The film is a powerful and timely investigation into the media's role in war, tracing the history of 'embedded' and independent reporting from the carnage of World War One to the destruction of Hiroshima, and from the invasion of Vietnam to the current war in Afghanistan and disaster in Iraq. As weapons and propaganda become even more sophisticated, the nature of war is developing into an 'electronic battlefield' in which journalists play a key role, and civilians are the victims. But who is the real enemy?
John Pilger says in the film: "We journalists... have to be brave enough to defy those who seek our collusion in selling their latest bloody adventure in someone else's country... That means always challenging the official story, however patriotic that story may appear, however seductive and insidious it is. For propaganda relies on us in the media to aim its deceptions not at a far away country but at you at home... In this age of endless imperial war, the lives of countless men, women and children depend on the truth or their blood is on us... Those whose job it is to keep the record straight ought to be the voice of people, not power."
210 comments:
1 – 200 of 210 Newer› Newest»I0m glad you've given us another Pilger to wake us up, James. He's a journalist of integrity. Thanks. This morning there's no time, but shall come back and add comment later today,
That skunk PR Bernays is back again. Fear is the factor to get 'em, facts never count. What a fake! What a brute! What a skunk! The quicker the US goes, the better for us all.
Afghan Taliban to Open Office in Turkey: Turkey says it is willing to host a political office for Taliban militants from Afghanistan in order to promote talks to end the war there. An unnamed Afghan official is quoted as saying that planning for the office is already in progress.
Russia asks for immediate ceasefire in Libya: "Today we can state that in a series of cases, military action has exceeded the mandate conferred by the United Nations Security Council," said Sergei Lavrov.
Pilger makes an excellent cross-examiner of his fellow media whores. That he raises his voice in the name of humanity and morality while drilling his counterparts is heartening. Even more heartening would have been the fact had he gone beyond the usual excuses and mentioned in passing at least the crimes of the Jewish elite. But he's always drawn the line at that, hasn't he? Still, a highly interesting video.
Thank you, Pilger. Their blood is most definitely upon us. Thank you, James. That is why we are still blogging today.
People, listen to the voice of truth. Wake up, forget your wallets and ban the wars. You'll be doing yourself and yours a great service.
Shock employment figures: Fewer than 46% of Americans have jobs
The percentage of Americans who have jobs has fallen to the lowest point in three decades and now hovers just above 45 percent of the total population, according to an analysis of labor data published by USA Today.
Hope everyone has sat up and taken notice of a geographical shift in the west approach to war. Now the whole emphasis is being placed on Africa. Mark these events:
. West war in Libya. Every effort will be made to turn this into a long-drawn occupation on the part of the west. And who is being tagetted exactly? Why, China of course which has strengthened its presence on the African continent in many unreported ways. So what happens now? Read Craig Roberts on the subject. He's spot on. West's days in Afghanistan are numbered and, mainly, Pakistan has slipped out of their hands, landing fairly and squarely on China's side, from whence, via the road beibg built linking China, Pakistan and Iran, straight into a threeway alliance between some of the future leaders of the Free World.
- Also, to back up above, note French interference in the Ivory Coast and now Burkina Faso. Nigeria also seems to be on the verge of eruption, etc., etc.
- Yes, most definitely, we are dragging in the mighty continent as the new battle theatre for the insatiable west.
Our resilient Japanese! Even while the west keeps filling our heads with horror stories of radiation from Fukishima, Tepco camply tells us they'll get their whole thing up and running again within the next six months. I'm not taking sides on this, I can just say I find Tepco's nerves and the behaviour of the Japanese nation as a whole admirable.
Poiuytr vindicated, hurray! Now even the MSM have tumbled to the fact that the new econ leaders of the world are the BRICS, with their high growth rates, their rising incomes and their 40% share of the world population. Now they have quietly agreed to trade amongst themselves in their own currencies, the sham reserve currency status of the dollar has been clearly exposed, May 2006-April 2011. Five years it took to come out into the open. And now even the deaf, dumb and blind know it.
Morgan Stanley Defaulted on a Loan and Walked away from Offices in Tokyo!! Gave the keys back! Biggest Default in Japan's History 3.3 Billion!
Morgan Stanley Defaulted on a Tokyo Commercial office building yesterday (April 15th) they gave the keys back! - 15.4.11
It is the biggest default ever in Japan's History - it is worth 3.3 Billion. Morgan Stanley left their investors high and dry with this default! Will this information come to light in the U.S. MSM?
Wall Street shares slump as S&P downgrades US debt outlookRatings agency cuts long-term outlook from stable to negative for first time since Pearl Harbor attack 70 years ago
Tuesday 19 April 2011
Shares fell heavily on Wall Street on Monday after a leading ratings agency fanned fears of Europe's debt crisis spreading across the Atlantic by issuing a strong warning about America's failure to tackle its budget deficit.
In a move seen by Wall Street as a "shot across the bows" of bickering politicians in Washington, Standard and Poor's (S&P) said it was cutting the outlook on the US's long-term rating from stable to negative for the first time since the attack on Pearl Harbor 70 years ago.
The announcement surprised the financial markets, where attention in recent months has been focused on the problems of the weaker nations of the eurozone. Renewed speculation that Greece will be forced to default on its debts led to a sharp sell-off in the euro, but S&P stressed that the US was not immune from the sovereign debt crisis.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average ended the day down 140 points, or 1.1%, with the dollar weaker on the foreign exchanges and yields rising on US treasury bills. The FTSE 100 in London was down 126 points at 5870 – a drop of more than 2% – as ongoing concerns about the eurozone's debt crisis were compounded by the setback for the world's biggest economy.
It's being called the deathblow to the US economy. Spot the redundencies in the sentence.
Shock employment figures: Fewer than 46% of Americans have jobs
The percentage of Americans who have jobs has fallen to the lowest point in three decades and now hovers just above 45 percent of the total population, according to an analysis of labor data published by USA Today.
The report, based on figures provided by the Census and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, showed that at 36.7 percent, Mississippi had the lowest percentage of population working.
Employment rates were also low in California and Arizona, where just over 37 percent had jobs. At 55.8 percent, North Dakota had the highest rate of employed residents.
Overall, 45.4 percent of Americans were working, the lowest since 1983. Employment peaked at 49.3 percent in 2000.
Putting its money where its mouth is, Dagong (Chinese Ratings Agency) has a long-standing, negative outlook on US debt that doesn’t pull any punches. From its November 2010 report:
“In essence the depreciation of the U.S. dollar adopted by the U.S. government indicates that its solvency is on the brink of collapse, therefore it wants to cut its debt through the act of devaluation with the national will; such a move has severely harmed the interests of creditors.”
Following suit, S&P stunned financial markets this morning by revising its US outlook to ‘negative’, citing politicians’ inability to address medium-term and long-term challenges.
What bothers me in all this is why then has China increased its holdings in dollars over the past six months or so? Does China even know what it is doing is the question that it comes to mind. And Russia, what about that brilliant country? Both hand in glove with the west in the Libya attacks. And Evo Morales now asking US for help with coco dealers, etc. Not my morning this. More later when I come back, hopefully.
Such a pity Pilger's marvellous film shamed his colleagues into admitting their complicities only for a very short time. They are all at it again with the nonsense being written about Libya, Syria, Bahrain, etc.
Pilger, go to it. Time to make a sequel to the first now. Enough people have died aleady to make it a worthwhile enterprise.
Iraq snapshot - April 20, 2011
Chaos and violence continue, the Arab League summit next month in Baghdad is . . . off, protests continue in Iraq, the president of Turkey brags about his behind the scenes influence in Iraq, a Canadian War Hawk denies reality (but it is reality), US political prisoner Bradley Manning is moved to another prison, and more. In Mosul, protests continue today. This is day 12 of the ongoing sit-in. The Great Iraqi Revolution notes that "Mosul university, faculty and students, have joined the Demonstrators in their vigil, in Al Ahrar square" and that "The Liwayziyeen, Mityout and Ubaid Tribes have joined the SITIN and Vigil in Mosul." Among the people participating in the sit-in, GIR notes, is a blind woman ""carrying the Holy Qura'an in her hands" who has been taking part since day one of the sit-in. GRI notes as well that "The Vigil in Mosul is the First Step towards Liberation." And it adds about the head counts "that as usual the number of demonstrators reported by the western press is incorrect once again -- it seems to me that the western press despite its alleged freedom of speech is very frightened of reporting the news as is because it has no wish to upset the American Administration." ...
Interesting, interesting... As Libya awaits its first Predator drone bombings like the ones that have been going on in Pakistan for over six years, here are some facts about Socialism Libyan style:
ELOQUENT FACTS FROM SOCIALIST LIBYA:
* GDP per capita - $ 14,192.
* Unemployment benefit - $ 730.
* Each family member subsidized by the state gets annually $ 1.000
* Salary for nurses - $ 1.000.
* For every newborn is paid $ 7.000.
* The bride and groom receive a $ 64 thousand to purchase flats.
* Major taxes and levies prohibited.
* To open a personal business a one-time financial assistance of $ 20.000
* Education and medicine are free.
* Educ.Internships abroad - at government expense.
* Stores for large families with symbolic prices for basic foodstuffs.
* Part of pharmacies - with free dispensing.
* Loans for buying a car and an apartment - no interest.
* Real estate services are prohibited.,
Finally, even China has had enough and is hitting back:
(Firstly): The Shortage-Inflation weapon
China Petrochemical Corp (Sinopec Group), Asia's largest oil refiner by capacity, said Tuesday it had halted refined oil exports, except those to Hong Kong and Macao, in order to bolster domestic supply. Analysts said the move would help prepare for a possible domestic fuel shortage later this year.
Due to the turmoil in the Middle East and the earthquake in Japan, Sinopec is facing pressure just to meet demand at home, the company said.
The company will keep its refineries running at full capacity, but will cut petrochemical production and reduce the workload at its chemical plant installations to boost the domestic supply of refined oil, it said. It plans to produce 10.54 million tons of refined oil products in April.
The company did not say how much refined oil it would hold back from the international market.
(Secondly) 21.4.11 - The Reserve Currency Status
It’s Official: China Will Be Dumping US Dollars
In case you missed it, earlier this week China announced that its foreign currency reserves are excessive and that they need to return to “reasonable” levels.
In politician speak, this is a clear, “we are sick of the US Dollar and will be taking steps to lower our holdings.” Remember, the US Dollar is China’s largest single holding. And China has already begun dumping Treasuries (US Debt).
Add to this the recent BRICS agreement to trade in local currency, the writing on the wall for the dollar glows bright for all to see.
Happy Easter to one and all, even though most of those who blog tend to be more part of the atheist party, Resurrection to us, too, who believe the West is toast and, willy nilly, the ruthless wars being wages must come to an ignominous end.
Thanks, 06:41. To you, too, Happy Easter.
And now to sum up today's news, meagre as it is:
- Yemen: President of Yemen Agrees to Resign for Immunity
Cairo - Yemen’s president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, agreed on Saturday to leave power after 32 years of autocratic rule, according to a top Yemeni official, but only if the opposition agrees to a list of conditions, including that he and his family be granted immunity.
- Syria: On and on and on it goes. They killed so many, no, so many, no, no, so many and many, many more. Unending, it seems to be, but I still think the Syrian saga will soon be winding up with a Zionist defeat.
- Japan: Another unending story. Radiation up this much, no down this much, no, no, much more, much less. Still, the general impression is Japan has put the worst behind it and striding forward into the reconstruction phase.
- Pakistan droned once more.
- Afghanistan brought down yet another helicopter. If all goes well, this particular activity should be on the increase as we go along.
MSM Reporting on US "Economy" - 24.4.11
New Headache as the US Economy Stumbles
The scale of the slowdown in US growth this year will be starkly underlined by new figures this week raising questions about whether the world's biggest economy can regain momentum.
Expansion in gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to have slowed to 1.8pc in the first quarter of the year from the 3.1pc seen in the final three months of 2010, according to Wall Street economists.
Most point out that a combination of higher oil prices, a particularly harsh winter in the US and the earthquake in Japan all proved unexpected constraints on a quarter that in December was forecast to provide further evidence of a strengthening recovery.
"Things are not looking that good," said Yelena Shulyatyeva, an economist at BNP Paribas, which is predicting that the US will see growth at 2.5pc this year. "The situation has changed."
The consensus for US expansion this year among economists on Wall Street has edged down from above 3pc at the start of the year to 2.9pc, matching last year's figures.
The state of the US economy is important for the rest of the world, not only because of its size, but because America is one of the few developed economies that has chosen to focus on growth rather than tackling the deficit.
"It is not now the challenge of generating a US private demand recovery," said Dominic Wilson, an economist at Goldman Sachs. "It is that the private demand recovery is more clearly running up against constraints."
The biggest headwind for an economy still largely based on consumer spending is the rise in petrol prices, which climbed to the highest level in almost three years last week.
The ongoing revolutions, Colour and devoid of it:
- Yemen, backtracking by Pres Saleh. He'll not be forced into going. He'll go when he feels the time is ripe.
- Syria - definitely Colour. With the snipers and Al Jazeera having a major role in provoking violence and disseminating invented casualty figures.
- Morocco, a new demonstration there this weekend.
- Libya - Colour, no doubt about it now, blown up into the latest west venture into war.
- Palestine - Early May, dates still unsure, the 4th or the 15th. What this Third Intifada should turn out to be is anyone's guess at the moment.
- Bahrain - Now this one is NOT COLOUR. It's having a tough time at the moment, but will win out finally. Bahrain brought a new twist to people control government policies; attack the hospitals, the doctors, the patients. We saw something like that once in the Caucasus. But there, the insurgents were behind it and they,on the contrary, behaved impeccably on that occasion.
- Algeria - still struggling on to get rid of Boutiflieka.
- Pakistan, keep an eye on it. No colour there either. And when Pak, a close China ally, blows up, rest assured it's going to make a difference to the entire world.
And keep an eye on Thailand as well. Red Shirts guerrilla warfare being prepared there probably. The Colour question? Time will tell.
Italian Jusrice activist, "Stay Human" Vittorio Arrigoni killed in Gaza
Vik, You Are missed, Sunday, April 24
You are missed with such an intensity that makes you even more present. In all of our minds, in all of our hearts. It's your absence that makes your strength, your kindness and your impressive dedication to people and to humanity so incredibly present.
You are missed as a symbol of the struggle for justice, and for the value of each individual, the value of especially those people who seem to have been forgotten. You are missed in this world. Vik.
Gaza of course, will miss you the most. Your Arabic vocabulary of: Mushkile? Leeesh? Mish Mushkile! Yallah! was completely enough to brighten up the people around you, and to make everyone in Gaza your rafiq and your rafiqa. The people in Gaza have loved you and appreciated you be<ond any other.
As you once said, being an ISM (on an International Solidarity Mission) in Gaza doesn’t only mean to support the people here, but to be a bit of a Palestinian yourself, and to join carrying the burden for a little way. To not only feel with the pain of others, but to feel for yourself what it means to lose a loved one. Because being Palestinian means losing people you love.
James, about your comment on the BRICS on the thread below which some of us might have missed, I share your feeling that the grouping has often left us with the sense of having been let down. But what I do appreciate about them is that all the continents, Australia apart, are represented. And they are growing in strength and daring.
BTW: Sanctions are being prepared against Syrian "officials". Cheers. After stealing Libya's sovereign wealth, Syria's turn now. Hope they haven't got too much tucked away in the west. Also, that puts paid to Syria's chances of joining the SCO if that were their desire, since countries under sanctions cannot apply for SCO membership. Now that is an organisation which hasn't really lived up to its original promise, though it has brought China and Russia closer together, no bad thing either in view of our Poiutyr's predictions on how the Freeworld would end up by taking over.
China Proposes To Cut Two Thirds Of Its $3 Trillion In USD Holdings - 25.4.11
All those who were hoping global stock markets would surge tomorrow based on a ridiculous rumor that China would revalue the CNY by 10% will have to wait. Instead, China has decided to serve the world another surprise. Following last week's announcement by PBoC Governor Zhou (Where's Waldo) Xiaochuan that the country's excessive stockpile of USD reserves has to be urgently diversified, today we get a sense of just how big the upcoming Chinese defection from the "buy US debt" Nash equilibrium will be. Not surprisingly, China appears to be getting ready to cut its USD reserves by roughly the amount of dollars that was recently printed by the Fed, or $2 trilion or so. And to think that this comes just as news that the Japanese pension fund will soon be dumping who knows what.
Econ news from Britain. Painkillers are wearing off, the real pain starts now (26.4.11)
The Government's austerity package is in place, but here's the disturbing bit; forecasts for growth rely heavily on the idea that there will be no savings at all in the household sector. To the contrary, it is reckoned that in order to maintain their lifestyles, households will reduce their savings and increase their borrowings further; indebtedness is forecast to grow from 160pc of disposable income to a record 175pc, or £2.1trillion, by 2015. Where's the rebalancing? If the Government's deficit reduction is achieved only at the cost of increasing the indedtedness of the household sector, then you have to question its purpose.
As to the other aspect of rebalancing – net trade – that too is proving slow to take hold. Exports are growing, but not as strongly as some other European countries. What is more, the 20pc plus devaluation in the pound seems to be having virtually no impact on imports. As the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee said in minutes to its last meeting, it's possible "that domestic substitutes for some imported goods and services [are] not available".
Britain's manufacturing base is so depleted that the economy may no long be capable of responding to gains in competitiveness.
Whatever the coming Wednesday's figures show about the last quarter's performance, there's a long way to go before the UK economy can be judged out of the woods.
IMF bombshell: Age of America nears end
Commentary: China’s economy will surpass the U.S. in 2016
The International Monetary Fund has just dropped a bombshell, and nobody noticed.
For the first time, the international organization has set a date for the moment when the “Age of America” will end and the U.S. economy will be overtaken by that of China.
IMF sees China topping U.S. in 2016. According to the latest IMF official forecasts, China's economy will surpass that of America in real terms in 2016 — just five years from now.
According to the latest IMF official forecasts, China’s economy will surpass that of America in real terms in 2016 — just five years from now.
It provides a painful context for the budget wrangling taking place in Washington right now. It raises enormous questions about what the international security system is going to look like in just a handful of years. And it casts a deepening cloud over both the U.S. dollar and the giant Treasury market, which have been propped up for decades by their privileged status as the liabilities of the world’s hegemonic power.
According to the IMF forecast, which was quietly posted on the Fund’s website just two weeks ago, whoever is elected U.S. president next year — Obama? Mitt Romney? Donald Trump? — will be the last to preside over the world’s largest economy.
(N.B. Even when they seem to be telling the truth, they are lying through their teeth. China is already world number one. No need to wait till 2016. And what is termed above: "the international security system" is a euphemism for the west war machine).
Central banks pump £3 trillion into world economy
The world's central banks have pumped £3 trillion into the global financial system since the crisis, the equivalent of 8pc of the world economy, according to new analysis by Fathom Consulting.
The figures will intensify fears that the extraordinary injection of liquidity is responsible for rising stock markets, rather than any underlying pick-up in corporate health or investor confidence.
Erik Britton, a director at Fathom, compared the development to throwing lighter fuel on a barbecue. The question is, he said, "whether the coals are lit".
The warning is the result of the extraordinary measures to prop up the financial system, which have seen central banks resort to strategies such as buying up bonds to keep the flow of money circulating.
Fathom's economists are worried that last year may have marked the high point of the global recovery. "It remains unclear how much of the equity market rally has been 'genuine', rather than simply a 'mopping up' of that extraordinary injection of liquidity," they warned. "As that stimulus is gradually withdrawn, further gains in equity markets will be harder to achieve."
To reach the £3 trillion figure, presented in its calculations as $5 trillion, Fathom measured the liquidity injections made by the world's four major central banks, by tracking how their balance sheets changed in the wake of the crisis.
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City pay buoyant despite bonus cuts, CEBR
26 Apr 2011
America appears to be sleepwalking towards disaster – does no one care?
23 Apr 2011
Can George Osborne turn the UK economy around?
The analysis of data for the US Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, the Bank of Japan and the Bank of England shows their assets were relatively stable through 2006 up to mid-2007. They then started to climb rapidly as the global financial system began to unravel.
The central banks' assets swelled from around $4 trillion at the start of 2006 to just short of $9 trillion by the end of February this year. "The increase in the size of G4 central bank balance sheets since mid-07 has been around $5 trillion to end Feb-11, or 8pc of global GDP," reported Fathom.
The Bank of England was the smallest contributor to the headline figure. So far, it has pumped £200bn into the system through quantitative easing (QE), its programme of buying government bonds to keep the money flowing. The European Central Bank (ECB), which sets monetary policy across the eurozone, emerged as the biggest contributor to the headline figure.
EU states with the biggest deficits and debts - 26.4.11
The latest Eurostat figures show the EU countries in 2010 with the largest government deficits as a percentage of GDP. They were: Ireland (-32.4pc), Greece (-10.5pc), the United Kingdom (-10.4pc), Spain (-9.2pc), Portugal (-9.1pc), Poland (-7.9pc), Slovakia (-7.9pc), Latvia (-7.7pc), Lithuania (-7.1pc) and France (-7pc).
The lowest deficits were recorded in Luxembourg (-1.7pc), Finland (-2.5pc) and Denmark (-2.7pc). Estonia (0.1pc) registered a slight government surplus in 2010 and Sweden (0pc) was in balance.
In all, 21 member states recorded an improvement in their government balance relative to GDP in 2010 compared with 2009 and six a worsening.
(Make of this what you will. Eurostat statistics are not going to save anyone from terminal prolapse.)
BREAKING NEWS: Huge blast shakes Egypt gas terminal - 26.4.11
A massive explosion at a gas terminal near Egypt's border with Israel has leapt huge flames into the air and forced the shutdown of the pipeline.
EU readies for large-scale military operation in Libya
Tags: LIBYA
The European Union is preparing for a large-scale military operation if the United Nations authorizes the international coalition to scale up its military action in Libya. This comes in a 60-page document that has landed in the hands of reporters of Germany’s biggest daily publication, Das Bild.
One has to wonder: what if the UN does not authorize such a military escalation?
Will the EU, under US pressure, declare the UN "irrelevant", as the US did with Iraq, and march in anyway?!?
Fatah and Hamas agree to historic Palestinian reconciliation deal: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement hammered an historic reconciliation deal with the rival Hamas group on Wednesday, agreeing to form an interim government and fix a date for general election within the year. (28.4.11)
A pity the Pilger video is no longer available. But, then, does it even matter now. The effect it was supposed to have on us it did. We opened our eyes to the media's primary role in the west wars. A pity Pilger's fellow journalists have learnt not a thing from the past. Except increased hypocrisy and baying for fresh blood to be spread on the altar of west imperialism.
US growth slows sharply as inflation bites
28.4.11
US economic growth slowed sharply in the first three months of the year as consumers were put off by higher food and petrol prices and government spending cuts.
Ben Bernanke, the Fed chairman, said there was not much the Fed can do about gas prices without derailing the recovery.
Growth in gross domestic product - a measure of all goods and services produced within the country's borders - slowed to an annual rate of 1.8pc in the first quarter from 3.1pc in the final quarter of 2010, the Commerce Department said
Rising commodity prices meant the consumers, which drive about 70pc of US economic activity, had less money to spend on other items. Personal consumption growth slowed to 2.7pc from 4pc in the previous quarter.
Government spending was the weakest in more than 27 years with federal government spending slashed by 7.9pc and 3.3pc at local authority level.
Output was also restrained by harsh winter weather and rising imports.
A recovery feeble and a jobless rate at a 8.8p meant Americans also saved more in the quarter.
(I can just imagine how Poiuytr would have made fun of all the figures above. Deprived of his verve, all we can say is pay no heed to all the stuff above. It's all worse, much worse than we are being told.).
Murray Pollitt: Not enough lifeboats as the major currencies fall - 29.4.11
Murray Pollitt's latest commentary observes that all three major world currencies are in trouble along with major governments and there aren't enough lifeboats for everyone. Pollitt, founder of the Pollitt & Co. brokerage in Toronto, writes:
"The time is rapidly approaching when the collective exodus from the big three currencies begins in earnest. In the past these guys have supported each other, but there is nobody to support all three. When the exodus happens it will be far more dramatic than the Asian meltdown a decade ago."
India snubs US over mega-deal for warplanes
29.4.111
US Ambassador to India Timothy Roemer announced yesterday he was quitting, hours after it became apparent that Boeing and Lockheed Martin had been dropped from a US$10billion order for warplanes for which President Barack Obama had personally lobbied New Delhi.
Don't you love how they treat this like it is a personal insult? Maybe the US just doesn't build really good aircraft at a good price any more. And maybe India is looking at how those American-designed reactors did in Japan and the fact that after Endeavor, the US will have lost its capability for manned spaceflight, suggesting a decline in technological prowess.
N.B. India has opted for Dasssault Aviation and Eurofighter over US stuff, after earlier eliminating Gripen and the Russian MiG-35.
Economic Collapse by Summer 2011 as a Result of Japan Crisis (30.4.11)
There we have it. Toyota, Nissan and all the other leading thirty Jap companies have either stopped production or working only intermittently. The result: no more essential components for the manufacturing skills of west companies, among them the 8 topmost German exporters such as Siemens.
In US, Toyota and others have stopped production and shut down their factorites. Growin gnumbers of the newly unemployed. British Japanese factories have now proceeded to do the same for their workers. Dismissal.
All of this will have a striking effect on the quarterly earnings all the leading companies must publish by July. the result of which, in view of the losses they must announce, will be a horrendous collapse on Wall Street and other stockmarkets.
Then there is oil, the perpetual problem of cheap versus skyrocketing oil prices. Obama has apparently threatened to sue OPEC. quantities of Oil coming out of the producer countries is now lessening dramatically. We even hear Ghaddafi bombed one of his own oil fields in Libya, etc. The result, famers and fishermen can no longer go about their jobs because they can't afford fuel costs. So food riots in view later this year.
If all this does come to pass as outlined above, we'll be entering phase two in the terminal prolapse of the west long predicted by this blog.
Egyptian youth call for million-man marches to support Palestinians - 30.4.11
A call for “million-man” marches in support of the Palestinians has been made by Egypt’s Coalition of the Youth of the Revolution. The first march, to be held in Alexandria on 13 May, will also demand the opening of the Egypt-Gaza border for food, medical and humanitarian aid; marchers will head for the Israeli Consulate in the city.
Hedge funds increase bets dollar will decline
Hedge funds increased their bets against the dollar to a massive $28.6bn (£17.1bn) in advance of Ben Bernanke's historic first press conference as chairman of the Federal Reserve last week. (1.5.11)
The sum held in short positions against the world's reserve currency on April 26 is the highest in more than month and $3bn more than the previous week.
The figures, released over the weekend by the Commodity Futures Trading Company (CFTC), indicate that hedge funds have made hundreds of millions of dollars from the recent collapse in the value of the greenback.
The dollar hit a three-year low against a basket of currencies on Friday, and has fallen for the last five months straight. It fell 3.8pc against the basket in April, and is down 7.5pc down so far this year.
The data shows that investors are pulling out of the dollar in favour of almost every other currency except the Japanese yen.
Camilla Sutton, chief currency strategist at Scotia Capital, said: "It's an ongoing build of short-dollar positions overall. Generally, sentiment remains very negative against the dollar."
Egypt calls on US to recognise Palestinian state
1.5.11)
CAIRO (AFP) - Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil al-Arabi on Sunday called on the United States to recognise a Palestinian state, as rival Palestinian factions prepare to sign a reconciliation accord in Cairo.
Arabi urged visiting US Congressman Steve Chabot to "press Congress and the American administration to recognise a Palestinian state."
Recognition "would correspond with previous statements by the American administration supporting peace based on two states," the official MENA news agency quoted him as saying...
US declared that it killed Bin Laden. Is this a preparation or an excuse for coming withdrawal of US armed forces from Afganistan in July?
Watching USAns chanting "U.S.A.! U.S.A.!," I really don't know what to say. Do they still think Bin Laden did 911? Astonishing stupidity beyond anyone's imagination.
After Barnanke's somewhat mysterious press conference, this happened. Can one conclude that US admitted its buncraptcy and started to retreat from the world? How do you think?
R.H.
any body catch the royal wedding of kate and william. can you believe what ortega the commie bastard said about the wedding. any ways we killed bin laden the wedding went off w/o a hitch and markets are up. good times good times...
R.H. Hi, Good to hear your voice. My take on the matter: Timely "re-death" of Bin Laden so that the US can withdraw as per agreement. Of course many in the US still believe 9/11's official version. That's why they live in that benighted country. Add to it the fact that they now feel at long last vindicated in their warmongering and victorious. Everything becomes clear.
As for the US bankruptcy, does anything remain to hide there now? Actually, though, I think they'll not be retreating from the world, unfortunately. More like tranferring their troops to a seemingly more lucrative place than Afghanistan turned out to be, i.e. Libya. Libyan oil! Hope Gaddahfi gives them the hding of their lives.
14,21: Your comment was somewhat confusing. What is it you're complaining about exactly? Let's being by answering your straightforward question. Straightforward answer: We did everything possible to avoid anything to do with the Kate and William wedding.
Now where did Ortaga go wrong: That he indulged in a bit of irony, linking Bin Laden's "death", the wedding and the manipulated markets? He could have also added the Gaddhafi son and grandchildren killed in Libya.
14:08: Sometimes irony is a way of hiding our immense desire to shed unending tears over the state of the world today.
The legal tsunami is on its way for Israel
1.5.11
The significance of a Palestinian state joining the UN is that, for the first time, it will be the Palestinians who will decide what the international legal framework is that is binding in their territory.
Israel’s cautious foreign policy on legal matters over the past 44 years is likely to collapse in September. The mechanisms of legal defense that it built since the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, to combat the “danger” of international jurisdiction about its conduct toward millions of people who are under its control, are likely to turn into dust at the stroke of the diplomatic moves.
Excerpts from Bernanke's Press Conference of 27.4.2011.
ON RECOVERY BEING SLOW:
"It is a relatively slow recovery. You can identify reasons for that. The credit factor is one, another very important factor is that this was triggered by a bubble in the housing market and the housing market remains very weak. Under normal circumstances, construction, both residential and nonresidential will be a big part of the recovery process. Now we are seeing higher oil prices and other things. The combination of high unemployment, high gas prices and high foreclosure rates is a terrible combination, a lot people are having a tough time. I can certainly understand why people are impatient. While the recovery process looks likely to continue to be a relatively moderate one compared to the depth of the recession, I do think the pace will pick up over time."
ON IMPACT OF JAPANESE DISASTER ON THE U.S.:
"For the United States we are looking at this very carefully, thus far, the main impact of the Japanese situation on the U.S. economy has been through supply chains. We have noted some automobile companies that have had difficulty getting certain components which are manufactured mostly or entirely in Japan. That has led some companies to announce that they will restrain production for a time. So there may be some moderate effect on the U.S. economy. We expect it to be moderate and temporary."
ON S&P ACTION ON U.S. DEBT RATING:
"In one sense S&P's action didn't really tell us anything because everyone who reads the newspaper knows, that the United States has a very serious long-term fiscal problem. That being said, I hope that this event will provide at least one more incentive for Congress and the administration to address this problem. I think it's the most important economic problem, at least in the long run, that the United States faces. We currently have a fiscal deficit that is simply not sustainable over the longer term, and if it's not addressed it will have significant consequences for financial stability, for economic growth, and for our standard of living... To the extent that the S&P action goads response, that's constructive."
(Surprisingly to the point, I found it myself. Couple it with the fact of the steadily falling dollar rate, one is entitled to think Sovereign default has overtaken the US. RH is absolutely right in this matter).
U.S. Treasury: China Has Decreased Its Holdings of U.S. Debt - May 1, 2011
Mainland China has decreased its holdings of U.S. Treasury securities since last October, according to a report updated today by the U.S. Treasury Department.
Since September 2008, when they eclipsed Japan, entities in mainland China have been the largest foreign owners of U.S. government debt. But, as indicated by the Treasury Department chart linked here, Chinese ownership of U.S. Treasury securities peaked in October 2010 and has declined in each of the four most recent months reported by the Treasury Department.
At the end of October 2010, China owned 1.1753 trillion in U.S. Treasury securities. That dropped to $1.1641 trillion by the end of November, $1.1601 trillion by the end of December, $1.1547 trillion by the end of January, and $1.1541 trillion by the end of February 2011.
@ RH above and 14:21
Another way of looking at the Osama bin Laden story is that Obama is using it as a PR ploy, both in view of the next elections and as a means of expanding the US wars. However, I too get the sense that the Afghan campaign on the part of the US is approaching its end. But no end of other places to attack: Libya, as already pointed out, Syria and, why not, Iran?
Osama bin Laden Dies yet another Death
I personally have heard four different versions of O b L's death. There may even be more which others would need to supply.
Version One: He died at Tora Bora in December 2001. See link below:
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2009/12/05/years-of-deceit-us-openly-accepts-bin-laden-long-dead/
Version Two: sorry no link for the moment. He died in a Pakistani hospital of kidney failure in 2003.
Version Three: Benazir Bhutto told the world Osama was killed by Omar Sheikh in an interview on Frost Tonight. Please to google this one.
Version Four: What happened yesterday followed by immediate "burial" at the bottom of the Indian Ocean.
US Debt Rating Should Be ‘C’: Independent Agency
3.5.11
“A ‘C’ is equivalent to approximately a triple-B on the S&P, Moody’s and Fitch scales. It’s two notches above junk and one notch above the equivalent of a single A,” Martin Weiss, President of Weiss Ratings, told CNBC Tuesday.
Alleged Death of Pseudo-Bin Laden Sets Pakistan Up for US Attack
Webster Tarpley - May 4, 2011
In an interview with RT, author and researcher Webster Tarpley says the CIA has announced the next false flag terror op will be blamed on Pakistan’s ISI, China backs Islamabad in looming confrontation, and the collapse of the U.S. empire brings a heightened danger of general war.
What is interesting in the above is China's staunch defence of its Pakistani ally. You touch Pakistan, said China to the US apparently, you'll be doing so at your own peril. Third World War, Part Two anyone?
04.05.11 - US meddled in 50 nations over 130 times in 121 years
The unending American quest for supremacy has continued unabated since its first involvement in the affairs of Argentina in 1890. And this does not even take into account their first war of imperialism against the native populations of the continent.
Econ News US - 5.5.11
- The dollar is at its lowest value in four decades.
- U.S. Treasury: China Has Decreased Its Holdings of U.S. Debt: Mainland China has decreased its holdings of U.S. Treasury securities since last October, according to a report updated today by the U.S. Treasury Department.
- US ‘Currency Crash’: : "The biggest story in the market is the currency crash right now occuring in the US"
- 10 States Where Pensions Are Running Out of Money: 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the pension funds of all 50 states collected by Pew as of 2009, the latest period when data is available for all of them.
- South Carolina Chief Justice Puts Brakes On Foreclosures: South Carolina Chief Justice Jean Hoefer Toal has issued an injunction staying all foreclosure proceedings in the state while borrowers and servicers negotiate potential loan workouts.
About 1 in 7 in U.S. Receive Food Stamps: Growth in the food stamp program appeared to reach a plateau in February — with 14.3% of the population relying on the safety net program.
Also, ECB aiming at raising interest rates to 1.75% in the months ahead. Should we be wishing them luck in their balancing act?
Ten reasons for thinking the world economy is turning soft - May 5th, 2011
It’s all a bit worrying. Evidence of a sharp slowdown in both the European and world economies continues to mount. Earlier confidence that the global economy was strong enough to absorb moves by China and other emerging markets to tighten policy in the face of rising inflation are being increasingly questioned. Today alone, there’s been a whole clutch of indicators suggesting trouble on the way. Here’s a list of the top ten.
1. Jean-Claude Trichet, president of the European Central Bank, has put further rate rises on hold until at least July and dropped the phrase “strong vigilance” from the ECB’s news conference to explain the ECB’s policy decision.
2. Contrary to expectations as little as a month ago that the Bank of England would by now be taking the first tentative steps towards a policy tightening, the UK Monetary Policy Committee has again left rates on hold in the face of weak economic data. No-one now expects a rate rise until the Autumn at the earliest.
3. The Markit/CIPS headline services PMI index for the UK eased to 54.3 in April from 57.1, suggesting that the UK economy failed to pick up speed in April following its lack lustre performance in the first quarter.
4. German industrial orders fell unexpectedly in March, reflecting an unusually low number of large orders and suggesting that the country’s remarkable economic rebound may be past its peak.
5. World stock markets and the crude oil price took big hits on Thursday amid growing worries about the sustainability of the economic rebound.
6. The number of Americans filing for jobless aid rose to an eight month high last week. US productivity growth also slowed in the first quarter, backing up suggestions of a loss of momentum in US job creation.
7. US 10 year Treasury yields are down a further 4 basis points to 3.18pc, a five month low, despite Bernanke’s insistence that quantitative easing will cease in June. Anyone for QE3?
8. The price of silver fell a further 6.6 per cent on Thursday, taking its five day decline to nearly a quarter as investors continued to lose their appetite for risk.
9. Most other commodity prices are also under the cosh on fears that the boom has run its course, and the cycle is about to turn down again. Glencore seems to have got the timing of its IPO spot on, or perhaps just a tad too late.
10. Reflecting its traditional safe haven status, the yen has been the major gainer in currency markets, despite rumours that the Japanese authorities might soon take further action to halt its rise.
Fears for euro in Greece prompt secret talks
6.5.11
Europe's inner circle meet to discuss possible debt restructuring for Greece as well as problems in Ireland and Portugal
Angela Merkel said a pre-arranged meeting was taking place but it had nothing to do with the idea of Greece leaving the euro.
Finance ministers from an inner core of eurozone countries were holding secret talks in Luxembourg tonight to discuss a possible debt restructuring for crisis-ridden Greece. The single currency's leading creditor nations – Germany, France, Finland and the Netherlands – all attended the meeting, called amid concerns that Greece's problems were nearing breaking point.
Sources said negotiations centred on the mounting eurozone debt crisis, and included not just Greece but the terms of Portugal's bailout and Ireland's demands for easier repayment terms on its loans. But they denied reports coming out of Germany that Athens had floated the idea of leaving the single currency altogether.
The European commission was also at the talks at Château de Senningen, a site used by the Luxembourg government for official meetings, which involved the countries that have provided the bulk of the funds for the bailouts of Greece, Ireland and Portugal. Most of the governments from the 17-nation eurozone were kept in the dark about the talks, and said they knew nothing about the crisis negotiations. Greek media confirmed that a plane carrying the Greek finance minister, Giorgos Papaconstantinou, had landed in Luxembourg.
Angela Merkel's spokesman said a prearranged meeting was taking place, but it had nothing to do with the idea that Greece would leave the euro.
EGYPTIANS HOLD MASSIVE ANTI-ISRAELI RALLY
06. May, 2011
Thousands of Egyptian protesters have gathered outside the Israeli embassy in the capital, calling for an end to Cairo’s relations with Tel Aviv.
Several hundred angry protesters also gathered in Cairo’s historic Liberation Square following the Friday Prayers. Protesters voiced their anger at Tel Aviv by burning the Israeli flag and demanding the liberation of Palestine and departure of the Israeli ambassador.
Protesters demanded that the Egyptian government sever all ties with Israel and an immediate halt in gas exports to Tel Aviv.
Forget the wars for the moment, let's read some fresh lies about the benefits of globalisation.
Allowing Doha trade talks to fail is a mistake, both politically and economically - 7.5.11
The commodities market has just experienced a hair-raising "flash crash" sell-off.
Pascal Lamy, director-general of the World Trade Organisation, has just declared that the Doha 'round' of trade negotiations is in 'serious danger.
Central banks are now stockpiling gold bullion – and at a rate not seen for at least 40 years. A slew of US economic data, while spun by the stockbrokers to look positive, actually pointed to a faltering recovery.
Portugal's caretaker Prime Minister, meanwhile, agreed to a European Union bail-out. As if on cue, an austerity-fatigued Greece has been forced to deny (extremely well-sourced) rumours that it wants to quit the eurozone altogether.
History is locked on fast-forward. In terms of economic and financial news-flow, as last week showed, we live in turbo-charged times. On top of the tumultuous events mentioned above, the eyes of the world have also been firmly on Pakistan, of course, as the rolling news channels have sifted and sifted again every scrap of information relating to Osama bin Laden's demise.
With so much happening, it is easy to miss crucial, yet slower-moving, trends taking place beyond the headlines. As such, I'd like to highlight something that I consider to be of truly historical significance. For, behind the scenes, and with increasing certainty now, our system of multi-lateral trade rules is falling to bits and is now on the verge of outright collapse.
Despite the massive importance of this system, and its pivotal role in securing more than 60 years of relative peace and prosperity, few people appear to have noticed and even fewer seem to care.
Bin Laden Hoax….The Rest Of The Story
Tony Cartalucci - Infowars.com - May 8, 2011
The “Bin Laden” hoax is consuming our time and energy even as the global corporate-financier oligarchs flee forward cashing in on the political capital they presume they have gained by making this announcement. Even a superficial examination of mainstream media’s headlines and interviews with the CIA director himself calls into question the official narrative with mind numbing contradictions and faulty logic even a child could spot.
The CIA itself is only 95% sure, based on facial recognition, that they bagged their rouge agent. A London Guardian report compounds this uncertainty stating that the CIA compared the alleged DNA of this man they claim to have shot dead in Pakistan, not with a previous sample from Osama Bin Laden, but against a Bin Laden family member. If we are to believe any of this at all, the CIA is not even saying they are 100% sure, so why should we be?
“We were never really certain about whether or not Bin Laden was there. ”Stripping further credibility away, was CIA Director Leon Panetta’s interview on PBS where he begins by saying the CIA had no evidence and were entirely uncertain Osama Bin Laden was even in the compound to begin with. According to a Washington Post article, the CIA claims to have had a nearby safe house from which they observed the alleged compound for months. They also confirm that not a single photo or shred of evidence was revealed throughout the course of this lengthy surveillance mission that the elusive, bearded mastermind was present.
But debating the minutia is self-defeating. Bin Laden has been long dead, according to a myriad of government officials both in America and abroad. We must look at how this stunt is being exploited at home and abroad, rhetorically and geopolitically.
It has become an opportunity in the US to criticize all who question government statements and further punish those in Western society who still take their responsibility of holding their government accountable seriously. Perhaps the most ridiculous examples can be gleaned from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette article penned by Reg Henry titled, “It’s time for conspiracy theorists to shut up,” where he postulates anyone questioning the “95%” certainty of the CIA is a “lunatic.”
The most alarming aspect of this entire “Bin Laden” hoax is its geopolitical implications. While people argue over the minutia of the shoddy government narrative and question the patriotism of skeptics, the alleged killing of Bin Laden in the middle of Pakistan’s intelligence and military community has increased tensions between Washington, Islamabad, and perhaps unnoticed by the likes of Reg Henry and Pat Flanagan, Beijing as well. In fact, a flurry of mainstream media stories covered China’s awareness that this stunt is designed to give America an excuse to enter into Pakistan and thus directly confront China who has an established and growing presence in the region.
AlJazeera’s article, “After Osama, China fears the next target,” indicates that the Chinese are well aware America’s foreign policy to “spread democracy” is in actuality an attempt to contain the rise of China and other emerging economies. While pundits in the West maintain such claims are the makings of “tinfoil hat” conspiracies, a nation of 1.3 billion is mobilizing to confront this very real threat.
Considering the current standoff brewing in Pakistan, where we see a convergence of Iranian, Indian, American, Chinese, and Pakistani interests, punctuated by provocative drone attacks just hours after Pakistan warned America over violating its airspace, it is quite clear “confrontation” has become the order of the day. The disposal of “Bin Laden” or at least his politically convenient ghost, signals not a drawing down of America’s global war, but a deep breath being taken before the final plunge into confrontation with Pakistan, China, and Russia.
The article above announces the imminence of nuclear weapons entering the "war" theatre. Poiuytr warned us about this. But I still keep hoping cooler heads will prevail and that fears will not be translated into facts over the next few weeks and months. Strange that Japan's tragedy has taught us no lessons. Anyway, if nuclear, then the west will not be spared either. We can expect a few direct hits on them as well. What a tremendous mess the whole thing will be in the name of unbridled greed.
UK faces £9 trillion savings shortfall
Britons need to save £16,700 more per year to live comfortably, cover long-term care costs, and pay back debts in their retirement.
The number of people over 90 is expected to nearly treble over the next 20 years.
09 May 2011
The country faces a staggering £9 trillion shortfall in savings to support the next generation after they stop work, according to a report from the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII).
"Currently, many pre-retirees have little savings and carry the burden of significant debts just at a time when their incomes are about to fall," it says.
A spokesman for the CII added: "A lot of people are going to have their assets depleted by parents' long-term care costs or their own."
The report says the average care home costs £26,000 per year and the average stay is two years, although a significant proportion of people stay for more than four.
That will rocket as people start to live longer. The proportion of very old people will grow the fastest, says the report, with the number of people over 90 expected to nearly treble over the next 20 years.
Rafael Correa Government Victorious in Ecuador
Huge congratulations to President Rafael Correa and all Ecuadoreans for their resounding victory in yesterday's referendum. President Correa won the referendum on all ten questions between 51 and 57%, depending on the specific measure on which the people voted.
This referendum victory should be seen in the context of (and one of the fruits of) their new constitution passed on September 28, 2008. The new constitution acknowledges indigenous rights, peoples' land rights and livelihoods and the rights of nature.
The ten-point referendum will make corruption in all walks of life, be it the judiciary, the finance instituitions, politics or the media clearly indictable.
Poverty spikes to record highs in US
8.5.11
The number of American people living in poverty has soared to record-high levels, with African Americans suffering the bulk of the economic hardship in the US, reports say. According to the US Census Bureau, an astonishing 47 million Americans out of a population of about 310 million live in poverty in the Unites States, a number equivalent to one out of every seven people. Statistics indicate that poverty rates for African-Americans and Latinos are close to three times that of White Americans. African Americans suffered disproportionally during the recession with unemployment rates in that community reaching near depression levels. According to the latest US Labor Department figures, overall jobless rates across the US fell to a better-than-expected 8.8 percent in March, but the unemployment rate for black teenagers, for instance, stood at 50 percent -- more than double the national jobless average for all teenagers. In January, figures released by the US Census Bureau stated that one in five children in the United States live in poverty, with almost half of them living in extreme poverty. The vast disproportion in poverty rates between African Americans and whites as well as the spike in poverty rates among American children have raised serious doubts over the efficacy of the social programs under the administration of President Barack Obama. Meanwhile, a report by the Deloitte Center for Financial Services showed that in 2011, the number of US millionaires will grow to nine percent of all households. The report says the total number of families with a net worth of over $1 million, including real estate, will double by 2020, while the wealth of US millionaire households is projected to increase nearly 225 percent by the end of the decade. Many analysts believe America's middle class is fading along with the American dream of home ownership while the rich get richer as the poor get poorer.
Afghan Resistance's Spring Offensive - Operation Badar: Several dozens killed, 12 tanks eliminated as Kandahar operation carries into its second day May 08 –
After a deadly wave of martyr attacks and direct combats by Mujahideen of the Islamic Emirate for more than thirty hours targeting key government facilities, governor house, police headquarter, municipality with the addition of several more key military and government points, Kandahar Operation enters its second day, whereas the fighting is far more intensifying with the Mujahideen of the Islamic Emirate putting firmest resistance that strikes the terror in the hearts of US-NATO terrorists and their cowardly puppets across the country.
Latest reports indicate that several dozens of the US-NATO invaders and their local minions have been killed and wounded including 12 US-NATO and 10 puppets bringing the number of the enemies killed in Kandahar operation for the last thirty hours to 138 and 12 tanks, military and supply vehicles have been destroyed amid operation that brinks the number of the enemy’ vehicles eliminated in Kandahar city to 31, while the full scale of the fatalities and damages are not possible to comprehend at this point, that is, the death and injury toll is sharply rising.
According to a report from Kandahar city, a Mujahid positioning himself near the governor house had been fighting for the last 30 hours, was surrounded by the enemy forces and was told to give in, who denied surrendering himself to the local puppets, demanding that he would only give in to the US-NATO troops only, and upon their approach the Mujahid blew his explosives killing as many as 12 US-NATO invaders stated above. Among 12 invaders two were their local interpreters. The US-NATO forces, however, bombed the areas where the Mujahideen existed but, by the grace of Allah Almighty, there is little losses caused to Mujahideen, while the enemy attack helicopters have been hovering over the city, according to a statement released by enemy forces, some 32 Mujahideen fighters lost their lives, while many other have been captured, is groundless, Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, the Al-Emarah reporter said, adding few Mujahideen have been wounded, while no one has been captured yet.
Separately Mujahideen’s four massive blasts hit Kandahar hotel which was surrounded by enemy forces, as soon as any of the enemy soldiers tried to enter, was attacked and fought back with direct fire and blast preventing them form entering the hotel in which several puppets were killed and injured.
The Kandahar attacks are now into their third day.
China reported an unexpectedly large April trade surplus, in an announcement that is likely to fuel US pressure over currency controls and market access as American and Chinese officials hold high-level talks in Washington. (10.5.11)
China's global trade surplus widened to $11.4bn (£7bn) as import growth fell amid government efforts to cool an overheated economy and exports rose by nearly 30%, data showed on Tuesday. The gap exceeded forecasts of $5bn to $10bn and was a strong rebound after China reported a rare trade deficit in the first quarter of this year.
China's trade gap has angered Washington and other trading partners who blame currency controls and other policies which they say are hampering trade and a global recovery.
At the start of two days of talks in Washington, US treasury secretary Timothy Geithner pressed China's envoys on Monday to allow the yuan to rise faster against the dollar. That might help to boost Chinese imports, narrowing the American trade surplus with China, which hit an all-time high last year.
China's commerce minister, Chen Deming, responded that yuan appreciation was being carried out in a "very healthy manner". He said the United States needed to change its policies on hi-tech sales and investment to spur American manufacturing.
Beijing has allowed the yuan to rise about 5% against the dollar since it promised more exchange rate flexibility last June but American manufacturers and others say the currency still is undervalued. The yuan's link to the dollar means it has declined against the euro as the American currency weakened over the past year.
China's April trade surplus with the United States rose 52% over a year ago to $15.1bn. The gap with the European Union, China's biggest trading partner, narrowed slightly to a still large $10.3bn.
How the Irish Government Will Seize Retirement Accounts - 11.5.11
Following in the footsteps of a rather ignominious list of nations like Argentina and Hungary, the government of lreland is set to take its 'fair share' of private retirement funds.
Drowning in debt and faced with unpopular, unrealistic, ridiculously unpopular austerity measures, the government has announced that it will now tax private pension savings in order to raise 470 million euros (roughly $675 million) per year... a lot of money in a country of only 4.4 million people.
Somehow, the government expects to be able to create 100,000 jobs to bring down an unemployment rate at 14.7%. Perhaps they plan on hiring 100,000 new workers to go around the country and collect the tax.
US post has $2.2 bln loss, warns of Sept insolvency - 11.5.11
The U.S. Postal Service posted a $2.2 billion net loss in its second quarter and said it might be unable to pay its debts by September.
In other news, the Morse Company, makers of telegraph systems, are citing poor sales as the reason they may be heading into bankruptcy.
TO EXIST IS TO RESIST! ~~ PALESTINIANS HAVE NO OTHER CHOICE - 11.5.11
We have already seen two organised Intifadas, a third one is being called for at the end of this week. The day chosen is the 15th of May, the 63rd anniversary of the Nakba. To see photos of that day in history, click HERE.
*
To even speak of the Nakba is forbidden by the state of Israel, let alone protest against it as is planned.
Greece launches massive fire sale to service growing debt as riot police clash with violent protesters
Petrol bombs, stun grenades and tear gas thrown during clashes in Athens.
Marinas, casinos and former Olympic venues could be up for grabs after Greece announced a massive fire sale to help service its debt.
The Greek government said it was putting vast areas of state-owned land on the market to raise £44billion in the next four years.
Nationalised companies could also be privatised to help raise the necessary capital to ensure it does not default on debt payments.
(The man in the street in Greece is fighting back: General Strike, protest demos, etc. Will he be victorious? That's anyone's guess. But at least he'll go down fighting. Compare with what is happening in US, little or nothing of a similar nature, unless of course the MSM is simply not reporting any attempt for the common man to make a stand against further exploitation.)
Afghan Resistance
Kandahar seems to have been pushed onto the back burner. Instead this, also of primary importance:
US invaders’ helicopter brought down in Nooristan May 11 – A new report said Mujahideen of the Islamic shot one of the US invaders’ helicopters while flying to the capital of the province and made its way to the it’s the capital but fell down midway killing its crew members on board on Wednesday noon at approximately 12:00 pm, (local time).
The West Is Trapped In Its Own Propaganda
Paul Craig Roberts
May 12, 1011
One of the wishes that readers often express to me came true today (May 11). I was on the mainstream media. It was a program with a worldwide reach – the BBC World Service. There were others on the program as well, and the topic was Hillary Clinton’s remarks (May 10) about the lack of democracy and human rights in China.
I startled the program’s host when I compared Hillary’s remarks to the pot calling the kettle black. I was somewhat taken aback myself by the British BBC program host’s rush to America’s defense and wondered about it as the program continued. Surely, he had heard about Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo detainees, CIA secret torture prisons sprinkled around the world, invasion and destruction of Iraq on the basis of lies and deceptions, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Libya. Surely, he was aware of Hillary’s hypocrisy as she demonized China but turned a blind eye to Israel, Mubarak, Bahrain and the Saudis. China’s record is not perfect, but is it this bad? Why wasn’t the Chinese Minister for Foreign Affairs criticizing America’s human rights abuses and rigged elections? How come China minds its own business and we don’t?
These questions didn’t go down well. None of the other interviewees or guests thought that Hilary had made a good decision, but even the Chinese guests were not free of the common mindset that frames every issue from the standpoint that the West is the standard by which the rest of the world is judged. By pointing out our own shortcomings, I was challenging that standard. The host and other guests could not escape from the restraints imposed on thought by the role of the West as world standard.
Fukushima Nuclear Meltdown Confirmed, Nuclear Industry Shills Wrong Again
Since the beginning of this horrific nuclear disaster, nuclear industry shills and so called “trolls” have continually downplayed the extent of the danger from the Fukushima nuclear power plant.
Many have claimed that NO meltdowns occured at any of the Fukushima reactors and that the alternative media was simply overstating the damage and danger.
Now, facts that we have reported from the beginning are being openly admitted by TEPCO and Japanese government officials.
“We’re now being told what we’ve suspected all along — that nuclear fuel rods in that reactor are totally exposed and have suffered a nuclear meltdown, releasing vast amounts of radiation comparable to Chernobyl,” wrote Mike Adams of Natural News.
(13.5.11)
Gold Bet Pays Off as Dollar Tumbles
13.5.11
With gold prices hovering around record highs of $1,515 an ounce and the U.S. dollar tumbling against the ruble, a recommendation by Vladimir Putin five years ago to buy more gold looks extraordinarily farsighted.
The bank's ongoing efforts to buy gold are taking on a new shine now that many economists spell doom and gloom for the U.S. dollar, which could weaken further as the U.S. government struggles with an enormous $14 trillion debt.
There's a chance that the United States will opt for a currency emission to ease its debt burden, which would further reduce the value of the greenback, said Alfa Bank economist Natalya Orlova.
"This risk is considerable," she said.
This blog was down practically the whole day ysterday. I'm glad it's up and running again. Equally glad that no one turned round and blamed James for the posts deleted.
Last night, another 6.2 earthquake shook Japan. No further details for the moment.
And while on the subject of natural disasters, no one is talking about this much, busy as they all are with the Obama-Osama conundrum, but in the US, the Mississippi is generously overflowing its banks flooding many places in states such as Illinois, Arkansas and others.
Debt restructuring would do 'massive harm' to eurozone, Jurgen Stark says - 14.5.11
Restructuring Greece's debt would have "massive harmful effects" on the embattled country and would not solve its financial crisis, one of Europe's most senior banking officials has warned.
In comments designed to boost confidence in financial markets, Jurgen Stark, executive board member at the European Central Bank, said speculation that Greece is insolvent was a "false assumption".
"I would warn against underestimating the massive harmful effects a debt restructuring would cause for the country involved and for the eurozone as a whole," Mr Stark said, according to Reuters reports.
Global equity markets have been hit this week on fears that Greece could fail to meet debt repayments terms and be forced to call for a second bail-out.
Mr Stark said such a restructuring could lead to contagion. "It is very well conceivable that the risks for financial market stability could spread to other European countries," he said. "The idea that one could then solve a fiscal crisis through a simple debt reduction [from a restructuring] is consequently an illusion."
UK growth forecast slashed
Economy growing even slower than crisis-hit Greece, Brussels says.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY! A USan taking a good, hard look at his own country:
"America is a nation desperate to believe they remain a just and moral people even as they carry out unjust and immoral wars upon other nations. Those (far too many) Americans who lack the courage to stand up to a government gone wrong are grasping at any symbol that allows them to pretend they remain decent human beings. They won't oppose the violence in Iraq, so they scream about violence on TV. They cannot face up to the reality of torture of innocent victims so they complain about"decency"in movies. They bash gays. They demand evolution mythology replace science on the schools. They scream for the Ten Commandments to be displayed in the offices of government while blind to that government's violation of those same commandments. And, of course, they scream for Terri Schiavo to prove to the world (and themselves) that they really do care about every single human life, despite having sat in silence while hundreds of thousands of people were killed and the survivors showered with radioactive waste in wars started with lies and deceptions. If hypocrisy were an Olympic event, Americas would take home the gold, silver, AND bronze!" -- Michael Rivero (WRH)
Today, May 15, Friends, is Nakba Day, henceforth banned in that place we have come to call Israel. Spare a thought for the Palestinians, Friends, spare a thought for the Palestinians.
Iran proposes setting up joint bank with China
15.5.11
The director of the Trade Promotion Organization of Iran in a meeting with the Chinese ambassador in Tehran said that Iran and China can boost mutual trade by establishing a joint bank and using national currencies for their transactions.
IRNA news agency quoted the TPOI director, Hamid Safdel, as saying that the two sides could create a joint trade committee at the ministerial level, and pointed out that the countries would be better off if they signed an MOU on trade and customs cooperation.
He added that the two countries’ joint economic committee would help expand bank relations and ease opening letters of credit as well as establishing commercial firms.
Ahmadinejad: US Was Holding Bin Laden For a Long Time Before His Death
Press TV
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says the United States killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden as part of its propaganda to secure victory in the next US presidential election.
“The US killed bin Laden not to fight terrorism and not to eradicate groups it claims as terrorist but as [part of] its election propaganda to win people’s votes in the election,” said President Ahmadinejad in a meeting with participants in the International Conference on Global Alliance against Terrorism for a Just Peace (GAATJP) in the capital Tehran on Sunday.
The Iranian chief executive added that he has “precise information” that bin Laden was being held by US military for a long time before his death, IRNA reported.
“Former US president [George W. Bush] attacked our region to save the country’s economy and win the votes. He killed one million people and his successor [Barack Obama] pursues the same strategy,” he pointed out.
President Ahmadinejad noted that the arrogant system is in decline and said, “No change will be made in the unfair global order through the change of puppets.”
He emphasized that the United States and Israel would collapse and justice would be established in the world.
I know Engdahl keeps talking about "Full Spectrum Dominance" in connection with the recent Rev in Egypt or of Greater Israel in connection with Libya (while others regard it more in the light of a Chinese-US proxy conflict). Personally, I think US is playing with fire. It's all very well to buy up the elite of Third World countries. If anyone thinks they can buy up a whole people, they have egregiously miscalculated. The masses are rising in the Muslim world. They will not be fed opium again anytime soon.
China cuts holdings of US Treasurys for 5th month
16.5.11
China, the biggest buyer of U.S. securities, trimmed its holdings for a fifth straight month.
The Treasury Department said Monday that China cut its holdings by $9.2 billion to $1.14 trillion.
Treasury to tap pensions to help fund government
16.5.11
The Obama administration will begin to tap federal retiree programs to help fund operations after the government loses its ability Monday to borrow more money from the public, adding urgency to efforts in Washington to fashion a compromise over the debt.
TEPCO finally admits reactors 1, 2, and 3 did melt down. - 16.5.11
Tepco - the operator of the stricken Japanese nuclear complex - is finally admitting what independent experts have been saying for months.
Initially, Tepco now admits that reactor number 1 melted down hours after the earthquake.
Tepco has also admitted that reactors 2 and 3 have likely melted down as well.
Some more NWO talk from Gordan Brown:
World on course for next crisis, warns Gordon Brown
The global economy is heading towards another meltdown despite the lessons of the last financial crisis, Gordon Brown has warned.
Mr Brown said the "resolve" to act seen immediately after the crisis has been replaced by indecision and vested interest. Photo: PA By Emma Rowley 6:51PM BST 16 May 2011
Follow Emma Rowley on Twitter
The former prime minister said that unless leaders take more action, the recent credit crunch could prove just the "trailer" to a string of crises.
"In 2008, when we were hours away from ATMs running out of money, small businesses being unable to pay their staffs, and schools and hospitals closing down through lack of cash flow, it felt as if the crisis of the century was upon us," he wrote in US magazine Newsweek.
"But if the world continues on its current path, the historians of the future will say that the great financial collapse of three years ago was simply the trailer for a succession of avoidable crises that eroded popular consent for globalisation itself.
"Those who believe that the world has learned from the mistakes that led to the crash are mistaken."
Mr Brown said the "resolve" to act seen immediately after the crisis has been replaced by indecision and vested interest. He urged politicians at the next G20 summit, which takes place in Cannes in November, to take control of a globalised financial system which is still "perilously" unregulated.
And two bits more of econ news:
EU, IMF agree to hand over 78bn euros as bailout to beleaguered Portugal. Greece will be back cap in hand soon.
IMF Chief Dominique Strauss Kahn has been trapped in a sex affair and now sits in one of the worst US jails. The stories coming out so far are far from clear. I personally think he was framed for something he didn't do simply because he was becoming some kind of a danger for the big shot banks. So even the Jews are not safe from their fellows. Interesting development.
As Washington increasingly tries to isolate Pakistan following the dubious Bin Laden raid, Islamabad is turning to its old ally for support – China – a partnership that is, “Looking more attractive after the U.S. killing of Osama bin Laden further strained Islamabad’s ties with Washington,” reports the Associated Press.
“The sentiment is mutual, with China now in the process of shoring up its relations with Islamabad, Afghanistan and several other Central Asia states in step with an expected diminished U.S. presence as it winds down military operations in Afghanistan.”
The NATO attack occurred just hours after Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani arrived in Beijing.
Firedoglake’s David Dayen characterizes the deepening crisis as an “undeclared war” on Pakistan, pointing out that the Obama administration is now looking to “deal its war in Afghanistan for a war in Pakistan.”
Spain's Tahrir Square
18.5.11
Spain's people's movement has finally awoken, la Puerta del Sol in Madrid is now the country's Tahrir Square, and the "Arab Spring' has been joined by what is now bracing to become a long "European Summer'. As people across the Arab world continue their popular struggle for justice, peace and democracy, Spain's disillusioned citizens have finally caught on with full force. Slow at first, hopeful that Spain's dire economic conditions would magically correct themselves, the Spanish street has finally understood that democratic and economic justice and peace will not come from the pulpits of the country's corrupt political elite.
I found the following article at Jeff Rense's.
A courageous man, Mr. Hirata, who is an adviser to the Cabinet,
exposed that US ordered Japan's government to dump polluted radioactive water into the ocean.
He also said that the water is low-level radioactive and the quantity is small.
For those who thinks that this nuke plant accident was actually a sabotage and
its aim is to cover up radiation from the hydrogen bombs under the seabed,
which caused the earthquake and the tsunami, Mr. Hirata did something really great.
Here, one should note that he was appointed by the former PM Hatoyama.
Although Benjamin Fulford etc. informed him a few times,
Jeff Rense has basically neglected the "fake nuke plant accident theory,"
and helped spreading fear by taking up such articles in West media.
At long last, Rense did a favor for people of Japan.
Those who still believe this is a grave accident should think of what is missing.
For instance,
(1) Have you seen a picture or heard a news of animals killed by radiation?
Yes, some animals died, but because they starved.
Others are running around happily in the evacuation zone, for there are no evil humans.
(2) If the reactor were broken or cracked, and "red hot" uranium of 2500-2800 degree fuel rods
are exposed or spilled outside, why haven't we seen a picture of thick vapor like fog,
though they kept on pourig water on them??
You might think I've gone too far, but I would bet the fuel rods had already been taken out
and carried away somewhere else, when the "accident" happened.
========================
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110518x3.html
Release of radioactive water made at request of U.S.: Cabinet adviser
Kyodo
SEOUL — Japanese playwright Oriza Hirata, who serves as a special adviser to the Cabinet, claimed in a recent lecture given in Seoul that the dumping of low-level radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean followed a "strong request" from the United States, a person who attended the lecture said Wednesday.
=========================
Several days ago, there was an earthquake in Spain, which killed approximately 10.
That one was quite strange, too, because the depth of epicenter was only 1km (ONE kilometer!).
Can it be called an earthquake? It seems to me someone just dug a hole and put a big bomb in the bottom.
(by the way, the unit for depth was 10km in Japan.
So, depth of epicenter is announced to be 10km, 20km, 30km, ..... etc.,
which means an earthquake of 10km depth is very shallow.
This time it was only 1km..... !!! )
Thanks, RH. Essential stuff you posted above. I'll take it elsewhere as well as usual, but I doubt anyone will be paying proper attention. They are all too brainwashed for that.
Let me add something which is just becoming clearer to me gradually. US is turning against its former allies. Japan firstly, New Zealand probably and now Pakistan whose 2005 earthquake, I'm still convinced, was a HAARP effort. What this new development in US politics should mean I've no idea. Why did US turn against Japan do you think?
N.B. I did warn you against Rense, didn't I?
FINANCE - 19.5.11
- IMF fight intensifies
Leadership challenge comes as investors dump Greek bonds. How does the IMF choose a successor?
- George Soros sells his gold
Bubble burst fears as 'man who broke the BoE' sells almost entire holding.
- ECB threatens to pull the plug on Greek lending
Central bank plays its "last card" in attempt to prevent debt restructuring.
- Japan back in recession
Earthquake, tsunami, nuclear crisis trigger third recession in a decade.
>13:51
Thanks for your help. Although I tried twice to upload a rather long reply, it was probably classified as a spam. I will try again later when I have the time.
BTW, are you the one who talked about Joe Vialls?
-----
Again there was a convenient earthquake of M8.4
in Libya and data are disappearing from the internet. This kind of censorship alone indicates this one was strange. Truly, 1984 world.
http://beforeitsnews.com/story/649/824/8.4_Magnitude_Libya_CONFIRMED_-Official_COVER_UP.html
RH, Indeed, it was me who mentioned Vialls' stand off with Rense and our poiuytr, too, had fights with Jeff. So, to take what they promote with a grain of salt.
You said it: visionary Orwell's 1984 down to the very last detail. An earthquake in Libya is it now? Fantastic. And data disappearing? Better and better.
RH, the next time you try posting your longish piece, try breaking it up into two separate bits. That might help. Whatever, don't you Japanese go and lose hope. We'll get the bastards yet.
Greece suffers fresh blow as credit rating cut by Fitch
Greece has had its creditworthiness slashed by Fitch, one of the world's top three ratings agencies, in another blow to efforts to get the country's finances back on track.
Athens' lack of progress in shrinking the hole in its budget has seen EU officials start to float the idea of a "soft" restructuring of the debt. 20.5.11
Fitch said that the downgrade reflected the massive challenges the country faces in implementing cuts, tax rises and other reforms needed to secure its solvency.
Investors took flight as the rating of the Greek government's debt moved three notches further into 'junk' status, at 'B+'. The spread between 10-year Greek and German government bond yields, a gauge of the risk of holding Greek debt, touched a record 13.73 percentage points.
Fitch said its revised rating assumes that Greece, already the recipient of a €110bn (£96bn) bail-out from the EU and International Monetary Fund (IMF) will receive "substantial new money", allowing it to avoid a debt restructuring – where bondholders are paid later or less than the amount owed.
However, more downgrades could follow if the country's international rescuers do not offer a credible plan for the country, the agency said.
The warning came as the IMF urged Europe to offer more support to its struggling nations. "The countries cannot do it alone," said Ajai Chopra, the head of the IMF mission in Ireland.
>13:51
>but I doubt anyone will be paying proper attention.
I know. Only a few is interesting in this topic, even in Japan. Even in a university I work for, approximately 80% of people do not
feel strange about seismic experts' absence in TV news.
US aims: In such a big conspiracy, they usually try to kill many birds with one stone. But, I guess the most important aspect is finance. It was just before breakdown of US treasuries and USD and they are really desparate to save USD.
Several possibilites;
1) US "punished" Japan because it had refused to buy more US debts.
2) US threatened Japan to buy more US treasuries.
3) By atacking Japan, they made JPY look less reliable and, hence, USD relatively nicer. They need to prevent money in the world from gathering in Japan.
If 3) is right, then Yanks' attack on EU in the near future seems inevitable.
NZ's case was probabily (1) a "test run" before 311 and (2) punishment for NZ's running away from TPP (a free trade greement).
About HAARP:
I don't think Haarp is relevant to 311. Haarp theory is just a chaf to distract people's attention from nuclear bombs. Haarp may have some ability, but it is not able to create earthquakes that huge.
About Rense:
Yeah, I remember you (Are you the same person who talked about Joe Vialls?). I may have been a bit too naive. I thought Rense was just being cautious because not enough information
was gathered. Or, he might simply have been deceived by West media.
Now I recall people like Ken Adachi & Z.S.Livingstone (Educate Yourself), who have a very simlar opinion on 311 to mine, laughed at Rense, reminding listeners of how Rense behaved stupidly after 911. I also recall Poiuytr's scorn at him.
But, when Rense promoted Yoichi Shimatsu and neglected Benjamin Fulford, I noticed this was probably deliberate.
Who is Mr. Shimatsu? I do not know. No one around me knows. It is explaind that he was a cheif editor of Japan Times and now in Hong-Kong. There are several English newspapers in Japan, but most of them are just translations of big Japanese newspapers.
Japan Times is perhaps the only exception.
Common sense tells me that a cheif editor of such a medium is usually a kind of spy, or a deeply brainwashed pro-West moron. And such an editor usually knows nothing about nuke plants, which are highly technical. Moreover, he is in Hong-Kong, not in Japan. How can one, in particuler a clever guy like Jeff Rense, expect Shimatsu knows something important about Fukushima nuke plant?
P.S.
Russia's government may fully be aware what happened. Is this a clear warning signal from Russia to USA? May Putin save us (not US).
The following video is on an opening ceremony for figure skate championship in Moscow.
After performance of Japanese drums, something like seismic wave was projected on ice.
SU world figure skating championships 2011 Opening Ceremony 1/3 (Look at 3:32)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jG3I-1dWyVs#t=3m25s
and find the 311 seismic wave below.
http://richardkoshimizu.at.webry.info/201104/article_35.html
Excellent answers to many of the questions I have been asking myself. I am indebted to you. Don't worry. Most people have a one-dimensional brain and such a brain is tuned in to what is repeated most often around them. To harbour a thought not defended by the majority of voices would not even occur to them. As in Japan, so here and elsewhere.
P.S. Are you, the people of Japan, yourself and family included, all well and safe?
You are right to dismiss HAARP in this context. Strategically placed bombs sound more like it. NZ might be in for another shock, too, by and by. And other earthquake candidates are Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran.
Good we've cleared that one up about Rense. Untrustworthy. And now the most interesting thing you said today to my mind, the role of Russia. Japan must absolutely change its foreign policy and ally itself with China (no one's fool either) and Russia henceforth. That is what poiuytr would have advised as well. Keep govomg us updates as and when you feel upto it. And thanks for links.
Georgian revolution: Thousands of protestors in Freedom Square - 21.5.11
Thousands of protesters, gathered on Freedom Square as part of the campaign by opposition People's Assembly movement to force President Saakashvili to resign, start marching towards the Georgian Public Broadcaster (GPB).
Nino Burjanadze, ex-parliamentary speaker and leader of Democratic Movement-United Georgia party, who is a key figure behind the movement, said further plans of the rally would be announced about the GPB headquarters, which is located on Kostava Street about three kilometers away from the Freedom Square.
Meanwhile in Batumi, main town of Adjara Autonomous Republic on the Black Sea, a simultaneous rally is held, where a few thousand protesters are gathered.
Japanese Economy Collapses: Q1 GDP Drops At Double Consensus Rate, Epic Nominal Plunge Of -5.2% - 20.5.11
Confirming once again that Wall Street economist (and sell side in general) is the most useless profession in the world (though gladly accepting a 7 figures compensation), is the latest data out of Japan which is yet another stunner to most, as nobody, nobody, could have possible predicted that the Japanese economy would literally fall off a cliff in Q1, plunging at a 3.7% rate (down from -3% previously), which is double the consensus print of -1.9%. DOUBLE. And in nominal terms the collapse was simply epic: -5.2%!
This, coupled with the Fukujima disaster, means that Japan will literally be unable to purchase any more US debt at all.
Los indignados have arrived. Spanish youth in Madrid are still in proud possession of the Puerto del Sol square in Madrid ahead of the Spanish 2011 municipal elections, their fervour somewhat reminiscent of what Paris knew in May 68.
Yesterday was a strange day. Someone had predicted the end of the world for Saturday. Nothing came of it. What did happen was an enormous sit-in action in Karachi on the part of the people of Pakistan against the US drone attacks on their country, the uprising in Georgia and Los Indignados in Spain.
So, yes, perhaps it was the end of the world, the end of the world as we have come to know it and taken for granted.
Spanish protesters cheer for ‘world revolution’ as demos banned
AFP
May 21, 2011
MADRID — Thousands of protesters in Madrid furious over soaring unemployment staged a silent protest and then erupted in cheers of joy as a 48-hour ban on their demonstration took effect on Saturday.
“Now we are all illegal” and “the people united will never be defeated,” were among the chants of the protesters who crammed Madrid’s Puerta del Sol square and spilled onto side streets.
The protesters held a minute’s silence, their hands in the air and some with tape over their mouths, just before midnight on Friday, when campaigning officially ended for Sunday’s regional and municipal elections.
The crowd then cheered as the clock in the square, the main site of New Year festivities in Madrid, chimed midnight and a ban on the protest became effective.
“From Tahrir to Madrid to the world, world revolution,” said one of the placards, referring to Tahrir Square in Cairo which was the focal point of the Egyptian revolution earlier this year
What happens when Greece defaults - Part One
By Andrew Lilico Economics Last updated: May 20th, 2011
It is when, not if. Financial markets merely aren’t sure whether it’ll be tomorrow, a month’s time, a year’s time, or two years’ time (it won’t be longer than that). Given that the ECB has played the “final card” it employed to force a bailout upon the Irish – threatening to bankrupt the country’s banking sector – presumably we will now see either another Greek bailout or default within days.
What happens when Greece defaults. Here are a few things:
- Every bank in Greece will instantly go insolvent.
- The Greek government will nationalise every bank in Greece.
- The Greek government will forbid withdrawals from Greek banks.
- To prevent Greek depositors from rioting on the streets, Argentina-2002-style (when the Argentinian president had to flee by helicopter from the roof of the presidential palace to evade a mob of such depositors), the Greek government will declare a curfew, perhaps even general martial law.
- Greece will redenominate all its debts into “New Drachmas” or whatever it calls the new currency (this is a classic ploy of countries defaulting)
- The New Drachma will devalue by some 30-70 per cent (probably around 50 per cent, though perhaps more), effectively defaulting 0n 50 per cent or more of all Greek euro-denominated debts.
- The Irish will, within a few days, walk away from the debts of its banking system.
- The Portuguese government will wait to see whether there is chaos in Greece before deciding whether to default in turn.
- A number of French and German banks will make sufficient losses that they no longer meet regulatory capital adequacy requirements.
- The European Central Bank will become insolvent, given its very high exposure to Greek government debt, and to Greek banking sector and Irish banking sector debt.
What happens when Greece defaults - Part Two
- The French and German governments will meet to decide whether (a) to recapitalise the ECB, or (b) to allow the ECB to print money to restore its solvency. (Because the ECB has relatively little foreign currency-denominated exposure, it could in principle print its way out, but this is forbidden by its founding charter. On the other hand, the EU Treaty explicitly, and in terms, forbids the form of bailouts used for Greece, Portugal and Ireland, but a little thing like their being blatantly illegal hasn’t prevented that from happening, so it’s not intrinsically obvious that its being illegal for the ECB to print its way out will prove much of a hurdle.)
- They will recapitalise, and recapitalise their own banks, but declare an end to all bailouts.
- There will be carnage in the market for Spanish banking sector bonds, as bondholders anticipate imposed debt-equity swaps.
- This assumption will prove justified, as the Spaniards choose to over-ride the structure of current bond contracts in the Spanish banking sector, recapitalising a number of banks via debt-equity swaps.
- Bondholders will take the Spanish Banking Sector to the European Court of Human Rights (and probably other courts, also), claiming violations of property rights. These cases won’t be heard for years. By the time they are finally heard, no-one will care.
- Attention will turn to the British banks. Then we shall see…
There we go again: West internecine warfare.
Italy attacks Standard & Poor's after credit downgrade - 22.5.11
Italy has attacked credit rating agency Standard and Poor's for raising fears that the country could follow Greece, Portugal and Ireland into a sovereign debt crisis.
S&P's said it cut its forecasts because Italy's fragile centre-right coalition government may struggle to cut the country's vast public deficit.
Giulio Tremonti, Italy's finance minister, described S&P's decision to downgrade the outlook on Italy's government debt from stable to negative as "strange".
He said the move – which sparked economic concerns in Rome – lacked "even one example of a decline in the economy or public finances to justify downgrading the forecast".
The Italian Treasury said the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the OECD had passed "very different" judgements on Italy's financial health.
The downgrade of the outlook means there is a one-in-three chance that Italy will be downgraded within the next 24 months.
S&P's said it cut its forecasts because of fears that Italy's fragile centre-right coalition government may struggle to cut the country's vast public deficit.
Chinese rating agency downgrades UK debt
A Chinese ratings house has downgraded Britain's sovereign credit rating over what it said was the country's gloomy economic growth prospects and weakening ability to pay back debt.
Dagong was concerned about uncertainties arising from the Bank of England's future monetary policy and the impact of eurozone debt woes on public finances. 24 May 2011
Dagong Global Credit Rating Company downgraded the UK's local and foreign currency sovereign credit rating to A+ from AA- with a "negative" outlook for its solvency, the company said in a statement.
The downgrade reflected "the deteriorating debt repayment capability of the UK and the difficulty in improving its sovereign credit level in a moderately long term in the future," it said.
Uncertainties arising from the Bank of England's future monetary policy and the impact of debt-laden European countries on the British financial system are "likely to further worsen the government's fiscal status", it said.
The British economy grew 1.3pc last year and Dagong said it expected the rate to show little or no change in the coming two years, which "directly curbs the improvement of the national economic status."
Dagong has made a name for itself by hitting out at its Western rivals - Moody's, Fitch and Standard & Poor's - saying the big three caused the financial crisis by failing to properly disclose risk.
Britain's Deficit
Britain's deficit for the 2010-2011 financial year fell from almost €162bn (£141bn) the previous year to just below €147bn, after a swathe of cuts ordered by Prime Minister David Cameron.
That meant the deficit was logged at 10pc of national output, down from 11.5pc 12 months earlier.
It is the third-highest in the European Union after that of Ireland and Greece - higher than either Spain or Portugal, next in line at just above 9pc each.
Britain's cumulative national debt, however, rose by almost 20pc year-on-year to more than €1.2 trillion - and now accounts for 82.5pc of GDP.
Putin decides to retake presidency
The Australian | Russian PM Vladimir Putin has decided to run for the presidency next year, raising a possible struggle with his protege Dmitry Medvedev.
Spain Vote Threatens to Uncover Debt
Weekend elections that threaten to drive Spain’s ruling Socialist party from power in several regions and cities also promise a potentially nasty surprise: the revelation of piles of undisclosed debt in local governments that could undercut the country’s drive to avoid an international bailout.
Five months ago, a government change in Spain’s Catalonia region revealed a budget deficit more than twice as big as previously reported. Now, a growing chorus of economists, local politicians and business leaders say that new governments are likely to discover, as Catalonia did, piles of “hidden debt” owed to health clinics and other suppliers.
Economists, analysts and anecdotal reports from companies that supply local governments suggest there is widespread, unrecorded debt among once-free-spending local governments. Some companies are complaining that fiscally frail administrations are pressuring them to do business off the books and not immediately bill for goods and services.[..]
Such bills could add tens of billions of euros to the official debt figures reported by local and regional governments. If such skeletons come out of the closet in coming weeks, Spain’s cost of funding could continue to rise—throwing the country back into the limelight after it has struggled to demonstrate it doesn’t need to be bailed out like Greece, Ireland and Portugal. “Investors are worried about the regions, given that there has a been precedent in Spain and other countries of debt not being recorded properly,” said Luigi Speranza, a BNP Paribas economist.
Sunday’s elections, which will be held in 13 of the country’s 17 regions and its more than 8,000 municipalities, threaten to be hard on Prime Minister José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero’s Socialists. Polls show Socialist-led governments could be unseated in Castilla-La Mancha, the Balearic Islands, Asturias and Extremadura regions. Undermined by a 21% unemployment rate and a perceived slowness in reacting to the country’s economic crisis, the Socialists could also lose control of the municipal governments of Barcelona and Seville, the country’s second- and third-largest cities.
The social fallout from the poor economic conditions is evident in Spain this week as waves of protests swept the country. Young people took to main squares in Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia on Thursday to protest unemployment among those in their 20s and 30s, which has reached 50% in some areas, and the government’s austerity program.
(The Spanish Socialists were roundly defeated by the right-wing Partida Popular. What now?)
Both US parties and the White House are advocating a Sovereign Default
On broadening the tax base through VAT taxes or taxes for Wall Street:
“At the moment it is very unlikely [that any of these taxes will be implemented], but that is simply a measure of how unrealistic the debate is down in Washington today.”
“If they were realistic, they would be discussing what are the new revenue sources we can possibly tap in order to fill this gigantic $1.5 trillion hole in the budget. What are the pros and cons, what are the tradeoffs? You hear none of that discussion. They’re whistling past the grave. They should be talking about new sources of revenue and possibly increasing some of the existing taxes we have in place today.”
On when Washington will get to the point of discussing raising taxes:
“I think [Washington will discuss raising taxes] only when we get a major, thundering conflagration in the bond market.”
“For the last 10 years, Congress has been lulled to sleep by the central banks that keep buying all the debt and therefore holding down the real cost of interest on the middle and long term debt that we are issuing every day.
“And frankly, bond fund managers who somehow think that the tooth fairy is going to arrive and fix this problem, when it’s clear that is not going to happen, and that we have sovereign risk on the debt of the United States, just as clearly as the world is now discovering there are sovereign risks in the European debt issues and so forth.”
On whether there will be a 9/11-style crisis in the economy:
“That kind of crisis would be a vicious sell-off in the global bond market. That could come sooner than people think, because the Fed is getting out of the market with QE2 ending.”
“For the last six months, the Fed has bought nearly 100% of this $6 billion a day that’s been issued. Once they are out of the market, where is the new bid, where is the new demand going to come from? The Chinese are getting out of the market because finally they are having to deal with the rip-roaring inflation they have had. The people’s printing press of China will not be buying as much U.S. debt because of its own internal problems.”
“When we get to real investors, what are some of the real investors saying today? PIMCO is short the bond, they’re selling, they’re not buying.
“When we get into a two-way market when real investors began to look at real risk, begin to look at the gong show in Washington and the magnitude of the gap that we are borrowing, I think we’re going to get a re-rating of sovereign risk. We’re going to get a huge dislocation in the global bond market, and then maybe the wake-up call will finally come.”
On political problems in solving the debt problem:
“The problem is not the debt ceiling. When push comes to shove, at the 11th-hour, they will do it for a couple of weeks or months and we will have a little more borrowing headroom and will be back to the same impasse where we are now.”
“The real problem is the de facto policy of both parties is default. When the Republicans say no tax increases, they’re saying we want the U.S. government to default. Because there isn’t enough political will in this country to solve the problem even halfway on spending cuts.
When the Democrats say you can’t touch Social Security, when you have Obama sponsoring a war budget for defense that is even bigger than Bush, then I say the policy of the White House is default as well.”
“That is the question that really needs to be understood better and appraised by the bond market. Both parties are advocating default even as they point the finger at each other.”
Venezuela threatens to interrupt US oil supply
25.5.11
Venezuela's foreign minister warned late Tuesday that it could no longer guarantee regular oil shipments to the United States after Washington placed sanctions on the Venezuelan state oil company,
Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA), this week. The spat underscores long-running tensions over what Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez sees as America's disproportionate, unjust exercise of power on the world stage.
“There are several proposals that are being evaluated by President [Hugo] Chávez to respond to the United States’ imperialist pretensions,” said Foreign Minister Nicolás Maduro, according to the Miami Herald. A close associate of Chávez accused the US of trying to be "the world's policeman as it steps on the sovereignty of the people."
US and their tornadoes - 25.5.11
Tornadoes hit Oklahoma and Kansas
At least nine people were killed as violent storms moved east, two days after tornado killed 122 in Joplin, Missouri and over a thousand others were unaccounted for.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Bled dry by Zionists and ripped apart by tornadoes By Richard Edmondson
On Sunday, as Obama was prostrating and humbling himself at the AIPAC conference, Nature was getting ready to strike the city of Joplin, Missouri with the full force of its fury. Here we see some footage of the devastation from RT:
Three weeks ago, in the wake of the tornadoes that swept through Alabama and several other states, I posted an article comparing aid to Israel with that of assistance to U.S. tornado victims. Here in part is what I wrote:
“I’ve never seen devastation like this. It is heartbreaking,” said Obama Friday while touring the state of Alabama—decimated by what was the worst tornado outbreak in at least 37 years, and maybe even the worst in history.
On Tuesday and Wednesday approximately 258 tornadoes, some up to a mile wide, hit not only Alabama, but also Mississippi, Tennessee, Georgia, and Virginia, with some of the twisters traveling more than a hundred miles on the ground. The storms included a multiple-vortex tornado that hit Cullman County, Alabama, as well as one particularly massive funnel cloud, perhaps a mile wide, that rampaged through both the cities of Birmingham and Tuscaloosa and is estimated to have traveled some 180-225 miles altogether. At least 350 people were killed and thousands were left homeless.
Well, we once again seem to be at a similar junction. The latest news , as of late in the day Tuesday, places the death toll in Joplin at 117 (that number may rise, however, for at least 1,500 people are still missing), while a new tornado has just struck Oklahoma City. But what transpired on Sunday, as the Zionist plunderers were holding their “policy conference” in Washington, is winds of 198 miles per hour wrought a six-mile path of destruction through Joplin, completely obliterating a hospital, a school, smashing cars, and splintering homes into kindling.
In his speech at AIPAC, Obama gave assurances that American tax dollars will continue to flow in the billions to the Zionist state. His words, you will notice, were met with repeated rounds of applause:
Because we understand the challenges Israel faces, I and my administration have made the security of Israel a priority. It’s why we’ve increased cooperation between our militaries to unprecedented levels. It’s why we’re making our most advanced technologies available to our Israeli allies. (Applause.) It’s why, despite tough fiscal times, we’ve increased foreign military financing to record levels. (Applause.) And that includes additional support –- beyond regular military aid -– for the Iron Dome anti-rocket system. (Applause.) A powerful example of American-Israeli which has already intercepted rockets from Gaza and helped saved Israeli lives. So make no mistake, we will maintain Israel’s qualitative military edge. (Applause.)
Well we can understand why his audience would be so blissfully happy. Israel receives approximately $3 billion a year in direct military assistance, or roughly $8.2 million per day, from the U.S. taxpayers. Add in the cost of the wars currently being fought on the Zionist state’s behalf, as well as other “indirect” assistance, and the figure shoots up into the trillions. At present, the national debt of the United States stands above $14 trillion. Why, mired in such colossal arrears, are we still giving huge sums of money each year to Israel, a state which has more billionaires per capita than any other nation in the world? With this kind of wealth, why can’t Israel fund its own military? The national wealth of the American nation is being plundered. What in essence we are witnessing here is a classic case of a parasite slowly killing its host. And as we watch the host inch closer and closer to ruin and deprivation, we now observe the parasites, lo and behold, preparing to invade a new host.
There's no way out for Greece
May 24, 2011 -- Stocks plunged on Monday as Europe's sovereign-debt crisis deepened and bond yields across the EU periphery headed sharply higher. The euro fell hard against the dollar ($1.40) while the Greek 10-year bond spiked to 17 percent before mounting a modest comeback. The situation is getting desperate. Most economists now believe that Greece will have to restructure its debt. But bondholders are doing everything they can to make sure that doesn't happen because they stand to lose billions on their investments. So, they've thrown their weight behind ECB chief Jean-Claude Trichet, EU policymakers, and the IMF, all of which are trying to pressure Greece to accept harsher austerity measures in order to avoid default.
The problem is simple; the current belt-tightening policy has failed, so it's time to move on to Plan B. But the folks in charge don't want to change policies because then the banks (who own a large share of the bonds) would take a hit on their investments. So, the fiasco drags on while the debts pile up and while peaceful street demonstrations turn into violent conflagrations. The bigwigs at the EU and ECB would rather see cities across the continent descend into a bloody free-for-all than lose one euro on their original investment.
The peripheral European countries are stuck in a currency union where their monetary policy is dictated by the European Central Bank (ECB), which is far to the right of the U.S. Federal Reserve and has little interest in helping them. Since they have adopted the Euro, they also do not control their exchange rate, and their fiscal policy is going in the wrong direction... This does not make any economic sense, except from the point of view of creditors that want to make sure that these countries are punished for their “excesses”.
When will it end? So long as these governments are committed to policies that shrink their economies, their only hope is that the global economy will pick up steam and pull them out with demand for their exports.
What Greece needs is a way to dig out, which means debt forgiveness and a hefty fiscal stimulus package to rev up activity and put people back to work. Unfortunately, the EU doesn't have a mechanism for delivering fiscal aid to the weaker states. All they can do is extend loans to the struggling members and encourage them to slash domestic spending as much as possible. But that just increases unemployment, decreases revenues and makes and even bigger hole.
So, what would happen if Greece defaulted on its debt? If Athens reneged on its debts it would shatter the markets' confidence in the eurozone project. Greece could certainly be the next Lehmans. The likelihood that a Greek default would pose a threat to the future of the eurozone as well as to the health of the world economy means it has the potential to be worse than Lehmans. Much worse
If Greece goes under, then it could take Portugal, Ireland and (perhaps) Spain along with it. So why is ECB chief Jean-Claude Trichet dilly-dallying? Does he really think the problem is just going to go away? And why did French Finance Minster Christine Lagarde (who is the leading candidate to replace ex-IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn) announce that "that a rescheduling or reprofiling of Greek debt is NOT an option (and that) executing the planned austerity program, proper implementation of privatization, and commitments across the political spectrum in Greece are the key for a solution in Greece" ("France's Lagarde: Option Of Rescheduling Greek Debt Not On Table", Wall Street Journal)
Things are looking bleaker and bleaker for Greece. Bond yields are widening, the red ink is rising and the ECB is as inflexible as ever. There's a good chance that policymakers will push this austerity-thing too far and bring the whole EU crashing down around them.
Europe will get its revolution, Spain being the latest candidate for the honour
A flurry of protest has broken out as the depth of the crisis becomes clear for all to see. And it can only get worse as the temple of neo-liberalism, the whole structure of the empire of fraud, begins to crumble returning to the shifting sands on which it was constructed. This is no transient economic crisis, rather it is the collapse of an illusory world of prosperity, a delusional bubble whose expansion is inversely proportional to real wealth creation. The UK , amongst the European powers, is the one which most typifies this parasitic nirvana, a nation which only a short while ago seriously thought it could count its wealth on the basis of the price of its real estate, the exploits of its city financiers and, incredibly, the strength of Sterling. But it is more widely, a ”Western” phenomena, a malaise of the peoples of Europe who have not yet, for all their culture, been able to cast off that assumption of privilege and primacy, consistent with their status as the world’s great imperialists, and have been lured by the promise of eternal well-being, of living life as a dream, as if by right.
Econ News - 26.5.11
- Pension? What pension?
Millions risk poverty in retirement as "ostrich generation" fail to save. US, UK and others have already begun helping themselves to worker money.
- UK consumer in recession
Household spending shrinks for the second quarter running.
- Bank must raise rates this year, OECD warns
- Greece must leave the euro
It's a complete no-no for the ECB, but the idea is becoming more obvious.
Greece risks 'return to drachma'
Summary: Russia ready to recognize Palestine
http://www.presstv.com/detail/181589.html
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has vowed to throw his weight behind recognition of an independent Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders.
"Every nation needs unity, or the more so the Palestinian people... (who are) striving to create a Palestinian state in accordance with UN resolutions, the Quartet of international mediators (the UN, the EU, Russia, and the US), and the Arab peace initiative," the Russian foreign minister said.
Lavrov voiced his support in a meeting with representatives of Hamas and Fatah in Moscow. The Palestinians and Russians later issued a joint statement.
The Russian foreign minister called the Hamas-Fatah reconciliation deal a historic event and urged the Palestinian factions to hash out the details of the unity pact and lay the groundwork for its implementation, a Press TV correspondent reported on Tuesday.
In May leaders of the two main Palestinian factions signed a reconciliation deal in Egypt, paving the way for the creation of an interim unity government.
Bellarus devalues its currency!
It's ever more obvious, Greece must leave the euro
I've hardly been alone, but that's no excuse. For more than a year now, I've been regularly predicting the euro crisis's final denouement, yet still it hasn't arrived.
Jeremy Warner - Telegraph - 26.5.11
So I've been forced to reach a different conclusion; perhaps it never will. Instead, the eurozone has entered a seeming state of permanent crisis. In desperation, European policymakers have adopted a very British characteristic – the hope that they can somehow just muddle through.
But though no one can know the exact timing of the endgame – that's ultimately for the politicians to decide, so no time soon might be a reasonable bet – it's now fairly clear what that endgame must be.
What's presently being played out among the GIPS (Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain) is final proof that you cannot have a monetary union of such size among sovereign nations without compensating fiscal union. That simple underlying truth leaves the euro facing a choice between two equally unappetising outcomes.
Either the richer countries carry on bailing out the poorer ones more or less indefinitely, rather in the manner that Germany subsidises its formerly communist East, or membership of the euro has to be reconstituted on a smaller and more sustainable basis. There's really nothing in between. The longer European policymakers remain in denial about this choice, the worse the situation will become.
Massive Anti-US Rally in Baghdad: Shi’ites Demand Pullout - 27.5.11
US officials have repeatedly pressed Prime Minister Maliki to accept an open-ended US presence, and have argued that keeping US troops in Iraq would be a great way to spite neighboring Iran.
But they are extremely uncomfortable to hear how unpopular the occupation has become, with US commander Major General Jeffrey Buchanan slamming the protest march, saying it was “an affront to Iraq’s democracy
Protesters gather in Cairo square for rally
27.5.11
CAIRO (AP) — Thousands of people poured into downtown Cairo's Tahrir Square Friday for what they called a "second revolution," calling for Egypt's military rulers to speed up the pace of democratic reforms in a country that is still charting its political future.
Christians and Muslims took turns praying in Tahrir Square, as they did in the protests that forced the ouster of former President Hosni Mubarak in February. Sectarian clashes have turned deadly since the revolution.
The ruling military warned that "dubious" elements may try to cause chaos during Friday's protests, and said it would stay clear of the protest area to avoid any friction
Meeting of G30 in Switzerland: Harbinger of imminent Dollar-Crash ?
During May 26 - 28 2011, the G30 (Group of Thirty) are having an extraordinary
meeting in Switzerland.
The G30 is an extremely elitist circle composed of the 30 most powerful and
influential persons of the world: Central bank governors, the financial and
economic sciences elite and so on.
If this Who-is-who of world economics is having an extraordinary meeting in
Switzerland, it's very significant.
Expect profound changes regarding the current financial/economical system
of the world in the near future.
Announcement of the Swiss National Bank (SNB):
http://www.snb.ch/en/mmr/reference/pre_20110527/source/pre_20110527.en.pdf
Revolutionary Fervour - Insurrection Daily
27.5.11
- Spanish protesters clash with police
Violence breaks out around Barcelona's Plaça de Catalunya, the first trouble after 12 days of protests.
- Rifah Crossing into Egypt finally reopened today. Gaza suddenly empowered to try and break out of its concentration camp.
Greece's euro default seems inevitable, say specialist this morning. From there it will be Spain and the housing crash, further on Italy, Belgium and then France. The terminal prolapse is coming along nicely. And at a speed some of us would have been hard put to predict only a year ago.
Is Greece the Future of US?
May 28, 2011
Greece has a sovereign debt problem. The bonds of the Greek government have been downgraded by a major rating service. Their prices have fallen sharply in the market. This means that the risk is high that the government will default on its sovereign debt.
The interest rates that the Greek government must pay in order to borrow have risen sharply. This is worsening the government’s solvency and budget problems. The government faces default. The government’s various spending cutbacks haven’t solved the problem.
They cannot solve the problem. It’s apparently too late. The government would have to restructure its debt by renegotiating with its multiple lenders. That’s a difficult and time-consuming process. It would have to work out repayment while simultaneously altering government policies so that the country’s private market economy could expand. This involves knotty political and economic issues that take years to resolve. The government doesn’t have this time.
The problem traces back to the earlier fact that for some years the government was able to borrow heavily at low interest rates. This means that it was able to sell its bonds at high prices. The problem arose because these market prices were too high.
The sovereign debt of Greece became overvalued due to central bank/banking system money inflation. This inflation, it should be strongly emphasized, originated in the fiat dollar system of the United States and the Federal Reserve.
The central banks of the world and the world money supply are heavily influenced by what the Federal Reserve does through a kind of multiplier effect, because foreign central banks respond to Fed inflation with inflation of their own. We see it happening today when foreign banks have to inflate in reaction to QE2 in order to prevent their currencies from strengthening too much against the depreciating dollar.
The high bond prices encouraged the Greek government to borrow too heavily and to raise government spending. But since its spending was not productive, it didn’t produce high enough tax revenues to service the debt. In time the government faced the problem it now has, which is not enough tax cash flows or income to service the debt.
At this time, Greece does look like the future of US. Is it too late for the US? Just about. For 40 years now US society has imposed no limits on its parasitic behaviour as opposed to productive behaviour. No room for optimism remains.
(Reuters) - World stocks fell to a one-month low on Tuesday on Europe's debt crisis and data that spurred new doubts about the global economic recovery, while a late pick-up in the euro brought commodities off early lows.
The single currency rose against the U.S. dollar in choppy trade, but was seen still vulnerable to global risk aversion and the possibility that Greece might restructure its debt.
The euro gained 0.55 percent to $1.4233, helping lift oil, copper and gold prices off their lows.
U.S. housing starts and building permits plunged in April and factory output declined for the first time in 10 months as Japan's earthquake interrupted the supply of parts to auto makers.
The weak data weighed on U.S. stocks on concerns the recovery is taking longer than expected. Shares of industrial powerhouse Caterpillar Inc (CAT.N) dropped 3.8 percent, while a disappointing outlook from Hewlett-Packard Co (HPQ.N) also took a toll on Wall Street.
"Today's market largely reflects the intensifying concerns that the global economy is slowing or worse," said Hugh Johnson, chief investment officer of Hugh Johnson Advisors LLC in Albany, New York.
The true moral leaders of the world
Why are they all on Jewish America's assassination list?
IRAN'S AHMADINEJAD SETS A HIGH MORAL STANDARD
Not since the idealistic rhetoric of John F. Kennedy have I heard an elected world leader use words that have been actual music to my ears. So when I heard this . . .
"The occupation of other countries under the pretext of freedom and democracy is an unforgivable crime. The world needs the logic of compassion and justice and inclusive participation instead of the logic of force, domination, unilateralism, war and humiliation.
The world needs to be governed by virtuous people like the divine prophets . . ."
. . . I did a double take. This is exactly the opposite of what we hear in the USA, which is that our leaders (even though we have no idea who they are) have our best interests at heart (even though we know they don't) and we should obey every word they say because THEY are GIVING us freedom and democracy by bombing all those other countries we know so little about.
When the Iranian president spoke these words at the United Nations, American representatives walked out, all the more ridiculous since the rest of the world knew he was telling the truth, as only those who are paid to believe it still believe the U.S. government's story about 9/11.
Americans have been led to believe this man is some kind of devil because he speaks at a level so moral that practically nobody in the U.S., after a century of Jewish media treatment, can even understand, because Western culture has become so IM-moral.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is the leader of what looks to be the last bastion of actual freedom in the world. His venerable nation is surrounded by the U.S.-British-Israeli war machine on all sides. The country to his west has been utterly annihilated by white phosphorus, heroin and venereal disease. The 'Stans' to his northeast have either been bought or destroyed by the Jewish war machine. Pakistan is under constant pressure from U.S. killer drones and Mossad manipulation. And Arabia to the South is the biggest menace of all, as the Wahabbi sect of the Sauds are really secret Jews constantly sabotaging Islam and their Muslim neighbors. Running the whole show is Israel, which has a death grip on the testicles of Washington, London, Paris, and all the other pseudonations which are really subdepartments of the World Jewish Financial Monster.
A MUST READ
The Door is About to Shut for Americans
29.5.11
Anyone aware of the US Government's real financial situation knows that time is running out. The Government has $15.5 trillion in admitted debts but those debts, when calculated under Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), or 'honest accounting', is over $70 trillion. $70 trillion divided by 300 million+ Americans works out to $233,000 per person in US Federal Government debt and obligations. Or nearly $1 million per family of four.
That does not included personal debt, state debt or municipal debt.
This debt plus an economy that has been completely hollowed out by the Federal Reserve system ensures that there is no way the US Government can ever pay off this debt. And, everyone knows it.
http://beforeitsnews.com/story/667/159/The_Door_is_About_to_Shut_for_Americans.html
They can try to ‘delay and pray’ but the euro is running out of time, As a doomsayer from the start, who has written several times on the subject, I have recently been reluctant to burden my readers with more jeremiads about the euro. (29.5.11)
'Why is the euro in crisis? Because it was fundamentally flawed at its inception' Only good luck, strong economic growth and enlightened economic management could keep it together. In fact, the eurozone has had to suffer the opposite of all three.
Four things went wrong. The first two were private sector failures. First, far from reacting to their newly shackled state, Spain and Ireland went on a private sector spending spree. (Meanwhile, in Greece the government led the bonanza.) Second, in all these cases, the bond markets were hopeless at foreseeing possible difficulties and imposed bond yields only marginally higher than on Germany. Accordingly, they provided no restraint at all.
The third and fourth were failures of government. The authorities presided over an extremely shaky banking system, acutely vulnerable to shocks. And their policies over many years resulted in a high government debt to GDP ratio, not only in the peripheral countries, but also in the supposedly solid core. In common with almost everyone else, the European authorities grossly underestimated the possibility of sovereign default as a realistic threat and market worry, and underestimated its capacity to cause a full scale banking crisis.
Now the economics threaten to overwhelm the politics. Greece’s sovereign indebtedness is so high that it is impossible to see how it can honour its debts without outside help (ie. gifts). And the economy will go on contracting for years. There will have to be “an event”. The only issues are when this will happen; who will pick up the tab; and what it will be called.
This being the European Union, nomenclature is extremely important. Of course it won’t be called a default – I doubt it will be called anything beginning with “de”. Bad things begin with de – like decline and defeat. It will be called something beginning with “re”. Good things begin with “re”, including rebirth and renewal – and restructuring and reprofiling. But default it will be.
Who picks up the tab is important because the bill could seriously undermine some banks. Remarkably this threat includes the ECB itself because it has taken on a large amount of Greek debt. The rows over the bill are likely to delay any sort of solution and to poison the atmosphere between member states. Meanwhile, the fate of the European banking system will be hanging by a thread.
This is why the “when” issue is so important. The current approach is to try to stave off the event until things get better. You will notice that this bears a striking similarity to the sophisticated strategy adopted by British banks in the face of dud commercial property loans, namely “delay and pray”.
Hundreds in Paris demo modelled on Spain protest
PARIS (AFP) – About 1,000 people gathered Sunday in Paris for a protest modelled on Spain's movement that has seen demonstrations across the country decrying mainstream politics, unemployment and corruption.
The mostly young protestors on Bastille square unfurled a giant banner on the steps of the opera house that read: "Real democracy now", and opened another nearby that said: "Paris, wake up!"
About 1,000 people took part, according to police and organisers, and were monitored by security forces as they called for a popular uprising, with one placard declaring: "The people united will never be defeated".
"There has to be a change in the economic structures to improve the sharing of world resources, because if we continue like this, in unfairness and misery, it could end up badly," said protester Chantal Piganau, a teacher.
The Spanish protests are known variously as "the indignant", "M-15" after the birth date of their movement, and "Spanish Revolution".
At the vanguard of the rallies in Madrid, protesters remained camped in the central square Puerta del Sol but in smaller numbers than at the peak just before Spain's May 22 local elections.
In France about 30 people also camped out in the southern city of Toulouse and also in the southwestern city of Bayonne, where banners read: "We all have reasons to be indignant ... join us".
Econ News
The global monetary war has mushroomed. Greece is set to default on its debt, the signs all loud & clear. Spain is ready to be bailed out, its economy sliding backwards fast. The impact of a default in Europe is magnificent and all horrendous. Banks will fail. The motive for continued band-aid bailouts that only buy time and fix nothing have been to enable banks to redeem their debt, just like in the United States. Bond holders have been protected. Dominique Strauss-Kahn urged Irish Govt bond holders to take a significant haircut loss, his final sin. The first sin was the promotion of the SDR from the Intl Monetary Fund, whose basket of currencies would be used in global bank reserves. His second sin was the introductory concept of an SDR-based debt instrument, as in a global bond. To supplant the USDollar and USTBond is cause for removal, with bond holder losses the icing on the prison cake. The European kettle is ready to boil over again, with nothing fixed. The wild card is the Credit Default Swaps, those curious devices that lurk within hidden banking systems. A Greek Govt default would set events in motion, and likely reveal the profound fraud and insolvency of European banks. The kicker could be the contagion to the British and American banks. The Western banks are all interwoven in a grand incest.
A recent twist is the higher wages paid to Chinese workers almost uniformly. They will become stronger consumers, but their corporate exporters will pass along higher prices to the US retail chains. Finally, after thirty years, the USEconomy will import price inflation from Asia. The new Shanghai silver futures contracts are most likely not welcome to the COMEX and its Wall Street overseers. The common practice of ambushing the Gold & Silver prices overnight or immediately after hours in the late afternoon might soon come to an end. The Shanghai hours are 8pm to 11am eastern US time zone. Sense the opposition. Given the strong Chinese consumer price inflation and corresponding citizen response in coin and bar purchase, the opposition is gaining strength. The Asians love gold as much as the Americans are ignorant of it.
India pledges support for Palestine
30.5.11
India has affirmed a “continuing commitment to Palestine” and voiced support for “the Palestinian people's struggle for a sovereign, independent, viable, and united State of Palestine.
Spain will recognize Palestinian state on 1967 lines - 30.5.11
The Palestinian Authority announced on Thursday that Spain has decided to recognize a Palestinian state along the 1967 lines before September. A Spanish diplomat told Palestinian negotiator Nabil Shaath that Spain would support making the state of Palestine a UN member
IT'S STARTING - Bank Runs Begin In Greece
31.5.11
Greece's banks are being hammered by a run on their reserves, leaving the country's main lenders increasingly reliant on the European Central Bank for funding.
Simon Ward, chief economist at fund manager Henderson, likened the situation to Britain's Northern Rock, which was eventually nationalised to save it from collapse.
(Let's hope this movement grows. France said they were going t do it. Then for some reason they got cold feet. Let's see whether others show the guts to follow the Greek method.)
- Spain's incipient revolution is growing and spreading. Soon the MSM will also be forced to acknowledge its existence.
- Great day today for the Dow. The Plunge Protection Team (PPT) failed for once to achieve its goal and the Dow plunged by 2.2%. The shape of things to come?
- Yesterday was the anniversary of the deaths a year ago on the flotilla savagely attacked by Israel. Demonstrations occurred in Turkey in remembrance of those sad events.
- NATO has decided to extend its "operations" in Libya through to the month of September. If anyone mentally supplied the word invasion for operations, they did the right thing.
Greek credit default swaps jump as Moody's downgrades again - 2.5.11
The cost of insuring Greek debt rose on Thursday morning after the debt-laden country suffered another credit-rating downgrade.
The three-notch-downgrade takes Greece from B1 to Caa1, giving the country a worse credit rating that Montenegro.
On Wednesday night Moody’s dealt another blow to Greece with a further downgrade that pushed its bonds deeper into junk territory. The downgrade places Greece at the very bottom of Moody's league table of credit-worthy European countries.
Five-year credit default swaps (CDS) on Greek government debt rose 40 basis points to 1,470 basis points, according to data monitor Markit. This means it costs €1.47m euros to protect €10m of exposure to Greek debt.
The cost of insuring Portuguese debt against default rose by 15 basis points to 700 basis points.
The three-notch-downgrade takes Greece from B1 to Caa1, giving the country a worse credit rating than Montenegro.
Moody's said it was very concerned about Greece's "highly uncertain growth prospects" and warned that the embattled country is "increasingly likely to fail to stabilise its debt ratios" by the deadline set by its previous €110bn (£96.7bn) bailout.
(Theer we are. the latest chapter in the internecine warfare in the west, the US getting to strike the death blow to the euro and the European Union).
Horror for US Economy as Data Falls off Cliff
2.5.11
The last month has been a horror show for the U.S. economy, with economic data falling off a cliff, according to Mike Riddell, a fund manager at M&G Investments in London.
"It seems that almost every bit of data about the health of the US economy has disappointed expectations recently," said Riddell, in a note sent to CNBC on Wednesday.
"US house prices have fallen by more than 5 percent year on year, pending home sales have collapsed and existing home sales disappointed, the trend of improving jobless claims has arrested, first quarter GDP wasn’t revised upwards by the 0.4 percent forecast, durable goods orders shrank, manufacturing surveys from Philadelphia Fed, Richmond Fed and Chicago Fed were all very disappointing."
(Given the current fiscal policies of this administration, this is no surprise to those who have been paying attention.
I cannot remember a time in my lifetime when the US government appeared so close to defaulting on its obligations.) WRH
Our Goose is Cooked - A USan Speaks Out
June 02, 2011
This must be what it was like in Russia before the Soviet Union collapsed. The government's so crooked that nothing works right, the infrastructure's in a shambles, millions of people are scraping by on government handouts, and everyone's on a permanent downer. Welcome to the Soviet States of America 2011.
I mean, seriously, things are really looking bad. Apart from killing people, we really don't do anything anymore. We have a humongous, over-bloated military that lumbers from one war to the next spreading misery wherever it goes, and meanwhile, back at home, things continue to go to the dogs. How long can that go on?
You can't get a job anymore, because all the jobs have been shipped off to Guandong Province or someplace South of the border. The best you can hope for is some part-time gig jerking double-tall-mochas or steering folks towards the red-dot special on Aisle 9. So, how can you sustain a middle class on a measly $9.50 per hour? It can't be done.
And just look at Washington. What a joke. The White House is just a protection racket for big business.
You know our goose is cooked, don't you? You know we're not going to get out of this, right? The country is disintegrating. It's obvious. It isn't even America anymore; it's like we're on some kind of movie set where everything looks real, but it's all just props. Everything is perfectly placed to make you feel like you still live in a free country, but you know you don't. You know the government^s spying on you and going through your mail. You know if you stand in front of the state-house with a peace sign you'll get rousted or pepper-sprayed or something. You know if your name turns up on the wrong list, you'll either get bounced off your plane or dragged off to some far-flung blacksite where they keep you in a 6 ft. box until they want to waterboard for the millionth time. Yeah, everything still looks the same, but it's all changed. Everything's different now.
You watch news, right? It's all propaganda, every bit of it. In fact, they all read from same script. It's all George Orwell. It's all 1984. You know that. That's why we're all so frustrated. It's bad enough that the country's going to Hell in a handbasket, but it's even worse that they have to lie to you about it 24-7. That just reinforces the feeling that we're all goners; that the whole society is just propped up on one big freaking lie.
Have you looked around lately? Seen the tent cities, etc.?
I'm telling you, our goose is cooked.
The other day my bank shut-down after 30 years in business without any sign they were in trouble.
Whoa. You talk about shattered confidence; that'll do it every time. Don't kid yourself, when your bank goes under, it changes your world view. And it changes your feelings about America, too. Forget about security; it doesn't exist anymore. They'll fleece you out of your life's savings without batting an eye. Bankers are all crooks, every last one of them. And we're all just chickens for-the-plucking.
The Chinese Economy Is Beating The Living Daylights Out Of The U.S. Economy - 2.6.11
It is time to face the truth. The Chinese economy is simply beating the living daylights out of the U.S. economy. Whether you want to call it a rout, a slaughter or a thrashing, the reality is that the Chinese are absolutely embarrassing America on the global economic stage. At this point, the Chinese are playing economic chess while the Americans are playing economic checkers. China is poised to blow past the United States and become the largest economy in the world. Not only that, some economists are projecting that the Chinese economy could be three times larger than the U.S. economy by mid-century. The age of U.S. economic dominance is ending, and most Americans still don't even understand what is happening.
Please to pay attention: We are being warned over and over again that the next False Flag attack in US might well be on the Sears/Willis Tower in Chicago. US dissident blogs are keeping a close eye on events. If it were to happen - for the Zios love copycat false flags - please to remember you read about it here first and several days before it happened.
Dear James, We don't want to rush you or anything, but perhaps the time is slowly coming for us to find a new thread to comment under. This particular one will gradually turn too unwieldy to manage. Thanking you in advance.
How's the Us economy faring? In their own words:
"US Consumers are still deleveraging from the losses they sustained during the financial crisis, so they've cut back on their borrowing and spending. This creates a problem, because consumer spending represents 70% of GDP. So if consumers don't load up on debt again, there will be no recovery. (Every recovery since WW2 has been the result of a credit expansion.) This is why Fed chairman Bernanke has tried to induce more borrowing by lowering rates to zero and buying US Treasuries from the banks (which, in effect, creates negative interest rates) But it hasn't worked. Negative rates have not sparked another credit expansion because there are times when people will not borrow regardless of the rates or the inducements. John Maynard Keynes figured this out more than 80 years ago, but Bernanke has "unlearned" the lessons of the past. As a result, we are headed for another slump."
"Consumers aren't spending, businesses aren't investing, and credit is not expanding. At the same time, state and federal governments are trimming budgets and laying off workers. So, all the main players are cutting, cutting, cutting. Naturally, the economy has responded in kind; housing prices are falling, unemployment is rising, manufacturing is stalling and consumer confidence is dropping."
"There's nothing here that should surprise us. We are headed into a Depression because policymakers have made another Depression unavoidable. A policy-driven Depression is different than a financial crisis. It is a matter of choice. It means that the objectives of the people who control the system are different than our own. There are those who will benefit from another severe downturn, but most of us will only needlessly suffer."
(BS, sheer BS, as poiuytr might have said. all a cover up for their terminal prolapse brought about by the loss of their reserve currency status).
China Has Divested 97 Percent of Its Holdings in U.S. Treasury Bills - 4.6.11
China has dropped 97 percent of its holdings in U.S. Treasury bills, decreasing its ownership of the short-term U.S. government securities from a peak of $210.4 billion in May 2009 to $5.69 billion in March 2011, the most recent month reported by the U.S. Treasury...
For the past week, the youth of Paris, in solidarity with Spain, have begun occupying public squares. Massive police forces have countered their efforts. Is Europe waking up at long last?
News om this Sunday
- Yemen's President Saleh, recenty injured in an attack, has gone/fled to Saudi Arabia for treatment. Is this the beginning of the end for Saleh?
- The Afghan Resistance celebrated the day by bringing down another invader helicopter.
- The Greeks are gearing up to sell everything from the Acropolis to their ports. And their roads and hospitals and schools as well, no doubt.
- Goldman Sachs Lost 98% of Libya’s $1.3B Sovereign Wealth Fund Investment
As civil war roars on in Libya and Colonel Muammar Gadhafi vows to remain in power, reports surfaced that the Northern African country entrusted $1.3 billion through its sovereign wealth fund to Goldman Sachs in 2007, of which the investment bank lost approximately 98%, sparking the ire of Libyan officials.
Anyone still looking for a reason for the war in Libya?
- Israel shot dead some 14 to 20 pro-Palestinians in the Golan Heights.
Israeli troops opened fire Sunday at a crowd of pro-Palestinian protesters who tried to break into the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights from neighboring Syria, killing as many as 14 people and wounding scores in a burst of violence marking the Arab defeat in the 1967 Mideast war.
Spanish protesters swarm main squares
Spain continues to witness massive protests against political corruption, welfare cuts and austerity measures as demonstrators continue to swarm major squares in cities across the country. Main squares in various Spanish cities were filled with young people on Sunday. The Spanish youth manifested the largest spontaneous protests since the country slipped into recession after the collapse of a property bubble in 2008. Last week, protesters set up a large encampment stretching in Madrid's Puerta del Sol square and vowed to continue their sit-in until their demands are met. The protests, which began on May 15, have turned violent at times. The massive protests came after the government of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero introduced a slew of drastic austerity measures, including the cutting of civil servant wages among other things as part of the government's plans to curb the budget deficit from 11 percent a year earlier to within three percent of the GDP by 2013, a limit set by the European Union. Spain's M-15 movement has as well inspired other European countries, including France and Greece, where people have been protesting austerity measures.
10 Tipping Points Which Could Potentially Plunge The World Into A Horrific Economic Nightmare
The Economic Collapse
June 7, 2011
The global economy has become so incredibly unstable at this point that it is not going to take much to plunge the world into a horrific economic nightmare. The foundations of the world economic system are so decayed and so corrupted that even a stiff breeze could potentially topple the entire structure over. Over the past couple of months a constant parade of bad economic news has come streaming in from Europe, Asia and the United States. Signs of an impending economic slowdown are everywhere. So what “tipping point” will trigger the next global economic downturn? Nobody knows for sure, but potential tipping points are all around us.
Today, the global economic system is even more vulnerable than it was back in 2008. Virtually none of the systemic problems that contributed to the 2008 collapse have been fixed.
So waht will the tipping point for the next financial crisis be? You takes your pick and you makes your choice.
Syria (war with Israel), Greece default, death of the dollar, Iran (war with), further Arab revolutions, Libya, Fukishima, Oil Prices, Govt Austerity, Drought (global food crisis).
Federal Reserve chairman Bernanke says US growth slower than expected - 7.6.11
Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, said that the recovery in the US economy remains “uneven” and that growth has been slower than expected.
'Until we see a sustained period of stronger job creation, we cannot consider the recovery to be truly established,' Mr Bernanke said. However, he said that it should pick up in the second half of 2011 despite recent signs of weakness.
In a relatively downbeat assessment of the economy, Mr Bernanke said: “US economic growth so far this year looks to have been somewhat slower than expected.”
His comments sent US stocks falling. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 12.15 points at 12,070.81, having been up until he started his speech.
Speaking at the International Monetary Conference in Atlanta, Mr Bernanke said: “Aggregate output increased at only 1.8pc at an annual rate in the first quarter, and supply chain disruptions associated with the earthquake and tsunami in Japan are hampering economic activity this quarter. A number of indicators also suggest some loss of momentum in the labour market.
“Until we see a sustained period of stronger job creation, we cannot consider the recovery to be truly established.”
He added: “Although it is moving in the right direction, the economy is still producing at levels well below its potential; consequently, accommodative monetary policies are still needed.”
Despite all this, Mr Bernanke’s comments suggested that the Fed is not planning to loosen its monetary policy in the near term, making a third round of quantitative easing unlikely.
Speaking about the recovery, he said: “The US economy is recovering from both the worst financial crisis and the most severe housing bust since the Great Depression, and it faces additional headwinds ranging from the effects of the Japanese disaster to global pressures in commodity markets. In this context, monetary policy cannot be a panacea.”
He said that inflation should moderate. “So far at least, there is not much evidence that inflation is becoming broad-based or ingrained in our economy,” he said.
(BS, BB, sheer BS!)
Walk away from your mortgage? Time to get 'ruthless': - Should you keep paying your mortgage on a home that's dwindling in value? No way, say an increasing number of underwater homeowners who are voluntarily choosing to "walk away" from their home loans, a practice known as "strategic default."
(Excellent advice, to be borne in mind for when the time comes to Europe to adopt similar tactics.)
Dear James W., Come on. You could post this other Pilger piece, for instance:
http://www.youtube.com/embed/_xgxCf05Kmw
It would give us much food for thought. Come to our rescue, do, please.
The Biggest Bank in France Has Suddenly Cut ATM Card Access to Cash in Half and People are
8.6.11
Le bank run, is it?
OPEC Meeting in Shambles as Iran and Venezuela Push Their Agendas - 8.6.11
Saudi Arabia’s more-or-less stable hand guiding OPEC was yanked from the tiller at the oil producers’ meeting today in Vienna.
For the first time in two decades, OPEC’s stated mission of “ensuring the stabilization of oil markets,” has been replaced by a politicized agenda and the desire by some states (primarily Iran and Venezuela) to increase revenues now, regardless of long-term consequences. The schism comes at a bad time for the still-fragile (and still-oil-addicted) global economy.
The standoff in Vienna that left oil production levels unchanged translates into higher oil prices — Iran’s and Venezuela’s poke-in-the-eye of the U.S. and Saudi Arabia.
Here we go. Econ news for this Thursday morning
- Threat to UK credit rating
Moody's says AAA rating could be slashed if growth stays weak.
And as reported by 21:04 above, oil prices have begun climbing as though there were no tomorrow.
Europe Marches on Bilderberg Tyrants
June 9, 2011
On Saturday, June 11, activists from across Europe will converge on St. Moritz, Switzerland, and take an urgent message to the globalists now meeting behind closed doors to plot our collective futures – we stand united in our opposition to your plan to drive humanity into slavery by wrecking national economies, undermining national sovereignty, and striving to implement through the IMF a one-world currency and an authoritarian world government with a high-tech police state to enforce its mandates formulated in secret.
From the YouTube post of the above video:
6-11-11 St. Moritz, Switzerland, High NOON. Peaceful Protest to the let the global power brokers know that the world is aware of their crimes against humanity.
http://www.infowars.com/europeans-to-converge-on-switzerland-for-bilderberg-p…
http://www.prisonplanet.com/alex-jones-calls-for-global-bilderberg-protest.html
(Make of this what you will. Serious or for show only?)
European Rating- Agency Fari downgrades USA-Rating
Feri ranks the creditworthiness of the United States down. Feri lowers credit
rating for the U.S. from AAA to AA, making it the first rating agency in general, which takes this step.
Cyber Warnings
- Citigroup Hacked, Exposing 200,000 Accounts
9.6.11
A hack has exposed Citibank users' credit cards and personal information, becoming the latest in a string of high-profile cyber-crimes against prominent companies.
Unknown hackers reportedly now have 200,000 Citigroup customer names, account numbers and contact information, though the credit card and financial services company denies they took birth dates, social security numbers, card expiration dates and security codes. The cyber-attacks occurred in early May, but Citigroup yesterday admitted the breach in an e-mail to the Reuters news agency.
- Another Cyber Warning from present CIA chief Leon Panetta, tomorrow's no less dishonourabe Secretary of Defence in the place of the other idiot Gates.
Panetta: The next great battle America faces is likely to involve cyberwarfare
Leon Panetta: The next Pearl Harbor could be a cyberattack. (Read False Flag for Pearl Harbour, ditto Citibank hack). Getting cleverer by the minute, they are.
See how lu^cky we were on ID:
'The War You Don't See'
Pilger Film Banned By Lannan Foundation
By John Pilger
June 10 2011 "Information Clearing House" -- An open letter to Noam Chomsky and the general public.
Dear Noam
I am writing to you and a number of other friends mostly in the US to alert you to the extraordinary banning of my film on war and media, 'The War You Don't See', and the abrupt cancellation of a major event at the Lannan Foundation in Santa Fe in which David Barsamian and I were to discuss free speech, US foreign policy and censorship in the media.
Lannan invited me and David over a year ago and welcomed my proposal that they also host the US premiere of 'The War You Don't See', in which US and British broadcasters describe the often hidden part played by the media in the promotion of war, notably in Iraq and Afghanistan. The film has been widely acclaimed in the UK and Australia; the trailer and reviews are on my website www.johnpilger.com
The banning and cancellation, which have shocked David and me, are on the personal orders of Patrick Lannan, whose wealth funds the Lannan Foundation as a liberal centre of discussion of politics and the arts. Some of you will have been there and will know the Lannan Foundation as a valuable supporter of liberal causes. Indeed, I was invited in 2002 to present a Lannan award to the broadcaster Amy Goodman.
What is deeply disturbing about the ban is that it happened so suddenly and inexplicably: 48 hours before David Barsamian and I were both due to depart for Santa Fe I received a brief email with a 'sorry for the inconvenience' from a Lannan official who had been telling me just a few days earlier what a 'great honour' it was to have the US premiere of my film at Lannan, with myself in attendance.
I urge you to visit the Lannan website www.lannan.org Good people like Michael Ratner, Jeremy Scahill and Glenn Greenwald are shown as participants in discussion about freedom of speech. I am there, too, but my name is the only one with a line through it and the word, 'Cancelled'.
Neither David Barsamian nor I have been given a word of explanation. All my messages to Lannan have gone unanswered; my calls calls are not returned; my flights were cancelled summarily. At the urging of the New Mexican newspaper, Patrick Lannan has issued a one-sentence statement offering his regrets to the Lannan-supporting 'community' in Santa Fe. Again, he gives no reason for the ban. I have spoken to the manager of the Santa Fe cinema where 'The War You Don't See' was to be screened. He received a late-night call. Again, no reason for the ban was forthcoming, giving him barely time to cancel advertising in The New Mexican, which was forced to drop a major feature.
There is a compelling symbol of our extraordinary times in all of this. A rich and powerful individual and organisation, espousing freedom of speech, has moved ruthlessly and unaccountably to crush it.
With warm regards
John Pilger
Dow, S&P end sixth losing week - is seventh on tap? - 10.6.11
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The Dow and S&P 500 closed out their sixth week of losses on Friday as further signs of a global economic slowdown set the stage for more losses ahead.
The deepening gloom raised the prospect for the S&P, which suffered its worst week since August 2010, to break below the year's low of 1,250 next week.
The Nasdaq wiped out its yearly gains on Friday and also posted its biggest weekly decline since August 2010, as the latest deterioration in sentiment came on fear of flagging Chinese growth and fresh worries about Greece's debt crisis.
The Dow closed below 12,000 for the first time since mid-March.
08:23 - Perhaps this is all to prepare to pass QE 3? A stockmarket breakdown if it's not done would be the decisive argument? Keep an eye open and see whether this is not exactly what happens.
Benjamin Fulford at last got furious at Jeff Rense for his panick-mongering. They shouted at each other. And some people, including SUPERKEITHYGEORGE1, accuse Rense, because he censored the last hour. Now it seems to me that Rense is fear-mongering quite intentionally.
BENJAMIN FULFORD ON JEFF RENSE MAY 25 2011 1/3
SUPERKEITHYGEORGE1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-XbZeTldjo
Transcript is here;
Benjamin Fulford's Explanation Of The Fukushima Disaster 6-11-11
http://www.rense.com/general94/fulfordfuku.htm
BTW, a freelancer called Jim Stone did a good job. In his view, the 3rd reactor (MOX fuel) was blown up by Israel's "gun-type" micro-nuke.
And he believes THE 3RD REACTOR NO LONGER EXISTS. He also thinks the fuel rods in the 4th reactor had already been taken away when the incident happened.
http://www.jimstonefreelance.com/containment.jpg
http://www.jimstonefreelance.com/unit4dome.jpg
Jimstonefreelance.com
Protesters in Tokyo held mass demonstrations Saturday against the use of nuclear power, as Japanese marked the three-month anniversary of the powerful earthquake and tsunami that killed tens of thousands and triggered one of the world's worst nuclear disasters.
Can anyone tell us more about this? 15:53, thanks for some of your replies to our questions about Fukishima. We'll be back after exploring your links.
US invaders helicopter brought downed in northern Parwan June 11 – Mujahideen of the Islamic Emirate in Parwan’s Kohi Safi district struck one of the US invaders’ large helicopters holding 20 to 30 passengers with rockets and downed it in Kharoti village of this district at about 9;00 pm local time last night, killing all the invaders including the crew members, Mujahideen officials said on Saturday. Witnesses say the dead and wounded have been airlifted by the enemy helicopters today.
(This is about the 14th aircraft the AR has brought down over the past month and a half. Remind you of the Soveit invasion? End game, anyone?)
@ RH
Your links were most interesting. The mushroom cloud picture, for instance, said it all.
And then Fulford, naturally, gave us the complete picture of the before and after of the Japanese "earthquake" and "tsunami" story, most unlike what the MSM duly conveys to us on a daily basis. The latest story in that respect went even so far as to say that Japan would soon be uninhabitable for its population. I wonder which fecund brain worked up this story now.
Thanks, RH. We knew we were on the right track when we refused to pay any attention to the usual Fukushima stories published in the daily press
Japan mulls closure of N-reactors by April
Oman Tribune
June 9, 2011
All 54 of Japan’s nuclear reactors may be shut by next April, adding more than $30 billion a year to the country’s energy costs, if communities object to plant operating plans due to safety concerns, trade ministry officials said on Wednesday.
Since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, which triggered a radiation crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi plant north of Tokyo, concern among local authorities has kept nuclear generators from restarting at least four reactors that had been expected to come online after routine maintenance and inspection.
Several more reactors have since shut for regular maintenance, slashing Japan’s nuclear generating capacity to just 7,580 megawatts, or only 36 per cent of its registered nuclear capacity.
(Why not? The chances are that Japan will become the leading light of the solar energy world and this will become the new sources of its wealth and prosperity.)
china no longer holds US debt -- it holds spendable US cash to spend in that country
12.6.11
The chinese don't own the debt any more -- they own new dollar deposits from the fed
the fed now owns the debt -- but the debt is no longer the problem -- trillions of ready American dollar liquidity (spendable cash) in the hands of China is the new hurricane on its way through the American's America.
(Welcome to the liquidation sale of the United States of America. the Panarin scenario at long last?)
The Battle against Neoliberalism: Massive Popular Uprising in Greece
12.6.11
Hundreds of thousands of Greek ‘Indignés’ (‘Outraged’) walk out to wage war against their neoliberal persecutors
Two weeks after it started the Greek movement of ‘outraged’ people has the main squares in all cities overflowing with crowds that shout their anger, and makes the Papandreou government and its local and international supporters tremble. It is now more than just a protest movement or even a massive mobilization against austerity measures. It has turned into a genuine popular uprising that is sweeping over the country. An uprising that makes it know at large its refusal to pay for ‘their crisis’ or ‘their debt’ while vomiting the two big neoliberal parties, if not the whole political world in complete disarray.
Econ news - 14.6.11
- Rates must rise even if recovery falters - Weale
Pain now might mean rates do not need to rise as fast, says rate setter.
- Tesco's UK sales hit as shoppers cut back
Same store sales fall for second quarter in a row main UK market.
- Greece rating cut again
Standard & Poor's cuts Greek credit rating again on risk of default. It now stands at CCC, only four notches above default.
James, come on, come on. Change the video, please, please, please. Otherwise no more postings will be possible.
Greece hit by anti-austerity strike - 15.6.11
Unions bring public services to a standstill as Socialist government prepares further cost-cutting measures
Is the ECB Solvent? - 14.6.11
The solvency of the European Central Bank is being called into question by some brilliant in-depth research from OpenEurope.org.uk. This independent think tank believes “the EU must now embrace radical reform based on economic liberalisation, a looser and more flexible structure, and greater transparency and accountability” in order for the “EU’s over-loaded institutions, held in low regard by Europe’s citizens” to meet “the pressing challenges of weak economic growth, rising global competition, insecurity and a looming demographic crisis”.
NaturalNews.com did a good job.
*****
(NaturalNews) What if the alleged 9.0+ magnitude mega earthquake that was said to have hit off the coast of Japan back on March 11 never actually happened, and the resultant tsunami that destroyed the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant was actually a deliberate, false flag attack using nuclear weapons? Freelance journalist Jim Stone offers compelling evidence that the official story we have all been told concerning the disaster is a phony coverup for a concerted attack against Japan, possibly for offering to enrich uranium for Iran.
Japan not hit by 9.0 quake? False flag nuclear weaponry actually destroyed Fukushima, claims report, Sunday, June 12, 2011 by: Ethan A. Huff,
http://www.NaturalNews.com/032692_Fukushima_earthquake.html
Extremely interesting hypothesis. True or false, one thing is absolutely clear. Japan was not simply a victim of a natural calamity. Which way Japan goes next is anybody's guess. We hope with all our heart that it will finally see the error of its way and cease to trust the very people who once destroyed it and who may have done so again.
Spanish protesters launch anti-austerity marches
AFP
June 20, 2011
Spain’s “indignant” activists launched Monday protest marches culminating in a major Madrid rally July 24, showing no let-up just a day after rallying an estimated 200,000 protesters.
Seething over the destruction of millions of jobs, welfare cuts and corruption, the first of at least three nationwide marches set off from eastern Spain’s Mediterranean city of Valencia.
Activists from Valencia will march and cycle on a 35-day, 500-kilometre (300-mile) route winding through 29 cities and villages in eastern Spain before arriving in Madrid.
(On a smaller scale for the moment, France and Germany have also begun having demos in solidarity with Spain and Greece.)
Dzisiaj rachunkowe biura nie muszą upominać się na małą ilośc
zainteresowanych. Zgłaszają się do nich głównie
właściciele firm, jacy mają indywidualne działalności.
Takich osób jest obecnie na rynku gospodarczym naprawdę sporo.
Prowadząc i obsługując samodzielnie działalność gospodarczą,
nie da się o wszystko zadbać osobiście.
Mając to na uwadze korzystają oni z usług zaoferowanych na rynku, które są się świetnym wyjściem.
Pewną z branży, która obsługuje takie firmy jest konkretnie rachunkowość
proponująca ewidencjonowanie księgowe, jaka ma czuwać na prawidłowością finansów w każdej działalności.
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