France

136 Nations Recognize A Palestinian State – Only Obama Stands In The Way Of Full Global Recognition

Countries That Officially Recognize A Palestinian State - Photo by Night wWill a UN Security Council resolution formally recognizing the establishment of a Palestinian state be passed by the end of 2015?  Now that the Vatican has formally recognized a Palestinian state, there is a tremendous amount of international momentum for precisely such a UN Security Council resolution.  In fact, France plans to push really hard for one by the end of this year.  At this point, the only thing that could derail those plans is Barack Obama.  For years, the threat of a Security Council veto has been the one thing stopping a resolution from moving forward.  But now that Benjamin Netanyahu has been re-elected and has put together a cabinet that does not seem inclined to negotiate with the Palestinians, the Obama administration is pledging to “reevaluate our approach” and says that it will not “prejudge” what it will do if a vote comes up at the United Nations.  And as you will see below, one news source is now reporting that behind the scenes Barack Obama has already given the “green light” for France to go ahead with a resolution on a Palestinian state at the UN.  If this is truly what Obama plans to do, it will absolutely shatter U.S. relations with Israel and plunge the entire Middle East into chaos. (Read More...)

Down Goes Britain: The UK Economy Tumbles Deep Into Recession

The economic crisis that is sweeping Europe is starting to hit Britain really hard.  Over the last couple of years economists have been warning that we can’t let the “contagion” spread from troubled nations such as Greece and Portugal to the rest of Europe.  Well, it is too late for that now.  Spain and Italy are coming apart at the seams at this point, and even “stronger” nations such as the UK and France appear to be deeply troubled.  According to numbers that were released just this week, the UK economy has now contracted for three quarters in a row.  During the second quarter of 2012, the UK economy shrunk by 0.7 percent.  That was a much larger contraction than the 0.2 percent contraction that economists were forecasting.  At this point we have got a definite trend going.  During the fourth quarter of 2011, the UK economy shrunk by 0.4 percent.  During the first quarter of 2012, the UK economy shrunk by 0.3 percent.  And now in this latest quarter the contraction of the UK economy appears to be accelerating.  This economic downturn in the UK is being called “the longest double-dip recession for more than 50 years“.  So will Britain soon look like Greece and Spain and Italy or will it be able to pull out of this nosedive in time? (Read More...)