Thought better of it: NSA can get rid of evidence, judge says

Published on Russia Today RT, June 7, 2014.

A federal judge who ordered the National Security Agency to retain all records of its secret telephone surveillance related to an ongoing case has reversed the order – just a day after it was issued.

“In order to protect national security programs, I cannot issue a ruling at this time. The Court rescinds the June 5 order,” US District Judge Jeffrey White said from the bench on Friday.   Continuer la lecture de « Thought better of it: NSA can get rid of evidence, judge says »

Why Ukraine’s Civil War Is of Global Historical Importance

Published on Global Research.ca, by Eric Zuesse, June 7, 2014.

… This civil war is of massive historical importance, because it re-starts the global Cold War, this time no longer under the fig-leaf rationalization of an ideological battle between “capitalism” versus “communism,” but instead more raw, as a struggle between, on the one hand, the U.S. and West European aristocracies; and, on the other hand, the newly emerging aristocracies of Russia and of China. Like had happened in World War I, this global war is between two contending aristocratic alliances. (That’s the standard thing, we historians know; it’s nothing unusual there.) However, the documentation of the history is much clearer and far faster for this new war, than for former global wars, regarding which of the two sides had really initiated it, and why … // Continuer la lecture de « Why Ukraine’s Civil War Is of Global Historical Importance »

Grand Geopolitical Project: Russia’s Gazprom signs Agreement to Abandon the Dollar

Published on Global Research.ca, by Umberto Pascali, June 7, 2014.

The announcement that the agreement has been actually signed and not just discussed was made by Gazprom’s Chief Executive Officer, Alexander Dyukov.

Despite the pressures from Wall Street and its military, propaganda and political apparatus, 9 out of 10 consumers of Gazprom’s oil and gas agreed to pay in Euros. Of course, the big watershed was the Gazprom unprecedented 30-years $400Bl natural gas supply to China signed in Shanghai last May 21 in the presence of President Putin and President Xi Jinping in the middle of the Anglo-american sponsored violent destabilization of Ukraine.   Continuer la lecture de « Grand Geopolitical Project: Russia’s Gazprom signs Agreement to Abandon the Dollar »

Democracy’s Crisis in 10 points

Published on Dissident Voice, by Jan Oberg, June 6, 2014.

… It’s not always included in the definitions that democracy requires a reasonable level of knowledge and information, freely available. For instance, one often hears that India is the world’s biggest democracy but 26% of the people are still illiterate (287 million people).   Continuer la lecture de « Democracy’s Crisis in 10 points »

Immigration to Germany: Better Qualified than the Domestic Population

Published on Spiegel Online International, Interview with Reiner Klingholz, by Maximilian Popp, June 5, 2014 (Translated from the German by Charles Hawley):
In recent years, Germany has begun attracting large numbers of highly qualified immigrants. Demographics expert Reiner Klingholz says that the development could be vital to the country’s future, despite ongoing problems with integration … //

… SPIEGEL: Why do children and grandchildren of Turkish immigrants have such a difficult time in school and on the labor market?   Continuer la lecture de « Immigration to Germany: Better Qualified than the Domestic Population »

Rule from the Shadows

uploaded on YouTube by StormCloudsGathering:

The Psychology of Power, Part 1, 37.23 min, Jan 7, 2014;

Snowden, The NSA and a Crime of High Treason, 4.54 min, June 3, 2014 … //
… and 78 more videos in autoplay: The divide that separates the ruling class from from the people who actually keep society functioning keeps getting wider and wider. Nothing illustrates this fact quite like the « debate » over the NSA’s mass surveillance and Edward Snowden’s role in exposing it.
Sources and full transcript here.

Infrastructure sticker shock: Financing costs more than building it

Published on Intrepid Report, by Ellen Brown, June 4, 2014.

Funding infrastructure through bonds doubles the price or worse. Costs can be cut in half by funding through the state’s own bank.

“The numbers are big. There is sticker shock,” said Jason Peltier, deputy manager of the Westlands Water District, describing Governor Jerry Brown’s plan to build two massive water tunnels through the California Delta. “But consider your other scenarios. How much more groundwater can we pump?”   Continuer la lecture de « Infrastructure sticker shock: Financing costs more than building it »

When Fat Cats Meet in Munich: Welcoming the International Monetary Confernce

Global Power Project: Part 4 of 4 Part Series – Published on Dissident Voice, by Andrew Gavin Marshall, June 1, 2014.
(Read Part 1 here; Part 2 here; Part 3 here).

… At the 1992 International Monetary Conference in Toronto, there was a general consensus among private bankers and public officials that, as a result of enormous over-lending to Latin America and developing countries throughout the previous debt-crisis decade, the task of financing “the transformation of the former Soviet Union to a market economy” could not be left to bank loans alone. Hilmar Kopper, the CEO of Deutsche Bank, told the conference attendees that commercial banks would only engage in large-scale financing if there were “government-guaranteed credits” and “an agreement on the old debt,” implying that the banks would essentially need the guarantee of a government bailout scheme if things got bad.   Continuer la lecture de « When Fat Cats Meet in Munich: Welcoming the International Monetary Confernce »

#DirenKazova: the Turkish factory under workers’ control

Published on Roarmag.org, by Joris Leverink, May 29, 2014.

On the eve of the first anniversary of the Gezi uprising, a small group of textile workers explores a radical alternative: occupy, resist, produce!

Diren!Kazova, reads the sign above a small shop and cultural center in Istanbul’s busy Sisli neighborhood. Inside, the floor is made of cobblestones, giving the visitor the impression of arriving at a type of indoor street market. Slogans like ’1st of May!’, ‘Resist Kazova!’ and ‘Long Live the Revolution!’ are written on the stones, scattered across the room. From the walls hang racks full of sweaters, hundreds of them. At first glance they appear to be just ordinary sweaters. That is, until one learns the story behind them. Then suddenly the sweaters turn into symbols of resistance, signs of defiance, and the materialized hope for a more equal society, a more just economy — yes, for a better world even … // Continuer la lecture de « #DirenKazova: the Turkish factory under workers’ control »

the American Majority and its deadly chronic decease called apathy

… see article We’ve had more than enough revelations … and the American Majority has spoken, published on Intrepid Report, by Sibel Edmonds, May 30, 2014.

They say we need more revelations. I say we have had more than enough revelations on synthetic wars, atrocities, surveillance and torture. They wonder when the majority of Americans are going to speak up. And I say: The American Majority has already spoken—loud and clear.   Continuer la lecture de « the American Majority and its deadly chronic decease called apathy »

What is our crime? Saudi princesses denied food for over 60 days

Published on Russia Today RT, May 31, 2014.

Deprived of their basic needs, the four Saudi royal princesses kept in 13-year isolation by their father, King Abdullah, have surpassed 60 days without food.

The monarch’s daughters fell out of their father’s favor for speaking out against the ill treatment of women in the Gulf kingdom. It is also believed that the king was angry at the girls’ mother for not giving him a son.   Continuer la lecture de « What is our crime? Saudi princesses denied food for over 60 days »

Poverty in Europe

Poverty in the European Union on the increase, on Real-World Economcs Review Blog, by merijknibbe. May 29, 2014 … people at risk of poverty or social exclusion … According to Deirdre McCloskey, poverty (and growth) is a much more important problem than inequality …;

680,000 Greek Children at Risk of Living in Poverty, on Greek Reporter, by Nikoleta Kalmouki, May 29, 2014;   Continuer la lecture de « Poverty in Europe »

Europe and Ukraine: A tale of two elections

Published on Russia Today RT, May 27, 2014.

Circumstances surrounding the European and Ukrainian elections were far from being a mere coincidence.

The regime changers in Kiev decided to hold a presidential election on May 25, the same day as European Parliament elections, in order to demonstrate their desire to follow a European-centric foreign policy.   Continuer la lecture de « Europe and Ukraine: A tale of two elections »

Interview with Alex Pentland: Can We Use Big Data to Make Society Better? – part 1

Published on Spiegel Online International, by Spiegel staff, May 26, 2014.

In a SPIEGEL interview, American data scientist Alex Pentland discusses how data streams can be used to determine the laws of human interaction. He argues the information can be used to help forge better societies.

Alex Pentland, 62, heads the Human Dynamics Lab at the Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is considered one of the world’s leading data scientists. In his new book, Social Physics: How Good Ideas Spread — The Lessons from a New Science, he argues that human communication behaviors follow the rules of mathematics. Continuer la lecture de « Interview with Alex Pentland: Can We Use Big Data to Make Society Better? – part 1 »