A PRESIDENTIAL POLICY (Updates)
Well, there's a rumble growing.
Since last Friday the Rubiconworks website has received more than 45,000 visitors and close to 8,000 clicks through multiple pages. We have received well over twenty bona fide requests for review copies. A few examples are The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones, the BBC, two members of congress and one large-city mayor's office. We're all still waiting to hear from the great folks at Bluemark Films as to when we'll see a trailer for CoLLapse but it should be soon. I have not seen a single clip yet but I was there for all of the filming... Trust me on that. The Director, Chris Smith, is a genius, as his two prior wins at Sundance testify. I don't want to spoil the movie for you guys but the filming was one of the most intense things I've ever experienced. It turns out now that I was in this dark, dank, cold basement for four days instead of three. We just shot a few last scenes last week. I do know this -- CoLLapse is a serious, serious motion picture. So I'm eagerly waiting to see something just like the rest of you...
What's before us now is the challenge of proving to the world on May 1 that there are a lot of people around the world who understand what we're facing. Breaking the NY Times list means that cartelized mainstream media will have to finally acknowledge all of us. That will mean that so many who have never had the chance to hear the message of Peak Oil/Sustainability will finally hear it. Who knows how many lives that might save. That's what I would like the blog that bears my name to focus on now. The more people read the book, the more will step out of the Old Paradigm, giving all of us a better shot. We can save lives by figuring out the best-possible viral marketing campaign for the book. Think global and local.
The Bear Market-sucker's-manipulated-pumpanddump rally ends shortly -- right on time. The only thing I missed in recent predictions was $2,000 gold, but I think I know why. I've noticed two huge gold sales recently. One for 140 metric tons and another for (I think) 30 metric tons. There can only be so many tranches of that size. That's around six million ounces. No wonder the price has taken a hit as fools sold their gold and threw money back in the markets. I smell the end of the gold cabal. They've had to dip into their reserves... the real thing.
I have seriously missed communing with the loyalists, giants and friends who frequent here. But I'm back now until the real action starts. Then I suspect I'm going to be busy again. After I saw the responses to the book release earlier today I've been like way out of tune; cranky, ill-at-ease. I needed to write to you. I told you that I had to check out a while to finish a couple of jobs... I guess you'll forgive me. But it's great to be back. Let's start feeding each other on how we get as many copies sold in the shortest period possible.
Do we really want to change the world -- or just play with it a little?
MCR
*********************************************************************************
From Jenna Orkin:
A few days ago, Businessman sent in the following comment:
Great article, Jenna! Since you brought up the subject of 9/11 and scientific panels, here's a 10-minute video from Denmark featuring an interview with scientist Niels Harrit, stating they've now determined through scientific testing of the WTC dust, that there were more than 10 tons of thermite explosives in the World Trade Center: Click Here for the Video ********************************************************************************
JO's response:
Businessman, if you were not the wonderful loyal helpful guy you are, I would have just rejected your comment. But you're Businessman, so I clicked on the video and was impressed to see that the nanothermite boondoggle has been awarded over ten minutes on a Danish news channel.
Not a prominent channel, it seems, for its hits on google are unimpressive, as are the other outlets that lend time, space and credence to the highly speculative nanothermite venture. But at least the interview was slickly produced.
So a highly engaging ten minutes ensued, reminiscent of those puzzles in which you have to spot what's wrong with the picture.
Without devoting too much time to the shortcomings of this bit of junk science, ask yourselves these questions (if you entertain the matter at all, which we are not recommending:)
How does the scientist concerned, Niels Harrit (Is he a Ph.D? There's little sign of it) know that there was ten to a hundred tons of nanothermite in the World Trade Center debris? Who found it? Where is it now? The debris was removed to Fresh Kills in Staten Island as well as to Third World countries ASAP. Is Harrit just assuming there was ten to a hundred tons (give or take an order of magnitude) because that's what he thinks it would take to demolish the buildings?
He says the nanothermite was discovered "by chance" a short while ago. What kind of chance is it when scientists beg for dust samples for years so they can test it for said nanothermite? Every couple of months I used to get their emails. I never complied because the science would not have been valid; the chain of custody was broken. And mind you, the requests were for a few measly samples, not ten to a hundred tons. All of this, by the way, ignores the myriad scientists (Millette, Lioy, Yiin....) who, whether well-intentioned or not, were studying the dust for pollutants.
So Harrit didn't know any of this? Does he know the other scientists working on this wild goose chase? But the best part was the dead silence when the politely incredulous journalist didn't know what to say next because the only reasonable response was, "Huh?"
While only cursory, this response is intended to quash speculation about issues which at this point can never be proved. It is not intended to open up the floodgates to further questions. Harrit is either a loony patsy or pure disinfo. But it's enlightening to see what's getting into the European media so thank you for the link.
List of Bank Failures
Bank Profits Appear Out of Thin Air
Profits Mask Bank Problems: Analysts
Bank of America Credit Losses Spiral
Recession Sing-a-long
Gorbachev, the Model for the Obama Doctrine
Blackwater Out of Iraq? No, Not Yet
GM "Likely" to Build in China as US Factories Close
Record Number of State Businesses Close in First Quarter
Tons of Released Drugs Taint US Water
Home Invasions Increase as Thugs Seek Mexico Drug Cash
The World's Most Unhappy People (Moldova)
China, Russia, Make Breakthrough in Energy Cooperation
Petrobras' Gabrieli Says China Loans Won't Be Backed By Oil
China Mulls Law on Military Mobilization (from Rice Farmer)
Global Crisis Wipes Out 1.5T Yuan of China Investor Wealth
Taleban Boasts of Its Own AfPak Alliance
Ghana: Plummeting Profits Drive Tomato Farmers to Suicide (from Rice Farmer)
New Zealand: The Upcoming Corporate Debt Default
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Media outlets requesting a review .pdf file of the book should write to media@rubiconworks.com.
BOOK PUBLICATION AND MOTION PICTURE ANNOUNCEMENT
A Presidential Energy Policy: Twenty-five Points Addressing the Siamese Twins of Energy and Money
by
Michael C. Ruppert
ON SALE MAY 1, 2009 at http://www.rubiconworks.com/ and at Amazon.com.
"COLLAPSE" – A Feature Documentary by Bluemark Films. (Winner: Special Dramatic Jury Prize, 2007 Sundance Film Festival, for "The Pool", and Grand Jury Prize, 1999 Sundance Film Festival for "American Movie").
For a full press release on the book, film and important additional information including a complete list of off-the-chart reviews, please visit: http://www.rubiconworks.com/.
Mike Ruppert has been at the forefront of speaking and writing about the grim reality that the world's crude oil output is peaking or has already peaked and will soon begin what could be swift declines over the next decade or two.The world needs to pay careful attention to the multiple risks this event will usher in. Thanks to Ruppert's new book, readers around the world will have access to his well written work.
Matthew R, Simmons
Chairman
Simmons & Company
Author, Twilight in the Desert
----------
Mike Ruppert has an unblemished track record for saying things that are incendiary, outrageous, shocking—and true. Our new president needs desperately to hear the uncomfortable message of this book about energy and the economy, and so do the rest of us.
Richard Heinberg, Ph.D.Ecologist
Author, "The Party’s Over", "Peak Everything", "The Oil Depletion Protocol"
Senior Fellow, Post Carbon Institute
----------
All I can say about A Presidential Energy Policy is, "Yikes!" This is a book everyone should read.
Mike Ruppert is my friend. And, sometimes I remind him, in a way that only a friend can, that my perspective is colored by my own distinct experiences as an informed woman of color in the United States. And frankly, that means that some of what is between these covers makes me cringe; but it is exactly this substance, actively suppressed in proposed national and international gatherings, that we human beings must debate and resolve, or else, we will find Dr. King's admonition, once again, to be true: "We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools."
We know Mike Ruppert because he became a whistleblower and told us some inconvenient truths. About crack cocaine, 9/11/01, and now this -- how to step back from the brink of human disaster.
It is clear that Mike and I are headed toward the same destination, despite our differences. "A Presidential Energy Policy" lands Mike exactly where I am -- outside of the box of political orthodoxy, but well within the space of policy advocacy that is representative of critical thinking, rational analysis, and authentic leadership. Mike Ruppert dares to go where our elected leaders seem afraid to take us. In the end, however, if we are to salvage our own human dignity, either our "leadership" must catch up with us or we must become and nurture a new generation of leaders.
Cynthia McKinney
6-term Member, U.S. House of Representatives
Green Party Presidential Candidate, 2008
This notice is going to stay front and center for a while. For blog updates please see below:
************************************************************************************
The Only Thing We Have To Fear Is the Fear Of Being Uncool
Jenna Orkin
From revelers at a rock concert in Colombia to European farmers to Indian engineering students; from the redundant 'unrest' at prisons to the oxymoronic 'patient riots' at a hospital in South Africa, the natives are restless. Some, like 1500 farmers in India, have turned that unrest on themselves by committing suicide.
Whether it's over the economic crisis, water, food, jobs, bonuses, Bernie Madoff, octuplets or weirdos keeping young girls - offspring or otherwise - in a dungeon for years on end, people are outraged.
We may all be Madoffs as Nouriel Roubini maintains, but some are a deeper shade than others. Even Madoff himself pales in comparison to the economic system in which most of us have colluded, with whatever degree of understanding or willful ignorance. And those who have not at least benefited, like some of my eager students from the most far-reaching corners of the earth, are Madoff wannabes, pursuing the American dream of sipping the Kool-Aid at the last banquet of civilization-as-we-have-known-it.
What makes Madoff so mesmerizing is the way in which he resembles us, like a grotesque reflection in a funhouse mirror. In his recent isolation he has even managed to twist his self-image into a heroic one. God help us if he's justified for that will mean he's taking the fall for some even worse monsters who remain at large.
The SEC, for instance. Like the idiot in the old saw which maintains that intelligent people talk about ideas; average folk, about events and idiots about people, the public fixates on Madoff because he's human. The SEC is a deliberately lowkey, boring institution. Not the stuff on which the tabloid mentality thrives.
"But how could this have happened?"
We the people cling to our fairytales, those black and white formulas in which a bad guy gets away with it for so long because, "Who could have expected...?"
"Anyone who looked," shoots back the retort.
That is, anyone who did more than go through the motions of looking. Real looking means asking the basic questions.
Like Bethany McClean who started the unravelling of Enron by asking, "What does Enron actually do to make money?" Like Richard Feinberg whose wife prodded him to join the team investigating the Challenger disaster by saying, "There will be lots of intelligent people asking intelligent questions. You will be the one to ask the stupid questions."
Rather than becoming more suspect over time, the scenario of bumbling, Keystone Cop-like agencies gets reinforced. If it could happen on 9/11, it could happen in the EPA afterwards and later, with foreclosures. If it could happen in those three cases, well that just proves how susceptible oversight agencies can be. So why should we be surprised it happened at the SEC? But rather than focus on the sorry past, let us learn from our mistakes and pass legislation to ensure that it Never Happens Again.
The one thing people seem unwilling to do is probe. To do so is to strike out on your own, estrange yourself from your fellow man. To question the status quo is by definition uncool. In the minds of your friends, you find yourself keeping company with that band of kootie-afflicted kids, the conspiracy theorists.
People who consider themselves cosmopolitan, open-minded liberals, accepting of every color, creed and sexual proclivity, get the heeby jeebies when it comes to questioning the major media whose genius is that it gives the illusion of choice, a smorgasbord of ideas. You can have the red candidate or the blue. They argue so they can't be two sides of the same coin.
Anyway, if it's all a big conspiracy, how come no one's blown the whistle?
I will answer from the issue of which I have the most detailed, first-hand experience as it is as good an example as any of how TPTB get away with it.
After 9/11, three scientific panels were held to investigate the extent of the contamination resulting from the disaster and to come up with solutions. The first two panels each took a couple of days. The last one, which was literally the panel to end all panels, met once a month for nearly two years.
The EPA were present at all three panels, to answer the questions of the visiting scientists. None of those scientists, I believe by the way, was paid for his or her services.
Also present were members of The Community whose function was to point out to those same scientists where the EPA were...uh, leaving out crucial pertinent facts.
"You underestimate the capacity of people to be stupid," I was told by friends concerning the government's actions leading up to and following 9/11.
Not one of these friends was at the panels; nor had they read From the Wilderness or other reputable 9/11 websites.
But having attended (and testified at) every meeting of every scientific panel, I can assure you that whistles were blown, loudly. And that not only the government agency being assailed but also some professors at august universities and some scientists whose hallmark is supposedly objectivity, persistently responded to the whistles by putting metaphorical cotton in their ears or by blowing an even louder, if equally metaphorical, tuba.
As with certain jokes, you had to be there. Every weapon in the arsenal of skullduggery was on view: Lies, damn lies and most of all, statistics.
They lied by testing for the wrong substance or, if the right one, doing the wrong test, using the wrong equipment, putting it in the wrong place, not turning it on or facing it in the wrong direction.
The message was: How can I screw you? Let me count the ways.
The vast majority of people roll over for this because, outraged though they be, they do not feel up to the task of educating themselves.
This, in the age of the internet when knowledge is more equitably available than ever before.
Rather, they opt for what E.M. Forster called the most satisfying of human emotions, moral indignation. And for that, you need 'friends.'
Here, too, the internet, that most adaptable and obliging of creatures, provides. You can confide every banal detail of your life to the universe and have a more concrete expectation than religion offers that a real person might hear you.
Life copies high school. The football hero and the prom queen are the Jungian archetypes of our time. (All right, my time. Amend accordingly.) People still haven't figured out that the football hero and the prom queen may not remain on top of the heap and that what seems geeky and goofy today is the ultracool of tomorrow.
To question Madoff two years ago was weird. Now it's cliche. To be truly cool, you can't be a member of the crowd; you have to lead it.
Northern Emirates to Tackle FNC Over Electricity Crisis
Baghdad Looking Over Prewar Contracts
Japan Looks to Manga Comics To Assist Ailing Economy
Superbailout man.
Libraries Step Into the Age of I-Pod
Recession Credited for Record Drop in Road Deaths
Current Power Crisis in West Africa Presents Lucrative Business Opportunity
In every crisis is opportunity.... for business.
Dow Theory Letters
Bailout Nation
Harvard Course: Dealing with an Angry Public (from Rice Farmer)
Is White the New Green?
Kiss of Death (ASPO paper)
Kids Give Up Wheels For Their Own Two Feet
Drollerdrome
Sustainability blog
Smuggled Seahorses (Chinese Viagra) Seized in Elizabeth
Knights Templar Hid Shroud of Turin
Or: Five Hundred Years Later, Chain of Custody Ceases to Be Issue
BOOK PUBLICATION AND MOTION PICTURE ANNOUNCEMENT
A Presidential Energy Policy: Twenty-five Points Addressing the Siamese Twins of Energy and Money
by
Michael C. Ruppert
ON SALE MAY 1, 2009 at http://www.rubiconworks.com/ and at Amazon.com.
"COLLAPSE" – A Feature Documentary by Bluemark Films. (Winner: Special Dramatic Jury Prize, 2007 Sundance Film Festival, for "The Pool", and Grand Jury Prize, 1999 Sundance Film Festival for "American Movie").
For a full press release on the book, film and important additional information including a complete list of off-the-chart reviews, please visit: http://www.rubiconworks.com/.
Mike Ruppert has been at the forefront of speaking and writing about the grim reality that the world's crude oil output is peaking or has already peaked and will soon begin what could be swift declines over the next decade or two.The world needs to pay careful attention to the multiple risks this event will usher in. Thanks to Ruppert's new book, readers around the world will have access to his well written work.
Matthew R, Simmons
Chairman
Simmons & Company
Author, Twilight in the Desert
----------
Mike Ruppert has an unblemished track record for saying things that are incendiary, outrageous, shocking—and true. Our new president needs desperately to hear the uncomfortable message of this book about energy and the economy, and so do the rest of us.
Richard Heinberg, Ph.D.Ecologist
Author, "The Party’s Over", "Peak Everything", "The Oil Depletion Protocol"
Senior Fellow, Post Carbon Institute
----------
All I can say about A Presidential Energy Policy is, "Yikes!" This is a book everyone should read.
Mike Ruppert is my friend. And, sometimes I remind him, in a way that only a friend can, that my perspective is colored by my own distinct experiences as an informed woman of color in the United States. And frankly, that means that some of what is between these covers makes me cringe; but it is exactly this substance, actively suppressed in proposed national and international gatherings, that we human beings must debate and resolve, or else, we will find Dr. King's admonition, once again, to be true: "We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools."
We know Mike Ruppert because he became a whistleblower and told us some inconvenient truths. About crack cocaine, 9/11/01, and now this -- how to step back from the brink of human disaster.
It is clear that Mike and I are headed toward the same destination, despite our differences. "A Presidential Energy Policy" lands Mike exactly where I am -- outside of the box of political orthodoxy, but well within the space of policy advocacy that is representative of critical thinking, rational analysis, and authentic leadership. Mike Ruppert dares to go where our elected leaders seem afraid to take us. In the end, however, if we are to salvage our own human dignity, either our "leadership" must catch up with us or we must become and nurture a new generation of leaders.
Cynthia McKinney
6-term Member, U.S. House of Representatives
Green Party Presidential Candidate, 2008
This notice is going to stay front and center for a while. For blog updates please see below:
************************************************************************************
The Only Thing We Have To Fear Is the Fear Of Being Uncool
Jenna Orkin
From revelers at a rock concert in Colombia to European farmers to Indian engineering students; from the redundant 'unrest' at prisons to the oxymoronic 'patient riots' at a hospital in South Africa, the natives are restless. Some, like 1500 farmers in India, have turned that unrest on themselves by committing suicide.
Whether it's over the economic crisis, water, food, jobs, bonuses, Bernie Madoff, octuplets or weirdos keeping young girls - offspring or otherwise - in a dungeon for years on end, people are outraged.
We may all be Madoffs as Nouriel Roubini maintains, but some are a deeper shade than others. Even Madoff himself pales in comparison to the economic system in which most of us have colluded, with whatever degree of understanding or willful ignorance. And those who have not at least benefited, like some of my eager students from the most far-reaching corners of the earth, are Madoff wannabes, pursuing the American dream of sipping the Kool-Aid at the last banquet of civilization-as-we-have-known-it.
What makes Madoff so mesmerizing is the way in which he resembles us, like a grotesque reflection in a funhouse mirror. In his recent isolation he has even managed to twist his self-image into a heroic one. God help us if he's justified for that will mean he's taking the fall for some even worse monsters who remain at large.
The SEC, for instance. Like the idiot in the old saw which maintains that intelligent people talk about ideas; average folk, about events and idiots about people, the public fixates on Madoff because he's human. The SEC is a deliberately lowkey, boring institution. Not the stuff on which the tabloid mentality thrives.
"But how could this have happened?"
We the people cling to our fairytales, those black and white formulas in which a bad guy gets away with it for so long because, "Who could have expected...?"
"Anyone who looked," shoots back the retort.
That is, anyone who did more than go through the motions of looking. Real looking means asking the basic questions.
Like Bethany McClean who started the unravelling of Enron by asking, "What does Enron actually do to make money?" Like Richard Feinberg whose wife prodded him to join the team investigating the Challenger disaster by saying, "There will be lots of intelligent people asking intelligent questions. You will be the one to ask the stupid questions."
Rather than becoming more suspect over time, the scenario of bumbling, Keystone Cop-like agencies gets reinforced. If it could happen on 9/11, it could happen in the EPA afterwards and later, with foreclosures. If it could happen in those three cases, well that just proves how susceptible oversight agencies can be. So why should we be surprised it happened at the SEC? But rather than focus on the sorry past, let us learn from our mistakes and pass legislation to ensure that it Never Happens Again.
The one thing people seem unwilling to do is probe. To do so is to strike out on your own, estrange yourself from your fellow man. To question the status quo is by definition uncool. In the minds of your friends, you find yourself keeping company with that band of kootie-afflicted kids, the conspiracy theorists.
People who consider themselves cosmopolitan, open-minded liberals, accepting of every color, creed and sexual proclivity, get the heeby jeebies when it comes to questioning the major media whose genius is that it gives the illusion of choice, a smorgasbord of ideas. You can have the red candidate or the blue. They argue so they can't be two sides of the same coin.
Anyway, if it's all a big conspiracy, how come no one's blown the whistle?
I will answer from the issue of which I have the most detailed, first-hand experience as it is as good an example as any of how TPTB get away with it.
After 9/11, three scientific panels were held to investigate the extent of the contamination resulting from the disaster and to come up with solutions. The first two panels each took a couple of days. The last one, which was literally the panel to end all panels, met once a month for nearly two years.
The EPA were present at all three panels, to answer the questions of the visiting scientists. None of those scientists, I believe by the way, was paid for his or her services.
Also present were members of The Community whose function was to point out to those same scientists where the EPA were...uh, leaving out crucial pertinent facts.
"You underestimate the capacity of people to be stupid," I was told by friends concerning the government's actions leading up to and following 9/11.
Not one of these friends was at the panels; nor had they read From the Wilderness or other reputable 9/11 websites.
But having attended (and testified at) every meeting of every scientific panel, I can assure you that whistles were blown, loudly. And that not only the government agency being assailed but also some professors at august universities and some scientists whose hallmark is supposedly objectivity, persistently responded to the whistles by putting metaphorical cotton in their ears or by blowing an even louder, if equally metaphorical, tuba.
As with certain jokes, you had to be there. Every weapon in the arsenal of skullduggery was on view: Lies, damn lies and most of all, statistics.
They lied by testing for the wrong substance or, if the right one, doing the wrong test, using the wrong equipment, putting it in the wrong place, not turning it on or facing it in the wrong direction.
The message was: How can I screw you? Let me count the ways.
The vast majority of people roll over for this because, outraged though they be, they do not feel up to the task of educating themselves.
This, in the age of the internet when knowledge is more equitably available than ever before.
Rather, they opt for what E.M. Forster called the most satisfying of human emotions, moral indignation. And for that, you need 'friends.'
Here, too, the internet, that most adaptable and obliging of creatures, provides. You can confide every banal detail of your life to the universe and have a more concrete expectation than religion offers that a real person might hear you.
Life copies high school. The football hero and the prom queen are the Jungian archetypes of our time. (All right, my time. Amend accordingly.) People still haven't figured out that the football hero and the prom queen may not remain on top of the heap and that what seems geeky and goofy today is the ultracool of tomorrow.
To question Madoff two years ago was weird. Now it's cliche. To be truly cool, you can't be a member of the crowd; you have to lead it.
Northern Emirates to Tackle FNC Over Electricity Crisis
Baghdad Looking Over Prewar Contracts
Japan Looks to Manga Comics To Assist Ailing Economy
Superbailout man.
Libraries Step Into the Age of I-Pod
Recession Credited for Record Drop in Road Deaths
Current Power Crisis in West Africa Presents Lucrative Business Opportunity
In every crisis is opportunity.... for business.
Dow Theory Letters
Bailout Nation
Harvard Course: Dealing with an Angry Public (from Rice Farmer)
Is White the New Green?
Kiss of Death (ASPO paper)
Kids Give Up Wheels For Their Own Two Feet
Drollerdrome
Sustainability blog
Smuggled Seahorses (Chinese Viagra) Seized in Elizabeth
Knights Templar Hid Shroud of Turin
Or: Five Hundred Years Later, Chain of Custody Ceases to Be Issue
Friday, April 17, 2009
Media outlets requesting a review .pdf file of the book should write to media@rubiconworks.com.
BOOK PUBLICATION AND MOTION PICTURE ANNOUNCEMENT
A Presidential Energy Policy: Twenty-five Points Addressing the Siamese Twins of Energy and Money
by
Michael C. Ruppert
ON SALE MAY 1, 2009 at http://www.rubiconworks.com/ and at Amazon.com.
"COLLAPSE" – A Feature Documentary by Bluemark Films. (Winner: Special Dramatic Jury Prize, 2007 Sundance Film Festival, for "The Pool", and Grand Jury Prize, 1999 Sundance Film Festival for "American Movie").
For a full press release on the book, film and important additional information including a complete list of off-the-chart reviews, please visit: http://www.rubiconworks.com/.
Mike Ruppert has been at the forefront of speaking and writing about the grim reality that the world's crude oil output is peaking or has already peaked and will soon begin what could be swift declines over the next decade or two.
The world needs to pay careful attention to the multiple risks this event will usher in. Thanks to Ruppert's new book, readers around the world will have access to his well written work.
Matthew R, Simmons
Chairman
Simmons & Company
Author, Twilight in the Desert
----------
Mike Ruppert has an unblemished track record for saying things that are incendiary, outrageous, shocking—and true. Our new president needs desperately to hear the uncomfortable message of this book about energy and the economy, and so do the rest of us.
Richard Heinberg, Ph.D.
Ecologist
Author, "The Party’s Over", "Peak Everything", "The Oil Depletion Protocol"
Senior Fellow, Post Carbon Institute
----------
All I can say about A Presidential Energy Policy is, "Yikes!" This is a book everyone should read.
Mike Ruppert is my friend. And, sometimes I remind him, in a way that only a friend can, that my perspective is colored by my own distinct experiences as an informed woman of color in the United States. And frankly, that means that some of what is between these covers makes me cringe; but it is exactly this substance, actively suppressed in proposed national and international gatherings, that we human beings must debate and resolve, or else, we will find Dr. King's admonition, once again, to be true: "We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools."
We know Mike Ruppert because he became a whistleblower and told us some inconvenient truths. About crack cocaine, 9/11/01, and now this -- how to step back from the brink of human disaster.
It is clear that Mike and I are headed toward the same destination, despite our differences. "A Presidential Energy Policy" lands Mike exactly where I am -- outside of the box of political orthodoxy, but well within the space of policy advocacy that is representative of critical thinking, rational analysis, and authentic leadership. Mike Ruppert dares to go where our elected leaders seem afraid to take us. In the end, however, if we are to salvage our own human dignity, either our "leadership" must catch up with us or we must become and nurture a new generation of leaders.
Cynthia McKinney
6-term Member, U.S. House of Representatives
Green Party Presidential Candidate, 2008
This notice is going to stay front and center for a while. For blog updates please see below:
BOOK PUBLICATION AND MOTION PICTURE ANNOUNCEMENT
A Presidential Energy Policy: Twenty-five Points Addressing the Siamese Twins of Energy and Money
by
Michael C. Ruppert
ON SALE MAY 1, 2009 at http://www.rubiconworks.com/ and at Amazon.com.
"COLLAPSE" – A Feature Documentary by Bluemark Films. (Winner: Special Dramatic Jury Prize, 2007 Sundance Film Festival, for "The Pool", and Grand Jury Prize, 1999 Sundance Film Festival for "American Movie").
For a full press release on the book, film and important additional information including a complete list of off-the-chart reviews, please visit: http://www.rubiconworks.com/.
Mike Ruppert has been at the forefront of speaking and writing about the grim reality that the world's crude oil output is peaking or has already peaked and will soon begin what could be swift declines over the next decade or two.
The world needs to pay careful attention to the multiple risks this event will usher in. Thanks to Ruppert's new book, readers around the world will have access to his well written work.
Matthew R, Simmons
Chairman
Simmons & Company
Author, Twilight in the Desert
----------
Mike Ruppert has an unblemished track record for saying things that are incendiary, outrageous, shocking—and true. Our new president needs desperately to hear the uncomfortable message of this book about energy and the economy, and so do the rest of us.
Richard Heinberg, Ph.D.
Ecologist
Author, "The Party’s Over", "Peak Everything", "The Oil Depletion Protocol"
Senior Fellow, Post Carbon Institute
----------
All I can say about A Presidential Energy Policy is, "Yikes!" This is a book everyone should read.
Mike Ruppert is my friend. And, sometimes I remind him, in a way that only a friend can, that my perspective is colored by my own distinct experiences as an informed woman of color in the United States. And frankly, that means that some of what is between these covers makes me cringe; but it is exactly this substance, actively suppressed in proposed national and international gatherings, that we human beings must debate and resolve, or else, we will find Dr. King's admonition, once again, to be true: "We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools."
We know Mike Ruppert because he became a whistleblower and told us some inconvenient truths. About crack cocaine, 9/11/01, and now this -- how to step back from the brink of human disaster.
It is clear that Mike and I are headed toward the same destination, despite our differences. "A Presidential Energy Policy" lands Mike exactly where I am -- outside of the box of political orthodoxy, but well within the space of policy advocacy that is representative of critical thinking, rational analysis, and authentic leadership. Mike Ruppert dares to go where our elected leaders seem afraid to take us. In the end, however, if we are to salvage our own human dignity, either our "leadership" must catch up with us or we must become and nurture a new generation of leaders.
Cynthia McKinney
6-term Member, U.S. House of Representatives
Green Party Presidential Candidate, 2008
This notice is going to stay front and center for a while. For blog updates please see below:
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Watching the Dominoes
From Jenna Orkin:
Americas
US Plans for Colonial Warfare
Some 500 Tea-time Tax Revolt Protests Planned Nationwide (from Rice Farmer)
Defaults to Surge Record 15% on Leveraged Buyouts, S&P Says
Volcker Assumes Smaller Than Expected Role with Obama
Hitler's Specter Inspires Bill White to Do Battle With Greenspan
Report: GM Must Prepare for Bankruptcy
Credit Suisse Starts Shutting US Offshore Accounts
UBS To Announce More Job Cuts Soon
Incredibly Shrinking Market Liquidity or Black Swan of Black Swans
The Shortage Economy
Economic Crisis Imperils Dairy Farms
Credit Crunch Takes Toll on Casinos
SC Governor Runs Ad to Explain Rejection of Stimulus Cash
Cities Turn to Fees to Fill Budget Gaps (from Rice Farmer)
Worsening Drought Sparks Lake Okeechobee Water Fights
Revive Lincoln's Monetary Policy: An Open Letter to President Obama
Believe it or not, someone actually has a rational suggestion for a way out of this quagmire.
Hunger Strike of Bolivia's President Enters Third Day
Asia
China Finds Support in Bid to Dump Dollar
China Slows Purchase of US and Other Foreign Bonds
China's Bank Credit Hits Record High in First Quarter
China Properties Fall by Record; New Construction Tumbles
Survey Finds Chinese Manufacturing Worsening
And Beijing Said: Let There Be Loans
China Promoting Trade with South Asia
US/China Deal Blocks Japan's Action on N. Korea Rocket Launch
Confidence at Japanese Companies at All Time Low
Singapore Economy Shrinks More Than Expected
Singapore: Record GDP Fall
Pakistan to Construct Two Nuclear Power Plants with Chinese Help
Islamist Terrorists Pushing Pakistan Towards Collapse
Punjab Suicides Cast Shadow on Polls
India Outsources - to the US (from Rice Farmer)
Europe/Russia
ECB Sells 35.5 Tonnes of Gold: Bank
Darling Will Offer 2000 Pounds to Scrap Old Cars
Damn the environment, full speed ahead.
Ireland's Economy in Freefall Collapse
Germany Warns of Crisis After Crisis
Slovakia Headed for its First Recession
Countries that Import Gas Via Moldova
Blast Reduces Russian Gas Supply to Balkans
Middle East
US Shipped 989 Munitions Containers to Israel Week Before Gaza Invasion (from Rice Farmer)
Northern Emirates to Tackle FNC Over Electricity Crisis
Baghdad Looking Over Prewar Contracts
Africa
Pirates Hijack Tugboat
Courtesy Michael Mitrosky at Le Metropole Cafe:
The Creature From Jekyll Island by G. Edward Griffin.
Money, Banking, and the Federal Reserve
42 minute video. Complete history of money and banking. The first 7 minutes or so is reminscient of a high school educational video, but after that it gets very interesting.
Austrian Economics
Freedom Watch
Ron Paul Forums
Americas
US Plans for Colonial Warfare
Some 500 Tea-time Tax Revolt Protests Planned Nationwide (from Rice Farmer)
Defaults to Surge Record 15% on Leveraged Buyouts, S&P Says
Volcker Assumes Smaller Than Expected Role with Obama
Hitler's Specter Inspires Bill White to Do Battle With Greenspan
Report: GM Must Prepare for Bankruptcy
Credit Suisse Starts Shutting US Offshore Accounts
UBS To Announce More Job Cuts Soon
Incredibly Shrinking Market Liquidity or Black Swan of Black Swans
The Shortage Economy
Economic Crisis Imperils Dairy Farms
Credit Crunch Takes Toll on Casinos
SC Governor Runs Ad to Explain Rejection of Stimulus Cash
Cities Turn to Fees to Fill Budget Gaps (from Rice Farmer)
Worsening Drought Sparks Lake Okeechobee Water Fights
Revive Lincoln's Monetary Policy: An Open Letter to President Obama
Believe it or not, someone actually has a rational suggestion for a way out of this quagmire.
Hunger Strike of Bolivia's President Enters Third Day
Asia
China Finds Support in Bid to Dump Dollar
China Slows Purchase of US and Other Foreign Bonds
China's Bank Credit Hits Record High in First Quarter
China Properties Fall by Record; New Construction Tumbles
Survey Finds Chinese Manufacturing Worsening
And Beijing Said: Let There Be Loans
China Promoting Trade with South Asia
US/China Deal Blocks Japan's Action on N. Korea Rocket Launch
Confidence at Japanese Companies at All Time Low
Singapore Economy Shrinks More Than Expected
Singapore: Record GDP Fall
Pakistan to Construct Two Nuclear Power Plants with Chinese Help
Islamist Terrorists Pushing Pakistan Towards Collapse
Punjab Suicides Cast Shadow on Polls
India Outsources - to the US (from Rice Farmer)
Europe/Russia
ECB Sells 35.5 Tonnes of Gold: Bank
Darling Will Offer 2000 Pounds to Scrap Old Cars
Damn the environment, full speed ahead.
Ireland's Economy in Freefall Collapse
Germany Warns of Crisis After Crisis
Slovakia Headed for its First Recession
Countries that Import Gas Via Moldova
Blast Reduces Russian Gas Supply to Balkans
Middle East
US Shipped 989 Munitions Containers to Israel Week Before Gaza Invasion (from Rice Farmer)
Northern Emirates to Tackle FNC Over Electricity Crisis
Baghdad Looking Over Prewar Contracts
Africa
Pirates Hijack Tugboat
Courtesy Michael Mitrosky at Le Metropole Cafe:
The Creature From Jekyll Island by G. Edward Griffin.
Money, Banking, and the Federal Reserve
42 minute video. Complete history of money and banking. The first 7 minutes or so is reminscient of a high school educational video, but after that it gets very interesting.
Austrian Economics
Freedom Watch
Ron Paul Forums
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Believing in Resurrection
Jenna Orkin
The belief in spiritual Resurrection and related phenomena has done wonders for a whole lot of people. Who knows if they're right? One day, we'll all find out but then it'll be too late.
The belief in more mundane resurrections, such as for the economy and Life As We Know It, has also done wonders for a whole lot of people. But these days, some are questioning that faith. In fact, they seem to be falling away from it like the old skin of a snake.
We are living in a crucial transition when the illusions that have kept us going for centuries are about to disintegrate and the truth, in all its hideousness, be revealed. (In Latin, a "crux," from which "crucial" derives, is a cross.)
The snake cannot simply grow a new skin. (To follow the metaphor, that would consist of simply transferring one's faith to some new idea.) The snake is dying. And it's not leaving any progeny because the earth is no longer hospitable to snakes.
Whatever comes next, it's not going to be rooted in the same blind faith in Authority, Power and supposed Expertise which has gotten us into this mess. It's not going to have much to do with blind faith in anything. Like the old guy at the end of The Magnificent Ambersons, people are going to stare into the fire and ask themselves the real questions they've spent their whole lives running away from. And that's the beginning of real knowledge.
US/Global
Water Crises: Who's Next?
Goldman Sachs an 'Empty Creditor' of AIG
Would China Dump the Dollar?
Fed Budget Deficit Sets March Record: $192 Billion
What Happens to Stimulus Money to Which States Say No Thanks?
Bomb Scare at Bank of America
Study Confirms Firing Fixes America's Big Businesses
Buzz on job openings: Bee Counter
Obama Flexible on Climate Legislation
As an example of said flexibility on climate change: Government to Buy 17,600 Cars
The Decline and Fall of Time Inc.
Open House, Anyone? 1 in 9 Homes Sits Empty
Why This Will Not Be a Normal Cyclical Recovery
CIA Says Shuttering Detention "Black Sites"
Spy Satellite Agency Boss Resigns
Smoke and Mirrors
Banks Told Not to Mention Stress Tests
Seized Credit Union Planned to Understate Loss
Motorola ex-CFO Says Fired for Doubting Forecasts
Europe/Central Asia/Middle East
Europe and Global Food Security
One Million Bank Customers in Limbo
Ireland is ECB's Sacrificial Lamb to Satisfy Germany's Inflation Demands
Spending is the Key to Avoid Ireland's Plight
Fearing Uprising, Russia Backs Moldova's Communists
Turkmenistan Accuses Gazprom of Causing Pipeline Explosion
The Nabucco Conspiracy (from Rice Farmer)
Surviving in a Post-American World (Jerusalem Post)
The king is dead.
Long live the king: Israel Selling Reconnaissance Drones to Russia
Soldier is Accused of Stealing Iraq War Cash
Africa/Pirates
Pirates Recapture Hostage After Escape Attempt
Somali Pirates in German Ship Fail to Find Comrades
What About the Filipinos? Piracy Focus Seen as Hypocritical
Asia
China, Kazakhstan Sign $10 Billion Accord
Thai Protests Prevent Asian Summit
Protesters at Asia Summit in Thailand
Protests as Japan Approves Nationalist Textbook
Korea, Japan, China to Strengthen Financial Ties
Unusual Chinese Cargo Ship
The belief in spiritual Resurrection and related phenomena has done wonders for a whole lot of people. Who knows if they're right? One day, we'll all find out but then it'll be too late.
The belief in more mundane resurrections, such as for the economy and Life As We Know It, has also done wonders for a whole lot of people. But these days, some are questioning that faith. In fact, they seem to be falling away from it like the old skin of a snake.
We are living in a crucial transition when the illusions that have kept us going for centuries are about to disintegrate and the truth, in all its hideousness, be revealed. (In Latin, a "crux," from which "crucial" derives, is a cross.)
The snake cannot simply grow a new skin. (To follow the metaphor, that would consist of simply transferring one's faith to some new idea.) The snake is dying. And it's not leaving any progeny because the earth is no longer hospitable to snakes.
Whatever comes next, it's not going to be rooted in the same blind faith in Authority, Power and supposed Expertise which has gotten us into this mess. It's not going to have much to do with blind faith in anything. Like the old guy at the end of The Magnificent Ambersons, people are going to stare into the fire and ask themselves the real questions they've spent their whole lives running away from. And that's the beginning of real knowledge.
US/Global
Water Crises: Who's Next?
Goldman Sachs an 'Empty Creditor' of AIG
Would China Dump the Dollar?
Fed Budget Deficit Sets March Record: $192 Billion
What Happens to Stimulus Money to Which States Say No Thanks?
Bomb Scare at Bank of America
Study Confirms Firing Fixes America's Big Businesses
Buzz on job openings: Bee Counter
Obama Flexible on Climate Legislation
As an example of said flexibility on climate change: Government to Buy 17,600 Cars
The Decline and Fall of Time Inc.
Open House, Anyone? 1 in 9 Homes Sits Empty
Why This Will Not Be a Normal Cyclical Recovery
CIA Says Shuttering Detention "Black Sites"
Spy Satellite Agency Boss Resigns
Smoke and Mirrors
Banks Told Not to Mention Stress Tests
Seized Credit Union Planned to Understate Loss
Motorola ex-CFO Says Fired for Doubting Forecasts
Europe/Central Asia/Middle East
Europe and Global Food Security
One Million Bank Customers in Limbo
Ireland is ECB's Sacrificial Lamb to Satisfy Germany's Inflation Demands
Spending is the Key to Avoid Ireland's Plight
Fearing Uprising, Russia Backs Moldova's Communists
Turkmenistan Accuses Gazprom of Causing Pipeline Explosion
The Nabucco Conspiracy (from Rice Farmer)
Surviving in a Post-American World (Jerusalem Post)
The king is dead.
Long live the king: Israel Selling Reconnaissance Drones to Russia
Soldier is Accused of Stealing Iraq War Cash
Africa/Pirates
Pirates Recapture Hostage After Escape Attempt
Somali Pirates in German Ship Fail to Find Comrades
What About the Filipinos? Piracy Focus Seen as Hypocritical
Asia
China, Kazakhstan Sign $10 Billion Accord
Thai Protests Prevent Asian Summit
Protesters at Asia Summit in Thailand
Protests as Japan Approves Nationalist Textbook
Korea, Japan, China to Strengthen Financial Ties
Unusual Chinese Cargo Ship
Friday, April 10, 2009
Financial Warfare, Economic Porn and Other Frippery
From Jenna Orkin:
Global/US
G-20's Global Cash Splash Infuriates ECB
Pentagon, Bankers, Prepare for Financial Warfare
Largest US Banks at Risk of Failure
Danger Lurks Behind US Banks' Results
Go ahead; reconcile the above headlines with the following:
US Markets Surge on News of Wells Fargo Projected Profit
Seeking Alpha agrees:
Data Not Supportive of Higher Stock Prices
Bank of America Needs $36 Billion More: Analyst
Bank of America Chief Ken Lewis Hints He Could Step Down
Ex-Citibank Staff Fined $40K
Is the Bailout Plan Breeding a Greater Crisis?
US Is Pushing Whole World Into Crisis By Printing Excessive Currency
From the Regional Times in Karachi. Pakistan's asking for trouble again.
IMF Special Drawing Right "Paper Gold" as Opposed to a Real Gold Standard
ECB Gold Reserves Rise 24.1 Billion Euros After Revaluation
Fuelling a New World Money Supply
...with carbon.
Half of Global Labour Force Works With No Contract: OECD
Study: Informal Employment at Record Levels
Salary Increases Hit New Low of 2%
Pessimism Porn - Economic Forecasts Get Lurid
Gloomier US Fed Provides Economic Reality Check
You know things are bad when the Fed is the go-to place for a reality check.
Chavez Says China Part of "New World Order"
Toward New Global Currency, New Financial World Order
ASEAN Seeks to Create One Global Village
Meltdown 101 - What the Fed Said and Meant
Why No One Listened to the Harbingers of Doom
The expansion of the world economy depends on human resilience to recession and a short memory of financial distress.
JO: Exactly. Those who do not know history etc.
For the global economy to recover, we must shed our money worries. We must step up to the plate one more time, borrow more money and spend.
JO: So do your Godgiven duty to the economy and Go for, uh, broke.
Fleet Owners Face Bankruptcy From Plunging Shipping Rates
Wholesale Inventories Fall by Record as Sales Rise
Ship on the Move... FBI Involved... Retail Sales Still Weak
Atlantic City Casinos Post Record 19.4% Revenues Decline
Trade Gap Narrows to $26 Billion as Imports Plunge
Husbands, Wives and Hard Times
Europe/Central Asia
Record Slump in Factory Output Leaves Britain Facing Another Fall in Production
German Export Market in Freefall - Down 23% From Same Time Last Year
German Manufacturing Orders Extend Record Decline
Greece on Verge of Bankruptcy (from Rice Farmer)
Russian Uranium Headed for US
Thousands Rally Against Georgia President
A Possible Revolution Simmering in Georgia
Russia Blames Foreign Influence for Moldova Unrest
Russian Gas Supply Cut by Turkmen Blast
Ukraine's Dangerous Game
Asia
26/11 Attackers Got "Significant" Help from India: Zardari
Air India Received Email Threat; Police Trace it to Pakistan
Gasp.
China Signs Deal with NWFP to Track Down Rebels
Deal With Pak[sic] Radicals a First For China
Chinese Gov't Concerns Safety of Hijacked Taiwanese Ship
China Sells Comsats with Military Potential to Oil Producing Nations
Detroit's Auto Pain Hits Japan
Japan Finalising $150 Billion Stimulus Plan
Japan Data Show Record Export, Import Drop
Africa
Somali Pirates Seize Maersk Alabama with 20 Americans
Water
Localized Water Shortages Could Add Up to Global Problem
LA Water Rationing Plan Dealt Surprise Setback
UK: Millions Face Water Bill Rises Up To 29%
Sierra Leone: Water Supply in Kenema Dropped 25%
Global/US
G-20's Global Cash Splash Infuriates ECB
Pentagon, Bankers, Prepare for Financial Warfare
Largest US Banks at Risk of Failure
Danger Lurks Behind US Banks' Results
Go ahead; reconcile the above headlines with the following:
US Markets Surge on News of Wells Fargo Projected Profit
Seeking Alpha agrees:
Data Not Supportive of Higher Stock Prices
Bank of America Needs $36 Billion More: Analyst
Bank of America Chief Ken Lewis Hints He Could Step Down
Ex-Citibank Staff Fined $40K
Is the Bailout Plan Breeding a Greater Crisis?
US Is Pushing Whole World Into Crisis By Printing Excessive Currency
From the Regional Times in Karachi. Pakistan's asking for trouble again.
IMF Special Drawing Right "Paper Gold" as Opposed to a Real Gold Standard
ECB Gold Reserves Rise 24.1 Billion Euros After Revaluation
Fuelling a New World Money Supply
...with carbon.
Half of Global Labour Force Works With No Contract: OECD
Study: Informal Employment at Record Levels
Salary Increases Hit New Low of 2%
Pessimism Porn - Economic Forecasts Get Lurid
Gloomier US Fed Provides Economic Reality Check
You know things are bad when the Fed is the go-to place for a reality check.
Chavez Says China Part of "New World Order"
Toward New Global Currency, New Financial World Order
ASEAN Seeks to Create One Global Village
Meltdown 101 - What the Fed Said and Meant
Why No One Listened to the Harbingers of Doom
The expansion of the world economy depends on human resilience to recession and a short memory of financial distress.
JO: Exactly. Those who do not know history etc.
For the global economy to recover, we must shed our money worries. We must step up to the plate one more time, borrow more money and spend.
JO: So do your Godgiven duty to the economy and Go for, uh, broke.
Fleet Owners Face Bankruptcy From Plunging Shipping Rates
Wholesale Inventories Fall by Record as Sales Rise
Ship on the Move... FBI Involved... Retail Sales Still Weak
Atlantic City Casinos Post Record 19.4% Revenues Decline
Trade Gap Narrows to $26 Billion as Imports Plunge
Husbands, Wives and Hard Times
Europe/Central Asia
Record Slump in Factory Output Leaves Britain Facing Another Fall in Production
German Export Market in Freefall - Down 23% From Same Time Last Year
German Manufacturing Orders Extend Record Decline
Greece on Verge of Bankruptcy (from Rice Farmer)
Russian Uranium Headed for US
Thousands Rally Against Georgia President
A Possible Revolution Simmering in Georgia
Russia Blames Foreign Influence for Moldova Unrest
Russian Gas Supply Cut by Turkmen Blast
Ukraine's Dangerous Game
Asia
26/11 Attackers Got "Significant" Help from India: Zardari
Air India Received Email Threat; Police Trace it to Pakistan
Gasp.
China Signs Deal with NWFP to Track Down Rebels
Deal With Pak[sic] Radicals a First For China
Chinese Gov't Concerns Safety of Hijacked Taiwanese Ship
China Sells Comsats with Military Potential to Oil Producing Nations
Detroit's Auto Pain Hits Japan
Japan Finalising $150 Billion Stimulus Plan
Japan Data Show Record Export, Import Drop
Africa
Somali Pirates Seize Maersk Alabama with 20 Americans
Water
Localized Water Shortages Could Add Up to Global Problem
LA Water Rationing Plan Dealt Surprise Setback
UK: Millions Face Water Bill Rises Up To 29%
Sierra Leone: Water Supply in Kenema Dropped 25%
Wednesday, April 08, 2009
The Morning After the G-20
From Jenna Orkin
Global/Americas
Parsing the G-20's Trillion Dollar Pledge
Some of the money has yet to be pledged, some is double-counted and some would be counted in a “synthetic currency” that is not actually real money.
CEO Confidence Falls to Record Low
Maybe it's just that they can no longer hide the facts.
CEOs Expect More Job Cuts Through Year's End
US Jets Chase Stolen Plane
Nice to see NORAD's on top of its game when it counts.
Stolen Plane Leads Bizarre Chase
Update of previous article.
Obama Assassination Attempt Thwarted
These two events Monday, the first evoking 9/11, the second, JFK and both with direct links to Turkey, are ignored in Tuesday's New York Times. Were they too weird to be fit to print? But a perusal of NYT archives did yield this: US Practices How to Down Hijacked Jets
Economic Patrols Masking Nukes?
Is the Dollar Doomed?
Geithner/Summers Plan Even Worse Than We Thought
Soros Says US Banks "Basically Insolvent"
Soros Says Dollar May Be Replaced as Reserve Currency
Fed Announces Currency Swap with Four Central Banks
Bank Shares Fall as Mayo Gets Biblical on Sector
Bank Losses to Exceed Great Depression: Mayo
Unwinding AIG's Derivatives Exposure: Loomis and Buffett
Citigroup is Living on the Edge
Goldman Sachs' CEO Speech
It seems clear now that managers of companies with large off-balance sheet exposure didn't appreciate the full magnitude of the economic risks they were exposed to; equally worrying, their counterparties were unaware of the full extent of these vehicles and, therefore, could not accurately assess the risk of doing business. Post Enron, that is quite amazing.
Anti-Tax Crusaders Talk Revolt
Mortgage Delinquencies Soar in the US
"Chinese Warren Buffett" Cheated Dallas Investors
Good to see the SEC on the case, albeit one that is one/one thousandth the size of Madoff's and one six millionth (give or take) the size of the upcoming derivatives debacle.
Obama and Gates Gut the Military
Mixed Reaction to US Defense Overhaul
Communities Print Money to Keep Cash Flowing (from Rice Farmer)
Regular People Get Ready for the Worst (from Rice Farmer)
Electricity Grid in US Penetrated by Spies
Under the Bush administration, Congress approved $17 billion in secret funds to protect government networks, according to people familiar with the budget. The Obama administration is weighing whether to expand the program to address vulnerabilities in private computer networks, which would cost billions of dollars more. A senior Pentagon official said Tuesday the Pentagon has spent $100 million in the past six months repairing cyber damage.
Chavez Says Venezuela Wants to Diversify Oil Sales
Venezuela Creates $4 Billion with Japan
Japan, Venezuela to Cooperate on Oil, Gas Projects
Venezuela Leader Eyes Oil Deals in China
From Secrecy News:
The Director of National Intelligence last week named Roslyn A. Mazer of the Department of Justice to be the next Inspector General of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.What makes this an intriguing appointment is that from 1996 to 2000 Ms. Mazer was the first chair of the Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel (ISCAP), which is among the most successful classification reform initiatives of the last half century...
Under Ms. Mazer's leadership from 1996 to 2000, the ISCAP declassified information in an astounding 80% of the documents that were presented for its review.In fact, Ms. Mazer's ISCAP was so successful in overturning spurious classification claims that the Central Intelligence Agency begged for relief from ISCAP jurisdiction. The CIA plea was rejected in a 1999 Office of Legal Counsel decision. But in his 2003 executive order on classification (sect. 5.3f), President Bush granted the CIA a veto over ISCAP declassification rulings.In a 1998 speech to a conference of intelligence agency classification officials, Ms. Mazer criticized what she termed "the Lewis Carroll element of classification policy" which leads to "keeping classified categories of information that everyone already knows."
Shrinking Airlines Park More Planes in the Desert
Drop in Fur Sales Saving Two Million Animals Annually
Europe
RBS To Cut 9000 Jobs
Moldova Election Turns Violent
Italy Muzzled Scientist Who Foresaw Quake (from Rice Farmer)
Earthquake Locator/Monitoring Website
Asia
Far-Off Conflict Reaches Dubai in Chechen Slaying
All Roads Lead to Pakistan
US To Shift Afghan War to Pakistan
Pakistan Could Collapse Within Six Months: US Expert (from Rice Farmer)
Russia's East Siberia-Pacific Pipeline Weeks Away From China
Japan c/a Surplus Halves
Japan Prepares Record Fiscal Stimulus
Japan to Double Stimulus Spending to 4% GDP
Somali Pirates Vs. The World and Guess Who's Winning
Piracy Surge Off Somali Coast
Somali Pirates Avoid Warships to Hijack Three Ships
Australia
Australian Job Advertisements Fall Record 44% on Year
Global/Americas
Parsing the G-20's Trillion Dollar Pledge
Some of the money has yet to be pledged, some is double-counted and some would be counted in a “synthetic currency” that is not actually real money.
CEO Confidence Falls to Record Low
Maybe it's just that they can no longer hide the facts.
CEOs Expect More Job Cuts Through Year's End
US Jets Chase Stolen Plane
Nice to see NORAD's on top of its game when it counts.
Stolen Plane Leads Bizarre Chase
Update of previous article.
Obama Assassination Attempt Thwarted
These two events Monday, the first evoking 9/11, the second, JFK and both with direct links to Turkey, are ignored in Tuesday's New York Times. Were they too weird to be fit to print? But a perusal of NYT archives did yield this: US Practices How to Down Hijacked Jets
Economic Patrols Masking Nukes?
Is the Dollar Doomed?
Geithner/Summers Plan Even Worse Than We Thought
Soros Says US Banks "Basically Insolvent"
Soros Says Dollar May Be Replaced as Reserve Currency
Fed Announces Currency Swap with Four Central Banks
Bank Shares Fall as Mayo Gets Biblical on Sector
Bank Losses to Exceed Great Depression: Mayo
Unwinding AIG's Derivatives Exposure: Loomis and Buffett
Citigroup is Living on the Edge
Goldman Sachs' CEO Speech
It seems clear now that managers of companies with large off-balance sheet exposure didn't appreciate the full magnitude of the economic risks they were exposed to; equally worrying, their counterparties were unaware of the full extent of these vehicles and, therefore, could not accurately assess the risk of doing business. Post Enron, that is quite amazing.
Anti-Tax Crusaders Talk Revolt
Mortgage Delinquencies Soar in the US
"Chinese Warren Buffett" Cheated Dallas Investors
Good to see the SEC on the case, albeit one that is one/one thousandth the size of Madoff's and one six millionth (give or take) the size of the upcoming derivatives debacle.
Obama and Gates Gut the Military
Mixed Reaction to US Defense Overhaul
Communities Print Money to Keep Cash Flowing (from Rice Farmer)
Regular People Get Ready for the Worst (from Rice Farmer)
Electricity Grid in US Penetrated by Spies
Under the Bush administration, Congress approved $17 billion in secret funds to protect government networks, according to people familiar with the budget. The Obama administration is weighing whether to expand the program to address vulnerabilities in private computer networks, which would cost billions of dollars more. A senior Pentagon official said Tuesday the Pentagon has spent $100 million in the past six months repairing cyber damage.
Chavez Says Venezuela Wants to Diversify Oil Sales
Venezuela Creates $4 Billion with Japan
Japan, Venezuela to Cooperate on Oil, Gas Projects
Venezuela Leader Eyes Oil Deals in China
From Secrecy News:
The Director of National Intelligence last week named Roslyn A. Mazer of the Department of Justice to be the next Inspector General of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.What makes this an intriguing appointment is that from 1996 to 2000 Ms. Mazer was the first chair of the Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel (ISCAP), which is among the most successful classification reform initiatives of the last half century...
Under Ms. Mazer's leadership from 1996 to 2000, the ISCAP declassified information in an astounding 80% of the documents that were presented for its review.In fact, Ms. Mazer's ISCAP was so successful in overturning spurious classification claims that the Central Intelligence Agency begged for relief from ISCAP jurisdiction. The CIA plea was rejected in a 1999 Office of Legal Counsel decision. But in his 2003 executive order on classification (sect. 5.3f), President Bush granted the CIA a veto over ISCAP declassification rulings.In a 1998 speech to a conference of intelligence agency classification officials, Ms. Mazer criticized what she termed "the Lewis Carroll element of classification policy" which leads to "keeping classified categories of information that everyone already knows."
Shrinking Airlines Park More Planes in the Desert
Drop in Fur Sales Saving Two Million Animals Annually
Europe
RBS To Cut 9000 Jobs
Moldova Election Turns Violent
Italy Muzzled Scientist Who Foresaw Quake (from Rice Farmer)
Earthquake Locator/Monitoring Website
Asia
Far-Off Conflict Reaches Dubai in Chechen Slaying
All Roads Lead to Pakistan
US To Shift Afghan War to Pakistan
Pakistan Could Collapse Within Six Months: US Expert (from Rice Farmer)
Russia's East Siberia-Pacific Pipeline Weeks Away From China
Japan c/a Surplus Halves
Japan Prepares Record Fiscal Stimulus
Japan to Double Stimulus Spending to 4% GDP
Somali Pirates Vs. The World and Guess Who's Winning
Piracy Surge Off Somali Coast
Somali Pirates Avoid Warships to Hijack Three Ships
Australia
Australian Job Advertisements Fall Record 44% on Year
Monday, April 06, 2009
April 6, 2009
From Jenna Orkin:
Global Crisis/Americas
Estimated Cost of Bailout for US Taxpayers Jumps
Real Jobless Rate Hits 19.8% (from Peter J. Nickitas)
The Recession's Impact: Closing the Clinic
Economy Prompts More Calls to Suicide Hotline
The vortex speeds up: Yearly Record Set in Just Three Months
Downturn May Have Just Begun
From Bubble to Depression?
The Wall Street Journal catches on.
Consumers Fall Behind on Loans at Record Rates
Food Price Hike Crisis in Britain
Darling: I Was Wrong on Recession
Banks Could Bet on Toxic Assets With Taxpayers' Money
EU Finmins Said to Clash on Pan-EU Bank Supervision
Summers Earned Millions From Financial Industry
Bailout Helps Buffett Plenty
Goldman Sachs to Hang Onto Buffett as Client?
Mexico to Seek IMF Credit, Tap Federal Reserve Swap
State Pension Funds Weigh Toxic Assets
Sounds good to us. Can we interest them in a nuclear waste dump?
Is It Better To Buy or Rent?
Water Wars in the West
Heavy Winds Cause Power Outages
Louisiana: A Test Case in Federal Aid
California Faces Greater Risk from Global Warming
Among the projected effects: a loss of up to $3 billion in agricultural revenues by 2050 resulting from reductions in the water supply, a statewide increase in electricity demand of up to 55 percent because of extended use of air conditioning, and a heightened risk of wildfires that could cause billions of dollars in property damages annually.
Gates to Unveil Pentagon Budget on Monday
Energy/Currency
Not Enough Oil for the G-20 Package (from Rice Farmer)
Oil Rises on Stimulus Efforts, OPEC Production Cuts
Banking on Energy (Rather Than Currency or Gold)
One World, One Currency?
Should We Follow the Yellow Brick Road?
The US Strategic Stockpile is Gone: Now What? (2008)
China/Russia/US/Pakistan
China, Russia, Rebuff US at UN to Condemn N. Korea Launch
US Spies on China From Kyrgyz Base: Russian TV
Halting Russia's Population Crisis
See the final explanation - Russians are leery of people whose backgrounds are different from their own - with its accompanying graphic of gravestones marked by nothing but swastikas.
Pakistan, Russia, Agree to Enhance Cooperation
Obama Warns Europe Faces Greater Threat From Al Qaeda
From the "Plus Ca Change" Department, along comes this announcement coupled with this week's Sunday Times Magazine coverstory, "Pakistan." Not one for understatement, each letter of the word formed part of another word such as "anarchic" or "violent."
CIA's New Strategy of Maligning ISI
Pacific
Chinese Navy Has New Sub Base in Pacific (from Rice Farmer)
Why the Global Economic Slump Takes Higher Toll in Japan
President Hu: 5-Point Proposal on China/Japan Ties
Plus...
Here today, gone tomorrow: Piece of Continent Goes Missing
Should Obama Control the Internet? (from Rice Farmer)
Global Asset Strategist
New Creed on Water: Use Less, Pay More
Drug-Resistant TB a "Time Bomb" WHO Chief Says
Nigeria: New Cooker Uses Trash to Feed Poor
The trash is used to generate energy, not food, we hasten to add.
US Judge Stays Deportation of Demjanjuk: KyivPost
Global Crisis/Americas
Estimated Cost of Bailout for US Taxpayers Jumps
Real Jobless Rate Hits 19.8% (from Peter J. Nickitas)
The Recession's Impact: Closing the Clinic
Economy Prompts More Calls to Suicide Hotline
The vortex speeds up: Yearly Record Set in Just Three Months
Downturn May Have Just Begun
From Bubble to Depression?
The Wall Street Journal catches on.
Consumers Fall Behind on Loans at Record Rates
Food Price Hike Crisis in Britain
Darling: I Was Wrong on Recession
Banks Could Bet on Toxic Assets With Taxpayers' Money
EU Finmins Said to Clash on Pan-EU Bank Supervision
Summers Earned Millions From Financial Industry
Bailout Helps Buffett Plenty
Goldman Sachs to Hang Onto Buffett as Client?
Mexico to Seek IMF Credit, Tap Federal Reserve Swap
State Pension Funds Weigh Toxic Assets
Sounds good to us. Can we interest them in a nuclear waste dump?
Is It Better To Buy or Rent?
Water Wars in the West
Heavy Winds Cause Power Outages
Louisiana: A Test Case in Federal Aid
California Faces Greater Risk from Global Warming
Among the projected effects: a loss of up to $3 billion in agricultural revenues by 2050 resulting from reductions in the water supply, a statewide increase in electricity demand of up to 55 percent because of extended use of air conditioning, and a heightened risk of wildfires that could cause billions of dollars in property damages annually.
Too Little Too Late:
Corporate Media "Embedded" with Wall Street as Economic Crisis Hit
The Right Stuff
CNBC gives air time to the prescient after ignoring them when it counted.
Caribbean Exposure in Tax-Haven Crackdown
Prepping for Backlash
Financial Crisis Puts New Emphasis on Security, Chairman of Joint Chiefs SaysGates to Unveil Pentagon Budget on Monday
Energy/Currency
Not Enough Oil for the G-20 Package (from Rice Farmer)
Oil Rises on Stimulus Efforts, OPEC Production Cuts
Banking on Energy (Rather Than Currency or Gold)
One World, One Currency?
Should We Follow the Yellow Brick Road?
The US Strategic Stockpile is Gone: Now What? (2008)
China/Russia/US/Pakistan
China, Russia, Rebuff US at UN to Condemn N. Korea Launch
US Spies on China From Kyrgyz Base: Russian TV
Halting Russia's Population Crisis
See the final explanation - Russians are leery of people whose backgrounds are different from their own - with its accompanying graphic of gravestones marked by nothing but swastikas.
Pakistan, Russia, Agree to Enhance Cooperation
Obama Warns Europe Faces Greater Threat From Al Qaeda
From the "Plus Ca Change" Department, along comes this announcement coupled with this week's Sunday Times Magazine coverstory, "Pakistan." Not one for understatement, each letter of the word formed part of another word such as "anarchic" or "violent."
CIA's New Strategy of Maligning ISI
Pacific
Chinese Navy Has New Sub Base in Pacific (from Rice Farmer)
Why the Global Economic Slump Takes Higher Toll in Japan
President Hu: 5-Point Proposal on China/Japan Ties
Plus...
Here today, gone tomorrow: Piece of Continent Goes Missing
Should Obama Control the Internet? (from Rice Farmer)
Global Asset Strategist
New Creed on Water: Use Less, Pay More
Drug-Resistant TB a "Time Bomb" WHO Chief Says
Nigeria: New Cooker Uses Trash to Feed Poor
The trash is used to generate energy, not food, we hasten to add.
US Judge Stays Deportation of Demjanjuk: KyivPost
Saturday, April 04, 2009
From Jenna Orkin:
Global/US
Pakistan/Taliban Head "Responsible" for Binghamton Attack
I Fear Global Collapse: UN Secretary-General
G-20: Trillion Dollars and "A New World Order"
G-20 Shows Power Shift to Multi-Polar World
IMF Makes Comeback as it Wields $1 Trillion for Global Rescue
On the other hand: World Trade Keeps Shrinking
Brazil President Supports Alternative Currency to Dollar
Laffer Supports New Reserve Currency
China's First Step Towards Bilateral Currency Swaps
China/Argentina Currency Swap
RMB Likely To Become Reserve Currency in 15 Years
Bernanke Inserts Gun in Mouth
Don't get your hopes up; instead, ask, "Whose mouth?"
Under New Accounting Rule, Toxic Assets May Be Revalued
A new, improved version of Enron.
Mark-to-Market Changes May Have Muted Impact on Banks
Obama Banking Policy Signals Trillion Dollar Writedowns from Loans
Dollar Debased Like Never Before
More Ugly Details on Geithner's Heist Plan
Geithner's Dirty Little Secret
William Engdahl, normally seen at Global Research and Le Metropole Cafe, breaks through to the mainstream, albeit in Asia.
Citibank to Investors: Short Us
Buffett Penalized as Citigroup Borrows for Less
Liberal Media Conspiracy Run by Buffett and Gates
From the "Life Copies Satire" department.
Non-OPEC Oil Supply to Fall Further, Faster
Air Force Base Begins 100% Shred Policy
It Will All End in Disaster
Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch...
Food Stamp List Swells to Record 32.2 Million
Record 5.8 Million on Jobless Benefits
US Home Equity Loan Delinquencies Climb to Record
Consumer Loan Delinquencies Highest on Record
Midwest Economy Shows Deep Recession
Europe
Eurozone Unemployment Rises Unexpectedly to 8.5%
More Than 1000 Swiss Re Jobs Cut
Water
Aquifer Recharge Projects Catching On In Water Strapped Cities
Biofuels Add to World's Water Shortage
Turkey Water Exports to Iraq to Double
Bay Area, Florida Drought
Water Shortage Works Against Kansas Coal-Fueled Power Plants
Eastern Europe/Central Asia
Eastern European PMI
Russia Keeps Some Troops in Georgia, Defying Deal
Anti-Gov't Rally in Ukraine
US/Uzbekistan Sign Deal for Afghan Supply Route
US Seeks NATO Boost for Afghan War
Russian TV Saying US Spying at Kyrgyzstan Air Base
Mumbai Massacre Kicks Off an Arms Race
Asia
Financial Crisis Hits Jobs, Income in Poor Countries
Asian Data Show Severity of Slump
Japan Pension Posts Record Loss
Climate Change Policies Risk Protectionism, China, India Say
China's Research Ship Makes Port Call in Taiwan
Vietnam Seizes Hong Kong Ship
Malaysian Prime Minister to Resign April 2
Africa
Chinese Navy Sends Stealth Frigate to Somalia
Ships Held by Somali Pirates
France and Africa: New Relationship?
Nigeria's Electricity Generation Setback Due to Gas Shortage
Gold
Gold May Rebound This Week As Investors Seek Alternative Assets
Did the ECB Save COMEX From Gold Default?
Brave New World
Film Sheds Light on Shadowy World of Germ Warfare
Gene-Engineered Viruses Build a Better Battery
Robot Scientists Can Think for Themselves
But can they figure out what women want?
Global/US
Pakistan/Taliban Head "Responsible" for Binghamton Attack
I Fear Global Collapse: UN Secretary-General
G-20: Trillion Dollars and "A New World Order"
G-20 Shows Power Shift to Multi-Polar World
IMF Makes Comeback as it Wields $1 Trillion for Global Rescue
On the other hand: World Trade Keeps Shrinking
Brazil President Supports Alternative Currency to Dollar
Laffer Supports New Reserve Currency
China's First Step Towards Bilateral Currency Swaps
China/Argentina Currency Swap
RMB Likely To Become Reserve Currency in 15 Years
Bernanke Inserts Gun in Mouth
Don't get your hopes up; instead, ask, "Whose mouth?"
Under New Accounting Rule, Toxic Assets May Be Revalued
A new, improved version of Enron.
Mark-to-Market Changes May Have Muted Impact on Banks
Obama Banking Policy Signals Trillion Dollar Writedowns from Loans
Dollar Debased Like Never Before
More Ugly Details on Geithner's Heist Plan
Geithner's Dirty Little Secret
William Engdahl, normally seen at Global Research and Le Metropole Cafe, breaks through to the mainstream, albeit in Asia.
Citibank to Investors: Short Us
Buffett Penalized as Citigroup Borrows for Less
Liberal Media Conspiracy Run by Buffett and Gates
From the "Life Copies Satire" department.
Non-OPEC Oil Supply to Fall Further, Faster
Air Force Base Begins 100% Shred Policy
It Will All End in Disaster
Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch...
Food Stamp List Swells to Record 32.2 Million
Record 5.8 Million on Jobless Benefits
US Home Equity Loan Delinquencies Climb to Record
Consumer Loan Delinquencies Highest on Record
Midwest Economy Shows Deep Recession
Europe
Eurozone Unemployment Rises Unexpectedly to 8.5%
More Than 1000 Swiss Re Jobs Cut
Water
Aquifer Recharge Projects Catching On In Water Strapped Cities
Biofuels Add to World's Water Shortage
Turkey Water Exports to Iraq to Double
Bay Area, Florida Drought
Water Shortage Works Against Kansas Coal-Fueled Power Plants
Eastern Europe/Central Asia
Eastern European PMI
Russia Keeps Some Troops in Georgia, Defying Deal
Anti-Gov't Rally in Ukraine
US/Uzbekistan Sign Deal for Afghan Supply Route
US Seeks NATO Boost for Afghan War
Russian TV Saying US Spying at Kyrgyzstan Air Base
Mumbai Massacre Kicks Off an Arms Race
Asia
Financial Crisis Hits Jobs, Income in Poor Countries
Asian Data Show Severity of Slump
Japan Pension Posts Record Loss
Climate Change Policies Risk Protectionism, China, India Say
China's Research Ship Makes Port Call in Taiwan
Vietnam Seizes Hong Kong Ship
Malaysian Prime Minister to Resign April 2
Africa
Chinese Navy Sends Stealth Frigate to Somalia
Ships Held by Somali Pirates
France and Africa: New Relationship?
Nigeria's Electricity Generation Setback Due to Gas Shortage
Gold
Gold May Rebound This Week As Investors Seek Alternative Assets
Did the ECB Save COMEX From Gold Default?
Brave New World
Film Sheds Light on Shadowy World of Germ Warfare
Gene-Engineered Viruses Build a Better Battery
Robot Scientists Can Think for Themselves
But can they figure out what women want?
Thursday, April 02, 2009
From Jenna Orkin:
Global Economic Crisis
Global Economy Set for Worst Fall Since WW II
Global Economy to Shrink 1.7%: World Bank
World Bank, OECD Warn of Jobless Jump
OECD TO Contract 4.3%
OECD Cuts German Economic Forecast to 5.3% Contraction
France Says Separate Currency Summit Might Be Needed
Argentina's Redrado: Could Be Time for Single Regional Currency
Bank Loans Plummet as Obama Boosts Lending
Former Bank of America Employee Pleads Guilty to Ponzi Scheme
Political Pranksters at Bank of America
Unrest at USCS
Russia/China/US
Russia Becoming China's Biggest Energy Supplier
Russia/US Dispute Arises Over Canada Spying Accusation
Chinese Weapon Cause for Concern in US Navy
Pentagon Report on China's Military Power
Chinese Inmates at Guantanamo Pose Dilemma
Russia/Eastern Europe
Russia Carves Out Role In Crisis-Hit Economy
Its suggestion to replace the dollar with a new international reserve currency quickly found support from China and sparked international debate...
Russia has been using some of its cash to strengthen its position as a regional economic power, granting loans to Ukraine, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia. It is also considering credit requests from other countries as far afield as Iceland.
Ore Rich Russia Calls For Return to Gold Standard
Russia/Ukraine Tensions Flare After EU Gas Deal
Austria Gas and the Big Bad Russians
Russia Invades the Hungarian Energy Sector
Blast Reduces Russian Gas Supplies to Balkans
And in addition to its role in the G20, Polish Minister Wants to See Russia in NATO
Asia
US Offers Olive Branch to Nonviolent Taliban
US Reconciliation Offer 'Lunatic': Taliban Spokesman
Pakistan/India Trade Fire Across LoC
Pakistan Spies Under Heat in New US Strategy
Doubts Over Mumbai Suspect Lawyer
And as the US auto industry bites the dust:
Pakistan, China Cooperate in Setting Up Automotive Industry
Riots in India After Teacher Beats Up Student
Dreaming of a South Asia Union
China/Japan Launch Forest Project To Protect China's Coastal Environment
Japanese Business Confidence Hits New Low
Japan's Rice Farmers Fear Their Future is Shrinking
Comment, Rice Farmer?
Africa
Maritime Group Seeks Increased Patrols in Somalia
Water
Business Suffers with World Water Shortage
World Water Day: Critical Shortages in Myanmar
Palace Allays Fears of Water Shortage (Philippines)
Experts Warn of Major UK Water Shortage
The image of the Englishman with his umbrella faces the same fate as the polar bear, apparently.
Iraq Blames Neighbor for Water Shortage
US (Florida): Toughest Water Rules Yet
California Drought Reveals the New Oil
Through the Looking Glass Protests: "Kangaroo Court" Hearing on California Drought
Electricity
Electricity Shortages in Central Asia
Blackouts and the Electricity Grid: What's to Come
Brave New World
UK: Big Brother is Watching: Surveillance of Drivers
Spyroads
Thought-Controlled Robots
Global Economic Crisis
Global Economy Set for Worst Fall Since WW II
Global Economy to Shrink 1.7%: World Bank
World Bank, OECD Warn of Jobless Jump
OECD TO Contract 4.3%
OECD Cuts German Economic Forecast to 5.3% Contraction
France Says Separate Currency Summit Might Be Needed
Argentina's Redrado: Could Be Time for Single Regional Currency
Bank Loans Plummet as Obama Boosts Lending
Former Bank of America Employee Pleads Guilty to Ponzi Scheme
Political Pranksters at Bank of America
Unrest at USCS
Russia/China/US
Russia Becoming China's Biggest Energy Supplier
Russia/US Dispute Arises Over Canada Spying Accusation
Chinese Weapon Cause for Concern in US Navy
Pentagon Report on China's Military Power
Chinese Inmates at Guantanamo Pose Dilemma
Russia/Eastern Europe
Russia Carves Out Role In Crisis-Hit Economy
Its suggestion to replace the dollar with a new international reserve currency quickly found support from China and sparked international debate...
Russia has been using some of its cash to strengthen its position as a regional economic power, granting loans to Ukraine, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia. It is also considering credit requests from other countries as far afield as Iceland.
Ore Rich Russia Calls For Return to Gold Standard
Russia/Ukraine Tensions Flare After EU Gas Deal
Austria Gas and the Big Bad Russians
Russia Invades the Hungarian Energy Sector
Blast Reduces Russian Gas Supplies to Balkans
And in addition to its role in the G20, Polish Minister Wants to See Russia in NATO
Asia
US Offers Olive Branch to Nonviolent Taliban
US Reconciliation Offer 'Lunatic': Taliban Spokesman
Pakistan/India Trade Fire Across LoC
Pakistan Spies Under Heat in New US Strategy
Doubts Over Mumbai Suspect Lawyer
And as the US auto industry bites the dust:
Pakistan, China Cooperate in Setting Up Automotive Industry
Riots in India After Teacher Beats Up Student
Dreaming of a South Asia Union
China/Japan Launch Forest Project To Protect China's Coastal Environment
Japanese Business Confidence Hits New Low
Japan's Rice Farmers Fear Their Future is Shrinking
Comment, Rice Farmer?
Africa
Maritime Group Seeks Increased Patrols in Somalia
Water
Business Suffers with World Water Shortage
World Water Day: Critical Shortages in Myanmar
Palace Allays Fears of Water Shortage (Philippines)
Experts Warn of Major UK Water Shortage
The image of the Englishman with his umbrella faces the same fate as the polar bear, apparently.
Iraq Blames Neighbor for Water Shortage
US (Florida): Toughest Water Rules Yet
California Drought Reveals the New Oil
Through the Looking Glass Protests: "Kangaroo Court" Hearing on California Drought
Electricity
Electricity Shortages in Central Asia
Blackouts and the Electricity Grid: What's to Come
Brave New World
UK: Big Brother is Watching: Surveillance of Drivers
Spyroads
Thought-Controlled Robots
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