A fascinating sociological experiment unfolds before our eyes starting this morning, as the Washington Post unveils its new “PowerPost” vertical, subtitled “Intelligence for Leaders.” Post publisher Fred Ryan, in a memo to the Post newsroom leaked to Politico, said the new project would focus “on the subjects that matter most to the people at the center of power.” What we can learn, therefore, is what the editors of …
Obama’s Stupid Propaganda Stuff By Robert Parry
President Barack Obama must know better regarding the crisis in Ukraine, but he insists on reciting the propaganda lines drafted by his neoconservative and “liberal interventionist” advisers blaming everything on Russian President Vladimir Putin. Perhaps, Obama just doesn’t have the nerve to go against Official Washington’s “conventional wisdom” no matter how misguided it is. The last time that Obama went …
TTIP vote postponed as European Parliament descends into panic over trade deal – HAZEL SHEFFIELD
An historic vote on the biggest trade deal ever negotiated between the EU and the US has had to be postponed after the European Parliament descended into chaos. European MPs were due to vote on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership on Wednesday. But the vote had to be delayed because there were too many proposed amendments. “It’s panic in parliament,” Yannick …
Flaxseed supplements linked to improved blood pressure: Meta-analysis
Data from 1,302 participants indicated that flaxseed supplements are associated with significant reductions in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure of about 2.85 mmHg and 2.39 mmHg, respectively. “The results obtained in the present meta-analysis – a decrease of 2.85/2.39 mmHg after flaxseed supplementation – might be valuable for the hypertension management using nutraceuticals, since Heart Outcome Evaluation study demonstrated …
Oil Markets Could Be In For A Shock From China Soon By Nick Cunningham
Oil analysts and commodity traders watch the price of crude swing down and up, and are trying to figure out when and to what extent the OPEC “price war” will force supply reductions from US shale. Any insight into this development can clarify the trajectory of oil prices. But, of course, oil market dynamics are complex and fluid. US shale …
California is Sinking and Its Getting Worse By Nathan Halverson
California is sinking – and fast. While the state’s drought-induced sinking is well known, new details highlight just how severe it has become and how little the government has done to monitor it. Last summer, scientists recorded the worst sinking in at least 50 years. This summer, all-time records are expected across the state as thousands of miles of land …
Statistics warn of imminent explosion to rock Gaza (report)
The figures and the statistics regarding the humanitarian situation in Gaza have never been shocking as is the case in these days; as they unveiled the miserable lives of about two million citizens which may lead to what Palestinian observers called an “explosion”. Abdul-Sattar Qassem, a Palestinian writer and a Professor of Political Science at Birzeit University in Ramallah, told …
German Banker: Obama Is Destroying Europe By Eric Zuesse
Interviewed on June 6th by German Economic News, the chief economist at Bremer Landesbank, Folker Hellmeyer, says that because of Obama’s sanctions against Russia, German exports declined year-over-year by 18% in 2014, and by 34% in the first two months of 2015 (no later figures), but he asserts that “The damage is much more comprehensive than these statistics show,” because those are only the “primary losses,” and …
Russia, China and the Battle Against Dollar Hegemony by MICHAEL HUDSON and THE SAKER
The Saker: We hear that the Ukraine will have to declare a default, but that it will probably be a “technical” default as opposed to an official one. Some say that the decision of the Rada to allow Iatseniuk to chose whom to pay is already such a “technical default”. Is there such thing as a “technical default” and, if …
Islamic State Timeline Shows How ISIS Expanded In One Year From Two Countries To Ten By Alessandria Masi
When Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi took the podium at a mosque last June to deliver his first public Friday sermon, the world got a glimpse of the man who led an obscure extremist group from Syria to storm across the border into Iraq and took over the second-largest city in that nation to establish itself as the most serious menace to …