In These New Times

A new paradigm for a post-imperial world

Archive for March, 2009

The Upcoming Political Crisis in Washington

Posted by seumasach on March 10, 2009

David Gordian

Global Research

9th March, 2009

In recent days we have seen even mainstream Democratic figures as Joe Stiglitz and Paul Krugman sound the alarm on what seems to be uncertainty in the Obama administration. Stiglitz, Krugman et al. are following in their essential critique a path well worn over the past few weeks by a range of commentators to be found as much among the Austrians as those on the liberal-to-left part of the spectrum. The fundamental point is, of course, that it is now clear to all but the militantly unreflective that Obama can – perhaps – save the Real economy or – perhaps – save Finance (i.e. Bank bond- and shareholders), but certainly not both. The increasing, but still relatively gentle, criticism of Stiglitz, Krugman and their ilk is owing to the fact that it is becoming all too clear that Obama is still unwilling to engage Finance in what might turn out to be the greatest intramural fight capitalism has ever seen.

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The special relationship is a joke, and it isn’t funny

Posted by seumasach on March 10, 2009

“However, thanks to the economic crisis, there is a real and depressing possibility that the outcome may be different this time. True, most of America’s potential friends are in a poor condition thanks to the economic climate. But Britain, with its wrecked public finances and unbalanced economy, is in an atrocious position. It will take decades of hard work, narrowly focused on the restoration of national prosperity, before we can step forward as an attractive ally once more. What a legacy for that great global show-off Tony Blair: the seeds of this decline were sown during his premiership.

All this depresses the life out of an Atlanticist such as me, who is immensely proud of the good that has come from the alliance between our two countries. Yet, we may be entering a period when the UK’s concerns will be a good deal more prosaic. In the hard years ahead there will be little time, energy and money left over for British global grandstanding.”

This is a surprising and refreshing piece of realism coming from a British commentator. What we need to do now is consider the alternatives now that Atlanticism and “British global grandstanding” are over.

Iain Martin

Telegraph

7th March, 2009

When an American leader is preparing to meet his British counterpart it is said that an official usually offers one final piece of advice: “don’t forget to mention the special relationship.”

We Brits are seen as so needy that we will have a national, collective nervous breakdown unless we hear the magic words. In reality, the phrase has become a joke: the Americans know it, we know it and I suspect that they know we know it. Hillary Clinton could not disguise a knowing smirk when she used the words.
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Brits to win out against Euro

Posted by seumasach on March 10, 2009

No one can dispute that the British government and financial authorities have taken decisive action: they have channeled an unimaginable sum into the hands of the bankers , thereby bankrupting the nation and effecting an enormous redistribution of wealth to the wealthiest and at the expense of 60 million people. Brown has been energetically trying to draw Europe into similar suicidal measures, making it into an Anglo-saxon style oligarchy, but to little avail. Evans-Pritchard now aligns himself with leftists like Will Hutton in supporting these measures under the guise of fighting deflation. So this article is partly sour grapes reflecting Britains evident loss of influence, and partly just sheer lunacy as he talks up Britain on the eve of its catastrophic collapse, long predicted in these columns.

“Debt and deflation are a deadly mix. ” So let’s go for even more debt, and inflation, and sink our currency whose status we are completely dependent on for the import of food and other necessities

Thanks to the Bank it’s a crisis; in the eurozone it’s a total catastrophe

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard

IHT

8th March, 2009

The Bank of England may have averted a catastrophe. If ever there was a time when this country needed its own monetary authorities – acting with wartime urgency – this is the moment.

Those nations with fossilised or timid central banks clinging to outdated ideologies are not so lucky. Even less lucky are those such as Spain and Ireland that have surrendered policy to a body that is deaf to their pleas and constitutionally obliged to ignore the welfare of their particular societies. They face crucifixion.

Spain’s agony is already well advanced. Industrial output has fallen 24pc. Some 352,000 people have lost their jobs in two months. BBVA expects unemployment to reach 20pc next year, touching 4.5m. Premier Jose Luis Zapatero can do nothing as long as Spain remains in monetary union.

He cannot devalue to claw back 30pc in lost labour competitiveness against EMU’s German bloc, or take emergency steps to slow the property crash. In an odd lapse last week – perhaps a slip – he advised Spaniards that the best thing to do in these dark times was to ****.

Yes, it is dangerous for the Bank of England to buy up a third of all long-dated gilts. But it would be even more dangerous to allow deflation to run its course in an economy where debt levels have reached such extremes. Debt and deflation are a deadly mix.

The errors that led to our current predicament are well-known. A small army of economists – Austrians, Monetarists, and Keynesians – warned that central banks were playing with fire by fixing the price of credit too low and ignoring asset bubbles. The $6.7 trillion in reserve accumulation by China, Japan, and the petro-powers drove bond yields too low for safety.

Credit signals were gravely distorted. In Britain, Gordon Brown poured petrol on the fire by pushing the fiscal deficit to 3pc of GDP at the top of the cycle. Wretched man. However much we rage at Sir Fred or Citi-wrecker Chuck Prince, let us not forget that this crisis was confected by governments. To blame the free market is to miss the bigger point.

But I digress. We are now faced with the post-debt wreckage. The task at hand is to hold our societies together as best we can. One dreads to think what would have happened if the Hoover-Brüning nostalgics had succeeded in blocking every remedy.

As it is we have seen industrial production collapse in every region. The drops in January were: Japan (-31pc), Korea (-26pc), Russia (-16pc), Brazil (-15pc), Italy (-14pc), Germany (-12pc). Falls that took two years from late 1929 have been compressed into five months.

Those who say this is nothing like the Great Depression are complacent. Household debt is higher today, and UK banks are in worse shape. (No bank of size failed in the British Empire during the slump). Britain’s economy contracted by 5.6pc from peak to trough in the early 1930s (Eichengreen). Some put the figure at nearer 8pc. We may surpass that this time.

America suffered worse. Real GDP fell 28pc. But the worst occurred in the second leg, after the heinous policy blunders of late 1931. Reading contemporary accounts, it is clear that hardly anybody – not even Keynes or Fisher – realised that the world was slipping into a depression during the first 18 months.

Nobel laureate Paul Krugman says the Fed has been as far behind the curve today as it was then, given the faster pace of collapse. It is bizarre that Ben Bernanke has not started to buy US Treasuries a full three months after he floated the idea, despite a yield rise of 80 basis points.

He has been stymied by the hawks. Kansas chief Thomas Hoenig said last week that the top priority is to drain liquidity before recovery later this year sets off inflation. Well, Mr Hoenig said last May that inflation psychology was gaining a hold “not seen since the 1970s and early 1980s” with a risk that inflation would become “embedded in the economy.” The price spike broke within weeks. If his model was wrong then, why is it right now?

As for the ECB, it has not reached the starting line. Jean-Claude Trichet insists that there is no danger of deflation in Europe. What is the weather like on his planet, asked Mr Krugman.

The ECB has cut rates to 1.5pc, but since they need to be minus 1pc on the Taylor Rule, this leaves the breach as wide as ever. The Bundesbank is blocking any serious move towards quantitative easing.

Given that Germany’s economy is imploding (Deutsche Bank sees 5pc contraction this year) one wonders if the Bundesbank would be less hawkish if the D-mark still existed. Even their hard-money brothers at Switzerland’s SNB are cash printers these days.

So has monetary policy in euroland been paralysed by squabbles at a calamitous moment, blighting every member state? Almost certainly.

I’ll take the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street any day, warts and all.

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Bolivia expels US diplomat for ‘conspiracy’

Posted by seumasach on March 10, 2009

PressTV

10th March, 2009

Bolivia orders a US diplomat to leave the country within 72 hours after accusing him of participating in s ‘conspiracy’ against La Paz.

Francisco Martinez, the second secretary of the US embassy in La Paz, was ordered to leave the country by Bolivian President Evo Morales on Monday for conspiring with opposition groups in recent unrests.
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Britain, Russia allies in fight against terror – U.K. govt. advisor

Posted by seumasach on March 9, 2009

It is worth noting that Lord West was  “the first Western military commander to express his disquiet over the possibility of an armed intervention in the growing crisis over Iran’s nuclear programme” according to the Independent 14th January, 2006

LONDON, March 9 (RIA Novosti) – Britain and Russia are allies in the fight against terrorism, violence and extremism, a U.K. government security advisor said Monday.

Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Security and Counter-terrorism Lord Alan West told RIA Novosti that the U.K. and Russia had similar positions on the security sphere.

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Retirement Funds In Danger For Millions Of Americans

Posted by seumasach on March 9, 2009

 

By Mike Bryan

Eldib

 

For millions of Americans, the deepening recession has meant a dramatic drop in funds put aside for their retirement. While many have seen the value of these accounts slashed in half, the pensions of others have been rendered virtually worthless as their employers file for bankruptcy. For others, a layoff in the family spells disaster, and saving for retirement is out of the question.

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Pakistan Cricket Attack “Inside Job” Theory Goes Viral

Posted by seumasach on March 8, 2009

“However, once again, the overriding story that is being sold paints Pakistan as the problem state.” 

Attack likely part of ongoing strategy of tension by nefarious forces; Another pretext to expand war on terror

Steve Watson 

Infowars

5th March, 2009

The mainstream media has embraced suggestions of an “inside job”, as evidence continues to mount that Tuesday’s attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team was a carefully staged event, rather than a hit and run strike. 

Articles in the Independent, the Times, the Daily Mail, Agence France-Presse, and the Telegraph have today focused on unanswered questions and suspicious activity regarding the attack which which killed six police and two civilians, and wounded 19 people. 

The evidence that the attack was carefully coordinated has been summarized as follows. 

None of the 12 gunmen were killed or captured and CCTV footage has emerged of some of the attackers making a leisurely getaway from the scene in the aftermath of the assault, past an approaching police vehicle, without the security forces chasing them: 

On the first two days of the Test match, the Sri Lanka and Pakistan team buses had left together. However, as umpire Chris Broad has revealed, on Tuesday the Pakistan bus left five minutes after the Sri Lanka bus. 

“On this particular day, the Pakistan bus left five minutes after the Sri Lankan bus. Why?” Broad said. “It went through my mind as we were leaving the hotel: ‘Where is the Pakistan bus?” 

Broad said Pakistan security forces had left the convoy vehicles like “sitting ducks” and that there was “not a sign of a policeman anywhere” when the attack began. 

“There were times in the Karachi Test when the Sri Lankans went first and the Pakistanis went afterwards. But after this happened you think My God, did someone know something and they held the Pakistan bus back?” Broad added at a press conference yesterday. 

Simon Taufel, an Australian umpire caught in the attack, also confirmed that their bus had been left unprotected once the assault began. 

“You tell me why supposedly 20 armed commandos were in our convoy and when the team bus got going again, we were left on our own? I don’t have any answers to these questions.” Taufel said. 

Another umpire, Steve Davis commented: “I saw a (man in) uniform with a pistol and I thought this is an insider come to do us away.” 

The umpires were backed by Muttiah Muralitharan, the most successful bowler in Test history, who questioned whether the terrorists had inside information. 

“Somehow in this incident there were no police with guns on the bus,” the Sri Lankan spinner told the radio station FIVEaa in Adelaide. “If someone was there with a gun we would have had a chance of defending ourselves. 

“Normally all the buses go and we have four or five escorts. We left at 8.30am and Younus Khan with the Pakistan team bus at 8.35am. We divided into two – maybe they knew the information for the right time.” Muralitharan added. 

These factors and comments have been presented by the mainstream media in a way that intimates that it is possible that Pakistani intelligence was involved in the attacks, or allowed them to happen. 

Of course, this is a possibility, however, it should be noted that six Pakistani security officials were killed in the attack as they attempted to defend the Sri Lankan bus, and other witnesses such as Mehar Mohammed Khalil, the Pakistani driver of the Sri Lankan bus, have disputed the allegation that the Pakistani bus left five minutes later and that the police protection was not present. 

Last November, after the Mumbai attacks took place, the corporate media and Indian authorities pointed the finger at Pakistani intelligence, providing a perfect pretext for expanded U.S. military aggression against the country, as promised by then President-elect Barack Obama. 

However, as we revealed in our reports at the time, the evidence indicated that Indian authorities had aided the terrorists. It is interesting to note that the mainstream media did little to pursue this angle, yet this time around every major outlet has highlighted the “inside job” theory almost immediately. 

Further questions regarding Tuesday’s attack have arisen from the leak of a “secret” report which fore-warned the federal and provincial Punjab governments that India was planning an attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team. 

The report, dated Jan 22, warned officials: “It has reliably been learnt that RAW the Research and Analysis Wing, India’s intelligence agency has assigned its agents the task to target Sri Lankan cricket team during its current visit to Lahore, especially while travelling between the hotel and stadium or at hotel during their stay … Extreme vigilance and heightened security arrangements indicated.” 

However, the government in Punjab and its senior security officials, who were preparing for the Sri Lankan team’s visit, were removed from office by a controversial court ruling days ahead of the test match. 

Rehman Malik, Pakistani chief interior ministry adviser, has claimed “a foreign hand” lay behind the attack on the cricketers – which has been widely interpreted as pointing the finger at India. 

Malik said: “We suspect a foreign hand behind this incident. The democracy of the country has been undermined, and foreigners are repeatedly attacked to harm the country’s image.” 

Malik is said to have “shared” the assessment of the country’s ISI intelligence agency with the FBI director Robert Mueller. 

Some Pakistani newspapers have suggested that the Indian intelligence service was involved and that the weapons found at the site of the attack bore Indian markings. 

Mehar Mohammed Khalil, the Pakistani driver of the Sri Lankan bus, has also said he believes the terrorists are from India. He said: ‘Their complexions were Indian-type. They were definitely not Pakistani.’ 

Furthermore, it has been pointed out that similarities exist between the estimated 12 suspected militants who launched the attack in Lahore and those who launched the Mumbai attacks which left more than 170 people dead last year. Both groups of men were young and clean-cut, wore Western clothes and backpacks, and were heavily armed. 

The Press Trust of India has reported that a visiting Pakistani peace delegation has branded the incident as “Mumbai No 2 with same people behind it”. 

With allegations of Pakistani intelligence involvement and Indian intelligence involvement, it must also be noted that the region is strategically important, both states are nuclear and other globalist led intelligence agencies such as the CIA, Mossad and MI6 have much to gain from playing off India and Pakistan against each other. 

However, once again, the overriding story that is being sold paints Pakistan as the problem state. 

Will this latest tragedy be used as another excuse to expand the war on terror and increase U.S. military activity inside Pakistani territory? 

Yesterday the top American diplomat in Kabul warned that Pakistan is now a bigger threat than Afghanistan. 

“From where I sit Pakistan sure looks like it’s going to be a bigger problem,” Christopher Dell, who runs the U.S. embassy in Kabul, said. 

“It is certainly one of those nuclear-armed countries the instability of which is a bigger problem for the globe. Pakistan is a bigger place, has a larger population, it’s nuclear-armed. It has certainly made radical Islam a part of its political life, and it now seems to be a deeply ingrained element of its political culture. It makes things there very hard.”

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US fails to derail Iran-Russia arms deal

Posted by seumasach on March 8, 2009

PressTV

7th March, 2009

The Russian foreign minister disappoints US hopes by clarifying that its military cooperation with Iran complies with international law. 

“These issues … are decided exclusively within the law and Russian national regulations… We are supplying non-destabilizing, defensive weapons,” Sergei Lavrov said following a meeting with his US counterpart Hillary Clinton in Geneva. 

“We fully take into account concerns voiced by our US and Israeli partners and favor intensification of work on proposals made by the 5-plus-one group, which include … the start of equal talks with Iran and other regional states to ensure common security,” he added. 

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Russian FM: Make Middle East nuclear weapons-free zone

Posted by seumasach on March 8, 2009

Haaretz

7th March, 2009

Russia repeated on Saturday its call for the Middle East to be made a nuclear weapons-free zone. 

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‘Run on UK’ sees foreign investors pull $1 trillion out of the City

Posted by seumasach on March 8, 2009

 

 

Banking crisis undermines Britain’s reputation as a safe place to hold funds

 
7th March, 2009

 

A silent $1 trillion “Run on Britain” by foreign investors was revealed yesterday in the latest statistical releases from the Bank of England. The external liabilities of banks operating in the UK – that is monies held in the UK on behalf of foreign investors – fell by $1 trillion (£700bn) between the spring and the end of 2008, representing a huge loss of funds and of confidence in the City of London.

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Bill Seeks to Let FDIC Borrow up to $500 Billion

Posted by smeddum on March 8, 2009

MARCH 6, 2009

By DAMIAN PALETTA
Wall St Journal
WASHINGTON — Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd is moving to allow the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to temporarily borrow as much as $500 billion from the Treasury Department. Read the rest of this entry »

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