Chuck Spinney: Democracy & Truth or Tyranny & Lies?

My close friend Mike Lofgren writes an important essay describing the nature of ‘truth’ in the Orwellian echo chamber that is closing the American mind in the 21st Century. Chuck Spinney The Blaster DECEMBER 20, 2011 Are Our Rulers Stupid, or Do They Think We’re Stupid? Propagandizing for Perpetual War by MIKE LOFGREN, Counterpunch According …

Michel Bauwens: Michael Hudson on the crucial link between democracy and debt throughout history

I don’t know of a more crucial text to read in this epochal transition. Republished from Michael Hudson: “Book V of Aristotle’s Politics describes the eternal transition of oligarchies making themselves into hereditary aristocracies – which end up being overthrown by tyrants or develop internal rivalries as some families decide to “take the multitude into …

Steven Aftergood: CIA Classifies Open Source Works

Charter of Open Source Org is Classified, CIA Says Open Source Works, which is the CIA’s in-house open source analysis component, is devoted to intelligence analysis of unclassified, open source information.  Oddly, however, the directive that established Open Source Works is classified, as is the charter of the organization.  In fact, CIA says the very …

Mini-Me: European-US Banking–Tangled Web — Tell Me Again, Why Shouldn’t We Default and Let the Banks Fry? + Financial Terrorism RECAP

The question has to be asked: “Why shouldn’t we default and let the banks fry?” What possible benefit it there to the people of a nation whose previous leaders “sold out” the entire country on the basis of lies from the banks, notably Goldman Sachs? Why not default and focus on full employment and resilience …

Thomas Briggs: No, China Does Not Have 3,000 Nuclear Weapons (Nor Does CIA Have Clandestine Assets Anywhere Relevant)

Here is another posting related to this topic to balance the earlier piece from the Washington Post. No, China Does Not Have 3,000 Nuclear Weapons A study from Georgetown University incorrectly suggests that China has 3,000 nuclear weapons.The estimate is off by an order of magnitude. By Hans M. Kristensen EXTRACT: According to the International …

Howard Rheingold: Discussing the Assemblies and Consensus of #OccupyWallStreet (3) – Visioning Emergent Leadership

Discussing the Assemblies and Consensus of #OccupyWallStreet (3): Visioning Emergent Leadership Michel Bauwens 16th November 2011 Excerpted from Sharif Abdullah: “One of the constant mantras of the “Occupy Together” (OT) phenomenon is its “leaderless” nature. I support and applaud this… to a point. Anyone who has come to my workshops over the past ten years …