Posted by seumasach on January 20, 2013
Cailean Bochanan
20th January, 2013
Every cloud has a silver lining and the terrible events in Algeria at least enabled David Cameron to postpone his long-awaited speech on Europe. He must be hoping he could call it off altogether and that the leaking of its contents by dribs and drabs would steal some of its thunder and render its eventual delivery a relative non-event. But what has got him into such a quandary? “Events, my dear boy! Events!”
Posted in Battle for Europe | Tagged: Obama agenda, Obama's realist turn | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on January 20, 2013
Brendan O’Reilly
12th January, 2013
See also: Let’s build a strategic partnership with China!
News of Chuck Hagel’s nomination to Secretary of Defense has been warmly received in China. Hagel, like most of the contemporary leadership of the American military, favors closer engagement with his counterparts in the People’s Liberation Army. China’s top leadership has interpreted Hagel’s recent public statements as reassuring signals of American cordiality.
Posted in Multipolar world | Tagged: Chinese soft power, Obama's realist turn, US-Chinese partnership | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on January 20, 2013
Meanwhile, back in the Benighted Isle the government strives to keep anti-Russian enmity alive. We’ve had our final “we will rule the world” flourish, and now we’re sulking.
19th January, 2013
Three thousand British sailors who braved arctic conditions and enemy bombers to deliver vital supplies to the Eastern Front during WWII have been denied medals for bravery offered by Russia for their outstanding service.
Posted in New Cold War | Tagged: british isolation, End of empire, Russian diplomacy | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on January 20, 2013
President Obama effectively announces the end of the Syria destabilisation campaign
19th January, 2013
Killing Osama bin Laden (or rather, signing off on the ongoing military operation that killed him) might have given Barack Obama a great electoral pitch, but what exactly did it accomplish for the security of the United States and its interests? Al-Qaeda is back – big time.
Posted in Syria | Tagged: Obama's realist turn | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on January 20, 2013
Talking about the role of the US in the Syrian crisis, al-Muallem stressed that “if the US wanted the violence in Syria to stop, it will stop.”
20th January, 2013
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem says any discussion of the removal of President Bashar al-Assad in a future transitional government is “unacceptable.”
Posted in Syria | Tagged: geneva | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on January 18, 2013
18th January, 2013
Avec la fougue de la jeunesse, une logique réelle et sans langue de bois, le député indépendant belge Laurent Louis, 33 ans bientôt, s’oppose, seul contre tous les autres parlementaires, à la participation de la Belgique à la guerre au Mali. Il dénonce la manipulation internationale, le mensonge de la lutte anti-terroriste, le soutien des Occidentaux aux djihadistes en Libye, Tunisie et Syrie et dévoile les véritables raisons, selon lui, de cette opération militaire néo-colonialiste.
Posted in Libya, Syria | Tagged: hollande agenda, intervention in mali | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on January 18, 2013
18th January, 2013
On Friday the pound fell 0.2pc against the euro to hit a ten-month low of 1.192, while it fell for the six-consecutive day against the dollar, down 0.4pc to 1.592.
Posted in UK economy | Tagged: bankrupt Britain, run on pound | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on January 18, 2013
The bizarre privilege of consuming the world’s produce in exchange for a fiat currency whilst producing precious little in return has fallen to ourselves and the USA over the last forty years or so. Now we are moving towards non-consumer status as well as non-producer status, towards the collapse of the British economy such as it is. Accompanying this will be the fall of the pound and an inflationary spiral which will see essential goods priced out of the market.
18th January, 2013
As far as the City is concerned, it is game over. The depressed state of retail sales – not just in December but in the previous two months as well – means the UK’s national output shrank in the fourth quarter. That leaves the economy halfway towards a triple-dip recession and, with the snow falling, at the mercy of the weather in the first quarter of 2013.
Posted in UK economy | Tagged: bankrupt Britain | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on January 18, 2013
The shift in US policy is now clear. Realism has dictated that Assad will not be overthrown in Syria and that the euro will not collapse. By relaunching the “war on terror” against Al Qaeda Washington signals a diplomatic settlement in Syria and , at the same time, seeks to reforge its alliance with Europe and strengthen NATO.Hollande’s Mali campaign and Cameron’s travails over Europe both flow directly from Washington’s new stance.
18th January, 2013
The outgoing US defence secretary, Leon Panetta, has said there must be a fundamental change in the transatlantic alliance, as the west faces challenging global threats, including that from al-Qaida terrorists.
Posted in Battle for Europe, Syria | Tagged: "War on Terror", Obama's realist turn | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on January 18, 2013
17th January, 2013
US “megabanks” with large toxic assets accumulated during the crisis should be split into smaller units, according to a senior Fed official. Thus they won’t be able to use the “too big to fail” excuse to get another government bailout.
Posted in Financial crisis | Tagged: failing banks, no more bailouts-put banks into receivership, no more bombing!-no more bailouts! | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on January 18, 2013
An Italian court has ruled there is a link between the MMR vaccine and autism
8th May, 2012
In what may be a ground-breaking decision, the Italian Court of Rimini has ruled that causation between an MMR vaccine and the resulting autism in a young child “has been established.”
Posted in Ecological and Public Health Crisis | Tagged: MMR and thimerosal, Thimerosal, thimerosal and autism, Wakefield affair | Leave a Comment »
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