ZOA Seeks to Manipulate Global Jewish Communities

Click here to access article by Tony Cartalucci from his blog Land Destroyer, based in Bangkok, Thailand.

This morning I have spent much more time perusing his postings than in the past. I must say that I am very impressed, much more so than I have been previously. He makes some rather startling statements and arguments; but I now feel that he backs them up with solid documentation, as I discovered this morning. In this particular article he develops the thesis that Zionists through...

ZOA intentionally perpetuates a strategy of tension used to co-opt and manipulate people on all sides of the political spectrum. More importantly, it serves as one of many propaganda fronts used to repackage frank conspiracies generated by think-tanks like the Brookings Institution, to make them acceptable to the general public. Stemming from these organizations is rhetoric that finds its way into mainstream and faux-alternative news....

I encourage you to take the time to investigate the links documenting his arguments to see if you are not also impressed.

Does the Romney Family Now Own Your e-Vote?

Click here to access article by Gerry Bello, Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman from The Free Press.

Not that it makes much difference which One Percent candidate wins, but this report on certain types of voting machines is just another illustration of the pervasive corruption now existing under capitalist rule in the center of the Empire.

Through a closely held equity fund called Solamere, Mitt Romney and his wife, son and brother are major investors in an investment firm called H.I.G. Capital. H.I.G. in turn holds a majority share and three out of five board members in Hart Intercivic, a company that owns the notoriously faulty electronic voting machines that will count the ballots in swing state Ohio November 6. Hart machines will also be used elsewhere in the United States.

Nationalizing banks works for the short term; why not permanently?

Click here to access article by Pete Dolack from his blog Systemic Disorder. 

I viewed the Bill Moyers show on PBS last night which featured two liberal journalists, Matt Taibbi and Chrystia Freeland, who have received national attention in liberal circles for their criticisms of the banking industry and the government bailouts of that industry. 

After a lengthy discussion about all the reckless practices of the banks and a growing plutocracy, suddenly Freeland interrupts to assure everyone that she believes in capitalism, and that the government bailouts were absolutely necessary. It was like she had received instructions by the show's handlers through her earphone that she needed to do this. If that wasn't the case, she was sufficiently politically sensitive to know that this was a wise career-enhancing statement to make. 

This journalist and author went on to explain that what the US needed was another FDR type leader who would stand up to the special interests by introducing reforms and restoring regulations over the banking industry. Taibbi seemed by his silence and facial gestures to indicate agreement with her statements. 

What we have here is a quintessential current expression of US political liberalism that confines itself to a moralistic position on current issues, and as such is permissible under unwritten US corporate media rules. If either of them had espoused another alternative, even temporary measures to deal with their banking crises undertaken by the governments of Norway and Sweden as was described in this article, they would not have been permitted to be on the show.

Sweden and Norway made the banks — and their executives, directors and shareholders — pay for the crisis they caused, rather than making their taxpayers pay for it. 

Because the author of this article goes even further to pose the question in the headline, he will never be invited to appear on Bill Moyer's program or on any other program controlled by the One Percent.

Why are we bailing out the banks? part three – Lies and Opposition

Click here to access article by David Malone from his blog Golem XIV (UK).

At the end of part two I suggested that the mainstream justification for bailing out the banks, namely that by so doing we have provided them with the money they need in order to lead the rest of us to recovery by investing in the real economy – was what Goebbels and his boss would call The Big Lie. The banks have demonstrably and unequivocally NOT used the money they have taken from the public purse to invest in the real economy. Nor are they going to.

Why not?

Excellent article which attempts to clarify issues about money, the recent economic collapse, and the austerity policies of the various One Percents. I'm not sure why I didn't post the earlier parts, but you can access them from this posting. I got so involved in the earlier posts and the astute comments following each post that I've run out of time for today's postings.

The lame rules for presidential debates: a perfect microcosm of US democracy

Click here to access article by Glenn Greenwald from The Guardian.

The author describes the history of the so-called presidential debates and recently leaked documents to reveal how carefully managed these performances are to insure that nothing truly revealing or embarrassing happens. The methods used illustrate those used to manage the larger fabricated version of "democracy", a political production stage-managed by operatives employed by the One Percent.

To understand the US political process, one can just look to how these sham debates are organized and how they function. This is the same process that repeats itself endlessly in virtually every other political realm.

Marketing Agency, Branding Hope: War, Kony, and "Three Cups of Tea"

Click here to access article by Sarah Lazare and John Wesley Jones from Jadaliyya. 

This is an excellent analysis of the use of current methods that draw on sophisticated techniques created by modern advertising and public relations industries to manage the consent and dissent of the 99 Percent. Joseph Goebbels, propaganda minister for the Third Reich, if he could return to life today, would be astounded by the advances that have been made by those who manage minds to serve the needs of the current Empire. Nowadays, we witness the most heinous crimes against humanity not only hidden behind the veils of humanitarian concerns, but successfully promoted by such phony concerns.

This is an important moment to reflect on the ways that militarism has affected our lives and changed public perception of the use of military violence as normal. It also gives occasion to look at how an era of endless war has given birth to some political and social campaigns that accept militarism as given, and at times outright embrace military solutions to social and humanitarian problems.

Recovered History: How Wall Street-Funded Self Help Propaganda Greased the Real Estate Bubble

Click here to access article by Yasha Levine from The Exiled. 

The author finds an answer to a vexing question at a little bookshop in the Mojave Desert in California: 

...how and why so many millions of people bought such ridiculously overpriced homes and took out mortgages and loans they clearly could not afford?

Corporate Christianity Canadian Style

Click here to access a book review by Jim Miles of The Ugly Canadian - Stephen Harper's Foreign Policy, authored by Yves Engler, posted on Uncommon Thought Journal website.

It is clear from this book and many other sources that the US One Percent ruling class could not have a more loyal friend of the Empire than Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada, even if they had appointed him as their puppet. The reason is rather simple--Harper's political career was shaped by Alberta's oil industry whose oil piplines go directly south to feed the US, and thus he has become a certified, "card carrying" member of the Empire's One Percent. Yes, the One Percent has gone global. Although many of the core members are still US citizens, they have enlisted members from all over the world who share their addiction to money and power. Most are logically found in NATO countries and Israel.

While spending considerable time in Canada, I was amazed at the widespread ownership of the media in the hands of rabid Zionists (Asper family) who used their media to spread the most outrageous pro-Israel propaganda. Hence, I think that a more apt title to this article would be "Corporate Christianity and Judaism Canadian Style" because right-wing elements of both religions are actively promoting Empire policies and actions.

In another earlier work, Building Apartheid, Engler presents Canada's history of support for the Zionist cause and the Israeli government. Canada's historic British imperial perspective (now being revived by Harper) plus the general trend of the government personnel supporting the Millennial right wing aspects of Christianity, have combined to create Canada's current foreign policy. While reprising that information, more information is added concerning the military-economic-security ties that stand between the two countries establishment elites. Domestically, criticism of Israel/support of Palestinians is viewed as extremism and "repeatedly equated criticism of Israel with racism towards Jews." Ultimately, Canada's principled position is "Israel can do no wrong."

Cameron and the celebration of slaughter

Click here to access article by John Westmoreland from Counterfire (UK). 

The author exposes the lies used to support the fake patriotism often parroted by agents of the One Percent to glorify their horrible wars of the 20th century, and to prepare ordinary people for new ones.

The commemoration of the onset of World War I is a project that needs to explode in Cameron’s face. It is a blatant attempt to hijack our history and attempt to make political capital out of a mass slaughter that should have led to the complete overthrow of the system that caused it.

As I see it, there are three basic reasons that this class of people promotes wars:

1. Inter-capitalist rivalries for access to, and control, of resources and markets.
2. Threats to capitalist rule from left wing and popular movements.
3. Destruction of the capital of the above enemies to stimulate demand from, and profits for, the winning capitalist powers.

Wall Street issues its orders to Obama, Romney

Click here to access article by Patrick Martin from World Socialist Web Site.

I must preface my comments on this article with a critical note about a common journalistic practice at this website. This online publication often offers articles which look at the underlying class based motives for various political events--and this is to their credit. There are not many sources on the left that do this as well as they do. What bothers me is that their reports usually omit any links to information that supports their arguments. For that matter, you will have difficulty finding any external links on the website that don't refer back to their organization.

I think this practice is rooted in two basic sources: one, a self-serving motive to discourage people from wandering away from their website. Second, a sectarian disease that infects their entire political framing of issues: they are the font of all political wisdom and therefore they do not need to support their arguments with any documentation.

I do not think that my criticism is a petty one. I think that it directs attention to a fundamental problem found in many leftist organizations. It seems that the habits informed by individualist motives promoted under capitalist indoctrination agencies persist even into those circles most critical of capitalism. Such an orientation tends to support "leaders" and to regard ordinary people with well disguised contempt. This is a another form of authoritarianism which informs capitalist ideology and can wreck much harm in grass-roots based organizations.

Having gotten that off my chest, I recommend this article because it illustrates once again who really runs this country, and cuts through many veils of propaganda and indoctrination that promote "democratic" myths about how our government actually functions. Also, having been printed as an open letter in this primary ideological organ of the One Percent suggests that it is to be taken seriously by all One Percent opinion shapers and makers throughout society.

The letter from bankers referred to in the article can be viewed here. (Note: links to Washington Post articles have a way of disappearing after some time.)

NYC: another bogus "terrorism" bust?

Click here to access article by Bill Weinberg from World War 4 Report.

Periodically the agents of the One Percent manage to entrap some young person into a bombing plot. Most are Muslim, young, and induced by some kind of substantial reward. These entrapments always serve a variety of purposes, chief of which is the ongoing promotion of threats to the public which require police forces to "protect" the public, and thus, more expenditures to build a police state. It also continues to frame Muslims as the new next enemy along with domestic anarchists which, in turn, promotes more support for military interventions in the oil-rich Middle East.

You'd never know it from the sensationalist headlines, but the latest supposed near-miss, would-be, almost-was terrorist attack in New York City appears to be yet another highly specious case in which the "terrorist" plot turns out to be a creation of FBI infiltrators.

Malala the Worthy Victim

Click here to access article by Margaret Kimberley from Black Agenda Report. 

US corporate media worked overtime to portray a recent victim of Taliban terrorism. Kimberley effectively puts the lie to their humanitarian concern. Propaganda agents of the Empire always look hard and long to find ways of portraying those perpetrating war crimes with humanitarian motives and concerns.

The corporate media that have given Malala Yousufzai so much attention give none to the nameless victims of American terror. These drone attack victims in Pakistan have been deemed unworthy with no right to be mentioned or spoken of for the simple reason that our government killed them.

NATO packs it in; Turkey on the verge of a nervous breakdown

Click here to access article by Thierry Meyssan from Voltaire Network. 

...the signs of Western retreat from Syria are multiplying. The influx of Western arms and combatants is drying up except for the ongoing transfers funded by Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

The author describes the cynical use of various terrorist groups by agents of the Empire, mostly Turkey and the Gulf monarchies, to destabilize Syria; and argues that they are all headed for defeat. It is a bit much to hope for, but he assembles some very cogent arguments. 

Meanwhile, what is to become of Syrian and other Mid-East activists who genuinely wanted more democratic reforms? These latest Empire adventures into Libya and Syria may represent a real tipping point from which we will see a decline in imperialism. But, what is really needed is a powerful new ideology that supports the formation of bottom-up, inclusive democratic societies.

Define 'Lesser' [evil]

Click here to access article by Mickey Z. from World News Trust. 

The One Percent's propaganda machines are so powerful that even people such as Glen Ford, as I recall, melted in his opposition to Obama in the 2008 election and supported him. How much longer are the American people going to be taken in by these liars and poseurs, and these election circuses? Well, I think the numbers are diminishing and that is precisely why the One Percent's operatives are preparing a police state before our very eyes.

Mickey Z. concludes his essay with a profound question that is often on my mind.

Post-Revolution Tunisia: Still Fighting for Rights

Click here to access article by Ghassan Saoud from Al Akhbar. 

After reading this piece you may be convinced, as I was, that the so-called "revolution" in Tunisia was a fiction invented and propagated by Qatar's propaganda organ called Al Jazeera. There was regime change, but no system change--hence, no "revolution". It was only the first step in what Tunisians continue to fight for: a real revolution.

The people of Sidi Bouzid do not approve of the term “January 14 Revolution.” In the town that sparked it, it is called the “December 17 Revolution.” That was the day when a man with a street vendor’s cart worth around 50 dinars ($33) set himself alight in Sidi Bouzid. On that day, as locals retell it, a group of angry people who had emerged onto the street from the Ittihad cafe joined with others in the western part of the town, and were filmed by a camera from the second floor of an overlooking building. Al-Jazeera called it a “revolution,” and so it became.

[The people of] Sidi Bouzid went out onto the streets that day, and has never gone back in. People there are surprised that the revolution should be linked to the day Ben Ali left power, as though the problem was only with him personally.

World’s biggest geoengineering experiment ‘violates UN rules’

Click here to access article by Martin Lukacs from The Guardian.

A controversial American businessman dumped around 100 tonnes of iron sulphate into the Pacific Ocean as part of a geoengineering scheme off the west coast of Canada in July....

According to Wikipedia iron sulphate is a by-product of certain types of steel production:

In the finishing of steel prior to plating or coating, the steel sheet or rod is passed through pickling baths of sulfuric acid. This treatment produces large quantities of iron(II) sulfate as a by-product. 

Our masters in the One Percent have given many indications that they have given up on reducing the pollution of our atmosphere by their never-ending consumption of fossil fuels which feeds their addictions to wealth and power. Instead, they are now preaching the wonders of geo-engineering projects which are little more than desperate fantasies of capitalist engineers.

This article reports on one enterprising and slick American businessman, who knows how to game the system, and who sold a Canadian native tribe and the Canadian government on an idea to dump these by-products into their ocean with promises to reduce carbon. As result the businessman received money from the tribe to dump his waste iron and backing from the Canadian government which, of course, is owned and controlled by their One Percent. It wouldn't surprise me if he had received money from steel producers to get rid of this material. You have to admire his hutzpah.

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The Threat of Barbarism: US Imperialism Unleashed

Click here to access article by Ben Schreiner from MR Zine. 

Demand periodically is unable to keep up with supplies furnished by capitalists simply because the latter repress wages as much as they can to boost profits. However, capitalists create economic crises in other ways in their mad pursuit of profits. They are very creative in extracting their profits as seen before the recent economic collapse in which they induced people to sign up for home loans which contained very easy initial conditions. Subsequently, the mortgage loans were packaged and sold like snake oil all over the world with the blessings of rating agencies and look-the-other-way regulatory agencies. They also devised and used derivative bets to multiply the gains (and losses) that could be made on these packages.

Now they are sticking the debts from their bad bets to ordinary citizens everywhere in the Western world, slashing all public services, and laying off public sector workers to pay their debts. Such austerity policies have their problems by reducing further the ability of people to buy products from the private owners of our economy. However, when all else fails, capitalists always have one other trick up their sleeves, a trick they used frequently in the 20th century. The article describes that trick and indications that political operatives of the One Percent are now willing and looking to use it to stimulate demand.

The teacher vs. the billionaire

Click here to access article by Sarah Blaskey and Phil Gasper from Socialist Worker.

The authors provide a very good summary of evidence and arguments against the privatization of public schools currently seen as the next big profit opportunity by some investors. Because I don't think that the school union advocate did an effective job on arguing his case (maybe due to time constraints), you probably can skip the video debate. 

See also this, this, and this.

Iraq records huge rise in birth defects

Click here to access article by Sarah Morrison from The Independent (UK).

I advise you not to read this shortly after consuming a meal--you may lose it.

The new findings, published in the Environmental Contamination and Toxicology bulletin, will bolster claims that US and NATO munitions used in the conflict led to a widespread health crisis in Iraq. They are the latest in a series of studies that have suggested a link between bombardment and a rise in birth defects.

But wait--didn't they have weapons of mass destruction that they were about to use on us? (sarcasm)

Obama-Romney debate number two: Another stage-managed charade

Click here to access article by Barry Grey from World Socialist Web Site.

I am posting this as an antidote to the nausea you may have suffered if you watched this performance last night and/or while being subject today to constant serious commentaries and analyses of who won the "debate" while searching in vain for hard news in mainstream media. 

This piece from Socialist Worker entitled, "The big lie about tax cuts and jobs", might also help.

NYT Coverage of 'Cuban Missile Crisis'

Click here to access article by Michael McGehee from his blog Truth Addict.

There is much to recommend this as clarifying some issues regarding the Cuban Missile Crisis. I well remember that day, and I was terrified. Few people realize how close we came to a nuclear Armageddon. However, neither this author or many others such as Noam Chomsky (see this) give Kennedy any credit for the peaceful solution of the crisis. I'm convinced after read the outstanding and well researched book entitled JFK and the Unspeakable by James W. Douglass that we would have experienced a nuclear holocaust if any other US president had been presiding at the time of the crisis. Of course, credit for the peaceful solution also goes to Khrushchev and a Soviet submarine officer who defied orders to launch missiles.

The New "Golden Age of Oil" That Wasn't

Click here to access article by Michael T. Klare from European Energy Review.

The author offers an up-to-date review of the state of the oil extraction industry to counter mainstream media glowing reports of a "golden age of oil". The growth based system of capitalism requires ever increasing amounts of energy; hence, the need to publish such reports so that people do not lose faith in the religion of capitalism, a system which bring so many short-term rewards to the high priests (the One Percent) as it creates one disaster after another for the rest of us. 

...the future may prove far more recalcitrant than these prophets of an American energy cornucopia imagine. To reach their ambitious targets, energy firms will have to overcome severe geological and environmental barriers - and recent developments suggest that they are going to have a tough time doing so. 

Deniers cherry-pick in vain effort to prove up is down

Click here to access article from Climate Code Red (Australia).

The article illustrates how climate deniers in mainstream media deal with global warming by describing the effort of one mainstream media propagandist in the UK. He will, no doubt, enjoy a very successful career in mainstream media which is owned by this small, but very rich, One Percent class.

Washington’s Salafist Quagmire in Syria.

Click here to access article by Christof Lehmann from nsnbc. 

The author provides a very interesting take on the current situation in Syria that seems to correspond with events on the ground. Following the article is also an interesting 4:34m video interview by RT with a German journalist regarding recent Turkish intercepts of airplanes flying into Syria.

The problem for Washington and the pro-opposition coalition is that a coherent and political opposition has failed to manifest. The National Transitional Council of Syria has always been an incoherent group that was plagued by internal rivalries. Since the failed campaign for Aleppo it has more or less entirely collapsed. The influx of Salafist groups which are fighting in Syria has also led to, that ever more radical elements are demanding political influence, and Washington has difficulties to overtly negotiate with known terrorist groups about the future of a free and democratic Syria.

Surely the author doesn't believe that the US is ever interested in establishing "free and democratic" countries! Surely he means that they are having difficulties pretending to do this while collaborating with such groups. The Empire is only interested in establishing compliant, subservient countries to serve the needs of the Empire's One Percents.

The diversionary debate over the Benghazi attack

Click here to access article by Bill Van Auken from World Socialist Web Site.

The author describes the attempt by the leading capitalist candidates to divert attention away from the latest blowback incident coming from US's cynical use of terrorist groups to further their global domination strategies.

What is striking about this debate is that it deliberately skirts the fundamental political questions. What is the state of Libya nearly one year after the gruesome murder of its former head of state, Muammar Gaddafi, signaled the victory of the US-NATO war to topple his regime? And how is it that this war, supposedly waged to protect human life and promote democracy, has produced a situation in which Al Qaeda-linked militias are able to operate with impunity?

A note of appreciation from the rich

Click here to access article (parody) posted on Eagainst (Greece).

As the attacks on working people's wages, benefits, safety nets have increased over the past several decades, I have noticed an increase in lotteries. Apparently, our masters have formulated an updated theme from that ascribed to Marie Antoinette ("let them eat cake!"): "let them play the lotteries!" But, in a brief moment of candor, this ruling class writer is honest about our chances:

Let’s be honest: you’ll never win the lottery.

On the other hand, the chances are pretty good that you’ll slave away at some miserable job the rest of your life. That’s because you were in all likelihood born into the wrong social class. Let’s face it – you’re a member of the working caste. Sorry!

In this note of appreciation, they thank us for submitting so peacefully to these arrangements:

So we’d truly like to thank you from the bottom of our heartless hearts. Your loyal sacrifice makes possible our corrupt luxury; your work makes our system work. Thanks so much for “knowing your place” – without even knowing it!

Does America Share Its “Values” With Terrorists? [satire]

Click here if you wish to access source of this 4:00m video at Prison Planet.

Paul Joseph Watson asks what “values” Mitt Romney thinks America shares with Syrian Rebels who burn U.S. flags, torture and execute prisoners and carry out terrorist attacks.

Morgan Stanley Sued for Racial Discrimination in Pushing Predatory Loans to Black Homeowners

Click here to access article from American Civil Liberties Union.

Morgan Stanley discriminated against black homeowners and violated federal civil rights laws by providing strong incentives to a subprime lender to originate mortgages that were likely to be foreclosed on, according to a groundbreaking lawsuit filed today.

I'm not sure that the plaintiffs will win this case because I think that banking institutions discriminated more on the basis of class than race. I think that anyone who appeared to be uneducated or naive was subject to the same incentives.

A year later, the war in Libya is far from over

Click here to access article by Horace Campbell from Pambazuka News (Africa).

Citizens of the United States learnt of the levels of insecurity of the people of Libya on September 11 when the Ambassador of the United States to Libya was killed in Benghazi, the city that was the base of the rebellion against Gaddafi. The death of Ambassador Stevens brought out facts of the US diplomatic/intelligence activities and its relationship to the militias.

I'm afraid that the author is too optimistic about the ability of ordinary Americans to glean any truth from all the contrived stories of this incident. However, you should read this to see what a can of worms that US propagandists were trying to hide. 

Vote for Me Puppets

Click here if you want to access source posting; cartoon by Jonik posted on Dissident Voice.

The REAL Reason America Used Nuclear Weapons Against Japan

Click here to access article from Washington's Blog.

This article provides an excellent summary of evidence to support arguments that the justifications given to the US public for the use of the A-bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were lies, and the real reason--demonstration to Soviet Union of awesome power in the hands of the US and preventing the Soviets from getting any rewards in the post-war Pacific war settlement. 

Truman was a poorly educated, naive former haberdashery owner who, I believe, was put into office because he was seen as a "useful idiot" to serve the real masters of the US who were well connected to Wall Street. What remains to be discovered are the names of these "masters". They were the same ones who built the foundations of our National Security State under the first CIA director, and Wall Street lawyer, Allen W. Dulles. 

Secret of the Seven Sisters (Shell, Exxon, BP, Mobil, Chevron, Gulf, Texaco) [updated]

Four uploaded YouTube segments of a film from a French film company are posted by Transcend Media Service. Each one is approximately 52 minutes long. They each contain a short episode detailing the origins of the Seven Sisters, but after that they proceed to tell the story of the powerful influence of these oil companies starting with Iran in 1951.  

The films will take you on a tour through time and across the world following the trail of tears left by the machinations of the Seven Sisters. They tell a horrific story of private ownership and control of oil, an energy source that could have liberated humanity from the scourges of hunger, disease, ignorance, shortened life spans, etc. Instead, we see one social, economic, and environmental disaster after another, millions of lives lost in wars, corruption and subversion of governments, etc. There seems to be no end of this story as we witness events unfold in Syria that threaten more war. After having watched all four videos, I agree with the short posting introduction that they are "must-watch" videos.

Video One - Focuses mostly on the Mid-East [now available here]

Video Two - Focuses mostly on Africa. [now available here]

Video Three - Focuses mostly on central Asia. [now available here]

Video Four - Looks at the world of oil in relation to the US. [now available here]

In several sections the films make reference to a key role played by Saudi Arabia in relation to US interests. But, for some reason the film director omitted a key event that secured Saudi Arabia's loyalty to the US Empire and secured the value of the US dollar. This was accomplished in 1974 in negotiations conducted by Kissinger with Saudi Arabia's rulers which resulted in a major agreement (now a dead link, try this) that greatly enabled the US to have its way in the world after the defeat in Vietnam.
 
The Vietnam War in addition to the Cold War proved very costly for the US and they had to go off the gold standard as backing for US currency. In a crucial move to insure its own currency as the prime world currency, in 1974 the US guaranteed the security of the Kingdom and, in return, the Saudis agreed to sell oil only in US dollars and to recycle those dollars into US Treasury bonds and US stocks. This effectively backed the US dollars with oil. As Michael Hudson stated:

Saudi Arabia realizes that it exists only with U.S. support. Doing what U.S. diplomats tell them to do lets them keep their oil resources rather than being treated like Iraq and Iran.

For a much more detailed explanation of the background and the effects of this agreement, check out this report by William Engdahl where he writes:

The deal had been fixed in June 1974 by Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, establishing the U.S.-Saudi Arabian Joint Commission on Economic Cooperation. The U.S. Treasury and the New York Federal Reserve would ‘allow’ the Saudi central bank, SAMA, to buy U.S. Treasury bonds with Saudi petrodollars. In 1975 OPEC officially agreed to sell its oil only for dollars. A secret U.S. military agreement to arm Saudi Arabia was the quid pro quo.

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The False Promises of “School Choice”

Click here to access article by Barbara Miner from Common Dreams.

I've noticed recently a big wave of "school choice" propaganda being broadcast over the boob-tube here in the State of Washington sponsored by people such as Bill Gates who, I think, wants to replace teachers with computers and software. There is a referendum on the state ballot to liberalize regulations on charter schools to make it easier to privatize a public school. Not being very well informed on this issue, I thought I'd look to others such as this author who has the following biography:

Barbara Miner has been a reporter, writer, and editor for almost forty years, writing for publications ranging from the New York Times to the Milwaukee Journal. The former managing editor of Rethinking Schools, she has co-edited numerous books on education, including Selling out Our Schools: Vouchers, Markets, and the Future of Public Education.

See also this, this, and this.

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Res Communes – the rise of citizen-led, fair-market, alternatives to capitalism

Click here to access article by Jules Peck from Flourishing Enterprise. 

The important aspect about this article is that it illustrates that people are beginning to look for alternatives to the soul-sapping, life and planet destroying, system of capitalism.

There is reason to be optimistic. Growth long since has failed to deliver increases in life satisfaction. We need not fear the end of growth and a new post-capitalist economics. Its an exciting time to be alive – truly revolutionary things are afoot.

Nobel Peace Prize: Joke of the Century

Click here to access article by Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey from Pravda (Russia).

It is fitting that the institution set up by "The merchant of Death", famous for his career as a major manufacturer of armaments, famous for inventing cordite, whose main contribution to the world was dynamite, bestows upon the European Union the Nobel Peace Prize for its contribution to "peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights".

The Nobel Peace Prize tops all Orwellian parodies. (See also Stephen Lendman's take on the Prize.)

In Praise of Anarchy, Part II

Click here to access article by Dmitry Orlov from his blog ClubOrlov. 

Orlov provides a very thought provoking essay on anarchism by arguing in the tradition of Kropotkin that spontaneous cooperation (anarchy) is seen throughout nature which enables life forms to cope with different environments and threats, whereas hierarchy leads inevitably to collapse.

...when most people say “Darwinian” it turns out that they actually mean to say “Hobbesian.” Kropotkin pointed out that the term “survival of the fittest” has been misinterpreted to mean that animals compete against other animals of their own species, whereas that just happens to be the shortest path to extinction. This misinterpretation of facts directly observable from nature has led to the faulty Hobbsian justification of the economic appetite as something natural and evolved, and therefore inevitable, giving rise to the conjectured laws of the marketplace, which in turn favor nonempathic, exclusionary, brutal, possessive individualists. The result has been to enshrine mental illness—primitive, pathological, degenerate narcissism—as the ultimate evolutionary adaptation and the basis of the laws of economics. Thus, an entire edifice of economic theory has been erected atop a foundation of delusion borne of a misunderstanding of the patterns present in nature.

Preview of New Film on the History of Anarchism

Click here to access where I sourced this 26:49m video: posted by Katherine Acosta from her blog UnDisciplined PhD. 

France loots Africa, liquidates dissidents

Click here to access article by Finian Cunningham from PressTV (Iran). 

The author tells the real story of the French One Percent's plunder of Africa including details of how they have done it, and continue to do it.

UK owner of Guatemalan energy firm urged to act after protest deaths

Click here to access article by Dawn Paley in Totonicapán and Jonathan Watts from The Guardian. 

Because I am on several human rights email lists, I receive hundreds of such reports about corporate crimes against indigenous people each year. They all involve corporations based in USA, Canada, and Europe. Most reports I receive relate to incidents in Central America, but this goes on in Africa as well--probably on a much larger scale. Few such incidents ever make it into mainstream news media. Thus, citizens of the US led Empire remain mostly, and blissfully, unaware of these crimes.

Stemming the Tides of Protest

Click here to access article by William T. Hathaway from The Greanville Post. 

The friendly mask that capitalism wore in the USA and Europe has been stripped away, revealing the predatory beast beneath. We are beginning (just beginning) to get the same treatment as workers in the client states. This process is not generated by the greed of a few individuals, nor can it be reversed by social democratic reforms and regulations. This process is inexorable because it’s the essence of capitalism. It’s the nature of the beast to devour.

Very well expressed! It's clear that bourgeois liberals are running out of convincing excuses and remedies for a system that serves only their own class. For American working people, having had their minds thoroughly indoctrinated with the virtues of capitalism most stridently since WWII, the awakening is only now beginning to take shape. However, as life for them continues its downward trajectory, they will wake up at an accelerating rate. Then we will see the gloves come off of the American capitalist class (the One Percenters) to reveal the hidden fist of fascism that will attempt to not only "stem the tides of protest", but to crush them. 

If my assessment is correct, I expect to see voter participation in the upcoming US demonstration elections lower than ever before.

3 People Now in Jail for Refusing to Talk About Other Anarchists

Click here to access article by Will Potter from Green Is the New Red. 

Anarchists are experiencing police oppression more than any other segment of our population. They are essentially already living in a police state, a state that we will all live in eventually if we continue to sit idly by while the One Percent continues its policies of austerity, wars, debt servitude, and police state methods.

Anarchists are being targeted because they thoroughly reject one pillar of capitalist class rule--hierarchy which makes possible the control of many by a few. In the recent past they targeted mostly socialists because they rejected another pillar supporting capitalist class rule--private ownership and control of the economy. This class rule of the One Percent requires both legs to stand on; and whenever any group threatens either of these legs, they bring down the full wrath of our class masters regardless of constitutional violations.

This piece describes three heroes who refuse to provide information on other anarchists to a ruling class institution called a "grand jury". (See also this.)

Grand juries have historically been used against radical social movements as a tool to intimidate and to gather information. When activists enter a grand jury proceeding, they check their rights at the door. They are asked about what they believe, what their friends believe, who they associate with, what kinds of activism they support. If they choose to assert their First Amendment and Fifth Amendment rights by refusing to speak about their political beliefs and political associations, they can be imprisoned.

The Myths of Zionism

Click here to access article by Yazan Al-Saadi from Muftah. 

The author digs up little known facts, backed by many useful links, to smash Zionist myths used to establish a European colonial project in the oil rich Middle East, a "Fort Israel" that serves the Empire.

QE3 – Pay Attention If You Are in the Real Estate Market

Click here to access article by Catherine Austin Fitts from Solari. 

Regardless of whether you are in the real estate market or not, this article really zeros in on the implications of the recent QE3 policy by the Fed to deal with fraudulent mortgages still carried on the accounting books of the banks. 

...the way the Fed has engineered the Slow Burn to date is to continually offset monetary inflation with labor deflation. It is worth contemplating how much labor deflation will be required to offset QE3 and how sufficient additional labor deflation might be engineered. Ben Bernanke was quite clever to tie QE3 to unemployment. The problem has become the solution, which is the basis for QE-Infinity.

She has some very useful short videos and explanations adjacent to this article which should be viewed and read to further understand the issues involved.

Can a no-growth future and capitalism be compatible?

Click here to access article by Pete Dolack from his blog Systemic Disorder. 

He builds an argument that in a finite world, endless growth is impossible. Thus, he concludes his essay with a question:

If stagnation is the “new normal” of capitalism, then deprivation, pain and worsening inequality is all that it can offer, save for the occasional temporary uptick — a never-ending race to the bottom. Is such a system really the best humanity can do?

Quietly, the IMF confesses that austerity does not work

Click here to access article by Pete Dolack from his blog Systemic Disorder. 

So why do central bankers, financiers and multi-national financial institutions still preach austerity? Ideology, surely, plus arrogance and a lack of ability to admit the wisdom of financial elites is wrong. Nonetheless, at bottom such people are carrying out their class interests.

Decline, Decay, Denial, Delusion & Despair

Click here to access article by JimQ from Washington's Blog. 

This is quite an extended rant, but it is a well informed and articulated rant about what a system has done to a nation. Unfortunately, the author can't quite go that extra step to connect the growing American dystopia to a system--capitalism. 

What he and some other sensitive souls are witnessing here in the "land of the free, and the home of the brave" is the end game of capitalism in which a few "own" everything--just like in the game of Monopoly. He appears to mock those who look at this problem in system terms: only "narrow minded ideologues" do that. I think what he fails to understand is that he, too, has been subject to indoctrination by the oligarchs and their agents to avoid any questioning of the system. The author ends up blaming everyone, and this seems to me to be a far too easy way to deal with the problem.

Narrow minded ideologues want a simple answer to a complex interaction of generational, cultural, economic, political, and criminal factors that have conspired to put the country into a predicament that, at this point, will inevitably lead to economic collapse. The truth is the American people have learned to love their servitude. They have willfully chosen ignorance over truth. They’ve chosen to believe what their keepers have instructed them. They’ve chosen to trust the storylines generated by the corporate media rather than think critically and question everything. They’ve chosen obesity and sickness over health. They’ve chosen debt financed faux wealth over savings based real wealth. They’ve chosen safety and security over liberty. They’ve chosen dependency over self-reliance. These choices were aided, abetted and promoted by the Alphas through their ability to manipulate and control the unthinking masses.

But, his conclusion suggests that he does understand that society is ordered a certain way, and that it is possible, even necessary, to change it.

There will be a revolution in this country whether you like it or not. The existing social order will dissolve during the next fifteen years. What replaces it is up to us.

Empire and revolution - Syria and the critics of the anti-war movement

Click here to access article by John Rees from CounterFire (UK). 

The author provides the most astute analysis of the current Syrian conflict and the subject of revolution in general that I have read for some time. 

He then takes issue with some leftists who are supportive of the anti-Syrian forces because of a simplistic view that they all represent a more democratic alternative to the Assad regime. Rees clearly sees that Western agents are attempting to use some of the anti-Assad forces in Syria to engineer another Libyan-type regime change. Thus, our correct political position must be to oppose this. 

West using terror to plunder oil resources of Nigeria

Click here to access article by Finian Cunningham from PressTV (Iran). 

The headline really should be posed as a question. The author does provide considerable evidence and arguments that suggest a deliberate Empire strategy to destabilize and divide Nigeria, but it is not conclusive. We see many familiar elements from other countries that experienced destabilization and NATO intervention: inter-religious and sectarian violence, terrorism, groups suddenly appearing well equipped with modern weapons, evidence of NATO or Western military/political secret operations, oil resources and other strong Western geopolitical interests.

The Ordeal of Disobedience

Click here to access article by Mat Little from New Compass.

This is a sequel to an article published in July, "The Lure of Obedience, which I reviewed at that time. If I had only this article to interpret, I would be confused as to Little's conclusions:

Milgram’s famous experiment demonstrated the immense power of institutions, their ability to produce acts which bore no relation to the desires of the perpetrators. But this power can be turned around. Society can be organised differently. A non-obedient society, one that doesn’t degenerate into chaos, is possible. Power cannot be abolished but it can be changed.

Most importantly, if the power of institutions is not democratised, they will continue to dominate human society with baleful consequences. An attitude of vigilance and scepticism is not sufficient. Economically and ecologically, the capitalist society we inhabit requires conscious, democratic transformation. To leave it, institutionally, to its own devices is to invite disaster. [my emphasis]

After reading both articles, it appears to me that he is assuming that there is no alternative to societies organized by a capitalist system. However, he insists that we must "democratise" them--by which he means that we must build into the existing society more democratic participation in decisions. 

Of course, given his assumption, one can only arrive at his conclusion--except that his conclusion is in contradiction with a class structured society that one finds under capitalism. Any class structured society is by definition one where there is a ruling class that dominates other classes for self-serving purposes. The most cost-effective way that ruling classes have developed to control their disadvantaged sub-classes is by using a system of hierarchy. Such systems are enforced by rewards and punishments, and citizens are socialized throughout their lives to believe in the virtues of obedience. Thus, only the most independent, or least socialized, citizens are able to resist conformance to authority in such societies. The only way that capitalist societies can exist without hierarchy is through the implementation of a costly police state.

Unearthing the IFC's links to mining abuses

Click here to access article from Bretton Woods Project. 

This article provides details on the role that international finance played in the recent platinum mine massacre of striking workers in South Africa by police (enforcers hired by the One Percent). In this case it was the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a private-public sector arm of the World Bank. Whenever you see this sort of arrangement, you can be sure that the private sector benefits at the expense of public revenues in one form or another: subsidies, tax exemptions, government grants, etc. But, of course, these arrangements are always advertised as benefiting the public. From IFC's website we see this same justification expressed as follows:

Our work in more than a 100 developing countries allows companies and financial institutions in emerging markets to create jobs, generate tax revenues, improve corporate governance and environmental performance, and contribute to their local communities.

IFC’s vision is that people should have the opportunity to escape poverty and improve their lives.

From their website we also learn that Jin-Yong Cai, a Chinese citizen, is the head of this organization. From Wikipedia we learn once again, that where big money and power are involved, we also find the fingerprints of Goldman-Sachs.

Jin-Yong Cai to serve as the new Executive Vice President and CEO of the IFC. Cai is a Chinese citizen who formerly served as a managing director for Goldman Sachs and has over 20 years of financial sector experience.

From IFC's website we are told that their participating member nations engage in a collaborative decision-making process:

Established in 1956, IFC is owned by 184 member countries, a group that collectively determines our policies. Our work in more than a 100 developing countries allows companies and financial institutions in emerging markets to create jobs, generate tax revenues, improve corporate governance and environmental performance, and contribute to their local communities.

From Wikipedia, we learn that they are governed according to the capitalist version of "collective" decision-making:

The IFC is owned by its 182 member governments which pay in capital, vote on matters of policy, and approve all of its investing activities. Each member country is a shareholder of the IFC, and the percentage of each member's ownership share is determined by the amount of capital it pays into the IFC. As of 2011, the United States is the IFC's single largest shareholder with a share of 24%. Japan holds a share of 6%, while each of Germany, France, and the United Kingdom hold 5%. The IFC's share capital amounted to approximately $2.4 billion as of 30 June 2011, of which 51% is controlled by the seven largest member governments of the OECD.

With the One Percents in control of all the governments of the dominant capitalist countries, we can see how public money finances the global projects of private corporations which, in turn, benefits the Empire's One Percents.

Mining Conflicts and The Politics of Post-Nationalization Bolivia

Click here to access article by Dylan Harris from Upside Down World.

In line with the trend of nationalization in Bolivia, President Evo Morales recently ousted a Swiss multi-national corporation from the valuable Colquiri mine located near La Paz.  The most lucrative part of the mine is said to have nearly 5 billion mineral deposits. Morales divided control for the mine between the two camps, which are now at the heart of the conflict.

The author is at a loss to explain this conflict. Strewn throughout the article are words like complicated and complex. This situation illustrates that worker cooperatives are not the final answer to social conflict, as many on the left believe. Yugoslavia was organized this way and they had numerous inter-cooperative conflicts. Such arrangements tend to reproduce the values and psychology of private ownership among workers in cooperatives and ultimately pits workers against each other. 

I think this conflict illustrates two problems. One, the difficulties of introducing collective ownership in one area of a capitalist world. Profit-seeking capitalists are willing to pay premium prices for diminishing raw materials that seduce cooperatives, even entire state administrations as in Bolivia, into meeting their requests. Second, a society needs to create political institutions that will insure that worker produced wealth is shared justly and equitably among all members of society.

How class tunnel vision hurts social movements

Click here to access article by George Lakey from Waging Nonviolence.

The author essentially argues that lower social classes have been indoctrinated by the ruling class in their self-serving ideology of individualism to disable any kind of vision that includes collaborating and organizing across social classes. 

I see only two alternatives for us in what Warren Buffett describes as a class war: either we become strategically sharper, or we become aware of how much our class conditioning makes us duller, and then develop work-arounds.

How Occupy birthed a rhizome

Click here to access article by Joan Donovan from Waging Nonviolence. 

The author reviews the significance of the one year old Occupy movement, and sees the birth of the "rhizome" concept which many believe can challenge the One Percent's capitalist rule. She sees some roots in the key influences of the Situationists that led up to the May '68 protests in France.

Recalling the hundreds of direct actions that sprouted across the globe in the last year under the banner of #Occupy, I am struck most by the fluidity of information passed between radicals in Tunisia, Egypt, Spain, Greece, the United States, Canada and more that led to international solidarity against austerity. Like the pioneers of 1968, the Occupiers of 2011 could not understand the importance or scope of their actions, but they were generating thousands of terabytes of footage, accounts, pictures and more so that no potentially revolutionary moment went to waste. But what kind of revolution were the occupiers of 2011 participating in, if any at all? Looking at the networks and technologies developed from the camps helps us begin to think about what their legacy might be and about the revolutions that might be already underway.

From Kermit to Coal, Book Reveals How World's Top Brands Greenwash The Public

Click here to access article by Graham Readfearn from DeSmogBlog (Canada). 

Okay, I know you won't be surprised by this, but the fact is that many people tend to believe what they see on the idiot box. Guy Pearse, an Australian researcher and author of a recent book,  ...

...spent close to four years immersing himself in some 3000 TV commercials and viewing about 4000 print and web adverts, all of which make claims of climate friendliness....

After checking the brands' actual contribution to climate change (or their lack of transparency) in more than 700 company reports, Pearse finds in Greenwash: Big Brands and Carbon Scams that the green revolution is being either grossly overblown or faked.

The Make-Believe Crisis in Iran

Click here to access article by Patrick Foy from CounterPunch. 

This author, unfortunately, watches the boob tube. However, unlike many Americans, he watches it with a very critical eye. He was astonished by what he viewed on a recent McLaughlin Group program.

 Read more >>   Options >>  

Obama Can Keep the Change?

Click here to access article by P. Sainath from CounterPunch. 

For those of you who watched the latest performance of "American democracy" (Obama-Romney debate) put on by the One Percent to citizens who want to believe in fairy tales about how they are governed, I offer this piece as an antidote to any sickening aftereffects. It is a surefire cure. But, if that doesn't work, try this.

Point of no return in Europe

Click here to access article by Gerry Gold from A World to Win. 

The author essentially argues that the crisis in most of Europe--and it is spreading--has passed a tipping point:

Humanity stands at the threshold of an evolutionary leap in social organisation. Either we cross it, building a not-for profit economy and society based upon co-operation and collective stewardship of the world’s resources, or we will become capitalism's victims.

Education Profiteering; Wall Street's Next Big Thing?

Click here to access article by Jeff Faux from Huffington Post.

The end of the Chicago teachers' strike was but a temporary regional truce in the civil war that plagues the nation's public schools. There is no end in sight, in part because -- as often happens in wartime -- the conflict is increasingly being driven by profiteers.

The familiar media narrative tells us that this is a fight over how to improve our schools.

After demolishing the myths about charter schools, which is another one of those public-private partnership scams, the author explains what is driving the campaign to privatize schools (read this). After finishing with the mortgage scam, they see another golden profit opportunity -- harvesting your kids. (For example, read this) But, to make big bucks they need to get rid of teachers.

More Than Skin Deep

Click here to access article by David Glenn Cox from OpEdNews. 

The author provides some concrete examples to illustrate how banksters and corporate officers are continuing their creative ways of milking the wealth produced by working people, but nowadays it is with the direct collusion of the government. 

The bank forecloses on a family and throws them out into the
street and your government goes into a partnership deal and guarantees a
profit to the bank.

If you closely examine this author's statement, you will find that it contains one major error, an error which is a deception commonly used by One Percent propagandists. It is not "your government"! In spite of their periodic election charades designed to dupe you into thinking that you have a real choice, it is the government of, by, and for the One Percent. Thus, how could one expect it to function any differently than it has?

It is very useful to know the meaning of his reference to the film Soylent Green. I don't think I ever saw the film, although I am familiar with its general theme. This time I was particularly impressed with the fact that it was released in 1973. 

Once again, this fact is another piece of evidence which proves that forty years ago many people were clearly aware of where society was heading due to the exhaustion of resources, particularly easily accessed fossil fuels, and over-population. What most of these people didn't understand at that time is that capitalism requires constant growth. What they also didn't understand is that the system skews the distribution of wealth to a small minority with the vast majority living in poverty. The latter are forced to have large families as a way to insure their survival into old age. For many, large families are their social security. Thus, such developments that the film foresaw are inevitable as long as we are plagued with this system.

Hegemony and Propaganda: The Importance of Trivialisation in Cementing Social Control

Click here to access article by Colin Todhunter from Global Research. 

What better way to control a population than through inducing apathy and banality and encouraging the trivialization of causes, ideas or the plights of certain folk?

The author provides numerous illustrations of these methods so often used by the One Percent to dull the wits of the 99 Percent. It's much more cost effective to control a population this way than using police state methods, but they have the latter ready to use just in case the usual methods fail.

Another important way, which the author does not touch on, is the use of simplified enemies--commies, terrorists, evil-doers, evil empires, etc.--that must be defended against and used to justify all sorts of violations of civil rights and crimes against humanity: 

Dumbing down of the 99 Percent is a deliberate strategy of the One Percent's political operatives. Thus, we see public school teachers under fire, larger class sizes, privatization of education, higher tuition fees to exclude people from obtaining a higher education (see this).  

The road to inequality is paved with low-paying jobs (2 charts)

Click here to access article by David Ruccio from Real-World Economics Review Blog.

This economist has assembled information in the form of charts regarding changes in jobs and wages that compares the period of recession defined as 1st quarter of 2008 to 1st quarter of 2010 with that of "recovery" defined as 1st quarter of 2010 to 1st quarter of 2012. As you may have already guessed, it illustrates the inevitable outcome of the dynamics of capitalism: the One Percent are getting richer while the 99 Percent are getting poorer. Another end result of capitalist dynamics is the ever increasing use of fossil fuels which is destroying our ecosystem.

Of course, these continuing trends will inevitably lead to destruction of the capitalist system (revolution) possibly leading to another, more socially just organization of society, or it will lead to a totally fascist state, and it will lead eventually to a planet that cannot support human life (read some of the latest, depressing thoughts on this subject). What outcomes would you like to see? Okay, get active and contribute, in any way you can, toward building a just, sustainable society.

General Electric Makes Billions Off The Backs Of Taxpayers

Click here to access article by Susie Madrak from Crooks and Liars. 

After reading this you may gain a new appreciation for the creativity of capitalists to use their system to milk the wealth created by workers all over the world.

Madrid on the Brink

Click here to access the source of this posting by Diane Sweet from occuworld. 

In contrast to Quebec, because the Spanish protests are more directed at capitalist institutions, we see the full force of fascist capitalism being applied against activists. 

The Anti-Empire Report #109

Click here to access report by William Blum. 

The author's reports, because of the way they are formatted, are not easily used by my blog. Because he covers several topics in the same report and I am normally interested in re-posting only one, I am forced to copy and republish the entire topic. This time I am only posting a link to the whole report as a way to introduce those of you who are not yet familiar with his writings. I want to encourage you to subscribe to his reports as I have.

I receive his reports approximately once a month and I always find them so refreshing. It's like after wading through a pool of excrement, taking a shower to wash off. Or, like spending time in an insane asylum talking to the inmates, and being freed to associate with sane human beings. 

The whole purpose of my blog is to encourage people to connect with observers who post articles on the internet and have a good understanding of the critical issues facing humanity today. It is not to encourage more people to follow my blog so that I can earn more money from ads (I don't run any ads). I am retired and have the time to search the internet for perceptive, independent, and reliable sources of information and analysis. Many of you do not. 

I welcome suggestions of other such sources or articles (both should include links) that I may have overlooked. Obviously, they should be appropriate for this type of blog and its general perspective. (Contact me at goatmeal36@yahoo.com) If I use your suggestions, please let me know if you want to be credited for the link (either "anonymous" or name and/or location, e.g. Ron from Bellingham, WA; Ed Kumba from Nairobi, Kenya; anonymous from London, England; anonymous; or New York).

Social Movements Making an Impact in Quebec

Click here to access article by Yves Engler from Dissident Voice.

For those in Québec, recent gains should inspire further mobilizations. For those outside, the PQ’s reforms are a reminder that determined grassroots movements can create a political climate in which governments place environmental concerns and social rights over the interests of corporations and the wealthy.

Ruling class political operatives respond to mass movements in two ways: they either use more force to discourage dissent or they provide some accommodation to the demands of the dissident movement in order to defuse opposition, and especially opposition that is likely to turn against the system of capitalism. 

Neoliberal and austerity policies are not going away because capitalism in Canada is much like most other capitalist countries: their ruling class is exploiting the opportunities of globalized operations and the military incursions that support them. In fact, capitalists are themselves globalized. They don't think about national boundaries which are eliminated for them. Well policed boundaries are only to control the movement of working people.

Bankers And Their Dirty Tricks

Click here to access article by Mike Whitney from CounterPunch. 

...Mr. Bernanke’s trickle down monetary theories aren’t really working at all. Instead of the savings being passed along to homeowners in the form of lower rates, the banks are juicing profits by taking a bigger share for themselves. Who could have known?

The author explains how the banksters are back again with their old tried and true formulas for making money without contributing anything of value for the 99 Percent.

US increases support for Syrian opposition as Aleppo burns

Click here to access article by Niall Green from World Socialist Web Site.

The author provides the real story hidden behind the recent Clinton announcement about more US aid to the Empire's terrorists.

Direct US aid only makes up a fraction of the total support granted by Washington to the Syrian opposition. The Obama administration, through the operations of the CIA inside Turkey, oversees the supply of financial and military support from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey to various anti-Assad militants.

A BREAKING NEWS: Another False Flag Will ISRAEL BLOW UP Something and FALSELY BLAME It on IRAN AGAIN

Click here to access article from nsnbc.

The author(s) has dug up a lot of evidence to suggest that Israel and agents within the US government may be preparing for a false flag operation to justify an attack on Iran.

National Pentagon Radio (NPR) Watch

Click here to access article by John V. Walsh from Dissident Voice. 

I have on numerous occasions become enraged by the flagrant propaganda style of "news" reporting on NPR. I have seen NPR grow from a few radio stations to stations situated all over the radio dial. Corresponding with its growth has been its ever more biased coverage of information in the world. I see it now as a primary propaganda tool of the Empire's One Percent. It functions very much like Radio Free Europe and Voice of America did (the VOA still does) to counter left wing influences in various parts of the world during the Cold War. It is essentially the One Percent's Ministry of Truth.

Human rights and humanitarian imperialism in Syria

Click here to access article by Ajamu Baraka from Pambazuka News. 

Although the website is based in South Africa, the writer is an African American human rights defender. Thus, it is interesting to read his views on the Empire's use of "human rights" increasingly to justify intervention in other countries. Because I am entertaining a guest today, I have only had time to scan this article; but I think it presents an interesting point of view.

Syria is just the latest in a long line of international crimes perpetrated by Western powers. But what makes the crimes in Syria, as those in Libya, even more offensive, is the cynical use of human rights to advance the diabolical interests of Western imperialism.

Climate Change Kills 400,000 a Year, New Report Reveals

Click here to access article from The Daily Beast.

What is new about the Climate Vulnerability Monitor report is its calculation of 400,000 annual deaths from climate change. That is a significant increase over previous estimates. The U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the gold standard for climate science, said in its Fourth Assessment Report in 2007 that climate change caused 150,000 extra deaths a year.