politics for the 99%

Published on Russia Today RT, Dec 14, 2014.

US authorities tortured Chelsea Manning with barbaric CIA techniques, which posed a threat to her psychological health, the Welsh aunt of the jailed whistleblower revealed to local media.

Before her trial for providing WikiLeaks with the largest cache of classified information in US history, Chelsea Manning was humiliated in a similar way that terrorist suspects were, her Welsh relatives told WalesOnline on Sunday.   Continue Reading…

Published on Dissident Voice, by Ellen Hodgson Brown, December 12, 2014.

On December 11, 2014, the US House passed a bill repealing the Dodd-Frank requirement that risky derivatives be pushed into big-bank subsidiaries, leaving our deposits and pensions exposed to massive derivatives losses. The bill was vigorously challenged by Senator Elizabeth Warren; but the tide turned when Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorganChase, stepped into the ring. Perhaps what prompted his intervention was the unanticipated $40 drop in the price of oil. As financial blogger Michael Snyder points out, that drop could trigger a derivatives payout that could bankrupt the biggest banks. And if the G20’s new “bail-in” rules are formalized, depositors and pensioners could be on the hook.   Continue Reading…

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Ambient Soundscapes Relaxation Sleep Mix, 10 Hours, uploaded by austinstrunk, Aug 24, 2012..

VIDEO, 30.01 min, published on Russia Today RT, Dec 10, 2014 (download video, 236.86 MB).

The world cannot accept efficiency as an excuse for what is essentially “criminal behavior” on the part of the CIA, former NSA contractor and whistleblower Edward Snowden told Amnesty International via a Paris-Moscow video link.

Snowden, who still resides in Russia under an asylum request, told Amnesty International that morality cannot be tossed aside for the sake of so-called “efficiency” when it comes to the activities of the CIA.   Continue Reading…

Published on Spiegel Online International, by Anne Backhaus and Simone Salden in Bhopal, India, Dec 9, 2014.

Thirty years after the worst chemical accident in history, the disaster is hitting a new generation. The victims have received little help, professional clean-up has not happened and there are no signs the ongoing environmental catastrophe will end.

When the monsoon washes away the dust of the Indian summer from the landscape, huts and people of Bhopal, the dry basin behind the slum of J.P. Nagar turns into a lake. Laughing children swim in it, fishermen wait for the telltale tug on their lines to signal a catch, and buffalos greedily devour the succulent stems of water lilies … // Continue Reading…

Published on Russia Today RT (first in german on DIE ZEIT) *, Dec 8, 2014.

A group of prominent Germans are urging their country and the West to open dialogue with Russia. They believe this is essential to ensure peace in Europe, rather than further isolate Moscow, which they say would be “dangerous for the world.”

The petition named ‘New war in Europe? Not in our name!’ was signed by 60 people from Germany’s politics, economy, culture and media sectors – among them former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and film director Wim Wenders.   Continue Reading…

Published on Global Research.ca, by RT, Dec 8, 2014.

(The 113th US-) Congress is poised to give a foreign mining company 2,400 acres of national forest in Arizona that is cherished ancestral homeland to Apache natives. Controversially, the measure is attached to annual legislation that funds the US Defense Department … //

… Arizona Sen. John McCain was instrumental in adding to the NDAA the land deal that had been pursued by Rio Tinto for a decade, according to HuffPo. Some in Congress were reportedly concerned with the deal, but it ultimately materialized thanks to economic assurances. Rio Tinto claims mining in Tonto will generate $61 billion in economic activity and 3,700 direct and indirect jobs over 40 years.   Continue Reading…

Published on ZNet (first on TeleSUR english), by John Pilger, Dec 6, 2014.

Why has so much journalism succumbed to propaganda? Why are censorship and distortion standard practice? Why is the BBC so often a mouthpiece of rapacious power? Why do the New York Times and the Washington Post deceive their readers?

Why are young journalists not taught to understand media agendas and to challenge the high claims and low purpose of fake objectivity? And why are they not taught that the essence of so much of what’s called the mainstream media is not information, but power?   Continue Reading…

Video – Interview with Noam Chomsky: Can we save our Democracy and History, 28.04 min, uploaded by The Chomsky Videos, Dec 3, 2014 – (see (US-)Republicans ‘dedicated with utter servility’ to the needs of the 1 percent – Noam Chomsky, on RawStory, by Scott Kaufman, Dec 5, 2014): “The last vote,” he said, referring to the November elections:

• “was the lowest turnout since 1940, in the middle of [World War II], when people couldn’t vote.”
• “Why? Because people understand what is shown in academic political science — that their voices just don’t matter. The opinions of the lowest 70 percent of the population — the lowest on the income scale — are simply disregarded” … //

… (full text).

Chomsky in 2014: FULL List and SMALL Clips, on raw story.   Continue Reading…

Abbas and the ISIS scheme, on Al-Ahram weekly online, by Dina Ezzat, Dec 5, 2014: Arab heavyweights are backing Abbas’s Palestinian Authority, not in the hope of reaching a final status deal with Israel, but in order to focus on ISIS and militant threats;

Egypt: Trial and revolution, on Al-Ahram weekly online, by Amira Howeid, Dec 5, 2014: Mubarak’s trials say much about Egypt’s post revolution political trajectory;   Continue Reading…

first this:

• FULL video: Black Man KILLED After NYPD Cop Puts Him In CHOKEHOLD For Breaking Up a FIGHT, 3.53 min, uploaded by Forever Stars, July 19, 2014: Advocates and family members are demanding answers following the death of a man who had a heart attack and died in police custody after officers put him in a chokehold – a tactic prohibited by NYPD policy …;
• Dozens arrested as NYC protests Eric Garner decision, on Russia Today RT, Dec 4, 2014: At least 30 people were arrested by the New York Police Department on Wednesday evening, as thousands of protesters flooded city streets after a grand jury declined to indict an officer for killing a Staten Island man via chokehold …;
• LIVE UPDATES on Russia Today RT, Published time Dec 4, 2014;

Continue Reading…

Published on Spiegel Online International, a Commentary by Christoph Schult in Brussels, Dec 2, 2014.

The president of Ukraine is talking up the idea of a national referendum to join NATO, an idea that the military alliance’s chief has openly supported. But such a debate is dangerous — because it divides member states and provides Putin with powerful ammunition … //

… Playing with Fire: … // Continue Reading…

Published on Spiegel Online International, by Nikolaus Blome, Matthias Gebauer, Hubert Gude, Frank Hornig, Gordon Repinski and Marcel Rosenbach, Dec 1, 2014 (Photo Gallery).

The German government has had enough of reading about state secrets in the media. SPIEGEL has learned that officials are now preparing to file a criminal complaint against unknown persons and has undertaken other efforts to identify moles as well. Continue Reading…

Published on The Guardian, by Farai Chideya, Nov 30, 2014.

Soon after the decision not to charge Officer Darren Wilson, the man who shot and killed Michael Brown in still-roiling Ferguson, Missouri, President Barack Obama acknowledged “disappointment”. But he added: “We are a nation built on the rule of law, so we need to accept that this decision was the grand jury’s to make.” Continue Reading…

Published on World Socialist Web Site WSWS, Nov 28, 2014.

The Second National Congress of the Socialist Equality Party (Britain) adopted this resolution unanimously on October 28:

• 1. The Socialist Equality Party endorses the International Committee of the Fourth International resolution, “Socialism and the Fight Against Imperialist War.” The resolution of this Congress incorporates and elaborates on the ICFI’s resolution, applying it to the work of the SEP in Britain.   Continue Reading…

Published on The Bullet, Socialist Project’s E-Bulletin No. 1060, November 28, 2014.

The 10th Asia Europe People’s Forum (AEPF), representing citizens, people and social movements from Asia and Europe (which met on 10th to 12th of October 2014 in Milan, Italy), urges the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) and its member Governments to recognize the following issues and priorities and to take forward our recommendations:

1). Socially and Environmentally Just Trade and Investment – (including Calls and/or Key Recommendations):   Continue Reading…

Published on ZNet, by Cynthia Peters, Nov 27, 2014.

• (Published first as Raising a child in a moral way is not just up to parents, its up to society, on TeleSUR English, Nov 26;
• from: Raising a Moral Child, on NYT, by Adam Grant, April 11, 2014).

… So, parents, this is how they mess with our minds:   Continue Reading…

Published on Activist Post, by Tony Cartalucci, November 26, 2014.

When faced on the battlefield with a numerically superior enemy, one must attempt to divide his enemy into smaller, more easily dispatched opponents – or even more ideally, divide them against one another, and have them defeat each other without ever drawing your sword. For Wall Street’s 0.1%, divide and conquer is a way of life … //

… Divide and Conquer: … //
… Ferguson – Playing America Like a Fiddle: … //

… Get Off the Hamster Wheel: Continue Reading…

Related Links:

• From the Civil War to Ferguson today – racism, rebellion & class struggle in the US, on Facebok;
• Germany and the European Commission’s €315 Billion Infrastructure “New Deal” is Yet More Smoke and Mirrors, on naked capitalism, by Yves Smith, Nov 26, 2014;
• What is Class Oppression? on ZNet, by Tom Wetzel, Nov 26, 2014;
• Middle class struggles to preserve retirement security, on The Bay State Banner, by Pamela Yip, Nov 26, 2014;   Continue Reading…

Published on Spiegel Online International, by staff, Nov 24, 2014 (Photo Gallery):

One year ago, negotations over a Ukraine association agreement with the European Union collapsed. The result has been a standoff with Russia and war in the Donbass. It was an historical failure, and one that German Chancellor Angela Merkel contributed to … (a chronology from Feb. 25, 2010 to Nov. 28, 2013).

Only six meters separated German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych as they sat across from each other in the festively adorned knight’s hall of the former Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania. In truth, though, they were worlds apart.   Continue Reading…

Published on Russia Today RT, Nov 23, 2014.

Germany’s FM, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, has said he is against Ukraine joining NATO. In an interview with Der Spiegel, he said he considers “that it is possible for NATO to have a partnership with Ukraine, but not membership.”
He also added that he does not believe it is realistic for Ukraine to join the European Union in the foreseeable future, as the economic and political modernization of Ukraine is a “project for a few generations.”
He also urged Kiev to introduce reforms to fight corruption and mismanagement of the economy, saying they had to start immediately and that there was no time to lose … // Continue Reading…

Published on Intrepid Report, by Ellen Brown,Nov 21, 2014.

While 49 state treasuries were submerged in red ink after the 2008 financial crash, one state’s bank outperformed all others and actually launched an economy-shifting new industry. So reports the Wall Street Journal this week, discussing the Bank of North Dakota (BND) and its striking success in the midst of a national financial collapse led by the major banks … //

… Excess deposits do not explain the BND’s record profits: … //
… The real reasons for its stellar success: … //

… The downsides of a boom:   Continue Reading…

Published on Spiegel Online International, by Katrin Kuntz, Nov 21, 2014 (Photo Gallery – Translated from the German by Paul Cohen).

A group of Belgium’s leading practitioners of euthanasia recently visited the Auschwitz concentration camp memorial to learn more about death and humanity. The trip proved to be just as controversial for the doctors as it did insightful … //

… Some 70 people gradually gather around Distelmans. The group consists of doctors, psychologists and nurses from Belgium, most of whom work in the area of euthanasia. One of them is Eric Vandevelde, who during the course of his career has killed 20 people at their own request even as he helps women give birth every day. He’s accompanied by his wife Colette, who was instrumental in introducing Belgium’s euthanasia law 12 years ago. Manu Keirse, a psychologist, is also on hand. Continue Reading…

Published on Counterpunch, by WILLIAM BLUM, Nov 20, 2014.

… None of the photos accompanying this New York Times story online showed any of these Russian troops or armored vehicles. … //

… Where are these photographs? And how will we know that these are Russian soldiers? And how will we know that the photos were taken in Ukraine? But most importantly, where are the fucking photographs?

Why am I so cynical? Because the Ukrainian and US governments have been feeding us these scare stories for eight months now, without clear visual or other evidence, often without even common sense … // Continue Reading…

Ideological foundations of the mainstream neoclassical economics – Published on Intrepid Report, by Ismael Hossein-zadeh, Nov 20, 2014.

There is now a widespread consensus that mainstream/neoclassical economists failed miserably to either predict the coming of the 2008 financial implosion, or provide a reasonable explanation when it actually arrived. Not surprisingly, many critics have argued that neoclassical economics has created more confusion than clarification, more obfuscation than elucidation. Economic “science” has, indeed, become “an ideological construct which serves to camouflage and justify the New World Order” [1].   Continue Reading…