tagged w/ European Union
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On the streets of Walthamstow in East London, we ask the public what they think about the European Union. It’s clear that opposition to the EU is not the preserve of bigoted ‘little Englanders’, far from it. Eloquent, well informed citizens are seriously concerned at the EU’s undemocratic set up and want to have their say. Individuals backing the EU are hard to find and are against a referendum as they see their fellow citizens as ignorant and too ill educated to ‘understand the issues’.On the streets of Walthamstow in East London, we ask the public what they think about... more
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Paris -- The EU Division of Standard & Poor’s has notched down France’s world-leading AAA Romance Rating, relegating the “land of love” to the bottom of the hotness heap when it comes to “lust, thrust, and overall mojo.”
“France’s sexual score has gone from being the firmest mankind has ever seen to shrinking down to a flaccid embarrassment,” an S&P spokeswoman said, citing her agency’s recently released report, which gave France a score of C-.
The S&P analysis pointed the finger at French males, emphasizing that French women are still among the most appealing in the world.
“It is the men who are having trouble holding their own,” the report said. “Or perhaps the trouble is that they’re holding their own too often.”
French President Nicolas Sarkozy blamed his nation’s financial crisis for the decline in its sexual prowess. “Frenchman no longer have access to the training opportunities they need to excel in this area. An encounter with an experienced Parisian prostitute costs upwards of €250, and that’s not including the mouthwash. Who can afford that?
“I myself have been setting an example for the nation even before I took office,” Sarkozy added. “In fact, this is the endeavor in which I have the most skill and expertise.”
But the S&P report stated that Sarkozy’s well known ability to screw the public is not an effective counterpoint to the country’s declining libido. Rather, it recommended that France look to China for a solution.
“The Chinese government has been restricting the collective sex drive of its citizens for years, under the guise of birth control,” the report said. “The pent-up result is straining many a zipper. Perhaps the French should order some Chinese takeout.”
Critics of the analysis, which included every French male over the age of 10, pointed out that Standard & Poor’s has absolutely no expertise in the field of human relationships. “That makes its ratings and recommendations in this area meaningless,” one dissatisfied customer said.
But the S&P spokeswoman disagreed: “We’ve been in bed with the world’s banking and financial leaders from the beginning. They’ve taught us a lot more than just fiscal intercourse.”Paris -- The EU Division of Standard & Poor’s has notched down... more
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LONDON -- Wikileaks has published a U.S. diplomatic cable advising Washington to engage in "retaliation" against European countries opposed to genetically modified crops.
Quoting the whistleblowing website, British daily the Guardian writes that in 2007, France banned cultivation of genetically modified corn, produced by American biotech giant Monsanto.
This prompted then-U.S. ambassador to France Craig Stapleton - who is also a friend and business partner of former U.S. President George Bush - to write home and ask the administration in Washington to retaliate against the EU, and especially target those countries that failed to support generically modified crops.
"Europe is moving backwards not forwards on this issue with France playing a leading role, along with Austria, Italy and even the (European) Commission. Moving to retaliation will make clear that the current path has real costs to EU interests and could help strengthen European pro-biotech voice," write Stapleton.
The newspaper also said that some of the newly published cables revealed that many American diplomats, posted in countries around the world, worked directly to promote the use of GMO crops as their government's strategic and commercial imperative.LONDON -- Wikileaks has published a U.S. diplomatic cable advising Washington to... more
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Brussels - A committee of Europe’s leading economists, bankers and nutritionists have developed a simple solution to end the European debt crisis. They propose converting the Euro from a currency into a candy bar.
“Currently, we are printing euros just as fast as we can,” an EU spokesman said. “That lowers the value of the euro and reduces prices on our exports, so we can be more competitive on the world market.”
The trouble is, the millions upon billions of extra euros linger in the system to pose a future liability.
“But if the euro is made into a delicious candy bar, it will be consumed shortly after it is exchanged for services or goods,” the EU spokesman said. “It wouldn’t stick around, gumming up the system.”… More…Brussels - A committee of Europe’s leading economists, bankers and nutritionists... more
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INTERNATIONAL SECURITY STUDIES PROGRAM
Fletcher School Tufts University
Dr. Daniel I. FineResearch AssociateMining and Minerals Resources Institute, MIT
LUNCHEON LECTURETUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 201111:00AM – 1:00PMCABOT 703
“Shale Gas War: The Geopolitics of U.S.Self-Sufficiency”
Dr. Daniel Fine
is a Research Associate at the Mining and Minerals Resources Institute,MIT. Dr. Fine is also a current Policy Adviser on Non-Conventional Oil and Gas. He isco-editor of
Resource War in 3-D: Dependence, Diplomacy and Defense, and has contributed to Business Week , the Engineering and Mining Journal and theWashingtonTimes
. Dr. Fine participated in the Atlantic Council Workshop on Central Asian Policyand the Hudson Institute Russia-United States Relations Project. He has given testimonyon strategic natural resources before the U.S. Senate Committees on Foreign Affairs andthe Energy and Natural Resources. Dr. Fine was a member of the Domestic EnergyProduction Issue Team of the Center For The Study Of The Presidency and Congress“Strengthening America’s Future Initiative.” He has participated as a panelist on energy public policy at the Rocky Mountain Global New Energy Summit.
Register to attend this event at
http://www.danielfine.eventbrite.com
Business Casual Attire Required
http://www.scribd.com/doc/64842008/Shale-Gas-Wars-Flyer-9-20-11INTERNATIONAL SECURITY STUDIES PROGRAM
Fletcher School Tufts University
Dr. Daniel... more
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As anticipated by LEAP since November 2010, the second half of 2011 has started with a sudden and major relapse of the crisis. Nearly $10 trillion US Dollars of the 15 trillion USD in ghost assets announced in GEAB N°56 have already gone up in smoke. The rest (and probably much more) will vanish in the fourth quarter of 2011, which will be marked by what our team calls "the implosive fusion of global financial assets". It’s the two major global financial centers, Wall Street in New York and the City of London, which will be the "preferred reactors" of this fusion. And, as predicted by LEAP/E2020 for several months, it’s the solution to the public debt problems in some Euroland countries which will enable this reaction to reach critical mass, after which nothing is controllable; but the bulk of the fuel that will drive the reaction and turn it into a real global shock (1) is found in the United States. Since July 2011 we have only started on the process that led to this situation: the worst is ahead of us and very close!
In this issue N°57, we have chosen to address, very directly, the great manipulation organized around the Greek crisis and the Euro (2), whilst describing its direct link with the implosive fusion process of financial assets worldwide. Also in this issue, LEAP/E2020 presents its anticipations for the gold market for the period 2012-2014 as well as its analyses on neo-protectionism which will be introduced from the end of 2012. In addition to our monthly recommendations on Switzerland and the Swiss Franc, currencies, real estate and financial markets, we also present our strategic advice to the G20 leaders less than two months from the G20 summit to be held in Cannes.
Greek crisis and the Euro: Itemizing the huge manipulation in progress
But let’s come back to Greece and what is beginning to be a "very repetitive old story (3)" which, as we have already explained, returns to the front of the media stage every time Washington and London are in serious difficulties (4). Moreover, coincidentally, the summer has been disastrous for the United States which is now in recession (5), which has seen their credit rating cut (an event deemed unthinkable by all the "experts" only six months ago) and exposed their political system’s state of widespread paralysis (6) to an astonished world, all whilst being incapable of putting any serious measure in place to reduce their deficits (7). At the same time, the United Kingdom is sinking into depression (8) with riots of uncommon violence, an austerity policy that fails to control budget deficits (9) whilst plunging the country into an unprecedented social crisis (10), and a ruling coalition that doesn’t even know why it governs together against the backdrop of the scandal of collusion between political leaders and the Murdoch empire. No doubt, in such a context, everything was ripe for a media relaunch of the Greek crisis and its corollary, the end of the Euro!
If LEAP/E2020 had to summarize the "Hollywood style" or "Fox News" (11) scenario, we would have the following synopsis: "While the US iceberg is ramming the Titanic, the crew leads the passengers in search of dangerous Greek terrorists who may have planted bombs on board!" In propaganda terms, it’s a known recipe: it’s a diversion to allow, first of all, the rescue of the passengers one wants to save (the informed elite who know very well that there are no Greek terrorists on board) since everyone can’t be saved; and then, hide the problem’s true nature for as long as possible to avoid a revolt on board (including some of the crew who sincerely believe that there really are bombs on board).
Focusing on the background, we must emphasize that the "promoters" of a Greek crisis presented as a fatal crisis for the Euro have spent their time repeating it for almost two years without any of their forecasts coming to pass in any shape or form (12) (except to continue talking about it). Facts are stubborn: despite the media outcry that should have seen off many economies or currencies (13), the Euro is stable, Euroland has come on in leaps and bounds in terms of integration (14) and is about to break even more spectacular new ground (15), the emerging countries continue to diversify out of US Treasury Bonds and buy Euroland debt, and Greece’s exit from the Euro zone is still completely beyond consideration except in the Anglo-Saxon media articles whose writers generally have no idea of how the EU functions and even less of the strong trends that drive it.......
Continue at:
http://www.leap2020.eu/GEAB-N-57-is-available-Global-systemic-crisis-Fourth-quarter-2011-Implosive-fusion-of-global-financial-assets_a7640.htmlAs anticipated by LEAP since November 2010, the second half of 2011 has started with a... more
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In the fall of 2008 many Europeans were counting themselves lucky as having, for the most part, escaped the implosion of Wall Street. While there was acknowledgement that the troubles in the United States had tested the stability of European banks, European citizens thought that the finances of their various countries seemed stable.
Still, many in Europe were introduced for first time how financial trouble in a different part of the World could directly effect them. It has taken nearly three years for those first American contagions to cripple the European continent, but despite the slow nature of the death, Europe has found every effort ineffective and the illness inescapable.
As Europe now deals with their own sovereign, financial, and banking crises, it is now the Americans turn to watch and wait. As Europe takes the center stage this fall, understand that just because it's happening "over there", doesn't mean you shouldn't be concerned. Don't make the same mistake Europeans did three years ago and assume that you are unaffected. You are.....or at least, you will be.
-Schnookums
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*Gordon Brown fears euro crisis worse than Lehman as 1930s beckon*
Gordon Brown has warned that Europe's fast-escalating crisis is now more dangerous than the Lehman Brothers disaster three years ago, threatening to tip the West into a 1930s-style slump unless global leaders work together to take dramatic action.
"The euro can't survive in its present form and will have to be reformed drastically," he told a mostly-Chinese audience at the World Economic Forum in Dalian.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/8768575/Gordon-Brown-fears-euro-crisis-worse-than-Lehman-as-1930s-beckon.html
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*[Financial] Religious Warfare*
It probably hasn't escaped you that we are entering the next phase of this fine crisis of ours. Those equally fine leaders we've elected to represent us and protect our interests are now almost literally stumbling from one emergency meeting into the other. It doesn't look like Greece can hang on much longer as an EU and Eurozone member without some sort of miraculous intervention.
Well, US Finance Secretary Tim Geithner claims to have the powers of miracle, and he personally brought them to a meeting -an emergency one- in Poland on Friday (where many a European wondered whether he spoke for Washington or for Wall Street, no doubt).
Geithner's big plan is for Europe to take its European Financial Stability Fund, which is projected to be €440 billion by the end of this year, though that is by no means certain, and leverage it about ten-fold to some €4.4 trillion. This, as per Geithner, will calm the markets -and presumably restart economic growth, and job creation, and the housing markets-.
Geithner's perspective is a purely religious one. He has no proof that his idea would work, there is no science that underlies or reinforces it, just a belief system. Nevertheless, ideas like his are very popular, and I for one wouldn't bet against them being unleashed upon us all.
http://theautomaticearth.blogspot.com/2011/09/september-18-2011-religious-warfare.html
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*Greece should default, exit euro, Roubini says*
Greece should begin an "orderly" default and voluntarily leave the euro in order to escape a "vicious cycle of insolvency, low competitiveness and ever-deepening depression," economist Nouriel Roubini said in a guest column published Monday in the Financial Times.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/greece-should-default-exit-euro-roubini-says-2011-09-19
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*Greece worries threaten to trigger financial chain reaction*
Fear that Greece will default on its debt, perhaps triggering a financial chain reaction that will cause another global recession, hurt European stocks and sent American stocks lower for a time.
The market tension Monday came after a German politician suggested Greek finances are so bad the nation might have to leave the coalition of 17 countries that use the euro as their common currency.
http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/World/20110912/greek-default-worries-threaten-financial-chain-reaction-110912/
____________________________________________________________________In the fall of 2008 many Europeans were counting themselves lucky as having, for the... more
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Not only was the war in Libya unconstitutional based on US law, it is also illegal under international law, argues former EU parlimentary member Giulietto Chiesa.Not only was the war in Libya unconstitutional based on US law, it is also illegal... more
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Spain -
The world's biggest annual lottery payout, Spain's famous Christmas El Gordo (Fat One), spreads joy to tens of thousands of winners – but the biggest winners of all may soon be investors who snap up part of the state company behind the lottery.
The country's State Betting and Lottery (LAE), which offers a series of prize draws, also brings a huge dose of Christmas cheer to the country's treasury. Of the €2.15bn Spaniards bet on the draw, almost a third is retained by the lottery administrator.
Spain is not as badly indebted as other European countries, but bond yields have soared as Greece, Ireland and Portugal have been forced into bailouts. Spain's socialist government, led by José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, has set strict deficit targets to avoid the fate of its southern European neighbors. Sales of stakes in the state lottery and the country's airports authority form part of the plan for pulling safely back from the brink.
Some 30% of the state lottery will be sold as the organization behind the 151-year-old El Gordo becomes what may be the world's biggest listed gambling company, valued at up to €25bn.
The company recorded €3bn net profit in 2009 on sales of €9.8bn – meaning the sell-off will reduce treasury income by about €1bn a year.
RBS recently won a contract to run the privatization of up to 49% of Spain's airports authority, AENA, which has a book value of €2.6bn. The government also plans to auction off Madrid's Barajas airport and Barcelona's El Prat by the end of the year.
Reform of the country's savings banks means that many will also soon be seeking stock market listings.
-Giles Tremlett Madrid
Continue Reading at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/jul/01/indebted-european-countries-privatisation-assets?CMP=twt_guSpain -
The world's biggest annual lottery payout, Spain's famous... more
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Croatia has been given the go-ahead to become a member of the European Union, and is likely to join in 2013, the European Commission has said.
Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said he would recommend EU nations wrap up talks and prepare to greet Croatia as the 28th member state.
Talks on reforming the Croatian judiciary, a very sensitive area, had been successful, Mr Barroso said.
Croatia will be the second ex-Yugoslav country after Slovenia to join.
"The European Commission has just proposed... to close the last four chapters in the accession negotiations with Croatia," Mr Barroso said in a statement.
"Today is a historic day for Croatia and the European Union."
'Reinvigorate efforts'
Mr Barroso described the move as "a signal to the rest of south-eastern Europe".
"I... hope that Croatia's progress is an inspiration to our other partners to reinvigorate their reform efforts and to deliver to the benefit of their people."
Two other countries of the former Yugoslav federation, Montenegro and Macedonia, are currently candidates for membership.
Serbia is expected to start membership talks next year, after the arrest last month of former Bosnian Serb army chief Ratko Mladic on war crimes charges removed the biggest obstacle Belgrade faced to joining the EU.
The four outstanding chapters in Croatia's talks included the judiciary and competition issues.
Correspondents say judicial issues are especially sensitive because the last EU countries to join - Bulgaria and Romania in 2007 - failed to meet full EU standards in that area.
The EU imposed a monitoring mechanism on them to deal with the shortcomings.
Croatia applied for EU membership in 2003 and formal negotiations began in 2005.
But the BBC's Mark Lowen, reporting from Zagreb, says progress was marred by initially sluggish co-operation with the UN War Crimes Tribunal in the Hague, as government officials appeared slow to hand over documents relating to the 1990s war of independence.
Corruption and organised crime have also dented the country's image, he adds.
EU leaders are expected to approve Croatia's accession at a summit on 23-24 June.Croatia has been given the go-ahead to become a member of the European Union, and is... more
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This Friday, June 3, 2011, Ratko Mladić, the man dubbed the "Butcher of Bosnia" will be asked to plead to 11 counts of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in the UN Court in The Hague. After being arrested on May 26th in a village in north-eastern Serbia, Mladić was transferred on Tuesday to the ICTY Detention Unit in The Hague after being arrested May 26 in a village in north-eastern Serbia. Mladić can enter a plea on Friday or decide to do so in a month.
Created in 1993 by the United Nations, the ICTY operates under rules of procedure and evidence drawn mainly from Anglo-Saxon law: the pretrial stage especially allows the defense to discover the evidence gathered by the prosecution in its investigation.
Brussels, the de-facto capital of the European Union, had stated in the past that all barriers Serbia's participation in the EU would be lifted as soon as Belgrade would extradite Ratko Mladić, former commander of the Bosnian Serb Army during the 1992-95 war in the Balkans. In 2008. Belgrade signed the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) with Brussels in 2008 but Amsterdam blocked Serbia's entry at the time, as it considered Mladić's extradition a 'matter of honor'; Dutch soldiers had been the ones that protected Srebrenica's refugee camps, where the greatest massacre of Muslims had taken place. Now that Dutch objections will be automatically lifted, Serbia may have its ticket to join the European Union.
Continue reading on Examiner.com Ratko Mladić now at the Hague; is Serbia closer to joining EU? - National Foreign Policy | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/foreign-policy-in-national/ratko-mladi-now-at-the-hague-is-serbia-closer-to-joining-eu#ixzz1O8wnnwfUThis Friday, June 3, 2011, Ratko Mladić, the man dubbed the "Butcher of... more
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Led by former Knesset speaker, Avraham Burg, 19 other Israeli personalities have sent an open letter to the European Union today urging European states to vote for independence Palestine in the month of September, when the General Assembly of the United Nations will convene. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is determined to have the UN recognize Palestine as a full member, pending a two-thirds majority vote by member nations.
As outlined in Le Monde, the signatories indicated that after having taken an assessment of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu's 'intransigence' as expressed in a speech he delivered to the US Congress on May 24th, 2011 coupled with the White House's (i.e. Obama) renunciation of exerting any real pressure on Netanyahu, they are calling on European capitals to recognize a Palestinian state on 1967 borders with land swaps of equal size and East Jerusalem as its capital.
Excerpts from the open letter: (this letter was meant to be released on Friday, May 27th, but Le Monde obtained an advance copy).
Continue reading on Examiner.com Israeli Left open letter to EU urges for recognition of Palestinian State - National Foreign Policy | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/foreign-policy-in-national/israeli-left-open-letter-to-eu-urges-for-recognition-of-palestinian-state#ixzz1NULVgXeZLed by former Knesset speaker, Avraham Burg, 19 other Israeli personalities have sent... more
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EU's narrative that high wages, early retirement, and generous benefits have led several countries to the verge of bankruptcy is nothing but a fairy tale. Conn Hallinan at FPIF Focal Points.EU's narrative that high wages, early retirement, and generous benefits have led... more
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For many years Italy has invested in a country ruled by a dictatorship, forgetting democracy, ethics, human rights, only to draw benefits. That's why until yesterday the Italian Prime Minister, Berlusconi, was silent in front of the massacre of the Lybian people.
http://www.inaltreparole.net/en/money/guerralibiasilenzioberlusconi220211.htmlFor many years Italy has invested in a country ruled by a dictatorship, forgetting... more
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The US embassy in Paris wanted to penalise the EU after France moved to ban a Monsanto GM corn variety. Photograph: Sipa Press/Rex Features
US embassy cable recommends drawing up list of countries for 'retaliation' over opposition to genetic modification
The US embassy in Paris advised Washington to start a military-style trade war against any European Union country which opposed genetically modified (GM) crops, newly released WikiLeaks cables show.
In response to moves by France to ban a Monsanto GM corn variety in late 2007, the ambassador, Craig Stapleton, a friend and business partner of former US president George Bush, asked Washington to penalise the EU and particularly countries which did not support the use of GM crops.
(more at link)The US embassy in Paris wanted to penalise the EU after France moved to ban a Monsanto... more
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Bankers may have surpassed lawyers and child pornographers as the country's most reviled people. They did this through tanking the world economy and extorting money and property from customers and the government...and complaining they weren't paid enough to do it. A recent informal Vanity Fair poll indicated 56% of banking greedheads felt their bonuses were too small.Bankers may have surpassed lawyers and child pornographers as the country's most... more
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The former United States ambassador to France suggested "moving to retaliation" against France and the European Union (EU) in late 2007 to fight a French ban on Monsanto's genetically modified (GM) corn and changes in European policy toward biotech crops, according to a cable released by WikiLeaks on Sunday.
Former Ambassador Craig Stapleton was concerned about France's decision to suspend cultivation of Monsanto's MON-810 corn and warned that a new French environmental review standard could spread anti-biotech policy across the EU.
"Country team Paris recommends that we calibrate a target retaliation list that causes some pain across the EU since this is a collective responsibility, but that also focuses in part on the worst culprits," Stapleton wrote to diplomatic colleagues.
President George W. Bush appointed Stapleton as ambassador to France in 2005, and in 2009, Stapleton left the office and became an owner of the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team. Bush and Stapleton co-owned the Texas Rangers during the 1990s.
Monsanto is based in St. Louis.
The EU's 1998 approval of MON-810 corn has since expired. In recent years, several European countries joined France in banning MON-810 and similar biotech crops while the products are reassessed in light of research showing they could harm the environment and human health.
It is not clear if Stapleton's retaliation scheme was ever implemented.
"In our view, Europe is moving backwards not forwards on this issue with France playing a leading role, along with Austria, Italy and even the Commission ... Moving to retaliation will make clear that the current path has real costs to EU interests and could help strengthen European pro-biotech voices," Stapleton wrote.
MON-810 is engineered to excrete the Bt toxin, which is poisonous to some insect pests. A stacked version of MON-810 is also engineered to be resistant to glyphosate, a herbicide first popularized by Monsanto under the brand name Roundup.
The debate in France over Monsanto's GM products has grown ugly in recent years.
A recent Truthout report detailed the story of Dr. Gilles-Eric Seralini, a scientist at the University of Caen in France. Seralini's supporters claim the scientist has faced intimidation from within the French scientific community after he published several studies showing Monsanto GM corn and glyphosate posed risks to human health.The former United States ambassador to France suggested "moving to... more
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Alex Jones explains how the austerity hammer is falling now on Europe, and will soon fall on the U.S. Fresh bailouts and buyouts by foreign banks are being forced on Ireland and other European nations, while officials in the United States are dropping news on Americans that pensions, insurance for veteran military personnel and more are being taken away.
The IMF and World Bank have essentially completed their phase I mission of absorbing and dominating 3rd World nations, and are now coming for so-called 1st World Nations-- the United States, Canada, UK, Europe and more.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmiFB9hJxusAlex Jones explains how the austerity hammer is falling now on Europe, and will soon... more
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