Orwellian Doublethink: “Nationalize the banks.” “Free Markets.” by Prof. Michael Hudson

Dandelion Salad

by Prof. Michael Hudson
Global Research, February 23, 2009

The language of deception

Banking shares began to plunge Friday morning after Senator Dodd, the Connecticut Democrat who is chairman of the banking committee, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television that he was concerned the government might end up nationalizing some lenders “at least for a short time.” Several other prominent policy makers – including Alan Greenspan, the former chairman of the Federal Reserve, and Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina – have echoed that view recently. (Eric Dash, “Growing Worry on Rescue Takes a Toll on Banks,” The New York Times, February 20, 2009)

How is it that Mr. Greenspan, free-market lobbyist for Wall Street, recently announced that he favored nationalization of America’s banks – and indeed, mainly the biggest and most powerful? Has he “gone left”? Or are we dealing with the most recent exercise in Orwellian doublethink?

The answer is that the rhetoric of “free markets,” “nationalization” and even “socialism” (as in “socializing the losses”) has been turned into the language of deception to help the financial sector mobilize government power to support its own special privileges. Having undermined the economy at large, Wall Street’s public relations think tanks are now dismantling the language itself.

The popular media should not let them get away with it.

The Pakistan puzzle, with Gareth Porter

Dandelion Salad

TheRealNews

More at
http://therealnews.com/t/in…

The unraveling situation in Pakistan confounds U.S. policy in Afghanistan

more about “The Pakistan puzzle, with Gareth Porter“, posted with vodpod

see

Obama expands US military intervention in Pakistan

Google exposes US airbase in Pakistan used to launch drones + Exposed: Secret CIA Base For Drone Raids

Are generals disputing Iraq pullout? with Gareth Porter pt 1

Russia postpones Iran missile deal, with Gareth Porter pt 2

Pakistan

Afghanistan

Barack Obama on Dandelion Salad

Meet the new boss the same as the old boss

A Choice Between Peace and Peril by Chris Hedges

by Chris Hedges
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Truthdig
February 23, 2009

Bibi Netanyahu’s assumption of power in Israel sets the stage for a huge campaign by the Israeli government, and its well-oiled lobby groups in Washington, to push us into a war with Iran.

Iran does not have a nuclear weapons program, according to U.S. and European intelligence agencies. But reality rarely impedes on politics. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama, along with Netanyahu, all talk as if Iran is on the brink of dropping the big one on the Jewish state.

Netanyahu on Friday named Iran as Israel’s main threat after he was called to form a new government following the Feb. 20 elections.

“Iran is seeking to obtain a nuclear weapon and constitutes the gravest threat to our existence since the war of independence,” Netanyahu said at a ceremony at President Shimon Peres’ official residence. “The terrorist forces of Iran threaten us from the north,” the presumptive prime minister said in reference to Lebanon and Syria, where Israel says Tehran supplies arms to Hezbollah and Hamas. “For decades, Israel has not faced such formidable challenges.”

Tortured Gitmo Detainee Released To Great Britain + Freed detainee ‘happy to be home’

Dandelion Salad

VOTERSTHINKdotORG

http://cspanjunkie.org/

February 23, 2009 BBC World

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Freed detainee ‘happy to be home’

BBC NEWS
2.23.09

A British resident detained at Guantanamo Bay for more than four years has said he is “extraordinarily happy to be home” in the UK.

Ethiopian-born Binyam Mohamed, 30, was released on Monday afternoon after he landed at RAF Northolt in London and underwent questioning by police.

Mr Mohamed says he was tortured while in custody on suspicion of terrorism.

[...]

via BBC NEWS | UK | Freed detainee ‘happy to be home’

h/t: Dan

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Freed, British detainee details abuses

By Warren Richey | Staff writer
and Ben Quinn | Correspondent
csmonitor.com
from the February 24, 2009 edition

Binyam Mohamed returned to London Monday a free man after spending the past seven years in a tangle of military prison camps, where he claims he was tortured.

LONDON – A British resident, once accused of plotting with Al Qaeda to detonate a radiological “dirty bomb,” is a free man and is now calling for an investigation into his alleged torture at the behest of the US government.

Binyam Mohamed was released from a cell at the Guantánamo terror prison camp in Cuba early Monday, where he had been held since September 2004. He was flown by private jet to a British military base near London, where he met with his legal team and doctors.

[...]

via Freed, British detainee details abuses | csmonitor.com

h/t: Dan

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Freed Guantanamo prisoner links UK with torture – 23 Feb 09

AlJazeeraEnglish

British resident, Binyam Mohamed, released from Guantanamo Bay prison after four years in captivity, has told how he was abducted, jailed and then tortured.

He’s endured what he called medieval torture – but he says his lowest moment was realising that British intelligence officials conspired in his maltreatment.

Al Jazeera’s Mark Seddon reports.

more about “Freed Guantanamo prisoner links UK wi…“, posted with vodpod

see

‘A Brit tortured in Guantanamo’

CIA made Rolling Stone satire into dirty bomb plot: report + How Bush Threatened Britain

Torture on Dandelion Salad

Rendition

Gitmo

Suspend military aid to Israel, Amnesty urges Obama after detailing US weapons used in Gaza

Dandelion Salad

by Rory McCarthy in Jerusalem
The Guardian
Monday 23 February 2009

Detailed evidence has emerged of Israel’s extensive use of US-made weaponry during its war in Gaza last month, including white phosphorus artillery shells, 500lb bombs and Hellfire missiles.

In a report released today, Amnesty International detailed the weapons used and called for an immediate arms embargo on Israel and all Palestinian armed groups. It called on the Obama administration to suspend military aid to Israel.

[...]

The US has long been the largest arms supplier to Israel; under a current 10-year agreement negotiated by the Bush administration the US will provide $30bn (£21bn) in military aid to Israel.

“As the major supplier of weapons to Israel, the USA has a particular obligation to stop any supply that contributes to gross violations of the laws of war and of human rights,” said Malcolm Smart, Amnesty’s Middle East and North Africa programme director. “To a large extent, Israel’s military offensive in Gaza was carried out with weapons, munitions and military equipment supplied by the USA and paid for with US taxpayers’ money.”

[...]

via Suspend military aid to Israel, Amnesty urges Obama after detailing US weapons used in Gaza | World news | The Guardian

h/t: CLG

***

From an email from Amnesty International USA

2.23.09

Investigate misuse of US weapons in Gaza and stop arms transfers to Israel

A new report released just hours ago reveals that U.S.-made white phosphorus artillery shells among other U.S. weapons were found throughout Gaza. When white phosphorus munitions are used in densely-populated civilian areas as Israel has, it violates international humanitarian law’s prohibition on indiscriminate attacks and amounts to a war crime.

Gazan children psychologically damaged after war

Dandelion Salad

AlJazeeraEnglish

Aid agencies say the psychological effects of the Israeli offensive on Gaza have been heavy, particularly on children.

Al Jazeera’s Jonah Hull talks to one nine year old boy about his experiences and how he is dealing with them now.

more about “Gazan children psychologically damage…“, posted with vodpod

see

Focus on Gaza: A Crime of War?

Viva Palestina aid convoy reaches Morocco – 19 Feb 2009

Bid Now at the Valentines4Palestine Ebay Art Auction!

Valentines for Palestine (Action Alert)

Israel-Palestine-Gaza-Occupation

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Online appeal for Gaza Convoy

I Want You To Be Responsible by Bruce Gagnon

Bruce

by Bruce Gagnon
featured writer
Dandelion Salad
Organizing Notes
Feb. 22, 2009

President Obama will hold a “fiscal responsibility summit” in Washington next Monday with the goal of reining in government spending. Watch out.

With our federal budget deficit heading toward $1.4 trillion this year, or nearly 10% of our overall economy, something must be done. Look out.

Obama adviser John Podesta says the summit is the first step in a process to help the public “understand how the financial balance sheet of the federal government comes back into order.”

Translation: Middle class and poor folks are going to really get nailed.

According to the Washington Post Obama’s team has invited big business, economists and a range of other “special interests” to the event which will feature five breakout sessions. Larry Summers (refer to Naomi Klein interview here) will lead the discussion on Social Security. Hold onto your hat.

Former Republican senator John Danforth calls it a “media event.” He’s right, they are preparing the American people for the clamp-down.

Social Collapse Best Practices by Dmitry Orlov

Dandelion Salad

Updated: 3.10.09 Added the video

Updated:

Long Now Foundation web site

Friday February 13, 02009
Dmitry Orlov – Social Collapse Best Practices

• Download Audio (first 12 mins)
  
• Blog Summary
• Browse Seminars
• Podcast (subscribe with iTunes) (27 mins)

by Dmitry Orlov
ClubOrlov
2.14.09

The following talk was given on February 13, 2009, at Cowell Theatre in Fort Mason Center, San Francisco, to an audience of 550 people. Audio and video of the talk will be available on Long Now Foundation web site.

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for showing up. It’s certainly nice to travel all the way across the North American continent and have a few people come to see you, even if the occasion isn’t a happy one. You are here to listen to me talk about social collapse and the various ways we can avoid screwing that up along with everything else that’s gone wrong. I know it’s a lot to ask of you, because why wouldn’t you instead want to go and eat, drink, and be merry? Well, perhaps there will still be time left for that after my talk.

[...]

You might ask yourself, then, Why on earth did he get invited to speak here tonight? It seems that I am enjoying my moment in the limelight, because I am one of the very few people who several years ago unequivocally predicted the demise of the United States as a global superpower. The idea that the USA will go the way of the USSR seemed preposterous at the time. It doesn’t seem so preposterous any more. I take it some of you are still hedging your bets. How is that hedge fund doing, by the way?

[...]

This is because when times get really bad, as they did when the Soviet Union collapsed, lots of people just completely lose it. Men, especially. Successful, middle-aged men, breadwinners, bastions of society, turn out to be especially vulnerable. And when they just completely lose it, they become very tedious company. My hope is that some amount of preparation, psychological and otherwise, can make them a lot less fragile, and a bit more useful, and generally less of a burden.

Women seem much more able to cope. Perhaps it is because they have less of their ego invested in the whole dubious enterprise, or perhaps their sense of personal responsibility is tied to those around them and not some nebulous grand enterprise. In any case, the women always seem far more able to just put on their gardening gloves and go do something useful, while the men tend to sit around groaning about the Empire, or the Republic, or whatever it is that they lost.

[...]

via ClubOrlov: Social Collapse Best Practices

h/t: ENERGY BULLETIN and Speaking Truth to Power

***

Updated

more about “Social Collapse Best Practices by Dmi…“, posted with vodpod

h/t: ICH for the video

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

see

The Looming Collapse of the American Empire by Chris Hedges

Perestroika 2.0 Beta, By Dmitry Orlov

That Bastion Of American Socialism By Dmitry Orlov

Maintaining And Creating After Collapse, By Steve Thomas

Russian analyst predicts decline and breakup of U.S.

Orlov-Dmitry

The Economy Sucks and or Collapse 2

Obama expands US military intervention in Pakistan

Dandelion Salad

By Barry Grey
http://www.wsws.org
23 February 2009

The Obama administration is significantly expanding the US military role in Pakistan beyond that pursued by the Bush administration, directly employing US military force against anti-government Pakistani guerrillas involved only marginally, if at all, in attacks on US forces in neighboring Afghanistan, according to a recent article in the New York Times.

The article, entitled “Obama Expands Missile Strikes Inside Pakistan” and authored by Mark Mazzetti and White House correspondent David E. Sanger, cites two separate missile strikes inside Pakistan carried out February 14 and February 16 as evidence that “the Obama administration has expanded the covert war run by the Central Intelligence Agency inside Pakistan, attacking a militant network seeking to topple the Pakistani government.”

via Obama expands US military intervention in Pakistan

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

see

Google exposes US airbase in Pakistan used to launch drones + Exposed: Secret CIA Base For Drone Raids

Two US missile strikes in Pakistan in three days kill more than 60

Destabilizing Pakistan, America Plays with Fire by Tom Burghardt

Pakistan

Barack Obama

Meet the new boss the same as the old boss

The conflict in the Congo is a resource war waged by U.S. and British allies

Dandelion Salad

By Kambale Musavuli
Online Journal Guest Writer
Feb 19, 2009, 00:17

Congo

from: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cg-map.png

commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

Commons is a freely licensed media file repository.

Originally uploaded by Lorri37

Since Rwanda and Uganda invaded the Congo in 1996, they have pursued a plan to appropriate the wealth of Eastern Congo either directly or through proxy forces. The December 2008 United Nations report is the latest in a series of U.N. reports dating from 2001 that clearly documents the systematic looting and appropriation of Congolese resources by Rwanda and Uganda, two of Washington and London’s staunchest allies in Africa.

However, in the wake of the December 2008 report, which clearly documents Rwanda’s support of destabilizing proxy forces inside the Congo, a series of stunning proposals and actions have been presented which all appear to be an attempt to cover up or bury the damning U.N. report on the latest expression of Rwanda’s aggression against the Congolese people.

The earliest proposal came from Herman Cohen, former assistant secretary of state for African affairs under George Herbert Walker Bush. He proposed that Rwanda be rewarded for its well documented looting of Congo’s wealth by being a part of a Central and/or East African free trade zone whereby Rwanda would keep its ill-gotten gains.

[...]

The report “found evidence that the Rwandan authorities have been complicit in the recruitment of soldiers, including children, have facilitated the supply of military equipment, and have sent officers and units from the Rwandan Defense Forces” to the DRC. The support is for the National Congress for the Defense of the People, or CNDP, formerly led by self-proclaimed Gen. Laurent Nkunda.

[...]

via The conflict in the Congo is a resource war waged by U.S. and British allies

see

Wealth and politics in Congo

The Destabilization of Congo

Plundering the Congo

Condition: Critical – Voices from the war in eastern Congo

Crisis in Congo