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How Greece Could Change the Future of Europe

Source: Vice News

The Syriza party’s big win in Greece’s legislative election last weekend is a turning point in the long political fight over Europe’s botched recovery from the financial crisis and world recession of 2008-2009. The occasion presents a milestone for the eurozone, which has been plagued by mass unemployment and economic stagnation, but it remains to be seen how much this election will speed up the reversal of the destructive policies that brought the eurozone to its present state. read more

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Hillary Clinton admits role in Honduran coup aftermath

Source: Al Jazeera

In a recent op-ed in The Washington Post, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton used a review of Henry Kissinger’s latest book, “World Order,” to lay out her vision for “sustaining America’s leadership in the world.” In the midst of numerous global crises, she called for return to a foreign policy with purpose, strategy and pragmatism. She also highlighted some of these policy choices in her memoir “Hard Choices” and how they contributed to the challenges that Barack Obama’s administration now faces.   read more

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US support for regime change in Venezuela is a mistake

Source: The Guardian Unlimited

The US push to topple the Venezuelan government of Nicolas Maduro once again pits Washington against South America

When is it considered legitimate to try and overthrow a democratically-elected government? In Washington, the answer has always been simple: when the US government says it is. Not surprisingly, that’s not the way Latin American governments generally see it.

On Sunday, the Mercosur governments (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Venezuela) released a statement on the past week’s demonstrations in Venezuela. They described “the recent violent acts” in Venezuela as “attempts to destabilize the democratic order”. They made it abundantly clear where they stood. read more

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Five Things We Can Do To Help Fix the Economy in 2013

Source: Center for Economic Policy Research

For much of America, it still feels like we are in a recession.  We have recession levels of unemployment, with the headline rate at 7.7 percent; 14.4 percent if we count the underemployed and those who have given up hope.

Here are five things we can do to get the economy back on track in 2013:

Federal revenue for the states:  State governments need money so that they can increase employment, which has been hit very hard since the beginning of the Great Recession. We have lost teachers, firefighters, and many other workers whose absence compromises or endangers our future.  Since February of 2009 the number of state and local government employees has shrunk by more than 600,000, plus an equal or greater amount that would normally have been added.

For those who worry that the federal government is too indebted, don’t believe the hype.  The most important measure of our public debt burden is the net interest paid by the government on the debt. That is currently less than 1 percent of our national income, lower than it has been in the post-World-War II era. read more

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Obama signals four more years of bad relations with Latin America

Source: Al Jazeera

President Obama’s crass comments about newly-elected Chavez only serve to further alienate himself from Latin America.

President Obama went too far in throwing gratuitous insults at President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela on Friday, in an interview in Miami. By doing so, he not only offended the majority of Venezuelans, who voted to re-elect their president on October 7, but even many who did not. Chavez is fighting for his life, recovering from a difficult cancer operation; in Latin America, as in most of the world, this wholly unnecessary vilification of Chavez by Obama is a breach not only of diplomatic protocol but also of ordinary standards of civility. read more

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Ecuador’s Correa haunted by Honduras

Source: Guardian Unlimited

In June of last year, when the Honduran military overthrew the social-democratic government of Manuel Zelaya, President Rafael Correa of Ecuador took it personally. “We have intelligence reports that say that after Zelaya, I’m next,” said Correa.

On Thursday, it turned out to be true. Some analysts are still insisting that what happened was just a police protest over possible benefit cuts that got out of hand. But to anyone who watched the prolonged, pitched gun-battle on TV last night, when the armed forces finally rescued President Correa from the hospital where he was trapped by the police, this did not look like a protest. It was an attempt to overthrow the government. read more