Category Archives: International

Business/Economics, International

What Economic Recovery? Japan posts 2nd worst trade deficit since 2009

For the second month in a row Japan has posted a huge trade deficit.  Not only that, it’s the second highest deficit since January 2009.  Preliminary reports say Japan’s May trade deficit hit $10 billion.

The March 11 natural and nuclear disasters are to blame.  Japanese economist are blaming increasing imports of oil and gas for power generation, since many of Japan’s nuclear plants went off line.  Also, the loss of electricity to run factories, and damage to other factories, resulted in huge reduction of exports.

Japan’s almost total reliance on nuclear power, and the ongoing efforts to deal with a nuclear disaster, coupled with the fatally flawed practice of “just in time” supply system for factories, means this economic situation could continue into next year.

 

International, U.S.

Pentagon commits biggest theft in history, Iraq says the U.S. stole $17 billion, U.S. investigators back up Iraq

“All indications are that the institutions of the United States of America committed financial corruption by stealing the money of the Iraqi people, which was allocated to develop Iraq, (and) that it was about $17 billion.”-Iraq letter to United Nations

Remember when the Bush Jr administration said they were taking Iraqi oil funds so they could be used to rebuild Iraq?  Never happened, now Iraq wants their money.

Even U.S. investigators say the Iraqis are owed billions. Special Inspector General for Iraqi Reconstruction, Stuart Bowen, says the Pentagon is to blame, and calls it “…the largest theft of funds in national history.”

This comes after Kalifornia’s (sic) idiot Congressman Dana Rohrabacher demanded that Iraq pay for being invaded and occupied by the United States.   The Kalifornian described the U.S. invasion of Iraq as a sign that we care about Iraqis: “We were hoping that there would be a consideration of a payback because the United States right now is in close to a very serious economic crisis and we could certainly use some people to care about our situation as we have cared about theirs.”-Dana Rohrabacher

Unfortunately for the Iraqis, the clever Bush Jr administration got the UN Security Council to make it almost impossible for Iraq to sue the U.S.  The money went to the Coalition Provisional Authority to fund reconstruction and pay Iraqi government employees. The CPA was headed by Paul Bremer.  So far no one has been able to show what really happened to the Iraqi oil money.

International, U.S.

NATO preps to attack Syria, Germany & Spain increasing NATO troops in Turkey

A Turkish news source says the Turkish government has agreed to allow NATO to increase troop strength in Turkey.  Turkey is a member of NATO.

Currently there are about 400 NATO personnel at the Turkish Izmir Air Station, but that could increase to the thousands as NATO personnel from Germany and Spain are moved in.

Western media is showing Turkey as helping Syrian refugees, and seemingly taking a neutral stand on events in Syria.  Reports in Middle Eastern news sources say otherwise.  There is growing evidence that the weapons being used by Syrian “protestors” are coming from Turkey.  Several times Turkish warplanes have crossed into Syrian airspace.

NATO is reporting the build up of personnel in Turkey as part of plans to “…make NATO leaner, more flexible, and better able to deal with future challenges.”-Anders Fogh Rasmussen, NATO Secretary General

 

Business/Economics, International

Deadly E Coli engineed in Lab, Russians asked to help

“If you look at it genetically…you have to come to the conclusion that this strain was exposed to eight different classes of antibiotics in its creation. This does not happen in the wild where you have a strain that is resistant. This looks like, genetically, that it had to be engineered.”-Mike Adams, NaturalNews.com

European Union scientists have sent the deadly e.coli samples to Russian labs.  At the same time the EU is complaining about Russia’s ban on EU vegetables.  Russia says it’ll lift the ban as soon as the EU can prove their  produce is safe.

 

 

International

My hypothesis about E Coli Typhoid Mary possibly confirmed, the deadly E Coli spreads to France

“Now we have the proof that in this case a human passed on the germ to the vegetables and then it was passed to other humans.”-Daniel Bahr, Germany’s health minister

German health officials are saying they have proof a kitchen worker passed on the deadly strain of e.coli.  Officials say at least 20 of the e.coli cases can be traced to an infected woman who works for a catering company.  The woman claims to have eaten sprouts, which might be one of the sources for the bacteria.  Check my June 9 posting.

Local officials are now investigating a sewage treatment plant near Frankfurt.  They say a stream running nearby has a high level of e.coli.  Local residents have long complained of intestinal problems, and routinely seek medical treatment.

In France, officials are now worried because several cases have shown up there.  One boy became infected after eating a partially cooked hamburger, made with frozen beef.  In Europe, it’s actually normal to eat ground beef raw.  The frozen beef comes from France, but is sold by a grocery chain store owned by a German company.   The beef sold at the Lidl supermarkets is being recalled.

So far 40 people have died, and thousands are in hospitals.

Business/Economics, International

No more mail service in Canada, no more airline service either? Canadian government getting Police State on Worker’s Rights-Oh Canada you suck!

“They did it with no warning. They trapped the public’s mail. It’s unacceptable.”-Denis Lemelin, Canadian Union of Postal Workers

Canada Post shut down all urban mail service today, June 15, after more than a week of strikes by 15,000 postal workers.  Ironically Canada Post officials say the shut down is meant to keep them from losing more money: “The price tag was climbing. It was reaching $100 million. We need to do something to jump start the negotiations.”-Anick Losier, Canada Post spokeswoman

If you’re losing money because workers aren’t at work, how do you make that better by shutting down altogether?  On top of that Union officials say they reached an agreement with Canada Post bosses and were heading back to work, when they were ‘locked out’: “All postal workers were ready to distribute mail across the country.”-Denis Lemelin, Canadian Union of Postal Workers

So from 15,000 striking postal workers to now 48,000 unemployed postal workers because of Canada Post’s lock out.

Add to the postal workers strike the strike by employees of Air Canada.  Today, 3,800 workers walked off the job.  Many travelers are being forced to use other air lines.

What’s the main motivation behind the two huge strikes in Canada?   Retirement benefits: “We’re Canadians. We deserve our pensions. We’ve worked hard for them.”-Loretta Pasqualini, 30 year employee with Air Canada

Air Canada and Canada Post wants to drastically slash worker’s retirement benefits, as well as other things like pay.  Canada Post says they have to cut costs because they’ve been losing money.  They blame the internet (very similar to what’s going on with the U.S. Postal Service).

Air Canada strikers started to leave their picket lines when security/police started taking pictures of them.  Also, the Canadian government is meeting today to come up with a plan that will force workers back to work, and end collective bargaining!

 

Business/Economics, International

Iran offering military aircraft overhauling & rebuilding service

When the United States sells military aircraft to other countries, the deal normally requires that the aircraft undergo major overhaul/rebuild by U.S. companies.  Iran is now offering the same service, for U.S., Russian and Chinese built military aircraft.

The Iran Iraq War of the 1980s, along with increased U.S. sanctions, forced Iran to learn how to rebuild their U.S. made war planes.  There are indications that Iran has even built “new” F-14s to replace those lost in the Iran Iraq War.  Iran soon learned how to overhaul Russian and Chinese aircraft during the 1990s.

Iranian air force officials say they will now offer their overhaul/rebuild know how to other countries: “We are able to overhaul the planes of our neighboring countries for them.  We do have this capability as well.”-Hamidreza Goudini, Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force

Iranian military leaders say the U.S. sanctions are actually good for Iran, because it forced Iran’s industries, military and civilian, to develop much faster than they would have without any sanctions.  As a result Iran is a truly independent nation.

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? The U.S. was lagging behind Europe even before the Credit Crisis

Before the 2007-08 Credit Crunch Crisis the United States was far behind the European Union, when it came to new job creation.

According to a Fortune article, from 1999 to 2008 the EU created 14 million new jobs, while the U.S. created 8 million.

On top of that, once the economy started down the drain the United States lost more jobs than were lost in the EU.  Percentage wise the EU and U.S. are around 9% unemployment (officially, unofficially the percentages are higher), but when you look at actual numbers the U.S. is leading the way down.  As of December 2010, the difference in job losses, between the EU and U.S., are about 7 million.