Friday, February 12, 2010

The world is fragmenting, badly. Grid yourself for a new Dark Age

HR: The links below the articles are by me.*

What Will Unchecked Corporate Power Mean for America?

Franklin's Focus - Febr. 11th 2010 - The appended piece was written and published well before the Supreme Court invested corporations with immense power over the legislative branch of America. Congress already is largely bought and sold.* It will now be almost totally bought and sold. That's why this article caught my attention. It's time to be thinking about what America will look like following the Supreme Court decision.

This essay offers some added food for thought. It is interesting partly because it covers issues that Obama seems content to keep hidden from the people of this country. This, in turn, suggests, he has no plans whatsoever to remedy the situation as it stands. He consistently demonstrates a much greater concern for powerful corporations than for the greater body of American citizens.

Think about what FDR did to end unemployment in America. Then think about what Obama has done. His entire focus from day one was on saving huge financial corporations.

What interests me are the revelations regarding the increasing power of corporations and how that power may reshape the world. The recent decision by our Supreme Court fits well as a piece in what is a larger puzzle. It clearly means a huge increase in the power of corporations in the U.S., power that will possibly contribute to a kind of scenario the author predicts in this article.

I don't know if this is accurate futurism or not, but it certainly gives one food for thought.

It is short and clear, so give it a glimpse.

Warmest regards, Richard.

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The Next Big Thing: Neomedievalism

The world is fragmenting, badly. Grid yourself for a new Dark Age.

by Parag Khanna

Foreign Policy - April 15, 2009 - Many see the global economic crisis as proof that we live in one world.* But as countries stumble to right the wrongs of the corporate masters of the universe, they are driving us right back to a future that looks like nothing more than a new Middle Ages, that centuries-long period of amorphous conflict from the fifth to the 15th century when city-states mattered as much as countries.

The state isn't a universally representative phenomenon today, if it ever was. Already, billions of people live in imperial conglomerates such as the [HR: totalitarian] European Union, the Greater Chinese Co-Prosperity Sphere, and the emerging [HR: & fascist] North American Union, where state capitalism has become the norm. But at least half the United Nations’ membership, about 100 countries, can hardly be considered responsible sovereigns.

Billions live unsure of who their true rulers are, whether local feudal lords or distant corporate executives. [HR: BIS usury system below*] In Egypt and India, democratic elections have devolved into auctions. Delivering security and providing welfare aren't just campaign promises; they are the campaign.

The fragmentation of societies from within is clear: From Bogotá to Bangalore, gated communities with private security are on the rise.

This diffuse, fractured world will be run more by cities and city-states than countries.

Once, Venice and Bruges formed an axis that spurred commercial expansion across Eurasia. Today, just 40 city-regions account for two thirds of the world economy and 90 percent of its innovation. The mighty Hanseatic League, a constellation of well-armed North and Baltic Sea trading hubs in the late Middle Ages, will be reborn as cities such as Hamburg and Dubai form commercial alliances and operate "free zones" across Africa like the ones Dubai Ports World is building. Add in sovereign wealth funds and private military contractors, and you have the agile geopolitical units of a neomedieval world.

Even during this global financial crisis, multinational corporations heavily populate the list of the world's largest economic entities; the commercial diplomacy of emerging-market firms such as China’s Haier and Mexico’s Cemex has already turned North-South relations inside out faster than the nonaligned movement ever did.

There are positive sides to a world where every man can be a nation unto himself. Postmodern Medicis such as Bill Gates, Anil Ambani, George Soros, and Richard Branson take it upon themselves to cure pandemics, run corporate cities, undermine authoritarian regimes, and sponsor climate-saving research. But the Middle Ages were fundamentally a time of fear, uncertainty, plagues, and violence.

So, too, their successor. AIDS and SARS, terrorism and piracy, cyclones and rising sea levels - it is no longer clear how to invest in the future, or what future to invest in.

Figuring out how to respond to this new world will take decades at least.

The next Renaissance is still a long way off.

End" - [end article] - Source: Foreign Policy - Url.:
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/04/15/the_next_big_thing_neomedievalism

How Obama and Congress Once Again Are Selling Out This Nation

Franklin's Focus 2/11/10 - The appended item is one I received from a subscriber who publishes a daily news and commentary email. He and I are almost always on the same page. This item suggests that once again the conservative TC orientation and philosophy of Obama is heading this nation down horrendous paths, both domestically and internationally. This exposé is a real bummer — one more clandestine action by this administration to fuel our despair.

If he had any decency in his political and economic philosophies, he would be been working to undo the disastrous acts described in the appended item and would have worked to block more recent bills and treaties heading us down the same pathways. His work was all cut out for him and waiting for his attention as the leader of this nation. Instead, he has looked the other way.

Today I tried to think of something valuable and lasting that Obama has done for for my native land during his first year. Of course, my memory ain't what it used to be, so I may be forgetting something. In any case, I can't think of one damned worthwhile thing he has done for my country. Both internationally and domestically, he seems to be openly or secretly pushing this nation into a black hole.

The appended item makes visible the actions of the so called 'invisible hand' that gungho capitalists are so proud of. The mainstream media have long ignored the story contained in the appended report. I guess the 'hand' is indeed invisible, but mostly due to the fact our media are controlled by rabid rightwing greedsters.

The astronomical thefts of the robber barons on Wall Street have now been covered by Obama with mind boggling largesse, while those who were deceived and misled and have lost their homes, their fortunes, and their jobs have been abandoned. Those who did this to them, on the other hand, are raking in millions with the help of our president and his acquired cabal of Wall Street thieves. Obama occasionally grumbles about this, but mostly does it half heartedly and for show only.

As a final note, I will be sending you a copy of the 'Foreign Policy' article referred to in the appended item, i.e. 'The Next Big Thing: Neomedievalism'. This is definitely worth reading. It's short, clear, and to the point.

Today's Quotation

'The industrial role of the unions, 'industrial democracy'... those are sheer trifles when not accompanied by disciplinary courts.'

Vladimir Lenin

The recent decision by our Supreme Court strongly suggests the need for a judicial overhaul. Such an overhaul would hopefully include an ombudsman system such as found in Scandinavian nations along with the kinds of remedial courts suggested by 'evil' communists such as Emma Goldman, Eugene Debs, and Leo Tolstoy.

Warmest regards, Richard

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Begin forwarded message:

Sure, American politicians have been bought and paid for by the Wall Street giants. See this, this and this.

 And everyone knows that the White House and Congress - while talking about cracking down on Wall Street with strict regulation - have actually watered down some of the most important protections that were in place.



For example, Senator Cantwell says that the new derivatives legislation is weaker than the old regulation. And leading credit default swap expert Satyajit Das says that the new credit default swap regulations not only won't help stabilize the economy, they might actually help to destabilize it.



But the U.S. is not being sold out in a vacuum.

On March 1, 1999, countries accounting for more than 90 per cent of the global financial services market signed onto the World Trade Organization's Financial Services Agreement (FSA).

By signing the FSA, they committed to deregulate their financial markets.

 For example, by signing the FSA, the U.S. agreed not to break up too big to fails.

The U.S. also promised to repeal Glass-Steagall, and did so 8 months after signing the FSA. 

Indeed, in signing the FSA and other WTO agreements, the U.S. has legally bound itself as follows (.pdf):

• No new regulation: The United States agreed to a “standstill provision” that requires that we not create new regulations (or reverse liberalization) for the list of financial services bound to comply with WTO rules. Given that the United States has made broad WTO financial services commitments – and thus is forbidden by this provision from imposing new regulations in these many areas – this provision seriously limits the policy [options] available to address the current crisis.



• Removal of regulation: The United States even agreed to try to eliminate domestic financial service regulatory policies that meet GATS [i.e. General Agreement on Trade in Services] rules, but that may still “adversely affect the ability of financial service suppliers of any other (WTO) Member to operate, compete, or enter” the market.



• No bans on new financial service “products”: The United States is also bound to ensure that foreign financial service suppliers are permitted “to offer in its territory any new financial service,” a direct conflict with the various proposals to limit various risky investment instruments, such as certain types of derivatives.



• Certain forms of regulation banned outright: The United States agreed that it would not set limits on the size, corporate form or other characteristics of foreign firms in the broad array of financial services it signed up to WTO strictures ...



• Treating foreign and domestic firms alike is not sufficient: The GATS market-access limits on U.S. domestic regulation apply in absolute terms; that is to say, even if a policy applies to domestic and foreign firms alike, if it goes beyond what WTO rules permit, it is forbidden. And, forms of regulation not outright banned by the market-access requirements must not inadvertently “modify the conditions of competition in favor of services or service suppliers” of the United States, even if they apply identically to foreign and domestic firms.

In other words, the problem isn't just that Congress and the White House have sold out to the Wall Street giants.

The problem is also that the U.S. has signed WTO agreements that have given the keys to the too-big-to-fails, and have neutered their regulators.

Even if some politicians tried to stand up to Wall Street - or even if we "throw out all of the bums" currently in political roles - the U.S. would still be locked into the WTO's scheme for helping the financial giants to grow ever bigger and to take ever-bigger and ever-riskier gambles.

Indeed, the financial giants are pushing hard for further deregulation demanding that the WTO's "Doha round" of agreements be signed.


On the other hand, if the American people stood up for our sovereignty and demanded that the financial giants be reined in, it would be easy to fix the WTO agreements which the U.S. has already signed. Public Citizen notes, "as a legal matter, these problems are easy to remedy ..."


Will the American people stand up and demand that the WTO deregulatory scheme be rolled back?


Or will we continue to let the financial giants destroy our country through buying and selling politicians (with thehelp of the Supreme Court) and forcing us into more and more draconian WTO treaties which destroy our sovereignty altogether?


Many people assume that they just have to hang in there until things improve. But the powers-that-be are grabbing more and more power and - unless we stand up to them - they will take it all.

 As highly-regarded economist (Michael Hudson, Distinguished Research Professor at the University of Missouri, Kansas City, who has advised the U.S., Canadian, Mexican and Latvian governments as well as the United Nations Institute for Training and Research, and who is a former Wall Street economist at Chase Manhattan Bank who helped establish the world’s first sovereign debt fund) said:

You have to realize that what they’re trying to do is to roll back the Enlightenment, roll back the moral philosophy and social values of classical political economy and its culmination in Progressive Era legislation, as well as the New Deal institutions.

They’re not trying to make the economy more equal, and they’re not trying to share power.

Their greed is (as Aristotle noted) infinite. So what you find to be a violation of traditional values is a re-assertion of pre-industrial, feudal values. The economy is being set back on the road to debt peonage.

The Road to Serfdom* is not government sponsorship of economic progress and rising living standards, it’s the dismantling of government, the dissolution of regulatory agencies, to create a new feudal-type elite.

And Foreign Policy magazine ran an article entitled "The Next Big Thing: Neomedievalism", [above - HR] arguing that the power of nations is declining, and being replaced by corporations, wealthy individuals, the sovereign wealth funds of monarchs, and city-regions.

We either stand up, or we slip back into a darker age.

End

[end article] - Url.: http://seekingalpha.com/article/187298-the-other-reason-america-is-not-regulating-wall-street

HR - RELATED:

* ''The Illustrated Road to Serfdom'' - by Friedrich A. Hayek - Url.: http://mises.org/books/TRTS/

* Bilderbergers want global currency now - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/yljsb26

* The World Central Bank: The Bank for International Settlements - Address: The Tower of Basel - Centralbahnplatz 2, 4051, Basel, Switzerland - Url.: http://www.bilderberg.org/bis.htm

* List of 'Central Banks' and countries belonging and run by the BIS in Basel, Switzerland. - Probably your so called 'central bank' is there too. - Url.: http://www.bis.org/cbanks.htm

* Secretly manipulating the monetary flow: Each Euro note - like the US dollar not backed by anything but believe and fraud - has a letter before each number. The way bankers cover their profit. - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/cxzpnu



* The psychopathic BIS humanoids. - ''Beyond Insanity'' - Amos M. Gunsberg - Url.: http://www.serendipity.li/bush/beyond_insanity.htm



* G-20 - Countries and aim. - Source: Wikipedia - Url.: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G-20_major_economies



* Rothschild's BIS is the 'Central Bank' to 55 country's 'central banks.' - Source: August Review - Url.: http://www.augustreview.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7&Itemid=4



* BIS: "An Unbridled Monster - The global monetary system." - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/kk86q7


* Concerning 'Gold dollars': "Rothschild's Central Banks Gold War" - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/lohekf

* Isn't the saying: They who hold the gold, hold the power? - Have a look at what's called 'Rothschild's London Gold price fixing.' - Url.: http://goldinfo.net/londongoldfix.html



* Your future money: Amero or Eurodollar in Gold? - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/yzq5bed

* Much of the wealth is since centuries made by 'The City' of London, which is the Rothschild empire's State within a state. This is the lair of the predators of the monetary control. It's here where they control and manipulate food, transport, fuel and whatever prices.

As far as I know, and seeing the malignant results here in Europe and the rest of the world, most of this criminal crowd - while they are getting the last drops of bloodmoney out of the US and many of it's colonies - in 2006 moved to Europe, and their headquarters of 'The Evil Empire' in London again. Where for instance also the prices of gold etc. are 'fixed' too, by 'them' of course: - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/2zj7wl

* The latest published articles can be seen at APFN's web site. Just type or paste my family-name into the 'search' field of the APFN web site. - Url.: http://disc.yourwebapps.com/discussion.cgi?disc=234999

* "Government Sachs" and why financial criminals walk free - Url.:http://fpfcaresse5.blogspot.com/2009/11/government-sachs-and-why-financial.html

* Trilateral Plan to Corner World Gold Market? - Url.:http://www.augustreview.com/issues/globalization/trilateral_plan_to_corner_world_gold_market?_20081209107/

* World Gold Council: members comprise gold mining companies from around the world - Url.:http://www.members.gold.org/members_list/

* BIS Annual usury report: one world currency... - Url.: http://disc.yourwebapps.com/discussion.cgi?id=234999;article=2610;search_term=Ruyssenaars

* Slave, who's faking your money? - Url.: http://disc.yourwebapps.com/discussion.cgi?id=234999;article=2590;search_term=Ruyssenaars

* The Fed 'lost' another $9 Trillion! - Url.: http://disc.yourwebapps.com/discussion.cgi?id=234999;article=2471;search_term=Ruyssenaars

* An Unbridled Monster: the global monetary system - Url.:http://disc.yourwebapps.com/discussion.cgi?id=234999;article=2596;search_term=Ruyssenaars

* US: Private Fed banks get total monetary control! - Url.:http://disc.yourwebapps.com/discussion.cgi?disc=234999;article=2591;title=APFN%20MESSAGE%20BOARD

* Yahoo search: "Foreign Press Foundation" +"Bank for International Settlements" - Url.:http://tinyurl.com/yj7jttk

* Yahoo search: "Foreign Press Foundation" +Rothschild - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/yf48r4y

* The Lords of Hunger and Depopulation - Web Results 1 - 10 of about 25,300 for Kissinger +depopulation. - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/yh8begy

* US: The humanoids want a totalitarian State, a very good story: Ellen Brown about the BIS - Url.:http://tinyurl.com/ygjd2qn

* Obama/ Soetoro - Or whatever his name is: Hey! Look! The CIA 'emperor' has no clothes! - Url.:http://tinyurl.com/o55tpv

* TIME Poll - The US/PNAC's war machine poses the greatest danger to world peace. - Url.:http://www.time.com/time/europe/gdml/peace2003.html

North Korea 6.7 %

Iraq 6.3 %

The United States 86.9 %

Total Votes Cast before the TIME poll was stopped: 706842

* "PEOPLE DO NOT FORGET: They do not forget the death of their fellows, they do not forget torture and mutilation, they do not forget injustice, they do not forget oppression, they do not forget the terrorism of mighty powers. They not only don't forget: they also strike back." - 2005 Nobel Literature Prize winner Harold Pinter - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/9cyeq

* Is Barack Obama a "Zionist Wolf In Sheep's Clothing"? - With many links - Url.:http://tinyurl.com/oknrnj

* HR concerning Palestine and Israel - Google Url.: http://tinyurl.com/pndb5r

* THE SORRY STATE OF WORLD AFFAIRS - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/5tz8uz

''IT'S DANGEROUS TO BE RIGHT, WHEN YOUR GOVERNMENT IS WRONG'' - VOLTAIRE

FPF-COPYRIGHT NOTICE - In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. Section 107 - any copyrighted work in this message is distributed by the Foreign Press Foundation under fair use, without profit or payment, to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the information. Url.:http://tinyurl.com/3z3r6

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