The John James Newsletter 126
305 June 2016
What does “popular” mean? Appealing to the populace. Since by definition, half the voting populace is of less than average intelligence, this is what you get.
Chris Henige
Wrecked Jet Stream Now Runs From Pole-to-Pole
The circle in the middle shows where the upper zonal winds are now starting to flow from Siberian across the Equator to West Antarctica. It’s weather weirding due to climate change. Something that would absolutely not happen in a normal world, and if it continues, threatens seasonal integrity.
This worldwide turn toward fear of the Other is globalization’s shadow self.
The “Leave” vote was a rejection of globalization, at least as it’s currently structured. This was a revolt of working class Britons who have seen their postwar prosperity erode around them and their social contract eviscerated by the corporate and financial oligarchy. But it was also the sign of a darker and more sinister worldwide phenomenon: the resurgence of global nativism and xenophobia.
http://www.commondreams.org/views/2016/06/24/brexit-and-new-global-rebellion
Brexit and the Transnational Triumph of Ignorance
partly an expression of nationalism that has become so strong a tendency in the politics of so many nations that it can be considered the prime defining characteristic of the current era. It also was an expression of xenophobia that is shaping much of the politics of the very European continent from which the Brexiteers want to separate themselves and has become a major part of the U.S. presidential campaign
http://lobelog.com/brexit-and-the-transnational-triumph-of-ignorance/
The ‘Leave’ Camp Won. That Doesn’t Mean Brexit Will Happen.
Referendums aren’t binding. Just ask the Greeks, who voted to reject EU austerity measures and then saw their government cave anyway.
http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/06/27/the-leave-camp-won-that-doesnt-mean-brexit-will-happen/
Elegy For the Arctic
Greenpeace has released a haunting video of renowned Italian pianist and composer Ludovico Einaudi performing before Norway’s Wahlenbergbreen glacier, cracking and groaning even as he plays.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHpHxA-9CVM
Turkey’s Scholars Call Erdogan’s Presidency Fraud
Though Erdogan grew up in Ataturk’s imposed secular Turkey, he seems all along to have been simply a closeted fundamentalist Sunni, who rose in politics because the Turkish public favored that, more than they favored Ataturk’s imposed separation of church-and-state.
http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/06/27/turkeys-scholars-call-erdogans-presidency-fraud/
Coalition’s company tax cuts: more than 40% of benefit flows overseas, report finds
UTS report reveals $2.18bn a year of government’s $48bn tax cut will flow offshore to shareholders of multinational corporations and foreign tax authorities
The Age of Disintegration: Neoliberalism and a Fragmenting World
Across the vast swath of territory between Pakistan and Nigeria, there are at least seven ongoing wars — in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Libya, Somalia, and South Sudan. These conflicts are extraordinarily destructive. They are tearing apart countries in ways that make it doubtful they will ever recover. Under military intervention, a vast region of the planet seems to be cracking open, with little understanding in Washington. A Mass Extinction of Independent States.
Fragile states index 2016
Why The British Said No To Europe
This was, in great part, a vote by those angered and demoralised by the sheer arrogance of the apologists for the “remain” campaign and the dismemberment of a socially just civil life in Britain. The last bastion of the historic reforms of 1945, the National Health Service, has been so subverted by Tory and Labour-supported privateers it is fighting for its life.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article44970.htm
Scottish leader threatens to veto Brexit
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon says her government may use legal means to block Britain’s exit from the EU
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/06/scotland-veto-brexit-160626133354122.html
Yes Minister — Why Britain Joined the European Union
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37iHSwA1SwE&feature=youtu.be
Brexit SPREADS as Italy, France, Holland and Denmark call for referendums
Politicians across Europe have called for their own referendums in the wake of Britain’s historic decision.
Leave Well Alone
Farm subsidies are arguably the most regressive distribution of public money in modern times. Taxpayers of all stations stock the wine cellars of dukes and hedge fund managers. Eighty percent of the funds are harvested by the richest 25% of recipients. The poorest farmers are excluded: you cannot claim subsidies unless you own or lease at least five hectares.
http://www.monbiot.com/2016/06/21/leave-well-alone/
Hot off Brexit, Vladimir Putin Goes to China
Clinch a $6.2 billion high-speed rail deal; increased supply of Russian wheat to China – by building a Trans-Baikal grain terminal; and steps towards deeper military cooperation. They are already cooperating on an engine that will power the new Russia-China airliner. Everything connected to the Russia-China partnership spells out Eurasia integration. It starts with the New Silk Roads, a.k.a. One Belt, One Road (OBOR), which will progressively interplay with the Eurasia Economic Union (EEU), as Putin emphasized at the St. Petersburg forum. It involves the expansion of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO); the immediate future of BRICS, including the New Development Bank (NDB); projects to be financed by the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB); and Russia-China coordination inside the G20. OBOR and the EEU naturally merge as Eurasia will be slowly but surely fashioned into a massive emporium – an interlocking trade and infrastructure network stretching from Russia’s Far East and the Chinese east coast to Western Europe, including the Middle East and Africa on the way.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article44976.htm
The Orcas Are Starving
There simply aren’t enough salmon out there for them to eat.
http://endofenergy.blogspot.com.au/2016/06/beautiful-orcas-starving.html
Policy of Undeclared War Against Russia
Washington’s NATO buildup on Russia’s borders, its refusal to cooperate with Moscow in Syria and Ukraine, and its anti-Putin propaganda form an ominous pattern. Does the recent escalation of anti-Russian behavior by Washington, from its growing NATO military buildup on Russia’s western borders and refusal to cooperate with Moscow against the Islamic State in Syria to the Obama administration’s refusal to compel its government in Kiev to implement a negotiated settlement of the Ukrainian civil war, reflect an undeclared US war against Russia already underway? Given that many US allies are unhappy with these developments, has Washington gone “rogue”? And does the recent spate of warfare media “information” reflect these new realities?
Putin: International Situation Today Like at Start of World War II
Russia will take adequate measures to counter NATO’s increasingly “aggressive rhetoric,” President Vladimir Putin told MPs at the closing session of the State Duma. He called to create an international security system open to all countries. It’s necessary to create a collective security system void of “bloc-like thinking” and open to all countries
http://russia-insider.com/en/politics/putin-international-situation-today-start-world-war-ii/ri15124