GPJA #433: Part 2. International news & Analysis – 6/7/12

QUOTES OF THE WEEK

 

“What remains of democracy is largely the right to choose among commodities. Business leaders have long explained the need to impose on the population a ‘philosophy of futility’ and ‘lack of purpose in life’ to ‘concentrate human attention on the more superficial things that comprise much of fashionable consumption’. Deluged by such propaganda from infancy, people may then accept their meaningless and subordinate lives and forget ridiculous ideas about managing their own affairs. They abandon their fate to corporate managers and the PR industry, and, in the political realm, to the self described ‘intelligent minorities’ who administer power.” – Noam Chomsky

“All that is left of America is banality and self-delusion.”- Noam Chomsky

“People can foresee the future only when it coincides with their own wishes, and the most grossly obvious facts can be ignored when they are unwelcome.” – George Orwell

STATS OF THE WEEK
– Business Insider is giving the title of world’s most unequal city to Hong Kong, with New York the first runner-up. One metric in the Business Insider analysis: Full-time domestic servants make up 4 percent of Hong Kong residents and only 0.01 percent in New York.
– The American who runs the British banking giant Barclays chose to play offense when he testified last year before a UK parliamentary panel. Barclays CEO Bob Diamond called for an end to banker bashing and pointedly declared that his bank “never took a single penny of taxpayer money anywhere in the world.” But Barclays, we now know, was taking plenty, skimming “off the top” in an interest rate manipulation scheme that helped the bank score billions in phony profits — and helped make Diamond the UK’s highest-paid CEO. Barclays last week agreed to pay $450 million in fines to regulators in Britain and the United States, and Diamond says he won’t take a bonus this year. Back in 1980, the top Barclays executive took home the equivalent of $210,000. Diamond last year walked off with $32.6 million.

FEATURES

John Pilger: US war crimes from Vietnam to Obama http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/51536

Yes, there is an alternative to capitalism: Mondragon shows the way – Why are we told a broken system that creates vast inequality is the only choice? Spain’s amazing co-op is living proof otherwise http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jun/24/alternative-capitalism-mondragon

What is the Higgs boson? – video http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/video/2012/jul/03/what-is-a-higgs-boson-video

Latin America: how the US has allied with the forces of reaction – Honduras three years ago created a new template of the US backing coups to compensate for lost influence on the continent http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jun/29/latin-america-us-allied-forces-reaction

Why Marxism is on the rise again: Capitalism is in crisis across the globe – but what on earth is the alternative? Well, what about the musings of a certain 19th-century German philosopher? Yes, Karl Marx is going mainstream – and goodness knows where it will end http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jul/04/the-return-of-marxism

Al Jazeera World : Revolution Through Arab Eyes – The Factory – A glimpse into life inside Egypt’s Mahalla textile factory – a place renowned as a cauldron of revolt where striking workers first inspired the Egyptian uprising.

It’s the 21st century – why are we working so much? http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jul/01/why-are-we-working-so-hard

The Spirit Level documentary: bringing the message to millions http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jun/30/the-spirit-level-documentary

An injury to one is an injury to all http://www.labourstartcampaigns.net/show_campaign.cgi?c=1466

The Super-Rich and the Rest of Us – Some Outrageous Facts About Inequality http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/07/02/some-outrageous-facts-about-inequality/

What would Rousseau make of our selfish age? 300 years after Rousseau’s birth, the great Enlightenment philosopher would surely be horrified by modern Europe by Terry Eagleton http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jun/27/rousseau-our-selfish-age-philosopher

Michael Lebowitz: Overture — the conductor and the conducted (new book excerpt) http://links.org.au/node/2941

How The Press Uses Julian Assange’s Private Life To Conceal the Real Triumph of WikiLeaks by Patrick Cockburn http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article31747.htm

WORLD ECONOMIC CRISIS

A Manifesto for Economic Sense http://www.manifestoforeconomicsense.org/

The real cost of the Libor Scandal – What Barclays and other banks did will hurt every saver and homeowner, says Alex Andreou. http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/voices/2012/07/real-cost-libor-scandal

Dangerous Weapons – How International Investment Rules Undermine Social and Environmental Justice: Nice simple introduction to the perils of investors being able to sue countries through “Investor-State Dispute Settlement” in investment agreements such as proposed as part of TPPA. From Bolivia and Europe. http://tinyurl.com/7vurhxe

Where are you on the global pay scale? Do you earn more or less than the world’s average wage? Type in your monthly salary and we’ll give you the answer. The average wage, calculated by the International Labour Organization, is published here for the first time. It’s a rough figure based on data from 72 countries, omitting some of the world’s poorest nations. All figures are adjusted to reflect variations in the cost of living from one country to another, and as Ruth Alexander of BBC radio’s More or Less programme underlines, it’s all about wage earners, not the self-employed or people on benefits. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17543356

Eurozone crisis…what’s the end game? http://www.thomhartmann.com/bigpicture/eurozone-crisiswhats-end-game

A Diamond standard: “The principal message is simple: Barclays’ actions did not meet the high standards that we set for ourselves.” Bob Diamond. “A bank’s culture is how people behave when no-one is watching.” Bob Diamond http://thenextrecession.wordpress.com/2012/06/28/a-diamond-standard/

LIBOR Manipulating Banksters Get a Slap on the Wrist http://moneymorning.com/2012/06/29/libor-manipulating-banksters-get-a-slap-on-the-wrist/

Trans-Pacific Partnership: Under Cover of Darkness, a Corporate Coup Is Underway http://tinyurl.com/7v5c2zj

NAFTA on Steroids by Lori Wallach http://www.thenation.com/article/168627/nafta-steroids

Firms’ ‘disbelief and horror’ over rate swaps scandal: Banks must be “held to proper account” for the “appalling breach of trust” over their mis-selling of interest rate swaps to small companies, business groups have demanded. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/yourbusiness/9365728/Firms-disbelief-and-horror-over-rate-swaps-scandal.html

Why The Yes Men Crashed the TPP Negotiations

LAND, LABOUR AND THE ENVIROMENT

US heatwave: “This is what global warming looks like” http://climateandcapitalism.com/2012/07/03/us-heatwave/

Thirst for power: How coal, nuclear and gas waste our water http://climateandcapitalism.com/2012/06/27/thirst-for-power/

Biofuels and hunger, two sides of the same coin http://climateandcapitalism.com/2012/06/25/biofuels-and-hunger-two-sides-of-the-same-coin/

As long as the rich can speculate on food, the world’s poor go hungry http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/as-long-as-the-rich-can-speculate-on-food-the-worlds-poor-go-hungry-20120630-219ja.html#ixzz1zoF3ViF0

CULTURAL DISSENT

An Iranian Storyteller’s Personal Revolution http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/02/books/the-colonel-by-the-iranian-writer-mahmoud-dowlatabadi.html?pagewanted=all

Forty years of How Europe Underdeveloped Africa By Nigel Westmaas http://climateandcapitalism.com/2012/06/27/forty-years-of-how-europe-underdeveloped-africa/

Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control http://www.counterfire.org/index.php/articles/book-reviews/15872-drone-warfare-killing-by-remote-control

The Pentagon’s grip on Hollywood – A report on the film ‘Act of Valor’ and the growing ties between the film industry and the war industry. http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/listeningpost/2012/07/201271142016284778.html

AFGHANISTAN

Terror of ‘incorruptible’ Afghan who turned his gun on British troops – The killer who struck on Sunday was meant to be from a group the Taliban couldn’t touch http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/terror-of-incorruptible-afghan-who-turned-his-gun-on-british-troops-7904460.html

AUSTRALIA

John Pilger: Murdoch, Fairfax’s non-free ‘free market’ http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/51544

Offshore processing of asylum seekers is not the solution http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/51468

Green reasons to oppose Australia’s carbon price http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/48220

NSW teachers massive strike and rally to save public education

GREEN LEFT TV: NSW teachers strike against education attacks http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/51483

Interview: Australia’s media crisis has never been more serious – Green Left Weekly’s Jay Fletcher spoke to Wendy Bacon, a Walkley award-winning journalist and professor at UTS’s Australian Centre for Investigative Journalism, about the crisis in Australia’s mainstream media http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/51418

Christmas Carol Criminals walk free!

Construction workers on the march http://www.sa.org.au/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=7386:construction-workers-on-the-march&Itemid=392

No doubt the US wants to destroy WikiLeaks, Assange http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/51541

Teachers and public servants held a lunchtime protest on July 3, 2012 outside the NSW government offices to protest the O’Farrell Liberal-National government’s attacks on public education and on public sector jobs.

BAHRAIN

Bahrain Protesters Denounce US Support for Dictatorship

BOLIVIA

Solutions to the EU Crisis: Learning from Latin America – Interview with Pablo Solon. Former Bolivian ambassador Pablo Solon speaks of his successes and frustrations in government, what the EU can learn from Latin America in confronting a debt crisis, and warns of the dangers of marketising nature under the guise of a ‘green economy.’ http://www.tni.org/interview/solutions-eu-crisis-learning-latin-america

Bolivian Doctors Fighting For Socialism http://www.zcommunications.org/bolivian-doctors-fighting-for-socialism-by-andre-vltchek

BURMA

Wasted talent: Burma pays price for ‘lost generation’ http://asiancorrespondent.com/85058/wasted-talent-burma-pays-price-for-lost-generation/

CANADA

Afghan detainee report released http://www.ceasefire.ca/?p=11950

Canadian soldiers lead detainees from a residential compound in Kabul after a raid in 2003

Canadians are more progressive today than we ever have been http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Canadians+more+progressive+today+than+ever+have+been/6881893/story.html

BC teachers reach two-year agreement with government, key issues unresolved http://www.rogerannis.com/bc-teachers-reach-two-year-agreement-with-government-key-issues-unresolved/

Quebec government to finance reopening of killer asbestos mining http://www.rogerannis.com/quebec-government-to-finance-reopening-of-killer-asbestos-mining/

Locked out workers at Rio Tinto in Quebec will vote on settlement http://www.rogerannis.com/striking-workers-at-rio-tinto-in-quebec-will-vote-on-strike-settlement/

An antidote to the Canadian government propaganda blitz on the War of 1812 http://www.rogerannis.com/an-antidote-to-the-canadian-government-propaganda-blitz-on-the-war-of-1812/

CHILE

Largest student protest of the year draws 150,000 to march http://www.santiagotimes.cl/national/education/23994-largest-student-protest-of-the-year-draws-150000-to-march

CHINA

Xi Jinping Millionaire Relations Reveal Fortunes Of Elite http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-29/xi-jinping-millionaire-relations-reveal-fortunes-of-elite.html

Hong Kong’s weekend of protest http://www.counterfire.org/index.php/articles/international/15882-hong-kongs-weekend-of-protest

A chance to help build grassroots democracy in China By Han Dongfang http://www.clb.org.hk/en/node/110089

CUBA

The Economist: wishful thinking on “transition” http://cubasocialistrenewal.blogspot.co.nz/2012/07/economist-wishful-thinking-on.html

ECUADOR

First Successful Case Enforcing Rights of Nature in Ecuador http://www.pachamama.org/news/first-successful-case-enforcing-rights-of-nature-in-ecuador

EGYPT

Broad front ensures Morsi’s win in Egypt, but where now? by Alain Gresh Le Monde Diplomatique http://kiaoragaza.wordpress.com/2012/07/05/broad-front-ensures-morsis-win-in-egypt-but-where-now/

Morsi, SCAF and the revolutionary left http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/6247/morsi-scaf-and-the-revolutionary-left

Interpreting the Coup http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/658.php#continue

FRANCE

France Pushing for a Maximum Wage; Will Others Follow? http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2012/07/france-pushing-for-a-maximum-wage-will-others-follow.html

GREECE

Greece interview: New gov’t formed, but voters reject austerity http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/51439

Greek election reveals new political landscape – Sets stage for further struggle http://www.pslweb.org/liberationnews/news/greek-election-reveals-new.html

HAITI

In Wake of Scandals and Cholera, Anger Rises Against Minustah http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/relief-and-reconstruction-watch/in-wake-of-scandals-and-cholera-anger-rises-against-minustah

Haiti’s earthquake victims step up demands for housing http://canadahaitiaction.ca/content/haiti%E2%80%99s-earthquake-victims-step-demands-housing

IRAN

Iranian Activists arrested en masse http://www.aawl.org.au/content/iranian-activists-arrested-en-masse

Iran’s food costs soar and unemployment spirals as nuclear sanctions begin to bite http://tinyurl.com/7hsqc5v

IRELAND

Shock, austerity, Sinn Féin and the United Left Alliance http://links.org.au/node/2931

JAPAN

In Tokyo, Thousands Protest the Restarting of a Nuclear Power Plant http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/30/world/asia/thousands-in-tokyo-protest-the-restarting-of-a-nuclear-plant.html?_r=1

Thousands protest Japan nuclear reactors http://www.skynews.com.au/eco/article.aspx?id=766628&vId

Largest Demonstrations in Half a Century Protest the Restart of Japanese Nuclear Power Plants http://japanfocus.org/-Piers-_Williamson/3787

KOREA

Korean truck drivers stage nationwide strike http://www.counterfire.org/index.php/articles/international/15881-korean-truck-drivers-stage-nationwide-strike

LEBANON

Israel suffers defeats in Cold War against Hezbollah http://kiaoragaza.wordpress.com/2012/07/05/israel-suffers-defeats-in-cold-war-against-hezbollah/

LIBYA

Militias Become Power Centers in Libya http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/06/30-0

Libya holding landmark poll amid post-uprising tensions http://kiaoragaza.wordpress.com/2012/07/04/libya-holding-landmark-poll-amid-post-uprising-tensions/

MEXICO

Online and on the streets, Mexico youth protests grow as election looms http://edition.cnn.com/2012/06/27/world/americas/mexico-student-protest-movement/index.html

Mexico’s Election: It’s the Economy Stupid http://www.cepr.net/index.php/op-eds-&-columns/op-eds-&-columns/mexicos-election-its-the-economy-stupid

Mexican truckers on strike last week

PACIFIC

WCC general secretary calls for justice and peace in Tanah Papua http://www.oikoumene.org/en/news/news-management/eng/a/article/1634/wcc-general-secretary-cal-5.html

West Papua: Why the news media silence over oppression in Melanesia? http://pacific.scoop.co.nz/2012/06/west-papua-why-the-news-media-silence-over-oppression-in-melanesia/

PALESTINE

Urgent: 83 Days of Hunger Strike- Take action for Palestinian prisoner Akram Al-Rikhawi! http://samidoun.ca/2012/07/urgent-83-days-of-hunger-strike-take-action-for-palestinian-prisoner-akram-al-rikhawi/

Israeli demolitions: “Number of Palestinians affected has increased by 87%” says Special Rapporteur http://www.unmultimedia.org/radio/english/2012/06/palestinians-affected-by-israeli-demolitions-increased-87/

Rabbi who called for slaughter of a million Palestinians is to supervise Israel’s ‘Red Cross’ http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/rabbi-who-called-slaughter-million-palestinians-supervise-israels-red-cross

‘Resistance is a national duty’: bereaved mother in Gaza http://kiaoragaza.wordpress.com/2012/07/02/resistance-is-a-national-duty-bereaved-mother-in-gaza/

Egypt’s new president called upon to open Gaza border http://kiaoragaza.wordpress.com/2012/07/02/egypts-new-president-called-upon-to-open-gaza-border/

‘A new style of convoy’: Zaher Birawi, Gaza siege buster http://kiaoragaza.wordpress.com/2012/07/03/a-new-style-of-convoy-zaher-birawi-gaza-siege-buster/

‘I am free to write’: Lina Al Sharif, Gaza blogger & poet http://kiaoragaza.wordpress.com/2012/07/04/i-am-free-to-write-lina-al-sharif-gaza-blogger-poet/

sraeli refuseniks publicly spurn compulsory army duty http://kiaoragaza.wordpress.com/2012/07/04/israeli-refuseniks-publicly-spurn-compulsory-army-duty/

A Post ‘Arab Spring’ Palestine by Ramzy Baroud http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL1207/S00023/a-post-arab-spring-palestine.htm

PARAGUAY

Welcome to ‘Democraship’ By Pepe Escobar – Over 10 days ago a new brand of coup d’etat took place in Paraguay against elected president Fernando Lugo. It was virtually unnoticed by global corporate media. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article31764.htm

PHILIPPINES

‘Phl becoming dangerous for foreign missionaries’ http://www.philstar.com/nation/article.aspx?publicationsubcategoryid=63&articleid=823989

RUSSIA

Calls to release female punk band gather momentum http://www.nzherald.co.nz/music/news/article.cfm?c_id=264&objectid=10816695

SOUTH KOREA

South Korean Construction Workers Rally Over Wages http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/international/south-korean-construction-workers-rally-over-wages/527365

Truckers Back to Work After Agreeing on 9.9% Pay Raise http://www.arirang.co.kr/News/News_View.asp?nseq=132602&code=Ne2&category=2

SPAIN

Spanish miners’ march against government cuts http://www.industriall-union.org/spanish-miners-march-against-government-cuts

SUDAN

Uprising spreads with ‘Friday of elbow licking’ http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/51509

SYRIA

Can We Stop a Civil War in Syria? By Phyllis Bennis http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article31720.htm#idc-cover

Straight Talking: The Syrian Cauldron By Jeremy Salt – Ankara http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=19392

Syria – ABC News (AU) expose the lies of Reuters, ABC and other Medias

TIMOR

Report of the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights http://reliefweb.int/node/502133

TURKEY

71 Trade Unionists Arrested http://www.ituc-csi.org/turkey-71-trade-unionists-arrested.html

UK

Will we see City bankers behind bars? Barclays staff behind interest rate-fixing scandal may face fraud charges as Parliament holds inquiry http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/will-we-see-city-bankers-behind-bars-7904450.html

Police killed Blair Peach – then ensured no officer would ever face justice – InvestigatioBarclaysn into protester’s death in 1979 was stymied by lies, report reveals http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/police-killed-blair-peach-ndash-then-ensured-no-officer-would-ever-face-justice-1956166.html

UKRAINE

No bail-out for Ukrainian orphans: Ten times as many children are in institutional care in Ukraine as in England. In this disturbing investigation, film-maker, Kate Blewett (The Dying Rooms, Bulgaria’s Abandoned Children) finds out what a lifetime in the care of the state really means for Ukraine’s forgotten children. http://truevisiontv.com/films/details/133/ukraines-forgotten-children

USA

Occupy’s National Gathering: Seize the Moment! http://www.zcommunications.org/occupy-s-national-gathering-seize-the-moment-by-ted-morgan

Modern-Day Slavery: Abuse of Low-Wage Workers by US Contractors Goes Unchecked http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m89207&fb=1

Mitt Romney and the New Gilded Age by Robert B. Reich http://www.thenation.com/print/article/168623/mitt-romney-and-new-gilded-age

How the US Rendered, Tortured and Discarded One Innocent Man http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article31752.htm

Exclusive Video Shows Aftermath Of US Drone Strike In Pakistan – Victims of secretive US drone strikes gain voice in Pakistani lawyer: Rachel Maddow shares exclusive, never before seen footage of the site of an alleged U.S. drone strike in North Waziristan, and talks with Amna Nawaz, Islamabad bureau chief for NBC News about the plight of a Pakistani lawyer trying to give voice to victims of U.S. drone strikes. Video http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article31749.htm

Free The Six By Saul Landau – USAID – not the CIA – set out on its Cuba “regime change” plan. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article31732.htm

YEMEN

Yemen masses back on streets after Morsi’s win in Egypt http://kiaoragaza.wordpress.com/2012/07/03/yemen-masses-back-on-streets-after-morsis-win-in-egypt/