politics for the 99%

already posted on two others of my blogs, but receiving each a fake virus-warning by an Antivirus Programm (there is no virus, only someone not liking this text), here I publish it again: Continue Reading…

Published on The Bullet, Socialist Project’s E-Bulletin No. 1089, by Spyros Lapatsioras, John Milios and Dimitris P. Sotiropoulos, March 11, 2015.

1. Introduction

The transitional “bridge Agreement” of the 20th of February is a truce intended by the Greek government and welcomed by the other side (the European “institutions”). Within the truce period (the next four months), the conditions for negotiating the next agreement will be shaped. This could mean that everything is still open. However, that is not true for two reasons. First, the very transitional agreement changes the balance of power. Second, the “hostilities” will continue in the course of the next four months (i.e. the review of the commitments and the re-interpretation of the terms by each party). Continue Reading…

… We Have Created a Monster – Published on Spiegel Online International, by Julia Amalia Heyer and Christoph Pauly, March 10, 2015 (Translated from the German by Christopher Sultan).

In an interview with SPIEGEL, celebrated French economist Thomas Piketty speaks about Alexis Tsipras’ election victory in Greece, Europe’s inability to fix its financial woes and what EU leaders can learn from the United States.

SPIEGEL: You publicly rejoiced over Alexis Tsipras’ election victory in Greece. What do you think the chances are that the European Union and Athens will agree on a path to resolve the crisis?   Continue Reading…

Published on ZNet (first on Links.org), by Yiannis Bournous, March 9, 2015.

The SYRIZA-led government’s February 24 agreement with the Eurogroup [of European Union finance ministers] is not the end of negotiations. It doesn’t even postpone conflict. On the contrary, it opens up a long new period full of sharp clashes inside and outside our country.   Continue Reading…

Published on Alberni Valley Times, by Kristi Dobson, March 4, 2015.

Two local proponents of a guaranteed income system are hoping to get more supporters to fight back against poverty.

Jen Fisher-Bradley and Daryl Christensen want to see all Canadians receive a basic income to eliminate the gap between the haves and have-nots. More than that, they believe reducing poverty would have a positive spin on health and wellness and alleviate taxpayers’ burden on the health care and justice systems … // Continue Reading…

Alternativ-ökonomisches Denken:

• KenFM im Gespräch mit Franz Hörmann, 101.29 min, von wwwKenFMde am 18. Juni 2014: Das wirklich wertvolle Gut, mit dem Banken handeln, ist das Vertrauen ihrer Kunden;

Continue Reading…

Published on Global Research.ca, by Stephen Lendman, March 7, 2015.

• … Fact: Washington wants Ukraine used as a dagger against Russia’s heartland – with menacing US bases on its borders threatening is sovereign independence … //
• … Fact: US-deposed President Viktor Yanukovych’s police showed remarkable restraint.
• Fact: Washington-supported Nazi thugs bore full responsibility for beatings, sniper killings and other violence.   Continue Reading…

Published on naked capitalism (first on TomDispatch), by Yves Smith, March 6, 2015.

Originally written by Pratap Chatterjee, executive director of CorpWatch. He is the author of Halliburton’s Army: How A Well-Connected Texas Oil Company Revolutionized the Way America Makes War and Iraq, Inc. His next book, Verax, a graphic novel about whistleblowers and mass surveillance co-authored by Khalil Bendib, will be published by Metropolitan Books in 2016 …;   Continue Reading…

Published on TomDispatch, by Tom Engelhardt, March 1, 2015: My War on Terror, Letter to an Unknown American Patriot … //

… In other words, each of the terror organizations we categorize as the unimaginably barbaric Other has a curiously intimate, if generally unexplored, relationship with us. In addition, in these years, it’s been clear (at least to those living in the Greater Middle East) that such groups had no monopoly on barbarity. Washington’s extreme acts were legion in the region, ranging from its CIA torture chambers (although we called them “black sites”) to Abu Ghraib, from global kidnappings to images of a U.S. helicopter gunning down civilians in the streets of Baghdad.   Continue Reading…

• The hidden victims of austerity in Greece, on Socialist Worker.org, by Sarah Levy, March 4, 2015: from Greece on the desperate conditions endured by immigrants – and the struggle to close the immigrant detention centers under a new government;
• UK: The NHS has never been in more danger, on Left Foot Forward, by Kailash Chand, March 4, 2015: Private sector providers want to down-skill medical staff to make them easier to fire, more biddable, and above all, cheaper …;     Continue Reading…

Published on The Telegraph, by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, March 2, 2015: Syriza is not interested in emergency EMU funding if it means kowtowing to Troika demands.

Greece is preparing to tap its final pension reserves at the country’s central bank if needed to avert a devastating default to the International Monetary Fund and keep the government going over the next two weeks. Continue Reading…

Can Germany turn its back on USA? No, it can’t, on englisch.Pravda.ru, Aug 25, 2014.

… However, Germany did not become a free, or rather, a sovereign country, because the other half of the country was still swarming with victorious troops that did not want to follow the example of the USSR … // … Continue Reading…

Published on naked capitalism, by Yves Smith, March 1, 2015.

I’m surprised, but perhaps I shouldn’t be, that a recent study hasn’t gotten the attention it warrants. It points to a direct connection between the impact of the crisis and a marked increase in suicide rates among the middle aged. This link seems entirely logical, given how many citizens found themselves whacked by a one-two punch of job loss or hours cutbacks combined with the sudden plunge in home prices. Normally, a last ditch course of action for most middle and upper middle class income members in the pre-crisis days, when things got desperate, was to sell you house and cut costs radically by moving into a much more modest rental. But that option vanished in all but the most stable markets (as in some flyover states that the subprime merchants ignored) due to home price declines trashing equity for all but those with small or no mortgages.   Continue Reading…

• Sir John Sawers, ex-MI6 chief, warns of Russia ‘danger’, on BBCnews, Feb 28, 2015 - (my comment: sirs or workers, WHITCH SOCIAL CLASS is pushing for war with Russia … look carefully – Heidi);
• US, UK meddling in OSCE’s mandate in Ukraine – Russia’s envoy to UN, on Russia Today RT, Feb 27, 2015;
• Gorbatschow in 1990 zum geeinten Deutschland, 3.17 min, von von Deutschland-Russland am 27. Feb 2015 hochgeladen: geeintes Deutschland kann unmöglich in der NATO sein … und weitere Kurz-Videos in autoplay;
• Putin announces 10% salary cuts in his administration, on Russia Today RT, Feb 27, 2015;   Continue Reading…