Bankers Home Attacked

Here comes the summer of rage?

A warning of more attacks on UK bankers was made on Wednesday after the home of former Royal Bank of Scotland boss Fred Goodwin was vandalized.

Windows were smashed in Goodwin’s house in the Scottish capital Edinburgh and those of a Mercedes-Benz limousine parked outside.

It is not known if anyone was at home at the time. Goodwin — dubbed “Fred the Shred” by the media for his ruthless cost-cutting — and his family have not been living in the house since it was revealed that the 50-year-old Goodwin was receiving an annual pension of $1 million (£700,000) for life.

A statement issued to media organizations including the Press Association after the attack said: “We are angry that rich people, like him, are paying themselves a huge amount of money and living in luxury, while ordinary people are made unemployed, destitute and homeless.

“Bank bosses should be jailed. This is just the beginning.”

No group was named in the message and it did not explicitly claim responsibility for the attack.

Goodwin took early retirement after RBS nearly collapsed amid the economic crisis and was later part-nationalized.

On the same day as the size of his pension was revealed RBS announced a UK record loss of $34.6 billion (£24.1 billion) for 2008.

Politicians and commentators have expressed fury about the deal and excessive bonuses being given by bailed-out banks. See more from CNN HERE

MI5 ALERT ON BANK RIOTS

Fear mongering? Maybe. But then again…

TOP secret contingency plans have been drawn up to counter the threat posed by a “summer of discontent” in Britain.

The “double-whammy” of the worst economic crisis in living memory and a motley crew of political extremists determined to stir up civil disorder has led to the ­extraordinary step of the Army being put on ­standby.

MI5 and Special Branch are targeting activists they fear could inflame anger over job losses and payouts to failed bankers.

One of the most notorious anarchist websites, Class War, asks: “How to keep warm ­during the credit crunch? Burn a banker.” See story
HERE

When will Americans get off their asses and onto the streets?

Nice stuff here from ALTERNET…

Americans are rightfully angry about the economic decline, but with a few small exceptions, quietly so. Why? It depends on whom you ask.

“Explosive anger is spilling out onto the streets of Europe. The meltdown of the global economy is igniting massive social unrest in a region that has long been a symbol of political stability and social cohesion.

It’s not a new trend: A wave of upheaval is spreading from the poorer countries on the periphery of the global economy to the prosperous core.

Over the past few years, a series of riots spread across what is patronizingly known as the Third World. Furious mobs have raged against skyrocketing food and energy prices, stagnating wages and unemployment in India, Senegal, Yemen, Indonesia, Morocco, Cameroon, Brazil, Panama, the Philippines, Egypt, Mexico and elsewhere.

For the most part, those living in wealthier countries took little notice. But now, with the global economy crashing down around us, people in even the wealthiest nations are mad as hell and reacting violently to what they view as an inadequate response to their tumbling economies. See the rest of the story

“HERE

Riots and protest spread in both CHINA and RUSSIA

If you read the mainstream press, you might guess that both China and Russia have not much been affected by the economic crisis. But the truth is that they both have and things are getting ugly pretty fast.

“Bankruptcies, unemployment and social unrest are spreading more widely in China than officially reported, according to independent research that paints an ominous picture for the world economy.

The research was conducted for The Sunday Times over the last two months in three provinces vital to Chinese trade – Guangdong, Zhejiang and Jiangsu. It found that the global economic crisis has scythed through exports and set off dozens of protests that are never mentioned by the state media.” See VIOLENT UNREST ROCKS CHINA AS CRISIS HITS and

CHINA SLASHES 20 MILLION PLUS JOBS

And in Russia…

“The Kremlin’s rule is beginning to look much shakier than at any time since Vladimir Putin came to power, after a series of protests in cities across its vast landmass this weekend by Russians disgruntled about the economy. And as the country starts to feel the effects of the global credit crunch, there are also signs of a growing rift between Prime Minister Putin, and his hand-picked successor as President, Dmitry Medvedev.” See DISSENT BEGINNING IN RUSSIA

Has the Revolution started in Iceland?

What could be inspiration to angry citizens across Europe, Iceland is possibly close to seeing a revolution due to the Economic Crisis.

“While Barack Obama was being sworn in to office on Capitol Hill yesterday, the people of Iceland were starting the first revolution in the history of the republic. The word “revolution” might sound a bit of an overstatement, but given the calm temperament that usually prevails in Icelandic politics, the unfolding events represent, at the very least, a revolution in political activism.

Four months after the collapse of Iceland’s entire financial system, no one has accepted any responsibility. Our currency has lost more than half its value, rampant inflation has already eaten up most people’s savings, property values have dropped by more than a third and unemployment is reaching levels never seen before in the life of our young republic. The fault is clearly shared between the business elite and the government, which failed to regulate the newly privatised financial sector, allowing a few incompetent and egotistical business tycoons to gamble with the nation’s fortune. And yet neither the government nor the bankers – who, by the way, seem to have disappeared into the cold thin air – see anything wrong with their own behaviour.” See full story HERE

Rebellion Over The Financial Crisis

Commentary on the rebellion including street protest and violence that has been seen in Iceland, Latvia and Bulgaria.
These are not “natural protest cultures”. And this is just the beginning, because by Spring it may spread like wildfire throughout the world.

“The LSE economist Robert Wade – addressing a protest meeting in Reykjavik’s cinema – recently warned that the world was approaching a new tipping point. Starting from March-May 2009, we can expect large-scale civil unrest, he said. “It will be caused by the rise of general awareness throughout Europe, America and Asia that hundreds of millions of people in rich and poor countries are experiencing rapidly falling consumption standards; that the crisis is getting worse not better; and that it has escaped the control of public authorities, national and international.”
See full story here from the TIMES ONLINE

Protest and Rioting in Latvia

From The BBC
“Hundreds of demonstrators have clashed with riot police in Latvia’s capital, Riga, after an anti-government protest.
Police used mace and truncheons to disperse rioters who smashed shop windows and overturned a police van after failing to storm parliament. The violence followed a peaceful rally in which some 10,000 people accused the government of economic mismanagement and demanded new elections. Latvia’s economy is expected to contract by at least 5% this year. Until last year, it was one of the fastest growing economies in Europe. See more HERE

Another Police shooting of a Black Man in the USA

This time police in Texas shot an unarmed black man

From TheChron.com” “Robbie Tolan will likely live the rest of his life with a bullet lodged in his liver. It’s a painful reminder of his encounter last Wednesday with a white Bellaire police officer, who fired at least three shots at the unarmed 23-year-old black man in his own driveway.

Bellaire police and city officials have said Sgt. Jeff Cotton mistakenly thought Tolan’s Nissan Xterra had been stolen, but Tolan’s relatives say he was a victim of racial profiling and did nothing to justify being shot as his parents watched outside their home.” More fuel for the fire if the economic crisis worsens and if there happens to a “terror event”? See HERE

Police killings in the US heighten racial tensions

Two recent shootings have highlighted the fragility of tensions between police and those that they are sworn to protect. With the economic problems increasing, are things at near boiling point? If things get worse, or if there is some kind of “event” which happens, will that be enough bring what is happening in Greece to the US?

One shooting happened in Oakland and the other in New Orleans