Reading between the lines, and thinking outside the box . . .
The Pope will spend his first 3 days in Australia unwinding at a camp run by controversial Catholic organisation Opus Dei.
Barack Obama would be a shoo-in for US president if Germans instead of Americans were voting, according to a poll released today.
Barack Obama has requested permission to give an address at the Brandenburg Gate when he visits Berlin later this month. If permission is granted, the address would be loaded with historical significance.
Obama is immensely popular in Berlin – a factor that appears to have some of his advisors worried. According to reports in the daily Berliner Morgenpost, some of his staff have warned him that excessive popularity in Europe could end up costing him votes at home.
President Sarkozy announced a wide-scale reform of the French military in June. This is expected to mean a reduction or complete withdrawal of French troops from Germany. France has between 2,800 and 4,000 soldiers stationed in the country.
This week will be marked by the launch of the EU's Union for the Mediterranean, as well as by French President Sarkozy's presentation in the European Parliament of his priorities for France's 6-month EU presidency.
"Things are not going well at all," said Nicolas Sarkozy last week as he inaugurated France's 6-month presidency of the EU. It is not hard to see why he feels pessimistic. He has an ambitious raft of proposals for transforming the EU – and it looks likely that he will fail to achieve most of them.
The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, will use a Paris summit next weekend to increase pressure on Ireland's prime minister to find a way out of the impasse created by his country's rejection of the Lisbon treaty. The French strategy appears to be aimed at isolating Ireland.
With one brief comment, President Kaczynski has reignited a debate among ordinary Poles who are grateful for the prosperity the EU has brought and feel glad to be part of the family of European nations again after decades cut off behind the Iron Curtain, but also feel uneasy about what the political experiment they have signed up for will ultimately do to their hard-fought and treasured independence.
Another stick to beat the EU with is the emotional issue of Germans seeking property that they or their forebears lost when they were forced out in 1945. Court cases are pending before German courts seeking the return of property or compensation, and many Poles believe the EU will eventually force them to pay.
It may yet be Warsaw, not Dublin, where the coup de grace is applied to the Lisbon Treaty.
President Medvedev on Saturday warned his Georgian counterpart about inflaming troubles in the South Caucasus, calling for talks but apparently indicating Moscow lays the blame for rising tensions on Tbilisi.
A "new war" could break out in Georgia's breakaway region of Abkhazia if Tbilisi uses military force to resolve the conflict, Russia's Defence Ministry said on Saturday.
Evidence of a conspiracy to overthrow the pro-Western Islamist government has laid bare the resentment of the country's secular elite in a divided country.
Syria is ready to break off its close links with Iran if America gives it financial and military backing, a former Israeli diplomat involved in unofficial peace talks has revealed. Syria's President Bashar Assad is increasingly open to a deal which would greatly weaken Iranian influence in the region.
American and Iraqi forces are driving Al-Qaeda in Iraq out of its last redoubt in the north of the country in the culmination of one of the most spectacular victories of the war on terror. Al-Qaeda's dwindling band of fighters has made a defiant "last stand" in the northern city of Mosul.
Iraq will be plunged into a new war if Israel or the US launches an attack on Iran, Iraqi leaders have warned.
The Governor of Musa Qala, Mullah Abdul Salaam, gave warning that infiltrators from Pakistan and Iran were deliberately attempting to escalate the conflict in Afghanistan.
The Governor, who was formerly a Taleban commander, said that the insurgency attacks against coalition forces, which have accounted for the worst coalition casualty figures in a single month since the war began, were now principally the work of outsiders rather than the Taleban.
Monkeying with us...
Hundreds of endangered monkeys are being taken from the African bush and sent to a "secretive" laboratory in Iran for scientific experiments.
"Iran is very secretive. They said it [the monkeys] was for 'our country', for vaccine. [They said] 'We don't buy vaccine from anywhere; we prepare our own vaccine'."
The revelation will fuel speculation that the monkeys may be used for research involving biological weapons. Primates are typically used by scientists wishing to test both the effectiveness of germ warfare agents and defences against them.
Iran says its stance on its nuclear programme remains unchanged, despite an EU offer of incentives to suspend uranium enrichment. A government spokesman said the country was prepared to negotiate with major world powers, but insisted the talks must address Iran's nuclear rights.
Iran "will not go back on its rights on the nuclear issue. Iran's stand regarding its peaceful nuclear program has not changed. Iran insists on negotiations while respecting its rights and avoiding any loss of international rights."
He was speaking a day after Iran formally responded to the EU offer. The exact content of both the EU proposal and the Iranian response have not yet been made public.
As world powers studied Iran's response to a package of proposals meant to convince it to stop enriching uranium, a curious series of meetings took place in Iran. Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, took a trip from Tehran to the holy city of Qom, home to some of the most powerful clerics in the Shiite Muslim faith.
Iranian politicians often seek political and religious cover before making bold moves, in case something backfires.
Many analysts are now saying that the military option seems to be narrowing to an Israeli option.
Pentagon chiefs fear that Israeli plans for an attack on Iran's nuclear programme will fail to destroy the facilities because neither the CIA nor Mossad knows where every base is located.
Those familiar with the Israeli-American military talks believe that Israel is still determined to act before Iran has enough highly enriched uranium to build a bomb, and before Tehran has acquired the Russian SA-20 air defence system to protect its nuclear facilities.
"The Israelis have a real sense of urgency," an official said. "They are stepping up their preparations. But the Israelis and the Americans are worried about the other's lack of intelligence."
For all the denials on both sides, a top-level discussion is clearly underway in the US and Israel over the pros and cons of an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities. When asked about the threat to the Strait of Hormuz, Bush emphatically declared: "I have always said that all options are on the table."
The secret war in Iran (part 1)
Pulitzer Prize winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh says VP Cheney believes he is going to save the world.
The secret war in Iran (part 2)
Hersh says Democratic Party leaders signed on to secret war against Iran.
Congressman Ron Paul has warned millions of radio listeners that the US is heading into a deadly confrontation with Iran, revealing his disbelief at members of Congress who have openly voiced support for a pre-emptive nuclear strike on the country. He believes from talking with his contacts in and around Congress that a strike on Iran has already been green lighted.
Iran's military chiefs warned on Saturday that the Islamic republic would shut down the Strait of Hormuz vital for oil exports and use "blitzkrieg tactics" in the Gulf if it came under attack.
"All the countries should know that if Iran's interests in the region are ignored, it is natural that we will not allow others to use it (the strait). The Guards are equipped with the most advanced missiles that can strike the enemies' vessels and naval equipment with fatal blows."
Is the war against Iran on hold? Tehran is to allow foreign investors, in what might be interpreted as an overture to the West, to acquire full ownership of Iran's State enterprises in the context of a far-reaching "free market" style privatization program. What are the political motivations behind this measure? And why Now?
Washington has no interest in the imposition of a privatization program on Iran, as an "alternative" to an all out war. In fact quite the opposite. There are indications that the Bush adminstration's main objective is to stall the privatization program.
A US-Israel sponsored military operation directed against Iran, would largely backlash on the economic and financial interests of several of America's allies, including Germany, Italy, France, and Japan.
Though it has been over for decades, the Vietnam War continues, more often than not, to loom large in American presidential campaigns. Nevertheless, an important difference between the Vietnam-era liberals and the neoconservatives does exist.
In order to pass their political driving test, successful politicians need to be masters of one tricky manoeuvre in particular - the U-turn.
McCain's U-turns have mostly increased his appeal to the Republican Party's base, placing him on a rightward trajectory.
Obama has been performing a more traditional manoeuvre: running to the left during the primaries, when party activists need to be wooed, then shifting to the centre once the nomination is clinched.
From Russia with alarm
There has been unusual interest throughout the world in the US presidential race. Skeptics, of whom there are quite a few, say the campaign is just a marathon show that has little to do with real policymaking.
Even if there's a grain of truth in that, in an interdependent world the statements of the contenders for the White House are more than just rhetoric addressed to American voters. Major policy problems today cannot be solved without America - and America cannot solve them alone.
So the candidates, and the next president, will have to decide and state clearly whether America wants to be an empire or a democracy, whether it seeks global dominance or international cooperation. They will have to choose, because this is an either-or proposition: The 2 things don't mix, like oil and water.
According to Mexican consulate officials in Dallas, some 400 immigrant families have told them so far this year that they're going back to Mexico and asked for transfer documents to enroll their children in Mexican schools.
And it isn't happening only in Dallas. At the Mexican consulates in Chicago and Phoenix, too, the number of Mexican families applying for transfer documents for their children has increased.
Sightings are being reported again in Cherokee county of the tall, hairy creature with a face resembling a human and a strong stench - Bigfoot.
The Australian Government has released a report into the link between drought and climate change, which it says will trigger major review of drought policy.
The most drought-ravaged areas of NSW (Australia) have received the cruel double blow of worsening conditions and a looming locust plague.
Financial analysts in California have identified the latest symptom of the devastating housing down-turn plaguing the US - tracts of freshly built, well-appointed homes where no-one apparently wants, or can afford, to live. Welcome to the new "ghost towns" - brand new, immaculately tended communities with not a tumbleweed in sight.
The good-time capital of the US has hit a losing streak. Guy Adams reports on an epidemic of bankruptcies, foreclosures and mass lay-offs.
There was a time when the world's oldest profession dealt strictly in cash. Now, with petrol prices at record levels and money in short supply, even prostitutes are prepared to change with the times.
Why is it that the federal government says the US has virtually no inflation – less that 2% – but everything keeps getting more expensive, especially food and gasoline? The Bureau of Labor Statistics lies. Inflation numbers are intentionally manipulated to keep cost-of-living numbers low.
Why does the federal government lie about inflation? Again, the direct answer is simple. Telling the truth about inflation would require the Fed to raise interest rates and that would be bad for economic growth. Besides, hundreds of billions of dollars in government entitlement payment outflows depend on the inflation number.
Once again, it was a disappointing quarter for US stocks, as a spring rally fueled by investors' optimism that the worst of the financial crisis was over gave way to concerns about inflation, soaring oil prices and renewed fears about the ongoing credit crunch.
The Dow is now in a bear market, down 20% since October 2007 in the wake of the worst credit crunch since the Great Depression and 2 of America's largest corporations have just been given a "sell" rating.
What will happen to investments if another major US bank (like Citibank) or a major blue chip corporation (like GM) goes bankrupt? Wall Street money will run for the exits!
Bonds keep the system working, Inflation a threat when money moves out of bonds again, funny money dealers, bond market like a drug cartel keeping investors addicted, real estate bubble, bonds a threat to the stability of the entire market system...
Almost everything that could is going wrong for world stockmarkets
So the market's sorrows have come in battalions, not single spies. Investors might have coped with the credit crunch if it were not for the high commodity prices, and vice versa. They do not know whether to fear inflation or recession more, but they know that both at once will be unpleasant. It looks like a lengthy period of gloom is in store for the stockmarkets.
If the BIS is right, inflation is a more immediate threat than deflation.
Many currencies that are backed by a current-account deficit are now falling just as the dollar has
Since the eruption of global financial turmoil last year and the dwindling appetite for risk, carry trades have started to unwind and it has become harder to finance deficits. As a result, current-account imbalances are once again exerting a powerful influence over currencies.
The head of the French shipping giant CMA CMG, says the shipping cycle has turned with a vengeance. "We're seeing ships leaving Asia that are not full. We are living through a real economic slowdown. It is a latent crisis that will take time to disappear. I don't see it getting better before the end of 2009."
"America is importing less, so is Europe. After a record year in 2007, where we had more offers than we could take on our ships, traffic between Asia and Europe has now fallen to a 94% occpancy rate."
He also said the oil spike was a scam. "This boom is artificial. Only speculation can explain the run up in price. One way or another, governments must put a stop to this."
This commodity super-cycle phenomenon shows no signs of abating. Gold is one of the biggest laggards and the one that confuses investors most.
The G-8 summit in Tokyo, which opens Monday, faces a number of alarming problems, and Germany's chancellor has sent a letter to other leaders of the world's industrialized nations arguing that the sudden rise in the price of food needs urgent attention.
Chancellor Merkel has set a tone ahead of this week's G-8 summit in Japan by sending a starkly-worded warning to her colleagues about the consequences of rising food prices. The crisis, she wrote in a 6-page letter to other G-8 leaders last Monday, might "endanger democracy, destabilize nations and lead to international security problems."
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No one is in charge. Rarely has there been such a vacuum in world affairs. A Martian demanding to be taken to our leader could be in for a long wait.
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