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Wrongheaded Fed Policy
by Stephen Lendman
It's been that way far too long. Bernanke and other Fed governors represent Wall Street. They're hired hands. They take orders and obey. They consistently spurn good policy.
Greenspan created an earlier mother of all bubbles. Bernanke exceeded the worst of his policies. Day of reckoning time awaits. The fullness of time will decide when.
June FOMC minutes confirmed trouble. Members will keep buying mortgage-backed securities and longer-term Treasuries.
They split evenly on when to stop. Half the governors want QE ended late this year. Bernanke and others want it continued into 2014.
Some believe labor market conditions improved. They want QE tapered accordingly. Others say doing it limits flexibility. They want purchases adjusted according to economic conditions.
Rage Against the System: Why It Matters
by Stephen Lendman
Public anger in Egypt, Turkey, Palestine, Brazil, Chile, across Europe, in America against Wall Street, and elsewhere is real. It's visceral. It's deep-seated. It's growing. It reflects what media scoundrels won't explain.
Democracy's more illusion than real. People get the best kind money can buy. Manipulated elections control things. Systemic rule is hardline. Progressive change is verboten.
Monied interests have final say. Corporate giants rule the world. Exploiting nations, markets and people for profit matters most.
Governments conspire with business to facilitate it. Popular needs more than ever go begging. People increasingly are on their own sink or swim.
Wealth, power, and privilege are hugely disproportionate. Wars on humanity rage. Freedom's on the chopping block for elimination. Rule of law principles don't matter.
Ongoing Fighting in Sinai
by Stephen Lendman
Headlines focus on Egypt. Sinai gets little attention. What's ongoing bears close watching.
On July 7, Maan News headlined "Egypt army 'preparing for Sinai operation,' " saying:
A "large-scale military operation" is planned. "Egyptian forces sealed more tunnels along Gaza's border."
"An Egyptian military official told Ma'an the army was preparing for a major operation in Sinai 'to clean it up from terrorist and criminal cells.' "
"The army official said 'coordination is ongoing between the Egyptians and the Israelis to bring military vehicles, troops and jets into Sinai to fight terror.' "
Pathetic Qualifications Produce Pathetic Presidential Performance
Joel S. Hirschhorn
President (aka Barry) Obama is not, nor ever was a master politician, master diplomat, master bureaucrat, master lawyer or master anything. As a former professor who had to publish or perish, I was especially impressed that Obama lacked a hefty, impressive record of academic publications, actually nothing. As Ed Lasky summed up: “Notwithstanding an apparent eleven-year teaching career in constitutional law at a top-flight law school, not one single article, published talk, book review, or comment of any kind, appears anywhere in the professional legal literature, under Barack Obama's name.
Instead of actual accomplishment and performance, he simply took advantage of his color, personality, unusual political opportunities, and an innate talent for sometimes being able to give a great (but not necessarily honest) speech to become President. He took advantage of new national demographics to capture the necessary Electoral College votes to achieve victory, not once, but twice. His ability to enlist the critical assistance of brilliant masters at political fund raising and campaigning has never been matched by being able or willing to obtain similar high caliber people to run his White House and administration.
Junta-Style Transition in Egypt
by Stephen Lendman
Events remain fluid. They're fast-moving. Interim President Adly Mansour appointed Hazem Beblawi prime minister. He's a technocrat. He's an economics PhD. He and Mansour are pro-Western stooges.
From 1965 - 1980, Beblawi held academic positions at the University of Alexandria and elsewhere. From 1980 - 1983, he was an Industrial Bank of Kuwait manager.
From 1983 - 1995, he was Export Development Bank in Egypt chairman and CEO. From 1995 - 2000, he was UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) executive secretary.
Vilifying Alice Walker Irresponsibly
by Stephen Lendman
Walker's a Georgia sharecropper family daughter. She's the youngest of eight children. At Atlanta's Spellman College, she was one of Howard Zinn's students.
He taught her and others:
"You can't be neutral on a moving train."
"(E)vents are already moving in certain deadly directions, and to be neutral means to accept that."
Why the U.S. Government has such a hard-on for Edward Snowden
by chycho
It’s not the act of revealing secrets that has gotten Edward Snowden in trouble, after all, members of the Bush Administration did exactly that in the Plame affair as did members of the Obama Administration by leaking the drone memo. Leaking classified documents doesn’t always lead to prosecution, on the contrary, sometimes it leads to advancement of personal agendas:
“Does the rule of law demand that leaks of highly classified information be prosecuted? If so, John Brennan and many other current and former national-security officials had better be given orange jumpsuits. They weren't even leaking to alert Americans to behavior that they found immoral. Often times, the U.S. national security establishment leaks to exploit a political advantage.”
Targeting Iran
by Stephen Lendman
America targets Iran. It does so ruthlessly. It's done it since 1979. It wants its sovereignty destroyed.
It wants pro-Western puppet leadership instead. It wants its independent government replaced. It wants its oil and gas, stupid. It wants unchallenged regional control.
Hassan Rohani's election doesn't matter. He's Iran's President-Elect. He'll be inaugurated on August 3. He combines diplomacy, politics and scholarship. He's known as the "Diplomat Sheikh."
Obama offended him. He didn't congratulate him. He doesn't recognize his legitimacy. Failure to do so shows unprincipled contempt.
He urges peace and reconciliation. He pledged "constructive interaction with the world." He didn't just promise. He means it.
Washington Ousted Egypt's Morsi
by Stephen Lendman
Previous articles discussed it. So did The New York Times. More on that below.
Washington manipulates most regional events. It's dirty hands orchestrate them. Geopolitical ones matter most. In 2011, Obama officials choreographed Mubarak's ouster. They deposed Morsi in similar fashion.
Michel Chossudovsky said Egypt's Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) "tows the line. (I)t takes orders from Washington, DC."
Syrian Opposition in Disarray
by Stephen Lendman
After 28 months of conflict, Assad defeated Washington's best laid plans. Its Syrian National Coalition (SNC) opposition lacks effective leadership. It lacks legitimacy.
It's an artificial construct. It operates extrajudicially. It resembles a gang that can't shoot straight. On July 8, another leader resigned.
After four months, self-styled prime minister Ghassan Hitto announced he won't "continue in (his) capacity as prime minister tasked with leading the interim government, though (he) emphasize(s he'll) 'continue working for the interests of the revolution and towards achieving its objectives."
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