by PEPE ESCOBAR
Let’s start with a flashback to February 1992 – only two months after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. First draft of the US government’s Defense Planning Guidance. It was later toned down, but it still formed the basis for the exceptionalist dementia incarnated by the Project for the New American Century; and also reappeared in full glory in Dr Zbig “Let’s Rule Eurasia” Brzezinski’s 1997 magnum opus The Grand Chessboard.
Last weekend, I conducted a poll asking this question that has been on my mind for a couple of years:
Is it time for an “official” climate skeptics organization, one that produces a policy statement, issues press releases, and provides educational guidance?
The results are in, seen below, and there is an interesting dichotomy that can be observed in the excercise.
Das wäre ja ein veritabler Wirtschaftskrieg sonst!1!!
LONDON: Italian bond yields hovered just above record lows on Friday, underpinned by a ratings outlook lift from Fitch as concerns about Ukraine prompted investors to pull out of lower-rated paper.
Italian Premier Matteo Renzi took part in a video conference on Friday on the crisis in Ukraine with United States President Barack Obama, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande, and ANSA sources said the leaders were in „full agreement“ over the next steps to take.
The time and nature of the meeting was not made known. „I‘ll be ready tomorrow at any moment,“ Renzi said, pointing out to the president that he already is scheduled to meet with interim Prime Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatsenyuk in the morning.
Italian Premier Matteo Renzi took part in a video conference on Friday on the crisis in Ukraine with United States President Barack Obama, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande, and ANSA sources said the leaders were in „full agreement“ over the next steps to take.
Italian Premier Matteo Renzi will take part in a video conference on Friday on the crisis in Ukraine with United States President Barack Obama, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other international leaders, ANSA sources said.
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„The latest anti-Syrian chemical hysteria makes one wonder about the true aims of its initiators, who have not stopped their attempts to find a pretext for military intervention in Syria,“ the ministry said in a statement.
The plan was submitted by Finance Minister Yiannis Stournaras to Euro Working Group on Thursday in Brussels in the context with the Greek debt relief request.
War leider nicht anders zu erwarten, denn der neue Chef der FCC ist ein Lobbyist für Kabel-TV-Firmen und Telcos.
The European Commission may hail the “Greek progress” in its April 2014 review of the second Economic Adjustment Programme for Greece. The EC may hail the primary surplus and the structural reforms. However at the same time it stresses the need for additional austerity measures totaling 7.7 billion euro for the years 2-15-2017.
Ten years ago (!?!) we wrote about how Verizon conned Pennsylvania taxpayers out of billions of dollars. Verizon predecessor Bell Atlantic had cut a deal with the state to wire up every home in the state with symmetrical fiber. That didn‘t happen.
„The result of the vote is entirely unpredictable and will be tight,“ said Tanja Staric, a political analyst at daily Delo.
Das Phänomen hat einen Namen: geplante Obsoleszenz. Mit der gezielten Verkürzung der Lebensdauer von Produkten kann die Wirtschaft angekurbelt werden – Konsum ist schließlich die treibende Kraft unseres Wirtschaftssystems.
Das geplante EU-US Handelsabkommen beschert Verbraucher/innen allerlei unschöne Überraschungen. Und das ohne Kennzeichnung! In den USA ist Blei in Kosmetik erlaubt.
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Nun wolle der Westen „sein Projekt aus Prinzip und in diesem Fall aus falschem Prinzip bis zum Ende bringen“, sagte Lawrow. „Das war bereits in Georgien der Fall, als Michail Saakaschwili faktisch durch einen Umsturz an die Macht kam. Die Amerikaner haben alles auf ihn gesetzt. Das war ihr geopolitisches Projekt.“
Correspondents from Russia’s LifeNews media outlet have been attacked by an armed group and kidnapped while they were heading for an interview with an opposition leader.
Anti-Kiev protesters believe the seizure is a covert operation by Ukrainian security forces.
Kerry added that Russian leaders are making the situation worse with their “outrageous claims.” Including that the CIA invented the internet to control other nations or that pro-Russian forces, resembling Russian military officials, are “local activists.”
“That is absurd,” Kerry said.
Das am Rande des diesjährigen Petersburger Dialogs in Leipzig geplante Gipfeltreffen mit Putin hat Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel wegen Russlands Vorgehen in der Ukraine bzw. auf der Krim abgesagt. Außerdem wurden die Sitzungen von insgesamt acht Arbeitsgruppen gestrichen.
U.S. President Barack Obama is expected to speak to several European leaders on Friday to try to nudge the EU toward fresh sanctions against Russia over Ukraine, sources familiar with the matter said.
Unmittelbar vor der Ankunft von US-Präsident Barack Obama in Seoul kam es zu einem Zwischenfall an der Grenze der beiden koreanischen Staaten. Die südkoreanische Marine feuerte Warnschüsse auf zwei Patrouillen-Schiffe Nordkoreas ab.
#Ukraine
#Ukraine
Russland wird laut Außenminister Sergej Lawrow beharrlich zur Deeskalation des Konfliktes in der Ukraine beitragen und sich dabei von den Genfer Vereinbarungen leiten lassen.
Bei den Vierergesprächen am 17. April in Genf hatten die Ukraine, Russland, die USA und die EU Schritte zur Deeskalation des Konfliktes vereinbart, darunter die Entwaffnung der gesetzwidrigen Formationen und das Räumen der gesetzwidrig besetzten Gebäude. Außerdem soll ein nationaler Dialog über eine Verfassungsreform aufgenommen werden.
Veröffentlicht am 27.02.2014
Demonstranten in Kiew stimmen für Jazenjuk als Regierungschef der Ukraine
Der ukrainische Ministerpräsident Arseni Jazenjuk heizt den Konflikt rhetorisch weiter an. Er wirft Russland vor, einen dritten Weltkrieg beginnen zu wollen. Die Versuche Moskaus, einen Konflikt in seinem Nachbarland vom Zaun zu brechen, könnten zu einer militärischen Auseinandersetzung in Europa führen.
Russland will im Falle weiterer Gewalt in der Ukraine den Weltsicherheitsrat einschalten. Das sagte der russische UN-Botschafter Witali Tschurkin dem Moskauer Staatsfernsehen am Freitag.
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(22.01.) Late last November, more than 100,000 Ukrainians filed into the streets of Kiev in response to President Viktor Yanukovych’s rejection of trade agreements with the European Union. The protestors marched into Maidan Nezalezhnosti Square, brandishing signs reading “Ukraine is Europe” and European Union flags, and refused to leave until the regime changed its tune.
(20.04.) The blackened ruins and gaping windows of Ukraine’s landmark Independence Square have left Kiev looking like a warzone for the first time since WWII.
veröffentlicht am 18.02.2014
(19.02.) Aerial views filmed by a drone-mounted camera shows anti-government protesters in central Kiev on Wednesday morning. Russia has threatened to use its influence in Ukraine to bring the violence to an end, while the US has raised the likelihood on an imposition of sanctions in a possible bid to incentivise joining the EU
John Kerry has attacked RT for its coverage of the Ukraine crisis, calling it a “propaganda bullhorn.” Neglecting to address the US’ role in the conflict or back up his assertions with any evidence, Kerry said Russia was behind the unrest in Ukraine.
During a press conference with the State Department on Thursday, Secretary of State John Kerry rounded on RT, lashing out at its Ukraine coverage.
In the last days I received multiple requests to translate my posts for foreign readers, as they have very limited information about the happenings in Ukraine. I‘ve been monitoring situation in Kiev for several days, and here‘s the chronicle of todays events, translated to English. Russian version is here. Sharing and distribution is appreciated.
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
State Department Press Briefing Room
Washington, DC
April 24, 2014
(..) The world has rightly judged that Prime Minister Yatsenyuk and the Government of Ukraine are working in good faith. And the world, sadly, has rightly judged that Russia has put its faith in distraction, deception, and destabilization. For seven days, Russia has refused to take a single concrete step in the right direction. Not a single Russian official, not one, has publicly gone on television in Ukraine and called on the separatists to support the Geneva agreement, to support the stand-down, to give up their weapons, and get out of the Ukrainian buildings. They have not called on them to engage in that activity.
In fact, the propaganda bullhorn that is the state-sponsored Russia Today program, has been deployed to promote – actually, Russia Today network – has deployed to promote President Putin’s fantasy about what is playing out on the ground. They almost spend full time devoted to this effort to propagandize and to distort what is happening or not happening in Ukraine. Instead, in plain sight, Russia continues to fund, coordinate, and fuel a heavily armed separatist movement in Donetsk.
Er fügte hinzu, dass Russland eine Reihe anderer Partner hat, die alle nötigen Lebensmittel nachliefern können. Unter anderem handelt es sich um Australien, Brasilien, Peru und Uruguay.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also intends to hold another telephone conversation on Ukraine with the US state secretary John Kerry on Friday
Zusammenfassung der Highlights – Einmal im Jahr steht der russische Präsident in einer mehrstündigen Livesendung den Menschen Rede und Antwort. Sie wurde am 17.4.2014 von Kanal 1, Rossiya-1 und Rossiya-24, im öffentlich-rechtlichen Fernsehen (dort auch gedolmetscht in Gebärdensprache) und von mehreren Radiosendern übertragen. Ablauf und Ausstattung erinnern an Polit-Diskussionen im „Westen“, die gewiss mehr oder weniger gleich stark oder schwach „inszeniert“ sind. In der Berichterstattung im „Westen“ wurde dann vor allem auf wenige Aspekte, etwa die Zuschaltung von Edward Snowden Bezug genommen. Insgesamt kamen 81 Fragen und Bitten zur Sprache, wobei die Situation auf der Krim „besonders populär“ war bei den ZuseherInnen und den Gästen im Studio.
Dass ich als Journalistin nicht reich werde, war mir immer klar, will ich auch gar nicht. Ich wollte einen Beruf, in dem ich was verändern kann, über Sicherheit und Einkommen habe ich da nicht viel nachgedacht. Jetzt denke ich, mich und vielleicht später mal ein bisschen Nachwuchs würde ich schon gerne ernähren können.
Wir haben immer klar Stellung zu allen Themen bezogen und auch in diesem Fall. Unsere Forderungen waren stets Verhandlungen statt Sanktionen, Verhinderung von Gewalt, keine Hetzparolen, kein Anheizen der ganzen kritischen Lage und nun fordern wir nochmals im Namen aller Völker in Europa – kein Krieg auf europäischem Boden, kein Krieg in der Ukraine!!!
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is deeply concerned about continued violence in eastern Ukraine, which has led to loss of life, further instability and which is contributing to a climate of fear and anxiety, his spokesperson said today.
“As the stakes are now so high, the Secretary-General is seriously concerned that the situation could quickly spin out of control with consequences we cannot predict,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
Russia has called on UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to publicly condemn the Ukrainian authorities‘ decision to use violence against people in the country‘s southeast, Moscow‘s UN Ambassador Vitali Churkin has said.
At the end of March, the European Commission launched a public consultation over its plan to enshrine far-reaching rights for foreign investors in the EU-US trade deal currently being negotiated. In the face of fierce opposition to these investor super-rights, the Commission is trying to convince the public that these do not endanger democracy and public policy. See through the sweet-talk with Corporate Europe Observatory’s guide to investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS).
In January, in response to growing public concern over the proposed EU-US trade deal (Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, TTIP), the European Commission announced it was halting negotiations over the deal’s controversial investor rights to conduct a public consultation on the issue. This was an important success for the growing anti-TTIP movement, which is unanimously opposed to the corporate powers in the deal.
The consultation has now been published and the public will have until early July to participate.
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How Could Fast Track Facilitate TPP’s Implementation?
– Under the U.S. Constitution, Congress writes the laws and sets trade policy. And so it was for 200 years. President Nixon seized both of those powers through a mechanism known as Fast Track – a legislative luge run used to skid through harmful “trade” deals.
– Candidate Obama said he would “replace Fast Track … I will ensure that Congress plays a strong and informed role in our international economic policy and in any future agreements we pursue…” Instead, now he is asking Congress to revive Nixon’s old Fast Track process.
The TPP is huge: It covers 40% of the global economy and will overwrite national laws affecting people around the world.3
The worst of the TPP threatens everything we care about: democracy, jobs, health, the environment, and the Internet. That‘s why decision-makers are meeting in Asia under extreme secrecy and pushing ‚Fast Track‘ laws to cement the plan into place.
In Erwägung des derzeitigen Geisteszutands der Bewohnerinnen und Bewohner dieser unserer Vorbilddemokratie, samt der etablierten Presse die sie verdient hat, veröffentlicht Radio Utopie nun in regelmäßigen Abständen die regelmäßig Tage zu spät erscheinenden deutschsprachigen Stellungnahmen des Außenministeriums der Russischen Föderation in unserem Presse- und Bürgerportal. Folgende Erklärung datiert auf den 23. April.
Zugleich räumte Tschurkin ein: „Sollte das schlechteste Szenario eintreten, werden wir uns alle an den Beschluss des Föderationsrates erinnern. Diese Möglichkeit liegt stets in unseren Händen, das möchte man aber vermeiden.“
Der Föderationsrat (Oberhaus) hatte Russlands Präsident Wladimir Putin das Recht erteilt, russische Streitkräfte in die Ukraine zu entsenden.
A bunch of organizations and companies have teamed up to demand that President Obama Stop the Secrecy around the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement. With over 2.8 million signatures already, the groups behind this project are projecting a „stop the secrecy“ light on buildings around Washington DC to draw attention to the shady, underhanded nature of the way that these trade agreements are negotiated. The campaign kicked off by shining the message on the Canadian embassy:
U.S. President Barack Obama wrapped up a state visit to Japan on Friday during which he assured America‘s ally that Washington would come to its defense, but failed to clinch a trade deal key his „pivot“ to Asia and to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe‘s reforms.
The relationship between the United States of America and Japan is founded on mutual trust, a common vision for a rules-based international order, a shared commitment to upholding democratic values and promoting open markets, and deep cultural and people-to-people ties. The U.S.-Japan Alliance is the cornerstone for regional peace and security as well as a platform for global cooperation.
Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel empfängt heute den Ministerpräsidenten der Republik Polen, Donald Tusk, im Bundeskanzleramt in Berlin. Im Mittelpunkt des gemeinsamen Gesprächs werden die Themen Energiesicherheit und die aktuellen Entwicklungen in der Ukraine stehen.