Madrid, Barcelona and other major Spanish cities are now governed by independent citizen fronts called “confluences.” Ahora Madrid, Barcelona en Comú, Zaragoza en Común and La Marea Atlántica (A Coruña) are confluences weaved together by the M15-Indignados social ecosystem. Other political parties, like Podemos and Equo, have joined …

Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush, the 2016 presidential candidates leading the money race in the Democratic and Republican fields, are amassing fortunes that will leave them politically indebted to some of the most influential lobbyists in Washington. Disclosures to the Federal Election Commission reveal how lobbyists for Walmart, …

It’s hard being a big private bank these days. Ongoing awareness of the role that Goldman Sachs played in the Greek debt crisis; that Greek voters said no to Europe’s harsh austerity demands; recent revelations of unreasonably high fees and interest rates for lending to municipalities, and the …

For two weeks now, political time has been condensed in Greece, and citizens live on the edge of their seats, struggling against forces that appear well beyond their control. On June 27, the Syriza-led government put the ultimatum of the creditors to a referendum and campaigned for a …

Standard reporting on the document misses a few key details that make the strategy even more dangerous than people initially realize. Much has already been written about the US’ National Military Strategy (NMS) since it’s updated unveiling last week, but most analysts haven’t pieced together the finer details of the document that …

The two leaders had “a very long and informative” discussion, according to the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff discussed bilateral cooperation in nuclear energy, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday.“A whole spectrum in bilateral ties was touched upon, including cooperation in nuclear energy,” …

Brussels’ message to Greeks reads: “Your vote is irrelevant. We would rather deal with corrupt but obedient leaders, than honest ones with ideas of sovereignty,” Greek publicist Alex Andreou says.  Greeks and the people of Europe need to realize that they were twisted around the Eurozone decision makers’ little finger, Greek …

Kazakhstan’s veteran leader Nursultan Nazarbayev celebrates his 75th birthday on Monday, in good shape and vastly popular, but the expected fireworks and fanfare mask uncomfortable questions about the future of the second-largest post-Soviet economy. Nicknamed “Papa” and officially titled “Leader of the Nation,” he extended his 26-year reign in April by another five years, “apologising” to his critics for cornering 97.7 …

Economic integration will dominate the agenda at the BRICS summit, where the New Development Bank will hold its inaugural meeting. Expansion of SCO to include India and Pakistan is most likely on the cards. India looks to increase its economic and strategic multilateral cooperation with Russia at the …