By Ted Becker
LLE Editorial:
We were shocked to see the following headline and story on www.reuters.com , Wednesday, March 30, 2011. Here is that headline and the first paragraph:
Exclusive: Obama authorizes secret help for Libya rebels
(Reuters) – President Barack Obama has signed a secret order authorizing covert U.S. government support for rebel forces seeking to oust Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, government officials told Reuters on Wednesday…
What?!! (more…)
By Ted Becker
Reuters: SATURDAY, March 26, 2011. Photo and lead.
“Battlefield”? “…help rebels take the strategic town”?
Does that sound like the “No Fly Zone,” “humanitarian” military action “to protect civilians” authorized by the United Nations Security Council—or does that sound more like NATO (commanded and dominated by the United States Armed Forces) taking sides in an ongoing and increasingly bloody Libyan Civil War? (more…)
By Ted Becker
OK, here’s today’s test: What do Tokyo Electric Company (TEPCO), British Petroleum (BP) and Goldman Sachs all have in common? (more…)
By Ted Becker
In December 2009, Prime Minister Maliki’s government in Iraq held an auction of the major oil fields in Iraq. What was at stake was not the ownership of the oil—which from Day One of the U.S. invasion in 2003—was supposed to go into the greedy hands of American, British and Dutch “Big Oil”. The Bush-Cheney-NeoCon plan was to “privatize” Iraq’s oilfields and to transfer ownership to the Euro-US petrol giants: ExxonMobil/BP/Royal Dutch Shell/etc. There were some other big oil industry players who would get a slice of that pie and make out like bandits, like Halliburton, of course. (more…)
By Ted Becker
Is the USA really still #1? In military might, sure it is. In Gross Domestic Product (GDP), yes (but not for long). In basketball, you bet. Football, too, since almost no one else plays the U.S. brand of it. But what about America’s general political economy, how are we doing there—since that’s what most everyone cares the most about?
On February 19, 2011, The New York Times ran the chart at the bottom of this blog called “American Shame.” It is a compilation of 8 political economic indicators that compare the IMF’s 33 “advanced economies” – a comparison one might expect the USA to dominate. (more…)
By Ted Becker
Flashy flash! Hillary Clinton has finally said something with which I heartily agree. She told a Congressional committee that the USA is losing “the information war” all over the world. Why? Inadequate American news networks are to blame. She says that Al Jazeera, the independent Arab global cable network actually presents “real news”—without ads and stale, studio formats. Thus, and get this: She has admitted that people in America are tuning them in and the U.S. non-news out.
Hard to believe? OK, see for yourself. Here is part of her statement as presented on—guess where?—Russia Today (RT)…which is also appealing to lots of foreign (and American) YouTube viewers as a credible global news source—or at least as a strong point of view in the global media stew. She’s right because she’s describing a global reality that is gaining momentum in The Information Age. (more…)
By Peter Weiss
Democratic impulses are busting out all over the Middle East. With long-entrenched, repressive regimes already dislodged in Tunisia and Egypt and ongoing street protests in Bahrain, Libya, Yemen, Iran and Morocco, and with Saudi Arabia, Algeria and Jordan waiting in the wings, autocratic rulers across the region are feeling the heat of unrest and uprisings from the trampled masses below them like never before. (more…)
Planning for Survival by Ismail Rifaat
