Monday, March 23, 2009

From Jenna Orkin:

Global
Social protest likely to topple governments as economies founder, says Economist Intelligence Unit
Bouts of social unrest are set to disrupt economies and topple governments over the next two years, according to a new report from the Economist Intelligence Unit. Of 165 countries assessed in the report, 95 are judged to be at high or very high risk. Of the remainder, 53 are considered to be at moderate risk—far from a clean bill of health. Only 17 countries are rated as low risk.
G20 Must Help Poor or Risk Unrest, Says [sic] EU and US
Will Our Economic Collapse Cause the Death of Millions Abroad? (Michael Klare)
Ban Fears Global Crisis Will Hit Aid to Poor

US
US Budget Record Deficit at 1.845 Trillion Dollars
Investors Discriminate Against the Dollar
Unrest in US Over AIG Virtual Fraud - Cuban Press
Was Eliot Spitzer Taken Out Because He Was Going to Bust AIG? - from Rice Farmer
Washington Mutual Holding Company Sues FDIC
Bank of America's Dramatic Growth in Insider Lending
Fed Focus Will Be on Words, Not Numbers
US Treasury Selects JP Morgan for Debit Card Program
Under-Secretary of Agriculture for Rural Development: Who is Dallas Tonsager?
More Women Going from Jobless to Topless
America's Next Catastrophe Brewing in Mexico
Poll Shows: Environment a Record Low Priority
Save Dairy Farmers
In New York, a Second, Silent 9/11
I wonder when we'll hear about this in the real-estate beholden New York Times. - JO

Europe
UK in Danger of Serious Social Unrest: Report
Farmers from Poor Countries Rescue Credit Crunched Britain
Subsistence Farmers Offer Advice to Britain's Credit-Crunched Gardeners
Sarkozy Rules Out New Social Spending After Strike
Bomb Explodes Outside Athens Police Base
Riots in the Tiva Women's Prison

Russia/Eastern Europe
Russia to Cut Oil Exports, Raise Domestic Consumption - from Rice Farmer
Russia Falling Off the Electronics Manufacturing and EMS Map?
Russia Expels Foreign Rabbis
Hungary's Prime Minister, Ferenc Gyurcsany, Resigns
Hungary Seeks Leader to Fight 'Unfathomably Huge' Economic Difficulties
Ukraine Says Obama Offers New Deal to Iran

Asia
The Downside of Letting Robots Do the Bombing
India Says Has Proof Pakistan Involved in Attacks
India to Stake Claim to Continental Shelf
Pakistan, India Trade Fire Across LoC
The Fates of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan Linked: US Senator
India to Attend Shanghai Cooperation Organization Meeting on Afghanistan in Moscow
Orissa Riots: Relief Camps Forcibly Closed, SC Told

Chinese Stockpiling Spurs Copper Price Rally
China's Intentions in the DPRK
Blackouts in Java


Steel (From Rice Farmer)
China's Steel Exports May Plunge 80%
Japan Crude Steel Output Dives Record 44%
Latin American Outlook on Steel is Grim
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10 comments:

Paul said...

re eyeballs

"(Unable to untangle the economy to anyone's satisfaction,) Gordon Brown vows to take terror-fighting to a "new level". Oh boy."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/mar/22/gordon-brown-terrorism

A week or so ago I posted a rhetorical question here - wondering why, after so long, Northern Ireland killings had started again.

And so soon after we have new anti-terrorist proposals...

Gordon Brown concludes with "I believe that this updated strategy, recognised by our allies to be world-leading in its wide-ranging nature, leaves us better prepared and strengthened in our ability to ensure all peace-loving people of this country can live normally, with confidence and free from fear."

I feel fully reassured and will sleep easy in my bed tonight.

And when the details are announced tomorrow, I shall supress any thoughts that these new powers (Patriot.uk?) could be used for other threats to HM Govt - such as a summer of discontent!

1:39 PM
ATL said...

this is why Spitzer was taken out in my opinion...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/13/AR2008021302783.html

He blamed Bush for the housing crisis in this piece that came out 2-14-08, just days later his sex scandal surfaced....

What do you guys think?

7:05 PM
Anonymous said...

ATL: I always thought the Spitzer ouster smelled of a political asassination. I was blown away that no one seemed to have a kind word for him after all the great things he did as AG of NY. Even though I felt that call girl a sociopath, sex is not a crime and I'm sure the vast majority of upper level mucki-mucks are doing the same as Spitzer did at this very moment. He was just too big of a threat.

7:57 PM
PeakedOut said...

TBTP love political figures with dirty laundry. Let them dance for the public, then when they bite the hand that feeds, they have already provided for thier own execution.

Rosario Marin recently fell in the same way here in California. She wanted a bigger piece of pie, so she gets investigated for taking paying speaking engagements. All which were fully reported. Only when they wanted her gone did this become a problem. It seems the Govenator no longer needed his hispanic token. Which brings me to another point of interest.

Lots of stories about social unrest. For TPTB, the best defense against a social uprising directed at them is to foment hatred between differing groups. In France, watch the turmoil and fury turn toward the growing Muslim population. In fact, I suspect that Muslim versus "other" will be a recurring theme around the globe.

Here in America, the old favorite was black versus white. Perhaps this time it will include hispanics.

I see no way America can let Mexico deteriorate into chaos. However, it might be handy to need to go in and take over. How fortunate that the drug cartels are providing the U.S. with such a just cause. Amazing how drug dealers seem to be there when we need them most.
The stories are coming so fast now. When this blog first got going, I used to wish it had more going on. More stories to follow. Now there is too much news. All of it proving Mike to have been far too accurate in map making. I really thought we would have more time.

8:18 PM
ecosutra said...

Is it FTW officially confirmed that Mexico is really under civil unrest and the drug war is a lie?

9:35 PM
Paul Davis said...

This is big and scary but something we knew was being talked about behind closed doors. Now it's in the open:

UK population must fall to 30m, says Porritt

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article5950442.ece

JONATHON PORRITT, one of Gordon Brown’s leading green advisers, is to warn that Britain must drastically reduce its population if it is to build a sustainable society.

1:55 AM
F.Kamilov said...

Pakistan could collapse in six months: Kilcullen

http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=21109


Airlines face losses of 4.7 billion dollars in 2009: IATA

http://www.thenews.com.pk/updates.asp?id=72483

2:10 AM
Anonymous said...

Just like in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, TPTB have a way of enhancing events to their own benefit. How do we know that the drug wars are intensifying? Perhaps they're not much different than they ever were, but now we can use it as an excuse to move our warring closer to home. Look at all that farmland and cheap labor waiting to be exploited. I've often wondered if many of the news items we receive about Iraq are invented. Since it is so dangerous there that reporters are no longer safe to go there, we have no way of knowing what is actually going on there. The dramatic rise in troop suicides leads me to suspect we still aren't passing out flowers and valentines to the Iraqis. My right wing co-worker keeps insisting that the economic meltdown in solely the fault of home buyers who bought beyond their means. She listens to Limbaugh, Hannity, and Savage. So her concept of reality is entirely different from mine. Somebody up high has honed the propaganda tool to a high art and those without critical thinking skills are only too willing to accept it all part and parcel. If the news networks were totally wiped out, there could be chaos a state away and the only way we would know about it would be if someone happens to travel from that area to where we are. Too bad we can't expose those right wing spin masters for what they really are, but as long as the media is controlled by a small group, we truth-tellers will continue to sound like kooks to the blue pill crowd.

4:19 AM
Unknown said...

RE: Social protest likely to topple governments

You have to click on the link to get Manning the Barricades, an assessment of all these countries, stating which ones are stable and which unstable. I found it amusing that the US was placed about in the middle, between Iceland and Azerbaijan. Is the Economist trying to tell us something?


Paul Davis:

Cut Britain's population by 50%? Which half should be poisoned?

Maybe, when it comes to population reduction, we could start with politicians, industrialists, generals and efficiency experts. If we removed the right 1% of the population, we could maybe quit there and spare the other 49%. Just a thought.


ecosutra said...
"Is it FTW officially confirmed that Mexico is really under civil unrest...?"


RE: America's Next Catastrophe Brewing in Mexico

Note that the article, which makes some extreme claims, was borrowed from the blog of a Russian wingnut, who has had three comments in three postings. His mission is to dis the West in any way possible, and he has probably never been to Mexico.

Since my friend Oleg died, Orlov is the only Russian I listen to. That guy who said America would break into regions run by American Indians and Chinese was another example of a Russian wingnut. If I predict what will happen in Russia next year, should Mukovites quake in their boots?

Mexico probably has more personal armaments per capita than any country outside the US, and always has. Since most of the drugs from south of there route through Mexico, you would expect that there would be a bit of competition over the traffic. Not much else to compete over, is there? And what is fueling the carnage? American habits.

If you live in a Caribbean state or a Southwest state, or on the West Coast, learn Spanish. Of course there will be migration, Mexicans escaping not only violence but poverty and eco-damage. Gringos will be escaping down south as well. Koreans will show up lost and confused, possibly in huge numbers, here and there. Kunstler covered that quie well in his classic, I felt.

It's messy. Welcome to the Kali Yurga. Some say that, out of the confusion, something new and beautiful will arise. Maybe we are part of that?

8:55 AM
Anonymous said...

CJ, we can expose them. We just have to be willing to sacrifice people liking us. I tell anyone like your co-worker that they are vile ghouls with no concience. As long as I first throw the truth at them I see no problems with calling them what they are. I could care less if people like your co-worker like me. In fact I want them to hate me for shining a light on their evil little pea brains. Watching them backtrack and squirm when you expose them in public is also fun.

There really are two sides to every story. The right side and the wrong side. If someone gets their ideas from the rotten blowhards you mention they deserve to have ridicule and scorn thrown all over themselves and their toxic ideas.

Alice Cooper said it best.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qE0AmdwYWu8

10:30 AM

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