Posted by seumasach on January 15, 2012
Cailean Bochanan
15th January, 2012
The multiple European downgrading announced by S&P can hardly be called unexpected and is only dramatic in a rather theatrical sense. The empire has taken on the persona of a “Dennis the Menace” character with an array of wild pranks: celebratory shrieking over the murder of an Arab leader, “taking out” Iranian scientists, NGO street theatre in Moscow, an extra- fraudulent set of monthly employment statistics. S&P’s hit on the Eurozone is well within the range of insanity of the above and is true to form. It is also particularly stupid. The Anglo-Americans may have been scarcely able to contain their glee as they pissed on their erstwhile European allies: but Europe has shown itself to be far from a corpse.
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Posted in Battle for Europe | Tagged: bankrupt Britain, european rating agency, join the euro!, rating agencies | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on January 27, 2012
RT
26th January, 2012
The central bank of the United States believes that America is still a ways from economic recovery, which could soon prompt the Federal Reserve to announce a new round of quantitative easing, or QE3.
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Posted in Currency Wars, Financial crisis | Tagged: QE3 | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on January 27, 2012
Ignatius Banda
Asia Times
28th January, 2012
BULAWAYO – From downtown shops that stock cheap clothing and shoes that fall apart after one wear, to mining concessions in platinum, gold and diamonds – the Chinese finger is now in virtually every Zimbabwean pie.
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Posted in Zimbabwe | Tagged: Chinese soft power | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on January 27, 2012
Pepe Escobar
Asia Times
28th January, 2012
If the sorry parade of European poodles – or what analyst Chris Floyd delightfully dubbed Europuppies – had any understanding of Persian culture, they would have known that blowback for their declaration of economic war in the form of an Iranian oil embargo would be nothing short of heavy metal.
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Posted in Iran | Tagged: Asian Dollar Exclusion Zone, Pepe Escobar | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on January 26, 2012
This seems a good moment to revisit Willem Buiter 2008 analysis of the UK economy and, particularly, his view on a possible simultaneous banking, government bonds and sterling crisis.
Willem Buiter
Mavrecom
13th November, 2008
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Posted in UK economy | Tagged: bankrupt Britain, join the euro!, sterling crisis, stop the bailout | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on January 26, 2012
It really is unusual to read such a sane analysis in the British press!
Philip Stephens
FT
19th January, 2012
I keep hearing people say don’t blame the rating agencies. My first reaction is why not? After due and sober reflection my considered response is why the hell not?
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Posted in Battle for Europe | Tagged: ECB, european stability mechanism(ESM), S&P | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on January 26, 2012
Spiegel
26th January, 2012
The European Union embargo on Iranian oil will only come into effect in six months, but the leadership in Tehran wants to act first: Exports to Europe are set to be halted immediately. It is a move which could mean added difficulties for struggling economies in southern Europe.
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Posted in Iran | Tagged: iran sanctions, iran-EU | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on January 26, 2012
PressTV
26th January, 2012
China has criticized the European Union’s new unilateral sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran as blind pressure and unconstructive.
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Posted in Multipolar world | Tagged: China | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on January 25, 2012
With the recent downgrading of the credit ratings of nine euro zone nations by Standard and Poor’s – including the cherished triple-A rank for France – the big three ratings agencies have not been winning new friends.
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Posted in Multipolar world | Tagged: Dagong Global Credit Rating, european rating agency, rating agencies | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on January 25, 2012
Cynthia McKinney
Global Research
22nd January, 2012
Most people know about being “Sleepless in Seattle.” Well, I am “snowed in in Seattle!” But even six inches of snow in Seattle don’t keep me from becoming steamed when I read the latest news reports on the activities of the U.S. war machine:
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Posted in Libya | Tagged: AFRICOM, Cynthia McKinney | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on January 25, 2012
Paul Craig Roberts
Global Research
25th January, 2012
The US government is so full of self-righteousness that it has become a caricature of hypocrisy. Leon Panetta, a former congressman who Obama appointed CIA director and now head of the Pentagon, just told the sailors on the USS Enterprise, an aircraft carrier, that the US is maintaining a fleet of 11 aircraft carriers in order to project sea power against Iran and to convince Iran that “it’s better for them to try to deal with us through diplomacy.”
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Posted in New Cold War | Tagged: End of empire, paul craig roberts | Leave a Comment »