politics for the 99%

… The Dynamic Reorganization of the Spanish Left – Published on The Bullet, Socialist Project’s e-bulletin no 1031, by Mario Candeias, Sept 3, 2014.

It is no longer enough to win over civil society, occupy public spaces, take to the streets, carry out symbolic actions, prevent evictions, or to win plebiscites. In Spain movements for ‘real democracy’ are setting a course to capture institutions – albeit with the aim to recreate these institutions in a constitutive process in the interests of ‘real democracy’ … //

… Splintering or a Convergence of the Left? 2014: Continue Reading…

Published on Spiegel Online International, by Nikolaus Blome, Ralf Neukirch, Christian Reiermann, Mathieu von Rohr and Christoph Schult, Sept 3, 2014 (Photo Gallery).

The debate over Germany’s insistence on euro-zone austerity has flared anew as an ailing France continues to demand economic stimulus. The European Central Bank may now be siding with Paris, leaving Merkel looking increasingly alone … // Continue Reading…

Published on Spiegel Online International, by Gerald Traufetter and Matthias Schepp, Sept 2, 2014.

Igor Sechin, head of the oil giant Rosneft, is considered by many to be the second most powerful man in Russia. In an interview, he speaks with SPIEGEL about natural gas deliveries to Europe, the Ukraine crisis and the damage caused by economic sanctions … // Continue Reading…

Published on Stars and Stripes, Aug 30, 2014.

MAKHMUR, Iraq — It’s an Islamic State fighter’s worst fear: to be killed by a woman. In northern Iraq, where Kurdish forces are rapidly regaining territory held by the Islamic State, that’s becoming real risk for the extremists … // Continue Reading…

Published on SteveLendmanBlog, by Stephen Lendman, Sept 01, 2014.

Labor Day once had meaning. Workers had reason to celebrate hard won rights. No longer. More on this below. The day is commemorated on the first Monday of September. It’s been so since 1882. In June 1894, it became a federal holiday. It was when workers had few rights. Management controlled things. Labor was systematically exploited. Continue Reading…

Published on The Bullet, Socialist Project’s e-bulletin no. 1029, by Leo Panitch, Aug 31, 2014.

International attention has been diverted away from this year’s G20 meetings in Australia by the declaration from the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, at their meeting in Fortaleza Brazil this July, that they would launch a new “BRICS bank.”

Created by the U.S. Treasury in the wake of the Asian financial crisis at the end of the 1990s, the G20 was designed to get the major “emerging market” states to take responsibility alongside the G7 for the “new international financial architecture.” This was seen as providing legitimacy for the continuing central role of the U.S. in superintending a greatly expanded but increasingly volatile global capitalism … // Continue Reading…

Published on Zmagazine, by Eli Cook, Aug 24, 2014.

Gabriel Kolko, historian and socialist, died last month in his home in Amsterdam. He was 81.

When Kolko’s The Triumph of Conservatism appeared on the scene in 1963, it was not only a book of history but heresy. This was the era in which American liberalism reigned supreme, and social commentators such as Daniel Bell confidently assured the public that the formula for sustained economic prosperity and political freedom had been uncovered in the form of a capitalist system kept in check by a powerful and centralized regulatory government.   Continue Reading…

Published on The Economist, Aug 30, 2014 … and more on Google News-search (my comment: … and the whole blackmailed or otherwise dump elite is unable to stop this mess, as money, power and influences are more important than peoples – Heidi).

… All this came after Mr Poroshenko met Vladimir Putin, for the first time since June, in the margins of a summit in Minsk. The meeting began icily and achieved little. Russia’s interests—keeping Ukraine out of NATO—have not changed. Even if many Russians are ready to buy claims of soldiers “accidentally” crossing the border, the rest of the world is not. Yet Mr Putin still maintains that the war is a “domestic matter”, and calls for negotiations to include representatives of eastern regions. The Kremlin will prop up its rebel proxies to ensure they are not defeated, but has no desire for a full-scale invasion. “Military activities are an instrument for strengthening their political position ahead of negotiations,” says Fyodor Lukyanov, editor of Russia in Global Affairs, a journal … // Continue Reading…

Published on Tech Republic, by Lyndsey Gilpin, Aug 27, 2014.

Peer-to-peer collaboration is gaining ground and changing the economics of the future, but there are questions to answer and obstacles to overcome … //

… States of sharing:

• The sharing economy is here to stay. It is a small but rapidly expanding market that is transforming social, economic, and environmental practices.   Continue Reading…

Published on Russia Today RT, by Lucy Nicholson, Aug 27, 2014.

Close to 200 state and local police departments in the United States have been suspended for losing military-level equipment transferred to them by the Pentagon, a new investigation found …;

According to the media outlet Fusion, its independent investigation into the Pentagon’s “1033 program,” which equips state and local police departments across the US with excess military equipment, turned up an alarming trend: Not only did many law enforcement agencies fail to comply with the program’s guidelines, they routinely lost dangerous weaponry.   Continue Reading…

Mixed Links:

• Companies shrugging off sanctions and geopolitics for now, on CMCmarkets, by Michael Hewson, Aug 26, 2014;
• The rhetoric of bilateral talks, on Geopolitical Analysis, by K.N. Pandita, Aug 26, 2014;
• Iran displays Israeli drone downed near nuclear facility (VIDEO), on Russia Today RT, Aug 26, 2014;   Continue Reading…

… Monetary policy in the US and EU after quantitative easing, the case for asset based reserve requirements ABRR – Published on Real World Economics Review, issue no 68, by Thomas I. Palley, Aug 21, 2014.

• Abstract: This paper critiques the Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing (QE) exit strategy which aims to deactivate excess liquidity via higher interest rates on reserves. That is equivalent to giving banks a tax cut at the public’s expense. It also risks domestic and international financial market turmoil. The paper proposes an alternative exit strategy based on ABRR which avoids the adverse fiscal and financial market impacts of higher interest rates. ABRR also increase the number of monetary policy instruments which can permanently improve policy. This is especially beneficial for euro zone countries. Furthermore, ABRR yield fiscal benefits via increased seignorage and can shrink a financial sector that is too large. Continue Reading…

Published on CorpWatch, by Pratap Chatterjee, Aug 21, 2014.

Bank of America has agreed to pay the government $9.65 billion to settle charges of misleading investors over mortgage lending in the run up to the 2008 financial crisis. The bank will also pay out an additional $7 billion to help borrowers and communities affected by the loans.

The settlement agreement was hammered out by the U.S. Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the attorney generals of six states – California, Kentucky, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina and Maryland. Similar large multi billion dollar settlements over mortgage related fraud have recently been reached with JP Morgan and Citigroup for$13 billion and $7 billion respectively.   Continue Reading…

Published on EurActiv, July 25, 2014.

.The German aid organisation Brot für die Welt warns that a planned EU-US free trade agreement known as TTIP will undermine local support for smallholders in developing countries and exacerbate the global food crisis. EurActiv Germany reports … //

… Support for regional food products under question: … //

… Local farmers disadvantaged:   Continue Reading…

Achieving food and nutritional security through family farming – Published on World Agroforestry Centre, by Kate Langford, August 20, 2014.

With the International Year of Family Farming taking place in 2013, renowned Indian agricultural scientist, M S Swaminathan looks at what is needed to support these most important of producers in achieving food as well as nutritional security, especially in India.

It is estimated there are around 500 million farming families in the world. The International Year of Family Farming “offers an opportunity for achieving a shift from food security to nutrition security,” says Swaminathan. “Family farms tend to be based on crop, livestock, fish, agroforestry and mixed farming systems” which means they lend themselves to being made both nutrition and environment sensitive.   Continue Reading…

• Child Poverty in the Wake of Economic Recovery, 23.33 min, uploaded by Carsey School of Public Policy, Aug 7, 2014;
• Van Jones: The Green Collar Economy, 59.30 min, uploaded by Othilia Bergqvist, July 31, 2014;
• Lecture Series: Michael M. Miller on Rethinking Poverty, 54.32 min, uploaded by Aquinas College, April 24, 2014;
• The Face of Poverty in Europe and Central Asia, 24.50 min, uploaded by World Bank, Feb 10, 2014;
• The Truth About Poverty, 31.15 min, uploaded by Stefan Molyneux, Jan 9, 2014;         Continue Reading…

• * (Inside) The Islamic State FULL, 42.31 min, uploaded by VICEnews, Aug 14, 2014;
• Der Islamische Staat und die Ästhetik des Wahnsinns, Die Welt, von Jan Küveler, 18. August 2014: erstmals zeigt eine TV-Reportage den Islamischen Staat (IS) von innen. Bester Laune planen seine Bürger die grausamsten Gräueltaten. Das Böse zeigt sich in seiner ganzen Unschuld. Das Erstaunlichste an der Reportage aus dem syrischen ar-Raqqa*, de facto Hauptstadt des Islamischen Staats (IS), die einem Reporter des Internetmagazins “Vice” sensationellerweise gelang, ist die Offenheit und Freundlichkeit der Menschen. Das Kind, das angibt, später einmal lieber Dschihadist als Selbstmordattentäter werden zu wollen, lächelt scheu-kokett. Sein Vater, genannt der Belgier, weil er dort lange lebte, bevor er nach ar-Raqqa kam, um einen Gebetstruck zu fahren, muss gerührt weinen, wenn er verspricht, die Ungläubigen in aller Welt auszurotten …;   Continue Reading…

Published on Socialist Worker.org, by ELIZABETH SCHULTE, August 19, 2014.

The unarmed Black teen killed in Ferguson, Mo., has suffered a political and media smear campaign, reports Elizabeth Schulte – like so many other victims of police … //

… Oh, and the Ferguson police had some surveillance video to release–something you know all too well if you’ve had the misfortune of tuning in even briefly to cable TV news over the past several days.   Continue Reading…

Published on truthout, by Frédéric Mousseau, Aug 17, 2014.

Mostly unreported as the Ukraine conflict captures headlines, international financing has played a significant role in the current conflict in Ukraine. In late 2013, conflict between pro-European Union (EU) and pro-Russian Ukrainians escalated to violent levels, leading to the departure of President Viktor Yanukovych in February 2014 and prompting the greatest East-West confrontation since the Cold War.   Continue Reading…

Land resources Management – rural and urban development projects, 1.43 min, uploaded by Mrtv English Channel, Aug 15, 2014:

A workshop on land resources management for rural and urban development projects was held in Nay Pyi Taw, yesterday. President U Thein Sein gave a speech, saying that the government will be able to settle landless people on newly-developed plots in accordance with urban and rural development plans after identifying the real landless people.   Continue Reading…

Published on ZNet (also on counterpunch, and on Pretoria News), by Patrick Bond, Aug 15, 2014.

What, ultimately, was the importance of the Africa-US leadership summit at the White House last week? It came at a very decisive moment for geopolitical relations in the axis linking Washington, Pretoria and Tel Aviv. And surprising US-China economic connections were also revealed, potentially reaching deep into Africa. Mega-corporations of both US and African parentage revelled in the attention and repeated blasts of public subsidies, with deals alleged to have reached $37 billion over the three days.     Continue Reading…

Published on Huffington Post/The Blog, by Paul Brandeis Raushenbush, Aug 13, 2014.

… I spoke to Rev. Tony Lee who is an African-American pastor at Community of Hope AME Church in Prince George’s County, Maryland. Rev. Tony and I went to seminary together and he has been a colleague I trust to speak the truth to me about race in America. He called the recent deaths ‘disturbing but not surprising.’

“The reason people are responding so strongly is that these are examples of daily antagonisms felt by black people on the street. This is part of a wider school-to-prison pipeline and the ghettoization and de-humanization of black bodies. Social media gets the word out much quicker and people are responding to dead black men on the streets in LA, Ferguson and NYC by saying ‘wait, that is going on in our streets too.’”   Continue Reading…

Published on TomDispatch, by Matthew Harwood, Aug 14, 2014.

Think of it as a different kind of blowback. Even when you fight wars in countries thousands of miles distant, they still have an eerie way of making the long trip home.

Take the latest news from Bergen County, New Jersey, one of the richest counties in the country. Its sheriff’s department is getting two mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicles, or MRAPs — 15 tons of protective equipment — for a song from the Pentagon. And there’s nothing special in that. The Pentagon has handed out 600 of them for nothing since 2013, with plenty more to come. They’re surplus equipment, mostly from our recent wars, and perhaps they will indeed prove handy for a sheriff fretting about insurgent IEDs (roadside bombs) in New Jersey or elsewhere in the country. Continue Reading…

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

Argentina has now taken the US to The Hague for blocking the country’s 2005 settlement with the bulk of its creditors. The issue underscores the need for an international mechanism for nations to go bankrupt. Better yet would be a sustainable global monetary scheme that avoids the need for sovereign bankruptcy. Continue Reading…

(my comment: not only, but I agree with the rest – Heidi) – Published on Left Foot Forward, by KUNWAR SHAHID, August 11, 2014.

While it would be ridiculous to allow the West the moral high ground, it is even more absurd for the Muslim world to transfer the responsibility for ISIS on to the West.

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is emulating al Qaeda, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Boko Haram and pretty much every single Sunni Islamist militant organisation in the world by taking up arms vying to establish a regional – and eventually global – caliphate.   Continue Reading…