CounterPunch: John McMurtry on Why the Establishment Hates (and Fears) Donald Trump
Civil Society, Ethics
Why the Establishment Hates Trump
Trump has raised the great dispossession from impotence into the establishment’s face, and this is why he is a contagion on the American political scene. He is pervasively mocked, accused and slandered in non-stop public fireworks of ad hominem hits, but the counter-attacks never engage what Trump has set his sights on – the long stripping of America by corporate globalization selecting for the limitless enrichment of the very rich living off an ever-growing take from public coffers and the impoverishment of America’s working people.
Berto Jongman: Kim Philby Secret Stasi Video — How He Did It, How He Got Away with It — Never Confess, Arrogance is Their Achilles Heel
Government, Ineptitude
Kim Philby, British double agent, reveals all in secret video
By Gordon Corera
The tape is of Kim Philby giving a secret lecture to the Stasi, the East German Intelligence Service, in 1981. It is the first time the ex-MI6 officer can be seen talking about his life as a spy from his recruitment to his escape.
Jean Lievens: How Austerity Has Crippled Europe
03 Economy, Corruption, Government, Ineptitude
How Austerity Has Crippled the European Economy – In Numbers
Thomas Fazi, Social Europe, 31 March 2016
Europe’s post-crisis response – consisting of a combination of fiscal austerity, neoliberal structural reforms and expansionary monetary policies – has unambiguously failed. In early 2016 – eight years after the outbreak of the financial crisis – the eurozone’s overall real GDP was still below the pre-crisis peak (March 2008). The Greek economy was 27.6 per cent smaller. Spain’s was 4.5 per cent smaller. Portugal’s was 6.5 per cent smaller. Even those countries with above-average eurozone growth were not performing very well: Germany, for example, was only 5.5 per cent larger than it was in March 2008, while France was only 2.7 per cent larger. Meanwhile, most of the world has returned to, or surpasses, pre-crisis GDP levels.
Antechinus: Panama Papers, “Corruption” as a Propaganda Weapon
Commerce, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Government, Media
The Panama Papers, ‘Corruption’ as a Propaganda Weapon
Mainstream Western journalism no longer even tries to apply common standards to questions about corruption. If you’re a favored government, there might be lamentations about the need for more “reform” – which often means slashing pensions for the elderly and cutting social programs for the poor – but if you’re a demonized leader, then the only permissible answer is criminal indictment and/or “regime change.”
Wayne Madsen: Hillary Clinton’s Private Email Was Front End for a Private Foreign Policy/Intelligence Operation
02 Diplomacy, 04 Inter-State Conflict, 07 Other Atrocities, 10 Transnational Crime, Corruption, Government, IO Deeds of War, Officers Call
Posted in full with permission of the author.
April 1-2, 2016 — Clinton's private email network part of private foreign policy/intelligence operation
A mere cursory glance at some of Hillary Clinton's emails yields what can only be described as a private foreign policy and intelligence operation. The operation involved Secretary of State Clinton, her personal State Department staff and outside consultants (including Huma Abedin and Cheryl Mills), the Clinton Foundation (including Bill Clinton and daughter Chelsea Clinton), former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and Teneo, the global advisory firm established by Bill Clinton's former chief aide Doug Band and that employed Abedin as a consultant while she was also working for the State Department.
Jan H. Kalvik: Introducing Robert David Steele to the Norwegian Defence & Intelligence Communities
Collaboration Zones, Communities of Practice, Information Operations (IO), Key Players, Liberation Technology, NATO Civ-Mil Ctr, Officers Call, Policies, Threats, United Nations & NGOs
Defence and intelligence Norway
Introducing Robert David Steele
We are happy to introduce Robert David Steele as a new contributor to Defence and Intelligence.
Original post in Norway — safety copy below the fold.
