Reading between the lines, and thinking outside the box . . .
George Weigel, a Catholic scholar and biographer of Pope John Paul II, in a recent interview with National Review Online addressed Pope Benedict XVI's Easter vigil baptism of a prominent Italian journalist from a Muslim background. Weigel also discussed the relevance of the baptism to relations between Muslim and non-Muslim countries and to debates about religious freedom in the Muslim world.
As far as strikes go, this is big, and serious. From mid-April, there is a prospect of public sector strikes. Essentially the country is going to come to a halt from April onwards.
A German reconnaissance satellite successfully took off from northern Russia Thursday. The SAR-Lupe satellite was designed by German contractor OHB-System for the German defence ministry and is intended for "European-wide strategic reconnaissance operations," the company said in a statement earlier. The launch is the 4th of 5 planned hi-tech satellite launches.
Cüneyt Ciftci, a young man from Bavaria, blew himself up outside a government building in Afghanistan, killing 2 US soldiers and two Afghanis. Spiegel Online has obtained a video documenting the final minutes in the life of the first German-born suicide bomber.
Al-Qaida has advocated attacks on Germany in the hope of forcing it to reconsider its involvement in Afghanistan, a senior German security official said today.
In this interview with the "Bild", Chancellor Merkel speaks about European achievements and the social advantages offered by the EU. She also advocates establishing a European army.
The fallout in Germany from exposure to America's subprime crisis may turn out to be far bigger than previously feared. One major newspaper is putting estimated losses at a whopping €70 billion, while a prominent politician warns that the US recession has already arrived in Germany.
Amid mass subprime-related write-downs and bailouts, Germany's troubled banking sector looks set for a fresh wave of consolidation. Now, large chunks of Germany's 3rd-largest bank could end up in Chinese hands, a German newsmagazine has reported.
According to the report, an unnamed Chinese bank is interested in taking over the investment banking and corporate banking units of Germany's Dresdner Bank. Dresdner's parent company, the Munich-based insurance giant Allianz, announced earlier this month that it would split Dresdner into 2 divisions.
Press review
Germany's magnetic levitation dreams came to an end on Thursday. Now, news report indicate that the locally developed technology may be sold off to China. German commentators wonder who is to blame for the debacle.
[Europress] [Russopress]
President Sarkozy embarrassed Gordon Brown yesterday, heaping praise on his "courage and loyalty" for ratifying the EU treaty without a referendum. At the conclusion of yesterday's France-UK summit, Sarkozy vowed to continue his charm offensive designed to draw Britain into deeper engagement in the EU.
The Lisbon Treaty would have no major impact on UK sovereignty, says an influential committee of peers.
Just weeks before the new Russian president is sworn in, EU foreign ministers are meeting in Brdo, Slovenia today for an informal debate on the remaining differences in opinion on the bloc's future strategy towards Moscow.
German press
Listening to the rhetoric coming out of Georgia these days, one could be forgiven for thinking that the upcoming NATO summit in Romania is a matter of war and peace. "A 'no' in Bucharest will have very, very threatening and negative implications for conflict resolution."
Should NATO expand to Russia's southern flank? The small country of Georgia insists it should be offered membership, but Europe isn't so sure. Commentators in Germany take a closer look at the issue of NATO expansion and argue that the trans-Atlantic alliance should avoid angering Russia.
(Op-ed: NATO: Equal alliance, unequal roles)
A major power reshuffle might be in the making in Moscow. This week 2 prominent representatives of the power hardliners – commander of the Russian Armed Forces, and the Vice Minister of Interior – had to leave their posts. Analysts now believe that several more hardliners soon might be forced to leave their jobs.
Israel is negotiating with the Palestinian Authority regarding "all core issues," including the status of Jerusalem, PA President Abbas said yesterday. His statements fly in the face of recent claims by Prime Minister Olmert, who repeatedly has denied Jerusalem is being discussed.
The ultra-Orthodox Shas party, a key member of Olmert's coalition, has pledged to bolt the government if Jerusalem is negotiated."Nobody is talking about Jerusalem. The moment Jerusalem is being discussed, Shas will leave the government – period."
Israel pursues aggressive policies which contradict the atmosphere needed for peace, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem said Thursday at a meeting with foreign ministers from other Arab nations, ahead of the Arab summit in Damascus due to commence on Saturday. He claimed that unlike Syria, Israel does not have a true political desire for peace.
"The aggressive policies and actions that Israel undertakes and which are supported unconditionally by the US create a situation that is not conducive to achieving peace. Our position on peace in the Middle East is known to all. We support a just and all-inclusive peace in accordance with UN resolutions and based on the principal of 'land for peace.'"
By signing a deal this week with Russia, Egypt is pushing forward with its desire to stay at the head of a nuclear family Arab nations are creating to counterbalance Iran and Israel. A handshake between President Mubarak and President Putin sealed the nuclear cooperation deal that looks set to cause some concern in the West.
President Bush and Secretary of State Rice have practically simultaneously declared that they continue to believe in the possibility of reaching peace in the Middle East by the end of 2008.
With its swimming pools, manicured gardens and friendly Iraqis, Baghdad's Green Zone was long seen as a luxurious, high-security enclave for Americans and their friends in a country rocked by violence. Now the oasis of security is under siege.
(And: Iraq's new storm)
(Analysis: The murky battle for Basra)
Why are we propping up the pro-Iranian Maliki faction in Iraq?
It wasn't supposed to turn out like this. The original plan of the neocons was to install Ahmed Chalabi, their own personal Iraqi puppet, but that soon fell through – and Chalabi, it turned out, had strong links to Iranian intelligence agencies.
From the very beginning, US policymakers were determined to go after militant Shi'ite leader Moqtada al-Sadr, whose Mahdi Army is the only significant indigenous opposition to the pro-Iranian militias and the Tehran-influenced central government. Sadr is critical of both the US and the Iranians, and, as such, represents a direct threat to the occupation and the Iraqi status quo.
The consolidation of a strong Iraqi state is the last thing the Americans want, for that would threaten their occupation and lead to their swift exit from the country. It is also in the Iranian interest to keep Iraq divided and stop the nationalist Sadr and his brutal militia from taking power in Baghdad.
In 2002, the Kansas University Press published a ground-breaking book entitled CIA's Secret War in Tibet, which revealed in vivid detail the top-secret and still little-known, decade-long "war at the roof of the world," during which the CIA fostered, trained and supplied a tenacious Tibetan resistance force to help them struggle against China.
Uh-oh!...
It may serve as grist for the neocon mill, churning its way toward an attack on Iran. According to the Roads to Iraq blog, citing Arabic sources, the "Mahdi Army managed to arrest 17 American soldiers" in Basra, where Shia fighters are going up against the Iraqi police.
It makes no sense for al-Sadr and the Mahdi to take US prisoners, not unless they want the Pentagon to turn Basra into the next Fallujah. On the other hand, considering the long history of US false flag operations, it makes sense for US operatives to capture soldiers and give the Pentagon reason to blame Iran.
If this story breaks out and is not another one of many rumors, it has serious and possibly cataclysmic potential.
John McCain's confusion in recent allegations of Iranian training of al Qaeda fighters in Iraq is the result of a drumbeat of official propaganda about close Iran-al Qaeda ties that the Bush administration and neoconservatives have promoted ever since early 2002.
Watching George W. Bush in operation these last couple of weeks is like having an out-of-body experience. On acid. During a nightmare. In a different galaxy.
(And: Bush's War and Xianity)
(Parody: Bush: Let's Roll)
Hmmm...
Defense Secretary Robert Gates has ordered a full inventory of all nuclear weapons and related materials after the mistaken delivery of ballistic missile fuses to Taiwan.
[WAR: Is this actually related to the story yesterday about the "frantic search" for a "a loose suitcase sized nuclear weapon believed to have been smuggled into the American commercial air transportation system"?]
The economy nearly sputtered out at the end of the year and probably is faring even worse now amid continuing housing, credit and financial woes. The Commerce Department reported Thursday that the gross domestic product, or GDP, increased at a feeble 0.6% annual rate from October through December.
The reading, unchanged from a previous estimate a month ago, provided stark evidence of just how much the economy has weakened. In the previous 3 months, the economy had a sizzling 4.9% growth rate.
US. banks and savings and loans reported combined net income of $5.1 billion for the 4th quarter of 2007.
The US Federal Reserve will make a further $100bn available to major banks in April, trying to ease concerns about a global credit crunch. The sum, offered across two auctions, is in addition to $260bn provided in short-term loans to the end of March.
In the past two weeks, the Federal Reserve, long the guardian of the nation's banks, has redefined its role to also become protector and overseer of Wall Street.
"This will redefine the Fed's role," said a Manhattan College finance professor who wrote a history of Wall Street. "We have to realize that central banking now takes into its orbit everything in the financial system in one way or another. Whether we like it or not, they've recreated the financial universe."
The ripple effect of the financial turmoil on Wall Street is spreading more deeply into the American economy. Some companies are having problems getting loans, and others are being informed of reduced credit lines.
America can't shop its way to greatness, and this one-time, government-funded shopping spree won't lead us to a sound economy.
[WAR: Only people who file a tax return will get this "stimulus." So how many multiple-thousands of people will this leave out? And what about people who owe the IRS money? Will the IRS just keep their "stiumulus" and apply it to their balance? If so, how many more multiple-thousands will this leave out?]
The Federal Reserve prepared to pump $75 billion into frozen credit markets following moves by European central banks on Thursday to help lenders who scrambled to meet quarter-end funding needs.
Banks are clamoring for extra cash to meet capital requirements ahead of Monday's quarterly book closing, reducing their willingness to lend and adding to strains in crisis-hit markets.
The pound slid to an all-time low versus the euro and lost ground to the dollar on Friday as soft UK house price and consumer confidence data pointed to an economic slowdown.
Elites behind the preventative bailout for Bear Stearns. What kind of shape are the other investment firms in? How much toxic paper is out there? This debacle amounts to moral hazard on steroids, socialism for the rich, no doubt, BS shareholders will be preparing to litigate.
(Analysis: Intervention or bailout?
Was Alan Greenspan really as dumb as he looks in creating the late housing bubble that threatens to bring the entire Western debt-based economy crashing down? Was something as easy to foresee as this really the trigger for a meltdown that could destroy the world's financial system? Or was it done, perhaps, "accidentally on purpose"? And if so, why?
Skyrocketing gasoline prices may be pushing the US economy over the edge, but the oil-rich lords of the OPEC oil cartel don't give a hoot.
Economists note there should not be 2 prices for one thing at the same place and time. Could a drug store sell two identical tubes of toothpaste, and charge 50 cents more for one of them? Of course not.
But, in effect, exactly that has been happening - repeatedly and mysteriously - in markets that set prices in the US for corn, soybeans and wheat. And even economists who have been studying this phenomenon say they are at a loss to explain it.
Whatever the reason, the price for a bushel of grain established in the public derivatives markets has been substantially higher than the price of the same bushel of the same grain at the same moment in the cash market.
What if the advent of Morgellons disease has something to do with the ingestion of GMO foods?
On January 3, scientists discovered a reverse-polarity sunspot, signaling the start of a new cycle — and some are predicting that at its peak (in about 4 years) things are gonna get nasty.
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