Tag Archives: Maurice Strong

Nov 1 2017

The Rising Separatist Movements in Europe-Eastern Europe


Armstrong Economics Blog/Politics

Re-Posted Nov 1, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

There are many in Spain who just outright disagree with any right of Catalonia to be independent. History, culture, language, nothing really matters. Some have said it is the Spanish Constitution and all of Spain should vote to let Catalonia leave or stay. All of that said if Madrid had just allowed a fair referendum then whatever the vote was should have stood.

This is all about saving the EU and not Spain. It was the oppression that probably made others vote to leave. All of Spain cannot vote against one region. London did not vote on Scotland and neither did Toronto against Quebec. California has people pushing to separate and that is not a right to be decided by me in Florida.
Separatist movements are now rising throughout Europe. We see Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales in the UK all have separatist movements. There is even talk in Bavaria among friends I have there and Prussia wants more autonomy. Then there is Normandy and Brittany in France. There is a long list starting with Moravia, Lombardy, Insubria, South Tyrol, Carinthis, Friule-Venezia, Hungarian minorities, Savoy, Liguria, Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, Rijeka Istria, Veneto, Padania, Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia, Sandzak, Serbian Republic, Vojvodina, Szekely Land, Gagauzia, Transnistria, Donbass, Crimea. Latgale, Ingria, Skameland, Samogita, Bornolm, and don’t forget Northen Cyprus. Some of these are asking for full independence and other more autonomy.
It is the economic issues intermixed with the refugee crisis that is sparking these movements today.
Nov 1 2017

Spain Invades Catalonia – Nullifies the Democratic Vote


Armstrong Economics Blog/SPAIN

Re-Posted Nov 1, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

The Spanish Police have invaded Catalonia and the rigged high court of Spain nullifies its independence. It really is astonishing when you compare these actions to Russia and Crimea. At least Crimea the population were Russian speaking and not Ukrainian. Here we have Catalonia has had its own language from before the existence of Spain and have always regarded itself as separate and autonomous.

The action of Madrid are hailed and the constitution is the entire basis for the denial of human rights in Catalonia. Politicians have been carving the world and declaring borders for power. They have ignored language, race, religion and everything else for political power. Nobody ever says that is somehow wrong.

This is what is going on in Europe. Brussels is determined to eliminate borders, federalize Europe, and they hope in one or two generations, they will surrender language and culture to a central power.

Nov 1 2017

The Politics of Change – Iceland – New Zealand – Czech Republic


Armstrong Economics Blog/Politics

Re-Posted Nov 1, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

The Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson’s Independence Party won the most votes in the Iceland election but he saw his party’s support eroded as voters turned to smaller parties in protest. This leaves the country in a position of uncertainty as the election has opened the door to power for the nation’s charismatic and very attractive left-wing leader, Katrin Jakobsdottir. Now Jakobsdottir has the chance to form together a narrow majority for a center-left coalition. She is a 41-year-old who is very popular on her own with pre-election polls that showed one in two voters wanted her as the premier.

Meanwhile, in the Czech Republic’s general election, the Populist billionaire candidate Andrej Babis and his party have won the largest cache of votes about 30%, which was three times that of anyone else. He ran on a Eurosceptic platform. He has said that he would not bring the Czech Republic into the Eurozone but he wants the country to stay in the EU. He also wants changes to the European Council on issues like food quality and a “solution to migration”.

The new Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern, has declared that capitalism is a blatant failure. She has banned foreign investment in property in the country.

What we are witnessing is 1933. That is when Roosevelt, Mao, and Hitler all came to power. It was not a particular political philosophy, but whoever was in power was being thrown out.

Oct 31 2017

EU Support Madrid Refuses to Acknowledge Catalonia


Armstrong Economics Blog/European Union

Re-Posted Oct 31, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

 

Madrid has seized Catalonia by force and the EU, of course, backs Madrid saying they do not recognize Catalonia as a free state. This is demonstrating that human rights in Europe mean nothing when it comes to protecting the jobs of those in Brussels. This is clearly sending a statement to the rest of Europe – shut up or you are next. That statement should surprise nobody since the rising separatist movements in Europe are against the power of Brussels.

Meanwhile, Spain is proposing to change the President of Catalonia with treason. They threatened him before that he would end up like the last attempt to break away – dead. The Catalan regional president, Carles Puigdemont, who has been deposed by the central government in Madrid, has called on the population to “democratically resist” the seizure by Madrid. In a televised address on Saturday, Puigdemont said he would continue to work to build a “free country”.

Puigdemont’s speech was also published in writing. This version was signed with “Carles Puigdemont, President of the Generalitat (Government) of Catalonia”. It was the first time since his dismissal following the Catalan Declaration of Independence on Friday that the politician voiced his opinion.

Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría took control of Catalonia’s administration on the weekend. The Catalan police chief Josep Lluis Trapero was also terminated.

Oct 30 2017

Some Logical but Unmentioned Conclusions


Paul Eidelberg

Seven years ago, Caroline Glick exposed “The high price of coalition stability” (Jerusalem Post, June 22, 2010).  Her article involved some unmentioned but logical conclusions regarding Israel’s system of coalition cabinet government.  The present writer has written of these unmentioned conclusions in policy papers, books, and countless articles during the past two decades. Indeed, I have systematically correlated Israel’s political failings with its flawed institutions – all in vain.

Before continuing, let me assure the reader than I am well aware of the fact that political institutions, however wisely designed, cannot prevent the election of inept and even treacherous office holders, including presidents of the United States such as Barack Obama.  In other words, there is no institutional substitute for virtue and wisdom.  It should be emphasized that properly designed institutions can mitigate men’s follies and vices.  Alas, this is not the case in Israel, whose governmental institutions maximize the disarray of politics in this country.

The disarray began and continues as a result of a simple political decision: when Israel’s government was established in 1948, its founders, headed by David Ben-Gurion decided to make the entire country a single electoral district.  This political arrangement necessitates a parliamentary system in which parties win Knesset seats on the basis Proportional Representation (PR). Given a low electoral threshold (it has risen from 1% to 3.25%), PR spawns a multiplicity of parties such that no party has ever come close to winning a majority of the 120 seats in the Knesset.  This fact necessitates coalition cabinet government, which results in a cabinet consisting of several rival political parties.

Let’s examine the grounds on which virtually every commentator fears to tread.

1) The multiplicity of parties produced by PR prompts major parties – recall Labor in 1992 and the Likud since then – to deceive the public by campaigning on a more or less centrist or more vote-getting agenda, only to shift in the opposite direction once the leaders of these parties become prime ministers.  Thus, Labor leader Yitzhak Rabin, who scorned the PLO in the 1992 election campaign, signed – after a “decent interval” – the Israel-PLO agreement of 1993. Likewise, Ariel Sharon, who campaigned against Labor’s policy of disengagement in 2003, adopted – after another “decent interval” – that very policy!

2) Likud Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was also devious.  He said nothing of the “two state solution” preceding the February 2009 election. But after a mind-numbing interval of four months, he endorsed a Palestinian state!

3) Some sixty years ago, David Ben-Gurion denounced Proportional Representation and revealed the pernicious nature of multiparty cabinet government, which remains solidly entrenched to this day.  The reasons are not pretty.  PR not only yields a multiplicity of parties in the Knesset.  It also compels citizens to vote for fixed party lists.  One result is this: the members of the Knesset are not individually accountable to the voters in constituency or regional elections.

4) Moreover, members of the Knesset know that this system of voting for fixed party slates – a system found only in four out of more than 80 countries classified as democracies – enables an incumbent MK to be re-elected without having to compete with a rival candidate (who would surely reveal the incumbent’s political failings).  For this reason alone, virtually all members of the Knesset oppose direct, personal, and democratic election of Israel’s parliament.

5) Furthermore, multiparty cabinet government enables any MK, regardless of his record, to become a cabinet minister – the road to power and political longevity.  This explains Glick’s characterization of Ehud Barak is a “serial bungler.”  One may add Shimon Peres, the father of Oslo, who became a permanent fixture in the Knesset until that conglomeration of self-serving politicians elected him Israel’s president!

Surely a well-informed and perceptive political analyst like Caroline Glick could add many other instances of the disastrous consequences of multiparty cabinet government.

Oct 30 2017

Catalonia (Catalunya) – Legal or not Legal


Armstrong Economics Blog/SPAIN

Re-Posted Oct 30, 2017 by Martin Armstrong
There are many who write in from Spain supporting Madrid against Catalonia. The core of their argument is that the call this movement an independent “socialistic movement” and they argue it is not at all but democratic.
“There’s indeed a strong independence feel in Catalunya, they have been like this for centuries although they never really were able to achieve a country status. … But one cannot claim to be democratic if you plan to force a secession with an election attended by less than half the people who can vote. Most people agreed on the national court’s decision that the referendum was illegal and supported the court rule by no attending to vote, they were 58 percent of the registered voters, those who were against the decision were able to vote anyway.”

Catalonia is an autonomous region in north-east Spain with a distinct history dating back almost 1,000 years. It is a wealthy region that has its own language, parliament, flag and national anthem. It also has its own police force and controls some of its public services.

Maximum of Barcelona

Historically, during the 12th century, Catalonia was taken under the same royal rule as the neighboring kingdom of Aragon. Catalonia has been part of Spain since its genesis in the 15th century when King Ferdinand of Aragon and Queen Isabella of Castile married and united their realms. Nevertheless, the history of Barcelonia extends back into ancient time. It was Maximum of Barcelona (409-411AD) who rose up to be independent of the collapsing Roman Empire.

This idea that Catalonia somehow belongs to Madrid in perpetuity is rather strange. Spain itself did not exist as a country until the marriage of Ferdinand & Isabella during the 15th century. There are coins issued in Barcelona which predate Spain. Back in the 11th century, the Iberian peninsula was divided into three kingdoms; (1) Caliphate of Córdoba in Taifa, (2) The kingdoms of Leon, (3) and The Kingdom of Pamplona and the County of Barcelona. Historically, Barcelona was not conquered by the Arabs who dominated most of Spain during the 11th century. From that period onward, Barcelona has always harbored a sense of independence from the rest of the Iberian peninsula.

So why such intensity against Catalonia? On October 27th, 2017, the Catalan parliament declared independence, in a 70-10 vote. That seems to be a clear majority vote. Granted, this came after an independence referendum on October 1st, 2017, in which just under 90% of Catalan voters backed independence, however, turnout was only 43%. That was, in part, because Madrid sent in troops to try to prevent the vote. Now Madrid has called for a new vote after dismissing the Parliament and thus appears to be setting the stage for a rigged election no different than Russia taking Crimea. The West sanctions Russia for such tactics but not Madrid?

The Supreme Court decision is used by Madrid to claim there is no right for Catalonia to separate. That is clearly a violation of human rights and it is the very same argument the King of Britain made against America so I suppose the United States is a totally illegal entity as well. Someone should serve notice to Trump to hand power back to London and surrender.

Oct 28 2017

CIA & FBI Still Stalling on JFK Documents – Why?


Armstrong Economics Blog/Politics

Re-Posted Oct 28, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

The CIA and FBI have had 50 years to go over these documents. Nevertheless, they waited to the last day to object. That tactic was deliberate to push Trump into a corner. He gave them six months to review. Many of the documents listed as “classified” are not even legible, raising more concerns that these have been deliberately altered to protect someone or something.

At this point, no matter what they release, still 60%+ of American will just not believe them. After 50 years to go by and claiming they are still a danger to “survivors” is an absolute joke. The files released also show intense defense by both the CIA and FBI to claim they had nothing to do with anything. That simply brings to mind Shakespeare. Hamlet then turns to his mother and asks her, “Madam, how like you this play?”, to which she replies “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.” Indeed, the CIA and FBI seem to protest too much asserting their innocence in this affair.

It is also clear from documents that the CIA questioned the official storyline of the assassination in the years followed. An unnamed CIA author noted in a 1975 memo that the agency, the FBI and the Warren Commission failed to investigate key clues into assassin Lee Harvey Oswald’s ties to Cuba.

Then we have FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover who in a memo dated Nov. 24, 1963, the same day that Oswald was killed by a questionable retribution of Jack Ruby, expressed concern that Oswald’s death would result in uncertainty among U.S. citizens over his guilt.

“The thing I am concerned about, and so is [Deputy Attorney General Nicholas] Katzenbach, is having something issued so that we can convince the public that Oswald is the real assassin,”

Hoover wrote.

At this point, there have been way too many delays and the only reason for that is to protect something or someone. If it were Oswald alone, then why hide documents?

Oct 28 2017

Spain Demonstrates to the World Democracy Means Nothing


Armstrong Economics Blog/SPAIN

Re-Posted Oct 28, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

 

The Madrid government sacked Catalonia’s president and dismissed its parliament on Friday, hours after the region declared itself an independent nation in Spain’s gravest political crisis since the return of democracy four decades ago. The Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who seems to think he has the power of Franco, called for new elections and fired the Catalan police chief. The crisis in Spain is a reflection of the crisis in the EU as a whole. This unprecedented dictatorial array of measures to seize control of the administration in Barcelona is so undemocratic, it is guaranteed to send warning signals to many other regions of the EU especially Italy.

Oct 26 2017

The Way to the Future – Cryptos Move Over


Armstrong Economics Blog/Technology

Re-Posted Oct 26, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

The Maldives has introduced what may become the next innovation. Maldives Immigration has introduced a new type of ID card that replaces your credit card, passport, drivers license and healthcare insurance card all wrapped up in one. The next step will be to put this on a biochip and insert it into your skin so a thief would have to cut your arm off to steal it. Guess we are getting closer to the Minority Report. Hm

Oct 24 2017

State Dept. Admits There’s 40,000 pages of Clinton Emails They Never Read…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on October 23, 2017 by

A stunning admission today from the U.S. State Department considering all of the dismissive declarations from the Clintons, the FBI, DOJ and State Department before the 2016 election.

The State Deparment now admits there’s over 40,000 pages of Clinton emails, created on her personal server, they’ve never even read:

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced that the State Department revealed in a federal court hearing that it has yet to process 40,000 of 72,000 pages of Hillary Clinton records that the FBI recovered last year.

The revelation came during a federal court hearing in Judicial Watch Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit seeking former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s emails that were sent or received during her tenure from February 2009 to January 31, 2013 (Judicial Watch, Inc. v. U.S. Department of State (No. 1:15-cv-00687)). The case is before Judge James E. Boasberg.

The hearing focused on the State Department’s progress on processing the tens of thousands of emails Clinton failed to disclose when she served as Secretary of State, some of which were emails sent by Clinton aide Huma Abedin that were found on the laptop of her estranged husband Anthony Weiner. The State Department has processed 32,000 pages of emails so far, a small number of which have been released, but 40,000 pages remain to be processed.

Judicial Watch asked the court to require the State Department to identify any records from the seven FBI discs that it intends to withhold, and why, in a timely manner. The State Department disclosed to the Court that it was adding extra resources to its FOIA operation but would not commit to a faster production of the Clinton emails.

On October 19, Judge Boasberg ordered the State Department to “explain how its anticipated increase in resources will affect processing of records in this case and when the processing of each disk is likely to be completed.” Surprisingly, the Tillerson State Department and Sessions Justice Department previously argued to the court that there was diminished public interest in the Clinton emails.  (read more)