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EUROPE/RUSSIA
Kosovo ready if Serbia resists independence
Kosovo's leaders say they are prepared for resistance from Serbia if last-ditch talks on the province's future in the next two days fail to find a compromise and it declares independence. "We have nowhere to go and we are ready to face all the challenges."
MIDEAST/AFRICA/ASIA
Olmert fears allies will bolt coaltion
Prime Minister Olmert is concerned Strategic Affairs Minister Avigdor Lieberman may resign from the coalition when final-status negotiations with the Palestinians begin. Olmert's is concerned that if Yisrael Beiteinu bolts the coalition, Shas will be unable to withstand pressure from the right and will also resign. At present, the Shas leadership is divided over whether to stay put or leave the government.
PROVOKING PERSIA
Behind Mideast summit: The Iran factor
When the Bush administration holds a meeting this week to formally relaunch the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, one uninvited guest will be looming large over everyone's shoulder: Iran. Tuesday's meeting in Annapolis, Md., was once envisioned as a 3-day conference to kick off the negotiation of final-status issues. It's now an incredibly shrinking 24-hour gathering, but its occurrence at all is in no small measure a result of the rise of Iran and its brand of radical Islam in the Middle East.
Iran says summit "doomed to failure"
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, Iran's top authority, said a US-organised Middle East conference was "doomed to failure" and said it was being held to help Israel not the Palestinians. "All politicians in the world are aware that this conference is doomed to failure. They hope that in this way (by holding this conference) they can give assistance to the Zionists."
Evidence on Iran doesn't seem to matter
ElBaradei who reported to the UN Security Council on Feb. 14, 2003, that "We have, to date, found no evidence of ongoing prohibited nuclear or nuclear-related activities in Iraq." The US and Britain insisted that their intelligence said otherwise, Iraq was duly invaded, and nobody even apologized when no "prohibited nuclear or nuclear-related activities" were found.
For the simple-minded, White House spokesperson Dana Perino offered an even clearer proof of Iran's wickedness. Iran, she said, is "enriching and reprocessing uranium, and the reason that one does that is to lead toward a nuclear weapon." Case closed.
All ElBaradei can do is to assess whether Iran is obeying international law, but that is of little interest to Israel and the Western governments that are convinced, rightly or wrongly, that Iran's ultimate goal is nuclear weapons.
Prodi favours more talks with Iran
Italian Prime Minister Prodi called for further talks with Iran over its contested nuclear programme. "We have to negotiate with Iran. Negotiations (must be) based on 2 principles - the right of Iran to develop a nuclear programme and also the right of the international community to make sure effectively about the peaceful nature of the project in Iran."
Pentagon prepares B-1 base for air attack on Iran
The Pentagon has tendered 4 tankers for the purpose of shipping one million tons of fuel to its B-1 bomber base on Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. This is obviously some of the final preparations for the long overdue attack on Iran's underground nuclear-ballistic missile installations.
The fuel is meant to be used by the Pentagon bases in Bahrain-Kuwait-Oman, but they will be under constant attack as part of Tehran's response to any air strike. The Scottish paper The Herald reports, "The US is secretly upgrading special stealth bomber hangers on the British island protectorate of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean in preparation for strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities, according to military sources."
Rick Burnley poem:
Iran in the Crosshairs
HOUSE OF ISRAEL
New Buchanan book declares "end of America"
"America is coming apart, decomposing, and...the likelihood of her survival as one nation...is improbable - and impossible if America continues on her current course," declares Pat Buchanan. "For we are on a path to national suicide. ... America is in an existential crisis from which the nation may not survive." The best-selling author and former presidential candidate is on the eve of launching his new epic book: DAY OF RECKONING: HOW HUBRIS, IDEOLOGY AND GREED ARE TEARING AMERICA APART.
A nation on the edge of the final descent
In cultural terms, and with regard to the mythic conception of the US that we refuse to surrender or even to question seriously, America is like the crazy uncle whom relatives unsuccessfully attempt to confine to the attic. Just for amusement's sake, let's call him Uncle Sam, shall we?
Uncle Sam mumbles incessantly and often incoherently about how young and strong he is, while his body rots and decomposes. Sam endlessly insists that his way is the best way - his way in everything, mind you. Sam yells that if only everyone would listen to him and do exactly as he says - in everything, mind you - the world would be a beautiful and peaceful place.
Australian voters throw Howard gov't out of office
This is the first such defeat for a sitting prime minister since 1929. The vote represents a decisive repudiation of the Howard government’s record of lies and criminality. Howard’s defeat marks the demise of the last remaining partner of President Bush in the "coalition of the willing."
(The new PM) Kevin Rudd has made crystal clear that he intends to press ahead with his right-wing agenda. His victory speech featured a fulsome tribute to Howard and his “service to public life”. The next day, Rudd revealed he had already spoken with President Bush and reaffirmed his full commitment to the Australian alliance with US imperialism.
(Also: Bush more isolated as Howard ousted)
Islamic radicals planned attack on Ft Huachuca
Islamic radicals from Iraq and Afghanistan planned a terrorist attack on a US intelligence center that trains military interrogators for Guantanamo Bay and other detention centers, The Washington Times has reported. It said the plot targeted Fort Huachuca, an Army base located next to the Arizona town of Sierra Vista, about 15 miles north of the US-Mexican border. It is home to the US Army Intelligence Center as well as the 111th Military Intelligence Brigade, which trains intelligence specialists for all branches of the military.
Last May, the base was forced to beef up security measures after commanders were warned that possibly as many as 60 Afghan and Iraqi radicals had been smuggled into the US through underground tunnels built and manned by Mexican drug cartels. Many of these tunnels begin in northern Mexico and end in warehouses in Laredo, Texas, and in Arizona.
America hates Hillary Clinton and Co
They call it flyover country. These are the parts of the United States that the pundits and prognosticators of American politics see just occasionally - and usually from several thousand feet. It is a land where people shop at Wal-Mart, eat at Dairy Queen, work two jobs to make ends meet and have a Bible at home. They can decide on their vote with the help of talk radio, cable television and the internet - or from a combination of rumour, scraps of hard information and gut feeling. But it is in flyover country where the 2008 presidential election will be won and lost.
ECONOMY
Bet your bottom dollar tensions will follow
The weak dollar used to be an economic issue. But the greenback has now dropped so far, and has so much further to fall, that its decline is of profound political importance. The dollar isn't any old currency. And it isn't just the currency of the biggest economy on earth. The dollar is the world's "reserve currency" - which means central banks everywhere use it to stockpile wealth. No less than two-thirds of all sovereign foreign exchange holdings are denominated in dollars.
The dollar's long dive means countries worldwide, having used the currency to store their reserves, are sitting on massive losses. That's why the dollar's demise is of major diplomatic - and even military - significance.
A nation of speculators
Credit inflation created by Federal Reserve Bank policy has been uninterrupted since prior to WW2. How permanent is that, and what kinds of perverse behaviors does such an assumption of permanence foster? I hear people all the time say they are saving in their 401(k) plan at work. They tell me they don’t invest in stocks; they have mutual funds. What? They’re speculating…and they don’t even know it.
Biofuel and diet sow seeds of farm crunch
Malthus may have been right after all, though 2 centuries early and a crank. Mankind is outrunning its food supplies. Hunger - if not yet famine - is a looming danger for a long list of countries that are both poor and heavily reliant on farm imports, according to the Food Outlook of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation.
The farm crunch has been creeping up on the world for 20 years. Food output has risen at 1.3% a year: the number of mouths at 1.35%. What has abruptly changed is the twin revolution of biofuel politics and Asia's switch to an animal-protein diet. Together, they have shattered the fragile equilibrium.
The world's grocery bill has jumped 21% this year. The FAO says the food spike has a different feel from earlier cycles. "What distinguishes the current state of agricultural markets is the concurrence of the hike in world prices of, not just a selected few, but of nearly all, major food and feed commodities. Rarely has the world felt such a widespread and commonly shared concern about food price inflation."
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