In an Age of Realists and Vigilantes, there is Cause for Optimism

Published on Zcommunications, by John Pilger, September 19, 2013.

The most important anniversary of the year was the 40th anniversary of 11 September 1973 – the crushing of the democratic government of Chile by General Augusto Pinochet and Henry Kissinger, then US secretary of state. The National Security Archive in Washington has posted new documents that reveal much about Kissinger’s role in an atrocity that cost thousands of lives.   Continuer la lecture de « In an Age of Realists and Vigilantes, there is Cause for Optimism »

What Greece’s and Mexico’s teachers have in common

Published on ROARMAG.org, by Leonidas Oikonomakis, September 17, 2013 (inclusive two short-videos);

… Of course, this indirect privatization of public schools was downplayed by the state-controlled (or vice-versa?) Mexican media, which focused on the “quality controls” finally imposed on the “lazy and privileged” teachers. The teachers on their own turn mobilized, organized marches and bloqueos and — most importantly — occupied the main square of the capital in thousands since the 19th of August 2013. The teachers’ mobilization lasted for three weeks until his highness, the Butcher of Atenco — a.k.a. Enrique Peña Nieto — ordered the police to brutally evict the teachers from the Zócalo, on 14 September 2013.  Continuer la lecture de « What Greece’s and Mexico’s teachers have in common »

GMOs: controversy and a new study by EFSA over the next 2 years

Seralini validated by new EFSA guidelines on long-term GMO experiments – Published on GMwatch.org, Comment by Claire Robinson of GMWatch and Earth Open Source, 31 July 2013.

The European Food Safety Authority  (EFSA) has issued guidelines for two-year whole food feeding studies to assess the risk of long-term toxicity from GM foods: Considerations on the applicability of OECD TG 453 to whole food/feed testing, EFSA Journal 2013;11(7):3347 [18 pp.]. – doi:10.2903/j.efsa.2013.3347   Continuer la lecture de « GMOs: controversy and a new study by EFSA over the next 2 years »

Neoliberalism, or the Catastrophic Management of Catastrophe

Published on ROARMAG (also on ZNet), by Jérôme Roos, September 14, 2013.

… The catastrophic management of catastrophe. If there is one line that describes the nature of neoliberal crisis management, that must be it. From Mexico and Latin America in 1982 to the South-East Asian crisis of 1997-’98, and from Turkey and Argentina in the early 2000s to the European debt crisis from 2010 onward — the most catastrophic thing about neoliberal crisis management is not only that it has a penchant to turn already catastrophic financial crises caused by runaway private speculation into an immense source of private gain for the same very financiers responsible for the catastrophe to begin with;  Continuer la lecture de « Neoliberalism, or the Catastrophic Management of Catastrophe »

Leiharbeit im deutschen Wahlkampf

ARD Video-Sendung: Endspurt im Wahlkampf, wer kann jetzt noch punkten? 67.39 min, auf ARD mediathek.de, 16. September 2013. Nach zirka 42 Minuten erscheint folgende Reportage: zirka 50 Leiharbeiter* bei ThyssenKrupp sollen nach ihrem Arbeitstag am Ausgang in einer Test-Wahl ihre Stimme abgeben, wen sie denn nächsten Sonntag wählen würden.

Resultat: CDU  64% / FDP   2% / SPD  13% / Grüne 4% / Linke 9%       Continuer la lecture de « Leiharbeit im deutschen Wahlkampf »

Putin steps into world leadership role

Published on Intrepid Report, by Paul Craig Roberts, Sept 16, 2013;

Putin’s article in the September 11 New York Times has the stuck pigs squealing. The squealing stuck pigs are just who you thought they would be—all those whose agendas and profits would be furthered by an attack on Syria by the Obama Stasi regime.
Included among the squealing stuck pigs are Human Rights Watch bloggers who seem to be financed out of the CIA’s back pocket.
Does any institution remain that has not been corrupted by Washington’s money?    Continuer la lecture de « Putin steps into world leadership role »

Drones and Gadflies: Framing the Debate on War by Remote Control

Published on ZNet, by Brian Terrell, September 14, 2013.

… My own anti-drone activism began with protests at Creech Air Force Base in the Nevada desert in April, 2009. Even some otherwise well informed people were skeptical, back then, that such things were even possible, much less happening daily. Many who were aware accepted the simple and happy narrative of drone warfare as a precise new high-tech system in which soldiers from a safe distance of thousands of miles can pin point those who mean us imminent harm with little or no collateral damage.   Continuer la lecture de « Drones and Gadflies: Framing the Debate on War by Remote Control »

Stiglitz and Over 350 Economists Write to Obama Backing Janet Yellen for Fed Chair Over Larry Summers

The country’s top economic thinkers urge the President to appoint the best woman for the job – Published on AlterNet/ECONOMY, by Lynn Stuart Parramore, September 13, 2013.

… While there are many reasons to select Janet Yellen for this position, we would like to emphasize three of them.

Dr. Yellen is superbly qualified. She has shown consistently good judgment in all her roles leading our nation’s financial institutions and economic policy, first as a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System FED/FRB, then as Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Clinton, President of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, and now as Vice Chair of the FRB.  Continuer la lecture de « Stiglitz and Over 350 Economists Write to Obama Backing Janet Yellen for Fed Chair Over Larry Summers »

The left must ask the right questions

… as well as provide the right answers – Published on Left Foot Forward, by Simon Ravenscroft, Sept 12, 2013.

This government has repeatedly shown itself incapable of thinking beyond the level of the individual. In doing so it has sidelined questions about the kind of society that its policies are creating. This is its chief ideological victory. To the extent the left gets dragged into debating questions posed on the level of the individual, it has already lost the main argument. Instead it should be seeking to ask its own questions.   Continuer la lecture de « The left must ask the right questions »

10 Signs The Global Elite Are Losing Control

Published on Activist Post, by Eric Blair, Sept 8, 2013.

Although the elite still enjoy a huge wealth advantage over the masses, they are now resigned to behaving like tyrants to maintain control. This, in turn, exposes their dark side which has been cleverly concealed for ages. Not anymore. People are waking up in droves, at least as fast as the elite can build their full-spectrum prison matrix.  Let them try.  To paraphrase Victor Hugo, « No army can stop an idea whose time has come. »  Continuer la lecture de « 10 Signs The Global Elite Are Losing Control »

It will take 120 years before women make up half of world leaders

… and more than 50 years until women are equally represented in parliaments around the world according to a new report by the VSO – Published on Left Food Forward, by Ben Mackay, Sept 10, 2013.

The sheer scale of the under-representation of women across parliaments and governments will be a wake up call to all those who think that the battle for women’s rights has been won.

At a national level the divergence between male and female representation is striking. Out of 193 heads of government around the world only 13 are women whilst just one in five of the world’s parliamentarians is a woman … // Continuer la lecture de « It will take 120 years before women make up half of world leaders »