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Saturday, October 31, 2015

Many Need to Shop Around on HealthCare.gov as Prices Jump, U.S. Says

Many Need to Shop Around on HealthCare.gov as Prices Jump, U.S. Says


http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/31/us/politics/many-may-find-unpleasant-surprise-on-healthcaregov-high-rate-increases.html

Fall of the House of Bush


Fall of the House of Bush

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/01/opinion/sunday/fall-of-the-house-of-bush.html?_r=0

What Would It Take to Have an Economy Full of Good Jobs Again? - The Atlantic

What Would It Take to Have an Economy Full of Good Jobs Again? - The Atlantic

Offshoring the Economy: Why the US is on the Road to the Third World

Offshoring the Economy: Why the US is on the Road to the Third World

Obama drawn into Clinton email controversy - POLITICO

Obama drawn into Clinton email controversy - POLITICO

While Sanders Scores Small Donors, Clinton and Bush Buoyed by Wall Street | Common Dreams | Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community

While Sanders Scores Small Donors, Clinton and Bush Buoyed by Wall Street | Common Dreams | Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community

Is America completely unprepared for a power grid cyberattack?

Is America completely unprepared for a power grid cyberattack?

Putin Makes Obama an Offer He Can’t Refuse

Putin Makes Obama an Offer He Can’t Refuse

U.S. to Send Special Forces to Syria - WSJ

U.S. to Send Special Forces to Syria - WSJ

What is Russia Doing in Syria?

What is Russia Doing in Syria?

Obama’s “Limited” Intervention Keeps Expanding | The American Conservative

Obama’s “Limited” Intervention Keeps Expanding | The American Conservative

Floodgates opening: China dealt fresh blow in South China Sea disputes as Hague court to look into half of Philippines' claims against country | South China Morning Post

Floodgates opening: China dealt fresh blow in South China Sea disputes as Hague court to look into half of Philippines' claims against country | South China Morning Post

Cameron is right to schmooze the Chinese

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/opinion/columnists/article4594729.ece


Cameron is right to schmooze the Chinese

Niall Ferguson 

24 October 2015 | The Times

The prime minister is neatly repositioning Britain alongside the world's rising power, Just as the US did 40 years ago. 

To listen to some people — from the Speaker of the House of Commons to the leader of the Opposition — you would think that the Jedi had invited the Emperor Palpatine to discuss increased investment by the Death Star in the planet Tatooine. 

President Xi Jinping's state visit to London this week provided a rare opportunity for left and right to unite. Fraser Nelson, the usually astute editor of The Spectator, accused David Cameron and George Osborne of "the longest kowtow in diplomatic history". The Labour MP Paul Flynn went further by comparing Britain to "a supplicant fawning spaniel that licks the hand that beats it", which was the kind of thing Mao's Red Guards used to chant during the Cultural Revolution. http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/opinion/columnists/article4594729.ece

Iran to send ‘fleet of warships’ to the Atlantic Ocean

Iran to send ‘fleet of warships’ to the Atlantic Ocean

Tehran’s navy chief says vessels will ‘soon berth’ at Atlantic ports



http://www.timesofisrael.com/iran-to-send-fleet-of-warships-to-the-atlantic-ocean/

Adolf, Amin and Bibi By Uri Avnery

Adolf, Amin and Bibi
By Uri Avnery
A troubling suspicion is getting around: that our prime minister has serious mental problems. Is he losing his marbles?  - http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article43296.htm

U.S. Special Forces To Invade Syria: Official



U.S. Special Forces To Invade Syria: Official
By Richard Engel, Kristen Welker and Cassandra Vinograd
The special operations forces will be stationed in northern Syria and work alongside groups with a "proven track record" of fighting ISIS.    - http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article43291.htm
=======
 
U.S. Stopped Syria Air Strikes While Nusra And IS Prepared Attack On Government Supply Route
By Moon Of Alabama
The operations room in Damascus, suspects that the attack on the supply corridor was coordinated at a higher level than just between Nusra and the Islamic State.    - http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article43292.htm

China Sea Blues: A Thing Not to Do

China Sea Blues: A Thing Not to Do
It appears that Washington, ever a seething cauldron of bright ideas, is looking for a shooting war with China, or perhaps trying to make the Chinese kowtow and back down, the pretext being some rocks in the Pacific in which the United States cannot possibly have a vital national interest. Or, really, any interest. And if the Chinese do not back down?
The Vincennes. The boxy thing up front is the radar. It is not hardened.The Vincennes. The boxy thing up front is the radar. It is not hardened.
Years back I went aboard the USS Vincennes, CG-49, a Tico class Aegis boat, then the leading edge of naval technology. It was a magnificent ship, fast, powered by a pair of airliner turbines, and carrying the SPY-1 phased-array radar, very high-tech for its time. The CIC was dark and air-conditioned, glowing with huge screens—impressive for then—displaying all manner of information on targets in the air. Below were Standard missiles, then on a sort of chain drive but in later ships using the Vertical Launch System. It was, as they say in Laredo, Muy Star Wars. (The Vincennes was the ship that later shot down the Iranian airliner.)
Being something of a technophile, I took all of this in with admiration, but I thought—what if it gets hit? As a kid in my preteens I had read about the battleships of WWII, the Carolinas but in particular the Iowa class, fast, brutal ships with sixteen-inch belt armor and turrets that an asteroid would bounce off of. The assumption was that ships were going to get hit. They were built to survive and continue fighting.http://www.unz.com/freed/china-sea-blues-a-thing-not-to-do/

Israel Takes On the First Amendment: Free speech except regarding Palestine

Israel Takes On the First Amendment: Free speech except regarding Palestine
I always enjoy reading the Washington Post each morning even though it drives my blood pressure up to stratospheric levels. Its embrace of the inexorability of a fabulous new Camelot-like Clinton White House is thrilling to witness as it unfolds, but it is the promotion of the neocon Israeli narrative that is most exciting. On October 23rd, the op-ed section outdid itself with a piece “Free speech is flunking out on campus” by Catherine Rampell, who described the increasingly sorry state of first amendment rights on politically correct American university campuses. Blacks, LGBTers, women and victims of sexual assault were all identified as constituencies demanding “safe spaces” resulting in curtailment of free speech but somehow Israel and its supporters screaming anti-Semitism at every drop of the hat were left out in spite of the fact that Jews on campus have been both extremely and successfully active in taking political action to pressure universities whenever they claim to feel “threatened.”http://www.unz.com/article/israel-takes-on-the-first-amendment/

Back to the Dark Side: Dick Cheney’s Pax Americana

http://washingtonspectator.org/back-to-the-dark-side-dick-cheneys-pax-americana

http://2o4n9c3uoeqo19eo2o3jnxvo.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/themes/washspec/assets/img/wslogo.sm.png

Back to the Dark Side: Dick Cheney’s Pax Americana

The former vice president's latest book smacks of sedition
By Ambassador Joe Wilson (ret.) and Valerie Plame
Posted on October 22, 2015
Exceptional, the new book from former Vice President Dick Cheney and his daughter, Liz, is not. It is nothing more than an unhinged rant that smacks of sedition.
“The children need to know the truth about who we are, what we’ve done, and why it is uniquely America’s duty to be freedom’s defender,” the prologue proclaims. The book, however, is not about who we are but who Cheney wants us to become. It is a call for Americans to reject constitutional government and those values that have guided our nation for 227 years and replace it with imperial rule in the name of “freedom”––even when that rule includes wars of choice, intrusive violations of our privacy and civil liberties, and of course, an aggressive regime of torture.http://washingtonspectator.org/back-to-the-dark-side-dick-cheneys-pax-americana/

Letter to NBC News Suspending Debate Partnership


I write to inform you that pending further discussion between the Republican National Committee (RNC) and our presidential campaigns, we are suspending the partnership with NBC News for the Republican primary debate at the University of Houston on February 26, 2016.
GOP


Moments ago I sent this letter to NBC News:

Mr. Andrew Lack
Chairman, NBC News
30 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, New York 10112

Dear Mr. Lack,

I write to inform you that pending further discussion between the Republican National Committee (RNC) and our presidential campaigns, we are suspending the partnership with NBC News for the Republican primary debate at the University of Houston on February 26, 2016. The RNC’s sole role in the primary debate process is to ensure that our candidates are given a full and fair opportunity to lay out their vision for America’s future. We simply cannot continue with NBC without full consultation with our campaigns.

The CNBC network is one of your media properties, and its handling of the debate was conducted in bad faith. We understand that NBC does not exercise full editorial control over CNBC’s journalistic approach. However, the network is an arm of your organization, and we need to ensure there is not a repeat performance.

CNBC billed the debate as one that would focus on “the key issues that matter to all voters—job growth, taxes, technology, retirement and the health of our national economy.” That was not the case. Before the debate, the candidates were promised an opening question on economic or financial matters. That was not the case. Candidates were promised that speaking time would be carefully monitored to ensure fairness. That was not the case. Questions were inaccurate or downright offensive. The first question directed to one of our candidates asked if he was running a comic book version of a presidential campaign, hardly in the spirit of how the debate was billed.

While debates are meant to include tough questions and contrast candidates’ visions and policies for the future of America, CNBC’s moderators engaged in a series of “gotcha” questions, petty and mean-spirited in tone, and designed to embarrass our candidates. What took place Wednesday night was not an attempt to give the American people a greater understanding of our candidates’ policies and ideas.

I have tremendous respect for the First Amendment and freedom of the press. However, I also expect the media to host a substantive debate on consequential issues important to Americans. CNBC did not.

While we are suspending our partnership with NBC News and its properties, we still fully intend to have a debate on that day, and will ensure that National Review remains part of it.

I will be working with our candidates to discuss how to move forward and will be in touch.

Sincerely,

Reince Priebus
Chairman, Republican National Committee

Friday, October 30, 2015

The Silence of the CIS: Russia’s Neighbors and the Syria Crisis

The limited information available from the recent CIS summit in Kazakhstan suggests that Russia’s neighbors—and especially the states bordering the Caspian Sea—did not approve of Moscow’s military strikes in Syria. A month after Russia began its intervention in Syria, other post-Soviet leaders are conspicuous mainly by their silence on the military operation there.
The Commonwealth of Independent States summit that took place in Kazakhstan earlier this month went by without a single expression of public support for President Vladimir Putin. The only person who spoke out in favor, Kyrgyz president Almazbek Atambayev, did so only during a post-summit interview to a Russian television channel.
The silence reflects the fact that the ruling elites of the other post-Soviet states are less than thrilled by Russia’s recent foreign policy actions. They see Russia’s behavior in Ukraine as a threat to their sovereignty and territorial integrity. The most that the Kremlin can count on from them is a recognition of the reality that Crimea is now de facto part of Russian territory.http://carnegie.ru/commentary/?fa=61785&mkt_tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRohvKjKZKXonjHpfsX57uQsW6Sg38431UFwdcjKPmjr1YQFRMd0aPyQAgobGp5I5FEIQ7XYTLB2t60MWA%3D%3D

Do Corrupt Politicians Deserve a Second Chance?


Do Corrupt Politicians Deserve a Second Chance?


http://globalanticorruptionblog.com/2015/10/30/do-corrupt-politicians-deserve-a-second-chance/

On Syria, the U.S. should take cues from Beijing, not Moscow

On Syria, the U.S. should take cues from Beijing, not Moscow



https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-china-model-for-syria/2015/10/29/af7b4892-79c1-11e5-b9c1-f03c48c96ac2_story.html
Matthew Spence, deputy assistant secretary of defense for Middle East policy from 2012 to this year, is a senior fellow at Yale University’s Jackson Institute for Global Affairs.
Russia is dominating the debate over Syria. President Vladi­mir Putin’s supposed masterstroke was to use tactical bombing to regain the strategic initiative in the Middle East and throw the United States back on its heels. But Russia is hardly the right model for U.S. action in Syria. Instead, another U.S. rival offers a more valuable strategic perspective: China. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-china-model-for-syria/2015/10/29/af7b4892-79c1-11e5-b9c1-f03c48c96ac2_story.html

Mission Impossible Frontline

http://www.frontline.in/world-affairs/mission-impossible/article7809687.ece?homepage=true

Barack Obama goes back on his campaign pledge to withdraw all U.S. troops from Afghanistan. Without a decisive defeat of the Taliban, the U.S. has lost its Afghan war.

On October 15, United States President Barack Obama stepped away from his campaign pledge to remove all U.S. combat troops from Afghanistan. He said that the nearly 10,000 troops that were now in the country would remain and that by the end of the year they would be reduced to half that number. During Obama’s tenure, in other words, U.S. forces would remain in Afghanistan. To be fair to Obama, he has cut the U.S. troop presence from 1,00,000 in 2010 to a mere 5,000 at the end of 2015. This is as close to a withdrawal as one might expect from the U.S. http://www.frontline.in/world-affairs/mission-impossible/article7809687.ece?homepage=true

The detritus of regime change in Libya

http://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/comment/2015/10/28/the-detritus-of-regime-change-in-libya/

The detritus of regime change in Libya

By: Vijay Prashad

Date of publication: 28 October, 2015

The doctrine of liberal interventionism has destroyed post-Gaddafi Libya, just as it destroyed post-Saddam Iraq, writes Vijay Prashad. Four years ago, as NATO prepared to bomb Libya, I asked a senior Western diplomat if he thought the experience of Iraq would inform this adventure.

After all, regime change in Iraq had resulted in chaos - out of which had emerged, in 2006, the Islamic State of Iraq. Regime change produced chaos, which allowed the worst aspects of politics to reveal themselves. The Western diplomat scoffed at my concerns.

Libya would be different, he said.http://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/comment/2015/10/28/the-detritus-of-regime-change-in-libya/

The House Benghazi Hearings: A Different Perspective By Kenneth Eliasberg


The House Benghazi Hearings: A Different Perspective


http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2015/10/the_house_benghazi_hearings_a_different_perspective.html

Behind the Benghazi Curtain By Steve McCann

Behind the Benghazi Curtain


http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2015/10/behind_the_benghazi_curtain.html

Benghazi Smokescreen: Hiding Western War Crimes Libya

Benghazi Smokescreen: Hiding Western War Crimes Libya


http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/10/30/benghazi-smokescreen-hiding-western-war-crimes-libya/

The Clinton Files: Is Hillary a Crook?


The Clinton Files: Is Hillary a Crook?


http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/10/30/the-clinton-files-is-hillary-a-crook/

No, Hillary Didn't Care About Chris Stevens

No, Hillary Didn't Care About Chris Stevens



http://townhall.com/columnists/benshapiro/2015/10/28/no-hillary-didnt-care-about-chris-stevens-n2071864

Resurrecting Glass-Steagall

Resurrecting Glass-Steagall



https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/unconvincing-arguments-against-glass-steagall-by-simon-johnson-2015-10

EU Parliament votes to protect Edward Snowden


EU Parliament votes to protect Edward Snowden

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/10/29/europe/eu-edward-snowden-vote/

Hillary Clinton’s Failed Libya ‘Doctrine’

Hillary Clinton’s Failed Libya ‘Doctrine’



https://consortiumnews.com/2015/10/22/hillary-clintons-failed-libya-doctrine-2/

Putin urges dollar to be ditched in oil deals:

Putin urges dollar to be ditched in oil deals:
Addressing oil executives and government officials in the Kremlin, Putin renewed the call, saying national currencies should be widely used in operations with the countries with which Russia is actively trading
 

Russian intel chief warns where ISIS may invade next:

Russian intel chief warns where ISIS may invade next: -
 Russian intelligence on Wednesday warned of an increased risk of fighters with the Taliban or the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, invading Central Asia. President Putin earlier this month called the situation in Afghanistan "close to critical" and urged other ex-Soviet nations to be prepared to act together to repel a possible attack

American Drone Assassinations May Violate International Law, Experts Say

American Drone Assassinations May Violate International Law, Experts Say:
The standards governing America's drone assassinations may violate the Geneva Conventions and other international norms, legal experts say.

https://theintercept.com/2015/10/29/american-drone-assassinations-may-violate-international-law-experts-say/

US deserves a war crime charge:
Not only do the American public not know the details about the drone program, but U.S. officials also don't even know who or how many people they are killing

The Devil's Chessboard Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America's Secret Government

The Devil's Chessboard
Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America's Secret Government

By Prof. Edward Curtin
David Talbot has exposed the face of evil incarnate in Allen Dulles, the hit-man for the power elite.  - http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article43285.htm

GOP Debate: Main Event (Full Debate) Video and Transcript

GOP Debate: Main Event (Full Debate)
Video and Transcript
Video And Transcript: Full Text of the CNBC Republican Debate in Boulder - http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article43278.htm

The Oligarch Recovery U.S. Military Veterans are Selling Their Pensions in Order to Pay the Bills

The Oligarch Recovery
U.S. Military Veterans are Selling Their Pensions in Order to Pay the Bills

By Michael Krieger
An economic rebound so robust that an ever increasing number of Americans are being forced to borrow money at usurious rates just to pay the bills.   - http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article43289.htm

The Week with IPS

   2015/10/30 Click here for the online version of this IPS newsletter   

Brazil’s Megaprojects, a Short-lived Dream
Mario Osava
Working as a musician in a military band is the dream of 21-year-old Jackson Coutinho, since hopes that a petrochemical complex would drive the industrialisation of this Brazilian city near Rio de Janeiro have gone up in smoke. "I'll try out for the navy, army and even the military police, but ... MORE > >

Southeast Asia: How to Make Good Business Out of Doing Good
Diana G Mendoza
When his father drove back to pay the 47 Malaysian cents they owed to the food stall they had just left, then nine-year-old Anis Yusal Yusoff, today president and chief executive officer of the Malaysian Institute of Integrity, learned the meaning of standing firm by one’s values. “To me, that ... MORE > >

Sri Lanka: A Ray of Hope for those Looking for War Missing
Amantha Perera
Thavarasa Utharai’s most treasured belongings are stuck inside several plastic bags and tucked within old traveling bags. Inside, wrapped in more plastic sheets, are old fading photographs, scrap books, legal documents and even some old bills. These are the only processions the 36 year old ... MORE > >

Opinion: When Schools Become Barracks, Children Suffer
Bede Sheppard
Surprise turned to confusion, then to horror, when the children at Kiata primary school realized that the soldiers they had spotted at the bottom of the hill were heading for their school and its occupants. As the soldiers reached the hilltop school in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, ... MORE > >

Pakistani Communities Reel in the Wake of Massive Earthquake
Ashfaq Yusufzai
“My grandmother rushed inside the room to save me. Roof suddenly collapsed and she died,” said 12-year-old Mushtari Bibi. Bibi is one of the 1,950 people who received multiple injuries in Monday’s massive earthquake that jolted Pakistan and some neighbouring countries and caused heavy material ... MORE > >

Analysis: Turkey at a Crossroads Prior to Sunday's Snap Elections
Joris Leverink
This Sunday, November 1, Turkey heads to the polls for the second time this year, to elect the 550 members of its Grand National Assembly. The snap elections were called for by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in late August when the different parties failed to form a coalition government after the ... MORE > >

Zimbabwe’s Smallholder Farmers Seek Address Food Security and Health Risks with Air Tight Storage Technology
Busani Bafana
Last season, Mollene Kachambwa lost a tonne of the 5 tonnes of maize the family harvested to weevils and fungi. This season, weevils and fungi have to find a new host. Kachambwa, who is from the Kachambwa village located 75 km north east of Zimbabwe's capital Harare, has stored her maize ... MORE > >

Bangladesh Facing Tough Climate Choices
Amantha Perera
Twice a week, 20-year-old Kulsum Begam, a young mother of two, spends over three hours gossiping with the neighbours. Neither her husband nor his family raises any objections. In fact, they encourage the bi-weekly ritual, almost pushing her out the door to go and meet her friends. But there ... MORE > >

Opinion: People-Powered Data Set to Transform Dull Statistics
Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah
You probably didn’t notice it was World Statistics Day last week because, let’s be honest, statistics don’t have the most exciting reputation. Thankfully, I have a feeling this is about to change, big time. Dhananjayan (Danny) SriskandarajahWe are witnessing a radical democratisation with ... MORE > >

Agricultural Keys to Malaria in African Highlands
Mzizi Kabiba
Sixty-five years after a major international summit here on malaria, the mosquito-borne disease remains a scourge and its incidence may even be rising in parts of sub-Saharan Africa due to the combined effects of climate change, agricultural practices and population displacement. Almost half ... MORE > >

Itaborai, a City of White Elephants and Empty Offices
Mario Osava
Itaboraí still recalls its origins as a sprawling city that sprang up along a highway, not far from Rio de Janeiro. But a few years ago big modern buildings began to sprout all over this city in southeast Brazil, whose offices and shops are almost all empty today. The number of white elephants, ... MORE > >

Terrace Farming - an Ancient Indigenous Model for Food Security
Marianela Jarroud
Terrace farming as practiced from time immemorial by native peoples in the Andes mountains contributes to food security as a strategy of adaptation in an environment where the geography and other conditions make the production of nutritional foods a complex undertaking. This ancient prehispanic ... MORE > >

Thursday, October 29, 2015

Regime change may not be for the better

http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/opinion/regime-change-may-not-be-for-the-better

Regime change may not be for the better

America's recent experience in the Middle East and the mess that its policies created in Iraq, Syria and Libya suggest that the conventional wisdom of ousting dictators is wronghttp://www.businesstimes.com.sg/opinion/regime-change-may-not-be-for-the-better

How The Islamic State Spread In The Middle East

How The Islamic State Spread In The Middle East


http://warnewsupdates.blogspot.com/2015/10/how-islamic-state-spread-in-middle-east.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+WarNewsUpdates+%28War+News+Updates%29

Europe's Next Refugee Crisis: Thousands Of Migrants Freezing To Death | Zero Hedge

Europe's Next Refugee Crisis: Thousands Of Migrants Freezing To Death | Zero Hedge

Benghazi: How Hillary Leads - POLITICO Magazine

Benghazi: How Hillary Leads - POLITICO Magazine

‘Something Deeply Disturbing Is Happening All Across America’ - WSJ

‘Something Deeply Disturbing Is Happening All Across America’ - WSJ

Innovation, Competitiveness, Technology, Innovate, Competition, United States, Investment, Research, Development - Council on Foreign Relations

Innovation, Competitiveness, Technology, Innovate, Competition, United States, Investment, Research, Development - Council on Foreign Relations

Hillary's Worst Crime Was Against the 'Filmmaker'


Hillary's Worst Crime Was Against the 'Filmmaker'


http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2015/10/hillarys_worst_crime_was_against_the_filmmaker.html

The Left's Ugly Hatred of Ben Carson

The Left's Ugly Hatred of Ben Carson



http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2015/10/the_lefts_ugly_hatred_of_ben_carson.html

How the U.S. Treasury Avoided Chronic Deflation by Relinquishing Monetary Control to Wall Street

How the U.S. Treasury Avoided Chronic Deflation by Relinquishing Monetary Control to Wall Street

http://www.unz.com/mhudson/how-the-u-s-treasury-avoided-chronic-deflation-by-relinquishing-monetary-control-to-wall-street/

Television News Network Lobbyists Are Fundraising for Hillary Clinton

Television News Network Lobbyists Are Fundraising for Hillary Clinton



https://theintercept.com/2015/10/29/media-fundraisers-presidential/

‘Mentally Unstable’ Obama Looking To Start A War With China?

‘Mentally Unstable’ Obama Looking To Start A War With China?


http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/mentally-unstable-obama-looking-to-start-a-war-with-china

George Washington: The 6 Reasons China and Russia Are Catching Up to the U.S. Military

George Washington: The 6 Reasons China and Russia Are Catching Up to the U.S. Military


http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2015/10/george-washington-the-6-reasons-china-and-russia-are-catching-up-to-the-u-s-military.html

Bishop to Congress: We Have Moral Obligation to Help Central American Children


Bishop to Congress: We Have Moral Obligation to Help Central American Children

"If we export enforcement, we also must export protection"


http://www.zenit.org/en/articles/bishop-to-congress-we-have-moral-obligation-to-help-central-american-children

FORUM: The Tyranny of the Powerful


FORUM: The Tyranny of the Powerful

"We are conditioned, in America, to think that whatever we want to do ought to be protected in law as a right.  However, we should remember that our rights do not come from government"

http://www.zenit.org/en/articles/forum-the-tyranny-of-the-powerful

The Meek Shall Inherit the Earth, But They Shouldn’t Be President

The Meek Shall Inherit the Earth, But They Shouldn’t Be President


http://humanevents.com/2015/10/28/the-meek-shall-inherit-the-earth-but-they-shouldnt-be-president/?utm_source=hedaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl

CNBC just set the standard for catastrophic debate performances

CNBC just set the standard for catastrophic debate performances

Last night, CNBC's moderators did the impossible: They made the Republicans onstage look competent by comparison



http://www.salon.com/2015/10/29/jeb_bushs_stunning_televised_implosion_how_the_former_gop_frontrunner_became_a_sad_pathetic_joke/

Four Score and Seven Years Ago... at Disney World

Four Score and Seven Years Ago... at Disney World
The Demobilization of the American People and the Spectacle of Election 2016
By Tom Engelhardt
You may not know it, but you’re living in a futuristic science fiction novel. And that’s a fact. If you were to read about our American world in such a novel, you would be amazed by its strangeness. Since you exist right smack in the middle of it, it seems like normal life (Donald Trump and Ben Carson aside). But make no bones about it, so far this has been a bizarre American century.
Let me start with one of the odder moments we’ve lived through and give it the attention it’s always deserved. If you follow my train of thought and the history it leads us into, I guarantee you that you’ll end up back exactly where we are -- in the midst of the strangest presidential campaign in our history.
To get a full frontal sense of what that means, however, let’s return to late September 2001. I’m sure you remember that moment, just over two weeks after those World Trade Center towers came down and part of the Pentagon was destroyed, leaving a jangled secretary of defense instructing his aides, “Go massive. Sweep it all up. Things related and not.”
I couldn’t resist sticking in that classic Donald Rumsfeld line, but I leave it to others to deal with Saddam Hussein, those fictional weapons of mass destruction, the invasion of Iraq, and everything that’s happened since, including the establishment of a terror “caliphate” by a crew of Islamic extremists brought together in American military prison camps -- all of which you wouldn’t believe if it were part of a sci-fi novel. The damn thing would make Planet of the Apes look like outright realism.
Click here to read more of this dispatch.http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/176062/tomgram%3A_engelhardt%2C_campaign_2016_as_a_demobilizing_spectacle/#more

William Choong: US tests the waters around disputed South China Sea reef | IISS

William Choong: US tests the waters around disputed South China Sea reef | IISS

A U.S. Naval Signal in the South China Sea

A U.S. Naval Signal in the South China Sea


http://www.cfr.org/china/us-naval-signal-south-china-sea/p37185?cid=nlc-dailybrief-daily_news_brief--link12-20151029&sp_mid=49891961&sp_rid=bWljaGVsZXRrZWFybmV5QGdtYWlsLmNvbQS2

Making Waves in the South China Sea

Making Waves in the South China Sea

A ChinaFile Conversation


http://www.chinafile.com/conversation/making-waves-south-china-sea

Saudis to Join in Talks on Syria With Iran, Russia

Saudis to Join in Talks on Syria With Iran, Russia

Key to ending conflict may be whether President Assad must go http://www.wsj.com/articles/saudis-to-join-in-talks-on-syria-with-iran-russia-1446058221

Very quietly, Iraq is ceasing to exist

Very quietly, Iraq is ceasing to exist


For the tragic country of Iraq, no news presently is bad news. By that I mean that the headline strategic story at present is that nothing major has changed since ISIS’s stunning advances of last summer. Iraq is now de facto split along organic ethno-religious lines into three very distinct sub-states, roughly corresponding to the old Ottoman Empire sanjak provinces. Worse still for the Abadi government in Baghdad, ISIS is increasingly ensconced as merely another nasty political fact of life in the Middle East; it shows no real signs of going away. Instead, political ossification has set in, making the overturning of this gloomy state of affairs increasingly unlikely.http://english.alarabiya.net/en/views/news/middle-east/2015/10/27/Very-quietly-Iraq-has-ceased-to-exist.html

A breakout moment for Cruz and Rubio, but will GOP voters respond? - The Washington Post

A breakout moment for Cruz and Rubio, but will GOP voters respond? - The Washington Post

Netanyahu's Apartheid Vision for Israel's Future read more: http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/1.682912

Netanyahu's Apartheid Vision for Israel's Future
read more: http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/1.682912

Haaretz editorial http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/1.682912

Europe’s Physical and Mental Walls Against Refugees

Europe’s Physical and Mental Walls Against Refugees


Posted by: Judy Dempsey Thursday, October 29, 2015  | 
First it was Hungary. Now Slovenia and Austria are thinking about doing the same: building fences to control the flow of refugees entering their countries. But if some EU states believe that putting up walls will make Europe’s refugee problem disappear, or that they can shut themselves off from the crisis, they are making a big mistake.
Erecting walls will put even more pressure on the Western Balkan countries that are already struggling with tens of thousands of refugees trekking across this part of Europe. And it will lead to a fortress Europe—precisely what the Eastern members of the EU didn’t want the union to become vis-à-vis their own Eastern neighbors once they joined the EU in 2004. The new member states didn’t want their neighbors isolated from Europe.http://carnegieeurope.eu/strategiceurope/?fa=61802&mkt_tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRonvKXNZKXonjHpfsX57uQsW6Sg38431UFwdcjKPmjr1YIGRcR0aPyQAgobGp5I5FEIQ7XYTLB2t60MWA%3D%3D

New Post on GAB Announcement: New Edited Volume on “Greed, Corruption and the Modern State”

Announcement: New Edited Volume on “Greed, Corruption and the Modern State”

by Matthew Stephenson
Please forgive the self-promotion, but some of our readers out there might be interested in the new volume, Greed, Corruption and the Modern State, co-edited by Susan Rose-Ackerman and Paul Lagunes. (I said it's self-promotion because I have a chapter in the book on the relationship between democratic electoral institutions and corruption.) The publisher's information page is here, and the online e-book can be found here. Just to save interested readers a bit of time, I'll list here the contents, with direct links to PDFs of the chapters:

Obama's climate goals: Big costs, little benefit, study says | Washington Examiner

Obama's climate goals: Big costs, little benefit, study says | Washington Examiner

Pentagon: U.S. troops in combat 'every day' against ISIS:

Pentagon: U.S. troops in combat 'every day' against ISIS:
U.S. troops are in combat despite administration assertions to the opposite, Carter said that U.S. forces are participating in combat operations, but the mission against the Islamic State is not a combat mission.

Saudi Prince: I Side with Israel - Not the Palestinians By United with Israel

Saudi Prince: I Side with Israel - Not the Palestinians
By United with Israel
"Saudi Arabia and Israel must bolster their relations and form a united front to stymie Tehran's ambitious agenda," - Prince al-Waleed bin Talal" - http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article43271.htm

Neocons Launch 2016 Manifesto By Jim Lobe

Neocons Launch 2016 Manifesto
By Jim Lobe
If you sense a rebirth of the Project for the New American Century (PNAC), you're probably not far off. - http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article43266.htm

We Must Oppose Obama's Military Escalation in Syria and Iraq! By Rep. Ron Paul

We Must Oppose Obama's Military Escalation in Syria and Iraq!
By Rep. Ron Paul
I cannot condemn in strong enough terms this ill-advised US military escalation in the Middle East. - http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article43276.htm

CIA Must Stop Illegal, Counterproductive War to Overthrow Assad

CIA Must Stop Illegal, Counterproductive War to Overthrow Assad
By Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard
The US allying with Islamist extremists to overthrow Syrian President Assad is an illegal, counterproductive war that will cause even more human misery in the region - http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article43272.htm

The Bible’s crash course on living in the world

The Bible’s crash course on living in the world



http://blogs.ancientfaith.com/joeljmiller/bibles-crash-course/