- Jul 30, 2011
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Echoes said:
It's not an excuse for, it's a function of. And no part of it is "free".
Come on: even you can do better than this.
- Status
It's not an excuse for, it's a function of. And no part of it is "free".
Come on: even you can do better than this.
Buffalo Soldier said:
I have often wondered just what globalism means. What is free trade?
Is free trade the Aussies dumping coal mining waste into the ocean? Is free trade the Japanese increasing coal fired plants because of damaged nuke reactors? Is free trade 400,000 people getting their water ruined for the sake of industry? Is any of this stuff free? Free to anybody? I remember reading my friends emails from Africa where he worked for 5 years. Each time he wrote about free trade, he basically said that China was building every part of an infrastructure to get them the African resources at any expense, human or otherwise. Politics and free trade are neither. As we heat up the earth by stripping it of everything,water,copper.alloys,coal,ect,ect the price for all the free trade is yet to be seen. Those are the politics I can't wait to hear explained, we fracked and had earthquakes and ruined the water supply because Putin upped the gas prices in Europe and they needed more so we supplied it.
The net net of everything is that anybody can buy anything and burn it or dump it and if it causes climate change we will deal with it later.Its all free for now
- Jul 4, 2009
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fatandfast said:
...find below a snippet of an article that talks about some of the hidden costs of "free" trade/globalism/modern capitalism ( they are all just parts of the same vampire squid )...costs which if added to the usual accounting would make free trade et al a lot less than free, in fact a huge net loss...
"Some coal facts
To give you some perspective on this dirtiest of dirty carbons, here are some facts about coal costs:
•$40 billion — Amount all U.S. utilities spend every year to buy coal. (Source; article by the amazing Randy Udall, now deceased. I tried to find it in the stupid EIA reports, but they bury this stuff.)
•$160 billion — Value of electricity sold every year from U.S. utilities for coal-fired power. (Source; same article.)
•$530 billion — Health and other damages every year. (Source; Harvard, Dr. Paul Epstein.)
•$50 billion — Market cap of the U.S. coal industry. (Source (pdf). This report is a bit old, 2010, but better to overvalue than undervalue. Also see http://www.cleanenergyaction.org for amazing coal reports.)
•3 cents: Cost for the average U.S. utility to make one coal-fired kilowatt-hour (kWh).
•17-27 cents: Damage done by every coal-fired kWh (Source: Epstein again.)
So, four-fold ROI, and a five-to-ten times ratio of market cap/cost-per kWh to the damage done. If they paid their externalized costs, they’d be out of business. But again, they should be out of business, right?"
...so what is free trade?...its PR trying to polish a turd....
Cheers
You can't solve the climate issue at national level alone, you at least need to do it at European level. That is the mendacious argument that the Greens (+ some independent ecologists) are constantly putting up here in Europe.
That is why they've signed all treaties since Maastricht.
Yet what does art. 63 of the current TFEU say:
1. Within the framework of the provisions set out in this Chapter, all restrictions on the movement of capital between Member States and between Member States and third countries shall be prohibited.
THIS is free-trade ! The article is there since Maastricht (though not the same number of course). It was the start for all relocation to China & other developing countries... You didn't talk about it before.
Greens and ecologists signed that up ... Their responsability in the mess we are now in is huge ...
EU is liberalism. Only ACF thinks it's social, lol.
Globalism means what it means. It's just the ultimate aim, though. Now, we are at the supranational level.
That is why they've signed all treaties since Maastricht.
Yet what does art. 63 of the current TFEU say:
1. Within the framework of the provisions set out in this Chapter, all restrictions on the movement of capital between Member States and between Member States and third countries shall be prohibited.
THIS is free-trade ! The article is there since Maastricht (though not the same number of course). It was the start for all relocation to China & other developing countries... You didn't talk about it before.
Greens and ecologists signed that up ... Their responsability in the mess we are now in is huge ...
EU is liberalism. Only ACF thinks it's social, lol.
Globalism means what it means. It's just the ultimate aim, though. Now, we are at the supranational level.
- Apr 12, 2009
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- Sep 25, 2009
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Kerry hints Middle East peace talks are close to collapse as US reassesses role
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/04/john-kerry-middle-east-peace-talks-collapse
frankly, not only i am not surprised, but in a way glad...
call me a cynic or whatever you wish, but i do not believe that any deal, much less a lasting peace is a good idea between an armed to their teeth occupier still guarding the largest concentration camp the world ever saw (gaza) and the split, weak, poor and desperate people denied their legitimate nationhood.
equalize their economic odds, create a middle class of citizen that have something to lose (via war) or win (via negotiation) and then, only then, there is a chance.
until then, the exercise is little more than arm twisting by the 'big devil' on behalf of the 'little devil' or, perhaps, it is indicative of the israeli lobby in washington showing obama his place...
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/04/john-kerry-middle-east-peace-talks-collapse
frankly, not only i am not surprised, but in a way glad...
call me a cynic or whatever you wish, but i do not believe that any deal, much less a lasting peace is a good idea between an armed to their teeth occupier still guarding the largest concentration camp the world ever saw (gaza) and the split, weak, poor and desperate people denied their legitimate nationhood.
equalize their economic odds, create a middle class of citizen that have something to lose (via war) or win (via negotiation) and then, only then, there is a chance.
until then, the exercise is little more than arm twisting by the 'big devil' on behalf of the 'little devil' or, perhaps, it is indicative of the israeli lobby in washington showing obama his place...
- Jul 4, 2009
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...well we know about the unsavory character of the vanguard of the glorious revolution in The Ukraine...below is an article about the vanguard that pushed forward a similar glorious revolution in Kosovo....
"PRISTINA (Reuters) - Plans are under way for a European Union-backed special tribunal to try Kosovo Albanian former guerrillas accused of harvesting organs from murdered Serbs during the Balkan country's 1998-99 war, officials say.
The move stems from a 2011 report by Council of Europe rapporteur **** Marty alleging guerrillas fighting a war of independence from Serbia had smuggled Serb victims into northern Albania and removed their organs for sale.
Kosovo's government, led by former guerrilla commander Hashim Thaci, has angrily rejected the accusations as an attempt to tarnish the reputation of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) rebels, who won NATO air support in 1999 to drive out Serbian forces.
Efforts to investigate alleged war crimes committed by the guerrillas have run up against widespread intimidation in a small country where clan loyalties run deep and KLA rebels are revered as heroes. Many entered government after the war, leading Kosovo to independence in 2008.
Read more: http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/news/int...l?cid=38320834
....hmmm....does anyone else detect an ongoing theme here or am I just being way too cynical....after-all Kosovo is, according to the most important source in Washington, a shining example of what the US of A is doing to, err, for the rest of the world....
Cheers
"PRISTINA (Reuters) - Plans are under way for a European Union-backed special tribunal to try Kosovo Albanian former guerrillas accused of harvesting organs from murdered Serbs during the Balkan country's 1998-99 war, officials say.
The move stems from a 2011 report by Council of Europe rapporteur **** Marty alleging guerrillas fighting a war of independence from Serbia had smuggled Serb victims into northern Albania and removed their organs for sale.
Kosovo's government, led by former guerrilla commander Hashim Thaci, has angrily rejected the accusations as an attempt to tarnish the reputation of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) rebels, who won NATO air support in 1999 to drive out Serbian forces.
Efforts to investigate alleged war crimes committed by the guerrillas have run up against widespread intimidation in a small country where clan loyalties run deep and KLA rebels are revered as heroes. Many entered government after the war, leading Kosovo to independence in 2008.
Read more: http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/news/int...l?cid=38320834
....hmmm....does anyone else detect an ongoing theme here or am I just being way too cynical....after-all Kosovo is, according to the most important source in Washington, a shining example of what the US of A is doing to, err, for the rest of the world....
Cheers
- Sep 25, 2009
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Just finished reading several dozens pages from the recently published bill gates book…
to put it frankly, despite being consistently critical of the us foreign policy, I was impressed and - concerning certain passages -quite agreeable with the views of this cold war warrior.… he wrote the book before the current Ukrainian crisis, but quite remarkably, his opinions on Ukrainian vs. Russian issues jive perfectly with what actually happened.
To remind, he served under several presidents from both parties including the bush jr and obama govts. He held posts from the cia chief to the minister of defense…
Hard to believe, but this faithful servant and implementer of american interventions actually called the us post-cold war policies re. nato expansions into Russia’s realm arrogant and ill-conceived. He asserts he did his best to alert his bosses to the fact, but when unheeded, resorted to carrying out the policies.
He states he clashed with the super hawks like chainy , almost always
He clearly states his frequent objections to Israel’s unilateral moves which took place in blatant disregard of the us national interest and sometimes at american expense. He, without mentioning Jewish ethnicity/religion of some american politicians, hinted at their incredible influence
He portrays himself as moderate regarding iran..said he objected the military option as the 1st choice.
Despite his realistic assessment of Russia’s grievances, he states his hatred for putin and, somewhat inconsistently, calls the man behind what he called justified grievances a ’cold-minded killer’. I sensed, but could be wrong on that, he disliked putin as a person who got outfoxed by a fellow intelligence professional on several occasions. By a contrast, he sang songs to medvedev.
The most interesting observation I got, perhaps it was a set up, how difficult it is to actually move the us allies and how little direct influence america had over even minor partners in the eu.
Also, it was obvious the book was written to present bill gates in the most favorable light, iow, a self serving work. The examples failing an elementary sanity check are multiple. never the less, a great book to read for any student of international affairs.
to put it frankly, despite being consistently critical of the us foreign policy, I was impressed and - concerning certain passages -quite agreeable with the views of this cold war warrior.… he wrote the book before the current Ukrainian crisis, but quite remarkably, his opinions on Ukrainian vs. Russian issues jive perfectly with what actually happened.
To remind, he served under several presidents from both parties including the bush jr and obama govts. He held posts from the cia chief to the minister of defense…
Hard to believe, but this faithful servant and implementer of american interventions actually called the us post-cold war policies re. nato expansions into Russia’s realm arrogant and ill-conceived. He asserts he did his best to alert his bosses to the fact, but when unheeded, resorted to carrying out the policies.
He states he clashed with the super hawks like chainy , almost always
He clearly states his frequent objections to Israel’s unilateral moves which took place in blatant disregard of the us national interest and sometimes at american expense. He, without mentioning Jewish ethnicity/religion of some american politicians, hinted at their incredible influence
He portrays himself as moderate regarding iran..said he objected the military option as the 1st choice.
Despite his realistic assessment of Russia’s grievances, he states his hatred for putin and, somewhat inconsistently, calls the man behind what he called justified grievances a ’cold-minded killer’. I sensed, but could be wrong on that, he disliked putin as a person who got outfoxed by a fellow intelligence professional on several occasions. By a contrast, he sang songs to medvedev.
The most interesting observation I got, perhaps it was a set up, how difficult it is to actually move the us allies and how little direct influence america had over even minor partners in the eu.
Also, it was obvious the book was written to present bill gates in the most favorable light, iow, a self serving work. The examples failing an elementary sanity check are multiple. never the less, a great book to read for any student of international affairs.
- Jul 23, 2009
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python said:
Robert Gates..not Bill Gates. Bill gates head cheese(former) of microsoft and bazillion-aire.
Robert Gates smart cookie, makes Hagel look like a punt...
- Jul 4, 2009
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....here is another in our series charting the relative success of recent US of A backed glorious-democracy-spreading revolutions and related activities....
"Afghanistan’s national election held this week is a sham. A group of candidates, handpicked by the US, will pretend to compete in an election whose outcome has already been determined – by Washington.
The candidates include US groomed politicians, and drug-dealing warlords from the Tajik and Uzbek north. Chief among them, Rashid Dostam, a major war criminal and principal CIA ally who ordered the massacre of over 2,000 Taliban prisoners.
Such is the rotten foundation on which Washington is hoping to build a compliant Afghan “democracy” that will continue to offer bases to US troops and warplanes. Afghanistan’s majority, the Pashtun tribes, have little voice in the election charade"
....from..
http://ericmargolis.com/2014/04/afghan-elections-for-another-fake-regime/
...still looking for a nice shiny recurring theme but the only thing that has come up is smelly mess and lots of dead innocent people....will continue to search thru the debris for signs of hope and democracy and so on and so forth( I mean, really, could our wonderful "media" be so wrong on so many levels...)
Cheers
"Afghanistan’s national election held this week is a sham. A group of candidates, handpicked by the US, will pretend to compete in an election whose outcome has already been determined – by Washington.
The candidates include US groomed politicians, and drug-dealing warlords from the Tajik and Uzbek north. Chief among them, Rashid Dostam, a major war criminal and principal CIA ally who ordered the massacre of over 2,000 Taliban prisoners.
Such is the rotten foundation on which Washington is hoping to build a compliant Afghan “democracy” that will continue to offer bases to US troops and warplanes. Afghanistan’s majority, the Pashtun tribes, have little voice in the election charade"
....from..
http://ericmargolis.com/2014/04/afghan-elections-for-another-fake-regime/
...still looking for a nice shiny recurring theme but the only thing that has come up is smelly mess and lots of dead innocent people....will continue to search thru the debris for signs of hope and democracy and so on and so forth( I mean, really, could our wonderful "media" be so wrong on so many levels...)
Cheers
- Jul 30, 2011
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The US has had a good run--several decades--of backing "stable" (anti-populist) govts. abroad only to do successive damage controls as that short-term strategy falls apart. With Obama ratcheting up the "clean-hands" aspect of that approach, there's no need to feel bad about it now.
- Jul 30, 2011
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- Sep 25, 2009
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thanks.Bustedknuckle said:
i confused the 2 b/c:
-obviously i don't follow the us political and business leaders close enough...also, neither bill nor robert had impacted my upbringing on the scale they likely did for american kids.
-i posted several hours after reading someone's copy of the book. being sloppy with names is indeed my problem
aphronesis said:
Understandable though not acceptable. No need to argue about it though; time is not on your side.
- Jul 30, 2011
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- Sep 25, 2009
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i am surprise no one noticed 2 new countries in the old continent formed today
the peoples republics of charchov and donetsk
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014...360TI20140407?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews
who knows, they may want to join the nato 1 day ?
the peoples republics of charchov and donetsk
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014...360TI20140407?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews
who knows, they may want to join the nato 1 day ?
It was popular revolution and popular revolutions are always messy. If you look at people at Maidan, you can see all kind of different sorts: left, right, conservatives, liberals, old, young. They had a backing of the parliament and this parliament is totally legitimate, chosen in free elections. At the end president flew the country and his own party (Regions Party) denounced him. If you say that those who took power in Kiev dont represent thier people in large, then who does?python said:
- Jul 4, 2009
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Von Mises said:
...well that is the big question isn't it?...and judging from the feedback that I'm getting from The Ukraine ( from both Kiev and Lvov among people who are fairly well connected in the sub-oligarch business class and civic politics.. ) people were emotionally supportive of the Maidan protests until the final outcome when the emotion was translated into a reality under-written by the IMF ....the clowns that now run the show are very quickly losing the support of everyone but the most rabidly nationalistic/fascist elements of Ukrainian society...and then we can look at the "upwelling" of support for the glorious revolution in the eastern regions and see that "support" there has turned decidedly negative with calls for Crimea style referendums and declarations of indepedance....
...would be very interesting to have an election run in a month or so on the IMF/EU/US agenda that has now been put in place...my feeling is, as the reality of the IMF future sinks in and the emotional afterglow of the glorious revolution fades it would be roundly rejected by most parts of The Ukraine...
Cheers
- Jul 4, 2009
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...find below an article that comments on some of the more recent after-effects of the glorious revolution...
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/pro-moscow-protesters-declare-republic-kiev-fears-invasion-005052585.html
...my favourite line...
" The White House warned Russian President Vladimir Putin against moving "overtly or covertly" into eastern Ukraine and said there was strong evidence that pro-Russian demonstrators in the region were being paid."
...frankly, given the performance of the While House in other recent pushes to promote democracy, would love to see some proof beyond a vague innuendo...and then maybe a compare and contrast with the $5 bil the US of A spent promoting democracy in The Ukraine....because from a very quick look this looks a big pile of hypocrisy....
Cheers
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/pro-moscow-protesters-declare-republic-kiev-fears-invasion-005052585.html
...my favourite line...
" The White House warned Russian President Vladimir Putin against moving "overtly or covertly" into eastern Ukraine and said there was strong evidence that pro-Russian demonstrators in the region were being paid."
...frankly, given the performance of the While House in other recent pushes to promote democracy, would love to see some proof beyond a vague innuendo...and then maybe a compare and contrast with the $5 bil the US of A spent promoting democracy in The Ukraine....because from a very quick look this looks a big pile of hypocrisy....
Cheers
- Jul 4, 2009
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Von Mises said:
...is the following what you mean by "messy"....
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/video/fistfight-erupts-ukraine-parliament-100914299.html
...wonder where the wonderful gun bearing defenders of the glorious revolution were when this little fracas erupted....I mean they were certainly there with their guns when the glorious revolution was rubber stamped, errr, sanctified by the legitimate parliament ( in fact some members of that parliament were so thrilled to do this they expressed their joy by voting several times...see photo posted earlier in this thread...yup, real super duper legitimate....democracy at the end of a gun barrel is the best kind of democracy ain't it )...
Cheers
- Sep 25, 2009
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the us today officially accused russian agents for the demonstrations taking place in the russian-speaking eastern ukraine. to me, this is not an entirely idiotic theory...still, some evidence, however remote, would go a long way in making the accusation real.
the best, of course, would be if the all-mighty nsa, notorious for listening to everything including the very allies, could produce a record or an email..any..something like the russians did, for example, with intercepting the nuland' s now public admission to the us envoy to ukraine that they spent 5 us billions...
it is there and anyone able to click can hear it. nuland never denied it. so the fact of the us ' official' interference is a hard undeniable fact. besides that, there is a public record of several security officials in charge att that the us had a hand in training the masked man who stormed the very public buildings the americans now call illegal when taking place against the govt they support.
in the absence of the us or any western evidence i engaged in the search of my own...using open public sources, mainly of in the west....
here is a clip from reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/video/idUSBREA370RU20140408?videoId=306050313
the faces of women, old men, some younger...absolutely obviously kgb turncoats
frankly, i saw a ton of similar pix with cool protesters in 4 or 5 cities asking for their language rights etc,
------
added :take a look at the parliament fist fight today...it was after a pm from 1 of the opposition parties said something the pro govt factions did not like ...same intimidation but with ak-47s outside the building happened when the 'transitional govt was ' voted in'
the best, of course, would be if the all-mighty nsa, notorious for listening to everything including the very allies, could produce a record or an email..any..something like the russians did, for example, with intercepting the nuland' s now public admission to the us envoy to ukraine that they spent 5 us billions...
it is there and anyone able to click can hear it. nuland never denied it. so the fact of the us ' official' interference is a hard undeniable fact. besides that, there is a public record of several security officials in charge att that the us had a hand in training the masked man who stormed the very public buildings the americans now call illegal when taking place against the govt they support.
in the absence of the us or any western evidence i engaged in the search of my own...using open public sources, mainly of in the west....
here is a clip from reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/video/idUSBREA370RU20140408?videoId=306050313
the faces of women, old men, some younger...absolutely obviously kgb turncoats
frankly, i saw a ton of similar pix with cool protesters in 4 or 5 cities asking for their language rights etc,
------
added :take a look at the parliament fist fight today...it was after a pm from 1 of the opposition parties said something the pro govt factions did not like ...same intimidation but with ak-47s outside the building happened when the 'transitional govt was ' voted in'
- Apr 12, 2009
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There's fights like that in Russian Parliament too. Not in US parliament.blutto said:
Does that make the US one more legitimate?
The answer is: no, the video you posted is totally off topic, and has nothing to do with legitimacy of the 2013 Ukrainian parliament.
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