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Tidbits - May 23, 2012 * Re: NATO Talks a Sham (Ted Pearson) * Re: In Chicago, Nurses Rally for "Robin Hood" Tax - reply (Bill Barclay) * Re: Austerity Meets Resistance and the Democratic Will - Report from the front (Frank Goldsmith) * Re: Jobs First Is the Way Out of the Austerity Trap Dear (Barry Brooks) * Re: How FBI Entrapment Is Inventing 'Terrorists' (Lee Loe, David Worley) * Reports from the German press -- Visit to Germany: Tsipras Says Berlin Must Back Down on Austerity ========== * Re: NATO Talks a Sham Somebody, somewhere, should point out that the pattern excuse for NATO - that "NATO was originally founded to provide a strategic counterbalance to the Soviet Union" - was just as phony in 1949 as the "war on terror" excuse for NATO is today. NATO was founded and continues to be a military pact aimed at establishing and enforcing the economic and political hegemony of U. S. based transnational capital. It was, and is, aimed at suppressing insurgent political and revolutionary movements. Mainly aimed at Europe in the beginning it now plans to reach into every corner of the globe. Ted Pearson ========== * Re: In Chicago, Nurses Rally for "Robin Hood" Tax - reply The 3 - 3500 people at the rally were not all nurses by any means. Many of us, such myself and my comrades were there to support the nurses and especially because we see an FTT as a way both to raise significant money for jobs and as a way to reign in the overweening power of finance, to limit the kind of trading that contributes nothing to common good or to our collective welfare. Solidarity, Bill Barclay (DSA member; retired after 22 years in finance industry) ========== * Re: Austerity Meets Resistance and the Democratic Will Report from the front. Here in France, unlike what you report, French voters were very clear. No to Austerity. The LEFT FRONT is very important & is crucial to Hollande & the Socialist success. The SP is seeking the Left Front participation. The Left Front top guy is opposed. Most are. The FCP WILL DEBATE the participation after the June 10 & 17 Parliamentary elections. They will be holding a Special Congress. That FCP debate will be shaped by the willingness of the SP to support LF candidates who come in first in the first round, June 10th. In the past Communist FCP would support SP candidates who finished first in the first round, almost all the time. The reverse is never true. The SP turns it back on the FCP. The FCP 's experience of taking positions in the 1981 Mitterand government was a disaster. They had 4 ministeral positions. At that time the FCP has over 16% OF The vote. Since the FCP collaboration with the SP their voting strength has fallen to less than 3% & their overall numbers from 600,000 To a dismal 25,000. Reportedly, with the LF, the FCP ranks have grown by 25,000, almost doubling their ranks. Many are those who returned to the FCP due to this independent LF which the FCP SUPPORTS. The special convention of the FCP looks to be a major event. These debates are also taking place in the CGT the largest trade union federation in France ... & associated with the FCP. Re vitalizing the CGT IS VERY much part of the same processes in the FCP. ALSO Also, in your article on the austerity measures you left out the ATTACKS ON THE TRADE UNIONS. The austerity measures demanded by the TROIKA & WALL STREET directly attacked trade union collective bargaining agreements and the unions themselves. I refer you to PAME the trade union in GREECE that is the lead fighting union Against the cutbacks & of course the KKE which leads the left struggle & has increased it's voting power. Comment It will, in my view, be the left & not the Socialist Parties who will end the austerity brought by the Bankers in Germany & Wall Street. Experienced based politics has demonstrated that the Socialist Partoes in The UK, Greece, Portugal & Spain that were part of the problem USA WHO WILL GET THE ANTI AUSTERITY VOTE IN THE USA? Will the democrats succeed in blaming the Republican cOngress OR will the Republicans succeed in blaming the Democrats? One thing is for, not having a Left alternative for trade unionists to voice their rages, at least in a first round, like in France, may push them into the right or not voting. If their ever was a reason to construct an independent, Left electoral form that is it. Stay Tuned Frank Goldsmith ========== * Re: Jobs First Is the Way Out of the Austerity Trap Dear Our choices are not limited to austerity or growth. Jobs are not a good way out of the austerity trap, because jobs require growth. Did you forget that growth has limits? We are already an unsustainable burden on our planet. Growth will finally lead to unsustainable levels of resource consumption and pollution, regardless of increases in efficiency. Austerity will lead to poverty, depression, and war. Planning can build an economy that doesn't need growth to make jobs or austerity to conserve by poverty. Because mere use does not require much consumption increased durability combined with a stable population can provide vast wealth by inheritance with little need for additional investment or resource consumption. Satiation of demand is bad for biz and job creation, but it ought to be the main measure of a good economy. Let's plan for it. Barry Brooks ========== * Re: How FBI Entrapment Is Inventing 'Terrorists' The incident in Florida during the Republican Convention was explained to the peace community as being plans to use sling shots to send charcoal- dipped/coated marshmallows into the demonstrating crowd and explaining that "If you had been in Vietnam, this would have been a hand grenade and you would be dead." Lee Loe, Grandmother for Peace, Houston, TX === Apropos the media response today: I saw David Gregory joking on Morning Joe show about how the three "anarchists" arrested in a Chicago sting prior to the NATO summit were probably just set up by Chicago Police Dept. as a publicity stunt, as though roping some tricking some foolish young person into a life sentence in prison was a cute thing to do. Nobody on Scarborough's show even blinked an eye. Ha! Ha! Land of the free. David Worley ========== * SPIEGEL ONLINE - Visit to Germany: Tsipras Says Berlin Must Back Down on Austerity Visit to Germany: Tsipras Says Berlin Must Back Down on Austerity Charismatic, eloquent and defiant, the leader of Greece's Radical Left party, Alexis Tsipras, visited Berlin on Tuesday to ram home the message that he will scrap austerity if he wins the June election, and that no one, not even mighty Germany, has the right to evict Greece from the currency. By David Crossland You can download the complete article over the Internet at the following URL: http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,834579,00.html More about this issue --------------------------- Time to Admit Defeat: Greece Can No Longer Delay Euro Zone Exit http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,832968,00.html EU Summit on Wednesday: Hollande To Confront Merkel on Euro Bonds http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,834180,00.html Mounting Risks: ECB Increasingly Concerned Over Aid to Greek Banks http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,834156,00.html An Ultimatum for Greece: Europe Raises Threat Level against Athens http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,834188,00.html 'Sick Conditions': Why Greeks Will Vote for Tsipras http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,834141,00.html Sarrazin Strikes Again: German Author Says Berlin Is Hostage to Holocaust in Euro Crisis http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,834459,00.html [many thanks to Mort Frank for sharing with Portside this coverage from Germany] ========== DeleteReply Forward RedirectView ThreadBlacklistWhitelistMessage Source ___________________________________________ Portside aims to provide material of interest to people on the left that will help them to interpret the world and to change it. 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