CounterCurrents: Demonetisation-A Slow Moving Tsunami, The Trump Effect: Is Climate Change Denialism On The Rise?, Fake News Laundered 1950-53 US Slaughter of 3 Million Koreans To Maintain US 1%’s Rule of South

Dear Friend,

The Indian demonetisation saga is a slow moving tsunami. It gathers momentum from rural India and is going to engulf the whole of India. Starvation and famine are the most likely outcome.  We've already seen farmers dumping tomato on the road. How are they supposed to live? 

The government too is aware of this emerging scenario. I guess, that's why the government removed the import duty on wheat. This classical shock doctrine playing out. Agri-corporations are going to make a windfall. They may even push,  hotly resisted BT seeds into India. Will it end famine? Starvation? Unlikely. The imported wheat is most probably end up in urban supermarket and be consumed by plastic card holding urban elite, while the rest of India is submerged in the tsunami of starvation.

Are the plastic card holding class safe?  Vijaya Kumar Marla writes from his own experience "Cashless India: Inviting Disaster". He writes how bank networks malfunctioned, making plastic cards practically useless. 

Yesterday, I talked to a 'Techie' friend who is well versed in the functioning of the 'e-wallets' sprouting everywhere in India and promoted by the Prime Minister himself. He said most of these e-wallets do not practice the basic security principles needed to make these e-wallets secure. He said most of them are vulnerable to hacker attacks, that to pretty easily! So, much for the dream of 'cashless India'. 

Check the engrossing "Sketchbook Narrative Of The Great Indian Demonetisation Saga"

Also more stories from around the world.

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Binu Mathew
Editor
www.countercurrents.org




A Sketchbook Narrative Of The Great Indian Demonetisation Saga

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/12/a-sketchbook-narrative-of-the-great-indian-demonetisation-saga/

An engrossing sketchbook of the The Great Indian Demonetisation saga. It asks, what’s black mone, where it is hoarded, who will benefit by this whole demonetisation exercise, what will be the consequences for the common people. The sketchbook is in PDF





Cashless India: Inviting Disaster
by Vijaya Kumar Marla 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/12/cashless-india-inviting-disaster/

Usually, Sunday evening is peak business time for local super markets. On last Sunday, 11 December evening, many customers in super bazaars  and malls had come back empty handed as credit cards were not accepted – the reason – bank servers were down and there is still Monday ahead, which happens to be a bank holiday





Even War Has Limits
by Aftab Alam 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/12/even-war-has-limits/

Though both India and Pakistan are not parties to Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions and the Statute of the International Criminal Court they are still bound by the customary principles of IHL concerning treatment of the dead. They should realise that the respect and compliance to the conventional and customary IHL pertaining to the dead is not only a legal duty but also in their mutual interest. Such restraints help boost their image as a responsible state committed to ethics of war in all circumstances.





The Forgotten War In Yemen  
by Rebecca Gordon 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/12/the-forgotten-war-in-yemen/

Along with a deeply divided country, the worst income inequality since at least the 1920s, and a crumbling infrastructure, Trump will inherit a 15-year-old, apparently never-ending worldwide war. While the named enemy may be a mere emotion (“terror”) or an incendiary strategy (“terrorism”), the victims couldn’t be more real, and as in all modern wars, the majority of them are civilians. On how many countries is U.S. ordnance falling at the moment? Some put the total at six; others, seven. For the record, those seven would be Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria, and, oh yes, Yemen.






1943 Gov’t Film Offers Sharp Contrast With Current US Elite Attitude Toward Russia
  by Robert J Barsocchini 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/12/1943-govt-film-offers-sharp-contrast-with-current-us-elite-attitude-toward-russia/

In contrast to the elite views illustrated in this film, why are we today witnessing what Russia expert Stephen Cohen, and many other analysts, refer to as a storm of dangerous anti-Russian propaganda?  It can’t be that US elites regard Putin as worse than Stalin, as that would make no sense, and since such concerns do not appear to animate their decision-making in the first place, as evidenced by their own behavior (ie Iraq invasion) and support for numerous other countries with oligarchic regimes, like Saudi Arabia.





Telling Lies About Fidel
  by Marc Norton

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/12/telling-lies-about-fidel/

The death of Fidel Castro, for those of us living in the belly of the beast, has meant being forced to endure non-stop lies and hypocrisy from the mass media about Fidel.  According to our “free press,” Fidel was a “brutal dictator” who would not allow “democratic” elections like we have here.  Two words put the lie to the story that US-style elections bring justice and prosperity: Donald Trump.





The Trump Effect: Is Climate Change Denialism On The Rise?
  by Ugo Bardi    

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/12/the-trump-effect-is-climate-change-denialism-on-the-rise/

Google Trends shows a remarkable spike in the interest for the coupled terms “climate” and “hoax”. Does that mean that people are becoming more skeptical about climate science? Or simply more interested in the subject? On this point, Google Trends tells us that there has been no special change in the level of interest in the general subjects of climate change and global warming. The interest is specific in the coupling of “climate” and “hoax.” And, if we couple the terms “climate”, “hoax” and “Trump” we see that there is a clear correlation.





Fake News Laundered 1950-53 US Slaughter of 3 Million Koreans To Maintain US 1%’s Rule of South   
by Jay Janson 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/12/fake-news-laundered-1950-53-us-slaughter-of-3-million-koreans-to-maintain-us-1s-rule-of-south/

40 yrs after Prez Teddy Roosevelt gave Korea to brutal Jap Empire in return for its recognition of Philippines as US Territory, US invaded Korea long AFTER Jap surrender, overthrowing its Korean  gov., cutting it in two parts, installing a US dictatorship in its south now documented to have murdered 100,000 of its own citizens





How ‘Moderate Rebels’ Are Supported By Islamic State In Syria
  by Nauman Sadiq 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/12/how-moderate-rebels-are-supported-by-islamic-state-in-syria/

During the last couple of months, two very similar military campaigns have simultaneously been going on in Syria and Iraq, while the Syrian offensive with Russian air support against the militants in east Aleppo has been reviled as an assault against humanity, the military campaign in Mosul by the Iraqi armed forces and Shi’a militias with American air support has been lauded as the struggle for “liberation” by the mainstream media.





#HumansOfDeMonetisedIndia: Josy, The Fish Vendor

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/12/humansofdemonetisedindia-josy-the-fish-vendor/

My name is Josy. I’m a fish vendor. After the currency ban my sales have gone down drastically. I now sell only 1/4th of what I used to sell earlier, that too on credit. Yesterday, I tried to sell 5 kg of sardine at Rs 120/kg. Managed to sell only 3 kg. Nobody has cash. People are not willing to spend. What can I do? Will there be a solution soon?