Guest October 21, 2019 (edited) All over the globe, the mood is turning sour. Anger and frustration are bubbling over, and protests are becoming violent in major cities all across the planet. In some cases economic pain is driving the protests and in other cases political matters are motivating the protesters, and it has been a very long time since we have seen so many angry protests happening all over the world simultaneously. Unfortunately, many believe that what we have seen so far is just the beginning. Global economic conditions are rapidly deteriorating, and as economic pain intensifies that is only going to make everyone more frustrated. NOTE - DT is still not a journalist and the ''ignore user'' feature still works. Authored by Michael Snyder via The End of The American Dream blog, And here in the United States, the drama surrounding the potential impeachment of Donald Trump is going to greatly escalate the political tensions that are already deeply dividing this country. No matter how things turn out, a large percentage of the population is likely to be deeply frustrated with the result, and that could very easily lead to tremendous civil unrest. But before we get to Trump, let’s take a look at what has been going on around the rest of the world first. In Chile, we are witnessing violent protests unlike anything that we have seen in decades . Three people died in a fire in a supermarket being ransacked in the Chilean capital early Sunday, as protests sparked by anger over social and economic conditions rocked one of Latin America’s most stable countries. Santiago’s Mayor Karla Rubilar told reporters two people burned to death in the blaze and another later died in hospital, after the huge store controlled by US retail chain Walmart was looted. Economic conditions are tough in Chile and rapidly getting tougher, and it is very unusual to hear of “looting” in a country that is normally so stable. Meanwhile, political corruption appears to be the main motivation for the violent protests in Lebanon… Thousands of demonstrators poured into downtown Beirut for a third day on Saturday, hours after overnight clashes erupted between security forces and protesters leading to large-scale arrests and several injuries. Demonstrations have engulfed various parts of Lebanon for three days. Many protesters called for the resignation of the government and demanded the “downfall” of a political class that has ruled the country since the start of its 15-year civil war in 1975. When people lose hope that things are ever going to get any better, they tend to take to the streets. Unfortunately, corruption appears to be a way of life over in Lebanon at this point, and there seems to be little hope of major reforms any time soon. In the UK, the drama surrounding the Brexit saga drew “hundreds of thousands of people” into the streets of London this weekend. Hundreds of thousands of people have marched in central London to demand a new referendum on whether Britain should remain in the European Union, as parliament voted to delay a decision on whether to back Prime Minister Boris Johnson‘s revised Brexit withdrawal deal. The march organised by the People’s Vote campaign is thought to be the largest yet, drawing anti-Brexit supporters from across the country as parliament sat on a Saturday for the first time since the Falklands conflict in the 1980s. Yet another Brexit agreement appears to have failed, and many are wondering if it will ever be possible to get one through Parliament. Many of those favoring Brexit are hoping for a “no deal” exit from the European Union at this point, and meanwhile many of the “remainers” are holding out hope that there will somehow be a second referendum. Over in Spain, violent protests have erupted night after night in the aftermath of the arrest of nine key pro-independence leaders in Catalonia. Barcelona saw its fifth consecutive night of violence on Friday, in the wake of Monday’s Supreme Court ruling that jailed nine pro-independence leaders for their role in the 2017 secessionist drive. The disturbances last night were particularly virulent, in terms of their duration, intensity and use of violence on the part of protestors, who were very aggressive toward the police. Violent groups surrounded the central headquarters of the National Police in the Catalan capital, throwing objects, putting up barricades and setting fire to trash containers. As the sun set, the protests moved to the center of the city, where the regional police force, the Mossos d’Esquadra, used an armored vehicle with a water cannon. At least three police officers were injured in the rioting. These protests may fade after a while, but they are not going away. Those involved in the pro-independence movement in Catalonia are very passionate, and it has widespread public support. Of course the protests that have made the biggest splash on the global stage have been the relentless pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. Despite the brutality of the police, the protesters just keep coming back again and again, and “tens of thousands” of protesters were in the streets once again on Sunday. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters took to Hong Kong’s streets on Sunday, once again defying a police ban on the assembly and undeterred by a brutal attack against a leader of the organization that called for the march. The huge turnout, which included families, children and the elderly, demonstrated how the movement now in its fifth month continues to have widespread support, despite the increasingly violent tactics used by protesters and escalating use of force by police. Here in the United States, we don’t have protests like this going on right now. But we could very soon. The impeachment process is bringing a focal point to the deep anger that has been building on both sides of the political spectrum for many years. Now that this process has begun, there is no going back, and both sides believe that there is only one result that will bring justice. For the left, any result that does remove Donald Trump from office will be a bitter disappointment. The Democrats in the House of Representatives are going to draft articles of impeachment, and they believe that they already have the votes they need to send those articles of impeachment to the U.S. Senate. If the Republican-controlled Senate does not vote to convict Trump and remove him from office, this will greatly upset the left, and could result in an explosion of anger in our city streets. On the other hand, if the Republican-controlled Senate does vote to convict Trump and remove him from office, tens of millions of hardcore Trump supporters are going to be absolutely livid. There would be an explosion of righteous anger on the right, and it would almost certainly spill into our city streets. Of course it is likely that both sides will start protesting well before there is a final result, but once the final vote in the Senate happens that is when things are likely to get very interesting. The Democrats should have never gone down this road, because one way or another this process is going to tear us apart. If our founders could see us today they would be rolling over in their graves, because this is not what they intended. Edited October 21, 2019 by Guest Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Meredith Poor + 895 MP October 21, 2019 Impeachment has little to do with cost of living. Working American households have done 'better' over the last couple of years compared to the span prior to Trump's election. The one theme that I saw repeatedly during the Obama presidency was that corporate executives refused to invest because they were afraid of what the government might do in response. 'The nail that sticks up gets hammered down.' Traditional, farm workers have moved to cities to take jobs in factories - this has been true for the last 300 years. The more novel development now is that small towns and small cities are losing population to 'tech centers' - people move out of Dayton to work in Seattle. 'High value creation' corporate entities are in Silicon Valley and NYC and Seattle, etc. while the hinterland is producing excess cheese driven by government subsidies and corn for making ethanol. In the US it is easy for someone to move from Mississippi to New York or New Mexico to Phoenix. In Europe the equivalent move is across one or more national borders. Someone living miserably in Hungary has to move to Germany or London. This involves a lot more difficulty, and such a transplant usually has diminished rights and access to social benefits. Multinational companies, often but not necessarily American, have figured out how to extract the profit out of the economic system, leaving everyone else with crumbs - and often social costs. US companies that make soda pop are not only harvesting all the profit, but they are leaving square miles of plastic garbage on the land and water in the countries they serve. Electing Trump was the dispossessed 'protest vote', and his support is still uncharacteristically strong. Trumps mandate is to 'f*** the elites' which he is doing in spades - he seems to be hell-bent on wrecking the US (and global) economy and economic order. The people who lost their jobs to Mexico or China want to see everyone else experience their pain. It hasn't happened yet, and probably won't. Those who lost their employment in the last 20 years are probably working again, but that doesn't mean that they have the economic security to own homes and raise families. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rasmus Jorgensen + 1,169 RJ October 21, 2019 (edited) 8 minutes ago, Meredith Poor said: Those who lost their employment in the last 20 years are probably working again, but that doesn't mean that they have the economic security to own homes and raise families. This fundamentally sums up my fear that rigth wing nationalists parties are promising more than they can deliver Edited October 21, 2019 by Rasmus Jorgensen Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Douglas Buckland + 6,308 October 21, 2019 11 minutes ago, Rasmus Jorgensen said: This fundamentally sums up my fear that rigth wing nationalists parties are promising more than they can deliver So no different than the promises of the leftist national parties during the Obama reign. 2 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rasmus Jorgensen + 1,169 RJ October 21, 2019 1 minute ago, Douglas Buckland said: So no different than the promises of the leftist national parties during the Obama reign. I couldn't say. I was actually more commenting on view on Europe and the situation here. But to an extent the same applies here - I see nobody offering a real longterm solution. I see some trying, but they don't get much traction. The current financial policies in the entire West (EU + US) scares the s*** out of me... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Douglas Buckland + 6,308 October 21, 2019 Fair enough. The political climate, globally, regarding any issue, is so polarized that compromising, which is supposed to be the ‘bread & butter’ of politicians, is apparently impossible. The only solution I can even think of offering is to drain the global political swamp. Term limits would be a good first move in the US. (In my humble opinion) 1 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jan van Eck + 7,558 MG October 21, 2019 (edited) 32 minutes ago, Rasmus Jorgensen said: This fundamentally sums up my fear that right wing nationalists parties are promising more than they can deliver Oh, they can deliver just fine. To see how it is done, I invite you to review the progress of the Nat'l Socialist Party of Uncle Adolf during 1933-1940. It was a time of tremendous economic expansion and the surplus labor was sopped up, in projects such as the Autobahn construction and large-scale military procurement, including construction of the Bismarck and the Tirpitz. They got the cash for that by levying "departure taxes" on fleeing Jews, who had to pay roughly 96% of their assets in order to obtain an exit visa. Worked just fine. Do not underestimate the ability of right-wing political organizations to deliver. They assuredly can. You might not quite like the result, but that is quite another matter. Edited October 21, 2019 by Jan van Eck 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rasmus Jorgensen + 1,169 RJ October 21, 2019 1 minute ago, Jan van Eck said: Do not underestimate the ability of right-wing political organizations to deliver. They assuredly can. You might not quite like the result, but that is quite another matter. thanks for elaborating. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rasmus Jorgensen + 1,169 RJ October 21, 2019 7 minutes ago, Douglas Buckland said: The political climate, globally, regarding any issue, is so polarized that compromising, which is supposed to be the ‘bread & butter’ of politicians, is apparently impossible. Sadly true. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jan van Eck + 7,558 MG October 21, 2019 8 hours ago, DayTrader said: If the Republican-controlled Senate does not vote to convict Trump and remove him from office, this will greatly upset the left, and could result in an explosion of anger in our city streets. On the other hand, if the Republican-controlled Senate does vote to convict Trump and remove him from office, tens of millions of hardcore Trump supporters are going to be absolutely livid. There would be an explosion of righteous anger on the right, and it would almost certainly spill into our city streets. I predict that at least 150 American cities will be in flames. What the Democrats do not appreciate, with their single-minded hatred of Trump and their obsession with removing him (because they lost in 2016) is that the USA has churned large numbers of men through military training, and those ex-soldiers all have private weapons, some with quite a bit of firepower. Also, a number of those men have had explosives training, and it only takes one man with a grudge and such training to blast an entire Federal Building into oblivion - as Tim McVeigh did out in Oklahoma with his fertilizer truck bomb. Toss into that mix the Native Americans from the abused reservations and you are in for a serious powder-keg. Open warfare on the streets is ugly. Don't go there. 1 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
El Nikko + 2,145 nb October 21, 2019 36 minutes ago, Jan van Eck said: Oh, they can deliver just fine. To see how it is done, I invite you to review the progress of the Nat'l Socialist Party of Uncle Adolf during 1933-1940. It was a time of tremendous economic expansion and the surplus labor was sopped up, in projects such as the Autobahn construction and large-scale military procurement, including construction of the Bismarck and the Tirpitz. They got the cash for that by levying "departure taxes" on fleeing Jews, who had to pay roughly 96% of their assets in order to obtain an exit visa. Worked just fine. Do not underestimate the ability of right-wing political organizations to deliver. They assuredly can. You might not quite like the result, but that is quite another matter. Most countries were nationalistic for much of their history. I think it's a bit dishonest (but very common these days) to equate right wing politics with Hitler. It isn't a given that a left wing socialist governments will lead to gulags or the mass murder of 10s of millions of people as happened under communist regimes either. Fascists and national socialists actually originated as far left wing where new political ideas were being formed in the late 1800s. The far left later split into internationalists (communists) and nationalists (fascists) hence their absolute hatred of each other. I think the left right arguement has become redundant these days, it used to really mean big government and big spending versus small government but there are so many variables that it doesn't really make much sense these days. It seems to me that the world is changing rapidly towards a multipolar world where countries are increasingly having to act in their own interests which is why Trump is pushing for allies to step up and play their part in their own region and organisations like the EU are starting to fail. We are seeing a change in political discourse which really shocked me a few years ago...intelligent friends openly talking about Marx for example and the rise of nationalism on the other side of the coin. I think this is the politics that will be shaping the future and I expect a continued rise of nationalist parties which are more insular and protective but I doubt there will be gas chambers being built any time soon. Just a little light humour here but here's Godwin's law for future reference 1 2 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jan van Eck + 7,558 MG October 21, 2019 42 minutes ago, El Nikko said: I think it's a bit dishonest (but very common these days) to equate right wing politics with Hitler. I sure hope you are not accusing me of that sophistry. What I pointed out was that nationalist parties can and did move mountains with their ideology. I did not say anything about "right wing politics." Adolf was a historical figure, and he instituted specific policies to get Germany out from underneath the crushing weight of the Versailles Treaty, the taking of German lands by France, the issue of reparations payments, and the ban on both ships and aircraft. Whether he was "left" or "right" is not the issue; all that is for historical revisionists to go argue over. I do not advance those arguments. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
El Nikko + 2,145 nb October 21, 2019 4 minutes ago, Jan van Eck said: I sure hope you are not accusing me of that sophistry. Not at all but I also don't think what happened in one specific period of history is the template for every future political movement after all Britain and the US were quite nationalist countries at the time. I agree with much of what you wrote regarding historical issues but it has been a very real thing to get called nazi just for having different ideas and that is what I was pointing out. When UKIP was a thing in 2014 it was a regular slur from politicians and the MSM and I'm sure American's will have noticed the same against Trump supporters so please forgive me if it's a touchy subject 1 1 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jan van Eck + 7,558 MG October 21, 2019 1 hour ago, El Nikko said: but it has been a very real thing to get called nazi just for having different ideas Yup, all true. I get called that just for being Teutonic. I just blow it off. No worries! Besides, Uncle Adolf had just awful PR guys. I mean, who would pay attention to some little wrinkle like Goebbels? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ronwagn + 6,290 October 21, 2019 5 hours ago, Douglas Buckland said: Fair enough. The political climate, globally, regarding any issue, is so polarized that compromising, which is supposed to be the ‘bread & butter’ of politicians, is apparently impossible. The only solution I can even think of offering is to drain the global political swamp. Term limits would be a good first move in the US. (In my humble opinion) I don't believe that the constitution ever mentioned political parties. It might had been better if they banned them. If the Senate voted to impeach Trump we would certainly have a third party representing the average working person. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ward Smith + 6,615 October 21, 2019 (edited) 5 hours ago, Jan van Eck said: Oh, they can deliver just fine. To see how it is done, I invite you to review the progress of the Nat'l Socialist Party of Uncle Adolf during 1933-1940. It was a time of tremendous economic expansion and the surplus labor was sopped up, in projects such as the Autobahn construction and large-scale military procurement, including construction of the Bismarck and the Tirpitz. They got the cash for that by levying "departure taxes" on fleeing Jews, who had to pay roughly 96% of their assets in order to obtain an exit visa. Worked just fine. Do not underestimate the ability of right-wing political organizations to deliver. They assuredly can. You might not quite like the result, but that is quite another matter. The government in question was LEFT not Right. Nazis were SOCIALIST! That was how they got away with government takeover of all the means of production. They had official "inspectors" who would drive the small companies out of business while the mega corps such as Bosch and Bavarian Motor Works thrived (but only if they did the govt bidding) Just like the Soviets before them, they went to the farmers and counted chickens, demanding that each hen lay 1.5 eggs per day, or else. Revisionist history written by useful idiots has been "right washing" the nazis for decades. Edited October 21, 2019 by Ward Smith Emphasis on misleading statement 1 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ronwagn + 6,290 October 21, 2019 5 hours ago, Jan van Eck said: Oh, they can deliver just fine. To see how it is done, I invite you to review the progress of the Nat'l Socialist Party of Uncle Adolf during 1933-1940. It was a time of tremendous economic expansion and the surplus labor was sopped up, in projects such as the Autobahn construction and large-scale military procurement, including construction of the Bismarck and the Tirpitz. They got the cash for that by levying "departure taxes" on fleeing Jews, who had to pay roughly 96% of their assets in order to obtain an exit visa. Worked just fine. Do not underestimate the ability of right-wing political organizations to deliver. They assuredly can. You might not quite like the result, but that is quite another matter. Hitler was no more right wing than Stalin. They were both nationalists and each represented a different version of big government statism that controlled everything. Hitler added overt racism vs. Stalin's which was covert but he obviously had no problem killing the Ukrainian peasants, some Jews and anyone who threatened his power and will. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites