by Ellen Brown

According to both the Mayan and Hindu calendars, 2012 (or something very close) marks the transition from an age of darkness, violence and greed to one of enlightenment, justice, and peace. It’s hard to see that change just yet in the events relayed in the major media, but a shift does seem to be happening behind the scenes; and this is particularly true in the once-boring world of banking.

In the dark age of Kali Yuga, money rules; and it is through banks that the moneyed interests have gotten their power. Banking in an age of greed is fraught with usury, fraud, and gaming the system for private ends. But there is another way to do banking, the neighborly approach of George Bailey in the classic movie “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Rather than feeding off the community, banking can feed the community and local economy.

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by Stephen Lendman

When America goes to war or plans one, media scoundrels march in lockstep.

Articles, commentaries, editorials, and broadcasts feature Washington handout-style journalism.

Managed news misinformation substitutes for truth and full disclosure. Readers and viewers are deceived and betrayed.

For years, Iran and Syria have been targeted for regime change. Independent governments aren't tolerated. Puppet ones are planned to replace them. Scoundrel media play leading roles.

On May 24, The New York Times headlined "Iran Nuclear Talks End with No Deal."

P5+1 talks failed as expected. Washington bears full responsibility. Deal-making isn't at issue. It's portraying Iran as uncooperative for added justification to wage war.

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Franklin Lamb
Beirut

Mohammed Mursi

The official results of the first round of the historic Egyptian presidential elections, the first ever in Mother Egypt where the results were not known in advance, present an encouraging snapshot of “new democratic Egypt” given that close to 50% of Egypt’s approximately 50 million eligible voters, some standing in line to vote in scorching heat for hours, will not be officially announced until late May.

It appears, based on exit polls and information from the Muslim Brotherhood media office, that the two candidates who will face each other in the June 16-17 final round of voting will be the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohammed Mursi (25%) facing Mubarak-era Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq (24%).

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LaRouche

Spanish Collapse Can Bring Down the Trans-Atlantic System this Weekend

Abruptly, but lawfully, the Spanish debt crisis has erupted over the past 48 hours into a systemic rupture in the entire trans-Atlantic financial and monetary facade, posing the immediate question: Will the European Monetary Union and the entire trans-Atlantic financial system survive to the end of this holiday weekend?

Late on Friday afternoon, the Spanish government revealed that the cost of bailing out the Bankia bank, which was nationalized on May 9, will now cost Spanish taxpayers nearly 24 billion euro—and rising. Many other Spanish banks are facing imminent collapse or bailout; the autonomous Spanish regions, with gigantic debts of their own, are all now bankrupt and desperate for their own bailout. Over the last week, Spanish and foreign depositors have been pulling their money out of the weakest Spanish banks in a panic, in a repeat of the capital flight out of the Greek banks months ago.

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Timothy V. Gatto

In the Twenty-first Century there are two distinct economic models. The predominant is Capitalism and the other is Socialism .Communism has fallen by the wayside as a system that is too easily usurped by totalitarianism. Capitalism is a socio-economic system that eventually is run by the rich and takes advantage by the rich at the expense of the working class that is the prime mover of the system. Capital dictates the direction of Capitalism.

Since the Early 1970's the economic model of Capitalism has favored the upper 20% of moneyed capital. The 1% has been the prime engine that dictates the direction that Capitalism seems to be moving. These people are the CEO's and the moneyed interests behind the direction that Capitalism has moved. Some are members of the corporate structure, others are not, being the financial backers that the corporations get their funding from. These are banks, hedge funds and private inventors. All of these entities demand that they have a distinct say in the direction that the corporation takes.

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by Stephen Lendman

NATO arrives everywhere violently. Chicago was no exception. Residents were terrorized for days.

Many are still recovering. For some, it's from hospital beds. Others are behind bars. Chicago cops upheld their odious reputation. The city is notorious for being America's police repression capital.

On May 25, the National Lawyers Guild (NLG) Chicago chapter assessed days of police brutality. More on that below.

Former NLG leader Arthur Kinoy (1920 - 2003) spoke for like-minded activists, saying: "We, as lawyers, are fighting to keep the First Amendment alive in the legal arena. The people are fighting to keep the First Amendment alive in the streets, in their homes, in the factories, in the legislative halls, in the political arena."

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by Stephen Lendman

Destructive neoliberal mandates harm US and European societies. Canada's conservative government force-feeds similar policies.

They include wage and benefit cuts, less social spending, privatization of state resources, mass layoffs, deregulation, tax cuts for corporations and super-rich elites, and harsh crackdowns against resisters.

It's also about sharply hiking college tuition fees, student anger, and criminalizing public responses. More on that below.

In the 1980s, it was called Reaganomics, trickle down, and Thatcherism. In the 1990s, it was "shock therapy." Today, it's austerity. The result is unprecedented wealth transfers to corporate favorites and privileged elites.

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by Greg Palast

Will “Beyond Petroleum” oil giant BP pick the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest today in Baku, Azerbaijan? If so, I wouldn’t be surprised.

When I was arrested by the military police of Azerbaijan during my investigation of BP for Channel 4′s Dispatches in 2010, one of the cops who surrounded our crew in the desert told us, with great pride:

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By Khalid Amayreh

Thanks to the fact that much of the western media deliberately avoids exposing Israeli criminality, probably for fear of being accused of anti-Semitism, much of the brutal ugliness of the Jewish state remains unknown to millions of Europeans and North Americans.

This is the reason that many people in the west are still buying the big, obscene lie that Israel is a western democracy which upholds basic human rights and civil liberties. But the facts on the ground are much uglier than many people think, irrespective of how vociferous and dogged Israeli hasbara operatives get when defending and justifying Israeli misdeeds and crimes. The truth of the matter is that institutionalized oppression, racism and terror against the native Palestinians have always constituted and continue to constitute Israel's modus operandi.

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by Stephen Lendman

Previous nuclear talks failed. On April 14 and 15, another round convened.

Istanbul hosted so-called P5+1 countries. They include the five permanent Security Council members - America, Russia, China, Britain, and France - plus Germany.

Iran participated in good faith. Its delegation came with little hope hardline Western views would soften. On April 14, both sides agreed to more talks in Baghdad on May 23.

At issue isn't Iran's nuclear program. Tehran's a Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) signatory. It complies fully with provisions. No evidence suggests otherwise. Nonetheless, bogus accusations persist.

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