In These New Times

A new paradigm for a post-imperial world

Archive for May, 2009

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“Bernie Madoff, Scapegoat” by Michael Moore

Posted by smeddum on May 8, 2009

“Bernie Madoff, Scapegoat” by Michael Moore (for Time magazine)

Friday, May 1st, 2009    MichaelMoore.com

The following piece written by Michael Moore appears in this week’s Time magazine (and in full at Time.com) as part of their annual “Time 100” issue highlighting their choices for “The World’s Most Influential People.”

Elie Wiesel called him a “God.” His investors called him a “genius.” But, proving correct that old adage from the country and western song, you never really know what goes on behind closed doors.

Bernie Madoff, for at least 20 years, ran a Ponzi scheme on thousands of clients, among them the people you and I would consider the best and brightest. Business leaders, celebrities, charities, even some of his own relatives and his defense attorney were taken for a ride (this has to be the first time a lawyer was hosed by the client).

We’re clearly in one of those historic, game changing years: up is down, red is blue and black is President. Aside from Obama himself, no person will provide a more iconic face of this end-of-capitalism-as-we-know-it year than Bernard Lawrence Madoff. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Financial crisis | Tagged: | Leave a Comment »

The Prospects of a New Cold War? Towards the Consolidation of the Russian-led CSTO Military Alliance

Posted by smeddum on May 8, 2009

by José Miguel Alonso Trabanco

Global Research, May 8, 2009

“We are not afraid of anything, including the prospect of a new Cold War, but we don’t want one” -Russian President Dmitriy Medvedev

In his 1997 book entitled The Grand Chessboard American geostrategist Zbigniew Brzezinski wrote that if Russia ever attempted to launch its own defense pact, it would include, “at most”, Belarus and Tajikistan[1]. Twelve years later, his list turned out to be incomplete. Moreover, the attempts being made in order to enhance the Russian-led CSTO’s actual power projection capabilities and the efforts undertaken to bring the organization’s members closer together is something Brzezinski failed to anticipate and it seems that the latest developments concerning CSTO demonstrate that his triumphalism was premature. Read the rest of this entry »

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The birds, the bees and electromagnetic pollution

Posted by smeddum on May 8, 2009

Posted in Colony Collapse Disorder, Ecological and Public Health Crisis | Leave a Comment »

” Web of Debt”: The Inner Workings of the Monetary System

Posted by seumasach on May 7, 2009

A review of Ellen Brown’s book

Stephen Lendman

Global Research

6th May, 2009

This is the first of several articles on Ellen Brown’s superb 2007 book titled “Web of Debt,” now updated in a December 2008 third edition. It tells “the shocking truth about our money system, (how it) trapped us in debt, and how we can break free.” Given today’s global economic crisis, it’s an appropriate time to review it and urge readers to digest the entire work, easily gotten through Amazon or Brown’s webofdebt.com site. Her book is a remarkable achievement – in its scope, depth, and importance.

Read the rest of this entry »

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China fears bond crisis as it slams quantitative easing

Posted by smeddum on May 7, 2009

China fears bond crisis as it slams quantitative easing
China has given its clearest warning to date that emergency monetary stimulus by Western governments risks setting off worldwide inflation and undermining global bond markets.

By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
07 May 2009
Telegraph

“A policy mistake made by some major central bank may bring inflation risks to the whole world,” said the People’s Central Bank in its quarterly report.
“As more and more economies are adopting unconventional monetary policies, such as quantitative easing (QE), major currencies’ devaluation risks may rise,” it said. The bank fears a “big consolidation” in the bond markets, clearly anxious that interest yields will surge as western states try to exit their QE experiment.

Simon Derrick, currency chief at the Bank of New York Mellon, said the report is the latest sign that China is losing patience with the US and aims to diversify part its $1.95 trillion (£1.3 trillion) foreign reserves away from US Treasuries and other dollar securities. Read the rest of this entry »

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Rupert Murdoch: “Internet Will Soon Be Over”

Posted by seumasach on May 7, 2009

Corporate media forced to charged dwindling readership for news content as establishment propaganda organs wither and die while alternative media soar

Paul Jospeh Watson

Prison Planet

7th May, 2009

Billionaire media mogul Rupert Murdoch gave a strange response when asked about plans for mainstream news websites to charge for content, declaring, “The current days of the internet will soon be over.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: | 1 Comment »

Georgian opposition: Saakashvili staged coup

Posted by seumasach on May 6, 2009

PressTV

6th May, 2009

Georgia’s opposition claims President Mikheil Saakashvili staged an alleged coup plot to deter public attention from a domestic political turmoil.
Read the rest of this entry »

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US airstrikes kill scores of civilians in Afghanistan

Posted by seumasach on May 6, 2009

Bill van Auken

WSWS

6th May, 2009

See also:

Five Weddings and Many Funerals

On the eve of a tripartite summit in Washington which the Obama administration has organized with the presidents of Afghanistan and Pakistan, reports from Afghanistan indicate that US air strikes in western Farah province have killed and wounded scores of civilians, many of them women and children. Read the rest of this entry »

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Dieron a conocer el contenido del informe del Colegio Médico sobre la estación transformadora de Barrio Las Rosas

Posted by smeddum on May 5, 2009

Dieron a conocer el contenido del informe del Colegio Médico sobre la estación transformadora de Barrio Las Rosas
Jujuyaldia,com
03 May,
Tamaño de Fuente:
En el mismo se menciona la legislación existente sobre este tipo de generadores

Jujuy al día – En forma exclusiva para nuestro medio, el Dr. Mario Fiad, Presidente del Colegio Médico de Jujuy, presentó el informe realizado por la institución sobre la estación transformadora de Barrio Las Rosas.
En el mismo se mencionan los distintos artículos constitucionales y leyes que se refieren a la contaminación ambiental en cualquiera de sus formas, y se contempla la necesidad de que el Estado realice controles y seguimientos sobre el funcionamiento y el trabajo de este tipo de prácticas energéticas. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Ecological and Public Health Crisis | 2 Comments »

Referendum on EU likely in Iceland

Posted by smeddum on May 5, 2009

Iceland Turns Left and Edges Toward EU

As news comes in from Iceland, it tends to confirm the direction towards a EU referendum. While the citizen’s movement that emerged from the protests in Reykjavík last winter; stresses that those protests had nothing to do with the EU but the collapse of the Icelandic bank sector and lack of actions from the authorities. Sheltering behind the Euro would be good for Iceland’s economy but the fear is that control of the fishing industry would go to Brussels.
While, in particular Europe is against whaling, there is the possibility of a transitional relationship.

By Leigh Phillips
Businessweek  April  27, 2009,

Icelandic voters punished the centre-right party that had governed the country for most of the last 18 years and dominated it for generations, delivering a clear majority in a snap general election to the centre-left Social Democrats and far-left and ecologist Left Green Movement. Read the rest of this entry »

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In Massive Switch, Lieberman Suddenly Open to Peace Israeli FM Backs Off Previous Claims Peace Talks Were Dead

Posted by smeddum on May 5, 2009

In Massive Switch, Lieberman Suddenly Open to Peace
Israeli FM Backs Off Previous Claims Peace Talks Were Dead
by Jason Ditz, May 04, 2009
Antiwar.com

Less than a month after Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman publicly declared all peace talks with the Palestinians were dead, the controversial Yisraeli Beiteinu head used a visit to Rome to insist that the government was dedicated to producing a peace deal with the Palestinians, and said he was confident that the Netanyahu government would “reach a secure and definitive peace” with not just the Palestinians, but all the Arab nations as well. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Drive to Global War, Palestine | Tagged: | Leave a Comment »

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