By Jen Alic of Oilprice.com*
IDN-InDepth NewsViewpoint
WASHINGTON DC (IDN) – As Washington hunts ill-defined al-Qaeda groups in the Middle East and Africa, and concerns itself with Iran’s eventual nuclear potential, it has a much more pressing problem at home: Its energy grid is vulnerable to anyone with basic weapons and know-how.
By Ernest Corea*
IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis
Washington DC (IDN) – There’s nothing like a real-life scandal involving a spymaster, who is also a bemedalled and highly regarded retired general, to deprive a big-time political event of major headlines, whether in the print or electronic media.
The scandal turned convolute, and the entire activity considered worthy of even more headlines, when the FBI informed the Pentagon that the retired general’s successor in the army (another general) had exchanged “potentially inappropriate” emails with the woman whose informal complaint to an FBI agent sparked the investigation that initially exposed the scandal.
By Ernest Corea*
IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis
WASHINGTO DC (IDN) – Voters keeping a sharp lookout for an “October Surprise” – an unexpected event that could affect the November 6 presidential election – could not have been disappointed. They experienced several.
Some past October surprises have been both dramatic and significant. To name a few: the British-French-Israeli conspiracy and invasion to wrest control of the Suez Cana from Egypt (1956), Henry Kissinger’s announcement about the Vietnam war that “peace is at hand” (1972), and the news leak, subsequently confirmed, that some years earlier George W. Bush was arrested for drunken driving in Texas (2000).
By Eric Walberg*
IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis
TORNTO (IDN) – After 10 years in Guantanamo, former child soldier Omar Khadr, the last Western national being held there, was finally repatriated September 29, 2012 after years of mistreatment. The illegality of the procedures used against Khadr from day one mean that the Canadian government faces a multi-million dollar law suit for damages.
Various court cases against the government failed to convince it to expedite his return, until the U.S. government finally pulled the plug, forcing the Canadian government to take him after his plea of guilty to various charges, clearly made as the only way to end his ordeal and give him hope of eventual release.
By Ernest Corea*
IDN –InDepth NewsAnalysis
WASHINGTON (IDN) – “Stop it.” That was Ann Romney’s peremptory order to her husband’s Republican Party critics, when she was recently interviewed by Radio Iowa. The wife of presidential candidate Mitt Romney came across like a highly strung nanny ticking off a rumbustious bunch of rich kids at a summer picnic.
In fairness to Mrs. Romney, however, her lack of experience has obviously moved her towards breaking point as she surveys the fallout from the bombshell that current affairs magazine Mother Jones dropped on the Romney campaign.
By Erich Walberg*
IDN-InDepth NewsReport
The ’empire’ requires a nice juicy enemy to keep people’s minds off its own sins. This year’s Toronto International Film Festival highlights the new direction in filmmaking: Iran is the enemy du jour, but at the same time it is no longer kosher to praise everything Israel does.
By Ernest Corea*
IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis
WASHINGTON (IDN) – They are done. Democrats and Republicans have completed their conventions, and President Barack Obama has secured the anticipated post-convention bounce.
The latest Gallup poll puts Obama at 49 percent among registered voters, compared with 45 percent for former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney. The Reuters/Ipsos poll also gives Obama a four-percentage-point lead over Romney, 47:43. Obama’s personal favourability rating has increased as well and his favourability:unfavourability score is up to 52:43. That’s a seven percentage point bounce.
By Ernest Corea*
IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis
WASHINGTON DC (IDN) – Behold! Another stirrer-upper. As an evangelical stream of consciousness moves through the Republican Party, this could well be how some activists reacted to the news that on Saturday, September 24 Herman Cain, would-be presidential candidate and former chief executive officer (CEO) of the Godfather brand of pizza won the party’s straw poll in Florida. He is the only African-American seeking the Republican nomination.
By Ernest Corea*
IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis
WASHINGTON DC (IDN) – Reports of stocks plummeting and investor confidence diminishing dominated news cycles even as President Barack Obama attempted to reassure fellow-Americans – and the world – that their confidence in the country’s continuing strength would endure.
Speaking directly to the White House press corps and projecting his remarks to broader publics, Obama asserted that “markets will rise and fall, but this is the United States of America, and no matter what some agency may say, we always have been and always will be a triple-A country.”
By Jutta Wolf
IDN-InDepth NewsReport
BERLIN (IDN) – While the world held its breath in the long drawn political tug-of-war between the White House and Republican Party leaders until beginning of August 2011, Senator Bernie Sanders posted on his website startling findings of a top-to-bottom audit of the Federal Reserve (Fed): The central bank of the United States had dished out a whopping $16 trillion between December 2007 and June 2010 in interest free secret loans to “bail out” American and foreign banks and businesses.
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