Archive for July 28th, 2007
The Decline of Western incomes
The decline of Western incomes
July 23, 2007
Martin Hutchinson is the author of “Great Conservatives” (Academica Press, 2005) — details can be found on the Web site www.greatconservatives.com
Negative earnings surprises by Pfizer and Caterpillar at the end of last week may indicate a new reality: the income premium for being a Westerner and having access to the centuries of Western intellectual property and business acumen may be sharply diminishing. We can all rejoice as poor and middle income countries are brought up to Western levels of affluence, but our rejoicing will presumably be sharply diminished if we come to realize that much of their gains may be at the expense of our children’s living standards.
The vision of the world of 2050 or 2100, in which the great majority of Third World peoples enjoy more or less Western living standards, has always been a but fuzzy. Thirty years ago, if you had asked people to imagine the world of 2050, all but the most manically environmentalist would have envisaged Third World residents enjoying living standards comparable to those of current Westerners, while the affluent West had reached living standards that could currently be dreamed of only by an affluent few.
The more thoughtful would have recognized that there was simply not enough space for the squirearchical dream of robot servants for all, together with country houses and rolling parklands. However the 18th century customers of Capability Brown didn’t enjoy modern plumbing, found travel impossibly time-consuming and uncomfortable, and had a nasty tendency to die in childbirth at 30 or of flying gout at 50. 2100’s median Western real income of $250,000 or so would have to be spent differently, but the income itself seemed pretty assured, given the continuance of technological development.
That is no longer the case. Elite opinion remains wedded to globalization as the best of possible economic policies, and believes with fanatical devotion that David Ricardo’s Doctrine of Comparative Advantage will ensure that there will be no significant class of people, even in rich countries, who lose out because of it. However it is becoming increasingly obvious to the populace as a whole that globalization produces substantial numbers of losers, particularly among the less well educated inhabitants of Western countries. No amount of cheaper consumer goods will assuage your pain if you have been forced to exchange a $25 an hour factory job for a $8 an hour service job.
I have discussed previously the effect of outsourcing and international migration on living standards at the bottom of the scale. Here I want to examine the extent that the advantages which have traditionally kept Western countries affluent — in particular those of financial capital, intellectual capital and a near-monopoly on innovation — are all losing their power to differentiate living standards.
The period of monetary expansion since 1995 has reduced both interest rates and risk premiums on emerging market investments. This has caused a huge reorientation in the world financial markets, albeit so far of a very comfortable type. The lack of credit discrimination in world bond markets, for example, is shown by the total lack of emerging market defaults since Argentina in 2001-02. Capital has become more readily available for emerging markets, narrowing their traditional capital cost disadvantage against Western countries and speeding the process of outsourcing and resource transfer to cheap-labor environments.
If this were all that had happened, it would be a purely temporary phenomenon. Once monetary policy was finally tightened and interest rates rose, risk premiums would reappear and the flow of resources to emerging markets would be correspondingly slowed. However, on the savings side, very low interest rates and continued asset price inflation have depressed savings rates in Western countries far below their historical norms. This has caused not only an excess in consumption but also in the United States a persistent and very large payments deficit that has transformed the country as a whole into the world’s largest debtor.
This is much more serious. Once interest rates rise again, the US and much of Europe will find themselves in a major savings deficit position, having run down their savings through consumption and devoted excessive amounts of capital to unproductive investments such as luxury housing. Asset prices will decline, causing bankruptcy among those consumers who have over-borrowed on mortgages and credit cards, and the world’s capital stock will be found largely concentrated in Asian countries such as China, Taiwan, and (because of high oil prices) the Middle East, where savings rates have remained robust.
At that point, the wealth of the West will no longer be an advantage to it in the search for resources. Instead the major Asian countries will have the lowest real interest rates and capital will flow to projects in those countries, which will offer the prospect of the greatest net returns. The imagined nightmare of the late 1980s, in which Japan’s lower capital costs were thought likely to transfer much of the West’s industrial base to Tokyo, will be played out in reality on a much larger scale with respect to East Asia as a whole. With lower capital investment and higher financing costs, the West’s living standards will inevitably enter relative decline.
Intellectual property is a second area where the value of the West’s assets is declining. As globalization intensified in the 1990s, the major Western media, IT and pharmaceutical companies saw it as an opportunity. Poor countries could only be expected to buy modest quantities of US software, media products and drugs, and would operate active black markets to keep prices low. However countries that were becoming richer, and exporting their products to the West, could be compelled to enforce intellectual property rights, raising the domestic prices of software, media products and pharmaceuticals to world levels. US IP owners imposed a draconian new US copyright regime in 1998, they ensured that the World Trade Organization’s membership rules included protection of intellectual property, and they pushed for a further extension of Western intellectual property rights via the Doha round of trade talks.
This effort is now coming unstuck. The widespread adoption of broadband technology and high-level cellphones have increased the means by which media products can be reproduced to such a point that it appears unlikely that rights owners can protect their property adequately, except to a limited extent in their domestic markets. The slowing rate of innovation hardware has made “open source” software much more competitive with copyright software, so that the Linux operating system now has a world market share of 15% and the Firefox browser a market share of 25%. The Doha round of trade talks has collapsed, as dying Western farming industries proved themselves more politically powerful than soaring Western IP owning industries.
Probably most important in terms of long term value, two changes have weakened the hold of the major pharmaceutical companies on the patent system. First, new competitors have arisen in emerging markets, and their research capabilities have become comparable to those of the drug majors. Thus in any third country in which property rights are weak, drug buyers will quickly have a credible alternative to patented drugs, manufactured outside the magic circle of the major Western drug companies. Second, drug research itself is changing. Many of the new drugs invented in the future will be designed through gene manipulation, and will be effective only for patients with the appropriate genetic markers. With more new drugs being invented and smaller potential markets for each one, the patented “blockbuster” drug is likely to disappear, and Third World drug manufacturers with lower research and manufacturing costs will prove themselves highly competitive against the majors.
Intellectual property isn’t just a mechanism to reward the likes of Time Warner, Microsoft and Pfizer, it is the principal barrier to entry protecting millions of highly paid skilled workers in Western countries. If that barrier disappears, and those workers are subjected to competition from countries with much lower labor costs, their living standards must inevitably decline.
Finally, the West has lost its near-monopoly on innovation. Knowledge, capital and entrepreneurial skill are much more broadly shared globally than was the case in the past, so a much higher share of innovation, in the form both of new products and new ideas, will come from non-traditional sources. This is important; innovative products and services, by definition, face limited competition in their earlier years and so can bear higher prices than would be the case if their provision were fully competitive. Again, not only will Western entrepreneurs find returns lower and commoditization faster than was previously the case, but the returns to higher education will also decline, as a PhD from Harvard will prove to be worth little more than a PhD from Kolkata.
Westerners have always supposed that a free-market regime and high levels of international trade will allow the world’s economic growth to accelerate, providing higher living standards not only for the newly enfranchised citizens of emerging markets, but also for Westerners themselves. There is in reality no reason why this should necessarily be the case. If the West’s advantages of capital, intellectual property and near-monopoly on innovation are dissipated more rapidly than global growth enriches the planet as a whole, then the West’s share of global wealth will decline more quickly than global wealth itself increases. The result will be declining Western living standards, likely to be a major feature of the next generation’s economic changes.
There are no solutions to this problem, whose causes have been mostly a decade of cheap money and the communications revolution of cellphones and the Internet, together with technological changes reducing the salience of intellectual property. However, there are palliatives. Tight money, imposed as quickly as possible, will preserve the remainder of the West’s capital stock and begin the lengthy process of rebuilding it. Increased resources to education will indeed produce a more highly skilled workforce, which will be able to command higher remuneration. A tax system heavily weighted towards taxes on consumption will increase savings rates. Restricting immigration will preserve as far as possible the living standards of those engaged in the vast personal service sector – a barber in Bangalore is paid less than in Boston – thus providing adequate opportunities for those unable to benefit from the highest levels of education.
Above all, steps should be taken to reduce the level of population growth, particularly in the poorest countries. In a market that is becoming increasingly global, only by reducing the supply of undifferentiated labor will it be possible to maintain its price. A more modestly growing African population will allow Africa to enter more quickly into the joys of rapid economic growth, and will lessen the disruption to the rich West from it doing so.
By speeding the rate of global growth, while at the same time reducing the rate by which the West’s share of the world’s income is reduced, policymakers can ensure that the decline in Western living standards from globalization is moderate, and hasten the day when the entire world is close to Western living standards, so that the free market of ideas, products and services increases the wealth of all.
More Signs of Fiasco in Iraq
U.S. auditor says Iraqi refusal to assume projects could cost U.S. more money
More Signs of Fiasco in Iraq
By Dr. Steven Taylor
Via the NYT: As U.S. Rebuilds, Iraq Won’t Act on Finished Work
Iraq’s national government is refusing to take possession of thousands of American-financed reconstruction projects, forcing the United States either to hand them over to local Iraqis, who often lack the proper training and resources to keep the projects running, or commit new money to an effort that has already consumed billions of taxpayer dollars.
The conclusions, detailed in a report released Friday by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, a federal oversight agency, include the finding that of 2,797 completed projects costing $5.8 billion, Iraq’s national government had, by the spring of this year, accepted only 435 projects valued at $501 million. Few transfers to Iraqi national government control have taken place since the current Iraqi government, which is frequently criticized for inaction on matters relating to the American intervention, took office in 2006.
This is an excellent and telling example of why those who pin their hopes on The Surge, Petraeus or Sunni responses to AQI in Anbar are missing the real problem in Iraq: there is no functioning state and it is unlikely that there will be one anytime soon.
The situation also underscores that even when the administration is providing the much vaunted “good news” that many say is suppressed that, in fact, we aren’t being given the whole picture:
The United States often promotes the number of rebuilding projects, like power plants and hospitals, that have been completed in Iraq, citing them as signs of progress in a nation otherwise fraught with violence and political stalemate. But closer examination by the inspector general’s office, headed by Stuart W. Bowen Jr., has found that a number of individual projects are crumbling, abandoned or otherwise inoperative only months after the United States declared that they had been successfully completed.
So, money, time and lives down the drain for projects that are “abandoned or otherwise inoperative” soon after we hand them over.
The administration clearly had no idea what it was getting into in this war and had no idea how complicated post-invasion circumstances were going to be. You can’t go in, break things, and then hope for the best. Just like handing a constitution to people does not automatically mean a functional government exists, so, too, handing over new facilities to people unprepared to use them does not mean the infrastructure is fixed:
In one of the most recent cases, a $90 million project to overhaul two giant turbines at the Dora power plant in Baghdad failed after completion because employees at the plant did not know how to operate the turbines properly and the wrong fuel was used. The additional power is critically needed in Baghdad, where residents often have only a few hours of electricity a day.
The following pretty much sums the situation up:
“To build something and not have these issues resolved from top to bottom is unfathomable,” said William L. Nash, a retired general who is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and an expert on Middle East reconstruction. “The management of the reconstruction program for Iraq has been a near-total disaster from the beginning.”
http://www.poliblogger.com/?p=12305
U.S. auditor says Iraqi refusal to assume projects could cost U.S. more money
The Associated PressPublished: July 28, 2007
BAGHDAD: The Iraqi government has refused to take control of more than 2,000 U.S.-funded reconstruction projects, a move that could jeopardize the country’s credit line and cost American taxpayers, according to a report by an American watchdog agency.
The Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction said the government here initially agreed to take over the projects but the transfers stalled about a month after Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki took office in May 2006.
That forced U.S. officials to turn the reconstruction to local officials or to commit more money to keep them running.
The report, which was dated Wednesday, found that no completed projects had been transferred to the national government since June 30, 2006. It said 2,362 completed projects valued at US$5.3 billion were pending as of May 31.
By contrast, 435 completed projects worth US$501 million had been transferred between April 23, 2006, and June 30, 2006, according to the report.
Today in Africa & Middle East
In Baghdad, the search for ice becomes a deadly struggleU.S. set to offer huge arms deal to Saudi ArabiaAs U.S. rebuilds, Iraqi minister won’t take over finished work
U.S. officials have, however, formally handed 1,576 projects worth US$2.6 billion to local officials despite concerns they may not be able to properly finish and run the projects.
The Washington-based agency warned delays in transferring the projects meant less collateral for the Iraqi government in seeking loans “and could result in additional sustainment expenses for the U.S. governmental agencies that completed the projects.”
The report singled out Finance Minister Bayan Jabr, who it said had changed government conditions for the transfers, effectively halting the process at the national level in July 2006.
Jabr and other Finance Ministry representatives could not be reached for comment, and al-Maliki’s spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said he had no information about the report.
A senior adviser at the Iraqi Planning Ministry, which is responsible for overseeing reconstruction programs, said the government was willing to take over completed projects unless they had immediate budget implications that would need to be addressed.
“We are in need of these projects,” said the adviser, Faik Abdul-Rasool. “If it is completed, we would be very happy to receive that project and start running it unless it has a financial implication on the budget, then this would be delayed.”
The assessment was the latest piece of bad news for a U.S.-led war and rebuilding effort that has already cost nearly $400 billion.
Investigators said in an audit three months ago that U.S. efforts to rebuild Iraq are so beset with daily violence, corruption and poor maintenance that Iraqis will not be capable of managing reconstruction anytime soon.
Where U.S.-funded projects are built and handed over to the Iraqis, they “are not being adequately maintained,” according to the April audit by the inspector general’s office.
Sustainability is an important factor in explaining the slow progress in a sectors such as oil, gas, water and electricity.
___
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/07/28/africa/ME-GEN-Iraq-Reconstruction.php
Une flotte d’avions militaires chinois arrive en Russie
Les premiers avions militaires chinois arriveront vendredi en Russie pour participer aux exercices antiterroristes de l’Organisation de coopération de Shanghai (OCS) Mission de paix-2007, a fait savoir à RIA Novosti le colonel Alexandre Drobychevski, assistant du commandant en chef des forces aériennes russes.
“Les avions militaires chinois arriveront sur les aérodromes de Chagol et d’Ouproun les 27 et 29 juillet”, a-t-il dit.
Ils survoleront la Russie sur environ 2000 km, dont plus de 700 km dans les conditions difficiles des montagnes.
Au total, 92 aéronefs – 46 avions et hélicoptères russes et 46 appareils chinois – seront engagés dans les exercices Mission de paix-2007, a précisé le colonel.
Selon lui, l’armée populaire de Chine sera représentée par six avions militaires de transport Il-76, huit chasseurs bombardiers JH-7A et 32 hélicoptères JG-9W et Mi-17, l’aviation russe, par six avions Il-76, neuf avions d’assaut Su-25 et 31 hélicoptères de combat Mi-24 et Mi-8.
L’aviation participera à sept tranches des exercices: la reconnaissance, le débarquement de groupes aéromobiles et leur protection, ainsi que la frappe d’un ennemi conventionnel. Les Il-76 débarqueront plus de 20 pièces de matériel et 200 parachutistes”.
Comme l’a déjà annoncé à RIA Novosti le général Vladimir Moltenskoï, commandant en chef des troupes terrestres, les exercices antiterroristes Mission de paix-2007 se dérouleront dans la Région militaire de Volga-Oural (région de Tcheliabinsk) dans la première quinzaine d’août avec la participation de cinq mille hommes et de 500 pièces de matériel des forces armées de la Russie, du Kazakhstan, du Tadjikistan, du Kirghizstan, de la Chine et de l’Ouzbékistan. Plus de deux mille militaires russes y seront engagés.
Les premiers exercices Mission de paix-2005 de l’OCS ont eu lieu sur le territoire de la Chine.
Ria-Novosti
11 septembre 2001 : Le producteur de « Loose Change » est arrêté!
Korey Rowe, le producteur du film « Loose Change » maintenant traduit dans plusieurs langues et ayant à son actif 10 millions de spectateurs (1) a été arrêté.Selon le New York Daily Star, Korey Rowe a été arrêté lundi soir à sa résidence de campagne sur la Route 47 à Oneonta dans l’état de New York .Il a été arrêté sous un « mandat militaire » pour avoir déserté l’armée.
D’après l’article publié par le site Internet Prison Planet, Korey Rowe s’est enrôlé dans l’armée en août 2001 et l’a quittée en juin 2005, c’est-à-dire depuis maintenant plus de deux ans.
Loin d’être un fugitif, Rowe a été arrêté à Oneonta la municipalité où il est né (2).
Ce vétéran de guerre en Irak et en Afghanistan a été remis aux officiers militaires par la police sous l’accusation d’avoir « déserté l’armée ». Pourtant, les arrestations et la cour martiale ne sont pratiquement jamais appliquées aux déserteurs.
En précisant qu’une version révisée du film « Loose Change » devait bientôt voir le jour, Prison Planet ajoute qu’il semble s’agir d’un cas évident de persécution politique.
En appui à cette conclusion, le professeur canadien Michel Chossudovsky associe cette arrestation à l’entrée en vigueur de l’Ordre Exécutif Présidentiel intitulée : « Bloquer les biens de certaines personnes qui menacent les efforts de stabilisation en Irak ». Cet ordre exécutif entériné le 17 juillet dernier (c’est-à-dire une semaine jour pour jour avant l’arrestation de Korey Rowe), octroie au Président l’autorité de geler les actifs de ceux qui s’opposent aux guerres menées par les États-Unis.
Commentaire de Chossudovsky en anglais
L’Ordre Exécutif Présidentiel – par Chossudovsky en français
Dany Quirion pour Alter Info
Intervention de l’armée en cas d’état d’urgence aux Etats-Unis
Photos : Nouvelles orléans après le cyclone Katrina
Transmission d’un pouvoir illimité et arbitraire au président et au vice-président
En octobre 2006 Bush a signé le «John Warner National Defense Authorization Act» (NDAA) pour l’année fiscale 2007 (également connu sous
le nom de «Defense Authorization Act pour l’année fiscale 2007»). Le «NDAA 07» est entré en vigueur le 17 octobre 2006.
Le «NDAA 07» contient des directives spécifiques qui autorisent l’armée à prendre en charge le contrôle des fonctions normales de la police et des poursuites judiciaires au niveau fédéral et au niveau des états.par Michel Chossudovsky, Canada
Le paragraphe 1076 du «NDAA 07» abroge le «Posse Comitatus Act» de 1878, qui interdit à l’armée de s’immiscer dans le travail du gouvernement civil ainsi que dans celui de la Justice et des poursuites judiciaires. Le «Posse Comitatus Act» était un élément central pour le fonctionnement d’un gouvernement constitutionnel. (Il est à noter que d’autres mesures législatives précédentes ont déjà entravé la substance du «Posse Comitatus Act».)
L’essentiel de ces directives spécifiques du «NDAA 07» (paragraphe 1076) est qu’elles s’harmonisent exactement avec les prescriptions du «National Security Presidential and Homeland Directive» (NSPD 51, HSPD 20) de Bush qui sont entrées en vigueur le 9 mai.
Selon la NSPD 51 le gouvernement constitutionnel est littéralement jeté par-dessus bord dans le cas d’un prétendu état d’urgence à la suite d’une catastrophe.
Si le président proclame l’état d’urgence, la NSPD 51 introduit la loi martiale sous le commandement de la Maison blanche et du département de la Sécurité intérieure des Etats-Unis. Elle suspend le gouvernement constitutionnel selon les directives du «Continuity in Government» (COG). Elle transmet au président et au vice-président des pouvoirs exceptionnels.
Les directives NSPD 51 sont en accord avec des lois et des règlements déjà existants, qui se rapportent à de prétendues attaques terroristes sur le territoire national et sur la proclamation de la loi martiale. Mais le paragraphe 1076 du «NDAA 07» va beaucoup plus loin dans la définition du rôle de l’armée en cas d’état d’urgence suite à une catastrophe.
Le paragraphe 1076 définit pour l’essentiel les pouvoirs illimités délivrés au président et au vice-président en cas de mise en œuvre de la NSPD 51.
Le paragraphe 1076 du «NDAA 07» qui a apparemment été introduit subrepticement au dernier moment – à la demande de la Maison blanche – comme annexe au paragraphe 333 dans le projet de loi, contient les règlements pour «l’intervention des forces armées lors d’importants cas d’urgences publics».
Ce paragraphe est extrêmement clair. Il établit littéralement une situation à la Pinochet pour ce qui concerne les arrestations massives d’opposants politiques sans procédures judiciaires, la répression de manifestations publiques etc.
En ce qui concerne les pleins pouvoirs pour le président et le vice-président dans le cas «d’un état d’urgence suite à une catastrophe» il prévoit tous les détails:
Le président «peut faire intervenir l’armée […] pour rétablir l’ordre public et faire appliquer les lois des Etats-Unis».
Un pouvoir illimité est transmis à la Maison blanche. Le président a le pouvoir de suspendre les administrations judiciaires civiles au niveau fédéral et de chaque état et d’instaurer à leur place des tribunaux militaires, qui seraient alors chargés de tout réprimer: la «violence à l’intérieur du pays», les «émeutes» (par exemple des manifestations publiques) ou les «conspirations», c’est-à-dire toute personne qui exprime une opinion différente, son mécontentement avec ou son opposition à l’administration Bush, parce que la constitution est abrogée.
Dans le paragraphe 1076, le point essentiel sont les actions contre les «ennemis nationaux» en opposition à une «défense» bona fide contre des attaques d’armées étrangères, qui relèvent du devoir de l’armée.
Pris ensemble le NSPD 51 et le paragraphe 1076 définissent les contours d’une «dictature démocratique» aux Etats-Unis sous le commandement de la Maison blanche.
Mais nous n’avons pas affaire ici à un «régime militaire» ou à un «gouvernement militaire» dans le sens usuel du terme, où le pouvoir gouvernemental aurait été transféré au président et vice-président selon les directives du NSPD 51. Ce qui est en jeu, c’est plutôt l’engagement illimité et arbitraire de l’armée par le président et le vice-président pour exercer les fonctions de la police et des poursuites judiciaires en contournant le Congrès et la Justice.
La radio russe avertit du danger imminent d’une guerre contre l’Iran
La radio de l’Etat russe a averti d’une attaque Anglo-américaine sur l’Iran, remarquant qu’un nouveau porte-avions américain se dirigeait vers le golfe Persique pour rejoindre « l’impressionnante armada 
militaire déjà en place ».
La Voix de la Russie rappelle que le Premier Ministre britannique Gordon Brown a récemment déclaré qu’on ne pouvait pas exclure une attaque militaire contre l’Iran, tout comme George Bush l’a d’ailleurs dit.
Ce qui n’a pas échappé aux russes, et qui recoupe les commentaires de Lyndon LaRouche lors de son Webcast international du 25 juillet dernier, c’est que cette menace contre l’Iran, selon leurs mots, « est très peu liée à l’Iran elle-même, mais plutôt à la situation politique intérieure des Etats-Unis ».
Lyndon LaRouche a déjà signalé à plusieurs reprises que le mois d’août était une période dangereuse puisque ce sont les vacances parlementaires à Washington (et dans le monde entier) et que Cheney y sera laissé seul, sans contre-pouvoir, alors 4 porte-avions américains avec plus de 300 avions de combat ont été dépêchés autour de l’Iran.
Des journalistes font écho de la mise en garde de LaRouche sur les « Canons d’Août »
Deux articles parus aujourd’hui dans le Washington Times reflètent une prise de conscience du danger clairement identifié par Lyndon LaRouche dans sa mise en garde des « Canons d’Août » mentionnant le probable déclenchement d’une guerre contre l’Iran dans les prochaines semaines.
Le premier article du stratège Harlan Ulman qui s’intitule « Juillet 1914, réminiscence ? » fait référence à l’assassinat, le 28 juin 1914, de l’Archiduc de l’Empire Austro-Hongrois Ferdinand, lequel s’ensuivit rapidement d’une mobilisation pour lancer la guerre. Dans son article, Ulman passe en revue les régions actuellement sensibles – l’Irak et l’Iran (mentionnant les rapports comme quoi Cheney est sorti vainqueur de son combat au sein de l’Administration pour mettre fin à l’industrie nucléaire iranienne à l’aide de frappes militaires), ainsi que la Palestine, le Liban, la Syrie, l’Afghanistan, le Pakistan et le Nigeria – il affirme que « la possibilité de voir exploser au moins une, ou plus, de ces zones à risque est tout à fait réelle », et que n’importe laquelle de ces régions « pourrait devenir le théâtre d’explosions aux conséquences potentiellement catastrophiques ». Il conclut en se demandant si « ce que nous voyons aujourd’hui ne serait pas une étrange réminiscence du mois de juillet 1914, en moins accéléré. »
Un second article écrit par l’éditeur de UPI international Claude Salhani rapporte, non sans hésitation, que tout est calme sur le front du Moyen Orient bien que ceci semblerait être le calme proverbial avant la tempête. Salhani mentionne les grondements d’un renouveau de violence entre Israel et la Syrie, ainsi que les rumeurs d’une attaque prochaine des Etats-Unis contre l’Iran. Il fait remarquer qu’avec un tiers des groupes aéronavals américains mené vers le Golf, ceci placerait 300 avions de combat à une distance de frappe de l’Iran. (Le LPAC a rapporté qu’en septembre, il y aura en réalité quatre groupes aéronavals dans la région du Golf Persique. Salhani affirme aussi qu’une attaque sur l’Iran impliquerait obligatoirement la Syrie, étant donné que ces deux pays sont liés par un pacte de défense mutuelle.
Le démocrate fasciste Rohatyn derrière Pelosi pour casser la dynamique de la destitution
« Si Cheney lance une guerre et que Nancy Pelosi n’a rien fait pour le destituer, elle devra démissionner. Car les conséquences d’un tel manquement seront telles, qu’il apparaîtra que son association de longue date avec Felix Rohatyn a été un facteur de corruption dans son comportement ». C’est ce qu’a déclaré Lyndon LaRouche lors de sa conférence internationale du 25 juillet, ciblant la présidente du groupe démocrate à la chambre des représentants.
Le temps des amabilités est terminé. Lyndon LaRouche a rappelé que le sort de la civilisation peut être en jeu ; ce que fait ou ne fait pas Nancy Pelosi influe directement sur la vie de chaque américain. Ainsi, alors qu’il était mis au courant des dernières nouvelles relatant la lâcheté des congressistes face au défi de soutenir la destitution de Cheney, Lyndon LaRouche a souligné que si Pelosi est engagée à continuer la repression du mouvement pour la destitution, elle doit démissionner.
Si elle réussit à retarder la marche vers la destitution de Cheney et qu’il lance son attaque contre l’Iran, il sera évident pour tout le monde que son comportement a été influencé en permanence par ce fasciste notoire qui soutient la « révolution dans les affaires militaires » de Cheney, le banquier démocrate tendance nazi, Felix Rohatyn.
A tous ceux qui se battent pour réussir à mettre Cheney dehors avant qu’il ne lance ses « canons d’août » : vous n’obtiendrez aucun résultat à moins que vous releviez ce défi. Si nous ne « mordons » pas conséquemment, ne soyez pas surpris si nous échouons.
Un effort « sincère » ne donnera rien, l’avertissement à delivrer à Nancy Pelosi doit avoir du mordant.
Vendredi 27 Juillet 2007
Solidarité et Progrès
Britain’s Gordon Brown becomes patron of Zionist agency
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has agreed to become patron of the UK arm of the Jewish National Fund, whose funds have contributed to Israeli ethnic cleansing, the destruction of Palestinian villages and the expropriation of Palestinian land, and whose constitution requires it to promote and implement policies that discriminate against Israel’s Arab population.
Gordon Brown has crossed a new threshold on the path to becoming a fully-fledged Zionist.
According to a report in the Jewish Chronicle, Gordon Brown has agreed to become a patron of the British arm of the Jewish National Fund (JNF UK) “following an invitation from JNF UK President Gail Seal, who wrote conveying her good wishes the day after he took office”.
In a letter to Gail Seal, Gordon Brown said that he was “delighted to accept your offer to become a patron of JNF UK”. A spokesman for Brown confirmed that the British prime minister had “agreed to become a patron of JNF UK”, and that he had done so “in order to encourage their work to promote charitable projects for everyone who lives in Israel”.
In fact, far from being “a charity” that benefits “everyone who lives in Israel”, the JNF is a principal tool of Israel’s discriminatory system of land administration. Founded in 1901 to help establish a Jews-only state in the Arab country of Palestine, the JNF’s constitution requires it to benefit Jews exclusively. It therefore promotes and implements policies that discriminate against the Arab population of Israel.
The JNF is also guilty of ethnic cleansing, the destruction of Palestinian villages and the expropriation of Palestinian land. According to PalestineRemembered.com, in its operation in Israel, the JNF has
expropriated illegally most of the land of 372 Palestinian villages which had been ethnically cleansed by Zionist forces in 1948. The owners of this land are over half the UN-registered Palestinian refugees. The JNF had actively participated in the physical destruction of many villages, in evacuating these villages of their inhabitants and in military operations to conquer these villages. Today, the JNF controls over 2500 sq. km of Palestinian land which it leases to Jews only. It also planted 100 parks on Palestinian land.
In addition, the JNF has a long record of discrimination against Palestinian citizens of Israel as reported by the UN. The JNF also extends its operations by proxy or directly to the occupied Palestinian territories in the West Bank and Gaza. All this is in clear violation of international law and particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention, which forbids the confiscation of property and settling the occupiers’ citizens in occupied territories. Ethnic cleansing, expropriation of property and destruction of houses are war crimes. As well, use of tax-exempt donations in these activities violates the domestic law in many countries where JNF is domiciled.
Since becoming prime minister at the end of June 2007, Gordon Brown has appointed several Israel apologists to key positions in the British government. He has also been at pain to stress his Christian Zionist credentials.
As patron of JNF UK, Gordon Brown will join a club that includes prominent British politicians and religious figures who, on the one hand, speak of the need for peace and justice in the Middle East while, on the other, promote and defend the racist Jews-only state of Israel. They include Tony Blair, Conservative leader David Cameron and Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, who is said to be a close friend of Brown.
http://www.redress.cc/global/redress20070728
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US accuses Saudis of telling lies about Iraq
· First time administration has made concern public
· Claims royal family is financing Sunni groups
Ewen MacAskill in Washington
Saturday July 28, 2007
The Guardian
The extent of the deterioration in US-Saudi relations was exposed for the first time yesterday when Washington accused Riyadh of working to undermine the Iraqi government.
The Bush administration warned Saudi Arabia, until this year one of its closest allies, to stop undermining the Iraqi prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki.
The US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, and the defence secretary, Robert Gates, are scheduled to visit Jeddah next week.
Reflecting the deteriorating relationship, the US made public claims that the Saudis have been distributing fake documents lying about Mr Maliki.
The Bush administration, as well as the British government, is telling the Saudis, so far without success, that establishing a stable government in Iraq is in their interest and that they stand to suffer if it collapses.
Relations have been strained since King Abdullah unexpectedly criticised the US, describing the Iraq invasion as “an illegal foreign occupation”.
That was the first sign of a rift between the two, who have enjoyed a solid relationship for decades, based on Saudi’s vast oil reserves.
At a briefing, the state department spokesman, Sean McCormack, did not refer directly to US frustration with Saudi, beyond saying that Ms Rice and Mr Gates, on their trip to the region, “will be wanting more active, positive support for Iraq and the Iraqi people”.
The British government, which retains a close relationship with the Saudis, shares many of the US’s concerns about Riyadh’s role in Iraq but, unlike Washington, is unwilling to go public.
A Foreign Office spokesman said yesterday: “We have always encouraged the Saudis to participate in the political process in Iraq. Saudi Arabia has a crucial role to play and the Saudis recognise the success of the whole project for the region’s stability.”
The US claims the Saudi royal family is offering financial support to coreligionist Sunni groups in Iraq opposed to Mr Maliki’s Shia-led government.
In a graphic example of the tension, Zalmay Khalilzad, until recently the US ambassador to Baghdad, protested to the Saudis over fake documents distributed in Baghdad which claimed Mr Maliki was an Iranian agent and had tipped off the radical Shia cleric, Moqtada al-Sadr, about a US crackdown on his Madhi army militia.
Mr Khalilzad, who is now US ambassador to the UN, wrote in the New York Times last week: “Several of Iraq’s neighbours – not only Syria and Iran but also some friends of the United States – are pursuing destabilising policies.”
The Bush administration is also expressing its unhappiness with the Saudis for failing to stem the flow of Saudi jihadists across its border to fight in Iraq, often as suicide bombers. The US estimates that about 40% of the 60 to 80 foreign fighters entering Iraq each month are from Saudi Arabia.
The administration, like Britain, is still dependent on oil from Saudi and until now has been reluctant to go public about the increasing differences with the kingdom. Other causes of tension include Saudi support for Hamas in Gaza and lack of support for a US Israel-Palestinian peace plan.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2136599,00.html
Indian doctor accused of being linked to the London and Glasgow terrorist plot was left homeless
The Indian doctor accused wrongly of being linked to the London and Glasgow terrorist plot was left homeless last night after being released from an Australian jail.
Mohammed Haneef, 27, was allowed to return to his apartment on the Gold Coast outside Brisbane under “residential detention”. But his solicitor said it had been rendered uninhabitable by damage caused in two police searches.
The landlord said that Dr Haneef’s lease had expired because he had failed to pay rent while in custody.
“He’s officially no longer a tenant here,” Steve Boscher, manager of the apartment block, said. “I don’t want to seem like some kind of a***hole but his lease has run out here.”
Expert View
John Howard’s once strong credentials on national security appear to have been seriously weakened by the dropping of terrorism charges against Mohamed Haneef 
The Gold Coast Hospital, where Dr Haneef had worked as a junior doctor for nine months, said that his job was still open and that he would be welcomed back. However, his work visa remains revoked.
Last night Dr Haneef was taken from Wolston Correctional Centre, Brisbane, to immigration offices in the city, where officials interviewed him for two hours about his intentions. He then left for a flat at an undisclosed location. He must report to the Immigration Department every day by phone and every few days in person. He will not get his passport back until his immigration status is decided.
His wife, Firdaus Arshiya, who is in Bangalore, said she hoped that her husband would be allowed to return to India within days.
Dr Haneef was released from prison after Australia’s law enforcement authorities admitted that he had been wrongly charged with “recklessly” supporting the terrorist group behind last month’s bombing attempts.
Prosecutors withdrew charges against him after a review of the case by Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions, Damian Bugg, QC.
Alan MacSporran, a lawyer acting on behalf of Mr Bugg, told a court that the DPP’s review revealed two errors. In the first, Australian authorities claimed that Dr Haneef’s mobile phone Sim card was found in a burning Jeep used in the Glasgow attack. It was later revealed that the Sim card was in the possession of Dr Haneef’s cousin in Liverpool.
The second error related to claims that Dr Haneef had lived with his cousins Sabeel and Kafeel Ahmed in Britain before arriving in Australia. Mr Ahmed was allegedly driving the Jeep in the Glasgow attack. Explaining why charges had been dropped, Mr Bugg said: “On my view of the matter, a mistake has been made.”
- A preliminary hearing in the case of two doctors charged over the failed bombings went ahead at the Old Bailey yesterday after a technical problem prevented the men from appearing by video link from Belmarsh prison. Bilal Abdullah, 27, and Mohammed Asha, 26, will be given a transcript of the proceedings.
The private secretary of Popehas warned of the threat of the Islamisation of Europe.
The private secretary of Pope Benedict XVI has warned of the threat of the Islamisation of Europe. Georg Gänswein told the Süddeutsche Zeitung, “Attempts to Islamise the West cannot be talked away. The threat this poses to the identity of Europe ought not to be ignored out of misconceived respect.”
Pope’s secretary warns against Islamisation of Europe
Article by Michael Petek
Thursday 26th July 2007, 20:31
Die Welt
The private secretary of Pope Benedict XVI has warned of the threat of the Islamisation of Europe. Georg Gänswein told the Süddeutsche Zeitung, “Attempts to Islamise the West cannot be talked away. The threat this poses to the identity of Europe ought not to be ignored out of misconceived respect.”
At the same time Gänswein defended the controversial speech of the Pope in Regensburg in September of last year. The Pontiff had only wanted to “set himself against a certain naivety”, he said. Benedict had unleashed massive world-wide protests by Muslims when he cited a Byzantine Emperor as saying that in Islam was to be found only things “evil and inhuman”.
Gänswein said that, besides discussions with Islam, dialogue with the eastern churches was important. The divisions between the Orthodox and the Catholic churches must be overcome.
“The restoration of full unity in the faith is certainly a great goal” he said. He admitted that the question of the role of the Pope had to be clarified. “But the divisions among Christians are a scandal.”
