10 Jun 2012

Counterfeit Con: UK collectors in flap over fake art flood

They say a picture's worth a thousand words but, in the art world it takes millions of dollars to pay for said treasures. However, experts now claim roughly half of all works sold today are fake. RT's Laura Smith caught up with one Russian collector who's happy to share the forgeries he was tricked into buying. Source

Outrage over detention without trial of Palestinians by Israel - Remember Palestine

Bruce Kent a veteran anti-war activist has made an appeal for Palestinians under repression and imprisonment. He says what is going on today in Palestine is really shocking: Any map of the Wall and the ever expanding West Bank settlements makes it perfectly clear what the ultimate aim is - the occupation by Israel of all of traditional Palestine with the inhabitants leaving, living in Bantustans or reduced to second class citizen status in one Zionist country. As more than 4,000 hunger strikers resistance continues

On the Edge with Warren Pollock "Crisis in Integrity"

Max interviews Warren Pollock from wepollock.com. He talks about the global banking crisis and the systemic fraud in the international banking system. Warren Pollock is a former Wall Street executive and a financial blogger. Source

Syria: the Houla Massacre - UK BANNED Double Standards

The war is on, the Western media are clamoring for an aerial bombardment of Damascus and the US, NATO and al-Qaeda units are ready for a wider war, and this edition of the show examines the Syrian crisis. Goldman Sachs ramps up its opportunity to create jobs in the White House, the Irish debate the pros and cons of the European Union's austerity measures; and Syria's developments are the major issues reviewed by Afshin Rattansi. Afshin also interviews Haitham Alsibahi from the Syrian Social Club to talk about the rapidly deteriorating situation in Syria. He will also comment on the recent massacre in Houla. 2012 Bilderberg Conference in Virginia, the US drone attacks killing innocent people in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia, the conspiracy against Julian Assnage's Wikileaks, Tony Blair at the Levenson Enquiry

Australian Pirate Party Sets Course for Parliament

aussie ppSubmitted by Myles Peterson:
Since its founding half-a-decade ago, the influence of the Pirate Party has been felt across the globe. Now the file-sharing movement has touched down downunder and while it fights for recognition and acceptance, Australia’s capital city presents the party with a unique opportunity to gain seats in a parliament election.
In a mere six years, Sweden’s nascent Pirate Party (Piratpartiet) has grown from fringe group into a potent global political force.
Some libertarian movements echo aspects of the Pirate Party’s agenda, mainly its advocacy of free speech and open government. Other political groups, such as the European founded Greens, touch on elements of the party’s progressive thinking.
But the Pirate Party stands alone in driving a holistic vision of an information-based society, governed by principles of transparency in business and government while protecting the privacy of individuals.

Filmmaker Compares Copyleft Supporters To Anti-Gay-Marriage Advocates


From the then-i-get-to-compare-film-makers-to-blue-cheese dept

by Timothy Geigner: Oh, where to begin with this one. Once upon a time, in an internet far, far away, there was a Facebook page and a blog (that barely anyone paid attention to) masquerading as some kind of grass roots upheaval in favor of the copyright cartels. It was called Creative America, and man was it terrible. But, as does occasionally happen, this silly land of false statistics and incomprehensible logic bred some interesting discussions between folks on either side of the copyright argument. One of the participants in favor of copyright was filmmaker David Newhoff, someone who I generally thought represented his ideas and opinions with sincerity and class.

Well, to hell with sincerity and class. Apparently you damned pirates and copyleft people are just like homophobic anti-gay-marriage zealots...or something.

Philosophers Stone: Japanese scientists pave way to everlasting life

Japan, which already tops the world’s life expectancy list, now has another tool to cement its leading position. The country’s scientists say they have discovered a protein responsible for ageing and learnt to control it.
A group of scientists from Osaka University have found that one of the components of the human complement system is directly responsible for ageing, Russia’s ITAR-TASS quotes Japanese media on Saturday. The C1q protein, the researchers say, is to blame for human cells getting old.   
Part of the immune system, the complement system helps or “complements” the body in clearing away germs. The C1q protein was earlier thought to be merely a building block in the system. 
Having established the protein’s true role, however, the scientists claim they have also learnt to control it, almost completely blocking cells’ ageing process. The discovery, they claim, could easily become a key to everlasting life.

Here They Come: Ireland Demands Renegotiation Of Its Bailout Terms To Match Spain


Tyler Durden's picture
Well that didn't take long. The ink on the #Spailout is not dry yet (well technically there is no ink, because none of the actual details of the Spanish banking system rescue are even remotely known, and likely won't be because when it comes to answering where the money comes from there simply is no answer) and we already have an answer to one of our questions. Recall that mere hours ago we asked: "We also wonder how will Ireland feel knowing that it has to suffer under backbreaking austerity in exchange for Troika generosity, while Spain gets away scott free." We now know. From the AFP: "Ireland wants to renegotiate its rescue plan to benefit from the same treatment as Spain, which looks set to win a bailout for its banks without any broader economic reforms in return, European sources said on Saturday." And with Ireland on the renegotiation train, next comes Greece. Only with Greece the wheels for a bailout overhaul are already in motion and are called a "vote of Syriza on June 17." And remember how everyone was threatening the Greeks with the 10th circle of hell if they dare to renegotiate the memorandum? Well, Spain just showed that a condition-free bailout is an option. Which means Syriza will get all the votes it needs and then some with promises of a consequence free bailout renegotiation. In other words Syriza's Tsipras should send a bottle of the finest champagne to de Guindos - he just won him the election.

Steve Keen: Why 2012 Is Shaping Up To Be A Particularly Ugly Year


Submitted by Chris Martenson
At the high level, our global economic plight is quite simple to understand says noted Australian deflationist Steve Keen.
Banks began lending money at a faster rate than the global economy grew, and we're now at the turning point where we simply have run out of new borrowers for the ever-growing debt the system has become addicted to.
Once borrowers start eschewing rather than seeking debt, asset prices begin to fall -- which in turn makes these same people want to liquidate their holdings, which puts further downward pressure on asset prices:

UK hires "Pro Apartheid" human rights abusers to protect Olympics

"There is now a financial incentive to incarcerate poor people for private profit.The British government is up for questioning from Parliament over why it has handed over the Olympic Games' security to a company accused of human rights abuses in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories. ­The UK-based G4S, which describes itself as the "world's leading international security solutions group," was selected as the "official provider of security and cash services for the Olympics."

The banking shell game sponsored by your bailout dollars


How banks lure working and middle class Americans into losing hard earned money. $29.5 billion in overdraft fees charged last year.


Banks really have a wonderful structure in place at least when it comes to US banking.  The Federal Reserve and US Treasury have given an open ended response in terms of bailing out the banking system should any additional financial crisis should arise.  Even at the moment no real changes have occurred and this is troubling given the headwinds that are approaching.  In the US the largest banks, the too big to fail variety, charged Americans over $29.5 billion in overdraft fees last year.  This ludicrous figure was released in a recent Pew Research study showing that banks have no desire in consumer protection and would rather operate like a loan shark.  If you calculate the annual percentage based on these short-term “loans” you would understand that the overdraft piece of the pie is too lucrative to banks but provides no real service.  Banks would argue that they are helping the public access money when they need it.  If we did a survey, I think most would opt out of paying $35 for a burger or for a cup of coffee.  Yet this is part of the larger banking shell game still going on.

Tear up your paper money - Jim Jubak

Image: Jim JubakModern currency is nothing without trust that governments that use it will back it. And if the once-strong euro can break, what is safe?

So what is it about money that the leaders of the eurozone don't get?
Money has been around for a while, and it's not terribly complicated.
The key element is trust. That was true when money was a piece of metal that you could bite or bounce. Now that money is just a piece of paper, it's even truer. Today's money is nothing but trust.
That's why the euro crisis is so bizarre. The euro is, in theory, one of the world's great currencies. And yet, as this crisis has demonstrated, nobody actually stands behind it. There is no lender of last resort. There is no "full faith and credit." There's nobody on the other end of the promise.
And it's as if the leaders of the eurozone wanted to go out of their way to prove it. They've taken us up to the velvet curtain and then themselves, with a self-satisfied smile, pulled it aside to show us that there is no Great Oz.
And in the process they've done major, and perhaps irretrievable, damage to their own currency and to the very idea of money in our time. If you can't trust the euro, what paper can you trust?

Spain IS Greece After All: Here Are The Main Outstanding Items Following The Spanish Bailout


Tyler Durden's picture
After two years of denials, we finally have the right answer: Spain IS Greece. Only much bigger (it is also the US, although while the US TARP was $700 billion or 5% of then GDP, the just announced Spanish tarp is 10% of Spanish GDP, so technically Spain is 2x the US). So now that the European bailout has moved from Greece, Ireland and Portugal on to the big one, Spain, here are the key outstanding questions.
1. Where will the money come from?
De Guindos, Schauble and the Eurogroup, all announced that the sole source of cash would be the ESM and/or the EFSF. The problem with this is that the ESM has yet to be ratified by Germany, whose parliament said previously it is sternly against allowing the ESM to fund a direct bank bailout, something which just happened. Thus, the successful German ESM ratification vote, whenever it comes, and which previously was taken for granted, now appears to be far more questionable.
Which leaves the EFSF. The problem with the EFSF is that there is about €200 billion in dry powder. And this includes the Spanish quota of €93 billion, which we can only assume is now officially scrapped.