Wednesday

The Daily WAR (11-19)

Reading between the lines, and thinking outside the box . . .
 
 
 
    More and more Catholics are taking an interest in the Jewish world, our "older brothers in the faith," said the president and founder of the association Judeo-Christian Friendship of Valencia. In this interview, he speaks of his work and association, and the status of Jewish-Christian relations.
 
    Jewish representatives have shown their willingness to continue dialogue with the Catholic Church, going beyond interpretations sparked by the new Good Friday prayer to be used by those communities that celebrate the liturgy according to the 1962 missal.
    The messages, some of them addressed directly to the Holy See, have arisen after strong criticism of the text of this prayer, which asks that the children of the Chosen People, as well as the rest of humanity, can all come to recognize Jesus Christ and his Church.
 
    A San Antonio-based association of Latino leaders was presented to various members of the Roman Curia. The Catholic Association of Latino Leaders, established to unite the many Spanish-speaking leaders in the fields of business, finance, education and politics who live in the US, was presented in Rome by the president of the board of directors, Mario Paredes.
    He affirmed that the objective of the group is to "work with the Church for the common good" and "serve Latino communities in the US." It aims to strengthen Latino culture to renew public life in America.
    He told Zenit that "integration permits the Hispanic Catholic world to maintain its language, culture, identity and presence, and at the same time, brings it to enter into the life of the Catholic Church in the US, taking on tasks and responsibilities."
 
 
 
    Authorities have shut down a child-care facility in Munich, saying it was trying to indoctrinate young minds with Scientology. The war between the California "church" and the German government continues.
 
German press
    The Social Democrats have announced that cooperating with the post-Communist Left Party is no longer taboo. Have they shattered their credibility, or are they just being pragmatic?
    The verdict of German media commentators is predictable, with the left-wingers saying Beck is merely showing pragmatism in responding to a changed political environment. The conservative papers accuse him of breaking his promise and undermining himself and the SPD.
 
    German [Bavarian] engineering and technology giant Siemens said Tuesday it would eliminate 3,800 jobs worldwide at Siemens Enterprise Communications after failing to woo a buyer for the division. Another 3,000 jobs may be cut by selling factories or establishing partnerships.
 
    The luxury car maker BMW said Wednesday that it would cut another 5,600 jobs by the end of 2008, on top of 2,500 other positions that have already been eliminated, as it moves to pare expenses amid a wider cost-cutting program.
    In a nod to the rising euro, BMW warned that other cuts could be made if the dollar continues its fall.
 
 
 
    The European Commission is threatening action against Ireland for making Church-run institutions exempt from laws that ban discrimination on the basis of orientation and belief. Irish law allows Church-related institutions such as schools, hospitals, and social agencies to reject employment applicants whose views or activities would violate religious norms. But Vladimir Spidla, the employment commissioner for the European Commission, has cited that policy as a violation of European law. The Irish government has not yet responded to the challenge from the European Commission. The European Commission is also challenging Germany's policy allowing same-sex couples to enter into civil unions. The European Commission argues that the German policy does not give same-sex couples all the legal benefits of marriage and therefore discriminates against homosexuals.
 
    A postponed summit between Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel has revived speculation that the German chancellor strongly opposes Sarkozy's desire to form a Mediterranean Union. As France prepares to assume the EU presidency in July, Berlin and Paris are at odds over a number of EU polices.
 
    In Europe, the destruction of all sovereign nation-states and the establishment of what Tony Blair, in a 1999 speech in Chicago, enthusiastically labeled a "post-Westphalian" order, is moving forward at breathtaking speed, through the Treaty of Lisbon, which would establish a dictatorial single European government in Brussels, perhaps as early as January 2009.
    Under one such scheme, the "big nations" of Europe would be divided into smaller principalities, on the model of the Swiss cantons. In a later version of the same scheme, promoted at the time of the 1992 Maastricht Treaty, Dutch beer baron Freddy Heineken promoted a "Eurotopia," of 75 mini-states.
    In each case, the devolution of power would fall under a top-down supranational European Council.
    (And: Roman Herzog, for example, who was President of the German Federal Constitutional Court (1987-94), had already written back in January 2007 in the newspaper Welt am Sonntag, that the EU poses a threat to parliamentary democracy in Germany, and that the treaty had to be rejected on those grounds.
    Ratification of the Lisbon Treaty would transform the EU from a European federation of states, into a federal state, one in which state power no longer derives from the people—as is required by Germany's Basic Law—but rather from the EU itself.
    [WAR: This is why the EU will collapse very soon.]
 
The pain in Spain...
    Kosovo's declaration of independence from Serbia has dramatically worsened tensions in Spanish domestic politics, fuelling an already volatile situation ahead of next month's general election.
    The declaration of independence has encouraged the drive towards separatism within many of Spain's constituent regions, increasing the possibility of the balkanisation of larger parts of Europe.
    The Spanish government has refused to recognise an independent Kosovo. Spain "will not recognise the unilateral act" because it "does not respect international law."
    Spain's 17 autonomous regions all have significant governmental powers, but the wealthier regions, particularly the Basque country and Catalonia, are pushing for measures of independence in economic decision-making.
    Basque and Catalan regional separatists were quick to welcome the unilateral Kosovan declaration, hailing it as a precedent for their own ambitions.
    Kosovo's declaration of independence marks a new stage in the break-up of existing political structures and states that intensifies the danger of war, and the fault lines reach far beyond the Balkans.
 
The present in historical context...
    Since the Roman Emperor divided the Roman Empire, putting the Slavs who had migrated southwards into the Balkans between those of them dwelling on the opposite bank of a common river, Croat versus Serb, the region now called "the Balkans" has retained that perpetually simmering condition of fraternal homicide which that region has inherited, to the present day.
    What began as the imperial management of the Balkans, through methods of crazy-quilt forms of religious warfare by the Byzantine emperors, has been adopted as a method of statecraft by the respective great oligarchical empires of west Asia and continental Europe, and their successors, up to the present instant.
    Since the time of that imperial division of the crisis-stricken Roman Empire, many wars have been fought under the flags of religious sects: that by credulous neighbors, neighbors who kill one another for the spectators' amusement and profiting of the imperial powers which use the Balkans as a gladiatorial chessboard of fraternal homicide.
    So, at this instant, imperial London has unleashed a fresh, intended slaughter over the destiny of Kosovo; so, the fools of the Balkans are prepared to hurl themselves afresh onto the same sacrificial altar, once again, as a century earlier, as a fresh wave of Balkan war.
    You must not overlook the pattern defined by 2 London-steered operations of the 1989-2008 interval to date:
    1) the Thatcher-Mitterrand Maastricht Treaty against Germany and all Eastern Europe;
    2) the London-crafted Lisbon I globalization scheme, and its successor, the proposed Lisbon II treaty dictatorship over all of western and central continental Europe;
    The current Kosovo operation is entirely a British imperial operation.
 
    Dmitry Medvedev is expected to become Russia's new president on Sunday. A protege of current President Putin, Medvedev is suddenly calling for a stronger emphasis on the rule of law, the market economy and freedom of the press. But many in Moscow have their doubts that the new president will become the country's real leader.
 
 
 
    A group of hundreds of prominent Israeli rabbis urged a religious partner of Olmert's government to immediately bolt the Israeli leader's coalition amid rampant media reports Jerusalem is up for negotiations.
    The rabbis warned that if the Orthodox Shas party remains in Olmert's government, they will urge Jews against supporting Shas. If the party bolts, Olmert's coalition government could fall apart, precipitating new elections.
    "We are seriously considering issuing a statement signed by the hundreds of rabbis of the organization declaring it is absolutely forbidden for any observant Jew to vote for a party that lent its support to a government that negotiated the division of Jerusalem, a move that will place the entire population in Israel in mortal danger."
 
    Prime Minister Olmert said that he is not certain Israel and the Palestinian Authority will be able to reach a peace agreement by the end of 2008, as they committed themselves to doing in the November US-sponsored Annapolis conference.
 
Breaking...
    More than 40 military trucks ferried troops toward the Iraqi border today, and F-16 warplanes and helicopters were seen flying toward Iraq.
 
    The US military announced that the number of troops in Iraq following the "surge" begun last year will be some 10,000 more than pre-surge levels.
    The continued crisis of the Iraq occupation has exacerbated tensions within the US ruling elite and among the military brass. Long and harrowing deployments have compounded stress and disillusionment within the military, leading many soldiers and officers to resign.
    The situation in Iraq is extremely unstable for the US occupation. Despite talk of political stabilization and sectarian reconciliation, the reality is that US troops are facing an extremely volatile situation.
 
    The US is funding and in many cases arming the 3 ethnic factions in Iraq—the Kurds, the Shiites and the Sunni Arabs. These factions rule over partitioned patches of Iraqi territory and brutally purge rival ethnic groups from their midst.
    Iraq no longer exists as a unified state. It is a series of heavily armed fiefdoms run by thugs, gangs, militias, radical Islamists and warlords who are often paid wages of $300 a month by the US military.
    Iraq is Yugoslavia before the storm. It is a caldron of weapons, lawlessness, hate and criminality that is destined to implode. And the current US policy, born of desperation and defeat, means that when Iraq goes up, the US military will have to scurry like rats for cover.
    A civil war, unlike anything US forces have experienced in Iraq, will begin. Such a conflagration, with the potential to draw in neighboring states and lead to the dismemberment of Iraq, would be the final chapter of the worst foreign policy blunder in American history.
 
"This is a very dangerous situation ... we have the curse of the OIL."
    Darfur is the more recognizable conflict, but another, arguably more explosive, battle is brewing in Sudan. This potential flash point is Abyei, a small, ethnically diverse enclave on the border between the Arab north and the African south.
    Split between Arabic-speaking nomads and non-Arabic-speaking farmers, Abyei has become a rallying cry for war. What's at stake? Pastureland, OIL wells, and the continuation of a 3-year-old peace deal that ended the 20-year civil war that killed more than 2 million Sudanese.
    OIL has indeed raised the stakes, as the new boundaries selected by the US-led Abyei Boundary Commission have included a major oil field at Heglieg within the newly demarcated boundaries of Abyei. If the powerful Dinka community in Abyei were to decide in a 2011 referendum to join their southern Dinka brethren, all of that oil wealth could fall into Southern hands.
 
 
 
Proud Persians...
    President Ahmadinejad said Tuesday that the research rocket Iran recently launched was built in just 9 months without using any foreign models. The Iranian government says it hopes to launch 4 more satellites by 2010 to increase the number of telephone lines and Internet capacity.
 
    Once again the Bush administration is leading the pack to impose a 3rd round of sanctions on Iran although Tehran has cooperated with the IAEA.
    Sanctions are an alternative to military force. By punishing a nation economically, socially, and/or politically, it is hoped that change will be affected without the prohibitive cost of war.
    The current policies directed at isolating and undermining the government have in reality helped to weaken the social and economic institutions which the country requires if it is to become a viable democracy.
 
    Prime Minister Olmert discussed in Japan on Tuesday North Korea's missile cooperation with Iran, cautioning that both countries posed threats to the stability of Asia and the Middle East, an Israeli official said. "Iran is at the head of the axis of evil and together with North Korea presents a threat to the stability of Asia and the Middle East," Olmert told the Japanese Defence Minister.
 
Will Turkey be complicit in another war against another neighbour?
    Despite the latest positive report of the IAEA on Iran' nuclear programme, efforts to launch a war against Iran are gathering pace. Given the unpopularity of such a war, the big powers are keeping very quiet about it whilst using highly sophisticated methods to psychologically prepare their citizens.
    At the same time, all we hear about Turkey in the Western European and North American mainstream media is the accession talks with the EU, the conflict between the religious AKP government and the country's secular establishment (including the military) and the cross-border operations into Northern Iraq.
    Is there no connection between Turkey and this new threat of war? How does psychological preparation work in the case of Turkey? What pressure are the leading NATO countries putting on the Turkish Government? How is the extra-parliamentary opposition reacting to the prospective next stage of the 'Global War on Terror'?
    The next big step towards the war is Cheney's visit to Turkey in March. "Iran's 'nuclear' threat is the reason behind the Vice President Cheney's plans to visit Turkey … During his visit in March, he will be giving 'serious' messages on Iran ... He will say: 'Iran is a very serious threat. Help us and support us'."
 
 
 
    The problem with Kristol and other neo-conservatives — and, for that matter, most conservatives — is with their conception of patriotism. In their minds, the federal government and the country are one and the same thing.
    This conservative and neo-con conception of patriotism is precisely why the conservative presidential candidates were both angry and befuddled when Ron Paul blamed the US government's foreign policy for the terrorist blowback that resulted in the 9/11 attacks. In their minds, Paul was part of the "blame America" crowd because in their minds, the federal government and America are conflated into one entity.
    One irony of all this is that conservatives and neo-cons still pay lip service to the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Yet, these documents openly acknowledge the distinction between the federal government and the country. In fact, a close reading of the Bill of Rights reveals that it isn't really so much an enumeration of rights as it is an express means to protect the country from the federal government.
 
    The President of Republicans Abroad in Israel, has published a paper in the Jerusalem Post condemning Barack Obama as a "neophyte" and a security risk to the Middle East and "the entire world."
    Citing Obama's appointments of several key foreign policy advisors who have supported a peace process for the Middle East, he builds his case for John McCain in the pages of the Jersusalem Post, owned by Hollinger International, which features the discredited neocon, Richard Perle, on the board of directors.
 
Was "black JFK" to die in Dallas?...
    According to the Ft Worth Star-Telegram, the Secret Service gave an order to stop screening for weapons for a full hour before the February 20 Barack Obama rally in Dallas. Metal detectors were turned off, and bags were not checked, as hundreds were allowed to file into Reunion Arena.
    This bizarre activity "ordered by federal officials," was immediately reported by an alarmed Dallas Police Department, which knew that it was a "lapse in security." The Secret Service has provided no detailed explanation about this blatant security stand-down. It is not known who gave the orders.
    While this story has been vastly underreported by major corporate media, independent liberal media, particularly Democratic Party and Obama faithful, have expressed astonishment and outrage.
    It goes without saying that Obama is viewed as a bitter enemy (at the very least a symbolic one) by the Bush-Cheney-McCain-neocon gang. Obama not only faces threats from fanatical right-wing and racist elements, but the desperately power-hungry rivals within the more conservative neoliberal wing of the Democratic faction, led by the Clintons.
    Obama is also competing with Hillary Clinton for the support of John Edwards. Edwards, the calculating emissary of Bilderberg Group interests, who was, according to Daniel Estulin, author of The True Story of the Bilderberg Group, handpicked by Henry Kissinger to be John Kerry's vice presidential partner in 2004, may be positioning himself for the same powerful seat this year. Kissinger (who is lurking in McCain's camp for 2008) and other leading elites already have control of the entire process, from both sides.
(Cartoon: Osama '08)
 
    John McCain's personal fortune traces back to organized crime in Arizona, through his father-in-law, according to a report published by a multi-news agency team.
 
    Britain was shaken by a huge earth tremor this morning which was felt by people from Yorkshire to the South Coast. The epicentre of the tremor, which measured 5.3 on the Richter scale according to the British Geological Survey, was centred on the village of Holton cum Beckering, about 15 miles northeast of Lincoln. The tremor is the biggest in Britain since 1984 when north Wales was hit by a quake which registered at 5.4 on the Richter scale.
 
 
 
Thanks to the BND...
    An investigation of wealthy and prominent Germans squirreling away money in Liechtenstein to avoid taxes is rapidly expanding around the world, with tax authorities from 8 additional countries announcing probes of their own.
    Officials from the Netherlands, Norway, France, Italy, Sweden, the US and Canada said yesterday they are investigating hundreds of their citizens for tax evasion.
    German prosecutors have also announced they have received information relating to a 2nd Liechtenstein financial institution and are considering the need to investigate other banks in the tiny country. Meanwhile, the Financial Times is reporting that prosecutors may expand their probe into a Swiss bank, Vontobel, as well.
 
    Russia, the world's second-largest oil-exporting nation after Saudi Arabia, has been quietly preparing to switch trading in Russian Ural Blend oil, the country's primary export, from the dollar to the ruble. But the change, if it comes, is still some time off, industry analysts and officials said.
    Oil trading is now nearly always denominated in dollars, the de facto common currency of the petroleum business. As a result, companies and countries that buy petroleum products are encouraged to hold dollar reserves to pay for their supplies, coincidentally helping the American economy support its trade deficit.
    Other oil-exporting countries, too, are chafing at dealing in the weakening dollar. A move away from the dollar, meanwhile, is more glum news for the US.
 
    Gasoline prices, which for months lagged the big run-up in the price of oil, are suddenly rising quickly, with some experts fearing they could hit $4 a gallon by spring. Diesel is hitting new records daily and oil closed at an all-time high on Tuesday of $100.88 a barrel.
    As oil prices spiked last fall, low wintertime gasoline demand helped keep prices in check. But now, experts say, the price of oil is finally showing up at the pump. The publisher and chief oil analyst at the Oil Price Information Service said he expects gasoline to peak around $3.50 to $3.75 a gallon nationwide.
    The spokesman for AAA echoed that view and added that $4-a-gallon gasoline is possible this summer. "We've gone from a worrying situation for gasoline to one that is quite alarming."
    The increases could not come at a worse time for the economy.
    With growth slowing, high energy prices that were once easily absorbed by consumers are now more likely to act as a drag on household budgets, leaving people with less money to spend elsewhere. These costs could exacerbate the nation's economic woes, piling a fresh energy shock on top of the turmoil in credit and housing.
    The depth of the nation's economic problems became clearer Tuesday with the release of figures showing that prices at the producer level rose 1% in January, driven in large measure by energy costs. Compared with a year ago, prices were up 7.4%, the worst producer price inflation in the US since 1981.
    Other new figures showed that home prices around the country are falling at an accelerating pace, suggesting no end is in sight for the housing meltdown.
(Update: Oil hits $102)
 
    The dollar has fallen to a record low against the euro as traders bet that further interest rate cuts will be needed to stem a US recession. The euro rose to $1.509 after buying $1.50 on Tuesday for the first time. Sterling climbed against the greenback too, reaching almost $2.
 
Viva la banks, to hell with the peasants...
    President Bush sided with banks and mortgage lenders on Tuesday, threatening to veto a bill being offered by Senate Democrats that would give more bargaining power to homeowners who face foreclosure.
    Opening what is likely to be an intense political battle in the deepening mortgage crisis, the White House said it strongly opposed the bill, which would let bankruptcy court judges modify the terms of a mortgage as part of the restructuring of a debt in a bankruptcy filing.
 
    In more bad economic news, consumer confidence and home prices posted sharp declines while higher costs for such basics as food, energy and medicine left wholesale inflation rising at a pace unseen since late 1981.
    Analysts said rising inflation, slumping home prices, a turbulent stock market and an economy flirting with a recession were all combining to rattle consumers' nerves. "There is no evidence that the recent collapse in consumer confidence is going to turn around any time soon."
    Private economists predicted further declines in housing prices in the months ahead as the 2-year housing slump continues with no signs of a turnaround. And foreclosures are dumping more homes back onto an already glutted market.
    The combination of weak growth and rising inflation raises the threat of a return of "stagflation," the economic curse of the 1970s in which economic growth stagnates at the same time that inflation continues racing ahead. The Fed can't fight both at the same time. It can either cut interest rates to spur growth or raise rates to combat inflation.
    (And: Yesterday saw some catastrophic data from the US, and various euro area countries, though curiously not from Germany.)
 
    Former chief economist of the World Bank, Joseph Stiglitz, has said that the US economy is already in recession and is pointing the finger of blame directly towards former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan.
    Stiglitz's comments come on the back of news that Greenspan has been actively urging Gulf states to abandon the dollar peg, a move that could result in financial chaos and a further economic depression in America. We have previously reported on Greenspan's penchant for working to destroy the US economy.
 
Stock-up now while it's cheap - and available!...
    Panic over commodity shortages continues to emerge as the dominant factor in the global markets, with both end user and speculative buyers of corn, soybean, cotton, rice and a host of other commodities taking note of what's happening in the wheat pit.
    Sentiment in the marketplace is changing from, 'buying just-in-time' to one of, 'buy what you need at any price' and then to 'buy even more to restock the shelves'. In other words, there's evidence to suggest that we're beginning to enter the hoarding phase of the inflationary cycle.
 
    With virtually every passing week, new reports of financial disaster surface, with previously obscure financial instruments becoming front-page news, new multi-billion-dollar losses at leading financial institutions—including those that were said to be sheltered from such events—and more calls for emergency actions to stave off a spreading crisis we were assured was under control.
    One could say that the dominoes are themselves disintegrating even as they topple in chain reaction, but even that understates the case.
    Few, if any, among the financial elites seem to understand that their precious financial system, which provided them with huge sums of money and elevated them to great power, was based upon a simple fraud, namely treating a growing garbage-pile of unpayable debt as if it were a great mountain of wealth.
    Now, even as their delusion lifts like a fog, revealing the garbage, they are in denial. It is cyclical, they maintain, the fundamentals are sound, and all we have to do is hang on until things return to normal. One can almost imagine the dinosaurs saying the same thing, as they went extinct.
    Far from being in control, the financiers are reacting to events beyond their comprehension. They are acting on impulse, and their impulse is to try to save themselves no matter what the cost to the people of the US, and the world.
 
    Since its release last September, Naomi Klein's latest book, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, has been climbing best seller lists around the world.
    This response is the product, not merely of an undoubtedly well-organised promotional campaign along with significant exposure in the mass media, but of a significant shift to the left in broad sections of the world's population.
    In every country there is widening and deepening hostility to the free market program that has prevailed over the past 2 decades, and growing opposition to the official political establishment that has promoted it.
    According to Klein, her book is a "challenge to the central and most cherished claim in the official story—that the triumph of deregulated capitalism has been born of freedom, that unfettered markets go hand in hand with democracy. Instead, I will show that this fundamental form of capitalism has consistently been midwifed by the most brutal forms of coercion."
 
 
 
    An empire is a state that extends dominion over areas and populations distinct culturally and ethnically from the culture/ethnicity at the center of power. Empires are all individual in character, having been formed in widely different times under widely different political structures. In fact, the term Empire does not imply any particular form of government.
 
Today in Scripture
    "Noah waited 7 more days [269th day of flood] and sent the dove out again, but this time it did not return to him." (Gen 8:12)
 
 
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