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Year in Review: 2012 in U.S. Trade Reform
Ian Fletcher
Previously negotiated U.S. free trade agreements went into effect with Korea in March, Colombia in May, and Panama in October.
President Obama continued to push for the unpopular Trans-Pacific Partnership.
He also continued to refuse to designate China a currency manipulator, despite his Treasury Department’s own economists verifying the truth of this allegation yet again. China’s currency continued to slowly rise, though not nearly enough to eliminate the problem.
The major Republican candidates for president ran the gamut in terms of the trade positions they expounded during the primaries.
Fiscal Cliff Postmortems
by Stephen Lendman
Congressional profiles in courage are sorely lacking. Pretenders usually vote party line when asked or pressured.
No House or Senate member explained what constituents most need to know. Fiscal cliff hype reflects doublespeak duplicity. Previous articles explained.
America's social contract is targeted. Bipartisan complicity wants it eroded and destroyed. Heavy lifting comes later. Eleventh hour legislation ducked tough issues. The battle of 2013 awaits.
Expect something greater than August 2011's debt ceiling crisis. Version 2.0 will demand more pounds of flesh. Republicans have Obama where they want him. They conceded on extending most expiring benefits. They settled for half the mandated $1.2 trillion sequester.
American Politics and the Innocent Children Killed
Mahboob A. Khawaja, PhD
“Americans need to look at how their society has increasingly become a psychopathic culture of death over many decades. Americans need to realize how their hallowed capitalist ideology of the putative American Dream is in practice nothing but the destruction of communities and millions of individuals on the altar of elite profit-making. Think about the glib, common parlance used to describe the process of human destruction. Investors “make a killing”; workforces are “liquidated”; society is facing a “fiscal cliff”.
(Finian Cunningham, “Killing Children Is the All-American Way.” Dissident Voice: 12/22/2012).
Guns do not kill, people kill people. The crux of the problems which most politicians avoid seeing the mirror. War is killing people. America has the unparallel sophistication, know-how and the mindset to maintain this “business as usual.” Killing others transforms the American politics into a dehumanized global strategy being actively pursued by the institutionalized military-industrial complex in Washington - the political lobby and force behind warmongering. There is no pain or anguish in obsessed insanity using the feeling less war machines anywhere and against anyone. Politics is a game of pretension and superficial acting on stage, and all politicians master the Machiavellian statecraft. The underpinning passion for political obsession is to get elected and nothing else. All other grandeur claims of being honest or doing good for the public are fake illusions evolved to boost the political image to impress the electorates who have paid dearly in advance for political pains. Political minds are always self-centered, greedy and problematic. They need problems for self-actualization and relevance in a given societal culture. The overwhelmingly war hysteria brings home to America what is irrational and insane in human terms.
The Real Murders Of Children
By Dr. Elias Akleh
The whole US was shocked when armed with automatic assault weapons 20 years old Adam Lanza murdered 20 first grade students in Newtown, Connecticut, yet very few, if any, Americans get shocked when their presidents murder thousands of similar children of other nations but call them heroes and defenders of freedom and democracy.
I was not chocked but heart broken when I heard of Lanza’s crime. Such crime is more common in the American culture than one would think of. Following the daily news one can find many reports of murder in every American state. They range from family violence against wives and children, gangs drive-by shooting, and school/university mass murder among others.
Flim Flam Fiscal Cliff Legislation
by Stephen Lendman
Senate members met, debated, negotiated, passed stopgap legislation, and largely delayed deficit cutting for later. On Tuesday, the House followed suit. Obama will sign it into law or may already have done so. Media reports announced it. The New York Times headlined "Senate Passes Legislation to Allow Taxes on Affluent to Rise." Members voted 89-8. The Washington Post said "Obama, Senate Republicans reach agreement on 'fiscal cliff.' " The Wall Street Journal headlined "US Budget Compromise Deal Reached."
A New York Times editorial called it "A Tepid Fiscal Agreement." As this is written, House up or down follow-through awaits. Expect House Republicans to back strong party-line Senate support.
The conspiracy to thwart Palestinian hopes for freedom
Stuart Littlewood
This Christmas the Palestinian embassy in London sent out a particularly pathetic message.
Headed Palestine mulling ICC if UN takes no action on settlements, it warned that if the UN Security Council didn't act against Israeli settlements Palestine would "consider complaining to the International Criminal Court, an option made available by Palestine’s admission as a non-member state to the UN in November".
What is there to mull? In all the years since 1967 what action has the Security Council taken to halt Israel's illegal settlements? Even now, does it show any sign of doing so?
Preventing the Coming U.S. Disaster in the Caucasus
By David Boyajian
The United States is risking a disastrous renewal of war in the Caucasus between Armenians and Azeris over the breakaway Armenian-populated Republic of Mountainous Karabagh (RMK, or Artsakh in ancient Armenian).
A new war between Azerbaijan and RMK (with its ally, Armenia) would undoubtedly destroy much of Azerbaijan’s energy industry. This includes key Azeri oil and gas pipelines which lie just a few miles north of RMK and snake through Georgia and Turkey.
Azerbaijan’s economy and corrupt government are massively dependent on oil and gas revenue and would be in deep trouble. The already conflict-ridden Caucasus -- recall the Abkhazia stalemate and 2008’s Russian-Georgian war over South Ossetia – would be hopelessly destabilized. U.S. policy, in particular, would lie in tatters.
Venezuelan Leadership Up for Grabs?
by Stephen Lendman
New reports about Chavez's health raise concerns. He's struggling to recover from complicated cancer surgery. Previous articles explained. More on his current status below.
On October 7, Venezuelans overwhelmingly reelected him. They want no one else leading them. He transformed national politics responsibly. He established participatory democracy and social justice.
He significantly improved the lives of Venezuela's poor. Constitutional and statute law mandate vital social services.
They include universal healthcare, education, subsidized food, housing assistance, land reform, job training, micro-credit, and more. He's a populist hero. He'll be hard to replace.
Beating Up on Iran and Syria
by Stephen Lendman
A new Press TV poll shows 72% of respondents believe ravaging Syria continues "to destroy the (regional) axis of anti-Israeli resistance…."
Only 8% said Washington, its allies, and Islamofacist fighters attacked Assad because he's undemocratic. Neither is America, Israel, key NATO partners, and rogue regional collaborators.
Press TV also reported that Iran's Deputy Armed Forces Chief of Staff, General Massoud Jazayeri, said Israel's threat to attack Iran is falsified hype. Israeli Air Force Commander Major General Amir Eshel accused Iran of arming Hamas. He threatened retaliation to strike at "the heart of Tehran."
Can American leaders lead?
By Alan Hart
The longer version of the headline question is this: Given the corruption of the American political system which puts what passes for democracy up for sale to the highest lobby bidders, will any U.S. President (not only a second-term Obama) ever be able to shape and implement policies which best serve the longer term interests of all Americans rather than the short-term interests of the most powerful lobbies?
Usually that question or something very like it is asked in the context of the Israel-Palestine conflict, when a president has demonstrated with rhetoric a desire to advance the co-called peace process and has been blocked by the Zionist (not Israel) lobby and its stooges in Congress. But today, following the slaughter of the innocents in Connecticut, the question has a domestic context.
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