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Replace Our Sick Narcotics Policies
Eric Zuesse
Existing narcotics policies lock-up addicts, punish them, instead of deal with the problem, which is the explosion of burglaries and robberies that are produced by addicts. Those thefts are resulting actually from the inflated, black-market, price that addicts must pay gangsters to feed their addiction. If the drugs were instead sold by the government, at the free-market prices that would exist if these drugs were legally sold over-the-counter as regular non-prescription and unpatented medications (and if the product is grown and manufactured by a government-owned corporation which is the only legal supplier of the product, and which wholesales the product at the price that would prevail if it were produced and marketed as a regular free-market product), then this would immediately put all of the illicit dealers out of business, and it would also immediately end the thefts, which are resulting from the need that addicts have to possess enough money to pay gangsters for their drugs at the current sky-high (artificially high) black-market price.
Syrians Besieged by Terrorists Risk Death
Stephen Lendman
ISIS and other terrorist groups are killing Syrians they hold captive by appalling atrocities, exposure to freezing temperatures, denial of vital medical treatment, and starvation.
Syrian armed forces so far haven’t freed trapped Fuaa and Kafrya residents in Idlib province mountainous areas. They may freeze to death from exposure or perish from denial of essential to life services.
Syrians in Aleppo province Nubl and Al-Zahra areas are threatened the same way. Unknown numbers are dying out of sight and mind, their situation ignored by media scoundrels - suffering at the hands of US-supported ISIS and other terrorist groups, holding them captive under siege and endless war.
Saudis Escalate Tensions with Iran
Stephen Lendman
Riyadh and Tehran are regional rivals, each nation pursuing polar opposite policies.
Iran forthrightly supports regional peace, stability and mutual cooperation. Saudi Arabia is a monster regime, lawlessly pursuing a rogue agenda - the epicenter of Middle East violence and chaos, fostering terrorism, denying its people fundamental rights free societies take for granted.
On January 3, Riyadh cut diplomatic ties, trade and air links with Iran, likely pre-planned, using the phony pretext of justifiably angry Iranians storming its Tehran embassy over the extrajudicial execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.
Obama's Friend No. 2: Saudi King Salman Executes 47, Including a Leading Shi'a Cleric
larouchepac
Following Saudi Arabia's barbaric mass executions on Jan. 2, which have outraged the world, it is now time for the contents of the Congressional Inquiry's 28 secret pages to come to the floor of the U.S. Senate and House, ending the U.S. alliance with the al-Saud monarchy. Barack Obama, who ignored the mass memorial march of world leaders in the streets of Paris last January, in order to appear personally at Saudi King Salman's coronation, must be thrown out with it. Neither Obama nor Britain's David Cameron have said anything about the execution of a leading Shi'a cleric, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, and 46 other prisoners. The Obama Administration made no attempt to warn the Saudi monarchy before it executed Sheikh al-Nimr.
Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn: We Are Moving Toward a Major War
larouchepac.com
A warning of "major war" involving Russia and the United States has come from Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, the former Defense Intelligence Agency head who was fired by Obama after his agency submitted a 2012 assessment that U.S. policy was leading toward a "Salafist caliphate" in Iraq and Syria (i.e., what became ISIS). Lt. Gen. Flynn was interviewed by Russia's {Kommersant Vlast} magazine on Dec. 30.
The interview is wide-ranging and combative, and includes Gen. Flynn's assessment that there are "5-10,000 Russian citizens fighting [for ISIS--ed.] in Syria," making it a strategic necessity for Russia to be fighting the terrorists in Syria "so that they don't return to Chechnya, Dagestan, Uzbekistan, Moscow."
Obama's Friend No 1: Turkey's Erdogan Likens Himself to Hitler
larouchepac
Barack Obama's number-one friend in the Muslim world, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who harbors plans to be the Sultan of a revived Ottoman Empire, has gone on record to reveal his other intent, which is to be a new Hitler. Following his return from Saudi Arabia, on Jan. 1, according to a recorded broadcast by the Dogan news agency, Erdogan told reporters that it is possible to transform the Turkish presidency from a ceremonial office to the role of chief executive: "That could work without disrupting Turkey's unitary political structure. There are already examples in the world. You can see it when you look at Hitler's Germany. There are later examples in various other countries," Erdogan said. On Jan. 3, two days after citing Hitler's Germany as a model for Turkey's future presidential system, Erdogan took his point further, saying Turkey needs a country like Israel.
Suspected Arsonist Torches B’Tselem Office
Stephen Lendman
On Sunday evening, the human rights group’s Jerusalem office was set ablaze. Arson is strongly suspected.
Israel is a fascist police state. Its policies are ruthless. Were its dirty hands involved? It tolerates no criticism.
Fire broke out around 10:00PM, contained about 90 minutes later. Five firefighting teams were needed to battle the blaze.
Two centers of combustion were reported - both in B’Tselem’s first floor offices where most damage occurred. Flames spread to upper floors. The building was mostly empty late Sunday night, no B’Tselem staff members present.
How Corrupt the U.S. Is: An Extraordinary Example
Eric Zuesse
Even if it might be the case that incarceration rates don’t necessarily correlate with corruption, they do necessarily reflect the extent to which a given nation’s government is (by means of its laws and its enforcement of those laws) at war against its own population; and, so, technically speaking, incarceration rates (the percentage of the population who are in prison) are supposed to reflect the prevalence of law-breaking within a given nation. After all: by definition, people are presumed to be in prison for law-breaking, irrespective of whether the given nation’s laws are just — and, if they’re not just, then this fact reflects even more strongly that the nation itself is corrupt. So: a high incarceration-rate does strongly tend to go along with a nation’s being highly corrupt, in more than merely a technical sense — it’s almost more like being the definitive measure of “corruption.” So, the correlation between incarceration rates and corruption must be assumed to be high, and any measure of corruption which fails to at least include countries’ incarceration rates should be rejected.
Financial Mudslide Goes On
larouchepac.com
Jan. 6, 2016 (EIRNS) -- Stock markets fell heavily again Jan. 6 across Europe and the United States, while restoring the Glass-Steagall Act -- the one action which can shut down the Wall Street casino before it destroys the economy again -- was the subject of widespread debate.
The drops in commodity prices and stock markets were led by the oil price dropping below $34/barrel, an incredible development with extreme religious-war tensions spiking among the major oil producing nations in the Mideast. One major criminal bank, UBS, called for the U.S. Federal Reserve to reverse itself in 2016, return to zero interest rates, and start QE4.
The extraordinary danger of a financial crash is the condition of precisely such megabanks, loaded with bad and delinquent debt. The first impositions of the "bank bail-in"
policy, since last month, have led to bailed-in banks immediately having their credit ratings downgraded and bank stocks falling across the board.
A {Financial Times} piece of Jan. 4, based on an interview with the new European Commission bank bail-in czar, Elke Koenig, made clear that her office has become an arbitrary tyranny over Europe's banks and savers, but one which is out to protect the giant London-centered banks from the bail-in regime. A former UniCredit chief tells the {FT}, "For the big banks this change should be like the atomic bomb; they know it's there, but it will never be used." The paper reports finding widespread skepticism that "bail-in" will be used against megabanks even if they face insolvency; rather, the EU "resolution fund" will be used to bail them out.
Iranian Foreign Minister Blasts Saudi Reckless Extremism
Stephen Lendman
New York Times editors surprisingly gave Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif op-ed space. He remarked candidly about Saudi Arabia’s reckless agenda.
It’s the epicenter of regionally-sponsored violence and chaos, a monster threatening endless conflicts and instability.
Zarif explained President Hassan Rohani’s top foreign policy priority since taking office: “friendship with our neighbors, peace and stability in the region and global cooperation,” especially in combating terrorism.
Weeks after taking office, he introduced his World Against Violence and Extremism (WAVE) initiative. UN General Assembly members approved it by consensus.
Some countries obstruct “constructive engagement,” said Zarif. Saudi Arabia continues going all-out to undermine last year’s nuclear deal.
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