the unbalanced evolution of homo sapiens

The newly released Soviet "War Scare" report - previously classified "TOP SECRET UMBRA GAMMA WNINTEL NOFORN NOCONTRACT ORCON" and published after a 12-year fight by the National Security Archive – reveals that the 1983 War Scare was real. According to the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (PFIAB), the United States "may have inadvertently placed our relations with the Soviet Union on a hair trigger" during the 1983 NATO nuclear release exercise, Able Archer 83. globinfo freexchange The documents prove that the "balance of terror" during the Cold War was very fragile. The philosophy of the MAD (mutually assured destruction), based on the theory of deterrence, might not be sufficient to prevent a nuclear war. According to the theory of deterrence, " the threat of using strong weapons against the enemy prevents the enemy's use of those same weapons. The strategy is a form of Nash equilibriu

Journeys of death for thousands of desperate people, situation beyond critical globinfo freexchange Another ten refugees, including five children, were found dead on Thursday in the sea area north of Lesvos. A little girl, one year old, was hospitalized in intensive and died on Thursday night. It is still unclear the number of people missing since the shipwreck on Wednesday. Some sources speak for more than thirty people. The total number of victims of the shipwrecks in October 28th in Lesbos, Samos and Agathonisi is eighteen, of which twelve are children. The lurid list is constantly growing, while the images of children who are struggling to stay alive haunt the divided Europe, which still discuss the quotas of the number of refugees for each country. On Wednesday, the Greek coast guard managed to rescue more than 240 refugees from the shipwreck off coast Molyvos, Lesvos. The authorities identified two children who were unconscious and transported in critica

A significant evolvement Too little has been done to safeguard citizens' fundamental rights following revelations of electronic mass surveillance, say MEPs in a resolution voted on Thursday. They urge the EU Commission to ensure that all data transfers to the US are subject to an "effective level of protection" and ask EU member states to grant protection to Edward Snowden, as a "human rights defender". Parliament also raises concerns about surveillance laws in several EU countries. By 285 votes to 281, MEPs decided to call on EU member states to " drop any criminal charges against Edward Snowden, grant him protection and consequently prevent extradition or rendition by third parties, in recognition of his status as whistle-blower and international human rights defender ". Parliament is concerned about " recent laws in some member states that extend surveillance capabilities of intelligence bodies ", including

Ένα αποχαρακτηρισμένο - από το 2006 - απόρρητο έγγραφο της CIA που εμπλέκει τους δύο πρώην πρωθυπουργούς Κωνσταντίνο Καραμανλή και Κωνσταντίνο Τσαλδάρη με τους ναζί, παρουσιάζοντάς τους ως πράκτορές των γερμανικών κατοχικών δυνάμεων και συνεργάτες του Μαξ Μέρτεν, κάνει τις τελευταίες ώρες τον γύρο του διαδικτύου. Πρόκειται για έγγραφο - μαρτυρία διπλωματικού υπαλλήλου σύμφωνα με το οποίο ο Κωνσταντίνος Καραμανλής αλλά και ο Κωνσταντίνος Τσαλδάρης εμφανίζονται σε λίστα των πρακτόρων των ναζί κατά την περίοδο της κατοχής. Ωστόσο η σχετική λίστα με τους πράκτορες δεν περιλαμβάνεται στο απόρρητο έγγραφο της CIA. Σύμφωνα με όσα αναφέρονται, όσοι αναγράφονται στη λίστα φέρονται να είχαν συνεργαστεί και με τον Μαξ Μέρτεν, τον σφαγέα της Θεσσαλονίκης, στην εξόντωση των Εβραίων της πόλης. Το άκρως απόρρητο έγγραφο, το οποίο έχει πλέον αποχαρακτηριστεί και έχει αναρτηθεί στη σελίδα της CIA, έχει ημερομηνία 16 Σεπτεμβρίου του 1962. Σύμφωνα με το έγγραφο, ο τότ

Bidhya Devi Bhandari is 54 years old and has been a champion of women’s rights and led protests that ended the centuries-old Nepalese monarchy. Bidhya Devi Bhandari made history in Nepal. She has become the first women to rule the country. But that's not all. She is a communist who has been campaigning for a very long time in favor of women's rights. She has risen to power Wednesday after her Unified Marxist-Leninist (UML) party garnered 327 votes in parliament against her opponent's 214. Bhandari is among the politicians who pushed to secure their rights under the new constitution adopted last month that requires that a new president be named. The communist female leader became a leading political figure after her husband, Madan Bhandari, was killed in a car accident in 1993, which has remained mostly unexplained as circumstances surrounding the incident are dubious. He was the leader of the communist party. Bhandari has now become

Over the last two presidential debates, both Democratic and Republican candidates have asserted that the television news media is biased and has done a poor job informing voters of the most pressing issues in the election. And while their focus is on things like the type of questions asked by debate moderators, they are overlooking much clearer signs of potential conflicts of interest. Fundraising disclosures released this month and in July reveal that lobbyists for media companies are raising big money for establishment presidential candidates, particularly Hillary Clinton. The giant media companies that shape much of the coverage of the presidential campaign have a vested stake in the outcome. From campaign finance laws that govern how money is spent on advertising to the regulators who oversee consolidation rules, the media industry has a distinct policy agenda, and with it, a political team to influence the result. The top fundraisers for Clinton incl

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Yesui summoned U.S. Ambassador to China Max Baucus on Tuesday, lodging "serious representations" and expressing "strong discontent" over a U.S. warship patrol in waters near China's Nansha Islands in the South China Sea. "This action by the United States threatens China's sovereignty and security interests and endangers the safety of personnel and facilities on the reef, which is a serious provocation," Zhang said. Earlier on Tuesday, USS Lassen entered waters near Zhubi Reef without the permission of the Chinese government. Zhang noted that it had done so regardless of China's earlier dissuasion. China is "strongly discontented with and firmly against" the move, he said. The vice foreign minister reiterated China's claim of sovereignty over the Nansha Islands and its adjacent waters, on the basis that China discovered, named and developed them. "The Chinese govern

The same government which was rejected in the recent elections, will be presented by the center-Right Coelho despite that he has not the majority in the new parliament. The Left and the Socialists are expected to vote against. globinfo freexchange The same government which was rejected by the majority of the Portuguese people in the 4th October elections, was presented by the center-Right Pedro Passos Coelho, to the President of Portugal Aníbal Cavaco Silva, despite that he has not the necessary majority to be supported in the new Portuguese parliament. Maria Luís Albuquerque keeps her position as Minister of State and Finance, while Paulo Portas, the leader of CDS-PP and government partner until now, is being proposed as vice-president of the government. It should be noted that in ten days, the proposed governmental scheme should receive motion of confidence from the parliament, in which Coelho's party lacks the majority. At the same time

The United States has launched a reckless military provocation against China by sending a naval vessel within the 12-nautical mile limit surrounding islands claimed by China in the South China Sea. Early today [27/10], local time, the guided missile destroyer USS Lassen entered the exclusion zone around the Chinese-occupied and claimed Subi and Mischief reefs in the Spratly archipelago. China has reclaimed land from the sea and constructed facilities on the reefs. The USS Lassen was accompanied by a P-8A surveillance plane and a P-3 surveillance aircraft. According to US sources, China was not informed and no incident occurred. The brazen and aggressive character of the operation is underscored by the fact that it has been undertaken in the total absence of military activity against the US by China. Rather, it assumes the form of a pre-emptive strike aimed at humiliating the Chinese regime and placing it in a situation where it either confronts the US navy or

Την ίδια κυβέρνηση που αποδοκιμάστηκε στις εκλογές, θα παρουσιάσει στην Βουλή ο κεντροδεξιός Κοέλιο αν και δεν διαθέτει πλειοψηφία. Θα καταψηφίσουν Σοσιαλιστές και Αριστερά. Την κυβέρνηση που … αποδοκίμασε η πλειοψηφία των Πορτογάλων στις εκλογές της 4ης Οκτωβρίου, παρουσίασε ως νέο κυβερνητικό σχήμα στον Πρόεδρο της Δημοκρατίας Ανίμπαλ Καβάκο Σίλβα ο προερχόμενος από την δεξιά πρωθυπουργός Πέδρο Πάσος Κοέλιο, παρά το γεγονός ότι δεν διαθέτει την απαραίτητη πλειοψηφία στο πορτογαλικό κοινοβούλιο για να την στηρίξει. Στην θέση της υπουργού Οικονομικών παραμένει η Μαρία Λουίς Αλμπουκέρκι ενώ για αντιπρόεδρος προτείνεται ο Πάολο Πόρτας, επικεφαλής του CDS-PP, δηλαδή τον κυβερνητικό εταίρο της μέχρι σήμερα κεντροδεξιάς κυβέρνησης. Να σημειωθεί ότι το αργότερο σε 10 ημέρες το προτεινόμενο κυβερνητικό σχήμα πρέπει να λάβει ψήφο εμπιστοσύνης από την Βουλή, στην οποία όμως μειοψηφεί το κόμμα του Πάσος Κοέλιο. Την ίδια στιγμή ασκούνται έντονες πιέσεις στο σοσιαλι

The Intercept has obtained a cache of secret documents detailing the inner workings of the U.S. military’s assassination program in Afghanistan, Yemen, and Somalia. The documents, provided by a whistleblower, offer an unprecedented glimpse into Obama’s drone wars. Manhunting in the Hindu Kush Key points: ... the Haymaker campaign was in many respects a failure. The vast majority of those killed in airstrikes were not the direct targets. Nor did the campaign succeed in significantly degrading al Qaeda’s operations in the region. The documents show that during a five-month stretch of the campaign, nearly nine out of 10 people who died in airstrikes were not the Americans’ direct targets. By February 2013, Haymaker airstrikes had resulted in no more than 35 “jackpots,” a term used to signal the neutralization of a specific targeted individual, while more than 200 people were declared EKIA — “enemy killed in action.” “ If there is

Deutsche Bank considers the possibility of a haircut of Greece’s public debt by the end of the year ‘inevitable’, according to a report in German tabloid Bild. The newspaper cites a classified Deutsche Bank internal circulation document which allegedly states that the Greek debt must be reduced by about 200 billion euros. This turns out to about 700 euros for each citizen in the Eurozone, states Bild. The report further notes that by the end of 2015 Greece’s public debt will be 340 billion euros, 200 percent of GDP, far more than what European regulations allow. This, in turn, means that no economist truly believes Greece will be able to repay its debts. The tabloid however adds that should a haircut of the Greek debt be deemed necessary, the decision to carry it out will be less of a financial one and more of a political one, and it will be made after negotiations between Athens and creditors. Source: http://greece.greekreporter.com/2015/10/27/

by Binoy Kampmark “ Meanwhile in Portugal we are witnessing the makings of a genuine coup with the unwillingness of the establishment there to accept the outcome of an election and the support won by parties who oppose EU austerity. ” Gerry Adams, Sinn Féin, Oct 24, 2015 This is the truest form of Euro authoritarianism, short of full prisons and torture chambers. (These may, in time, come.) If you are not seized by the idea, the fetishism of a currency; if you gather up your forces to mount an offence against austerity, twinned as it with monetary union, then you must be, in the eyes of these policing forces, against the European project. This obscene inversion has found form in Portugal, yet another country that has taken the road towards anti-democratic practice when it comes to the battle between the outcome of staged elections and the heralded inviolability of a broken euro system. It has the chill of history – political groupings with

by Yorgos Mitralias So now here we are: the new Tsipras government has just resolved two of its major problems: that of the public debt and the one represented by the ex-president of the Greek Parliament, Zoe Konstantopoulou. How has it managed to bring off this feat? Simple! By erasing from the official site of the Greek Parliament – for all time – everything that could recall Zoe Konstantopoulou and her initiatives during her brief presidency, including the Commission for the Truth of the Public Debt. Faced with this impressive back-turn by the Greek government which takes us back to the glories of Stalinism’s triumphant years in the ’30s but also of Macarthyism at its most intrusive in the early ’50s, we are entitled to ask: Does all this mean that Greece’s public debt has disappeared? And has Zoe K. accepted her defeat then, and decided to stop telling the truth and to silence her criticism of the vitriol thrown at her? The answer is No. Greece’s as

It is a bad day for those innocents on the Left who think that the European Union can be transformed from within, turned into an instrument of the peoples’ will and a motor for social progress, public ownership, popular sovereignty or even pluralist democracy. For the first time since the monetary union was created parties that oppose the EU regime of privatisation, labour market deregulation and the fiscal straitjacket have been prevented from taking office even though they enjoy a parliamentary majority. On the grounds of “national interest” Anibal Cavaco Silva, president of Portugal’s constitutional president, has refused to allow the appointment a Left-wing coalition government even though it secured an absolute majority in the Portuguese parliament on an anti austerity mandate imposed by the EU-IMF Troika. The Socialists, Communists and left Bloc together won 50.7% of the votes and control the Assembly. The biggest party grouping, led by Pedro Passos

Over the next six months, Barcelona’s left-wing city council plans to roll out a cash-less local currency that has the potential to become the largest of its kind in the world. The main goal of the project, according to a council spokesperson, is to boost economic opportunities for local businesses and traders. The idea is for local stores and residents to be able to exchange euros for the new currency at a one-to-one parity, and use it to purchase products and services at a discount or with other kinds of incentives. But it doesn’t end there: the new parallel currency may also be used to pay certain subsidies, taxes and local services such as public transport, reports El País. Municipal workers could also receive part of their salary in the new money. Barcelona will not be the first European city to launch such a scheme. Local currencies are all the rage these days. There could be as many as 3,000 forms of local money in use around the globe, says Community Curren

Further signs of panic in another coup after Greece globinfo freexchange The European Financial Dictatorship showed further signs of panic in Portugal this time. After the significant loss of power of the neoliberal Right in recent national elections, a constitutional coup took place in order to prevent the anti-austerity forces of the Left to form a government. From Telegraph: Constitutional crisis looms after anti-austerity Left is denied parliamentary prerogative to form a majority government. Portugal has entered dangerous political waters. For the first time since the creation of Europe’s monetary union, a member state has taken the explicit step of forbidding eurosceptic parties from taking office on the grounds of national interest. Anibal Cavaco Silva, Portugal’s constitutional president, has refused to appoint a Left-wing coalition government even though it secured an absolute majority in the Portuguese parl