#2
#1 Celebrity African kennel media oggling. Plenty of infants needing homes right here in the States.
We've got ours...I hope!
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
05/11/2008 15:42 Comments ||
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#3
OLD DREAM > MADGE's kids as adults. Iff my dreams/visions prove correct, DAVID in adulthood will be heavily engaged in PHILANTHROPY = SOCIAL ACTIVISM - LOURDES will try to become a FAMOUS SINGER IN HER OWN RIGHT, but will face critical comparisons to mom Madonna. Unlike MADONNA, LOU WILL HAVE MORE SUCCESS THAN MOM AS AN ACTRESS-THESPIAN.
"Tis beyond my lifetime, however > GOOD QUESTION, THOUGH, FOR THE VATICAN.
The White House on Saturday urged the presence of election and human rights monitors at a runoff vote in Zimbabwe between President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
The country has been in a stalemate since the March 29 election when official results showed Mugabe's party lost its parliamentary majority for the first time since independence in 1980 and that Tsvangirai beat Mugabe in the presidential ballot but not by enough votes to avoid a runoff.
Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change party has accused the ruling ZANU-PF of vote-rigging by intimidating and attacking voters. "We'd like to see election monitors come in, we'd like to see U.N. human rights monitors come in and ensure we have a safe electoral process in Zimbabwe," White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said in Texas where U.S. President George W. Bush was attending his daughter Jenna's wedding. "Opposition leaders and supporters must be able to freely campaign free of violence," he said.
Tsvangirai said on Saturday he would return home within two days to contest the runoff against Mugabe and deal him a "final knockout" after almost three decades in power. But chances of a speedy end to the stalemate appeared remote after Zimbabwe's justice minister rejected Tsvangirai's preconditions for taking part in the runoff that international observers and media get full access to ensure the vote is fair.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/11/2008 00:00 ||
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British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, his back to the wall after a drop in his Labour Partys popularity, is taking advice from his predecessor Tony Blair despite their old rivalry, said Blairs wife.
In interviews with two newspapers published on Saturday, Cherie Blair said Brown was rattling the keys over her husbands head when he suffered a crisis of confidence in April 2004 over his decision to take Britain to war with Iraq. I thought he was putting too much pressure on Tony to quit when Tony wasnt ready, she told the Sun.
Brown took over in June 2007 after a tempestuous 10-year relationship with Blair during which he ran Britains finances as Chancellor of the Exchequer. But unpopular income tax reform, rising fuel and food prices, a downturn in the housing market and an image problem led to big losses in local elections that have cast doubt on Browns leadership.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/11/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
But unpopular income tax reform, rising fuel and food prices, a downturn in the housing market and an image problem led to big losses in local elections...
Hmmm. This list doesn't seem to include the facts that the Brit's are being forced to commit slow national suicide by the tranzi's peddling their multi-culti Kool-Aid and a court system that won't allow even the worst of the worst jihadis to be deported. I hope that the recent results indicate that the population has finally begun to notice.
#2
I still don't understand why, if he seriously damaged Britain's finances as Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr Brown was given the opportunity to destroy the rest of the country.
#3
#2: I still don't understand why, if he seriously damaged Britain's finances as Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr Brown was given the opportunity to destroy the rest of the country. Posted by: trailing wife || 2008-05-11 09:15
It's British politics, TW, and I don't understand it either. Where's BP or Excalibur when you need 'em?
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
05/11/2008 15:44 Comments ||
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#4
Because Gordo was (& still is) so obsessive, vindictive & generally unpleasant that no one dared oppose him when he stood to replace TB. Lest we forget he was essentially the NuLab Crown Prince as Chancellor & (it seems) many Labour people looked forward to the days when the King o'er the partition wall would move from number 11 to number 10 & usher in a new age of Old Labour-esque socialism (as if!) Hence the excitement over the abolition of the 10% income tax band, which affects many traditional Labour voters.
Things really must be bad for the Psychologically Flawed One if he has to go, cap in hand, to Tone for advice & admit that Blair's concerns about his ability to run Absurdistan were justified. Oh the humiliation :-)
#5
"Tempestuous 10-year relationship wid Brown" > WENT OUT ON DATES TOGETHER???
* NOTE TO BRITS - don't use such sentences when describing between two men regardless of personal or official capacity, and espec when Amers are in the audience = target audience. MISSED THE QUIZ THAT DAY ON GENDER AND CULTURAL MARKETING-PR, DIDN'T WE!
A few, but not many, of the stories told to me by the Days have been written about, such as in Robert Timberg's 1996 book "A Nightingale's Song." But Mr. McCain rarely refers to them on the campaign trail. There is something admirable in his reticence, but he needs to overcome it.
Private people like Mr. McCain are rare in politics for a reason. Candidates who are uncomfortable sharing their interior lives limit their appeal. But if Mr. McCain is to win the election this fall, he has to open up.
Americans need to know about his vision for the nation's future, especially his policy positions and domestic reforms. They also need to learn about the moments in his life that shaped him. Mr. McCain cannot make this a biography-only campaign but he can't afford to make it a biography-free campaign either. Unless he opens up more, many voters will never know the experiences of his life that show his character, integrity and essential decency.
These qualities mattered in America's first president and will matter as Americans decide on their 44th president.
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/11/2008 14:58 ||
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#1
There are a number of things I don't like about McCain, his position on amnesty first among them. Given, however, the three choices we have before us for this election, there really isn't much of a choice. Again this election, I'll be voting for the lesser of two evils politically. However, I can see myself shaking McCain's hand. I can't see doing so with BO and I wouldn't even speak to BJ's surrogate. As usual, the Trunks are shortsighted and stupid while the Dims are evil and insane.
How can a country with this many good people come up with such terribly deficient candidates?
Posted by: Thaimble Scourge of the Pixies4707 ||
05/11/2008 19:13 Comments ||
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They traveled here from New York, Pennsylvania and Indiana last week to stand in the rain on a rural street corner, at a four-way intersection of winding mountain roads. The 10 volunteers, linked by a resolve to keep Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign alive by helping her win Tuesday's West Virginia primary, met to wave campaign signs patched together with duct tape. They cheered as the first car, a beat-up white Volvo, rolled toward the intersection, and a young man in aviator sunglasses leaned out his driver's-side window.
"Hey," he said. "Don't you think you're wasting your time?"
Clinton's most loyal supporters -- the ones still standing on street corners -- have adopted their candidate's motto, even as she trails Sen. Barack Obama by an insurmountable margin in pledged delegates: to fight like hell, despite dim odds and denigration, until someone officially wins the Democratic nomination.
But on this day, the intersection of Highway 480 and German Street, where they stood, divided Shepherdstown into two factions. College kids from Shepherd University approached from the north, angry that Clinton has remained in a race she appears destined to lose. Truck drivers and farmers approached from the south, their support for Clinton fortified by her perseverance. The two groups met at the intersection in a cacophony of honking horns and shouting that echoed across this town of about 1,000 near the Maryland border.
After two hours, Luanne Smith had heard enough. "It's become so personal, just one insult after another," Smith said. "These sides are starting to feel some hate for each other. Everybody is angry, but I'm going to keep at this as long as I can. I never want to look myself in the mirror and say, 'You quit. You didn't do your part.' "
Heh-heh, Operation Chaos continues of its own accord ...
Even if Smith and the other volunteers help Clinton win by a large margin in West Virginia, it's unlikely to help her overcome the momentum and lead in delegates that now give Obama's campaign a sense of inevitability. West Virginia awards only 38 delegates, and its population -- mostly white, rural and working class -- consists of the exact demographic that has supported Clinton in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Indiana. Obama campaign aides subtly shifted their focus to the general election after the results in the North Carolina and Indiana primaries last week, apparently content to concede Clinton a victory here.
Smith traveled from her home in Burke, Va., and checked into the Super 8 Motel because she'd grown tired of hearing her friends insist it was time to give up. "She's going to win so big," Smith said, "that it will force people to see all of the possibilities."
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/11/2008 08:04 ||
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#1
They got it wrong in 1863 as well. No surprises for that lot.
#2
A sense of inevitability isn't anything like actually being inevitable. There's still plenty of time for Candidate Obama to stick his foot so deep in it that it can't be pulled out.
#7
Clinton's most loyal supporters -- the ones still standing on street corners ....
I've usually found that the most loyal supporters of any Democrat tend to be the ones standing living on street corners.
After two hours, Luanne Smith had heard enough. "It's become so personal, just one insult after another," Smith said. "These sides are starting to feel some hate for each other. Everybody is angry ....
How sweet it is to see nearly a half-century of lefty venom come home to roost. It's only a matter of time until they turn on themselves completely.
Front-page WaPo hand wringing.
Osman's death is a single tragedy in a larger story of life, death and often shabby medical care within an unseen network of special prisons for foreign detainees across the country. Some 33,000 people are crammed into these overcrowded compounds on a given day, waiting to be deported or for a judge to let them stay here.
The medical neglect they endure is part of the hidden human cost of increasingly strict policies in the post-Sept. 11 United States and a lack of preparation for the impact of those policies. The detainees have less access to lawyers than convicted murderers in maximum-security prisons and some have fewer comforts than al-Qaeda terrorism suspects held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
But they are not terrorists. Most are working-class men and women or indigent laborers who made mistakes that seem to pose no threat to national security: a Salvadoran who bought drugs in his 20th year of poverty in Los Angeles; a U.S. legal U.S. resident from Mexico who took $50 for driving two undocumented day laborers into a border city. Or they are waiting for political asylum from danger in their own countries: a Somalian without a valid visa trying to prove she would be killed had she remained in her village; a journalist who fled Congo out of fear for his life, worked as a limousine driver and fathered six American children, but never was able to get the asylum he sought.
The most vulnerable detainees, the physically sick and the mentally ill, are sometimes denied the proper treatment to which they are entitled by law and regulation. They are locked in a world of slow care, poor care and no care, with panic and coverups among employees watching it happen, according to a Post investigation.
The investigation found a hidden world of flawed medical judgments, faulty administrative practices, neglectful guards, ill-trained technicians, sloppy record-keeping, lost medical files and dangerous staff shortages. It is also a world increasingly run by high-priced private contractors. There is evidence that infectious diseases, including tuberculosis and chicken pox, are spreading inside the centers.
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/11/2008 07:59 ||
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#1
they broke the law by illegally crossing. The fact they were caught breaking the law once here indicates they have less than full appreciation of living here - they should be beaten, then deported. By "they" I mean the WaPo writers...oh, and the criminal aliens
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/11/2008 9:02 Comments ||
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#2
The solution: stop enforcing our laws! Let everyone go free! Then, we can be just like Europe. Won't that be grand?
#4
The investigation found a hidden world of flawed medical judgments, faulty administrative practices, neglectful guards, ill-trained technicians, sloppy record-keeping, lost medical files and dangerous staff shortages. It is also a world increasingly run by high-priced private contractors. There is evidence that infectious diseases, including tuberculosis and chicken pox, are spreading inside the centers.
But nationalized health care will be the best thing of all time...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
05/11/2008 9:34 Comments ||
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#5
no concerns, however, with them spreading pox and TB among everyday Americans.
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/11/2008 9:38 Comments ||
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#6
yep, I lose much sleep worrying about this *yawn*..
Posted by: Snash Oppressor of the Mohammatans aka Broadhead6 ||
05/11/2008 10:58 Comments ||
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#7
Sad thing is, conditions in these compounds are still better than in Fumbuck, Mexico ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/11/2008 14:00 Comments ||
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#8
I hope the WaPo translated this so it could be printed in all the Mexican papers.
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said he'd be willing to campaign jointly with Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, and debate him in town-hall style formats. ``I think that's a great idea,'' Obama, 46, told reporters in Bend, Oregon, today as he campaigned ahead of the state's May 20 primary. ``Obviously we would have to think through the logistics on that, but to the extent that should I, should I be the nominee, if I have the opportunity to debate substantive issues before the voters with John McCain, that's something that I am going to welcome.''
Obama, an Illinois senator, was responding to a question citing reports that McCain's advisers have suggested the two should campaign together this summer, debating at town hall meetings without a moderator.
Obama, who is leading the race for the Democratic presidential nomination over New York Senator Hillary Clinton, 60, picked up support today from three superdelegates. One was from Utah and two from the Virgin Islands, one of whom switched his support from Clinton. Clinton picked up the support of a superdelegate from Massachusetts.
Obama has been steadily closing in on Clinton's superdelegate lead and now barely trails her in the race for party leaders and elected officials, who will end up deciding the Democratic nomination because neither candidate would be able to gain enough pledged delegates from primaries and caucuses to seal the nomination.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/11/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Sen McCain is having too much fun watching the Billary-Obewan Show; he doesn't need closeups.
#2
Interesting. Hussein wants to do this during the summer, then implying he is the presumptive nominee in the same way as McCain is. But he's not and won't be. So I would look for McCain to take him up on the offer...after the conventions. But Hussein will not want to debate McCain without his body guards in the press then. Especially as Hussein has not demonstrated skills as an extemporaneous speaker as has McCain in his almost daily sparring with the press. Dumb move by Hussein. But then, it was done when he was speaking extemporaneously.
#4
``Obviously we would have to think through the logistics on that....exactly which of the 57 states, we'll wish to debate in, Detroit, Chicago, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Philly, Miami, Washington D.C., etc...
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/11/2008 9:03 Comments ||
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#6
What an amusing idea. Perhaps they should do this before the Democratic national convention. It would certainly give the superdelegates a more realistic idea of their candidate's viability -- and help them decide whether to vote for Candidate Clinton instead. P'rhaps one of McCain vs. Clinton, too. McCain can show Obama to be a puppy, and Clinton as bright, knowledgeable, and overly stiff.
(Xinhua) -- Pakistani Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani said Saturday that the coalition will not split as it has to steer Pakistan out of crises.
At a press conference in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore, Gilani said that there was no disagreement between the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) over the restoration of deposed judges and meeting the May 12 deadline. "PML-N Quaid Mian Nawaz Sharif is our partner and will not sit on opposition benches as we have to steer the country out of crises," he said. "We have to fulfill the promise in letter and spirit and we also do not want to choose the course of confrontation between the institutions," he said.
But the NNI news agency quoted Gilani as saying that there were minor differences on the modalities for the restoration of judges between the two partners which would be resolved very soon. He also rejected the notion of two chief justices. He said that the opposition should play its constructive role in the parliament as it is the part of democracy. "We want to have good relations with our neighbors including India, but stressed the resolution of the core issue of Kashmir," he stressed. Gilani said that the parliament would decide the future of the president.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/11/2008 00:00 ||
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A helicopter carrying a federal minister and high-ranking government officials narrowly escaped a major accident on Saturday.
Water and Power Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, Water and Power Secretary Ismail Qureshi and WAPDA Chairman Shakil Durrani had left Islamabad for Basha Dam by helicopter, when one of the two helicopter engines developed a fault. Helicopter pilot Col Asad Ali flew to Rawalpindi Dahmiyal Camp, where a successful emergency landing was made without any injuries. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has ordered an inquiry into the incident.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/11/2008 00:00 ||
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Out of the 48 officials waiting to be regularised and promoted to the rank of a Provincial Management Service (PMS) officer in BS-17 against 14 vacant posts, as many as 11 tehsildars of the Punjab Board of Revenue (BoR) are charged with corruption, sources told Daily Times on Friday.
According to a record obtained from the Anti-Corruption Establishment (AEC), three of them are posted in Lahore, four in Multan, and one each in Bahawalpur, Rawalpindi, Sargodha and Gujranwala revenue regions as deputy district officer on acting/officiating and current charge bases.
Sources within the ACE said that although those BS-16 officials had been facing corruption cases and inquires, they were enjoying lucrative posts. These officials are eyeing on promotions, as they have connections in the power corridors, the sources added. They said that the departments promotion committee was likely to meet in a few weeks to consider promotions.
Big time support: The sources claimed that political and administrative bigwigs were supporting those 11 officials because they (tehsildars) had allotted state land to them fraudulently. Five cases were registered against four officers on the charges of corruption, which were proved true, and inquires were initiated against eight officers on solid proofs of corruption, forgery of revenue records and abuse of authority, submitted by various applicants, the sources said.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/11/2008 00:00 ||
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Although support for early elections has yet to coalesce within the Knesset, opposition MKs kept the pressure on embattled Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's government, calling repeatedly throughout the weekend for Olmert's resignation. "The Olmert-Barak government has demonstrated helplessness in the face of escalations of artillery fire from Gaza toward the western Negev communities. A government that has sunk up to its neck in criminal investigations and has failed to deliver security to its citizens has no right to exist," said Likud faction Chairman MK Gideon Sa'ar Saturday evening.
But despite Likud's repeated calls for early elections - which, according to recent polls, are likely to benefit Likud head MK Binyamin Netanyahu, other parties - both in the opposition and the coalition - who were eager to see Olmert go seemed reluctant to back early elections.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/11/2008 00:00 ||
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With United States warships and air force planes at the ready, and over 1 million of Myanmar's citizens left bedraggled, homeless and susceptible to water-borne diseases by Cyclone Nagris, the natural disaster presents an opportunity in crisis for the US. A unilateral - and potentially United Nations-approved - US military intervention in the name of humanitarianism could easily turn the tide against the impoverished country's unpopular military leaders, and simultaneously rehabilitate the legacy of lame-duck US President George W Bush's controversial pre-emptive military policies.
Myanmar's ruling junta has responded woefully to the cyclone disaster, costing more human lives than would have been the case with the approval of a swift international response. One week after the killer storm first hit, Myanmar's junta has only now allowed desperately needed international emergency supplies to trickle in. It continues to resist US and UN disaster relief and food aid personnel from entering the country. Officially, 60,000 people have died; the figure is probably closer to 100,000.
The US is prepared to deliver US$3.25 million in initial assistance for survivors, which if allowed by the junta could be rapidly delivered to the worst-hit areas using US Air Force and naval vessels, including the US C-130 military aircraft now in neighboring Thailand, and the USS Kitty Hawk and USS Nimitz naval warships, currently on standby in nearby waters.
Continued on Page 49
#1
...You know, if there ever WAS a reason to go in, punch somebody in the face and tell 'em to sit down and shut up while we try to take care of their people, this place is providing one. Myanmar's army is actually what Jim Dunnigan calls a 'police army' - more of a danger to their own people than anything else and whose resistance time to US Marines can be measured in seconds. If we did go I suspect after the first die hards got taken out, the rest of the army would stand aside and the generals would be tripping all over themselves to tell the world how they invited the US in.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
05/11/2008 10:44 Comments ||
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#5
A unilateral - and potentially United Nations-approved - US military intervention in the name of humanitarianism could easily turn the tide against the impoverished country's unpopular military leaders, and simultaneously rehabilitate the legacy of lame-duck US President George W Bush's controversial pre-emptive military policies.
Translation: we know you Americans are suckers for humanitarian rhetoric & UN approval.
#7
MK: You know, if there ever WAS a reason to go in, punch somebody in the face and tell 'em to sit down and shut up while we try to take care of their people, this place is providing one.
Your perception is accurate. The problem is that China sits next door. If they choose to fund an insurgency against us (a la the French phase of Vietnam), or send PLA troops in-country (a la the Korean War), things could go messy and expensive in men and money real fast.
My view is that China would come to the rescue of its tributary state and land of opportunity for Chinese colonists. At the same time, though, I don't think there's a lot of zeal for defending the regime. Burma already has a popularly-elected leader who was prevented from taking office (Aung San Suu Kyi).
Bottom line, it comes down to whether intervention in Burma is worth a confrontation with China, indirectly or otherwise. A naval and air war with China over Taiwan favors us. A land war with China over Burma favors the Chinese.
#8
OK, the US does it or China does it. They have one day to decide. If the US does it, I say that that everyone who cares can pony up to help pay for the operation. Right?
#9
g: OK, the US does it or China does it. They have one day to decide. If the US does it, I say that that everyone who cares can pony up to help pay for the operation. Right?
The Chinese aren't going to rescue the Burmese population. They will jump in to rescue the government if Uncle Sam intervenes in Burma. The replacement of the existing government by Uncle Sam would probably see the expulsion of the Chinese colonists who have entered Burma with the permission of the quisling government currently in power.
#10
This is a political move on the order of the collectivization of the Chinese or Ukrainian farms, and the deaths will be on the same order, millions if closer to Pol Pot's single digits. The area devastated contributes 40% of the rice crop for Burma. With the monsoon season starting in less than a month and possibly earlier, the crop will be planted and Burma would face severe food shortages next year. I suspect the dear leaders have decided that it would be better to have them die now as a result of an act of nature than to have to beg the west for food next year or have them starve then and make trouble in the meantime.
#11
No. No more humanitarian missions. We can send aid but no boots on the ground. We will need our military power to defend ourselves. Our military is not a meals-on-wheels service.
#12
China could easily tie us down in Burma by funding an 'insurgency' against us once we went in. And the various liberal do-gooders talking today about how 'right' it would be to 'help' the Burmese people would, of course, start talking about quagmire, etc.
Especially if Bush/McCain were in charge.
No thank you, we can't fix all the problems in the world. Let the Chinese or the Euros do this one.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/11/2008 13:54 Comments ||
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#13
It'll be another "drain" and "bleed" war for the US, only without being on the borders of Saudi Arabia and Iran where we can exert pressure back.
#14
Of course, to the MSM, this is just more "proof" that we never should have gone into Iraq. If we weren't in Iraq, we would have the military resources to do this. Bush should have foreseen this.
Posted by: Rambler in California ||
05/11/2008 15:57 Comments ||
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#15
The only way I'd even consider going into Burma is with India as a full and equal partner in the venture. That will keep China at arm's reach, especially if Thailand, Bangladesh, Malaysia, and Indonesia were supportive. The Chinese fear India, and for good reason.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
05/11/2008 16:36 Comments ||
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#16
This is the sort of thing the liberals like to use the military for, the type of war that make them feel morally superior while doing nothing in the interest of the US. They don't care if our soldiers die because the military votes Republicans any way.
#17
IMO/IMB, iff the former Reagan-Bush 1 Admins made any mistake(s), it was failing to establish a stronger US presence in SOUTH-SE ASIA vv Myanmar/Burma. UNFORTUNATELY, COLD WAR > THE US FOCII WAS GENER ON THE LARGER, MORE DEV NATIONS OF THE REGION + ASIA. THE RULING JUNTA WANTS TO FEEL THE LOVE AS PER THE US-WEST/S DECADES-LONG IGNORANCE = DOWNPLAYING OF THEIR NATION IN THE COLD WAR "GREAT GAME" OF GEOPOL.
IN MYANMAR, IMO THE US COULD HAD BEEN IN A POTENT PRE-9-11 MILPOL POSITION TO PRECLUDE THE RISE OF AL QAEDA + TALIBAN, ETC. ISLAMIST TERROR GROUPS AFTER THE SOVIET DEFEAT IN AFGHANISTAN + VV THE DRUG TRADE.
But-t-t, thats just me + MADONNA > OOOOOPPPPSIES! The final decision was up to Reagan-Bush 1, etc. NOT THE ARMY-USDOD.
#19
Invade, assist, cross Burmese borders with U.S. troops for any reason, no matter how defined?
NO. HELL NO! NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES WHATSOEVER. LET THE DAMNED EUROS OR UN DO IT IF THEY WANT IT DONE. BURMA ISN'T WORTH THE BLOOD, MUCH LESS THE BONES, OF ONE AMERICAN MARINE.
Posted by: Thaimble Scourge of the Pixies4707 ||
05/11/2008 18:52 Comments ||
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#20
As for CHINA, Myanmar's Govt. suppors China becuz China was the major world power that economically helped Myanmar. OUTSIDE OF ECON $$$, MYANMAR IS AT BEST A HOSTILE RELUCTANT ALLY OF CHINA E.G. ANTI-EVERYBODY VIETNAM. THE US + USSR HAD THEIR CHANCES BUT BLEW IT REPEATEDLY DURING THE COLD WAR. The above being said, I don't think its too late for the US, ESPEC GIVEN THAT RADICAL ISLAM IS FIGHTING FOR "LAND BRIDGES" INTO THE PACIFIC + AMERICAS.
#21
OS: Oh yeah? Againts people that were not a threat to us, or against people actively engaged in actions against us, hmm dumbshit?
What a crock of equivocation this article was.
It goes way beyond that. I think the only president who hasn't launched military strikes in/against a foreign country in the post-WWII period is Jimmy Carter. (The pre-WWII period wasn't exactly a model of supine inaction either - I'm just pointing out the post-WWII period for those who think either that anything before WWII is ancient history or that WWII changed everything).
Only a month ago the dollar slumped to an all-time low against the euro. And it's just five weeks since the greenback hit a 12-year low against the yen.
But now, the US currency has started to strengthen - with the markets talking about a "turning point". On Wednesday, the dollar reached a six-week high against the European single currency, closing in on $1.53 - an improvement of more than 5 cents. And on the same day, the greenback climbed to a 10-week peak against the pound.
But does the dollar remain in danger? Could "the rope slip" and the world's pivotal currency still go into freefall? That would plunge America beyond recession and into depression - as inflation ballooned amid soaring import costs, forcing the Federal Reserve to raise rates in the teeth of shuddering slowdown.
A plummeting US currency would also cause chaos globally, as central banks sought to protect the value of their reserves. And after the inevitable overshoot, the currency would snap back, sending financial markets into a tailspin, and threatening a fully-blown global slump. That danger has been averted for now, but could soon come back with a vengeance. And while policymakers in Washington will be content with the current situation, those elsewhere shouldn't be.
It's instructive that the main reason for the dollar's "recovery" has little to do with the US economy. The greenback's relative strength is less about the robustness of America, than the weakness of the eurozone. It's been widely assumed Europe has escaped the worst of the credit crisis. And with the exception of UBS et al, the writedowns suffered by Continental banks have been much less than those in the States.
But a slew of bad data has lately challenged such assumptions. Eurozone retail sales fell heavily in both February and March. Last month, the PMI Euro-manufacturing survey dropped to its lowest level since August 2005. New data shows the bellwether IFO index tumbling in April - contrary to market expectations. And in Germany, the eurozone's powerhouse, factory orders have just contracted for the fourth month in a row.
So while the US growth outlook has barely improved in absolute terms, its position now looks rosier relative to the eurozone - which, of course, pushes the dollar up. And while the European Central Bank last week held interest rates at 4 per cent, it's surely only a matter of time before political pressures prevail and euro borrowing costs fall. And, once again, that prospect makes the dollar look relatively more attractive.
As if to help the dollar's recovery, the European Commission last week published some interesting data. The eurozone suffers when the dollar is weak, of course - as its exports are less competitive.
So I smiled when I saw the graph opposite in a Commission report on the 10th anniversary of the euro, showing America's superior growth performance. Eurocrats usually hate admitting the US grows faster than Europe.
But in the current climate, in a bid to reflate the dollar, they're shouting it from the rooftops. Brussels is even prepared to forecast that faster US growth will continue into the medium-term too.
After months of squabbling, not least at last month's G7 summit, an agreement has been struck that the greenback has become so weak it could soon slip into freefall. So, in a co-ordinated move, ECB and Fed officials are now talking the currency up, whispering to journalists and the markets that if the dollar doesn't strengthen there'll be "intervention" - which, for now at least, bolsters the greenback.
But the situation is by no means stable. One reason is that the US has got by far the better end of the deal. The dollar seems to have stabilised, but at a level well below most estimates of its fundamental value. America likes this, of course, as a weak dollar boosts exports and encourages foreign investment, so helping the US climb out of its economic hole.
But until the currency strengthens further, Europe's acquiescence will be only partial, exposing the dollar to further speculative attack.
It's worth saying, also, that with oil hitting an incredible $124 a barrel last week, expensive crude will keep weighing down the trade balance of the world's biggest oil importer.
America external deficit remains the wrong side of $60bn - a figure that will escalate as long as oil stays dear. That reinforces the need for America to forego competitive benefits and allow the dollar to rise out of the danger zone to a level where its less prone to sudden collapse.
That level may not have yet been reached. I admit there are signs of flickering life in the US economy. Predictions of short-lived V-shaped recession could turn out to be true. But the upswing, if it comes, will be built on a combination of loose money and an unaffordable fiscal boost - hardly the platform for a solid recovery.
And, anyway, the biggest problem for the US isn't the eurozone: it's the rest of the world - in particular China, the other emerging giants and the Middle Eastern countries which peg their currencies to the dollar. The weak greenback is harming these countries as it forces them to import inflation. All the signs are that their patience is now wearing thin.
And, at the same time, these countries now call the shots, accounting for 75 per cent of the world's foreign currency reserves. So my prediction is that the US will soon reluctantly start talking the dollar up even more. But it won't be Brussels forcing them. It will be the likes of Riyadh and Beijing.
The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee made a good decision last Thursday, when it held rates at 5 per cent. It needs to make another good decision next month - and hold rates again - for the UK faces grave inflationary dangers.
The consumer slowdown and weak housing market are putting the MPC under massive pressure. Having cut rates last month, many interest groups - estate agents, stockbrokers and retailers - are screaming for the committee to go further. The MPC held last week only for "tactical" reasons, the rate-slashers say. The Bank avoided back-to-back cuts - a drastic measure last taken in response to 9/11 - for fear of causing panic. But I'd suggest this latest MPC decision was more "fundamental" - or, at least it should have been.
CPI inflation - at 2.5 per cent - is way above target. Shattering oil and food prices, along with a weak pound, mean it's about to get much worse. Inflation will soon breach 3 per cent - requiring the Bank to write a humiliating "explanatory" letter. And such are the price pressures in the system - one key wholesale inflation measure reads 18 per cent! - that more rate cuts would seriously damage the credibility of this country's monetary regime.
The spread between inter-bank and base rates is narrowing. The UK is a very long way from recession. That's why rates should be held for the foreseeable future - and the next move should be up.
Saying this will enrage various vested interests. But I'd rather be unpopular than wrong.
Last week saw the inauguration of Dmitri Medvedev - at 42, Russia's youngest head of state since the last Tsar, Nicholas II. Medvedev's ceremonials were quickly followed by the swearing-in of Vladimir Putin, his immediate predecessor, as prime minister. Kremlin watchers hope Medvedev - a technocratic lawyer - will usher in a "thaw" in East-West relations. They want the sometimes prickly Putin sidelined and can't grasp why he was such a popular president.
That's a question requiring no kremlinology whatsoever. Putin scored stellar domestic ratings because, over the last decade when he was in office, Russia has risen from nowhere to become the world's ninth largest economy. Income per head has grown ten-fold in dollar terms - with your average Russian now worth $12,012.
In 1999, Putin boasted that by 2015, Russians would be as rich as the Portuguese - Western Europe's poorest economy. Seeing as the average Russian income was then only 9 per cent of the average in Portugal, his claim was widely dismissed. But Russia has since grown so fast that average incomes are now 60 per cent of those in Portugal, and gaining fast. And if the two economies keep growing at the pace they have over the last decade, Russia's income per head will overtake Portugal's in 2014 - a year earlier than Putin's estimate.
#2
Rubbish. What are China and Russia going to say to Bernanke? Raise the value of the dollar or we'll drive it even lower?
In fact, the problem is going to be that the Fed has flooded the world with so many unwanted dollars that there is nothing they can do except grow our way out of the crisis or contract so much they precipitate depression. So there is little to be done about the situation except to show patience and consider who Bernanke's replacement will be by the next President. And remember what happened when Carter got to nominate a Fed chairman.
The other problem is that the world economy has changed so much that the central banks, even the Fed, can no longer control much. The IMF might have grown into an institution which could perform such functions, but it would be to far ahead of the political institutions and consensus needed to support it and in any case, it has become to powerless and despised.
#3
So the Russians will be as wealth as Portugal in 2014, huh? That means that they will still be poorer than Slovenia. When the Russians catch up to the Italians, let me know; until then, they are simply trying to dig themselves out of the hole that 70 years of Soviet misrule dropped them in.
#4
By the way, I will worry about the viability of the dollar on the day that the world's major drug cartels stop accepting it as standard payment. Until then, the dollar is the world's medium of exchange with minor fluctuations attached to it.
#6
I am convinced that we have been systematically driving the dollar down for some very strategic reasons. First of all, note how in the article it says several times that the US hasn't been punished in this deal.
To start with, the Chinese have been undervaluing their currency, the renminbi, and we warned them that it was going to cause a crisis. By slamming down the dollar, we are forcing them to revalue, which is also slowing down their economy.
In turn, their economy is a bubble economy, and if it slows, the bubble may burst. While this would cause a collapse in many world currencies, the US is insulated, because there would be a flight to quality, the USD.
Another reason is oil, several reasons right there. We are buying oil to protect ourselves in case there is a ME shutdown, but most of our purchases are a fixed contract prices, not the sky high spot market. This means as the dollar sinks, those low fixed prices are worth far less to OPEC.
The high speculation prices mean that they make their money off the spot market instead of from us.
Thus, if oil from the ME is cut off, the rest of the world will be in disaster, and the US will have at least two months reserve. This means two months of beating the snot out of the Iranians and restoring the flow.
#8
In the past many oil producing countries took in dollars for their oil and invested those dollars, often here in the US.
What is now happening is that the second largest importer of oil (Iran) is unable to manage dollar denominated accounts because of US pressure on global banking. So ... they sell the dollars causing the price of dollars (value of the dollar) to go down and they buy other currencies such as the Euro causing the Euro to rise (even more than it already has from the dollar that was depressed by the initial selling). The result is a double-wammy on the dollar. We are betting that we can take it longer than Iran can since they nee d to purchase refined products which are valued in dollars on world markets. Every time they pressure the dollar, it makes their kerosene and food more expensive.
We are just betting we can take more pressure for longer than Iran can apply it without bankrupting themselves.
#10
Iran is the second largest importer of oil, crosspatch? Is that a typo, or am I missing something critical?
NPR did a big report on what used to be the subprime market crisis, and is now being called the credit crisis. A key point the reporter made is that the extent of investor losses is still not known, but definitely at least 50% of invested funds... the amount of which investments is still unclear. The other key point, to me, is that the investors are mostly formerly poor countries like China that have made so much profit off of sales to the U.S. that they had to park it somewhere, but U.S. Treasuries gave such a poor return that they looked toward AAA rated mortgage bonds for higher returns in what was purported to be nearly as safe an investment. Those countries are now back to chasing U.S. Treasuries, which should prove interesting. If I understand this correctly, China's currency has been de facto revalued, however slightly. Am I close?
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, his back to the wall after a drop in his Labour Partys popularity, is taking advice from his predecessor Tony Blair despite their old rivalry, said Blairs wife.
They traveled here from New York, Pennsylvania and Indiana last week to stand in the rain on a rural street corner, at a four-way intersection of winding mountain roads. The 10 volunteers, linked by a resolve to keep Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign alive by helping her win Tuesday's West Virginia primary, met to wave campaign signs patched together with duct tape. They cheered as the first car, a beat-up white Volvo, rolled toward the intersection, and a young man in aviator sunglasses leaned out his driver's-side window.
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said he'd be willing to campaign jointly with Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, and debate him in town-hall style formats. ``I think that's a great idea,'' Obama, 46, told reporters in Bend, Oregon, today as he campaigned ahead of the state's May 20 primary. ``Obviously we would have to think through the logistics on that, but to the extent that should I, should I be the nominee, if I have the opportunity to debate substantive issues before the voters with John McCain, that's something that I am going to welcome.'' 
(Xinhua) -- Pakistani Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani said Saturday that the coalition will not split as it has to steer Pakistan out of crises. 
A helicopter carrying a federal minister and high-ranking government officials narrowly escaped a major accident on Saturday. 
Only a month ago the dollar slumped to an all-time low against the euro. And it's just five weeks since the greenback hit a 12-year low against the yen. 
