Friday

The Daily WAR (11-28)

Reading between the lines, and thinking outside the box . . .
 
 
 
    On Wednesday, the Pope received the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople. At the end of their meeting, they prayed together in the Urban VIII Chapel of the Apostolic Palace. This is the 3rd meeting between the Pope and the Ecumenical Patriarch.
 
    Benedict XVI extended an invitation to the patriarch of the Armenian Orthodox Church to visit the See of Peter in a letter delivered by his secretary of state. Cardinal Bertone visited Karekin II, supreme patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, on Tuesday.
 
    The Pope's decision to set up a permanent Catholic-Muslim Forum, the first of its kind, is a welcome and imaginative response to last year's call by 138 Muslim scholars for a permanent dialogue with Christendom.
    The move follows hard on the heels of Benedict XVI's 2 other momentous initiatives that will have lasting repercussions: his attempt to re-evaluate Martin Luther by emphasising the German priest's intentions to purge the Church of corrupt practices, rather than the schism that he engendered; and the Vatican's overdue admission that Galileo was no heretic but a pioneering scientist.
    The initiatives could set a new framework for Catholic debate in 3 areas of political and spiritual importance, and where the Pope's own position in the recent past has been much misunderstood: relations with Islam, ecumenism and the renewed clash between science and religion.
    Perhaps the most intriguing move, however, is the reassessment of Luther. To historians, the Pope's view is hardly controversial: they have long said that Luther was not alone in denouncing the sale of indulgences, nor did he want a break with papal authority.
    But to accept Luther, after 500 years of theological strife, as an honest Catholic trying to cleanse and restore the Church is extraordinary. If it repairs some of the hurt caused by the Pope's careless dismissal last year of Protestants and the Orthodox as "not proper Churches", so much the better.
    Benedict XVI could turn what is a perhaps harsh reputation based on his role as the "enforcer" to his predecessor if he makes bold and unexpected moves in a different direction. If his fresh analysis on Luther, in particular, marks a papacy intent on fostering Christian harmony and unity, it is magnanimous and historic.
 
    Art historians secretly dream of going back in time to see artistic masterpieces in their original environment, rather than as museum pieces. In their wildest flights of fancy, they fantasize about being part of that world. Last Friday, this art historian lived that dream when I accompanied my mother, Mary Ann Glendon, as she presented her credentials to Benedict XVI as US ambassador to the Holy See.
 
 
 
    The Green Party and their former arch-enemies the Christian Democratic Union are currently courting in the city-state of Hamburg. If they manage to agree to an alliance, it could usher in a new era of promiscuity in German coalition-building.
 
    The political stalemate in the German state of Hesse was set to continue after the Social Democrat leader today withdrew her candidacy for the premiership.
 
    The public sector strikes continued on Thursday, hitting central and southern states. Meterologists, statisticians, bankers and sanitation workers all walked off the job ahead of negotiations between the Ver.di union and the employers on Thursday afternoon.
 
    Germany wants NATO to invite 3 Balkan states -- Croatia, Albania and Macedonia -- to join the alliance but is sceptical about moving Ukraine and Georgia closer to membership, its foreign minister said.
 
 
 
    An increasingly heated dispute with Greece over its names is threatening to undermine the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia's attempts to join NATO and may affect the country's EU aspirations.
    The countries have been deadlocked in a fight over Macedonia's name since the country declared independence from Yugoslavia in 1991. Greece refuses to recognise its neighbour's constitutional name – Republic of Macedonia. A northern region in Greece is also called Macedonia and Athens fears allowing Skopje to use the name will open the way to territorial claims.
 
    The Serbian cabinet appeared at its end today, when Prime Minister Kostunica said Belgrade was "in a big crisis" and he could no longer trust his coalition partners. "I no more have confidence in the coalition partners ... that they are honestly fighting to save Kosovo."
 
    Serbia pressed Thursday for a new Security Council session to oppose Kosovo's secession, backed by chief ally Russia. Kosovo's independence was quickly recognized by Security Council members the US, Britain, France and Italy. But veto-wielding members that have not recognized Kosovo's independence — Russia and China — have the power to block any attempt by Kosovo to gain a seat on the international body.
 
    While the presidential election proved entirely predictable, the transfer of power from Vladimir Putin to Dmitry Medvedev looks likely to be anything but. This will be the first time in the country's history that a popularly elected head of state hands over power to another popularly elected head of state. The lack of precedent is raising some curious constitutional questions over exactly how the Kremlin's impending round of musical chairs is going to work.
 
 
 
    Thursday's shooting struck 'underbelly' of settlement movement, Yesha religious leaders direct accusations at weak political leadership 'that arms the enemy and negotiates with Holocaust deniers over the division of holy Jerusalem.' "The responsibility for the massacre lies with the governments of Israel, which for years have displayed weakness and exhaustion and have seen to the armament of the enemy."
 
    The Turkish military leadership has rejected a request by Iraq's largely autonomous Kurdish region to shut down several military bases in northern Iraq.
 
    More than 3 million Shiites visited the Iraqi holy city of Najaf today to observe the anniversary of Prophet Mohammed's death in 632.
 
    Secretary of State Rice, tiptoeing through a minefield of intra-European squabbling, urged NATO allies on Thursday to step up troop contributions and other efforts to help defeat the Taliban in Afghanistan.
    "We have been concerned about burden-sharing. The Canadians have made clear that they desire a partner in the south, and we have made clear that NATO needs to deliver on that and we have to respond as an alliance."
 
    China's official Communist Party mouthpiece on Thursday said a Pentagon report exaggerated Chinese military capabilities to justify US sales of military hardware to Beijing's rival Taiwan.
    "The report maliciously exaggerates China's ability to wage computer warfare and its space capabilities. These reports by the US Defence Department have been used in the past as a pretext to justify continued weapons sales to Taiwan."
 
 
 
    Stephen Kinzer is the author of All the Shah's Men: An American Coup and The Roots of Middle East Terror. The book chronicles the CIA-backed 1953 overthrow of Iran's democratically elected government after Iran nationalized its oil industry.
    The aftershocks of the coup are still being felt. His book has just come out in paperback, and he's traveling the country to warn against a US attack on Iran. I sat down with him to talk about what is happening today in Iran.
 
    Iran's 8-day parliamentary campaign season got off to a muted start Thursday, with no events and a paltry number of challengers running against hardline President Ahmadinejad's backers. His supporters were expected to make gains in the March 14 vote.
 
    A top cleric says the new round of UN sanctions on Tehran was 'hastily' adopted to influence the turnout for Iran's upcoming election
 
    Iran's ambassador to Russia has said the UN Security Council has been transformed into a tool for some countries to abuse their power. "There is no justification for the UN Security Council to examine Iran's nuclear dossier when the latest IAEA Chief Mohammad ElBaradei's report proves the legitimate and peaceful nature of the country's nuclear activities as an NPT member."
 
    The Vatican's President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace has voiced surprise over the third round of sanctions against Iran. "Like any other state, Iran is entitled to peaceful use of nuclear energy. This is Vatican's stance toward Iran's nuclear issue and it has always been one of our principal policies."
    He also noted that Vatican welcomes IAEA's stand and role as well as its recently released report indicating Iran's positive cooperation with the agency. "The IAEA's report clearly states Iran's cooperation with the agency and urges diplomacy over Tehran's nuclear standoff. As an internationally approved institution, world powers as well as the UN Security Council should prepare the grounds for the Agency to accomplish its duties."
 
    The governor of the Central Bank of Iran has said that the US 'bullying' will not lead to isolation of the country. "The world is too big and Iran is a very big country. We have intimate friends who help us when we are in need. Our banks naturally stopped dealing with the dollar when the US stopped clearing transactions."
 
 
 
 
"No longer available"!...
 
    Naomi Wolf video on scary parallels between the US and early Nazi Germany.
 
German press
    With wins in Texas and Ohio, Hillary Clinton has re-emerged as a serious contender in the US president race. But the longer the Democratic battle continues, the easier things might eventually be for John McCain.
    Going by a recent poll by public broadcaster ARD, two-thirds of Germans skew Democratic in their preference for the next American president. A new survey by pollster Forsa found that a slight majority would prefer to see Obama in the White House. And that leaves Germans a bit troubled at the moment, at least going by the editorial pages.
 
    An award winning reporter has detailed an ongoing media blackout concerning a major issue of national security on the southern border.
    "There's a lot of people who don't realize how serious the situation is on the southern border. This is a very serious national security issue in many respects ... It is a huge story. It is bigger than most of us even know, and people are afraid of covering the story. We hear reports but we don't see in depth detail."
 
    In 1976, when George H.W. Bush was CIA director, the U.S. government tolerated right-wing terrorist cells inside the United States, who were behind a lethal car bombing in Washington, D.C., according to newly obtained internal government documents.
 
    Latin America continues to confront its worst regional diplomatic and military crisis in decades. One would never guess that Washington had any role in the bloody events on the Colombian-Ecuadoran border.
    The facts, however, tell another, far uglier story. The 3 Andean nations have been brought to the brink of war by a brutal and cold-blooded political assassination carried out to further the interests of US imperialism at the expense of the Colombian people and the population of the entire region.
    This ruthless attack was staged not to ward off some pending terrorist attack. On the contrary, it was designed as a "preemptive strike" against a negotiated release of hostages held by the FARC.
    Colombian officials have openly acknowledged the role of US intelligence agencies in instigating and coordinating the March 1 targeted assassination. Presumably, the CIA or other US intelligence agencies were also tapping phone calls between Reyes and French officials over the proposed release of Betancourt.
    Both Washington and the right-wing regime in Colombia were determined to stop any further hostage releases in order to further efforts to politically isolate the Chavez regime.
    At the same time, the bombs dropped on the FARC encampment were undoubtedly also meant as a message to Sarkozy not to meddle in Yankee imperialism's "backyard."
    It is a reminder that "Murder, Inc."—as the CIA became known during the 1960s and 1970s, when it organized numerous assassinations and assassination attempts, along with right-wing coups and dirty wars—is still very much in business in Latin America.
 
 
 
 
    Asian and European markets fell today after another overnight drop on Wall Street spurred by news about rising foreclosures on US mortgages that intensified concerns about the world's largest economy.
 
    Things are so bad in the US that during the Senate Banking Committee hearing, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson resorted to aliens from outer space to describe how things are looking.
 
    CNN host Lou Dobbs says the US economy is heading for a stagflation crisis as a result of the government's policy of dollar depreciation. "We have the specter of stagflation staring at us coldly and inevitably right now."
 
    The US economy is sinking, and it will take the global economy with it. This is the perfect time to panic. If we wait until our rulers give us permission to panic, we'll be dragged to the bottom along with everyone else.
    Just as the Titanic was too mighty and cunningly designed to sink, Citigroup is supposed to be too big and too powerful to fail. But Citi is poised on the brink of oblivion itself. Citi is going to implode, most likely this year.
    So it's not an "either/or" proposition for the economy: We'll probably see huge bank failures and even larger taxpayer bailouts.
    We can't avoid financial winter, but it is possible to mitigate its impact. Get some food stored up in quantity, against the possibility of sudden price spikes and shortages.
 
    Amid signs that the US housing and credit crises are deepening, threatening the solvency of some of the biggest Wall Street banks, Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke has called for more drastic measures to stanch the spread of mortgage defaults and home foreclosures, and suggested he might support Democratic plans to use federal funds to at least partially bail out struggling banks.
    The context of Bernanke's speech was a raft of negative economic data. The implications of these figures are dire for the stability of the US and global financial system.
    On the financial front, recent days have seen a number of hedge funds unloading bonds in order to meet margin calls, and on Thursday a publicly traded investment fund of the Carlyle Group private equity firm went into default. Most ominous is the position of Citigroup, the world's largest bank based on assets.
 
    And you thought that I had a gloomy outlook on the economy. Now the bad news pops up everywhere. Bernard Connelly, the global strategist at Banque AIG in London, claims that the likelihood of a Great Depression is growing by the day.
    Martin Wolf, celebrated columnist of the Financial Times, cites Dr. Nouriel Roubini of the New York University's Stern School of Business, who, in 12 steps, outlines how the losses of the American financial system will grow to more than $1 trillion - equal to all the assets of all American banks.
    Every day now, thousands of people all over the US and Great Britain are walking away from their homes - simply mailing their house keys to the banks - as housing bailout plans fail.
    The next domino to fall will be credit card defaults, and after that... who knows? There are so many exotic funds out there, with trillions of dollars in paper - or rather computer-screen money - all carrying assorted acronyms, and all about to disintegrate into nothingness.
    "The end of the 3rd quarter of 2008 will be marked by a new tipping point in the unfolding of the global systemic crisis. At that time indeed, the cumulated impact of the various sequences of the crisis will reach its maximum strength and affect decisively the very heart of the systems concerned, on the front line of which (is) the United States, epicentre of the current crisis.
    "In the United States, this new tipping point will translate into - get this - a collapse of the real economy, (the) final socio-economic stage of the serial bursting of the housing and financial bubbles and of the pursuance of the US dollar fall.
    "The collapse of US real economy means the virtual freeze of the American economic machinery: private and public bankruptcies in large numbers, companies and public services closing down."
 
    The bursting of the housing bubble, which punctured the credit bubble, was a criminal enterprise at the outset, pooh-poohed at first by those who should have known better, that has now triggered a global economic crisis.
    Global estimates of laundered funds sheltered by individuals in offshore tax havens vary between $7 trillion and $12 trillion. Collateral economic damage is huge -- and keeps growing.
    Clearly, a new paradigm is needed -- but it's not in the cards. We are simply told to go out and spend more. The law of unintended consequences beckons. Several major kicks are on the way. It is, after all, the worst financial crunch since the Great Depression. And talk about "change" won't hack it.
 
    Days before an EU leaders economic summit and following a decision by the European Central Bank to avoid interest rate cuts, calls for measures to tackle the rising strength of the euro are intensifying.
    The president of BusinessEurope told reporters that the euro "will not survive in the long run in the absence of some kind of political support, by which we mean the eurogroup." The eurogroup gathers together finance ministers of the 15 member states of the single currency area.
    Europe's trade unions have criticised the ECB's policy, urging the Frankfurt bank to "recognise at last that the balance of risks has shifted and that the threat to growth is now so serious that an urgent cut in interest rates is required. The euro's continuing appreciation is becoming alarming."
 
    Widening spreads between German government bonds and those of Italy, Greece and other eurozone countries are a "wake-up call" for policymakers, the president of the ECB, warned.
    He urged European governments to heed warning signals from the region's debt markets and "be very cautious as regards fiscal policies" as the gap between the yield on Italian government bonds and the benchmark 10-year German Bund opened up to its widest since the 1999 birth of the euro.
    The growing gap between yields illustrates the extent to which the global credit turmoil is causing investors to demand higher risk premiums for holding bonds considered more risky and instead buy those of Germany – which has the region's largest and most liquid market.
 
    The European Central Bank has dashed hopes for an interest rate cut in the coming months, defying mounting calls for monetary stimulus to head off a sharp slowdown.
    The ECB's president brushed off warnings that the soaring euro would lead to a wave of job losses in European industry, insisting the top priority of the bank is to prevent food and energy inflation spilling over into wage demands.
    He offered no hint of lower rates in coming months despite the darkening economic picture and the unprecedented signs of stress in the eurozone's Latin bloc. Private economists have accused the bank of under-estimating the threat of contagion from the US.
    Europe's labour confederation said the ECB had lost sight of economic reality. "The euro's rise is becoming alarming. It's time for the ECB to recognise... that the threats to growth are now so serious that it is becoming urgent to cut rates."
    "Financial confidence is so fragile right now, the last thing we need is an internecine fight between central banks. It could get sticky," said an economist at Insinger de Beaufort.
    A top adviser to Germany, called on the ECB to intervene in the exchange markets, warning that the euro has already reached levels that are inflicting lasting damage. The euro is above the equivalent levels of the D-mark, franc, and lira in the early 1990s that set off the ERM crisis.
    [WAR: The euro is about to collapse and the national currencies will return to the economic stage. This could actually be a goal (directly or indirectly) of the the US letting the dollar drop -- to push the euro up and cause it to explode, thereby getting rid of the dollar's biggest competition. And this will lead to geopolitical lines being drawn in the sand, which will lead to war.]
 
    The richest 400 American taxpayers have amassed immense wealth, and that amount is steadily increasing. The 400 super-rich—who represent approximately .0003% of the nation's 134 million taxpayers—reported total income of $85.6 billion in 2005, an average of $213.9 million each. They absorbed 1.15% of total national income in 2005 (in other words, 3-millionths of the taxpaying population took in an 87th of total income).
    The parasitic character of the wealth accumulation found expression in the fact that a majority of the income accumulated by the super-rich in 2005 came from capital gains—the amount by which the selling price of an asset exceeds the purchase price.
    Meanwhile the world's billionaires continue to grow fatter and fatter. This year's crop of 1,125, according to Forbes, are worth a total of $4.4 trillion among them, an increase of 26% from the year before.
    The existence of this group of financial and corporate predators, who cohabit the planet with some 3 billion human beings who survive (or fail to) on less than $2 a day, is a symptom of a diseased and doomed social order.
    [WAR: "Wealth is worthless in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death. / Better a little with the fear of the LORD than great wealth with turmoil. / Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless." (Prov 11:4 / 15:16 / Ecc 5:10)
 
 
 
    As if a bear market, credit crunch, energy crisis and city financing emergency were not enough for one year, experts say the world is now facing down the barrel of the worst catastrophe of all: famine.
    The very idea that the modern world could run out of food seems ludicrous, but that is the flip side, or cause, of the tremendous recent increase in the cost of raw wheat, corn, rice, oats and soybeans.
    Food prices are escalating because accelerating demand in developing nations, biofuel production and poor harvests in some areas have made basic foodstuffs truly scarce.
    Most unusual about this phenomenon is that until now, food crises in world history were regional concerns that arose from crop failures, war or pests. What's happening now is a lack of supply everywhere at once.
    Now the really bad news is that we might actually have been lucky in the past few years, as global warming has lengthened growing seasons in the American Plains. The US Midwest has enjoyed 17 straight years without significant crop failure, the longest winning streak on record. If this fortunate run ends soon, we'll likely face a worldwide crisis.
    At the exact moment we most need corn on our plates, it is being funneled into cars. A full tank of gas requires the equivalent of a quarter of a ton of raw foodstuffs, enough to feed one person bread for a year. The solution: As a first step, shut down all ethanol plants immediately. "It's criminal to burn corn for fuel when we are out of food."
 
    The spectre of food shortages is casting a shadow across the globe, causing riots in Africa, consumer protests in Europe and panic in food-importing countries. In a world of increasing affluence, the hoarding of rice and wheat has begun.
 
    Studies have shown that some foods have definite effects on the brain, raising and lowering mood-altering chemicals. "Not only does your food affect your mood, your mood affects the food you'll choose. Unfortunately, the average consumer isn't eating a healthy enough diet, let alone a diet that will put them in a good mood."
 
    A great part of that order which reigns among mankind is not the effect of government. It had its origin in the principles of society, and the natural constitution of man. It existed prior to government, and would exist if the formality of government was abolished.
    To understand the nature and quantity of government proper for man it is necessary to attend to his character. The more perfect civilization is, the less occasion has it for government, because the more does it regulate its own affairs, and govern itself.
    Society in every state is a blessing, but government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.
    [WAR: "These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. ... Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds;" (Deut 6:6 / 11:18) "This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares YAHWEH. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts." (Heb 8:10 / 10:16)
 
    This year's Daylight Saving Time (DST) arrives March 9. Legislation was passed in 2005 changing the dates on which DST occurs and creating a potential for conflict with systems currently programmed for DST in April and October. Additionally, the new US DST will be out of sync with the DST schedules in the UK and much of Europe.
 
 
 
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