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At the court of the EU bubble kings

by Eric Maurice Part 3 - Democracy and legitimacy All this would be just an anecdote about the EU bubble court, worth entertaining columns, if it had not come amid grand speeches about EU democracy and the legitimacy of the institutions.

 On 14 January, Juncker defended to the public the so-called Spitzenkandidat process, by which the commission president is chosen according to the result of the European elections. The commission chief, he said, is " not an anonymous bureaucrat or a putschist who would have forced the doors of the Berlaymont ". Just a week after, he accepted that his head of cabinet becomes civil servant in chief in what many inside the house consider as a coup - and then legitimised the move by a press conference. The press conference is now brandished by the commission as the proof that all was done in transparency. As if journalists called at the last minute for a news they didn't know had all the elements at the time to a

The US is escalating efforts to overthrow government in Venezuela

globinfo freexchange Coordinated attacks, which resembling periods before US coups and military interventions, have been taking place recently by the US political and media establishment against Venezuela. White House officials have warned openly for an expansion of the economic embargo, which is already causing suffocation to the Venezuelan economy, making it even more difficult for the country to import basic food and medicines. New threats concerning sanctions related to the Venezuelan oil sector may result to even complete banning of imports into the US. At the same time, the possibility of prohibiting insurance for the oil tankers from Venezuela is being examined, meaning complete prohibition of oil shipment. As the American economist and analyst Mark Weisbrot reveals citing well-informed sources in Washington, the White House is now threatening even opposition executives, such as Henri Falcón , in order not to take part in the presidential electi

Οι ΗΠΑ κλιμακώνουν τις προσπάθειες ανατροπής στη Βενεζουέλα

του Άρη Χατζηστεφάνου Συντονισμένες επιθέσεις, που παραπέμπουν σε περιόδους πριν από την εκδήλωση αμερικανικών πραξικοπημάτων και στρατιωτικών επεμβάσεων, πραγματοποιεί το τελευταίο διάστημα το πολιτικό και μιντιακό κατεστημένο των ΗΠΑ εναντίον της Βενεζουέλας. Αξιωματούχοι του Λευκού Οίκου προειδοποιήσαν ανοιχτά για επέκταση του οικονομικού αποκλεισμού, ο οποίος ήδη προκαλεί ασφυξία στην οικονομία της Βενεζουέλας δυσχεραίνοντας ακόμη και την εισαγωγή βασικών τροφίμων και φαρμάκων. Οι νέες απειλές κυρώσεων αφορούν τον πετρελαϊκό τομέα της Βενεζουέλας και φτάνουν μέχρι το ενδεχόμενο ολοκληρωτικής απαγόρευσης εισαγωγών στις ΗΠΑ. Παράλληλα εξετάζεται το ενδεχόμενο να απαγορευθεί η ασφάλιση των τάνκερ που μεταφέρουν πετρέλαιο από τη Βενεζουέλα, γεγονός που ισοδυναμεί με ολοκληρωτική απαγόρευση κυκλοφορίας τους. Όπως αποκαλύπτει ο Αμερικανός οικονομολόγος και αναλυτής Μαρκ Βάισμπροτ, επικαλούμενος καλά πληροφορημένες πηγές στην Ουάσιγκτον, ο Λευκός Οίκος α

Colonizing the Western Mind

by Jason Hirthler Part 1 In Christopher Nolan’s captivating and visually dazzling film Inception, a practitioner of psychic corporate espionage must plant and idea inside a CEO’s head. The process is called inception, and it represents the frontier of corporate influence, in which mind spies no longer just “extract” ideas from the dreams of others, but seed useful ideas in a target’s subconscious. Inception is a well-crafted piece of futuristic sci-fi drama, but some of the ideas it imparts are already deeply embedded in the American subconscious. The notion of inception, of hatching an idea in the mind of a man or woman without his or her knowledge, is the kernel of propaganda, a black art practiced in the States since the First World War. Today we live beneath an invisible cultural hegemony, a set of ideas implanted in the mass mind by the U.S. state and its corporate media over decades. Invisibility seems to happen when something is either obscure or ubiquitou

At the court of the EU bubble kings

by Eric Maurice Part 2 - 'Bending the rules' By elevating Selmayr to the position of secretary general, Juncker rewarded him with a position that gives him the power to run the EU executive's work in the years to come and be an influence on the next commission president. By making the move a political issue, Juncker acknowledged and strengthened the power of Selmayr - a eurocrat turned political gambler. At the same time Juncker also - unwittingly - highlighted how far his team has gone in disconnecting itself from what the commission is supposed to represent: the general interest. No one doubts that Selmayr has the intellectual capacities and the political flair to play an important role at the top of the EU. So why did he, with Juncker's approval, decided to be crowned in a few minutes, in a meeting before which no EU commissioners but one knew what was coming, in a procedure that followed the rules but in such a secret and accelerated way