Like a tragedy from Euripides, the long struggle between Greece and Europe’s creditor powers is reaching a cataclysmic end that nobody planned, nobody seems able to escape, and that threatens to shatter the greater European order in the process. Greek premier Alexis Tsipras never expected to win Sunday’s referendum on EMU bail-out terms, let alone to preside over a blazing …
On Brink of ‘Irreparable Split’ Between Rich and Poor Nations, European Leaders Scramble – Lauren McCauley
In the wake of Greece’s historic ‘No’ vote this weekend, European leaders are scrambling to cement a new deal after the resounding rejection of the austerity program that has heretofore dominated fiscal policy and conversation. European Parliament President Martin Schulz confirmed that Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will address parliament plenary on Wednesday morning. Tsipras is expected to put forth a new …
Newly Available Documents Trace Evolution of Spy Units through Obama Administration
On April 20, 2012, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta formally established a new Department of Defense spy organization — the Defense Clandestine Service (DCS). That memo marked yet another in the multiple starts, stops, and reversals in the human intelligence activities of the Department of Defense and the military services. The defense community’s rocky history of involvement with HUMINT includes …
Financial Nonsense Overload – Dmitry Orlov
“Those whom the gods wish to destroy they first make mad” goes a quote wrongly attributed to Euripides. It seems to describe the current state of affairs with regard to the unfolding Greek imbroglio. It is a Greek tragedy all right: we have the various Eurocrats—elected, unelected, and soon-to-be-unelected—stumbling about the stage spewing forth fanciful nonsense, and we have the …
Climate change may knock seafood off the menu By Tim Radford
Pink salmon – the smallest and most abundant of the Pacific salmon species, and a supper table mainstay in many parts of the world – may be swimming towards trouble. And they are not the only dish likely to disappear from the menu. Mussels, oysters, clam and scallop could all become scarcer and more expensive as the seas become more …
Ukraine Merges Nazis and Islamists By Robert Parry
In a curiously upbeat account, The New York Times reports that Islamic militants have joined with Ukraine’s far-right and neo-Nazi battalions to fight ethnic Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine. It appears that no combination of violent extremists is too wretched to celebrate as long as they’re killing Russ-kies. The article by Andrew E. Kramer reports that there are now three Islamic battalions …
New GM cereal crop produces fish oil in its seeds
The fish-like omega-3 oil produced in the GM camellia plants at Rothamsted (see article below) is intended to feed fish in fish farms. Far from being a “sustainable” source of fish feed, as the Rothamsted researchers claim, this, like the vast acreage of GM soy and maize, is just another GM oilseed crop grown to feed livestock. This is an unsustainable use …
Feds Awarded Colorado Charter Schools $46 Million Because of “Hiring and Firing” Rules By Jonas Persson
Between 2010 and 2015, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) awarded Colorado $46 million under the Charter Schools Program. Part of the reason the state landed the competitive grant was that charters are free to hire unlicensed teachers and then fire them at will, documents reviewed by CMD show. Designed to create and expand “high-quality” charter schools, the quarter-billion-dollar-a-year program …
SCOTUS Rules Against Limiting Mercury Pollution from Power Plants – Robert Harrington
The Supreme Court has issued yet another ruling that has many people up in arms. Environmental activists and health advocates alike are especially unhappy with their most recent decision concerning power plant emissions. Permitting mercury and other highly toxic air pollutants emitted from plants to remain insufficiently regulated will ultimately translate to higher healthcare costs around the country. The degree of …
Greece and the Euro: Towards Financial Implosion By Prof Rodrigue Tremblay
In sowing the seeds of the Greek crisis, European politicians have made the same mistakes as American politicians before the financial and banking crisis of 2008-09, that is to say encourage excessive indebtedness of some economically weak countries with loan guarantees. What really created the conditions for a major financial and banking crisis in the U.S., starting in 1999 when …