Kyrgyzstan has lost control of a significant part of its country. Initial violence has caused many hundreds of deaths and, as of the latest count, over 400,000 refugees. This from a population of five million.
Washington is obsessed with Afghanistan, and though the Americans have a major base in Kyrgyzstan at Manas, they seem disinclined to do very much. They may have given up hope for the base, but they are clearly not interested in getting involved with Kyrgyzstans police and military, whom they seem to regard as feckless at best.
Kyrgyzstan is a major stop in the drug road from Afghanistan. Much of Afghanistans opiates are trucked and flown in to the south of Kyrgyzstan. The chances are, in fact, that drug dealers have been active in the violence. Much of the drugs move straight on -- to Russia, which already has an enormous problem both with drugs and intravenously transmitted H.I.V./AIDS, and to China, which is developing the same problem.
Southern Kyrgyzstan is also a transit route for another commodity the West fears: Islamist fighters. They move to and from Afghanistan, on their way to Uzbekistan just across the border, but also to Western Europe. It is already a comfortable stop along their long march. A country without a government will make for an even friendlier environment. NYT author lets bleeding heart reach conclusions, but that doesn't mean the problem doesn't exist. Funny how frequently drugs and oil and terrorists keep showing up in the same places. We could do something about drugs and oil if we had the will and the terrorist problem might solve itself.
#1
* The US doesn't wanna po either the Russians or the Chinese via POTENT US MIL PRESENCE IN A STRATEGIC STATE VITAL TO RUSSO-CHIN + CENTRAL ASIAN ENERGY NEEDS.
* MSM-Net > Local KYRGYZ UZBEKS are formally deemed by the Kyrgyz Govt as being DE FACTO KYRGYZ CITIZINS-RESIDENTS, but many Kyrgyz Uzbeks don't like nor trust the Kyrgyz Govt-People + would instead like to merge wid sovereign UZBEKISTAN.
** ION WMF > CHINA TO ASSURE SECURITY FOR KAZAKHISTAN IN FACE OF CURRENT RUSSIAN, US INACTION OVER KYRGYZTSAN UNREST.
* SAME WMF > "DEUTCH WELLE" GERMAN MEDIA: CHINA DESIRES TO FORM A BILATERAL ANTI-US ECON OR TRADE ALLIANCE WID RUSSIA WHERE RUSSIAN RAW MATERIALS WILL BE EXCHANGED FOR PRO-RUSSIAN CHINESE BANKING, INVESTMENT SERVICES + ADVANTAGES. RUSSIAN GOVT. ANGER OVER BEIJING'S FAILURE TO STOP THE ANNUAL FLOWS OF HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF CHINESE MIGRATING + WORKING ILLEGALLY IN RUSSIA.
#2
WMF > SOUTH KOREAN PRIVATE MIL WEBSITE
CLAIMS THAT SOUTH KOREA'S AIR FORCE WID ITS US-MADE F-15K "STRIKE EAGLE" LR FIGHTER-BOMBERS IS FULLY CAPABLE OF ATTACKING + DESTROYING CHINA'S THREE GORGES DAM + OTHER STRATEGIC TARGETS. PLA AIR FORCES, AIR DEFENSE TECHS IS 5-10 YEARS [more?] BEHIND THE SOUTH KOREAN/ROK AIR FORCE.
* Also from WMF > VIDEO: RUSSIA WARNS THAT JAPAN'S DESPERATE MIL BUILDUP THREATENS THE NATIONAL SECURITY OF CHINA. Effect of JAPAN MIL BUILDUP = MODERNIZATION on TWO KOREAS [Vassal-Buffer State], TAIWAN, REGIONAL TRADE, + CHIN's claims of State Sovereignty over various disputed CHINA SEAS ISLAND GROUPS.
* SAME > US DEPLOYMENT OF ONE OR MORE NIMITZ-CLASS NUCLEAR AIRCRAFT CARRIERS [Carrier BGS] DIRECTLY THREATENS SEVERAL CHINESE PROVINCES.
PREEMPTIVE DESTRUCTION OF YOKUSUKA, OTHER USFJ CARRIER + AIR BASES BY PLA IN CASE OF NEW INTER-KOREAN WAR.
* SAME > PLAAF ASSEMBLES LARGE NUMBERS OF H-6 BOMBERS, 500-700 STRIKE FIGHTERS IN SOUTHWEST CHINA'S AGZ INDIA [Lanzhou MR, Tibet Corrirdor].
The US remained the world's biggest manufacturing nation by output last year, but is poised to relinquish this slot in 2011 to China thus ending a 110-year run as the number one country in factory production.
The figures are revealed in a league table being published on Monday by IHS Global Insight, a US-based economics consultancy.
Last year, the US created 19.9 per cent of world manufacturing output, compared with 18.6 per cent for China, with the US staying ahead despite a steep fall in factory production due to the global recession.
That the US is still top comes as a surprise, since in 2008 before the slump of the past two years took hold IHS predicted it would lose pole position in 2009.
However, a relatively resilient US performance kept China in second place, says IHS, which predicts that faster growth in China will deny the US the top spot next year.
The US became the world's biggest manufacturer in the late 1890s, edging the then-incumbent Britain into the number two position.
Hal Sirkin, head of the global operations practice at Chicago-based Boston Consulting Group, said the US should not despair too much at the likelihood that it would lose the global crown in manufacturing to China.
If you have a country with four times the population of the US and a tenth of the wages, it is fairly obvious they will pull ahead at some time in productive capabilities, he said.
Last year, according to IHS, goods output by the US totalled $1,717bn, ahead of China at $1,608bn.
However in 2011, on the basis of IHS's estimates, China's factory output will come to $1,870bn, a fraction ahead of the projected US figure for the year.
If China does become the world's biggest manufacturer, it will be a return to the top slot for a nation which according to economic historians was the world's leading country for goods production for more than 1,500 years up until the 1850s, when Britain took over for a brief spell, mainly due to the impetus of the industrial revolution.
#1
I think if every union buffoon in the US had to spend a month on chinese wages and chinese living standards, we'd bounce back on top for some time to come...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
06/21/2010 21:29 Comments ||
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#2
As excellent as that would be it wouldn't help. This is as much, and probably much more, about excessive taxation, regulation & litigation as union excesses.
#1
Eminent domain is how most roads, schools, libraries, and other public works are built
Utter tripe/BS. Most land for public projects is obtained by mutually agreeable sale. Condemnation is the last resort and an indication of either 1) a seller looking for way above appraised value or 2) a Gov't org trying to lowball. Independent appraisals are usually accepted by courts to stop either from stalling a necessary project. In my 27 years building public projects - I have NEVER had to take property by eminent domain
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/21/2010 10:25 Comments ||
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Global markets are braced for a possible sell-off in US Treasury bonds after China said over the weekend that it will allow the yuan exchange rate to adjust against the dollar, ending a two-year currency freeze that has led to trade clashes with Washington and Brussels.
We already know that the eurozone money markets seized up violently in early May as incipient bank runs spread from Greece to Portugal and Spain, threatening the first big sovereign default of our era.
#1
Currency status? Neither my local gas station nor my local grocery will accept gold, they only accept Federal Reserve Notes, checks for the same, debit & credit cards.
#3
federal reserve is do we want the money supply controlled by mining conglomerates
Bright Pebbles, excellent one sentence summary of the fierce debate that is raging throughout the economic and finance community worldwide.
To get the gold issue out of the way, lets just say that gold supply has no effect on the price of gold, unlike other commodities where supply and demand determine price.
So why is the price of gold going up?
well to paraphrase Marx:
"A spectre is haunting Europe the spectre of deflation. All the powers of old Europe have entered into a holy alliance to exorcise this spectre: Pope and Tsar, Metternich and Guizot, French Radicals and German police-spies."
At issue is, how does the money supply come into existence?
The classical response is that the money supply is created exogenously via the central bank. This is the view of most economists, but there is a radical element which says this this is nonsense, that money supply is created endogenously via the banks and credit creation. They make loans and only then look for reserves to back those loans.
I sorry to say that I have joined that camp.
From the article:
"It is certainly not inflation as such that is worrying big investors, though inflation may be the default response before this is all over. Core CPI in the US has fallen to the lowest level since the mid-1960s. Unlike the blow-off gold spike of the Nixon-Carter era, this rally has echoes of the 1930s. It is a harbinger of deflation stress.
Capital Economics calculates that the M3 money supply in the US has been contracting over the past three months at an annual rate of 7.6pc. The yield on two-year Treasury notes is 0.71pc. This is an economy in the grip of debt destruction."
Basically whats happening, if you accept the view that that money supply is created endogenously, is that banks are not lending to those who want loans and those who could have loans are not borrowing but paying down existing loans, so nothing but deflation ahead.
#1
What the author doesn't address is the danger presented to the republic as more and more 'crisis' become something the only branch of government that seems to function with some degree of competency is the military. When it becomes ultimately the last card played in these crisis, how long before a beleaguered population is so fed up with all the posturing self serving pols and nattering media clowns that they demand rule by the competent.
#2
"seal that damn pipe, yesterday!" What a load of wishful thinking. The only people who will ever seal that damn pipe will come from the oil industry, engineering companies, with perhaps some help from the USCG & USN. Fine rhetoric seals no blow holes.
#3
An Alpha strike from a carrier air wing would make short work of this renegade drilling platform. No need for the SEAD element either, since BP has neglected to provide any air defense systems. Go NAVY! Beat DEEPWATER HORIZON!
#4
"THese ***** prefer to have the Gulf Coast beaches coated in Oil, while continuing to milk the Crisis for Political Gain..." > HMMMMM, HMMMMM, wehell, iff the OIL-ENERGY PERTS are wrong n their Maths + Models, etc. ONE OF THESE DAYS OR YARNS THE FUTURE OWG-NWO MAY WAKE UP TO FIND THAT THEIR NATIONS + WORLD SUDDENLY RAN LOW OR IS OUT OF VITAL OIL WHILE THEY ARGUED IN THE NAME OF "PERFECT/IDEALIST" PDENIABILITY + OWG GEOPOLITIX.
"NERO FIDDLED WHILE ROME BURNED", as the saying goes.
On again, 2029-2036 COMET APOPHIS + GUAM-EARTH-VISIBLE LUNAR EXPLOSIONS > ITS NOT EVEN EOY 2010, let alone 2029-2036, + already the GOVT CRITTERCRATS + PERTS are telling us that FUTURE EARTH'S SPACE DEFENSE = BMD, EITHER AGZ ROGUE STATE(S) OR ASTEROIDS, ETC. MAY BE SERIOUSLY CRIMPED [non-existent?] DUE TO LACK OF $$$ BUDGETS.
As per the GULH OIL GUSH, now comes LACK OF EFFEC SPACE DEFENSE becuz the future OWG-NWO no longer has the OIL-DERIVED ADVANCED MATERIALS TO BUILD THE LR SATELLITES, LR MISSLES, WARHEADS, + INFO MANAGEMNT SYSTEMS, ETC. FOR SAID SAME SPACE DEFENSE - it no longer has the Oil becuz the Pols preferred to ARGUE + POSTURE, DENY + VERIFY, WHITE-OUT + BLACK-OUT, + LET THE OIL GUSH OUT FOR MANY MONTHS, YEARS OR EVEN DECADES THAN TO STOP IT???
PERENNIAL PCORRECTNESS/DENIABILITY in Any Each + All Things can be a DANGEROUS, EVEN CATACLYSMIC OR CATASTROPHIC, THINGY. "SMART" POLITICS = "POLITICS-AS-USUAL" IS NOT ALWAYS GOOD/PROPER LEADERSHIP.
#5
I am sure you have all read the story of the heroic crew of the Bankston who immediately launched their 16-foot "fast recovery craft" into the burning water beneath the Rig and risked their own lives to rescue the survivors. The crew of the Bankston pulled all 115 of the survivors from the water while the Coast Guard sat back and did nothing. Injured survivors were treated in the Bankston's hospital room.
According to surviving crew members of the Deepwater Horizon, oil workers from the rig were held captive by the Coast Guard within sight of the burning rig for up to two days after the April 20 explosion, while attorneys attempted to convince them to sign legal documents stating that they were unharmed by the incident. The men claim that they were forbidden from having any contact with concerned loved ones during that time, and were told they would not be able to go home until they signed the documents they were presented with.
Three Coast Guard aircraft and one cutter suffered serious mechanical problems that delayed, cut short or aborted rescue missions during the Gulf incident. The Coast Guard averaged one problem for every seven rescue sorties it operated during the first three days of the oil spill crisis in April, according to Coast Guard logs.
From beginning to end this entire disaster is the result of incompetent government over regulation, mismanagement, unauthorized micro management, political arrogance and stupidity. And it all runs downhill from the stooges we have elected to office.
#7
No, junkiron, we have not all read the story of the Bankston, why don't you provide us with a source link?
AoS
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/21/2010 22:14 Comments ||
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#8
It was a clear, calm night, and the smooth, black Gulf glowed with jellyfish. The visibility was 10 miles, and a first-quarter moon was setting.
Despite the pressure problems in the well, engineers decided at about 8 p.m. to resume extracting mud. At 9 p.m., the Bankston was told to stand by for more.
As the operation got under way, the pressure in part of the well spiked to 3,500 pounds per square inch, seven times what it had been before.
Capt. Alwin Landry of the Bankston heard a prolonged hiss of gas, and then mud erupted from the derrick.
"Sort of a black rain," Landry recalled. He'd been mudded before, but it had always been from a broken hose.
He sounded the general alarm to muster off-duty crew, and then radioed the Deepwater Horizon. Trouble with the well, he was told.
"They said to go 500 meters away and stand by. . . . I heard the concern in the voice of the operator."
Landry, a captain who'd been supplying drilling rigs for 14 years, had never seen anything quite like this. He ordered the mud hose uncoupled and made ready to move.
A mile below on the seabed, a torrent of gas had seeped into the drill pipe, shot through a malfunctioning blowout preventer and bulldozed through the remaining mud, experts now think.
Paul Erickson, the chief mate aboard the Bankston, had noticed seagulls and egrets swarming the rig lately. Now, with a cloud of heavy gas settling over the rig and a geyser spewing from the derrick, he saw birds falling from the sky like feathery hail.
Gas apparently was seeping into the rig's main engines, too; their mechanical tempo surged as they fed on it.
At 9:53 p.m., two or three minutes after the gas began venting, Landry saw a green flash on the rig's deck, followed by two thunderous concussions. First the main engines ignited, followed seconds later by a blast in the mud room.
Where do I go to get my reputation back?' former Labor Secretary Ray Donovan famously asked after being acquitted of fraud and larceny in 1987.
That same question, in spades, could be asked by Matthew McCabe and his fellow Navy Seals who were charged with crimes related to the apprehension and detention of a terrorist who said he was roughed up' by his guards.
Not just any terrorist either, but a man who had engaged in the most brutal of crimes as the mastermind of a deadly attack on four American security guards in Fallujah, Iraq
Fortunately, on May 6, McCabe was found not guilty of assaulting Ahmed Hashim Abed. That meant three strikes for Navy prosecutors, who also failed to get convictions against McCabe's fellow Seals, Julio Huertas and Jonathan Keefe.
Let's suppose that one of them really did take a punch at Abed, as the prosecutors alleged. So what? I mean, do I really need to defend the use of force by the American military in apprehending an enemy combatant? Democratic Congressman Tip O'Neill often noted that Politics ain't beanbag,' but apparently some politicians these days think that war is.
Face it, these three Navy Seals were heroes, not ruffians.
And there is absolutely no reason to think they are anything but honorable either. They were following orders not pursuing vigilante justice when they participated in a raid to capture Abed. They say they didn't touch Abed and I believe them.
But do you have any idea how many Germans captured by American soldiers in World War II were summarily executed? It wasn't just a few. And the soldiers from America's Greatest Generation' who did what they had to do to win that war weren't treated as criminals, but rather lauded as heroes.
Nor was Abed just some common foot soldier captured on the field of battle. He was demonstrably evil, just as evil in his own way as Hitler and Osama bin Laden. His treatment of those four American security guards he murdered was psychopathic at best and bestial at least. The guards were killed by gunfire and grenades, then had their bodies burned and dragged through the city. Finally, two of the mutilated bodies were hung from a bridge over the Euphrates River for the press to photograph.
Abed was sending a message to America We will do whatever it takes to destroy you and to win this war.
And when America put its three Navy Seals on trial, it was sending a message to Abed You already have won.
Now the jurors have sent a message of their own Not so fast.
Unfortunately, the Obama administration and the power structure in Washington, D.C., seems intent on making our military into the enemy.' So it is up to we the people' to weigh in. United we stand; divided we fall. But if we don't reclaim the proud heritage of Don't tread on me' soon, we may be doomed to fail.
What can you do? Start by urging your congressman and senators to support Rep. Kay Granger's Service Member Relief Act' (HR5374), which provides for the reimbursement of legal fees incurred by soldiers, like Matthew McCabe, who are acquitted on charges of abusing terrorists.
Then pray that someday we live in a country where it is not necessary to have a bill like Granger's House Resolution 1025, which declares among other things that members of the Armed Forces must be allowed to fight terrorists without the fear they will be accused of wrongdoing due to political correctness.'
That resolution was introduced in January and has been buried in committee since February. Big surprise. What do you want to bet the Congress of the United States is afraid to support our heroes?
For you trailing wife, link sourced from another site.I realize that the WSJ has subscription (indicated by a key symbol) and non subscription content. The article I linked to did not have the key symbol(still doesn't) so it looks like their subscription and non subscription content is location specific. (I'm in Australia)
#3
Well, I tried. The link works differently when installed in Rantburg. Google "Using Science Against Suicide Bombs" - the title of the WSJ article. Click on link #1, you should get the entire article. Copying & pasting the link doesn't seem to work, you must click directly from Google.
In case you hadn't noticed, the soccer World Cup is on. To mark the occasion Minbar al-Tawhid wa'l-Jihad prominently displays a fatwa tackling the issue of the legality of watching the World Cup. Like every religious edict, it is introduced by a question, in this case from a presumed jihadi football fan. The tormented soul is not worried about the game in itself, but rather its sinful surroundings. Is it really OK for a good Muslim to watch lightly dressed women cheering from the grandstands while music is being played over the loudspeakers?
No is the answer of Sharia council member Abu al-Walid al-Maqdisi. Since the football players are paid according to the number of goals they score, this amounts to a form of gambling, which is forbidden in Islam: The Prophet (may God bless him and grant him peace) said that money rewards in competitions are only allowed under three circumstances: Horse races, camel races and archery, because these are activities that are useful in war'.
Unless all the players are paid evenly, it is forbidden to participate in these football matches, as well as watching them on TV or reading about them in the news. Al-Maqdisi also reminds his readers that the soccer matches encourages loyalty to the sport teams rather than to God, as well as unnecessary fun' and inattention to the religion:
These matches are invented by our enemies, and through the matches they seek to distract us from jihad towards them. They want to weaken the Islamic umma and make them waste their time on trivial things instead of religion.'
He also denounces the fact that women are shown on TV, the sinful behavior among the players, as well as the cursing and fighting between the supporters. Not to forget that the matches can make one forget his prayer times.
Al-Maqdisi continues I remind you of how the infidels have waged war against our religion, distorted our dogmas, ripped apart our people and cut off its limbs ( ) After all this, how can any of us watch these matches that distract us from God and the duties of our religion and jihad against our enemies? Like a butterfly that sees the fire and then flies right into it.'
What about shooting?
What about pentathlons ?
What about US Football or combat football or rugby?
What about hockey?
What about boxing, or anything of a dojo derivation?
What about model airplane and model rocketry? - after all a UAV is just a RC-Model Airplane on steriods.
What about swimming? There are frogmen and seals in war.
What about running? Jhaddis have to do a lot of that when a Herc gunship notices them.
What about mining? Hamas paleos need to do a lot of mining.
What about tailoring? A good explosive belt requires a tailor to hide it.
What about hide and seek? A good jihadist needs to hide a lot and keep it's head in the ground like a good ostrich.
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.
