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| World Economic Crisis: Latvia’s Neoliberal Madness |
| 21.02.10 12:54 |
f.USSR |
| For the post-Soviet application of this cruel experiment, the idea was to give Western banks, financial investors, and ostensibly “free market” economists (so-called because they gave away public property freely, untaxed it, and gave new meaning to the term “free lunch”) were given a free hand in much of the Soviet bloc to design entire economies. And as matters turned out, every design was the same. The names of individuals were different, but most were linked to and financed by Washington, the World Bank and European Union. And sponsored by the West’s financial institutions, one hardly should be surprised that they came up with a design in their own financial interest. |
| Prof Michael Hudson and Prof. Jeffrey Sommers |
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| The Inflationary Depression |
| 10.02.10 21:23 |
Economics |
| The inflationary depression still dominates and probably will continue to do so. In time the stimulus will fail to work and the world will slip into total insolvency and deflationary depression. The old M3 is about 3%, but we still have $23.7 trillion floating around. Not only is the US bankrupt, but also so is the rest of the world. It is now only a question of when the dominos will fall. It looks like the first wave in the collapse of the bear market rally is underway. Bonds will follow with higher interest rates and eventually commodities will be hit. Only gold and silver will survive, as the bankers and Wall Street complete their destruction of the world economy. |
| Bob Chapman |
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| US Intelligence Report Classifies Venezuela as “Anti-US Leader” |
| 04.02.10 10:29 |
Americas on the move |
| As is custom at the beginning of each year, the different US agencies publish their famous annual reports on topics ranging from human rights, trafficking in persons, terrorism, threats, drug-trafficking, and other issues that indicate who will be this year’s target of US agression. Yesterday, it was the intelligence community’s turn. Admiral Dennis Blair, National Director of Intelligence, presented the Annual Threat Assessment of the US Intelligence Community before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. |
| Eva Golinger |
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| US-China Rivalry Intensifies |
| 12.01.10 15:20 |
Asia rising |
| Last year, it was fashionable to talk of an emerging “G2”. The US, the world’s largest economy, and China, its rising rival, would come together to resolve global problems—in particular, the international economic crisis wracking capitalism. |
| John Chan |
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| The ′myth′ of a counter-revolution in Iran |
| 15.11.09 12:07 |
Iran |
| The counter-demonstrations on November 4 (officially dubbed as the national day against global arrogance) showed that Iran′s political crisis - sparked by allegations of vote-rigging in June′s presidential elections - is far from over. The political developments of the past five months have been unprecedented and a close examination of the strategic forces at play will go a long way in understanding this crisis. |
| Mahan Abedin, Asia Times Online |
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| Pentagon starts an Afghan building boom |
| 10.11.09 13:35 |
Global Security |
| In recent weeks, President Barack Obama has been contemplating the future of United States military operations in Afghanistan. He has also been touting the effects of his policies at home, reporting that this year′s Recovery Act not only saved jobs but also was "the largest investment in infrastructure since [president Dwight] Eisenhower built the Interstate Highway System in the 1950s". At the same time, another much less publicized US-taxpayer-funded infrastructure boom has been underway. This one in Afghanistan. |
| Nick Turse |
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| The Unipolar Moment and the Obama Era |
| 08.11.09 12:03 |
Americas on the move |
| In thinking about international affairs, it is useful to keep in mind several principles of considerable generality and import. The first is the maxim of Thucydides: the strong do as they wish, and the weak suffer as they must. It has an important corollary: every powerful state relies on specialists in apologetics, whose task is to show that what the strong do is noble and just, and if the weak suffer it is their fault. In the contemporary West, these specialists are called "intellectuals," and with only marginal exceptions, they fulfill their assigned task with skill and self-righteousness, however outlandish the claims, a practice that traces back to the origins of recorded history. |
| Noam Chomsky |
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| The Nazi-Soviet Pact as Second Munich |
| 30.10.09 13:39 |
f.USSR |
| On the 70th anniversary of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of non-aggression between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, signed on August 23, 1939 (also my birthday!), historians, ideologues and everyone in between inevitably fall into a game of recriminations, revisionism and relativism. The anti-Soviet side maintains that the Pact gave Germany a free hand in the west and contributed to the onset of war, as represented by OSCE’s recent recognition of Nazi-Soviet equivalence in their culpability for the Second World War. On the other hand, most Russian historians stress that the Pact was a) justifiable on the basis of the Western betrayal of Czechoslovakia at Munich in 1938, and b) gave the USSR valuable time to build up its military-industrial potential for the coming war with Germany. |
| sublimeoblivion.com |
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| Welcome to 2025 |
| 27.10.09 17:44 |
Economics |
| Memo to the United States Central Intelligence Agency: You may not be prepared for time-travel, but welcome to 2025 anyway. Your rooms may be a little small, your ability to demand better accommodation may have gone out the window, and the amenities may not be to your taste, but get used to it. It′s going to be your reality from now on. |
| Michael T Klare |
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| Financial Machinations: The Global Debt Crisis is Destroying the Economic Structure |
| 24.10.09 16:32 |
Economics |
| Last week the Dow added 1.3%, the S&P 1.5%, the Russell 2000, 0.2% and the Nasdaq 100, 0.7%. Cyclicals rose 2.6%; transports 3.8%; consumers 1.7%; utilities 1.3%, as banks fell 0.3% and broker/dealers fell 0.6%. High tech fell 0.2% semis 1.1%; bitoechs 1.9% and Internets rose 0.2%. Gold bullion rose $3.00 and the HUI was unchanged, but up 47.5% on the year. The USDX, the dollar index fell 1.1% to 75.62. |
| Bob Chapman |
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| Geo-Strategic Chessboard: War Between India and China? |
| 22.10.09 08:34 |
Global Security |
| Since 1947, India has not fully pledged itself to any camp or global pole during the Cold War and as a result was a founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement (N.A.M.). Since the post-Cold War era that position has eroded. New Delhi has been gradually moving away from its traditional position, relationships, and policies in the international arena for over a decade. |
| Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya |
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| The Anglo-US Drive into Eurasia and the Demonization of Russia |
| 06.10.09 17:11 |
f.USSR |
| As tensions mount between the U.S. and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) on one side and Moscow and its allies on another, the history of the Second World War is being re-framed to demonize Russia, the legal successor state and largest former constituent republic (pars pro toto) of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.). In 2009, the U.S.S.R. and the Nazi government of Germany started being portrayed as the two forces that ignited the Second World War. |
| Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya |
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