World-News

Sebastian Abbot, The Associated Press: "Pakistan began moving thousands of troops to the Indian border Friday, intelligence officials said, sharply raising tensions triggered by the Mumbai terror attacks."

http://www.truthout.org/122608A

--------

War between India and Pakistan may come in 'a matter of days'
http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/8189/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news

--------

India Awaits Green Light for Raids on Pakistan

By Usman Khalid

It seems that Pakistan has the reincarnation of the Sheikh Mujib as a leader. And it was Mujibs's treachery that precipitated the 1971 Indo-Pakistan war and Pakistan's defeat.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21536.htm



India Warns Citizens: Don't Travel To Pakistan

VIDEO

The warning states that Pakistan has arrested Indians it suspects of being terrorists.
http://tinyurl.com/7j8plg


From Information Clearing House



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Mumbai
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Pakistan
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Sebastian+Abbot
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Usman+Khalid

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2008/12/26-6



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Cheney
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Andy+Worthington

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2008/12/26-4



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Juan+Cole

Juliet Eilperin, The Washington Post: "The United States faces the possibility of much more rapid climate change by the end of the century than previous studies have suggested, according to a new report led by the US Geological Survey."

http://www.truthout.org/122608N



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Juliet+Eilperin

Paul Richter, The Los Angeles Times: "As President Bush's term comes to a close, the United States has the world's largest economy and its most powerful military. Yet its global influence is in decline. The United States emerged from the Cold War a solitary superpower whose political and economic leverage often enabled it to impose its will on others. Now, America usually needs to build alliances - and often finds that other powers aren't willing to go along."

http://www.truthout.org/122608K



A New New Deal?

Robert L. Borosage and Eric Lotke, The Nation: "While the old basics are crumbling, twenty-first-century needs are being ignored. We maintain our addiction to oil while forfeiting our lead in renewable-energy technologies that will drive the green markets of the future. As two-income and single-parent families spread, we are failing to provide the high-quality childcare and pre-kindergarten programs vital to educating the next generation. Even as college or advanced training are deemed essential in the modern economy, more and more Americans find them priced out of reach. Our health care system is broken, consuming too many resources while providing care for too few."

http://www.truthout.org/122608L



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=superpower
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=health+care
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Paul+Richter+Los+Angeles
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Robert+L.+Borosage
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Eric+Lotke

Future of Freedom Foundation
by Sheldon Richman

12/24/08

Begin the obvious: a false sense of security is worse than none at all. When people believe government is protecting them from bad financial services, they are more vulnerable to scams than if they knew they had to protect themselves. The government’s huge regulatory apparatus broadcasts one unmistakable subliminal message: Have no fear because Big Brother is watching over you. Is it any wonder that people are less wary than they would be if they did not believe that? As long as government plays a regulatory role — or people believe it does — they will assume that key activities are being monitored. And even when an activity is known to be unregulated, the implication is that if regulation were needed, government would be doing it...

http://www.fff.org/comment/com0812p.asp


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

--------

Justice For Mr. Madoff?

All Right, But Just This Once.

By Dave Parts

The victims go after other victims? The perpetrator sits in his town home, living as a king in exile, and the investors must fight each other over the scraps? It is beyond absurd.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21531.htm

--------

Living to Tell About Madoff

Tiernan Ray, Barrons: "James Hedges, President and founder of LJH Global Investments in Naples, Fla., has invested billions in hedge funds and private equity since 1990 through relationships with numerous hedge funds... And in 1997, he took a meeting with Bernard Madoff in New York to consider placing money with the man now accused of perpetrating a $50 billion global Ponzi scheme."

http://www.truthout.org/122708D



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Madoff
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=hedge+fund
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Sheldon+Richman

AntiWar.Com
by Nebojsa Malic

12/25/08

‘What comes next is anybody’s guess’ were the closing words of this column in December 2007. That had been a turbulent year, marked by a series of setbacks for the Empire on all fronts. Aside from the ongoing quagmire in Iraq and Afghanistan, even in the Balkans — the region handpicked for the demonstration of hegemony — things were not proceeding according to plan. Ironically, during 2008 the situation became reversed. While the Empire managed to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat in the Balkans, its grip slipped away everywhere else. If the purpose of creating an ‘independent’ Kosovo was to reinforce US hegemony, then it was a Pyrrhic victory, set against the rise of China, a resurgent Russia, a rebellious Latin America, and an economic crisis that shook the very foundations of the West. The sight of two shoes hurled at Emperor Bush by an Iraqi journalist during a press conference in Baghdad was just the finishing touch...

http://www.antiwar.com/malic/?articleid=13949


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=empire
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=quagmire
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=hegemony
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=economic+crisis
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Nebojsa+Malic

Friday, November 28, 2008, 10:25

ITS launch six months ago was marked by a small but clear protest declaring that WiFi was not welcome in Glastonbury.

The scheme gives residents and businesses wireless Internet access, and the growing friction reached a peak on Friday at a public meeting when some people continued to claim their health had been affected.

Most of those at the meeting, hosted by Somerset County Council, called for the system to be unplugged. For two hours, residents expressed anger at not being told about the system before it was implemented.

Since it was switched on in May, many residents claim to have been suffering from symptoms such as headaches, dizziness and, in some cases, panic attacks. Some say they are no longer able to visit the town because the effects are so severe.

Jane Sanders, a Glastonbury resident of 20 years, was first to raise the health concerns and said: "I was really devastated when I found that the new Glastonbury WiFi signal reached my office. It had not occurred to me that it would stretch that far, so I wasn't expecting it. But I noticed when sitting in my office that I began to feel some familiar symptoms.

Read More...
http://www.thisisdorset.co.uk/westerngazette/news/Health-fears-trigger-unplug-WiFiarticle-509441-details/article.html


Informant: Martin Weatherall



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Wi-Fi
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Wi-Fi

http://list.lewrockwell.com/t/1227954/12759198/69534/0/



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=torture
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=superiority
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Glenn+Greenwald

Frankreich will erstmals die Opfer der Atomversuche in Algerien und französisch Polynesien entschädigen.

http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/29/29431/1.html

Christopher S. Rugaber, The Associated Press: "New claims for unemployment benefits rose more than expected last week, the government said Wednesday, while consumers cut back on their spending for the fifth straight month amid a deepening recession. The Labor Department reported that initial requests for jobless benefits rose to a seasonally adjusted 586,000 in the week ending Dec. 20, from an upwardly revised figure of 556,000 the previous week. That's much more than the 560,000 economists had expected."

http://www.truthout.org/122508C



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=jobless
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=unemployment
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=recession
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Christopher+S.+Rugaber

http://derstandard.at/?url=/?id=1229975002453



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=laser+weapon

Unter Bankstern – Artikelserie von Artur P. Schmidt

Von Banken und Nullen

„Was ist eigentlich eine Bank? Sie ist zunächst einmal ein Sitzmöbel, weshalb wir auch sofort verstehen, warum Bankmanager Probleme lieber aussitzen, anstatt sie zu lösen. Bänke sind in der Regel aus Holz, womit sie leider die gleiche Konsistenz wie manche Köpfe in den Chefetagen der Banken haben. Im Mittelalter durften nur Personen auf einer Bank Platz nehmen, die einander gleichgestellt waren. Ebenso ist es heute, denn viele Großbanken hätten am liebsten nur noch Elitekunden, die über ein besonders üppiges Bankkonto verfügen…“ Artikel von Artur P. Schmidt (Unter Bankstern - Teil 1) in telepolis vom 22.12.2008 http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/29/29372/1.html


Die Banken und das liebe Geld

Artikel von Artur P. Schmidt (Unter Bankstern - Teil 2) in telepolis vom
24.12.2008 http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/29/29380/1.html


Aufstieg und Fall der schweizerischen Banken

Artikel von Artur P. Schmidt (Unter Bankstern - Teil 3) in telepolis vom
26.12.2008 http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/29/29381/1.html


Raubritter, Blindflieger und Verbrecher

Artikel von Artur P. Schmidt (Unter Bankstern - Teil 4) in telepolis vom
28.12.2008 http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/29/29382/1.html


Banken spielen mit Krisen

Artikel von Artur P. Schmidt (Unter Bankstern - Teil 5) in telepolis vom
30.12.2008 http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/29/29383/1.html


Die geplante Innovationsverhinderung

Artikel von Artur P. Schmidt (Unter Bankstern - Teil 6) in telepolis vom
02.01.2009 http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/29/29384/1.html


Machtspiele im Spielcasino

Artikel von Artur P. Schmidt (Unter Bankstern - Teil 7) in telepolis vom
03.01.2009 http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/29/29385/1.html


Strukturkrise des Kapitalismus – und jetzt wohin?

„Noch vor zwei Monaten konnte der große Krisenmanager der Bundesregierung, Finanzminister Steinbrück, keinerlei Anzeichen einer allgemeinen Wirtschaftsrezession erkennen. Nun wird sie von allen, auch von den amtlichen Seiten festgestellt. Der Internationale Währungsfonds IWF) prognostiziert für 2009 für sämtliche kapitalistischen Zentren einen Rückgang der Wirtschaftsleistung. Diese Gleichzeitigkeit des Rückgangs ist ein Novum in der Wirtschaftsgeschichte des Kapitalismus nach dem 2. Weltkrieg. Dieses Mal kann nicht eine noch funktionierende Region die anderen wieder anschieben helfen. Vielmehr zieht im globalisierten Kapitalismus jeder mit seiner Krise den anderen weiter nach unten…“ Artikel von Conrad Schuhler bei isw – institut für sozial-ökologische wirtschaftsforschung e.V. (pdf) http://www.isw-muenchen.de/download/strukturkrise-kom01-cs.pdf


Die Multis gegen den Rest der Welt: Die Finanzkrise und die Transformation des globalen Kapitalismus.

Zu diesem Thema hielt Leo Mayer, Mitarbeiter des isw, beim 15. Friedensratschlag in Kassel (6./7. Dezember 2008) ein Forumsreferat, in dem er die folgenden sechs Thesen abhandelte: 1. Es handelt sich nicht um eine kurze Rezession, sondern die Weltwirtschaft stürzt in eine länger anhaltende Depression. / 2. Die Krise führt zu einer weiteren Zentralisation des Kapitals. Die neoliberale Globalisierung wird weitergehen. / 3. Es verflechten sich zahlreiche Krisenprozesse. In der Folge wird der Nord-Südkonflikt verschärft. / 4. Der permanente Krieg wird, wenn auch modifiziert, weitergehen. 5. Die Schwellenländer werden stärker in Entscheidungsprozesse integriert; Russland und China werden unter Druck gesetzt, „globale Verantwortung“ zu übernehmen. / 6. USA und EU – gemeinsam gegen den Rest der Welt. Text des Vortrags beim ISW (pdf) http://www.isw-muenchen.de/download/fripora-ref-lm-2008.pdf


Aus: LabourNet, 6. Januar 2009



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=bankster
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=IWF
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Kapitalismus
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Finanzkrise
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Rezession
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Steinbrück

Tom Parfitt and Julian Borger, The Guardian UK: "Russia has thrown down a new gauntlet to Barack Obama with an announcement that it will sharply increase production of strategic nuclear missiles. In the latest of a series of combative moves by the Kremlin, a senior government official in Moscow said the Russian military would commission 70 strategic missiles over the next three years, as part of a massive rearmament program which will also include short-range missiles, 300 tanks, 14 warships and 50 planes."

http://www.truthout.org/122408T



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=strategic+nuclear+missile
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Obama
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Tom+Parfitt
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Julian+Borger

Agence France-Presse: "The US economy shrank in the third quarter, official data confirmed Tuesday, as the IMF's top economist warned of a second Great Depression offering no respite from relentless gloom ahead of Christmas. The abrupt 0.5 percent contraction of gross domestic product (GDP) in the world's largest economy was seen as marking the start of a steep downturn for the United States after GDP growth of 2.8 percent in the second quarter."

http://www.truthout.org/122408R

--------

IMF economist warns of "Great Depression"

The top economist at the International Monetary Fund, Olivier Blanchard, warned earlier this week that continued declines in consumer spending would set off a global depression. "Consumer and business confidence indexes have never fallen so far since they began. The coming months will be very bad," he told the French newspaper Le Monde, as reported by Agence France-Presse.

http://wsws.org/articles/2008/dec2008/econ-d27.shtml



Holiday Sales Drop to Force Bankruptcies, Closing

U.S. retailers face a wave of store closings, bankruptcies and takeovers starting next month as holiday sales are shaping up to be the worst in 40 years.

http://tinyurl.com/8yqfom



Cash-strapped states cut juvenile justice programs

State budget cuts are forcing some of the nation's youngest criminals out of counseling programs and group homes and into juvenile prisons in what critics contend is a shortsighted move that will eventually lead to more crime and higher costs.

http://tinyurl.com/7pamt3



Cash-strapped states weigh selling roads, parks

Minnesota is deep in the hole financially, but the state still owns a premier golf resort, a sprawling amateur sports complex, a big airport, a major zoo and land holdings the size of the Central American country of Belize.

http://tinyurl.com/9hffmz


From Information Clearing House



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=economy+shrink
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=GDP
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=IMF
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Great+Depression
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=consumer+spending
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=retailer
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=bankruptcies

A new report from the U.S. Army War College discusses the use of American troops to quell civil unrest brought about by a worsening economic crisis.

http://www.newsmax.com/headlines/military_domestic_use/2008/12/23/164765.html



US Army Ready If Downturn Gets Out Of Hand

The US Army War College is on the case - ready to handle "unforeseen economic collapse" and the "rapid dissolution of public order in all or significant parts of the US."

http://tinyurl.com/85qd48



U.S. jobless claims surge to 26-year high

The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for jobless benefits jumped by 30,000 to a 26-year peak last week, government data on Wednesday showed, as the country's year-long recession continued to chill the labour market.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/email/idUKTRE4BN2FX20081224



Housing Starts Fall Through the Floor

In fact, the start reported for November is lower than any rate reported for the last fifty years.

http://www.cepr.net/index.php/data-bytes/housing-market-monitor/housing-starts-fall-through-the-floor/



Unemployed Americans Competing With Immigrant Labor for Unskilled Jobs

"Everybody is coming to look for work," Rene Jemio, outreach coordinator for the hiring hall, told the Wall Street Journal. "It's not just your average immigrant anymore; it's African-Americans and whites, too.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,470656,00.html


From Information Clearing House



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=civil+unrest
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=economic+crisis
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=unemployed
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=jobless
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=recession
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=housing

A new Citigroup scandal is engulfing Robert Rubin and his former disciple Chuck Prince for their roles in an alleged Ponzi-style scheme that's now choking world banking.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/12042008/business/ponzi_scheme_at_citi_142511.htm


From Information Clearing House



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Citigroup
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Robert+Rubin
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=ponzi
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Madoff

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, who has been named to the same Cabinet post in the incoming administration of President-elect Barack Obama, is asking experienced members of the Bush war team to stick around to smooth the transition in the Pentagon.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/dec/23/exclusive-obama-wants-bush-war-team-stay/


From Information Clearing House



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Obama
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Robert+Gates

In the end, the shame of Vice President Dick Cheney was total: unmitigated by any notion of a graceful departure, let alone the slightest obligation of honest accounting.

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20081223_cheneys_legacy_of_deception/


From Information Clearing House



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Cheney
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Robert+Scheer

US appears to ignore findings of British court on detainee's torture.
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Guantanamo_lawyer_says_Gates_may_have_1222.html


From Information Clearing House



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Guantanamo
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Robert+Gates
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=detainee
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=torture

Hundreds of Afghans have been killed in U.S. air strikes this year, undermining public support for the continued presence of NATO-led and U.S. coalition troops in Afghanistan and leading to a rift between President Hamid Karzai and his Western backers.

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=1108205


From Information Clearing House



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Afghanistan
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=civilians+deaths
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=air+strike
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Karzai

War With Contempt for Civilians.
http://www.counterpunch.org/cloughley12242008.html


From Information Clearing House



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=civilian+deaths
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Afghanistan
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=torture
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Brian+Cloughley

CBS Video Report

Many banks don't have enough money to survive in 2009, but mergers will keep their brands alive, said Ralph Silva of TowerGroup.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=975644719



Greed Has Pushed Political Credibility and Financial Trust into Freefall

By Gary Younge

Greenspan's ideology was unfettered, free-market capitalism. Its understanding of how the world works was rooted in self-interest. It was a value system that placed the private before the public, the individual before the collective, and the wealth of the few before the welfare of the many.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21523.htm



Hey Reagan Democrats

Now Do You Get It?

By David Michael Green

The very people who had failed to regulate the folks causing the Even Greater Depression of the early twenty-first century now took $700 billion worth of taxpayer money and handed it to those same financial 'industry' crooks, without any requirements at all on what they could do with the money. But when the blue collar auto industry wanted just $15 billion to keep millions of middle class jobs afloat, the Republicans wouldn't give it to them.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21528.htm



Higher Wages or Bubblenomics

What's it gonna be?

By Mike Whitney

A strong economy must be built on a solid foundation of steadily rising wages. If wages don't keep pace with production, the only way the economy can grow is through the expansion of debt, which leads to disaster.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21520.htm



A New Wind Blowing

By Mary Pitt

The whole country is agog with the news of the Madoff Ponzi scheme and the billions he scammed from big investors, but nobody appears to realize that it is only the tip of a huge iceberg.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21527.htm


From Information Clearing House



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Greenspan
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=capitalism
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Great+Depression
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=$700
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=taxpayer
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=middle+class
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=automaker
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Madoff
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=ponzi
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Gary+Younge
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=David+Michael+Green
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Mike+Whitney
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Mary+Pitt

By Conn Hallinan

Over the next several months there will be a battle for hearts and minds, but not in Iraq or Afghanistan. The war will be here at home, waged mostly in the halls of Congress, where grim lobbyists for one of the top 15 economies in the world are digging in to preserve their stake in the massive U.S. military budget.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21522.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Obama
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=military+budget
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=lobbyists
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Conn+Hallinan

By David Glenn Cox

All change in the world comes either from rot or from new growth. Ford's pardon of Nixon might have been expedient at the time, but it has allowed the rot to fester. Senator Carl Levin wants a congressional inquiry into the actions of the Vice President and the Attorney General and their role in the torturing of prisoners. Thanks to Gerald Ford this is a question rather than a precedent. Had Nixon been put on trial, win, lose or draw there would be precedent for putting members of the Executive branch on trial.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21526.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Carl+Levin
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=torture
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=David+Glenn+Cox

Now, Is The Crucial Time

You can make a difference!

By Ramsey Clark

We cannot sit back and expect that change will just happen now. In order to make real change, people must be mobilized and organized. Otherwise, all of the hopes for a new direction can be quickly diverted.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21521.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Ramsey+Clark
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Obama

http://www.lewrockwell.com/raimondo/raimondo19.html



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=warmongers
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=raimondo