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Why the US is finally talking to Russia

Pepe Escobar
Sputnik
Tue, 19 May 2015 11:50 UTC
Image
© AP Photo/ Andrew Kravchenko, Pool
So a woman walks into a room... That's how quite a few jokes usually start. In our case, self-appointed Queen of Nulandistan Victoria "F**k the EU" walks into a room in Moscow to talk to Russian deputy foreign ministers Sergei Ryabkov and Grigory Karasin.

A joke? Oh no; that really happened. Why?

Let's start with the official reactions. Karasin qualified the talks as "fruitful", while stressing Moscow does not approve of Washington becoming part of the Normandy-style (Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France) negotiations on Ukraine. Not after the relentless demonization not only of the Kremlin but also of Russia as a whole since the Maidan coup.

Comment: The Russia and US situation is getting pretty messy with an "accident" waiting to happen.

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Calculator

World debt to GDP ratio: 286 percent

Michael Snyder
The Economic Collapse Blog
Sun, 17 May 2015 02:11 UTC
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© theeconomiccollapseblog.com
Did you know that there is more than $28,000 of debt for every man, woman and child on the entire planet? And since close to 3 billion of those people survive on less than 2 dollars a day, your share of that debt is going to be much larger than that. If we took everything that the global economy produced this year and everything that the global economy produced next year and used it to pay all of this debt, it still would not be enough. According to a recent report put out by the McKinsey Global Institute entitled "Debt and (not much) deleveraging", the total amount of debt on our planet has grown from 142 trillion dollars at the end of 2007 to 199 trillion dollars today. This is the largest mountain of debt in the history of the world, and those numbers mean that we are in substantially worse condition than we were just prior to the last financial crisis.

When it comes to debt, a lot of fingers get pointed at the United States, and rightly so. Just prior to the last recession, the U.S. national debt was sitting at about 9 trillion dollars. Today, it has crossed the 18 trillion dollar mark. But of course the U.S. is not the only one that is guilty. In fact, the McKinsey Global Institute says that debt levels have grown in all major economies since 2007. The following is an excerpt from the report...
Seven years after the bursting of a global credit bubble resulted in the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, debt continues to grow. In fact, rather than reducing indebtedness, or deleveraging, all major economies today have higher levels of borrowing relative to GDP than they did in 2007. Global debt in these years has grown by $57 trillion, raising the ratio of debt to GDP by 17 percentage points(Exhibit 1). That poses new risks to financial stability and may undermine global economic growth.
What is surprising is that debt has actually grown the most in China. If you can believe it, total Chinese debt has grown from 7 trillion dollars in 2007 to 28 trillion dollars today. Needless to say, that is absolutely insane...

Comment: Mega-Banks are on the brink of failure again: 'The damage will not be contained'

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Cow

'Ag-gag' law targeting undercover workers adopted in North Carolina


RT
Tue, 19 May 2015 00:04 UTC
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© Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images/AFP
Senators in North Carolina passed a bill penalizing all video and audio recording in restricted workplace areas. Critics say it unfairly targets whistleblowers. Previously passed by the House, the bill is now headed to the governor for signature.

The state Senate passed House Bill 405, titled the "Property Protection Act," by a vote of 32-13 on Monday night. The bill would allow business or property owners to press charges against employees who intentionally enter restricted areas to record sound or video, reported Raleigh television station WRAL.

North Carolina governor Pat McCrory is expected to sign the bill into law.

Comment: Yup, can't have anyone exposing what psychopaths do.

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Snakes in Suits

From sugar to Monsanto

Andrea Brower
The Hawaii Independent
Mon, 18 May 2015 23:13 UTC
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Today's occupation of Hawaii by the Agrochemical Oligopoly

Hawai'i's year-round growing season is purportedly the main reason that the global agrochemical-seed industry has located itself in the islands. Monsanto, Dow, DuPont, Syngenta and BASF claim that they operate in Hawai'i solely because of its "natural resource competitive advantage," and that their "contributions ... are at no cost to the State." It is certainly true that Hawai'i's climate is favorable for speeding up the cultivation of herbicide-resistant seeds and testing other agricultural technologies. But a lot more than sunshine makes Hawai'i's soils ideal to growing agrochemical industry products, and the social and political arrangements that facilitate the industry's occupation of the islands are neither "natural" nor without public costs.

Comment: Pesticide & GMO companies spend big in Hawai'i
Hawai'i has become "ground zero" in the controversy over genetically modified (GMO) crops and pesticides. With the seed crop industry (including conventional as well as GMO crops) reaping $146.3 million a year in sales resulting from its activities in Hawai'i, the out-of-state pesticide and GMO firms Syngenta,Monsanto, DuPont Pioneer, Dow Chemical, BASF, and Bayer Crop Science have brought substantial sums of corporate cash into the state's relatively small political arena.

These "Big 6" pesticide and GMO firms are active on the islands in a big way, making use of the three to four annual growing seasons to develop new GMO seeds more quickly. The development of new GMOs by these pesticide and seed conglomerates goes hand-in-hand with heavy pesticide use in some of the islands' experimental crop fields, new data show.

Of the "Big 6" chemical and seed companies and their trade associations lobbying and/or contributing to political candidates in Hawai'i, Bayer, Dow,CropLife America (a pesticide and agricultural chemical trade association), and the American Chemistry Council have ties to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).

ALEC approved a "model" bill in 2013 for states to override the ability of counties and cities to democratically determine how they will regulate GMOs at the local and regional level, as CMD has reported.


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Roses

Beemageddon: White House reveals national strategy to tackle honeybee decline


RT
Tue, 19 May 2015 21:24 UTC
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© Reuters / Dominic Ebenbichler
The dwindling number of honeybees in the US has been a constant worry for farmers in recent years - and now the White House is buzzing into action. On Tuesday, the Obama administration unveiled a new strategy aimed at protecting honeybees' habitat.

The National Strategy to Promote the Health of Honey Bees and Other Pollinators will seek to manage the way forests are burned by wildfires and replanted, how offices are landscaped, and how roadside habitats where bees feed are preserved.

Drawing on the work of 14 agencies, along with the private sector, it aims to reduce honeybee colony losses during winter to no more than 15 percent within a decade. It also states that the government and private entities will restore or enhance 7 million acres of land for pollinators over the next five years.

Comment: If it wasn't for the massive loss of profit for the food companies relying on bee pollination, nothing would be done. By the time the government gets around to do anything, it may be too late.

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Briefcase

The IMF leaks Greece

Raúl Ilargi Meijer
The Automatic Earth
Mon, 18 May 2015 15:27 UTC
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© Reuters
Whenever secret or confidential information or documents are leaked to the press, the first question should always be who leaked it and why. That's often more important than the contents of what has been leaked. And since there's been a lot of hullabaloo about a leaked document the past two days, here's a closer look. Spoiler alert: the document(s) don't reveal much of anything new, despite the hullabaloo.

On Saturday, Paul Mason at Channel 4 in Britain posted an IMF document(s) that according to him says, among other things, that the IMF expects a June 5 Grexit - in one form or another - if there is no agreement before that date between Athens and its creditors, 'the institutions' (of which the IMF itself is one).

The leaking is simply what it is as long as we don't know the how and why. But the question will remain why somebody takes the risk to leak something only a small and select group of people are privy to. Is it leaked because it's politically important, does Paul Mason pay a lot of money for leaks? Or is it perhaps an intentional leak, in this case ordered by IMF higher-ups? And if so, for what reason? A veiled threat?
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Stock Down

Representatives of international finance warn world leaders of coming economic crisis


Sputnik News
Tue, 19 May 2015 14:08 UTC
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© Sputnik/ Igor Samoilov
Representatives of the international financial industry are calling on state leaders to take precautions regarding the next possible economic crisis. They fear that too much money has flowed in the wrong direction and are appealing to strengthen controls over the granting of loans, Deutsche Wirtschafts Nachrichten reported.

Heads of international financial companies have warned of the possible bursting of asset bubbles and called on state governments to better control the granting of loans to avoid a new financial crisis, DWN reported.

The paper released under the moderation of the World Economic Forum (WEF) points out that fundamental problems of the financial markets have not been resolved, despite the fact that central banks pumped millions into money markets.

Comment: There has already been plenty of "interaction" between banks and political circles, and that's one of the problems in an oligarchy. For a great overview of this economic quagmire, check out 2015 the BRICS checkmate Western finance:
Long story short, banks are investing way more money than they own. Thanks to those investments that reach into the $trillions, they totally control most markets and, of course, they make huge profits when the market goes in the direction they want. But they also take tremendous risks if the market goes in the other direction.


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Snakes in Suits

Texas officially prohibits cities from banning fracking


RT
Tue, 19 May 2015 14:51 UTC
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© Reuters/Terry Wade
A new Texas law signed by Republican Governor Greg Abbott prohibits cities and towns from imposing local ordinances to prevent fracking and other potentially environmentally harmful oil and natural gas activities.

In debating the law, Texas lawmakers emphasized the state's successful development of oil and gas for more than 100 years. The bill received a two-thirds majority vote in the Texas House and Senate. The law preempts municipal authorities from regulating oil and gas operations "within its boundaries or extraterritorial jurisdiction." Local authorities can only pass ordinances and other measures to "regulate only surface activity" in ways that are "commercially reasonable" to oil and gas operations.

Comment: This is a big win for the oil and gas companies. The bill was dressed up as a win for property owners' rights and job creation when in actuality it was about big business getting their way regardless of the consequences to people and the environment.

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Yoda

Western isolation of Russia has failed, opens new opportunities for Putin


Sputnik
Tue, 19 May 2015 13:46 UTC
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© Sputnik/ Vladimir Pesnya
All attempts by Western countries to put political and economic pressure on Russia have failed. If anything, they have helped Vladimir Putin to become an even more popular leader, Boulevard Voltaire said.

Over the last year, Russia has gone through some tough times — the political isolation from the West over the country's alleged intervention in the Ukrainian crisis, the fall of the ruble and economic sanctions.

However, at the end of the day, Russian President Vladimir Putin came out as a victor from all the adversities and should even thank the West for giving him an opportunity to strengthen his country, open up new economic venues and unite his citizens under a new national idea, French magazine Boulevard Voltaire reported.

After the Western-backed illegal coup that ousted officially elected Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych in February 2014 and the start of the Ukrainian civil war, Russia was able to re-unite with Crimea. The people of the Crimean peninsula did not accept the illegal coup in Kiev and voted to get out of Ukraine and join back the Russian Federation. Thus, Russia ended up expanding its territory, Boulevard Voltaire said.

Comment: It's clear by now that the West has initiated its own downfall by overstepping its bounds. Instead of harming Russia, the Western sanctions have created a more united and stronger Russia under Putin's leadership. Worthy leaders know how to utilize adversity and apply the lessons learned to enrich the people and systems they are responsible for. Putin is doing just that.

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Magnify

Problem solved: NATO and EU want to bomb 'refugee terrorists' they created

Ante Sarlija & Niall Bradley
Sott.net
Tue, 19 May 2015 16:25 UTC
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2015
The latest chapter in NATO's 'anti-terror' operations seems to be opening up, again in Libya.

In case you didn't know, 'ISIS jihadists' are coming to Europe and the UK! Disguised as Muslim refugees they are "hell-bent on committing atrocities," thus the necessity of 'bombing them over there so we don't have to bomb them here'. The story goes that ISIS is 'blending in' with refugees on their boat crossings to Europe, thus ALL refugees coming to Europe could potentially be 'terrorists'. So, bomb them!

The US (NATO) which is responsible for causing the humanitarian crisis and, as it happens, ISIS itself, is once again offering a 'solution' to a problem it created. If you don't want hordes of refugees, then don't bomb their homes; that's the simple truth that is lost on NATO warmongers. But the price of killing innocent people - as Madeleine Albright would say - is always "worth it". Especially when you can just call the refugees you create "terrorists", and threaten to kill them too.

NATO is not only capitalizing on the ISIS 'threat', it's using the 'concern' about the refugee crisis it created to continue to 'manage' the Middle East in a way that ensures Western control of the oil spigot and keeps Russia and China out of southwest Asia. Another Western intervention will, of course, cause even more displaced persons and spawn more terrorists in a never-ending loop, but don't expect the goons running NATO to care or have the perspicacity to foresee that inevitable consequence. It's a twisted world of psychopaths in power that wouldn't appear in your worst nightmares.
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