08 November 2012, Iraq has expelled the Turkish oil company, TPAO (aka Turkish Petroleum Corporation).
Iraqi government officials refuse to explain why at the moment, but could it have something to do with continued Turkish bombing of Iraq?
On 06 November, Turkish F-16 Vipers bombed northern Iraq, killing two people and wounding three. Back on 02 October Iraq demanded U.S.-led NATO member Turkey stop its attacks.
Turkey claims it is targeting Kurdish insurgents.
On 06 November 2012, Japan’s Nissan Motors reduced its expected profits for the Japanese fiscal year (ending in March 2013), by 20%!
Nissan, like Mazda, is blaming most of it on crashing sales in China. Nissan also blames the bad economy in Europe, and the increasing value of the Japanese yen (which makes Japanese cars more expensive).
Nissan reported sales numbers in China similar to what Mazda reported days ago. Nissan experienced a 35% drop in September, then a 41% drop in October!
Chinese consumers are boycotting Japanese products (even those actually made in China) over Japan’s take over of an island that China says belongs to them.
“…a catastrophe and very bad news….We have a huge problem in the rest of the euro area that now seems to be reaching Germany and its labor market. For the coming quarters, the economic outlook is quite gloomy.”-Thomas Harjes, economist at Barclays
On 06 November 2012, Deutsche Bundesbank revealed that there is no let up in the dropping factory orders for German companies. September had a 4.7% drop, October saw a 4.6% drop, from the year before.
From October to September (month to month) there was a 3.3% drop, which was much more than analysts had expected.
Factory orders from European Union (EU) customers (Euro-area orders) make up the biggest part of the drop, followed by orders outside the EU (export orders): “The weak economic environment in the euro area and in the broader global economy is having a bigger impact on demand for German industrial goods. Therefore industrial production may weaken further in the months to come.”-Statement from Germany’s Economy Ministry
Germany is considered the economic powerhouse of the European Union. Almost a month ago the President of the Deutsche Bundesbank, Jens Weidmann, said: “The German economy continues to be in robust shape….”
Now one analyst says Germany “…is unlikely to be spared from a technical recession.”-Annalisa Piazza, New Edge
Christian Ott, an investment bank economist said: “…the [German] resilience has come to an end…”
According to the Legatum Institute, the United States not only is not the most prosperous country anymore, it’s not even in the top ten!
The United States was considered the 10th most prosperous last year, but in 2012 the U.S. is now ranked 12th overall!
The Legatum Institute ranks 142 nations in eight sub-indexes: economy, entrepreneurship and opportunity, governance, education, health, safety and security, personal freedom and social capital.
According to their 2012 Prosperity Index, the U.S. now ranks 2nd in health, 5th in education, 10th in governance, 10th in social capital, 12th in entrepreneurship and opportunity, 14th in personal freedom, 20th in economy, and despite more than a decade of War on Terror 27th in safety and security (seems the war has actually made the U.S. more unsafe)!
The top 10 most prosperous countries are: Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Finland, Netherlands, Switzerland and Ireland. (notice that most of these are in Europe where the economy is supposed to be worse than the U.S., many of these countries have strong labor unions and more worker rights than the U.S.)
29 October 2012
In Wardak Province, Mujahideen ambushed U.S. and Afghan National Army troops. The U.S. and ANA personnel were conducting assessments of local police checkpoints. They were attacked with assault rifles and RPGs. U.S. officials claim they killed three Mujahideen.
In Helmand Province, at least two ANA soldiers were killed (some reports say four) when the vehicle they were in ran over a landmine.
Despite the fact that U.S. officials continue to claim we are there to provide security to Afghanistan, ISAF officials said they are not there to protect Afghanistan’s borders: “In the first Bonn conference in December 2001 there was a proposal of the Afghan delegation to include the protection of the border of Afghanistan in one of the annexes. Actually this annex was part of the Bonn proposal however, this annex never made it into our mandate that we received from the United Nations.”-Brigadier General Günter Katz, International Security Assistance Force
The Afghan High Peace Council revealed that Saudi Arabia will mediate peace talks between Mujahideen and the Afghan government. It must be remembered that it was Saudi Arabia that supported Osama bin Laden and, along with Pakistan, eventually supported the creation of the Taliban (“Students”) political party. Saudi Arabia also officially recognized the Taliban government. Analysts say this time the Saudi’s are concerned about blowback: “Saudi Arabia is in a situation to support the Afghan peace talks not only because of the moral stance of Saudi in this regard but also they should consider the post 2014 situation in Afghanistan which will threaten the national security of Saudi Arabia if necessary steps have not been taken to eliminate insurgency in South Asia.”-Nasrullah Stanekzai
Saudi Arabia is also spending $100 million USD to build a huge Mosque/madrasa in Afghanistan. They claim it will house 5,000 university aged students.
In Ghazni Province, five people were killed and four detained by U.S./ANA forces. Officials claim they were all Mujahideen, but locals say at least one civilian man and one civilian woman were killed. Officials say the U.S./ANA operation started Sunday night and continued until Monday morning.
Afghan elected official, Ramazan Bashar Doost, said that while the U.S. is offering a $25 million reward for the arrest of Mullah Omar, the U.S. has been in contact with Mulla Omar the whole time! Doost also says the U.S. is actually funding not only Pakistan’s ISI, but Afghan Mujahideen groups as well.
28 October 2012
In Canada, Pakistani elected official, Imran Khan, was detained by U.S. agents: “I was taken off from plane and interrogated by U.S. Immigration in Canada on my views on drones. My stance is known. Drone attacks must stop!”-Imran Khan
Imran Khan is also the Pakistani official who said war in Afghanistan was justified Jihad. Khan was on his way to New York anyway, so why couldn’t the U.S. wait until he arrived there?
Afghan intelligence, aka National Directorate of Security (NDS), told Pakistani officials that the man they claim is behind the shooting of a teenaged Pakistani girl is not in Afghanistan.
27 October 2012
In Ghor Province, local government officials say 13 people were kidnapped. However, police say they do not know who did the kidnapping, and they don’t know the identities of those kidnapped!
The British Red Coat Ministry of Defence said the deaths of one Royal Marine and one Royal Army medic was not the result of fratricide (Blue on Blue). However, the two Red Coats died (as well as a Afghan National Policeman performing Muslim prayers) after two British patrols fired on each other. The MoD stated: “…the deaths of Corporal O’Connor and Corporal Day were caused by a third party or parties whose identities have yet to be established but who are not U.K. personnel.”
An investigative reporter says Green on Blue attacks are not caused by insurgents, but by the way U.S./NATO personnel treat Afghans: “These attacks are motivated by grudges, by people who are unhappy with the people they are coming in contact with in the U.S. and NATO military forces, but also by the broader context of what they hear and see these forces are doing in Afghanistan specifically for example breaking into people’s homes and taking away the males in these homes and detaining them.”-Gareth Porter
26 October 2012
In Ghazni Province, the bodies of six people were found on the Kabul-Kandahar highway. They had been shot. Police believe the victims were traveling to see relatives for the Eid holiday.
The Wall Street Journal said Afghan sources claim Iran has infiltrated Afghanistan through charity organizations. Sources claim Iran can now muster up to 20,000 Afghans at one time for militant activities, making Iran a greater threat than Pakistan.
In Farah Province, an NDS agent was attacked by Mujahideen. Several people were wounded and the a gunman was arrested. No info on what happened to the NDS agent.
ISAF said: “An International Security Assistance Force service member died following an insurgent attack in western Afghanistan today.”
In Faryab Province, a suicide bombing killed at least 40 people, and wounded 50. It appears the Provincial governor and local police chief were the targets. It happened at a Mosque. President Hamid Karzai said the attacks made against Muslims while they are praying in Mosques are not being made by Muslims, suggesting the attacks are really being instigated by non-Muslims (like non-Muslims from the United States or Europe).
Recently the grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia declared that suicide attacks by Muslims against Muslims was unforgivable.
“We are talking about the things that still need to be solved and here it became clear that the global economy’s risks are very evident, as is clearly stated in the communiqué. The economic growth outlooks are not as good as we would hope.”-Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany
The German leader made the statement on 30 October 2012, after reading a report from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, World Trade Organization, International Labour Organization, International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
The IMF boss, Christine Lagarde, admitted that economic growth will be pathetic: “I would characterize the situation as that of a laborious recovery out of the financial crisis through some degree of stabilization by way of tepid growth.”
The IMF also pushed developed economies to further consolidate their fiscal policies. This is another way of saying government deleveraging (typically in the form of austerity) should be increased.
(deleveraging began for individuals and small businesses with the 2008 Credit Crisis/Crunch. It’s one of the causes behind all the Sears & Kmart store closings in the U.S.)
The IMF is specifically targeting the United States, saying the U.S. needs a credible fiscal consolidation plan, implemented “at an appropriate pace” in order to stabilize a “fragile” world economy.
Just two days ago, the IMF, along with European lenders, told Greece that they could not provide anymore financing unless more drastic changes were made, such as drastic changes in Greece’s labor/wage laws. The Greek coalition government is showing signs that it would rather default than make anymore compromises.
The paradox is that while world economic organizations want increased deleveraging of individuals, small businesses and governments, they also want employment to somehow increase and people to somehow spend more money buying stuff they don’t need (domestic consumption)!
And it’s not just developed countries being told to axe their government spending, even oil rich Arab countries are being told to do the same: “A rapid deterioration in the global economy could bring about developments similar to what the region experienced in 2009, including a sharp fall in oil prices and disruptions to capital flows.”-IMF
The IMF explained that as the world economy worsens, demand for oil is going to drop to such lows that the the six Gulf Cooperation Council economies of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain could experience an economic crash.
The IMF projects that the price of oil could drop by $30 USD per barrel in 2013, and continue dropping! This might sound like good news, but it’s because people won’t have the money to buy it at any price!
30 October 2012, Swiss banking giant, UBS, announced a major change in its plans to cut employees; they now want to layoff 10,000 workers worldwide!
Last year UBS announced they would layoff 3,000 employees, but because the too big to fail bank has been losing money from its investment operations, they’ve now upped it to 10,000.
UBS employees in Stamford, in the U.S. state of Connecticut, will make up the majority of those laid off.
Of course (and more proof that unAmerican Corporate America/Europe is behind the economic disaster) stock investors loved the announcement, and drove up UBS stock prices in European stock markets with frenzied buying (I’m sure the same thing would be happening on Wall Street if it wasn’t for the hurricane).
25 October 2012
In Faryab Province, a major battle broke out. Afghan government officials claim they killed 25 Mujahideen, and five Afghan National Police troops were killed.
In Farah Province, one Italian soldier was killed, three wounded, after someone open fired on them. No one knows who did it.
In Uruzgan Province, two U.S. personnel were killed by an Afghan National Policeman:“Two U.S. Forces -Afghanistan service members died after an individual wearing an Afghan National Police uniform turned his weapon against them in Khas Uruzgan, Uruzgan.”-ISAF statement
Also, in the same province, there are reports that an Afghan National Army soldier killed one Australian Digger, and wounded another. The shooting took place inside a military compound, the ANA soldier got away.
In Helmand Province, two British Royal Marines Red Coats died. They had been wounded in a firefight in Nahr-e Saraj district the day before.
In Baghlan Province, reports say various police units attacked each other. Three cops were killed. Local government officials say the fight broke out after national police ignored warnings from local police.
In Herat Province, a local cop was killed by his wife, and his daughter. His wife confessed and said he was forcing her and her daughter to commit illicit acts. The cop just happened to be the boss of the local girls’ hostel.
24 October 2012
In Helmand Province, a confused battle resulted in British Red Coats killing Afghan government forces, and themselves! According to local government officials two joint Afghan-British patrols, in the Greshk district, mistook each other as Mujahideen: “A group of British troops opened fire on an Afghan national police [who was about to perform Muslim prayers] and killed him. [those] British troops were then attacked by a group of other British soldiers who were also patrolling in the area, killing two service members.”-Farid Ahmad Farhang, Helmand security official
In Farah Province, a district official and a cop were assassinated by explosion. Two bodyguards were wounded. The official was performing night inspections of security check points.
Spanish officials announced that they will pull their troops out of Afghanistan by the end of 2013.
23 October 2012
ISAF said: “A U.S. Forces-Afghanistan service member died following an insurgent attack in eastern Afghanistan today.”
U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, James Cunningham, confirmed statements that said the United States supports the British empire created border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Known as the Durand Line, the British took land away from Afghanistan in order to create a buffer zone between Afghanistan and British controlled India in 1893. Latter the British kept that area as part of the new Pakistan in 1947. Afghan officials have refused to recognize the Durand Line: “The status of the Durand Line is a matter of historic importance for the Afghan people. The Afghan government therefore rejects and considers irrelevant any statement by anyone about the legal status of this line.”-recent Afghan government statement
USMC General John R. Allen admits U.S. forces are killing children, and tried to make up for it by apologizing: “ISAF has completed its initial assessment of the circumstances of the October 20 operation against known insurgents in Baraki Barak district, Logar province. In addition to the insurgents killed during the operation, ISAF may be responsible for the unintended, but nonetheless tragic, death of three Afghan civilians. I offer my sincerest condolences to the families of the civilians that were killed. Additionally, I am committed to ensuring we do the right thing for the families of those harmed and we will meet with them personally to offer a condolence payment and express our deep regrets. Protecting Afghan civilians is the cornerstone of our mission. We maintain our commitment to take all appropriate actions to minimize the likelihood of similar occurrences in the future as we assist the Afghan people in their battle against the enemies of peace and stability.”
Allen mentions 20 October, but there were also U.S. killings of innocents on 14 & 16 October.
In Zabul Province, Afghan President, Hamid Karzai, claims U.S./NATO forces kidnapped three civilians. Karzai ordered the provincial governor to investigate U.S./NATO forces, he also condemned the 20 October U.S. attack that killed children.
In Nuristan Province, local government officials say a battle is taking place with Afghan government forces and Mujahideen. Several people have been killed including one child.
In Herat Province, local government officials say a large battle resulted in the deaths of as many as 10 cops and soldiers. Several more cops are missing. Their joint patrol was ambushed by Mujahideen. The police/army patrol was out trying to rescue aid workers who had also been ambushed.
In Laghman Province, a U.S./NATO patrol was ambushed. The ambush took place as the vehicle patrol passed through Basram village. Mujahideen claim they hit one armored vehicle with RPGs, killing all on board.
British Red Coat Ministry of Defence announced they are doubling the number of their assassination drones in Afghanistan. They will bring in five more Reaper drones, specifically for use in Helmand Province.
22 October 2012
In Ghazni Province, Mujahideen claim to have killed five U.S./NATO personnel.
In Wardak and Kandahar provinces, at least eight people were killed by U.S./NATO airstrikes.
In Khost Province, two cops were killed, four wounded, by explosion.
Pakistan claims Afghanistan is hiding the mastermind behind the attempted assassination of a 14 years old Pakistani girl activist.
Protestors blocked the Kandahar-Kabul highway in the city of Qalat. They are protesting the fact that Afghans killed while in the custody of U.S./NATO forces are rarely being returned to their families. In one recent case, three people killed by U.S./NATO forces, and then buried by their families, had their graves blown up by U.S./NATO forces.
ISAF announced: “An International Security Assistance Force service member died following an improvised explosive device attack in southern Afghanistan October 21.”
“If you continue to add to the sanctions we will cut our oil exports to the world…..The dearth of Iranian oil on the market will increase the price drastically.”-Rostam Qasemi, Iran’s Minister of Petroleum
On 23 October 2012, Iranian officials quietly announced that Iran is prepared to stop all its oil sales to the world, if the United States and Europe continue economic sanctions.
On 15 October, the European Union voted for more sanctions against Iran.
Iranian officials say they are ready for “Plan B”, which means halting all petroleum sales and running their country without oil revenues. This is possible because Iran’s non-oil exports are now high enough to offset the huge loss of oil money.
Even Iran’s domestic industries are becoming more self sufficient. Example: According to the World Steel Association, Iran’s steel industry is now the 16th largest in the world: “Despite the intensified sanctions during the last two years, the capacity of Iran’s steel production has increased 5 million tons and we will be completely self-sufficient in the steel industry in the next three years.”-Hamidreza Taherizadeh, Vice-President of Iran’s Steel Association
The announcement was made at a OPEC meeting in Dubai.
“Economic growth in 2012 has slowed to a trickle, and that has spooked a lot of people.”-Jake Dollarhide, Longbow Asset Management
“Our low cost feedstock [natural gas] advantage enabled us to deliver volume growth, despite weakening demand. These difficult conditions [bad economy] may have extended staying power, as the new reality is that we are operating in a slow growth and volatile world.”-Andrew Liveris, Dow Chemical CEO
On 24 October 2012, Liveris explained the 2,400 job cuts (inadvertently announced the day before) as being necessary because Dow officials see the world economy getting worse.
Some analysts were surprised by the elimination of jobs and 20 factories: “Dow had very strong volumes in an uncertain macroeconomic environment. When I heard the announcement they were cutting jobs, I thought they had a really bad quarter, but it seems that business is A-OK.”-Hassan Ahmed, Alembic Global Advisors
Stock market investors are overjoyed at the announcement of the elimination of jobs (as they always are), and Dow Chemical stock values shot up 5 to 6% the morning after the job cuts were announced.
Dow reported net revenue for this past quarter at $582 million USD. But that’s down from the same quarter last year, when they reported $900 million. (note: various U.S. media sources are reporting slightly different revenue numbers) Dow officials say their sales are down across the board. The only area they see possible increase in sales is in their plastics made from cheap natural gas.
Their natural gas supplies come from the U.S. Gulf of Mexico operations, and Saudi Arabia. Dow has no plans for cutting workers from those operations. About 1,500 of the job losses will come from Dow’s paint and solar cell factories.
20 factories in Japan, Belgium, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Spain and the United States will be closed. Bloomberg reports that Dow did not want to make the layoffs public, but mistakenly emailed the announcement to some media outlets!
Despite stock investors buying up Dow stock, the chemical company said it will also cut $500 million from their own investing and capital spending. That’s the exact opposite of what U.S. President Barack Obama has been saying is needed to revive the economy. Obama has been stressing that unAmerican Corporate America needs to increase spending on investments and capital.