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In life, or death, Baitullah's fight endures
Reports of the death of Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud may be
premature, but they do raise the issue of how his demise will affect the
struggle he has championed against foreign forces in Afghanistan and Pakistani
troops in the tribal areas. If history is any indication, another leader will
quickly emerge to replace the man described as "more dangerous than Osama bin
Laden", and the battle will go even more global. - Syed Saleem Shahzad
(Oct 2, '08)
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Wolfowitz up to more mischief?
Former United States deputy defense secretary and World Bank
chief Paul Wolfowitz is embroiled in a geostrategic conflict of interests
through his chairmanship of a US arms-control advisory panel as well as the
US-Taiwan Business Council. At the heart of the matter is a pending US$11
billion arms package for Taiwan. - Jim Lobe (Oct 2,
'08)
China tangled up in red, white and blue
China has been a less divisive issue than usual in the run-up to the United
States presidential elections, but in Beijing the leaders are watching
developments closely, having already predicted relations with Washington will
become less volatile, no matter who takes over the White House. - Dingli Shen
(Oct 2, '08)
India aglow as nuclear pact approved
The US Senate has ratified a long-delayed civilian nuclear pact with India,
handing a rare foreign policy victory to President George W Bush and
culminating a three-year debate that raised alarms about a new arms race and
nearly toppled India's government. - Siddharth Srivastava
(Oct 2, '08)
The odd couple of global
spirituality
In an electrifying salvo, Miguel d'Escoto, the current president of the United
Nations General Assembly, has infused new energy into his position with a call
to tap spirituality as a wellspring of global solidarity. The former
Sandinista-sympathetic priest has found an unlikely ally in Iran's President
Mahmud Ahmadinejad, and the UN may never be the same. - Kaveh L Afrasiabi
(Oct 2, '08)
Who pushed Medvedev?
President Dmitry Medvedev started out by improving the public mood in Russia
and invigorating relationships with European leaders. After the adventure in
Georgia, however, Moscow got right back to Cold War paranoia and was again
frozen out by the West. Yet some in the Kremlin are glowing. - Andreas Umland
(Oct 2, '08)
 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)
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 (Oct 1, '08)
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
THE MOGAMBO GURU
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. (Oct 1, '08)
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)
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)
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 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)
 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)
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Crisis
control fit
for the TV age
As the world awaits the next vote on the US bank bailout plan, and fantasy
numbers become an important balance-sheet entry, the real crisis remains
untouched - that Americans think they can adjust economic policies simply on
the basis of what they like. They face a rude awakening. - Julian Delasantellis
Yen a winner from
financial woes
The Japanese currency looks set to strengthen further as investors become
increasingly wary of risky investments amid a global economic slowdown. That
means a reduced willingness to take advantage of the country's low interest
rates. - Kosuke Takahashi
 ASIA
HAND
SE Asian memo
to Wall Street
Southeast Asia is no disinterested bystander as US politicians and bankers slug
out details of Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's rescue bill. Strong and
bitter memories remain of the bailout terms imposed from the West during the
Asian financial crisis a decade ago, terms now mocked by actions in Wall St and
Washington. - Shawn W Crispin
Asian markets brush
off Senate move
Hyped by its backers as the last thing preventing the entire United States
economy from sinking into a black hole of immeasurable depth and torment, the
US$810 billion financial rescue bill was passed by the US Senate on Thursday
evening - and Asian markets barely blinked. - R M Cutler
The $200 million house of bread Outrageous claims to the
contrary by supposedly clever folk who should know better, there is No Freaking
Way that the US taxpayer will show a real, inflation-adjusted profit from the
bailout of the financial sector. Their time would be better spent buying gold.
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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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... [I]n the end, both the American people and foreign investors were scammed.
A more vigilant and responsible US government would/should have stepped in at
an early stage to prevent the con game from spiraling out of control and
ruining the lives of millions ...
John Chen |
| Go
to Letters to the Editor |
On The Edge
The sinking value of the greenback and the rise of the euro as the
principle international reserve currency which could conceivably replace it in
oil transactions is just another reason why Uncle Sam is so determined to throw
his military weight around.
Charles Knause |
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Go to the readers' forum topic, The
Independent European Defense Intitiative
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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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