World stocks and commodities rose on Monday, boosted by upbeat Chinese data, while U.S. oil futures jumped to a near six-month high as escalating tensions between the Iraqi government and Kurdish forces threatened supply. Global markets digested the large amount of weekend newsflow, and clearly liked what they saw as S&P futures were modestly in the green, as both European and Asian stocks are higher.
The Catalan stand-off has been extended until Thursday as both sides hold their ground.
Authored by Robert Parry via ConsortiumNews.com,
When the Reagan administration launched peacetime “psyops” in the mid-1980s, it pulled in civilian agencies to help spread these still-ongoing techniques of deception and manipulation...
Chris Hedges and David North via TruthDig.com,
On Monday, WSWS International Editorial Board Chairman David North interviewed Chris Hedges, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, author, lecturer and former New York Times correspondent. Among Hedges’ best-known books are War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, The Death of the Liberal Class, Empire of Illusion: the End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle, Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt, which he co-wrote with the cartoonist Joe Sacco, and Wages of Rebellion: the Moral Imperative of Revolt.
European politics returns with a bang this week, when not only will attention be focused on Austria to see if the right wing Freedom Party joins the People's Party in a historic governing coalition, in an embarrassing blow to Europe's establishment, but also whether Catalan President Puidgemont will (again) fomally - and this time clearly - announce whether he has declared independence as Spain's PM Rajoy demanded last week. Elsewhere, EU leaders meet on Thursday to discuss the progress of the Brexit talks and whether transition and trade negotiations can begin.