The Israelis know only too well the essential nature of the US relationship. They know that Uncle Sam needs them as an imperative for the operation of American economic hegemony in the oil-rich Middle East. That is why the Israelis know that they can at times bite the American hands that feeds – because this American hand will keep on feeding out of its own imperialist necessity.
The Fed’s policy of monetizing one trillion dollars of bonds annually put pressure on the US dollar, the value of which declined in terms of gold. When gold hit $1,900 per ounce in 2011, the Federal Reserve realized that $2,000 per ounce could have a psychological impact that would spread into the dollar’s exchange rate with other currencies, resulting in a run on the dollar as both foreign and domestic holders sold dollars to avoid the fall in value. Once this realization hit, the manipulation of the gold price moved beyond central bank leasing of gold to bullion dealers in order to create an artificial market supply to absorb demand that otherwise would have pushed gold prices higher.
Today saw the release of a report, commissioned by the regime in Qatar via the law firm Carter Ruck, alleging the systematic mass killing and torture of detainees by the Assad regime in Syria. Up to 11’000 people, and perhaps more, could have died in this fashion, according to the report.
Given that it was commissioned by the regime in Qatar – which is a key backer of certain Syrian rebel groups – and that it has been released immediately prior to the Geneva peace conference scheduled to begin this week, some have questioned the intent of the report. Quite reasonably, if you ask me.
On Friday, a group of young Stratford mums occupied the East Thames Housing Association building (and showroom) and Newham council’s housing offices as part of their ongoing fight for decent social housing in Newham.
Their fight is becoming more and more relevant to anyone who does not have secure housing – which includes a great many people.
The island has its own parliament, judiciary and treasury, which prints its own currency stamped with the queen’s visage and pegged to the British pound. For purposes of free trade, Jersey is treated as part of the European Union and falls under many of the U.K.’s international treaties and compacts, but it has its own constitutional rights separate from the U.K., tracing back to the year 1204.
Michael Hudson sees a parasitic financial industry that looks only to determine how much wealth it can extract via fees, interest income, and tax breaks, rather than providing capital to increase.
In crucial ways – the scale of its attacks on social security, service privatisation and falling living standards for the majority – Cameron’s coalition has outdone even Margaret Thatcher. Its austerity programme halted recovery for four years and has cut most people’s real terms pay deeper and over a longer period than at any time since the 19th century. Wealth is being energetically redistributed up the income scale.
I know that corporations are amoral, profit-driven entities that have no compunction about destroying the planet if they can make a quick buck first. I also know that our political systems have been almost entirely captured by these corporations.
A team of security and arms experts, meeting this week in Washington to discuss the matter, has concluded that the range of the rocket that delivered sarin in the largest attack that night was too short for the device to have been fired from the Syrian government positions where the Obama administration insists they originated.
And there he is, teaching at the Harvard Law School, and advocating torture, crimes against humanity, war crimes against the Palestinians. As you know, he said, `Well, we should just be obliterating their villages. You know, if they do this, there’s a terror bombing here, we [should] destroy one of their villages.’
And of course, Dershowitz also advocates torture here, in America. The guy’s shameless.
The US and its Western allies and their regional proxies, such as Saudi Arabia and Turkey, do not want to allow a genuine political process worked out by the Syrian people. The fatal problem with the Geneva II negotiations on Syria, due to open next week in Switzerland, is that the process is furtively being treated by the US and its allies as a lever for regime change. It is their Plan B for regime change, where Plan A is the failed covert military tactic. That does not bode well for a successful, that is sustainable, settlement to a crisis that is nearly three years old with well over 100,000 deaths and nine million people – more than a third of the total population – displaced from their homes. It amounts to an illegal interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign state, and as such is doomed to fail.
As preliminary Iran Nuke deal is finalized and set to go into effect next Monday, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is pushing for Congress to pass new sanctions against Iran which would violate and likely nullify the historic agreement
