Alberta West News

What Is Really Going On In Syria: Insider Update

2012-02-01T22:32:00.002-07:00

Abdel Hakim Belhaj, chief of ’Al-Qaeda in Libya’ and commander of the "Free" Syrian Army.

by Boris Dolgov

In this article Boris Dolgov, a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Oriental Studies in Moscow, reports on his recent trip to Syria. His field investigation is particularly valuable since most of the information about Syria in recent months has emanated from Beirut, Paris or London. Professor Dolgov confirms that, far from a contrived "Arab Spring" scenario, Syria is undeniably grappling with the threat of foreign occupation. He observes that while the offensive is inordinately violent, the population will not be intimidated. Aware of the disaster wrought by NATO "humanitarian" operations in Yugoslavia and Libya, the Syrians refuse to be drawn into a sectarian ambush. A process of reform and development is on track, but it will not be dictated from abroad. In Syria, one may object to the president, but not to national sovereignty.

Read article here

Peter Shiff - as he sees it

2012-01-31T22:09:00.000-07:00

Meanwhile in Europe… Unemployment, December 2011.

2012-01-31T12:43:00.002-07:00

January 31, 2012

Merijn Knibbe

Total unemployment in Europe hit a new record in December. Differences still increase as unemployment in Germany (and Slovakia) is still declining while in all other countries unemployment is either stable (often at a high level) or increases (no data on the Baltic countries, though, for the last quarter of 2011). I will continue to publish graph 1 on this blog every month, adding another graph showing other aspects of unemployment. Graph 2 shows long-term unemployment (> 12 months) in some countries. That was not what was supposed to happen, when the Euro was introduced – and up to 2008 everything indeed seemed just fine. Note that Germany did not do too well, up to 2006…
Article and links here

India abandons US dollar to purchase Iranian oil

2012-01-29T22:27:00.000-07:00

Celtic Thunder, enjoy using full screen

2012-01-27T16:11:00.000-07:00

Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) explained

2012-01-27T10:51:00.001-07:00

The Future of Economics

2012-01-26T18:48:00.002-07:00

By Steve Keen

For its entire history, macroeconomics has been dominated by mathematical models that ignore the existence of money, debt and banking, and that perceive the economy’s movement through time as transitions from one state of equilibrium to another.

At any point in history, these would be heroic assumptions. Could it really be true that models without either money or instability are provably superior at predicting the economy’s future course than models in which money and banking exist, and in which the model economy can be out of equilibrium? If not, is it the case then that such models are simply too difficult to construct—that the best we can do is pretend that the economy doesn’t have banks or money, and that it’s always in equilibrium, even if we know these assumptions are false?

Before the crisis of 2007, few non-economists even asked those questions, because there seemed to be no need to challenge what economists did. The economy, after all, was going gangbusters. Professional economists, using the very latest mathematical models of the economy, took credit for its sterling performance, and predicted more of the same for the foreseeable future.

Robert Lucas, the father of “Rational Expectations Macroeconomics”, asserted that the “macroeconomics … has succeeded. Its central problem of depression prevention has been solved, for all practical purposes, and has in fact been solved for many decades.”[1] Ben Bernanke lauded “improved control of inflation” as the cause of “the Great Moderation”, which he described as “this welcome change in the economy.” [2] In June 2007, the OECD, guided by its macroeconomic model, opined that “the current economic situation is in many ways better than what we have experienced in years… Our central forecast remains indeed quite benign”. [3]

Then all hell broke loose, and almost five years later, it shows no signs of abating.
Read rest of article here

Space station sees southern lights

2012-01-24T19:20:00.000-07:00

A blast from the sun

2012-01-24T19:16:00.001-07:00

Bjorn Jorgensen's view of the aurora was captured on Sunday at Grotfjord, close to Tromso in north Norway. "This was amazing," he told SpaceWeather.com. "It was a wonderful experience to see these stunning auroras." The bird-of-prey picture was taken with a Nikon D3S camera equipped with a Nikkor 14-24mm lens. Exposure for the pictures in Jorgenson's set was ISO 2200 at five and six seconds. Check out SpaceWeather.com and ArcticPhoto.no for more views.

The Internet in 1969 - ideas that became reality

2012-01-24T19:12:00.001-07:00

China manufacturing starts new year downbeat

2012-01-23T20:35:00.001-07:00

China's manufacturing activity shrank for the third straight month in January, data showed Friday, leading analysts to warn of of a further slowdown for the world's number two economy.

HSBC's preliminary purchasing managers' index (PMI) stood at 48.8 in January, up only marginally from 48.7 in December, the British banking giant said.

A reading above 50 indicates expansion while a reading below 50 suggests a contraction.

The news come days after the government released data showing the economy grew 9.2pc last year, well down from the 10.4pc growth in 2010, while most forecasts put this year's expansion at between just 8pc and 8.5pc.

However, some analysts believe it could slow even more in the first quarter, with growth even dipping below the 8pc level considered necessary to maintain jobs and contain social unrest.

"The third consecutive below-50 reading of the manufacturing PMI suggested that growth is likely to moderate further," Qu Hongbin, HSBC chief economist for China, said in a statement.
Read article here

Syria - the other side of the story

2012-01-22T19:56:00.001-07:00

Bomb equipment dismantled

Civilian Engineer Martyred in Hama, a Law Enforcement Member Killed in Daraa, Officer Martyred in Idleb

1. Engineer Fatima Khalifeh, worker at the Electricity Generation Plant in Mehardeh in Hama Province, on Wednesday succumbed to her wounds after being shot in her head by an armed terrorist group on Tuesday. In the framework of targeting the technical cadres and the national expertise, an armed terrorist group opened fire at a microbus carrying 25 employees who work at the Electricity Energy Generation Company in Mehardeh area near Khirbet Damis Crossroads. Engineer Khalifeh was taken to Massyaf National Hospital after being shot in the head.

2. Body of Veterinarian Nabil Makroj Found at al-Bayyada Neighborhood in Homs. The body of Veterinarian Nabil Makroj , who was kidnapped by an armed terrorist group few days ago, was found at al-Bayyada Neighborhood in Homs. An informed source told SANA Correspondent that Makroj was kidnapped on January 14th while he was performing his duty in guaranteeing the required vaccines for the livestock in Deir Ba’alba Neighborhood. Forensic examiners said that after examining the body, traces of torture and mutilation were found on it, adding that Makroj was strangled at the hands of the terrorists who kidnapped him.

3. Law-enforcement Member Martyred, Another Wounded in Daraa. A Law-enforcement member was martyred on Wednesday and another was wounded as well as a woman after an armed terrorist gang fired at them in the city of Tafas in Daraa province. A police source said the armed terrorist group fired at the two law-enforcement members while they were in the line of duty leading to the martyrdom of Bassam Mustafa and wounding Amer Saleh in addition to a woman who happened to be passing by the area.

4. Military Engineering Units in Daraa dismantle two explosives. Military Engineering Units today in Daraa dismantled two explosive devices, prepared to be bombed in places crowded with civilians.
Article source here

PolicyTalk: Dr. Kevin Gallagher of Boston University Discusses the New Economics of Capital Controls

2012-01-22T19:09:00.000-07:00

Dr. Kevin Gallagher of Boston University On the New Economics of Capital Controls from GlobalPolicyTV on Vimeo.

US/Israel discord?

2012-01-22T18:57:00.000-07:00

Big Brother is watching you! - (well maybe not)

2012-01-22T17:59:00.001-07:00

ESO's Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) has captured this unusual view of the Helix Nebula (NGC 7293), a planetary nebula located 700 light-years away. The coloured picture was created from images taken through Y, J and K infrared filters. While bringing to light a rich background of stars and galaxies, the telescope's infrared vision also reveals strands of cold nebular gas that are mostly obscured in visible images of the Helix. Credit: ESO/VISTA/J. Emerson. Acknowledgment: Cambridge Astronomical Survey Unit.
Interesting article published here

Big media strikes back - Proposed new law will break the Internet

2012-01-21T15:41:00.000-07:00

Uproar after Jewish American newspaper publisher suggests Israel assassinate Barack Obama

2012-01-21T15:16:00.002-07:00

Op-ed in Atlanta Jewish Times says the slaying of the president may be an effective way to thwart Iran's nuclear program

By Chemi Shalev in Haaretz

NEW YORK - The owner and publisher of the Atlanta Jewish Times, Andrew Adler, has suggested that Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu consider ordering a Mossad hit team to assassinate U.S. President Barack Obama so that his successor will defend Israel against Iran.

Adler, who has since apologized for his article, listed three options for Israel to counter Iran’s nuclear weapons in an article published in his newspaper last Friday. The first is to launch a pre-emptive strike against Hamas and Hezbollah, the second is to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities and the third is to “give the go-ahead for U.S.-based Mossad agents to take out a president deemed unfriendly to Israel in order for the current vice president to take his place and forcefully dictate that the United States’ policy includes its helping the Jewish state obliterate its enemies.”
Article published here

Modern Imperialism 101

2012-01-19T19:57:00.001-07:00

The following is a 2011 article by Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya for the Italian journal Eurasia about the manipulation of national constitutions as a neo-colonial means of modern empire-building. The article presents an important overview of the U.S. empire-building process. The original print version was published in the Italian language and translated by Pietro Longo.

ABSTRACT: The U.S.A. has re-written the constitution of vanquished nations since the Second World War. In the last two decades, however, Washington has managed to totally restructure vanquished states economically and politically by de-centralizing them and legalizing foreign tutelage over their political structure and their national economies. From the former Yugoslavia to Afghanistan and Iraq, this process has gone hand-in-hand with war and both an immediate and extended foreign military presence. In this regard the new national constitutions of these countries have been central to the process and opened the door for the integration of these states into Washington’s empire-building project.
Very instructive article published here

Snow, where did you go?

2012-01-19T15:38:00.001-07:00

Reflections by Comrade Fidel

2012-01-16T21:23:00.004-07:00

WORLD PEACE HANGING BY A THREAD

Yesterday I had the satisfaction of having a pleasant conversation with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. I had not seen him since 2006, more than five years ago, when he visited our country to participate in the 14th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement of Countries in Havana. During the summit, Cuba was elected for the second time as president of the organization for a three-year term.
I had become gravely ill on July 26, 2006, a month and a half prior to the summit, and could barely sit up in bed. Many of the most distinguished leaders who participated in the event were kind enough to visit me. Chavez and Evo visited me several times. One afternoon four visitors came by whom I will always remember: UN Secretary General Kofi Annan; an old friend, Abdelaziz Buteflika, the president of Algeria; Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the president of Iran; and the vice minister of Foreign Affairs and current Foreign Minister of China, Yang Jiechi, on behalf of the leader of the Communist Party and the president of China, Hu Jintao. It was really an important time for me; I was in the midst of intense physiotherapy on my right hand that I had seriously injured when I fell in Santa Clara.
With all four I spoke about some of the difficulties facing the world at the time; problems that have become progressively more complex.
During our meeting yesterday, I noted that the Iranian president was absolutely calm and tranquil, completely unconcerned about the Yankee threats and, fully confident in the capacity of his people to confront any aggression and in the effectiveness of their arms —which, in large part, they produce themselves— to inflict an unpayable price on its aggressors.
In reality, we hardly spoke about the topic of war. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was focused on the ideas he had presented at the Main Hall of the University of Havana during his conference on the struggle of humankind: “Moving towards reaching and achieving peace, security, respect and human dignity as a fundamental desire of all human beings throughout history.”
I am convinced that Iran will not commit any rash actions that might contribute to setting off a war. If a war were to be unleashed, it would inevitably be completely as a result of the recklessness and congenital irresponsibility of the Yankee Empire.

I believe that the political situation surrounding Iran and the associated risks of a nuclear war that involves us all —regardless of whether one possess nuclear weapons— are extremely delicate because they threaten the very existence of our species. The Middle East has become the most troubled region on the planet, the same region that produces the energy resources vital for the world’s economy.
The destructive power and the mass sufferings caused by some of the weapons used in World War Two led to a strong movement to ban weapons such as asphyxiating gas and others. Nevertheless, conflicting interests and the huge profits made by arms manufacturers led to the production of crueler and more destructive weapons; modern technology has now added the means and material to build weapons that if used in a world war would lead to extinction.
I support the opinion, undoubtedly shared by all those with a basic sense of responsibility, that no country big or small has the right to possess nuclear weapons.
They never should have been used to attack two defenseless cities such as Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing and irradiating with horrible and long-lasting effects hundreds of thousands of men, women and children, in a country that had already been militarily defeated.
If fascism indeed forced the allied nations against Nazism to compete with this enemy of humanity in the production of such weapons, once the war ended and the United Nations was created, the first duty of this organization should have been to prohibit nuclear weapons without exception.
However, the United States, the strongest and richest power, forced the rest of the world to follow its lead. Today, they have hundreds of satellites that spy and monitor the entire world from outer space. Their naval, air and land forces are equipped with thousands of nuclear weapons; and they control the world’s finances and investments at their whim via the International Monetary Fund.

Analyzing the history of each Latin American nation, from Mexico to Patagonia, by way of Santo Domingo and Haiti, one can observe that each and every country, without exception, have suffered for 200 years, from the beginning of the 19th century up until today. And, in one way or another, they are increasingly suffering the worst crimes that power and force can commit against the rights of a people. Brilliant Latin American writers are emerging in an increasing number. One of them, Eduardo Galeano, author of the book Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent that describes the aforementioned, has just been invited to open the prestigious Casa de Las Americas Awards as a recognition to his outstanding body of work.
Events happen incredibly fast; but technologies report them to the public even faster. On any given day, like today, important news comes out a dizzying pace. A cable report dated from January 11 states: “The Danish presidency of the European Union confirmed on Wednesday that a new series of more severe European sanctions against Iran, because of its nuclear program, will be discussed on January 23. The new sanctions will not only target the oil industry but also the Central Bank.”
During a meeting with international journalists, Danish Foreign Minister Villy Soevndal said that “We will increase sanctions against the oil industry in addition to sanctions against financial structures.” This clearly demonstrates that, in order to impede nuclear proliferation, Israel can go on accumulating hundreds of nuclear warheads while Iran is not allowed to produce 20% enriched uranium.

Another article, from a respected British news agency, states that “China gave no hint on Wednesday of giving ground to U.S. demands to curb Iran's oil revenues, rejecting Washington's sanctions on Tehran as overstepping …”
The sheer tranquility with which the United States and civilized Europe carry out this campaign with incredible and systematic acts of terrorism is enough to shock anybody. Just look at these lines reported by another important European news agency: “The murder on Wednesday of Iranian nuclear specialist Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan [a scientist at the Natanz nuclear plant] was the fourth attack to kill a leading scientist in the country in almost exactly two years.”

On January 12, 2010: “Massoud Ali Mohammadi, a particle physics professor at Tehran University is killed when a booby-trapped motorcycle explodes outside his home in the capital. “
On November 29, 2010: “Two attacks target leading Iranian nuclear scientists on the same day. Majid Shahriari, a key member of Iran’s Atomic Energy Agency, is killed in Tehran by a limpet bomb attached to his car. His colleague Fereydoon Abbasi Davani is also targeted by a bomb attached to his car, but escapes.” The car was parked in front of the Shahid Beheshti University in Tehran where both men worked as professors.
On July 23, 2011: “Gunmen shoot dead Dariush Rezaei-Nejad, a senior scientist who is reportedly associated with the defense ministry, and wound his wife as they waited for their child outside a Tehran kindergarten.”
On January 11, 2012 —the same day that Ahmadinejad travelled from Nicaragua to Cuba to give a conference at the University of Havana—, scientist Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, “a deputy director at the Natanz nuclear enrichment facility, is killed in a car bomb blast outside the [Allameh Tabatabai] University in east Tehran.” As in previous years “Iran once again accused the United States and Israel.”
The killings represent a systematic and selective slaughter of brilliant Iranian scientists. I have read articles by known Israeli sympathizers who write about crimes carried out by Israeli intelligence services in cooperation with the United States and NATO as if they were the most normal occurrence.

At the same time, Moscow news agencies report that “Russia warned that in Syria a similar scenario is developing as to that in Libya, and added that this time the attack will be launched from neighboring Turkey.
“The secretary of the Russian Security Council, Nikolai Patrushev, said the West wants to ‘punish Damascus not as much for repressing the opposition, but because it is unwilling to sever ties with Tehran.’”
"…NATO members and some Persian Gulf states, operating according to the Libya scenario, intend to move from indirect intervention in Syrian affairs to direct military intervention…This time the main strikes forces will not be provided by France, the U.K. or Italy, but possibly by neighboring Turkey."
“Washington and Ankara are now assumed to be negotiating a “no-fly” zone over Syria, where Syrian armed insurgents can be trained and concentrated, added Patrushev."
News is not only coming out of Iran and the Middle East, but also from other parts of Central Asia near the Middle East. These reports show the great complexity of the problems that can arise from this dangerous region.
The United States has been led by its contradictory and absurd imperial policy to get involved in serious problems in countries such as Pakistan, whose borders with Afghanistan were drawn up by the colonialists without taking into account culture or ethnicities.
In Afghanistan, which defended its independence against English colonialism for centuries, drug production has multiplied in the wake of the Yankee invasion. Meanwhile, European soldiers, supported by drone airplanes and armed with sophisticated US weapons, carry out deplorable massacres that increase the people’s hatred and ward off any possibilities of peace. All this and other dirty actions are also reported by Western news agencies.
“WASHINGTON, January 12, 2012 - US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta called the actions of four U.S. marines who urinated on corpses in Afghanistan “utterly deplorable” The video of the act was circulated in the Internet.

"’I have seen the footage, and I find the behavior depicted in it utterly deplorable…’
"’This conduct is entirely inappropriate for members of the United States military and does not reflect the standards of values our armed forces are sworn to uphold…’”
In reality, Panetta neither confirms nor denies the action, and anyone, including the Secretary of Defense himself, may harbor doubt.
But it is also extremely inhumane that men, women and children, or an Afghani combatant fighting against the foreign occupation, be murdered by bombs dropped by drone planes. Another very serious incident: dozens of Pakistani soldiers and officials who safeguarded the country’s borders have been killed by these bombs.
Afghani President Karzai stated that the outrage committed against the bodies was “simply inhumane.” He asked for the US government “to urgently investigate the video and apply the most severe punishment to anyone found guilty in this crime.”

Meanwhile Taliban spokespersons declared that “over the last ten years, hundreds of similar acts have been carried out that were not reported…”
One even feels sorry for those soldiers, thousands of kilometers away from their family, friends and country, sent to fight in countries that they might not have even heard of during their school days, where they are assigned the task of killing or dying to enrich transnational companies, arms manufacturers and unscrupulous politicians who each year squander funds needed to feed and educate the uncountable millions of hungry and illiterate people around the world.

Many of these soldiers, victims of the trauma suffered, end up taking their own lives.

Is it an exaggeration to say that world peace is hanging by a thread?

Fidel Castro Ruz
January 12, 2012
9:14 p.m.

Article source here

Voting from the grave

2012-01-15T18:52:00.000-07:00

“SYRIA WILL REMAIN FREE” – President Bashar al-Assad speech on January 10, 2012

2012-01-15T15:53:00.002-07:00

Editor: Below is an extract of a long speech made by Syrian President Assad in relation to current upheavals in Syria.

Sisters and brothers,

What is taking place in Syria is part of what has been planned for the region for tens of years, as the dream of partition is still haunting the grandchildren of Sykes–Picot. But today their dream turns into a nightmare, and if some believe that the time of conflict over Syria is back, then they are mistaken because the conflict today is ‘against Syria’ and not ‘over Syria’ or ‘on Syria’. And one thing we will never allow them to achieve is defeating Syria as it means defeating steadfastness and resistance and it also means the fall of the whole region to the hands of great powers. Defeat is not necessarily military and it might come true if they succeed in making us withdraw to internal conflicts and forget about our bigger issues on top of which the Palestinian Issue. Their ultimate goal which they aspire to achieve eventually is a Syria which is busy with internal marginal conflicts and withdrawn to its false borders, rather than its natural, historical, nationwide borders. They want to see a shrunk Syria which is prone to demise and deterioration as a result of division and partition, and their aim is to dismantle the cultural identity and character of our people which has always protected us against defeats of all kinds. Dismantling this identity leads to an actual defeat which was not caused by repeated wars, but which could be caused by the destroying the structure of a society that produced the systems of social and cultural resistance. This was the system which raised their concern more than any other system because it is the foundation and incubator of any form of resistance. But they did not succeed in destroying our identity or in shaking our belief that the resistance is at the core of this identity which shall remain firm as it has always been over history.
Text of full speech available here

The Bank of Canada belongs to us!

2012-01-15T12:52:00.000-07:00

Occupy the Neighborhood: How Counties Can Use Land Banks and Eminent Domain

2012-01-15T12:21:00.002-07:00

A foreclosed home in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Photo: Monica Almeida / The New York Times)

Saturday 14 January 2012
by: Ellen Brown, Truthout

An electronic database called MERS (Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems) has created defects in the chain of title to over half the homes in America. Counties have been cheated out of millions of dollars in recording fees, and their title records are in hopeless disarray. Meanwhile, foreclosed and abandoned homes are blighting neighborhoods. Straightening out the records and restoring the homes to occupancy is clearly in the public interest, and the burden is on local government to do it. But how? New legal developments are presenting some innovative alternatives.
Article published here

Letter to the editor

2012-01-14T21:45:00.001-07:00

From: IanVMacdonald@aol.com
To: letters-2@nationalpost.com
Sent: 1/13/2012 10:21:50 P.M. Eastern Standard Time
Subj: Justifying murder

January 13, 2012

Editor
NATIONAL POST
Toronto

Dear Sir,

Re: "A justified kiling"

Few thinking, traditional Canadians would agree with Lorne Gunter's opinion that the end justifies the means when disposing of Israel's perceived enemies. The nuclear scientist victim in Iran differed little in function from scientists in other countries performing vital tasks with or without possible military applications, yet surely your columnist would not approve of their murder even if other countries professed to see a potential threat from their research. Iran is certainly much more likely to be the victim of Israeli aggression than vice-versa, and Israel already possesses atomic weapons. Would assassination of Israeli scientists thus not be equally or more justifiable? Would Mr Gunter then lead the applause?

It would be interesting to learn how the National Post reacted to the Israeli assassination of Dr Gerald Bull, the internationally-acclaimed Canadian-born expert on long-range artillery who was working on a contract with Iraq. He was told by Mossad to resign from the project and when he refused was murdered in cold blood. The RCMP declined to investigate although a prime witness (a former Mossad agent with knowledge of the murder) lived in Ottawa at the time. When challenged for his inaction, the Commissioner explained that the Force had no authority to investigate since the crime took place outside Canadian jurisdiction. Shortly thereafter however he sent 6 officers to Tel Aviv in connection with the alleged murder of some Jews in Ukraine in 1941, not one of whom was Canadian, let alone a celebrity.

As ever,

Ian V. Macdonald
455 Wilbrod Street
Ottawa ON K1N 6M7
612 241 5389

US trade deficit widens sharply in November

2012-01-13T10:14:00.002-07:00

After declining for four straight months, the U.S. trade deficit widened in November, bringing the trade gap up to its highest level since June.
The nation's trade deficit widened 10.4% in November to $47.8 billion, the Commerce Department said. This is the largest increase since May.
Exports fell 0.9% to $177.8 billion in November, the second straight drop after hitting a record high in September. Imports rose 1.3% to $189.7 billion in November. Imports have been treading water after hitting $226.2 billion in May. Market watch

HIGHLIGHTS
Analysts surveyed by MarketWatch had expected a deficit of $43.6 billion. The sharp increase in the deficit could cut the government's estimate of fourth-quarter growth. Market watch
While consumer goods imports declined in November, demand for capital goods made overseas climbed to a record $43.8 billion. Automobile imports rose $816 million in November to $22.3 billion. Businessweek
U.S. shipments abroad dropped 0.9 percent to $177.8 billion even as exports of consumer goods increased to a record $15.7 billion. Businessweek
The U.S. is looking for new markets to sell its goods. In 2010, President Barack Obama set a goal of doubling U.S. exports by 2015 as a way of promoting jobs in a tough economy. AP
Two months ago, Congress approved three long-stalled free trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama. By removing trade barriers, the administration says the free trade deals will boost U.S. exports by $13 billion a year. AP.
Article source here

The Myth of Japan’s Failure

2012-01-12T20:57:00.003-07:00

The fashionable Shibuya neighborhood in Tokyo.

By EAMONN FINGLETON
Published: January 6, 2012

DESPITE some small signs of optimism about the United States economy, unemployment is still high, and the country seems stalled.

Time and again, Americans are told to look to Japan as a warning of what the country might become if the right path is not followed, although there is intense disagreement about what that path might be. Here, for instance, is how the CNN analyst David Gergen has described Japan: “It’s now a very demoralized country and it has really been set back.”

But that presentation of Japan is a myth. By many measures, the Japanese economy has done very well during the so-called lost decades, which started with a stock market crash in January 1990. By some of the most important measures, it has done a lot better than the United States.
Read whole article here

The Next War on Washington's Agenda

2012-01-12T11:06:00.002-07:00

By Paul Craig Roberts

Only the blind do not see that the US government is preparing to attack Iran. According to Professor Michel Chossudovsky, "Active war preparations directed against Iran (with the involvement of Israel and NATO) were initiated in May 2003."

Washington has deployed missiles directed at Iran in its oil emirate puppet states, Oman and the UAE, and little doubt in the other US puppet states in the Middle East. Washington has beefed up Saudi Arabia's jet fighter force. Most recently, Washington has deployed 9,000 US troops to Israel to participate in "war games" designed to test the US/Israeli air defense system. As Iran represents no threat unless attacked, Washington's war preparations signal Washington's intention to attack Iran.

Another signal that Washington has a new war on its agenda is the raised level of Washington's rhetoric and demonization of Iran. Judging by polls Washington's propaganda that Iran is threatening the US by developing a nuclear weapon has met with success. Half of the American public support a military attack on Iran in order to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear capability. Those of us who are trying to awaken our fellow citizens start from a deficit that the minds of half of the US population are under Big Brother's control.

As the International Atomic Energy Agency's reports from its inspectors on the ground in Iran have made clear for years, there is no evidence that Iran has diverted any enriched uranium from its nuclear energy program. The shrill hype coming from Washington and from the neoconservative media is groundless. it is the same level of lie as Washington's claim that Saddam Hussein in Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. Every US soldier who died in that war died in behalf of a lie.
Full article published here

Insight into Iceland's banking crisis

2012-01-11T22:13:00.001-07:00

Hmm...

2012-01-11T21:51:00.001-07:00

Why Washington Wants ‘Finito’ with Putin

2012-01-10T21:35:00.001-07:00

By F. William Engdahl

Washington clearly wants ‘finito’ with Russia’s Putin as in basta! Or as they said in Egypt last spring, Kefaya–enough! Hillary Clinton and friends have apparently decided Russia’s prospective next president, Vladimir Putin, is a major obstacle to their plans. Few however understand why. Russia today, in tandem with China and to a significant degree Iran, form the spine, however shaky, of the only effective global axis of resistance to a world dominated by one sole superpower.

On December 8 several days after election results for Russia’s parliamentary elections were announced, showing a sharp drop in popularity for Prime Minister Putin’s United Russia party, Putin accused the United States and specifically Secretary of State Hillary Clinton of fuelling the Russian opposition protesters and their election protests. Putin stated, “The (US) Secretary of State was quick to evaluate the elections, saying that they are unfair and unjust even before she received materials from the Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (the OSCE international election monitors-w.e.) observers.”[1]

Putin went on to claim that Clinton’s premature comments were the necessary signal to the waiting opposition groups that the US Government would back their protests. Clinton’s comments, the seasoned Russian intelligence pro stated, became a “signal for our activists who began active work with the US Department of State.” [2]

Major western media chose either to downplay the Putin statement or to focus almost entirely on the claims of an emerging Russian opposition movement. A little research shows that, if anything, Putin was downplaying the degree of brazen US Government interference into the political processes of his country. In this case the country is not Tunisia or Yemen or even Egypt. It is the world’s second nuclear superpower, even if it might still be an economic lesser power. Hillary is playing with thermonuclear fire.
Read article here

Democracy in Libya?

2012-01-08T18:59:00.003-07:00

Ex-rebels’ war for money, power: Fierce clashes erupt in Tripoli

Gun fight erupts in central Tripoli, killing two, as ex-rebels from Misrata clash with unit of ex-fighters from Libyan capital.

Middle East Online

By Jay Deshmukh – TRIPOLI

Who will prevail first?

A gun fight erupted in central Tripoli on Tuesday, killing two, as a group of former rebels from the western city of Misrata clashed with a unit of ex-fighters from the Libyan capital, witnesses said.

The two groups of former rebels who helped topple the regime of slain leader Moamer Gathafi traded anti-aircraft and heavy machinegun fire as they fought in broad daylight in a Tripoli neighbourhood.

The fighting broke out between Al-Zawiyah and Al-Saidi streets near a building used as intelligence headquarters by the former regime.
Article posted here

New war strategy: fewer troops, more drones

2012-01-08T11:17:00.000-07:00

Noam Chomsky on "democracy" and social engineering - 1993

2012-01-07T09:00:00.000-07:00

Faking It: How the Media Manipulates the World into War

2012-01-06T10:39:00.002-07:00

More information and transcript here

The Euro is leaving Greece – and a new Great Depression has entered.

2012-01-06T10:14:00.002-07:00

from Merijn Knibbe

Do Great Depression’ policies lead to ‘Great Depression’ results? Yes, they do. Look at the above chart showing the development of the money supply in Greece. The closest historical precedent is not really ‘Zimbabwe’, but, to the contrary, the Great Depression. There clearly is a ‘bank run’ going on, as stated by Paul de Grauwe. And no, this is not really a ‘Zimbabwe’ – it’s the opposite. Let’s face it, not the government but the country is broke, the present bickering about loans is utter nonsense. The Euro-system has, for whatever reasons, utterly failed. It led to a new Great Depression, in Greece. And yes, we have to look at the increases of the amount of money (read: debts and capital inflows) before 2006, too. But these are not the present problem. More information here

Chart of the day: US profit and wage shares 1970 – 2011

2012-01-04T15:43:00.001-07:00

This graph shows that:

1. since the early 1980s the underlying trend in the United States has been for a bigger share of national income going to corporate profits and less to employees, and
2. now under Obama the rate of redistribution has reached an unprecedented level.

Exporting to future enemies?

2012-01-02T20:50:00.002-07:00

Australian Prime Minister, Robert Menzies earned the title of "Pig Iron Bob" when he sold iron to Imperial Japan in 1938, from which bombs and warships were built to kill Australian soldiers with later on. Are the Americans doing the same in the Middle East?

Rule Britannia?

2012-01-01T21:42:00.004-07:00

Morgan Stanley global debt ratio calculations.

Is this why British Prime Minister David Cameron refused to cozy up with the other EU member states? In depth article published here

Syria, here we come!

2011-12-31T13:06:00.000-07:00

"The decision to attack Syria was made at a meeting at Camp David on 15 September 2001"

2011-12-29T20:12:00.001-07:00

Article by Chérif Abdedaïm

Featured below is the interview that Thierry Meyssan gave to our colleagues from the Algerian daily newspaper the La Nouvelle République. Worthy of mention is the fact that the interview was given front page billing. While Western journalists eagerly relay the war propaganda against Syria, another reading of the events is emerging in countries where the press is not required to adjust to the editorial line dictated by the Empire.

Soviet history revisited

2011-12-27T21:08:00.000-07:00

Stirring up the pot in Russia

2011-12-27T20:38:00.000-07:00

Why they fought and died? - They just like shootin', that's all

2011-12-27T20:26:00.001-07:00

Load-down on engineered revolutions - the pros are at it.

2011-12-26T19:05:00.001-07:00

December 24, 2011 - In January of 2011, we were told that "spontaneous," "indigenous" uprising had begun sweeping North Africa and the Middle East in what was hailed as the "Arab Spring." It would be almost four months before the corporate-media would admit that the US had been behind the uprisings and that they were anything but "spontaneous," or "indigenous." In an April 2011 article published by the New York Times titled, "U.S. Groups Helped Nurture Arab Uprisings," it was stated:

"A number of the groups and individuals directly involved in the revolts and reforms sweeping the region, including the April 6 Youth Movement in Egypt, the Bahrain Center for Human Rights and grass-roots activists like Entsar Qadhi, a youth leader in Yemen, received training and financing from groups like the International Republican Institute, the National Democratic Institute and Freedom House, a nonprofit human rights organization based in Washington."

The article would also add, regarding the US National Endowment for Democracy (NED):

"The Republican and Democratic institutes are loosely affiliated with the Republican and Democratic Parties. They were created by Congress and are financed through the National Endowment for Democracy, which was set up in 1983 to channel grants for promoting democracy in developing nations. The National Endowment receives about $100 million annually from Congress. Freedom House also gets the bulk of its money from the American government, mainly from the State Department. "
Detailed article posted here

Christmas message - from John F. Kennedy

2011-12-26T10:36:00.001-07:00

JFK speech to the American Newspaper Publishers Association, New York, NY, April 27, 1961.

Christmas Story

2011-12-25T19:57:00.000-07:00

Upscale suburbanites lining up at food bank

2011-12-25T19:29:00.001-07:00

Against AFRICOM – Cynthia McKinney on GRTV

2011-12-22T20:48:00.000-07:00

“Free Syrian Army” commanded by Military Governor of Tripoli

2011-12-22T20:28:00.001-07:00

Aldel Hakim Belhaj is the historic leader of Al Qaeda in Libya and Military Governor of Tripoli - now chief of the Free Syrian Army.

by Thierry Meyssan – Voltaire Network | 19 December 2011

In the wake of the “Arab Spring” and NATO interventions, both official and secret, Qatar seeks to impose Islamist leaders wherever possible. This strategy has led it not only to fund the Muslim Brotherhood and to hand Al-Jazeera over to them, but also to support Al Qaeda mercenaries, who will henceforth oversee the Free Syrian Army. However, this new scenario raises serious concerns in Israel and among the supporters of the “clash of civilizations.”
The UN Security Council members are at loggerheads over the interpretation of the events that are rocking Syria. On one hand, France, the United Kingdom and the United States claim that a revolution has swept the country, in the aftermath of the “Arab Spring”, and suffering a bloody crackdown. On the other hand, Russia’s and China’s take is that Syria is having to cope with armed gangs from abroad, which it is fighting awkwardly thereby causing collateral victims among the civilian population it seeks to protect.

The on-the-spot investigation undertaken by Voltaire Network validated the latter interpretation [1]. We have collected eyewitness testimonies from those who survived an armed attack by a foreign gangs. They describe them as being Iraqis, Jordanians or Libyans, recognizable by their accent, as well as Pashtun.
Continue reading article here

The 25 Most Vicious Iraq War Profiteers

2011-12-22T15:51:00.002-07:00

The first name that comes to everyone’s mind here is Halliburton. According to MSN Money, Halliburton’s KBR, Inc. division bilked government agencies to the tune of $17.2 billion in Iraq war-related revenue from 2003-2006 alone. This is estimated to comprise a whopping one-fifth of KBR’s total revenue for the 2006 fiscal year. The massive payoff is said to have financed the construction and maintenance of military bases, oil field repairs, and various infrastructure rebuilding projects across the war-torn nation. This is just the latest in a long string of military/KBR wartime partnerships, thanks in no small part to Dick Cheney’s former role with the parent company.

The Iraq war is many things to different people. It is called a strategic blunder and a monstrous injustice and sometimes even a patriotic mission, much to the chagrin of rational human beings. For many big companies, however, the war is something far different: a lucrative cash-cow. The years-long, ongoing military effort has resurrected fears of the so-called “military-industrial complex.” Media pundits are outraged at private companies scooping up huge, no-questions-asked contracts to manufacture weapons, rebuild infrastructure, or anything else the government deems necessary to win (or plant its flag in Iraq). No matter what your stance on the war, it pays to know where your tax dollars are being spent.

Following is a detailed rundown of the 25 companies squeezing the most profit from this controversial conflict. Read article here

Money primer

2011-12-17T21:57:00.000-07:00

Public Banking hits mainstream news - at last

2011-12-17T21:34:00.002-07:00

"We have a specific mission ... that's not necessarily bottom-line driven" — Eric Hardmeyer, Bank of North Dakota CEO Jenn Ackerman for Bloomberg Businessweek

By Alison Vekshin

Eric Hardmeyer may be the most popular banker in America. Over the last two years officials and advocacy groups in more than 30 states have called the Bank of North Dakota, where he is chief executive officer, to ask: How does the country’s only state-owned bank work? “As the financial crisis deepened and there were liquidity issues around the country,” says Hardmeyer, “our model was looked at a little bit deeper than it ever had been before.”

The Bismarck-based bank was founded in 1919 to lend money to farmers, then the state’s biggest economic contributors, and retains its socially minded ethic by subsidizing loans for those it believes will stimulate growth: startup businesses and beginning farmers and ranchers. The borrowers apply for the loans through one of the state’s 100-plus local banks and credit unions. If they qualify, the community lender issues the loans at the market rate; the borrowers pay a fraction of the interest, with the Bank of North Dakota covering most of the difference. How can the state bank afford the subsidies? Profit isn’t its first priority. “We have a specific mission that we’re trying to achieve,” says Hardmeyer, “that’s not necessarily bottom-line driven.”
Continue reading article here

The biggest company you've never heard of...

2011-12-17T21:30:00.001-07:00

It' about our money - Let's get full value for our oil sands

2011-12-17T21:03:00.002-07:00

We, The People

2011-12-16T21:00:00.000-07:00

We're all in it together

2011-12-16T11:43:00.001-07:00

More information available here

China's epic hangover begins

2011-12-14T20:45:00.001-07:00

Chinese stocks are flashing warning signs. The Shanghai index has fallen 30pc since May. It is off 60pc from its peak in 2008, as much in real terms as Wall Street from 1929 to 1933. Photo: Reuters

China's credit bubble has finally popped. The property market is swinging wildly from boom to bust, the cautionary exhibit of a BRIC's dream that is at last coming down to earth with a thud.

By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard

It is hard to obtain good data in China, but something is wrong when the country's Homelink property website can report that new home prices in Beijing fell 35pc in November from the month before. If this is remotely true, the calibrated soft-landing intended by Chinese authorities has gone badly wrong and risks spinning out of control.

The growth of the M2 money supply slumped to 12.7pc in November, the lowest in 10 years. New lending fell 5pc on a month-to-month basis. The central bank has begun to reverse its tightening policy as inflation subsides, cutting the reserve requirement for lenders for the first time since 2008 to ease liquidity strains.

The question is whether the People's Bank can do any better than the US Federal Reserve or Bank of Japan at deflating a credit bubble.

Chinese stocks are flashing warning signs. The Shanghai index has fallen 30pc since May. It is off 60pc from its peak in 2008, almost as much in real terms as Wall Street from 1929 to 1933.

"Investors are massively underestimating the risk of a hard-landing in China, and indeed other BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China)... a 'Bloody Ridiculous Investment Concept' in my view," said Albert Edwards at Societe Generale.
Read full article here

What's next, pussycat?

2011-12-13T20:16:00.001-07:00

Winter Sermon

2011-12-13T18:22:00.002-07:00

1984 - here I am!

2011-12-13T17:34:00.002-07:00

Section 1031 of the NDAA as currently worded authorizes the President to use Military Force to detain indefinitely based on suspicion alone and without trial American citizens on American soil, effectively making the United States a Police State similar to Nazi Germany in the 1930’s and 40’s.
Check out the details here

Keep an eye on silver

2011-12-12T18:55:00.000-07:00

Lies and truths about Syria

2011-12-11T20:36:00.002-07:00

Created in Paris under French sponsorship, the Syrian National Council aims to overthrow the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. It is chaired by Burhan Ghalioun, professor of sociology at Sorbonne University (he is seen here with French Foreign Minister Alain Juppé, 23 November 2011).

by Thierry Meyssan

For eight months, Western leaders and some public media have been agitating for a war in Syria. The extremely serious accusations leveled against Assad intimidate those who question the justification for a new military intervention. But not everyone, because - on the initiative of Voltaire Network - some came to Syria to investigate for themselves and were able to measure the extent of NATO’s propaganda. Thierry Meyssan reports on the state of the media war.
Informative article posted here

Democrat and Republican Leaders in Secret Caucus

2011-12-11T10:18:00.000-07:00

FOX News caught using fake video of riots in Russia

2011-12-09T09:59:00.001-07:00

Earlier this year FOX News was caught faking news footage.

First it was showing footage of riots/rallies in India and claiming
that it was Libya.

Well, this time they were caught showing footage of angry Greek
riots and claiming that it was in Moscow.

BOMBSHELL: US Caught Meddling in Russian Elections!

2011-12-08T10:55:00.002-07:00

Khodorkovsky, safely behind bars. In Russia, Wall Street and London's mafia banksters go to prison.

by Tony Cartalucci

December 4, 2011 - What would Americans say if they found their polling stations and certain political parties entirely infiltrated by Chinese money, Chinese observers, and Chinese-backed candidates promoting China's interests in an AMERICAN election? The answer ranges from incarceration, to trials featuring charges ranging from fraud, to sedition and even treason with sentences ranging from decades to life in prison, perhaps even death, as well as possible military action for what could easily be considered an act of war.
Article published here

Pressure from above, pressure from below - Using the opposition to get your way

2011-12-06T19:32:00.000-07:00

Plan To Collapse Iran's Central Bank

2011-12-06T10:43:00.000-07:00

Crash Course on Hyman Minsky, L. Randall Wray

2011-12-05T19:18:00.000-07:00

Bank of China to step in as Saab part owner

2011-12-04T18:43:00.002-07:00

Victor Muller, Spyker Chief Executive and Chairman of Saab Automobile, arrives for a news conference in Trollhattan September 7, 2011. Credit: Reuters/Bjorn Larsson Rosvall/Scanpix

(Reuters) - Saab's Dutch owner and China's Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile have agreed that the Bank of China, the nation's fourth-largest bank by market value, will come in as part owner of the ailing carmaker, according to a source familiar with the deal. Article posted here

Editor: Not mentioned in the article, SAAB is an exporter of missile systems

Ads rejected by mainstream media

2011-12-04T18:13:00.002-07:00

Two television spots developed by a national investment firm specializing in U.S. gold and silver coins have been rejected by major television networks, including the Fox News Channel and the Fox Business Network, for apparently political reasons.
Article posted here

2011-12-04T18:10:00.000-07:00

Support the debtors rather than the creditors - Steve Keen on HARDtalk

2011-12-02T19:41:00.001-07:00

Protecting civilians in Sirte, Libya

2011-12-02T10:50:00.001-07:00

Sirte following NATO's bombardment.

The other side of the coin explained here

Economists support occupy movement

2011-11-30T20:34:00.000-07:00

Occupy Economics from Softbox on Vimeo.

They done me wrong song

2011-11-30T11:56:00.000-07:00

Wow! We were meant to fly!

2011-11-29T19:20:00.001-07:00

Banksters have moved in

2011-11-28T20:15:00.004-07:00

According to the Economic Policy Journal, here’s what you need to know about the current crisis in the Eurozone. The big time banksters are getting direct hands-on control:

Mario Draghi (photo) has become president of the European Central Bank as of November 1. He was vice chairman and managing director of Goldman Sachs International and a member of the firm-wide management committee. He was the Italian Executive Director at the World Bank. He has been a Fellow of the Institute of Politics at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.

Lucas Papademos has taken over as Prime Minister of Greece. He was an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. He was a visiting professor of public policy at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. And, he was previously a vice president of the European Central Bank. He has been a member of the Trilateral Commission since 1998.

Mario Monti has succeeded Silvio Berlusconi as prime minister of Italy. Monti completed graduate studies at Yale University, where he studied under James Tobin (see the Tobin Tax). He is a member of the European Commission. He is European Chairman of the Trilateral Commission and and member of the Bilderberg Group.

If you get the sense that the elitist banksters are going to take this financial crisis and push it in whatever direction they want, you are probably correct.

European debt crisis explained

2011-11-28T19:31:00.000-07:00

Men were not meant to fly - or were they?

2011-11-28T19:15:00.000-07:00

Big bankers' paradise

2011-11-28T11:55:00.001-07:00

Goldman Sachs Has Taken Over

2011-11-26T20:41:00.002-07:00

By Paul Craig Roberts

On November 25, two days after a failed German government bond auction in which Germany was unable to sell 35% of its offerings of 10-year bonds, the German finance minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble said that Germany might retreat from its demands that the private banks that hold the troubled sovereign debt from Greece, Italy, and Spain must accept part of the cost of their bailout by writing off some of the debt. The private banks want to avoid any losses either by forcing the Greek, Italian, and Spanish governments to make good on the bonds by imposing extreme austerity on their citizens, or by having the European Central Bank print euros with which to buy the sovereign debt from the private banks. Printing money to make good on debt is contrary to the ECB's charter and especially frightens Germans, because of the Weimar experience with hyperinflation.

Obviously, the German government got the message from the orchestrated failed bond auction. As I wrote at the time, there is no reason for Germany, with its relatively low debt to GDP ratio compared to the troubled countries, not to be able to sell its bonds. If Germany's creditworthiness is in doubt, how can Germany be expected to bail out other countries? Evidence that Germany's failed bond auction was orchestrated is provided by troubled Italy's successful bond auction two days later.
Full article posted here

The pattern continues

2011-11-22T12:22:00.000-07:00

On November 9th TransAlta Corp. admitted it manipulated electricity prices in Alberta forcing consumers to pay an extra $5.5 million for electricity. TransAlta negotiated its own penalty [settlement] for its transgressions and paid a fine of $370,000. Additionally, TransAlta gets to keep the details of its illegal actions confidential and out of the public eye.

On November 12th TransAlta’s CEO, Steve Snyder, wrote in the Calgary Herald, “We did not intentionally breach any rules or regulations. We misinterpreted rules around the competitive business of electricity trading”.

How does a company commit a $5.5 million dollar offense against the rate paying public and then negotiate a $370,000 penalty? What’s to prevent TransAlta from committing the same offense again and again if the penalty amounts to no more than a 7% fee, otherwise known as a cost of doing business?

The Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO) and the Market Surveillance Administrator (MSA) are the two government created corporations responsible for overseeing Alberta’s electricity market. Both claim to be independent, and yet both have consistently sided with industry to the detriment of the rate paying public. The AESO is currently seeking a court judgment to limit the public’s right to attend rate increase hearings. AESO and the MSA are the very same organizations that couldn’t find any wrong doing when electricity prices spiked from $14.50 to $223.80 per megawatt in 2000. The comedic investigation was made all the more ridiculous after irrefutable evidence surfaced in 2005 [tape-recorded conversations] between TransAlta and Enron Employees. The tape recordings recorded employees engaged in the manipulation of market prices.

TransAlta’s market manipulation behavior has not been limited to Alberta. On June 25, 2003 the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a "Show Cause" order to TransAlta alleging that TransAlta manipulated electricity prices, along with Enron, leading to wide spread power outages in California. In a subsequent lawsuit, California’s Attorney General claimed that TransAlta charged rates in the California electricity markets that were unjust, unreasonable, and therefore illegal, and did so on thousands of occasions.

The FERC chose not to prosecute TransAlta because TransAlta claimed it profited less than $10,000. What has never been reconciled or explained to the public is how TransAlta, a multi-billion dollar company, was able to report nefarious profits of 89% in one quarter and 133% in one six-month time frame while it was manipulating market prices, and yet only make less than $10,000 in illegal profits.

Can Albertans trust what TransAlta or AESO executives tell us? These are the very same people that still claim the Bill-50 transmission lines are not being built to subsidize export. They tell Albertans this even after TransAlta received approval, on July 12, 2010, to export on average 48,000 megawatt hours each day ~ for the next ten years. [Alberta’s daily demand averages between 6,000 to 8000 megawatts hours.]

Alberta’s deregulated electricity system has been a disaster from the beginning. From one scandal to another including offenses of spying on citizens and market price manipulation, the system has fallen into disrepute. The organizations responsible for overseeing the system are ineffective and at times incompetent.

Albertans need an independent public inquiry into the abuses that plague Alberta’s electricity system. The public should be refunded for what they have been overcharged!

Joe Anglin
Rimbey, AB
(403) 963-0521

Message from one cop to his colleagues

2011-11-21T11:19:00.001-07:00

Why you should become a politician

2011-11-19T09:01:00.000-07:00

2011-11-10T11:39:00.000-07:00

Kosovo - a Serbian perspective

2011-11-08T17:01:00.003-07:00

NATO's intervention in the ethnic conflict in Kosovo fits a well established pattern. Article published here

Fictitious Economy with Vandana Shiva

2011-11-05T11:34:00.002-06:00

9/11 - Phantom plane hits the Pentagon

2011-11-04T14:35:00.000-06:00

"Obama, you are the nightmare of Dr. Martin Luther King"

2011-11-01T15:48:00.000-06:00

Comet Storm in a Nearby Star System

2011-10-19T20:24:00.000-06:00

An artist's concept of a comet storm around Eta Corvi. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Oct. 19, 2011: NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has detected signs of icy bodies raining down in an alien solar system. The downpour resembles our own solar system several billion years ago during a period known as the "Late Heavy Bombardment," which may have brought water and other life-forming ingredients to Earth.

"We believe we have direct evidence for an ongoing Late Heavy Bombardment in the nearby star system Eta Corvi, occurring about the same time as in our solar system," said Carey Lisse, senior research scientist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md., and lead author of a paper detailing the findings to appear in the Astrophysical Journal.
Interesting article posted here

Testimony by Lizzy Phelan: "The war on Libya is a war on Africa"

2011-10-18T21:27:00.001-06:00

Back in the UK, after several months spent in Libya covering NATO war crimes and uncovering mainstream media lies, freelance journalist Lizzie Phelan continues to fight for truth and justice on behalf of the Libyan people. Her testimony below is a gripping example of her commitment.

Lizzie Phelan spent her last days in Libya - where she was reporting for PressTV - trapped in the Rixos Hotel, together with Thierry Meyssan, Mahdi Nazemroaya and two other members of the Voltaire Network team.

She said a Western-backed genocide is taking place in Libya and there are no independent journalists left on the ground to cover the story.
Watch video testimony here

New York State flood relief needed

2011-10-18T18:29:00.001-06:00

While protesters fill the streets of New York City,
the rural part of the New York State, which was
devastated by floods, faces Third World shortages
of food, warm clothing, shelter, tools and building
materials.

Winter's coming soon...and, true to form, the
corporate news media can't be bothered to
tell the story.

The Governor of the State, best buddy of the
Wall Street scam machine (he played his role
as head of HUD), did a few helicopter fly bys
and has been missing in action ever since.

How bad is it? Pretty bad.

The Christians of the Orient stand up against the new Western colonialism

2011-10-16T23:02:00.002-06:00

Invited at the Elysee the 5th of September 2011, S.B. Bechara Boutros Rai, Maronite Patriarch of Antioch and the entire Middle-East (the head of the most important Church in the Middle-East that is attached to Rome) heard that France and its allies will soon intervene militarily in Syria to establish the Muslim Brothers as the leaders of the country. The Christians of the Orient, who would lose their place in society, would then have to prepare themselves for the exodus and could find refuge in Europe.
© Présidence de la République - P. Segrette

by Thierry Meyssan

The war against Syria, planned by the United States, France and the United Kingdom for mid-November 2011, has been blocked in extremis by the Russian and Chinese vetoes at the Security Council. According to Nicolas Sarkozy, who informed the Maronite Patriarch of the matter during a stormy meeting at the Elysée Palace on 5 September 2011, the plan contemplates the expulsion of Middle East Christians by the Western powers. In this context a press campaign is underway in Europe to accuse the Christians of the Orient of collusion with the dictatorships. Mother Agnès-Mariam of the Cross, mother superior of the monastery of James the Mutilated in Qara (Syria) responds to this war propaganda.

Insightful article posted here

2,000 OWS protesters nabbed in US

2011-10-16T22:43:00.001-06:00

Demonstrators affiliated with the 'Occupy Wall Street' movement protest in Times Square in New York City on October 15, 2011.

The US police have arrested nearly two thousand Occupy Wall Street (OWS) protesters since the outbreak of the anti-corporatism and -corruption movement in New York in mid-September, Press TV reports.

Fresh arrests come as the movement is spreading across the globe.

The police have come up with various charges against the demonstrators in order to clear the streets filled with protest tents.

Chicago police say they have made 175 arrests on Saturday after protesters refused to obey orders to leave public areas and as more than 2,000 people marched from the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago to Grant Park.

Also on Saturday, nearly 90 demonstrators were detained in New York, while police forces apprehended over 70 people in Phoenix and Colorado.

Protesters have, however, pledged to remain on the streets, despite the heavy-handed clampdown.

The OWS movement was initiated on September 17, when a group of people began rallying in New York's financial district to protest 'corporate greed' and top-level among other instances of social inequality in the United States.

The campaign has now spread to tens of major cities, including Seattle, Los Angeles, Dallas, and Boston, as well as hundreds of communities across the nation.

More and more Americans are, meanwhile, joining the demonstrations each day.

According to a Press TV survey published on Saturday, many believe that the American Awakening -- represented by the OWS movement -- stems from misguided financial policies of the US establishment, thought to be behind the country's current economic crisis.

Britain, Germany, Italy, Spain, Ireland, and Portugal were also some of the countries that saw huge OWS-inspired protest rallies on Saturday.
Article source here

Publicly-owned Banks as an Instrument of Economic Development: The German Model

2011-10-16T16:37:00.001-06:00

by Ellen Brown

Publicly-owned banks were instrumental in funding Germany’s “economic miracle” after the devastation of World War II. Although the German public banks have been targeted in the last decade for takedown by their private competitors, the model remains a viable alternative to the private profiteering being protested on Wall Street today.

One of the demands voiced by protesters in the Occupy Wall Street movement is for a “public option” in banking. What that means was explained by Dr. Michael Hudson, Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri in Kansas City, in an interview by Paul Jay of the Real News Network on October 6:

[T]he demand isn’t simply to make a public bank but is to treat the banks generally as a public utility, just as you treat electric companies as a public utility. . . . Just as there was pressure for a public option in health care, there should be a public option in banking. There should be a government bank that offers credit card rates without punitive 30% interest rates, without penalties, without raising the rate if you don’t pay your electric bill. This is how America got strong in the 19th and early 20th century, by essentially having public infrastructure, just like you’d have roads and bridges. . . . The idea of public infrastructure was to lower the cost of living and to lower the cost of doing business.

We don’t hear much about a public banking option in the United States, but a number of countries already have a resilient public banking sector. A May 2010 article in The Economist noted that the strong and stable publicly-owned banks of India, China and Brazil helped those countries weather the banking crisis afflicting most of the world in the last few years.

In the U.S., North Dakota is the only state to own its own bank. It is also the only state that has sported a budget surplus every year since the 2008 credit crisis. It has the lowest unemployment rate in the country and the lowest default rate on loans. It also has oil, but so do other states that are not doing so well. Still, the media tend to attribute North Dakota’s success to its oil fields.

However, there are other Western public banking models that are successful without oil booms. Europe has a strong public banking sector; and leading it is Germany, with eleven regional public banks and thousands of municipally-owned savings banks. Germany emerged from World War II with a collapsed economy that had degenerated into barter. Today it is the largest and most robust economy in the Eurozone. Manufacturing in Germany contributes 25% of GDP, more than twice that in the UK. Despite the recession, Germany’s unemployment rate, at 6.8%, is the lowest in 20 years. Underlying the economy’s strength is its Mittelstand—small to medium sized enterprises—supported by a strong regional banking system that is willing to lend to fund research and development.
Continue reading article here

Hypocracy definition: What Democracy turns into when all of the politicians in your country are liars.

2011-10-15T17:20:00.002-06:00

Things are heating up in New York

2011-10-14T11:55:00.001-06:00

More photos and story here

Black Libyans make their stand in Sirte and Bani Wali

2011-10-14T11:41:00.002-06:00

The Black defenders of Sirte and Bani Walid fight like lions because they have no choice.

By Glen Ford

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Black Libyans make their stand in Sirte and Bani Walid
Posted on 2011/10/13 by Quoriana

http://www.blackagendareport.com/content/black-libyans-make-their-stand-sirte-and-bani-walid

The Black defenders of Sirte and Bani Walid fight like lions because they have no choice.

By Glen Ford

Both NATO and their Libyan rebel surrogates express wonder at the fact that loyalist forces continue to fight so fiercely in the contested cities of Sirte and Bani Walid, despite being vastly outnumbered on the ground and unceasingly pummeled from above by the world’s largest air armada. But one look at a picture of Gaddafi loyalist prisoners, captured at a hospital in Sirte, tells the story: they are all Black. The assault on Libya has largely devolved into a race war, and the Black soldiers are fighting for survival against the world’s biggest lynch mob, armed to the teeth by the United States and Europe.
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Black American perspective on events in Libya

2011-10-13T23:49:00.001-06:00