Thursday

The Daily WAR (12-25)

Reading between the lines, and thinking outside the box . . .
 
 
 
    Pope Benedict XVI said that his predecessor, John Paul II, had "supernatural qualities". Speaking at a mass in St Peter's Square, marking the 3rd anniversary of John Paul's death, the Pope said: "Among many human and supernatural qualities, he had an exceptional spiritual and mystical sensibility."
 
    Benedict XVI inaugurated the 1st World Apostolic Congress on Mercy on the 3rd anniversary of Pope John Paul II's death. He addressed the participants of the congress during his homily at a Mass celebrated for John Paul II in St. Peter's Square. He recalled that the Polish Pontiff had considered the mercy of God as a privileged key for interpreting his pontificate.
 
    Pope Benedict XVI will visit a synagogue during his first papal trip to the US. "By this personal and informal visit, which is not part of his official program, [the pope] wishes to express his good will toward the local Jewish community as they prepare for Passover."
 
 
 
    One of Germany's biggest regional banks reported its results for 2007 on Wednesday -- and the losses are far worse than predicted. Some experts believe only a merger with another bank can save the company in the long run.
 
    Germany's 2nd biggest state-owned bank BayernLB today reported writedowns of $6.7 billion as a result of the US housing market crisis. The Bavarian-based bank was the 3rd German financial institution this week to own up to losses as result of dealings in the subprime mortgage market.
 
Assyria ascending...
    Not used to winning popularity contests, Germany has come out on top of a new survey of global attitudes to major nations by the BBC.
    Germany was the most positively viewed nation, with 56% of those asked having a favourable opinion and 18% a negative one. None of the countries surveyed had negative majority view towards Germany.
 
 
 
    Ireland has set June 12 as its unofficial date to vote on the European Union's treaty -- the only public popularity test facing the EU's painstakingly negotiated plans for changing the way it works.
 
    President George HW Bush's diplomacy helped to reunite Europe. But as NATO meets in Bucharest, his son is completing 2 terms of global failure.
 
    Gordon Brown has sided with more cautious EU allies against President Bush over US support for the admission of Georgia and Ukraine being admitted to NATO. Brown joined Germany and France in urging caution on Bush at the summit in Bucharest in a "brush by" meeting with Mr Bush at the summit before a formal banquet.
    Brown's preoccupation remains, however, the world banking crisis which is casting a shadow over every aspect of the NATO summit.
 
 
 
    Could a referendum on the future of contested Israeli land end in civil war? Professor Kremnitzer, a renowned legalist, stated during a Knesset committee meeting, that "a referendum on the future of Jerusalem and the Golan Heights may very well end in bloodshed."
 
    Israel's security cabinet convened Wednesday to examine the homeland's preparedness for war. It decided to redistribute the bio/chemical warfare masks a few months after they were called in.
    DEBKAfile's military sources disclose intelligence data indicating the possibility that Syria may transfer to Hizballah chemical or biological warheads known to have been developed for its war arsenal.
    A few hours earlier, the London-based al Quds al-Arabi quoted Damascus officials as claiming that Israel is preparing a big attack on Syria and Hizballah. Syria was said to have ordered a partial call-up of its military reserves.
 
    Despite the huge media campaign led by US officials and a complicit corporate-controlled media to convince the world of US success in Iraq, emerging facts on the ground show massive failure.
 
    China urged the US to understand the true nature of the Dalai Lama clique, which it blames for stirring up last month's violence in Tibet, and support China's "just position," state media said today. China says his intent is to disrupt the Beijing Olympics, which run from August 8-24, and to ultimately win independence for the remote, mountain region.
 
 
 
    China has betrayed one its closest allies by providing the UN with intelligence on Iran's efforts to acquire nuclear technology, diplomats have revealed.
    Concern over Tehran's secretive research programme has increased in recent weeks after officials at the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN's nuclear watchdog, discovered that Iran had obtained information on how to manufacture nuclear-armed weapons.
    Beijing is believed to have decided to assist the inspectors after documents seized from Iranian officials included blueprints for "shaping" uranium metal into warheads, the testing of high explosives used to detonate radioactive material and the procurement of dual-use technology.
    Much of the new material was presented to the governors of the Vienna-based IAEA in February. That meeting is said to have triggered China's change of heart.
 
 
 
    Oliver Stone's biopic of President Bush is to show him as a hot-headed, once hard-drinking man whose relationship with his father influences much of his life, including an obsession with Iraq. According to an early screenplay obtained by ABC News, the film, entitled "W", will chart the President's journey from troubled alcoholic to world leader.
 
    US author Steve Coll spent years looking into Osama bin Laden's family. Now, his new book provides a unique insight into the clan. Spiegel spoke with him about where the terrorist might be hiding, how his father got his start, and the unique romantic liasons pursued by one of his brothers.
 
    American voters are a contradictory bunch: They say they want social welfare, but don't want to pay for it. They claim they are left-leaning, but vote for center-right candidates. Only candidates who can appeal to both sides stand a chance.
 
    During the past few months a small group of neoconservative Jews, many of whom hold key positions in the world of official Jewish institutions, have been working to undermine the presidential candidacy of Barack Obama with a series of carefully planted character assassinations and deliberately misleading innuendo.
 
    Former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura vehemently savaged the official 9/11 story on a syndicated national radio show, saying the WTC collapsed like a controlled demolition and was pulverized to dust as he also highlighted the impossible 10 second free fall speed of the towers.
    He said that his initial reaction to 9/11 was much like most people at the time, and he accepted the official story outright, a response he now regrets because he was in a position of power and could have used it to raise a lot of pointed questions.
    "I kicked myself when it initially happened that the light didn't go off but I was so shocked that this thing had even taken place that I apologize for not being more aware," he said, adding that watching Loose Change at the insistence of his son was part of the catalyst for his wake up call.
 
    Although Ted Olson's report of phone calls from his wife has been a central pillar of the official account of 9/11, this report has been completely undermined. This rejection of Ted Olson's story by American Airlines, the Pentagon, and especially the FBI is a development of utmost importance. Without the alleged calls from Barbara Olson, there is no evidence that Flight 77 returned to Washington.
 
    Independent truckers in the US parked their vehicles, slowed down traffic and rallied in numerous locations across the country beginning Tuesday on the first of 3 days of protest against soaring fuel prices and declining incomes.
    The number of drivers participating in the loosely-organized protests is difficult to determine, because hundreds have simply parked their vehicles, but that there is mounting anger over the economic calamity facing many in the industry is indisputable.
 
 
 
    Here are excerpts from a court case proving the Federal Reserve system's status. As you will see, the court ruled that the Federal Reserve Banks are "independent, privately owned and locally controlled corporations", and there is not sufficient "federal government control over 'detailed physical performance' and 'day to day operation'" of the Federal Reserve Bank for it to be considered a federal agency.
 
    Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke testified before the Joint Economic Committee of the US Congress on Wednesday, stating for the first time that "a recession is possible" and suggesting that the US economy is likely stagnate or contract in the first half of the year.
    Bernanke made no reference in his opening remarks to the regulatory overhaul proposed by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on Monday. When asked his opinion on the proposal, he merely called it an "interesting and useful first step."
    The plan would further deregulate the financial system, stripping the Fed of its longstanding role as regulator of commercial banks, while giving it new powers to intervene throughout financial markets to prevent a "systemic" crisis.
    Most significant was the fact that none of the congressmen and senators went on record as opposing the Fed's actions. No one even asked Bernanke whether the Federal Reserve was within its rights to take Bear's securities onto its own books.
    As a whole, the discussion revealed the prostration of both parties before the top representative of the US financial elite, and their lack of opposition to bailing out Wall Street with taxpayer funds.
 
    The International Monetary fund has slashed odds that the world is facing a financial recession and admits that the US is in its worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, as the body revised forecasts for economic slowdown.
    "The financial shock that originated in the US subprime mortgage market has spread quickly, and in unanticipated ways, to inflict extensive damage on markets and institutions at the core of the financial system. The global expansion is losing momentum in the face of what has become the largest financial crisis in the United States since the Great Depression."
 
The vultures are circling
    While Wall Street banks take billions in additional write-offs, hedge funds have already sniffed out the next lucrative opportunity in the ashes of the US real estate crisis. But those who move too fast might still get their fingers burned.
 
    US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Jr. ended a 2-day visit here today by calling for China to move ahead with financial market reforms, despite growing concerns here about the economic downturn in the US.
    Paulson was visiting China to prepare for the 4th round of the so-called strategic economic dialogue between their countries, which is scheduled to take place in Washington this June.
 
    Wheat jumped more than 4%, snapping a 5-session slump, as a lingering dry spell in the Great Plains and excessive rain in the eastern Midwest diminish yield prospects for US winter crops emerging from dormancy.
 
    Rice climbed to a record and corn traded near its highest ever on speculation a 3% annual increase in global demand for cereals will outstrip supply as governments curb exports to prevent protests.
    The World Bank estimates "that 33 countries around the world face potential social unrest because of the acute hike in food and energy prices." For these countries "there is no margin for survival."
 
 
 
    Argentina's claim to the Falkland Islands, which remain in British hands after a 1982 war, is "inalienable", President Kirchner says.
 
 
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