Weekday NEWS to Comfort the Disturbed and Disturb the Comfortable.
Thurs 05.21.2009
Physical Gold In The Hands Of The People GOLD AND CIVIL LIBERTIES Decades ago Ludwig von Mises wrote in The Theory of Money and Credit, "It is impossible to grasp the meaning of the idea of sound money if one does not realize that it was devised as an instrument for the protection of civil liberties against despotic inroads on the part of governments. Ideologically it belongs in the same class with political constitutions and bills of rights." There is a simpler way to state the rule: He who has the gold makes the rules. One of the reasons, if not the chief reason, for the excessive government encroachment on civil liberties is the abandonment of sound money. Contained within the United States Constitution are very specific monetary powers and disabilities. This constitutional violation is the chief cause the world has become a very dangerous place. Governments and their central banks are able to engage in legalized counterfeiting which is confiscation through inflation and a form of taxation without representation or due process of law.
Taking Delivery of Physical It is said that if everyone would just take delivery on the gold contracts they buy, then the price of gold would shoot the moon. This is because there is not enough gold in the warehouse to cover all the outstanding contracts. And the reason there are more contracts than gold is because the banks like to sell contracts "short", meaning they will sell you a contract for some gold they do not have because they know you will not take delivery. They do have some gold for the small percentage of people that take delivery. And they will gladly tell you all about this gold to prove to you that your contract is backed by the real thing. But this is still very much like "fractional reserve banking".
Gold to go Automatic teller machines (ATMs) - 500 of them - dispensing pieces of gold will be available around Germany, Switzerland and Austria by the end of this year. That at least is the plan of German precious metals online trading company TG-Gold-Super-Markt.de. The ATMs, to be located at airports, railway stations and shopping malls, are intended to accustom ordinary people to the idea of investing in a physical asset such as gold, the thinking goes.
Gulf ETFs, nations may take their gold back from London Much of the region's gold that has so far been held in London may soon return. The new vaults of the Dubai Multi Commodities Center [a United Arab Emirates government enterprise] will be a home to the gold allocated to the Dubai Gold Securities (DGS) exchange-traded funds. The vault may also become a natural choice for storage of gold reserves by central banks in the regional market, analysts said. While the gold allocated to DGS is kept at HSBC's vaults in London, the gold reserves held by the Gulf Cooperation Council's central banks are held by various other vaults in London, market sources said. Gold vaults have existed in London for more than 150 years.
America's Sovereignty For Sale? Obama Has Not The Best Interest Of America At Heart! / 1 of 3
Hyperinflation and the changes it is going to generate Why this hyperinflationary cycle is going to be different? Prices of commodities and anything that needs to be grown or dug out of the ground is going to increase in price significantly, but at the same time this credit crunch has destroyed the economies of many nations and the net result is that millions of individuals have lost their jobs on a worldwide basis; the overall job outlook in not going to improve. While we are going to have inflationary forces kicking into full gear in the commodities' sector, deflationary forces will kick in (at least at the beginning) in terms of salaries (reason too many workers, too few jobs). This means that those that did not prepare are going to be in for extremely painful experience; it also means that those that were prepared are going to be able to pick up incredible bargains; again this will be the initial stage, once we enter the hyperinflationary stage, expect everything to rise in value. We will not be surprised one day if used cars start to sell for more than their original sticker value; this often occurs in third world countries due to inflation.
The "silent rally" in gold How much of gold's rally is a function of future inflation expectations? That's difficult to assess and we're still too early in the financial recovery process to be able to answer this. The consensus among financial pundits is that gold is a "sure shot" to take off from here and eventually reach $1,000/oz. based on the multi-trillion dollar stimulus package. Some commentators are calling for even more liberal upside targets. It's a common assumption that the stimulus will inflate commodities and spark another round of global inflation for hard assets. I would caution that this is far from a foregone conclusion, however.
Beware of Exchange Trade Funds (ETFs) Bearing Gold Gold Bullion Unique as No Counter Party Risk Gold is unique among asset classes as it is the only asset class not dependent on the performance of auditors, management, corporations, financial institutions, banks, politicians and governments. Nor should physical gold be dependent on the performance of trustees, custodians and or sub custodians. Gold does not depend on the performance and health of the wider economy and as importantly when you buy gold in its physical form there is no third party liability or credit risk. Or at least there should not be. Gold has an intrinsic value in and of itself that is not contingent on someone else's or some entities performance or mere promise to pay.
Gold Targets Record After $950 Gold may rise to a record, possibly driven higher by weakness in the dollar, should the precious metal first "hold clearly" above $950 an ounce, Mizuho Corporate Bank Ltd. said, citing trading patterns. A rise to more than that level would take gold above a so- called resistance point, according to a note and table yesterday from Nicole Elliott, London-based senior technical analyst at Mizuho. Resistance prices, listed by Elliot in the table, may identify clusters of sell orders. "While we continue to favor an eventual break to new record highs, only when it holds clearly above $950 per ounce will bullish momentum kick in," she wrote, without giving a timeframe. "This may be due to generalized U.S. dollar weakness, courtesy of U.S. government largesse, rather than renewed appetite for precious metals."
Gold ETFs, scrap supplies drive bullion trade Price hardiness continued to be manifest in gold overnight, following Tuesday's partial repair of Monday's selling damage. The yellow metal continues to hover near $930 as dollar weakness and equally resilient oil values continue to validate short-term speculative inflows. Technicals offer a mixed picture, with gold above moving averages still - but also having entered overbought territory. In the broader sense, the $850/$950 channel is still the one within which gold remains confined. Fresh news on the macroeconomic or geopolitical front is needed in order to break above or below these markers.
Dollar tumbles to multi-month lows as recovery seen Dollar tumbles to multi-month lows vs euro, pound as Geithner, Lewis see econ. recovery, growth The dollar tumbled against the other major currencies Wednesday, touching a fresh low against the pound for the year and a 4-month low against the euro as signs of a resolution to the financial crisis drove investors to riskier investments. Equities in Europe and the U.S. rose, as did oil prices, as cheered investors moved their cash into commodities and stocks. Since last summer, the dollar has tended to trade inversely to stocks, as fearful investors deserted their positions in emerging markets and commodities and jumped to the buck's "safety" lure. When stocks and oil prices trend higher, that pattern tends to reverse.
America's Sovereignty For Sale? Obama Has Not The Best Interest Of America At Heart! / 2 of 3
22 reasons Obama will raise your taxes ... soon! 'Tax Bomb' dead ahead: Former GAO chief says your taxes will double Yes, taxes will go up. Must. Why? Debt: federal, state, corporate, bank, pensions, personal. The hole just keeps getting deeper, bigger. Well over $100 trillion of debt is being piled on future generations, while our GDP is only $15 trillion annually. Reagan was right, "government is the problem," both the GOP and the Dems. Imagine doubling your taxes: That's what David Walker, the former U.S. comptroller general and GAO chief, recently said on CNN: "The federal government has spent more money than it takes in at an increasing rate. Total federal debt almost doubled during President George W. Bush's administration and, as much as we needed some stimulus spending to boost the economy, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office now estimates total debt levels could almost double again over the next eight years based on the budget recently outlined by President Obama," with our "tax bill doubling over time."
Obama Is Leading Us Down The Road To Economic Hell Brock thinks Obama's agenda is almost the opposite--slow growth, more regulation, permanent spending increases, and the wrong kind of spending (on entitlements and social programs, not infrastructure). He thinks this could eventually lead to disaster. . . . . Below is a long but persuasive analysis written by Woody Brock of Strategic Economic Decisions
Senator Says More Oversight Is Needed at Federal Pension Agency The rapidly deteriorating financial health of the federal agency that guarantees 44 million Americans' pensions is raising alarms in Congress, where key lawmakers are demanding tougher rules to insure vigilant oversight of its multibillion-dollar investment portfolio. The recession is forcing into bankruptcy an increasing number of companies with underfunded pension plans, leaving the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. with billions of dollars more to pay out in pension checks to retirees in the future. Its long-term deficit tripled in the past six months to a startling $33.5 billion.
Bankruptcies Swell Deficit at Pension Agency to $33.5 Billion The deficit at the federal agency that guarantees pensions for 44 million Americans more than doubled in the last six months to a record high, reaching $33.5 billion, largely as a result of the surging number of bankruptcies among companies whose pensions it must now take over. The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, as of October, had faced a shortfall of $11 billion. But the combined effect of lower interest rates, losses on its investment portfolio and the increase in the number of companies filing for bankruptcy protection resulted in a deepening of its estimated deficit, officials said Wednesday.
SEC head objects to Obama financial watchdog plan SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro objects to Obama plan to create new financial watchdog The head of the Securities and Exchange Commission is objecting to a plan being considered by the Obama administration to create a new financial watchdog to protect consumers. SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro said such a new entity, which was discussed Tuesday night by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and other officials, would reduce the SEC's authority and damage government protection of investors. "I question pretty profoundly any model that would try to move investor protection functions out of the Securities and Exchange Commission," Schapiro said Wednesday. That couldn't be done "without really damaging the fabric of the entire investor protection regime," she told reporters.
Elizabeth Warren's Dream Is Becoming Reality The Obama administration is in the planning stage of introducing an entirely brand new regulatory body, whose job it would be to monitor consumer-facing financial products, like mortgages and credit cards. This is seen as a pretty big black hole right now in the regulatory structure, and given how many consumers have found themselves up to their neck in debt, with products they didn't understand, this makes some sense. Plans for a new body remain fluid, but it could be granted broad powers to make sure the terms and marketing of a wide range of loans and other financial products are in the interests of ordinary consumers, sources said.
GOP Struggles with Push to Rename Dems 'Socialist' Republican Party leaders are trying to avoid a public confrontation over a GOP-led effort to rename the Democratic Party the "Nationalist Socialist Democrat" party. The Republican National Committee is slated to vote on several resolutions Wednesday. Leaders already have softened one that would have pointedly criticized Republicans who supported recent billion-dollar bailouts.
America's Sovereignty For Sale? Obama Has Not The Best Interest Of America At Heart! / 3 of 3
A market solution to secure banks' future How long will the US economy live with a banking system in which some institutions are too big to fail? Not long, we should all hope, because large banks today, under federal protection, can raise short-term funds more cheaply than their smaller competitors, which are allowed to fail. "Too big to fail" is an unstable system. Politically inspired constraints on large banks leave them not knowing what will come next out of Washington, while there is no way of knowing whether any given bank is just small enough to be let go or will be bailed out if it gets into trouble.
U.S. May Strip SEC of Powers in Regulatory Overhaul The Obama administration may call for stripping the Securities and Exchange Commission of some of its powers under a regulatory reorganization that could be unveiled as soon as next week, people familiar with the matter said. The proposal, still being drafted, is likely to give the Federal Reserve more authority to supervise financial firms deemed too big to fail. The Fed may inherit some SEC functions, with others going to other agencies, the people said. On the table: giving oversight of mutual funds to a bank regulator or a new agency to police consumer-finance products, two people said.
Revival hopes push down dollar The US dollar fell to its lowest level of the year on Wednesday as Tim Geithner hailed signs of healing in financial markets and minutes showed the Federal Reserve had seen indications of economic stabilisation at its April policy meeting. Traders said the decline in the US currency was associated with hopes of financial and economic recovery. Such expectations are encouraging investors to buy riskier assets and abandon risk-aversion strategies that favoured US Treasury bills. Mr Geithner, US Treasury secretary, said there were "important indications that our financial system is starting to heal" - citing declining corporate bond yields and other market measures of financial stress.
Is the US-Dollar headed for a Mighty Crash? Each month, the US Treasury publishes its International Capital account, (TIC) which foreign currency traders and bond dealers use to gauge the flows of money from around the world, into and out-of the US-capital markets. The demand for a nation's bonds and stocks, combined with international trade flows for goods and services, plus behind the scenes intervention by central banks, all act in concert to influence the foreign exchange market which handles $4-trillion per day. A surplus in TIC inflows is generally seen as a positive for the US-dollar, because it signals that foreigners are willing to increase their holdings of US-securities, displaying greater confidence in the currency. On the other hand, a TIC deficit is generally interpreted as bearish for the US-dollar, because it means that foreign inflows into the US aren't sufficient enough to fund government borrowing.
ECB Said to Have Debated 125 Billion-Euro Asset Package in May The European Central Bank's Governing Council discussed a package of asset purchases worth about 125 billion euros ($170 billion) this month, more than twice the amount finally agreed upon, people briefed on the talks said. The package proposed at the May 7 council meeting included buying commercial paper and corporate bonds, said the people, who declined to be identified because the discussions were private. After the meeting, President Jean-Claude Trichet announced plans to acquire 60 billion euros of covered bonds, low-risk securities backed by mortgages and public-sector loans. An ECB spokeswoman declined to comment.
David Walker on CNBC 2009-05-13
Greenspan Says Banks Still Have a 'Large' Capital Requirement Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan signaled that the financial crisis has yet to end even as borrowing costs tumble, warning that U.S. banks must raise "large" amounts of money. "There is still a very large unfunded capital requirement in the commercial banking system in the United States and that's got to be funded," Greenspan said in an interview today in Washington. He also said that "until the price of homes flattens out we still have a very serious potential mortgage crisis."
Fed Considered Increasing Its Purchase of Debt Seeking to keep interest rates in check and heal the credit markets, the Federal Reserve last month debated whether it should expand a program to buy mortgage and Treasury securities, according to minutes of the meeting released Wednesday. The Fed also lowered its outlook for this year and 2010, saying that the American economy would contract more sharply and unemployment would rise higher than the central bank originally projected in January. Some economists called the earlier expectations too rosy, considering how quickly businesses were shedding jobs and slashing investments.
Geithner Says Treasury May Move 'Quickly' to Sell TARP Warrants Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said he's inclined to "quickly" sell warrants the government got when injecting capital into banks, offering prospects of a speedy exit to lenders seeking to retire government stakes. "In general, our objective will be to sell these warrants as quickly as we can," Geithner told the Senate Banking Committee today. "What I'm reluctant to do is have the government be in a position where we hold these investments for a long period of time, longer than is desirable, in the hopes that we're going to maximize value."
The Sleepwalkers Rally . . . . There is once again a serious disconnect between stock prices and economic reality. Perhaps these sleepwalking investors think that the 50 percent sell-off in 2008 was overdone and great bargains are now available. To believe this is to misunderstand the economic hurricane of last October, and the gaping holes in America's hull that it exposed. In the last quarter of 2008, investors faced a meltdown of the banking system. World governments injected trillions of dollars into their economies and changed accounting rules to ensure that a systemic banking failure was averted. Though the system has stabilized, investors seem to forget that none of the fundamental problems have been solved. We may have survived the initial heart attack, but the system remains wrought with clots.
Fed mulled increasing debt purchases in April The Federal Reserve said on Wednesday it saw modest improvements in the U.S. economy last month, but it still saw big risks and left open the possibility of increasing its purchases of mortgage-related and government debt to keep credit flowing and spur recovery. Despite a pickup in household and business confidence that Fed officials saw helping to steady spending when they met in late April, they viewed the evidence as too tentative to erase risks facing the recession-mired economy.
Fed Hopeful But Downgrades '09 Forecast The Federal Reserve expects the economy to improve in coming months, even as policymakers downgraded their outlook for all of 2009 and said the unemployment rate could approach 10 percent. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues continue to believe that business sales and factory production will begin to recover gradually during the second half of this year as President Barack Obama's stimulus package and the Fed's aggressive efforts to lift the country out of recession take hold. They also pointed to signs that the recession's grip was easing in the current April-June quarter, according to documents released Wednesday.
Why Treasury Is Plowing $7.5 BILLION More Into GMAC As first reported by the Detroit News this morning, the Treasury is plowing $7.5 billion more into auto lender GMAC, the Wall Street Journal now confirms. Yep, after all that hardball about the auto bondholders and forcing them to take a haircut, the bondholders in GMAC are getting a straight up bailout.
Welch Criticizes Obama on Handling Chrysler Bankruptcy Jack Welch, former chief executive officer of General Electric Co., criticized the government- backed bankruptcy of Chrysler LLC for favoring unions at the expense of creditors and said President Barack Obama's economic stimulus programs will cause budget deficits. "I don't particularly like where he's taking us," Welch said, referring to Obama, during an interview yesterday at the Boston Convention Center. Welch, 73, who led GE from 1981 to 2001, was a guest speaker at the New England Business Xpo.
Ron Paul "Prepare For Revolutionary Changes" 05/19/09
Oil Prices Push About $60, a Six-Month High Oil prices rose to their highest level in six months on Wednesday as some optimism swept into the market amid signs that the economy may be improving. Oil futures in New York rose above $60 a barrel, a level not seen since November, after a weekly report from the Department of Energy showing a drop in commercial oil stocks suggested a pick up in consumption. A pair of refinery fires in the United States and concerns about fresh violence in Nigeria helped push prices higher.
Output cuts, fresh demand could tighten oil supplies again Failure for oil production to keep up with a rebound in demand from China could throw a noose around global oil supplies, driving up prices and threatening a nascent economic recovery, two energy economists said Wednesday. The same factors that drove up oil prices past $147 a barrel last year could easily return, posing a new round of challenges to a global economy on the cusp of recovery, said an energy economist from the University of California, San Diego, Wednesday. In remarks prepared for testimony to the Joint Economic Committee, Professor James Hamilton said his research showed high oil prices last year contributed to the U.S. economy's recent troubles.
Obama warns U.S. may face long-term joblessness Americans could face higher unemployment for some time to come, President Barack Obama warned on Wednesday, underscoring the tough challenges the country faces even as the economy shows signs of stabilizing. Obama, speaking to a meeting of his 16-member Economic Recovery Advisory Board headed by former Federal Reserve chief Paul Volcker, said he was encouraged by "signs of normalcy" in the financial markets and hints the economy was steadying -- though he remained concerned in the long run.
Are We 'Back from the Fiscal Abyss' as Dallas Fed Claims? Richard W. Fisher, president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, was once one of the most expressive economist imaginable often using graphic and sensationalist words and expressions to get our attention when describing the 'nightmarish predicament' and 'monstrous challenge' that has finally engulfed us. It was only a year ago that he warned that a 'frightful storm is brewing' - 'the mother of all financial storms' - that could well plunge the U.S. government deeper into a 'fiscal abyss' causing the country to become submerged in a 'vast fiscal chasm'. Fisher has not always been so dramatic in spite of saying recently 'I am a Texan and Texans speak plainly and directly' and he is not being very direct these days either.
California dreamin' The Golden State, the vanguard of popular culture, has always captured the world's imagination. The ultimate frontier state is again leading the way - but not, this time, to a Hollywood ending. Tuesday's defeat of deficit-reducing ballot initiatives portends the difficulties awaiting countries whose finances have been ravaged by the recession. California's plight shows where governments such as the US and the UK may be heading. Deficit spending is sensible in a recession, but the state's enormous fiscal troubles force it to tighten the purse strings, lest markets no longer buy its bonds. Its debt is rated the least creditworthy among all US states.
California One Step Closer to the Brink Another night in the great direct-democracy known as California. Facing a minimum $15 billion budget shortfall, voters rejected a series of ballot items that would've closed the state's crisis-level deficit through tax hikes and spending cuts (it's the tax hikes that were the real no go). All of the measures had been expected to fail, even though Governor Schwarzenegger supported them. Prop 1A would have capped state spending, kept in place a tax hike for two years, while also establishing a so-called rainy day fund. That was the big one and it went down 65%-35%. The one measure which did pass, comfortably: A rule limiting pay hikes for state politicians.
Ballot Defeat Leaves Calif. In Deeper Budget Hole An angry electorate soundly defeated a slate of special election budget measures Tuesday, a decision that left Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state lawmakers holding virtually nothing but a scalpel to deal with California's $21.3 billion shortfall. Schwarzenegger, who dropped Election Day campaigning to attend a White House announcement on new auto fuel standards, was scheduled to return Wednesday to meet with legislators and discuss options for the budget. "The longer we wait, the worse the problem becomes and the more limited our choices will be," the governor said in a statement issued after the propositions were decided. "That is why tomorrow, we will come together to begin to develop a budget solution that gets our state back on track."
Have good credit? So what . . . you'll pay for bad risks Credit Card Industry Aims to Profit From Sterling Payers Credit cards have long been a very good deal for people who pay their bills on time and in full. Even as card companies imposed punitive fees and penalties on those late with their payments, the best customers racked up cash-back rewards, frequent-flier miles and other perks in recent years. Banks are expected to look at reviving annual fees, curtailing cash-back and other rewards programs and charging interest immediately on a purchase instead of allowing a grace period of weeks, according to bank officials and trade groups. . . . . . . . . “Those that manage their credit well will in some degree subsidize those that have credit problems.”
Consumers Are Dealt a New Hand in Credit Cards At first glance, the sweeping credit card legislation that passed the Senate on Tuesday looks like a huge victory for consumers. The bill, after all, contains relief from penalty fees and certain interest rate spikes. But for people who pay off their bills each month, and milk the card rewards programs for everything they’re worth, there is some cause for concern.
Ronald Reagan on Capitalism and Socialism
Your Papers, please! Are your documents in order for the summer holidays? he U.S. Customs and Border Protection is making a big push to make sure Americans are aware that effective June 1 new document requirements will be in effect for entering the United States by land or sea from Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean. The promotional material handed out to reporters to show the different acceptable forms of identification all used the name in the example of "Happy Traveler." Verbal statements of American citizenship, birth certificates, or ordinary driver's licenses will not comply with the new requirements for re-entry after camping in the wilds of Canada, sunning on the beaches of Mexico, or cruising the Caribbean.
The U.S. Government Has Become Patently Anti-Christian . . . . While claiming to be "tolerant" and "pluralistic," our federal government, in practice, shows little tolerance or pluralism regarding Christianity. Time and again, Christian practices and people are singled out for humiliation, persecution, or retribution. This situation follows an eerily similar pattern to that of the old Holy Roman Empire. The Roman Empire loved to tout its tolerance for any and all faith systems. One common adage at the time was that "there are as many gods in Rome as people." So tolerant was Rome for myriad religious beliefs that it even constructed an altar to the "UNKNOWN GOD," for fear that it may have neglected to honor someone's obscure god.
Obama Speaks Arabic
Military Personnel Ordered To Comply With Illegal Private Gun RegistrationInfantryman based at Fort Campbell leaks shocking directive ordering soldiers to submit information on registration, location of weapons as well as Concealed Carry permits, order was stopped according to base officials An alarming document sent to us by an Infantryman based out of Fort Campbell Kentucky shows that active duty military personnel are being secretly ordered to submit information to their Chain of Command on how many firearms they own privately, their location, as well of details of any Concealed Carry permits. Though the order was apparently rescinded, the fact that active duty soldiers are being asked to submit every detail of their private firearm collection is a telltale sign that the second amendment is in dire straights.
Pravda Tells Us How Marxists Dumbed Down the U.S.A. Yup, you know that things are bad when even Pravda agrees that America is now a Marxist country! This article should be printed in every Newspaper across the country!: American capitalism gone with a whimper --Pravda It must be said, that like the breaking of a great dam, the American decent into Marxism is happening with breath taking speed, against the back drop of a passive, hapless sheeple, excuse me dear reader, I meant people. True, the situation has been well prepared on and off for the past century, especially the past twenty years. The initial testing grounds was conducted upon our Holy Russia and a bloody test it was. But we Russians would not just roll over and give up our freedoms and our souls, no matter how much money Wall Street poured into the fists of the Marxists.
Obama reveals what "Change" Means
British firms shut out of lucrative US deals British firms are being shut out from lucrative contracts in the US despite assurances from Barack Obama that America would not start a trade war. Business leaders have told the Daily Telegraph their members have reported dramatic drops in US business because of the protectionist clauses in the president's $787 billion plan to boost the US economy. Others have been forced to withdraw from bidding to supply stimulus-funded projects in the US, because they cannot meet state and local government requirements that projects should use only American-made products.
Federal Judge Says U.S. Can Hold Gitmo Detainees Indefinitely A federal judge says the United States can continue to hold some prisoners at Guantanamo Bay indefinitely without any charges. U.S. District Judge John Bates' opinion issued Tuesday night limited the Obama administration's definition of who can be held. But he said Congress in the days after Sept. 11, 2001 gave the president the authority to hold anyone involved in planning, aiding or carrying out the terrorist attacks.
Ron Paul Napolitano Glenn Beck On Guantanamo Bay 5/20/09
Biden the embellisher heads to Bosnia Joe Biden is visiting the Balkans this week, but his long résumé from the region isn't as stellar as he likes to brag Whenever Dick Cheney got his passport stamped, there was always bound to be earthquakes abroad. He relished the role of bad cop to Condoleezza Rice's good cop. He coddled dictatorships (Kazakhstan, Pakistan, et al), threatened others (Russia, Iran, et al) and did his best to make sure the world both feared and hated us with equal gusto. Joe Biden is just the opposite. Rather than snarl at despots, he is dispatched abroad to flash his pearly whites and portray America's cuddlier side. Which may be why he spends much of his time abroad on smaller fry - the Georgias and Bosnias of the world.
Obama urged to confront China over yuan valuation Unions and Congress members back bill to threaten Beijing amid claims currency is keeping exports artificially cheap A wide coalition of US trade unions and members of Congress is stepping up ?pressure on President Barack Obama to confront China over alleged illegal currency manipulation that could have cost millions of American jobs. The push comes ahead of a visit by the US treasury secretary, Tim Geithner, to Beijing next month to discuss trade issues. Against a background of rising job losses in the US, union leaders and members of Congress are backing a bill that threatens Beijing with punitive duties on its goods unless it changes its currency practices.
China bolsters Brazil trade ties . . . . China overtook the US as Brazil's biggest trading partner during the first four months of this year, underlining increasingly close relations between two of the world's biggest emerging markets. Brazilian officials told the Financial Times on Monday that the governors of the two countries' central banks would meet soon to discuss replacing the US dollar with the renminbi and the real in trade transactions. The move follows recent Chinese challenges to the status of the dollar as the world's leading currency.
China Grows More Picky About Debt Leaders in both Washington and Beijing have been fretting openly about the mutual dependence - some would say co-dependence - created by China's vast holdings of United States bonds. But beyond the talk, the relationship is already changing with surprising speed. China is growing more picky about which American debt it is willing to finance, and is changing laws to make it easier for Chinese companies to invest abroad the billions of dollars they take in each year by exporting to America. For its part, the United States is becoming relatively less dependent on Chinese financing.
US to station Patriot missile unit in Poland A US Patriot missile unit supported by 100 soldiers will be deployed in Poland by the year-end under a bilateral security pact in spite of strong objections from Russia, a senior Polish defence official has told the Financial Times. Warsaw says the move will go ahead whether or not Barack Obama, US president, proceeds with plans to base elements of a proposed anti-missile shield in eastern Europe, including long-range interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar station in the Czech Republic.
Tensions Over Georgia Sour Mood As U.S. and Russia Begin Nuke Talks On the eve of the first nuclear disarmament talks between the Obama administration and Moscow, renewed tensions over Georgia are souring the atmosphere and prompting warnings that Russia may be looking for a pretext for further military intervention in the strategically located south Caucasus. Two days of meetings in Moscow, starting Tuesday, aim to advance plans to replace an expiring arms reduction treaty with a new one that significantly cuts the existing supply of nuclear warheads. The proposal is in line with President Obama’s stated desire to hit the “reset button” in bilateral relations, and he wants an outline to be ready by the time he visits Russia on July 8.
Obama allows transfer of technology to make UAE first Arab nuclear state Barack Obama today gave the go-ahead for a controversial transfer of technology to the United Arab Emirates that would make it the first Arab nuclear state. The UAE is regarded by the US as a moderate Arab state and the transfer is to allow it to build a nuclear power plant to produce energy, not a bomb. But it is easier for a country with civilian nuclear power technology to make the change to military purposes. Critics of the decision argue that could lead to an arms race in the Middle East, encouraging other countries seeking nuclear technology.
Iran tests missile as election race starts President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Wednesday Iran had tested a missile that defense analysts say could hit Israel and U.S. bases in the Gulf, a move likely to fuel Western concern about Tehran's nuclear ambitions. Washington voiced concern after Ahmadinejad announced the test on the same day campaigning for the Iran's June 12 presidential election officially started. U.S. President Barack Obama "has long been concerned" by any development in Iran's missile program, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said. A U.S. official said the test was a "step in the wrong direction".
Iran test fires missile capable of reaching US bases or Israel Iran test-fired a solid-fuel missile capable of reaching Israel or US bases in the Middle East today, drawing rebukes from western governments and forcing the abrupt cancellation of a diplomatic mission by Italy's foreign minister. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced the launch of the Sajjil-2 surface-to-surface missile in Semnan province, in northern Iran, claiming it landed "precisely on target". The defence minister, Mostafa Mohammad Najjar, said the missile was "equipped with a new navigation system as well as precise and sophisticated sensors".
Iran's missile test is playing with fire, says Israel Iran celebrated the beginning of its official election campaign period yesterday with the launch of a missile capable of reaching Israeli and American bases in the Gulf. The launch comes two days after Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, met President Obama in Washington and urged him to help to thwart Iran's nuclear ambitions. President Ahmadinejad of Iran, who is running for his second term against three challengers, announced the launch at a public rally, declaring that Iran could "send to hell" any aggressor that sought to attack it.
Clinton: Multilateral sanctions on Iran in order if talks fail U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday she was not sure about the utility of imposing more bilateral U.S. sanctions on Iran if Washington's diplomatic effort to engage Tehran to curb its nuclear ambitions fails. Speaking at a congressional hearing, Clinton said that if the U.S. diplomatic effort does not bear fruit, multilateral sanctions against Iran may be more effective. Clinton also warned on that a nuclear Iran would spark an arms race in Middle East.
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