Empire, Power and People with Andrew Gavin Marshall - Episode 7

Source: Boiling Frogs Post
Andrew Gavin Marshall

Empire in the Arab World

 

Taking a look at the historical realities of Western imperialism in the Middle East and North Africa following World War II allows us to place current conflicts in a wider context and understanding. Briefly looking at the coup in Iran in 1953, the Egyptian Suez Crisis in 1956, the Syrian Crisis in 1957, and the independence struggles in North Africa against the French during the same period, we are able to see a recurring focus on the same major states as to this very day being strategically important for Western interests in a region of vast import for the United States. As one key U.S. adviser in the State Department acknowledged in 1945, Middle Eastern oil is “a stupendous source of strategic power, and one of the greatest material prizes in world history.” 

With research drawing from declassified State Department, Pentagon, CIA, National Security Council and White House documents from the era, the American Empire following World War II sought to define for itself a more pragmatic strategy aimed at domination, which simultaneously sought to separate itself from the formal colonial empires of France and Britain, while still serving their interests, and in supporting “moderate” and pro-Western Arab nationalists in the region in order to undermine the “extremist nationalists” like Nasser in Egypt, acknowledging that national liberation was a force of history through which the United States would have to navigate if it had any hope of maintaining itself as an imperial power.

Is The Federal Reserve Doing A Good Job?

Source: The American Dream

Have you noticed that very few people in the mainstream media ever directly criticize the Federal Reserve?  But why should that be the case?  Criticizing top politicians from both major political parties has become a national pastime.  Most Americans love to throw mud at either the Republicans or the Democrats.  But we are told that the Federal Reserve is "above politics" and that it is absolutely vital that the Fed remain "independent".  The reality is that the Federal Reserve has more control over the performance of the U.S. economy than the president even does, and yet most Americans never spend much time thinking about the Fed at all.  It is almost as if someone has instructed us to "ignore the man behind the curtain" and most of us just blindly obey.  With the economy in such a mess and with the national debt exploding so dramatically, isn't it about time that we had a national conversation about the performance of the Federal Reserve?  Isn't it about time that we evaluated whether the Federal Reserve is doing a good job or not?

Today I came across a Bloomberg article that was full of endless praise for the secretive Jekyll Island conference in 1910 that developed the plan for the Federal Reserve system.  The following is a very brief excerpt from that article....

Although it may seem shocking to watch the 112th Congress, there was a time when national leaders were swift and decisive in getting things done. In November 1910, in the space of less than two weeks, a group of government and business leaders fashioned a powerful new financial system that has survived a century, two world wars, a Great Depression and many recessions.

But has this "powerful new financial system" really performed well for the American people?

The Federal Reserve system has now been in place for about 100 years.  That is certainly long enough to evaluate how well it has performed.

So has the Federal Reserve done a good job?

Well, one of the things that the Federal Reserve is charged with doing is to protect the value of our currency.  In other words, they are supposed to keep inflation under control.

In that regard, the Federal Reserve has failed miserably.  The U.S. dollar has lost 96.2 percent of its value since 1900, and almost 100 percent of that decline has come during the Federal Reserve era.

Corbett Report Interview 465 - Bill Still Runs for President

Source: Corbett Report
James Corbett


Bill Still, the author and documentary filmmaker behind such films as The Secret of Oz, joins us to discuss his bid for the presidential nomination for the Libertarian Party in 2012. We discuss the main planks of his platform and how interested libertarians can support his campaign.

'Pakistan-US Ties Reach Point of No Return'

Source: PressTV

Pakistani people spilled onto the streets of the capital, Islamabad, on Monday for another anti-US rally.

Thousands of demonstrators --who were opposed to what they call the US intervention in Pakistan-- chanted "death to America". The protesters described the US as "the biggest enemy" of Pakistan who will be defeated. They also denounced the US assassination attacks on Pakistani soil.

Anti-American sentiment has grown in Pakistan after 24 Pakistani soldiers were killed in a US air strike in November. The attack sparked large rallies across the country. Ties between Islamabad and Washington became tense following the attack.