First this: The War on Terror has been renamed: It's now become the Long War for the Spread of Democracy (LWD)- Please to bear it in mind.
Next Hudson: A great speaker who knows exactly what he's talking about, at least as far as the west goes. I think he's spot on when he says the world is going into a two financial blocks system: the Pariah dollar block on the one hand, the BRIC + Third World + eventually Europe block on the other.
I don't mind US fraudsters buying up Australia. That rotten continent deserves no better. I just hope other countries show more gumption and resist. And that Europe sides with China on this and a wedge is tapped into west unity.
G20 has come and gone with an anodyne final communiqué promising bigger and better things in France six months from now.
A failure for all that? Not quite. At least no one agreed to endorse the US position that China should be bullied into raising its currency value. So let's see if Hudson's predictions for the coming months are fulfilled or not. I rather think they will be.
Our Destiny: Digital Nomads in a Virtual Void November 11, 2010 By David Richards
Britain is a surreal place to be living right now.
The infamous Ministry of Defense trend report for 2007-35 projects the British middle classes 'becoming revolutionary, taking on the role of Marx's proletariat.'
I should be seeing the start of the ferment.
Our living standards are being attacked: people are losing their jobs, there is fast inflation, taxes are increasing and every year hordes of young people leave university to few job opportunities.
And yet there is virtually no anger at all. The conversation between people is as trivial and inane as ever.
Interpol hunts two Israelis for Kosovo organ trafficking - 12.11.10
Moshe Harel among seven indicted for membership of a criminal group trafficking people into Kosovo to remove human organs for transplant; another Israeli citizen, Zaki Shapira, identified as co-conspirator.
Reuters) - Israel's comatose former prime minister, Ariel Sharon, was moved back to his desert ranch on Friday, leaving the secure hospital ward that has been his home for almost five years, officials said.
Sharon, 82, will continue to receive treatment at Sycamore Farm, where as premier he would summon advisers to plan strategies such as Israel's 2002 offensive in the Palestinian West Bank and the surprise 2005 withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.
Felled by a stroke in January 2006, the ex-general left behind an often jittery Jewish state that has since fought two wars while charting an uncertain course in U.S.-sponsored peace talks with the Palestinians.
"Today, in 2010, the aspiration of any patient, our aspiration in the hospital, is to ensure that any chronic patient, when possible, is with his community, at home," said Prof Shlomo Noy, director of rehabilitation at the Sheba Medical Centre outside Tel Aviv, where Sharon had been receiving care.
Asked whether there was any chance of Sharon making a significant recovery — or even returning to public life, as a few of his loyalists envisage — Noy told Israel's Army Radio:
"Clearly what's behind this is the hope that his situation will get better. But the improvements that we talk about in such situations are not great improvements, not dramatic improvements."
Policymakers from the world's new economic powerhouses in Latin America and Asia pledged yesterday to come up with fresh measures to curb capital inflows after the United States Federal Reserve said it would print billions of dollars to rescue its economy. ... South Korea's Ministry of Finance and Strategy said it had sent "a message to the markets" yesterday and would "aggressively" consider controls on capital flows, while Brazil's Foreign Trade Secretary said the Fed's move could cause "retaliatory measures."
Economy Minister Ali Babacan of Turkey, where the central bank has been buying increasing amounts of foreign exchange in an effort to curb appreciation of the lira against the dollar, said the Fed's action might backfire.
"The Fed move was a measure taken in a desperate environment. It should be considered whether pumping this much money into the market can create more damage than benefit," he said.
Thailand raised the possibility of concerted action to combat the flood of investment dollars that are expected to wash into emerging markets. .... Zeti Akhtar Aziz, head of Malaysia's central bank, also said Asian central banks were "willing to act collectively if the need arises to ensure stability in the region."
A senior Indian finance official .... said that while the US had a right to stimulate its own economy, others would also serve their own interests and said that any deal on currencies in Seoul had to be a "win for both the blocs."
And on and on and on. One day after the G20, not a word further about it in the media. So a thorough flop it was. QE2, on the other hand, has drawn a lot of ink and will no doubt carry on doing so in days to come.
... Banks are already required by law to allocate almost 10% of their lending to mortgages and housing projects. On Thursday the national assembly went even further. It passed the first draft of a bill defining banking as a "public service." This means that it will become easier for the government to take over banks - in theory, at least, although legal technicalities have not prevented Chavez from expropriating companies when it has suited him in the past.
Indeed, in the past year the government has seized more than 40 banks and brokerages — ten of which have been liquidated altogether — citing liquidity problems or trading "irregularities."
Whether the new law - part of a series of laws designed to create a new "socialist" financial system - in fact paves the way for the nationalisation of the sector is not clear. It may give the state so much control over banks that it won't need to nationalise them. On the other hand, it might limit banking activity and profits so much - by forcing banks to lend to unprofitable communal companies, for example - that some institutions go out of business or end up being taken over by the state anyway.
Irish youth flees as meltdown looms Young people look to emigrate rather than face life of hardship as republic lurches toward financial collapse. A bailout seems inevitable.
"In the wake of the G20 flop, it strikes me that there are two conceivable endgames to the current stalemate on international economic reform. Neither, I should warn you, is particularly attractive.
"The first is that it will only be after another crisis (perhaps sovereign debt, perhaps a full-blown currency war) that world leaders will confront the issue and try to create a coherent international monetary system.
"The second is the theory of hegemonic stability: periods of chaos such as this usually come when one economic superpower gives way to another.
"No matter what rules or structures policy makers try to erect, the overriding instability caused by these shifts in global economic tectonics mean that we must wait until China fully surpasses the US before we can expect a return to stability."
The British Middle Class is becoming increasingly revolutionary Marxists?
That's hilarious.
Like Americans, the precious British people in general are becoming increasingly reactionary--as in Fascist "revolutionaries."
Britain's only future is to show its true colors as an aggressive fascist nation similar to Francoite Spain, Mussolini's Italy, or that chap in Germany with the funny mustache.
I say, what was his name now, the dwarfish chap with the mustache you mention? On the tip of my tongue. Oh, no, it's gone again. No matter. But don't be too hard on the Brits, please. Haven't they just had their first "riots"? Students who should really have known better taking of Party headquarters to protest rising tuition costs. If that is not Marxist revolutionary, what is? We mustn't quibble in these days of penury. Anyone who opens his mouth and says aloud "Ouch" is already to be counted among the revolutionary forces of the nation.
Warning of new era of surveillance state: Britain is heading for a new surveillance state of unmanned spy drones, GPS tracking of employees and profiling through social networking sites, the information watchdog has warned.
Bank Failures This Year Reach 146: Ameris Bancorp purchased two shuttered Georgia banks and regulators closed a third in Arizona as the 2010 failure toll climbed to 146.
The odd American urge to invest heavily in perpetual war abroad, including “defense-related” spending of around a trillion dollars a year, has been a significant factor further weakening the country on the global stage. Most of the conventional weapons on which the US continues to splurge could not even be deployed against nuclear powers like Russia, China, and India, emerging as key competitors when it comes to global markets, resources, and regional force projection. Those same conventional weapons have proved hardly more useful (in the sense of achieving quick and decisive victory, or even victory at all) in the unconventional wars the US has repeatedly plunged into — a sad fact that Bush’s reckless attempt to occupy entire West Asian nations only demonstrated even more clearly to Washington’s bemused rivals.
American weapons stockpiles (and copious plans for ever more high-tech versions of the same into the distant future) are therefore remarkably irrelevant to its situation, and known to be so. Meanwhile, its economy, burdened by debts incurred through wars and military spending sprees, and hollowed out by Wall Street shell games, is becoming a B-minus one in global terms.
- Banks: Legislation is being put into place to nationalise them. Meanwhile, by decree, banks are now required to hand over 5% of all their profits to the State.
- Venezuela, Nicaragua and Iran bent on constructing a rival to the Panama Canal. Excellent initiative which will drive ex-Superpower US crazy.
Senior Bank of England policymaker raises prospect of more QE.
(See, where USans lead, Brits follow. No one is doing any thinking for themselves these days. It's slways follow the leader, be it to hell and beyond.)
Ex-Brit colony that I am, I'll forgive them for nothing at all. But fairness demands that I add to this: Worse even than the Brits were the Conquistadores, Hernan Cortés and Co. Thank God their empire went to the dogs, too. Just as now the Evil Empire is swinging mightily on its last legs. One strong wind more and they're down, crushed in the dust with the rest of their west minions.
"The baton has passed from countries like the United States onto countries like China, Brazil, Russia, India and beyond," said one analyst. And growth in the global economy will be much more dependent upon those countries than on the developed economies.
It explains how while the US economy continues to look more bleak, with analysts such as Goldman Sachs forecasting fairly to very bad scenarios of a meager one to two percent growth or a double dip recession, the so-called BRIC countries are still on the ascent. Brazil’s economy is estimated to grow 7.5 percent, and rounding out the R-I-C in that acronym, Russia, India and China are estimated to post 4.25 percent, 9.7 percent and 10.5 percent gains respectively.
(So west prolapse just as we were told. And the Freeworld thriving.)
The Coming Sell-Out to the Super Rich and What It Means for the Rest of Us By MICHAEL HUDSON
November 15, 2010 "Counterpunch" -- Now that President Obama is almost celebrating his bipartisan willingness to renew the tax cuts for the super-rich enacted under George Bush ten years ago, it is time for Democrats to ask themselves how strongly they are willing to oppose an administration that looks like Bush-Cheney III. Is this what they expected by Obama’s promise to rise above partisan politics – by ruling on behalf of Wall Street, now that it is the major campaign backer of both parties?
It is a reflection of how one-sided today’s class war has become that Warren Buffet has quipped that “his” side is winning without a real fight being waged. No gauntlet has been thrown down over the trial balloon that the president and his advisor David Axelrod have sent up over the past two weeks to extend the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest 2 per cent for “just” two more years. For all practical purposes the euphemism “two years” means forever – at least, long enough to let the super-rich siphon off enough more money to bankroll enough more Republicans to be elected to make the tax cuts permanent.
Obama seems to be campaigning for his own defeat! Thanks largely to the $13 trillion Wall Street bailout – while keeping the debt overhead in place for America’s “bottom 98 per cent” – this happy 2 per cent of the population now receives an estimated three quarters (~75 per cent) of the returns to wealth (interest, dividends, rent and capital gains). This is nearly double what it received a generation ago. The rest of the population is being squeezed, and foreclosures are rising.
Baudelaire quipped that the devil wins at the point where he manages convince the world that he doesn’t exist. Today’s financial elites will win the class war at the point where voters believe it doesn’t exist – and believe that Obama is trying to help them rather than shepherd them into debt peonage as the economy settles into debt deflation.
We are dealing with shameless demagogy. The financial End Time has arrived, but Obama’s happy-talk pretends that “two years” will get us through the current debt-induced depression. The Republican plan is to make more Congressional and Senate gains in 2012 as Obama’s former supporters “vote with their backsides” and stay home, as they did earlier this month. So “two years” means forever in politician-talk. Why vote for a politician who promises “change” but is merely an exclamation mark for the Bush-Cheney policies from Afghanistan and Iraq to Wall Street’s Democratic Leadership Council on the party’s right wing? One of its leaders, after all, was Obama’s Senate mentor, Joe Lieberman.
The second pretense is that cutting taxes for the super-rich is necessary to win Republican support for including the middle class in the tax cuts. It is as if the Democrats never won a plurality in Congress. (One remembers George W. Bush with his mere 50+ per cent, pushing forward his extremist policies on the logic that: “I’ve got capital, and I’m using it.” What he had, of course, was Democratic Leadership Committee support.) It’s all “to create jobs,” headed by employment of shipyard workers building yachts for the nouveau riches and foreclosing on the ten million Americans whose mortgage payments have fallen into arrears. It sounds Keynesian – or at least, reminiscent of Thomas Robert Malthus’s claim (as lobbyist for Britain’s landed aristocracy) that landlords would use their rent income to hire footmen, carriage-makers and butlers to keep the economy going.
It gets worse. Obama’s “Bush” tax cut is only Part I of a one-two punch to shift taxes onto wage earners. Congressional economists estimate that extending the tax cuts to the top 2 per cent will cost $700 to $750 billion over the next decade or so. “How are we going to go out and borrow $700 billion?” Obama asked Steve Kroft in his Sixty Minutes interview on CBS last week.
The Irish Prime Minister said yesterday that the country was confident that it could cope with its financial problems and criticised 'inaccurate' speculation about its problems Photo: AFPBy Bruno Waterfield and Robert Winnett 7:28PM GMT 16 Nov 2010 The President of Europe warned that countries needed to “work together” ahead of crucial talks designed to secure the future of the euro.
Stock markets around the world fell sharply amid growing international unease over the growing crisis threatening the single currency.
The deepening debt crisis in Ireland which has spread to other parts of the eurozone has left the single currency and European Union fighting for their “survival”, Herman Van Rompuy warned.
“We are in a survival crisis,” he told an audience of Brussels policymakers yesterday. “We all have to work together in order to survive with the euro zone because if we don't survive with the euro zone, we will not survive with the EU.”
The comments helped spark a fall in share prices and the value of the euro across the world.
London's FTSE 100 index of Britain’s biggest companies fell by 2.38 percent
to 5,681. Bank shares including Lloyds TSB were some of the biggest fallers. In Paris, the CAC 40 lost 2.63 percent to 3,762, and in Frankfurt the DAX reduced by 1.87 percent. The Dow Jones fell by more than 200 points to below 11,000 points.
The Irish Prime Minister said yesterday that the country was confident that it could cope with its financial problems and criticised “inaccurate” speculation about its problems. However, he indicated that the country may seek international help for its banks to “reassure” the markets.
Why the Irish Crisis is Going Global November 16, 2010
On the surface, it's reminiscent of the problem Greece had with its unmanageable federal debt early this year, which shook world markets, ended a global rally in stocks and ultimately led to a $146 billion bailout by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund. Greece spent more money than it took in for years, papered over the gap, and essentially became insolvent when it could no longer borrow the money needed to finance its debt.
Ireland is on the brink of insolvency too, which has helped drive down the S&P 500 stock index by nearly 4 percent over the last few days. But unlike Greece, Ireland is a relatively wealthy country, with per capita GDP of nearly $38,000. That's 21 percent higher than per capita GDP in Greece, and in the top third for European countries. Low corporate tax rates and a skilled workforce have made Ireland a haven for some of the world's biggest companies. And its public debt, about 65 percent of GDP, is far below Greece's crushing load, which is 126 percent of GDP. Ireland's debt levels are even lower than those in France, Germany and the United Kingdom.
But Ireland has one huge problem that may soon make it a supplicant to its European brethren: A failed banking sector that Ireland's government can no longer rescue on its own. Ireland is in the midst of a real estate bust that could trump even the ruinous downturns that turned parts of southern California and Nevada into suburban ghost towns, with home-grown banks stoking it all. Now, those banks are trying to manage catastrophic losses. The Irish government has effectively nationalized the nation's biggest banks by guaranteeing their debt, which would be akin to the U.S. government taking over Citigroup, Bank of America, J.P. Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo.
(Ha, bloody, ha. As though it's any different it US. Well, there perhaps one could say the US banks mentioned by name ave taken over the government. But is it otherwise in Ireland either? All much of a muchness, these scoundrels and scammers. And do reflect on who's leading Ireland at the moment. Yes, a Sarkozy clone.)
19:22, thanks for master race link. Went and had a look. God, everything you could imagine: rape, paedophilia, incest, murder, violence and, and, and. You name it, you find it. But any desire to end up feeling sorry for them is nipped in the bud if one thinks of even one day of warfare in places like Afghnistan or Iraq.
They have richly earned every minute of their prolapse.
IMF are financial terrorists. They don't care about the people of Ireland or any other, they just want to strip any country they are called into of all it's wealth.
For instance, fraudulent derivatives are sold by the IMF member banks. It's a sweet scam: the IMF sells junk securities and when the buyers learn the securities are junk (so they've lost their reserves) they go to the IMF to borrow their money back at 20% interest!
The solution to the IMF problem (given that it doesn't seem possible to put them in prison yet) is to follow the lead of Iceland i.e. make the buying and selling of derivatives illegal, forbid the central bank from charging interest on currency/credit issuance, and base the money supply on a sound formula (such as the number of citizens) in order to prevent financiers from manipulating economic booms and busts.
Beware the IMF - they have bankrupted many developing countries and won't have any qualms about bankrupting many more.
Thia is simply a loan-sharks mafia. Look at Nigeria. 50 years after receiving 'help' from the IMF and they are still paying it off. They borrowed a billion and so far they've paid back 50 billion and still apparently owe another 50. Poor Nigeria!
Venezuela Celebrates Five Years Free of Illiteracy
Over the past 7 years, Mission Robinson has focused much of its attention on reaching out to geographically isolated and historically excluded members of the population including indigenous groups and Afro-descendents. (YVKE)
In 2005, UNESCO affirmed that more than 95 percent of the Venezuelan population is literate, qualifying the country for the title of “Territory Free of Illiteracy”.
The free government program, Mission Robinson, is largely responsible for the success, teaching more than 1.5 million people to read and write in the first two years of its existence.
“This achievement is not something small”, said Marisol Calzadilla, President of the government foundation responsible for implementing Mission Robinson.
“For Venezuela it’s something very important and not only because it’s recognized by the world but rather for our development as a country and the development of our people. The consciousness that the people have today, what is happening all over the country, the level of participation in the construction of popular power, is a product of education. The people have taken control over their lives through knowledge”, Calzadilla said.
Robinson was initiated by the government of Hugo Chavez in 2003 as part of an educational reform strategy using the proven literacy training methods created in Cuba called “Yes, I can” (Yo si puedo).
The so-called "International" Monetary Fund is just a proxy for the American Empire.
As mentioned in one of the videos above, the USA has the largest voting share in this phoney "international" monetary fund and America is the only country that has a veto in the IMF.
So let's see if Ireland will call out its close bosom ally, America, which is the force behind the IMF.
Chinese business taking over Europe. A few examples:
GENEVA - While Chinese diplomatic missions throughout Western Europe have made considerable effort to claim that China is not taking advantage of the current economic downturn to carve for itself an increased economic role in Europe, in practice the contrary is happening and much to the relief of the Europeans. On June 10, China and Iceland signed a currency swap deal worth US$500 million which provided that over the next three years Iceland could pay in its own currency, the kronur, for up to 3.5 billion yuan (US$528 million) of Chinese imports.
While the deal in terms of the sums involved was minor, its political impact was considerable and it was viewed as a significant step towards recovery for the battered Icelandic economy.
Iceland was a sideshow. Greece is becoming China's main stepping-stone into the European Union. In April, the bankrupt Greek government appealed to its European partners for a US$140 billion bailout package. This proved a golden opportunity for China to move in.
Much to the relief of the Europeans who did not wish to become the sole props of the ailing Greek state, China declared itself ready to pump up to 10 billion euros (US$13.5 billion) into the Greek economy, mostly through financing of large infrastructural project. In addition, a 35-year lease was signed with Chinese shipping group COSCO for the modernization and management of the Piraeus container terminal. China also announced a $5 billion basket to enable Greek ship owners to purchase Chinese ships. Finally China announced that it would look favorably towards the future purchase of Greek bonds.
But it is China's foray in France that stands out as conceptually the most challenging.
The only distinction of Chateauroux, a town with some 48,000 inhabitants located some 100 kilometers south of Paris, was that until the mid-'60s it was the location of the largest North Atlantic Treaty Organization base in Europe. As such, it was home to 8,000 American soldiers and featured a runway that could accommodate the largest jets. With the end of the Cold War, the base was initially taken over by the French army but is now considered redundant and is in the process of being closed down. The cumulative economic fallout, especially in terms of employment for Chateauroux, was devastating, and the future for the region looked bleak when hope appeared from the East.
In June 2009, following lengthy negotiations a protocol was signed between the local authorities of Chateauroux and China's Light Industry Federation, a conglomerate representing a substantial number of Chinese firms. According to the protocol, the local authorities would allocate 500 hectares to an industrial park where Chinese firms could set up facilities to assemble high-tech products from parts imported from China.
In what amounts to reverse outsourcing, French workers would thus be producing Chinese goods, albeit under the label "Made in France". But the industrial park, aptly named "Chatauroux business district" - or "CBD" - would not only be an assembly site but also provide what Chinese goods often lacked abroad, namely marketing, distribution and after-sales servicing.
The project is due to take off in early 2011 with the arrival of some 800 Chinese workers who will be housed in facilities that the Americans had built for their troops. They will be followed by three to four Chinese firms establishing operations in the CBD, later to grow to some 40. While some of the Chinese workforce and management will be retained, over the years the scheme is expected to provide some 4,000 jobs to the Chateauroux region.
Thanks 02:48. Of course German militarism is on the rise. All this laying down of the law within EU has gone to their heads. They are rubbing their hands at the thought of having belatedly won the two World Wars of which they were so unjustly made the scapegoat.
But strange to say, just as the militarism of the Germans has intensified, that of the French seems to be abating somewhat. Their new Defence Minister had now made statements to the effect that Afghanistan is unwinnable, just a trap and it's time to remove French troops from there. But then that new man is none other than Alain Juppé who, as politicians go, is among the best France has to offer at the moment. Let's see what comes of the next NATO meeting.
Although Ireland is home to 8 of the top 10 global technology companies and 15 of the top 25 medical devices firms, Irish leaders would rather accept a decade of EU-imposed austerity measures and the loss of sovereignty, then leave the euro and start fresh. It's disappointing.
(This is the view of one analyst. I'd say: forget Ireland. It is will not give us anything of what we're hoping for. Train your eyes on Portugal instead in this particular instance. And then, in any case, whatever happens the west is doomed so does it really matter who delivers and who doesn't?)
The four pillars of west construction: greed, envy, hypocrisy, vanity. They are absolutely averse to sharing anything with anyone. And it is an absolute must to believe they are the best the world has ever seen and they have a natural right to rule over everybody else.
As regards the Dutch, they are a specially self-adoring people. Along with the Spaniards and the Portugese, they (count Belgium in) were among the worst of the former colonialists. Nothing surprising in their latest Nazi ventures. But actually they are all much of a muchness as they try and wrest away control of the Freeworld in the end phase of Neocolonialism.
Is Irish bailout a back door bailout of City of London? Posted by inthesenewtimes on November 18, 2010
Cailean Bochanan
18th November, 2010
When Obama announced his latest quantitative easing scheme I assumed Britain would follow suit. Surprisingly they didn’t. Usually we move in tandem with our American partners but here there was a divergence. I had argued in the past that the pound functioned in much the same way as the dollar as a global reserve currency though very much under its wing. What was going on?
QE2, the latest quantitative easing programme was an attempt to run another free ride at the expense of the rest of the world: in fact, the culmination of thirty years of doing exactly that. Wasn’t Britain interested in the same racket: we could do with it since we have nothing else to fall back on. Unless, that is, we have our sights on a free ride off the European Union.
Tonight’s Channel 4 interview of the Irish Minister for Europe, Dick Roche, gave a strange impression. Presenter Jon Snow seemed absolutely desperate to get Roche to admit that the bailout was on the way whilst the latter remained fairly laid back about it all. It all aroused my suspicion: are the Brits are using all their influence to bounce Dublin into this? Why?
The rationale behind the bailout is that it is necessary to prevent contagion specifically of the European periphery, notably Spain and Portugal. It is here , it transpires that UK bank’s exposure is massive: so there is more at stake than just £143 bullion invested in Ireland. Surely, this explains why the British response to this bailout is so different from their response to the Greek bailout. That was poo-pooed as, on the one hand, a sign of the imminent demise of the eurozone and on the other an attempt to shore up French and German banks exposed to Greek debt. But this time the mood music is much more positive. We are even happy to contribute to it ourselves- a nice touch when you consider the likely beneficiaries- whilst allowing our eurosceptics to run a simultaneous moaning campaign. Incidently, David McWilliam, an Irish eurosceptic, anglophile economist and also a sudden enthusiast for EU bailouts has pointed the finger again at French and German banks notably neglecting to admit to the British interest. Is this the elephant in the room?
Let’s wait to see how this unfolds but I have a sense the Brits have pulled off a coup here. The implications are rather disturbing- already the EU seems to have shown weakness in dealing with the City of London’s hedgefunds. Now Merkel has backed down precipitately over the issue of a haircut for Ireland’s creditors.The EU’s exposure on their western flank to City wrecking operations hasn’t been dealt with. Can the City really rerun a neo-colonial racket in Ireland courtesy of the EU?
(probably the real truth behind the Irish bailout. Won't change much to the inevitable end. Put if off a little at the most.)
Thousands to protest against war (UKPA) – 20.11.10
Thousands of protesters have taken to the streets to march against the war in Afghanistan as Nato leaders discussed bringing an end to the nine-year conflict.
Demonstrators were led by military families as they carried anti-war placards and banners against cuts to government spending.
As the march moved from Hyde Park, central London, protesters chanted: "When they say warfare, we say welfare".
The demonstration took place as the Prime Minister attended a Nato summit in Lisbon, where an agreement was reached which will see Afghan forces take over full responsibility for the country's security in 2014.
At Trafalgar Square the rally was addressed by a series of speakers. Seamus Milne, a commentator for the Guardian, said: "In Lisbon today the Nato leaders will try to make it appear that they are bringing an end to this war, a war that is now in its 10th year.
"This talk of an exit strategy is clearly a sham. They're stating that their aim is to withdraw combat troops by 2015. Even if they achieve that, the period from now until then will be as long as the First World War."
(NATO west tripe as usual. The war will end when certain Freeworld countries decide the time has finally come. Not a day earlier or later.)
Again to no avail, 16:09. They protested and the others, the people who weave the "tapistry of lies" to quote Pinter, carried on with their plans for a 30-40-year occupation of Afghanistan. But as one says: "Man proposes and God disposes". Nowhere will this be more in evidence than in the final outcome in Afghanistan where the mountain tribesman will quietly see off the West hordes come to seize their land.
Remember the strange events in the skies of US on Nov. 8 and 9, if I'm not mistaken, which even at the time one considered signs of a new False Flag. Now Sorcha Faal (aka David Booth) has come out with a new report, taken up by CNN, which blames China for events. I quote from it below:
"The “immediate effect” of the Chinese Navy’s firing of their EMP missile, this report continues, was the “catastrophic crippling” of the US based cruise ship Carnival Splendor [photo 3rd left] that stranded its nearly 4,500 passengers and crew in a “dead in the water” boat and prompting the Americans to send the US Navy’s Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier, warplanes, and supply aircraft to protect it from further attack after all of its electronic systems were destroyed. An electromagnetic pulse (EMP) such as was used upon the Carnival Splendor is a burst of electromagnetic radiation that causes rapidly changing electric fields (or magnetic fields) that when coupling with electrical/electronic systems produces damaging current and voltage surges destroying all non-hardened electrical systems.
The second flash in the sky the following day was apparently the US navy's response to the attack. The reason for this, according to Sorcha Faal, was the forthcoming G20 and China's warning to US to behave over the "currency wars".
Encircling Russia, Targeting China, NATO's true role in the Grand Strategy
This is more or less the title of a recent Global Research piece. Let me begin with a quote from it about the latest hype about the missile shield in Europe:
"By subscribing to the hysterical “Iranian threat” theory, with the help of Israel, the United States can continue to claim with a straight face that the planned missile shield is directed against Iran, not Russia. This cannot be expected to convince the Russians. But it can be used to make their protests sound “paranoid” – at least to the ears of the Western faithful. Dear me, what can they be complaining about when we “reset” our relations with Moscow and invite the Russian president to our “Strategic Concept” happy gathering?
However, the Russians know quite well that:
The missile shield is to be constructed surrounding Russia, which does have missiles, which it keeps for deterrence.
By neutralizing Russian missiles, the United States would free its own hand to attack Russia, knowing that the Russia could not retaliate.
Therefore, whatever is said, the missile shield, if it worked, would serve to facilitate eventual aggression against Russia."
Now, I ask you, it that is the case, how come the Russians are going into Afghanistan and flirting like mad with NATO, not to say US? I do sincerely hope they have some card up their sleeve which our small minds are incapable of penetrating at the moment. China is easier to understand for once. They are almost straightforward in their opposition to the USans compared to corkscrew Russia.
All this rhetoric about the "West" is just political propaganda to disguise the fact that it's the Anglo-Americans who drive and dominate the so-called Western alliance.
The Anglo-Americans are not only genocidal in nature, but most of all they are DECEPTIVE.
Deviousness and cunning are the essential nature of America in particular as a nation.
The USA's propaganda press and hordes of supporters (open and disguised) are prime examples.
And what is most devious about America is how it tries to control political dissent itself, with many False-Flag opposition and phony alternative media sites calling themselves "anti-war" or even "anti-West."
Ireland will request an EU and IMF bailout of up to £80 billion on Monday as it prepares to unveil a four year programme of steep tax rises and deep spending cuts.
US firms pressure Ireland to tax the people, not corporations - 21.11.10
Even as Ireland gears up to give up its sovereignty, the first warnings strike:
The Irish government has been given a stark warning from some of the biggest American companies in Ireland on the risk of a mass exodus if the country's low corporation tax rate is raised.
The warning – from executives at Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard (HP), Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Intel – spoke of the "damaging impact" on Ireland's "ability to win and retain investment" should the country's corporation tax rate be increased from 12.5pc.
12:40, You are not wrong to talk about the deviousness, deception and cunning of the Anglo-US alliance.
But I do not agree with you when you seem to let the rest of the west off the hook. They are equally complicit in the acts of the Anglo-US big brothers. Not one west country as defined on this blog can claim to walk around with clean hands, not a single one. And this includes paragons of virtue such as Switzerland or the Scandinavian hypocrites.
"Who Needs an Army When You Can Obtain the Usual Objective (Monetary Wealth and Asset Appropriation) Simply by Financial Means?"
Why the U.S. has Launched a New Financial World War -- And How the the Rest of the World Will Fight Back By MICHAEL HUDSON
“Coming events cast their shadows forward.” – Goethe
What is to stop U.S. banks and their customers from creating $1 trillion, $10 trillion or even $50 trillion on their computer keyboards to buy up all the bonds and stocks in the world, along with all the land and other assets for sale in the hope of making capital gains and pocketing the arbitrage spreads by debt leveraging at less than 1 per cent interest cost? This is the game that is being played today.
Finance is the new form of warfare – without the expense of a military overhead and an occupation against unwilling hosts. It is a competition in credit creation to buy foreign resources, real estate, public and privatized infrastructure, bonds and corporate stock ownership. Who needs an army when you can obtain the usual objective (monetary wealth and asset appropriation) simply by financial means? All that is required is for central banks to accept dollar credit of depreciating international value in payment for local assets. Victory promises to go to whatever economy’s banking system can create the most credit, using an army of computer keyboards to appropriate the world’s resources. The key is to persuade foreign central banks to accept this electronic credit.
U.S. officials demonize foreign countries as aggressive “currency manipulators” keeping their currencies weak. But they simply are trying to protect their currencies from being pushed up against the dollar by arbitrageurs and speculators flooding their financial markets with dollars. Foreign central banks find them obliged to choose between passively letting dollar inflows push up their exchange rates – thereby pricing their exports out of global markets – or recycling these dollar inflows into U.S. Treasury bills yielding only 1% and whose exchange value is declining. (Longer-term bonds risk a domestic dollar-price decline if U.S interest rates should rise.)
“Quantitative easing” is a euphemism for flooding economies with credit, that is, debt on the other side of the balance sheet. The Fed is pumping liquidity and reserves into the domestic financial system to reduce interest rates, ostensibly to enable banks to “earn their way” out of negative equity resulting from the bad loans made during the real estate bubble. But why would banks lend more under conditions where a third of U.S. homes already are in negative equity and the economy is shrinking as a result of debt deflation?
The problem is that U.S. quantitative easing is driving the dollar downward and other currencies up, much to the applause of currency speculators enjoying a quick and easy free lunch. Yet it is to defend this system that U.S. diplomats are threatening to plunge the world economy into financial anarchy if other countries do not agree to a replay of the 1985 Plaza Accord “as a possible framework for engineering an orderly decline in the dollar and avoiding potentially destabilizing trade fights.” The run-up to this weekend’s IMF meetings saw the United States threaten to derail the international financial system, bringing monetary chaos if it does not get its way. This threat has succeeded for the past few generations.
US is going to pull out every imaginable trick from its bag of manipulation. I still think it will not get away with its crimes. The world (minus west) is too much on its guard.
Defeat in war on both fronts, military as much as financial jiggery-pokery. Nations on a dowmward spiral can as much reverse the trend as turn night into day. Similarly nations on the rise can be as little diverted from their course as an ocean can be transformed into a lake.
Not the best crop of news this morning, all in all (23.11.10), but we take what we can:
- Russia cosying up to NATO is hardly to our liking. But there might be something there from the Russian standpoint which we've failed to see. Ties with Iran seem to be fraying. But that might be on the surface only. Who can tell yet.
- Ties between Gambia and Iran also seem to have been cut. The long arm of CIA-Mossad as some suggest?
- US news is concentrating quite madly on the abuses of the Full Body Scanner and the pat downs that accompany it. A small glimmer of hope there the USans will finally rebel? But knowing them and their small minds, seems unlikely. But one can never tell.
- Germany cutting out their conscription army soon. To be replaced by a mercenary one?
- Israel building a wall - they do so love that, don't they? - to cut off Gaza from Egypt. Their genocide plans are flourishing beyond their wildest dreams.
- Saudi Slave King in US for health reasons.
- Only glimmer of hope in all this: NKorea has apparently fired on a SKorea island. This might lead to something of interest.
Otherwise, this morning's score would seem to be: west 1, Freeworld 0. Tomorrow is another day.
07:52, you seemed to have started the day on an optimistic footing. You're not entirely wrong, mind. The news as a whole does not correspond to a day to crack smiles as we go along. But one thing you did forget: the Economy.
Ireland now. It's first day as IMF subsidiary started off in turmoil. The Irish did hit the streets to protest and demand the stupid Govt step down. They didn't ahchieve that. But at least forced out a promise of new elections next year. Brits have their student demos. Better than nothing. And now here is a glimspe into US econ prolapse well underway:
Nouriel Roubini, the star economist whose gloomy forecasts have earned him the nickname of Dr. Doom, is at it again.
This time he has taken to Twitter to predict pain. The New York University professor was reacting to a report by Laurie Goodman, senior managing director at Amherst Securities, who says one in five distressed homeowners in the U.S. faces, or may face, foreclosure, Housing Wire reports.
She says 11.5 million home loans are non-performing or highly distressed at present.
And Roubini says that spells trouble. “Amherst Securities Goodman estimates that 11.5 million households could default on their mortgages, not the 4 million priced in by markets,” he tweets.
“If 11.5 million more households default on their mortgages, most U.S. banks would be insolvent again. That's why Goodman's estimates are scary.”
(Folks, please pay very close attention here. And it is always good policy to have no more in the bank than absolutely necessary to pay your bills. This is true of the entire West.)
Top banks face $100 billion Basel shortfall: report: The new Basel III banking rules will leave the biggest U.S. banks short of between $100 billion and $150 billion in equity capital, with 90 per cent of the shortfall concentrated in the top six banks.
(double-edged sword. Either as pretext to obtain even more money from a third QE scam or as justification for what is going on at present.)
Tensions Mount in Korea as Both Sides Prepare for Possible War, Japan Calls For Attack 23.11.10
Tensions are mounting after a North Korean artillery attack left at least 14 South Koreans injured and 2 dead. The South was apparently conducting a routine drill near the near the area that was attacked.
Talk of nuclear redeployment and swift retaliation has lead some to believe that war is imminent. On Monday, before the artillery attack, South Korea officials denied that they were considering redeploying U.S. tactical nuclear weapon in respond to the Norths nuclear aggression.
Debkafile is now reporting that Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan called Obama and demanded that the United States, Japan, and South Korea attack North Korea!
(Three cheers! A new war on the horizon. We just live for all these wars, new and old, don't we?)
Come on now. Debkafile is not a legitimate source of information.
As for war, America is obviously trying to use this incident as a pretext for stepping threats against China and Russia.
This is a predictable "flight forward" response to the fact that the American Empire (and Wall Street in particular) are economically imploding.
I suspect this all has something to do with America's failed attempt to get other countries to kowtow to America's financial warfare machinations--as most recently evidenced by the G20 and IMF meetings as detailed by Michael Hudson above.
When American financial warfare doesn't work, the USA resorts to military warfare.
North Korea attacks South Korea…or is it the other way around? http://gowans.wordpress.com/2010/11/23/north-korea-attacks-south-korea%e2%80%a6or-is-it-the-other-way-around/
OO.O3, Quite. Spot on you are all the way. Staring with the shabby credentials of Debkafile, as unreliable as its companion Sorcha Faal.
A substitute for failed financial warfare? Very likely. Other reasons there could be as well. But no need to go into them now.
Anyway, all in all, a proxy beginning of a war between the true giant China and the pretence giant US. China might hold its ground, US will back away presumably. Unless, of course, they've really gone totally bonkers, a possibility never to be excluded when talking about that place.
If they don't, then be sure it will be counted as the start of WWIII, part two, part one being already the Muslim Wars which haven't led to any glorious victories for the history books.
Britain is into its second day of rioting by students protesting the rise in tuition fees projected by the Conservative government. Sounds hopeful enough.
If proven, Countrywide’s mortgage fraud could threaten Bank of America - 23.11.10 Problems with mortgage documents Bank of American acquired when it purchased the mortgage provider Countrywide Financial in 2008 could cost the bank billions, if a testimony in a New Jersey foreclosure case proves accurate.
During the foreclosure trial, an operational team leader for Bank of America, Linda DiMartini, said it was "customary for Countrywide to maintain possession of the original note and related documents."
If her testimony is proven, Countrywide may have not properly transferred the necessary mortgage documents when it sold loans to other banks who then used the loans to create residential mortgage backed securities (RMBS).
It is the oversubscribing these RMBS documents which may ultimately destroy the banks.
James Nixon, chief European economist at Societe Generale, said: "It's a staggeringly austere budget, the cuts are deep and it will hurt. The main thing that stands out is that they still expect the economy to grow by 2.7pc over the next 4 years but it's hard to see how that can be true."
All Irish households face a new £257 property tax from 2012. The plan outlined 24,750 public sector job cuts, a $2.8bn reduction in social welfare spending, and plans to raise an additional €1.9bn from income tax.
The minimum wage will be cut by €1 cut to €7.65 an hour, and VAT will be raised from 21pc-23pc in 2013, with a further increase to 24pc in 2014.
Unemployment is expected to fall from 13.5pc to below 10pc over the four years.
The government is continuing to talk to the EU and IMF about a bail-out package, expected to be worth around €85bn.
The EU wanted the Irish government to find savings worth £5bn next year.
EU and IMF officials will police the plan and Ireland has been warned that if targets are not met then eurozone loans, totalling £72bn over three years, will be withheld until tax increases and spending cuts are ratcheted up.
There was more bad news for Ireland this morning after Standard & Poor cuts its debt rating two points as contagion threatens to spread through the rest of the euro region.
Middle class Irish families face the loss of tax credits and low paid workers, totalling 50 per cent of the labour force, will start to pay taxes for the first time.
U.S. Calls on China to Use Influence to Restrain North Korea - 24.11.10
This sounds a lot like the US asking HAMAS to stop the Palestinians from shooting back when Israel attacks them. Because South Korea provoked this exchange of gunfire by shooting into North Korean waters in what is a clear provocation.
Obama's agenda here is twofold. First, by shifting the focus from North Korea to China, he draws attention away from that provocation. Second, it is clear that between the G20, in which China refused to alter their currency when "ordered" to do so, and the dropping of the dollar in trade with Russia, that the war focus has shifted from Iran to China, with war with China being the convenenint excuse to erase the debts owed to China, and of course, that is easily worth the few million dead Americans such a war will cost, right President Pansy? (WRH)
U.S. sends carrier to Yellow Sea for exercises near Korea - 24.11.10
Chinese Maj. Gen. Zhu Chenghu told state-run media in July that "if the United States truly wants to take into account the overall interests of the Sino-U.S. relationship, then it must on no account send its USS Washington to the Yellow Sea." He called the area "sensitive."
(US paying no attention to China's wishes. Well, well, this seems to be turning serious.)
Europe erupts in violence. Not only are British students up in arms over budgetary cuts in education and higher tuition fees, Portugal is carrying out a 24-hour general strike. Spain is planning one in the coming weeks. And protests in Greece and Ireland are, of course, ongoing. We all remember what happened in France for days on end. It can reignite anytime again soon. Nice going all in all. And foretold in advance, goes without saying.
St. Petersburg, Russia - China and Russia have decided to renounce the US dollar and resort to using their own currencies for bilateral trade, Premier Wen Jiabao and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin announced late on Tuesday.
(One has to wonder if it was only coincidence, that on the day China and Russia make this announcement, South Korea decides to provoke the Chinese-client state, North Korea, with military exercises, exercises in which "US advisors" participated?!?)
- Regulators close 2 Georgia banks, 1 in Arizona 24.11.10
The US government paid 6.4 tax dollars to bail out JP Morgan, AIG, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and friends divvied up the 6.4 trillion dollars. These same banks are responsible of predatory lending scams, illegal foreclosure, and the fabrication of mortgage and foreclosure documents.
North Korea is China's client state now? You must be confusing it with South Korea's relationship to America.
Even the mainstream US media has noted how the North, despite being dependent on China for aid, marches to its own beat.
North Korea Relies on China, but Tends to Resist Its Guidance http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/24/world/asia/24beijing.html?_r=2&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=a22
Bravo 01:06. Exactly my own reading of the relationship. China, NKorea are close allies but no one dicates to anyone there. With US, no country is allied. All our subordinate and bent to the will of the Evil Empire.
Catching on: Italian Students in Protest: 25.11.10
ROME – Italian students have occupied the Leaning Tower of Pisa and Rome's Colosseum to protest education cuts and university reforms being considered by parliament.
Italian news agency ANSA says some 2,000 students marched Thursday in the northern university town of Pisa, forming a human chain around its famous tower to prevent tourists from entering. Several students climbed inside the landmark as tourists snapped photos of the protest.
In Rome, students brandished banners reading "No profits off our future" as they marched around the Colosseum.
Thursday was the second day of protests against the reforms, which eliminate some areas of study and force schools that are running at deficit to close.
In Milan, police clashed briefly with students to keep them from entering the subway.
(Remember the Euro series: Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Italy, France and, and and?)
EU rescue cost start to threaten Germany Debt crisis is starting to contaminate German creditworthiness.
Comments Credit default swaps (CDS) measuring risk on German, French and Dutch bonds have surged over recent days, rising significantly above the levels of non-EMU states in Scandinavia.
"Germany cannot keep paying for bail-outs without going bankrupt itself," said Professor Wilhelm Hankel, of Frankfurt University. "This is frightening people. You cannot find a bank safe deposit box in Germany because every single one has already been taken and stuffed with gold and silver. It is like an underground Switzerland within our borders. People have terrible memories of 1948 and 1923 when they lost their savings."
The refrain was picked up this week by German finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble. "We're not swimming in money, we're drowning in debts," he told the Bundestag.
WSJ | The euro zone’s sovereign debt crisis escalated Friday as the market homed in on Spain as another potential weak spot, leaving officials scrambling to quell investors’ fears.
Michael Hudson tells us progressive taxation is out, the flat tax will be the future of the rich in US. Much as it offends our sense of justice, we must also look at the bright side of things. The fabulously rich pay next to nothing? What a splendid loss of income for the US government, hastening their demise that little bit more.
America: The Grim Truth I have some bad news for you:
You have the worst quality of life in the developed world – by a wide margin.
If you had any idea of how people really lived in Western Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and many parts of Asia, you’d be rioting in the streets calling for a better life. In fact, the average Australian or Singaporean taxi driver has a much better standard of living than the typical American white-collar worker.
I know this because I am an American, and I escaped from the prison you call home.
I have lived all around the world, in wealthy countries and poor ones, and there is only one country I would never consider living in again: The United States of America. The mere thought of it fills me with dread.
(These words from a USan as usual miss the point of barbarity as a way of life sdopted by this bunch of (with all due respect to poiuytr) Judeo-Saxon swines with their alibi sprikling of other peoples. But at least it does refer to one immense failure, the heartbeat of the EE, their sacrosanct living standards.)
Vladimir Putin spoke up against U.S. Dollar monopolism. In his opinion, the monopolistic situation is harmful to the world economy.
These are the news, and the fact, that United States and China don't want to use the U.S. Dollar is more significant than the media speaks about it. Every competent economist knows this, but they keep their mouth shut, to avoid the panic. If Chinese and Russian economic experts can solve the problem of the direct conversion, probably many countries would join to their system. This fact means not only the declining, but the execution of the U.S. Dollar.
There is only one step left to China and Russia getting free from their U.S. Dollar-resources, and the U.S. Dollar completely loses its value. If we are checking only for the substantive economy, U.S. Dollar would not lose totally its value (in this situation it falls only 30-40%), but later they won't be able to control the emerging panic, and the U.S. Dollar will collapse.
In light of recent events, this could happen at any time, even tomorrow. And then, there will be no US-economy, US-wealth, world of banks, multi-companies, nothing else. Then there will be no Euro, because it's bounded to the Dollar through the European economy. There won't be public debts, so for example, the heavily indebted Hungary receives an $100 billion capital injection (at last year's value) from Russia and China (because roughly this size of Hungarian - public + private sector and population charger - public debt will be destroyed).
The zionists want to sharpen the situation with the Korean war, because the threat of complete collapse and destruction is real for them.
Greece → Ireland → Portugal → Spain → Italy → UK → ? Europe's Financial Domino Effect (I)
by Washington's Blog - Global Research, November 27, 2010
It is now common knowledge that there is a potential domino effect of European sovereign debt contagion in roughly the following order:
Greece → Ireland → Portugal → Spain → Italy → UK
While some people have been writing about this for well over a year, many others have joined the party late (there are now over 600,000 hits from a Google search discussing this topic.)
It is also now common knowledge that while Greece and Ireland have relatively small economies, there will be real trouble if the Spanish domino falls.
Iceland has the world's 112th biggest economy, Ireland the 38th, and Portugal the 36th. In contrast, Spain has the world's 9th biggest economy, Italy the 7th and the UK the 6th. A failure by one of the latter 3 would be devastating for the world economy.
As Nouriel Roubini wrote in February:
But the real nightmare domino is Spain. Roubini refers to the Spanish debt problems as "the elephant in the room".
"You can try to ring fence Spain. And you can essentially try to provide financing officially to Ireland, Portugal, and Greece for three years. Leave them out of the market. Maybe restructure their debt down the line."
"But if Spain falls off the cliff, there is not enough official money in this envelope of European resources to bail out Spain. Spain is too big to fail on one side—and also too big to be bailed out."
With Spain, the first problem is the size of its public debt: €1 trillion. (Greece, by contrast, has €300 of public debt.) Spain also has €1 trillion in private foreign liabilities.
And for problems of that magnitude, there simply are not enough resources—governmental or super-sovereign—to go around.
And as I've previously pointed out, Germany and France - the world's 4th and 5th largest economies - have the greatest exposure to Portuguese and Spanish debt. For more on the interconnections between Euro economies adding to the risk of contagion, see this.
While it is tempting to assume that the Eurozone bailouts mean that creditor nations which have managed their economies well and saved huge amounts of excess reserves which they lend out, Sean Corrigon points out that the European bailouts are a Ponzi scheme:
Under the rules of this multi-trillion shell game, the sovereigns guarantee the ECB which funds the banks which buy the government debt which provides for everyone else's guarantees.
(America is no different: Bill Gross, Nouriel Roubini, Laurence Kotlikoff, Steve Keen, Michel Chossudovsky and the Wall Street Journal all say that America is running a giant Ponzi scheme as well. And both America and Europe are trying to cover up the insolvency of their banks by running faux stress tests.)
It didn't have to be like this. The European nations did not have to sacrifice themselves for the sake of their big banks.
"We have decided to socialize the private losses of the banking system.", wrote Roubini once.
Roubini believes that further attempts at intervention have only increased the magnitude of the problems with sovereign debt. He says, "Now you have a bunch of super sovereigns— the IMF, the EU, the eurozone—bailing out these sovereigns." Essentially, the super-sovereigns underwrite sovereign debt—increasing the scale and concentrating the problems.
Roubini characterizes super-sovereign intervention as merely kicking the can down the road. He says wryly: "There's not going to be anyone coming from Mars or the moon to bail out the IMF or the Eurozone."
But, despite the paper shuffling of debt at the national level—and at the level of supranational entities—reality ultimately intervenes: "So at some point you need restructuring. At some point you need the creditors of the banks to take a hit —otherwise you put all this debt on the balance sheet of government. And then you break the back of government—and then government is insolvent."
As I pointed out in December 2008: The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) is often called the "central banks' central bank", as it coordinates transactions between central banks. BIS points out in a new report that the bank rescue packages have transferred significant risks onto government balance sheets, which is reflected in the corresponding widening of sovereign credit default swaps.
The scope and magnitude of the bank rescue packages also meant that significant risks had been transferred onto government balance sheets. This was particularly apparent in the market for CDS referencing sovereigns involved either in large individual bank rescues or in broad-based support packages for the financial sector, including the United States. While such CDS were thinly traded prior to the announced rescue packages, spreads widened suddenly on increased demand for credit protection, while corresponding financial sector spreads tightened. In other words, by assuming huge portions of the risk from banks trading in toxic derivatives, and by spending trillions that they don't have, central banks have put their countries at risk from default.
But Nations had no choice but to bail out their banks, did they? Well, actually, they did.
The leading monetary economist told the Wall Street Journal that this was not a liquidity crisis, but an insolvency crisis. She said that Bernanke is fighting the last war, and is taking the wrong approach (as are other central bankers).
Nobel economist Paul Krugman and leading economist James Galbraith agree. They say that the government's attempts to prop up the price of toxic assets no one wants is not helpful.
BIS slammed the easy credit policy of the Fed and other central banks, the failure to regulate the shadow banking system, "the use of gimmicks and palliatives", and said that anything other than (1) letting asset prices fall to their true market value, (2) increasing savings rates, and (3) forcing companies to write off bad debts "will only make things worse".
Remember, the housing bubble was not confined to the U.S. There was a worldwide bubble in real estate. Indeed, the Economist magazine wrote in 2005 that the worldwide boom in residential real estate prices in this decade was "the biggest bubble in history". The Economist noted that - at that time - the total value of residential property in developed countries rose by more than $30 trillion, to $70 trillion, over the past five years – an increase equal to the combined GDPs of those nations.
Housing bubbles are now bursting in China, France, Spain, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Eastern Europe, and many other regions. And the bubble in commercial real estate is also bursting world-wide.
BIS also cautioned that bailouts could harm the economy (as did the former head of the Fed's open market operations). Indeed, the bailouts create a climate of moral hazard which encourages more risky behavior. Nobel prize winning economist George Akerlof predicted in 1993 that credit default swaps would lead to a major crash, and that future crashes were guaranteed unless the government stopped letting big financial players loot by placing bets they could never pay off when things started to go wrong, and by continuing to bail out the gamblers.
These truths are as applicable in Europe as in America. The central bankers have done the wrong things. They haven't fixed anything, but simply transferred the cancerous toxic derivatives and other financial bombs from the giant banks to the nations themselves.
The Portuguese Govt has passed a "draconian" (thatever that might mean) austerity budget. To no avail. Investors are now asking for a 7% interest rate to buy up their debt which is, apparently, suicidal for the country.
Great patriotic favour on display: People are starting to pack up and leave (like in Ireland), roaming in search of greener pastures. What a population of steadfast people inhabit Europe, what!
Their 24-hour general strike achieved nothing at all and there was no unrest on the streets as might have been seen elsewhere. No, the Portuguese preferred to refer back to their great poet Fernando Pessoa, adopting his famous line: "O salty seas, how much of that salt comes from the tears of Portugal?" their slogan.
What a bunch of sissies, this lot, nerds and dorks!
Tensions rise in Korea on eve of US-Seoul war games - 28.11.10
Pyongyang promises more attacks – but South vows to retailiate in event of further strike.
Here we go again. I love the euphemism: "games". It all seems to be hotting up. Here, have a look at past unpunished war crimes:
North Korea lost 30% of its population as a result of US bombings in the 1950s
The World is at a dangerous crossroads.
The US is seeking a pretext to wage war on North Korea.
North Korea is said to constitute a threat to Global Security.
From the Truman Doctrine to Obama. The history of the 1950s Korean confirms that extensive war crimes were committed against the Korean people. As confirmed by the statement of General Curtis Lemay:
"Over a period of three years or so we killed off - what - twenty percent of the population."
North Korea lost thirty percent of its population as a result of US led bombings in the 1950s. US military sources confirm that 20 percent of North Korea's population was killed off over a three period of intensive bombings:
(This time round, though, you can be sure the outcome will not be similar. It's the EE which will be crushed without undue effort.)
Although no one anywhere has yet dared to openly say it, Germany must now contemplate doing for the whole of the EU what it did for its own volk in East Germany over 20 years ago or watch its strategic investment in, and the very fabric of, the postwar order of Europe collapse with a bang, and in hideous acrimony.
Michael's solem declaration - that WW-III between China and the US has already begun in the Yellow Sea - may need to be retracted. For WW-III may yet start not in Korea but rather where both WW-I and WW-II did.
France has Now Grabbed Their People's Pension Funds to Give to Banks and Their Debt - Joining Hungary and Ireland - 29.11.10
Seems all over the world countries are grabbing their People's Pension and Retirement accounts, they pass the laws very fast and spring the surprise on their people. France has just joined the fray of taking their people's retirement accounts to give to the banks and buy the countries bonds. They have taken 36 Billion of people's Pension and retirement accounts.
Asset managers will have the chance to get billions of euros in mandates in the next few months for the €36bn Fonds de Réserve pour les Retraites (FRR), the French reserve pension fund, after the French parliament last week passed a law to use its assets to pay off the debts of France’s welfare system.
I had posted last week about Hungary taking their people's pension funds.
Ireland too is talking about taking their people's pensions and giving it to the banks.
Fine Gael, Labour and Sinn Féin attacked the intention to use the National Pension Reserve Fund to help provide a further €10 billion in further capital for the banks. In total, the banks could end up getting another €35 billion if their losses are bigger than expected.
So, does everyone see what is happening around the world?
The banks come before the people! The people's money of which they saved and worked all their lives for is being grabbed by the leaders of countries to give to the banks. Besides people having to pay more in taxes and get less in wages. In Ireland the people have to take a cut in the minimum wage for their "bailout".
I have no doubt there will be demonstrations in the European countries regarding what the governments are doing there.
But I will say again, it is simply a matter of time before the U.S. government passes a bill that allows them to take everyone's Private IRA/Pension and 401Ks. They have had committee meetings on it already, it has been discussed many times. Remember Federal and State Government Pension funds all over the U.S., are under water right now. If you think the government will not over reach their powers by stealing everyone's private retirement accounts, then you have not been paying attention to what has been happening with crazy laws being passed or about to be voted on.
Just so no one things we pay no attention to what Mainstream keeps serving us up by way of diversion: the talk is all about the Weak Leaks purportedly chronicling all the dirty work US is always up to, openly and behind the scenes.
Diversionary tactics at their best, these stupid "leaks" are. Either aimed at killing the internet or to take our minds off whatever foul business US is presently engaged it. War with Korea? Or was Korea also simply a diversion?
Brazil's surplus increase over 135% in first 10 months - November 30, 2010
Brazil's central government registered a primary surplus of 63.4 billion reais (36.7 billion U.S. dollars) in the first 10 months of 2010, up 135.6 percent from the same period last year, the Treasury Department said on Monday.
The amount is equivalent to 2.19 percent of Brazil's gross domestic product (GDP), up from 1.05 percent in the same period of 2009.
The central government's revenue is formed by the incomes of the Treasury Department, the Central Bank and the Social Security system.
From January to October, the Treasury Department accumulated a primary surplus of 105.8 billion reais (61.3 billion dollars), up 53.7 percent year on year.
The Social Security system, on the other hand, accumulated a primary deficit of 41.9 billion reais (24.3 billion dollars), up 0.9 percent from the same period last year.
The Central Bank's deficit increased 10.2 percent and reached 520.8 million reais (302 million dollars).
In October, Brazil registered a primary surplus of 7.7 billion reais (4.4 billion dollars), down 70.3 percent from September and 31 percent year on year. According to the Treasury Department, the figures were the lowest for October in four years.
The Treasury Department had a surplus of 10 billion reais (5.8 billion dollars) in October, while the Social Security system had a primary deficit of 2.17 billion reais (1.25 billion dollars), and the Central Bank a deficit of 117.3 million reais (68 million dollars).
The Brazilian government set a target of 76.2 billion reais (44.1 billion dollars) for 2010, which amounts to 2.15 percent of the country's GDP.
It is just a coincidence that the most recent Wikileaks leak involves allegations that North Korea and Iran had a missile deal of some sort?
Despite all the supposed "denunciations" of Wikileaks from the American regime and rulers, always ask, cui bono, or who benefits, from this leak politically?
America is a nation of sociopathic liars, whose deception is topped only by its nationalist paranoia.
Just think, the more countries that America economically exploits or military subjugates, the more the war-loving American people hysterically claim to be threatened.
Even the political "opposition" of America is a fraud. They are mostly self-serving cretins who are fearful that America will meets its deserved Judgement Day soon.
Is U.S. Mass Paranoia Curable? http://www.dangerouscreation.com/2010/11/is-u-s-mass-paranoia-curable/
10.46 - I don't know whether Wikileaks is actually Wikilies, but one thing is for sure: it's an instrument for propaganda pure and simple. As a diversion or to pave t^he way for a coming war. Iran would be one candidate, NK-China another.
Hope wiser heads prevail on this one. But with the EE, one never can tell.
Is US Mass Paranoia Curable, 12:06 (thanks for link). The answer is "no". Or even better: "NO". Their overweening complex of superiority has cut them off from any sense of reality. What remains is a simple schema. 1. We are the best. 2. The world envies us. 3. They'll attack us any chance they get. Arrived here, only fear and the desire to hit out blindly remain. No wonder one used to call them the Baboons.
Washington may appear to be pressing China to rein in its excitable North Korean ally. However, there are those in the bowels of power in DC who are thinking about a war against China might not be a bad idea right now.
The logical mind boggles at such a thought, but consider the following:
1. The US government is utterly incapable of paying back the billions of dollars it owes China.
http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/368960
2. Obama was thoroughly unsuccessful in persuading the Chinese government to revalue their currency, and there are those in the US government ready, and willing, to declare China a "currency manipulator"
4. And finally, there are those in the bowels of power in DC who believe that another war (any war) is desperately needed to distract Americans from the financial misery into which they have been placed by bad Federal policy decisions, and for the economy to get out of this depression. Historically with the US, that is what has happened.
Secretary of State Clinton is off on a tour of Central Asia today, visiting Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan. One has to wonder what she might be "shopping for", in terms of a potential US/NATO attack against China, as barking-dog mad as such a notion might seem.
Nobody is censoring you. Ain’t got a clue what’s happened to your “post”. Maybe your internet connection went out or you didn’t click on post comment before you exited the dialog box/page?
90 comments:
I've watched the first of the Hudson videos so far. Absolutely clear-sighted. Prolapse, prolapse, prolapse all the way. Grest day, man, great day!
No ifs and buts. The Seoul G20 will decide it all. Who says they are not leaving Afghanistan by July 2011?
First this: The War on Terror has been renamed: It's now become the Long War for the Spread of Democracy (LWD)- Please to bear it in mind.
Next Hudson: A great speaker who knows exactly what he's talking about, at least as far as the west goes. I think he's spot on when he says the world is going into a two financial blocks system: the Pariah dollar block on the one hand, the BRIC + Third World + eventually Europe block on the other.
I don't mind US fraudsters buying up Australia. That rotten continent deserves no better. I just hope other countries show more gumption and resist. And that Europe sides with China on this and a wedge is tapped into west unity.
G20 has come and gone with an anodyne final communiqué promising bigger and better things in France six months from now.
A failure for all that? Not quite. At least no one agreed to endorse the US position that China should be bullied into raising its currency value. So let's see if Hudson's predictions for the coming months are fulfilled or not. I rather think they will be.
Cameron's Britain:
Our Destiny: Digital Nomads in a Virtual Void
November 11, 2010
By David Richards
Britain is a surreal place to be living right now.
The infamous Ministry of Defense trend report for 2007-35 projects the British middle classes 'becoming revolutionary, taking on the role of Marx's proletariat.'
I should be seeing the start of the ferment.
Our living standards are being attacked: people are losing their jobs, there is fast inflation, taxes are increasing and every year hordes of young people leave university to few job opportunities.
And yet there is virtually no anger at all. The conversation between people is as trivial and inane as ever.
The Jews at it again:
Interpol hunts two Israelis for Kosovo organ trafficking - 12.11.10
Moshe Harel among seven indicted for membership of a criminal group trafficking people into Kosovo to remove human organs for transplant; another Israeli citizen, Zaki Shapira, identified as co-conspirator.
Return from the dead?
Reuters) - Israel's comatose former prime minister, Ariel Sharon, was moved back to his desert ranch on Friday, leaving the secure hospital ward that has been his home for almost five years, officials said.
Sharon, 82, will continue to receive treatment at Sycamore Farm, where as premier he would summon advisers to plan strategies such as Israel's 2002 offensive in the Palestinian West Bank and the surprise 2005 withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.
Felled by a stroke in January 2006, the ex-general left behind an often jittery Jewish state that has since fought two wars while charting an uncertain course in U.S.-sponsored peace talks with the Palestinians.
"Today, in 2010, the aspiration of any patient, our aspiration in the hospital, is to ensure that any chronic patient, when possible, is with his community, at home," said Prof Shlomo Noy, director of rehabilitation at the Sheba Medical Centre outside Tel Aviv, where Sharon had been receiving care.
Asked whether there was any chance of Sharon making a significant recovery — or even returning to public life, as a few of his loyalists envisage — Noy told Israel's Army Radio:
"Clearly what's behind this is the hope that his situation will get better. But the improvements that we talk about in such situations are not great improvements, not dramatic improvements."
Policymakers from the world's new economic powerhouses in Latin America and Asia pledged yesterday to come up with fresh measures to curb capital inflows after the United States Federal Reserve said it would print billions of dollars to rescue its economy.
...
South Korea's Ministry of Finance and Strategy said it had sent "a message to the markets" yesterday and would "aggressively" consider controls on capital flows, while Brazil's Foreign Trade Secretary said the Fed's move could cause "retaliatory measures."
Economy Minister Ali Babacan of Turkey, where the central bank has been buying increasing amounts of foreign exchange in an effort to curb appreciation of the lira against the dollar, said the Fed's action might backfire.
"The Fed move was a measure taken in a desperate environment. It should be considered whether pumping this much money into the market can create more damage than benefit," he said.
Thailand raised the possibility of concerted action to combat the flood of investment dollars that are expected to wash into emerging markets.
....
Zeti Akhtar Aziz, head of Malaysia's central bank, also said Asian central banks were "willing to act collectively if the need arises to ensure stability in the region."
A senior Indian finance official .... said that while the US had a right to stimulate its own economy, others would also serve their own interests and said that any deal on currencies in Seoul had to be a "win for both the blocs."
And on and on and on. One day after the G20, not a word further about it in the media. So a thorough flop it was. QE2, on the other hand, has drawn a lot of ink and will no doubt carry on doing so in days to come.
Bank of America Is in Deep Trouble
There May Be Financial Disaster on the Horizon
By Joshua Holland
Its stock value has dropped 40 percent since April, and the bank is mum on what losses it's hiding on its $2.3 trillion balance sheet.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article26803.htm
Venezeula to nationalise banking sector?
November 12, 2010 - Benedict Mander:
... Banks are already required by law to allocate almost 10% of their lending to mortgages and housing projects. On Thursday the national assembly went even further. It passed the first draft of a bill defining banking as a "public service." This means that it will become easier for the government to take over banks - in theory, at least, although legal technicalities have not prevented Chavez from expropriating companies when it has suited him in the past.
Indeed, in the past year the government has seized more than 40 banks and brokerages — ten of which have been liquidated altogether — citing liquidity problems or trading "irregularities."
Whether the new law - part of a series of laws designed to create a new "socialist" financial system - in fact paves the way for the nationalisation of the sector is not clear. It may give the state so much control over banks that it won't need to nationalise them. On the other hand, it might limit banking activity and profits so much - by forcing banks to lend to unprofitable communal companies, for example - that some institutions go out of business or end up being taken over by the state anyway.
http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2010/11/12/chavez-lowers-barriers-to-bank-nationalisation/
Irish youth flees as meltdown looms
Young people look to emigrate rather than face life of hardship as republic lurches toward financial collapse. A bailout seems inevitable.
"In the wake of the G20 flop, it strikes me that there are two conceivable endgames to the current stalemate on international economic reform. Neither, I should warn you, is particularly attractive.
"The first is that it will only be after another crisis (perhaps sovereign debt, perhaps a full-blown currency war) that world leaders will confront the issue and try to create a coherent international monetary system.
"The second is the theory of hegemonic stability: periods of chaos such as this usually come when one economic superpower gives way to another.
"No matter what rules or structures policy makers try to erect, the overriding instability caused by these shifts in global economic tectonics mean that we must wait until China fully surpasses the US before we can expect a return to stability."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/edmundconway/8131605/How-the-Tea-Party-is-brewing-up-trouble-for-the-worlds-currencies.html
The British Middle Class is becoming increasingly revolutionary Marxists?
That's hilarious.
Like Americans, the precious British people in general are becoming increasingly reactionary--as in Fascist "revolutionaries."
Britain's only future is to show its true colors as an aggressive fascist nation similar to Francoite Spain, Mussolini's Italy, or that chap in Germany with the funny mustache.
I say, what was his name now, the dwarfish chap with the mustache you mention? On the tip of my tongue. Oh, no, it's gone again. No matter. But don't be too hard on the Brits, please. Haven't they just had their first "riots"? Students who should really have known better taking of Party headquarters to protest rising tuition costs. If that is not Marxist revolutionary, what is? We mustn't quibble in these days of penury. Anyone who opens his mouth and says aloud "Ouch" is already to be counted among the revolutionary forces of the nation.
Warning of new era of surveillance state: Britain is heading for a new surveillance state of unmanned spy drones, GPS tracking of employees and profiling through social networking sites, the information watchdog has warned.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/8127156/Warning-of-new-era-of-surveillance-state.html
Bank Failures This Year Reach 146: Ameris Bancorp purchased two shuttered Georgia banks and regulators closed a third in Arizona as the 2010 failure toll climbed to 146.
Prolapse News as seen by the prolaspsers:
The odd American urge to invest heavily in perpetual war abroad, including “defense-related” spending of around a trillion dollars a year, has been a significant factor further weakening the country on the global stage. Most of the conventional weapons on which the US continues to splurge could not even be deployed against nuclear powers like Russia, China, and India, emerging as key competitors when it comes to global markets, resources, and regional force projection. Those same conventional weapons have proved hardly more useful (in the sense of achieving quick and decisive victory, or even victory at all) in the unconventional wars the US has repeatedly plunged into — a sad fact that Bush’s reckless attempt to occupy entire West Asian nations only demonstrated even more clearly to Washington’s bemused rivals.
American weapons stockpiles (and copious plans for ever more high-tech versions of the same into the distant future) are therefore remarkably irrelevant to its situation, and known to be so. Meanwhile, its economy, burdened by debts incurred through wars and military spending sprees, and hollowed out by Wall Street shell games, is becoming a B-minus one in global terms.
The latest Chavez efforts:
- Banks: Legislation is being put into place to nationalise them. Meanwhile, by decree, banks are now required to hand over 5% of all their profits to the State.
- Venezuela, Nicaragua and Iran bent on constructing a rival to the Panama Canal. Excellent initiative which will drive ex-Superpower US crazy.
Irish bailout could cost Britain £7bn
15.11.10
Stricken Irish economy looks increasingly likely to need cash injection from emergency EU rescue fund.
UK may need 'boost'
15.11.10
Senior Bank of England policymaker raises prospect of more QE.
(See, where USans lead, Brits follow. No one is doing any thinking for themselves these days. It's slways follow the leader, be it to hell and beyond.)
http://dailybail.com/home/dr-bernanke-gets-a-phone-call-from-china.html
This is a super Gary North piece originally from the Lou Rockwell blog. I guarantee you will be in stitches before you're through with it.
Dr Bernanke gets a phone call from China is the title
Ex-Brit colony that I am, I'll forgive them for nothing at all. But fairness demands that I add to this: Worse even than the Brits were the Conquistadores, Hernan Cortés and Co. Thank God their empire went to the dogs, too. Just as now the Evil Empire is swinging mightily on its last legs. One strong wind more and they're down, crushed in the dust with the rest of their west minions.
One more prediction come true: 16.11.10
"The baton has passed from countries like the United States onto countries like China, Brazil, Russia, India and beyond," said one analyst.
And growth in the global economy will be much more dependent upon those countries than on the developed economies.
It explains how while the US economy continues to look more bleak, with analysts such as Goldman Sachs forecasting fairly to very bad scenarios of a meager one to two percent growth or a double dip recession, the so-called BRIC countries are still on the ascent. Brazil’s economy is estimated to grow 7.5 percent, and rounding out the R-I-C in that acronym, Russia, India and China are estimated to post 4.25 percent, 9.7 percent and 10.5 percent gains respectively.
(So west prolapse just as we were told. And the Freeworld thriving.)
The Coming Sell-Out to the Super Rich and What It Means for the Rest of Us
By MICHAEL HUDSON
November 15, 2010 "Counterpunch" -- Now that President Obama is almost celebrating his bipartisan willingness to renew the tax cuts for the super-rich enacted under George Bush ten years ago, it is time for Democrats to ask themselves how strongly they are willing to oppose an administration that looks like Bush-Cheney III. Is this what they expected by Obama’s promise to rise above partisan politics – by ruling on behalf of Wall Street, now that it is the major campaign backer of both parties?
It is a reflection of how one-sided today’s class war has become that Warren Buffet has quipped that “his” side is winning without a real fight being waged. No gauntlet has been thrown down over the trial balloon that the president and his advisor David Axelrod have sent up over the past two weeks to extend the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest 2 per cent for “just” two more years. For all practical purposes the euphemism “two years” means forever – at least, long enough to let the super-rich siphon off enough more money to bankroll enough more Republicans to be elected to make the tax cuts permanent.
Obama seems to be campaigning for his own defeat! Thanks largely to the $13 trillion Wall Street bailout – while keeping the debt overhead in place for America’s “bottom 98 per cent” – this happy 2 per cent of the population now receives an estimated three quarters (~75 per cent) of the returns to wealth (interest, dividends, rent and capital gains). This is nearly double what it received a generation ago. The rest of the population is being squeezed, and foreclosures are rising.
Baudelaire quipped that the devil wins at the point where he manages convince the world that he doesn’t exist. Today’s financial elites will win the class war at the point where voters believe it doesn’t exist – and believe that Obama is trying to help them rather than shepherd them into debt peonage as the economy settles into debt deflation.
We are dealing with shameless demagogy. The financial End Time has arrived, but Obama’s happy-talk pretends that “two years” will get us through the current debt-induced depression. The Republican plan is to make more Congressional and Senate gains in 2012 as Obama’s former supporters “vote with their backsides” and stay home, as they did earlier this month. So “two years” means forever in politician-talk. Why vote for a politician who promises “change” but is merely an exclamation mark for the Bush-Cheney policies from Afghanistan and Iraq to Wall Street’s Democratic Leadership Council on the party’s right wing? One of its leaders, after all, was Obama’s Senate mentor, Joe Lieberman.
The second pretense is that cutting taxes for the super-rich is necessary to win Republican support for including the middle class in the tax cuts. It is as if the Democrats never won a plurality in Congress. (One remembers George W. Bush with his mere 50+ per cent, pushing forward his extremist policies on the logic that: “I’ve got capital, and I’m using it.” What he had, of course, was Democratic Leadership Committee support.) It’s all “to create jobs,” headed by employment of shipyard workers building yachts for the nouveau riches and foreclosing on the ten million Americans whose mortgage payments have fallen into arrears. It sounds Keynesian – or at least, reminiscent of Thomas Robert Malthus’s claim (as lobbyist for Britain’s landed aristocracy) that landlords would use their rent income to hire footmen, carriage-makers and butlers to keep the economy going.
It gets worse. Obama’s “Bush” tax cut is only Part I of a one-two punch to shift taxes onto wage earners. Congressional economists estimate that extending the tax cuts to the top 2 per cent will cost $700 to $750 billion over the next decade or so. “How are we going to go out and borrow $700 billion?” Obama asked Steve Kroft in his Sixty Minutes interview on CBS last week.
A Critical Look at the Master... er White Race
http://whitewatch.info/
EU Locked in a Survival Crisis - 16.11.10
The Irish Prime Minister said yesterday that the country was confident that it could cope with its financial problems and criticised 'inaccurate' speculation about its problems Photo: AFPBy Bruno Waterfield and Robert Winnett 7:28PM GMT 16 Nov 2010
The President of Europe warned that countries needed to “work together” ahead of crucial talks designed to secure the future of the euro.
Stock markets around the world fell sharply amid growing international unease over the growing crisis threatening the single currency.
The deepening debt crisis in Ireland which has spread to other parts of the eurozone has left the single currency and European Union fighting for their “survival”, Herman Van Rompuy warned.
“We are in a survival crisis,” he told an audience of Brussels policymakers yesterday. “We all have to work together in order to survive with the euro zone because if we don't survive with the euro zone, we will not survive with the EU.”
The comments helped spark a fall in share prices and the value of the euro across the world.
London's FTSE 100 index of Britain’s biggest companies fell by 2.38 percent
to 5,681. Bank shares including Lloyds TSB were some of the biggest fallers. In Paris, the CAC 40 lost 2.63 percent to 3,762, and in Frankfurt the DAX reduced by 1.87 percent. The Dow Jones fell by more than 200 points to below 11,000 points.
The Irish Prime Minister said yesterday that the country was confident that it could cope with its financial problems and criticised “inaccurate” speculation about its problems. However, he indicated that the country may seek international help for its banks to “reassure” the markets.
EU scams
- Ireland being forced to accept EU bailout and complete loss of sovereignty to the monster IMF.
- Portugal is in the same position as Ireland, but is now threatening to leave the euro. Hop Portugal! Atta boy.
Why the Irish Crisis is Going Global
November 16, 2010
On the surface, it's reminiscent of the problem Greece had with its unmanageable federal debt early this year, which shook world markets, ended a global rally in stocks and ultimately led to a $146 billion bailout by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund. Greece spent more money than it took in for years, papered over the gap, and essentially became insolvent when it could no longer borrow the money needed to finance its debt.
Ireland is on the brink of insolvency too, which has helped drive down the S&P 500 stock index by nearly 4 percent over the last few days. But unlike Greece, Ireland is a relatively wealthy country, with per capita GDP of nearly $38,000. That's 21 percent higher than per capita GDP in Greece, and in the top third for European countries. Low corporate tax rates and a skilled workforce have made Ireland a haven for some of the world's biggest companies. And its public debt, about 65 percent of GDP, is far below Greece's crushing load, which is 126 percent of GDP. Ireland's debt levels are even lower than those in France, Germany and the United Kingdom.
But Ireland has one huge problem that may soon make it a supplicant to its European brethren: A failed banking sector that Ireland's government can no longer rescue on its own. Ireland is in the midst of a real estate bust that could trump even the ruinous downturns that turned parts of southern California and Nevada into suburban ghost towns, with home-grown banks stoking it all. Now, those banks are trying to manage catastrophic losses. The Irish government has effectively nationalized the nation's biggest banks by guaranteeing their debt, which would be akin to the U.S. government taking over Citigroup, Bank of America, J.P. Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo.
(Ha, bloody, ha. As though it's any different it US. Well, there perhaps one could say the US banks mentioned by name ave taken over the government. But is it otherwise in Ireland either? All much of a muchness, these scoundrels and scammers. And do reflect on who's leading Ireland at the moment. Yes, a Sarkozy clone.)
19:22, thanks for master race link. Went and had a look. God, everything you could imagine: rape, paedophilia, incest, murder, violence and, and, and. You name it, you find it. But any desire to end up feeling sorry for them is nipped in the bud if one thinks of even one day of warfare in places like Afghnistan or Iraq.
They have richly earned every minute of their prolapse.
So What Is the IMF?
IMF are financial terrorists. They don't care about the people of Ireland or any other, they just want to strip any country they are called into of all it's wealth.
For instance, fraudulent derivatives are sold by the IMF member banks. It's a sweet scam: the IMF sells junk securities and when the buyers learn the securities are junk (so they've lost their reserves) they go to the IMF to borrow their money back at 20% interest!
The solution to the IMF problem (given that it doesn't seem possible to put them in prison yet) is to follow the lead of Iceland i.e. make the buying and selling of derivatives illegal, forbid the central bank from charging interest on currency/credit issuance, and base the money supply on a sound formula (such as the number of citizens) in order to prevent financiers from manipulating economic booms and busts.
Beware the IMF - they have bankrupted many developing countries and won't have any qualms about bankrupting many more.
Thia is simply a loan-sharks mafia. Look at Nigeria. 50 years after receiving 'help' from the IMF and they are still paying it off. They borrowed a billion and so far they've paid back 50 billion and still apparently owe another 50. Poor Nigeria!
Venezuela Celebrates Five Years Free of Illiteracy
Over the past 7 years, Mission Robinson has focused much of its attention on reaching out to geographically isolated and historically excluded members of the population including indigenous groups and Afro-descendents. (YVKE)
In 2005, UNESCO affirmed that more than 95 percent of the Venezuelan population is literate, qualifying the country for the title of “Territory Free of Illiteracy”.
The free government program, Mission Robinson, is largely responsible for the success, teaching more than 1.5 million people to read and write in the first two years of its existence.
“This achievement is not something small”, said Marisol Calzadilla, President of the government foundation responsible for implementing Mission Robinson.
“For Venezuela it’s something very important and not only because it’s recognized by the world but rather for our development as a country and the development of our people. The consciousness that the people have today, what is happening all over the country, the level of participation in the construction of popular power, is a product of education. The people have taken control over their lives through knowledge”, Calzadilla said.
Robinson was initiated by the government of Hugo Chavez in 2003 as part of an educational reform strategy using the proven literacy training methods created in Cuba called “Yes, I can” (Yo si puedo).
re: So What Is the IMF?
That article avoids addressing the biggest issue.
The so-called "International" Monetary Fund is just a proxy for the American Empire.
As mentioned in one of the videos above, the USA has the largest voting share in this phoney "international" monetary fund and America is the only country that has a veto in the IMF.
So let's see if Ireland will call out its close bosom ally, America, which is the force behind the IMF.
Chinese business taking over Europe. A few examples:
GENEVA - While Chinese diplomatic missions throughout Western Europe have made considerable effort to claim that China is not taking advantage of the current economic downturn to carve for itself an increased economic role in Europe, in practice the contrary is happening and much to the relief of the Europeans.
On June 10, China and Iceland signed a currency swap deal worth US$500 million which provided that over the next three years Iceland could pay in its own currency, the kronur, for up to 3.5 billion yuan (US$528 million) of Chinese imports.
While the deal in terms of the sums involved was minor, its political impact was considerable and it was viewed as a significant step towards recovery for the battered Icelandic economy.
Iceland was a sideshow. Greece is becoming China's main stepping-stone into the European Union. In April, the bankrupt Greek government appealed to its European partners for a US$140 billion bailout package. This proved a golden opportunity for China to move in.
Much to the relief of the Europeans who did not wish to become the sole props of the ailing Greek state, China declared itself ready to pump up to 10 billion euros (US$13.5 billion) into the Greek economy, mostly through financing of large infrastructural project. In addition, a 35-year lease was signed with Chinese shipping group COSCO for the modernization and management of the Piraeus container terminal. China also announced a $5 billion basket to enable Greek ship owners to purchase Chinese ships. Finally China announced that it would look favorably towards the future purchase of Greek bonds.
But it is China's foray in France that stands out as conceptually the most challenging.
The only distinction of Chateauroux, a town with some 48,000 inhabitants located some 100 kilometers south of Paris, was that until the mid-'60s it was the location of the largest North Atlantic Treaty Organization base in Europe. As such, it was home to 8,000 American soldiers and featured a runway that could accommodate the largest jets. With the end of the Cold War, the base was initially taken over by the French army but is now considered redundant and is in the process of being closed down.
The cumulative economic fallout, especially in terms of employment for Chateauroux, was devastating, and the future for the region looked bleak when hope appeared from the East.
In June 2009, following lengthy negotiations a protocol was signed between the local authorities of Chateauroux and China's Light Industry Federation, a conglomerate representing a substantial number of Chinese firms. According to the protocol, the local authorities would allocate 500 hectares to an industrial park where Chinese firms could set up facilities to assemble high-tech products from parts imported from China.
In what amounts to reverse outsourcing, French workers would thus be producing Chinese goods, albeit under the label "Made in France". But the industrial park, aptly named "Chatauroux business district" - or "CBD" - would not only be an assembly site but also provide what Chinese goods often lacked abroad, namely marketing, distribution and after-sales servicing.
The project is due to take off in early 2011 with the arrival of some 800 Chinese workers who will be housed in facilities that the Americans had built for their troops. They will be followed by three to four Chinese firms establishing operations in the CBD, later to grow to some 40. While some of the Chinese workforce and management will be retained, over the years the scheme is expected to provide some 4,000 jobs to the Chateauroux region.
Thanks 02:48. Of course German militarism is on the rise. All this laying down of the law within EU has gone to their heads. They are rubbing their hands at the thought of having belatedly won the two World Wars of which they were so unjustly made the scapegoat.
But strange to say, just as the militarism of the Germans has intensified, that of the French seems to be abating somewhat. Their new Defence Minister had now made statements to the effect that Afghanistan is unwinnable, just a trap and it's time to remove French troops from there. But then that new man is none other than Alain Juppé who, as politicians go, is among the best France has to offer at the moment. Let's see what comes of the next NATO meeting.
Ireland's "Suicide Pact" With the E.U.
Although Ireland is home to 8 of the top 10 global technology companies and 15 of the top 25 medical devices firms, Irish leaders would rather accept a decade of EU-imposed austerity measures and the loss of sovereignty, then leave the euro and start fresh. It's disappointing.
(This is the view of one analyst. I'd say: forget Ireland. It is will not give us anything of what we're hoping for. Train your eyes on Portugal instead in this particular instance. And then, in any case, whatever happens the west is doomed so does it really matter who delivers and who doesn't?)
Greek rescue frays amid Irish crisis
Greece's eurozone bail-out starts to unravel as Austria suspends aid contributions over failure to comply with rescue terms.
The four pillars of west construction: greed, envy, hypocrisy, vanity. They are absolutely averse to sharing anything with anyone. And it is an absolute must to believe they are the best the world has ever seen and they have a natural right to rule over everybody else.
As regards the Dutch, they are a specially self-adoring people. Along with the Spaniards and the Portugese, they (count Belgium in) were among the worst of the former colonialists. Nothing surprising in their latest Nazi ventures. But actually they are all much of a muchness as they try and wrest away control of the Freeworld in the end phase of Neocolonialism.
Is Irish bailout a back door bailout of City of London?
Posted by inthesenewtimes on November 18, 2010
Cailean Bochanan
18th November, 2010
When Obama announced his latest quantitative easing scheme I assumed Britain would follow suit. Surprisingly they didn’t. Usually we move in tandem with our American partners but here there was a divergence. I had argued in the past that the pound functioned in much the same way as the dollar as a global reserve currency though very much under its wing. What was going on?
QE2, the latest quantitative easing programme was an attempt to run another free ride at the expense of the rest of the world: in fact, the culmination of thirty years of doing exactly that. Wasn’t Britain interested in the same racket: we could do with it since we have nothing else to fall back on. Unless, that is, we have our sights on a free ride off the European Union.
Tonight’s Channel 4 interview of the Irish Minister for Europe, Dick Roche, gave a strange impression. Presenter Jon Snow seemed absolutely desperate to get Roche to admit that the bailout was on the way whilst the latter remained fairly laid back about it all. It all aroused my suspicion: are the Brits are using all their influence to bounce Dublin into this? Why?
The rationale behind the bailout is that it is necessary to prevent contagion specifically of the European periphery, notably Spain and Portugal. It is here , it transpires that UK bank’s exposure is massive: so there is more at stake than just £143 bullion invested in Ireland. Surely, this explains why the British response to this bailout is so different from their response to the Greek bailout. That was poo-pooed as, on the one hand, a sign of the imminent demise of the eurozone and on the other an attempt to shore up French and German banks exposed to Greek debt. But this time the mood music is much more positive. We are even happy to contribute to it ourselves- a nice touch when you consider the likely beneficiaries- whilst allowing our eurosceptics to run a simultaneous moaning campaign. Incidently, David McWilliam, an Irish eurosceptic, anglophile economist and also a sudden enthusiast for EU bailouts has pointed the finger again at French and German banks notably neglecting to admit to the British interest. Is this the elephant in the room?
Let’s wait to see how this unfolds but I have a sense the Brits have pulled off a coup here. The implications are rather disturbing- already the EU seems to have shown weakness in dealing with the City of London’s hedgefunds. Now Merkel has backed down precipitately over the issue of a haircut for Ireland’s creditors.The EU’s exposure on their western flank to City wrecking operations hasn’t been dealt with. Can the City really rerun a neo-colonial racket in Ireland courtesy of the EU?
(probably the real truth behind the Irish bailout. Won't change much to the inevitable end. Put if off a little at the most.)
Thousands to protest against war
(UKPA) – 20.11.10
Thousands of protesters have taken to the streets to march against the war in Afghanistan as Nato leaders discussed bringing an end to the nine-year conflict.
Demonstrators were led by military families as they carried anti-war placards and banners against cuts to government spending.
As the march moved from Hyde Park, central London, protesters chanted: "When they say warfare, we say welfare".
The demonstration took place as the Prime Minister attended a Nato summit in Lisbon, where an agreement was reached which will see Afghan forces take over full responsibility for the country's security in 2014.
At Trafalgar Square the rally was addressed by a series of speakers. Seamus Milne, a commentator for the Guardian, said: "In Lisbon today the Nato leaders will try to make it appear that they are bringing an end to this war, a war that is now in its 10th year.
"This talk of an exit strategy is clearly a sham. They're stating that their aim is to withdraw combat troops by 2015. Even if they achieve that, the period from now until then will be as long as the First World War."
(NATO west tripe as usual. The war will end when certain Freeworld countries decide the time has finally come. Not a day earlier or later.)
Again to no avail, 16:09. They protested and the others, the people who weave the "tapistry of lies" to quote Pinter, carried on with their plans for a 30-40-year occupation of Afghanistan. But as one says: "Man proposes and God disposes". Nowhere will this be more in evidence than in the final outcome in Afghanistan where the mountain tribesman will quietly see off the West hordes come to seize their land.
Remember the strange events in the skies of US on Nov. 8 and 9, if I'm not mistaken, which even at the time one considered signs of a new False Flag. Now Sorcha Faal (aka David Booth) has come out with a new report, taken up by CNN, which blames China for events. I quote from it below:
"The “immediate effect” of the Chinese Navy’s firing of their EMP missile, this report continues, was the “catastrophic crippling” of the US based cruise ship Carnival Splendor [photo 3rd left] that stranded its nearly 4,500 passengers and crew in a “dead in the water” boat and prompting the Americans to send the US Navy’s Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier, warplanes, and supply aircraft to protect it from further attack after all of its electronic systems were destroyed. An electromagnetic pulse (EMP) such as was used upon the Carnival Splendor is a burst of electromagnetic radiation that causes rapidly changing electric fields (or magnetic fields) that when coupling with electrical/electronic systems produces damaging current and voltage surges destroying all non-hardened electrical systems.
The second flash in the sky the following day was apparently the US navy's response to the attack. The reason for this, according to Sorcha Faal, was the forthcoming G20 and China's warning to US to behave over the "currency wars".
Anyone believe in this story?
Encircling Russia, Targeting China, NATO's true role in the Grand Strategy
This is more or less the title of a recent Global Research piece. Let me begin with a quote from it about the latest hype about the missile shield in Europe:
"By subscribing to the hysterical “Iranian threat” theory, with the help of Israel, the United States can continue to claim with a straight face that the planned missile shield is directed against Iran, not Russia. This cannot be expected to convince the Russians. But it can be used to make their protests sound “paranoid” – at least to the ears of the Western faithful. Dear me, what can they be complaining about when we “reset” our relations with Moscow and invite the Russian president to our “Strategic Concept” happy gathering?
However, the Russians know quite well that:
The missile shield is to be constructed surrounding Russia, which does have missiles, which it keeps for deterrence.
By neutralizing Russian missiles, the United States would free its own hand to attack Russia, knowing that the Russia could not retaliate.
Therefore, whatever is said, the missile shield, if it worked, would serve to facilitate eventual aggression against Russia."
Now, I ask you, it that is the case, how come the Russians are going into Afghanistan and flirting like mad with NATO, not to say US? I do sincerely hope they have some card up their sleeve which our small minds are incapable of penetrating at the moment. China is easier to understand for once. They are almost straightforward in their opposition to the USans compared to corkscrew Russia.
re: 9:57
All this rhetoric about the "West" is just political propaganda to disguise the fact that it's the Anglo-Americans who drive and dominate the so-called Western alliance.
The Anglo-Americans are not only genocidal in nature, but most of all they are DECEPTIVE.
Deviousness and cunning are the essential nature of America in particular as a nation.
The USA's propaganda press and hordes of supporters (open and disguised) are prime examples.
And what is most devious about America is how it tries to control political dissent itself, with many False-Flag opposition and phony alternative media sites calling themselves "anti-war" or even "anti-West."
Ireland to request bailout package
Ireland will request an EU and IMF bailout of up to £80 billion on Monday as it prepares to unveil a four year programme of steep tax rises and deep spending cuts.
US firms pressure Ireland to tax the people, not corporations - 21.11.10
Even as Ireland gears up to give up its sovereignty, the first warnings strike:
The Irish government has been given a stark warning from some of the biggest American companies in Ireland on the risk of a mass exodus if the country's low corporation tax rate is raised.
The warning – from executives at Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard (HP), Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Intel – spoke of the "damaging impact" on Ireland's "ability to win and retain investment" should the country's corporation tax rate be increased from 12.5pc.
12:40, You are not wrong to talk about the deviousness, deception and cunning of the Anglo-US alliance.
But I do not agree with you when you seem to let the rest of the west off the hook. They are equally complicit in the acts of the Anglo-US big brothers. Not one west country as defined on this blog can claim to walk around with clean hands, not a single one. And this includes paragons of virtue such as Switzerland or the Scandinavian hypocrites.
"Who Needs an Army When You Can Obtain the Usual Objective (Monetary Wealth and Asset Appropriation) Simply by Financial Means?"
Why the U.S. has Launched a New Financial World War -- And How the the Rest of the World Will Fight Back
By MICHAEL HUDSON
“Coming events cast their shadows forward.”
– Goethe
What is to stop U.S. banks and their customers from creating $1 trillion, $10 trillion or even $50 trillion on their computer keyboards to buy up all the bonds and stocks in the world, along with all the land and other assets for sale in the hope of making capital gains and pocketing the arbitrage spreads by debt leveraging at less than 1 per cent interest cost? This is the game that is being played today.
Finance is the new form of warfare – without the expense of a military overhead and an occupation against unwilling hosts. It is a competition in credit creation to buy foreign resources, real estate, public and privatized infrastructure, bonds and corporate stock ownership. Who needs an army when you can obtain the usual objective (monetary wealth and asset appropriation) simply by financial means? All that is required is for central banks to accept dollar credit of depreciating international value in payment for local assets. Victory promises to go to whatever economy’s banking system can create the most credit, using an army of computer keyboards to appropriate the world’s resources. The key is to persuade foreign central banks to accept this electronic credit.
U.S. officials demonize foreign countries as aggressive “currency manipulators” keeping their currencies weak. But they simply are trying to protect their currencies from being pushed up against the dollar by arbitrageurs and speculators flooding their financial markets with dollars. Foreign central banks find them obliged to choose between passively letting dollar inflows push up their exchange rates – thereby pricing their exports out of global markets – or recycling these dollar inflows into U.S. Treasury bills yielding only 1% and whose exchange value is declining. (Longer-term bonds risk a domestic dollar-price decline if U.S interest rates should rise.)
“Quantitative easing” is a euphemism for flooding economies with credit, that is, debt on the other side of the balance sheet. The Fed is pumping liquidity and reserves into the domestic financial system to reduce interest rates, ostensibly to enable banks to “earn their way” out of negative equity resulting from the bad loans made during the real estate bubble. But why would banks lend more under conditions where a third of U.S. homes already are in negative equity and the economy is shrinking as a result of debt deflation?
The problem is that U.S. quantitative easing is driving the dollar downward and other currencies up, much to the applause of currency speculators enjoying a quick and easy free lunch. Yet it is to defend this system that U.S. diplomats are threatening to plunge the world economy into financial anarchy if other countries do not agree to a replay of the 1985 Plaza Accord “as a possible framework for engineering an orderly decline in the dollar and avoiding potentially destabilizing trade fights.” The run-up to this weekend’s IMF meetings saw the United States threaten to derail the international financial system, bringing monetary chaos if it does not get its way. This threat has succeeded for the past few generations.
http://www.counterpunch.org/hudson10112010.html
Countries around the world are dumping America's dirty dollar in favor of something that has been used as a standard of value for millenia: Gold.
"Crisis of Fiat Currencies: US Dollar Surpluses Converted into Gold
China, Russia, Iran are Dumping the Dollar"
by Bob Chapman
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=22031
US is going to pull out every imaginable trick from its bag of manipulation. I still think it will not get away with its crimes. The world (minus west) is too much on its guard.
Defeat in war on both fronts, military as much as financial jiggery-pokery. Nations on a dowmward spiral can as much reverse the trend as turn night into day. Similarly nations on the rise can be as little diverted from their course as an ocean can be transformed into a lake.
Terminal prolapse is terminal prolapse after all!
Not the best crop of news this morning, all in all (23.11.10), but we take what we can:
- Russia cosying up to NATO is hardly to our liking. But there might be something there from the Russian standpoint which we've failed to see. Ties with Iran seem to be fraying. But that might be on the surface only. Who can tell yet.
- Ties between Gambia and Iran also seem to have been cut. The long arm of CIA-Mossad as some suggest?
- US news is concentrating quite madly on the abuses of the Full Body Scanner and the pat downs that accompany it. A small glimmer of hope there the USans will finally rebel? But knowing them and their small minds, seems unlikely. But one can never tell.
- Germany cutting out their conscription army soon. To be replaced by a mercenary one?
- Israel building a wall - they do so love that, don't they? - to cut off Gaza from Egypt. Their genocide plans are flourishing beyond their wildest dreams.
- Saudi Slave King in US for health reasons.
- Only glimmer of hope in all this: NKorea has apparently fired on a SKorea island. This might lead to something of interest.
Otherwise, this morning's score would seem to be: west 1, Freeworld 0. Tomorrow is another day.
07:52, you seemed to have started the day on an optimistic footing. You're not entirely wrong, mind. The news as a whole does not correspond to a day to crack smiles as we go along. But one thing you did forget: the Economy.
Ireland now. It's first day as IMF subsidiary started off in turmoil. The Irish did hit the streets to protest and demand the stupid Govt step down. They didn't ahchieve that. But at least forced out a promise of new elections next year. Brits have their student demos. Better than nothing. And now here is a glimspe into US econ prolapse well underway:
Nouriel Roubini, the star economist whose gloomy forecasts have earned him the nickname of Dr. Doom, is at it again.
This time he has taken to Twitter to predict pain. The New York University professor was reacting to a report by Laurie Goodman, senior managing director at Amherst Securities, who says one in five distressed homeowners in the U.S. faces, or may face, foreclosure, Housing Wire reports.
She says 11.5 million home loans are non-performing or highly distressed at present.
And Roubini says that spells trouble. “Amherst Securities Goodman estimates that 11.5 million households could default on their mortgages, not the 4 million priced in by markets,” he tweets.
“If 11.5 million more households default on their mortgages, most U.S. banks would be insolvent again. That's why Goodman's estimates are scary.”
(Folks, please pay very close attention here. And it is always good policy to have no more in the bank than absolutely necessary to pay your bills. This is true of the entire West.)
Top banks face $100 billion Basel shortfall: report: The new Basel III banking rules will leave the biggest U.S. banks short of between $100 billion and $150 billion in equity capital, with 90 per cent of the shortfall concentrated in the top six banks.
(double-edged sword. Either as pretext to obtain even more money from a third QE scam or as justification for what is going on at present.)
Tensions Mount in Korea as Both Sides Prepare for Possible War, Japan Calls For Attack
23.11.10
Tensions are mounting after a North Korean artillery attack left at least 14 South Koreans injured and 2 dead. The South was apparently conducting a routine drill near the near the area that was attacked.
Talk of nuclear redeployment and swift retaliation has lead some to believe that war is imminent. On Monday, before the artillery attack, South Korea officials denied that they were considering redeploying U.S. tactical nuclear weapon in respond to the Norths nuclear aggression.
Debkafile is now reporting that Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan called Obama and demanded that the United States, Japan, and South Korea attack North Korea!
(Three cheers! A new war on the horizon. We just live for all these wars, new and old, don't we?)
re: 21:26
Come on now. Debkafile is not a legitimate source of information.
As for war, America is obviously trying to use this incident as a pretext for stepping threats against China and Russia.
This is a predictable "flight forward" response to the fact that the American Empire (and Wall Street in particular) are economically imploding.
I suspect this all has something to do with America's failed attempt to get other countries to kowtow to America's financial warfare machinations--as most recently evidenced by the G20 and IMF meetings as detailed by Michael Hudson above.
When American financial warfare doesn't work, the USA resorts to military warfare.
North Korea attacks South Korea…or is it the other way around?
http://gowans.wordpress.com/2010/11/23/north-korea-attacks-south-korea%e2%80%a6or-is-it-the-other-way-around/
OO.O3, Quite. Spot on you are all the way. Staring with the shabby credentials of Debkafile, as unreliable as its companion Sorcha Faal.
A substitute for failed financial warfare? Very likely. Other reasons there could be as well. But no need to go into them now.
Anyway, all in all, a proxy beginning of a war between the true giant China and the pretence giant US. China might hold its ground, US will back away presumably. Unless, of course, they've really gone totally bonkers, a possibility never to be excluded when talking about that place.
If they don't, then be sure it will be counted as the start of WWIII, part two, part one being already the Muslim Wars which haven't led to any glorious victories for the history books.
Britain is into its second day of rioting by students protesting the rise in tuition fees projected by the Conservative government. Sounds hopeful enough.
If proven, Countrywide’s mortgage fraud could threaten Bank of America - 23.11.10
Problems with mortgage documents Bank of American acquired when it purchased the mortgage provider Countrywide Financial in 2008 could cost the bank billions, if a testimony in a New Jersey foreclosure case proves accurate.
During the foreclosure trial, an operational team leader for Bank of America, Linda DiMartini, said it was "customary for Countrywide to maintain possession of the original note and related documents."
If her testimony is proven, Countrywide may have not properly transferred the necessary mortgage documents when it sold loans to other banks who then used the loans to create residential mortgage backed securities (RMBS).
It is the oversubscribing these RMBS documents which may ultimately destroy the banks.
Latest on Ireland's Austerity Plans . 24.11.10
James Nixon, chief European economist at Societe Generale, said: "It's a staggeringly austere budget, the cuts are deep and it will hurt. The main thing that stands out is that they still expect the economy to grow by 2.7pc over the next 4 years but it's hard to see how that can be true."
All Irish households face a new £257 property tax from 2012. The plan outlined 24,750 public sector job cuts, a $2.8bn reduction in social welfare spending, and plans to raise an additional €1.9bn from income tax.
The minimum wage will be cut by €1 cut to €7.65 an hour, and VAT will be raised from 21pc-23pc in 2013, with a further increase to 24pc in 2014.
Unemployment is expected to fall from 13.5pc to below 10pc over the four years.
The government is continuing to talk to the EU and IMF about a bail-out package, expected to be worth around €85bn.
The EU wanted the Irish government to find savings worth £5bn next year.
EU and IMF officials will police the plan and Ireland has been warned that if targets are not met then eurozone loans, totalling £72bn over three years, will be withheld until tax increases and spending cuts are ratcheted up.
There was more bad news for Ireland this morning after Standard & Poor cuts its debt rating two points as contagion threatens to spread through the rest of the euro region.
Middle class Irish families face the loss of tax credits and low paid workers, totalling 50 per cent of the labour force, will start to pay taxes for the first time.
U.S. Calls on China to Use Influence to Restrain North Korea - 24.11.10
This sounds a lot like the US asking HAMAS to stop the Palestinians from shooting back when Israel attacks them. Because South Korea provoked this exchange of gunfire by shooting into North Korean waters in what is a clear provocation.
Obama's agenda here is twofold. First, by shifting the focus from North Korea to China, he draws attention away from that provocation. Second, it is clear that between the G20, in which China refused to alter their currency when "ordered" to do so, and the dropping of the dollar in trade with Russia, that the war focus has shifted from Iran to China, with war with China being the convenenint excuse to erase the debts owed to China, and of course, that is easily worth the few million dead Americans such a war will cost, right President Pansy?
(WRH)
U.S. sends carrier to Yellow Sea for exercises near Korea - 24.11.10
Chinese Maj. Gen. Zhu Chenghu told state-run media in July that "if the United States truly wants to take into account the overall interests of the Sino-U.S. relationship, then it must on no account send its USS Washington to the Yellow Sea." He called the area "sensitive."
(US paying no attention to China's wishes. Well, well, this seems to be turning serious.)
Europe erupts in violence. Not only are British students up in arms over budgetary cuts in education and higher tuition fees, Portugal is carrying out a 24-hour general strike. Spain is planning one in the coming weeks. And protests in Greece and Ireland are, of course, ongoing. We all remember what happened in France for days on end. It can reignite anytime again soon. Nice going all in all. And foretold in advance, goes without saying.
- China, Russia quit dollar - 24.11.10
St. Petersburg, Russia - China and Russia have decided to renounce the US dollar and resort to using their own currencies for bilateral trade, Premier Wen Jiabao and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin announced late on Tuesday.
(One has to wonder if it was only coincidence, that on the day China and Russia make this announcement, South Korea decides to provoke the Chinese-client state, North Korea, with military exercises, exercises in which "US advisors" participated?!?)
- Regulators close 2 Georgia banks, 1 in Arizona
24.11.10
The US government paid 6.4 tax dollars to bail out JP Morgan, AIG, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and friends divvied up the 6.4 trillion dollars. These same banks are responsible of predatory lending scams, illegal foreclosure, and the fabrication of mortgage and foreclosure documents.
r: 23:13
North Korea is China's client state now? You must be confusing it with South Korea's relationship to America.
Even the mainstream US media has noted how the North, despite being dependent on China for aid, marches to its own beat.
North Korea Relies on China, but Tends to Resist Its Guidance
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/24/world/asia/24beijing.html?_r=2&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=a22
Bravo 01:06. Exactly my own reading of the relationship. China, NKorea are close allies but no one dicates to anyone there. With US, no country is allied. All our subordinate and bent to the will of the Evil Empire.
Debt contagion threatens Belgium - 25.11.10
Traders push up cost of insuring Belgium's debts in situation made worse by broken political system.
Catching on: Italian Students in Protest: 25.11.10
ROME – Italian students have occupied the Leaning Tower of Pisa and Rome's Colosseum to protest education cuts and university reforms being considered by parliament.
Italian news agency ANSA says some 2,000 students marched Thursday in the northern university town of Pisa, forming a human chain around its famous tower to prevent tourists from entering. Several students climbed inside the landmark as tourists snapped photos of the protest.
In Rome, students brandished banners reading "No profits off our future" as they marched around the Colosseum.
Thursday was the second day of protests against the reforms, which eliminate some areas of study and force schools that are running at deficit to close.
In Milan, police clashed briefly with students to keep them from entering the subway.
(Remember the Euro series: Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Italy, France and, and and?)
EU rescue cost start to threaten Germany
Debt crisis is starting to contaminate German creditworthiness.
Comments
Credit default swaps (CDS) measuring risk on German, French and Dutch bonds have surged over recent days, rising significantly above the levels of non-EMU states in Scandinavia.
"Germany cannot keep paying for bail-outs without going bankrupt itself," said Professor Wilhelm Hankel, of Frankfurt University. "This is frightening people. You cannot find a bank safe deposit box in Germany because every single one has already been taken and stuffed with gold and silver. It is like an underground Switzerland within our borders. People have terrible memories of 1948 and 1923 when they lost their savings."
The refrain was picked up this week by German finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble. "We're not swimming in money, we're drowning in debts," he told the Bundestag.
Euro-Zone Debt Crisis Escalates - 26.11.10
WSJ | The euro zone’s sovereign debt crisis escalated Friday as the market homed in on Spain as another potential weak spot, leaving officials scrambling to quell investors’ fears.
Michael Hudson tells us progressive taxation is out, the flat tax will be the future of the rich in US. Much as it offends our sense of justice, we must also look at the bright side of things. The fabulously rich pay next to nothing? What a splendid loss of income for the US government, hastening their demise that little bit more.
America: The Grim Truth
I have some bad news for you:
You have the worst quality of life in the developed world – by a wide margin.
If you had any idea of how people really lived in Western Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and many parts of Asia, you’d be rioting in the streets calling for a better life. In fact, the average Australian or Singaporean taxi driver has a much better standard of living than the typical American white-collar worker.
I know this because I am an American, and I escaped from the prison you call home.
I have lived all around the world, in wealthy countries and poor ones, and there is only one country I would never consider living in again: The United States of America. The mere thought of it fills me with dread.
(These words from a USan as usual miss the point of barbarity as a way of life sdopted by this bunch of (with all due respect to poiuytr) Judeo-Saxon swines with their alibi sprikling of other peoples. But at least it does refer to one immense failure, the heartbeat of the EE, their sacrosanct living standards.)
50.000 Protest Irish bail out - 27.11.10
Tens of thousands of demonstrators marched through the streets of Dublin to protest against the government's handling of the economic crisis.
The Telegraph's econ news for this evening (27.11.10)
- Spain could face bail-out
Barclays warns bank debt could force Spain to seek bail-out within months.
- Euro 'will fall to $1.20'
BlackRock's Larry Flint predicts 10pc drop in European currency.
Vladimir Putin spoke up against U.S. Dollar monopolism. In his opinion, the monopolistic situation is harmful to the world economy.
These are the news, and the fact, that United States and China don't want to use the U.S. Dollar is more significant than the media speaks about it. Every competent economist knows this, but they keep their mouth shut, to avoid the panic. If Chinese and Russian economic experts can solve the problem of the direct conversion, probably many countries would join to their system. This fact means not only the declining, but the execution of the U.S. Dollar.
There is only one step left to China and Russia getting free from their U.S. Dollar-resources, and the U.S. Dollar completely loses its value. If we are checking only for the substantive economy, U.S. Dollar would not lose totally its value (in this situation it falls only 30-40%), but later they won't be able to control the emerging panic, and the U.S. Dollar will collapse.
In light of recent events, this could happen at any time, even tomorrow. And then, there will be no US-economy, US-wealth, world of banks, multi-companies, nothing else. Then there will be no Euro, because it's bounded to the Dollar through the European economy. There won't be public debts, so for example, the heavily indebted Hungary receives an $100 billion capital injection (at last year's value) from Russia and China (because roughly this size of Hungarian - public + private sector and population charger - public debt will be destroyed).
The zionists want to sharpen the situation with the Korean war, because the threat of complete collapse and destruction is real for them.
http://www.jovonk.info/2010/11/27/dollar-collapse-crisis-tsunami-comes
Greece → Ireland → Portugal → Spain → Italy → UK → ? Europe's Financial Domino Effect (I)
by Washington's Blog - Global Research, November 27, 2010
It is now common knowledge that there is a potential domino effect of European sovereign debt contagion in roughly the following order:
Greece → Ireland → Portugal → Spain → Italy → UK
While some people have been writing about this for well over a year, many others have joined the party late (there are now over 600,000 hits from a Google search discussing this topic.)
It is also now common knowledge that while Greece and Ireland have relatively small economies, there will be real trouble if the Spanish domino falls.
Iceland has the world's 112th biggest economy, Ireland the 38th, and Portugal the 36th. In contrast, Spain has the world's 9th biggest economy, Italy the 7th and the UK the 6th. A failure by one of the latter 3 would be devastating for the world economy.
As Nouriel Roubini wrote in February:
But the real nightmare domino is Spain. Roubini refers to the Spanish debt problems as "the elephant in the room".
"You can try to ring fence Spain. And you can essentially try to provide financing officially to Ireland, Portugal, and Greece for three years. Leave them out of the market. Maybe restructure their debt down the line."
"But if Spain falls off the cliff, there is not enough official money in this envelope of European resources to bail out Spain. Spain is too big to fail on one side—and also too big to be bailed out."
With Spain, the first problem is the size of its public debt: €1 trillion. (Greece, by contrast, has €300 of public debt.) Spain also has €1 trillion in private foreign liabilities.
And for problems of that magnitude, there simply are not enough resources—governmental or super-sovereign—to go around.
And as I've previously pointed out, Germany and France - the world's 4th and 5th largest economies - have the greatest exposure to Portuguese and Spanish debt. For more on the interconnections between Euro economies adding to the risk of contagion, see this.
While it is tempting to assume that the Eurozone bailouts mean that creditor nations which have managed their economies well and saved huge amounts of excess reserves which they lend out, Sean Corrigon points out that the European bailouts are a Ponzi scheme:
Under the rules of this multi-trillion shell game, the sovereigns guarantee the ECB which funds the banks which buy the government debt which provides for everyone else's guarantees.
(America is no different: Bill Gross, Nouriel Roubini, Laurence Kotlikoff, Steve Keen, Michel Chossudovsky and the Wall Street Journal all say that America is running a giant Ponzi scheme as well. And both America and Europe are trying to cover up the insolvency of their banks by running faux stress tests.)
It didn't have to be like this. The European nations did not have to sacrifice themselves for the sake of their big banks.
Domino Effect (II)
"We have decided to socialize the private losses of the banking system.", wrote Roubini once.
Roubini believes that further attempts at intervention have only increased the magnitude of the problems with sovereign debt. He says, "Now you have a bunch of super sovereigns— the IMF, the EU, the eurozone—bailing out these sovereigns." Essentially, the super-sovereigns underwrite sovereign debt—increasing the scale and concentrating the problems.
Roubini characterizes super-sovereign intervention as merely kicking the can down the road. He says wryly: "There's not going to be anyone coming from Mars or the moon to bail out the IMF or the Eurozone."
But, despite the paper shuffling of debt at the national level—and at the level of supranational entities—reality ultimately intervenes: "So at some point you need restructuring. At some point you need the creditors of the banks to take a hit —otherwise you put all this debt on the balance sheet of government. And then you break the back of government—and then government is insolvent."
As I pointed out in December 2008: The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) is often called the "central banks' central bank", as it coordinates transactions between central banks.
BIS points out in a new report that the bank rescue packages have transferred significant risks onto government balance sheets, which is reflected in the corresponding widening of sovereign credit default swaps.
The scope and magnitude of the bank rescue packages also meant that significant risks had been transferred onto government balance sheets. This was particularly apparent in the market for CDS referencing sovereigns involved either in large individual bank rescues or in broad-based support packages for the financial sector, including the United States. While such CDS were thinly traded prior to the announced rescue packages, spreads widened suddenly on increased demand for credit protection, while corresponding financial sector spreads tightened. In other words, by assuming huge portions of the risk from banks trading in toxic derivatives, and by spending trillions that they don't have, central banks have put their countries at risk from default.
But Nations had no choice but to bail out their banks, did they? Well, actually, they did.
The leading monetary economist told the Wall Street Journal that this was not a liquidity crisis, but an insolvency crisis. She said that Bernanke is fighting the last war, and is taking the wrong approach (as are other central bankers).
Nobel economist Paul Krugman and leading economist James Galbraith agree. They say that the government's attempts to prop up the price of toxic assets no one wants is not helpful.
BIS slammed the easy credit policy of the Fed and other central banks, the failure to regulate the shadow banking system, "the use of gimmicks and palliatives", and said that anything other than (1) letting asset prices fall to their true market value, (2) increasing savings rates, and (3) forcing companies to write off bad debts "will only make things worse".
Domino Effect (III)
Remember, the housing bubble was not confined to the U.S. There was a worldwide bubble in real estate. Indeed, the Economist magazine wrote in 2005 that the worldwide boom in residential real estate prices in this decade was "the biggest bubble in history". The Economist noted that - at that time - the total value of residential property in developed countries rose by more than $30 trillion, to $70 trillion, over the past five years – an increase equal to the combined GDPs of those nations.
Housing bubbles are now bursting in China, France, Spain, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Eastern Europe, and many other regions. And the bubble in commercial real estate is also bursting world-wide.
BIS also cautioned that bailouts could harm the economy (as did the former head of the Fed's open market operations). Indeed, the bailouts create a climate of moral hazard which encourages more risky behavior. Nobel prize winning economist George Akerlof predicted in 1993 that credit default swaps would lead to a major crash, and that future crashes were guaranteed unless the government stopped letting big financial players loot by placing bets they could never pay off when things started to go wrong, and by continuing to bail out the gamblers.
These truths are as applicable in Europe as in America. The central bankers have done the wrong things. They haven't fixed anything, but simply transferred the cancerous toxic derivatives and other financial bombs from the giant banks to the nations themselves.
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=22129
Update on Portugal
The Portuguese Govt has passed a "draconian" (thatever that might mean) austerity budget. To no avail. Investors are now asking for a 7% interest rate to buy up their debt which is, apparently, suicidal for the country.
Great patriotic favour on display: People are starting to pack up and leave (like in Ireland), roaming in search of greener pastures. What a population of steadfast people inhabit Europe, what!
Their 24-hour general strike achieved nothing at all and there was no unrest on the streets as might have been seen elsewhere. No, the Portuguese preferred to refer back to their great poet Fernando Pessoa, adopting his famous line: "O salty seas, how much of that salt comes from the tears of Portugal?" their slogan.
What a bunch of sissies, this lot, nerds and dorks!
Tensions rise in Korea on eve of US-Seoul war games - 28.11.10
Pyongyang promises more attacks – but South vows to retailiate in event of further strike.
Here we go again. I love the euphemism: "games". It all seems to be hotting up. Here, have a look at past unpunished war crimes:
North Korea lost 30% of its population as a result of US bombings in the 1950s
The World is at a dangerous crossroads.
The US is seeking a pretext to wage war on North Korea.
North Korea is said to constitute a threat to Global Security.
From the Truman Doctrine to Obama. The history of the 1950s Korean confirms that extensive war crimes were committed against the Korean people. As confirmed by the statement of General Curtis Lemay:
"Over a period of three years or so we killed off - what - twenty percent of the population."
North Korea lost thirty percent of its population as a result of US led bombings in the 1950s. US military sources confirm that 20 percent of North Korea's population was killed off over a three period of intensive bombings:
(This time round, though, you can be sure the outcome will not be similar. It's the EE which will be crushed without undue effort.)
FINANCE - Telegraph Online - 29.11.10
- Germany faces awful choice as Spain wobbles
Germany must help Euroland or see its investment in Europe collapse.
- 'China is next credit bubble'
Hedge fund that made millions on US sub-prime market launches new fund.
Germany Faces An Awful Choice - 29.11.10
Although no one anywhere has yet dared to openly say it, Germany must now contemplate doing for the whole of the EU what it did for its own volk in East Germany over 20 years ago or watch its strategic investment in, and the very fabric of, the postwar order of Europe collapse with a bang, and in hideous acrimony.
Michael's solem declaration - that WW-III between China and the US has already begun in the Yellow Sea - may need to be retracted. For WW-III may yet start not in Korea but rather where both WW-I and WW-II did.
Tough call. Very tough call!
France has Now Grabbed Their People's Pension Funds to Give to Banks and Their Debt - Joining Hungary and Ireland - 29.11.10
Seems all over the world countries are grabbing their People's Pension and Retirement accounts, they pass the laws very fast and spring the surprise on their people. France has just joined the fray of taking their people's retirement accounts to give to the banks and buy the countries bonds. They have taken 36 Billion of people's Pension and retirement accounts.
Asset managers will have the chance to get billions of euros in mandates in the next few months for the €36bn Fonds de Réserve pour les Retraites (FRR), the French reserve pension fund, after the French parliament last week passed a law to use its assets to pay off the debts of France’s welfare system.
I had posted last week about Hungary taking their people's pension funds.
Ireland too is talking about taking their people's pensions and giving it to the banks.
Fine Gael, Labour and Sinn Féin attacked the intention to use the National Pension Reserve Fund to help provide a further €10 billion in further capital for the banks. In total, the banks could end up getting another €35 billion if their losses are bigger than expected.
So, does everyone see what is happening around the world?
The banks come before the people! The people's money of which they saved and worked all their lives for is being grabbed by the leaders of countries to give to the banks. Besides people having to pay more in taxes and get less in wages. In Ireland the people have to take a cut in the minimum wage for their "bailout".
I have no doubt there will be demonstrations in the European countries regarding what the governments are doing there.
But I will say again, it is simply a matter of time before the U.S. government passes a bill that allows them to take everyone's Private IRA/Pension and 401Ks. They have had committee meetings on it already, it has been discussed many times. Remember Federal and State Government Pension funds all over the U.S., are under water right now. If you think the government will not over reach their powers by stealing everyone's private retirement accounts, then you have not been paying attention to what has been happening with crazy laws being passed or about to be voted on.
Just so no one things we pay no attention to what Mainstream keeps serving us up by way of diversion: the talk is all about the Weak Leaks purportedly chronicling all the dirty work US is always up to, openly and behind the scenes.
Diversionary tactics at their best, these stupid "leaks" are. Either aimed at killing the internet or to take our minds off whatever foul business US is presently engaged it. War with Korea? Or was Korea also simply a diversion?
Brazil's surplus increase over 135% in first 10 months - November 30, 2010
Brazil's central government registered a primary surplus of 63.4 billion reais (36.7 billion U.S. dollars) in the first 10 months of 2010, up 135.6 percent from the same period last year, the Treasury Department said on Monday.
The amount is equivalent to 2.19 percent of Brazil's gross domestic product (GDP), up from 1.05 percent in the same period of 2009.
The central government's revenue is formed by the incomes of the Treasury Department, the Central Bank and the Social Security system.
From January to October, the Treasury Department accumulated a primary surplus of 105.8 billion reais (61.3 billion dollars), up 53.7 percent year on year.
The Social Security system, on the other hand, accumulated a primary deficit of 41.9 billion reais (24.3 billion dollars), up 0.9 percent from the same period last year.
The Central Bank's deficit increased 10.2 percent and reached 520.8 million reais (302 million dollars).
In October, Brazil registered a primary surplus of 7.7 billion reais (4.4 billion dollars), down 70.3 percent from September and 31 percent year on year. According to the Treasury Department, the figures were the lowest for October in four years.
The Treasury Department had a surplus of 10 billion reais (5.8 billion dollars) in October, while the Social Security system had a primary deficit of 2.17 billion reais (1.25 billion dollars), and the Central Bank a deficit of 117.3 million reais (68 million dollars).
The Brazilian government set a target of 76.2 billion reais (44.1 billion dollars) for 2010, which amounts to 2.15 percent of the country's GDP.
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90778/90858/90864/7215925.html
Latest in monitoring EU Prolapse
Contagion strikes Italy - 30.11.10
EU-IMF bail-out for Ireland leads to dramatic surge in bond yields.
It is just a coincidence that the most recent Wikileaks leak involves allegations that North Korea and Iran had a missile deal of some sort?
Despite all the supposed "denunciations" of Wikileaks from the American regime and rulers, always ask, cui bono, or who benefits, from this leak politically?
Is Wikileaks really just WikiLIES?
America is a nation of sociopathic liars, whose deception is topped only by its nationalist paranoia.
Just think, the more countries that America economically exploits or military subjugates, the more the war-loving American people hysterically claim to be threatened.
Even the political "opposition" of America is a fraud. They are mostly self-serving cretins who are fearful that America will meets its deserved Judgement Day soon.
Is U.S. Mass Paranoia Curable?
http://www.dangerouscreation.com/2010/11/is-u-s-mass-paranoia-curable/
10.46 - I don't know whether Wikileaks is actually Wikilies, but one thing is for sure: it's an instrument for propaganda pure and simple. As a diversion or to pave t^he way for a coming war. Iran would be one candidate, NK-China another.
Hope wiser heads prevail on this one. But with the EE, one never can tell.
Is US Mass Paranoia Curable, 12:06 (thanks for link). The answer is "no". Or even better: "NO". Their overweening complex of superiority has cut them off from any sense of reality. What remains is a simple schema. 1. We are the best. 2. The world envies us. 3. They'll attack us any chance they get. Arrived here, only fear and the desire to hit out blindly remain. No wonder one used to call them the Baboons.
The Korea Stand-off
Washington may appear to be pressing China to rein in its excitable North Korean ally.
However, there are those in the bowels of power in DC who are thinking about a war against China might not be a bad idea right now.
The logical mind boggles at such a thought, but consider the following:
1. The US government is utterly incapable of paying back the billions of dollars it owes China.
http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/368960
2. Obama was thoroughly unsuccessful in persuading the Chinese government to revalue their currency, and there are those in the US government ready, and willing, to declare China a "currency manipulator"
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6AF4I020101117
3. Russia and China have decided to do away with the use of the dollar entirely in their financial dealings with each other.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2010-11/24/content_11599087.htm
4. And finally, there are those in the bowels of power in DC who believe that another war (any war) is desperately needed to distract Americans from the financial misery into which they have been placed by bad Federal policy decisions, and for the economy to get out of this depression. Historically with the US, that is what has happened.
Secretary of State Clinton is off on a tour of Central Asia today, visiting Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan. One has to wonder what she might be "shopping for", in terms of a potential US/NATO attack against China, as barking-dog mad as such a notion might seem.
(WRH)
What the hell happened to my post responding to 21:04? Are we censoring now?
ANON 2/12/10 11:26
Nobody is censoring you. Ain’t got a clue what’s happened to your “post”. Maybe your internet connection went out or you didn’t click on post comment before you exited the dialog box/page?
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