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Europeans Want TTIP Trade-Deal, though Obama Blocks Making Its Terms Public
Eric Zuesse
TTIP is a secretly negotiated trade deal between the U.S. and the EU, and all indications are that it will replace each nation’s drug-safety, product-safety, food-safety, environmental, and worker-protection, regulations and laws, placing them into the hands of panels composed of appointees of large international corporations, no longer in the hands of publicly elected officials, no longer in the hands of elected politicians, who need to face voters periodically in order to stay in power. Basically: U.S. President Barack Obama is demanding that European nations weaken their regulations, but has been encountering stiff resistance from some, which has dragged out negotiations.
German Economic News headlined, on 4 February 2015, "TTIP: civil rights complaint alleging secret negotiations,” and reported that Europe's Ombudsman, Emily O’Reilly, said: “American objection to the publication of certain TTIP documents is not a sufficient reason, alone on its own, to withhold information from the European public. The Commission will at all times ensure that exceptions to the basic rights of EU citizens are justified and reasonable whenever there is a limitation on access to documents.” But, she didn’t do anything to enforce her statement; the non-disclosure continued.
Lavrov in New York
by Stephen Lendman
If America had a foreign minister like Lavrov and others like him in top positions, we'd have world peace, not multiple direct and proxy wars of aggression against one country after another.
The scourge of mass slaughter and destruction would end. So would the threat of nuclear war.
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists could roll back its Doomsday Clock to record safe levels.
Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Ukraine would be independently governed. Syria would have been spared war and mass displacement.
Efforts to replace Venezuela's model democracy with fascist governance would end.
Palestinian self-determination would be recognized. Support for Israel's war machine would end. Lawless sanctions wouldn't be imposed.
Financial War: US wants to trigger wave of Russian bankruptcies
German Economic News
The US government insists on a tightening of sanctions against Russia, and demands that the EU follow suit. Washington now wants sanctions that will have a "devastating” effect, which Russia must “suffer.” Financial measures are planned to trigger a wave of bankruptcies in Russia.
British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond over the weekend had a visit by US Secretary of State John Kerry, concerning the US plan. Washington expects the EU to cooperate to force the Russian economy to its knees.
The US will drastically tighten sanctions against Russia: US Secretary of State John Kerry said this weekend in London that Russia was "guilty of gravely violating the Minsk truce." Kerry said Russia had the city Debalzewo attacked, and supported paramilitary warriors in the region, and contracted new troops near Mariupol. Kerry said: "This is a violation of the ceasefire. We are serious: there will be more actions that cause additional pain in the Russian economy.”
Al Jazeera Spy Cables
by Stephen Lendman
On February 23, Al Jazeera headlined "The Spy Cables: A Glimpse into the world of espionage."
Saying "(s)ecret documents, leaked from numerous intelligence agencies, offer rare insights into the interactions between spies."
Hold the cheers. Al Jazeera is owned, operated and controlled by Qatar's government. Its agenda is closely tied to Washington and other Western governments.
Doha hosts America's forward CENTCOM (US Central Command) headquarters. It's based at Al Udeid Air Base. It's home for 5,000 US forces.
PA implores Israel to release withheld funds
By Khalid Amayreh in Occupied Palestine
Palestinian Authority (PA) continues to hold onto
its scandalous security collaboration pact with Israel despite the latter's refusal to release hundreds of millions of dollars of Palestinian customs funds and tax revenue levied by Israel.
Two months ago, Israel stopped transferring the funds to PA coffers as reprisal for the Palestinian decision to join the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The Israeli measure has seriously hurt the PA ability to pay salaries for its employees, estimated to be over 120,000 civil servants and security personnel tasked with "maintaining security" on Israel's behalf.
Kerry Threatens Russia
by Stephen Lendman
His bluster, bullying and Big Lies wore thin long ago. He uses diplomacy as a weapon against sovereign independent countries.
On February 5, the Washington Post cited a poll of 1,615 scholars from 1,375 colleges and universities. Kerry was rated America's worst Secretary of State in the past 50 years.
On February 21, he and British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond met in London. Irresponsible Russia bashing took center stage. Officials from both countries repeatedly blame Moscow for Kiev, US, and UK high crimes.
Ahead of his meeting with Hammond, Kerry threatened more sanctions on Russia. Earlier ones imposed accomplishing nothing besides growing enmity between both sides.
Ukraine Conscripts Children in Foreign Countries
Eric Zuesse
Ukraine is now so desperate to murder more residents in its Donbass region, that it is conscripting for its ethnic-cleansing there to clear the Donbass land of its residents (who had voted 90% for the man whom Obama overthrew in February 2014), so that children who have been adopted or fostered by parents in foreign countries are now being drafted to do it.
Here is an article on this, roughly translated from a newspaper, the Herald, in the Aragon region of Spain:
“The Ukrainian government demands the return of youths in foster care in Aragon to militarize”
Is Obama being sincerely ignorant or knowingly malicious?
By Khalid Amayreh in Occupied East Jerusalem
When President Obama spoke at last week's White House Conference on terrorism, he actually regurgitated the same platitudes that we have been hearing from American officials time after time after time.
Luckily, Obama highlighted the need for making a careful distinction between what a given religion says and what some of its followers do. He was also correct in pointing out that that the so-called Jihadists were actually harming rather than serving Islam. So far so good.
But then in his analysis of the Jihadists’ violence, honesty was not Obama's shield nor was truth part of his ammunition.
Greece Surrenders to Troika
by Stephen Lendman
Instead of renouncing its odious debt and walking away, Athens agreed to pay bankers first, maintain austerity, and let long-suffering Greeks continue taking the hindmost. SYRIZA campaign pledges proved hollow. Pleasing Brussels and Washington matter more. After weeks of negotiations, Greece got what the Wall Street Journal called "a tenuous agreement for a four-month extension of its bailout Friday removing immediate concerns over a potential exit from Europe's currency union but setting the stage for more tense negotiations over the country's financial future."
A Troika statement said:
"Greek authorities commit to refrain from any rollback of measures and unilateral changes to the policies and structural reforms that would negatively impact fiscal targets, economic recovery or financial stability, as assessed by the institutions."
Beyond the market-state: decentralising power in a sharing society
Rajesh Makwana
At a time when governments are failing abysmally to mitigate climate change, reduce inequality or end poverty, the key to creating a more equal and sustainable world is establishing participative forms of political engagement at all levels of society – from the local to the global.
In an era of politics characterised by unconstrained corporate lobbying, a well-oiled ‘revolving door’ between industry and government, and an endless stream of campaign contributions from dirty oil and other lucrative industries, is the long-championed ideal of a truly democratic state now a lost cause? Should concerned citizens and activists turn their attention instead to establishing sustainable economic alternatives within their towns and communities? Or should we all be doing much more to ensure that "government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth", as Abraham Lincoln once avowed?
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