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Fascism Wins Big in Israel
by Stephen Lendman
Israeli election results hardened fascist rule. Dominant right-wing parties control 102 of 120 Knesset seats.
Israelis have themselves to blame. They elected Israel's most extremist government in history. Militarism, belligerence, state-sponsored terrorism, occupation ruthlessness, settlement expansions, and neoliberal harshness reflect official policy.
Peace is a non-starter. A so-called process never existed and doesn't now. Israel won't tolerate it. Netanyahu scorns it. He calls it a waste of time.
Palestinians and Israeli Arabs have the greatest cross to bear. They're marginalized, denied, persecuted and brutalized.
Israeli Election Results
by Stephen Lendman
Israel has no constitution. Basic Laws substitute. One defines the "Powers and Functions of the Knesset." It's elected by "general, national, direct, equal, secret and proportional elections in accordance with Knesset Elections Law."
Israel's Central Elections Committee overseas procedures. It's composed of Knesset members. A Supreme Court justice chairs it. It authorizes parties, election financing, vote counting, publishing results, and appeals when called for.
Israeli citizens aged 18 or older may vote. Those 21 or older may seek office. Exceptions include career active duty soldiers, high-ranking civil servants, and convicted felons serving terms exceeding three months. Seven years after they expire, full citizenship rights are restored.
Western Powers Go Full Retard on Africa, Part 1: China vs. AFRICOM, a Resource War
by chycho
In Africa, China has been securing access to resources through lucrative trade agreements while Western powers have decided to take the military option to secure their share of the pie.
“Across Africa, the red flag of China is flying. Lucrative deals are being struck to buy its commodities - oil, platinum, gold and minerals… From Nigeria in the north, to Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and Angola in the west, across Chad and Sudan in the east, and south through Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique, China has seized a vice-like grip on a continent which officials have decided is crucial to the superpower's long-term survival.”
Qatar and U.S.: Collusion or Conflict of Interests
By Nicola Nasser**
In his inaugural address on January 21, U.S. President Barak Obama made the historic announcement that “a decade of war is ending” and declared his country’s determination to “show the courage to try and resolve our differences with other nations peacefully,” but his message will remain words that have yet to be translated into deeds and has yet to reach some of the U.S. closest allies in the Middle East who are still beating the drums of war, like Israel against Iran and Qatar against Syria.
In view of the level of “coordination” and “cooperation” since bilateral diplomatic relations were established in 1972 between the U.S. and Qatar, and the concentration of U.S. military power on this tiny peninsula, it seems impossible that Qatar could move independently apart, in parallel with, away or on a collision course with the U.S. strategic and regional plans.
Extreme Wealth vs Global Sharing
Rajesh Makwana
Campaigners have long proposed measures to reduce extreme inequality, but policymakers remain fixated on an economic model that threatens to undermine the fabric of society. When will the political elite heed the growing demands for redistribution that are being voiced in countless reports, books and public protests? By Rajesh Makwana.
Last year alone, the world's 100 richest people earned a combined additional income of $241 billion. According to new calculations, redistributing just a quarter of this vast quantity of money would enable governments to wipe out extreme poverty for an entire year. Unfortunately for the 40,000 people who die needlessly every day from poverty-related causes, these billionaires are as unlikely to share their earnings voluntarily as governments are to enact policies that redistribute their excessive incomes more fairly across society.
Four More Years
by Stephen Lendman
Inaugurating US presidents quadrennially reflects institutionalized hypocrisy.
On January 20, Obama began term two. After all the harm he caused so many, imagine how much more he plans.
He broke every major campaign promise made. He mocks legitimate governance. He lawlessly serves powerful monied interests. They own him.
He spurns peace. He's waging multiple direct and proxy wars. He's got new targets in mind. He supports some of the world's most ruthless despots.
He spends more on militarism than all other countries combined. He's done it when the only enemies America has are ones it invents.
He institutionalized tyranny. He targets dissent. He elevated abuse of power to a higher level. He imprisoned some of America's best and brightest. He's got others in mind.
Goldman, Other Welfare Queens Tell Us Forget Social Security-Medicare Until 70
Michael Collins
(Washington, DC 1/21) A long standing Money Party front, the Business Roundtable, wants you to wait until you're 70 years old before you get Social Security and Medicare benefits. This is just a reprise of the November 2012 dictate from the king of corporate cronyism, Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein. (Image: DonkeyHotey) (Greenspan statement)
The boss announced, "So there will be things that, you know, the retirement age has to be changed, maybe some of the benefits have to be affected, maybe some of the inflation adjustments have to be revised. But in general, entitlements have to be slowed down and contained." Lloyd Blankfein, CBS News, November 2012
That's easy for Lloyd to say. He makes tens of millions of dollars a year without so much as lifting a finger. You can be sure that Blankfein has a deluxe health insurance and retirement plan.
How Unalienable Is Life?
By David Swanson
Meet the new boss who, upon his inauguration, declared that the right to life is unalienable. Let me be clear, that doesn't mean he can't take yours.
In fact, he runs through a list of men, women, and children on Tuesdays, hung over from inaugurations or not, and picks whom to murder and murders them.
We're not supposed to call it murder, of course, because it's properly assassination. Except that no public figures are being assassinated; 98% of those killed are not targeted at all; some are targeted for suspicious behavior without knowing their names; one type of suspicious behavior is the act of retrieving the dead and wounded from a previous strike; and those targeted are not targeted for politics but for resisting illegal occupations. Moreover, an assassination is a type of murder.
Crusading Wars on Muslims Will Never End
Mahboob A. Khawaja, PhD
“The Romans were slipping into violence by a process of self-justification, and once a nation or an individual has started down this particular slope, it is impossible to apply breaks the Roman people were too unimaginative and short sighted to realize that, once murder has been justified on grounds of expediency, it can become a habit, then a disease.” (Colin Wilson. A Criminal History of Mankind)
The 21st century unilateral crusades are killing the humanity as if the 12th century European crusades against Islam were unending. The hurriedly enforced allied adventure in West Africa - Mali- tells clearly that the US led bogus “War on Terror” is endless and unprovoked aggression is part of the planned Western crusade against Islam and Muslims across the globe.
The Trillion Dollar Coin: Joke or Game-changer?
by Ellen Brown
The trillion dollar coin actually represents one of the most important principles of popular prosperity ever conceived: the creation of money by sovereign governments, debt-free.
Last week on “The Daily Show,” Jon Stewart characterized the proposal that the White House circumvent the debt ceiling by minting a trillion dollar coin as an attempt to “just make shit up.”
Economist and NY Times columnist Paul Krugman responded with a critical blog post accusing Stuart of a “lack of professionalism” for not taking the trillion dollar coin seriously. However, Krugman himself had called the idea “silly.” He thought it was just less silly — and less dangerous — than playing with the debt ceiling, which was itself an unconstitutional shackle on the Treasury’s ability to pay debts already incurred by Congress.
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