The (Not So) Brave New World

Unfortunately, Putin is correct. The US is intent on dragging Russia into a war and is using every opportunity to pit Europe against Russia.  The sanctions will hurt Europe and they will eventually be forced into supporting NATO action as the only solution to end the sanctions. So far Putin has played the situation masterfully but every move he makes is met with bluster, propaganda and bullying by the US. It is a move by the Obama administration to force European countries to choose between Russia and the US driven by the possible growth of the Russian economy through BRICS, the China Russia gas deal and the move away from the US petro dollar and reserve currency.  The US policy of not allowing any nation to become as powerful as themselves, drives the strategy of a European versus Russia war where the US can watch both sides pay a heavy price, both in economical and human terms, then profit through the supply of arms, loans and other support when the timing is right.  Putin, who

Once it may have been a noble act to join the Defence Force and protect your country. Today, the forces have become little more than a tool of corporatised politics that do not protect their country. Instead, they put their country in further jeopardy by creating enemies where, before, there were none. They enact futile acts of supposed revenge to satisfy politicians' bloodlust. They fight and die for the sake of oil, gas, land and dollars. Fighting in far off lands to satisfy someone else's greed, is not a noble profession. Nor is the murder of innocents for the sake of corporate profits and politicians' agendas.  Do not let your children enlist for there is nothing noble in today's wars.  They are not protecting the country. They are protecting the interests of corporations and politicians. 

In a world driven to make more profits, regardless of the moral or human cost, is it feasible that people would create and maintain wars just to make money? Isn't there a safety switch to ensure that the line is never crossed? The safety switch, which would normally be a government acting on the will of the people, seems to have been bought out by the very corporations that stand to make massive amounts of money if the wars continue. War is good business for some and any conscientious voice from the population that dares to stand against one or all of the multitude of wars in progress at this moment, is ignored or silenced. The media that we rely on to keep us informed either disregards the truth or spins it to suit their corporate sponsors. Defense companies are all doing well it seems. At a human cost too horrific to contemplate, the marćh to bigger profits continues unabated. Despite the fact that there is a growing inequity in most of the western countries, the lure of b

As you are no doubt aware, Facebook has been caught out conducting "mind" experiments on their customers. The results of these experiments showed that people who received nothing but negative feeds became negative themselves. Pictures of dead dogs it seems creates a negative outlook. But was this experiment really necessary? Didn't we already know that? Governments and people in power have been using similar technique for centuries. Just take a look at today's Israel as an example. The Government of Israel run a strict regime and carefully manage the information they allow their citizens to have access to. From the moment they start learning, they are taught about the evils of Palestine and the threats Palestinians pose to Israel, their families and their friends. Their leaders highlight the evil nature of Hamas and the need to rid the world of all Palestinians. In fact all Arabs are evil according to the Israeli leadership. All Arabs present a very real

Corporatization - Why we forgive and forget I still remember when gold was worth something. These days though the focus is on shares, not gold or silver. The value of silver, once a major asset, is now set at little more than a junk material. An ounce of silver is today worth a little over $20. Silver hit its peak in March 2011 with a price over $46 an ounce but since then the fall has been relatively steady. Gold prices in 2011 were at $1,800 an ounce for a period in July. Since then the value has been in steady decline and today an ounce of gold is worth around $1,300. The prices in 2011 represented investors wariness of investing in anything other than tangible, real assets. So where is the money going now if not to the normally solid investment of gold and silver? Back into shares of course. The performance of shares since the depths of the so called Global Financial Crisis, is easily highlighted using the Dow Jones Index. The Dow, as it is called, is a price-weighted aver

If current events are a guide, next year's Presidential Election is likely to revolve around two main issues: Foreign Policy - the escalating situations in Iraq, Syria and Ukraine, caused by heavy handed mismanagement by the US War Machine, have highlighted the failure of the Government to maintain control over their expanding empire. The surveillance of both the enemies and allies of the US, required to maintain a dominant position in world affairs and ensure US safety is now both infringing on the people's privacy and draining the economy. The Economy - the ever widening gap between the rich and poor and the slow disappearance of an American Middle Class is becoming a very clear reality to many and the cost of maintaining the largest force in the world is becoming prohibitive. Money spent on the US War Machine in their quest for global control and the extensive spying and surveillance apparatus is now biting into welfare and pension payments. Something had to give

Monopoly is the game of Capitalism and we are taught at a young age how to play. The rules are simple, take everything, own everything, laugh with delight as a player goes bankrupt and the last person with all the money is the winner. But Monopoly has no social conscience. When Chance says you must pay a Poor Tax you groan and you win only at the expense of the other players. You have all the money, the opposition have been forced out of the game and you own EVERYTHING - you win! That is Capitalism at its core - a small group of winners and a very large group of losers. Capitalism, by it's very nature, forces one to think only of themselves as the single player. It directs the human populace to shy away from thinking about collectives, communities and societies unless it is a short term collusion to increase ones own wealth. It creates a competitive nature that requires lots of losers. It stifles, if not removes, thoughts of social justice and community spirit and we p