Posted by seumasach on December 19, 2014
No plans to use it for now
18th December, 2014
US President Barack Obama has signed a bill that will allow the White House to levy further economic sanctions on Russia over Ukraine, though the Administration has said it has no immediate plans to introduce them.
Posted in Ukraine War | Tagged: end sanctions against Russia! | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on December 19, 2014
M.K.Bhadrakumar
19th December, 2014
The US president Barack Obama’s statement on Wednesday was modestly titled as ‘Cuba Policy Changes’ but it must stand out as one of the finest moments of his presidency – and a watershed event in US diplomatic history.
Posted in Global peace process | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on December 19, 2014
The retreat from empire, led by Obama and trumpeted for some time now in these columns, is now undeniable. The right and the left may decry it or deny it but the pattern is coming more and more into focus. The ending of the stand-off with Cuba is a moment of historic importance, all the more so for its symbolic power. Obama with his “Somos todos americanos” has with one phrase repositioned the USA geopolitically: it is his pivot to the Americas, north and south. The Senate report on CIA torture, though hardly revelatory, is similarly symbolic, signifying the imminent demise of the “deep state” and consequent re-emergence of constitutional, democratic politics, in the USA, Europe and elsewhere. It is a matter of regret that the various social. grass-roots movements have been unable to contribute more to drive for change which is already happening and is therefore believable. They seem instead to be unable to relate to anything not in conformity with their template of change from below. But we can still make it change from below! We should really be out on the streets now pushing for a deal with Iran, for a settlement of the Palestinian question, for an end to sanctions against Russia. We can help bring about a global peace process, deepening existing trends towards reconciliation, making them irreversible and finally finding the holy grail, the peace dividend. Let’s hope 2015 is the year when this can start to happen.
BRUSSELS – Pressure is mounting on those member states accused of hosting CIA rendition and torture camps to be held accountable for their role.
MEPs and the European Commission in Strasbourg on Wednesday (17 December) roundly condemned the torture of Al-Qaeda suspects carried out by CIA operatives on EU soil in the wake of 9-11, praised the US for exposing the abuse, and called upon Washington to shut down Guantanamo Bay.
Read more
Posted in Global peace process | Tagged: Obama's realist turn, retreat from empire | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on December 18, 2014
17th December, 2014
Direct statements concerning dramatic changes in the appearance of planets are few and far between in ancient sources.
A classic example is a fragment from the obscure Greek astronomer Castor of Rhodes (1st century BCE), as cited by his contemporary, the Roman grammarian Marcus Terrentius Varro, who was in turn cited by the church father Augustine of Hippo (354-430 CE). According to this tantalisingly brief passage, the planet Venus once “changed its colour, size, shape and course, a thing which has never happened before or since.” This information, frequently considered in catastrophist theories, presents quite a puzzle.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: electric universe, velikovsky | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on December 18, 2014
18th December, 2014
A senior British energy official says the UK’s oil industry is “close to collapse” due to a recent dramatic fall in crude prices.
“It’s close to collapse. In terms of new investments – there will be none, everyone is retreating, people are being laid off at most companies this week and in the coming weeks,” said Robin Allan, the chairman of the independent explorers’ association Brindex.
He added that the plunge in oil prices pushed the industry into “crisis” and oil companies are cutting staff and investment to save money.
Posted in UK economy | Tagged: oil bubble, oil price war | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on December 16, 2014
Wallace Thornhill
15th December, 2014
Congratulations to the team responsible for the success of the Rosetta mission to comet 67 P Churyumov-Gerasimenko (henceforth 67 P). However, it’s a shame that scientists misled the engineers with their cherished story of icy comets, which resulted in an inappropriate design for the lander, Philae. Chris Reeve writes, “We train all physicists to adopt the same basic scientific framework — at the expense of also teaching them how to analyze the same phenomenon from multiple perspectives — and then we wonder why certain problems remain unresolved despite the investment of massive resources, people and time. The very act of rigidly training everybody in the same framework seems to me the problem which precludes their solution.”
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: electric universe, rosetta mission | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on December 16, 2014
International Crisis Group
11th December, 2014
After a year of negotiations, the parties to the Iran nuclear talks failed to meet their deadline of 24 November. Nonetheless the talks will continue, with the goal of reaching a political agreement by 1 March 2015 and a comprehensive agreement, including an implementation plan, by 1 July 2015 (see Crisis Group’s new report Iran Nuclear Talks: The Fog Recedes). In the following Q and A, Crisis Group Senior Iran Analyst Ali Vaez discusses what the new deadline means and how the talks might move forward.
Posted in Global peace process, Iran | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on December 16, 2014
M.K.Bhadrakumar
13th December, 2014
The US-Iranian negotiations for a nuclear deal are slated to resume on Monday amidst growing optimism that this could be the end of the year-long endgame under way, and an accord is in sight, finally. The US secretary of state John Kerry recently said that the effort will be to reach an accord even before the extended deadline of end-June.
Posted in Global peace process, Iran | Tagged: Obama's realist turn, retreat from empire | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on December 16, 2014
15th December, 2014
The tumbling oil price has led to a trebling of insolvencies among UK oil and gas services companies so far this year, while £55bn of further oil projects reportedly under threat.
Posted in UK economy | Tagged: bankrupt Britain, oil bubble | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on December 16, 2014
The partnerships established with China by the British and Scottish governments are already bearing fruit. This is the one mitigating factor in bankrupt Britain meaning the coming crisis will be less apocalyptic than it would be otherwise. Britain has always depended on incoming capital flows. The difference now is that instead of these going into government bonds they are taking the form of FDI(foreign direct investment). This provides us with a chance to run down our debt as the Chinese cash in their sterling-denominated bonds for real assets, and to end our trade deficit as Britain becomes an export base for Chinese companies or manufactures here goods which we have up until now imported from China. I would also expect them to “recapitalise”, takeover, our banks once they have been bailed in. This is the context in which the commitment of all major parties to a balanced budget, guaranteed by financial devolution to the regions or constituent nations, must be understood. There are no buyers for UK government bonds and QE to infinity is impossible. It is also possible now to avoid the complete collapse of the pound and we may instead hope for an orderly devaluation within a new global financial system prior to eventual adoption of the Euro.
12th December, 2014
Chinese companies are growing in the UK at an unprecedented rate, adding a significant contribution to the UK economy through growth and employment, according to the Grant Thornton Tou Ying Tracker 2014 in collaboration with China Daily.
According to the Tou Ying 2014 Top 25 tracker which was released on Friday, the 25 fastest growing Chinese companies in the UK this year have generated 38 percent growth overall. Their combined turnover exceeded 25 billion pounds, and together they employ about 4,000.
Posted in UK economy | Tagged: new global financial architecture, The Great British Sell-Off, UK-China strategic partnership | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on December 16, 2014
15th December, 2014
For almost two years, by combining various points of view (speculative, geopolitical, technological, economic, strategic and monetary…), we have continued to anticipate a major crisis in the entire oil sector.
Today, no one doubts the fact that we are actually at that point, and the GEAB must therefore anticipate the consequences of this veritable atomic bomb, which has begun to blow up all the old system’s pillars: everything which we have known, international currencies, financial markets, the US, the Western alliance, world governance, democracy, etc.
Posted in Financial crisis | Tagged: End of empire, oil bubble | Leave a Comment »
In These New Times 