Category Archives: International

International, U.S.

World War 3: “Long live China, long live Pakistan!”, new battle cry heard in Pakistan

On November 24, just one day before U.S./NATO helicopters attacked and killed at least 24 Pakistani soldiers, Chinese and Pakistani forces concluded a massive joint war game in Punjab Province.

During the Cold War, China and Pakistan were close allies, it looks like they still are.

Punjab province is one of the largest geographically, and has about 56% of Pakistan’s population.  It borders India, and is very close to the border areas of Afghanistan.

The joint China/Pakistan war games involved 540 troops, mainly airborne units. It’s the fourth joint China/Pakistan exercise since 2006.

China is Pakistan’s number one military backer.

The reason for the Chinese supporting Pakistan is the same as during the Cold War; to counter the growing power of India.

Pakistani officials say it will help them deal with the U.S.: “It’s not a zero-sum game. You further strengthen your relations with China, then you increase your importance. You use this as a leverage to improve your relationship with the U.S.”-Talat Masood, retired Pakistani general

 

International, U.S.

World War 3: U.S. led NATO kills 28 Pakistani soldiers, Pakistan retaliates by cutting off supplies to U.S. forces in Afghanistan

U.S. led NATO helicopters attacked a Pakistani checkpoint on November 25, reportedly killing as many as 28 Pakistani soldiers, and wounding 14.   NATO officials say they’re investigating, but Pakistan says enough, they closed at least two boarding crossings used to supply U.S./NATO forces in Afghanistan.

Ironically the U.S./NATO attack came about six hours after a meeting between U.S. and Pakistani military officials ended. The meeting was about preventing ‘accidental’ attacks on Pakistani forces by U.S./NATO forces.

Russian media says they have info that the NATO attack is in retaliation for Pakistan’s crackdown on CIA informants, including the resignation of Pakistan’s ambassador to the U.S., Husain Haqqani.

Just four or five days ago, Husain Haqqani was forced to quit after he was accused of seeking U.S. help in overthrowing Pakistan’s military officials.

 

 

 

 

International, Technology, U.S.

Media Incompetence: Some media calling new flu outbreak H1N1 Swine Flu, FAIL! The new flu is an old version of H3N2

Recently several media outlets have reported that people in the midwestern U.S. have been infected with H1N1 swine flu.  They’ve even reported that instead of spreading from pigs to humans, it’s spreading human to human.

Well that’s because it isn’t H1N1!  According to the United Nations World Health Organization, and the U.S. Center for Disease Control, it’s an influenza A virus of the H3N2 subtype, a type of flu virus that circulates between humans.

Since July 2011, 10 people in the United States have been infected with it.  Why are some media outlets reporting it as H1N1?  If you read the USA Today, and ABC News articles, you’ll notice that H3N2 is only briefly mentioned.  For some reason the articles focus on the 2009 scare caused by H1N1.  More text is dedicated to talking about H1N1 than to this latest form of H3N2.  Call it a case of fear mongering by the U.S. media.

The problem is some international media outlets have picked up the story as an new outbreak of H1N1!

International, U.S.

World War 3 & Media Incompetence: Government orders U.S. citizens out of Syria, Strike Force anchored off Syrian coast? A case of hopeful warmongering by the mainstream media. Remember the Spanish American War?

“The U.S. Embassy continues to urge U.S. citizens in Syria to depart immediately while commercial transportation is available.”-U.S. Embassy in Syria

On November 23, the U.S. Embassy in Syria restated a warning they’ve been giving since September 30; U.S. citizens need to leave.  CBS News reported it as if it was something new.

Then Forbes reported the United States has positioned a naval strike force, lead by the aircraft carrier USS George HW Bush (aka CVN 77), off the coast of Syria.

According to Forbes, the carrier strike group number two (COMCARSTRKGRU TWO, Commander of the Carrier Strike Group number two) had been patrolling the Strait of Hormuz, which is the narrow inlet leading from the Indian Ocean to the Persian Gulf, south of Iran.  Suddenly they were shifted, all the way round to the Mediterranean Sea.  The implication being that something is going to happen.

Forbes later updated their story saying CVN 77’s Facebook page had them in France for R&R.  Lets not forget that deals have already been made regarding French control of Syria after any war (Syria and Lebanon were controlled by France after World War 1).

On November 23, the Virginian-Pilot reported that CVN 77 was heading back home to the United States.  The home port of  USS George HW Bush is Norfolk, Virginia.

The Virginia newspaper also reported that CVN 77, along with the other ships of the strike force, had held up in the Mediterranean to “…conduct a range of operations and help maintain maritime security…”.

If a naval force, based on the east coast of the U.S., was returning from the Persian Gulf, the shortest route would be through the Strait of Hormuz, through the Indian Ocean, the Red Sea, the Suez Canal, the Mediterranean Sea, the Strait of Gibraltar into the Atlantic Ocean heading west to the U.S.

This seems to me to be a clear case of hopeful warmongering on the part of CBS News and Forbes.  CBS simply took a U.S. Embassy warning, that’s been issued since September 30 (unchanged even, word for word the same as on Sep. 30), and made it sound like it was something new.

Forbes took the CBS story, and a report on the position of the COMCARSTRKGRU TWO and insinuated that ‘war were declared’ (a quote from Futurama).  The position of the strike group in the Mediterranean Sea was correct, but also outdated because by the time Forbes published their story the strike group had already sailed to French ports for R&R.  The strike group is probably already in the Atlantic Ocean by now.

The sad thing is that foreign media are now running with the CBS/Forbes story.  What was that ancient warning sign about the end of the world?  “Wars, and rumors of wars”?

Don’t get me wrong, I think war is coming for Syria, especially since French warmonger Sarkozy want it, and Lebanon, back under French control.

Regarding the Spanish American War, which most people in the U.S. know nothing about it (it’s how we got Puerto Rico, Guam, Philippines, etc). That war is a classic example of how the warmongering U.S. media (led by William Randolph Hearst) convinced the general public that war was the only answer, and they did it while most Federal officials worked for a peaceful solution.

A peaceful solution was reached.  Spain promised Cuba independence and made other concessions, but a U.S. Navy ship exploded while off the coast of Cuba.  The mainstream U.S. media said the back stabbing Spanish did it, even though initial USN investigation said it was an accident.  The U.S. public demanded war, and the warmongering politicians overruled the doves and ‘war were declared’.  Investigations done during the 20th Century revealed that the USN ship had indeed gone down due to faulty design, not a sneak attack by the Spanish.

 

Business/Economics, International

What Economic Recovery? Japanese life insurance companies dump European bonds

As a sign of how bad things are getting for European countries, it’s just been revealed that eight major Japanese life insurance companies are dumping their sovereign debt (bonds) from Italy, Ireland, Greece, Portugal and Spain.

All together, the Japanese companies sold off 44% of their bonds, by the end of October.  According to Japanese media, two of the eight insurance companies sold off all their Italian bonds!

Business/Economics, International, Opinion, Technology

Government Incompetence: More than 80% of Japan’s nuclear reactors to be shut down, get ready for petroleum & coal prices to spike

Combine natural disasters, corporate and government incompetence, and regular inspections, and you end up with more than 80% of Japan’s nuclear power turned off.  That’s disastrous when you realize that Japan’s industries rely on nuclear power!  Can you say poor planning?

On November 25, another nuke plant will be shut down for regular inspection.  But that’s not all.  The remaining operating nuclear power plants will also be shut down going into spring 2012, because of the timing of scheduled inspections.  That means all 54 Japanese nuke plants will be off line!

This means there will be a huge demand coming from Japan for petroleum (oil, gasoline, diesel), natural gas and coal to run traditional electrical generators.  Now imagine what will happen to the price such commodities when an entire country suddenly starts sucking up millions of barrels of fuel per day!

Business/Economics, International, Technology, U.S.

Global Economic War: Apple now takes the Chinese Yuan, over the U.S. Dollar. Chinese buyers dominate the internet!

“The service has been there since last Friday. It’s really good news for our customers and local application developers.”-Apple China statement

California based Apple Incorporated decided to accept the Chinese yuan (aka Renminbi, or RMB) in an unannounced move last week. One reason is that China is now the world’s biggest internet market!!!

The App Store will now accept yuan credit and debit cards issued by more than 20 Chinese banks.  Another reason for the move is that many Chinese customers using credit and debit cards issued from outside China, were getting their info ripped off.

Apple’s fiscal 4th quarter revenues from China hit $4.5 billion. Their U.S. operations had more revenue, but revenue from China is growing so fast it will soon pass up the revenues made in the U.S.

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Revised GDP report; what the mainstream media doesn’t tell you, inflation up, military spending up, non-military spending down, workers producing more but not being paid more

On November 22, the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) released another revised Real GDP report.  It says the second revision of GDP for the third quarter 2011 was a stagnant 2%.

Gross Domestic Product is the “the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States”.   Real GDP means it’s been adjusted for inflation, specifically: “‘Real’ estimates are in chained (2005) dollars.”

The BEA report has some other important information, that the mainstream media rarely reports.

Inflation: Overall prices increased 1.9% in the third quarter, and 3.3% in the second quarter.

Expenses: Overall consumption expenditures increased 2.3% in the third quarter, 0.7% in the second quarter.

Property Investment: Non-residential property investment increased 14.8% in the third quarter, 10.3% in the second quarter.  Residential property investment increased 1.6% in the third quarter, 4.2% in the second quarter.

Exports: Products made in the U.S. and shipped to other countries increased 4.3% in the third quarter,  3.6% in the second.

Imports: Products brought into the U.S. increased 0.5% in the third quarter, 1.4% in the second quarter.

Government: Federal spending on the military increased 4.7% in the third quarter,  7.0% in the second. Federal spending on non-military decreased 3.8% in the third quarter, decreasing 7.6% in the second. State and local spending decreased 1.4% in the third quarter, decreasing 2.8% in the second.

Production: Real Gross National Product increased 2.1% in the third quarter, and 2.2% in the second.

Value of Products Produced: Market value increased 4.6% in the third quarter, 4.0% in the second quarter.

Income: Real Gross Domestic Income increased 0.4% in the third quarter, and 0.2% in the second.

To be significant the amount of change should be 3% or greater. Between 0% and 3% should be considered stagnation, below 0% is retraction.

Notice the huge jumps in property investment.

Notice that U.S. exports are above 3%.  This corresponds to the increase in production.  The value of products produced are more than 4%!  Yet look at the income of U.S. workers, a 0.4% pittance!  Some reward for making more products and providing more service!

The BEA’s data on production and income shows you that Corporate America views labor as slave wage workers. After all it’s obviously not the workers who’re benefiting from the increased production, and the increased value of their products and services!

What about government spending of your tax dollars? The BEA report shows what many are dealing with, a drop in State and local government spending (social services and education are the big ones), and a huge drop (more than 7% in the 2nd quarter, more than 3% in the 3rd) in Federal non-military spending (again, social programs, education, etc).  But look at the huge jump in military spending, it almost matches the cuts in non-military spending!

The BEA’s data on government spending is a real indicator of who the government really cares about!

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Corporate Incompetence: British MF Global following in footsteps of Japanese Olympus?

“I’m flabbergasted. The bottom line is, there’s going to be a haircut involved. It’s devastating, what this has done to the industry.”-Tom Ward, retired Chicago Board of Trade member whose two sons have been blocked from accessing their money

Officials with MF Global, formerly Man Financial, are now admitting that they lost much more money than first reported. They’re now saying they lost $1.2 billion!

“What did the CFTC know three weeks ago and what do they know now?  If the amount has changed that much over three weeks, where did the money go? What were (regulators) looking at before?”-Tim Butler, attorney representing group of MF Global customers

MF Global originated in England, but after several moves, ended up in New York City in 2009.  They were a primary trader of U.S. sovereign debt (bonds).

Regulators have taken over the company, and are now liquidating it. The process has frozen $5.45 billion of customers’ money!

MF Global says they lost the money making a bad trade deal with the very bonds they deal with!  The latest reports say that MF Global may have used its customers’ investment money to make the deals for itself, a violation of regulations.

Investors are trying to get their money back, so far it takes hiring an attorney, but not everyone can do that: “Unlike the big banks, the average farmer who lost money in this fiasco can’t afford to hire an attorney and attend proceedings in a Manhattan courtroom.”-Chuck Grassley, U.S. Senator from Iowa

MF Global filed bankruptcy on October 31.