Reading between the lines, and thinking outside the box . . .
Chancellor Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats will gather Monday in Stuttgart for their annual party congress. It will be far from a set-piece conference.
Merkel, after years of uncontested success, is facing massive pressure not only from other countries, but from within her own party, to beef up the German government's response to the financial crisis.
She will have to give an outstanding speech to retain her reputation as a disciplined, calculating and determined leader.
Chancellor Merkel defended her economic policies as the German parliament continues to debate the country's 2009 budget. She said enough aid is there, but it's not being used.
The most important, and most useful, section of the speech that President Köhler gave to the European Finance Week congress of international bankers in Frankfurt this past Friday, Nov. 21, is being censored by most of the media here, which instead focus on his lambasting of bankers' and fund managers' irresponsibility.
More than 1.5 million workers in Germany depend on the automobile industry for their jobs. But that industry is now facing one of its worst crises ever.
Respected giants BMW and Mercedes are particularly exposed as sales plummet.
Three alleged German spies detained over the weekend in Kosovo are suspected of "terrorism" in connection with a minor blast outside an EU building in Pristina.
Now Kosovo authorities say they have video evidence, but Germany says it's a frame-up job.
The uproar over pirates off the Gulf of Aden has led the German government to contribute a naval frigate to an EU mission along the Somali coast. More soldiers may be on the way.
In the meantime German helicopters have defended a pair of merchant ships from pirate speedboats.
The bishops addressed Hans-Gert Pöttering, president of the European Parliament and guest of the conference, affirming the importance of building a community of values in Europe and emphasizing its Christian heritage.
The Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic has rejected a complaint against the EU's reform treaty.
The decision clears the way for the Czechs -- and perhaps another member state -- to ratify the document.
Georgia's former ambassador to Russia has accused his own country of starting the war in South Ossetia. His comments almost led to a fistfight between politicians.
A Russian Foreign Ministry official says the US troops in Iraq have deliberately rammed their vehicle into a convoy carrying Russian diplomats.
Just weeks after President Bush signed the Order creating a new US military command dedicated to Africa, AFRICOM, events on the mineral-rich continent have erupted which suggest a major agenda of the incoming Obama Presidency will be for the son of a black Kenyan to focus US resources, military and other, on dealing with the Republic of Congo, the oil-rich Gulf of Guinea, the oil-rich Darfur region of southern Sudan and increasingly the Somali 'pirate threat' to sea lanes in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean.
The legitimate question is whether it is mere coincidence that Africa appears just at this time to become a new geopolitical 'hot spot' or whether it has a direct link to the formal creation of AFRICOM.
Why would a prime minister who has resigned and is leaving office in 8 weeks meet with a lame-duck president who is also leaving office in 8 weeks?
Israel needs approval for fly-over of Gulf Sunni states based upon plausible deniability during the mission to Iran.
Time magazine quoted an "unnamed Israeli source at the Defense Ministry" as having said, "We have been warned off."
It has been hinted in the past by IDF officials that Israel may launch a pre-emptive strike on nuclear facilities in Iran prior to the inauguration of Barack Obama.
No Israel Defense Forces general would ever say that unless it were officially approved. Why did he say it? So when Israel attacks, the US will not be blamed.
Israeli Prime Minister Olmert said Tuesday Israel was free to take any action it deemed necessary against Iran's nuclear program, saying there were no US restraints.
"I can't recall that anyone in the administration, including in the last couple of days, advised me or any of my official representatives not to take any action that we will deem necessary for the fundamental security of the state of Israel, and that includes Iran."
So far, at least, I have not heard of any plans for so much as a plaque to be installed in the hospital in which the next president was born.
Do you know why? Because the location of the hospital in which Barack Obama was born is something of a state secret.
Why is there so much secrecy about his birthplace?
What follows is a partial list of people and organizations that have challenged Obama's eligibility.
Further on I will comment on how egregious the media's failure to cover this story has been.
And last, I will speculate on the reason for the cover-up of this full-blown scandal.
A lawyer who is playing a key role in a California lawsuit urging officials to prevent the state's 55 Electoral College votes from being recorded for Barack Obama until questions about his citizenship are resolved says he's organizing plans to challenge, even after the inauguration, every order, every proposal, every piece of paperwork generated by Obama.
If idealizing other persons and things is indeed normal in our human nature, we may then ask whether this tendency can go awry.
That is, if we pervert this process, can we unwittingly cause ourselves serious problems? The answer is: "Yes, we can!" In fact, we have already begun.
Obama's presidency could easily be sabotaged by the powers that put him there.
Reality had to raise its ugly head. Barack Obama was elected with overwhelming approval to inaugurate an era of change.
But his recent economic and foreign policy appointments make it clear that when he chose "change" as his campaign slogan, he was NOT referring to the financial, insurance and real estate (FIRE) sectors, nor to foreign policy. These are where the vested interests concentrate their wealth and power.
Barack Obama's vague campaign promises of "change" are rapidly evaporating as the key positions in the next administration are filled with veterans of the US political establishment.
The City of London's flagship publication, the Financial Times, issued new instructions to Barack Obama Monday, in its second editorial: get rid of Hillary Clinton.
When such prominent City of London interests, inherently committed to the destruction of the United States, and fairly suspected of planning the assassination of the incoming President to facilitate that aim, weigh in so heavily against a leading personality, the listener would do well to beware.
One of Barack Obama's longstanding mentors and oldest friends said that he believes Bill Clinton will be a complicating factor for the new president and that his list of foreign donors could prove embarrassing.
"I worry about the difficulty not that she brings, but that her husband brings. His entire career since leaving the White House has involved foreign contacts, foreign speeches and foreign contributions."
Barack Obama will retain Robert Gates as Defence Secretary for at least a year, according to reports, a move which will dismay some anti-Iraq supporters but also win praise for its bi-partisanship.
Taking on the Pentagon, with its mega-budget and its mega-power, may be the hardest task Obama faces.
Obama will name former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker to chair an advisory panel to advise him on stabilizing financial markets and manoeuvring the country out of a recession.
Oh, Lordy. It is that time again. Thursday is Thanksgiving -- the official kickoff event of the 2008 holiday season.
For a lot of progressives, these festivities also mean that we're about to spend more quality time with our conservative relatives over the next 6 weeks than is strictly good for our blood pressure, stress levels, or continued sanity.
The black guy won. Armageddon -- or, at the very least, socialism, atheism, gun control, and a national epidemic of erectile dysfunction -- must certainly be at hand.
Most of the right wing's favorite anti-liberal slanders are rooted in some deeply-held -- and deeply wrong -- assumptions about who liberals are, and what we believe.
With billions in bailout money pouring directly or indirectly into the corporate "mainstream" media, only the thinnest pretense of independence remains.
So here we have the intersection of two very dangerous phenomena, which, in combination, could prove deadly to our democracy and subversive in a way no foreign conspiracy ever could be.
All by itself, a love-struck media wouldn't be so bad. However, add to this the breaching of the wall between the government and the corporate parents of major media outlets, and you're entering some very dangerous territory.
Riots and protests in Reykjavik calling for the government of Iceland to resign have increased following a financial catastrophe that has wiped out half of the krona's value and put one third of the population at risk of losing their homes and life savings.
Could similar scenes of civil unrest be repeated in the US as the economy continues to implode?
Conservative talker and future Fox News personality Glenn Beck suggests that states should "secede" from the union to protest the recent string of Wall Street bailouts.
A government rescue plan has eased investors' concerns about Citigroup Inc, but mines lurking in the balance sheets of rivals including Bank of America could still tempt short-sellers.
Bank of America, the #3 US bank by assets, has loaded up on mortgages as the world's largest economy wrestles with the worst housing market since the Great Depression.
Leading bankers and government officials have gone "from fear to panic," as the next phase of the total disintegration of the global financial system hits.
As of the end of June 2008, official figures, compiled by the US Comptroller of the Currency, showed a total derivatives exposure of the 3 largest U.S. bank holding companies — JP Morgan Chase, Citicorp and Bank of America — stood at more than $179 trillion.
There is no question that Citigroup badly needs the money, but so do all its peers.
The more interesting aspect of the case is that Citigroup, as the flagship American bank internationally, has been targetted by the British, who wish to eliminate it as a rival.
Britain has no real debt in foreign currencies. Like other AAA states, it borrows in its own currency. This is a lifesaver.
However, and here is the awful catch, some of these private banks have vast dollar positions, so as more of them fall into the hands of the British state (partially or fully) the dollar debt implicitly moves across onto the sovereign balance sheet.
And California is now priced as a greater bankruptcy risk than Slovakia.
The European Commission on Wednesday proposed measures totaling $260 billion to revive the region's flagging economy. The plan was larger than many economists had expected.
Sovereign wealth funds in the Gulf are switching their focus away from Western stock markets to shore up ailing economies in the Middle East and protect themselves from losses in the City and on Wall Street.
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Russian warships sailed into port in Venezuela on Tuesday in a show of strength as Moscow seeks to counter US influence in Latin America.
Russia's first such deployment in the Caribbean since the Cold War is timed to coincide with President Medvedev's visit to Venezuela, the first ever by a Russian president.
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