The discovery of a surveillance system named TrapWire has connected state and federal law enforcement agencies with a vast intelligence infrastructure, raising questions everywhere — except in the mainstream media. The New York Times finally brought TrapWire into discussion late Monday in an article published on their website that has journalist Scott Shane discarding initial reports made about the surveill ...

Since July 4, we have been reading in major world newspapers and in statements by legislators, central banks, and judicial authorities, that there is a “scandal” about something called LIBOR. Before that time, few persons outside the group concerned with banking had even heard of LIBOR. Suddenly, we were being told that major banks in Great Britain, the United States, Switzerland, Germany, France, and proba ...

Far from embodying some timeless ‘Olympic spirit’, the 2012 Games reflect the injustice and inequality of the current economic system, writes David Renton. Long before John Carlos stood beside Tommie Smith to give their famous clenched-fist salutes on the podium at the 1968 Olympics, he was a boy growing up in Harlem. ‘When I first learned about the existence of the Olympics,’ he recalls, ‘my reaction was d ...

There’s a famous scene in Casablanca where the police chief, Captain Renault, arrives to close Rick’s cafe and announces: “I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!” A croupier hands him a bundle of notes: “Your winnings, sir.” Renault pockets the cash and orders: “Everybody out at once!” ...

What kind of world is this? How is it possible to bury a compelling case such as the transfer of ATE Bank (Agricultural Bank of Greece S.A.) to Sallas? Why does it go unnoticed from all the major newspapers, right-wing and "democratic", the major channels, or even the major news web-sites? Who shuts mouths and how even elementary journalistic "curiosity" disappear from the Greek republic of memoranda? ATE b ...

As Europe struggles to deal effectively with the economic crisis and stares a lost decade in the face, radically different alternatives are urgently needed. The ideas from the right of the political spectrum, most notably the commitment to unrestrained free market capitalism, not only caused the crisis, but are now exacerbating it through cuts and privatisations that damage the wider economy. They offer no ...

The backers of the 2012 Olympics ignore Juan Antonio Samaranch’s horrible history, writes Matthew Cookson [caption id="" align="alignleft" width="250"] ‘We are the Masters . . . for a few more months.’ Samaranch, fourth from right, surrounded by fascist deadbeats in 1974 mourning Adolf Hitler (http://www.transparencyinsport.org/The_IOCs_Favourite_Fascist/the_iocs_favourite_fascist.html).[/caption] The obitu ...

What can Europe learn from the United States? First, the United States – like Canada, England and China – have central banks that do what central banks outside of Europe were created to do: finance the budget deficit directly. ...

The famous clenched-fists image of Tommie Smith and John Carlos protesting against black oppression at the 1968 Olympics is worth revisiting as London 2012 presents us with a regime of licensed private dictatorship, writes Mike Marqusee. ...

Thanks to lax international tax rules the world’s super rich have siphoned at least $21 trillion -- more than 50 percent larger than the entire U.S. economy -- into secretive tax-free havens, according to a study by UK campaign group Tax Justice Network. The report by James Henry, a former chief economist at international consultancy McKinsey & Co., shows how with the help of private banks the money has ...