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 SPENGLER
Truth, lies and ticker tape
The world will not end if the US Congress refuses to pass a redrawn financial
sector bailout plan. Unfortunately, nor will it be the end of America's
financier caste, which will live to fleece another day. But when you hear that
there is no choice but a bailout, remember: it just ain't so.
(Oct 1, '08)
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DISPATCHES FROM AMERICA
How forgotten Iraq may
elect the president
The centerpiece of the United States presidential race may turn on an almost
forgotten war in a forgotten country - Iraq, a tinderbox that could explode at
any moment. The war is causing two powerful riptides just below the surface of
American politics. There is Democrat Senator Barack Obama's war, the realistic
disaster that most Americans have now accepted, and Republican Senator John
McCain's war, the symbolic success story that so many Americans still wish was
the reality. - Ira Chernus (Oct 1, '08)
The cost of boots on the ground in
Iraq
The 190,000 contractors in Iraq and neighboring countries, from cooks to truck
drivers, have cost US taxpayers US$100 billion from the start of the war
through the end of 2008, a new US government study says. Yet while it costs
half a million dollars per year to maintain a Blackwater professional armed
guard, it costs exactly the same to keep one sergeant in combat in Iraq.
(Oct 1, '08)
Iran fears nuclear witchhunt
The cash-strapped International Atomic Energy Agency's flip-flops on Iran, now
saying it cannot confirm the absence of a clandestine nuclear program, raise
concerns that the United Nations' nuclear watchdog is under pressure from the
West to tighten the screws on Tehran. At the same time, the longer the nuclear
crisis continues, the less isolated Tehran becomes internationally. - Kaveh L
Afrasiabi (Oct 1, '08)
Sinophobia smolders in Malaysia
A ruling party official in Malaysia has been suspended after an anti-Chinese
tirade in which he described ethnic Chinese Malaysians as devious "squatters"
undeserving of equal rights. Such racism has a long and tragic history in
Southeast Asia, but Malaysia's punitive reaction to the remarks may signal a
new era of multiculturalism. - Hui Yew-Foong (Oct
1, '08)
Syria's unlikely shepherd
The United States may be easing its stance towards Syria, an ally of Iran still
listed by the US as a sponsor of terror, with talk of a "potential thaw"
following recent talks. Damascus has appealed for Washington's help in its
burgeoning peace process with Israel, while Saturday's deadly car-bombing in
Damascus highlights the need for coordinated counter-terrorism efforts. - Jim
Lobe (Oct 1, '08)
Bad tidings in Iraqi Kurdistan
A volatile situation has developed in northern Iraq, where Baghdad's decision
to launch "Operation Good Tidings", a military offensive to grasp control of
Kurdish-controlled territories, has turned Kurds against the government.
Mindful of old wounds, autonomous Kurdistan sees the deployment as a test of
its power and promises to match each Iraqi brigade with two of its own.
(Oct 1, '08)
Japan adrift in the Indian Ocean
For the second time in a year, the question of whether or not to extend Japan's
Indian Ocean commitment in the US-led war in Afghanistan may decide the fate of
the Japanese cabinet. Prime Minister Taro Aso is caught between public
opposition to Japan's militarization and unrelenting pressure from Washington
to "shoulder its responsibilities". Chasing pirates may be a better option.
(Oct 1, '08)
Bush had no plan to catch Bin Laden
The United States missed the opportunity to catch Osama bin Laden in
Afghanistan in 2001, new evidence reveals, because Washington was obsessed with
starting the Iraq War and failed to allocate enough troops to the task. The
blunder was allegedly compounded by a decision to turn down an offer of 60,000
Pakistani troops. - Gareth Porter (Sep 30,
'08)
The
fight goes on, militants tell Pakistan
The Taliban have officially rejected a Saudi Arabian-British backdoor
initiative for Islamabad to strike peace deals with militants in Pakistan. The
Taliban realize the aim is to separate them from al-Qaeda, and are having none
of it. So the battle in the tribal areas continues apace, with the militants
now attracting vital support from across the border in Afghanistan, as well as
from previously pro-Pakistan tribal chiefs. - Syed Saleem Shahzad
(Sep 30, '08)
Why the US is losing in
Afghanistan
Most of the literature on the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the
"war on terror" focuses on the burden these conflicts place on the US federal
budget. This is a very real issue, but it deflects attention from another key
point: in Afghanistan, the US has consistently failed to provide the financial
and military resources necessary to win the war. - Anthony H Cordesman
(Sep 30, '08)
Danger
- Ben and Henry at work
United States Fed chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson
have failed to cope with the US's financial crisis, and their bailout plan was
inequitable, morally unacceptable, in total contradiction to sound banking
principles, dangerously inflationary and potentially highly disruptive for the
long-term health of the economy. - Hossein Askari and Noureddine Krichene
(Sep 30, '08)
The cost of 'no government'
Americans for six successive congressional elections voted into power the
anti-government Republican Party. The bills for "getting the government off our
backs" - including its crucial regulatory function - are now coming in. - Julian
Delasantellis (Sep 30, '08)
THE BEAR'S LAIR
Creating a great depression
A re-run of the Great Depression, with or without hyperinflation, is still by
no means inevitable. Yet we are a lot closer than we were a month ago, and the
outlook only looks bleaker when considering the likely actions of the next
White House occupant. - Martin Hutchinson (Sep 30,
'08)
THE MOGAMBO GURU
The world's most powerful
currency
Consumers who thought they could get a perpetual free lunch by borrowing money
to pay for it are discovering that the bill comes sooner or later. But the
golden lining to this dark cloud is visible in the East.
(Sep 30, '08)
 SUN
WUKONG
Carrying the can for
China's tragedies
China's swift punishment of officials linked to the tainted-milk scandal and a
recent mining catastrophe may signal a new era of accountability for its
leadership. But with the system still vague, and disgraced officials often
swiftly re-appointed, the concept seems unlikely to fly. - Wu Zhong
(Sep 30, '08)
SPENGLER
US wealth in shrink mode
Leverage is the secret of American wealth, helping to triple over the past 40
years the proportion of wealth held by the average US family compared with its
annual income. With leveraging now broken, the bottom could be a long way down.
(Sep 29, '08)
 CHAN
AKYA
Deaf
frogs and the Pied Piper
The United States financial crisis is being hailed as the death of market
capitalism and has resurrected enthusiasm for socialism, notably as practiced
in various parts of Asia. Choose that route, and Asian governments can yet
manage to heap misery on their unsuspecting populations for years to come.
(Sep 29, '08)
DISPATCHES FROM AMERICA
We have the money
Few blinked when a US$612 billion Pentagon budget sailed through the US
Congress, even as negotiators in Washington were scrambling to find a similar
sum to deal with financial meltdown. Congress has been corrupted by the
military-industrial complex into believing that, by voting for more defense
spending, they are supplying "jobs". In fact, they are diverting scarce
resources from the desperately needed rebuilding of the American
infrastructure. - Chalmers Johnson (Sep 29,
'08)
Israel lobby loses on Iran
resolution
In a surprise defeat for pro-Israel lobby groups in the United States, the
House of Representatives has shelved a resolution aimed at curtailing Iran's
nuclear program by means of a naval blockade. The initiative, which critics had
decried as an "act of war", was defeated by a last-minute charge of lobby
groups calling for diplomatic engagement with Tehran. - Jim Lobe
(Sep 29, '08)
 CAMPAIGN
OUTSIDER
The wrong vice
In this week's vice presidential debate in the United States between Mr
Know-it-all and Miss Congeniality, don't assess which nominee would make the
best vice president, but which presidential nominee chose the best running mate
and the clues that selection provides about his would-be presidency. - Muhammad
Cohen (Sep 29, '08)
Red capitalism or market
communism?
China's former paramount leader Deng Xiaoping cautioned that there is no
absolute demarcation between socialism and capitalism. That may comfort China's
present leaders, oft criticized in the United States for not hastening the
development of free markets, as they watch the US government buy up private
assets at an unprecedented rate - and as Chinese provincial governments demand
intervention in the property market. - Sally Wang (Sep
26, '08)
Financial crisis threatens US
influence
The added burden of a US$700 billion Wall Street bailout to the US$15 billion
the US is already spending every month on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will
almost certainly damage Washington's ability to get its way abroad. Apart from
the international loss of face incurred by the former champion of the free
market, cuts can be expected in foreign aid, which the US uses to
influence the behavior of countries. - Jim Lobe (Sep
26, '08)
CHINA'S DOLLAR MILLSTONE
History
of monetary imperialism
Given US dollar hegenomy, China and Japan have little choice but to invest
their export earnings in US Treasuries or other dollar-denominated assets. In
consequence, China now lends to the US more than double the vast sums
Washington lent to war-torn Europe in 1947 under the Marshall Plan. And the US
is anything but war-torn. - Henry C K Liu (Sep 25,
'08)
This is the third part of a continuing series.
 Part 1:
Breaking free from dollar hegemony
Part 2:
Developing
China with sovereign credit
Militants shake off Pakistan's grip
Pakistan's tribal areas are steadily falling to a creeping Taliban-led
militancy. Military operations have proved ineffective, while the militants
have rejected offers of ceasefires. Islamabad and the United States are now
getting what they initially set in motion - "conflict escalation". - Syed Saleem
Shahzad (Sep 24, '08)
The
lonely death of Cycle Maung Maung
Being an ardent supporter of Myanmar's military regime brought its perks - and
a nickname - for Cycle Maung Maung; a mobile phone, permission to drive a
motorcycle in Yangon, things beyond the reach of his neighbors. It also put him
in the front lines when the junta and its supporters bloodily suppressed the
monk-led uprising of one year ago, and earned him a lot of bad karma. Those who
knew Maung Maung say it was karma that killed him. - Norman Robespierre
(Sep 24, '08)
SPENGLER
E pluribus hokum
Americans are taxing themselves, hugely,
to keep the US financial casino running, even though it will not profit them.
Why does the government not, instead, let the Chinese, or the Saudis, take
control of failed US banks? Where, in fact, is the leader who will drive out
the American oligarchs who have stolen the country's treasure?
(Sep 22, '08)
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Chinese
doubts weigh on commodities
Concern over the state of the global economy was weighing on commodity prices
even before US legislators rejected Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's
financial sector bailout plan. The impact of declining Chinese economic growth
is also having an impact that is set to intensify. - R M Cutler
CHINA'S DOLLAR MILLSTONE
Gold, manipulation
and domination
For China, the world's biggest creditor nation, to allow successful national
development it must cease having its currency a derivative of the US dollar and
stop relying on a US-dollar denominated trade surplus to finance domestic
development. The historic role of gold and its manipulation tells it as much. - Henry
C K Liu
This is the fourth part of a continuing series.
Part 1:
Breaking free from dollar hegemony
Part 2:
Developing China with sovereign credit
Part 3:
History of monetary imperialism
China eases open bonds door
A market for commercial corporate bonds may be emerging in China, which would
greatly increase the opportunities for companies to raise cash without recourse
to bank loans or share issues. Even so, serious obstacles to the development of
capital markets remain. - Pieter Bottelier
Inflation in stereo
Thanks to the ceaseless creation of ever-more money and credit, inflation is
seeping into every aspect of US life, and it doesn't just affect price labels.
Just try getting a product warranty honored. All thanks to former Fed head Alan
Greenspan.
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CREDIT BUBBLE BULLETIN
A
changed financial landscape
US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's bailout of the financial sector may haul
the economy back from the precipice. Either way, less finance will now go
towards entrepreneurial activities, productive endeavors and the asset markets
- and ample government-directed purchasing power will ensure stubborn consumer
price inflation. (Sep 29, '08)
Doug Noland looks at the previous week's events each Monday.
THE WEEK AHEAD
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... [W]hen you deploy leverage, you are deploying someone else's money. You are
ultimately dependent on the kindness of strangers ... a la Blanche Dubois. Just
as credit was the oxygen for this orgy of speculation, its removal results in
asphyxiation.
Aly-Khan Satchu
Nairobi |
| Go
to Letters to the Editor |
On The Edge
... The current Russian Army may not be the same size as the Russian
component of the Warsaw Pact forces but they can still do a lot of damage
against an equally weak NATO force. And, unlike the days of the Cold War, there
are no land forces available in the CONUS [continental United States] to
reinforce NATO forces ...
bigbird |
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Go to the readers' forum topic, War
with Russia sooner than later
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ATol Specials
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VIDEO
Taliban's new breed of leader
(May '08) |
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The
Gates
Inheritance
By
Roger Morris
(June '07) |
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Syed Saleem Shahzad reports on
the Afghan war from the Taliban side
(Dec '06)
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How
Hezbollah defeated Israel
By
Mark Perry and
Alastair Crooke
(Oct '06)
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Mark
Perry and
Alastair Crooke
talk to the 'terrorists'
(Mar '06)
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China:
The
Impossible
Revolution
By
Francesco Sisci
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The Coming
Trade War
By Henry C K Liu
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A series
by Henry C K Liu
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Sinoroving
Pepe Escobar in China
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Money, Power
and
Modern Art
A series by Henry C K Liu
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Andre Gunder Frank on Uncle Sam and his
shrinking dollar
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By Pepe Escobar with
photographs by Kevin Nortz
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Nir Rosen goes inside the Iraqi
resistance
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Nir Rosen rides with the US 3rd
Armored Cavalry in western Iraq
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