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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.
America’s Unending War on Terrorism will Destroy Humanity and Planet Earth
Mahboob A Khawaja
Now the Western hypocrisy has willingly embraced Russia in partnership to destroy the Arab world. To deceive the humanity, they announced a Peace Plan for Syria approved by the UN Security Council. How and who will implement this so called Peace Plan? The Plan keeps the bloody Bashar al Assad in power and foresees public elections after the ceasefire. Strange as is that 60-70 % of Syrian population is displaced, the country’s economic and political infrastructures are in complete ruin, millions of civilians killed and pushed to the European oceans and countries as refugees and asylum seekers. Who will elect who? Could the large Syrian graveyards be places of ballot boxes for the dead souls? Do the Americans and Russian think that global community is just digits and numbers without human conscience and rational thinking?
Why North Korea Wants Nukes
Stephen Lendman
Pyongyang has just cause to fear America. It knows how it raped Southeast Asia, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria.
Truman’s naked aggression was devastating, turning most of North Korea to rubble. General Matthew Ridgway ordered air force bombers to level Pyongyang and other strategic targets. Scorched earth death and destruction was official US strategy.
Douglas McArthur wanted commander’s discretion to use nuclear weapons - to spread a radioactive belt from the Sea of Japan to the Yellow Sea. US terror-bombing ran out of targets. Principle ones included Pyongyang, Chongyin, Wonsan, Hungnam and Rashin. North Korea suffered overwhelming numbers of casualties. Up to four million died, mostly civilians. Terror weapons were used, including napalm and toxic agents - chemical and biological.
El Chapo v. Longstanding CIA Global Drugs Trafficking
Stephen Lendman
Drug lords come and go, El Chapo’s arrest of little consequence, doing nothing to stem the flow of illicit drugs. Business as usual continues.
His operation and others like his pale compared to CIA global drugs trafficking - a topic media scoundrels won’t touch.
Its involvement began in 1947, its first year of existence. In his book titled “The Politics of Heroin: CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade,” Alfred McCoy documented CIA and US government complicity in drugs trafficking at the highest official levels. It continues today in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, South and Central America, facilitating the global supply of illicit drugs.
TransCanada’s $15B Lawsuit Against U.S. on Keystone XL Presents Strong Case
Eric Zuesse
TransCanada, the Canadian company that had been planning to build and own its proposed Keystone XL Pipeline carrying Canada’s tar-sands oil to Texas Gulf Coast refineries for export to Europe and elsewhere, released to the public, on Wednesday January 6th, two legal presentations against the United States, because U.S. President Barack Obama, through his Secretary of State John Kerry, on 6 November 2015, had said no to TransCanada’s proposed oil pipeline.
TransCanada’s basic legal argument contains many allegations, each one of which will be exceedingly difficult for the United States to defend successfully against; and all of which taken together provide TransCanada’s stockholders a reasonably high likelihood of ultimately winning their penalty claim, even perhaps all of the $15 billion that they are seeking against U.S. taxpayers for the American President’s having violated rights of TransCanada stockholders to profit, under the 1994 NAFTA trade agreement between the U.S. and Canada. This case could be a harbinger of many more to come if President Obama’s three mega trade deals become passed by Congress (TTIP, TPP, and TISA), each of which extends the same profitable potentials for corporations to sue the U.S. government.
America’s Subservience to the Saud Family
Eric Zuesse
The Saud royal family are by far the world’s largest buyers of U.S. weapons. The King of Saudi Arabia is by far the world’s richest person, with a net worth well over a trillion dollars; and, when his (Aramco’s) 260 billion barrels of oil reserves were valued at $100 per barrel, his net worth was around $15 trillion. The King has total control over the world’s largest (in terms of dollar-value) company: Aramco. (On January 7th, Britain’s Economist bannered “Saudi Arabia is considering an IPO of Aramco, probably the world’s most valuable company.” Aramco is certainly the world’s largest oil company in terms of sales, and it has twice the reserves of the company that has the world’s second-largest reserves; nobody comes even close to Aramco’s dominance.) Since 1980, the Saudi government has owned 100% of Aramco; the Saudi government is totally under the King’s exclusive control. The King owns all that oil, and his extraction cost is reputed to be the world’s lowest. Forbes and Bloomberg decline to estimate his wealth, because kings don’t want them to; but, clearly, his dwarfs that of anyone such as Bill Gates or Warren Buffett. And Gates and Buffett don’t possess the power to keep their wealth from becoming published, but the Saudi King does.
Saudis Terror-Bomb Doctors Without Borders Yemeni Hospital
Stephen Lendman
Saudi aerial forces terror-bombed MSF Yemeni facilities multiple times last year, using US-supplied coordinates - again on Sunday.
Its spokesman confirmed it, the Shiara hospital located in Razeh - killing at least four, injuring 10 others. Victims remain trapped in rubble. Expect the death toll to rise.
MSM strongly condemned the attack, saying “all parties to the conflict” must respect medical facilities, staff and patients. MSF’s Raquel Ayora explained “(a)ll the warring parties, including the Saudi-led coalition, are regularly informed of the GPS coordinates of the medical sites where MSF works and we are in constant dialogue with them to ensure that they understand the severity of the humanitarian consequences of the conflict and the need to respect the provision of medical services.”
Gulf States Support Saudi Regional Terrorism
Stephen Lendman
On Saturday, Gulf Cooperation Council states met in extraordinary Riyadh session, discussing Saudi/Iranian relations.
Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE support the kingdom’s anti-Iranian agenda. Oman alone urges resolving differences diplomatically, maintaining its longstanding tradition of cooperation with Tehran, saying it poses no threat to other regional states.
Following the session, Saudi foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir said “(w)e are looking at additional measures to be taken if (Tehran) continues with its current policies” - without further elaboration. He irresponsibly blamed Tehran for Saudi regional destabilization efforts, adding moves Riyadh intends making “will be clearer in the near future.”
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