Tag Archives: war

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

What Economic Recovery? 4,000 people stranded when Australian airline is suddenly deleveraged by too big too fail creditors

The latest corporation to become a victim of global deleveraging, is Air Australia.

Deleveraging is when the too big too fail banks take away your line of credit, and demand full, and instant payment of all debts.  Here in Idaho Wells Fargo Bank deleveraged several businesses in the past few years, including a Pontiac dealer in Idaho Falls, and several Sportsman Warehouse stores (owners of both businesses say they were not in financial trouble).

On February 17 (Australia time), 2012, the executives of Air Australia were suddenly told their line of credit had been suspended.  The result was that Air Australia could not buy fuel for use on flights where passengers were about to board, or planes were waiting to take off.  That has left at least 4,000 people stranded!  Another 10,000, who bought tickets for future flights, will not get their money back.

Air Australia has been losing money, especially after it lost a 90 million Australian dollars contract with the Australian Department of Defense.

It looks like the Australian airline industry is run the way the U.S. airline industry is, and that has some people calling for an investigation: “It does say something about…the fact the aviation industry should be properly investigated in this country.”-Tony Sheldon, Transport Workers Union

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Israel demands that Japan stop buying Iranian oil, Japan tells Israel to back off!

Israel’s Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, demanded, on Japanese TV, that Japan cut back on oil imports from Iran.  He’s in Japan on a five day visit.

Japanese officials fired backed, basically telling Israel to back off.  Japan’s Foreign Minister, Koichiro Gemba, told Ehud Barak that Israel needed to handle Iran’s nuclear issue calmly.

Gemba also told Barak that military options could lead to Arab countries finally uniting against the Zionist state.

Japan’s Prime Minister, Yoshihiko Noda, made similar statements.

International, U.S.

Resolution against Syria passes UN General Assembly, France pushes for new Security Council Resolution

The United Nations General Assembly passed a non-binding resolution calling for Syria’s president to step down.  However, since it is non-binding the UN can not force the issue.

France is making a new push for a new UN Security Council resolution.  This new resolution is focusing on using UN Peacekeeping forces to enforce access to humanitarian aid.  Russia might support such a resolution.

12 countries voted against the UN General Assembly resolution. They are: Bolivia, Belarus, Cuba, China, Ecuador, Iran, Nicaragua, North Korea, Russia, Syria, Venezuela and Zimbabwe.

15 countries abstained: Angola, Armenia, Fiji, Cameroon, Comoros, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Saint Vincent, Suriname, Tanzania, Tuvalu, Uganda and Vietnam.

 

International, U.S.

Red Horse & Evil United States: U.S. backed Libyan Rebels make Gaddafi look good

“A year ago Libyans risked their lives to demand justice. Today their hopes are being jeopardized by lawless armed militias who trample human rights with impunity.”-Donatella Rovera, Amnesty International

Amnesty International has documented cases of torture and murder of Libyans, by the U.S. and European backed rebel forces.

A year ago the United States, and European countries, revealed their support for rebellion in Libya.  The reason, they claimed, was to bring freedom and stop human rights violations.  A year later Amnesty International says things are even worse under the rule of the U.S. backed rebels!

“Militias in Libya are largely out of control and the blanket impunity they enjoy only encourages further abuses and perpetuates instability and insecurity.”–-Donatella Rovera, Amnesty International

In the past few weeks Amnesty International visited prisons in Libya.  They found people who had been tortured to the point of confessing to crimes they did not commit.  They also found evidence that at least 12 people had been tortured to death.  The torture included beatings and electrocutions.  So much for the promise of U.S. style freedom and an end to human rights violations!

Observers even witnessed the torture, that’s how confident the U.S. backed rebels feel.  They saw people being beaten mercilessly, one rebel doing the beating said it’s that or kill the prisoners: “…those from Tawargha will not be released or we’ll kill them.”  

Rebels are taking revenge on the people of Tawargha, for their support of Gaddafi.  The ineffectual, and U.S. backed, Trans National Council government is not doing anything to stop rebel militias from wanton tortures and killings.

Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make men slay each other.

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Majority of U.S. citizens say Corporate America is to blame for bad economy. The bell tolls for Bank of America and Fox News?

In the latest survey by Harris Interactive, 78% of people blame the bad economy on Corporate America (and Corporate Britain).

The annual Harris Interactive Reputation Quotient poll is a measure of how consumers view corporations.  So far the main stream media has only mentioned the good points of the poll, like Apple surging ahead of Google regarding a positive image among consumers.

What the main stream corporate controlled media isn’t reporting is that only 22% of those surveyed have a overall good impression of Corporate America!

Also, the survey is a warning sign for major banks.  According to reports, AIG, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America are on the Harris poll’s critical list, because they ranked as low as Enron, Adelphia and WorldCom, right before those later companies went out of business.

Other companies that scored poorly were BP (British Petroleum), JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and News Corp (owners of Fox News).

 

Business/Economics, U.S.

United Corrupt Police States of America: It’s official, major U.S. cities, and their police departments, are rife with corruption!

The Chicago Tribune has published a report by the University of Illinois at Chicago, and the University of Illinois’ Institute of Government and Public Affairs.

That report says the public officials, including the police, of major cities in the United States are corrupt!  The study is based on federal court cases.

Percentage wise, Louisiana had the most corrupt officials.  Illinois, New York and Pennsylvania took the next three highest per capita positions for corruption.

When looking just at the number of cases, New York state was number one, followed by California and Illinois.

The study did not break down the types of corruption, but ‘public corruption’ includes bogus contracts, bribes, out right theft, ghost payrolling and police brutality.   Remember, the study is based on corruption cases that actually made it to federal court, so you can imagine just how corrupt your public officials really are!

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Italy becomes second European country to officially hit Double Dip Recession, blame increased budget cuts and unemployment

“The budget cuts are weighing it down…The conditions for a recovery in consumption are not there since unemployment hit a new record.”-Chiara Corsa, UniCredit bank

February 16, 2012, for the second month in a row, Italy’s economy shrank.  Two months in a row of contraction, that’s the official sign of recession.

Belgium was the first European country to officially go into a double dip recession. Interestingly this happened after they finally agreed to a new government, following more than a year without one.

 

 

International, U.S.

World War 3: Former Israeli Mossad boss says war with Syria is bad for Israel

February 16, 2012, a former Israeli intelligence chief told Japan’s NHK news that the loss of the current Syrian government would actually be bad for Israel.

Efraim Halevy, who served as Mossad director from 1998 to 2002, is warning of chaos in the Middle East should the current Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad fall.

He said such a loss would create a power vacuum, and weapons would flow freely into the hands of those groups who hate Israel.  Halevy also suggested that it was in Israel’s interests to keep the Assad government in power, even if it meant supporting Assad militarily!

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

Corporate Crime: 40 years later, two former executives found guilty of the deaths of 2,000 of their Italian employees! Social health care found them out!

“This is the biggest trial in the world, and in history, as far as safety at work is concerned.”-Raffaele Guariniello, prosecutor

In a precedent setting trial in Italy, two former executives of a company that made fiber cement (cement made with asbestos), were found guilty in the deaths of more than 2,000 of their employees!

Another 1,000 employees, and people who lived near the factories, are now ill.  The Italian Health Ministry investigated due to the high rate of health cases hitting their social health care system, that were directly linked to the fiber cement factories.  The investigation revealed that employees were not given even basic safety gear for use around asbestos.  Things like masks and goggles.

One of the former executives is Belgian baron Jean Louis Marie Ghislain De Cartier De Marchienne, the other is Swiss billionaire tycoon Stephan Schmidheiny.

In his defense, Jean Louis Marie Ghislain De Cartier De Marchienne sent a written statement saying that at the time it was not known how deadly asbestos could be.

The factories were closed in 1986, six years before asbestos was banned in Italy.

The two wealthy one percenters face 16 years in prison, if they’re ever caught.  They were convicted in absentia.

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

Corporate Crime: Former officials of scandal ridden Olympus have been arrested

February 16, 2012, seven people connected to the scandal ridden Olympus have been arrested in Japan!

Those arrested include an adviser who instructed Olympus executives how to hide $1.2 billion in losses from investors and regulators, and it includes a former Olympus president, Tsuyoshi Kikukawa.

It also includes a former vice president, and a former auditor.  One of the charges is that Olympus filed false securities reports.  At least two of the arrested have already plead guilty!

The scandal at Olympus was revealed by a former executive of Olympus, who was fired for questioning suspicious bookkeeping.