Saturday, April 10, 2010

Trouble in the Stans: Which Country Will Blow Up Next? IMF Warns High Public Debt "Tremendous" Challenge

From Jenna Orkin

Headlines
Polish leader Lech Kaczynski dies in plane crash
"Poland's president, its central bank head and its military chief were among 97 people killed when their plane crashed in thick fog on its approach to a Russian airport."
Poland Nicknamed Government Planes ‘Flying Coffins’
Why On Earth Was Poland Still Flying The Tupolev Tu-154 Airplane?
Poland Pulls Trigger to Weaken Zloty
Trouble in the Stans: which country will blow up next?

Explosive device tossed at U.S. consulate in Mexico
Twelve die as troops, protesters clash in Bangkok
Thai `Perfect Storm' May Drive Investors to Bonds From Stocks
Indonesians attack pictures of President Obama

Economy
WASHINGTON POST: Debt Is Ballooning Into Global Crisis
IMF warns high public debt "tremendous" challenge
Would Rescuing Greece Make Matters Worse?
Election 2010: Debt - A conspiracy of silence - UK
Soros Says Pound Devaluation Is Option for Next U.K. Government
Cal. Munis Rated Worse than Kazakhstan; Students Forced to Buy Healthcare; Rents Drop 1.5%, Record Vacancies; 33 States Exhaust Unemployment Reserves
"Worse than Kazakhstan?" Sounds like Borat. Kazakhstan is at the heart of the Grand Chessboard. California will count itself lucky if it falls no further.

Energy
China Boosts Oil Imports 29%, Remains Net Fuel Buyer
Brazil-West African Connection Sparks Subsalt Oil Search
Russia and Germany start work on £8bn pipeline under the Baltic
Halliburton to Buy Boots & Coots, Adding Oil-Well Firefighting Services

War/Intelligence/Big Brother
Live Explosives Removed from Soldier's Scalp
Afghan farmers reap £61m cannabis harvest
Charity that sterilises addicts to come to UK

Environment/Sustainability/Health
Hyperlocavore, a yardsharing social network
Geese tagged to examine threat posed by wind farms
Bats, Birds and Lizards Can Fight Climate Change
Swine flu causes huge rise in hospital admissions
Muslim Staff Escape NHS Hygiene Rule
This seems analogous to the lousy press that China gets for its environmental sins when in fact ours are at least as bad. The spotlight is directed towards the Muslim staff to distract from the rampant iatrogenic illnesses and deaths from all quarters. - JO

12 comments:

gamedog said...

Sounds like Obamas Youth corps, do all leaders get the same instruction manual when they get power?
Make national citizen service compulsory, says London mayor

U.S. Pushes for Somalia Offensive, But Settles for Starving the Somali Civilians instead

British campaigner urges UN to accept 'ecocide' as international crime

"Supporters of a new ecocide law also believe it could be used to prosecute "climate deniers" who distort science and facts to discourage voters and politicians from taking action to tackle global warming and climate change."

Have to wonder if CAGW PR types will be prosecuted under the same criteria!

Genius Plan to Fix California Economy

Just for the comedy Value. Even funnier then Benny Hill ;-)

RanD said...
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gamedog said...

Thai protesters vow not to compromise after 21 die in clashes

"Sixteen protesters were killed, many of them shot in the head, as well as Hiro Muramoto, a Japanese cameraman with the Reuters news agency. "

Weaseldog said...

For the IMF, a 'challenge' is a chance to seize assets and take control of the planet.

Their bank members will be kings and emperors of a planet in decline.

businessman said...

gamedog...That link to "Genius Plan to Fix California Economy" brings back memories of Frank Zappa's song "Valley Girl" from the early 1980s.

Paul said...

US military warns oil output may dip causing massive shortages by 2015

More and more articles are appearing in the MSM with the message that our Governments are becoming aware of peak oil as a problem. Of course we know that they’ve known all along, but hey - this is progress of sorts!

Namaste

gamedog said...

Nuclear terrorism is gravest threat to global security, Barack Obama to warn

"Sounding a dire warning in advance of the summit, Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, warned that a 10-kiloton nuclear bomb – smaller than the device dropped by the US on Hiroshima in 1945 – detonated in Times Square could kill a million people.

"Beyond the human cost, a nuclear terrorist attack would also touch off a tsunami of social and economic consequences across our country," she said. "

Is anyone else feeling slightly nauseous?

gamedog said...

"A lot of countries haven't seen the threat as we see it. It hasn't been a high international priority and that's what we intend to make it," she said.

(clipped from last article)

RanD said...

Part One - A Collection of Classy Commentary:

"LOOK OUT YOUR WINDOW, GOD DAMMIT!! I'm still waiting to see a blueprint! ...you guys don't have any plan...!"

=======

"In a world of spiraling chaos/entropy and confusion, Black Swans are the norm, not the exception."

=======

"...there is a huge danger to those seriously attempting to know [and state] the truth. [Yet,] [k]eeping each other informed - REALLY informed, not just alarmed - is perhaps the best we can do.... It's a sacred calling, and you who provide this real value deserve our deep gratitude."

=======

"...make friends with key people...talk to the police, media contacts...local transit people[, and all the rest of us, too]."

=======

"Either do or don't do. 'Trying' is a recipe for failure...'mankind' is two contradictory things:
1. a wild hallucination;
2. a stupid brute.
When do we get the religious pitch?"

=======

"...we should be letting MCR know what we would like on the new blog. I notice he hasn't asked for any input from us, the people who read and post here. Even if our ideas are shite [sic] and ignored, it would give one a greater sense of being in this together. What was that word again? Oh yes 'COMMUNITY'."

=======

"Shall we go the final mile?"

=======

NEXT: Part Two - The Religious Pitch (aka THE Final Mile, aka THE Overview)

RanD said...
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RanD said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
RanD said...

Part Two - The Religious Pitch (aka THE Final Mile, aka THE Overview):

Human beings did not create existence; existence is what it is; human beings are integral component devices PRODUCED OF and SUSTAINED BY & FOR existence to be what they are. As such, we human beings have been made capable of:
1.) being fully self-aware of our connection to existence,
2.) sharing -- and thereby generally possessing/self-actualizing -- all knowledge concerning our species' means & raison d'ĂȘtre; and are, by these means
3.) made able to optimally experience existence.

Also, we humans have been brought into existence to conform with such information as this, or reject it: existence's dicta are intrinsically/absolutely jurisprudent.