Group items tagged

Ukraine stealing Russian gas and Putin sends a strong message to the EU. My guess is that the EU will tell the U.S. in no uncertain terms to control its puppet. Conceivably, this might be the triggering event for the EU to begin the transition to de-dollarization and warmer relations with Russia. You can bet that Foggy Bottom will be working late into the night on this.   

Indirect negotiations to begin in Cairo today and this time, Israel has agreed to participate. The success of the negotiations depends, in my opinion, on how hard the U.S. is willing to push Israel. Obviously, Obama has pushed harder in the last few days because Israel is not boycotting the negotiations and is pulling its troops out of Gaza and Turkey's determination to deploy its Navy to end the Israeli naval blockade of Gaza. Israel boycotted the last negotiations held a couple of days ago in Cairo and immediately broke the cease-fire that Egypt had arranged. Israel has run up a trial balloon for the U.N. to take over administration of Gaza but I think it unlikely that the Palestinians would agree to that without U.N. peacekeeping forces stationed there with authorization to respond militarily if Israel maintains or reinstates its blockade of Gaza or invades again. It bears notice that Israel pulled off a propaganda coup by convincing western mainstream media that the tunnels from Gaza to Israel were created for purposes of terrorist attacks in Israel. In fact, the tunnels were built to smuggle supplies into Gaza, which has been blockaded since 2007. That Israel has now destroyed 32 of those tunnels only cranks up the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, which now has a drastically reduced ability to bring in critical foodstuffs and medical treatment supplies. Massive tunnel destruction has also been done by the Egyptian government on the southern Gaza border, so the Gaza situation is now desperate.  Hopefully, the Turkish military's announced plan to guard a convoy of ships to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza happens very soon.  But note that this truce is only for 72 hours. I think it very likely that Hamas will resume rocket attacks on Israel at the end of that period unless massive humanitarian aid reaches Gaza before the end of that period.

U.S. global hegemony is rapidly disintegrating as former puppet states in Europe jump from the dwindling dollar economy to the rising remnimbi/ruble BRICS economies. And many of the "stans" south of Russia threatened by U.S. mercenaries provided by the Gulf Coast States are jumping in that direction too, along with Turkey, a NATO member. The Stans involved are oil and natural gas rich; combined with Russian oil and gas, they have enough oil and gas reserves to rival the Gulf Coast States.  The most interesting part to me is the debate now under way in the EU over dropping out of NATO and creating a replacement European mutual defense force that excludes the U.S. I'm beginning to hit some chatter about inviting Russia into that hypoethesized treaty. That makes sense for the EU because it would give Europe the benefit of Russian nuclear deterrence, both in land and submarine-based ICBMs. I'm not convinced that Russia would sign on. Russia is already running joint military exercises with China, which is playing the role of Russia's economic savior at this point. So China might have the final say on that scenario. A pan-Eurasian mutual defense treaty? What would be left of the U.S. Empire without NATO, particularly given that the dollar would surely collapse before such a treaty were signed? The War Party in Congress has only one tool to work with, war, and when all you have is a hammer, all problems look like nails. Current U.S. military power is built around the capacity to wage two major wars concurrently, but is very heavily dependent on NATO to do so. I'm not sure at all that the War Party has what it takes to cope with a peaceful group boycott by other NATO members. 

It's a big problem in Venezuela. The government subsidizes the purchase of consumer goods so that they can be priced lower for those with low incomes. But the right-wing "capitalists" aligned with U.S. covert agencies hoard the goods, creating artificial market shortages, then sell the goods on the black market at inflated prices. The current response by the government is criiminal prosecutions coupled with nationalization of businesses that don't hear the message. I suspect that the government may be forced at some point to drop the subsidies and begin writing welfare checks to low income citizens instead. The Bolivarian government is absolutely committed to ending poverty in Venezuela. Of course this smells too much of socialism for U.S. government tastes, which has been attempting to overthrow the Bolivarian government ever since it nationalized the oil industry. 

Watch for new action to begin on the southern supply lines for Al Nusrah running from Jordan and Israel. It's a question of when rather than if.

"Russia has just taken significant steps that will break the present Wall Street oil price monopoly, at least for a huge part of the world oil market. The move is part of a longer-term strategy of decoupling Russia's economy and especially its very significant export of oil, from the US dollar, today the Achilles Heel of the Russian economy. Later in November the Russian Energy Ministry has announced that it will begin test-trading of a new Russian oil benchmark. While this might sound like small beer to many, it's huge. If successful, and there is no reason why it won't be, the Russian crude oil benchmark futures contract traded on Russian exchanges, will price oil in rubles and no longer in US dollars. It is part of a de-dollarization move that Russia, China and a growing number of other countries have quietly begun. The setting of an oil benchmark price is at the heart of the method used by major Wall Street banks to control world oil prices. Oil is the world's largest commodity in dollar terms. Today, the price of Russian crude oil is referenced to what is called the Brent price. The problem is that the Brent field, along with other major North Sea oil fields is in major decline, meaning that Wall Street can use a vanishing benchmark to leverage control over vastly larger oil volumes. The other problem is that the Brent contract is controlled essentially by Wall Street and the derivatives manipulations of banks like Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JP MorganChase and Citibank. First appeared: http://journal-neo.org/2016/01/09/russia-breaking-wall-st-oil-price-monopoly/"

Society begins to come to grips with the fact that, due largely to automation, we have more adults than jobs.

The second largest military force in NATO acquires the ability to shoot down U.S. warplanes.

Wondering why the Republicans failed so miserably to get out the vote in the six states where it mattered most?  The Ace of Spades explains his own mis adventures with Romney's new technology plan to get  out the vote: "Project ORCA" This story is beyond sad.  Idiot Republican consultants and advisors cost us this election.  Romney may have struggled with conservatism, but he would have been an awesome CEO - President.  Maybe the best equipped, most successful, and most experienced executive ever to run for the Presidency.  Yet, the buffoonery of Project ORCA falls on him and him alone. excerpt: What is Project Orca? Well, this is what they told us: Project ORCA is a massive undertaking - the Republican Party's newest, unprecedented and most technologically advanced plan to win the 2012 presidential election. Pretty much everything in that sentence is false. The "massive undertaking" is true, however. It would take a lot of planning, training and coordination to be done successfully (oh, we'll get to that in a second). This wasn't really the GOP's effort, it was Team Romney's. And perhaps "unprecedented" would fit if we're discussing failure. The entire purpose of this project was to digitize the decades-old practice of strike lists. The old way was to sit with your paper and mark off people that have voted and every hour or so, someone from the campaign would come get your list and take it back to local headquarters. Then, they'd begin contacting people that hadn't voted yet and encourage them to head to the polls. It's worked for years. From the very start there were warning signs. After signing up, you were invited to take part in nightly conference calls. The calls were more of the slick marketing speech type than helpful training sessions. There was a lot of "rah-rahs" and lofty talk about how this would change the ballgame."

"Real political change begins at the local level & there is no section of political geography more local than the Precinct. Get involved in the political process in your Precinct & make a difference in the world around you. Do your part to promote the ideals & principles that Americans have protected for generations" This site offers a how-to handbook style guide to participating in and managing successful GOTV (Get Out The Vote) operations.  The site even offers technology to assist efforts. One thing is very clear about the 2012 election fraud.  Getting out the vote is FAR MORE IMPORTANT than raising money and buying ad time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   My thinking is that the Tea Party Patriots need to launch a massive GOTV grassroots initiative that starts with two key efforts: .............. Contest the Obama Election Fraud.  Demand a recount in at least the four states where fraud was obvious, overwhelming and in-your-face clear.   .............. Immediately set about the task of replacing House Speaker Yohan Boehner with Darell Issa. ::  http://goo.gl/Z5xDk ............. Pump the Tea Party Manifesto :: http://goo.gl/ApWBP ............. Join forces to organize at the national level a Precinct Project strategy  ............. Adopt an Anti Agenda 21 movement based on the submission and support of State level Propositions protecting the Constitution, the principles of individual liberty embedded in the founding documents, and, individual property ownership rights.  Including homeownership and land usage.   The Precinct Project effort can become the force that takes on all of these issues.  On the ground local Manpower is the awsome force Tea Party Patriots bring to the table.  Time to start using that force.

THE BEGINNINGS OF A POLICE STATE

Highly recommended reading for those who wish to begin building an understanding of Israeli-Palestinian relations, the major root cause of U.S. wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, and likely soon, Iran. Palestinian Presiden Abbas addresses the U.N. General Assembly upon the occasion of the Palestinian Authority being granted the status of "observer state," which permits the P.A. to join the treaty establishing the International Criminal Court and initiate prosecution of Israeli officials for ware crimes. The resolution upgrading the Palestinians' status to a nonmember observer state at the U.N. was approved by a vote of 138-9, with 41 abstentions, in the 193-member world body. The U.S., Canada, and Czechoslovakia  were the only western nations voting "no." Israel's pariah nation status is now official and U.S. foreign policy is long overdue for overhaul in that regard. With friends like Israel, who needs enemies? 

I like it!  Great idea ..... excerpt: "Pass two simple bills in the House.  Bill A extends current tax rates for those with incomes of $250,000 or less.  Bill B extends current tax rates for all the rest.  Keep both bills just that simple - include nothing else in either one.  Both will pass in the House thanks to the Republican majority. As the bills are moving to the Senate, Speaker Boehner holds a press conference and begins with a short address to the American public to promote both bills. First, Boehner points out that Bill A should pass the Senate promptly and be signed by the president.  Reid and Obama have promised as much. Second, the Speaker points out that Bill B will be likely be blocked in the Senate and/or on the president's desk.  Reid and Obama have (virtually) promised to do that too. "

Lots of comments posted on this page.  Search for "Econ101" and "garylyn" to find my comments.  I have posted here a surprisingly extensive explanation of how i became a libertarian. excerpt: "How's this for a simple GOP strategy to avoid blame for fiscal-cliff tax-rate increases and seize the public relations initiative from an overconfident president? Pass two simple bills in the House.  Bill A extends current tax rates for those with incomes of $250,000 or less.  Bill B extends current tax rates for all the rest.  Keep both bills just that simple - include nothing else in either one.  Both will pass in the House thanks to the Republican majority. As the bills are moving to the Senate, Speaker Boehner holds a press conference and begins with a short address to the American public to promote both bills. First, Boehner points out that Bill A should pass the Senate promptly and be signed by the president.  Reid and Obama have promised as much. Second, the Speaker points out that Bill B will be likely be blocked in the Senate and/or on the president's desk.  Reid and Obama have (virtually) promised to do that too. "