the opinionist

The FT published a brilliant article on Monday (May 25) entitled, “Beijing is caught in ‘trap’ over dollar.”

The article suggests the world’s fastest growing economy has placed too much of its hard-won cash reserves in the U.S. debt market and, as a result, has locked itself into a bit of a jam. As the largest holder of U.S. debt, which is by far the largest debt market in the world (and growing exponentially thanks to Obama’s borrow/spend) has now created a market whose price (value) is propped up only by China’s continued purchasing of the debt.

In other words, if China tries to unload its massive U.S. treasury portfolio, … who would it sell to? at what massive discount would it have to sell at? and what would such a divestiture of U.S. holdings do to the world debt market, currency markets, stock markets and, therefore, global economy?

If China tried to reallocate its ’safe’ portfolio the world would collapse. The dollar would be in free fall. The very consumers of China’s products would stop consuming. A tsunami of shit would hit be fan. The Dark Ages will be upon us - version 2.0 - globally. No safe havens. N pockets of tranquility. Global end-of-days.

The only solution: it appears - is to carefully extricate the world’s monetary system - based on what valuation method who knows - out of the current currency/debt/commodity blackhole and switch, somehow, to a new unit of currency; a global currency; a new measuring system and a new financial world, never again to entertain the silliness of monetary largess.

Some food for thought?

Honest China: February 11 2009 - (FT. Article)

Luo Ping, a director-general at the China Banking Regulatory Commission, said China would continue to buy Treasuries in spite of its misgivings about US finances.
“Except for US Treasuries, what can you hold?” he asked. “Gold? You don’t hold Japanese government bonds or UK bonds. US Treasuries are the safe haven. For everyone, including China, it is the only option.”

Mr Luo, whose English tends toward the colloquial, added: “We hate you guys. Once you start issuing $1 trillion-$2 trillion [$1,000bn-$2,000bn] . . .we know the dollar is going to depreciate, so we hate you guys but there is nothing much we can do.”

The Usual French: Flashback 1965 - De Gaulle vs. the Dollar (Time)

Perhaps never before had a chief of state launched such an open assault on the monetary power of a friendly nation. Nor had anyone of such stature made so sweeping a criticism of the international monetary system since its founding in 1944. There was Charles de Gaulle last week proclaiming that the primacy of the dollar in international dealings was finished, calling for an eventual return to the gold standard —which the world’s nations scrapped 50 years ago — and practically inviting other countries to follow France’s lead and cash in their dollars for gold.

In conclusion: c’est la vie, mother fuckers.

May 26th, 2009 | Category: Apocolypse, BRIC, Beijing, Budget, China, Communism, Depression, Emerging Markets, Exit Plan, Federal Reserve, Global Policeman, Global Poverty, Globalizm, Gold, Gold Standard, Great Depression, IMF, Insolvent, Lou Ping, Multipolar, National Debt, Obama, Oval Office, Spending, Stock Market, Sub-Prime, São Paulo Forum, Taxation, Trade Deficit, U.S., UN, US Dollar, US Treasury Bonds, Unilateralism, Unipolar, United Nations, WTO, World Trade, de Gaulle, debt, economy |  Email This Post | Leave a comment

[Follow up to blog post, "China's 21st Century War to Destroy the U.S. | Wake up! We Are Losing!"]

Something is very wrong. The number of press stories / pentagon reports / think-tank assessments and arbitrary Joe Geek office cube conversations revolving around Chinese Hackers continues to escalate and very little notice (publicly) appears to be given by the Obama administration.

The topic is hardly new! You can Google any news story as far back as the late 1990’s and story after story reports on the same theme. Industrial and Military networks are probed, penetrated, and security flaws exploited as military and industrial secrets are ransacked and national security exposed and weaknesses laid bare.

Those responsible? The finger always point at China. The Chinese predictably and swiftly respond with the same line of defense - “these are mere fabrications to stir anti-Chinese sentiment” and “these stories are products of [old] Cold War mentality.”

So what is the truth? Surely the logic ‘where there’s smoke - there’s fire’ must at the very least suppose China’s Military Intelligence agency - the “Second [Intelligence] Department” of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) - must, at the very least, monitor network activities based within their nation’s boundaries? And be aware of the culprits?

The PLA’s Second Department mandate is described as supporting ‘military attaches at Chinese embassies abroad, clandestine special agents sent to foreign countries to collect military information, and the analysis of information publicly published in foreign countries.’

The U.S. Department of Defense’s (DoD) annual report to Congress on the ‘Military Power of the People’s Republic of China‘ as far back as 2006 described [page 35] the “Formation of Information Warfare Reserve and Militia Unit” that are designed to “support active PLA forces by conducting “hacker
attacks” and network intrusions, or other forms of “cyber” warfare, on an adversary’s military and
commercial computer systems, while helping to defend Chinese networks.”

These annual DoD reports have angered the Chinese to such a degree as to raise stern Chinese denouncements and retaliatory ‘damaging economic relations’ threats. China has strongly insisted the Pentagon cease the public distribution of these annual (accurate?) assessment’s of Chinese Military strategies.
These very same Pentagon reports are “watered down so as to appear less inflammatory” according to Richard Fisher of the International Assessment and Strategy Center according to a great article last week by the World Tribune. In other words; what we know of sensitive cyber attacks are just the tip of the iceberg as a legitimate and damaging threat to U.S. and its allies.

Today’s [April 21 2009] Wall Street Journal front-page article entitled, “Computer Spies Breach Fighter-Jet Project“, reports that “hackers with IP address origins suggesting China, have successfully hacked into and stolen “several terabytes of data related to design and electronics systems, officials say, potentially making it easier to defend against the [Joint Strike Fighter] [air]craft.”

The article continues to suggest Chinese involvement by quoting, “Investigators traced the penetrations back with a “high level of certainty” to known Chinese Internet protocol, or IP, addresses and digital fingerprints that had been used for attacks in the past, said a person briefed on the matter.”

Per the regular Chinese denouncements, … the WSJ article lists the Chinese response as “The Chinese Embassy said in a statement that China “opposes and forbids all forms of cyber crimes.” It called the Pentagon’s report “a product of the Cold War mentality” and said the allegations of cyber espionage are “intentionally fabricated to fan up China threat sensations.”

If China entities are to blame … perhaps they are not officially sanctioned military entities? Perhaps instead they are opportunist (and darned smart) freelance groups pseudo-ignorantly protected by the Chinese authorities as an easy to divorce resource for industrial and military espionage intelligence? An article written last year by John Vause of CNN supports this notion with an excellent article entitled, “Chinese hackers: No site is safe” in which Vause interviews - discretely - a private group of Hackers inside China that claim payments for intelligence garnered by the Chinese Government.

The bottom line: China is a threat. Its double speak, its vigorous denials and suggestions of hurt feelings over ‘bogus’ claims by the ‘Round-Eyed Devil’ cannot be trusted. Can SO many reports by SO many news agencies on SO many attacks on SO many Government, industrial and military establishments worldwide all be … the result of naughty Dr. Strangelove types in the Pentagon and Langley? I doubt it.

Google example

April 21st, 2009 | Category: Americans, Bush Administration, CIA, CNN, China, Cold War, Communism, Conspiracy, Cyber-Warfare, Defense Security Service, Domestic Spying, Espionage, F-35, Global Policeman, Globalizm, Jingoism, KGB, Lockheed, MI5, Multipolar, NATO, NSA, NeoCons, Nuclear Weapons, Obama, Oval Office, Pentagon, President Hu, Robert Gates, S-300, Security, Spying, State Department, São Paulo Forum, U.S., US Dollar, US Treasury Bonds, Unilateralism, Unipolar, War, WikiLeaks, World Trade, counter-intelligence, freedom, hackers, journalism, patriot act, the Great Firewall |  Email This Post | Comments (2)

Texas Governor Rick Perry stirred the stick of popularism yesterday with his war-cry of secession from the Union during the Texan-chapter of the not-so-great Tea Party rallies. Alas a firebrand pitchfork and torch march on Capitol Hill was not the reality hoped for by hundreds and the mainstream media added just the right measure of pre-determined scoff.

Gov. Perry announced, with all the shock of a stale ham sandwich, that Washington had run amok with Tax Payers’ monies and gorged piggy-style on the excesses of cuddly big government. His threat - loose with innuendo and bile - suggested Texans might get really really ‘fed up’ with the Obama’isms and viciously, and with merit, secede (again [1861 failure]) from the grand Union / the fantastic experiment that is … the United States of America.

Popularism is an ugly and blunt tool that works very well on the soap box and, perhaps in front of a beer-chasing crowd flailed by the oppressive midday sun, but it is a dangerous game to play by a perhaps naive peoples’ politician? The 300m strong U.S. is paddling dangerously in the dark waters of economic and social collapse. Threats from within (no matter how puny) only adds fuel to the ugly spiral of uncertainty and introspection what has already aaded considerable damage to the reputation, image, social and economic stature of the U.S. on the world stage - amongst peers, friends and foes.

Unfortunately … the break up of the United States has already received the focus of our beloved press when Russian academia smashingly announced (and with great relish) the disintegration of the United States.

It appears Russian professor, Igor Panarin, a former KGB analyst (love that!), and the dean of an academy associated with the Russian Foreign Ministry, has been beating the drum of America’s demise for the past decade. Good stuff! Enjoy.

April 16th, 2009 | Category: Americans, CNN, Cold War, Conspiracy, Democrats, Depression, Dmitry Medvedev, Federal Reserve, Global Policeman, Global Poverty, Globalizm, Great Depression, Igor Panarin, Jingoism, KGB, Medvedev, Moscow, Multipolar, National Debt, NeoCons, Obama, Oval Office, Patriotism, Putin, Recession, Republicans, Russia, State Department, State of the Union, Stock Market, Taxation, Tea Party, Texas, U.S., US Dollar, US Treasury Bonds, Unilateralism, Unipolar, WSJ, Washington, World Trade, congress |  Email This Post | Comments (1)

I’m at a loss for words this weekend. Having spent some time playing and exploring the Government’s General Printing Office (GPO) website (which has an amazing array of statistics, databases, raw data files and reports) - I’m seriously wondering …

- Where is the public outcry?
- Where are the pitch forks?
- When shall we march on Congress?

This is INSANITY x10 and we’re sitting on our arses doing absolutely nothing to stop it. Shame on us.

Source: GPO Budget - Historical Data

March 29th, 2009 | Category: Americans, Apocolypse, Armageddon, Arms Trade, Bill Clinton, CNN, China, Corruption, Deficit, Democrats, Depression, Eisenhower, Federal Reserve, GOP, Global Policeman, Global Poverty, Globalizm, Great Depression, Hillary Rodham Clinton, IMF, Insolvent, Jingoism, National Debt, New Deal, Obama, President, Spetsnaz, State of the Union, Stock Market, Trade Deficit, U.S., US Dollar, US Treasury Bonds, Unipolar, WTO, Washington, World Trade, ballot box, congress, defence, economy, fiction!?, john mccain |  Email This Post | Leave a comment

Source: Wikipedia

Chinese Military Power Report

March 29th, 2009 | Category: 2009, Afghanistan, Americans, Arms Trade, Axis of Evil, Britain, Bush, Bush Administration, CIA, China, Cold War, Conspiracy, Cyber-Warfare, Defense Security Service, Deficit, Democrats, Depression, Dmitry Medvedev, Espionage, Federal Reserve, Global Policeman, Global Poverty, Great Satan, IMF, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Medvedev, Middle East, Moscow, Multipolar, NATO, Nuclear Bomb, Nuclear Weapons, OPEC, Osama bin Laden, Oval Office, Pentagon, Politics, Presidential Election, Reagan, Russia, São Paulo Forum, U.S., US Dollar, US Treasury Bonds, Unilateralism, Unipolar, United Nations, Use of Force, WTO, War, War on Terror, WikiLeaks, World Trade, al Qaeda, counter-intelligence, defence |  Email This Post | Leave a comment

The Middle East - and Iran issue specifically - lies at the center of so many foreign policy hurdles for the United States. The pursuit of peace in the Middle East and the reestablishment of a legitimate U.N. entity can only start with a proven warming of relations between the U.S. and Iran.

- A thawing of tensions with Iran helps smooth the way for Israeli / Arab coexistence.

- The skittish global community would benefit greatly from the reduction in its daily dose of death in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Lebanon and a multitude of state-sponsored actions throughout the region

- The fracturing of regional / national allegiances either uniting against U.S. interests or floundering in miserable confusion for the status quo of U.S. dominance - is wholly dependent on the middle east question being resolved peacefully.

So will President Obama’s gentle overtures - soothing words, flamboyant gestures and smiling mannerisms be met with interest, curiosity, dismissal or derision by Iran?

Who is even in charge of Iran? the Supreme Leader - Ayatollah Khomeini - or President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad? Some clearly and blatantly indicate the Ayatollah as the clear and indelible force within the Iranian regime - whereas others indicate a shift in power towards President Ahmadinejad.

In the eyes of the Iranian people - long exhausted by economic sanctions, the tug-of-war between the Clerics, the Government and the often confusing opposition politicians - perhaps Obama’s speech to the Iranian people on ‘Nowruz’ - the Persian News Year’s day - is the opportunity they’ve been waiting for?

Predictable Reactions from Iran (already):

- Ayatollah Khomeini: (LA Times)

“… Iran’s highest spiritual, military and political authority, told supporters in his hometown of Mashhad today that “changes in words” won’t be enough to convince Iran that the Obama administration is sincere in its outlook.

“We do not have any record of the new U.S. president,” he said in a live television broadcast. “We are observing, watching and judging. If you change, we will also change our behavior. If you do not change, we will be the same nation as 30 years ago. “

- President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s administration: (Associated Press)

“… said “minor changes will not end the differences” between Tehran and Washington.

“Obama has talked of change but has taken no practical measures to address America’s past mistakes in Iran. If Mr. Obama takes concrete actions and makes fundamental changes in U.S. foreign policy toward other nations including Iran, the Iranian government and people will not turn their back on him,”

If Iran seeks changes in U.S. policy towards Iran as measurements of sincerity by the Obama administration then they should look no further than recent statements by U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, speaking at a Pentagon press conference earlier this week.

“In a television interview on March 12, Gates appeared to reverse years of U.S. warnings that it would consider all options, including military, to stop Iran’s nuclear weapons program. Instead, Gates asserted that neither Obama nor his successor would rely on U.S. intelligence assessments on whether Iran has already reached the capability to produce atomic bombs.”

The U.S. and Iran have been fighting a proxy war against each other both inside Iranian territory and inside Iraq and surrounding nation states.
It will be interesting to see if CIA-sponsored insurgency actions within Iran - by anti-Mullah factions (such as the MEK) are ceased or at least suspended as President Obama further extends evidence of detente with the complex Iranian regime.
Similarly, will Iran suspend its funding and arming of insurgency groups fighting the U.S. and Iraqi forces inside Iraq territory? Those forces include the Asaib Ahl al-Haq (League of the Righteous) - a particularly nasty terrorist group notorious for roadside bombs, targeted assassinations and mass murders.

The history of animosity between Iran and the U.S. is deep and bloody. Examples include the U.S. support for once-bretheren Iraq (during the Iran-Iraq War) - which will take a lot of sugar, spice and all-things-nice to remove from the Iranian psyche.

It will be very interesting to see what the next steps are from Iran to match the hand-braking reverse course Obama seeks to take from the aggressive policies of the previous Bush administration.

Iranian President Ahmadinejad faces upcoming elections with an electorate potentially enthusiastic and excited by the warming of policies towards Iran by the U.S. The President, a coy and careful judge of political pulse may move carefully towards Obama’s outreach of diplomacy?

One thing is for sure! - It is clearly in the U.S.’s best interests to remove the major obstacle in middle east peace accords - the Iranian / US mutual hatred that has raged for over 30 years. Think tank after think tank concur with the need for diplomacy and not saber rattling.

Useful Info:
- About Iran
- Council on Foreign Relations: Restoring the Balance - a Middle East Strategy for the Next President
- NYTimes - Iranian 101 - A Lesson for Americans; the Fine Art of Hiding What You Mean to Say

March 21st, 2009 | Category: Ahmadinejad, Amanpour, Americans, Arab Americans, Axis of Evil, Ayatollah Khomeini, BBC, Barack Obama, Bush Administration, Bushehr Reactor, Defense Security Service, Espionage, Global Policeman, Great Satan, Human Rights Watch, Iran, Iran Attack, Islamofascist, MEK, Mullahs, Muslim, NeoCons, New York Times, Nuclear Bomb, Nuclear Weapons, OPEC, Pentagon, President, Presidential Election, Revolutionary Guard, Robert Gates, Russia, S-300, State Department, Terrorism, U.S., US Dollar, United Nations, Venezuela, War on Terror, Washington, counter-intelligence, gasoline, gates, israel, oil |  Email This Post | Leave a comment

Following Vlad Putin’s lovely ‘ditch the Dollar‘ remarks earlier this week .. the United Nations is jumping on the ‘Bash the U.S. Express’ and a panel of ‘experts’ on U.N. Commission of Experts on International Financial Reform.

The Reuters Story here.

Highlights:

Currency specialist Avinash Persaud, a member of the panel of experts, told a Reuters Funds Summit in Luxembourg that the proposal was to create something like the old Ecu, or European currency unit, that was a hard-traded, weighted basket.

Persaud, chairman of consultants Intelligence Capital and a former currency chief at JPMorgan, said the recommendation would be one of a number delivered to the United Nations on March 25 by the U.N. Commission of Experts on International Financial Reform.

“It is a good moment to move to a shared reserve currency,” he said.

Central banks hold their reserves in a variety of currencies and gold, but the dollar has dominated as the most convincing store of value — though its rate has wavered in recent years as the United States ran up huge twin budget and external deficits.

Some analysts said news of the U.N. panel’s recommendation extended dollar losses because it fed into concerns about the future of the greenback as the main global reserve currency, raising the chances of central bank sales of dollar holdings.

Meanwhile:

The Banana Republic - the United States of America - under the illustrious guidance of Ben Bernanke’s Federal Reserve - has just plucked $1,200,000,000,000 out of it’s arse to prop up the floundering economy.

With the loss of confidence in the US Dollar building - things are going to get out of hand very very quickly.

Essentially - the U.S. has just bought it’s own debt. How is that even possible? No wonder the world has lost faith in the Greenback.

March 19th, 2009 | Category: Bernanke, Deficit, Democrats, Federal Reserve, Global Poverty, Globalizm, Great Depression, Putin, Russia, Stock Market, UN, US Dollar, US Treasury Bonds, United Nations, WTO, Washington, World Trade |  Email This Post | Leave a comment

The scent of blood is in the water. The U.S. is on its knees and its enemies are taking bite-sized chunks out of the perception of the invincibility, stability, and confidence that has been the United States of America circa 20th Century.

In the nine years that have passed since the millennium, the ‘beloved’ Bush administration and, of course, 9/11, … the U.S. has been bled to near oblivion by two simultaneous, expensively protracted, and wickedly contentious wars inside Afghanistan and Iraq.

The U.S. has lost its stature in the world thanks to ‘Gitmo’, the very viable perception of double-standards, torture, secret CIA renditions, and the soothing rejection of global-warming hysteria that was the Kyoto protocol.

The spike in oil - be it artificially inspired, based on political uncertainty, or merely inspired by the U.S.’s enemies - Iran, Russia, and Venezuela - started a run on commodity prices that precluded an even worse economic crisis - that of the financial unwinding of Wall Street, Main Street and every leafy and over-mortgaged corner of American suburbia!

With a newly elected President Obama who has, it seems, declared yet another war front - on the very capitalist foundations of America - Greed, Credit and Consumerism - the sunset on Global Americanism has arrived and it’s bloody ugly to be sure.

And what of the evidence of our demise?

Russia’s dark prince - Vlad Putin - suggests the rise of a global currency - a reserve currency to replace the almighty U.S. Dollar!
The meeting of the G20 - the top economies of the world - on April 2nd will inspire an avalanche of globalism at the expense of Obama’s America.

At the very moment the potentially insolvent U.S. economy slashes and burns military expenditure … the Petro-Dollar rich and despicably horrible Russians are throwing insane amounts of money at rearmament in proportions unseen since the pre-Glasnosted Soviet Evil Empire.

China? Our potent new slave masters! Our bankers; our fiscal conscience; the manufacturing base and holders of our proverbial wallets for oh … the next thousand years - will soon be deciding how we spend our money!

Our very budgets will soon be decided by Beijing. Our taxation policies, our spending habits, our savings plans and bigger-Government coddling shall be managed and dictated by an evil Communist Cabal motherbase.

We are to be consumer slaves - bred as wage drones to consume and support an expansive Chinese industrial empire. We’ve already received the first round of ‘tsssk tsssks‘ from Chinese President Hu! Their massive Treasury Bond holdings need to be protected from the high taxing economic crucification of Obama Socialism. All Hail Chinese Economics - coming soon to a Central Bank near you!

Our moronic and yet ridiculously scheming Venezuelan irritant - el Presidente Hugo Chavez - is the sand paper wrapped around the privates of Obama’s foreign policy initiatives. Chavez consumes attention and distracts U.S. attentions from Iran, Russia and China. Chavez and his Cuban flunkies offer strategically-pricky airfields to Russian long-range tactical Russian bombers in yet another way to kick President Obama in the nuts.
Chavez is going to be very naughty indeed in April as Latin American leaders meet with President Obama - and why not!? He is hardly scared of the fur-shaven Lion that used to be American power!

The U.S. is on its knees in a potentially unending economic quagmire. It continues on the path of political naval gazing, of partisan bickering and introspective self-destruction and is bizarrely drunk on the Keynesian economics of spending insanity … using buckets of credit it can no longer afford. Obama’s America cannot afford Obama’s fiscal policies neither economically nor from a perspective of once-cherished national security! Something now seemingly ignored!?

Bottom line: the 20th century closed and was labeled (much to the annoyance of the French) as the American Century. Thus far … the 21st century has seen the rapid plunge in fortunes of the U.S. in every way. The rapid demise of THE stalwart of global power. The U.S. proudly presented to the world the qualities of economic strength, military reach and social stability cuddled gently with a proud arrogance of self-righteousness. All that has gone!

Here comes the Dark Ages Version 2.0! We’re screwed!

March 18th, 2009 | Category: 9/11, Afghanistan, Ahmadinejad, Americans, Apocolypse, Axis of Evil, BRIC, Barack Obama, Bush Administration, China, Chávez, Cold War, Communism, Crazy Ivan, Defense Security Service, Dmitry Medvedev, Emerging Markets, Federal Reserve, Global Policeman, Globalizm, Great Depression, Homeland Security, Hugo Chávez, Jingoism, Medvedev, Moscow, Multipolar, NeoCons, Nuclear Weapons, OPEC, Obama, Oval Office, Pentagon, Politics, President Hu, Putin, Recession, Rosoboronexport, Russia, Thatcher, U.S., WTO, War on Terror, Washington, World Trade, Zhirinovsky, climate change, gorbachev |  Email This Post | Comments (1)

So I have this week off work. Reason? To spend time with my beautiful four year old daughter - we let our kids’ nanny go (ugly fiscal reasons) - and it’s late, everyone is asleep, the Mrs included … and I’m full of beans - wide eyed, bushy tailed and in a bloody good mood.

Reason? Not sure. Perhaps a psychosomatic counter-reaction to all the shite hitting every facet of Life! - the news, blues and all things rude! hahah! The Ying to the stress of Yang!?

Either way - it is a feeling that I’ve missed - or rather … have artificially induced with that old-off-the-shelf mood-altering generic stimulant chestnut! Hardly the same as the Real McCoy - the real ‘Buzz’! - that natural high … that ‘everything will work out just fine’ you see feeling! The Jimmy Stewart drug of optimism in the face of adversity! The heart-pumping, deep-breathing, scent of happiness that lies around the corner - just a teasingly fingertip distance from the status quo!

It’s close to midnight. I took a paint-sodden roller and took a hefty chunk of my daughter’s (new) bedroom wall to task with a strip of very busy pink!

The dog, clearly confused by my nocturnal good mood, demanded a walk and off we went - iPod, leash and a both walked, neigh skipped, a stride and a random rythm-inspired strut! [Rock and Roll!]

Sixty degrees outside (in Chicago in March! Wow!) and what a staggeringly refreshing walk was had by me and Hound! If Scout could smile (and how she tries!) she’d cry out … ‘About bloody time you miserable Git!!’

Clearly I felt obliged to share this … most rare of emotional highs. Endorphin rush baby! Bottle it!, label it!, and sell it wholesale to Costco. The World needs a kick in the nuts. A wake up call that the day-to-day dogma of doom and gloom is but a distraction from the Spring smell of opportunity, contentment and, perhaps, acceptance that it ain’t as bad as perception belies! Fuck it! I’m breathing! That’s a bloody miracle based on recent emotional swings!

Ha ha ha! I have this terribly canny inclination that, when the rush dies and I crash … the morning will inspire another Orwellian day of drone chasing the proverbial honey pot! Kill me now! God, … please, make it swift! What a high!

And Daniel Powter says it best:

Jimmy you know, everybody hates you when you’re living off rock ‘n roll
So you get high tonight
And Jimmy you lied, I wonder if you ever get yourself back here alive
So you get high tonight

Jimmy you know, everybody hates you when youre living off your rock ‘n roll
So you get high

March 11th, 2009 | Category: Politics |  Email This Post | Leave a comment

If skepticism is a defense mechanism - I am one heck of a sceptic when it comes to prophetic ‘End of Days’ / apocalyptic / doomsday stories often pressed into circulation as ‘and finally‘ news items footnoted into an already crappy news broadcast.

So when ‘Famed‘ Reverend David Wilkerson, an American Christian evangelist - (who’s substantial reputation in Holy Circles must be derived from his North Eastern (New York City) locale and not your typical crazy southern pastor ilk) - shares, via his Blog, that an ‘Earth-shattering calamity is about to happen‘ that is ‘going to be so frightening‘ that ‘we are all going to tremble‘ including ‘the Godliest among us‘ it is easy to shrug one’s shoulders and declare … ‘Psssaw! Whatever rocks your boat mate!’

Sometimes, however, such warnings prick you … like a particularly annoying splinter and forcibly stick in your head for a few days … as you stew and ponder the reasons behind such warnings from such an … obviously ‘non-Pope’ish’ character! What is the bigger picture? Why would such a happy-go-lucky Holy-Moly bang the painful drum beat of the apocalypse?

Well, things do look pretty crappy at the moment!
Our modern temples of worship - our financial institutions, banks, brokers, money changers - have collapsed and the very basis of our existence - that Almighty Dollar - looks mighty shaky! Heck, even Michael Jackson is forced into unlikely come-back tours - so things must truly be unbelievably bonkers-bad!

Wilkerson continues:

For ten years I have been warning about a thousand fires coming to New York City. It will engulf the whole megaplex, including areas of New Jersey and Connecticut. Major cities all across America will experience riots and blazing fires — such as we saw in Watts, Los Angeles, years ago.

There will be riots and fires in cities worldwide. There will be looting—including Times Square, New York City. What we are experiencing now is not a recession, not even a depression. We are under God’s wrath.

These be fighting word!

My initial reaction … the recession has severely affected the old man’s coffers! Clearly his 401k is hurting, the Church contributions must be down … and some publicity (and theres’ lots of it!) must surely be good for his charitable balance sheet - BUT - this geezer has been preaching doom and gloom with relative consistency, I might, for over thirty years now!

Per Wikipedia:

In 1973, Wilkerson claimed to have received a vision regarding the future of the United States and subsequently gave a sermon on the vision and published a book called The Vision. Wilkerson believed that God had revealed to him a great calamity which was going to befall America due to increase in sins such as homosexuality, sexual promiscuity, and greed.

Some of the details of this 1973 vision were:

- “Worldwide recession caused by economic confusion”
:- “At most a few more fat flourishing years, and then an economic recession that’s going to affect the life style of every wage-earner in the world. The world economists are going to be at loss to explain what’s happening. It’s going to start in Europe, spread to Japan and finally to the United States.”
:- There will be a move toward a worldwide, unified monetary system. The US dollar will be hit bad and it will take years for it to recover.
:- The only real security will be in real estate (until a somewhat later stage, at which point this apparent security will also disappear).

- “Nature having labor pains”
:- Environmentalists will come under heavy criticism.
:- There will be major earthquakes.
:- There will be a major famine.
:- Floods, hurricanes and tornadoes will increase in frequency.
:- “A new kind of cosmic storm appearing as a raging fire in the sky leaving a kind of vapor trail.”

- “A flood of filth and a baptism of dirt in America”
:- Topless women will appear on television, followed by full nudity.
:- Adult, X rated movies will be shown on cable television. Young people will gather at homes to watch this kind of material in groups.
:- Sex and the occult will be mixed.
:- There will be an acceptance of homosexuality, and the church will even say that it is a God-given gift.

- “Rebellion in the home”
:- “I see the new number one youth problem in America and the world as hatred towards parents.”

- “A persecution madness against truly Spirit filled Christians who love Jesus Christ”
:- There will arise a world church consisting of a union between liberal ecumenical Protestants and the Roman Catholic Church, using Christ in name only.
:- There will be a hate Christ movement.
:- There will be a spiritual awakening behind the Iron and Bamboo Curtains.

- Others
:- There will be another wave of riots.
:- There will be a fall in moral conduct.
:- There will be a new drug that will be popular with teenagers that will break down resistance and will encourage sexual activity.
:- Homosexual and lesbian ministers will be ordained and this will be heralded as a new breed of pioneer.
:- There will be nude dancing in church, but this will never be widespread.
:- There will be occult practices in churches.

OK, so I’m not sure I have a problem with the carnal warnings! - who wouldn’t enjoy one long excessive orgy … but - perhaps that’s just me. BUT the economic meltdown? Of Economics getting it wrong!? Hardly a shock! The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart has had a lot of fun poking the ignorance of our beloved ‘business experts!’.

In the past thirty years - we’ve had three recessions and, well … I’m not happy about the prophesy but time was clearly on Wilkerson’s side!

Meanwhile - one of those freak coincidences - loud booms have been reported across the eastern seaboard! A sign of impending doom? Could these preclude Wilkerson’s ‘cosmic storms or earthquakes ?’

First unaccounted for boom - story
Second unaccounted boom - story

Time to stock up on drinking water, food reserves and shotguns?

God - I hope not! (pun absolutely intended!)

March 10th, 2009 | Category: Apocolypse, Booms, CNBC, CNN, CT, Christian, Comedy Central, Conspiracy, Depression, Evangelist, Global Poverty, Globalizm, God, Great Depression, Great Satan, Hell, Jon Stewart, Ministries, New York City, Pope, Stock Market, Sub-Prime, War, Wilkerson, World Challenge, climate change, coverage, economy, fiction!?, global warming |  Email This Post | Comments (1)

The Guardian Newspaper (UK) yesterday reported on a confidential report leaked to the Press that outlines a ‘bleak picture of a counterinsurgency effort undermined by intelligence failures that at times border on the absurd.‘

This is on topic of recent comments by Army General David McKiernan - the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan - that equally offered a grim view of military efforts to counter Talian and al Qaeda forces in southern Afghanistan.

Key points from the Guardian article:

Based on scores of interviews with British, US, Canadian and Dutch military, intelligence and diplomatic officials - and marked for “official use only” - the book-length report is damning of a US military often unwilling to share intelligence among its military allies.

It depicts commanders in the field being overwhelmed by information on hundreds of contradictory databases, and sometimes resistant to intelligence generated by its own agents in the CIA.

… [the] effectiveness of the intelligence effort being quantified by some senior officers solely in terms of the amount of “tip money” disbursed to sources.

… reveals the case of Dutch F-16 pilots in Afghanistan who were ordered by the US to bomb targets, only to be refused access to American “battle damage assessments” showing what they had hit, on the grounds that the Dutch were not “security cleared” to view them.

It calls for a substantial overhaul of how military intelligence is gathered, organised and acted on.

I’m not wholly - again - that this is a surprise - based on the 7+ years the U.S. has be fighting inside and around Afghanistan; the staggering amount of money thrown at the conflict; and the continuing rise in numbers of deployed U.S. boots on the ground.

Clearly the war is not working - despite the continued bravery and sacrifice of U.S. and Coalition forces from some 15+ countries / allies and NATO members alike.

- The Guardian Article : March 6 2009 - by Peter Beaumont: link
- The WikiLeaks leaked content - link

March 7th, 2009 | Category: Afghanistan, Americans, Axis of Evil, British Sailors, Bush Administration, CIA, Espionage, Gitmo, Global Policeman, Guardian, Iran, Iraq, Islam, Islamofascist, Jack Bauer, Middle East, Mullahs, Muslim Brotherhood, NATO, NSA, Obama, Pentagon, President, Robert Gates, Rumsfeld, Russia, Security, Spending, Spying, Terrorism, U.S., UN, United Nations, War on Terror, Washington, WikiLeaks, al Qaeda, counter-intelligence, interviews, john mccain, journalism |  Email This Post | Leave a comment

Our beloved mainstream media reported today on China’s plans to increase its defense spending by a whopping 15%.

Quote, “China is to increase official military spending by almost 15 per cent this year as it seeks to upgrade its smart technology and improve the living standards of its soldiers.”

The story suggests the U.S. believes China’s military expenditures to be, in reality, significantly higher - thanks to hidden (but major) arms purchases from our Russian friends - kept off the radar and below the balance sheet.

Such press stories rarely offer insight into the bigger picture / a comparative essay of Chinese military expenditure (and that of all nations) versus to THE military industrial complex; the great U.S. ‘Defense’ Budget - and you need to wonder why!

In simple terms; according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute {SPIRRI} - (page 10) World military expenditure in 2007 was $1.34 Trillion, a 6% increase over 2006 - which is a measly 2.5% of the World’s GDP. The U.S.’s military spending is a staggering 45% of the World’s total spending, followed by the U.K., China, France and Japan with a lowly 4-5% each.

So, the U.S. provides 45% of world military expenditure and, questionably, our biggest military foe / future adversary / potential replacement hyper-power, China, spends a pathetic 5%. If the U.S. is correct and China surreptitiously spends more (under the table) then even if we double China’s spending estimate to a massive 10% of world spending … the U.S. still offers more than 4 times the military spending habit for its money.

So what’s the point?

China cares not for hypersonic cruising stealthy dual-purpose fighter bombers than can penetrate complex enemy radar whilst deploying a lethal payload of multiple-headed laser guided missiles down bad-guy chimneys and through the patio doors of high profile despotic wannabe-dictators typically armed by slightly-used tin-plated Russian-made kalashnikov rifles.

China does not have a defense industry stocked at CEO and executive board level by former Pentagon Generals equipped with canny Lobbyist ambitions to milk and fleece the ’system’ - the Pentagon, Senate Committees - (the tax-payer) - weapons systems ultimately designed, built, sold and deployed throughout U.S. armed forces for a bygone era of Soviet expansionism and Cold War detente.

No. Our Sinonese trade partners - our bankers - our Eastern Allies - are happy to spend a few thousand dollars on a few laptops in comparison to the billions spent by the U.S. on a new Joint Strike Fighter Stealth Plane - F-35B Lightning.

China arms its 21st century army with technology tools (PCs / networking) to infiltrate and destroy the enemy (the West’s) infrastructure with the painfully difficult to trace tactics of cyber warfare. The U.S. can gain brownie points for surgical targeting of enemy military targets based on frequently flawed military intelligence and an absolutely shite political process but China wins the bigger picture by exploiting our weaknesses right under our noses.

China, it is reported, has the ambition and the purported ability to target an aircraft carrier battle group - the pride, the tip of the spear of U.S. regional military might - through a dedicated cyber attack by formerly Western educated military hackers fueled by Chinese nationalism.

The Chinese are building whole military divisions for the sole purpose of cyber-warfare. The ability to target the vast U.S. industrial infrastructure, communications, power stations, water purification plants, hospitals and civil government. To deny its enemy - the U.S. - with the ability to sustain day to day operations, yet alone the will to fight a ‘conventional’ (or nuclear?) war.

Tim Reid - of the Times newspaper - wrote this engaging opening to an often quoted and rarely refuted article entitled “China’s cyber army is preparing to march on America, says Pentagon.”

Chinese military hackers have prepared a detailed plan to disable America’s aircraft battle carrier fleet with a devastating cyber attack, according to a Pentagon report obtained by The Times.

The blueprint for such an assault, drawn up by two hackers working for the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), is part of an aggressive push by Beijing to achieve “electronic dominance” over each of its global rivals by 2050, particularly the US, Britain, Russia and South Korea.

The Chinese are continually probing our military, our industrial and political networks and those of our allies. Germany’s Chancellor Anegla Merkel had to smile and shake hands with the Chinese Premier during a visit in August of 2007 whilst German newspapers brandished evidence of Chinese espionage and cyber attacks on Merkel’s very political office.

The U.S. political machine - during the 2008 Presidential campaign - (of both political parties) - for Obama and McCain - became the ultimate targets for Chinese cyber-espionage. Espionage that included data theft, surveillance and political engineering designed to improve China’s position and ability to counter future U.S. foreign policy initiatives.

China’s hackers, spies, and a broad web of intelligence resources are embedded throughout U.S. society; across dummy corporations, foreign students, tourists, and businessmen - each armed with specific objectives including the theft of industrial and military secrets that can improve China’s ability to wage and win a 21st century war against the U.S.

Report are report, Congressional committee hearing after hearing and warning after warning are wasted on either the incompetent or just blatantly corrupt ears of our great leaders and nothing appears to shake their nerves or tighten their resolve to combat this underground war being waged one-sided against the U.S. right here and right now.

The U.S. is losing the war and nobody seems to give a damn.

Supporting Info:

- Department of Defense - Annual Report to Congress on Military Power of the People’s Republic of China (2007) (.pdf)

- SPIRRI - Stockholm International Peace Research Institute - Annual Report (2008) (.pdf)

March 5th, 2009 | Category: China, Cold War, Communism, Conspiracy, Cyber-Warfare, Defense Security Service, Domestic Spying, Espionage, Homeland Security, Human Rights Watch, Jack Bauer, Merkel, Obama, Oval Office, Pentagon, Politics, Spying, Tim Reid, Times Newspaper, congress, counter-intelligence, defence, patriot act |  Email This Post | Comments (2)

This week the U.S. Department of State released the annual Human Rights Report. The Russian chapter is a scary read, especially if you are a journalist - an advocate of free press.

In a 40,000+ word report - 47 separate reports of journalist intimidation, state-pressed agendas, suppression of the press, and downright murder suggest Russia is a pit in Hell for journalism.

Extract after extract details torture, detention, bribery, suppression and murder:

In August, Russia launched a military invasion using disproportionate force across Georgia’s internationally recognized borders responding to what Russian officials reported was Georgia’s use of heavy force in Tskhinvali, the local capital of Georgia’s South Ossetian region, and the killings of Russian peacekeepers. Military operations by Georgian and Russian forces reportedly involved the use of indiscriminate force and resulted in civilian casualties, including of a number of journalists.

Government pressure weakened freedom of expression and media independence, particularly of the major television networks. Five journalists were killed during the year, in one case in Ingushetiya by police. Unresolved killings of journalists remained a problem. As some print and Internet media reflected a widening range of views, the government restricted media freedom through direct ownership of media outlets, pressuring the owners of major media outlets to abstain from critical coverage, and harassing and intimidating journalists into practicing self-censorship.

There were no developments in the 2006 kidnappings of Yelena Yersenoyeva, the widow of Chechen terrorist Shamil Basayev and a journalist and HIV/AIDS activist in Groznyy, and her mother.

Unresolved killings of journalists remained a problem. Mistreatment of journalists by authorities included reported cases of abuse, including physical assault. The government severely restricted coverage by all media of events in Chechnya and Ingushetiya. There were indications that government pressure led reporters to engage in self-censorship, particularly on issues critical of the government.

Two of the 14 national newspapers are owned by the government or state-owned companies, as are more than 60 percent of the country’s 45,000 registered local newspapers and periodicals.

In November, unknown assailants seriously beat independent Khimki journalist Mikhail Beketov, publisher of the weekly Khimkiskaya Pravda. Beketov’s paper had frequently criticized local authorities for construction projects that damaged the local environment, and for corruption associated with those projects.

During the August conflict in Georgia, reporting in state-owned or state-controlled media adhered closely to the government’s position. Journalists and news anchors of Rossiya and First Channel reported receiving “guidelines” from management prepared by the presidential administration indicating which politicians they should support and which they should criticize.

The federal Ministry of Internal Affairs continued to control media access to the area of the Chechen conflict. Foreign journalists were required to obtain government accreditation to enter Chechnya, but even those with proper documents were sometimes refused access.

Moscow journalist Boris Stomakhin, editor of the monthly Radikalnaya Politika newspaper, was sentenced to five years in prison on charges of inciting ethnic hatred for violent and provocative writings. Human rights activists asserted that the severity of the sentence was unprecedented. In February his appeal for early release was denied, and the NGO For Human Rights, after visiting him in prison, reported concerns for his health.

Mistreatment of journalists by authorities was not limited to Caucasus-related coverage. The GDF and other media freedom monitoring organizations reported cases of abuse of journalists by police and other security personnel elsewhere, including physical assault and vandalism of equipment. In most instances, the mistreatment appeared to have been at the initiative of local officials.

In December, during a series of protests in response to a planned increase in tariffs on imported cars, mistreatment of journalists was a problem. Police beat a number of journalists, including correspondents of Primorskoye TV, TV Center, NHK, Moskovskiy Komsomolets daily, and ITAR-TASS, and destroyed their equipment.

According to the GDF, 69 journalists were physically attacked and five journalists were killed during the year. Eight journalists were killed in 2007. In most cases, authorities and observers were unable to establish a direct link between an assault and the persons who reportedly had taken offense at the reporting in question. Independent media NGOs characterized beatings of journalists by unknown assailants as “routine,” noting that those who pursued investigative stories on corruption and organized crime found themselves at greatest risk. The foundation reported that in some cases the killings appeared to be related to the journalists’ work.

On September 2, two assailants shot Telman Alishayev, a journalist from the Islam-focused TV Chirkey, in Makhachkala, Dagestan. He died the following day. Alishayev was well-known in Dagestan for his criticism of Islamic extremism in the North Caucasus.

Most high-profile cases of journalists who were killed or kidnapped during the year or in earlier years remained unsolved. There were some cases where some family and colleagues disagreed with official findings in the deaths of journalists, alleging that the deaths were connected to their reporting. These included the March 2007 death, officially ruled a suicide, of Kommersant military reporter Ivan Safronov after falling from a fifth-floor window at the time he was writing a sensitive article about the country’s plan to sell military equipment, and of Aleisk New Television cameraman Vyacheslav Ifanov, who was found dead in his garage in April 2007. Authorities determined Ifanov died of carbon monoxide poisoning but relatives and colleagues disputed this and noted that his body had numerous bruises. Shortly before his death, military servicemen severely beat him and destroyed his camera as he filmed a report near their base. Ifanov was hospitalized with a concussion, but he pressed charges and identified one of the attackers prior to his death; however, the case remained stalled due to the suspects’ military status.

In June, authorities charged a former police officer and two residents of Chechnya in the 2006 killing of prominent investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya in Moscow. An officer from the FSB, whom authorities had previously accused of giving Politkovskaya’s killers her address, was separately charged with extortion and abuse of office.

In March 2007, a Moscow court suspended the trial in the case of the 2004 murder of Paul Klebnikov, the U.S. citizen editor in chief of Forbes Russia, and the Supreme Court ordered a new trial. The first trial was suspended when the lead defendant, Kazbek Dukuzov, failed to appear.

There were no developments in the case of three REN-TV journalists and Memorial’s Oleg Orlov, who in November 2007 suffered kidnapping and beating in Ingushetiya; they were there to cover an opposition political demonstration and also reportedly filmed a special forces operation the day before during which a young boy was killed by stray gunfire. At year’s end no investigation had been opened into the attack.

Authorities at all levels used their authority, sometimes publicly, to deny access to journalists who criticized them. One method was to deny the media access to events and information, including filming opportunities and statistics theoretically available to the public.

Useful Links:

- List of Journalists Killed in Russia
- Committee to Protect Journalists

February 28th, 2009 | Category: Chechnya, Groznyy, Hell, Human Rights Watch, Medvedev, Moscow, Putin, Russia, freedom, journalism |  Email This Post | Leave a comment

Ok, so forgive lack of URL’s, scruffy typing, and shortness of breath - due to running to make train and then unapologetic anger after reading the GAO-published New Deal budget document outling the Obama Administration’s spending strategy. Holy crap. iPhone cannot keep up with my angst-driven, head shaking, red-faced attitude.

Page 24 - ‘Put the United States on a Path to Double Foreign Assistance.’

This means the U.S., who already gives more to the developing world than every other nation combined, is supposed to DOUBLE our taxes to the needy beyond our shores to the tune of $50 Billion.

Seriously, how about we just stop selling arms to the corrupt dictators of these nations and call it even. Food and money never reached the right people (rather, is stockpiled and sold by these assholes) but U.S.-made landmines and cluster-bombs also hit their mark! The innocent STARVING and brutalized masses of these well-funded shysters.

Am I pissed off? You bet.

February 26th, 2009 | Tags: Budget, GAO, Obama | Category: Budget, Democrats, Emerging Markets, Federal Reserve, Global Policeman, Global Poverty, Globalizm, Great Depression, Hillary Clinton, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Human Rights Watch, IMF, Middle Class, New Deal, Obama, Oval Office, Politics, Social Security, Spending, State Department, State of the Union, U.S., US Dollar, US Treasury Bonds, Unipolar, United Nations, WTO, World Trade, debt, israel, liberal |  Email This Post | Comments (1)

Based on President Obama’s rocking speech last night … an economic, social and foreign policy home-run… it is very easy to understand why foreign states - allies and adversaries - continue to celebrate the departure of Bush 43. Obama’s candid and unabashedly open-mindedness for talks with former Axis-of-Evil nations (Iran, Syria and North Korea specifically) and Axis-of-Weasels (Russian, Venezuela, Cuba) bodes well for the soothing of diplomatic tension - and certainly an opportunity to better focus on economic solutions versus saber-rattling.

SO, the Kremlin’s announcement in mid-Jan that a cheery Russia would suspend the sale of pretty-damn-effective Russian-built S-300 anti-aircraft missile batteries (complete with Russian ‘consultants’ [read: operators, security]) to the ridiculously annoying Iran was a news item to be celebrated for sure.
The reason for the freeze on an $800m deal already signed and paid for by an eager Iran? Obama! Russian President Dmitry Medvedev (read: Putin) felt bullish with upcoming U.S. talks with a potentially naive President Obama as to pause the sale of weaponry designed to protect and defend the very annoying (and now active) Iranian Nuclear Power Generator (read: Uranium-enrichment-facilitator). Such a move surely designed to reduce Israel’s escalatory jiggling and increasingly desire to attack Iran with ‘Made in America’ bunker-busters.

So - succinctly: Russia to pause selling anti-aircraft missiles to Iran that could defend its nuclear facilities against Israel - armed with U.S. weaponry and potential assistance in said attacked - until Medvedev (Putin) and Obama meet with a friendly bear hug.

Somethings smell ripe - somethings truly stink. This one has a pungent stench of bullshit to it.

The truth - when it emerges - certainly glows with the light of clarity! It cuts through the double-speak like a drunk Russian in a knife fight.

Russian nuclear experts today announced Iran’s nuclear ‘power plant’ as being operational. This is a dangerous escalation in the eyes of everyone (including France) as Israel ponders the logical next steps to ‘defend’ itself through a unilateral assault on Iran. With this in mind - does Russia really want to get in between two nations raring to go at it with Russian weaponry - of which recent reports have suggested as being not as cutting edge and omnipotent as the bad guys anticipated?

The hot new F-35 stealth Lightening Joint Strike Fighter it is bragged, can detect, avoid, and / or destroy Russia’s smoking ‘defense’ equipment guarding Iran’s nuclear assets.

Put another way - in one sentence:

Does Russia want its massive arms industry’s top shelf weaponry (S-300’s) to be proven ineffective by the U.S.’s top-shelf-weaponry (F-35’s) … which we can guess might be covertly ‘lent’ to Israel should they decide to attack?

One last twist in this complicated game of chess: Obama’s announced 10% budget cut in Military spending will (or could) potentially include the cancellation of future orders for this Lockheed Martin F-35 stealth Lightening Joint Strike Fighter wonder-war-machine - which has been labeled by Obama’s accountants as a product of the Cold War. Ha ha!

February 25th, 2009 | Category: Cold War, F-35, Iran, Iran Attack, Iraq, Lockheed, Medvedev, Nuclear Bomb, Nuclear Weapons, Obama, Pentagon, Putin, Rosoboronexport, Russia, S-300, israel, nuclear |  Email This Post | Leave a comment

(AP) –Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress Tuesday the economy is suffering through a “severe contraction” and pledged to use all available tools to lift the country out of the recession that already has cost millions of Americans their jobs.

In testimony prepared for the Senate Banking Committee, Bernanke said the economy is likely to keep shrinking in the first six months of this year. Housing, credit and financial crises — the worst since the 1930s — plunged the economy into its worst downhill slide in a quarter-century at the end of last year.

Bernanke hoped that the current recession, now in its second year, will end this year.

But he said there were significant risks to that forecast and any economic turnaround would hinge on the success of the Fed and the Obama administration in getting credit and financial markets to operate more normally again. {nice spin!}

“Only if that is the case, in my view there is a reasonable prospect that the current recession will end in 2009 and that 2010 will be a year of recovery,” Bernanke said.

{In a addition of severe understatement} … “The economy is undergoing a severe contraction,” Bernanke said.

MEANWHILE - Media Magnate Sir Rupert Murdoch predicts the current economic catastrophe cause “… nations to be redefined and futures altered.”

One of these two fine fellows is smoking something warm and uplifting. Can we guess who?

February 24th, 2009 | Category: 2009, Apocolypse, Bernanke, Depression, Murdoch, New Category, Obama, Recession, Weed, congress, economy |  Email This Post | Leave a comment

Remember the days before 9/11? Don’t they seem quaint in comparison to the tsunami of fear we, as a society, face across all fronts - social, economic, and militarily?

As the Obama administration tries to reenergize the American (and therefore, Global) economy - the focus on the U.S. Budget is upon us with renewed and very needed vigor. This, however, will (and has) opened a new brand politically charged - partisan - battle across the party lines. A battle fed, fostered, and encouraged by defense lobbyists and stirred to the max by the extreme political ends of our blessed media.

Somehow the general public - the great unwashed - the Voters seem have to a hard time either grasping or caring about the disgustingly disproportionate budget allocation for ‘Defense’ - the Pentagon.

I’m neither not politically skewed to the Left? Heck, I’m a proud product of Thatcher - but really? - think about it. 18% of the annual budget of this great nation goes on the military. The military expenditure is second only to the baby-boom-defaulting social security (at 20% of budget (and growing)).

But I wrote about that in January of 2007 and things continue to grow out of whack.

Ben and Jerry’s political activism - social activism - explained it brilliantly and at a level even the intellectually challenged can understand (that includes me) - with a 3 minute animation.

And this is just the official budget. The allocated budget! There is another whole story - deep and wide - on the sheer scale of waste and corruption inside the Pentagon - that great military industrial complex - we were warned about so many decades ago by, then President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

So for President Obama to propose a seemingly modest 10% cut in the annual defense budget - really is - upon reflect, quite brave / ballsy / and definitely a step in the right direction!

Finally - perhaps former Secretary of Defense, Donald H. Rumsfeld said it best on 9/10/01 in a rigorous — pull no punches - speech he gave to the Pentagon Brass.

The topic today is an adversary that poses a threat, a serious threat, to the security of the United States of America. … The adversary’s closer to home. It’s the Pentagon bureaucracy. Not the people, but the processes. Not the civilians, but the systems. Not the men and women in uniform, but the uniformity of thought and action that we too often impose on them.

In this building … money disappears into duplicative duties and bloated bureaucracy —not because of greed, but gridlock. Innovation is stifled—not by ill intent but by institutional inertia …
Let’s make no mistake: The modernization of the Department of Defense is a matter of some urgency. In fact, it could be said that it’s a matter of life and death, ultimately, every American’s.

We know the adversary. We know the threat. And with the same firmness of purpose that any effort against a determined adversary demands, we must get at it and stay at it.

Some might ask, how in the world could the Secretary of Defense attack the Pentagon in front of its people? To them I reply, I have no desire to attack the Pentagon; I want to liberate it. We need to save it from itself.

Useful info: Military.com : Safe, non-partisan description on the impact of the budget cuts.

Example of waste: Presidential Helicopter “Procurement gone amok” [Pres. Obama]

February 24th, 2009 | Category: 9/11, Arms Trade, Budget, Bush Administration, Conspiracy, Corruption, Deficit, Eisenhower, Global Policeman, Homeland Security, JFK, NeoCons, New York Times, Obama, Patriotism, Pentagon, Politics, Rumsfeld, Social Security, State of the Union, U.S., US Dollar, War on Terror, Washington, debt, defence, john mccain |  Email This Post | Comments (1)

The World’s media - or at least that outside of the U.S. (being rather distracted by Academy Awards and crippling of our economy) - has shone light on a ‘new’ book by Al-Qaeda founder, Sayyid Imam al-Sharif (aka Dr. Fadl) - from an Egyptian dungeon - that rigorously criticizes Al-Qaeda leaders - Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri for spilling the blood of the innocent.

This is not, it appears, just the spilt blood of innocent muslims - of Afghanistan and Iraq - but also, according to those fortunate enough to get the first draft of Dr. Fadl’s thriller, those innocent victims of 9/11.

Taken from the Telegraph article, which quotes Dr. Fadl as writing:

The terrorist attacks on September 11 were both immoral and counterproductive, he writes. “Ramming America has become the shortest road to fame and leadership among the Arabs and Muslims. But what good is it if you destroy one of your enemy’s buildings, and he destroys one of your countries? What good is it if you kill one of his people, and he kills a thousand of yours?” asks Dr Fadl. “That, in short, is my evaluation of 9/11.”

Of the innocent murdered on the two fronts of the U.S.’s War on Terror - Afghanistan and Iraq:

“Every drop of blood that was shed or is being shed in Afghanistan and Iraq is the responsibility of bin Laden and Zawahiri and their followers,” writes Dr Fadl.

Finally, and perhaps most interestingly, of the terrorist cells living and complicit in terrorist attacks on Western soil:

He is equally unsparing about Muslims who move to the West and then take up terrorism. “If they gave you permission to enter their homes and live with them, and if they gave you security for yourself and your money, and if they gave you the opportunity to work or study, or they granted you political asylum,” writes Dr Fadl, then it is “not honourable” to “betray them, through killing and destruction”.

Al-Qaeda’s 200 page retort; he’s in an Egyptian prison famous for torture and works of literary fiction. He would say that, wouldn’t he! - or something like that.

Other notable blogs covering this topic:

- Cabalamat
- Raphael Alexander in Unambiguously Ambidextrous
- Casual Evangelist

In a horrible case of coincidence (if you believe in such) - Western tourists were targeted in Cairo, Egypt on Sunday, killing one French national and wounding 20 others - French and German. The attack took place next to a famous Mosque, which pours even more fuel on the fire - of Fadl’s criticism of terrorist tactics and ambitions.

A report by the Congressional Research Service - CRS - entitled “Al Qaeda: Profile and Threat Assessment” details the rancid ambitions of the terrorist group including its formation and its hopeful end-game.

February 23rd, 2009 | Category: 9/11, Al-Jazeera, Arab Americans, Axis of Evil, Bush Administration, Conspiracy, Domestic Spying, Dr Fadl, Egypt, Gitmo, Homeland Security, Iraq, Islam, Islamofascist, Madrassa, Middle East, Muslim, Muslim Brotherhood, NSA, Osama bin Laden, Terrorism, U.K., War, War on Terror, al Qaeda, patriot act |  Email This Post | Leave a comment

When U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, concluded her East Asian tour with a highly visible visit to China she demonstrated how times have truly changed. For a ‘Hyper-power’ like the U.S. is forced to bring a begging bowl to a once submissive, introspective, and seemingly naive nation, you know things have truly gone to Hell in a Prada handbag.

Clinton was doomed to criticism from the very moment her dodgy gaze fixed on the most important of all foreign policy objectives for the rookie Obama administration - the overwhelming power China holds over a potentially bankrupt nation that is, sadly, the United States of America. The U.S. is a nation whose standing in the world continues to weaken daily - it is epically supported by a battle-weary military force it can no longer afford; and it is financed and despised by a Communist nation state that it once belittled and continues to misunderstand. The U.S. is a nation torn apart by social self-doubt and stagnated by a ground-shifting political heave from the selfish, greedy, and arrogant NeoCon ‘Right’ to an equally noxious Socialist über-nanny-state - the ultimate Democratic dream.

Everything the U.S. has stood for since its founding years - a clear, substantial, effective and proud nation with force of will, confidence and a strong knowledge of righteousness over oppression - is now firmly in the proverbial shitter. We know it, the Chinese know it, and the world fidgets on the sidelines watching and waiting for some sign of direction and certainty. Our allies keep their fingers crossed and our adversaries wish for another eight years of stupidity.

“The Speech” by sweepingly honest and refreshing Ronald Reagan summarized it best 44 years ago - and isn’t it amazing JUST how history repeats itself.

China is an adversary would have been 180 degrees off cue from a President Reagan.

China is evil : Gulags | Torture | Political Prisoners | Suppression of Religion … and that’s just for starters.

Reagan said:

“If all of this seems like a great deal of trouble, think what’s at stake. We are faced with the most evil enemy mankind has known in his long climb from the swamp to the stars. There can be no security anywhere in the free world if there is no fiscal and economic stability within the United States. Those who ask us to trade our freedom for the soup kitchen of the welfare state are architects of a policy of accommodation.”

A speech from a different era but the very same challenges and the words continue to ring true for our relationship with China. If we appease, if we go against everything we know is true; that is right; is human … then we should not dare criticize our Government’s begging cash support from a corrupt, dictatorially immoral regime. A regime we need to save the day; to fund our stupidity; to support the cost, the painful stomach ulcer the U.S. has built up from two decades of feasting like Bacchus on ‘irrational exuberance’ and greed. Greed that once was ‘Good’ but has bitten us in the arse.

This is a globalized society, ruled by the almighty Dollar - the God of Greed - and it has dictated the fine mess we find ourselves in. Where economies of scale, the easy shift of commercial interests measured only by cost-per-unit / cost per wage-slave. with little to no consideration given to the enormous social impact of manufacturing displacement, is our world. We relished it’s good side but life is cyclical and now we suffer.

The reassignment of the entire manufacturing capability of one nation to another with no consideration given to the bigger picture, the end-result, the future cost of immediate reward is our just desert.

The result? Any moron (that includes me) can fire up an Excel Spreadsheet (actually, iWorks) and compare and contrast the enormity of our indebtedness to the Peoples Republic of China (”PRC”)

Source: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ch.html#People

The United States of America has a population ofapproximately 1/5th of China’s (300m versus 1,330m tortured souls), yet our public debt - the debt owned and leveraged against us by the PRC - is almost four times more than that of our Asian friends.

Our GDP - ability and willingness to place our hard earned Dollars (purchasing power) on goods (read: China) and services - is approximately twice that of China ($14 trillion versus $7.8 trillion) and, as a result, we spend almost twice as much on our insanely inefficient, but ridiculously dedicated and unswerving U.S. military. In fact, the U.S. spends more on its military than the sum of every other nation on this fine dirty-blue planet.

Clearly the U.S. spends more on its military than it should - everyone knows it - and it shows only too well in our ability to sufficiently educate and train our graduate workforce. A workforce that needs quantifiable and credible skills that can compete against the very best China will and does throw at us.

How are we to compete against a morally corrupt, downright devious and wholly untrustworthy nation that continues to bankroll the United States into oblivion of consumer slavery? Certainly not by trusting them!

China is evil: Gulags | Torture | Political Prisoners | Suppression of Religion

China is the number one culprit of industrial and military espionage against the United States and its diminishing ranks of allies. Why? The U.S. has always enjoyed the enviable role of innovator. Our ideas become the goods manufactured by the Chinese that are purchased by the U.S.! Ah! - the pleasures of globalization. Remove our innovation as a competitive edge, eliminate our ability to defend our freedoms (militarily) and we are even more screwed. Report after damning report slams the Chinese efforts to steal our patented secrets, to eek out our military weaknesses, and to document our decision processes.

We’ve talked the good talk in Congress for years now and done what? We have closed-door Senate committee meetings and all kinds of wonderful Congressional Reports and yet do we fight the good fight and bring an ultimatum to the Chinese that trust beguiles stability otherwise globalism is a flawed concept that undermines everything we stand for.

The Chinese say it the best, and at least they are honest and upfront about their distaste for our freedoms and way of life:

Luo Ping, a director-general at the China Banking Regulatory Commission, said after a speech in New York that China would continue to buy Treasuries in spite of its misgivings about US finances.

“Except for US Treasuries, what can you hold?” he asked. “Gold? You don’t hold Japanese government bonds or UK bonds. US Treasuries are the safe haven. For everyone, including China, it is the only option.”

Mr Luo, whose English tends toward the colloquial, added: “We hate you guys. Once you start issuing $1 trillion-$2 trillion [$1,000bn-$2,000bn] . . .we know the dollar is going to depreciate, so we hate you guys but there is nothing much we can do.”

The truth stings and should be a wake-up call. And yet …

Useful horrible read: Congressional Research Service - China and the Global Financial Crisis. Implications for the United States.

footnote: President Reagan’s finest speeches. “Sends shivers up the leg“

February 22nd, 2009 | Category: CIA, China, Communism, Conspiracy, Corruption, Defense Security Service, Deficit, Domestic Spying, Emerging Markets, Federal Reserve, Global Policeman, Global Poverty, Globalizm, Multipolar, Patriotism, Pentagon, Police Brutality, Reagan, State Department, U.S., UN, US Dollar, Unipolar, United Nations, WTO, Washington, counter-intelligence |  Email This Post | Comments (1)