Reading between the lines, and thinking outside the box . . .
Pope Benedict called today for an immediate halt to the fighting between Russia and Georgia over the breakaway South Ossetia region and urged world powers to help find a peaceful solution.
Bavaria...
Germany's most traditional and successful state faces political upheaval
This is a worry not only for local-history buffs but for the Christian Social Union, which has governed Bavaria alone for 46 years, establishing what one scholar called "a political dominance unequalled by any other party" in post-war western Europe.
Shrewd economic and social policies are part of the CSU's success. The CSU, moreover, established itself as the embodiment of a regional patriotism that fuses Bavaria's thousand-year history with (mainly Catholic) Christianity and a sense that it is to be envied for its Alpine scenery and economic success. Bavaria styles itself a Freistaat, a "Free State", rather than a mere Land.
The CSU is exceptional in part because Bavaria is exceptional. But the party's dominance may be in jeopardy in September's state elections. But the CSU could be forced for the first time since the 1960s to govern Bavaria with a coalition partner. That would be "catastrophic", says the president of Bavaria's legislature. The shock would be felt nationwide.
Germany's oldest political party, the SPD, has sunk to record unpopularity, polls have shown, as in-fighting and a political revolution in the country threaten to engulf it.
(And: A dangerous flirtation)
Belgium is moving towards break-up. A country which has existed for 177 years and is at the heart of Europe is about to disintegrate. And the implications of a "failed state" hosting the headquarters of the EU and NATO has begun to hit home.
On July 25, the Italian government headed by Silvio Berlusconi proclaimed a national state of emergency due to the continuing inflow of refugees by boat from across the Mediterranean Sea. This means that the state of emergency already imposed on Italy's three southernmost provinces—Sicily, Apulia and Calabria—will be expanded to encompass the entire country.
The current national state of emergency, however, has assumed new and alarming dimensions. By deploying troops for domestic purposes and drawing up a "gypsy file" based on a law similar to one passed by Mussolini's dictatorship in 1941, the government is evoking the spirit of the country's fascist past while mounting an assault on the basic social and democratic rights of the entire working class.
Russian FM:
In contemporary international relations it is difficult to find a more fundamental question than defining the present stage of world development. This is important for any country in order to correlate its development strategy and its foreign policy with a vision of the world in which we live.
It appears that consensus is already on its way in this regard, although so far at the level of the expert community – Russian and foreign alike. This state of affairs results largely from the debates on which Russia has insisted.
Moreover, a sketch of that agreement reproduces to a significant extent the analysis that is set forth in Vladimir Putin's speech at Munich in February 2007 and which has become a starting discussion position of Russia.
It is obvious that without sizing up the "big issues" in world development, without reaching a common understanding on them the international community just cannot succeed in coping with particular problems in world politics.
I shall try to outline some of these questions having a direct bearing on the arrangement of the foreign policy strategy of Russia...
"The Pipeline War"
The war in Georgia escalated dangerously last night after Russian jets reportedly bombed a vital pipeline that supplies oil to the West.
After a day of heightening international tensions, Georgian leaders claimed that the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, which transports oil from the Caspian Sea to Turkey, had been attacked. But it is thought the bombs missed their target.
The pipeline is 30% owned by BP and supplies 1% of the world's oil needs, pumping up to a million barrels of crude per day to Turkey. It is crucial to the world's volatile energy market and the only oil and gas route that bypasses Russia's stranglehold on energy exports from the region.
(And: Oil pipelines at risk)
(And: Key players in the conflict)
Georgia has withdrawn its forces from breakaway South Ossetia, where they had been fighting Russian troops for control, its interior ministry has claimed. It comes amid fears that fighting could spread to Abkhazia, Georgia's second largest breakaway region, after Russia apparently massed troops there overnight.
(And: Georgia calls cease fire)
A small war in the Caucacus would not normally be a cause of growing international concern. But this conflict is not just another minor ethnic squabble and it may not stay local for too long. History is full of seemingly minor events leading to international showdowns.
German Chancellor Merkel today urgently called for an "immediate and unconditional" ceasefire in the escalating war between Russia and Georgia as Germany's foreign minister engaged in phone diplomacy.
Merkel is due to meet Russian President Medvedev in the Russian town of Sochi, which lies on the Black Sea, just a few kilometers to the west of the border with Georgian breakaway province Abkhazia.
German leaders -- many of them still on their summer vacation -- have held back on long statements about the escalating war in the Caucasus.
But the few voices that have been audible so far show that the country's ruling grand coalition seems split on the question of who is to blame. While Social Democrats and members of the opposition Green party have been critical of the Georgian actions, Germany's conservatives are more inclined to blame Russia.
German experts on Russia, however, said that Merkel and Steinmeier would most likely work together to help resolve the conflict. "It would be stupid for them to block each other," a Russia expert with the German Council on Foreign Relations told AFP news agency. "After all, this is about a strategic question, namely securing Europe's energy supplies."
For much of recorded history, the people of Georgia co-existed peacefully with their Ossetian neighbours, partly due to being under the thumb of Moscow since Tsarist troops conquered their lands in 1801.
(And: Israel "has a hand in war")
Why has Russia reverted to traditional means of controlling its former satellite states? At the heart of Vladimir Putin's aggressive nationalism is his firm belief that the power of the West is on the wane.
Russian officials believe that it was the US that orchestrated the current conflict. The chairman of the State Duma Committee for Security believes that the current conflict is South Ossetia is very reminiscent to the wars in Iraq and Kosovo.
"The further the situation unfolds, the more the world will understand that Georgia would never be able to do all this without America. ... They are responsible for this. The world community will learn about it."
Pakistan's embattled President Musharraf was under mounting pressure to quit, with his allies joining ruling coalition calls for him to go before impeachment proceedings begin on Monday.
Pakistani forces say they killed more than 100 Taliban fighters even while acknowledging they withdrew from one Afghan border town after a 3-day battle.
Seven militants and a security guard have been killed after a series of bombings in China's north-western region of Xinjiang. Earlier this week, China said 16 policemen were killed in an attack by Islamist separatists in Xinjiang.
The chairman of the Iranian parliament's national security and foreign relations committee has said the EU's decision to tighten the sanctions on Tehran was "a reckless move which will hurt the Europeans."
"This is a hasty and unconceivable move, which will negatively influence the positive relations created between the sides. In light of the high extent of commercial and economic relations between the EU and Iran, if the Europeans impose sanctions they will definitely be hurt."
Germany's allies are dismayed that the German government has granted a German firm permission to supply 3 natural gas plants to Iran at the same time they're trying to pressure Iran into suspending its nuclear program. "The Germans are very wobbly, and certainly the French, the British and the Americans are quite worried."
Ron Paul has warned millions of radio listeners that the US is heading into an illegal attack on Iran, stating his amazement at members of Congress who have openly voiced support for a criminal nuclear strike.
"If we do (attack) it is going to be a disaster. I was astounded to see on one of the networks the other day that the debate was not are we going to attack, but are we going to attack before or after the election?"
Paul recently voiced concern over House Congressional Resolution 362 which he has dubbed a "virtual Iran war resolution." "If that comes up it is demanding that the president [put in place] an absolute blockade of the entire country of Iran, and punish any country or any business group around the world if they trade with Iran," Paul told listeners.
Experts have predicted gas will rise to $6 per gallon if the resolution passes. Paul believes that may happen anyway, just by anticipation. He believes from talking with his contacts in and around Congress that a strike on Iran has already been green-lighted.
Reports from the Middle East are stating today that Kuwait has activated its "Emergency War Plan" after being notified that 2 additional US Navy Aircraft Carrier Groups are headed to the Gulf and Red Sea .
Russian Military Analysts report that with the addition of these new US Naval Battle Groups the American Forces now have arrayed against the Iranian Nation one of the largest naval armadas assembled by the West since WW2.
The Associated Press News Service is reporting, too, that Israel is building up its strike capabilities against Iran.
The 'wild card' in these latest moves by the US, its Western Allies and Israel, say Russian Military Reports, remains the 'hidden' Israeli threats against the US should it not attack Iran, and which many in the Russian Intelligence Community take to mean another September 11th type assault upon America itself.
Reports in the Kremlin today are stating that Prime Minister Putin has ordered the Defence Ministry of the Russian Federation to put the Volga-Urals Military District and Black Sea Fleet on 'full war alert' to prepare for the defense of the Iranian Nation against what is being termed as an 'imminent attack' being planned by the Western Powers.
In a bid to force Russia from its planned defense of the Iranian peoples by provoking war in the Caucasus, however, the West has severely miscalculated as Putin has not only ordered the retaking of South Ossetia from the Western backed Georgian forces, but has also ordered the destruction of all oil pipelines going through Georgia to the West.
What does the publication by the New York Times of an article, which calls for the nuclear incineration of 70 million Iranians, tell us about US politics and culture?
The truth is that the campaigns of both Obama and McCain are being inundated with cash from more or less exactly the same gorgons of the corporate scene.
From Wall Street to the Big Oil powerhouses to the military-industrial complex, America's fat-cat business leaders know that the Animal House-style party of the last 8 years that made almost all of them rich with bonuses, government contracts and bubble profits is about to come to an end, and someone is going to have to pay to clean up the mess.
They want that someone to be you, not them, and they've spared no expense to make sure both presidential candidates will be there to bail them out next year. They're succeeding. Both would-be presidents have already sold us out. They've taken the money and run.
A secret meeting of Congress discusses immanent martial law
On March 13th 2008 there was a secret closed door meeting of The United States House Of Representatives in Washington. In the history of The United States this is only the 4th time a secret meeting was held by the house.
Even though Representatives are sworn to secrecy by House Rules XVII, some of the members were so shocked, horrified, furious, and concerned about the future of America by what was revealed to them inside the secret meeting, that they have started to leak this secret information to independent news agencies around the world.
Former President Ford secretly advised the FBI that 2 of his fellow members on the Warren Commission doubted the FBI's conclusion that John F. Kennedy was shot from the 6th floor of the Texas Book Depository in Dallas, according to newly released records from Ford's FBI files.
Worst debt turmoil since Depression sparks government action
Since the credit crisis erupted a year ago, the Bush administration has presided over one of the broadest expansions of the government into private lending in US history, risking public money to prop up financial firms both large and small.
The scope of these commitments demonstrates the unprecedented nature of the challenge facing the nation. Not since the Great Depression have so many debt markets been in turmoil at the same time.
"We have a banking crisis and an agency crisis and a mortgage crisis and a coming credit card crisis. We've never seen anything like that before. And it all seems to be coming home to roost at the same time. That's never happened either."
In what can only be described as the most obnoxious market manipulations of all time, the elitists have pulled out all the stops to give the stock markets their final "hurrah", while simultaneously producing the greatest precious metals and resource share bargains you could have possibly hoped for.
We are headed into global social, political, economic and financial disintegration and our Wall Street banking and Washington alliance are only interested in saving their own skins.
Don't expect things to get better by Fall. In fact, I'm expecting the earnings meltdown to begin for much of the remaining sectors in the S&P 500.
The subprime mortgage mess has dealt a blow to families across the nation, but now a new mortgage disaster is percolating that's striking those with good credit and good jobs -- people who took out mortgages known as "Alternative A" loans.
Collapsing growth in Germany, Italy and Spain has forced the European Central Bank to abandon its hawkish policy stance, preparing the way for likely rate cuts in coming months. There is growing speculation that the 7-year surge in the euro against all major currencies may also have peaked.
Data across the region has been dire over recent weeks. The great shock has been the precipitous downturn in Germany, viewed as the export locomotive for the whole currency bloc.
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[Latest edition of The Religion WAR]
What is intentionally misnamed health care for political and economic reasons should be adequately called "sick care." This gigantic, self-feeding, social cancer is bankrupting our nation and the global economy at a whopping $1.3 trillion a year, with over 90 percent of the money spent in the last 30 days of human life.
Mass media propaganda covers the daily arguments of puppet politicians ignorantly presenting their hopelessly pathetic plans of how to manage health care, when in reality their health care programs fund and support expensive treatments for symptom suppression of disease and illness, not cures.
Real health care is diametrically opposed in method and process to toxic pharmaceuticals and risky surgical procedures. It's sick care, which has nothing to do with health.
"On the 7th day of the 5th month, in the 19th year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard, an official of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. He set fire to the temple of YAHWEH, the royal palace and all the houses of Jerusalem. Every important building he burned down." (2Kings 25:8,9)
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