Link: http://bellaciao.org/en/spip.php?article21092

The head of state-owned Chinese rating agency Dagong, Guan Jianzhong, 57, speaks to SPIEGEL about China’s economic model, why he believes the rating system used by the Big Three is a threat to the world and the twilight of Western dominance. SPIEGEL: You recently said that it would be a “catastrophe” if an American rating agency downgraded the United States’ credit rating. Now that Standard and Poor’s has taken that step, is the situation as bad as you imagined?

Link: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/chavez-pulls-venezuelas-gold-jp-morgan-great-scramble-physical-starting

In addition to the nationalization of his gold insutry, Chavez earlier also announced that he would recover virtually all gold that Venezuela hold abroad, starting with 99 tons of gold at the Bank of England. As the WSJ reported earlier, "The Bank of England recently received a request from the Venezuelan government about transferring the 99 tons of gold Venezuela holds in the bank back to Venezuela, said a person familiar with the matter. A spokesman from the Bank of England declined to comment whether Venezuela had any gold on deposit at the bank." That's great, but not really a gamechanger. After all the BOE should have said gold.

Link: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article28864.htm

We’ve written for years how Pentagon officials often spin mass casualty terrorist bombing attacks in Iraq and Afghanistan into signs of progress. After multiple bombings killed more than 80 people across the warzones Sunday and Monday, here’s an example of how the war is spun.

Link: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article28866.htm

With few exceptions, like some salacious rumor about the Kennedy family, the mainstream U.S. news media has shown little interest in stories that throw light on history — even recent, very relevant history. So it comes as no surprise that, when a former White House counter-terrorism czar accuses an ex-CIA director of sitting on information that could have prevented a 9/11 attack, the story gets neither ink nor air.

Link: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article28858.htm

“Israel besieges us, puts us in cantons — in cages — and the international community is feeding us in these cages. It’s anything but developmental and it’s helping Israel’s colonization, ethnic cleansing and dispossession,” Dr. Samia Botmeh said, as she sat in her office in the Center for Development Studies (CDS) at Birzeit University near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.

Link: http://socialistworker.org/2011/08/17/apologists-for-austerity

Why is Barack Obama claiming that he stood up to the Republicans' assault on workers when he really stood aside and let the social safety net be slashed? President Obama returns to the campaign trail following the debt ceiling deal AFTER WEEKS of high-profile, rancorous debate over raising the federal government's debt ceiling, the Obama administration and congressional Democrats caved to almost every Republican demand.

Link: http://bellaciao.org/en/spip.php?article21092

The head of state-owned Chinese rating agency Dagong, Guan Jianzhong, 57, speaks to SPIEGEL about China’s economic model, why he believes the rating system used by the Big Three is a threat to the world and the twilight of Western dominance.

Link: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/08/17-9

China just launched a refitted Ukrainian aircraft carrier from the 1990s on its first test run -- and that’s what the only projected "great power" enemy of the U.S. has to offer for the foreseeable future.  In the meantime, the U.S. Navy has 11 aircraft carrier task forces to cruise the seven seas and plans to keep that many through 2045.  Like so much else, when it comes to the American military, all comparisons are ludicrous.  In any normal sense, the United States stands alone in military terms.  Its expenditures make up almost 50% of global military spending; it dominates the global arms market; and it has countless more bases, pilotless drones, military bands, and almost anything else military you’d care to mention than does any other power.

Link: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/08/17-5

Not only is the United States slouching toward a double dip, but so is Europe. New data out today show even Europe’s strongest core economies – Germany, France, and the Netherlands – slowing to a crawl. [ Austerity is the wrong medicine.] Policy makers be warned: Austerity is the wrong medicine. We’re on the cusp of a global recession. We all know about the weaknesses in Europe’s “periphery” – Greece, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, and Italy. But the drop in Europe’s core is dizzying.

Link: http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/insidestory/2011/08/201181791343606172.html

The UN is investigating the possible theft of food supplies meant for Somalia's famine victims. The UN World Food Programme is investigating the possible theft of food supplies meant for Somalia's famine victims. But it has denied reports that half of all its aid is being stolen and sold on the black market. More than 3.2 million Somalis - almost half the population - need food aid, after a severe drought engulfed the country. This comes against the backdrop of the country's long running civil war.

Link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/8702101/Every-hour-of-TV-watching-shortens-life-by-22-minutes.html

Every hour spent watching television shortens the viewer’s life by 22 minutes, academics warn. Anyone who spends six hours a day in front of the box is at risk of dying five years sooner than those who enjoy more active pastimes, it is claimed. Researchers say that watching too much TV is as dangerous as smoking or being overweight, and that the “ubiquitous sedentary behaviour” should be seen as a “public health problem”.

Link: http://english.aljazeera.net/video/americas/2011/08/2011817640148338.html

Mexico's war on drugs has had little impact on trafficking and violence. Now some say it's time for a new approach. In 2012 Mexico will elect a new president who will need to decide whether to continue the crackdown on the country's drug cartels. Current president Felipe Calderon is under pressure with no end in sight to the rising violence. He has complained of being "misunderstood" over his battle with cartels and says he has the majority of the people's support although "perhaps silently". Drugs will never be legalized because American mercenaries and arms dealers are making too much money from the business of repression and death in Mexico, and AIG, Goldman Sachs, is making money by laundering the trillions of dollars in drug profits.

Link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/8704574/Stressed-out-partner-can-lead-to-early-death.html

Having a stressed-out partner can send you to an early grave, even if you used to be laid-back yourself. Research on birds has found that those paired off with anxious partners were at a high risk of dying young. Academics suggest this could be because it is “not very comforting” to live with someone who has grown up “jittery”. Prof Pat Monaghan of the University of Glasgow said: “The take-home message is that the wrong kind of partner can be very bad for your health.