Friday

The Daily WAR (12-15)

Reading between the lines, and thinking outside the box . . .
 
 
 
    The light that comes from God is being dimmed at this moment of history, and the unity of Christians is a key factor to keep God on the human horizon, says Benedict XVI.
    The Pope affirmed this in a letter to bishops of the world made public by the Vatican, in which he considers the situation with the Society of St. Pius X.
 
    A Vatican spokesman says that Benedict XVI's letter released today regarding the Society of St. Pius X is an "unusual document worthy of great attention."
    This was the estimation offered by Jesuit Federico Lombardi in an explanatory note accompanying the Pope's March 10 letter to bishops of the world, according to the Vatican Information Service.
    "Never before in his pontificate has Benedict XVI expressed himself so personally and intensely on a matter of public debate. The Pope experienced the remission of the excommunication and the consequent reactions with evident concern and suffering," and felt the obligation "to intervene in order to contribute to peace in the Church."
 
    Benedict XVI calls dialogue with Jews not only possible, but necessary, due to the common spiritual heritage shared by the 2 faiths. He called dialogue between the two faiths "necessary and possible" as the 2 "recognize a common rich spiritual patrimony."
 
    The row that ensued between Jewish leaders and the Vatican after the latter lifted the excommunication of a bishop who denied the extent of the Holocaust, is over.
    The chief rabbi of Haifa said this in comments to the press after Benedict XVI met with a delegation from the Chief Rabbinate of Israel and of the Holy See Commission for Religious Relations With the Jews.
 
    Nearly 4 years have passed since the election of Pope Benedict XVI. They have been marked by several eruptions of controversy.
    The BBC's David Willey reflects on the performance so far of the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.
 
    Modern liberalism has strong totalitarian tendencies, according to the archbishop of Sydney.
    "Some secularists seem to like one way streets. Their intolerance of Christianity seeks to drive it not only from the public square, but even from the provision of education, health care and welfare services to the wider community. Tolerance has come to mean different things for different groups."
 
YOU SHALL NOT PROFIT (scroll down)
    Euro coins from the Vatican are high in demand among collectors yielding high prices. The coinage and its sale yielded considerable income for the Vatican.
    But this flourishing business will come to an end soon, reports the FT Deutschland. EU finance ministers decided recently that euro coins should enter circulation at their face value.
    Only a small proportion will be allowed to be sold at a higher price.
    The Vatican's finances are not the best, with a deficit of €9m. (We wonder what happens if the Vatican's budget is no longer in line of the stability pact. Would the European Commission could launch a deficit procedure against Benedict XVI? We need to know).
 
 
 
    Germany's post-war prosperity was founded partly on the notion of Ordnungspolitik, whereby the state referees the market without seeking to control it.
    It would intervene in some areas, for instance to prevent monopolies, but stay out of other domains, such as setting wage levels.
    This arrangement largely succeeded in making a success of Germany's "social market economy".
    For now the government's plan is to return to Ordnungspolitik once the crisis has passed. But if it deepens, is there a Plan B?
 
 
 
    European governments are turning against the European Commission, with mischief in mind. The European Commission, say the grumblers of Brussels, is adrift in this economic crisis.
    One can hear similar complaints about an inactive commission from national leaders, notably President Nicolas Sarkozy of France.
    The federalist hardcore yearns for the commission to use the crisis to grab power from national governments.
    EU leaders have reaffirmed their loyalty to the internal market. But many countries, among them Germany and France, wish that the market were not so free.
    Astonishing as it may seem to British critics of Europe, in Brussels the chief complaint is that the dominant ideology of the European Commission, especially in the financial sector, is British-style liberalism.
    Chancellor Merkel is said to deliver "rants" about the "Anglo-Saxon" system.
    In France, Socialist party leaders say their campaign for June's European Parliament elections will denounce the supposed "Barroso-Sarkozy axis" of wicked "ultraliberalism".
    Europhiles who loathe Commission President Barroso should beware of egging on the national leaders carping at the commission. If that spreads, it could sink the whole project, not just leave it adrift.
 
 
 
    Israeli settler parties told prime minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday they will not join his cabinet unless he bows to their demands on ministerial posts, piling on the pressure as he scrambles to form a government by the end of next week.
    The warning underlined the likely tenuous nature of the narrow right-wing cabinet being formed by Netanyahu, and how its policies are likely to put Israel at odds with its top ally Washington over the stalled peace process.
 
    A top Taliban commander has told CNN his insurgents are poised and ready to attack Kabul and could strike virtually anywhere in the city.
 
    US and British diplomats were scrambling to broker a truce between Pakistan's feuding political leaders tonight as thousands of black-suited lawyers defied a government ban to launch a mass protest across the country.
 
    A potential conflict was brewing last night in the South China Sea after Obama dispatched heavily armed American destroyers to the scene of a naval standoff between the US and China at the weekend.
 
    Japan is ready to intercept a North Korean rocket if it appears to threaten the country's security, Japan's Foreign Minister said today. "If the rocket launch threatens to harm our country in any way, we will take decisive countermeasures."
 
 
 
    President Ahmadinejad dismissed international sanctions against Iran as a "childish idea" today as he officially launched a natural gas project in the Gulf, Iranian media reported.
    He described the commissioning of Phases 9 and 10 of the South Pars field, Iran's single biggest natural gas deposit, as a "happy gift" for the Iranian nation, which is also the world's 4th-largest oil producer.
    "This grand achievement happened under conditions in which some in the world with immorality and misbehaviour did not fulfil their promises."
    The comments came a day after Barack Obama said he was extending economic sanctions against Tehran as it continued to pose an "extraordinary threat" to the national security, foreign policy and economy of the US.
 
    Benjamin Netanyahu and Barack Obama may differ on some issues, but they agree that stopping Iran getting a nuclear bomb is a top priority, a senior adviser to Israel's prime minister-designate said on Thursday.
 
    Obama's sensible idea (opening talks with Iran) was greeted with the deepest dismay by ardent supporters of Israel and Rambo Republicans who want to see the US go to war with Iran.
    Now, as the US fights for its economic life, the Iran question and its alleged nuclear weapons program have again become an issue of major contention.
    Officials in the Obama administration and the media issued a blizzard of contradictory claims over Iran's alleged nuclear threat, leaving us wondering: who is really charge of US foreign policy?
    Compared to America's titanic economic and financial mess, whatever goes on in Tehran is of pipsqueak magnitude.
    The real danger to America comes from its Wall Street fraudsters, not from Tehran.
 
 
 
    A California attorney whose emergency submission to the Supreme Court on Obama's eligibility was turned back without a hearing or comment now is submitting a motion for re-hearing, alleging some of her documentation may have been withheld from the justices by a court clerk.
    The motion for reconsideration alleges a court clerk "of his own volition and on his own authority refused to file of record, docket, and forward to the Chief Justice and Associate Justices petitioners' supplemental brief presented on January 15, 2009."
    [WAR: I also had an experience where a court clerk neglected to give a judge a motion I had filed -- which resulted in nothing being done when I appeared before him. She (the Hispanic clerk) was quite angry with me, because of the nature of my case (challenging the legal authority of the Gregorian Calendar) and my opinions about the Catholic Church.]
 
    After only 2 months in office, Obama may have fallen short on a number of his campaign promises.
 
    The Obama Deception lays bare the cynical fraud behind the spell binding image of Barack Obama, a slick front man for the corporate oligarchs who have seized control of the country from the shadows.
    The film is not about left or right politics, but instead seeks to shine a light on a deep-rooted agenda.
    The documentary outlines the fact that even if Obama had the best intentions in the world, they would not come to pass because he is firmly rooted within a perennial and clandestine power structure that spans beyond presidents, borders and economies.
 
    Obama is facing accusations that he failed his first test on the Middle East by allowing America's pro-Israel lobby to force out the nominee for a top intelligence post.
 
    The neoconservatives have demonstrated that their power in Washington remains strong as they have succeeded in keeping veteran diplomat Chas Freeman out of a top intelligence job.
    In effect, the neocons showed that their influence over the national news media, especially the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal, combined with solid Republican support and some key Democratic backing, still lets them blackball potential government appointees who favor a more evenhanded approach toward the Middle East.
 
    The nixing of Charles Freeman from a post as head of the National Intelligence Council is not, as is commonly averred, a victory for the Israel lobby.
    It is, instead, a Pyrrhic victory – that is, a victory so costly that it really amounts to a defeat for them. They have now been forced out in the open.
    The real fanatics are the Israel-firsters, who have used every subterfuge, no matter how low, to maintain their parasitic grip on the American policymaking process. The really dangerous ideologues are the Likudniks and their American amen corner who willfully distort and deform American policy.
 
    America is in urgent need of its own 'perestroika' and its days as the world's superpower have ended, according to former Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
    "Everyone is used to America as the shepherd that tells everyone what to do. But this period has already ended. That's why there must be solidarity and partnerships. One single country can never rule the whole world."
    Gorbachev said the world needs to find "a new model", and major changes are needed to the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and a string of other international institutions.
 
    Governor Jan Brewer asked the federal government Wednesday to send more National Guard troops to Arizona's border with Mexico to assist in anti-drug efforts and other duties.
    In a letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, the governor requested another 250 National Guard members to supplement the 150 troops who are already at the border as part of a long-standing border assistance program.
 
    The US will soon send a large contingent of federal agents to its southern border to help stem recent violence in northern Mexico, the nation's Homeland Security chief said Thursday.
    The new initiative will mobilize more border-enforcement teams, multiply the number of intelligence analysts working on the border and step up searches of vehicles going into Mexico from the US, Napolitano said.
 
    Cheap labor. Even more than race, it's the thread that connects all of Southern history.
    It's at the epicenter of a sad class divide between a desperate, poorly educated workforce and a demagogic oligarchy, and it has been a demarcation line stronger than the Mason-Dixon in separating the region from the rest of the nation.
    The heart of Southern conservatism is the preservation of a status quo that serves elite interests.
 
    Across America, from Washington State to Nevada, Georgia and even Florida, homeless advocacy groups and city agencies are reporting the biggest rise in homeless encampments in a generation, as the US economy takes a spectacular plunge.
 
 
 
    US households suffered a record 9% drop in wealth and pared debt in the 4th quarter as a deepening recession battered confidence and finances, Federal Reserve data showed on Thursday.
    Household net worth dropped by $5.1 trillion from the prior quarter to $51.5 trillion. For the full year, net worth dropped by $11.2 trillion, reflecting steep declines in the housing and stock markets.
    The declines in household net worth were the largest since quarterly and annual records began in 1951 and 1946, respectively, said the Fed.
 
    It wasn't supposed to happen this way. The Me Generation's twilight years were supposed to be a bookend for the Golden Age of the American Dream they inherited after the country triumphed in WW2.
    For all but a few, that dream is fast slipping away, as a surge in layoffs and the collapse of the housing and financial markets leave them with few options and little time to recover and rebuild.
 
    The Swiss National Bank moved to weaken the Swiss franc on Thursday. The bank's move sparked fears that other countries could follow suit.
    "Let the currency wars begin," said Chris Turner at ING Financial Markets.
 
    Crisis-hit economies in Central and Eastern Europe have seen their national currencies slide against the euro, fuelling a discussion about whether they should be allowed to adopt the euro sooner rather than later.
 
    Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy joined forces on Thursday to insist that next month's G20 summit focus on tougher global financial regulations, rejecting US calls for the EU countries to spend more on supporting growth.
 
    The meeting this weekend represents the final opportunity for ministers to draw up the 2 or 3 key points to be debated at the final G20 ministerial summit in London on April 2.
    Each of the 3 main topics for the summit – the question of financial regulations, economic and banking rescue plans and stimulus packages, and reform of the International Monetary Fund – has a different cheerleader.
    Any sign of discord and the rather more dismal conclusion will be that nations are so at odds that finding an international solution will be impossible.
    Given that economic disharmony has almost invariably led to protectionism, and this in turn to geopolitical conflict, this outcome would be truly disastrous.
 
    The past week witnessed a number of heated exchanges between leading US and European politicians, indicating growing differences on how to respond to the deepening world recession.
    The growing divisions between Europe and America over dealing with the crisis come amid reports of a drastic worsening of the economic situation in Europe. The situation Germany is especially dramatic.
    The stakes are enormous. The European and US bourgeoisie are quite aware of the threat of social and political upheavals, but the mounting signs of conflict between European leaders and the US administration underscore that neither is capable of resolving the fundamental historical contradiction between the world economy and the nation-state system, which is being aggravated by the burgeoning crisis of world capitalism.
 
    Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao reminded the US its responsibilities in easing the global financial crisis – and of its indebtedness to his country, which now owns the bulk of US Treasuries.
    "I would like … to once again request America to maintain its trustworthiness, keep its promise and guarantee the safety of Chinese assets. Of course we are concerned about the security of our assets and, to speak truthfully, I do have some worries."
 
    The federal bailout of insurance giant American International Group swelled to $170 billion in early March after a third infusion of taxpayer dollars.
    AIG's stunning lack of gratitude toward its rescuers demonstrates the degree to which greed still pays on Wall Street.
    The Wall Street Journal has discovered the names of some of the recipients of AIG bailout money. The cast of characters is familiar, mainly large US and European banks that were AIG's top traders. For these Wall Street insiders, AIG's bailout proved to be a cash cow.
(Cartoons: AIG BAILOUT)
 
    Congressman Ron Paul says that the people responsible for the economic crisis should not be hailed as saviors and given more power to fix the problem that they created, but arrested and criminally prosecuted.
    Paul has 2 bills before Congress, one to abolish the Fed altogether and another to audit the organization.
(Cartoons: BYE-BYE BERNIE!)
 
Financial Times special...
    The credit crunch has destroyed faith in the free market ideology that has dominated Western economic thinking for a generation. But what can – and should – replace it? Over the coming weeks we will conduct a wide-ranging debate on this dominant political issue of the day.
 
    Kazakh President Nazarbayev has won backing for his plan for a single world currency from an intellectual architect of the euro currency, Nobel-prize winner Professor Robert Mundell -- who helped lay the intellectual groundwork for Europe's single currency.
    "I must say that I agree with President Nazarbayev on his statement and many of the things he said in his plan, the project he made for the world currency, and I believe I'm right on track with what he's saying ... (and the idea held) great promise."
 
    The seismic cracks produced in the Western economic structures amid the greatest recession since the Great Depression are reverberating far beyond the major financial centers of Wall Street and the City of London as nations consider how to protect their economies from further contraction.
    New ideas and concepts are receiving a far more sympathetic hearing as countries scramble to halt their economies' decline.
    One of the most potentially significant new ideas whose time may have come involves the establishment by major energy-exporting nations of alternative exchanges for oil, the world's most actively traded commodity, and natural gas.
    Until now oil trade has been dominated by the New York Mercantile Exchange, the world's largest physical commodity futures exchange, which handles West Texas Intermediate benchmark futures, and London's IntercontinentalExchange, which deals in North Sea Brent.
    All trades are in dollars, effectively giving the US currency a monopoly.
    Now Russia, the world's 2nd-largest oil exporter, is discussing with Iran, OPEC's 2nd-largest exporter, the possibility of Tehran using the St. Petersburg Commodity Exchange to market its output.
    Given the shifting tectonic plates of the global economy, the offer, if accepted, may prove to be the harbinger of change in how marketing the world's most fungible commodity is traded, with potentially ominous implications for New York and London's effective monopoly.
 
 
 
    There is a dark side to the success story that's been spreading across the blogosphere: A complex but riveting Big Brother-type conspiracy theory which links Facebook to the CIA and the US Department of Defence.
 
    "In the 12th year, on the 15th day of the (12th) month, the word of YAHWEH came to me:..." (Ezekiel 32:17 -- 33:20)
 
 
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