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President George W. Bush has launched "Operation Legacy," which he placed in the hands of his ultimate advisor, indeed his "brain," Karl Rove. Remember Rove? He's the man who refused to testify under oath when summoned by Congress to do so and was recently identified in a Congressional report as the plotter behind the U.S. Attorneys scandal, among other trainwrecks. The Rove effort features a 2-page set of talking points which have been circulated to members of the administration's team highlighting the supposedly major Bush accomplishments which have begun to fill the American media. They start with the contention that "Bush kept us safe" by preventing any further attack on American soil after 9/11. Really?
President Obama is the latest manager of an ideological machine that transcends electoral power. Asked what his supporters would do when reality intruded, Stephen Walt, an Obama adviser, said: "They have nowhere else to go."
Dawood Ibrahim, a prominent drug dealer, is behind the recent attack on hotels in the Indian city of Mumbai, which makes it a good example of how illegal drug schemes are used to finance terrorism, Russian Federal Drug Control Service chief Viktor Ivanov said.
Recent press reports on developments with regard to last month's attacks in Mumbai, India indicate the role of Dawood Ibrahim, a wanted crime boss, terrorist, and drug trafficker, is being downplayed, possibly the result of a deal taking place behind the scenes between the governments of the US, Pakistan, and India, to have others involved in the Mumbai attacks turned over while quietly diverting attention from a man who some say could reveal embarrassing secrets about the CIA's involvement in criminal enterprises.
We ended last week saying that "we find ourselves today much as those hapless English found themselves centuries ago; we have been disenfranchised; we are having our "land" in the form of homes, jobs, security, income and inheritance taken from us even as you read this; and we have lost our rights to privacy and to protection from wrongful arrest and imprisonment. We face forces arrayed against us as formidable as any known in history; forces that are preparing, just as those who have come before, to use every tool of repression available to keep us subservient, to keep us ignorant, divided and confused, thereby ensuring our political and economic impotence."
If we are to find a way through the webs of deceit that surround and ensnare us we need to go back to the history of resistance against despotism and tyranny. Despotism and tyranny might sound a little strange if you find yourself reading this seated comfortably in a warm and comfortable home with money in your bank, but if you are not so fortunate you will have an inkling of the appropriateness of these terms. Of course those that have the greatest understanding of despotism and tyranny are those that cannot read this essay because they are illiterate, uneducated, too poor or all of the above. Of course, there are also the many thousands who have been imprisoned without trial, often in our name.
If we are to find a way through the webs of deceit that surround and ensnare us we need to go back to the history of resistance against despotism and tyranny. Despotism and tyranny might sound a little strange if you find yourself reading this seated comfortably in a warm and comfortable home with money in your bank, but if you are not so fortunate you will have an inkling of the appropriateness of these terms. Of course those that have the greatest understanding of despotism and tyranny are those that cannot read this essay because they are illiterate, uneducated, too poor or all of the above. Of course, there are also the many thousands who have been imprisoned without trial, often in our name.
The markets last week reacted in a deflationary mode, spurred by the stunning loss of a half million jobs in the United States in November. Commodities were down, stocks were down, and US bonds were up (driving yields down) while Japanese bonds dropped on fears of increased government borrowing next year. Oil dropped sharply (23%), gold fell 7.5% and interest rates are falling closer and closer to zero. How close? The yield on the 3-month U.S. Treasury Notes, for example, is now 0.01%. In other words, if prices are going down, you are better off having money rather than things.
It's not looking out in the real economy but it's all roses for the banks as the EU began approving the various European bank bailouts. Hedge Fund news is dire with many, including the once mighty Fortress, stopping or severely limiting investor withdrawals while being reported to be "crumbling".
With the crisis in the auto sector, Ford is looking to sell Volvo the Swedish carmaker it bought ten years ago in a bid to raise cash.
It's not looking out in the real economy but it's all roses for the banks as the EU began approving the various European bank bailouts. Hedge Fund news is dire with many, including the once mighty Fortress, stopping or severely limiting investor withdrawals while being reported to be "crumbling".
With the crisis in the auto sector, Ford is looking to sell Volvo the Swedish carmaker it bought ten years ago in a bid to raise cash.
Comment: We have decided to separate the market and financial news section of our analysis from our broader analysis and commentary. This week's continuation of State Sanctioned Theft, State Repression and the Establishment of Capitalism can be found here.
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Libya accused Israel of piracy at a meeting of the UN Security Council on Wednesday for preventing a Libyan ship from delivering humanitarian supplies to the Gaza Strip. The Libyan boat, Al-Marwa, turned back in the face of an Israeli naval blockade on Monday. Libyan and Palestinian officials said it was carrying 3,000 tons of food, medicine and other aid to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.
After various conjectures, speculations and angry or anguished advice had eaten up miles of footage and reams of newsprint in the wake of the nightmarish Mumbai carnage, a colleague still asked, 'So, what is your conspiracy theory about these horrible happenings?' Conspiracy theory I have none, but I do have a set of seven questions that have elicited no definitive answer in the current chatter and intrigue me no end. Here they are:
Mumbai's 26/11 was actually a plan hatched by "Hindu Zionists" and "Western Zionists", including the Mossad, said a Pakistan security expert on a Pakistan news television show.
Comment: And since Dawood Ibrahim is a CIA asset, the US is not only behind the terrorism it uses to justify the "War on Terror" it is also behind the illicit drug trade it uses to justify the "War on Drugs."