President Robert Mugabe swore in his longtime rival as prime minister Wednesday, cracking his nearly three-decade stranglehold on power and conceding they must work together to rescue Zimbabwe from economic and humanitarian disaster.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
I suggest strongly
1 a bulletproof vest
2 a very loyal bodyguard, (Two would be better, to watch each other)
3 A huge life insurance policy(Such as "When my heart stops beating , so does yours kind)
4 a very fast helicopter on instant standby, (Either for Ambulance runs, or as an Escape vehicle.)
5 Good luck, you're gonna need it.
Posted by: Rednek Jim ||
02/12/2009 12:08 Comments ||
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#2
Does that mean he still doesn't get a beat'n?
Posted by: Grolush Darling of the Hatfields3195 ||
02/12/2009 12:47 Comments ||
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The Russian central bank appears to have avoided a currency crisis this week, at least temporarily. Policymakers virtually painted a target on the ruble by announcing in late January that they had established a new floor on the currency in order to stabilize its slide. In fact, the opposite happened. Within days investors pushed the currency's value down against the floor, threatening to cause another large selloff of foreign exchange reserves in its defense.
After losing over a third of the country's reserves since August and having the government's debt rating lowered by Fitch last week, the central bank made a change of course by tightening interest rates, making speculation more costly and easing the pressure to draw down official reserves. The move even caused the ruble yesterday to make its biggest gains against the dollar and euro in the past two years, signaling a temporary stabilization.
While they are not out of the woods yet, the Russians seem to have finally taken a step in the right direction. And at time when everyone is focused on the mounting woes in the world economy, any good news on the economic front is welcome.
China will continue to buy US Treasury bonds even though it knows the dollar will depreciate because such investments remain its only option in a perilous world, a senior Chinese banking regulator said on Wednesday. China has used the dollars it accumulates selling manufactured goods to US consumers to accumulate the worlds largest holding of Treasuries. However, the increasing US budget deficit and its potential impact on the dollar have raised questions about the future Chinese appetite for US debt.
Luo Ping, a director-general at the China Banking Regulatory Commission, said after a speech in New York on Wednesday that China would continue to buy Treasuries in spite of its misgivings about US finances. Except for US Treasuries, what can you hold? he asked. Gold? You dont hold Japanese government bonds or UK bonds. US Treasuries are the safe haven. For everyone, including China, it is the only option.
Mr Luo, whose English tends toward the colloquial, added: We hate you guys. Once you start issuing $1 trillion-$2 trillion [$1,000bn-$2,000bn] . . .we know the dollar is going to depreciate, so we hate you guys but there is nothing much we can do.
However, Mr Luo said Chinese officials would encourage its banks to finance domestic mergers and acquisitions rather than provide rescue finance to distressed financial companies in other countries: There will be no bottom-fishing of financial institutions, particularly in the US, because there is a lot of uncertainty about the quality of the books.
Mr Luo said China intends to maintain its separation of investment and commercial banking based on its observations of the US after repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act that enforced a similar division of banking activities.
To some extent, Glass-Steagall has fuelled the crisis, Mr Luo said. The separation of commercial and investment banking is likely to stay longer [in China] than before. Like senior financial officials in other developing nations such as Mohammad Al Jasser, vice-governor of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency Mr Luo also spoke out against what he called Americas laissez-faire capitalism.
Government ownership was viewed as something negative but the pendulum is swinging the other way. Perhaps banking is [no different from] public utilities where government participation is necessary, he said. Deregulation in the US has gone a little bit too far. The market cant be omnipotent.
No, what went too far was the crooked politicians in our country feeding off the housing market, the crooked raters who called mortgage tranches 'AAA' when they were crap, the crooked bond salesmen who sold them, and the crooked insurance people who insured against default. Had the politicians been honest, the market the necessary information and had investors used their heads this wouldn't have happened.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/12/2009 00:00 ||
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Must we learn economics from a nation that uses slave labor, or does it really matter since we appear to be..... "too big to fail?"
#2
..does it really matter since we appear to be..... "too big to fail?"
For now. However, what ever you think of the Chinese, they do appear to be fast learners who are not hobbled by over regulation and lawyers [or the dire need to bring pork back home to the district]. Darwin's thesis is that successful 'adaptation' to environment is the key to long term survival of an entity. The Chinese do appear to be both pragmatic enough and in possession of long term vision to alter that state 'for now' in a number of generations. It's their own internal structural issues that they need to address to allow it to happen.
#3
If they don't buy them demand drops considerably, the price drops, the value of the ones they already hold drop, no? They don't really have a choice do they?
#4
It doesn't matter if they continue to buy them. All else being equal, they would need to more than double the *rate* at which they buy them, *and* other bond holders, especially Japan, would have to not continue to sell their bonds as well.
At this point, the Chinese are reinforcing defeat, hoping not to lose what they have already invested. They're too late.
#5
They don't buy them, we don't buy what their factories make. Their problem. Borrow $5,000 you've got a creditor. Borrow a trillion, you've got a partner.
#6
Hellish, "If they don't buy them demand drops considerably, the price drops, "
As I understand it, the current rate on bonds is virtually 0%. Given that, why is there any demand at all?
The best I can come up with is that T-bills are the mattress under which the Chinese are hiding their cash. It's not going to earn a thing, but, they figure that they can always get the principle back.
That must mean that they figure every other investment is worse, no?
#7
So, like it or not, we and the Chicoms are in this together. I think that with the out of control debt that Congress made, we are both trying to muddle through. This is not good policy for the world's largest economy.
We have 2 years before we have a slim chance of turning this whole economic mess around with the Congressional elections in 2010. The question is: how close to the tipping point are we?
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/12/2009 11:19 Comments ||
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Moose is right. China will take a hammering on it's US treasury holdings. Buying more would be like a gambler doubling up in order to get out of the hole.
2009, the year countries went bust.
As a practical matter, you are bust when no one will lend you more money.
#9
$2 trillion in US bonds is a damn good reason for the Chinese to not let the Yuan float. However, there is no way they can soak up a likely $2 trillion 2009 US gov deficit, so the dollar will have to (free?) fall against floating currencies.
And so goes the Yuan. Import costs will dramatically rise while exports will fall in this economy, leading to Chinese (and even larger US) trade deficits and more wealth being sucked out of both economies. So the Chinese can take their medicine now or take a larger dose later.
Posted by: ed ||
02/12/2009 17:20 Comments ||
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Watch yer wallets, people!
All airlines using European airports are going to be regulated under the European Emissions Trading System from January 2012. That means even American carriers will eventually have to buy some carbon permits to comply with European Union law. EnviroNazis center of gravity is in Europe.
United States government officials have said in the past that the initiative is probably illegal under the convention governing international civil aviation. The main group representing the worlds airlines, the International Air Transport Association, has complained bitterly about the cost of the system.
On Wednesday, the European Commission published a list of carriers that may need to buy permits and they include big United States carriers like American Airlines and United Airlines. Of course, the Deep Pockets People!
One reason that the Europeans have acted so confidently to cap airline emissions is that both candidates for the American presidency said last year that they would support the establishment of an emissions trading system in the United States similar to the one operating in Europe. Many European Union officials thought that it stood to reason that the United States would extend that system to cover aviation, thus relieving the current trans-Atlantic tension. Be an EnviroDhimmi and the tension goes away, sez the EUniks.
European Union officials said Wednesday that they did not yet have a clear idea whether the Obama administration had taken a position different from the Bush administration on the European system to cap emissions from foreign operators and carriers. Anyone wants to lay odds that the Big O does not do this? Not his money, so no biggie.
Under the European system, each European Union country will be responsible for selling permits to individual airlines that use that countrys airports most frequently. The idea is to reduce the administrative burden, but it also potentially means big revenues for countries with busy airports.
The list published on Wednesday does not say how much money countries stand to reap, nor how much it would cost airlines. But Britain looks set to benefit most from the system because so many foreign, as well as domestic, carriers use its airports.
Britain would oversee about 780 carriers and operators, including American Airlines, United Airlines, Wal-Mart Stores and Bechtel. Britain also would oversee other large commercial carriers like Qantas Airways of Australia, Emirates of the United Arab Emirates, and Cathay Pacific of China.
France would oversee about 470 carriers and operators including Air Algérie, Air France, All Nippon Airways, Coca-Cola and United Technologies.
Tiny Latvia, by contrast, will oversee five carriers and operators including Air Baltic, a national carrier. Poland will oversee about 45 carriers and operators including Lot, a national carrier.
Under European Union law, airlines will have to buy 15 percent of their quota of permits in 2012 based on past emissions.
At the moment there is no set price for those permits. But European Union officials said on Wednesday that the price would probably be partly set by the European carbon market (where a ton of carbon currently trades at 9.30 euros, or $12) and partly by member states under rules that still need to be finalized.
The list was compiled by the European Commission with the help of Eurocontrol, an organization responsible for air traffic management in Europe, and based on best available information of flight movements within the E.U.
A spokeswoman for the European Commission said companies like Wal-Mart and Coca-Cola are included in the list because they operate private flights that meet the criteria for inclusion in the emissions control system, according to the preliminary assessment by Eurocontrol.
The commission said it could publish a revised list in coming months based on feedback from the industry. The list then would be updated annually to take account of new carriers and operators. There are 50 ways to drain your wallet.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/12/2009 17:58 ||
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1. Charge European airliners that land in the US the equivalent amount and refund it to American airlines.
2. Sit back and atch the Euros scream bloody murder.
Posted by: ed ||
02/12/2009 18:47 Comments ||
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Dang, ed, I like the way you think.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/12/2009 20:06 Comments ||
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Any airline from any European country attempting to enter the North American ADIZ should simply be forced down and confiscated. I don't think it will take Europe long to decide their "carbon credits" are worth their airlines. They certainly don't have a military that can do anything about it.
It's well past time we quit putting up with the socialist dictates of the euroweenies and their enviroNazi masters. I believe some serious head-knocking is way past due.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/12/2009 22:32 Comments ||
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A Stockholm woman has reported an adult education college in Spånga to the Equality Ombudsman (DO) after being told that she could not wear an Islamic headscarf in class.
The woman was told on January 15th that she was no longer welcome at Västerort Vuxengymnasium, an adult education college in Spånga, if she persisted in wearing her niqab. The niqab is part of a hijab headress and covers the entire face except for the eyes. The woman has now reported the matter to the Equality Ombudsman (DO) alleging discrimination.
In her report to DO dated January 20th, the woman alleges that she was told that she could not wear her niqab in class or in contact with the school's staff. The woman explains that the school justified its decision by referring to a recent decision by the National Agency for Education (Skolverket) which banned the wearing of some Muslim headscarves in class. "But this is just a ruling, it is not a law and the ruling concerns those who wear a burqa, covering the whole face. I have a niqab which shows the area around the eyes," the woman argued.
The woman writes that she finds it "offensive" to be expelled for her "personal style" and argues that the ruling is confusing as some schools permit the niqab. But the college's rector, Britt-Marie Johansson, has defended the school's right to exclude the student from classes, referring to the education agency's ruling.
"At Västerorts vux it is not allowed in the classroom to cover one's face, with a veil or similar. This rule also applies in contact with staff. This means that neither a niqab nor a burqa can be worn." According to Johansson, the choice facing students is thus clear. "Accept the rules stated above or discontinue your studies."
But the student is keen to continue her studies and claims that she has offered the school a compromise. "I have said that I can sit at the front of the class, and remove the niqab during classes and to identify myself. I have even spoken to the men in the class...and they have said that it doesn't bother them." The student argues that freedom of religion is enshrined in law in Sweden and this should take precedence over the education agency ruling.
Looks like Benon will have to keep using the stairs...
UNITED NATIONS -- The U.N.'s highest internal judicial body has ordered the United Nations to pay legal fees to the former chief of its oil-for-food program, who has been accused of accepting money to illegally influence the $64 billion humanitarian program in Iraq.
The program was the biggest humanitarian program in U.N. history, but a U.N.-sanctioned investigation found widespread corruption, involving thousands of parties, that bilked the humanitarian program of $1.8 billion. The program chief, Benon Sevan, has been charged with bribery and conspiracy to commit wire fraud for allegedly accepting $160,000 to illegally influence the program.
The Administrative Tribunal's judgment, obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press, said the United Nations must pay "all reasonable legal fees" incurred by Sevan until February 2005, subject to an independent audit of the lawyers' invoices. The judgment said Sevan and his lawyers were seeking $880,300, plus interest.
Under the oil-for-food program, which ran from 1996 to 2003, Iraq was allowed to sell oil provided most of the money went to buy humanitarian goods. It was aimed at easing Iraqi suffering under U.N. sanctions imposed after Saddam's 1990 invasion of Kuwait and was a lifeline for 90 percent of the country's population.
But a 18-month U.N.-sanctioned investigation led by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker found massive corruption in the program. Its final report in October 2005 accused more than 2,200 companies from some 40 countries of colluding with Saddam Hussein's regime to bilk the humanitarian program of $1.8 billion. In 2004, it accused Sevan of accepting $147,184 in kickbacks for steering oil-for-food contracts to a company of his choice.
At the time, the U.N. agreed to pay Sevan's legal fees. But when the investigation accused then-Secretary-General Kofi Annan of a role in the scandal, Annan reversed the payment decision. You're dead to me, Benon! Dead!
Annan then rejected the ruling when the U.N. Joint Appeals Board upheld Sevan's appeal in February 2006. You took sides against the family, Benon. We can't have that. You're lucky you're not in a 55 gallon drum...
Sevan took his case to the Administrative Tribunal, which ordered the U.N. to pay reasonable legal fees in its judgment dated Nov. 26, 2008. Both the appeals court and the tribunal said it had no evidence that Annan's chief-of-staff ever imposed conditions on the payment agreement. Ummmm...nope. We know that because he told us he didn't.
"We abide by all the decisions of the Administrative Tribunal, which is the highest appeals body within the U.N. system," said U.N. associate spokesman Farhan Haq. Harrrrumph harrrrumph harrrrumph...
Sevan resigned from the U.N. in 2005 and returned to his native Cyprus. He has not been extradited to the United Nations. Can you be extradited to the United Nations? I dunno, let's ask Carla del Ponte ...
In January 2007, federal and state prosecutors charged Sevan with taking a $160,000 bribe to influence who could buy Iraqi oil under the oil-for-food program. The indictment charged Sevan with bribery and conspiracy to commit fraud. It ain't your night, Benon. We're goin for the price on Wilson...
At the time, his lawyer, Eric Lewis, said Sevan was being made a political scapegoat and that he had accounted for every penny, helping to save "tens of thousands of innocent people from death by disease and starvation." It was "for the children", right, Benny?
A functioning commercial satellite owned by a U.S. company was destroyed in what is believed to be the first ever in-orbit collision with another satellite, according to industry officials familiar with the details.
The crash, which happened Tuesday in low-earth orbit, involved one of the satellites owned by closely held Iridium Satellite LLC and a defunct Russian spy satellite. The Russian craft was spinning out of control, industry officials said, and was being monitored by Pentagon organizations that keep track of space debris and prevent in-orbit collisions from damaging or destroying both commercial and government satellites.
Iridium, Bethesda, Md., which provides voice and data services for more than 300,000 subscribers globally, said one of its spacecraft suffered a collision with a "non-operational Russian satellite," and was lost. The company said the event "has minimal impact on Iridium's service" and its remaining constellation "is healthy." The company's more than 60 satellites include backup capacity in orbit designed to withstand the loss of a single satellite.
While Pentagon brass, satellite industry executives and NASA leaders for years have publicly expressed concern about the dangers of orbital debris, there has been less concern about potential collisions between satellites. That's because the ground-based and space-based reconnaissance tools available to the Pentagon generally were considered adequate to keep close track of larger objects.
When satellites reach the end of their useful lives, they often are parked in remote orbits where they are unlikely to endanger working satellites, and sometimes they are pulled out of orbit and sent to burn up while re-entering the atmosphere. But if a satellite's onboard computers or other systems fail, or it runs out of battery power, it can be difficult for ground operators to maintain control. Without such orders from the ground, satellites can act unpredictably and move around erratically.
Iridium is analyzing whether the debris may impact its remaining fleet.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/12/2009 00:00 ||
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Russia incurs liability for its junk? anyone know the legal recourse of one nations junk interrupting another nations/enterprises working systems....seems like russia would be liable for current and future loss of income. iridium spokesperson should take a different tact than the reply given.
BAGHDAD - Iraq will reopen later this month its renowned national museum, home to priceless artefacts plundered in the unchecked chaos following the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, an Iraqi minister said. The long-awaited reopening marks a milestone in the governments efforts to retrieve and preserve artefacts and archaeological sites from Iraqs history after almost six years of theft, destruction and violence.
The country is said to be the site of the cradle of civilisation, the area between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, and the looting of relicssome thousands of years oldwas seen as a tragedy for Iraq and for the world.
Qahtan al-Jibouri, Iraqs minister of state for tourism and antiquities, said the government had been renovating the museum in central Baghdad for several months and planned to open its doors to the public before the end of February.
The museum and other archaeological sites will be protected by a newly formed Interior Ministry force called the relics protection force, Jibouri said in an interview. The force will aim to prevent a repeat of the devastation of April 2003 when looters robbed the museum of some 15,000 priceless artefacts as part of a wave of theft from public buildings after Saddam Husseins regime fell. Officials have since struggled to rebuild the museums collection, recouping about a third of what was looted.
Even as violence across Iraq dropped sharply, officials put off reopening the museum until its security could be assured. Now, with violence at its lowest point since the war began, the museumand Iraqhas been deemed ready.
Jibouri said Iraq was trying to encourage the return and repatriation of other stolen artefacts, offering a reward and promising not to file charges for ill-gotten goods. A good number of relics are being returned, he said. The amount of the reward depends on officials assessment of the pieces worth along with its authenticity. Even under Saddam, poorly guarded archaeological sites were widely plundered.
The museum is a central plank in the strategy of Prime Minister Nuri al-Malikis government to bolster tourism in Iraq and protect valuable historical sites. The ministry is serious about carrying out its plans, but our funding is extremely limited, he said.
Washington provided $13 million to help restore the museum and $700,000 to repair ruins at the ancient city of Babylon, which have been damaged by U.S. and coalition soldiers.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/12/2009 00:00 ||
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home to priceless artefacts plundered..
By its own employees as it turned out. Something MSM skipped over in its hype.
Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and hawkish ex-premier Benjamin Netanyahu were locked in a battle for power on Wednesday after a photo-finish election that could send peace talks into limbo.
Livni's centrist Kadima party won 28 seats in the 120-member parliament, just one ahead of Netanyahu's Likud party, leaving the country facing perhaps weeks of political uncertainty. Avigdor Lieberman's ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu party came in third with 15 seats -- it's best-ever showing -- and the centre-left Labor party fell to 13, its worst performance in any Israeli election. The ultra-Orthodox Shas party came in fifth with 11 seats.
Analysts said the country was as split as the Palestinians and the prospects of the two making peace were dimmer than ever.
Centrist Tzipi Livni's Kadima party won the most votes but had little chance of building enough support for a coalition. Right-winger Benjamin Netanyahu can get the support, but analysts said the likely coalition would prove dysfunctional.
"I won," read the headline of the country's biggest newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth, over photos of both leaders.
President Shimon Peres must now decide whether to call on Livni or Netanyahu, who then has 42 days to form a government. He is expected to begin talks next week.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2009 00:00 ||
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ION FREEREPUBLIC > SYRIA IS ARMING TERRORISTS AGZ THE US SIXTH FLEET.
Oil prices have fallen for the second day after new government data showed surging crude stockpiles and low demand in the US.
On Wednesday, New York's light sweet crude for March delivery shed 1.61 dollars from its closing price on Tuesday to 35.94 dollars per barrel. Brent North Sea crude for delivery in March fell 33 cents to 44.28 dollars a barrel in London.
The US Department of Energy (DoE) said in a report on Wednesday that American crude stockpiles soared by 4.7 million barrels in the week ending February 6. That was higher than market expectations of a 3.0-million-barrel gain.
Oil prices remain at weak levels after posting record highs above 147 dollars last year following fears of supply disruptions.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2009 00:00 ||
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yet the price of refined gasoline continues to rise and my local pump prices jumped almost fifteen cents in the last 48 hours.
#2
You can thank Congress for some of that : "special blends" for anti-smog worries, and the fact that certain refineries have been running flat out and are now shutdown for maintenance. Believe me, you WANT refineries to have their maintenance -- otherwise, all sort of nasty and even catastrophic accidents start happening.
#3
Friend and I were having a discussion about this last night. Thesis was that as people drive less the price of gas goes up so that companies can make payroll/maintenance expenses. Already see it with less traffic on turnpikes equaling increased fares. The commuters (middle class?) takes this hit.
Second was that if *snap* everyone is 5% more energy efficient in buildings the electicity rate would increase so they could make payroll/maintenance.
You hit the nail on the head. When we went on water rationing a few years ago, the same thing happened, they raised the rates to cover costs. When we went off rationing the rates stayed up. Now we are on rationing again a I expect another raise in rates any day.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
A Stockholm woman has reported an adult education college in Spånga to the Equality Ombudsman (DO) after being told that she could not wear an Islamic headscarf in class.
