Rumors say that President Barak Obama’s speech, on peace between Israel and Palestinians, will be a let down for those seeking statehood.
While Obama is expected to ask Israel to stop new settlements, he’s also expected to ask Palestinians to stop seeking statehood. He will give the speech on Thursday, May 19.
May 18, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, says the United States faces a new Cold War if it continues to push its “missile shield” across eastern Europe.
Medvedev says Russia will have no choice but to increase spending on its military, especially nuclear weapons: “We would then be talking about developing the offensive potential of our nuclear capabilities. This would be a very bad scenario.”
The U.S. has repeatedly said the missile shield system is aimed at Iran, but it’s very suspicious that most European countries that have agreed to host the U.S. system, are in eastern Europe facing Russia.
British military commanders have confirmed that they have been given “blunt warning” from U.S. commanders. The “warning”, call it a threat, is against the United Kingdom’s planned withdrawal from Afghanistan.
British military leaders say the United States has actually told them to ignore any orders from their U.K. government to withdraw from Afghanistan.
U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron wants to start drawing down U.K. troops in Afghanistan, starting in July 2011. British media are reporting that U.S. generals have warned their British counterparts not to follow those orders. This is another sign that the United States has no intentions of leaving Afghanistan.
One report says the British were told that they could not count on the U.S. to “bail them out” if they began withdrawing their troops. Another report says British commanders in Afghanistan were told they needed to stay until at least 2014.
President Barak Obama is the Commander in Chief of the U.S. military. If “his” officers are threatening the British it must be at his command.
China reporting that U.S. investments in China has dropped 28%. Some analysts blame rising labor costs. However, other foreign investments into China have actually increased.
Most economists think the decrease in U.S. investment is only short term, but admit it is connected to the bad economy in the United States.
May 17, the U.S. Treasury Department announced that China has sold off another $9.2 billion in U.S. sovereign debt (bonds). This makes the 5th month in a row that China has offloaded U.S. bonds.
At the same time China turned around and bought $2.9 billion in Japanese bonds.
U.S. Senator John Kerry says that he’s worked out differences between Pakistan and the United States. As a sign he says Pakistan will return the tail rotor of the downed stealth helicopter used in the Osama bin Laden raid.
Kerry also says Pakistan no longer wants an official apology from the U.S. Kerry’s announcements might be too late for the U.S. government, as a Senate panel is deciding if Pakistan is still an ally of the U.S. or not.
The U.S. Commerce Department says overall new home construction dropped 10.6% in April. Also, building permits fell 4% since March.
Construction of multi-family homes, with five or more units, dropped 28%. Economic “experts” expected an increase in housing construction for April.
Pakistan is reporting that two NATO helicopters attacked a Pakistani security checkpoint in North Waziristan. Also, a U.S. drone attack killed 12 people in the same region.
No response so far from NATO forces on why they attacked a security checkpoint. This is not the first time; last year U.S. helicopters did the same thing, killing two Pakistani soldiers.
These attacks come as U.S. Senator John Kerry is in Pakistan, to try an reconcile the May 1/2 Osama bin Laden operation with Pakistani officials.
“…timely action to increase the debt limit in order to protect the full faith and credit of the United States and avoid catastrophic economic consequences for citizens.”-Timothy Geithner, Treasury Secretary
U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, will now use government employee retirement money to pay U.S. government debts. He pointed out that he’s not the first Treasury Secretary to do so.
Even with using retirement money, it’s estimated the government will run out of debt payment options within 11 weeks. The Federal government has spent its way to the legal debt limit of $14.3 trillion.
What Geithner, and Ben Bernanke of the Federal Reserve (a private bank), want is for Congress to raise the debt limit. But, that would only mean that our elected officials could get us even deeper in the hole.
The problem is that our Federal government is running solely on loans. Geithner wants to be able to keep borrowing money. There is a fear that no matter how drastic government spending cuts are, they might not be enough. This is a really really really bad sign.
The Treasury Department has already stopped issuing state and local governments special securities to manage their debts. Where does that leave them?
History shows that Congress loves to raise its debt limit, so it can spend more of YOUR money, and it’s partly the cause of our current situation. Some members of Congress say it’s time to pay the piper.
Could this be the real reason the U.S. doesn’t want to leave Iraq? Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki made it clear that Iraq and Iran are coming together to act as a regional power.
On May 16, Maliki told Iranian media that Iraq and Iran will expand military, as well as economic, cooperation. He said the ongoing situation in the Middle East (caused by Western forces) demands that the ancient powers of Iraq and Iran must work together to create stability in the Middle East.