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Latest Articles: International News
Israel, U.S. Divided Over Timing of Potential Military Strike Against Iran
Post Date: 2012-02-03 12:14:30 by Brian S
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The U.S. and Israel are publicly disagreeing over timing for a potential attack on Iran to prevent it from acquiring nuclear weapons. “There’s a growing concern -- more than a concern -- that the Israelis, in order to protect themselves, might launch a strike without approval, warning or even foreknowledge,” Aaron David Miller, a former Mideast peace negotiator in the Clinton administration, said today. The U.S. and Israel have a “significant analytic difference” over estimates of how close Iran is to shielding its nuclear program from attack, Miller said today. The differing views were underscored by public comments yesterday by senior Israeli and U.S. defense ...
Brits say the HildaBeast looks like a James Bond villian
Post Date: 2012-02-03 08:23:06 by Happy Quanzaa
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From Washington With Love? How HillaryClinton is styling herself like a Bond villain By Daily Mail Reporter Last updated at 2:38 PM on 2nd February 2012 Perhaps it was the austere Mandarin collar. Or maybe it was the slicked-back hair. Either way, when Hillary Clinton arrived at the United Nations this week, to discuss the Arab League's peace plan for Syria, she came off looking just a little sinister. In fact, some might say this unfortunate photo of the Secretary of State bears a bit of a resemblance to an old-school Bond villain. New look: Hillary Clinton's Mandarin collar and swept-back hair gave her the unfortunate appearance of a Bond villain, whenshe was pictured at ...
Russia Says It Will Not Stop Arms Sales To Syria
Post Date: 2012-02-02 11:54:23 by Brian S
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(02-02) 04:10 PST BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) -- Russia will not stop selling arms to Syria, a top defense official said Thursday, as Moscow stands by its longtime ally despite mounting international condemnation over the Syrian regime's bloody crackdown on a 10-month-old uprising. Russia's Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov said his country is not violating any international obligations by selling weapons to Damascus. "As of today there are no restrictions on our delivery of weapons," he told journalists in Russia, according to the country's state news agencies. "We must fulfill our obligations and this is what we are doing." Moscow has been one of ...
Israel's Demographic Time-Bomb: An Arab-Majority State?
Post Date: 2012-02-01 19:44:11 by Brian S
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While Israel and the Palestinians have again broken off peace talks in Jordan, there is at least one factor unrelated directly to politics which might make the whole historic conflict irrelevant. As in Arab Muslim countries, Palestinians have a very high birth rate - so high, in fact, that in a few decades to come, Arabs may outnumber Jews within the land of Israel. Such an event would clearly pose a dire threat to Israel and its mandated Jewish identity. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his conservative, nationalist Likud Party have passed new measures to attract more Jews to relocate to West Bank settlements. These incentives have outraged Palestinians who believe the ...
Russia Says Will Veto "Unacceptable" Syria Resolution
Post Date: 2012-02-01 19:27:28 by Brian S
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MOSCOW — Russia said on Wednesday it would veto any U.N. resolution on Syria that it finds unacceptable, after demanding any measure rule out military intervention to halt the bloodshed touched off by protests against President Bashar al-Assad's rule. Only on msnbc.com Why are fans paying medical bills for skier Burke? Afghan combat role to end; US forces still at risk Help wanted at Apple plant, Chinese line up Facebook effect: Will charities get some IPO dough? Pakistan, NATO officials downplay Taliban report Air shipment of 60 lab monkeys blocked, PETA says Christo sued over plan to drape river with fabric The political violence in Syria has killed at least 5,000 people in the ...
Petrodollar Pumping US Policy On Iran, Backfire Looms
Post Date: 2012-02-01 19:09:29 by Brian S
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As tensions between the US and Iran heat up, author Michael T. Winter believes the main reason behind America’s harsh stance is Tehran’s move to seek an alternative to the dollar as an oil currency. Economic sanctions, spearheaded by the US and, less willingly, the EU could have a disastrous effect on both of their respective economies. If Iran cannot sell their oil to Europe, there are plenty of customers waiting in the wings, and if they come bearing not petrodollars, but gold and sovereign currencies, then all the better for Iran. These sanctions, if enforced, will in effect place a serious dent in the power of the petrodollar. Any rhetoric regarding Iran’s nuclear ...
Global "Great Power Politics" Returns To Mideast
Post Date: 2012-01-31 18:08:22 by Brian S
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(Reuters) - With Russia sending warships to discourage foreign intervention in Syria, and China drawn more deeply into Iran's confrontation with the West, "great power" politics is swiftly returning to the Middle East. After Russia pulled back from the region at the end of the Cold War, the United States and its Western allies faced few external rivals in attempts to influence events. But as the US withdraws from Iraq, emerging economic powers reshape the globe and are themselves sucked ever deeper into the Gulf by their energy needs, that era seems over. "What we are seeing is the U.S. losing its ability to shape events in the region, even though it remains by far the ...
Obama gaffe: Refers to Georgia as 'Russia'
Post Date: 2012-01-31 17:27:57 by Happy Quanzaa
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President Obama mistakenly referred to the nation of Georgia as "Russia" after a bilateral meeting with the Georgian president -- an unfortunate slip-up, given that the president was celebrating 20 years of Georgian independence from Soviet rule. "[O]ne of the first things that I did was express my appreciation for the institution-building that’s been taking place in Russia -- in Georgia," Obama told reporters following a meeting with Georgia's President Saakashvili. Moments earlier, Obama had noted that it was "a wonderful occasion to have him here as we’ll be celebrating this year 20 years of independence for Georgia and the eighth anniversary of ...
Russia: UN Resolution On Syria Is Path To War
Post Date: 2012-01-31 12:21:13 by Brian S
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(01-31) 06:27 PST BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) -- A senior Russian diplomat Tuesday said a draft U.N. resolution demanding Syrian President Bashar Assad step aside is a "path to civil war," as Syrian troops crushed pockets of resistance by rebel soldiers on the outskirts of Damascus. The U.N. Security Council was set to meet later Tuesday to discuss the draft, backed by Western and some Arab powers. But Russia would likely veto any punitive action. "The Western draft Security Council resolution on Syria does not lead to a search for compromise," Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov wrote Tuesday on Twitter. "Pushing this resolution is a path to civil ...
Russian Economy Expanded 4.3% Last Year, Faster Than Economists Estimated
Post Date: 2012-01-31 11:04:23 by Brian S
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Russia’s economy grew faster than forecast last year after falling unemployment and record-low inflation helped bolster consumer demand in the fourth quarter. Gross domestic product, the value of all goods and services produced, rose 4.3 percent, matching a revised 4.3 percent increase in 2010, the Federal Statistics Service in Moscow said in an e-mailed statement today. The median forecast of 17 economists in a Bloomberg survey was for 4.1 percent. The world’s biggest energy exporter is recovering from an economic slump of 7.8 percent in 2009, when commodity prices sank after the collapse of Lehman Brothers Inc. Retail-sales growth unexpectedly accelerated to the fastest pace ...
China and UAE ditch US Dollar, will use Yuan for oil trade
Post Date: 2012-01-30 19:48:07 by buckeroo
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The US dollar is fast losing out its reserve currency status with China aggressively replacing the dollar with the Yuan as a currency for bi-lateral trade. The latest is an agreement signed between the China and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which will use the Yuan for oil trade. The deal is worth around $5.5 billion dollars and the Chinese central bank said that the deal aims at “strengthening bilateral financial cooperation, promoting trade and investments and jointly safeguarding regional financial stability” Earlier, Russia and Iran had decided to use Rubles as a means of currency. With both China and Russia converting their bi-lateral trades into non-US dollar deals, the ...
Iraqi Officials Outraged By Use Of U.S. Drones: Report
Post Date: 2012-01-30 11:27:23 by Brian S
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Iraqi officials have expressed outrage at the United States’ use of a small fleet of surveillance drones to help protect the US embassy, consulates and American personnel in Iraq, The New York Times reported. The newspaper said the State Department began operating somedrones in Iraq last year on a trial basis and stepped up their use after the last US troops left the country in December. The US government plans to take bids for the management of drone operations in Iraq over the next five years, the report said. The State Department drones carry no weapons and are meant to provide data and images of possible hazards, like public protests or roadblocks, to security forces on the ...
U.S. Jewish Leaders Visit Pollard In Prison, Call For Speedy Release [Full Thread]
Post Date: 2012-01-28 19:01:47 by Brian S
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Richard Stone and Malcolm Hoenlein, the chairman and the executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, recently visited convicted Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard at Butner prison in North Carolina. The two U.S. Jewish leaders talked with Pollard for two hours. Following the meeting, the two expressed concern about Pollard's deteriorating health condition. "We've returned with a renewed commitment to work for Pollard's release," the two wrote in a statement after the visit. "We see this as a serious humanitarian issue and as a matter of justice." "Mr. Pollard suffers from multiple health challenges, which ...
U.S. Bombs Not Strong Enough To Destroy Iran's Nuclear Program, Report Says
Post Date: 2012-01-28 18:57:18 by Brian S
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The United States does not possess conventional armament powerful enough to destroy Iran's deeply hidden nuclear facilities, U.S. officials told the Wall Street Journal late Friday, with American Defense Secretary Leon Panetta saying Washington was "still trying" to develop more powerful bombs. Will the U.S. strike Iran's nuclear program? Join the discussion on Haaretz.com's official Facebook page Late last year, Bloomberg reported that the U.S. Air Force received new 15-ton bombs capable of destroying deep underground bunkers, ahead of a possible attack on Iran's nuclear plants. The bombs, designed to be delivered by B-2 stealth bombers and called Massive ...
Putin Ratchets Up Anti-U.S Rhetoric as Kremlin Race Grows
Post Date: 2012-01-27 12:31:14 by Brian S
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Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is stepping up rhetoric against the U.S. as his campaign for the March 4 presidential election intensifies after the biggest protests against his rule. The U.S. “wants to control everything” and takes decisions unilaterally on key questions, Putin said on a campaign stop yesterday in the Siberian city of Tomsk, 3,100 kilometers (1,900 miles) east of Moscow. “Sometimes I get the impression the U.S. doesn’t need allies, it needs vassals.” Putin, 59, is seeking a new term in the Kremlin amid the biggest challenge to his 12-year rule after fraud allegations at parliamentary polls sparked mass protests. The Russian leader, who has ...
Tail Events, Isolation, New Normal Of Hyper Monetary Inflation
Post Date: 2012-01-26 18:40:28 by Capitalist Eric
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The year 2012 has started out in strange ways. While celestial forces augur for rare tail events, the assurance of man-made events that stretch far into the extreme tail of probability are not only very likely but will be of a type to reflect the change in the global balance of financial power. The Paradigm Shift mentioned over the course of the last two to three years is at work, having moved into a higher gear. The gold is moving from the West to the East, along with the power. We will not see the process reverse in our lifetime. The sanctions set against Iran have been devised by a former global leader nation that is beset by insolvency, fraud, and lost integrity. The backfire has ...
The Demise of the Petrodollar
Post Date: 2012-01-26 15:14:40 by Capitalist Eric
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Rumors are swirling that India and Iran are at the negotiating table right now, hammering out a deal to trade oil for gold. Why does that matter, you ask? Only because it strikes at the heart of both the value of the US dollar and today's high-tension standoff with Iran. Tehran Pushes to Ditch the US Dollar The official line from the United States and the European Union is that Tehran must be punished for continuing its efforts to develop a nuclear weapon. The punishment: sanctions on Iran's oil exports, which are meant to isolate Iran and depress the value of its currency to such a point that the country crumbles. But that line doesn't make sense, and the sanctions will not ...
Better Place Launches Electric Fleet in Israel
Post Date: 2012-01-26 11:18:24 by jwpegler
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In four years, the electric-car company Better Place has traveled from startup to starting line. Last week, a fleet of 100 electrically powered Renault Fluence ZE sedans set out in a caravan along Israeli highways, signaling the start of the company's efforts to reach a wide swath of consumers. The cars are fueled by 225-kilogram lithium-ion batteries with a range of 160 kilometers. The batteries can be recharged at home or swapped for fully charged ones at a network of robotic battery-switching stations that Better Place has built throughout Israel to let owners extend their cars' range. The switching stations, plus apps that guide a driver to them, are what make Better ...
Iranian Lawmakers To Take Up Bill Banning Oil Sales To Europe In Retaliation For Embargo
Post Date: 2012-01-25 18:56:41 by Brian S
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TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s parliament will begin debating a draft bill requiring the government to immediately halt oil exports to Europe, a prominent lawmaker said Wednesday, as Tehran weighs its options following the European Union’s decision to stop importing oil from the country. The EU embargo, announced on Monday, was the latest attempt to try to pressure Iran over a nuclear program the United States and its allies argue is aimed at developing nuclear weapons but which Iran says is for purely peaceful purposes. It came just weeks after the U.S. approved, but has yet to enact, new sanctions targeting Iran’s Central Bank and, by extension, its ability to sell its oil. ...
India to pay gold instead of dollars for Iranian oil
Post Date: 2012-01-25 16:15:09 by Hondo68
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Iranian oil for India India is the first buyer of Iranian oil to agree to pay for its purchases in gold instead of the US dollar, debkafile's intelligence and Iranian sources report exclusively. Those sources expect China to follow suit. India and China take about one million barrels per day, or 40 percent of Iran's total exports of 2.5 million bpd. Both are superpowers in terms of gold assets. By trading in gold, New Delhi and Beijing enable Tehran to bypass the upcoming freeze on its central bank's assets and the oil embargo which the European Union's foreign ministers agreed to impose Monday, Jan. 23. The EU currently buys around 20 percent of Iran's oil ...
U.S. Raid in Somalia Frees American, Dane as President Obama Hails Courage of Special Forces
Post Date: 2012-01-25 12:54:44 by Brian S
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U.S. Special Forces troops flew into Somalia on a nighttime helicopter raid early Wednesday, freed an American and a Danish hostage and killed nine pirates in a mission that President Barack Obama said he personally authorized. The Danish Refugee Council confirmed that the two aid workers, American Jessica Buchanan and Dane Poul Hagen Thisted, were freed and "are on their way to be reunited with their families." Buchanan, 32, and Thisted, 60, had been working with a de-mining unit of the Danish Refugee Council when they were kidnapped in October. A pirate who gave his name as Bile Hussein told The Associated Press he had spoken to pirates at the scene of the raid and they ...
EU Oil Embargo: Sanctions Benefit Iran's Revolutionary Guards
Post Date: 2012-01-24 19:09:25 by Brian S
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The so-called oil weapon has been part of the arsenal of international power politics ever since the 1970s. In 1973, the oil-exporting countries in the Middle East cut back daily production in a bid to force the West to abandon its support for Israel during the Yom Kippur War. Iran was among the states involved in that embargo. Now, almost four decades later, oil is again being used as a weapon -- with the roles reversed. On Monday, European Union foreign ministers agreed to ban the import of petroleum and petrochemical products from Iran from July 1, 2012. New investments in Iranian oil companies will no longer be permitted, nor can equipment and technology necessary for the oil ...
Gold for Oil: India and Iran Ditch Dollar
Post Date: 2012-01-24 12:53:12 by Brian S
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According to a new and yet unconfirmed report, India bought oil from Iran using gold. India certainly has the gold resources to fund the oil, while Iran is under pressure by the West, due the continuation of its nuclear program. There were reports that officials have been floating this idea for some time, and now, as the EU finally decided upon an oil embargo on Iran, more details became available, yet still pend confirmation. Oil is priced in US dollars, and bypassing the greenback posed challenges for both parties. Two banks are reportedly involved in this deal: India’s state owned UCO Bank and Turkey’s state owned Halkbank. Both banks don’t have any business with the US ...
George Soros on the Coming U.S. Class War
Post Date: 2012-01-24 12:35:45 by Brian S
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The situation is about as serious and difficult as I've experienced in my career.' by John Arlidge | January 23, 2012 12:00 AM EST You know George Soros. He’s the investor’s investor—the man who still holds the record for making more money in a single day’s trading than anyone. He pocketed $1 billion betting against the British pound on “Black Wednesday” in 1992, when sterling lost 20 percent of its value in less than 24 hours and crashed out of the European exchange-rate mechanism. No wonder Brits call him, with a mix of awe and annoyance, “the man who broke the Bank of England.” Soros doesn’t make small bets on ...
Nearly Half Of Israelis Won't Receive Gas Masks
Post Date: 2012-01-23 17:06:57 by Brian S
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Unprepared: The Home Front Command is poised to run out of gas masks within months, leaving nearly half of the Israeli population without protective kits, Ynet learned Monday. Last week, IDF Planning Directorate Chief Major-General Amir Eshel alluded that Syria's biological and chemical weapons could fall into the hands of Hezbollah if President Bashar Assad's regime collapses, raising concerns over Israel's preparedness for a possible unconventional attack. Related articles:Syrian 'chemical, biological' weapons concern Israel 'Turkey finds chemical weapon ingredients on Iranian trucks' Dempsey in Israel, calls for bolstered communication IDF data ...
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