Abkhazia - NBN welcomes Abkhazia, a new nation liberated from west and recognised by Russia in Aug08.
- Housing Russian military.
Australia - Puts up Iron-Ore Curtain in attempt to keep its minerals away from China. This may prove foolishly short-sighted as the price of the current ~2B China bid for Australia's iron resources will keep falling like everything in the west.
- Holds "earth" hour by shutting lights off. If you wanna aid the planet shut of TV, radio, newspapers, and magazines for good.
Brazil - Sticks 34B BRL into building 1 million homes.
- Prez Lula states that the world catastrophe has been caused by "white people with blue eyes" and that it's wrong for black and indigenous people to pay for mistakes of whites.
L Lula da Silva with Hugo Chavez expose the truth about the gringo.
Czech - Governance implodes as the pro-NWO PM and current EU prez, Topolanek, is voted out. Topolanek takes a parting shot at his west bosses saying that the "bailouts" are the "road to hell". It's reassuring that the west legislators not only KNOW the truth behind the west "stimulus" scams but won't say a word till scorned. Now, add the fact that they rely on rock bands for speech mat'l and you've got a farce none could invent. On the other hand, he may have a point. If you listen carefully, coming from west, you'll hear the distinct tolling of what can only be the Hell's Bells.
Ecuador - Fighter plane down on Colombian (USA proxy) border.
- Buying fighter jets from Brazil.
- Seeking military coop with Russia.
EU - Exceeding gloomiest fears, EU mfg orders shrivel 34%/yr2yr.
- Jobs cut for 10th consecutive month. The only month that willl break this pattern is the one in which there'll be no more EUnuchs to fire.
- Freaking out over the sudden loss of EU prez (see Czech Rep above). Brussels worries that Czech Rep may not ratify now the flopped draconian Lebensraum constitution -- as if the Irish "NO" hasn't already done that.
- It only took a few years but now blogs are confirmed that indeed EU took active part in USA flight tortures.
France - Adds 80K to the unemployed list in Feb alone.
- Follows USA/UK example. Natixis, one of the bailed out wanks, distributes 70M EUR from "bailout" among its execs. What do the ones that pay for it get? That's right, a baton across face.
- Strikes erupt in ports.
- As anger sets in, 3M (USA owned) workers take exec hostage for 2 days. This already happened to Sony exec (see NBN/18Mar09).
- Sarkozy bullies Andorra into accepting banking secrecy ban and thus its effective fiscal end.
- In fear of the waking mighty continent, Sarkozy offers "end of colonial" behaviour in a few African nations. But unless France returns the stolen obelisk, museum artefacts, gold, gems magpied from Africa, and, of course, Suez, it's no more than that typical empty "white" blither.
Germany - HD printer mfg dumping 5K jobs.
- Continental auto parts dumping 2K jobs.
- Daimler shorting wage or week, as they prefer to spin it, for 68K German-based EUnuchs.
- Not to worry, the money saved by dumping people on the streets is used wisely! Germany pumps 400M EUR into NATO to enhance its glorious spying powers.
- Merkel with Obama agree that GM/Opel must be saved at all cost. It's funny how west leaders have assumed fire fighting duties.
- Continues collectivisation of elite holdings by printing up 82B EUR to postpone their prolapse.
Greece - Revolt still actively on: explosion shakes Pireaus port on 29Mar; state bullies attack 1000+ protesters with stun grenades and tear gas on 26Mar.
- Epanastatikos Agonas (Revolutionary Struggle) issues an apology to Greece for not succeeding in blowing up Citibank.
India - Clashes with Pakistan in Kashmir.
Iran - Obama clocks another int'l embarrassment. This time it's with his pretty vid sent to Iran begging to bury the hatchet. But Iran with 30 yrs experience with USA isn't going for the sudden "Satan's" twee promises. Perhaps Obama could stick the vid on youtube -- for a laugh.
- Launching nuke plant venture with Russia.
Israel - USA confirms that Iranian convoy attacked in Jan08 in north Sudan in which 39 people were murdered was brought to you by Israel. Israel answers by saying that the attacked trucks were bringing weapons to Gaza. The fact that Gaza is one sea, Egypt, and some 1400 km away somewhat perverts the logic here but bothers none for west is used to perverted reasoning.
- WTO admits and confirms blogs that Israel murdered 16 Palestinian medical personnel and attacked 34 medical facilities and 8 hospitals. Another few war crimes for the UN war crime record keepers.
- Israel used an 11 yr boy as human shield. Another one, UN!
Japan - Military on standby to shoot N Korean satellite rocket.
- Housing at 25 yr low. Shouldn't Tokyo worry about its demise instead of starting WWIII on behalf of its USA masters?
- Car sales at 35 yr low.
- Export down 50%.
Kyrgyzstan - Dispels all west's hopeful rumors that USA is welcome to prolong their Central Asian stay on Manas base.
Mexico - Asks USA for ~20B USD since that's how much USA consumes in drugs from Mexico.
- USA states that Mexico drug cartels is linked to Hezbollah. Now, this is a prelude and pretext for invasion. It follows the "white blue-eyed" mantra: any war, anywhere, anytime, anyhow.
Pakistan - As west attacks, Pakistan turns to SCO (Shanghai Coop Org) for protection against the "white blue-eyed" scourge. Sidenote: SCO is Russia/China & other 4 central Asian nations pact from 2005.
Romania - Begging IMF for a quick 20B EUR lifeline.
Russia - Mesmerised with EU going to Ukraine in attempt to "repair" Gazprom pipeline. Tells EU to keep hands off its property.
- Connecting Bulgaria and Greece directly to Russia via new gas pipeline project. Russia retains the customary 51% of the venture which will liberate the two nations from the Ukrainian bottleneck. This way gas to EUnuchs can be shut off without inconveniencing the Balkans.
- Apparently, Kissinger and Baker made little progress begging Russia again to disarm. Instead, Russia rolls out a plan to arm the Arctic to ensure west stays clear of the North Pole reserves.
- Navy off to Somalia to aid Somalian newly reinstated gov't after west toppled it via terrorist proxy attacks.
South Ossetia - NBN welcomes S Ossetia, a new nation liberated from west and recognised by Russia in Aug08.
- South border town reported attacked by Georgia. No casualties.
- Housing Russian military base.
Switzerland - Minister returns Mercedes to Germany. It's down to vulgarities and hysterics among the west war elite financiers and kings.
Taiwan - Unemployment pegs 6%.
Turks And Caicos - Premier Misick resigns as UK re-invades the islands.
UK - London funnels over 7M GBP to manage the expected G20 protests.
- Revolt group "Bank Bosses Are Criminals" boasts about attack on the home of exec of Royal Wank of Scotland.
- Fails at raising the full 1.7B GBP in bonds. This means that London has trouble borrowing a comparatively laughably pifly amount from the planet's rich, which means that UK's become a black hole of an investment. Sidedrivel: West legislators have failed at bringing the west bankers dollar dominance. Instead they've squandered all west cash sunk into the lofty Bush II/Blair world subjugation terror tour. West bankers want it back and legislators are out of options. Squeezing west populace works only to a point and recovers nothing. West is out of time. Some fun times ahead.
- Sends 2K troops to Afghanistan. Wasn't west offering "negotiations" to Taliban? Did that offer go wrong too?
Ukraine - What's behind the sudden EUnuch interest in fixing Russian pipelines? Considering that USA has sent warships into Black Sea and Russia is sending subs there now, could it be that the "blue-eyed whites" are fixin' to have another go at Russia via Ukraine?
- Governance of prolapsed nation reassures west that loan obligations will be met. That tells you who's the boss.
USA - Obama, as expected, rejects Russia/China offer to flush the gangrened dollar, idea backed by UN, Kazakhstan, Iran, Arab world, and AU (African Union) states. Instead Obama underscores his delusions by stating that "dollar is extraordinary strong". It must be said that the same man recently threatened Russia with non-existing nukes, harassed China with a destroyer, and attacked Pakistan.
- Obama also said that "USA is retrieving global leadership". Right, and that's probably why he sent a "let's make up" vid to Iran and asked Taliban for truce.
- Sends 4K more troops to Afghanistan/Pakistan. Notice the smaller yet more frequent doses in "surging". Does this mean that neither the offer to Taliban nor the 17K troop worked? In that case, how's 4K troops gonna change the USA defeat?
- Banks force their way -- again. "Mark to market" pricing abandoned. This means that assets/stocks are gonna get priced randomly henceforth. Again, this reaffirms that capitalism is no more than monopolistic price fixing. Supply/demand, comps, open market, or price of cash (interest) are just nonsense peddled by CNN/BBC clowns and the west "education" camps.
- Some hazy outline of resistance takes shape. Demonstrators are sought for some 30 protests planned for 11Apr.
- Mainstream media bailout underway as USA sees saving media mindrapists in "the interest of USA". The US baboon didn't think the brainwashing and lies are free, did he?
- IBM zapping 5K jobs.
- Unemployment in Nevada, North & South Carolina, Oregon, California, Rhode Island eclipses 10%. The prolapse is led by Michigan with 12% and climbing.
- Unemployment doesn't stop Obama from sending out another destroyer though. This time to harass N Korea for wanting to lift a satellite.
- USA commercial realty 20% empty and withering away.
- Tries garage selling 1T of prolapsed bank assets but no one's coming.
- While USA banks froze loans to baboons, they happily loaned some 40B USD to insiders. Baboons could not be reached for comment in their tent cities.
- GDP shriveled 6.3%/annum. Yes, it's worse than originally reported.
- Silverstein, the famous guy that on 911 "made the decision", "decided to pull", and "watched the building collapse" wants more cash. Looks like baboons are gonna pay 4.5B USD more to the architects of 911. Notice baboons are paying for everything, even the self-abuse 911 terror.
- Michigan cops kill 15 yr old. This was enough to set off revolution in Greece.
- 2 USAns arrested in Egypt for child trafficking.
Watch this vid. Rumsfeld confirms USA governance knew of child trafficking and wasn't much bothered. Is there anything more sordid on the planet than the west perpetual and organised crime against children via all methods available?
Venezuela - After meeting USA prez, Barack Hussein Obama, Hugo Chavez says there's no rush to reinstate ambassadors.
Hugo Chavez sums up Obama as "poor ignoramus" and offers advice that Obama "should study a little to understand reality". Just a few highlights here of Obama's actions seem to support the view.
...to be cont'd as it all piles up.
49 comments:
In spite of Germany's money pumping into NATO,
seems like the awful alliance is on its last legs.There have been massive protests and civil disobedience against U.S. and NATO military bases in Italy, Greece, and Spain. In Ireland, widespread public opposition forced the U.S. to shift much of the U.S. troop transport away from Shannon commercial airport to the Leipzig commercial airport in Germany. And the Czech government fell on March 24th, in large measure due to opposition to the government's support of the proposed U.S. “Star Wars” radar base that is opposed by ca. 70% of Czech citizens.
Sounds like the global revolution is already underway.
Bahrain, the base for the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet, is in turmoil. Nightly marches on the part of the population, young, male, Shiite. Careful US, be very, very careful.
Talking about marches, the G20 protests planned for the week have begun. Today's wet London march apparently got 35.000 out on the streets.
28 March 2009 Prime Minister Gordon Brown says he will not talk about the Falklands when he meets Argentina's President Cristina Kirchner.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgmiBOwqtN0
Not quite off topic: Check it out. Here is an interesting ticker-like tool to follow events as they happen,in (almost) real-time. For example the G20 demonstrations (wait some seconds).
http://twitterfall.com/?trend=g20!%23494234
informatron
Thanks informatron. Highly useful.
World War III seems to be shaping up nicely in this edition of N by N, doesn't it? Chilling thought.
Amen to...
...President Lula Da Silva of Brazil.
Obama also said that "USA is retrieving global leadership". Right, and that's probably why he sent a "let's make up" vid to Iran and asked Taliban for truce.
"Obama to Iranian Leadership: Let’s Make a Deal"
http://raimd.wordpress.com/2009/03/24/obama-tries-to-cut-a-deal-with-iranian-leadership/
Let's withhold judgement on the American prez until after the G20 circus. The trouble with the man is he's so oily, we never manage to pinpoint him down to anything. By the way, the Lula Da Silva comment about fair skin and blue eyes left Obama cold since he doesn't qualify on either count.
Strange but true, Lula has given Obama a clean bill of health. Whether he'll live up to it is uncertain. One certainty though is his handling of America's multiple wars and wars-to-be reveals a terrifying combination of cold-bloodedness and stupidity. God save the world.
lula's comment isn't literal. it's like that swiss guy calling some german minister nazi for ruining swiss banking or iran calling usa satan, or the road to hell thing.
it's just funny to see it undressed as street talk percolates to the places where once only stern and meticulously pre-combed rhetoric abounded.
it's fun to see it's gloves off now, as it should be cuz west's crimes are beyond immense.
--------------
west is in very funny position today on many levels. is EU gonna break up or is west gonna print cash for east EU? that's a knotty one. how's USA gonna please israel if it needs Iran to save it and NATO vanishing armies in Afghanistan/Pakistan. this one is gonna flummox hussein obama beyond any hope of untanglement. and let's not forget the war twixt west bankers and west kings. west is getting now running in the classic who-controls-the-army rules mode.
all pretense of civilisation, democracy, due process, logic, budget planning, long-term planning, truth has been fully abandoned. it's thugs rules from here on till the end of west.
Literal it was not, that we grasped. Lula, of all people, is not a racialist as someone pointed out in one of the postings to the story. But his remark did allow tongue-in-cheek interpretations about current US president Zigzag Banana. It was also a Pontius Pilate moment for the march of history. G20 here we come with bells on.
G20 protest marchers might well be manipulated, the press is so eager to give them coverage. Anyone attending should think twice before committing to any action. One wrong move and once again one is back to being a tool-of-imperialism demonstrator.
What's it with the crazy Brit Royals. First Harry now William want to flex their muscles in Afghanistan. Probably believe it's an extension of their local gym. Brits get taken in by their own propaganda machine.
"all pretence of civilisation, democracy, due process, logic, budget planning, long-term planning, truth has been fully abandoned. it's thugs rules from here on till the end of west"
Well said poiuytr: All these things are what the west stood for and was proud of, as the culmination of the age of enlightenment and civilisation. And what we the people everywhere believe in. What is called for now is a return to these values: Justice above all.
The revolution against the gang of western thugs has begun, inspired first by the resistance in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Somalia, Palestine...Greece
Comment from Twitter: "over 35,000 protesting ( in london) demanding a better world from the G20, this is just the start. the revolution is here"
This G20 is off to a running start...and nothing is going to come out of it but platitudes and more police repression.
The way to go, to radicalise the world.
'Blue-eyed bankers' prompt G20 divideThe president of Brazil's attack last week exposed the growing rift between the west and the world's emerging powerhouses over how to tackle the global crisis. This week in London's Docklands the G20 leaders will meet for a crucial summit. But what can it achieve?
Gaby Hinsliff
The Observer, Sunday 29 March 2009
The small town of Jwaneng - which means "place of small stones" - in the Kalahari desert has helped to make Botswana one of the most stable countries in southern Africa. It is the home of the world's richest diamond mine.
But last month the diamond company De Beers shut down production at Jwaneng and at its three other mines in Botswana. Demand for precious stones - which made up 70% of the country's exports - has collapsed in the wake of the recession. Mines also lie mothballed in Namibia, while workers have been laid off in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
It is a stark illustration of how wealthy westerners tightening their belts can hurt the vulnerable who scrape a living producing their now unwanted luxuries - from the sparkle in an earring to the coffee in a latte. While the recession threatens redundancy and repossession in Britain, in Africa it means life or death.
The struggle of the world's poorest to survive a crisis minted by the richest is shooting up the agenda of this week's G20 summit in London, the largest gathering of world leaders here for 46 years. And Lord Malloch Brown, the Foreign Office minister, fears the economic storm buffeting a fragile continent may have violent consequences.
"If you look at the Democratic Republic of Congo, 200,000 miners have lost their jobs: in Katanga [the mining province] it is living hand to mouth with a few days' worth of foreign exchange, waiting to get an IMF loan," he said.
"The effort to integrate rebels in the national army, all that peacebuilding, is being incredibly affected by the fact they can't afford to pay the army. There have been four coups in Africa in the past 12 months, not all of them solely as a consequence of this, but I have a sense of a creeping tide of instability coming back.
"This is not to belittle people here losing their homes and their jobs, but in Africa I heard Bob Zellick, chairman of the World Bank, say that 400,000-500,000 infant deaths could occur as a result. People are dropping back into poverty, with a real risk to life."
Last autumn in Washington, the G20 concluded that the developing world would be largely untouched by the banking crisis. Ten days ago, African leaders, including Botswana's PM, met Gordon Brown to convince him otherwise.
Now ministers are working frantically on a package of aid, credit and trade boosts for Africa to unveil this week. But will that be enough to bridge the dangerous rift opening in the G20 - not between America and Europe, but between the developed countries who wrecked their own economies and the emerging nations suffering as a result?
The attack last week by Brazil's president, Luis da Silva, on "white blue-eyed bankers" revealed a new anger among some of the world's most populous countries at being dragged into a mess not of their making - and a determination to hold the west to account.
India's prime minister will use the summit to challenge what it says is creeping protectionism costing Asian jobs. China will exact more influence over the IMF in return for bailing it out. Chile's Michele Bachelet used a joint appearance with Brown to stress how, unlike Britain, her country saved vast revenues "during the good times" - which it is now having to spend.
Even George Soros, the currency speculator and major Africa donor, yesterday warned that the G20 must insulate developing countries "against a calamity that is not of their making".
So will a new world order emerge from this clash of nations? And if so, will it be one in which Britain - the City neutered, its seats on international institutions from the UN to the IMF under pressure, and its military prowess threatened by tightening budgets - must accept it can no longer be a first-rank power?
In London's Docklands, at the waterfront ExCeL Centre, they have spent the week preparing for war. Volunteers have role-played battles, debated military tactics and scrutinised conflict scenarios.
Fortunately, the war-gaming exhibition being staged at the G20 summit venue will have been dismantled by the time Barack Obama arrives on Tuesday night. But the predominant mood swirling around this summit remains one of anger, from the corridors of power to the streets of London where protesters threaten to hang effigies of bankers from the lampposts.
The emergence of such hardliners worries Malloch Brown, who hopes the anger "can get channelled towards strong outcomes and not towards an atavistic rage". But will there be a genuine breakthrough? After weeks of hyping the summit as the answer to Brown's prayers, ministers are now lowering expectations. Asked about it last week, the education secretary, Ed Balls, retorted: "Are they in one weekend going to solve the problems of the world? Of course not."
Brown has given up on a worldwide financial stimulus: climate change has dropped off the agenda, although the communiqué will commit to make a success of December's global warming summit in Copenhagen.
Ominously, Germany's Angela Merkel predicted yesterday that there would not be a final deal on banking regulation or trade, and the summit "will naturally not solve the economic crisis either", adding they would need a second meeting.
Malloch Brown, however, is upbeat about the chances of a "big package" to boost Africa and a return of confidence to the financial markets. But the sheer logistics of getting agreement from a group that may control 85% of the world's GDP but also spans huge differences of opinion and vested interests are daunting.
"There are 20 of them and they are in a room for maybe 10 hours. So they've got 30 minutes each, in effect," says Tony Dolphin, chief economist at the IPPR, a think tank. "Even if there were only six issues, that's five minutes per person per issue: what can they say in that time?"
Which is why Brown has spent five days travelling, seeking to nail down a deal before the summit begins. But the risk of last-minute hiccups is still real.
"It's a Rubik's cube, and if just one person objects to one piece there's a risk that other pieces get pulled out and the whole thing doesn't hang together," admits Malloch Brown. "This is a much bigger group of people than the typical summit and the final negotiations are much more complex."
As a result, many Labour MPs fear it may not produce results the public understands, thus widening a gulf between ordinary families anxious about their prospects and politicians seen as out of touch. Ministers are now belatedly trying to humanise a potentially dry and technical debate.
Harriet Harman, the equalities minister, will tomorrow publish a report to the summit which warns that women losing their jobs may not show up in the unemployment figures, since some will stay at home to raise children. It cites anecdotal evidence that many taking voluntary redundancy are women on maternity leave who cannot face fighting for their jobs.
Ed Miliband, the climate secretary, yesterday entertained a delegation of American steelworkers, international union leaders and development charities for coffee and croissants at the Treasury to insist that their concerns over jobs, aid and climate change were not forgotten.
Aides say, however, that the financial system must be fixed before moves to protect homes and livelihoods can succeed. But that does not mean that the conclusions of this summit will not affect the millions of ordinary Britons. Far from it.
With Jamie Oliver preparing a summit dinner showcasing "budget British cooking", and world leaders offered a downgraded goodie bag including a tea-towel, the mood of the summit is studiedly austere. But it is not only VIPs who will have to adjust their expectations.
One key issue for debate on Thursday is what role the difference in saving and spending habits between the two economic powerhouses of America and China played in triggering the crisis.
While Americans love to shop, often on credit, Chinese households traditionally put money aside. For years, China used those savings to invest abroad, particularly in US bonds - thus pumping billions into the US economy and helping fund more cheap credit.
Many economists believe a recovery now requires bursting that artificial bubble and rebalancing the economy so that Chinese consumers are encouraged spend a little more - reducing America's trade deficit - and Americans a little less. Malloch Brown suggests Britons, too, will need to relearn the art of saving.
"There is the recognition that you are not going to go back to the world as it was before, and we must get a new balance between spending and saving and borrowing. You can't have the old model where it was the US consumer who was widely seen as driving growth through his or her spending and borrowing.
"You are going to see a situation where countries in Asia begin to spend and consume more at home and countries in the west have to move towards a more prudent lifestyle and live within their means." Consumers will also have to learn "within environmental limits", he said, which could also affect standards of living for those wedded to cars and cheap flights.
But the toughest set of negotiations this week are likely to centre on trade. The communiqué is expected to include pledges not to resort to protectionism, but is unlikely to specify what protectionism means - to the anger of emerging nations, who think it should forbid rich countries such as the US and UK forcing their bailed-out banks to prioritise domestic mortgage and business lending over overseas loans.
It may not, however, be only the economic world order that shifts this week: the banking crisis is starting to shake the kaleidoscope of foreign policy, too.
As MPs debated Iraq last week, three government departments slipped out a short joint statement to Parliament. Buried in it was the news that Britain is cutting its role in world peacekeeping and will be "unable to sustain funding levels to all regions".
The UK will withdraw from the UN mission to Kosovo, reduce activity in the Balkans, shift resources from west Africa and scrap programmes in Latin America.
The move was blamed on falls in sterling, making Britain's bills for the UN, EU and other international organisations that charge in dollars more expensive, as well as on new demands. But it underlines the other big question facing Britain this week: how long can it afford to remain a military world power?
This week sees the publication of a review of military reservists, which is expected to accept they should be better prepared to meet increasing demands to back up over-stretched regular forces. And once Thursday's summit is over, many of the same leaders will reassemble at Friday's Nato summit.
President Barack Obama's blunt message will be that Washington has shouldered too much of the burden in Afghanistan, and that Nato partners should do more. But amid a recession that threatens EU members' defence budgets, he risks an equally blunt response. Merkel has promised to "explain forcefully" why Germany's contribution to the war effort is already impressive - meaning Britain, which had resisted offering extra troops, may now do so.
The summit is expected to agree a strategic review of Nato's future role, but the elephant in the room - particularly given the absence of Obama's defence secretary, Robert Gates, who is finalising US defence spending cuts - will be how much members are prepared to pay for their armed forces in leaner times.
Senior Labour figures are already debating whether to advocate slashing defence spending after the election and joining a common European defence policy instead. "We need to be honest about what we can do," says one former cabinet minister.
Such thinking has broad consequences. Amid the pre-summit horse-trading last week, Britain endorsed Brazil's campaign for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, although new members risk diluting British influence.
"A crisis forces decisions," notes Malloch Brown, who, as a former UN deputy secretary general, oversaw years of stalled talks on security council reform but who now argues it may be time to act.
So will Britain, as one former treasury minister suggests, find itself bumped a few rungs down the international pecking order once the recession is over? Malloch Brown admits we may take a "cut in our cloth" internationally, but insists Britain still punches above its weight in peacekeeping, overseas aid and institutional reform: similarly, the IPPR's Dolphin suggests Britain's boldness in experimenting with measures such as quantitative easing will ensure that others keep looking to the UK for leadership.
For now, however, Brown still faces a troubled few weeks finalising the 22 April budget.
Any dreams of a major package of tax cuts and spending to kickstart the economy died when the Bank of England governor, Mervyn King, publicly warned that Britain could not afford it. But the prime minister insisted in Chile that he could still take "targeted actions" to boost cashflow - which could include heeding pleas from Labour MPs to channel more money to the poor, who are most likely to spend it.
This week's summit may just be the start of a worldwide redistribution, however small, from the chastened rich towards the angry poor. And if it is not, the G20 leaders may suffer the conse
Obama to Bring More Mercenaries to Afghanistan — Sound Familiar?
by Jim Hightower
Global Research, March 28, 2009
alternet.org
Hi-ho, hi-ho, it's off to war we go!
As President Barack Obama begins winding down the Bush war in Iraq, he is building up his own war farther east. We're told that it will be a new, expanded, extra-special American adventure in Afghanistan, involving a vigorous surge strategy to "stabilize" this perpetually unstable land.
The initial surge will add 17,000 troops to the 36,000 already there. Then, later this year, there is to be a second troop surge of another 17,000 or so. This mass of soldiers is expected to be deployed to a series of new garrisons to be built in far-flung regions of this impoverished, rural, mostly illiterate warlord state that is ruled by hundreds of fractious, heavily armed tribal leaders. We're not told how much this escalation will cost, but it will at least double the $2 billion a month that American taxpayers are already shelling out for the Afghan war.
The extra-special part of this effort is to come from a simultaneous "civilian surge" of hundreds of U.S. economic development experts. "What we can't do," said Obama in an interview last Sunday, "is think that just a military approach in Afghanistan is going to be able to solve our problems." To win the hearts (and cooperation) of the Afghan people, this development leg of the operation will try to build infrastructure (roads, schools, etc.), create new crop alternatives to lure hardscrabble farmers out of poppy production and generally lift the country's bare-subsistence living standard.
What Obama has not mentioned is that, in addition to soldiers and civilians, there is a third surge in his plan: private military contractors. Yes, another privatized army, such as the one in Iraq. There, the Halliburtons, Blackwaters and other war profiteers ran rampant, shortchanging our troops, ripping off taxpayers, killing civilians and doing deep damage to America's good name.
Already, there are 71,000 private contractors operating in Afghanistan, and many more are preparing to deploy as Pentagon spending ramps up for Obama's war. The military is now offering new contracts to security firms to provide armed employees (aka, mercenaries) to guard U.S. bases and convoys. Despite the widespread contractor abuses in Iraq, Pentagon chief Robert Gates defends the ongoing privatization push: "The use of contractor security personnel is vital to supporting the forward-operating bases in certain parts of the country," he declared in a February letter to the Senate Armed Services Committee.
What the gentle war secretary is really saying is this: "We don't have a draft, and I don't see a lot of senators' kinfolks volunteering to put their butts on the line in Afghanistan, so I've gotta pay through the nose to find enough privateers to guard America's Army in this forbidding place."
Meanwhile, here's an interesting twist to Obama's contractor surge: the for-hire guards protecting our bases and convoys will not likely be Americans. The Associated Press has reported that of the 3,847 security contractors in Afghanistan, only nine are U.S. firms.
Actually, being an American contractor is not a plus in the eyes of the Afghan people, for they've had bitter experiences with them. They point to DynCorp, a Virginia-based contractor that got nearly a billion dollars in 2006 to train Afghan police. The bumbling "Inspector Clouseau" of comic fame could've done a better job. At least he might have amused the people.
What they got from DynCorp was a bunch of highly paid American "advisors" who were unqualified and knew nothing about the country. Some 70,000 police were to be trained, but less than half that number actually went through the ridiculous eight-week program, which included no field training.
A 2006 U.S. report on the DynCorp trainees deemed them to be "incapable of carrying out routine law enforcement work." Meanwhile, no one knows how many of the trainees ever reported for duty, or what happened to thousands of missing trucks and other pieces of police equipment that had been issued for the training.
The punch line of this joke is that DynCorp got another contract ($317 million) last August to "continue training civilian police forces in Afghanistan."
Excuse me for saying it, but Obama is about to sink us — and his presidency — into a mess.
Jim Hightower is a national radio commentator, writer, public speaker, and author of the new book, "Swim Against the Current: Even a Dead Fish Can Go With the Flow." (Wiley, March 2008) He publishes the monthly "Hightower Lowdown," co-edited by Phillip Frazer.
The latest of the Great Fun moments. The profit god getting a few more victims, along with Harry and William, of course.
Brown tells demonstrators: I will meet all your concerns. As 35,000 protest in London, and Germans leak alleged G20 paper, Prime Minister takes a gamble
By Brian Brady and Emily Dugan
Sunday, 29 March 2009
At least 35,000 people marched through London yesterday to protest against the global economic crisis, climate change, and world poverty
enlarge
At the start of a week that could determine the economic fate of the planet, as well as his own future, Gordon Brown last night took the gamble of raising expectations for the G20 Summit by pledging it would meet the concerns of protesters demanding fundamental change to haul the world out of recession.
The Prime Minister insisted the landmark gathering in London would respond to unprecedented global demands for action, with measures to "create jobs, stimulate business and get the economy moving".
His pledge came as a broad alliance of activists demonstrated in European capitals including London, where at least 35,000 people took to the streets in a march for "jobs, justice and climate".
The Prime Minister was given a sharp reminder yesterday that the next six days are likely to be a bumpy ride when a German magazine produced a leaked G20 document, which it claimed showed he had put a £1.4trn price tag on rescuing the world from financial meltdown.
Der Spiegel said the confidential "draft communiqué" laid out a $2trn (£1.4trn) package of "stimulus measures" which Mr Brown planned to put before the gathering.
Downing Street dismissed the allegation – claiming the document was "an old draft that has changed in a number of respects" – and insisted that the $2trn stimulus referred to money that had already been committed by world governments.
Russia wants rouble, yuan, gold in SDR basket
MOSCOW, March 28 (Reuters) - Russia supports expanding the IMF's Special Drawing Rights (SDR) to include the rouble, the yuan and gold, but sees no chance of the G20 Summit accepting a new reserve currency, a Kremlin aide said on Saturday, agencies reported.
"It would be logical for the set of currencies (that make up the SDR) to be expanded, and it could include other currencies, including the rouble, the yuan and perhaps others," state RIA news agency reported the Kremlin's senior economic aide Arkady Dvorkovich as saying.
China this week caused a stir ahead of the April 2 Group of 20 meeting of rich and emerging economies when it suggested the world move towards greater use of the International Monetary Fund's Special Drawing Rights, created by the IMF in 1969 as an international reserve asset.
G20 leaders have made clear that for now the dollar's status as the dominant reserve unit remains, but the idea of creating a new reserve currency system based on SDRs has not entirely been knocked down.
Dvorkovich said he sees no chance of the G20 accepting a new reserve currency next month, but his comments suggest the issue will be in the spotlight at the meeting, where world leaders will discuss ways to combat the global economic crisis.
"We could also think about more effective use of gold and gold and forex reserves in this system," Dvorkovich said, RIA reported. For its part, he added, Russia would support the broad use of the rouble and the yuan as reserve currencies, Itar-Tass reported.
I don't believe the Afghans can be defeated in their own country, not by mercenaries, not by the princes of the British Royal house, not be the eager-beaver soldiers coming with each surge. Iraq into its sixth year of suffering has already won its war. The land is wounded beyond imagination, but the people will find the strength to recover. As for Palestine, its turn will come in the forseeable future. About the "radicalised" west I have greater doubts. Everyone is obese in so many ways and untrained to fight for their rights.
Mandolin
US and Iran open Afghanistan peace talks
As Obama unveiled his new strategy on Afghanistan, his officials attended a historic meeting with an old enemy
Christina Lamb
IRANIAN and American officials have held their first talks about ending the war in Afghanistan amid signs that President Barack Obama’s efforts to thaw relations with Tehran are paying off.
While television cameras focused on Obama in Washington during the unveiling of his strategy for Afghanistan last Friday, US and Iranian diplomats were holding a remarkable meeting in Moscow.
The Russian initiative brought together Patrick Moon, the US diplomat in charge of south and central Asia, and Mehdi Akhundzadeh, Iran’s deputy foreign minister, as well as a British diplomat who has been acting as a mediator.
“We’ve turned a page to have Iranians and Americans at the same table all discussing Afghanistan,” Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, told delegates.
Peace above perhaps, who knows? But a new act in the military drama. NKorea, Japan, Hawai and a new war in the offing? The propaganda blasts seem to proclaim it, although we all know NKorea has every right to send a rocket into space.
Re: 13:07, the wheels falling off the dollar cart. LOL. Some would like to see corrupt IMF blasted off the face of the earth along with similarly corrupt World Bank, UN, etc. However, if these organisations can be made to obey Sino-Russian rules instead of the west trash, thex can carry on under the same name for all we care. As long as they all work to a different agenda which sees human beings as human beings and not just pawns in unworthy power games.
More Mass Graves? Houston Expands Cemetery
Kurt Nimmo
Infowars
March 28, 2009
An Infowars reader has sent photographs of an expansion underway at the Houston National Cemetery in Texas administered by the VA. “Could this be related to what is going on in Phoenix? I noticed both the concrete structures that go in the ground as well as some plastic coffin liners. Could it be a regular expansion of the cemetery? It seems to be an operation of a smaller scale than what is going on in Phoenix, or perhaps I am late and many of the concrete structures are already in the ground and covered up,” the reader writes in an email sent with photo attachments.
On March 25, Infowars posted a report filed by Shepard Ambellas on an apparent mass grave site under construction at the National Memorial Cemetery in Phoenix, Arizona.
It has yet to be established what these grave sites are for, although an official contacted at the Phoenix cemetery told Jason Douglas, producer of Jason Bermas’ Infowarrior radio show, that the practice of digging multiple graves with large crypts is commonplace.
The Race To Financial Safety Is Now On
Posted: March 28 2009 - by Bob Chapman
Interesting people are gold bugs, and even more interesting people hoard it, central banks more dangerous than standing armies, paper gold a trap, more smoke and mirrors economics, Fed the new toxic waste dump, what is paper worth anymore,
The big secret that the Illuminati don't want you to know about is that they are gold-bugs themselves, and are even more fervent about precious metals than you are. They are, of course, closet gold-bugs, hiding their wanton desire for the "barbaric relic" to make it look like it is a cumbersome thing of the past, an ancient curiosity from a bygone era that no longer serves a valid or useful purpose. They hide their lustful desire for precious metals from the public so that the public remains moribund about owning the King and Crown Prince of currencies, gold and silver. They don't want any monkey-see, monkey-do, from their pool of future indentured servants. Their worst nightmare is that the serf proletariat would come to own thousands of tons of gold and silver bullion like they do. All their institutions and front companies, like central banks, bullion banks, investment banks and brokerage houses, all de-emphasize investment in precious metals for one reason, to keep it out of the hands of the public.
In the meanwhile, the Illuminati are pilfering gold from their own financial institutions at fire-sale prices like the sales conducted by Gordon Brown, the King of Fire-Sale Gold, when he sold the UK's national gold at the bottom of the gold market, or by outright pilfering as was done with the gold held in Fort Knox, allegedly by the Rockefellers.
American Illuminists have been collecting their gold and silver hoards for over a century, while European Illuminists have been collecting their hoards for many centuries. All their gold and silver lies in Swiss vaults, or in secret offshore locations. These hoards serve as their insurance policy if their plans to become masters of the universe should go astray. In addition, their mounds of gold and silver might be offered as reserves for a new world currency in order to sell that concept to the public, thereby giving control of the world currency to private bankers who would operate outside of government control. Or there might still be government control, as long as they, the Illuminati, control the world government, of course.
Three nes items which made one sit up and take notice.
1. British intelligence have warned that Chinese cyber attacks could overturn their military planning.
2. Iranian experts are apparently helping NKorea with their rocket launch.
3. Pakistani militants destroyed 12 more trucks of supplies destined for Nato. And Nato hopes to win that war?
Hero of the day Lula is also called the White House favourite. Any idea why? Is he is cahoots with Obama and Co?
Potential new basket of currencies in 2010
Cowry shells
salt bars
Incense
slave girls.
Hey, I second that. The best new idea for world reform I've heard in years. Give me slave girls (and boys, perhaps, they're cuter too or at least cuter than a fading dollar bill) anytime.
Russians are recommending the gold standard to save the world. Don't know what's wrong with that lot, they keep changing their minds like people change their socks, once a week at least.
The Af-Pak war, the latest horror story out of the USA. That's daftism plus. They should read poiuytr more. Pak is an advanced country, a working economy, 170 million population and a fearless army. Come this summer, they'll all be chased out of the Hindu Kush region.
None of that shitty monopoly currency for me. I want slave girls and boys to lighten my old age.
The buzz is the latest false flag, a 911 to beat the other one hollow, just might be a cyber attack, China being groomed for vilain role with its alleged GhostNet accessing 103 countries. Your take on this?
I don't know about China and cyber attacks, but one thing I've noticed about this blog is Israel is hardly ever mentioned comparer to similar sites througout the web. Choice or chance, who knows? But what is the future of that gun-toting state? Armageddon, Greater Israel, two-state entity, Apartheid State or perhaps No State at all?
Hurray, yeah, the British still on their feet aare finally leaving Basra, headed no doubt for the graveyard of empires for some more strongman stuff. Now that their finances are in tatters, they should all take up wrestling maybe, entertain the world for a change instead of strutting about like peacocks giving orders.
Rebooting NATO-Russia relations
by
DMITRY ROGOZIN (30.3.09)
MOSCOW — The crisis in Georgia last August tested Europe's security system, and the system failed to fulfill its core task of ensuring common security for the continent as a whole. As a result, Europe must re-examine its current security arrangements, analyze what happened and take this analysis into account in reforming those arrangements.
Even before the Georgian crisis, Russia already saw a need to revisit the mechanisms of European security, including its international and regional institutions and their functions. We suggested a new, legally binding treaty system of mutual security guarantees to ensure equal security throughout Europe.
The European Union believes that the Russian initiative is well grounded and has shown interest in launching such a project. There are leaders in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) who are also willing to take part. NATO, however, has stood aside. I was supposed to put forward Russian proposals on the new security concept to the NATO-Russia Council (NRC) last September. But the alliance refused to hold the scheduled meeting following the Georgian crisis.
When the NRC was created in 2002, it was devised as a mechanism for dialogue, cooperation and joint decision-making on issues of mutual interest, including nonproliferation and arms control, the fight against terrorism, civil emergency planning and military-to-military cooperation. The NRC also was supposed to act as a forum for "holding prompt consultations" in crisis situations and to prevent such crises by "early identification of emerging problems."
Unfortunately, the Georgian crisis demonstrated that Russia's dialogue with NATO was less substantial than it should have been. Yet NATO-Russia cooperation is of the utmost importance to global security. We need NATO and NATO needs us in order to face common threats and challenges. On the other hand, Russia will not go cap in hand to NATO. We are not interested in the illusion of partnership. Indeed, Russia's foremost foreign-policy goal is a real, strategic partnership with the West in which we work together to solve the multitude of modern security problems.
I don't have a crystal ball, but I'm certain that several years from now we should be able to look back at the Georgian crisis as a turning point. Already we can name three "growth factors" that will help the new security system to mature — the development of the European Security and Defense Policy, the transformation of NATO and Russia's return to its rightful position on the world stage.
Russia is not becoming assertive, aggressive or imperial, as many observers claim. We are only claiming what is rightfully ours — a place in the front row of international relations. The world will have to get used to the fact that Russia is no longer a feeble country. Is it so incomprehensible that we have strategic interests and national security concerns?
Russia has tried for years to get away from Cold War thinking and to persuade our partners to drop their stereotypes. After the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Russia quickly extended a helping hand to the Americans. But the West did not appreciate this gesture. Military bases have been impetuously established along Russia's perimeter. The United States plans to establish part of its global missile defense system in the Czech Republic and Poland. The Warsaw Pact ceased to exist 20 years ago, but NATO still proceeds eastward, adding new member states for reasons other than enhancing security and democracy.
Russia is not interested in confrontation; we want to focus on our own development, prosperity and stability. But successful development is possible only in the context of transparent and equal international relations, together with stability and security in our neighborhood. Thus, we are interested in a strong and independent Europe. And the development of EU military capacities and EU security policy is an important factor in European and global security.
It is time for Europe to stop acting like an occupied continent and start displaying its own political will. The action taken by the EU in the course of the Georgian crisis proved that Europeans have such an aspiration and are willing to fulfill their role as a global player, which will become increasingly apparent in the coming years.
As for NATO, we in Russia think it should adapt and transform itself to suit the new environment. During this transformation, NATO must keep in mind that the primary responsibility for global peace and security lies with the United Nations. For the moment, though, NATO and its leaders have no clear answer to the question: where do we go from here? The alliance's strategic concept is outdated, yet it cannot even agree on when to start preparing a new one. Its forces are overstretched in Afghanistan, and its members are using it to advance their own goals.
A real, working NATO-Russia relationship could provide the alliance with solutions to problems that it cannot tackle on its own. It would also give new impetus to the European security system. This is what we want to see in the future — and it is a future that is not possible without Russia. To see why, simply compare the importance of combating international terrorism with the value of nurturing Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili's personal ambitions; things soon fall into place.
Europe needs an integrated, solid and indivisible system of comprehensive security. We are not calling for abolishing everything and starting from scratch. On the contrary, we must build on existing institutions. In short, we need to retain the hardware, but update the software. Russia's initiative for a pan-European security treaty should be the new operating system.
* Dmitry Rogozin is head of the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to NATO. © Project Syndicate, 2009
http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=170926&bolum=109
A chap one can't dislike talking sense-nonsense.
The rebooting, resetting rogues. Wish they'd all go home and leave us in peace.
Camp Arnie: A Glimpse of Things to Come
Kurt Nimmo
Infowars
March 29, 2009
From Bloomberg: California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said a make-shift tent city for the homeless that sprang up in the capital city of Sacramento will be shut down and its residents allowed to stay at the state fairgrounds.
The homeless will be “allowed” to stay at Cal-Expo? More like they will be required to stay there, either that or hit the streets.
“Together with the local government and volunteers, we are taking a first step to ensure the people living in tent city have a safe place to stay, with fresh water, healthy conditions and access to the services they need,” said Herr Schwarzenegger, California’s Uber-gov.
California, home to one of every eight Americans, has been particularly hard hit by the housing market collapse after many residents turned to exotic mortgages to afford homes. The tent city, which has long existed along the banks of the America River, gained national attention last month when some of its recently homeless residents were featured on the Oprah Winfrey Show.
In other words, the homeless, usually out-of-sight and thus out-of-mind, are a public relations disaster for Arnie and officialdom in California. Now that they will be forced to live in the deteriorating Cal-Expo, media access can be micro-managed by the state. “Too much media attention can be a bad thing. At least that seems to be the case for a tent city of 200 that sprang up a year ago in Sacramento,” the Los Angeles Times reported last week.
Cassandra Jennings, Sacramento’s assistant city manager, told KCRA 3 “what’s envisioned is a single, large tent with individual spaces or compartments and that there is no interest in recreating the existing tent city at Cal Expo.”
“Shelters are like institutions,” remarked one homeless man. “At shelters you must share space with junkies, drunks, anti-social and emotionally deprived people. Shelters are dangerous, and violent. Rather than staying in a shelter and in order to preserve one’s sense of self, people stay in cars, crash with friends (’couch surfing’) or otherwise stay in the woods or on the streets somewhere,” writes Dana Szegedy, a student who experienced homelessness.
In the months ahead, as the economy continues its engineered implosion, local governments around the country may resort to the Camp Arnie solution to homelessness. Camp Arnie will reportedly hold a few hundred people (who are described as “chronic homeless,” not victims of foreclosure and unemployment) but it will stretch beyond capacity as unemployment and foreclosure homelessness increase.
As an example of what may be in store, consider the situation in New Orleans post-Katrina. Katrina produced a burgeoning population of homeless people who had lost their homes and were reduced to living on the street. In response, Mayor Ray Nagin’s administration cooked up a new public habitation law to move “vagrants” (victims) to a bunkhouse at the New Orleans Mission, according to the Lost in New Orleans blog.
What the mission calls its “bunkhouse,” an air-conditioned, heated Quonset-style tent erected at the back of its property, can hold 140 men. About 100 more men can sleep on the mission’s second floor, but only if the shelter hires a “firewatch,” because of its building’s current fire hazards. Women stay in a separate house, which has space for eight more, said Ron Gonzales, the shelter’s director.
Nagin planned to institutionalize the homeless. It looks like California is in the process of doing the same. Prior to this, Nagin “suggested a way to reduce this city’s post-Katrina homeless population: give them one-way bus tickets out of town.” Nagin’s frustration was a direct response to FEMA’s handling of the homeless crisis — the supposed emergency management agency put the displaced in toxic trailers and then dumped them on the street. “While some have moved to homes of relatives in other states, others are living in cars, or have joined the rapidly growing New Orleans homeless population,” Deepa Fernandes wrote for Mother Jones in 2008.
FEMA’s ludicrously (and maybe prophetically) named toxic trailer camp — “Renaissance Village” — was in essence a concentration camp. “When you first drive up on the FEMA site you see a chain-link fenced in property with stark crowded trailers and no trespassing signs posted along the perimeter. When you drive up to the entrance you will see security guards at the front gate. It doesn’t take much of a closer look to notice that the security guards are armed. FEMA requires all residents to carry Renaissance Village ID badges at all times,” explains a blog on the subject.
You will have to show your ID’s, tell them who you are going to see and their trailer number and they will write down your license plate number on your vehicle when you come in. Mark Misczak, the agency’s human services director for Louisiana said it is“private, like a gated community”. It is unlike any gated community we have ever known of, except a prison. When the site opened FEMA had a ban on firearms.
“It is wrong to force citizens to give up their constitutional rights in order for them to get a needed federal benefit,” said NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre.
Of course homeless people reduced to entering a fenced FEMA camp surrounded by armed guards shouldn’t expect to exercise their constitutional rights. In fact, they didn’t have the right to talk to the media, either. At a FEMA concentration camp in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, in 2006 a reporter was prevented from talking to inmates.
Dekotha Devall, whose New Orleans home was destroyed by the storm, was in her FEMA-provided trailer telling the Advocate reporter of the hardships of life in the camp when a security guard knocked on the door.
“You are not allowed to be here,” the guard is quoted as telling the reporter. “Get out right now.” The guard reportedly called police to force the journalist to leave the camp, and even prevented the reporter from giving the interview subject a business card. “You will not give her a business card,” the guard said. “She’s not allowed to have that.”
Later, at another FEMA camp in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, the reporter attempted to talk to camp resident Pansy Ardeneaux through a chain link fence when the same guard halted the interview. “You are not allowed to talk to these people,” the guard told Ardeneaux. “Return to your trailer now.” The reporter said she and an accompanying photographer were “ordered…not to talk to anyone or take pictures.”
In September, 2006, renowned journalist Greg Palast was charged with crimes against the state for filming a FEMA toxic trailer concentration camp, deemed a “critical national security structure,” described by Palast as an ” aluminum ghetto in the middle of nowhere.”
Arnie Schwarzenegger (an admitted fan of a man who pioneered many concentration camp techniques) is attempting to drastically curtail media access to the growing number of homeless in his state by locking the down-and-out up in a concentration camp at Cal-Expo. Is it possible Arnie will post armed guards around the homeless containment pens at Cal-Expo to run off the media in the same way FEMA did? Bet on it.
Eventually this out-of-sight-out-mind damage control tactic will fail. As the economy implodes and the number of unemployed, foreclosed, and homeless increase around the country it will be impossible for government to sweep the problem under the rug — or in the case of California, sweep it into a livestock pen at the state fair grounds.
Is it possible the KBR constructed camps situated around the country — camps Glenn Beck tells us do not exist — are intended to lock-down millions of angry and desperate unemployed people in the months and years ahead?
If I was a betting man, I’d say so.
The Americans themselves writing about the catastrophe they helped to create. At least the Russians don't have any such thing to feel ashamed of at the moment.
Why should they? I guarantee you the Russians are chortling in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Like "Good cop - Bad cop" - remember that one?
What a joke.
Axe Man
You're right about the chortling, Axe Man, and the Good cop, Bad cop story is also not a bad one, with all the others getting a bit part. I don't know whether to laugh or to cry.
X speaking. Another good story out of USA today. GM, Chrysler on the verge of bankruptcy. Banks they are not so no second bailout for these two.
X
Another Black Monday. Global bourses down. This goes on, we'll be bailing out the stockmarket directly instead of doing it indirectly through the banks.
Oops, here we go again. The other site from which we get our news is down again. Seems to be turning into a habit.
March 30, 2009
Where's Eliot Spitzer Now That We Need Him?
By MIKE WHITNEY
The former governor of New York might have some rocky moments in his confirmation hearings, but if Obama really wanted to police Wall St – which of course he doesn’t - he’d replace current SEC chief Mary Schapiro with Eliot Spitzer. Schapiro is another Wall Street toady who believes that the markets can regulate themselves. As the head of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, or Finra, she stood by while the financial giants increased their leverage to unsustainable levels and spread their derivatives-contagion to every part of the system.
Schapiro also missed the Madoff scandal, the auction-rate bond fraud, the blow up at Lehman Brothers, and the mortgage meltdown. She was blindsided at every turn. Her dismal performance as a private-sector regulator proves that she's the wrong person for the job. Even the far-right Wall Street Journal has lambasted Schapiro. In an article titled "Obama's pick to head SEC has record of being a Regulator with a Light Touch" the WSJ relayed this revealing anecdote:
The Financial Services Institute, a trade group, was meeting, and Ms. Schapiro addressed the crowd about Finra's efforts to fight frauds aimed at senior citizens. Frank Congemi, a financial adviser, asked what Finra was doing to regulate "packaged products" such as complex mortgage securities. Mr. Congemi says that Ms. Schapiro replied: "We have rating agencies that rate them." The credit-rating agencies, by this time, were being heavily criticized for having given triple-A ratings to mortgage bonds that became unsalable as foreclosures rose.
Mr. Congemi says that at the May 7 meeting he retorted: "What is that going to do to markets and people's trust when these things go to zero?" He says Ms. Schapiro replied that she couldn't answer hypothetical questions. (Wall Street Journal, Obama's pick to head SEC has record of being a Regulator with a Light Touch")
This story sums up Schapiro's do-nothing attitude perfectly. She's doomed to follow in the footsteps of her feckless predecessor, Christopher Cox, who stuck his head in the sand while the five biggest investment banks levered up to 30 to 1 and brought the whole global house of cards crashing to earth. Schapiro will undoubtedly torpedo any effort to police the markets or to bring charges against any of the Wall Street Godfathers.
And what is the SEC up to now? Where are the regulators and what steps have been taken to clean up Wall Street?
Nothing. Obama hasn't changed a thing. Treasury is full of bank loyalists and the SEC is loaded with brokerage-friendly flunkies. The only difference is that the SEC's rubber stamp has been passed from laughing stock Cox to lapdog Schapiro. Other than that, it's business as usual.
If Spitzer was running the SEC, the Pinkertons would be swarming the investments houses right now, thumbing through the off-balance sheet paperwork, overturning filing cabinets and tasering bloated banksters as they scuttle away clutching their briefcases stuffed with taxpayer loot.
The public is not in the mood for any more lame excuses or windy oratory from President Inspiration. Just get on with it. Governing is more than just gliding from one teleprompter to the next pointing at rainbows and promising Utopia. There has to be action, accountability, and justice.
Remembering Land Day
Palestinians Honor Dead From 1976 Clashes With Israeli Army
By JONATHAN COOK
Arrabeh
Palestinians across the Middle East were due to commemorate Land Day today, marking the anniversary of clashes in 1976 in which six unarmed Palestinians were shot dead by the Israeli army as it tried to break up a general strike.
Although Land Day is one of the most important anniversaries in the Palestinian calendar, sometimes referred to as the Palestinians’ national day, the historical event it marks is little spoken of and rarely studied.
“Maybe its significance is surprising given the magnitude of other events in Palestinian history,” said Hatim Kanaaneh, 71, a doctor, who witnessed the military invasion of his village.
“But what makes Land Day resonate with Palestinians everywhere is that it was the first time Palestinians inside Israel stood together and successfully resisted Israel’s goal of confiscating their land.”
LONG LIVE PALESTINE
Venezuela seduces both Russia and China to keep USA afar
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is ready to provide the territory of his country for the provisional deployment of Russian warplanes. At the same time, Chavez is not willing to develop the cooperation with Russia in the field further on. China has been showing its interest in the region lately too. Chavez strives after Venezuela’s secure co-existence with the United States, and he is ready to balance between Russia and China to achieve his goal
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