The Daily WAR (08-13)

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THE HOLY ROMAN ...

Meeting of B16 and College of Cardinals
The Holy See Press Office yesterday released information concerning the meeting for prayer and reflection between the Pope and the members of the College of Cardinals, which took place on November 23 in the Vatican's New Synod Hall.


... EMPIRE OF THE GERMAN NATION

Challenger to Merkel works one step away
On subjects where George Bush and Dick Cheney might clash, the assumption is that Bush does the deciding. It's different in Germany. The problem is that on matters that count to the world - the German positions on China, Russia, Iran, the Middle East and the US - a clear, not easily reconcilable breach at the top has been exposed.
Since last week, we know that Merkel and her newly named vice chancellor, Foreign Minister Steinmeier, do not agree on how to handle Russia and China. And because they are central elements in bringing Iran into line, it is not sure where Germany will finally come down on dealing with Tehran.
(Also: Interview with the FM)

Germany battling with oil costs, US crisis
Chancellor Merkel said record oil prices and the financial-market turmoil sparked by the crisis in US mortgages are weighing on the German economy. "We have global economic conditions that give us no reason for levity," she said, citing "oil prices and crises in the US housing market." Germany's economy, Europe's biggest, is "not independent from international conditions," she said.


EUROPE/RUSSIA

"The European project is one of the grandest ideas in the world"
Portuguese Prime Minister and current European Council President José Sócrates talks about the Lisbon Treaty, Europe's trouble with Russia and Brussels' engagement with Africa. "Europe had to overcome its institutional crisis. The best signal that we could give to European citizens, European industry and the entire world was that we had agreed to a more efficient decision-making framework. This is the only way that Europe will be capable of playing an important role in global affairs."

Serbia defiant during Kosovo talks
Serbia will not give up "an inch" of Kosovo, Prime Minister Kostunica said as talks on the breakaway province's future entered a critical phase before a UN deadline next month. "Serbia will not let an inch of its territory be taken away," a defiant Kostunica told reporters at a final round of negotiations.
(Also: Serbs, Albanians totally opposed on Kosovo)
(Analysis: Last chance for deal on Kosovo)
(Also: Will the Balkans flare up again?)


MIDEAST/AFRICA/ASIA

Yes...
The Mideast summit: Mission impossible?
This week will see George Bush make his first, and almost certainly his only, major attempt to bring an end to the world's most intractable conflict. As participants gather for the Middle East conference in Annapolis, the spotlight is on the Israelis, the Palestinians, the Syrians and the Saudis – but the most important consideration lies closer to home: how will President Bush fare in a belated attempt to play peacemaker.
But if the moment is unusually propitious for negotiation, never have the obstacles to a peace deal been higher. It was not clear yesterday whether even a joint document would be agreed. The Saudi foreign minister is refusing to shake hands with the Israelis. At best, what will emerge is a declaration that both sides want a settlement, based on resolution of the familiar "final status" issues: Israeli settlements and the borders between the states, the right of return for Palestinian refugees, and Jerusalem. But not only are these issues are as divisive and intractable as ever. They are at the mercy of small, more immediate, disputes.
(Also: Lieberman calls summit a "photo op")
(Also: Rice's turnabout on Mideast peace talks)
(German press: "Anything is better than doing nothing")

Jewish/Xian leaders to US: No compromise on Jerusalem
Representatives from Orthodox Jewish organizations and Christian organizations met with President Bush's National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley along with other senior White House officials Monday, and raised concerns regarding the diplomatic meetings in Annapolis. The members of the group oppose future Israeli concessions in Jerusalem. According to some participants, Hadley told them that Jerusalem is not on the negotiating table now.
Earlier Monday, Prime Minister Olmert categorically rejected assertions by American Jewish leaders that Jerusalem is not an Israeli issue but "a Jewish one." The Jewish leaders are demanding that American Jews should have a say in any discussion about dividing Jerusalem.

Yes...
Keepers of the lost ark?
Much of Jewish tradition holds that the ark disappeared before or while the Babylonians sacked the temple in Jerusalem. But through the centuries, Ethiopian Christians have claimed that the ark rests in a chapel in the small town of Aksum, in their country's northern highlands. It arrived nearly 3,000 years ago, they say, and has been guarded by a succession of virgin monks who, once anointed, are forbidden to set foot outside the chapel grounds until they die.
[WAR: Yes, the ark is there. But it didn't get there until after Jeremiah left Jerusalem with it, and the stone/throne (not to mention the king's daughters). When they got to Egypt, the stone/throne stayed with Jeremiah and the ark went with the divinely-protected Ethiopian that had rescued Jeremiah from the cistern.
Those that are considered worthy to escape the soon-to-start Jacob's Trouble will be taken to the place prepared in northern Ethiopia (near Lake Tana, the source of the Blue Nile), where they will be taught by the Messiah himself - vocally, through the ark, like Paul was.]

ASEAN to form AU?
Prepare yourself for a debilitating bout of schizophrenia this week as leaders from across Southeast Asia meet in Singapore to mark the 40th anniversary of their Association of Southeast Asian Nations. If you believe the summit speeches, the 10-member ASEAN is the world's most successful regional bloc, aside from the European Union, having fostered the stability that fueled the region's phenomenal economic growth in recent decades.
It will be a "historic moment" as presidents and prime ministers sign their "landmark" charter - a "bold and visionary regional constitution" committing their nations to democracy, the rule of law and human rights.


PROVOKING PERSIA

Hands off Iran ... or else
An attack on Iran - which appears increasingly likely before the coming presidential election - will unleash a regional conflict of catastrophic proportions. This war, and especially Iranian retaliatory strikes on American targets, will be used to silence domestic dissent and abolish what is left of our civil liberties. It will solidify the slow-motion coup d'état that has been under way since the 9/11 attacks. It could mean the death of the Republic.
An attack on Iran will ignite the Middle East. The loss of Iranian oil, coupled with possible Silkworm missile attacks by Iran against oil tankers in the Persian Gulf, could send the price of oil soaring to somewhere around $200 a barrel. The effect on the domestic and world economy will be devastating, very possibly triggering a global depression.


HOUSE OF ISRAEL

The mystery of Minot
The unauthorized cross-country flight of a B-52H Stratofortress armed with 6 nuclear-tipped AGM-29 Advanced Cruise missiles, which saw these 150-kiloton warheads go missing for 36 hours, has all the elements of 2 Hollywood movies. To date, more than a month after the incident, Pentagon investigators have completely ignored a peculiar cluster of 6 deaths, during the weeks immediately preceding and following the flight, of personnel at the 2 Air Force bases involved in the incident and at Air Force Commando Operations headquarters.
Philip Coyle, a senior advisor at the Center for Defense Information who served as assistant secretary of defense in the Clinton administration, calls the incident "astonishing" and "unbelievable." "This wasn't just a mistake. I've counted, and at least 20 things had to have gone wrong for this to have occurred."

Ideology was Bush's undoing
If there is a one root cause to the Bush failures, it has been his fatal embrace of ideology. Ideology is substitute religion, a belief system based on ideas that are often contradicted by history and common sense. Yet men will adhere to ideologies with a zealotry that borders on fanaticism. Marxism, fascism and socialism are ideologies, gods that failed. So, too, is democratism, the Gospel of George W. Bush.

Impeachment is back on the table
All excuses for not impeaching President Bush and Vice President Cheney, not to mention indicting Cheney, have evaporated. Here is rock-solid evidence from a man who, as press secretary, was privy to the inner workings of the White House, of a vile conspiracy involving the two top men in the Bush/Cheney administration, as well as their top three staffpeople, to expose the identity of an important CIA undercover operative, Valerie Plame, and then, when caught, to obstruct a criminal investigation by Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, into that crime.
Forget for a moment the administration's other high crimes and misdemeanors and acts of bribery and treason, though many, like defying laws passed by the Congress, or violating the Nuremburg Charter, are surely far more egregious. This particular set of crimes - conspiracy, obstruction of justice, lying, and of course the underlying crime of abuse of power and perhaps treason - is serious enough.
There is no way that American democracy can continue to survive, even in its current truncated form, if the Congress continues to duck this issue and pretend that it has "more important things to do," as Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her retinue of "leaders" in the House have continued to claim for an entire year in control of the Congress.

America: Freefalling into darkness
It's an old adage that "if you walk too far on a short plank, you will fall off." That fits well with my grandmother's saying "it's a long way down from high up." Such is the precarious situation the US finds itself confronted with today. We are in effect going for a long walk on a short plank, blissfully ignorant of how high up we are and how painful it will be when we hit bottom.
The Chinese continue to stretch us out – weakening us – leading us to a brink where, for the first time in our remarkable history, we may not be able to sufficiently defend ourselves. The dollar continues to weaken at an alarming pace.
America has achieved and maintained her pre-eminent status because honest men and women risked all to ensure it. But as I stated at the beginning, this position is now at a precarious state. We risk a freefall the likes of which has not been witnessed by a civilized society in centuries.
If we the citizenry do not unite for the security of our collective future – then we will as surely as the night will come, ultimately collapse into darkness.

Drought halves Australian wheat stocks
Wheat stocks in Australia fell by over 50% in the 2 months to October this year as the country's worst drought in 100 years hit grain supplies. Total grain stocks at October 31 were also 76% below the October 2006 level. With the winter grains harvest down by around 40% on normal levels, the rare possibility is looming of grains imports by Australia, normally one of the biggest grains exporters in the world.


ECONOMY

Japanese stocks plunge in global rout
Japanese share prices plunged more than 2% in morning trade, dragged down by overnight drops on Wall Street amid concerns over the US economy. The drop followed the heavy sell-off on Monday in New York, where investors voiced fears that the housing slump and credit crunch could derail US economic growth.

10-year treasury yield at 2 1/2 year low
Treasury prices rallied dramatically Monday on more credit concerns, pushing the benchmark 10-year note's yield down to its lowest level in 2 1/2 years. Trading was dominated by a fresh set of worries about the impact of deteriorating below prime home loans on the credit and housing sectors; those concerns led investors away from risk and to again seek the safety of government bonds. "But as we know, this market is not really based on fundamentals. It is based on fear. Fear of the unknown."

Citigroup to sell $7.5bn stake to Abu Dhabi
Citigroup Inc. is selling up to 4.9% of itself for $7.5 billion to the Gulf Arab emirate of Abu Dhabi, giving the largest US bank fresh capital as it wrestles with the subprime mortgage crisis and the resignation of its chief executive. The capital injection will shore up Citi's balance sheet, which has been hurt by some $6.8 billion of writedowns and losses in the 3rd quarter, and the potential for another $11 billion in the 4th quarter. Citi is paying a high price for the capital injection by selling mandatory convertible securities to Abu Dhabi which pay a fixed coupon of 11%.

Credit crisis reveals widespread manipulation
The developing credit crisis in the US, linked to the bursting of the housing market bubble, is beginning to reveal the accounting manipulations employed by major US banks to engage in speculative activities and hide risks. Several major banks have already announced billions of dollars in losses associated with subprime mortgages, and in the next months are expected to announce tens of billions of dollars in further write-downs.
The pervasiveness of accounting manipulation is closely linked to the increasingly dominant role that speculation has come to play in the American economy. Vast sums of wealth—including tens and hundreds of millions of dollars to top executives and hedge fund managers—have been made through mechanisms that are largely divorced from any relationship to actual production. The importance of these forms of speculative wealth accumulation has increased as the underlying health of the American economy has decreased.

New geoeconomic paradigm
In Europe, Africa, the Middle East, South Asia and the Far East, the correlation of geoeconomic forces appears to be moving against the US. And greed, the Rh-negative bloodstream of democratic capitalism, is what triggered a global subprime mortgage fiasco, which, in turn, pushed the dollar right off its pedestal. Many saw the disaster coming but kept quiet as the international Ponzi scheme kept belching huge profits.
The new geoeconomic paradigm is glaringly obvious. Can a geopolitical shift in the correlation of forces be far behind? Our self-avowed enemies are students of Sun Tzu, the Chinese philosopher of war. In the "Art of War" 2,500 years ago, he wrote the supreme excellence in war is not to win a hundred battles on 100 battlefields - but to subdue your enemy without ever having to fight him.

The filthy rich: Forbe's top 400
Forbes magazine has published its 2007 list of the 400 richest people in America. That so many of this parasitic sort have found their way into this most exclusive club of the super-rich is a powerful testament to the decaying, crisis-ridden state of American capitalism. But while the Forbes list focuses solely on the American elite, the swift and seemingly limitless accumulation of wealth, particularly where it has been culled through parasitic maneuvering, is an international phenomenon.
As the Forbes 400 billionaires and other oligarchs throughout the world have been amassing their fortunes, another story has been unfolding with its own disturbing statistics. Recent data from the US Census Bureau showed there were 36.5 million people living in poverty in the US in 2006, including 12.8 million children. This number, which is based on a thoroughly inadequate poverty threshold—$16,079 for a family of 3—is disturbing, but undoubtedly grossly underestimates the actual number of people living in poverty.
These reports and the Forbes 400 provide us with a damning portrait of a capitalist system in which the majority of the world’s population is exploited by an increasingly criminal elite. As more and more wealth is concentrated with alarming speed and with more predatory methods into the hands of the smallest minority, the living conditions of poor and working class people throughout the world are driven further and further into the ground. The eventual destruction of such a system as this is as unavoidable as it is necessary.

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