NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is worried that high U.S. unemployment could lead to the same kind of riots here that have swept through Europe and North Africa.
"You have a lot of kids graduating college, [who] can't find jobs," said Bloomberg, during his weekly radio show on Friday. "That's what happened in Cairo. That's what happened in Madrid. You don't want those kinds of riots here."...[Full Article]
Almost half of all Americans believe that government spending cuts will lead to civil unrest on a scale recently seen in London, according to a new survey.
48% of respondents in a Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey indicated that they believe it is at least somewhat likely that if austerity measures are enacted there will be violence on the streets.
According to the survey, those under 50 years of age think unrest is more likely, with a majority of 58% believing cuts will make it likely.
Less Americans are convinced that tax hikes and stock market woes will trigger unrest, however, in both cases over a third still fear those factors will contribute to uprisings.
The survey found that 69% of Americans say they have been following news stories about the rioting in London at least somewhat closely, with 25% following very closely.
A plurality of 43% said that they believed the British Government’s announcement that “nothing is off the table” when it comes to dealing with the rioters was likely to deter more violence, where as 25% thought it would incite further trouble.
As we have repeatedly highlighted for some time now,austerity fascism is the realization of the global elite’s agenda for a “post-industrial revolution”.
If the situation is allowed to spiral out of control and the “post-industrial revolution” unfolds quicker and more unwieldy than anticipated, the global elite may find themselves with an entirely different kind of revolution on their hands – one led by the people against the corrupt plutocrats intent on exploiting the suffering they masterminded in the move towards an authoritarian one world government.
Top historians, social and financial analysts are warning that the draconian austerity measures currently being prepared and unleashed by governments in the west will cause riots and even revolutions as people react with fury in response to their jobs, savings, basic public services, pensions and welfare money being seized by the financial terrorists who caused the economic collapse in the first place.
A study released this month by economists Hans-Joachim Voth and Jacopo Ponticelli found that over the past century austerity has significantly increased the risk of violence and social instability.
Studying instances of austerity and unrest in Europe between 1919 to 2009, Ponticelli and Voth conclude that there is a “clear link between the magnitude of expenditure cutbacks and increases in social unrest. With every additional percentage point of GDP in spending cuts, the risk of unrest increases.”
“Expenditure cuts carry a significant risk of increasing the frequency of riots, anti-government demonstrations, general strikes, political assassinations, and attempts at revolutionary overthrow of the established order. While these are low probability events in normal years, they become much more common as austerity measures are implemented.”
This will inevitably result in runaway inflation that will eviscerate savings and pensions. The cost of living will accelerate and taxes will be raised as the people continue to foot the bill for a wealth transfer amounting to trillions that has been plundered by the offshore banking elite.
The only way to protect yourself against this approaching financial tsunami is by swapping crumbling paper money for gold bullion, which has proven to be a safe store of wealth for thousands of years.
We were laughed at for urging people to buy gold to protect their savings when it was at a mere $300 and the world was drunk on the illusion that the stock market bubble would continue to inflate without a crash.
Whereas the Dow Jones has returned to its level of a decade ago at just above 10,000, gold prices have increased exponentially in that same period.
As AP reports, last Wednesday, on the worst day of the week for both the dollar and US equities, the average price of gold shot up to $1952/oz., around $130/oz higher than gold futures reached on the same day.
The largest gold dealer on eBay, Great Southern Coins, notes that business has quadrupled in the last 45 days, and daily sales last week grew six-fold.
With currencies being attacked from every angle as the financial recovery grinds to a halt due to governments being forced to impose austerity measures, we continue to invite people to take a positive step in countering the continuous assault on their wealth by the central banks by repositioning a sensible portion of their savings into physical gold bullion and silver coins.
Paul Joesph Watson contributed research to this article.
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Steve Watson is the London based writer and editor for Alex Jones’ Infowars.net, and Prisonplanet.com. He has a Masters Degree in International Relations from the School of Politics at The University of Nottingham in England.
Authority to send troops onto the streets stems from constitutional provision for 'Militia' to 'repel invasions'
Controversial list of 'indicators of potential violence' focuses exclusively on areas with high numbers of minority groups
As thugs have wreaked havoc with riots throughout the UK, many have speculated about what authorities should have done to put the violence to a swift end.
And it appears the U.S. has already got detailed plans in place should similar uprisings sweep across the Atlantic.
Experts have revealed that the military would immediately be drafted in - patrolling the streets with police officers and securing important buildings, landmarks and bridges.
Up in flames: Rioters have wreaked havoc on the streets of Great Britain
The operational plans, named CONPLAN 3501 and 3502, are said to have been drafted to combat mass outbreaks of disruption.
The operations would be backed by Article 1, Section 8 of the constitution, an historic concept which gives Congress the power to direct the 'Militia', or in modern terms the Armed Forces - to assert authority on the streets.
The Article states that 'Congress shall have power... to provide for calling forth the Militia to execute laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections, and repel Invasions'.
The National Journal's White House correspondent, Marc Ambinder, first suggested the plans would be put into place in the eventuality of a riot with a tweet.
'If what happened in London ever happened in the US, the military has plans -- CONPLAN 3501 and 3502 -- to suppress the insurrection,' he wrote...[Full Article]
THE 'INDICATORS OF POTENTIAL VIOLENCE'
1) High unemployment rate among minority groups
2) Increased crime rates among minority groups
3) Protests arising from income disparities between minority and majority groups
4) Declining rapport between local officials and minority groups
5) Migrations of large numbers of minority groups
6) Protests by minority groups to such conditions as slum conditions, segregation in housing and schools, lack of jobs, lack of recreational facilities, police brutality, and local overpricing practices.
Originally triggered by a case of police brutality, the London riots soon became a generalized expression of malcontent from today’s young proletariat. The cramming of the unprivileged into neighbourhoods resembling ghettos combined with continued police oppression has always been an explosive combination. The Los Angeles riots of 1992 and the French riots of 2010 took place in very similar circumstances. While it is obvious that many rioters have absolutely no political agenda except for the looting of a few bottles of liquor, the riots are nevertheless the accumulated result of years of segregation of the poor and minorities in conjunction with the type of police oppression not found in well-to-do suburban areas.
While the media seems focused on portraying the rioters as a bunch of drunk hoodlums who have nothing else to do, it is obvious to the citizens of the area that the growing tensions with the police would lead to this kind of outburst. Here’s an interview describing the “other side of the story” (I don’t think that the BBC was expecting this kind of response)...[Full Article]
I wrote an article called 5 Places NOT To Be When The Dollar Collapses. In it I wrote that societies that benefited the most from the dollar would be the worst places to be when it fell apart. While the dollar has not even collapsed yet, the strain in these areas is becoming more apparent. England is number 3 on the list has had 4 days of violent riots as people start to lose it. Israel is number 1 on that list has had massive protests. There is revolution in the air all over the world except in the US.
America is still in deep denial which is still the first stage of the Awakening. This denial will be wiped away when the dollar collapses. For now the economy is still functioning with food and fuel available. Americans still have the illusion of wealth and normalcy. They still are stuck in the false left right paradigm and think some other sock puppet will turn things around.
When the dollar collapses, all American illusions will collapse with it. Deep denial will turn into deep anger. The violence I expect in the other 3 areas on the list and all urban areas in the US, will make all other global riots pale in comparison. America is deeply infused with arrogance, denial, narcissism, drugs and violence. There is no other society that I know of that has the degree of intensity and combination of these factors...[Full Article]
The speed of the disintegration said everything. It took less than 48 hours for London to descend from self-styled capital of the world into a circuit of burning dystopian hells. The speed of BlackBerry messaging; the speed of kids on BMXs; the speed of Molotovs and petrol. Never mind the police, even the media couldn’t keep up.
In a country that takes order for granted, the speed meant a free-fall back to fundamentals, not just in an obvious Hobbesian sense, but in a way that made events feel more real. If you wanted to know if your neighbourhood was next, there was no point watching the riots on television, it was quicker to listen out for breaking glass and burglar alarms; sirens if you were lucky. There wasn’t much time for disbelief...[Full Article]
London is reeling from three nights of riotingthat's poured hundreds of people into the streets, leaving several local neighborhoods in shambles. One man is dead, dozens injured and arrested.
The protests have now spread to other cities, with violence reported in parts of Birmingham, Liverpool and Bristol.
Great Britain and other parts of the world are experiencing unrest at a time of global economic uncertainty and stock market volatility.
Here's a look at what's happening around the world and how economic downturns are bringing protestors into the streets...[Full Article]
Prime Minister David Cameron recalls Parliament on Thursday as Government tries to quell uprising
Plastic bullets could be used for the first time in Britain in riots tonight
'Unprecedented' 16,000 police on duty in London - compared with just 6,000 last night
Man, 26, shot in Croydon last night dies in hospital
Man, aged in his 60s, critically ill after clashing with rioters in Ealing
England game against Netherlands at Wembley tomorrow called OFF
400% surge in 999 calls on night of violence with 20,800 dialling the emergency services in London
Cost of clean-up expected to run into 'tens of millions'
Metropolitan Police use armoured vehicles to push back 150 rioters in Lavender Hill, Clapham
'There are no plans for the Army to get involved,' says police chief
Three arrested on suspicion of attempted murder of police officer
525 people arrested in total and more than 100 people have been charged
16-year-old arrested on suspicion of trying to incite riots via Facebook
All police cells in London are now FULL
Copycat riots in Birmingham, Bristol, Nottingham, Liverpool and Leeds
Police today admitted they were prepared to use plastic bullets against rioters if a fourth night of lawlessness sees gangs of youths marauding across London and looting businesses.
With an 'unprecedented' 16,000 police officers due on the streets of London tonight, answers were today being demanded over the failure of police to bring last night's riots under control.
Just hours after David Cameron warned rioters they would face the 'full force of the law' there were rumours on Twitter that violence was already starting up again in isolated areas across the capital.
Scroll down for video
Croydon: A woman leaps from a burning building in Surrey Street, after flames threaten to engulf her. People stand to catch her as she jumps to safety
Hackney: Anarchy broke out last night as hooded youths set fire to cars, bins and buildings as police battled to bring them under control
'You will feel the full force of the law': David Cameron issued a stark warning to rioters and looters as he spoke outside Number 10 today
Asked if plastic bullets could be used, Assistant Commissioner Steve Kavanagh said: 'That's a tactic that will be used by the Metropolitan Police if deemed necessary.'
He added that was 'not going to throw 180 years of policing with the community away' as the prospect of using the non-lethal ammunition for the first time at a British disturbance was raised.
The army of police officers on-duty in London will swell to 16,000 tonight - compared with just 6,000 last night - as reinforcements are drafted in from 26 forces across the country.
Mr Kavanagh said he was sorry 'that London has got to wake up to these scenes'.
'We need to do better for London because those images last night were shocking for everyone,' Mr Kavanagh told reporters.
Every police cell in the capital was full today, forcing officers to transport suspects outside the city.
The riots claimed their first life as a 26-year-old man who was shot as he sat in a car during rioting in Croydon died in hospital.
Huge swathes of the capital woke up to the charred debris of burned out buildings and streets littered with waste. David Cameron has recalled Parliament for the day on Thursday as he pledged to bring the situation under control.
After cutting short his Tuscany holiday to deal with the worsening public disorder crisis, the Prime Minister said today: 'We will do everything necessary to restore order to Britain's streets and to make them safe for the law-abiding.
'Let me, first of all, completely condemn the scenes that we have seen on our television screens and people have witnessed in their communities.
'These are sickening scenes - scenes of people looting, vandalising, thieving, robbing, scenes of people attacking police officers and even attacking fire crews as they're trying to put out fires. This is criminality, pure and simple, and it has to be confronted and defeated.
'I feel huge sympathy for the families who've suffered, innocent people who've been burned out of their houses and to businesses who have seen their premises smashed, their products looted and their livelihoods potentially ruined.
'I also feel for all those who live in fear because of these appalling scenes that we've seen on the streets of our country. People should be in no doubt that we are on the side of the law- abiding - law-abiding people who are appalled by what has happened in their own communities.
'I am determined, the Government is determined that justice will be done and these people will see the consequences of their actions...[Full Article]
I don't know what could have been done to avoid last night's explosion of resentment and criminality. But I'm grimly confident of its potential elsewhere
UK Guardian
Burning buildings and police cars on Tottenham High Road; violence went on throughout the night of 6 August. Photograph: Steve Burton/Rex Features
The fires have been put out but the embers still burn hot in Tottenham after last night's explosion of destruction, looting and flame. The shocking cost to property and blameless residents' peace of mind is only starting to be counted. Have we seen the end of a purely local conflagration or just the end of the beginning of a long, late summer of riot and rage in that part of north London and elsewhere in the capital?...[Full Article]
Follow us on http://twitter.com/RT_com and http://www.facebook.com/RTnews Latest updates say 26 police officers have been injured and 43 people arrested as violent riots flared up in north London. Two patrol cars, a building and a double-decker bus were torched as rioters clashed with officers on Saturday in front of the Tottenham Police Station, where people had gathered to demand "justice" for the death of a man identified locally as Mark Duggan, a 29-year-old father of four, killed in an apparent gunfight. More than 300 were involved in what began as a march to demand justice for the killing.
Are the austerity protests and riots happening in Greece right now a glimpse of America's future? The truth is that both nations are absolutely drowning in debt. It is just that the "day of reckoning" has already arrived for Greece but it has not arrived for the United States yet. Yes, there are some important differences between the situation in Greece and the situation in the U.S., but there are also some important similarities. Budget cuts and other austerity measures are being promoted by the political leaders of both countries. Greek citizens have reacted very negatively to the economic austerity programs that have been implemented in that nation. As budget cuts on the federal, state and local levels in the United States start to really become painful, will we eventually see the same kind of austerity riots in this country that we are currently seeing in Greece? (Read More.....)
Firebombs exploded and clouds of tear gas filled the air as helmeted riot police moved in on protesters on the edge of small Greek town Keratea, which is gripped by a rebellion against state plans to place a rubbish dump in the area. The planned landfill site has prompted several months of violent protests from residents. Protest organisers argue the proposed landfill site is too close to a residential area and would also damage an ancient site, which they say has not been properly excavated.
84 people injured - and at least 31 police officers hurt on day of violence
Ritz hotel attacked with paint and smokebombs and 1,000 occupy Fortnum & Mason
Protesters surge along Piccadilly, Regent Street and Oxford Street forcing shops to close
Lightbulbs filled with ammonia hurled at police officers
Labour leader Ed Miliband defends speech to marchers
Over 200 people were arrested as extremists brought violent chaos to central London yesterday after hijacking the much-heralded trade union protest against public spending cuts.
A massive clear-up operation was underway today after trouble continued to flare late into the night as hundreds of people clashed with officers in Trafalgar Square.
Police confirmed 201 people were in custody and there had been 84 reported injuries during the protests. At least 31 police were hurt with 11 of them requiring hospital treatment.
Now scroll down for the video reports
Riot: Police officers stand in front of a fire lit be demonstrators in central London last night
Iranian police have confirmed that one person was killed during clashes between security forces and protesters. Police Commander General Ahmad Reza Radan says dozens of people, including nine members of the security forces, also were wounded in Monday's protests. Radan said one of the injured is in critical condition. He also said several people were arrested, but did not say how many. Clashes between Iranian police and tens of thousands of protesters broke out in central Tehran on Monday as opposition supporters tried to evoke the spirit of Egypt's recent popular uprising.
As if the world economy did not have enough problems already, now the riots in Egypt threaten to send the price of oil soaring into the stratosphere. On Friday, the price of U.S. crude soared 4 percent. A 4 percent rise in a single day is pretty staggering. The price of Brent crude in London closed just under the magic $100 a barrel mark at $99.42. The incredibly violent riots in Egypt have financial markets all over the globe on edge right now. Any time there is violence or war in the Middle East it has a dramatic impact on financial markets, but this time things seem even more serious than usual. Many believe that we could see an entirely new Egyptian government emerge out of this crisis, and the uncertainty that would bring would make investors all around the globe nervous. Financial markets like predictability, peace and security. If Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's 30 year reign is brought to an end, it will severely shake up the entire region, and that will not be good news for the global economy...
(Reuters) - Egyptians armed with sticks and razors have formed vigilante groups to defend their homes from looters after police disappeared from the streets following days of violent protests.
Banks, junctions and important buildings previously guarded by the police and state security were left abandoned on Saturday and civilians have quickly stepped in to fill the void.
"There is no police to be found anywhere," said Ghadeer, 23, from an upscale neighbourhood. "Doormen and young boys from their neighbourhoods are standing outside holding sticks, razors and other weapons to prevent people from coming in."
She added: "The community is working together to stop this and protect ourselves."...
The planet is in a never-ending cycle of anti-government revolt as riots that plagued Europe last year now spread like wildfire through the Middle East and beyond, threatening to accelerate bloody clashes and force the hand of authorities as the risk of a new Tiananmen Square-style massacre grows ever likelier. Is America next in line to experience unrest that has touched almost every corner of the globe?
Our prediction three years ago, based on UN documents, which was made six months before the collapse of Lehman brothers, that the world would be hit by massive food riots and anti-government unrest in the aftermath of an economic collapse, is now unfolding at an astonishing pace.
The unrest in Yemen was inspired by a popular uprising in Tunisia earlier this month that led to the ejection of President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, figurehead of a government accused of abusing their power to enrich themselves while the poverty gripped the rest of the country. Ben Ali was forced to flee the country and the interim government has now issued an international arrest warrant for the President and his wife.
Riots in Tunisia were quickly followed by mass protests in Egypt demanding an end to President Mubarek’s regime. Four people have died as demonstrators engaged in violent clashes with police and set fire to government buildings.
Besides America there has barely been an area of the globe that hasn’t been hit by riots and unrest in the last six months, as the fallout from the economic collapse begins to be felt amongst the victims of the financial terrorists that launched an assault characterized by falling wages, high unemployment, spiraling inflation and food prices as well as crippling austerity cuts.
“In emerging markets, it’s leading to rising inflation, to reduction in disposable income, it’s leading to riots, demonstrations and political instability,” New York University economist Nouriel Roubini said in an interview in Davos, Switzerland, today with Tom Keene on Bloomberg Television’s “The Pulse.” “It’s really something that can topple regimes, as we have seen in the Middle East.”
Back in early 2008, before the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the start of the financial crisis, we warned that inflation and economic uncertainty would cause inflation to skyrocket and food prices to explode, which would lead to riots globally.
In June of last year, shortly before mass unrest hit Europe in countries like France, Italy and the United Kingdom, we forecast that, “The imminent onset of so-called austerity measures, which in reality represent nothing more than an elevated phase of government-run looting of the taxpayer, would herald an “age of rage,” leading to “riots and even revolutions as people react with fury in response to their jobs, savings, basic public services, pensions and welfare money being seized by the financial terrorists who caused the economic collapse in the first place.”
That “age of rage” is now playing out across the planet, with governments being toppled left, right and center as economic turmoil forces desperate people to revolt in a bid to rescue any kind of decent living standard.
We didn’t have the privilege of a crystal ball when we made these predictions, we were merely reading what globalist bodies and the elite themselves were saying would be the consequences of their agenda to eviscerate any kind of middle class and re-impose an archaic caste system of haves and have nots.
The only question left to be answered is if and when similar scenes will unfold on the streets of America, as notoriously accurate trend forecaster Gerald Celente warned would happen several years ago. Celente put the time frame on “tax rebellions and food riots” sweeping the US by 2012.
With even the likes of Time Magazine seriously entertaining the probability of social dislocation as a backlash to the crumbling economy leading to “civil war” in the United States, we stand on the precipice of bedlam.
In November 2008, right as the economic implosion was unraveling, the U.S. Army War College released a white paper called Known Unknowns: Unconventional ‘Strategic Shocks’ in Defense Strategy Development. The report warned that the military must be prepared for a “violent, strategic dislocation inside the United States,” which could be provoked by “unforeseen economic collapse,” “purposeful domestic resistance,” “pervasive public health emergencies” or “loss of functioning political and legal order.” The “widespread civil violence,” the document said, “would force the defense establishment to reorient priorities in extremis to defend basic domestic order and human security.”
A British Ministry of Defence report struck a similar tone when it predicted that within 30 years, the growing gap between the super rich and the middle class, along with an urban underclass threatening social order would mean, “The world’s middle classes might unite, using access to knowledge, resources and skills to shape transnational processes in their own class interest,” and that, “The middle classes could become a revolutionary class.”
If the violent scenes we now witness unfolding across the planet are anything to go by, we won’t have to wait too long to find out whether or not the United States will become engulfed in the crisis, or whether the global elite will move to prevent such a scenario by coming to the realization that their war on the middle class and the poor threatens to provoke a reaction that even they may be unprepared to deal with.
READ OUR PREVIOUS COVERAGE OF SOARING FOOD PRICES AND GLOBAL UNREST
Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a fill-in host for The Alex Jones Show. Watson has been interviewed by many publications and radio shows, including Vanity Fair and Coast to Coast AM, America’s most listened to late night talk show.
A government report unexpectedly showed U.S. grain supplies tightening Wednesday, causing a surge in commodity prices and raising expectations for inflation at the grocery store.
Futures prices for corn and soybeans jumped about 4 percent after the U.S. Department of Agriculture said production of those key crops fell in 2010. Analysts said prices also will be pushed higher in meat markets, where live cattle already is trading at record levels per pound.
“For many shoppers, this almost comes at the worst time,” said Robert Goldin, executive vice president at the food consulting firm Technomic Inc. He said prices also will be pushed higher by food producers’ rising energy costs...
A recent report by the U.S Department of Agriculture shows future prices for some key grains will be skyrocketing in the future, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. That could mean inflation at the grocery store.
It is expected that prices for corn and soybeans will go up about 4 percent after production of those crops fell last year. Experts say producers' rising energy costs also is a contributing factor...
Overheating emerging markets, in China in particular, pose the biggest threat to the market and political situation in 2011 according to Philippe Gijsels, head of research at BNP Paribas Fortis Global Markets.
“These economies are clearly overheating and governments are putting measures in place to slow them down to fight inflationary pressure. More than anything else, food inflation is a problem," Gijsels told CNBC.com.
"In countries were 70 percent to 80 percent and sometimes more of a family's budget goes to food, explosive price rises risk to destabilize these societies. Remember the old saying: 'hunger starves civilizations,’” he added...
(CBS) NEW YORK -- Don't look now, but inflation is expected to hit food hard this year.
"Corn is a big one" in the higher prices department, Bloomberg Businessweek Assistant Managing Editor Sheelah Kolhatkar told "Early Show on Saturday Morning" co-anchor Betty Nguyen. "The Agriculture Department released a report a couple of days ago about crop forecasts for the year and predicted corn production is going to go down very significantly, which led to a spike in prices."
Why corn's rise?
"There are a lot of reasons," Kolhatkar replied. "Weather is cited as a big one. There's been sort of freak weather in different parts of the world. Russia experienced a drought. There are floods in Australia. There's been sort of freezing weather in Florida. Our own Midwest experienced flooding earlier this year.
"And because the market for a lot of these food commodities is global, when something strange happens somewhere, that can affect a crop.
Making matters worse, she says, "Corn has sort of a ripple effect, because it goes into a lot of different foods, and it is a big component of feed for animals. So, meat, as a result, is expected to go up quite a bit -- beef and pork were cited. Other grains, wheat, and (many) fruits and vegetables."...
The stunningly violent food riots in Tunisia and Algeria show just how quickly things can change. Just a few months ago, these two northern Africa nations were considered to be very stable, very peaceful and without any major problems. But now protesters are openly squaring off with police in the streets. Many of the protesters are throwing "fire bombs" or are shooting fireworks at the authorities, and the police are responding with a tremendous amount of violence themselves. In Algeria, several protesters have been killed by police and several others have actually set themselves on fire to protest the economic conditions. In Tunisia, more than 100 people have been killed and the president of that country actually had to flee for his life. But on a global scale, food shortages have not even gotten that bad yet. Yes, food prices are starting to go up and food supplies are a little bit tighter right now, but much worse times than these are coming. So what in the world are the cities of the world going to look like when we have a very serious food shortage?
Just as we saw during the food riots of 2008, when people get to the point where they can't even feed themselves anymore, they tend to lose it. In the video posted below, you can really feel the desperation of these young Algerians as they riot in the streets....
This next video is of the food riots in Tunisia. You will not want to let any young children watch this video. In fact, if watching police beat and smash protesters laying on the ground upsets you, then you might not want to watch this video either. The massive food riots that have erupted in Tunisia have left many city streets looking like war zones and at this point it is being reported that the violence has left over 100 people dead. The president of Tunisia has left the country because of the rioting, and an interim president has been sworn in. It is hoped that this will help restore order. This video is absolutely stunning....
You see, the truth is that it is not just in the United States that people are becoming angry at government. All over the world, frustration is boiling over. But unlike the United States, where food is still very plentiful, in many areas of the world it is the deteriorating economic conditions that are sparking many of these riots.
According to the FAO, the global price of food hit a new record high in December. For most Americans and Europeans, a rise in the price of food is just an inconvenience. But in many areas of the world, even a relatively small rise in the price of food can mean that the survival of millions is suddenly threatened.
Global authorities are concerned that these food riots might start spreading - especially if the extremely harsh weather all over the globe continues to damage crops.
In fact, there are some signs that economic unrest is already beginning to spread....
*In the nation of Jordan, peaceful demonstrations were held in several locations around the country on Friday to protest rising food prices.
*In Libya, protests about the late completion of government subsidized housing entered their third day on Sunday. Reportedly, hundreds of uncompleted units have been taken over by protesters and so far the police are not taking action to evict them. There is also growing concern that the food riots in neighboring Tunisia will soon pour over into Libya.
*Economic protests also been reported recently in Mozambique, Morocco and Chile.
Sadly, the desperate economic conditions that are sparking these food riots did not develop overnight. Rather, they have been building for decades. The truth is that the new "global economy" is designed to funnel more and more of the wealth of the world into the hands of the wealthiest 0.001% of the global population. Everyone else is left to fight with one another to divide up a pie that is increasingly shrinking.
Just consider the following five facts....
#1 Approximately 1 billion people throughout the world go to bed hungry every single night.
#2 Approximately 28 percent of all children in developing countries are considered to be underweight or have had their growth stunted as a result of malnutrition.
#3 Every 3.6 seconds someone starves to death and three-quarters of them are children under the age of 5.
#4 "Least developed countries" spent 9 billion dollars on food imports in 2002. By 2008, that number had risen to 23 billion dollars.
#5 A study by the World Institute for Development Economics Research discovered that the bottom half of the world population owns approximately 1 percent of all global wealth.
So if things are this bad already, what kind of food riots are we going to see if all of this weird weather continues and global harvests are much lower than anticipated in 2011?
Most Americans have a really hard time even imagining such a thing, but the truth is that we are just one really bad harvest away from mass starvation in many areas of the world.
We are not going to see mass starvation in the United States in 2011, but we could see food prices start to go up significantly. Keep in mind that more than 43 million Americans are already on food stamps. The incredible abundance of food that we have been enjoying for so many decades is not guaranteed to last indefinitely.
Dennis Conley, an agricultural economist at the University of Nebraska, recently told MSNBC that food reserves in the United States are already disturbingly low....
"I haven't seen numbers this low that I can remember in the last 20 or 30 years."
So yes, there are legitimate reasons to be concerned.
The world really is on the verge of a major food crisis, and if global harvests are not significantly better than most analysts are currently projecting, then we are likely to see a lot more food riots around the globe before 2011 is over.
[Webmaster - Start stocking up on non-perishable foods, water filters, and canning supplies NOW... Enough to get you through a 6 month to 1 year period of time.]
Riots are sweeping Europe and the age of rage continues to intensify as the financial terrorists who caused the economic collapse now meter out the punishment for their own wrongdoing. Britain, Italy, Russia, and Greece are all gripped with unrest as 2011 shapes up to be the year of civil disobedience.
- Rome has been paralyzed by the worst rioting in 30 years as anti-Berlusconi protesters fought running street battles with police in some of the busiest tourist areas of the Italian capital.
“Rome was defiled like it hadn’t been since 1977 during the terrible Years of Lead,” when Italy was rocked by violent political militancy, said the Corriere della Sera daily.
- Anti-austerity riots in Athens have sent Christmas shoppers “fleeing in panic” as Greeks demonstrated against a fresh round of public sector pay cuts.
In one incident, MP Kostis Hatzidakis was left bloodied and bruised after being chased and beaten by dozens of protesters.
- In Russia, anti-government protesters demonstrated at two separate rallies in Moscow, calling for the resignation of Vladimir Putin and greater rights for minorities and the disenfranchised.
This fresh round of civil unrest follows riots that crippled France in October and other violent clashes around Europe. Although the riots are not all specifically related to the same issue, they are feeding into a general mood of mass resentment against the ruling elite. Indeed, it seems that America is one of the few major countries not to have been hit by mass rioting.
As historian Simon Schama, himself an establishment figure, has noted, such scenes will prompt the ruling elite to take an even more brutally authoritarian turn in a bid to quell mass unrest.
We are witnessing the beginnings of a new class warfare now that the “population…can no longer be cajoled into believing sacrifices to further enrich the über-rich are in the best interest of their nation,” according to Gerald Celente.
As economic conditions continue to deteriorate in Europe and the U.S., the uprisings will grow larger, more frequent, more organized and more ferocious. In response, government crackdowns will be harsher and more violent. As the New Year unfolds, the stage is set for incendiary acts that will be committed by one side or the other, escalating the conflict into prolonged battles.
Governments will declare that hooligans, anarchists, militants and foreign agents are responsible for the unrest, and the press will swear to it. What will be painted as assaults on capitalism and the free enterprise system could more accurately be described as acts of self defense; a battle between the growing number of “have nots” vs. the “haves” that keep taking even more than they had before.
2011 will be characterized even more so than 2010 as a year of tension and unrest. With governments now openly mulling whether to ban protests altogether, and in doing so declaring de facto martial law, flashpoints will be plentiful and the masses will only become more enraged as not only their money but also their political freedoms are swiped from under their noses.
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Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a fill-in host for The Alex Jones Show. Watson has been interviewed by many publications and radio shows, including Vanity Fair and Coast to Coast AM, America’s most listened to late night talk show.
Protesters in Haiti's capital are lashing out at United Nations peacekeepers and the government, blocking roads and attacking foreigners' vehicles.
Demonstrators have set up burning barricades, and Haitian police have responded with tear gas. Vehicles belonging to the UN and non-governmental organizations have been pelted with rocks.
The growing protest comes a week before national elections, and some of the demonstrators are destroying campaign posters for President Rene Preval's Unity party.
It follows days of rioting in northern Haiti over suspicions that UN soldiers introduced a cholera epidemic into the country...
