The family of John Edwards' former mistress, Rielle Hunter, is challenging the former senator to take a DNA paternity test after his claim that he did not father Hunter's 6-months-old child.
In the first reaction from Hunter's family, her younger sister Melissa told ABC News that Edwards should immediately follow through on his pledge to take a paternity test.
"I would challenge him to do so," the sister said.
"Somebody must stand up and defend my sister," she said. "I wish that those involved would refrain from bad-mouthing my sister."
One suspects the "other shoe" will be a baby bootie.
Posted by: Mike ||
08/09/2008 17:22 ||
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guess he should have stayed away from the 'i never loved her' stuff...
hell hat no fury like a woman scorned.
Posted by: Abu do you love ||
08/09/2008 17:40 Comments ||
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#2
All she has to do is file a child support claim against him and the state will force a paternity test. Now that would be interesting.
#4
"Somebody must stand up and defend my sister," she said. "I wish that those involved would refrain from bad-mouthing my sister."
Sorry, Lady, but your sister likes to sleep around and have un-protected sex with just about anyone, so it seems. You're sister is an adult so maybe she should take responsibility for her actions.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
08/09/2008 18:15 Comments ||
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#5
And the NYT will not print a word of it.
(compare/contrast to their front page print of a demonstrably false rumor about McCain having an affair)
Mauritanian police on Thursday broke up a protest by hundreds of people against an army coup in the West African nation which has been internationally condemned despite a junta promise to hold new elections. The EU called for the release of President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi, the country's first democratically elected leader.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2008 00:00 ||
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Official French reaction to the Rwandan accusation that French leaders, diplomats, and soldiers were complicit in the epic 1994 genocide in Rwanda was muted and curt.
"Unacceptable," said both former French Foreign Minister Alain Juppé, and a diplomatic spokesman here during a sleepy week when most of Paris has decamped for vacation. Yet some French nongovernmental organizations, media, and intellectuals treated accusations that France aided and abetted Hutu government forces in the 100-day killing spree, which left more than 800,000 dead, as at least a subject for further inquiry.
"There is something not clear in France's responsibility in Rwanda," argued a column in the Paris-based daily, Libération, though it noted that the report, by a Rwandan presidential commission, does not carry the significance of a body like the United Nations' Rwanda war crimes tribunal -- set up at the same time as the tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
Le Monde hit the subject slightly harder in a headline reading, "Rwanda's genocide: a duty to tell the truth."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
"Command Responsibility" as defined by The Hague tribunals, means: having the power to prevent war crimes and punish war criminals. The French had no such power.
Similarly, the US has been accused of holding "command responsibility" viz the alleged 3000 persons who were either murdered or allowed to die unnecessarily in the custody of the Northern Alliance. Accusations that NA troops killed captives held in containers, have been recorded by US Military Justice authorities. Further, numerous graves of bodies of captives have been found in a small section of Afghanistan. However, CIA operatives were furious when they heard of the deaths. Why? Each death prevented use of a potential intelligence asset. Further, NA operatives were captured on video selling captive Chechens, Uzbeks, Tajiks, and Uighars to states where they were probably tortured to death. Again, the CIA could have questioned same. The story, told as close to objectivity as leftists can get in "Taxi to the Dark Side," and "Afghan Massacre" isn't pretty but bad faith accusations against the CIA are unwarranted.
Attribution of "command responsibility" to US and French officials who didn't lead or direct ground operations, is ludicrous. If UN forces compel same, then that would be a good excuse to turn their East River structure into its destined form: condominiums.
Shibir cadres assaulted acting Vice Chancellor Prof Mamnunul Keramat and other teachers of Rajshahi University yesterday as they tried to talk them into lifting roadblocks they put up on Dhaka-Rajshahi Highway across from the campus.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2008 00:00 ||
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The grassroots of major political parties including Awami League (AL) and Jatiya Party have started gearing up to run in the upazila elections in October while their organisations are still opposed to any polls before the national election.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2008 00:00 ||
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The conflict between Russia and the former Soviet republic of Georgia moved toward full-scale war on Saturday, as Russia sent warships to land ground troops in the disputed territory of Abkhazia and broadened its bombing campaign across Georgia.
The fighting, which sharply escalated when Georgian forces tried to retake the capital of South Ossetia, a pro-Russian region that won de facto autonomy from Georgia in the early 1990s, appeared to be developing into the worst clashes between Russia and a foreign military since the invasion of Afghanistan in 1979.
As Russia moved more forces into the region and continued aerial bombing, it appeared determined to occupy both South Ossetia and Abkhazia, both Moscow-backed breakaway regions where Russia had issued passports to most residents and declared them Russian citizens.
Georgias president, Mikheil Saakashvili, said Russias ambitions were even more extensive. He declared that Georgia was in a state of war, and said in an interview that Russia was planning to seize sea ports and an oil pipeline and to overthrow his government.
Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin of Russia left the Olympics in China and arrived Saturday evening in Vladikavkaz, a city in southern Russia just over the border. State-controlled news broadcasts showed Mr. Putin meeting generals, suggesting that he was directly in charge of military operations, eclipsing the authority of President Dmitri A. Medvedev. Lot more at link
Posted by: ed ||
08/09/2008 21:27 ||
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Abkhazia has said it has launched an operation to drive Georgia out of a disputed gorge, possibly opening a "second front" in Tbilisi's battle to retain fractious breakaway regions.
The separatist foreign minister Sergei Shamba said Abkhazian artillery and warplanes struck Georgian forces in Kodori, a narrow gorge which cuts deep into the Abkhazian territory and is an ideal route for any invasion in the region.
The attack came less than 48 hours after Georgia sent troops to retake the breakaway province of South Ossetia, triggering an invasion of Russian forces dispatched to restore the status quo.
"Abkhazian forces, in response to the Georgian aggression against South Ossetia, have started a military operation the Kodori gorge to clear it from illegal Georgian troops," Mr Shamba told Reuters.
Mr Shamba said at midday (local time) Abkhaz warplanes launched airstrikes at the Tbilisi-controlled upper part of the Gorge and artillery was pounding the area.
"Today was only the initial part of the operation by heavy artillery supported by aviation," Mr Shamba said.
Georgians denied an all-out Abkhaz attack and said they were ready to face down any aggression
#1
U.S. tells Russia to pull forces out of Georgia The Russian intervention came as something of a surprise to U.S. military officials who spent recent days monitoring the fighting in South Ossetia and Russia's military buildup. "The build-up of forces was more than expected and they moved earlier than we thought they would," said a U.S. military official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Why, it's almost like if it was planned.
Posted by: ed ||
08/09/2008 21:07 Comments ||
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This isn't a problem for the immediate future if the Georgians stay put. They're dug in and the terrain is not conducive to arty or air attacks. Think Monte Cassino.
Here's something Comrade Stalin never had to worry about.
Worries over Russia's involvement in the escalating conflict in South Ossetia sent Moscow stock markets tumbling Friday.
The benchmark RTS Index dropped 6.5 percent to 1723.32 points, while the ruble-denominated MICEX fell 4.9 percent to 1,365.26 points, as of 5:20 p.m.
The worst-hit Russian stock was Inter RAO, a power generator with plants in Georgia, which lost one-quarter of its value in Moscow trading Friday after Georgia said Russian warplanes bombed two Georgian towns. "Yo, Vlad! Boris here. Listen, dude, I'm all in favor of offering fraternal assistance as requested by the peace-loving people of South Ossetia, wherever the hell that is, but my 401(k) just tanked big-time."
For weeks, Russian stock indexes have been hit by a double whammy of global factors such as sliding oil prices and the continuing global credit crunch, and domestic factors such as investors' fears over the TNK-BP shareholder dispute and an anti-monopoly crackdown aimed at coal and steel firm Mechel.
Analysts said the possibility of a war with Georgia was the last thing Russian stocks needed, amid other troubles. "Comrade Putin, shall we shoot the analysts?"
"There has been a large-scale outflow of capital which seriously weakened the ruble, forcing the Central Bank of Russia to lend 127 billion rubles to banks on Friday," said Anton Strouchenevsky, chief economist at Troika Dialog. "War-related political risk always scares investors away from the domestic markets more than any business-associated risk." Comrade Anton is clearly a running dog capitalist lackey.
Prolonged involvement in the South Ossetian conflict could put Russian assets at risk and could put downward pressure on the ruble, analysts said.
"We particularly expect a decline in the ruble and widening of [credit default swap] spreads, which is likely to apply pressure to Russian stocks and bonds," said Alexei Moisseyev, head of fixed income research and economics at Renaissance Capital. "Comrade Putin, shall we shoot the credit default swap spreads? What do they look like?"
"However, we think that, with fundamentals remaining solid, any sell-off is likely to be reversed in a matter of days and weeks, with the timing dependent on the scale of Russian involvement."
Posted by: Matt ||
08/09/2008 11:56 ||
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Unlike Enron, we don't have to worry about knowing how Russians make their money.
#1
Number of weeksdays hours before that line is repeated upon the lecture podium of our grand and illustrious universities and colleges[Moscow approved!]. Cause we're certainly not going to witness an outpouring of protest of an illegal war of conquest aimed at controlling the flow of oil are we?
Posted by: James ||
08/09/2008 17:17 Comments ||
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#3
I'm thinking that any protracted sniping between Russia and Georgia will favor McCain in the election. Voters will vote for national security and go for McCain. If oil prices keep going down and that is translated at the pump, McCain will most likely win. Obamamessiah is too leftish (translate as "socialistic," or translate as Red-like).
#4
YouTube has a plethora of stuff search 'Ossetia'
or 'Осетия'
yesterday there was footage coming out of Georgia but I see less now .. also Georgian Times is now down
Separatist forces in Georgia's breakaway province of Abkhazia launched air and artillery strikes to drive Georgian troops from their bridgehead in the region, officials said.
The Abkhazian move was prompted by Georgia's military action to regain control over another breakaway province, South Ossetia, which began Friday, said Sergei Shamba, foreign minister in Abkhazia's separatist government. He said that Abkhazia had to act because it has a friendship treaty with South Ossetia.
Both regions have run their own affairs without international recognition since splitting from Georgia in the early 1990s and have built up ties with Moscow. Russia has granted its passports to most of their residents.
Shamba said Abkhazian forces intended to push Georgian forces out of the Kodori Gorge. The northern part of the gorge is the only area of Abkhazia that has remained under Georgian government control.
Georgia's Security Council secretary Alexander Lomaia said that Georgian administrative buildings in the Kodori Gorge were bombed, but he blamed the attack on Russia.
In 2006, Georgian forces moved into the upper part of the Kodori Gorge to root out members of a defiant militia. Georgia later established a local administration made up of people who fled the fighting in Abkhazia.
Abkhazian and Russian officials have said they believe Georgia intends to launch an offensive from there to retake Abkhazia and demanded the withdrawal of Georgian troops from the area.
Shamba said the Abkhazian forces had to act because diplomatic efforts to settle the dispute over Georgia's presence in the gorge had failed. "Georgian forces in the Kodori Gorge posed a real threat," Shamba said.
Posted by: ed ||
08/09/2008 10:28 ||
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#1
even if it wasnt coordinated with Moscow, this would be the logical time for the abkhazians to strike. But its pretty certain, IIUC, that the Abkazians, like the ossetians, are closely coordinated with Russia.
#2
Russia apparently has had what it pleases them to call peacekeepers in both South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and has granted Russian citizenship to the residents of both provinces.
Russian jets have bombed targets in the Georgian town of Gori, about 25km (15 miles) from the intense fighting in South Ossetia. Here the BBC's Richard Galpin describes chaotic scenes in Gori on Saturday.
We saw the impact of the air strikes - buildings on fire. We've also seen that the Russians missed their targets at least once - they hit a residential apartment block. Two buildings are on fire, with civilians inside. We were told a number of people were killed and injured. We saw at least one man pulled out dead.
We were told the main hospital had filled up with casualties. A series of loud explosions was heard in the town. We could hear the Russian jets. Georgian soldiers told the BBC the targets were military bases in the town. There are three military bases where thousands of Georgian troops are currently stationed.
There are scenes of panic in the town. Large numbers of troops are also searching for shelter. Soldiers have been seen running through the streets and civilians fleeing for safety. There are also large plumes of smoke rising above Gori.
All night we've seen a very large number of Georgian troops pour into this town. Some of them are reservists, which means there is mass mobilisation going on in this country.
So far the worst situation is within South Ossetia. There has been a huge bombardment of the provincial capital Tskhinvali in the past 48 hours. People are having to live in shelters there for a long time. There is also a lot of fighting in the villages around Tskhinvali. The South Ossetians claimed 1,400 people had been killed in the first 24 hours. The Georgians say that figure is nonsense.
Hospitals here have filled up with casualties. At least 100 people were taken in with injuries. We were told about 30 Georgians had been killed - we assumed soldiers, but we're not sure if that's correct. On the road from Tbilisi to here there were lots of ambulances going back and forth, presumably taking injured people to hospitals in the Georgian capital.
There are claims from the Georgian side that several Georgian military bases were bombed by Russian aircraft and a port in the south of the country, on the Black Sea coast a long way from here. Clearly the Russians are choosing a lot of targets around the country.
Russian jets have bombed targets in the Georgian town of Gori, about 25km (15 miles) from the intense fighting in South Ossetia. Here the BBC's Richard Galpin describes chaotic scenes in Gori on Saturday.
We saw the impact of the air strikes - buildings on fire. We've also seen that the Russians missed their targets at least once - they hit a residential apartment block. Two buildings are on fire, with civilians inside. We were told a number of people were killed and injured. We saw at least one man pulled out dead.
We were told the main hospital had filled up with casualties. A series of loud explosions was heard in the town. We could hear the Russian jets. Georgian soldiers told the BBC the targets were military bases in the town. There are three military bases where thousands of Georgian troops are currently stationed.
There are scenes of panic in the town. Large numbers of troops are also searching for shelter. Soldiers have been seen running through the streets and civilians fleeing for safety. There are also large plumes of smoke rising above Gori.
All night we've seen a very large number of Georgian troops pour into this town. Some of them are reservists, which means there is mass mobilisation going on in this country.
So far the worst situation is within South Ossetia. There has been a huge bombardment of the provincial capital Tskhinvali in the past 48 hours. People are having to live in shelters there for a long time. There is also a lot of fighting in the villages around Tskhinvali. The South Ossetians claimed 1,400 people had been killed in the first 24 hours. The Georgians say that figure is nonsense.
Hospitals here have filled up with casualties. At least 100 people were taken in with injuries. We were told about 30 Georgians had been killed - we assumed soldiers, but we're not sure if that's correct. On the road from Tbilisi to here there were lots of ambulances going back and forth, presumably taking injured people to hospitals in the Georgian capital.
There are claims from the Georgian side that several Georgian military bases were bombed by Russian aircraft and a port in the south of the country, on the Black Sea coast a long way from here. Clearly the Russians are choosing a lot of targets around the country.
#5
My bestest trick in the IZ was to stop at the double checkpoint near the Convention Center/Iraqi parliament - contract Peruvians on one side, Georgian soldiers on the other - open both front windows, and fire warm greetings in Spanish to the first and Georgian to the second. They always laughed - I had the impression they stood there for entire shift and could hardly talk to each other due to the language gap.
The Georgian greetings exhausted my vocabulary (apart from food and drinking words), but once I was able to use Russian with a Georgian officer to help clear up a wee mix-up that was hindering access at Checkpoint 3, where the Georgians manned the inner layer for some time.
Sorry to see the Georgians leave, especially for the reason they're leaving.
I actually was in Tskhinvali one August years back - breathtakingly beautiful setting, though of course back then there was no power and things were in their casual post-Soviet disarray condition.
Has anyone remarked that Gori, the Georgian town closest to S. Ossetia and the target of at least some Russian attacks, is Stalin's hometown? His birthplace/house, museum, and WWII command rail car are there - I assume the Russians will avoid hitting these shrine-like treasures .....
#1
Putin is happily watching the Olympics in Beijing. According to the NBC announcers covering the opening ceremony, he and Bush met there to talk about his little invasion.
#4
I beleive a delivery of PAtriots from... Israel lets say (which we replace), is in order. And have Georgia tell the Mosaad they have a hunting license for Russian SpecOps troops, no bag limit.
#12
They aren't mercenaries. They're official Israeli representatives who were sent there to (among other things) discuss securing oil/gas shipments to Israel.
In all seriousness, The Man of the Year invading Goergia during the Olympics tells me that Russias economy is more worser than people think. Inflation troubles and falling oil prices, methinks.
Posted by: Mike N ||
08/09/2008 15:53 Comments ||
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#12 Lotp,
(a) Do the math: a few hundred US "advisers" and a 1000 Israeli "advisers" for an army of 18,000 total? (and by the way: IDF style and US mil styles don't mix---we ain't Scots-Irish).
(b)By the way, Debka says "private Israeli security firms"
(c) As I said elsewhere "all morality derives from reciprocity". Over the years IDF killed a lot of Russian "advisers". As all the chances that the AA missile batteries Russia sells to Iran will be manned by Russian personnel---soon we going to kill lots more. And Russians are going to take it quietly---because they understand what playing in somebody else's backyard means.
#17
liberalhawk, google "Israel Georgia" if you want the backstory.
Which includes: the Georgian FM saying Israel 'inspires' and he seeks closer relationships between the countries, per Ha'aretz. Israel selling arms to Georgia and Russia protesting strongly, per Stratfor.
#18
gromgoru, I number among my friends and acquaintances a number of 'advisors' who are active duty military on the US side. The math is familiar to me. ;-)
Russian commanders announced earlier that they were sending more troops into South Ossetia and confirmed two Russian jets had been shot down over Georgia, without saying where.
In another development, separatists in Abkhazia, Georgia's other breakaway region, said they had launched air and artillery strikes on Georgian forces in the Kodori Gorge.
Apparently there have been Russian troops in Abkhazia, too.
#2
There have been Russian troops in Abkhazia for a long time they were reinforced in the lats weeks by "unarmed" railway troops - supposedly there to work on the rail lines..
Some interesting pieces of information.
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, addressing the nation via television August 8, indicated that Georgia had won the opening battle for control of the separatist territory of South Ossetia. The outcome of the war, however, remains very much in doubt.
Clashes began August 7 between Georgian troops and South Ossetian separatists. [See related EurasiaNet story]. After nightfall, Saakashvili went on television to tell viewers that Georgian forces "completely control" Tskhinvali, the South Ossetian separatist capital, as well as "all population points and all villages" in the territory.
The Georgian leader went on to call for national unity and attempted to cast the military operation as an unavoidable action amid the countrys transformation from formerly Soviet republic to a Western-oriented democracy. "The fight for the future is worth fighting," he said. "If we stand together, there is no force that can defeat Georgia, defeat freedom, defeat a nation striving for freedom -- no matter how many planes, tanks, and missiles they use against us."
It remains to be seen whether Georgia will be able to consolidate its battlefield gains. Russian leaders have vowed to punish Tbilisi, and Russian leader Dmitry Medvedev told state television that "the guilty will get the punishment they deserve." A Russian Defense Ministry spokesman announced that Russian troops have been dispatched to South Ossetia, nominally to support Russian peacekeeping troops already on the ground, the official RIA-Novosti news agency reported. In addition, witnesses have reported that dozens of Russian tanks and armored vehicles have moved into the conflict zone, along with hundreds of supposed "volunteers" ready to assist beleaguered South Ossetian separatist forces.
According to Russian military sources, at least 10 Russian peacekeepers had been killed and 30 wounded during the initial Georgian thrust into the separatist-held territory, according to a RIA-Novosti report.
Meanwhile, Tbilisi accused Russia of conducting electronic warfare against Georgia. Several Georgian government websites, including those operated by ministries of defense and foreign affairs, came under attack by Russian hackers, according to an official statement. The news website Civil Georgia also was inaccessible due to hacker interference. The cyber attack was part of a systematic effort by the Russian Federation to undermine the sovereignty of Georgia, the government statement said.
As night fell over Tskhinvali, Georgian officials in Tbilisi and troops in South Ossetia braced for a Russian riposte. There were some early indications that the Kremlin might not limit its response to Ossetia. For example, the Rustavi-2 television station in Georgia reported late August 8 that jets coming from the direction of Armenia bombed a site in the southwestern Georgian hamlet of Bolnisi, not far from the borders with Azerbaijan and Armenia.
Such reports are especially ominous, given that they portend a widening of the fighting. US President George W. Bush conferred with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in Beijing on August 8. "We urge restraint on all sides -- that violence would be curtailed and that direct dialogue could ensue in order to help resolve their differences," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino told reporters.
Some Georgian officials, including Georgian National Security Council chief Kakha Lomaia, have publicly compared Tbilisis current predicament to that faced by Hungary in 1956 and the former Czechoslovakia in 1968, references to invasions carried out by Soviet military forces. Lomaia has announced that roughly half of the approximately 2,000 Georgian troops now in Iraq as part of the US-led coalition were being brought home to help contend with the domestic security crisis.
Although the strategic situation late August 8 seemed favorable to Georgia, Saakashvili sounded as though his side was on the defensive. He conveyed a feeling that the challenges in the coming days will only mount for Georgia. "We will not give up, and we will achieve victory. I call on everyone to mobilize. I declare, here and now, a universal mobilization of the nation and the Republic of Georgia," he said during his televised address. "I hereby announce that reserve officers are called up -- everyone must come to mobilization center and fight to save our country."
#1
Not much specific news. If Russia can get its armour down the road from the border then Georgia has lost. If Georgia has blocked the road then Russians are probably in difficulty.
Reading between the lines of the Russian reports their armour hasn't reached Tskhavali.
I'd be surprised if Georgia hasn't set up positions along that road. They don't even need sophisticated weapons. There must be a thousand culverts under the road and pack a few with explosives and Russia has a serious problem.
#2
If Russia can get its armour down the road from the border then Georgia has lost.
And sustain them. That's the bugger. If they can be contained, they have to sit and consume. That consumption has to be maintained. One road can only support so much lift. The Soviets Russians aren't known for great maintenance and that'll start to show on the wear of their lift. The longer the Georgians can drag it out, the weaker the Russians will become. Soviet doctrine was always about a big hit looking for a single knock out so that ops wouldn't drag out. Then another build up and planning period and another hit. Get into their planning-execution cycle and they're not particularly great at improvisation.
#4
Worse, that road is a mountain tunnel at the Georgian-Russian border. The road is closed in winter, even w/o trying to blow up the tunnel.
Posted by: ed ||
08/09/2008 10:13 Comments ||
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#5
The world will become very interesting if the Russians lose this thing. It's very important to the national ego that they're still a world power despite losing their Soviet empire. How will they react if they can't even beat a small country like Georgia?
#6
I liked the reference to the 10 Russian Peacekeepers killed. I guess they get a failing grade in that effort. Somehow with our contingency of military assistance (training) staff and contractors there - we are going to get involved either directly or indirectly and that will be interesting to watch.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
08/09/2008 10:28 Comments ||
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#7
I wonder how we could give them a helpful bump without making it obvious.
#9
One MCLC and the Roki tunnel is shut. I beleive that is the only red-ball route in thr ethe mountaints. Resupply and road movement into that place from the N look to be a stone bitch.
#10
I wonder how we could give them a helpful bump without making it obvious.
I think we are doing that already with satellite intel sharing. It would make the most sense and providing coordinates to Georgia's artillery would help the most on that little mountain road, along with damage assessment.
Maybe some ammo and some of the ammo dumps captured in Iraq being sent to Georgia would help too, since most of it is Russian and Chinese manufacture.
#11
I just noted that the International Herald Tribune is reporting that Putin has left China and is in a neighboring Russian area in his role as Prime Minister to coordinate "refugee assistance".
With his direct on the ground command involvement, I imagine the next 24 hrous will give the clearest possible signature of Russia's future direction. The parallels to German actions in 36-38 are interesting.
#12
The whole Israeli/pipeline aspect of this is most interesting. The NATO decision to resist the US proposal to put Georgia on the path to membership showed a European lack of will.
So, given the opening, Putie appears to have determined he can stop the energy end-around the pipeline would have given the Georgians and the Europeans, not to mentioned the Turks. SO .... by attacking the pipeline, he gets to continue the stranglehold Russia has on European energy demands and increase influence on European politics-the famed "soft" power move. Watching the Iranian connection to Russia also shows an emerging power axis, and anti-Israeli bias. The sale of P-300 ADA systems to Iran and this action may well be the signal to the Isreali's to act against Iran before the election.....
#13
Maybe some ammo and some of the ammo dumps captured in Iraq being sent to Georgia would help too, since most of it is Russian and Chinese manufacture.
It will be interesting to see how the Georgian troops now in Iraq are re-deployed home. Direct airlift into contested airspace over Georgia would be dicey, and sealift with the Black Sea Fleet active in the area wouldn't be wise. Will Turkey allow transit?
#15
The Georgians can also drive via Turkey. Nothing says they can't take the armored vehicles they are using in Iraq with them. In addition, is it our problem if they were well supplied with .50, Javelin and Stinger while in Iraq?
Posted by: ed ||
08/09/2008 18:35 Comments ||
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#16
I read that the Georgians requested US airlift for their troops, whether it happens..?
Russian armored vehicles have entered the northern edges of the capital of the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia, the separatists' press service reported on its website on Friday. "Russian armored vehicles have entered the northern suburbs of Tskhinvali," the website cominf.org reported, adding that Georgian troops had started to retreat.
Moscow said its troops were responding to a Georgian assault to re-take the breakaway region, and Georgia's pro-Western President Mikheil Saakashvili said the two countries were at war. Russia would cut air links with Georgia from midnight on Friday, the Russian Transport Ministry said.
Saakashvili told BBC World television Russia had been massing troops on the northern border of Georgia for months. " They have been calling it training exercises, but they have not been concealing the fact that they are training these troops for use inside Georgia," he said. "The way the escalation went was we came first under extensive artillery barrage from the separatists ... but in the end I was told that Russian armored vehicles started to cross the Georgian border. And that was exactly the moment when I had to take this decision to fire back."
The United States on Friday asserted its support for Georgia's territorial integrity and urged an immediate ceasefire. NASTO and the European Union have joined calls for a halt to fighting.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
If you've got to give it up, give up a burnt wasteland.
One hundred and fifty Russian tanks, armoured personnel carriers and other vehicles have entered South Ossetia to back the breakaway region against a military onsalught by Georgia. The separatist region has been under heavy atack from Georgian forces since a brief ceasefire on Thursday night.
The Georgian military say it has "liberated" the area, while some sources say Russian troops are on the verge of entering the region's capital city. Russia's three main news agencies confirmed the Russian military convoy had entered South Ossetia on Friday, quoting witnesses.
Georgia's national security council warned that Moscow and Tbilisi would be in "a state of war" over Russia's deployment.
Moscow is the main backer of Georgian separatists in the two enclaves of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and has a "peacekeeping force" stationed in the region.
The Russian defence ministry said on Friday that ten of its peacekeepers had been killed and 30 injured in the fighting. Russia's Interfax news agency reported that Eduard Kokoity, the South Ossetian separatist leader, had said that hundreds of civilians had been killed in the fighting.
Sergei Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister, said "ethnic cleansing" had been reported in villages in South Ossetia. He said: "We have heard about ethnic cleansing in villages in South Ossetia. The number of refugees is growing. A humanitarian crisis is looming."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2008 00:00 ||
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From East Asia Intel, subscription.
The recent earthquake in China disclosed problems with Chinas missile units, U.S. intelligence officials said.
Members of the Second Artillery Corps fiber optic repair unit were inexperienced in repairing fiber optic communications damaged by the Sichuan earthquake in May, reports from China revealed.
The unit made a major contribution to repairing the system under conditions that resemble wartime, according to reports from China.
The one-year-old Communications Engineering Regiment learned important lessons and bolstered its capabilities to conduct emergency communication repairs through working with more skilled civilian entities during the relief efforts.
Responsible for unique and time-sensitive tasks, this Second Artillery regiment, subordinated to the force's engineering division, touts its flexible organization designed to maximize speed and independence in wartime fiber optic repair, which appears to have benefited this effort, according to an unclassified intelligence report.
The reference to the Second Artillerys fiber optic networks is unusual because China usually imposes utmost secrecy about its missile forces, which include strategic nuclear and conventionally armed missiles.
The reference to civilian entities likely refers to the role played by Huawei Technologies, Chinas state-controlled communications company that was founded by a Chinese military officer and which in the past installed a fiber optic communications in Afghanistan under the rule of the Taliban militia, and for Iraqi air defenses under Saddam Hussein.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/09/2008 15:01 ||
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#1
From the article sounds like they got the trailer there in good time and good order.
#3
Chicoms are the most violent, arrogant, and anti-American of all the (east) Asian peoples I've encountered. I'm sure these tourists were targeted for being American. At least the Red Commie scum who did it is dead too.
A Taiwan-born US national who admitted passing US military secrets to China has been sentenced to more than 15 years in a US prison.
Tai Shen Kuo, a furniture salesman from New Orleans, used gifts and job promises to convince a former Pentagon analyst to hand over secret documents. He then passed the files, which mainly concerned US sales to Taiwan and military communications, to Beijing.
Kuo's Pentagon contact and an intermediary had earlier been jailed.
Court reports said that Kuo, a naturalised US citizen, received $50,000 (£25,000) from an unnamed Chinese agent for passing the documents to Beijing.
The US Justice Department said that he had "cultivated a friendship" with policy analyst Gregg Bergersen, showering him with gifts and dinners and leading him to believe that on his retirement he would be given a job in a company selling American defence technology to Taiwan. Bergersen, was jailed for 57 months in July, although the US government said that had been unaware Kuo was in contact with Chinese officials.
Yu Xin Kang, who helped in the handover of the documents, was sentence to 18 months in jail on 1 August, after pleading guilty to charges of aiding a foreign government agent.
#1
Given the Chinese tendency to act like petulant two year olds, it will be interesting to see what sort of 'diplomatic' retaliation this provokes. After the Olympics, of course.
#2
This guy should be executed and we should toss fifteen or twenty Chicom spies diplomats out tomorrow. We need to send a STRONG message to these Obamasigns that this kind of garbage won't be tolerated. Oh, and delay any ships they have coming to the West Coast for a month or two because of "necessary security inspections." They'll damn sure understand that.
As Russian warplanes struck positions in Georgias second breakaway province of Abkhazia, Saturday, Aug. 9, President Dimitry Medvedev told President George W. Bush in a phone call that Georgia must withdraw its forces from South Ossetia for hostilities to end. Its leaders must also sign a legally binding document not to use force.
The virtual ultimatum was delivered in reply to the US presidents call on Russia to respect Georgian sovereign integrity and for both sides to accept international mediation.
After deploying 100,000 troops and armor to occupy most of South Ossetia and warplanes to blast the Georgian town of Gori and Black Sea port of Poti, Russias ambassador to NATO said Russia does not consider itself to be in a state of war and accused Georgia of ethnic cleansing.
As they spoke, the Abkhazian foreign minister Sergei Shamba announced that the secessionist province had launched air and artillery strikes to oust Georgian troops from its positions in the Kodori Gorge. Russian jets earlier bombed those positions. The Georgian president said his forces had successfully repelled those attacks.
DEBKAfiles military analysts: Tiny Georgia with an army of less than 18,000, having been roundly defeated in South Ossetia, cannot hope to withstand the mighty Russian army in Abkhazia, even after initial successes. Therefore, President Mikhail Saakashvili, who was planning to join NATO, must consider both breakaway regions lost to Georgia and gained by Russia.
Moscow has thus achieved payback for the US-NATO success in detaching Kosovo from Serbia and approving its independence. The Russians have also signalled a warning to Ukraine, the Caucasus and Central Asia against joining up with the United States and the NATO bloc in areas which Moscow deems part of its strategic sphere of influence
After the severance of South Ossetia and Abkhazia from Georgia, four follow-up Russian steps may be postulated:
1. The two separatist provinces will proclaim their independence, just like Kosovo.
2. Russia will continue to exercise its overwhelming military and air might to force the pro-American Saakashvilis capitulation.
3. The Georgian president cannot last long in office after suffering this major loss of territory and national humiliation. Moscow aims to make Washington swallow a pro-Russian successor.
4. Moscows South Ossetia-Abkhazia victory against Georgia and its Western backers will serve as an object lesson for Russias own secessionist provinces such as Chechnya, Dagestan and Ingushettia not to risk defying Russian armed might.
just got this from intelligence sources:
58th Red Army is complitely destroyed by Georgian armed forces commandos, kremlin general Khrulyov is injured badly and 58th army left without commanders after heavy bombardment of Georgian artillery!
After the reports of shelling of northward fleeing refugees, I thought the Georgians are zeroing in their guns in preparation for the Russians.
The admission by Democrat John Edwards of an extramarital affair and his repeated denials about it during his presidential campaign cast doubts about his political future, analysts say. "I think essentially his political career is over," said Kerry Haynie, a political scientist at Duke University. "I don't see him coming back from this."
Edwards, his party's 2004 vice presidential nominee, acknowledged an affair with Rielle Hunter in an ABC interview to be broadcast tonight on "Nightline." The former North Carolina senator denied to ABC that he fathered her child and said his wife, Elizabeth, has known about the affair since 2006.
So Elizabeth knew of his philandering and yet the two ran for President in '07 and '08. Nice. I think the two should be confined to their palace. 26,000 square feet won't seem very big to John after a while.
Hunter, who is in her 40s, is a bimbo former campaign videographer who had been paid by Edwards' political action committee.
In Oct. 2007, the National Enquirer reported that Edwards and Hunter were having an affair. In response to questions about the story, Edwards said, "It's completely untrue, ridiculous."
In a statement released Friday, Edwards acknowledged the affair and said he had "made a serious error in judgment."
In a statement released Friday, Edwards acknowledged the affair and said he had "made a serious error in judgment." Edwards said the affair occurred -- and ended -- in 2006.
Hunter has not issued a public statement.
Gonna save it for her tell-all book ...
Her attorney, Robert Gordon, did not return a call for comment. Hari Sevugan, an aide to presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama, declined to comment about Edwards' admission and whether Edwards would speak at the Democratic National Convention, which begins Aug. 25 in Denver.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
He's a trail lawyer that chases ambulances - I wonder who he will try to sue?
#2
Interesting how he claims to have come clean to his wife "before" her cancer diagnosis. He comes off as less of a scumbag that way. For some reason i think she found out when the National Enquirer did. Either way his career is over.
#3
Well there goes candidate number 682 on Obama's list of possible vp candidates.
Posted by: James Carville ||
08/09/2008 0:38 Comments ||
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#4
I did not have sex with that woman!!!
Come to think of it, would you have sex with someone that slept with John Edwards? I mean he's about as masculine as Hillary, I mean, he's not very masculine. Actually Elizabeth Edwards is more manly than John.
I guess old Lizard face is right, Obama's search for a vp just took at least two baby steps backwards.
Posted by: William Jefferson Clinton ||
08/09/2008 0:40 Comments ||
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#5
Would you stop calling me lizard face!!!
Crap
Would some one pass the popcorn, the Democratic convention is going to be so much fun.
Posted by: James Carville ||
08/09/2008 0:41 Comments ||
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#6
Coming right up, James.
Extra butter? :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/09/2008 1:00 Comments ||
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#7
If he is shown to be a blatant liar about the affair - then why should the public and his wife believe him when he says he isn't the father of the child? Did he do due diligence and get a DNA test done?
#9
I knew when I first saw him he was full of BS. Filling everyone's ears about poverty and using his sick wife for sympathy votes. I don't think he's helped her condition but made it worse. Even now he's saying he's not the baby's daddy!
#10
"I think essentially his political career is over," said Kerry Haynie, a political scientist at Duke University. "I don't see him coming back from this."
Brilliant Holmes old boy, how do you do it?
My heart feels like an alligator, to quote Dr. Gonzo.
Yet I can't help but wonder about the wife. She knew.
She supported his run on family values and exploited her cancer to help his campaign. She must have been complicit in the cover up, which seems to have funneled millions to the bimbo and the beard (both are living in $3mm homes despite both being unemployed).
Evidently the Edwards' are every bit the loathsome power couple the Clintons are, and perhaps even more so.
Not that 'ahm a-judgin' anybody...
Posted by: regular joe ||
08/09/2008 7:42 Comments ||
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#11
Heard on Howie Carr's radio show yesterday:
"Does this mean the moonbats will finally remove those Kerry / Edwards bumper stickers from their cars?"
#19
Who would have thunk it? National Enquirer and the blogosphere bringing down the MSM. And Jack the Rat.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/09/2008 11:37 Comments ||
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#20
Lies. Breck Girl and Hunter met in winter 2006. She had the child in Feb 2008. We are still getting lies, and Elizabeth's joined in now. Told her "in 2006"? What? Did he come home and say: "guess what I just did!"? Basically, it appeqars he used campaign funds to pay $100K+ for his mistress (a la "campaign videographer" with no videos to show for it - they were all pulled). Somebody paid for her to move to a new home in a gated community in NC. His married aide claims fathership, but nobody will commit perjury by filing a false birth cert with them signing off as padre. The only thing that amazes me isn't that he cheated. It's that it was with a woman!
Posted by: Frank G on the road ||
08/09/2008 11:49 Comments ||
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#21
So if one snake is in the wood pile... how many more?
#34
AS, they had some hints of this last fall and declined to pursue it, while at the same time they were running on the front page a demonstrably false rumor about McCain having an affair.
#35
i think the gist of the article is that the the 'screwed' was past tense...
Posted by: Abu do you love ||
08/09/2008 18:56 Comments ||
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#36
I 'spect some sort of spin from Camp Breck explaining that the earlier statement about his willingness to do a DAN or paternity test or whatever just to prove he ain't the poppa, didn't mean what you (peons) think it means; the good attorney and fambly man has no intention of stretching this sordid tale out any longer. Out of consideration to his good friend Reille (whom he doesn't love, but is OK banging)you understand, don't you???? [and i really hate all the comments that lump all att'ys into the same sewer; how will Mrs. Ret. live out her golden years if #1 son doesn't support her prosecuting perps and other ne'er-do-wells? thank you]
Eighteen members of the PML-Q have contacted the PPP leadership to assure their support for impeachment of President Pervez Musharraf, Federal Information Minister Sherry Rehman said on Friday. Talking to Samaa TV, Sherry said that the PPP-led four-party coalition had devised a strategy to oust the president. She said that the draft of the resolutions to be tabled in the provincial assemblies favouring the impeachment would be prepared today (Saturday). A joint meeting of the parliamentary parties of the coalition would be held before the August 11 NA session, she added.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
If true that's bad for Mushy. The PML-Q is so close to the President that Pakistan media refer to it as "the king's party." Articles of impeachment require a cause. Mushy acted like every leader of his country since Jinnah.
Controversial Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen, who was dramatically bundled out from West Bengal in November last year, returned on Saturday after spending more than four months in Sweden.
The 45-year-old Bangladeshi writer, who has been a target of Islamic fundamentalists, arrived at the Indira Gandhi International airport on Saturday morning and was immediately whisked away by security agencies to an undisclosed destination, official sources said.
The future plans of the doctor-turned writer, who shot to fame with her controversial book "Lajja", were not immediately known. Her visa is valid till August 12. She has been requesting for permanent residentship in the country but the government has not taken any decision on the issue.
Taslima had left India on March 18 for Sweden after she was kept in a safe house in the national capital for more than four months. Taslima, who had not been allowed to see any visitors during the period, had described her confinement as living in "a chamber of death".
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2008 00:00 ||
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Pakistan's all-powerful army chief will ask President Pervez Musharraf to resign from office within a week, a senior government official claimed today. The claim was supported by a former military aide to the president who said that the army's leadership wished Mr Musharraf to be spared the humiliation of impeachment.
The civilian government intensified an attritional, seven-month long power struggle with the presidency when it announced earlier this week that it is to begin impeachment proceedings against Mr Musharraf on Monday.
The twin arbiters of power in Pakistan, the army chief of staff, Gen Ashfaq Kiyani, and America, which has provided dollars 12 billion in military aid to the country in the last six years, have publicly declared themselves to be neutral on Pakistan's domestic politics. However a senior official from the ruling government coalition partner, the Pakistan's People's Party (PPP) said that the army has "whispered in Musharraf's ear that it is time to leave".
"Over the next few days they will make it clear to him [Musharraf] that a protracted battle [against impeachment] is not in Pakistan's interests," he added.
He can settle in a nice villa in Mauritania or he can have a plane accident ...
Yesterday Pakistan's political class had an ear strenuously cocked for hints as to which way the army will move as Gen Kiyani spent a second day in conference with his senior commanders.
The former military aide to Mr Musharraf said: "The army is neutral but is expecting him to resign. It will then influence his honourable safe passage as the army's senior leadership would not want him to be punished".
The PPP government official said that his party had given an assurance of "indemnity" to the president.
And if you can't trust the PPP, who can you trust?
The official, who has top-level contacts with Washington, said that his party had instigated the impeachment because Mr Musharraf, a key ally in the US-led war on terror, had begun to use intelligence agencies to plot against the government. He alleged that Mr Musharraf had tried to use a former PPP leader, Amin Fahim, to "instigate a rebellion within the party".
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Yesterday Pakistan's political class had an ear strenuously cocked for hints
Yes indeedy, I has a visual. I won't be sharing it tho.
The Israeli Premier is 'playing for time' amid probes into a corruption case that is to force him into resignation, an ex-investigator says.
Dep. Cmdr. Boaz Guttman, ex-chief investigator of Israel's national fraud unit, said that Ehud Olmert is resorting to a series of "tricks" in the course of investigations into his bribery case.
Police investigators arrived at Olmert's residence in al-Quds for a fifth time on Friday to interrogate him over charges of receiving cash in bribes from a US businessman during his tenure as trade minister in 2006.
"Techniques like writing down the detectives' questions [as seen in leaked transcripts of previous questioning sessions,] and asking for each question to be repeated, do not allow for enough time for police to complete the interrogations," the Jerusalem Post quoted Guttman as saying.
Police did not say whether the Friday session would be the last, saying "When we're done, we'll announce it".
The premier has been under fire to leave office due to the bribery charge that is the latest in a series of scandals over his conduct in the years before he took office in 2006.
He has faced numerous investigations into his financial affairs from his 10-year term as mayor of Jerusalem (al-Quds), and then as a cabinet minister until he succeeded Ariel Sharon as prime minister in early 2006.
Olmert announced last month that he would step down after a September 17 leadership election in his ruling Kadima Party.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2008 00:00 ||
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#2
I concluded that an active sexual relationship between two people of the same sex might therefore reflect the love of God in a way comparable to marriage
Church of England is now officially done. The orthodox will slit away from it - they have no choice in the face of this deliberate heresy.
#3
Not a huge surprise. IIRC his less-than-supportive attitude after becoming archbishop was the surprise. (I'm not CoE or expert about it, but train wrecks have an unholy fascination.)
Posted by: James ||
08/09/2008 0:44 Comments ||
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#4
He also said that Sharia would become a welcome part of UK law. I can't wait till he tries to marry his dear Cecil at Mo's Mosque.
Posted by: regular joe ||
08/09/2008 7:47 Comments ||
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#5
Can the west survive intellectual rot? Or is it a time -honored tradition and therefore nothing to worry about?
With rain falling steadily outside, first lady Laura Bush sat down inside a small hut near the Thai border with Burma on Thursday and invited a group of refugees who fled one of the world's most repressive governments to tell her what they "would like the people of the world to know" about their situation.
"Our dream is to go home," said one refugee, Mahn Htun Htun. "But there is no peace and democracy in Burma -- and it's impossible to go home."
For the past two years, Bush has made freedom in Burma a focus of her official duties as first lady. On Thursday, she ventured as close to the closed country as she has ever been, visiting a muddy, rain-soaked refugee camp and medical clinic a few miles from the border -- part of a White House campaign to raise public pressure on the military junta.
President Bush played a supporting role. He had lunch at the U.S. ambassador's residence in Bangkok with some Burmese dissidents and told them that the "American people care deeply about the people of Burma, and we pray for the day in which the people will be free." He also spoke about Burma in a radio interview heard inside that country.
"Together, we seek an end to tyranny in Burma," the president said in a policy address in Bangkok. "The noble cause has many devoted champions, and I happen to be married to one of them." Laura Bush and daughter Barbara made a seven-hour swing to the rugged border region, to which about 140,000 Burmese refugees, many of them members of persecuted ethnic minorities, have fled.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2008 00:00 ||
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Iran's Nobel peace laureate Shirin Ebadi has denied a state media report that her daughter had converted from Islam to the outlawed Bahai faith and suggested it was prompted by her legal defense work. Ebadi told the reformist Kargozaran newspaper that she believed the allegation against her daughter.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2008 00:00 ||
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The psychology of global markets has shifted hugely over recent days as it becomes clear that Europe, Australasia and parts of Asia are sliding into recession.
The US dollar has launched its best rally in half a decade, reflecting a recognition that half the world is in even worse shape than the US. In fact, America is the only G7 country to eke out modest growth this summer.
The US dollar index - currencies watched closely by traders - smashed through resistance yesterday in the biggest one-day move since the long dollar slide began seven years ago.
"This was highly significant. Perceptions have changed," said Ian Stannard, currency strategist at BNP Paribas.
The greenback gained three cents to $1.5050 against the euro, with big moves against other currencies.
Commodities tumbled as hedge funds and financial investors struggled to untangle themselves from crowded positions on the futures markets. Brent crude fell $4 to under $114 a barrel, down over 20pc since peaking in early July. The Baltic Dry Index has now fallen every day for over three weeks, dropping 30pc on fears that ship demand is fizzling out.
Copper fell to a six-month low on reports of rising inventories in China and Europe. Lead, nickel and tin all dived in frantic trading on the London Metal Exchange.
"We see a deep global recession," said Albert Edwards, chief strategist at Société Générale.
"Growth prospects in the Eurozone, Japan and the UK have deteriorated. Most now accept that recession has already begun in all three," he said. Mr Edwards predicted a "collapse" in emerging markets next. "You ain't seen nothing yet," he said.
The commodity slide boosts the dollar as petro-payments are recycled into euros, not the greenback.
A Bundesbank study found that for every $1 sent to the Middle East or Russia for oil, the eurozone gets 40 cents back. Europe is the chief supplier of cars and industrial good to the petro-economies. The US receives just 10 cents.
This bias is now going into reverse. Moreover, Danske Bank says there has been a $70bn net outflow of investment from the eurozone over the last year. It appears that foreign governments are sated on European bonds.
The drip-drip of bad news in America is now being trumped daily by the icy douche splashing over Europe. The markets were stunned by leaks from Berlin last week that Germany's economy had shrunk by 1pc in the second quarter. Yesterday Italy revealed a 0.3pc contraction.
The last straw was an admission this week by European Central Bank president Jean-Claude Trichet that "downside risks had materialised" and there was no clear end in sight.
The comments were followed by the ECB's lending survey yesterday, confirming that banks have cut back sharply on mortgages and household credit.
BNP Paribas said it was now clear that the ECB had misjudged the severity of downturn. The monetary squeeze of the last year has raised mortgage costs by 150 basis points in Spain, Italy, Ireland and other states that rely heavily on floating-rate contracts. House prices are dropping in several regions at rates that match the US slide.
Bernard Connolly, global strategist at AIG, said the falling euro would come too late to prevent a severe economic crunch across southern Europe. "We think the EMU credit bubble is about to burst," he said.
Current account deficits have already reached 10pc of GDP in Spain and Portugal, and 14pc in Greece. The region depends on foreign capital flows to keep its economies afloat. This is now under threat as investors become alert to the solvency risks of debt deflation, causing a blizzard of warnings from rating agencies on the health of the banks in these countries.
Over the last few months the US dollar appears to have hit the bottom of its cycle, suggesting its relentless slide since 2001 may finally be over.
Arguably, the US is now super-competitive. Airbus and Volkswagen are shifting production plant across the Atlantic. US furniture and textile companies have stopped outsourcing to China, and are coming home.
The International Monetary Fund says the dollar has fallen 25pc to 30pc on a global basis, just as it did in the late 1980s. There was no shortage of dollar doomsters at that time, warning that America was finished - left behind by Japan and Germany. Events played out otherwise. America was on the cusp of a recovery.
Will this be repeated? The US current account deficit has fallen from 7pc of GDP to under 5pc early this year, or nearer 4pc after adjusting for the oil spike.
As the Habsburgs used to say, "the situation is desperate, but not serious".
US stocks soared on Friday as the dollar saw its biggest one-day jump against the euro in eight years and oil prices plunged. The moves marked a key reversal of a trend that many investors had followed profitably for months -- betting that high commodity prices would keep the dollar weak.
The dollar reached its highest in five months against a trade-weighted basket of currencies, while oil fell more than $5 to $114.87, 22 per cent below its record high of $147.27 last month. The S&P 500 closed 2.4 per cent higher in New York.
The shift in sentiment was triggered by Jean-Claude Trichet, president of the European Central Bank, who warned on Thursday that third-quarter eurozone growth would be "particularly weak". This sparked talk that the ECB would be forced to abandon its hawkish policy stance and start cutting interest rates, thereby weakening the euro.
"This is the watershed week for the US dollar," said Marc Chandler, currency strategist at Brown Brothers Harriman. "The magnitude of the dollar's moves and the breaking of key technical levels suggest that a major shift in the outlook towards the dollar is occurring as massive positions are adjusted." Other analysts described the widespread buying of dollars as "capitulation".
The dollar hit a five-month high of $1.5055 against the euro and climbed 1.3 per cent to $1.9189 against the pound -- its strongest since November 2006.
Traders said the violence of the move was testimony to the extent to which the market had been surprised by economic weakness outside the US.
"Mr Trichet was unable to convince the public that the ECB had not been surprised by the eurozone's economic downturn," said Ulrich Leuchtmann at Commerzbank. "Therefore, the last remaining rate hike expectations were taken off the table."
UK economic data has shown increasing weakness this week; officials in Japan warned that the economy was headed for a recession; and the Reserve Bank of Australia said it was planning to start cutting interest rates to head off an impending economic slowdown.
#1
"the violence of the move was testimony to the extent to which the market had been surprised by economic weakness outside the US"
For better or worse, the US economy IS the world economy. We catch a cold, other countries get pneumonia.
Economic weakness outside the US never surprises me.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/09/2008 1:13 Comments ||
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#2
Two words: irrational exuberance. The US banking system is still upside down with huge portfolios of worthless mortgages, and guesses as to how much range from a very mild trillion dollars to as much as three trillion, and if bad paper handling does not improve for the banks, double that to six trillion.
How the dollar does on the ForEx is strictly ceremonial. At some point, everyone will realize that there isn't enough money in the entire GDP to carry the busted banks, then said institutions will not be able to hide their condition behind Bernanke & Co any longer.
A US economic crash WILL severely damage the world's economies, because we ARE tied to all of them, but the reverse is NOT true, and there is no way those central banks can save the US banking system.
#3
Investors are more likely now to invest in potentially lucrative technology stocks rather than in developers of luxury condos. The Game industry is under acceleration. Potentially, there could be another computer technology boom. Restaurant chains are closing, but - as usual - Deli stores boom in a recession, as consumers search for lower cost luxuries. Smarter consumers make a better economy.
#4
What actually happened today, and has been happening for several weeks, is that the short people have had to retrench. It took just a few of the bigs bailing out of the petroleum futures market to cause the short sellers to have to respond to margin calls, and they are still digging up cash to do so, so there is a temporary reversal of fortunes.
Note that all that has occurred is a slowing of shorting - there isn't any huge amount of cash flowing into long positions. The owners of the equities sold short have a cash surplus due to the margin calls on the shorties, so they are buying bargains on the Street, but that is all that has happened.
The fundamental problems caused by a hyper-inflated housing market contracting haven't played out yet, and may be only a third through that agony.
#6
There is no flight to the $ because of fighinting in the FSU and the threat of lower EU interest rates. It's an illusion. We're doomed. Worst economy in 50 years, I had to feed a kitten this morning! Can you believe it? A kitten, hungry in this great country of ours!
#7
As the lefty writer Tom Robbins put it, "The situation remained the same, desperate as usual..."
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
08/09/2008 9:12 Comments ||
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#8
Given that the 'old day's of Europe are not behind them, it was all a smug self important dream, money is going to move to more certainty. Regardless of shortcomings and deficiencies in the American system, its more secure geo-politically and contractually. The Americans are having a family fight about exploiting their own energy resources, the Euros have no similar domestic resources to tap. Puty made a reality wake up call.
#9
Too much pessimism in this thread for me. There is still lots of capital out there and whether they invest in America, Europe or Asia they look at risk and return. All you pessimists tell me if you
had to make big capital investments with the lowest risk and the highest return where would you make them? China? UK and Europe? Middle East? USA?
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
08/09/2008 10:43 Comments ||
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#10
Why JIB, why even bother making a major investment in anything, anywhere. Buy gold, platinum or Tritium if you can get a license. Don't get caught with FIAT money WTSHTF if you catch my drift.
Also Old Masters are a good investment but a good factory Cuban is even better, again if you can get a license.
Yep, Whiskey, ammo, antibiotics, fishhooks and enough diesel to power your typewriter that a small sliver of western civilization might live thru the coming age of low gravity. Mark my words, things gonna get ugly, then worse, hell dirt sandwiches will be something only the rich elites can afford.
Buy my book, borrow my agenda. Send your worthless FIAT money to me.
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.
One hundred and fifty Russian tanks, armoured personnel carriers and other vehicles have entered South Ossetia to back the breakaway region against a military onsalught by Georgia. The separatist region has been under heavy atack from Georgian forces since a brief ceasefire on Thursday night.
A Taiwan-born US national who admitted passing US military secrets to China has been sentenced to more than 15 years in a US prison. 
The admission by Democrat John Edwards of an extramarital affair and his repeated denials about it during his presidential campaign cast doubts about his political future, analysts say. "I think essentially his political career is over," said Kerry Haynie, a political scientist at Duke University. "I don't see him coming back from this."
Hunter has not issued a public statement.
