The Greatest Depression Has Only Begun
Sunday, 05 June 2011 07:12
‘The greatest depression in human history is still in its starting stages. What the media and many officials often refer to as the “hangover” from the global financial crisis is in fact the end of the beginning.
Originating in 2008, the global economic crisis took the world by storm: banks collapsed, the “too big to fail” became bigger by consolidating the rest, governments bailed out their financial industries, masses of people lost their jobs, the ‘developing’ world was plunged into a deep systemic crisis, food prices rose, which in time spurred social unrest; and the Western nations that took on the bad debts of the big banks are on the precipice of a great global debt crisis, originating in Europe, hitting Greece and Spain, but destined to consume the industrialized world itself. Though many claim that we are in a “recovery,” things could not be further from the truth.
As the mainstream media is finally catching on to the reality of the mirage of the so-called “recovery”, reports are surfacing about a dire global economic situation.’
Worse by the Day in Jerusalem
Saturday, 04 June 2011 06:36
‘As thousands of right-wing Israeli settlers descended on Jerusalem to celebrate the so-called unification of the city this week, Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem were confronted by extreme provocations and the stark reality that their city remains very much divided.
“My shop was broken into a couple of times, a few times, when I’m here on Jerusalem Day,” explained East Jerusalem resident Basem Hallak, who has owned an antique shop in the heart of Jerusalem’s Old City for 25 years.
“You will see kids – by the meaning of kids (I mean) from the age of 16, 17 – and what they are doing is carrying machine guns, carrying guns, walking like, ‘This is our city and you (Palestinians) are out of the game. You are out, completely out’,” Hallak told IPS.’
Read more: Worse by the Day in Jerusalem
Iraq: Protest Organizers Beaten, Detained
Saturday, 04 June 2011 06:50
‘Iraqi authorities have detained, interrogated, and beaten several protest organizers in Baghdad in recent days, Human Rights Watch said today. Iraqi authorities should stop the attacks and charge or release those being held, Human Rights Watch said.
In Iraqi Kurdistan, a protest organizer, Isma’il Abdullah, was abducted, stabbed, and beaten on May 27, 2011. The Kurdistan government should make sure its promised investigation of the episode is thorough, fair, and transparent, and leads to the prosecution of those responsible, Human Rights Watch said.
“Authorities in Baghdad and in Iraqi-Kurdistan are keeping their citizens from demonstrating peacefully,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “Iraq needs to make sure that security forces and pro-government gangs stop targeting protest organizers, activists, and journalists.”‘
War Zones: As The Economy Dies, Murders, Shootings, Robberies And Looting Erupt All Over America
Saturday, 04 June 2011 07:05
‘As the U.S. economy falls apart and millions of Americans descend into despair we are seeing some really shocking things start to happen all over America. The mainstream media keeps telling us that crime is under control, but they are also the ones that keep telling us that we are in the midst of an “economic recovery”. Unfortunately, the truth is that the economy is slowly dying.
Today, an all-time record 44 million Americans are on food stamps. That number is 18 million higher than it was just four years ago. When people can’t get jobs and when people feel deprived they get desperate. The incidents that you are about to see and read about below are very disturbing. Many American communities are rapidly turning into war zones. Sadly, it is mostly young people that are involved in the crimes and the violence that are now sweeping America.’
Study Shows that ‘More Than Half’ of Measles Outbreak Cases Had Been Vaccinated
Saturday, 04 June 2011 07:52
‘According to the Irish independent this week, the Health Service Executive in Ireland is warning of a measles outbreak whereby the blame is laid on visits to Europe by children. They claim that 1 in 5 cases, that they ‘had visited Europe or been in contact with someone who had traveled here from the continent in the weeks before they fell ill.’
They go on to state that apparently 42 cases were reported in Ireland this year. Of these, 8 were too young for ‘vaccination’ with ‘almost half’ of the remainder of cases, ‘almost’ half of 34, in children who were ‘unvaccinated’ with the MMR ‘vaccine’.
Doesn’t something in these figures not strike you as a little unusual?
Read more: Study Shows that ‘More Than Half’ of Measles Outbreak Cases Had Been Vaccinated
Miami Beach Police Ordered Videographer At Gunpoint To Hand Over Phone
Saturday, 04 June 2011 08:00
‘Miami Beach police did their best to destroy a citizen video that shows them shooting a man to death in a hail of bullets Memorial Day.
First, police pointed their guns at the man who shot the video, according to a Miami Herald interview with the videographer. Then they ordered the man and his girlfriend out the car and threw them down to the ground, yelling “you want to be fucking paparazzi?”’
Read more: Miami Beach Police Ordered Videographer At Gunpoint To Hand Over Phone
Chossudovsky: US, NATO Clearly Going into Ground War
Congressional Research Service Confirms Big Banks Borrowed Cash For Next To Nothing, Then Lent It Back to the Federal Government at Much Higher Rates
‘Trading, of course, is supposed to be a risky business: You win some, you lose some. That’s how traders justify their gargantuan bonuses–their jobs are so risky that they deserve to be paid millions for protecting their firms’ precious capital. (Of course, the only thing that happens if traders fail to protect that capital is that taxpayers bail out the bank and the traders are paid huge “retention” bonuses to prevent them from leaving to trade somewhere else, but that’s a different story).
But these days, trading isn’t risky at all. In fact, it’s safer than walking down the street. Why?
Because the US government is lending money to the big banks at near-zero interest rates. And the banks are then turning around and lending that money back to the US government at 3%-4% interest rates, making 3%+ on the spread. What’s more, the banks are leveraging this trade, borrowing at least $10 for every $1 of equity capital they have, to increase the size of their bets. Which means the banks can turn relatively small amounts of equity into huge profits–by borrowing from the taxpayer and then lending back to the taxpayer.’
Bipartisan Congress Rebuffs Obama on Libya Mission
Saturday, 04 June 2011 08:29
‘Crossing party lines to deliver a stunning rebuke to the commander in chief, the vast majority of the House voted Friday for resolutions telling President Obama he has broken the constitutional chain of authority by committing U.S. troops to the international military mission in Libya.’
Read more: Bipartisan Congress Rebuffs Obama on Libya Mission
Believe nothing 