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The Roads To War And Economic Collapse

November 24, 2011 by ·

The day before the Thanksgiving holiday brought three extraordinary news items.  One was the report on the Republican presidential campaign debate. One was the Russian President’s statement about his country’s response to Washington’s missile bases surrounding his country. And one was the failure of a German government bond auction.

As the presstitute media will not inform us of what any of this means, let me try.

With the exception of Ron Paul, the only candidate in either party qualified to be the president of the US, the rest of the Republican candidates are even worst than Obama, a president who had the country behind him but sold out the American people to the special interests. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Foreign Policy, Government, Politics ·

Insight – “The Lady” Media Splash Presents New Face Of Myanmar

November 23, 2011 by ·

As Myanmar loosens media controls, one woman’s image is everywhere, from newspapers to magazines to television programmes: pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, or simply “The Lady” as she is known here.

“The Lady is good for business,” said Ko Lynn, a senior editor at a Yangon weekly journal, one of many publications enjoying the slight relaxation in recent months of the government’s strict regulation of the media.

“Before, we ran about 6,000 copies. Now, it’s 10,000.” [Read more...]

Filed Under: Humanities, People, Politics ·

From Prisoner Of The State To Future President?

November 19, 2011 by ·

Ms Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) voted unanimously to re-enter the formal political process, after boycotting last year’s election. The party made the announcement on the same day Barack Obama revealed that the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, will visit Burma next month, the first of its kind for 50 years.

“Aung San Suu Kyi was released from house arrest last year … She has met with the President. There has been the release of political prisoners, though not all of them,” Ms Suu Kyi’s senior aide, U Win Htein, said last night from Rangoon. “My prediction is that she will [contest a seat].”

Although Ms Suu Kyi has given no indication of wanting to stand for the highest office of President, she would be the most popular choice in any free and fair election in the country where she is referred to simply and adoringly as The Lady. At present, the President is elected not by the people, but by parliament, which is heavily stacked with military cronies. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Foreign Policy, People, Politics ·

The Devil We Knew

November 18, 2011 by ·

During the first 25 years of its existence, until Hafez al-Assad came to power in 1970, the Syrian republic was a weak unstable state, an arena in which regional and international rivalries were played out. The first Assad reversed this state of affairs by turning Syria into a comparatively stable and powerful state, a player in regional and international politics.

This was part of the unwritten pact between the regime and Syria’s urban population. Stability, prestige and a leading role in Arab nationalist “resistance” (to the United States and Israel) made up for the regime’s authoritarianism and corruption, and the hegemony of the minority Alawite sect.

The outbreak of the revolt against the regime last March marked the end of this unwritten contract, and pushed Syria back to its pre-1970 state. It is once again an arena of regional and international rivalries, reflecting the changes that are transforming the region’s politics. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Foreign Policy, Humanities, People, Politics ·

Iran’s Unyielding; Panetta’s Consideration; UN’s Standing For Negotiation

November 11, 2011 by ·

After Israel warned the world must act to prevent Iran getting nuclear weapons, the country’s supreme leader in Iran on Thursday said, Iran “will respond with full force” to fight back any attack — or even any threat of military action – against its nuclear sites.

Iran “will respond with full force to any aggression or even threats in a way that will demolish the aggressors from within,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told students at a Teheran military college. Khamenei said the message was directed at Iran’s enemies, “especially America and its stooges and the Zionist regime (Israel).”

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta considers military strike would lead to serious impact. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Humanities, Nuclear Facility, Politics, Technologies ·

News Of The World Investigator Targeted Islamic Militants

November 8, 2011 by ·

Prominent Islamic militants in London were targeted by a private investigator working for Rupert Murdoch’s now-closed News of the World tabloid, according to data obtained by Reuters.

The data, which was collected by British government investigators in 2006 as they looked into alleged media abuses, show that a News of the World journalist commissioned private investigator Steve Whittamore to gather data on Abu Hamza and Abu Qatada, two of London’s most controversial militant clerics.

Mohammed al Massari, a Saudi dissident who lives in London, was also targeted in the same way, the data shows.

The information does not indicate whether the newspaper or private eye hacked into any of the militants’ voicemails, an illegal tactic used by another detective employed by paper who was jailed in 2007 along with a reporter for hacking into the voicemails of celebrities and aides to Britain’s royal family. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Humanities, People, Politics ·

The Globalisation Of Protest

November 7, 2011 by ·

Protesters around the world say they are part of a generation that played by the rules but has no hope for the future.

The protest movement that began in Tunisia in January, subsequently spreading to Egypt and then to Spain, has now become global – with the protests engulfing Wall Street and cities across America. Globalisation and modern technology now enables social movements to transcend borders as rapidly as ideas can.

And social protest has found fertile ground everywhere: A sense that the “system” has failed, and the conviction that even in a democracy, the electoral process will not set things right – at least not without strong pressure from the street. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Art, Humanities, Politics ·