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Iran vs the Empire: Fighting dollarization
Eric Walberg
The West's attempts to destroy the Iranian economy through heightened sanctions—including most imports, oil exports and use of banks for trade operations—is having its affect. According to Johns Hopkins University Professor Steve Hanke, Iran is facing hyperinflation, with a monthly inflation rate of nearly 70% per month and its national currency, the rial, plummeting in value against western currencies. Iran is the latest casualty to be placed on his Hanke-Krus Hyperinflation Index, which includes France (1795), Germany (1922), Chile (1973), Nicaragua (1986), Argentina (1990), Russia (1992), Ecuador (1999) and Zimbabwe (2007), countries which experienced price-level increases of at least 50% per month.
Part II - Rigged Elections for Romney?
Michael Collins
Part I of this series suggested that there may well have been massive vote flipping for candidate Mitt Romney in the Republican primaries (Rigged Elections for Romney (10/22/12) The article and the initial research analysis were received broadly. In addition, highly motivated citizens across the country and a team of high school students contacted the authors for help replicating the research in their states. The researchers, Francois et al., point out that this can be done with their open source techniques.
The basic argument is straightforward. If you look at precinct level voting data arranged from the smallest to the largest precincts, you will see Romney's gains increasing substantially as the cumulative vote increases. For example, Ohio and Wisconsin show this clearly as do eleven other states presented here. This extraordinary vote gain from smallest to largest precincts is so out of line, that the probability that this would happen by chance alone is often less than 1 out of a number represented by 1 preceded by 100 zeros and a decimal point, a value beneath the statistical package’s lower limits. As a result, the researchers termed the suspected vote flipping for Romney the “amazing anomaly.” (The Amazing Statistical Anomaly)
Obama Rejects Palestinian Statehood
by Stephen Lendman
What do you call a Black man who rejects equal rights for his own people and others? A racist traitor.
What do you call a rejectionist leader? A criminal who should be impeached, removed and prosecuted.
Obama stands guilty on multiple counts. His rap sheet includes much more than spurning Palestinian rights. He's complicit in grand theft and war crimes multiple times over. He's unfit to serve. He should be in prison, not government.
Throughout his tenure, he repeatedly violated international, constitutional, and US statute laws. He's contemptuous of fundamental rights and other democratic values.
PLO representation is not a sacred text
By Khalid Amayreh in Occupied East Jerusalem
Sheikh Hamad al Thani
Whenever the Palestinian Islamic liberation movement, Hamas, edges toward eroding the Israeli-American blockade of the Gaza Strip, the western-backed Palestinian Authority (PA) becomes thoroughly convulsive.
This hysterical exasperation was so apparent during the recent visit by the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Hamad al Thani to Gaza, that some PLO officials lost their composure.
These officials, speaking out of both sides of their mouths, were furious at the Qatari leader for visiting Gaza without their permission and consent. They were visibly doubly angry at Qatar for deciding to donate a few hundred million dollars directly in the coastal enclave in order to rebuild homes and infrastructure destroyed during the genocidal Israeli blitz on the strip in 2008-09.
Tepid Palestinian Authority UN Upgrade Bid
by Stephen Lendman
Instead of going for easily within reach full UN membership, Abbas prefers settling for less. Why he'll have to explain.
Others say it reflects his longtime collaboration with Israel. Doing so betrays his own people. Why they tolerate him, they'll have to explain.
If he follows through as planned, he'll get what he asks for. He'll upgrade Palestine from observer to non-member status. It's like being club member with most rights but not all. Non-member states can't vote.
Full de jure status requires following simple procedures that work. Abbas categorically refuses. Who knows if he even follow through on his lesser pledge.
Deepening the U.S.-EU Transatlantic Trade Partnership
By Dana Gabriel
Overshadowed by the upcoming American election are reports that the U.S. and European Union (EU) are working towards launching official negotiations on a deal that would further deepen their transatlantic trade partnership.
According to a recent Reuters article, “Europe and the United States are set to launch trade talks early next year to deepen the world’s largest trading relationship.” It goes on to say that, “An expert group co-chaired by EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht and U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk will in December issue a report recommending pursuing talks.” An EU official explained that, “The report will recommend the negotiation of a comprehensive agreement between the United States and the European Union.” Last week, the European Parliament also approved a resolution calling for talks on a possible trade deal with the U.S. to begin in 2013. The U.S. and EU have already made incremental strides with regards to economic integration. With renewed political support, momentum for a transatlantic trade accord is building.
Obama's Disposition Matrix
by Stephen Lendman
Call it elevating Murder, Inc. to a higher level. A Washington Post Special Report discussed America's permanent war agenda.
It includes targeted killings, Obama's secret kill list, global drone wars, and White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan's new rules for war playbook.
Established in 2003, Washington's National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) provides terrorist related information for America's intelligence community. Brennan initially ran the agency. It devised Washington's so-called "disposition matrix."
Remember Bani Walid
by Stephen Lendman
For courageous Jamahiriya fighters, it's their finest hour. Despite overwhelming force, use of chemical and other illegal weapons, and US-sponsored mass murder, they hang on valiantly.
Western major scoundrels shamelessly ignore the slaughter or misreport it. More on that below.
A previous article called what's happening one of history's great crimes. It's a Nuremberg level one writ large. Libyans and people of conscience won't ever let it be forgotten. Mass killing and destruction continues. An entire city is being destroyed. Western-sponsored death squads are murdering civilians in cold blood. NATO-supplied rockets, shells, chemical, and other illegal weapons target them. Inside the city, door-to-door murder threatens anyone remaining.
Beyond President Chavez Electoral Victory: Socialism in a Rentier State
James Petras
Introduction
The successful re-election of President Chavez by a resounding 10% margin winning 20 of the 22 states, with a massive 80% turnout provides his government with a clear and decisive mandate to set the political and economic course of the country over the next six years.
To understand the opportunities and constraints which the government faces, it is essential to outline not only the positive strengths of the government but the complex and difficult structural features of ‘transiting’ in an essentially ‘rentier economy and society’ based on extractive enclaves, essentially a petrol economy. The socialist project faces an external environment with contradictory features, which include a highly globalized economy offering trade and investment opportunities and expanding economic partnerships via regional and global organizations ( OPEC, MERCOSUR, UNASUR, PETROCARIBE, ALBA) and political and military threats from its proximity to the North American imperial heartland.
The myth of the Christian right
Mary Shaw
GOP politicians and their followers love to play the Christianity card. They wave their bibles and wag their fingers at anyone whose behavior doesn't pass their sanctimonious moral judgment.
They call themselves Christians, but in Catholic school I was taught that Christians adore and follow Jesus Christ. These holier-than-thou Republicans don't reflect the Jesus that I read about in the New Testament.
To illustrate this point, let's compare the teachings of Jesus with the actions of his so-called followers in the GOP.
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Jesus said, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God." (Matthew 5:9)
The "Christian" Republicans, on the other hand, attacked Iraq for no good reason, and now are beating the war drums over Iran. And their corporate overlords in the war profiteering business are making a fortune. (See Halliburton.)
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