Censorship @ Huffington Post re. Syria?

“[T]he turmoil in the Middle East this past year has morphed into a battleground for much larger interests – economic, political, financial – and the players see this as an existential fight; the final showdown, so to speak. The battle for narratives is the frontline of this war, and it

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Exploring Economics

Food for thought … [T]he economists’ tragedy: The ambition to create the ultimate model results in a theory of human behaviour which cannot hold unless the humans populating the model operate like inanimate algorithms following slavishly a particular script. The moment you introduce creativity and a capacity to subvert the

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“Stratfor Wanted Assange Out by Any Means”

by: Yazan al-Saadi While publicly underplaying the significance of WikiLeaks activity in combating government secrecy, senior execs and analysts at private US intelligence firm Stratfor privately described Wikileaks founder Julian Assange as a “terrorist” and “delusion nut” who “needs to be water-boarded” and made to “move from country to country”

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On “fascism” in the U.S.

Paul Street on why the U.S. is not a “fascist” state: Even if real historical fascism could be translated across times and place to the modern U.S. it would be largely redundant for America’s powers that be. The American elite already gets the basic regressive and authoritarian outcomes of fascism

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The network of global corporate control

“The structure of the control network of transnational corporations affects global market competition and financial stability. So far, only small national samples were studied and there was no appropriate methodology to assess control globally. We present the first investigation of the architecture of the international ownership network, along with the

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Leftist debate on politics and power

A fascinating exchange of ideas on, amongst other things, the limits of the Occupy movement and the need to explore ways to bring about change of (not in) the system through the exercise of political power. Protests alone are an important start but, according to expert leftists and activists will

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High finance mumbo jumbo

They are known as the “bots”, short for “robots” obviously. Others more derogatively refer to them as ”pickpockets” [slow loading]. A bit more on what they do: High-Frequency Trading: Alpha Discovery and the New Arms Race.* Some want them out of the system while others think that they are here to stay and that it’s […]

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Made in China

Source Lately I have bought a few items for the home and for myself, including a couple of cheap antique furniture, gloves & scarves on sale, and a pair of winter boots on sale as well. In reading on repair and maintenance of antiques, I learnt about the demise of the furniture manufacturing industry in […]

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Amnesty International concerned about Bradley Manning

Amnesty International has taken up the case of Bradley Manning. In an open letter addressed to Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates, the organization expresses its concern regarding the treatment of Manning: The harsh conditions imposed on PFC Manning also undermine the principle of the presumption of innocence, which should be taken into account in […]

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