The Kingdom of Leprosy
10-07-08
mpg

Syria plays hardball with the Saudis
A quote...."DAMASCUS - In a further sign of just how low Syrian-Saudi Arabian relations have sunk, Syrian authorities have banned the distribution of al-Hayat, the Saudi-owned mass circulation Arab daily. -- The step came nearly two years after al-Sharq al-Awsat, another Saudi daily, was banned from Syria for running articles that were considered critical of the Syrian government during the Israeli war in Lebanon in 2006. -- Subsequently, the Syrians hailed Hezbollah in Lebanon as a resistance organization while the Saudis criticized it because of its links to Iran, claiming that Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was an "adventurer". -- President Bashar al-Assad snapped back in a speech that those who had conspired against Hezbollah in the Arab world (in clear reference to Saudi Arabia) were "half-men"."

The Saudi Royals seem to think all the peoples who live in the Middle East are just plain stupid.  They have for thirty years co-opted or corrupted every single nationalist movement throughout the Middle East in the furtherance of US and Israeli geopolitical interests.

They have for thirty years consistently and aggressively, just as has the United States, supported every single radical, rejectionist, fundamentalist, violent, terrorist organization that exists in that region to serve as "agent provocateurs" to disrupt or discredit any movements that would legitimately represent the interests of the civilian populations in the region...the poor, the disenfranchised, and the down trodden

They have for thirty years pretended to support the Palestinian cause while secretly maneuvering behind their backs to thwart any of their efforts to achieve their own independent nation state or their rights to live equally along side the Israelis in one state.

They have, at the subtle urgings of this nation's MIOC PNAC'ing Neocons, sent fifteen out of nineteen of their fellow citizens to carry out 9/11, enabling the elites of the United States to use that discredited fig leaf of a false flag operation to initiate a massive war of aggression against several nation states surrounding the Gulf to seize their oil resources.

They have, in the end, allowed Islam to be deliberately besmirched, degraded, denigrated and twisted in front of the entire international community so they could continue to engage in a program, along with the United States, to "pacify" the unruly peoples of the Middle East in order to make them conform with the "New World Order", adopt "Neo-Liberal" economic policies and submit to the will of these elites while ensuring the Saudi Royals continual comfort and security.

Their plans are as obvious and as childish as they are corrupt and utterly evil.

The Saudi Royals remind this editor of a character in the film Braveheart, the farther of Robert the Bruce.  His farther was portrayed as being slowly eaten alive by leprosy all the while consoling his son that "great" men are "great" precisely because of their ability to "compromise", by their ability to lie and play one side off against another, by their ability to betray their followers, friends, and comrades.  That in the end to "survive" and  be crowned King of Scotland, Robert the Bruce would have to betray all of his beliefs.

And the Saudi Royals certainly have done so, to the dismay and horror of just about every person throughout the world. - mpg

For more on this issue see....The CONversation - 09-04-06 - mpg
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US backs Taliban return to power in Afghanistan - Guess that's the end of this current ten year cycle...for now.  mpg
To all those people out there who want to "get dem dare terrorists"....could we please stop pretending now? - mpg -- A quote...."US defense secretary Robert Gates on Monday endorsed efforts to reach out to members of the Taliban or other militants in Afghanistan who may be considered reconcilable, much like what has happened in Iraq. And he rejected assertions made by a British commander that the Afghan war is not winnable."

Delta Force officer: US officials stopped plans to kill bin Laden
A quote...."After September 11, 2001, a team of elite Delta Force commandos was sent into Afghanistan with an assignment to find and kill Osama bin Laden at Tora Bora -- but that mission failed."

You've Bin Conned
Related article - A quote...." A lot of us said that Bin Laden was being used as a prop in the propaganda effort to promote the "war on terror". -- We said that Bin Laden might very well be dead, with the U.S. covering it up so Americans remain scared. If he wasn't dead, we said that the U.S. is intentionally letting him run free in order to keep their "boogeyman", in order to sustain fear among Americans (so they'll support the "war on terror")."

Turkish moves to crush PKK may hurt US, EU ties
A quote...."Turkey faces increasing pressure at home after Friday's deadly ambush to launch a major offensive against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq that would hurt its ties with Washington and the European Union, analysts say. Tapping into widespread indignation and nationalism sparked by the attack that killed at least 15 Turkish soldiers, newspaper Vatan's front-page headline said, "Enough is enough!", along with photos of the dead soldiers." - -For more on this issue see....US Support of Terror

McCain linked to private [terrorist] group in Iran-Contra case
A quote...."WASHINGTON (AP) — GOP presidential nominee John McCain has past connections to a private group that supplied aid to guerrillas seeking to overthrow the leftist government of Nicaragua in the Iran-Contra affair."

Yemen disbands 'Mossad-sponsored cell'
A quote...."Yemen has reportedly disbanded a 'terrorist cell' which was allegedly operating under the supervision of Israeli intelligence services. -- A terrorist cell was arrested five days ago and will be referred to the judicial authorities for its links with the Israeli intelligence services," Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh told Saba news agency on Monday."

Exclusive: Rumsfeld Updated Army's Continuity of Operations Plan before 9/11
Special Note -- Must be "a'nodder one'ol dem dare co-in-cee-din-cezzz" -- A quote...."Ten months before the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld approved an updated version of the U.S. Army's secret operational Continuity of Government (COG) plans. -- A draft document published by the whistleblowing website Wikileaks entitled, "Army Regulation 500-3, Emergency Employment of Army and Other Resources. Army Continuity of Operations (COOP) Program," dated 19 January 2001, spells out changes in Army doctrine." -- Also posted at ICH

The Ultimate 9/11 ‘Truth’ Showdown: David Ray Griffin vs. Matt Taibbi
A quote...."(Good morning. What I am about to post here today is 10 pages long. It is the entire 1st Part of the interview/discussion between Matt Taibbi and David Ray Griffin on the topic of the 9/11 Truth Movement and the need for a real investigation into the events of 9/11. Taibbi is listed here as one of the leading skeptics of the 9/11 Truth movement, but I don’t really think that holds up. In fact, the second part of this, linked at the end, is Taibbi’s attempt at rebuttal to Prof. Griffin, and in fact, he starts that off by saying he was so unbalanced by Griffin’s work here, that he eventually had to come to the decision that he would ignore the facts that Griffin presents. Let me repeat that: Matt Taibbi comes the conclusion that he has to ignore the facts in order to keep his belief system intact. Then he proceeds to use smear tactics and name calling to go after David Ray Griffin. This “debate” is as one sided as it gets, people."

Former CIA Operative: "Of Course Bin Laden is Dead"
He's been dead for years, all the tapes the stupid drooling morons who watch Fox news have been viewing are completely and totally fake...by the way -- PS: To all the wealthy elites of this country, go right ahead and remove his frozen popsicle corpse from that Saudi freezer, thaw him out and stage his death right before the US elections take place....go ahead, be this editor's guest, you'll be fooling absolutely no one. - mpg -- A quote...."An important news item that flew under the radar for the most part last week was the assertion from former CIA operative turned whistleblower Robert Baer that Osama Bin Laden is long dead. -- The hugely respected intelligence & foreign policy expert told Terry Gross, host of National Public Radio show Fresh Air, "Of course he is dead, where are the DVDs? Bin Laden wouldn't dye his hair, all these things can be manipulated."

Judge Orders Guantanamo Releases
A quote...."The judge said there was no evidence the detainees, who have been held at Guantanamo for nearly seven years, were "enemy combatants" or a security risk, and that the U.S. Constitution prohibits indefinite detention without cause. --     He ordered them brought to his courtroom for a hearing on Friday and scheduled another hearing for Thursday of next week." -- But didn't our lovely un-elected, elite selected, White House squatting, little smirking monkey state unequivocally that the former United States' (now known as the New Roman Empire's) constitution was "just a God damn piece of paper"? - mpg

Secrets of Iraq's death chamber
Must View (for the outrage) -- A quote...."Like all wars, the dark, untold stories of the Iraqi conflict drain from its shattered landscape like the filthy waters of the Tigris. And still the revelations come. -- The Independent has learnt that secret executions are being carried out in the prisons run by Nouri al-Maliki's "democratic" government." -- Also posted at CommonDreams & AfterDowningStreet

Palestine, Israel Fairy Tale -- a.k.a. "To dream the impossible dream". - mpg
A quote...."It has happened. -- In a solemn ceremony, on a stage bedecked with Israeli and Palestinian flags, the peace treaty between Israel and Palestine has been signed. -- Negotiations did not take long. The essential elements of the treaty had been known for a long time. The document held no real surprises. -- Israel agreed to recognize the State of Palestine. The border between the two states was based on the so-called Green Line (the pre-1967 line), but both parties agreed on a limited exchange of territory. About 5% of the West Bank, including several "settlement blocs", were joined to Israel, in exchange for an equivalent area alongside the Gaza Strip. Both sides expressed the wish to keep the border open for the movement of people and goods."

A War of Self-Destruction
From the History File -- Just a timely heads-up reminder - mpg -- A quote...."Posted on Aug 4, 2008 --  An attack on Iran, which Israeli and Bush administration officials appear set to carry out if Iranian uranium enrichment is not halted, would ignite a regional war in the Middle East and lead to economic collapse and political upheaval in the United States. -- “In short and simple terms, we would be plunged into a depression that would make the Great Depression of the 1930s in which I spent my childhood look like boom times,” said William R. Polk, former professor of history at the University of Chicago and a member of the Policy Planning Council under President Kennedy."

Russia accuses US of letting arms controls treaties lapse
A quote...."Moscow - Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has called a Russian attack on the United States 'absolutely unimaginable', but accused Washington of dangerously shrugging off the nuclear arms control regime set at the end of the Cold War, in an interview published Tuesday. -- Lavrov ridiculed the recent Western commentary that has fretted over Russia renewing Soviet-era military alliances in South America, with planned Venezuelan-Russian military exercises in the Caribbean this year."

Russia and Bolivia ink helicopter deal
Video - A quote...."Russia and Bolivia strengthened their ties this week with Moscow concluding a deal with La Paz to purchase five Russian civil defence helicopters. The deal also forms part of a strategy of Latin American integration, sidelining the United States, as countries like Venezuela, Brazil, and Argentina among others, attempt to re assert control over their own progress. Forrest Hylton states that " there used to be a recognition of spheres of influence. All that is over. "

The US Neocon's New Proxy War in Georgia - 1 article - Tuesday - [ Day 61 ] =====  ==========

I survived the Georgian war. Here's what I saw.
A quote...."By Lira Tskhovrebova -- from the October 8, 2008 edition -- Tskhinvali, South Ossetia - In a speech before the United Nations last month, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili implored world leaders to set up an international investigation to find out the truth about the war in South Ossetia. -- I couldn't agree more. But I think the results of an honest investigation would reveal a very different "truth" than what President Saakashvili claims. -- I know this because I was in Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia, on Aug. 7 when Georgian troops marched into the city and killed my friends and neighbors. I huddled with my family in terror for three nights while Saakashvili's tanks and rockets destroyed hundreds of our homes, desecrated cemeteries, gutted schools and hospitals."

End - The US Neocon's New Proxy War in Georgia - 1 article - Tuesday - [ Day 61 ] ===  ==========

GOP Judges Aid White House Cover-up
A quote...."A Republican-dominated federal Appeals Court panel has blocked the enforcement of a congressional subpoena, effectively guaranteeing that George W. Bush will leave the White House without his senior aides having to explain the firings of nine prosecutors."

Cindy Sheehan Reveals Plan for New National Party
Action Alert -- A quote...."07/10/08 "Digital Journal" Anti War activist and challenger for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's Congressional Seat (CD 8, California), Cindy Sheehan has indicated her intention to launch a National political party after the U.S. Election of Nov. 4 -- Inspired in part by Mark Twain's involvement in The American Anti Imperialist League in reaction to the annexation of the Philippines by the United States in the late 19th Century, Sheehan said that the party will have a progressive platform and that after Nov. 4, "no matter what happens, we need to consolidate the energy against Imperialism and work on building another party movement."
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The Good News About the Bailout
A quote...."We just had a $700 billion bailout bill that was signed into law and done in defiance of the American people at large. This money is on top of many more billions that have already been spent bailing out Wall Street. We have a runaway government and we will likely experience economic depression or very high inflation, or possibly both, in the near future. Yet, I am smiling about the whole thing."

AIG Congressional Hearing: "They Were Getting Manicures... While American People Were Footing The Bill"
A quote...."Have you heard of anything more outrageous - a week after taxpayers commit $85 billion dollars to rescue AIG, the company's leading insurance executives spend hundreds of thousands of dollars at one of the most exclusive reports in the nation...Let me describe for some of you the charges that the shareholders, taxpayers, had to pay."

U.S. Debt Too Big for National Debt Clock - Oh this one is funny. - mpg
Video - Special Note - A quote...."The National Debt Clock, launched in 1989 when the nation's debt was less than $3 trillion, cannot keep pace with the growing national debt, now at more than $10 trillion."

Finance crisis: in graphics
Multiple Charts - A quote...."It is shaping up to be one of the most tumultuous times on record in the global financial markets. -- The financial landscape is going through a period of upheaval with some major firms folding, other operations merging and a limited number of companies in both the Europe and the US, being rescued at a governmental level."

Bank bailout: Alistair Darling unveils £500billion rescue package
A quote...."The plan will see the taxpayer take large stakes in the major banks in return for a massive injection of money to prop up their shattered balance sheets. -- The part-nationalisation deal comes as a last-ditch effort to prevent the banks from a catastrophic collapse, following another day of hammering on the stock market."

Prime Minister calls meeting with finance chiefs after nightmare day for banks
A quote...."Last Updated: 8:14AM BST 08 Oct 2008 -- Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling were tonight meeting with finance chiefs to discuss the recapitalisation of the UK banking system after a turbulent day on the markets which also saw British savers hit by the collapse of the Icelandic bank Icesave."

Iceland nationalizes second-largest bank
A quote...."REYKJAVIK, Iceland (AP) -- Iceland nationalized its second-largest bank Tuesday under emergency legislation and said it was negotiating a 4 billion-euro ($5.4 billion) loan from Russia to shore up the nation's finances amid a full-blown financial crisis."

Knock Out: CNBC Confirms Lehman CEO Punched at Gym
A quote...."It seems anxiety from the financial crisis is reaching new highs, but the tipping point for one individual came at the Lehman Brothers gym in the midst of the company’s collapse."

American financier kills his family and himself after losing fortune in credit crunch
A quote...."A businessman gunned down five members of his family then shot himself after seeing his family's fortune wiped out by the stock market collapse. -- Karthik Rajaram, 45, who had made almost £900,000 on the London stock market, shot his wife, three children and mother-in-law in the head before turning the gun on himself at the family home near Los Angeles."


Down the Road to Serfdom
Must Read - A quote...."Threatening an imminent economic collapse, Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke have bamboozled Congress into enacting the most brazen confiscatory scheme ever concocted by government. The scheme would have American taxpayers fork over $700 billion of their cash to help recapitalize some of the country's biggest banks – the same banks that recently larded their bigwigs with $62 billion in bonuses.  -- Sensing a pushback by the world's dollar-surplus regions – Asia and the Mideast – to finance the largest debtor economy, the U.S. government will now plunder its own countrymen to keep capital running "uphill." As with most statist remedies, it is being marketed as a boon for Main Street, tantalizing its inhabitants with the prospect of profits wafting westward from those malodorous Wall Street investments. However, Congress has inured the Treasury from accountability and legal recourse, giving Paulson dictatorial power over the nation's financial sector. Rather than let this bloated segment of the economy shrink and consolidate, Paulson and his successor will extend it unlimited life support, bloodletting everything else, in a final ruin of the nation." -- Also posted at ICH

We're on "the edge of the abyss”
Must Read - A quote...."06/10/08 '"ICH" -- "The recent financial recovery plan that Congress enacted will not rebuild lending and credit flows. That requires a program to stop a downward overshooting of house prices and the resulting mortgage defaults....The prospect of a downward spiral of house prices depresses the value of mortgage-backed securities and therefore the capital and liquidity of financial institutions. Experts say that an additional 10% to 15% decline in house prices is needed to get back to the prebubble level. [that's not the "downward overshooting" part, that's just the "getting back to normal part"....it could get a lot worse.]  That decline would double the number of homes with negative equity, raising the total to 40% of all homes with mortgages. The mortgages of five million homeowners would then exceed the value of their homes by 30% or more, which could prompt millions of defaults." (Martin Feldstein, "The Problem is still Falling house Prices", WS Journal)" -- Also posted at CounterPunch



The Dollar's Spike
10-06-08
mpg

Passport's Burbank warns of deflationary bust
Special Note -- A quote...." Passport generated big returns last year betting against subprime mortgages. The fund has also been investing in energy and basic materials companies in a bet on global economic growth and rising demand from countries like India.  Other hedge funds took similar positions based on this fundamental idea, betting against financials in the U.S. and against the U.S. dollar while going long energy and other commodities. -- bold/underline by webiste editor

It appears that a very LARGE number of hedge funds figured Bernanke could pull a rabbit out of the hat and inflate his way out of the current crisis.  However, it's beginning to look as if Bernanke couldn't inflate his way out of this total catastrophe even if he threw a trillion dollars a day at the deflationary wave that's currently towering over the US and world economy.  As a result of this massive unwinding of over leveraged positions, ALL the commodities and financials are plunging in price while the dollar is getting a deflationary "flight to safety" boost forcing the hedge funds to cover their short positions thereby causing even more of a dollar surge.

This state of affairs will not last for very long the way things are going (think Weimar Germany).  And this is one of the surest signs that the chances for an actual depression have substantially increased, the fact that so many smart people were caught believing this would be just another re-play of the late sixties and early seventies stagflation.

You can include this website editor in that prediction, but it has been pointed out repeatedly on this website that each ten year cycle has caused a substantial - per capita, inflation adjusted --  increase in the debt levels in the US which could result in a "sudden shift" or "adjustment" to the economy.  This appears to be it, a massive, uncontrollable deflationary spiral.

If Bernanke manages to pull the US economy out of its deflationary death spiral (a big if) you will see inflation in this country like you have NEVER EVER seen it before.  Proving the hedge funds were right in their prognostications -- one or two years too early.....an unfortunate and extremely expensive matter of ill timing for them. - mpg
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US Economy Collapsing - (YouTube - 9 min 51 sec - Added:  October 05, 2008)
Must View Video - A quote...."A View from the Southern Hemisphere.......Please subscribe, rate and pass this video along as quickly as possible. Thank you." -- For more on this issue see....$1.3 Quadrillion and Counting - 09-18-08 - mpg

An economic hurricane is about to wipe out the United States and collapse the global economy: What the future holds
A quote...."I have been trying to put together a piece for the economics section of the wrap-up of politics and economics, but I’ve been having a hard time. How do you begin to describe a scene where your witnessing the bloody victims of the largest train wreck in history be robbed by the authorities, let alone the part where bystanders are applauding as rescuers use kerosene to put out the ensuing fire?"

Germany takes hot seat as Europe falls into the abyss
Special Note - A quote...."Germany is now in the hot seat. The collapse of a rescue deal for Hypo Real Estate on Saturday threatens a €400bn (£311bn) bankruptcy that nearly matches the Lehman Brothers debacle for sheer scale. --
Chancellor Angela Merkel has been forced to pull her head out of the sand, guaranteeing all German savings, a day after she rebuked Ireland for doing much the same thing. Reality intrudes."

The Wall Street bust
A quote...."Growth [of Total Non-Financial Debt (NFD)] rose to $2.319 trillion in 2005, $2.428 trillion in 2006 and then to last year's record $2.561 trillion. -- Importantly, this historic credit inflation inflated asset prices, incomes, corporate cashflows/earnings, government revenues, and various types of spending throughout the US and global economy. It was a self-sustaining bubble bolstered by ongoing credit excesses, asset inflation and resulting purchasing power gains. But NFD growth slowed sharply to an annualized $1.726 trillion during this year's first quarter and then sank to $1.127 trillion annualized during the second quarter. Credit growth is now in the process of collapsing. -- At this point, there is clearly insufficient credit expansion to support inflated asset markets;...."

"This was the largest single act of class warfare in the modern history of this country." --Dennis Kucinich Dennis Kucinich on the Democrats' Bailout Betrayal By Chris Hedges 05 Oct 2008 The passing of the $850-billion bailout pulled the plug on the New Deal. The Great Society is now gasping for air, mortally wounded, coughing up blood. It will not recover. It was murdered by the Democratic Party. We are on our own. And don't expect any help from Barack Obama and Joe Biden, who lobbied hard for the bill and voted for it. Ignore their rhetoric. Look coldly at the ballots they cast against us. We, as citizens, have only a handful of representatives left in Washington, most of whom were left sputtering in rage and frustration on the House floor. The sad irony is that some of them were Republican." -- Paragraph quoted form CLG  -- See also....You Have a Choice Democracy or Empire 07-24-08 - mpg

Lehman burns HK's low-risk investors
A quote...."HONG KONG - Thousands of Hong Kong retail investors have seen their savings disintegrate after buying what they thought was a low-risk product from failed US investment bank Lehman Brothers. -- Amid calls for the ruined investors, many retirees, to show restraint and calm, the city's two chief financial regulatory institutions are pointing fingers at each other and have yet to come up with a solution that includes any form of restitution. -- Calls are growing for the government of Hong Kong, hailed as the world's freest economy, to intervene in the incident and to strengthen its supervision on the imports of "tainted" financial products from Wall Street into this international financial center." -- That's it!!  Wall Street has infected everybody in the world with a case of "Financial Herpes" (or worse). - mpg

Lehman sought millions for execs while seeking aid  -- It's just to much, all you poor peons out there. - mpg
Fed Considers Plan to Buy Companies’ Unsecured Debt
Fed up with Fed credit
The End of American Hegemony
Investor Jim Rogers predicts lost decade to USA
Ron Paul: Bailout Unconstitutional, Special Interests Forced Bill Through Congress
Thursday's auction for Lehman's credit default swaps (CDS)
Neel Kashkari; The $700 Billion Bailout Czar
Wall Street Panic, Main Street Pain and Policy Choices
Worst-case scenario is approaching rapidly
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Credit doors are closing
A quote...."The market for commercial paper, which is high-quality, short-term debt, shrank by a record $95 billion last week, to $1.6 trillion, according to the U.S. Federal Reserve. That's down from nearly $2 trillion before the credit crunch."

Fed to provide as much as $900B in loans to banks
That's on top of the $850 billion bailout (up from $700 billion) passed just three days ago....think about it. - mpg -- WASHINGTON - The Federal Reserve will provide as much as $900 billion in cash loans to squeezed banks in an urgent effort Monday to break through a dangerous credit clog."

Full of Doubts, U.S. Shoppers Cut Spending
A quote...."Recent figures from companies, and interviews across the country, show that automobile sales are plummeting, airline traffic is dropping, restaurant chains are struggling to fill tables, customers are sparse in stores. -- When the final tally is in, consumer spending for the quarter just ended will almost certainly shrink, the first quarterly decline in nearly two decades."

No rescue in sight for what ails economy
A quote...."WASHINGTON -- While Americans have spent the last month transfixed by the spectacle of one financial giant after another crashing to the ground, the rest of the U.S. economy has been sinking in the muck. -- By now, the process is so far advanced that, even after passage of the Bush administration's $700-billion financial rescue plan Friday, the nation's economic options span the unappealing gamut from bad to worse."

Pakistan Facing Bankruptcy
A quote...."While Mr Musharraf's prime minister, Shaukat Aziz, frequently likened Pakistan to a "Tiger economy", the former government left an economy on the brink of ruin without any durable base. -- The Pakistan rupee has lost more than 21 per cent of its value so far this year and inflation now runs at 25 per cent. The rise in world prices has driven up Pakistan's food and oil bill by a third since 2007."  -- This is what happens when you do "business" with the "west".  It will happen every single time. - mpg
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Taliban, Afghan Officials Met in Saudi Arabia
A quote...."Taliban representatives met with Afghan government officials last month in Saudi Arabia, a former high-level Taliban ambassador said Monday, but he denied the meeting could be construed as peace talks."

The Wounded Shark: 'Good War' Lost, But the Imperial Project Goes On
A quote...."Don't tell Obama and McCain, but the war they are both counting on to make their bones as commander-in-chief -- the "good war" in Afghanistan, which both men have pledged to expand -- is already lost. Their joint strategy of pouring more troops, tanks, missiles and planes into the roaring fire -- not to mention their intention to spread the war into Pakistan -- will only lead to disaster."

Germany not to renew special forces' Afghan mission
A quote...."BERLIN, Oct 6 (Reuters) - Germany will no longer make troops from its elite KSK special forces available to support U.S.-led counterterrorism missions in Afghanistan, the Defence Ministry said on Monday."

Central American states vow to promote regional economy
A quote...."MANAGUA - Member states of the Central American Integration System (SICA) Saturday agreed to launch a joint campaign to promote regional economic development and seek possible alternatives to ease the impact of the U.S. financial crisis, according to news from Honduras's capital of Tegucigalpa."

Nigerian Conflict a Warning for Big Oil in Iraq
A quote...."BAGHDAD (AP) — Recurrent violence in oil-rich parts of Nigeria may provide a sobering lesson for oil companies hoping to work in Iraq — a place that is much more dangerous despite the fact that attacks are at their lowest level in more than four years. "

Russia-Belarus joint anti-missile possible
A quote...."Russia and Belarus may strike a deal on creating a joint anti-missile shield very soon. A source in the Russian government has said the timeframe of the deal mainly depends on the Belarusian side."

The US Neocon's New Proxy War in Georgia - 1 article - Monday - [ Day 60 ] =====  ==========

Russian peacekeepers to leave Georgia in 72 hours
A quote...."October 7, 2008, 8:12 -- All Russian peacekeepers are set to dismantle their checkpoints in the security zone around South Ossetia before October 10. They will be replaced with EU monitors, who are watching the Russian pullout."

End - The US Neocon's New Proxy War in Georgia - 1 article - Monday - [ Day 60 ] ===  ==========

Exclusive Interview With Former Diebold Contractor
Contains Video - A quote...."VR has an exclusive interview with former Diebold contractor Chris Hood that talks about many disturbing actions by Diebold during prior elections, including illegal, uncertified and unreported patches, and improper feeding of tabulation results by Diebold Chief Bob Urosevitch. This interview was prepared for a major news program special that was supposed to air two weeks before the 2006 midterm election. At the last moment, however, the special was killed by the corporate media. Check out this important ten minute interview."

Principles, not money, power Guantanamo defense lawyers
A quote...."The 700-odd lawyers defending the suspected foreign terrorists held by the United States at Guantanamo Bay say they share a common mission -- to make amends for the US government's actions in its "war on terror". -- Some go to work in pinstripe suits, others in crisp military uniforms. Some get paid, others do it for free."

Juan Cole's McCain Round-Up
McCain in 1992: Christianity and Oil Drive US Wars in Middle East
McCain 1991: Unwise for US to Invade Iraq
McCain Funded Righwing Contra Death Squads
Keating: "Certainly hoped" he Bought Influence with McCain
McCain Campaign No. 1 at Self-Parody; McCain support for Mujahideen Papered Over

Sunday October 5th 2008