Papagalakia

Halting joint drills could weaken N. Korea deterrence, experts say

Papagaliakia ... of the bad time.... της κακιας ωρας!

Rescue at Oakland SlaugterHouse

Rescue event at an Oakland Slaughterhouse, Saba Live Poultry, as reported by The Intercept.

Thanks to the many actions by animal rights activists, people are becoming aware and sensitized to the horrors of industrial animal agriculture and animal suffering.

The animal industry is not standing still, it is constantly fighting back with regulations, such as:

• Ag-Gag Laws, see this ASPCA or Wikipedia articles
• Lobbying to promote their products, ex: force stores to sell their eggs  
• Deceptive and misleading advertising or informational promotions.
  • Dairy industry
  • Meat, dairy, eggs

things seem to be moving in a downward spiral. with the economic crisis, the imposed austerity measures on the mass of people, things will probably deteriorate more ... before they get better.

Here's some of recent news items that are particularly revealing of the deteriorating trend.

The war in Afghanistan

Well we all really know that this war is not going well for the western powers. A new book by Rajiv Chandrasekaran spells out the deep trouble between the US and British troops. These 2 articles are revealing:

• afghanistan war within a war
• us army battles british afghanistan

Amazing, because the US and Britain are supposed to be the best of friends, a truly "special" relationship. Now this book shows us the deep mistrust among these two allies. Are they even allies here ?

Rajiv Chandrasekaran is emerging as the chronicler of American failure abroad. He is famous for his book "Imperial Life in the Emerald City", on the Bush era in Baghdad's Green Zone.

 

Libor banking scandal

 While the Libor banking scandal is the brand new banking scandal of the moment -- with calls for criminal investigations -- the financial and banking sectors are being continuously revealed to be part of growing number of scandals, corruption and vastly inappropriate behavior.

Echoes of the phone hacking scandal. Politicians have trouble chasing the rich.

The banks and other financial institutions have triggered the biggest economic crisis since the Great Depression and have been bailed out. Time to end  unregulated finance ? Get rid of private banking  ?

US vs Wikileaks

Seems like the US is really trying to hit back on wikileaks and other whistle-blowers. Julian Assange may be right to fear the US is chasing him. 

 

This issue is revealing of the prevailing climate.

 

Blowing up the EU

British PM,  Cameron is reading to "impose stringent border controls that would block Greek citizens from entering the United Kingdom, if Greece is forced out of the single currency". 

david-cameron-immigration-greece-uk

Who knows where this will stop ?? Completely blows up the treaties and spirit of the EU. Keep a watch on this one, its got potential !

 

Imperialism didn't end...

 ... these days it's known as international law.

I liked this commentary piece, empire-of-capital. It was published under the above heading.