Is America’s Economy Being Sovietized?

The foundation of the Soviet model of trade and investment was centralization under the guise of “universal public ownership”. The entire goal of communism in general was not to give more social and political power to the people, but to extinguish alternative options and focus power into the hands of a select few. The process used to reach this end result can vary, but the goal always remains the same. In most cases, such centralization begins with economic hegemony, and it is in our fiscal structure that we have the means to see the future. Sovietization in our financial life will inevitably lead to sovietization in our political life.

Does the U.S. economy’s path resemble the Soviet template exactly? No. And I’m sure the very suggestion will make the average unaware free market evangelical froth at the mouth. However, as I plan to show, the parallels in our fundamentals are disturbing; the reality is that true free markets in America died a long time ago.

Myanmar’s ‘goldrush’ lures foreigners

It is an expat “goldrush” driven by the promise of an economic boom after the rollback of many sanctions following the end of decades of junta rule.

However, some, at least, are also drawn by a commitment to help rebuild the impoverished nation.

The once-empty Western bars of central Yangon are now doing a roaring trade, hotels are fully booked and networking nights thrum with the chatter of new arrivals hungry for contacts in the city.

Philippines boosts military to resist ‘bullies’

Country relations in Asia are getting to the boiling point in regards to China. What we’re seeing within the region is an arms race to protect itself against the communist giant, and it’s not just the Philippines. For example, Japan seems to be silently going nuclear and going on the offensive to protect its disputed territory. Within the next ten years, we could see a situation where all countries within the Asian giant’s reach become strong enough combined that China will have no choice but to go on a ‘charm offensive’ and unite the continent under its political/military/economic umbrella rather than go to war with every neighbor. Having done this, combined with the United States suiciding itself from within and becoming more unreliable as a partner each day, it will have effectively taken out America’s hegemony in the Asia Pacific without having to go to war with it. However, because that nobody has a crystal ball (that works), a war or skirmish in the future shouldn’t be dismissed.

MANILA – Philippine President Benigno Aquino on Tuesday announced a US$1.8-billion (S$2.26b) military upgrade to help defend his country’s maritime territory against “bullies”, amid an ever-worsening dispute with China.

The announcement came on the same day that the Philippines filed a protest with China over the “illegal and provocative” presence of a Chinese warship and two other vessels at a Filipino-claimed shoal in the disputed South China Sea.

Trade Policy and Economic Decline

In a book titled SELLING US OUT, J.R. Martin writes of Chinese companies “exploiting loopholes in the U.S.-China tax treaty signed by the Reagan administration in 1986.” He asks what the Founding Fathers would say about our current trade deficit, and our indebtedness to communist-ruled China. Martin asks, “What would Washington and Adams think about the corrupt and destructive power of the two major political parties in America? How would they judge today’s capitalism?”

China army developing advanced robot soldiers

Those who continue to think China isn’t advanced or can’t do any harm to the U.S. need to reassess the planet they live on. Within the next five to ten years, maybe sooner, the PLA could very likely be more advanced than the U.S. Military. It would be fair to say that they’re almost on equal footing now because there’s so much we don’t know buried in their black budget and state secrets, yet keep finding out from time to time. It would be fair to also say that roughly only 20% — 40% of their secrets are revealed.

BEIJING: China is developing robots with a lot more capabilities for battle, “information acquisition, command and control, and collaborative support,” official sources said. But the official Chinese media is saying its effort is different from the manner in which military robots have been developed in the US.

“The Chinese military has its own orientation and direction, and is very different from western militaries, such as the United States Armed Forces, in developing digitalized troops,” an official military publication said.

Hypocrisy and Capitalism

Fidel Castro once said, “I find capitalism repugnant. It is filthy, it is gross, it is alienating … because it causes war, hypocrisy and competition.” What is most curious in this quote is the apparent innocence with which a famous socialist dictator uses the term hypocrisy, as if the socialist alternative to capitalism were anything but hypocrisy. Socialist dictators often allege that economic freedom is slavery and then, through a socialist revolution, bring real slavery to an entire people. The socialist dictator says, “I am a liberator.” He blames the free market for poverty, and then he annihilates the free market in favor of near universal poverty. A politician like Castro, promising happiness and freedom, nonetheless delivers the exact opposite and has the nerve to say that capitalism is hypocritical.

Consider the old Soviet joke which asks, “Comrade, what is the definition of capitalism?” The answer comes back, “It is a system where man exploits man while socialism is the exact opposite.” The joke works nicely in all socialist countries. The socialist dictator blames the free market for the world’s problems. He assumes a dictatorship over the economy, over investment, over opportunity. It is a total dictatorship because the state takes total control. And what could be more “filthy” and “gross”?

Okinawa doesn’t belong to Japan, says hawkish PLA general

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  “The Ryukyus do not belong to Japan,” said Major General Luo Yuan. Photo: Simon Song

A hawkish Chinese general has possibly opened a Pandora’s box on territorial disputes in East Asia by saying that the Ryukyu Islands including Okinawa do not belong to Japan.

Luo Yuan, a People’s Liberation Army two-star general, has said that Japan could not rightfully claim sovereignty over the islands, because they had started paying tribute to China half a millenium before they had done so to Japan. 

China on alert against ‘dangerous’ Western values

The Chinese Communist Party has warned officials to combat “dangerous” Western values and other perceived ideological threats, according to accounts of a directive that analysts said reflects the top leader Xi Jinping’s determination to preserve top-down political control even as he considers economic liberalisation.

Beijing Says Okinawa May Belong to China

China’s main newspaper said on Wednesday that Beijing is unsure of Japan’s sovereignty over the island of Okinawa—the home of key U.S. military bases.

A long-winded article in the People’s Daily—the mouthpiece of China’s ruling Communist Party—said that Beijing may rightfully own the Ryukyu island chain, which includes Okinawa. The island is home to 1.3 million people, who are much more closely related to Japan than to China in terms of both ethnicity and linguistics. The Ryukyus chain was a sort of vassal state of China before Japan annexed it in 1879, and now the Chinese say it should return to them based on post-World War II measures requiring Japan to return territories that it took from Beijing.

BREAKING: European Commission to criminalize nearly all seeds and plants not registered with government

As oft heard, Socialism is only a bridge to Communism. Today’s modern ’Troika‘ attempting to grab full control over what Europeans can grow in their own backyards illustrates the direction it’s going as the cycle of history repeats itself. Given the fact Cyprus and Greece (Italy/Spain/France next) can be subjugated by today’s Fourth Reich (Germany) running the EU via economic warfare through the Troika, one shouldn’t be surprised if they have enough leverage to pull this one off — especially since sovereign nations haven’t shown any backbone whatsoever in saying enough is enough.

(NaturalNews) A new law proposed by the European Commission would make it  illegal to “grow, reproduce or trade” any vegetable seeds that have not been “tested, approved and accepted”  by a new EU bureaucracy named the “EU Plant Variety Agency.”

It’s called  the Plant Reproductive Material Law, and it attempts to put the  government in charge of virtually all plants and seeds. Home gardeners who grow  their own plants from non-regulated seeds would be considered criminals under  this law.

Russia charging NASA $A68m per rocket seat

It’s taken only thirty years for the United States in its golden years to go from keeping the Evil Empire in check to becoming reliant upon it — as well as beginning to give them the already-domestically-produced rope from which they will hang USA with. As long as the American shopping mall regime still has plenty of Apple stores from which to purchase a new iPad and plenty of Kardashians to follow, there is no problem or real news to be concerned of.

NASA will pay $US70.7 million ($A68.50 million) to Russia for each astronaut Moscow’s space agency ferries into orbit in 2016 and 2017, the US space agency said.

NASA and Roscomos signed a $US424 million agreement to bring six US astronauts aloft for long-term mission aboard the ISS. The deal would cover all training, launch preparation, flight operation, landing and if needed rescue efforts.

The previous agreement had set the price at $US62.7 million per seat through 2015.

Pentagon Paying Chinese for Satellite Bandwidth

Not to worry. The Chinese would never attempt to hack US military intelligence communication systems. Sadly today, as with that one-liner, US national security concerns are also a joke.

The Pentagon revealed late last week it is paying the Chinese $10 million for a one-year lease for a satellite that allows U.S. troops on the African continent to keep in touch and share information, Wired reports.

The announcement has U.S. policymakers on edge.

The Pentagon insists any data passed on the satellite is protected.