US Hypocrisy, From Cairo To Tehran



Dear Friend,

The Iran demonstrations are winding  down. However, the USA, Isreal and the Arab monarchies hyperventilated over these demonstrations. 
The rhetoric adopted by the US and its allies lacks any credibility, for the simple reason that this administration is the least qualified to promote democracy and human rights in the region, given its extensive financial transactions and involvement in arms and oil deals in the Middle East (as demonstrated by Trump’s recent visit to Saudi Arabia, from which he returned laden with contracts and gifts).

Gail Tverberg asks the speculative question "Will The World Economy Continue To “Roll Along” In 2018?" The answer is we are living in interesting times!

Also more stories from around the world. 

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Editor
Countercurrents.org


US Hypocrisy, From Cairo To Tehran
by Soumaya Ghannoushi 


The rhetoric adopted by the US and its allies lacks any credibility, for the simple reason that this administration is the least qualified to promote democracy and human rights in the region, given its extensive financial transactions and involvement in arms and oil deals in the Middle East (as demonstrated by Trump’s recent visit to Saudi Arabia, from which he returned laden with contracts and gifts).




Will The World Economy Continue To “Roll Along” In 2018?
by Gail Tverberg 


In 2017, the world economy seemed to be gliding smoothly along because the economy has been able to get the benefit of artificially low energy prices and artificially low interest rates. These artificially low prices and interest rates have given a temporary boost to the world economy. Countries using large amounts of energy products, including the US, especially benefitted. We cannot expect this temporary condition to continue, however. Low oil prices have already started to disappear, with Brent oil prices at nearly $69 per barrel at this writing. 




The City Taking The Commons To Heart
by Dirk Holemans


The Belgian city of Ghent plays host to a broad range of projects and initiatives around the commons. But it has yet to adopt a model which really places a commons-focused approach and logic at the core of its institutions and processes. Recent work undertaken by experts on the commons provides a roadmap for the city to re-imagine and reconfigure its structures around citizen participation, the sharing of resources, and ‘translocal’ cooperation.




Shadow Armies: The Unseen, But Real US War In Africa
by Dr Ramzy Baroud 


There is a real – but largely concealed – war which is taking place throughout the African continent. It involves the United States, an invigorated Russia and a rising China. The outcome of the war is likely to define the future of the continent and its global outlook.




Swiss Newspaper Unveils Secret Saudi Arabia-Israel Military Alliance
by Abdus Sattar Ghazali 


Saudi Arabia is seeking to buy Israeli defense systems and working with Israel to prevent Iran’s expansion in the Middle East, according to the Swiss newspaper Basler Zeitung. Basler Zeitung reported on Monday (Jan 8) a “secret alliance” between Saudi Arabia and Israel, intended “to restrain Iran’s expansion in the region, despite the absence of any official relations between the two countries.”




How Jeff Bezos’s Washington Post Became The U.S. Military-Industrial Complex’s Chief Propagandist
by Eric Zuesse 


It used to be that the New York Times and the Washington Post competed against each other to be the chief propagandist for the hundred or so top firms who sell to the U.S. federal government — the 100 top “federal contractors,” almost all of which are Pentagon contractors — mainly these are weapons-manufacturing firms, such as the biggest, Lockheed Martin. 




To Liberate Cambodia
by Robert J Burrowes 


Sovannarun is not optimistic about the short-term prospects for his country: Too many mistakes have been repeated too often. But he is committed to the nonviolent struggle to liberate Cambodia from its dictatorship and recognizes that the corrupt electoral process cannot restore democracy or enable Cambodians to meaningfully address the vast range of social, political, economic and environmental challenges they face.





Sinful
by Richard Oxman 


Rozali Telbis’ Divided We Stand: Golden Globes Sets the Tone for Faux Feminism in 2018 comments fairly well on the recent international Golden Globes ritual from a post-modern perspective. It’s a long article, however, and since too few are likely to plow through its many words, I’d like to give the reader a more succinct take on the latest award ceremony.




History Of The World: A Chaddi Retelling
by Atindriyo Chakraborty


Meanwhile, globally, great leaders like Adolf Hitler and Donald Trump have carried the great Aryan ideals which originated from Hindu India forward, and, together, with such leaders, the great leaders of our Hindu nation state shall bear the torch of this glorious Hindu history, which all ideal Indian children are learning in all ideal schools and collages of our country today, forward and forward.




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