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mother earth
mother earth's Journal
mother earth's Journal
February 22, 2015
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Stay with this until the end, it is what is playing out and a bit more insight.
If you have time to view Varoufakis' Ted Talk you will understand his vision for the future of the EU.
Sam Seder w Paul Mason: Syriza, Varoufakis, Corrupt Elites. What Next?
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Stay with this until the end, it is what is playing out and a bit more insight.
If you have time to view Varoufakis' Ted Talk you will understand his vision for the future of the EU.
February 22, 2015
15/05/2013, 18h, cinema Europa, Hall Müller, Zagreb, Croatia
Yanis Varoufakis: The Global Minotaur: America, Europe and the Future of the Global Economy (book promotion)
Q&A: Marko Kostanić
Yanis Varoufakis: "The Global Minotaur: America, Europe and the Future of the Global Economy" (Zed Books, London, 2013)
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In this book promo, Varoufakis gives us a synopsis of economic history and explains the underlying dynamics.
You'll recognize some big names in his account of history, I'm sure...good stuff.
Yanis Varoufakis: The Global Minotaur: America, Europe and the Future of the Global Economy
15/05/2013, 18h, cinema Europa, Hall Müller, Zagreb, Croatia
Yanis Varoufakis: The Global Minotaur: America, Europe and the Future of the Global Economy (book promotion)
Q&A: Marko Kostanić
Yanis Varoufakis: "The Global Minotaur: America, Europe and the Future of the Global Economy" (Zed Books, London, 2013)
In this remarkable and provocative book, Yanis Varoufakis explodes the myth that financialization, ineffectual regulation of banks, greed and globalisation were the root causes of the global economic crisis. Rather, they are symptoms of a much deeper malaise which can be traced all the way back to the Great Crash of 1929, then on through the 1970s: the time when a 'Global Minotaur' was born. Just as the Athenians maintained a steady flow of tributes to the Cretan beast, so the 'rest of the world' began sending incredible amounts of capital to America and Wall Street. Thus, the Global Minotaur became the 'engine' that pulled the world economy from the early 1980s to 2008.
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In this book promo, Varoufakis gives us a synopsis of economic history and explains the underlying dynamics.
You'll recognize some big names in his account of history, I'm sure...good stuff.
February 22, 2015
“There are two ways to conquer and enslave a nation. One is by sword. The other is by debt.” John Adams 1735-1826
According to Perkins, he began writing Confessions of an Economic Hit Man in the 1980s, but "threats or bribes always convinced [him] to stop."
According to his book, Perkins' function was to convince the political and financial leadership of underdeveloped countries to accept enormous development loans from institutions like the World Bank and USAID. Saddled with debts they could not hope to pay, those countries were forced to acquiesce to political pressure from the United States on a variety of issues. Perkins argues in his book that developing nations were effectively neutralized politically, had their wealth gaps driven wider and economies crippled in the long run. In this capacity Perkins recounts his meetings with some prominent individuals, including Graham Greene and Omar Torrijos. Perkins describes the role of an EHM as follows:
Economic Hit Man (EHMs) are highly paid professionals who cheat countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars. They funnel money from the World Bank, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and other foreign "aid" organizations into the coffers of huge corporations and the pockets of a few wealthy families who control the planet's natural resources. Their tools included fraudulent financial reports, rigged elections, payoffs, extortion, sex, and murder. They play a game as old as empire, but one that has taken on new and terrifying dimensions during this time of globalization.
Perkins charges that the proposed conditions for this debt forgiveness require countries to privatize their health, education, electric, water and other public services. Those countries would also have to discontinue subsidies and trade restrictions that support local business, but accept the continued subsidization of certain G8 businesses by the US and other G8 countries, and the erection of trade barriers on imports that threaten G8 industries.
In the book, Perkins repeatedly denies the existence of a "conspiracy." Instead, Perkins carefully discusses the role of corporatocracy.
John Perkins, Confessions of An Economic Hitman
“There are two ways to conquer and enslave a nation. One is by sword. The other is by debt.” John Adams 1735-1826
According to Perkins, he began writing Confessions of an Economic Hit Man in the 1980s, but "threats or bribes always convinced [him] to stop."
According to his book, Perkins' function was to convince the political and financial leadership of underdeveloped countries to accept enormous development loans from institutions like the World Bank and USAID. Saddled with debts they could not hope to pay, those countries were forced to acquiesce to political pressure from the United States on a variety of issues. Perkins argues in his book that developing nations were effectively neutralized politically, had their wealth gaps driven wider and economies crippled in the long run. In this capacity Perkins recounts his meetings with some prominent individuals, including Graham Greene and Omar Torrijos. Perkins describes the role of an EHM as follows:
Economic Hit Man (EHMs) are highly paid professionals who cheat countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars. They funnel money from the World Bank, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and other foreign "aid" organizations into the coffers of huge corporations and the pockets of a few wealthy families who control the planet's natural resources. Their tools included fraudulent financial reports, rigged elections, payoffs, extortion, sex, and murder. They play a game as old as empire, but one that has taken on new and terrifying dimensions during this time of globalization.
Perkins charges that the proposed conditions for this debt forgiveness require countries to privatize their health, education, electric, water and other public services. Those countries would also have to discontinue subsidies and trade restrictions that support local business, but accept the continued subsidization of certain G8 businesses by the US and other G8 countries, and the erection of trade barriers on imports that threaten G8 industries.
In the book, Perkins repeatedly denies the existence of a "conspiracy." Instead, Perkins carefully discusses the role of corporatocracy.
February 21, 2015
Meet Yanis Varoufakis
February 21, 2015
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What is at stake is everything...and the ripple effect will be monumental, IMHO. Does anyone honestly believe Syriza has any other choice? If one understands the implications and desperation of a nation who overwhelming wants an end to austerity vs. the complete denial that IMO Germany is in...what is really left? The fast road to rejecting austerity globally may be upon us.
Is This Capitulation or Did They Just Force A Grexit? When There Really is No Other Choice...
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=13253So it from the very beginning--understandably, from one perspective, because it is in a very difficult position in terms of the financing needs of the state, but it took off the table its most powerful weapons. And furthermore, it's negotiating with people who are, down to their very bones, committed to a radical neoliberal agenda, and furthermore, who quite apart from what their ideology may be, are heavily politically invested in the disaster of austerity. You know, if there were to be an implicit or explicit recognition by the government of Angela Merkel, for example, that austerity has gone too far, it hasn't worked, or has actually undermined the ability of countries like Greece to service their debts, which it clearly has, these people would go down in infamy as having been the architects of a European disaster. So they're politically invested, they're ideologically hostile to SYRIZA, and SYRIZA has taken off the table its most powerful weapons.
So, ultimately, what can it do in the current circumstances? Very little. However, if it were to reconsider its commitment to the euro, which is precisely what it should do, and if it were to put on the table in a responsible and intelligent manner the option of a Grexit, which precisely what it would do, I suspect that it would be able to achieve a much better outcome in this.
PERIES: And those options are really not off the table, even though they have stated that that's not the preferred option. Those options still remain.
LASCARIS: Well, clearly they could embrace that option. And there are clearly people within SYRIZA who, at least in the past, have embraced that option. One such person, a very able and eloquent economist who's been on The Real News several times, Costas Lapavitsas, he's embraced that option, although he's begun to moderate his tone since becoming an MP for SYRIZA in the most recent election. There clearly is within SYRIZA a significant constituency that favors a Grexit. Within the party now they have the economic sophistication to navigate through the very difficult project of exiting the Eurozone. What remains to be seen is whether the political will to do this is there.
So, ultimately, what can it do in the current circumstances? Very little. However, if it were to reconsider its commitment to the euro, which is precisely what it should do, and if it were to put on the table in a responsible and intelligent manner the option of a Grexit, which precisely what it would do, I suspect that it would be able to achieve a much better outcome in this.
PERIES: And those options are really not off the table, even though they have stated that that's not the preferred option. Those options still remain.
LASCARIS: Well, clearly they could embrace that option. And there are clearly people within SYRIZA who, at least in the past, have embraced that option. One such person, a very able and eloquent economist who's been on The Real News several times, Costas Lapavitsas, he's embraced that option, although he's begun to moderate his tone since becoming an MP for SYRIZA in the most recent election. There clearly is within SYRIZA a significant constituency that favors a Grexit. Within the party now they have the economic sophistication to navigate through the very difficult project of exiting the Eurozone. What remains to be seen is whether the political will to do this is there.
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What is at stake is everything...and the ripple effect will be monumental, IMHO. Does anyone honestly believe Syriza has any other choice? If one understands the implications and desperation of a nation who overwhelming wants an end to austerity vs. the complete denial that IMO Germany is in...what is really left? The fast road to rejecting austerity globally may be upon us.
February 17, 2015
William Hartung: Those who fight the wars will face cuts, but not high- ranking military personnel or the companies that build weapons - February 25, 2014
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=11526
JAISAL NOOR, TRNN PRODUCER: Welcome to The Real News Network. I'm Jaisal Noor in Baltimore.
Now joining us to discuss this is William Hartung.
William D. Hartung is the director of the Arms and Security Project at the Center for International Policy. He is an internationally recognized expert on the arms trade, nuclear policy, and military spending. He is the author of Prophets of War: Lockheed Martin and the Making of the Military-Industrial Complex (Nation Books: 2011). His previous books include And Weapons for All (HarperCollins, 1995), a critique of U.S. arms sales policies from the Nixon through Clinton administrations; and Lessons from Iraq: Avoiding the Next War, co-edited with Miram Pemberton (Paradigm Press, 2008). Prior to working at the Center for International Policy Mr. Hartung was a project director at the New America Foundation and a Senior Research Fellow at the New York-based World Policy Institute. He also worked as a speechwriter and policy analyst for New York State Attorney General Robert Abrams and a project director at the New York-based Council on Economic Priorities
On Monday, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel outlined a Pentagon budget that will reduce the size of the military and curtail certain weapons systems. The proposal is an alternative to across-the-board cuts which will be implemented because of the so-called sequester.
We mentioned defense contractors and how they will be benefiting from this. The stocks of all but three major defense contractors hit a 52-week high on Monday, and the stock price of Lockheed Martin, the nation's largest defense contractor, hit an all-time high as Hagel detailed the Pentagon's plans.
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For a full understanding of what this means please listen to the interview, transcript available at TRNN.
No surprises, the money always finds its way to those who profit from war, while the way we war morphs...as we realize the true cost of these neverending wars.
Pentagon Will Cut Services and Benefits To Soldiers While Protecting Profits of Defense Industry
William Hartung: Those who fight the wars will face cuts, but not high- ranking military personnel or the companies that build weapons - February 25, 2014
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=11526
JAISAL NOOR, TRNN PRODUCER: Welcome to The Real News Network. I'm Jaisal Noor in Baltimore.
Now joining us to discuss this is William Hartung.
William D. Hartung is the director of the Arms and Security Project at the Center for International Policy. He is an internationally recognized expert on the arms trade, nuclear policy, and military spending. He is the author of Prophets of War: Lockheed Martin and the Making of the Military-Industrial Complex (Nation Books: 2011). His previous books include And Weapons for All (HarperCollins, 1995), a critique of U.S. arms sales policies from the Nixon through Clinton administrations; and Lessons from Iraq: Avoiding the Next War, co-edited with Miram Pemberton (Paradigm Press, 2008). Prior to working at the Center for International Policy Mr. Hartung was a project director at the New America Foundation and a Senior Research Fellow at the New York-based World Policy Institute. He also worked as a speechwriter and policy analyst for New York State Attorney General Robert Abrams and a project director at the New York-based Council on Economic Priorities
On Monday, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel outlined a Pentagon budget that will reduce the size of the military and curtail certain weapons systems. The proposal is an alternative to across-the-board cuts which will be implemented because of the so-called sequester.
We mentioned defense contractors and how they will be benefiting from this. The stocks of all but three major defense contractors hit a 52-week high on Monday, and the stock price of Lockheed Martin, the nation's largest defense contractor, hit an all-time high as Hagel detailed the Pentagon's plans.
---------------
For a full understanding of what this means please listen to the interview, transcript available at TRNN.
No surprises, the money always finds its way to those who profit from war, while the way we war morphs...as we realize the true cost of these neverending wars.
February 14, 2015
By Brian Stewart. Thursday, February 12 2015
MoveOn statement on President Obama's AUMF
http://front.moveon.org/moveon-statement-on-president-obamas-aumf/#.VN6Qabl0yM8By Brian Stewart. Thursday, February 12 2015
MoveOn.org Civic Action Campaign Director Jo Comerford on the White House’s request for Congress to authorize military force against ISIS:
President Obama’s proposed Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) is a recipe for endless–and costly–war. It does nothing to repeal the sweeping 2001 AUMF, which 14 years later, is still being used to justify ongoing military action.
Congress must not abdicate its responsibility to oversee U.S. war-making by giving the president a blank check to pursue multiple years of war, in Iraq, Syria, or any nation, against an open-ended array of possible targets. And it certainly must not allow the president to leave open the real possibility of deploying U.S. ground troops, as the proposed AUMF does.
MoveOn members call on members of Congress to reject the proposed AUMF — and will mobilize to ensure this message is heard.
President Obama’s proposed Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) is a recipe for endless–and costly–war. It does nothing to repeal the sweeping 2001 AUMF, which 14 years later, is still being used to justify ongoing military action.
Congress must not abdicate its responsibility to oversee U.S. war-making by giving the president a blank check to pursue multiple years of war, in Iraq, Syria, or any nation, against an open-ended array of possible targets. And it certainly must not allow the president to leave open the real possibility of deploying U.S. ground troops, as the proposed AUMF does.
MoveOn members call on members of Congress to reject the proposed AUMF — and will mobilize to ensure this message is heard.
February 13, 2015
(Continued at link below...)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sen-barbara-boxer/confronting-terrorism-with-ground-war_b_6680544.html
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All of this on the front page of HuffPo under "Endless War", and rightly so...is this really something we want the nation to commit to? Is this really power we want to hand off to a new administration, with the prospect of yet another Bush vs. Clinton contest?
Kudos to Barbara Boxer, let's hope others join her. Haven't we devoted enough to the MIC? Our infrastructure and countless other avenues need attention...it's time for this rally to endless war to stop.
Barbara Boxer: Why I'm Not Giving Obama War Powers
Confronting Terrorism Without Another American Ground WarThree months ago when Democrats were in control of the Senate, I voted in the Foreign Relations Committee for an AUMF (Authorization for the Use of Military Force) which authorized the President to continue working with a broad coalition to degrade and destroy the terrorist group ISIL.
Unfortunately, that sensible AUMF never got a vote in the full Senate.
President Obama is absolutely correct that our nation must confront these ruthless terrorists. But he was also correct to promise that America would not be sending U.S. combat troops back to the Middle East to fight another ground war.
This is the commitment the President made last June when he said, "I think we always have to guard against mission creep, so let me repeat what I've said in the past: American combat troops are not going to be fighting in Iraq again." He made the same point again during his State of the Union Address last month when he stated, "Instead of getting dragged into another ground war in the Middle East, we are leading a broad coalition, including Arab nations, to degrade and ultimately destroy this terrorist group."
That is why I was so surprised by the Administration's draft AUMF which would allow this Administration and the next one broad discretion to commit American troops in the fight against ISIL. The only limitation is no "enduring offensive ground combat operations.
At best, this language is vague, overly broad and confusing - and no one has defined the meaning of "enduring." At worst, it is a dangerous loophole that could lead to another large-scale conflict involving tens of thousands of American troops. I cannot and will not support such an AUMF.
Even worse, some of my Republicans colleagues are now pressing to pass an AUMF with virtually no restrictions at all. Some of these same lawmakers have argued that the only way to defeat ISIL is to have American troops on the ground fighting against ISIL wherever they go.
Unfortunately, that sensible AUMF never got a vote in the full Senate.
President Obama is absolutely correct that our nation must confront these ruthless terrorists. But he was also correct to promise that America would not be sending U.S. combat troops back to the Middle East to fight another ground war.
This is the commitment the President made last June when he said, "I think we always have to guard against mission creep, so let me repeat what I've said in the past: American combat troops are not going to be fighting in Iraq again." He made the same point again during his State of the Union Address last month when he stated, "Instead of getting dragged into another ground war in the Middle East, we are leading a broad coalition, including Arab nations, to degrade and ultimately destroy this terrorist group."
That is why I was so surprised by the Administration's draft AUMF which would allow this Administration and the next one broad discretion to commit American troops in the fight against ISIL. The only limitation is no "enduring offensive ground combat operations.
At best, this language is vague, overly broad and confusing - and no one has defined the meaning of "enduring." At worst, it is a dangerous loophole that could lead to another large-scale conflict involving tens of thousands of American troops. I cannot and will not support such an AUMF.
Even worse, some of my Republicans colleagues are now pressing to pass an AUMF with virtually no restrictions at all. Some of these same lawmakers have argued that the only way to defeat ISIL is to have American troops on the ground fighting against ISIL wherever they go.
(Continued at link below...)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sen-barbara-boxer/confronting-terrorism-with-ground-war_b_6680544.html
---------------------
All of this on the front page of HuffPo under "Endless War", and rightly so...is this really something we want the nation to commit to? Is this really power we want to hand off to a new administration, with the prospect of yet another Bush vs. Clinton contest?
Kudos to Barbara Boxer, let's hope others join her. Haven't we devoted enough to the MIC? Our infrastructure and countless other avenues need attention...it's time for this rally to endless war to stop.
February 12, 2015
Published on Jan 13, 2015
http://democracynow.org - Who are the so-called terrorism experts? In the wake of the Paris attacks, the corporate media has once again flooded its news programs with pundits claiming authority on terrorism, foreign policy and world events. We discuss the growing and questionable field of "terrorism experts" with three guests: Glenn Greenwald, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and co-founder of The Intercept; Lisa Stampnitzky, social studies lecturer at Harvard University and author of "Disciplining Terror: How Experts Invented 'Terrorism'"; and Luc Mathieu, foreign affairs reporter for the French newspaper Libération.
Shaping Public Opinion Via the "Expert" Terrorism Analysts, Democracy Now
Published on Jan 13, 2015
http://democracynow.org - Who are the so-called terrorism experts? In the wake of the Paris attacks, the corporate media has once again flooded its news programs with pundits claiming authority on terrorism, foreign policy and world events. We discuss the growing and questionable field of "terrorism experts" with three guests: Glenn Greenwald, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and co-founder of The Intercept; Lisa Stampnitzky, social studies lecturer at Harvard University and author of "Disciplining Terror: How Experts Invented 'Terrorism'"; and Luc Mathieu, foreign affairs reporter for the French newspaper Libération.
February 12, 2015
Vice takes an unprecedented look into the shadowy industry of Private Military Companies. For the past two decades these private companies, like Black Water, Aegis and G4S have silently consumed military operations around the world, doing everything from back end logistics, protection of government VIP's and diplomats to actual combat duties. In this documentary we explore the origins of this industry, their rise in the war on terror and their future operations around the world.
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Something to consider as POTUS plans to go to Congress to request wartime powers that do not limit turf to fight IS-IL.
Who is the enemy?
These private mercenaries are about profit with no allegiance to country. Who are they accountable to?
Superpower for Hire: Rise of the Private Military
Vice takes an unprecedented look into the shadowy industry of Private Military Companies. For the past two decades these private companies, like Black Water, Aegis and G4S have silently consumed military operations around the world, doing everything from back end logistics, protection of government VIP's and diplomats to actual combat duties. In this documentary we explore the origins of this industry, their rise in the war on terror and their future operations around the world.
------------------
Something to consider as POTUS plans to go to Congress to request wartime powers that do not limit turf to fight IS-IL.
Who is the enemy?
These private mercenaries are about profit with no allegiance to country. Who are they accountable to?
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