Posted by seumasach on March 31, 2009
31st March, 2009
(Reuters) – The anti-American president of Venezuela said on Tuesday that international prosecutors should indict former U.S. President George W. Bush for crimes in Iraq rather than Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir over Darfur.
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Posted by smeddum on March 31, 2009
China in the international news agencies
(Taken from CubaDebate) Granma
IN reference to the Reflection entitled “China: the future great economic power,” taken from CubaDebate and published in our press on Monday the 30th, the majority of international news agencies only reported my criticisms of Biden’s statements in Viña del Mar. Only EFE devoted a few lines to the principal subject of the article at the end of its dispatch.
However, the mainstream press continues talking about China’s forceful economic power. Yesterday, the 29th, the DPA news agency stated that “China took the United States by surprise with its daring proposal to replace the dollar, as the central international currency, with a new ‘supermoney.’” It goes on to note that China is fighting against the dominant power of the United States in the world financial system, echoing the opinion of the Chinese Central Bank, which considers the crisis and its consequences throughout the world to be a reflection of the internal fragility and inherent risks of the international monetary system that its country wishes to change via a new reserve currency. In support of its thesis, it alludes to the fact that the famous British economist John Maynard Keynes proposed a global currency in the ‘40s.
The same cable points out that “China is aspiring to obtain an executive position within the IMF, an agency to date dominated by the United States and which, in line with G-20 precautionary measures, must assume national financial systems.”
“As the largest of the emerging countries, China exerts more influence in terms of poor states, particularly hit by the crisis.”
It reiterates in its argument the known fact that China, with a total of $740 billion in U.S. Treasury securities, is the principal creditor of the United States.
It should not be overlooked that Germany, headquarters of the DPA central office, is concerned at the ruinous role that U.S. economic policy is exercising on Europe. Germany is currently the industrialized country which exports the highest percentage of its GDP. The economic crisis is affecting it more than any other.
Word public opinion has the duty and the right to know more about the economic problems of a crisis that is presently hitting all the peoples of the world.
Fidel Castro Ruz
March 30, 2009
1:20 p.m.
Translated by Granma International
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Posted by smeddum on March 31, 2009
Posted in Colony Collapse Disorder | 1 Comment »
Posted by smeddum on March 31, 2009
The Logistical Nightmare in Iraq
283 Bases, 170,000 Pieces of Equipment, 140,000 Troops, and an Army of Mercenaries:
By Jeremy Scahill ICH
March 30, 2009 “AlterNet”
— With last week’s announced escalation of the war in Afghanistan, including an Iraq-like “surge” replete with 4,000 more U.S. troops and a sizable increase in private contractors, President Barack Obama blew the lid off of any lingering perceptions that he somehow represents a significant change in how the U.S. conducts its foreign policy. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Iraq | Tagged: Obama deception | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on March 31, 2009
29th March, 2009
PR Watch’s John Stauber took on the Obama administration and the “antiwar” movement in a recent series of posts on his blog. I’ve compiled them here:
Afghan Escalation OK with MoveOn, Anti-War Insiders
Washington Post blogger Greg Sargent noted last week that “President Obama’s announcement of an escalation in the American presence in Afghanistan is being met with mostly silence – and even some support – from the most influential liberal groups who opposed the Iraq War. … MoveOn.org … declined to make any public statement about Obama’s Afghan policies in response to my queries. An official close to the group confirmed to me that MoveOn wouldn’t be saying anything in the near term. … Nor will we hear anything from Americans United for Change, which ran $600,000 worth of TV ads against the Iraq War in the summer of 2007. ‘Americans United for Change doesn’t plan to comment on President Obama’s new strategy,’ a spokesperson for the group, Lauren Weiner, just emailed. Jon Soltz, the head of VoteVets … came out in support of Obama’s Afghan strategy in an Op Ed with The Huffington Post. … Liberal groups don’t want to distract from passing Obama’s enormous domestic agenda. … And officials with some of these groups don’t want to lose inside influence with the White House.”
Posted in Drive to Global War | Tagged: Afghanistan, Obama agenda | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on March 31, 2009
US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner has unveiled his long-awaited plan to put the US banking system back in order. In doing so, he has refused to tell the ‘dirty little secret‘ of the present financial crisis. By refusing to do so, he is trying to save de facto bankrupt US banks that threaten to bring the entire global system down in a new more devastating phase of wealth destruction.
Posted in Financial crisis | Tagged: End of empire, financial collapse, Obama agenda, stop the bailout | Leave a Comment »
Posted by smeddum on March 29, 2009
March 27, 2009
A new turn in US foreign policy?
America’s coming confrontation with Israel has been foreshadowed for quite some time by several under-the-radar signals, but the media has been too invested in the “special relationship” narrative to notice, at least until the Obama administration took the reins. In spite of the Bush team’s reputation for being the most pro-Israel White House ever, in the last year or so of the second term they had been moving steadily away from being Israel’s yes-man – for example, by tightening visa restrictions on the entry of Israelis into the US – and this trend culminated in the White House vetoing an Israeli strike on Iran. With the victory of the Israeli far-right in the recent Israeli elections, and thelikelihood that the ultra-nationalist whack-job Avigdor Liebermanwill serve in the new government as foreign minister, US-Israeli relations are headed for a crisis that will test the power of the Israeli lobby as it has never been tested before, and also provide an interesting lesson in the how and why of our foreign policy. Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted by seumasach on March 29, 2009
Judging from this extract from a Spanish study on CCD, the answer is no. Note that this Spanish team has been studying CCD since 1999, years before it officially came into existence.
From CCD: Considerations on its origin
Depopulation and treatment of sunflower seeds with pesticides
The toxicity of certain pesticides is the cause most often cited for bee losses. For the last six years we have studied the possible effects of certain pesticides such as imidaclopride(Gaucho) or fipronil(Regent), used in the treatment of sunflower seeds and the link to hive populations, following concerns in the sector about their use. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Colony Collapse Disorder | Tagged: ccd, CCD and pesticides | 4 Comments »
Posted by seumasach on March 29, 2009
Lisa Blakemore-Brown
Psychologist
11th March, 2009
Click on original article(above) to see live links.
I welcomed the opportunity to represent the Autism Rights group at this
important event. Much of what I had to tell those who attended the Children’s
Session, Chaired by Sabina Frediani of Liberty was probably new to them. In
effect, my short talk was my own witness statement to violations of Human
Rights and Civil Liberties in relation to families, especially families with children
who are autistic or suffer from other disabilities; and unremitting retaliation by
the Government to prevent such violations being proven. The end result being
ongoing damage to families and their disabled children which one could never
imagine would happen in our so called advanced age.
Posted in Ecological and Public Health Crisis | Tagged: autism | 2 Comments »
Posted by smeddum on March 29, 2009
This version is most unusual as it mixes in pro war song “Johnny comes marching home” . This score does the original song more justice than any I have seen yet.
Posted in Drive to Global War | Tagged: anti-war song | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on March 29, 2009
The bonniest lass that ye meet neist
Gie her a kiss an’ a’ that
In spite o’ ilka parish priest
Repentin’ stool an’ a’ that
For a’ that an’ a’ that
Their mim-mou’d sangs an’ a’ that
In time and place convenient
They’ll do’t themselves for a’ that.
Robert Burns(For a’ that)
Home secretary Jacqui Smith embarrassed by new expenses row.
“Asked if she should resign Davis said: “I don’t call for people to go unless I think there is absolutely a smoking gun.”
29th March, 2009
The home secretary, Jacqui Smith, apologised today for an expenses claim which included adult films watched by her husband.
Smith said she mistakenly submitted an expenses claim which included five pay-per-view films, including two adult movies which were viewed at her family home in her Redditch constituency.
The £67 Virgin Media bill was submitted last June as part of Smith’s expenses. It included two 18-rated features, each costing £5, which were viewed on 1 April and 6 April last year. The bill also included two viewings of the film Ocean’s 13 ‑ at £3.75 each ‑ and an additional £3.50 to watch the film Surf’s Up.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: New Corruption, New Labour | Leave a Comment »
In These New Times 