Reading between the lines, and thinking outside the box . . .
I was happy to see that the cardinals picked a conservative, Joseph Ratzinger, to be the new pope. As Pope Benedict XVI, he can be expected to hew to the line of keeping the church as a witness to truth, regardless of what modernists and relativists think.
With Munich celebrating its 850th anniversary this summer, Ben Knight heads to Bavaria to find how a city of bourgeois affluence and magical beer is marking a special birthday.
Germany's economy shrank for the first time in 4 years, raising fears Europe's economic powerhouse may be headed for recession. DW's Karl Zawadzky says the country has to face the fact the party is over.
On the eve of a meeting with Georgian President Saakashvili, Chancellor Merkel once again urged both Moscow and Tblisi to end all hostilities and work on implementing an EU-brokered peace plan. German government sources said Merkel would press for a complete cessation of hostilities and a permanent political solution to the Caucasus conflict.
Former Chancellor Schroeder has accused Georgia of provoking the recent hostilities with Russia by sending troops into South Ossetia and described President Saakashvili as a "gambler." He declined to comment on whether Russia's response was disproportionate, saying that military conflicts developed their own dynamic.
Schroeder said the West had make "serious errors" in its policy toward Russia, and Western views of Russia did not correspond with the reality there.
The agreement between the US and the right-wing government of Poland to base a US anti-missile system in that country is the first major response of American imperialism to the Russian intervention in Georgia. Russian officials responded to the US-Polish agreement with apocalyptic language.
In the final analysis, the conflict between the US and Russia is the inevitable outcome of the world crisis of the capitalist system, which takes the form not only of economic slump and financial convulsions, but of great-power conflict leading inexorably to imperialist war.
Ukraine inflamed mounting East-West tensions yesterday by offering up a Soviet-built satellite facility as part of the European missile defence system. The proposal could see Ukraine added to Moscow's nuclear hitlist.
DEBKAfile's military sources report Moscow's planned retaliation for America's missile interceptors in Poland and US-Israeli military aid to Georgia may come in the form of installing Iskandar surface missiles in Syria and its Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad.
Russian Baltic and Middle East warships, submarines and long-range bombers may be armed with nuclear warheads, according to today's newspapers in Europe.
Despite significant US and Georgian culpability in the crisis in Georgia, most US politicians and media painted Russia as the diabolical "evildoer."
(And: Georgian war crimes)
The American media, aka, the Ministry of Lies and Deceit, again accommodated the criminal Bush Regime and proclaimed "Russian invasion" to cover up the ethnic cleansing of Russians in South Ossetia by the Georgian military assault.
Only this time, the rest of the world didn't buy it. The many years of lies have taken their toll on American credibility. No one outside America any longer believes the US media or the US government.
The rest of the world reported the facts – an assault on Russian civilians by American/Israeli-trained and equipped Georgian troops.
Suddenly the Western Europeans have realized that being allied with the US is like holding a tiger by the tail. No European country wants to be hurled into war with Russia. Germany, France, and Italy must be thanking God they blocked Georgia's membership in NATO.
The neoconservatives represent the greatest danger ever faced by the US and the world. Humanity has no greater enemy.
The EU needs to re-evaluate its relationship to both the US and NATO.
(Cartoon: Bush's hypocrisy)
The crisis in Georgia has focused minds on the supply of oil to western Europe via lines that cross - and avoid - Russia. This vast stretch of the globe remains a powder keg. Moscow has not just sent a message to several former Soviet states not to step out of line, it has sent a signal to Europe about the fragility and security of its economic interests.
Russia's military walkover in Georgia has deepened NATO divisions as it prepares to find a new way next week of handling the resurgent former superpower.
Robert Gates, the US Defence Secretary, said: "There need to be consequences for Moscow's behaviour." Relations with Russia, which has had a "partnership" with Nato for more than a decade, would not be the same for years to come, he said.
The trouble is that several big European states — notably France, Germany and Italy — do not see the Russian offensive that way. They partly blame Georgia, a would-be NATO member and a protégé of the US.
The Russian tanks rumbling across parts of Georgia are forcing a fundamental reassessment of strategic interests across Europe in a way not considered since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the subsequent collapse of communism.
Russia is showing off its power and sending an unmistakable message: Georgia, or much larger Ukraine, will never be allowed to join NATO. The implications of Russia's action reverberate well beyond that, from the EU's muddled relations with its key energy supplier, Russia, through Armenia and Azerbaijan in the south, to Ukraine and Moldova.
For controversial Turkish President Gül, the recent war in Georgia signals a "new world order" that will emerge from the rubble of South Ossetia and force the US to share its power.
"I don't think you can control all the world from one centre. There are big nations. There are huge populations. There is unbelievable economic development in some parts of the world. So what we have to do is, instead of unilateral actions, act all together, make common decisions and have consultations with the world. A new world order, if I can say it, should emerge."
Poland's Prime Minister, could not have chosen his words better when he told his countrymen: "We have crossed the Rubicon." The Polish move, and the Russian threat, provide the clearest evidence yet that the 6-day Georgian war has spread to Eastern Europe's ancient fault-lines. This new East-West contest is likely to intensify.
If the West was surprised by the ferocity of Russia's action in Georgia, the struggle over Ukraine will be far more intense. Any outbreak of violence could have huge repercussions. This conflict threatens to trigger a struggle that, if badly handled, could consume an entire continent.
(Op-ed: Let's not start WW3)
Going to battle in the Caucasus, Russia has now directly challenged US pre-eminence in world affairs, serving notice that the days of automatic deference to Washington's desires are over, experts said.
Russia has long complained about US "double standards" it says allow the US to act as it chooses in world affairs with impunity while demanding others respect rules of conduct written by Washington anyway.
The Kremlin has telegraphed a calculated message to the US that Moscow will henceforth feel free to pursue its interests in the world in precisely the same way that Washington does, analysts explained.
Saakashvilli's assignment is to try to get Putin to overreact militarily and demonstrate to European allies that Russia still poses a threat to their national security. Fortunately, many Europeans see through the ruse and know that the trouble originates in Washington.
Putin's task is to avoid a military confrontation with the US while demonstrating to his Europeon partners that their future lies with Russia not America. That's the real goal. To achieve that, he needs to expose Bush as reckless, petulant, and incapable of being a responsible steward of the global system.
Maybe Putin will have to back-down at some point and swallow his pride; it makes no difference. What matters, is the endgame; showing that Russia is strong and dependable and will provide its European allies with oil and natural gas in a businesslike manner. That's the winning hand.
Meanwhile, the US will be forced to take a long-overdue look in the mirror and revisit its strategy for perennial war. Unfortunately, once the Atlantic Alliance is shattered; America's lifeline to the world is kaput.
The issue of Jerusalem's holiest site may again be dividing Jews.
Pakistan's government has intensified its efforts to force President Musharraf to resign, claiming it has prepared impeachment charges against him.
The Pakistani military offensive and the tremendous human suffering it is causing are the direct outcome of US pressure on the new civilian government of Prime Minister Gilani. The growing violence in Pakistan is an extension of the US military attempt to turn Afghanistan into an American client state in Central Asia.
Things were looking up in India-Pakistan relations. Kashmir seemed edging closer to a resolution than at any time before. But it all seems light years away now. Within the past few weeks, things have begun unraveling. Kashmir is back on a razor's edge.
China and Germany said today that they were in agreement that the international force in Sudan had to be expanded in order to resolve the conflict in the African country peacefully.
[WAR: Kingdom of the North talking with one of the Kings of the East about the Kingdom of the South.]
Iran has successfully launched its first domestically-manufactured satellite carrier, Safir 1, into space from the Iranian soil.
Egypt says Iran should not present Western countries 'the pretexts' that would justify a war on the country over its nuclear program. "Iran should not present on a silver platter the justifications and the pretexts for those who want to drag the region down a dangerous slope."
From the perspective of John McCain, the Russian conflict with Georgia is an extremely convenient gift from the gods of war, but from another perspective – it is hardly coincidental.
(And: Is Condoleeza Rice stupid?)
Press TV's exclusive full-length interview with former US treasury official Paul Craig Roberts.
Wake up, America! We're on the brink of a financial meltdown. I.O.U.S.A. boldly examines the rapidly growing national debt and its consequences for the United States and its citizens.
Burdened with an ever-expanding government and military, increased international competition, overextended entitlement programs, and debts to foreign countries that are becoming impossible to honor, America must mend its spendthrift ways or face an economic disaster of epic proportions.
Fathom and Roadside Attractions present I.O.U.S.A.: Live with Warren Buffett, Pete Peterson & Dave Walker in an exclusive one night (Thursday) event in select movie theatres nationwide. This event will include the critically-acclaimed documentary, I.O.U.S.A., and a LIVE discussion about America's economic crisis and what we can do to change course.
The live discussion with America's most notable financial leaders and policy experts promises riveting dialogue and keen insight into the crisis we currently face.
(Check website for theater/ticket info.)
(And: Another inconvenient truth)
After years when America was vilified for not taking "global warming' seriously, it was a shock to find how "environmentalism" is now threatening to transform what is still the largest and richest economy in the world.
Most dramatic of all are the implications of a Supreme Court judgment in the case of Massachussets v the US Environmental Protection Agency which ruled by a single vote that the EPA must treat any greenhouse gases as "pollution", to be regulated under America's Clean Air Act.
The EPA is thus mandated to impose drastic new limits on emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases from pretty well any source, not just industry and transport but schools, hospitals, even lawn mowers.
The implications are so immense for almost every sector of the US economy that government departments have been queuing up to protest, arguing that the effects of such regulation would be so damaging that it should be regarded as unthinkable.
A nasty mortgage product promises yet more misery
Optimists, look away now. Prices in America's housing market may have slumped, but the pain for a significant subset of homeowners has barely begun.
So far, the international economic consequences of the war in the Caucasus have been fairly minor, despite Georgia's role as a major corridor for oil shipments. But as I was reading the latest bad news, I found myself wondering whether this war is an omen - a sign that the 2nd great age of globalization may share the fate of the first.
If you're wondering what I'm talking about, here's what you need to know: Our grandfathers lived in a world of largely self-sufficient, inward-looking national economies - but our great-great grandfathers lived, as we do, in a world of large-scale international trade and investment, a world destroyed by nationalism. So, can things fall apart again? Yes, they can.
Much of the world, including nations that play a key role in the global economy, doesn't share democratic values. Most of us have proceeded on the belief that, at least as far as economics goes, this doesn't matter - that we can count on world trade continuing to flow freely simply because it's so profitable. But that's not a safe assumption.
The belief that economic rationality always prevents war is an equally great illusion. And today's high degree of global economic interdependence, which can be sustained only if all major governments act sensibly, is more fragile than we imagine.
The credit crunch started in America, but Europe may yet prove the bigger victim.
Are the losses winding down? Hardly. The extent of the losses in some of the largest banks and financial institutions is only now coming to light.
The Game is up for the Banks as they now face limits on derivatives, trillions remain outstanding in credit default swaps, American meddling in Iraq to continue indefinitely, Insider buyers were pushing Bear Stearns out of business,Russia defeats NATO in Georgia, Iran blockaded by US Navy, Apple backdating settled with SEC, ugliness in mortgage land...
Economies across the rich world are flirting with recession. Good news for the dollar.
The pound could soon dive to barely more than a dollar and a half while gold prices plunge to $650, experts predicted yesterday amid fresh evidence that the commodity boom is ending and the dollar's resurgence is under way.
Whatever...
A prayer group in Washington DC is claiming the credit for the recent sharp drop in the US price of petrol.
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[Latest edition of The Religion WAR]
The iron grip of the world's longest ruling political party was prized loose yesterday after a sandal-wearing former bishop assumed the presidency in Paraguay, taking on the superhuman task of governing one of the world's most corrupt nations.
"Today Paraguay breaks with its reputation for corruption, breaks with the few feudal lords of the past," said the former Catholic priest who received an unprecedented dispensation to retire from the church, which the Vatican said was "for the good of Paraguay".
One of the first things President Lugo has done is to renounce his £2000 a month presidential salary, as he keeps to the austere lifestyle that characterised his tenure as a radical and defiant Catholic priest who espoused the doctrine of Liberation Theology.
Calendar Challenge update
[WAR: On my last few postings, I was in such a hurry to get them out that I forgot to give an update on the petition I filed to change the date of birth on my birth certificate.
When I filed it, the court clerk looked it over and said, "Hmmm, I'll be right back." When she returned, she asked me if I was a member of the Republic of Texas. I told her no, that I wasn't a member of any group or organization -- just an individual trying to get something changed on my birth certificate.
She then said she had to check on something else. When she returned, she said the judge (whose father is the county DA) and chief deputy DA were looking it over to determine if they even had the jurisdiction to accept such a petition. They eventually did, and gave me a case #.
So now, I just have to appear before the judge on my way back through Texas and have him make a ruling. I really don't expect him to grant the date change (from 10-04-64 to 06-27-64), but that will just be grounds for appeal -- because no judge in this country can make me follow Pope Gregory XIII's bull establishing the Gregorian Calendar!]
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