Benedict XVI expressed concern for the tense situation between Turkey and Kurdish rebels based in northern Iraq, and asked that every effort be made for a peaceful resolution.
King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia arrived Monday in Rome for an audience with Pope Benedict XVI, the first between a Saudi monarch and a leader of the Roman Catholic Church. The Holy See and Saudi Arabia do not have diplomatic ties, but King Abdullah met Benedict's predecessor John Paul II in 1999 when he was crown prince to his half brother King Fahd. The king will travel next to Germany and Turkey.
[WAR: The king has his travel plans in the right order: (First with) The Holy Roman (then the) Empire of the German Nation.]
Mary Ann Glendon, who has served in key Vatican posts for years, may soon represent her native country before the Holy See. President Bush announced today his intention to nominate Glendon, Harvard law professor and president of the Pontifical Academy for Social Sciences, as ambassador of the US to the Holy See. Her appointment is "providential, and a great blessing for all of us," an "outstanding Catholic and an outstanding American (and) one of the most distinguished women in the US. Well-known and much admired in the legal profession and among her peers at Harvard, she has been a cherished adviser to leaders both in Church and state."
Brushing aside criticism that her coalition was paralyzed and reforms were threatened, Chancellor Merkel said Monday she would not introduce policies that would undermine growth and jobs. Speaking after an inconclusive crisis meeting of the coalition of conservatives and Social Democrats on Sunday night, Merkel went on the offensive, saying she would not roll back reforms in the country.
Chancellor Merkel landed in Afghanistan on Saturday for her first visit to the country. She pledged more funds for training police and - with an eye to an upcoming parliamentary vote - insisted German troops would not be sent to the dangerous south.
In the coming week, the German Foreign Ministry, with the Foreign Minister in attendance, will present the "European Council on Foreign Relations" to the European public. Financed in part by the US billionaire George Soros, this new think tank will help promote an integrated foreign policy of all EU member states, thus laying the groundwork for a future EU foreign minister to be designated, once the EU Reform Treaty is ratified January 1, 2009. The EFCR members include senior EU politicians. According to its Berlin Office, the Council would like "to aid Germany in continuing to assume its exemplary and leading role in Europe".
The Council chose November 9, for its inaugural event in the German capital, because this date marks the "birth of a new European history". Germany is particularly interested in the institutional consolidation of Brussels' foreign policy. "The EU must be more unified in its decision-making process." Germany is centrally situated "between east and west" and "measured by size of population and economic power, the greatest EU nation," writes the ECFR about German predominance within the EU. "Europe is nearly a sort of 'raison d'état in Germany."
With Belgium still struggling to form a new government, fears are growing that the country will not be able to ratify the EU's Lisbon treaty in December, stalling the overall ratification process. Legal experts now fear that if Belgium fails to have a new government by 13 December, the outgoing government, normally only charged with "current affairs", will not have the powers to sign the document.
The EU's national parliaments have a long way to go before they can act as a joint power bloc in Brussels, fresh European Commission figures show. Data provided to EUobserver by commission officials suggest that national parliaments have to become much more active if they want to make use of provisions in the EU's new Reform Treaty, which gives national parliamentarians a greater say on new EU laws.
After a few quiet days in the EU capital, this week will see a pick up in pace with EU enlargement, a counter-terrorism strategy as well as the extension of the bloc's borderless area likely to make the biggest headlines. MEPs will spend a relatively quiet week in Brussels preparing the following week's plenary session in Strasbourg, marked by an official visit by French president Nicolas Sarkozy.
It's almost 9 years since NATO air strikes freed Kosovar Albanians from Serbian control, yet the official status of the province is still undecided. A deadline of December 10, 2007, has been set for the diplomatic process to deliver. It's expected to fail, after which Kosovo's semi-autonomous government says it will make a unilateral declaration of independence.
While Kosovo was a defining issue of post-Cold War leadership, there is now a gaping silence from all global powers – except Russia - as to an acceptable way forward. Kosovo's 2 million citizens interpret this as a signal that the US and much of Europe would support its independence.
On a holiday created to unite his country, President Putin issued a veiled warning that foreigners were seeking to split up the vast country and plunder its resource wealth. "Some people are constantly insisting on the necessity to divide up our country and are trying to spread this theory. There are those who would like to build a unipolar world, who would themselves like to rule all of humanity."
Pot calling kettle black...
Prime Minister Olmert's belief that Israel has a peace partner on the Palestinian side shows that he is detached from reality, Israel Radio quoted opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu as saying Monday. Netanyahu called on Shas and Israel Beiteinu to leave the coalition. He was responding to Olmert's speech at the Saban Forum in Jerusalem Sunday, in which he said rigorous and ongoing negotiations would commence immediately after the Annapolis gathering, and that all issues would be on the table.
Pakistani military strongman General Musharraf, a key ally of the Bush administration in its purported "war on terror," has again bared his fangs. In what is tantamount to a second coup, Musharraf has indefinitely suspended the constitution. The Bush administration, Britain's Labour government and the other western powers have responded to Musharraf's coup with the mildest, perfunctory criticism. The Pentagon has been, if anything, even less critical of Musharraf's coup.
The placid reaction to Musharraf's coup and its implicit threat of a bloodbath is in stark contrast to the vigorous denunciations that emanated from Washington, London, and other western capitals last month after Burma's military junta violently suppressed demonstrations against oil price rises and the lack of democracy in that country.
The difference is that the Pakistani regime is a pivotal ally of Washington in the pursuit of its predatory interests in the oil-rich regions of Central Asia and the Middle East. Musharraf has given vital logistical support for the US invasions and occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq and has provided US intelligence agencies with offshore torture facilities. He has also reportedly allowed the US military to use Pakistan to prepare for a war with Iran, by conducting training exercises in Pakistan and staging exploratory cross-border incursions into its western neighbor.
That said, Musharraf's resort to emergency rule constitutes a major debacle for the Bush administration. Washington and London recognize that Musharraf's coup is a desperate gamble, which could well backfire, precipitating a popular explosion that would redound against the interests of the Pakistani generals, the Pakistani bourgeoisie as a whole, and US imperialism.
When the US decided that its backyard would in future be a greater Middle East – from Pakistan to Morocco – it imagined that it could rearrange the region to suit itself. The results have been disastrous and will be long-lasting.
(LMD map: Geography of chaos)
Horn of Africa enemies Ethiopia and Eritrea may return to war over their disputed border in a matter of weeks if there is no major international push to halt them, an influential think-tank warned on Monday. "The risk that Ethiopia and Eritrea will resume their war in the next several weeks is very real. A military build-up along the common border over the past few months has reached alarming proportions. There will be no easy military solution if hostilities restart - more likely is a protracted conflict on Eritrean soil, progressive destabilisation of Ethiopia and a dramatic humanitarian crisis."
While the drums of war roll and the US president invokes economic sanctions against Iran and continues to speak of WW3, questions and more questions emerge from the disastrous past of US-Iran relations. In this climate and after the great lie about Iraq, one is justified to wonder if Iran's nuclear ambitions are the problem. The answer seems obvious - not at all. Oil is the issue. Oil is always the issue when official America speaks of Iran.
Iran is not tribal Afghanistan or artificially created and manipulated Iraq. From the Persian Gulf to the Caspian Sea, from villages of the Elbruz Mountains to the magic fountains of Isfahan, Iran is solidity. Iran is durability, part of our cultural heritage. This is territory of ancient peoples; according to some theories, the location of the mythical Garden of Eden and Cain's land of Nod, somewhere East of Eden.
As European officials express concern about the fact that the Bush administration's designation of Iranian agencies and firms as supporters of terrorism could block relations with Tehran for years to come, President Putin's description of these new US sanctions, as America "running around like a madman with a razor blade in his hand," seems appropriate and worrisome.
Paranoid propaganda...
Iran could have nuclear weapons by 2009, the Head of Israel's Military Intelligence's Research Division, Brig. Gen. Yossi Baidatz told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Tuesday. "Iran's conservative sect is gaining power. The Iranian regime is faced with internal issues, but there is no threat to its existence or stability. Assuming it faces no difficulties, the worst case scenario is Iran obtaining nuclear arms by 2009."
Liar...
Minister for Strategic Affairs Avigdor Lieberman slammed International Atomic Energy Agency chief, Dr. ElBaradei, saying that "his conduct raises a lot of question marks regarding his intentions and his real desire to deal with the Iranian arms race." Over the past few months, Lieberman has been in charge of appointing special teams which include intelligence and military officials, to discuss Iran's nuclear program. He is expected to submit his findings to the cabinet within the a few months. The findings are expected to include the conclusion that Tehran constitutes a strategic threat on Israel, both in terms of its nuclear plan and in terms of the tactical threat, by operating Hamas and Hizbullah terror cells and providing weapons to Israel's enemies.
Liar...
The leader of Congress' Iran hawks is undoubtedly Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut. Lieberman, currently an independent, has long been regarded as a "conservative Democrat," but his voting record reveals that his conservatism is largely limited to foreign policy and more specifically to the Middle East, where he is a strong and uncritical defender of Israel. Lieberman has never counted the costs to the US of pursuing Israeli objectives in the Middle East.
That many Americans do not see the need to attack Iran does not faze Sen. Joseph Isadore Lieberman, a man of self-proclaimed principle who obviously has clearer vision and knows better than his fellow countrymen what is right and what is wrong.
Pants on fire...
The leader of Hamas on Monday dismissed a US-sponsored Mideast peace conference planned for later this year, saying it was meant to distract the region as Washington prepared for an attack against Iran. "Strategically, it (the US) is setting the stage and covering up for the upcoming American war in the region. There are preparations for an aggression against Iran, and could include other parties - Syria, Lebanon and Hezbollah. Therefore, America is distracting us with a false game and is preparing itself for the real one."
What has possessed the Bush administration to pursue its grievances against Iran when it can't cope with the wars it is failing to wage, let alone win, in neighbouring Iraq and Afghanistan?
With oil above $95 a barrel, there are limits to how much pressure the US is willing to place on Iran's petroleum sector to influence a persistent nuclear standoff, analysts say. The dilemma is pretty clear for the world's largest energy consuming nation, which last week announced sanctions against several Iranian oil-services firms. Taking more aggressive action risks hurting America's economy, while enriching Iran's. Washington is also limited by the reality that, even if it wanted to take a more bellicose stance, it can do little - short of military action - to hinder Iran's oil sales at a time when global demand is bulging.
Iran is the world's 4th-largest oil producer. "Unless there is a major land and naval blockade, there are always going to be buyers for Iranian oil."
While Dick Cheney has been talking tough over the years about Iran's alleged nuclear activities, he has been quietly pursuing nuclear ambitions of his own. For more than 2 years, Cheney and a relatively unknown administration official have been regularly visiting the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to ensure agency officials rewrite regulatory policies and bypass public hearings in order to streamline the licensing process for energy companies that have filed applications to build new nuclear power reactors, as well as applications for new nuclear facilities that are expected to be filed by other companies in the months ahead, longtime NRC officials said.
Nicolas Sarkozy embarks on his first official visit to Washington today amid claims that he has replaced Tony Blair as President Bush's "poodle". Sarkozy, arguably the most pro-American French president ever, wants to end the bitterness caused by the opposition of his immediate predecessor to the Iraq war when he meets Bush today. After talks at the White House, Sarkozy and Bush are to meet again at the Mount Vernon home of George Washington, who used French military might to help defeat the British in the War of Independence. Sarkozy will speak on Wednesday to a joint session of the US Congress, a rare honour, in which he will "send a message" of friendship to Americans.
George W. Bush not only invokes his God in virtually every speech he makes, he also openly admits that he takes his instructions from his God. And look where that has gotten us. It brings to mind the words of Sinclair Lewis, who said, "When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross." The religious right and their supporters in Washington have brainwashed the American public into believing that Christianity is patriotic.
Here we are 4 months into a credit crisis and it is only 5% resolved. We believe this crisis has a long way to go as the interbank system attempts to restore confidence and trust. The traditional buyers of short-term corporate debt, better known as commercial paper, are still on strike and there is no end in sight. Over the past month the attention in the media has been focused on structured investment vehicles, SIVs, which have no visible market and hence no value. By our calculations the major New York banks are holding more than $400 billion of this toxic garbage.
Citigroup Inc. said Sunday Chairman and Chief Executive Charles Prince, beset by the company's billions of dollars in losses from investing in bad debt, has retired and is being replaced as chairman by former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin. In an announcement following an emergency meeting of Citi's board, the nation's largest banking company also said Sir Win Bischoff, chairman of Citi Europe and a Member of the Citi management and operating committees, would serve as interim CEO. Rubin, a former co-chairman of Goldman, Sachs & Co., has served as the chair of Citi's executive committee. In a separate statement, Citi said it would take an additional $8 billion to $11 billion in writedowns. It has already said it was writing down $6.5 billion in assets.
(LT: The financial impact of the sub-prime crisis on Citigroup has spiralled to as much as $17bn in a matter of weeks, plunging the world's biggest bank into turmoil. The financial hit means Citigroup is by far the biggest victim of the global credit crisis to date.)
A new phase in the credit crunch, one of "$1 trillion losses" seems to be dawning. The crisis at Citigroup and renewed doubts about some of the world's leading banks disquieted stock markets on both sides of the Atlantic yesterday, with the fractious mood set to continue. The banks remain unwilling to lend to each other, preferring to rebuild their balance sheets and "hoard liquidity" to buttress themselves against any shocks from repatriating off-balance-sheet losses.
"We are experiencing an unparalleled period of financial uncertainty caused by the problems in the US housing market." Meanwhile, newspaper reports named 2 German banks – WestLB and a small specialised bank for professional people – as possible next victims of the crisis.
A wave of foreclosures and evictions is about to sweep the US in the wake of the sub-prime mortgage lending crisis. This could destabilise the US housing market and may also lead to further turmoil in financial institutions, who collectively own $1 trillion worth of sub-prime debt. There have already been 1.7 million foreclosure proceedings in the US in the first 8 months of 2007, and up to 2 million families are expected to lose their homes over the next 2 years.
(Reuters: Greenspan, Soros warn of more housing pain)
The dollar reached yet another record low against the euro today, prolonging its slide amid expectations of more interest rate cuts in the US.
Assyrian babe dumps Manasseh's money...
Gisele Bundchen wants to remain the world's richest model and is insisting that she be paid in almost any currency but the US dollar. Like billionaire investors Warren Buffett and Bill Gross, the Brazilian supermodel, who Forbes magazine says earns more than anyone in her industry, is at the top of a growing list of rich people who have concluded that the currency can only depreciate because Americans are living beyond their means. When Bundchen signed a contract in August to represent Pantene hair products for Procter & Gamble, she demanded payment in euros.
(Wiki: Bündchen was raised in a Southern Brazilian region largely settled by German immigrants. Both of her parents are of German descent with her great-great-grandparents having immigrated to Brazil in the late 19th century.)
Energy consumers and speculators are scrambling to take out options contracts to insure themselves against oil prices rising above $100 a barrel – a further sign of growing expectations of a spike in the crude market. Some have even taken out contracts to protect themselves against prices rising to $250 a barrel in the next 2 years.
A toddler born with 8 limbs and believed by some to be the reincarnation of the multi-limbed Hindu goddess Vishnu, is set to undergo a 40-hour operation to remove half of her limbs. Lakshmi Tatma was born joined to a 'parasitic twin' and will go under the knife at the hands of 30 surgeons to remove two of her useless arms and legs. The headless 'twin' is joined to Lakshmi at the pelvis and has its own spinal column and kidney.
[WAR: Go ahead and tell me again that we're all individually "created" by God. What was He smoking when he "created" this girl? In reality, we are all just BORN according to the laws 'n flaws of nature - with their being very few exceptions throughout history.]
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