey shone more of an awkward light on himself rather than on Donald Trump, by admitting that he had leaked info on a private conversation with the president he served at the time. Not quite nothing, but very little to satisfy the anti-Trump crowd. It’s just that there’s so many in that crowd, and most in denial, that you wouldn’t know it unless you paid attention.
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Tuesday, June 27, 2017
The Ultimate Regulatory Reform: Abolish Fractional Reserve Banking! / Politics / Fiat Currency
By: Antonius_Aquinas
The Trump Administration has presented the first part of its plan to overhaul a number of Wall Street financial regulations, many of which were enacted in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. The report is in response to Executive Order 13772 in which the US Treasury Department is to provide findings “examining the United States’ financial regulatory system and detailing executive actions and regulatory changes that can be immediately undertaken to provide much-needed relief.”*
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Thursday, June 22, 2017
Here’s Why China’s Supposed Influence Over North Korea Is A Bluff / Politics / North Korea
By: John_Mauldin
By Xander Snyder : The US is pushing China deeper into a corner over the crisis with North Korea. It wants the Chinese to persuade the North Koreans to give up their nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.
The popular perception is that Beijing has substantial leverage over Pyongyang, partly because China is North Korea’s largest trading partner. This impression also stems from China’s proposals to mediate trade concessions between North Korea and the United States.
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Wednesday, June 21, 2017
Yet Another Reason Why Healthcare Reform Will Be Disastrous / Politics / Healthcare Sector
By: John_Mauldin
BY PATRICK WATSON : Health care is now a huge, thorny political and economic issue, and the chart below shows one reason why.
The US spends far more on health care than other developed nations, with worse outcomes by many measures.
Yet, all that money doesn’t just disappear.
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Tuesday, June 20, 2017
The Middle East Is Blowing Up / Politics / Middle East
By: John_Rubino
Every day brings another scary headline from the Middle East — which makes it easy to treat them as background noise rather than a clear and present danger. But the latest batch is reminiscent of the Balkans circa 1914, which means it may be time to tune back in. Some examples:
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Tuesday, June 20, 2017
Trump Backs ISIS As He Pushes US Onto Brink of World War III With Russia / Politics / WW3
By: Jeff_Berwick
If you asked your normal, television programmed American about 9/11, many would still say what a sad day it was, the day the US was attacked by Al-Qaeda’s Muslim extremists.
They are wrong about who did it, of course… but then again they get their “news” from fakestream media and have been drinking fluoride, getting vaccinated and spent their entire childhood in government indoctrination camps.
Al Qaeda, which was a CIA creation has now morphed into ISIS, and the same people are backing ISIS that backed Al Qaeda - the US government, Israel, Saudi Arabia, CIA, and NATO.
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Tuesday, June 20, 2017
North Korea: Is War the Inevitable Outcome? / Politics / North Korea
By: HAA
Shannara Johnson : There’s little doubt that from the moment Kim Jong-un took power in 2011, he has been on a mission to accelerate North Korea’s nuclear program.
There’s also little doubt this is of extreme concern to the US and the Trump administration.
Daily reports of US warships and submarines moving in along the Korean Peninsula and unrelenting missile tests in North Korea have sparked worries that a strike may be imminent. Will we end up in a war with North Korea, and what would be the consequences?
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Monday, June 19, 2017
Why The EU’s Recent Plans To Regulate London’s Financial Sector Are Overblown / Politics / BrExit
By: John_Mauldin
By Antonia Colibasanu : A major concern after Brexit was that it will destroy the financial sector in the UK and and the EU since London is a financial hub.
Those who hold this view would see the European Commission’s new plans announced on June 13 to regulate a very lucrative industry in London’s financial sector as a case in point.
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Monday, June 19, 2017
US-China Trade amid America’s New Uncertainty / Politics / China US Conflict
By: Dan_Steinbock
As the White House is preparing to a political war for its survival, the Trump-Xi 100 day plan should overcome long-term pressures on US-China ties.After the two-day summit at Mar-a-Lago, the US and China announced a 100-day plan to improve strained trade ties and boost cooperation between two nations. Soon thereafter, the US Department of Justice appointed Robert Mueller, the former director of the FBI (2001-13) as special counsel overseeing the investigation into the alleged Russian interference in the 2016 elections.
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Monday, June 19, 2017
Trump White House Under Siege / Politics / US Politics
By: Dan_Steinbock
Washington is planning to extend sanctions against Russia, once again. Meanwhile, the Trump administration is getting ready to cope with a special counsel’s investigation which seems to focus as much on Trump as Russia.
Last Wednesday, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson warned that Congress should not pass any legislation that would undercut "constructive dialogue" with Russia. Yet, the Senate voted 97-2 to advance a bipartisan agreement to launch new financial penalties on Russia and to let the Congress intervene before President Trump can lift sanctions. Afterwards, Trump tweeted that he is the subject of the “single greatest WITCH HUNT in American political history,” and one that he said is being led by “some very bad and conflicted people.”