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US economy: Platitudes, Hypocrisies and "Pimpocracy"

Bill Bonner
The Daily Reckoning
Wed, 25 Mar 2015 00:00 UTC
US pimpocracy
© unknown
Let's take a look at how the US economy, money and government have changed since President Nixon ended the gold-backed monetary system in 1971.

It is not pretty.

We already know about the money. Since 1971, it's been a credit-based, not a gold-based, system.

The pre-1971 economy had three key characteristics:
  1. It was healthy — Industry made things and sold them at a profit.
  2. It was fair — Financial progress was fairly evenly distributed.
  3. It was solvent — The US was a creditor, not a debtor, nation.
Americans still say they believe in free markets, democracy and financial rectitude. But only as platitudes and hypocrisies.

Comment: This is where US economy headed in the not so distant future.

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War Whore

Criminal behavior: New York Times and Washington Post publish articles calling for the bombing of Iran

Robert Parry
Consortium News
Sat, 28 Mar 2015 18:34 UTC
bomb flag
If two major newspapers in, say, Russia published major articles openly advocating the unprovoked bombing of a country, say, Israel, the U.S. government and news media would be aflame with denunciations about "aggression," "criminality," "madness," and "behavior not fitting the Twenty-first Century."

But when the newspapers are American - the New York Times and the Washington Post - and the target country is Iran, no one in the U.S. government and media bats an eye. These inflammatory articles - these incitements to murder and violation of international law - are considered just normal discussion in the Land of Exceptionalism.
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Laptop

Facebook 'breaks EU laws' tracking logged-out users, people with no account via 'like' button


RT
Wed, 01 Apr 2015 14:04 UTC
Image
© Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images
A thumbs up 'Like' icon is on the door at the entrance to Building 10 at Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, California, May 15, 2012. Facebook, the word's most popular social networking website, expects to raise USD 12.1 billion in what will be Silicon Valley's largest-ever initial public offering (IPO) later this week.
Even if you have opted out of the tracking option in Facebook, or don't have account at all, the company is still watching your web movements through the use of social plugins, thereby breaking EU laws, says a report by the Belgian Privacy Commission.

A report commissioned by the BPC has discovered that Facebook tracks everyone, even logged-out users or people who don't have an account at all, primarily through the use of cookies and the 'like' button which is found on more than 13 million websites worldwide.

According to EU law, websites must receive a user's permission before placing any cookies on their computers. The automatic placement of tracking cookies is in "violation of European law," that is why all EU websites ask users to 'allow cookies' on the first visit.

By default Facebook installs tracking cookies - tiny files containing user's settings and previous activity - upon a visit to any page on the facebook.com domain, which translates into tracking users for advertising purposes across non-Facebook websites.

However, as the report found, for non-users or those who opted out, Facebook instead installed a special cookie called 'datr' which still contains a unique identifier and thus could be used to track user during every visit to a website containing a Facebook 'like' button.

Facebook disputed the conclusions of the report, claiming it "contains factual inaccuracies," according to an emailed statement to the Guardian. "The authors have never contacted us, nor sought to clarify any assumptions upon which their report is based," the statement said.

Comment: See also:

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Passport

Man claiming to be a US scholar recruited Uygur students at Guangzhou university for terrorist activities


South China Morning Post
Fri, 27 Mar 2015 19:02 UTC
Image
© SCMP Pictures
South China Normal University in Guangzhou
Man claiming to be researcher showed up at Guangzhou campus and helped members of ethnic minority go to Malaysia, sources say

Uygur students in Guangzhou have been warned to stay away from "outsiders" after several were recruited by a suspected religious extremist and had been missing since last year, various sources told the South China Morning Post.

A man claiming to be a US national conducting social science research visited the campus of the South China Normal University [SCNU] last year. Sources said the man recruited several Uygur students, gave them money and arranged for them to flee to Malaysia.

It is not clear if Malaysia was their final destination, or whether they were headed for Turkey or Syria, as some believe.

The recruiter was believed to be a member of an extremist religious group, according to a source who did not elaborate. A mainland terrorism expert said this was not an isolated case.

He said similar terrorist recruitments had been reported over the past two years at universities in Guangzhou, Beijing and Xian.

"The recruitment network of Islamic State has already spread to Beijing and Xian as well as Guangzhou," said Professor Yang Shu, an expert on Central Asia at Lanzhou University in Gansu province.

The SCNU noticed the absence of some Uygur students but first treated them as missing person cases, sources said. But the authorities later intercepted a Uygur student who tried to leave the campus and join the recruiter. "[The student] was busted on campus and confessed. Their plan was revealed," a source said.

The authorities kept the incident secret. Shortly afterwards, all Uygur students in Guangzhou were issued verbal but stern warnings that they must stay away from strangers and people not belonging to the school.

Comment: Is Guangzhou turning into a new hot spot in China's fight against smuggling and terrorism?

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Heart

Russian lawmakers suggest making citizenship easier for Ukrainians


RT
Wed, 01 Apr 2015 18:01 UTC
Image
© RIA Novosti / Vladimir Kornev
A family of refugees from southeastern Ukraine seen near the Federal Migration Service's office in Belgorod which is going to provide them with temporary residence permits and refugee statuses
A group of Russian MPs say there are often deliberate obstructions for Ukrainians who want to change their citizenship to Russian, and suggest getting round this problem by cutting the number of required documents.

The advocates of the motion are from the center-left Fair Russia party and its leader Sergey Mironov is among the sponsors of the bill.

"Thousands of Ukrainians are given various excuses and then after document problems they are refused Russian citizenship. Ukrainian authorities treat their citizens who choose to move to Russia like second-class citizens. Our bill would alleviate the situation and would simply ask Ukrainians to renounce their initial citizenship," MP Oleg Nilov said in an interview with Izvestia daily.

Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians have moved to Russia since the beginning of the armed conflict in the Lugansk and Donetsk regions, fleeing from war, destruction and military conscription. Their numbers are difficult to estimate, because Russia and Ukraine have a visa-free regime. However, last autumn Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the figure was approaching one million.
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Attention

Right Sector nazis now officially part of Ukraine army


Fort Russ
Mon, 30 Mar 2015 18:24 UTC
yarosh
Rada Deputy and Ukrainian nationalist leader Dmitriy Yarosh announced that a procedure for incorporating the Right Sector into the UAF as a subordinate organization had been agreed upon. The two sides agreed at a closed meeting between Ukrainian MOD representatives and Yarosh in Dnepropetrovsk to adopt as a model the cooperation between the Tallinn government and the Estonia Defense Union, which began in the early 1990s.

"We agreed to introduce a bill that would establish the Right Sector as the basis for an organization similar to the Estonia Defense Union. We will have reserve units, combat units. This will be a compromise system, the golden middle which will satisfy both us and the government institutions," Yarosh told Ukrainian journalists.

The Estonia Defense Union is a volunteer paramilitary formation which is part of the national army and which is financed by the state, but which at the same time retains certain autonomy. The EDU participates in national and international military exercises, and also prepares personnel for militias that patrol assigned territory.

Moreover, EDU units have their own command. Obviously it's that aspect of the organization that persuaded the Ukrainian radicals to cooperate with the GenStaff, after all the Right Sector HQ said many times they would not accept a leader other than Yarosh. Therefore the nationalists will become an official part of the armed forces, while retaining certain autonomy.

Comment: Does Poroshenko think he knows what he's doing? Who in his right mind would give MORE power to a gang of nazi mercenaries who could threaten his own power? The mind boggles!

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Bomb

Kiss and tell: Pentagon admits Israel is a nuclear power

Vladimir Platov
New Eastern Outlook
Wed, 01 Apr 2015 17:46 UTC
israel nuke
In early February, the Pentagon declassified reports on Israel's nuclear weapons program which was carried out until 1987. According to these documents, Israeli scientists were capable of producing a hydrogen bomb by that time. Although these facts were largely ignored by the Western media, some analysts have noticed that the declassification of these secret reports suspiciously coincided with the recent, rapidly deteriorating relationship between the US and Israel. As Tel Aviv started a massive campaign of criticism aimed at the Obama administration, both in the US media and worldwide, the Pentagon's revelations were quick to follow. It is also noteworthy that only the facts on the Israeli nuclear weapons program were declassified, while information regarding similar activities of NATO allies (in particular Italy, France, and West Germany) remained locked up.

The 386 pages report "Сritical technology assessment in Israel and Nato nations," was prepared in 1987 by the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA) and examined the capabilities Israel had already had at that time to produce nuclear weapons. In particular, the study underlines the fact that Israel's secret laboratories, engaged in the development of an atomic bomb, were on par with the key research nuclear arsenals of the US: Los Alamos, Lawrence Livermore and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Comment: Thinks aren't looking too pretty for the U.S.-Israeli love affair... Speaking of nukes, Crimea's leader, Sergey Aksyonov, recently said Crimea would welcome Russia placing nuclear weapons on its soil. Nope, Ukraine ain't getting Crimea back, no matter how much they bluster and boast about doing so.

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Yoda

Putin considering visit to U.S. in September to deliver speech at UN


RT
Wed, 01 Apr 2015 16:58 UTC
Image
© RIA Novosti / Aleksey Druzhinin
President Vladimir Putin may travel to New York City to deliver a speech at the opening of the UN General Assembly in September, a Russian newspaper reported, quoting several sources close to the Kremlin.

Kommersant Daily quoted sources "close to the presidential administration" as saying that Putin's trip to the United States was already in the preparatory stage. The newspaper also claimed that a source in the United Nations' secretariat confirmed this.

However, all the sources noted that Putin's plans would become clear only in early August. They also emphasized that "everything depends on the international situation."

Putin's press secretary Dmitry Peskov also said that no final decision has been made on the trip.

"Attending the General Assembly Session is one of the options that are being considered and in this sense it is not very important that it will be the anniversary one."

In September the United Nations will hold its 70th General Assembly session, with many world leaders expected to participate.

Comment: It would be good for Americans to hear from a real statesman for once, instead of the cardboard cutout versions that are currently running the country.

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Green Light

Long over-due: Opening the door for war crimes prosecution, Palestine gets ICC membership


RT
Wed, 01 Apr 2015 13:59 UTC
Image
© Reuters/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa
Palestinians walk near the ruins of houses in Gaza City.
Palestine is soon to have its day in court, after securing long-awaited membership at The Hague. Plagued by constant setbacks to a peace deal with Israel, the ICC newcomer wants to see Tel Aviv on the stand for alleged war crimes in Gaza.

The April 1 accession to the International Criminal Court is the most substantial step to date in Palestine's international legal campaign to seek justice for Israel's operation 'Protective Edge' last summer, in which thousands of civilians were killed.

Shortly before the summer assaults, Israel insisted that Hamas was firing rockets into its territory and answered with massive bombardment, complete with a ground phase that saw destruction on a scale not seen for decades. After 50 days, a ceasefire was agreed upon.

ICC membership has been years in the making. It comes after Palestine gained UN observers status, followed by an increasing number of European countries recognizing them as an independent state or considering it. Israel's operation tipped the balance in the Palestinians' favor.
Image
© RT
It remains unclear how soon Palestine will be filing complaints against the Israelis, but an initial probe into war crimes by both sides is already in progress. The deadly July-August assault on Gaza has never been subject to a thorough, independent investigation, and the occupation of disputed territories and settlement-building by Israel is also ongoing.

"The legal and technical committees have been extensively working on finalizing the two files" on Israel's summer operation and its illegal settlement building, Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator in peace talks with Israel, told reporters.

Comment: It's going to be interesting to see what happens now that Russia publicly committed to help Palestine become independent.

Putin says Russia to help Palestine become independent state

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Eye 2

New report details sickening torture methods used by Nazi Kiev junta on E. Ukraine civilians


Oriental Review
Thu, 26 Mar 2015 15:08 UTC
Image



Comment: Remember, these are the actions of a government created and supported by the U.S. government. They are allowing the Nazi Ukraine government to torture innocent civilians for no purpose. Most trained military and law enforcement understand that a victim being tortured will admit to anything to end their pain and suffering. So, the purpose of their torture is clearly not to gain information, but to purposefully cause pain and suffering to innocent civilians. This is your government Americans, they are allowing this to happen under your name. How much does it take for people to stand up and say enough is enough?


On Monday March 23, the US House of Representatives adopted H. Res. 162 urging president Obama "to provide Ukraine with military assistance" in dire attempt to reignite conflict in the East of Ukraine, mainly frozen as a result of February 2015 Minsk agreements between Kiev and the outbreak Donetsk and Lugansk provinces with French, German and Russian mediation. The general presumptions of the resolution are as evident as false: it contains routine mantras about "Russian aggression", "Crimea occupation", "violent separatist proxies" and "insurrection that has resulted in over 6,000 dead, 15,000 wounded, and more than a million displaced persons", as if the insurgents are using heavy artillery against their own cities and killing their own children (to say nothing about the fact that "displaced persons" are predominantly running to Russia to seek protection and personal safety away from the conflict zone).

Meanwhile earlier this month the Foundation for the Study of Democracy (FSD) has published a new comprehensive report «War Crimes of the Armed Forces and Security Forces of Ukraine». It is based on the evidence provided since August 2014 to January 2015 by at least 200 residents of the Donetsk and Lugansk provinces who were forcefully detained and kidnapped by the Ukrainian military and security forces and later handed back to Donetsk and Lugansk authorities according to "hostages release" provisions of the September 2014 Minsk protocol. Here we provide a dozen of citations of this bone-chilling document:

The prisoners were electrocuted, beaten cruelly and for multiple days in a row with different objects (iron bars, baseball bats, sticks, rifle butts, bayonet knives, rubber batons).

Techniques widely used by the Ukrainian armed forces and security forces include waterboarding, strangling with a 'Banderist garrotte' and other types of strangling.
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