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April 3, 2009
Links April 03 09

Please add your remarks and links of the day in the comments.

Posted by b on April 3, 2009 at 06:34 UTC | Permalink
Comments

“Interesting …: German firms in talks with Iran over supply routes Afghanistan”
Thanks, b, it´s more than ´interesting´, it´s highly significant and confirms what I´ve been saying aboiut a creeping rapprochement that will reach fruition if Ahmadinejad loses on June 12th. If he (Heaven forbid) wins, the rapprochement will be slower, but if someone like Musavi wins the scope and speed of the ´change´ will take everyone by surprise.

Posted by: Parviz | Apr 3 2009 7:28 utc | 1

Uncle $cam signs off:
Should anyone want to contact me:Uncle_$cam@dodgit.com/

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Apr 3 2009 8:09 utc | 2

Gonna miss ya, $cam. I’ve had y’r blog on RSS for half a year, at least.

Posted by: china_hand2 | Apr 3 2009 8:57 utc | 3

Iran looks through Obama’s poker face.
“Clock ticks for Iran despite Obama’s offer of talks”

Posted by: andrew | Apr 3 2009 10:35 utc | 4

Audio of an interview with Gareth Porter about Maliki and the Awakening Council.
Chris Floyd has in interesting analysis: Darkness renewed: terror as a tool of Empire.
Pepe Escobar, funny and informative as usual: Globocop versus the TermiNATO

Posted by: andrew | Apr 3 2009 10:38 utc | 5

Interesting open letter to Reza Pahlavi.
From antiwar news: Israel faces backlash from Lieberman comments.

Posted by: andrew | Apr 3 2009 10:40 utc | 6

Thanks Andrew – always good, welcome links.
Let me add the latest Gareth Porter pieces on Maliki:
April 1: Al-Maliki Draws U.S. Troops into Crackdown on Sunnis
April 3: US sinks deeper into Sunni-Shi’ite struggle

Posted by: b | Apr 3 2009 11:01 utc | 7

Damn U. $cam-
Besides having the coolest screen name, you’re also prolific at posting really good links.
Damn, first Malooga than you…
$cam, good luck to ya’…
“When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.” Hunter Thompson

Posted by: DavidS | Apr 3 2009 11:13 utc | 8

@Parviz – it´s highly significant and confirms what I´ve been saying aboiut a creeping rapprochement that will reach fruition if Ahmadinejad loses on June 12th
Yep – it is significant (that’s why I put it on top :-)). I am not sure if it depends on Ahmedinejad wining or losing.
Also interesting how few picked that up in the media. The first mentioning of it was in the German FAZ on March 29. I find no other German paper that had this story but FAZ is very reliable.
IRNA picked up on April 1. Of the major U.S. media only LA Times ran with the IRNA story (so many Iranian expats in LA).

Posted by: b | Apr 3 2009 11:38 utc | 9

You will be missed, U.$. Please don’t make your hiatus too long.

Posted by: Jim T. | Apr 3 2009 13:10 utc | 10

The article by Kobayahsi confirms what b has been saying all along — that the financial crisis won’t be solved until the mountain of non-performing assets on banks’ balance sheets is removed. He says fiscal policy may succeed over the next two or three years, but then we will fall back into an even deeper recession.
Question: how exactly can these non-performing assets be expunged? These are securities held by pensions funds, private investors, banks, all over the world. What legislative body can declare them null and void?

Posted by: senecal | Apr 3 2009 14:13 utc | 11

What legislative body can declare them null and void?
That might not be needed (except for CDS). If a bank goes through a kind of bankruptcy procedure its debt can be cut down to the value of its assets. That’s a very normal process that’s happening every day.
For CDS the country with the jurisdiction over these can act. That country is usually named in the CDS contract itself. I guess most are based on U.S. or U.K jurisdiction.

Posted by: b | Apr 3 2009 14:19 utc | 12

ward churchill wins his lawsuit for wrongful firing in court yesterday, which means that CU has to cover his legal expenses & he can now move to get reinstated

Posted by: b real | Apr 3 2009 14:32 utc | 13

chomsky @ democracy now on friday
Noam Chomsky on US Expansion of Afghan Occupation, the Uses of NATO, and What Obama Should Do in Israel-Palestine

Posted by: b real | Apr 3 2009 14:54 utc | 14

I apologize for being off topic but there is no open thread that I can find. My son showed me this Indian video and I thought of David/DavidS/D-13. He just posted my favorite H Thompson quote so here comes some serious weirdness.
Benny Lava
enjoy

Posted by: dan of steele | Apr 3 2009 15:59 utc | 15

@DoS – I apologize for being off topic but there is no open thread that I can find.
I discontinued the open threads and hope that these “Daily Links” postings I do will be used as open threads.
You will find the last three recent “Daily Links” threads on the left side of the homepage of by going through the monthly archives also on the left.
—
The video is really great!!! The guy who made that one has more.

Posted by: b | Apr 3 2009 16:20 utc | 16

DoS-
I’d seen that video, but not with the silly sub-titles 🙂 Anything that makes me smile a real smile is welcome! Most of my smiles these days are those funny smirks ya’ get when feeling constipated and gassy… must be from all the “crap” the media/government is feeding me these days.
Reminds me of some crazy video made by members of the jackson family, I couldn’t get “Beat it” out of my mind while I was watching; I wonder if crazy hindu youths are doing the same thing with english videos? Yet another reason I wish I knew more than one language (and the one I do know I know poorly.)
Damn all that gov’ment cheese I ate when young.
And HST’s Sept 11, 2001 column

Posted by: DavidS | Apr 3 2009 16:42 utc | 17

Thanks, Andrew, for the Open Letter to Reza Pahlavi in post#6. It is written with biting irony and shows how little respect the would-be monarch has among Iranian intellectuals who are all too aware of his debt to Neocons, Zionists and Arab dictators. He´s turned himself into a pretty transparent Fifth Column with zero chance of anything other than continuing his playboy lifestyle in America and France.

Posted by: Parviz | Apr 3 2009 17:46 utc | 18

b (#9), you took my comment out of context by writing “Yep – it is significant (that’s why I put it on top :-)). I am not sure if it depends on Ahmedinejad winning or losing.”
I actually added:
“If he (Heaven forbid) wins, the rapprochement will be slower, but if someone like Musavi wins the scope and speed of the ´change´ will take everyone by surprise.”
So I forecasted that rapprochement will occur regardless of the election result. All I amphasized was the warp-speed we would witness if a more palatable president were elected.

Posted by: Parviz | Apr 3 2009 17:51 utc | 19

Afer the latest “government rescue plan” (read “government turd-polishing”) in Gross’ favor, I believe it was Mish who renamed Bill Gross’ company – – “PIMPCO”.
Cool.

Posted by: darkcloud | Apr 3 2009 18:24 utc | 20

Afer the latest “government rescue plan” (read “government turd-polishing”) in Gross’ favor, I believe it was Mish who renamed Bill Gross’ company – – “PIMPCO”.
Cool.

Posted by: darkcloud | Apr 3 2009 18:24 utc | 21

Two articles from the Foundation for Middle East Report The challenge facing Obama and EU Report: Israel “Actively Pursuing the Illegal Annexation” of East Jerusalem.
Via Palestinian Pundit, an interesting representation of Palestine.

Posted by: andrew | Apr 3 2009 18:54 utc | 22

Since 2001, Congress has provided the Department of Defense (DOD) with about $808 billion in supplemental and annual appropriations, as of March 2009, primarily for military operations in support of the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT). DOD’s reported annual obligations for GWOT have shown a steady increase from about $0.2 billion in fiscal year 2001 to about $162.4 billion in fiscal year 2008. For fiscal year 2009, Congress provided DOD with about $65.9 billion in supplemental appropriations for GWOT as of March 2009 and the President plans on requesting an additional $75.5 billion in supplemental appropriations for GWOT for the remainder of the fiscal year. A total of $31.0 billion has been obligated in the first quarter of fiscal year 2009 through December 2008.

Here’s the source
and here the full report (.pdf).
The funny thing is that it doesn’t seem that many anglophone media reported that point (here). Or maybe I’ve just mistaken the keywords for the research.

Posted by: andrew | Apr 3 2009 19:42 utc | 23

uncle
please return
the need has never been greater
& b real great news about ward churchill – i would like slothrop to comment on this as he is close to the action

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Apr 3 2009 19:56 utc | 24

It really is a good win, supported quietly by Churchill’s colleagues.
I think it is unfair to criticize tenured faculty for not aggressively defending Churchill. I’ve been critical in thus way too. But, first of all, the culture of tenure discourages political solidarity. Secondly, Churchill is kind of a prick.
But good for him. He’s a legend, really.

Posted by: slothrop | Apr 3 2009 21:13 utc | 25

slothrop
how do you read it – will he be able to return to teaching
i think when you are stuck between being deïfied & demonised it is hard not to turn into a prick
but if we went with a fine tooth comb through every academics resume i think we would find more than a few blemishes

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Apr 3 2009 21:33 utc | 26

someone gave me a cd of the saxophonist – the israeli gilad atzon – he is often ridiculed as an antisemite but he plays some of the most beautiful & lyric alto sax since charlie parker
i have been unaware of the controversy of this musician

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Apr 3 2009 21:57 utc | 27

The U.S. seriously considering giving in to Iran´s nuclear ambitions:

FT: U.S. may cede to Iran´s nuclear ambition

Posted by: Parviz | Apr 3 2009 22:02 utc | 28

to r’giap@27 Ah! Gilad Atzmon also writes very well and bravely! Also, being Jewish, perhaps he’s can’t be called antisemitic…

Posted by: lambent1 | Apr 3 2009 23:18 utc | 29

Good news re Churchill – he paid quite a price for saying 911 was “chickens coming home to roost”, & “little Eichmanns” Looks pretty tame now. Like the local and only liberal radio talk guy we had created a fuss by saying Bush >>>>lied<<<< on the air back in 2003.

Posted by: anna missed | Apr 3 2009 23:30 utc | 30

Regarding Chris Whalen’s article alleging fraud by AIG, this was what I was talking about yesterday when I said something smelled about the narrative that AIG’s collapse is merely misfortune. Under priced CDS’s are a “free lunch” the existence of which depends on either fraud or criminal idiocy.

Posted by: jeff65 | Apr 3 2009 23:33 utc | 31

Re; Chuchill,
Ed Quillen of the Denver Post did a nice column about the verdict. I wanted to link to it, but the DP is a pain on line. They only have Quillen’s last column posted. Probably be available in the morning.
Quillen does a nice job pointing out how this was more a verdict for freedom of speech than it was a verdict on Churchill. I agree with slothrop about Churchill, not from any face-to-face meeting, but just how much negative energy has followed the dude.
The phrase he’ll always be known and vilified for, “the little Eichmanns” is part of a larger statement every american should think-on very deeply.

“There is simply no argument to be made that the Pentagon personnel killed on September 11 fill that bill. The building and those inside comprised military targets, pure and simple. As to those in the World Trade Center . . .
Well, really. Let’s get a grip here, shall we? True enough, they were civilians of a sort. But innocent? Gimme a break. They formed a technocratic corps at the very heart of America’s global financial empire – the “mighty engine of profit” to which the military dimension of U.S. policy has always been enslaved – and they did so both willingly and knowingly. Recourse to “ignorance” – a derivative, after all, of the word “ignore” – counts as less than an excuse among this relatively well-educated elite. To the extent that any of them were unaware of the costs and consequences to others of what they were involved in – and in many cases excelling at – it was because of their absolute refusal to see. More likely, it was because they were too busy braying, incessantly and self-importantly, into their cell phones, arranging power lunches and stock transactions, each of which translated, conveniently out of sight, mind and smelling distance, into the starved and rotting flesh of infants. If there was a better, more effective, or in fact any other way of visiting some penalty befitting their participation upon the “little Eichmanns inhabiting the sterile sanctuary of the twin towers, I’d really be interested in hearing about it.

There is much truth in this statement, and I think there is a bit of Eichmann in each of us; we use all sorts of blinders to keep ourselves from noticing how we too, are tiny cogs in the wheels crushing what’s left of humanity’s humanity – the death of a thousand tiny cuts…

Posted by: DavidS | Apr 3 2009 23:51 utc | 32

& ward churchills tenacity in face of the onslaught against him ought in a just person to be respected & learnt from. the academics who cowered before the bush cheney junta tells us a great deal also, unfortunately – especially on the left where the dominant discourse was adapted to demonise churchill
it must have been a terrible time for ward churchill these last years – but it has taught us a very valuable lesson about the role of ideas & thinkers in an abbatoir

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Apr 4 2009 1:09 utc | 33

uncle, it has taken me all day to find what to say. don’t stay away too long. and for heavens sake don’t stay away just because you say you’re going to, in case you change your mind. that said, change your mind!
it may thrill us all to know that the free baluchistan movement has it’s own website, in english! you can even enter the poll
Did you want BLA, BLF and BRA to form a single army in the struggle for freedom of Balochistan?
r’giap, i had never heard of gilad atzmon until bea posted a link to Racism, Resistance and all that Jazz, here on moon. also note this post w/link from DM. after listening to his music i wrote him, and he wrote me back! he’s a devoted anti zionist activist and vigorously attacked from the right.
lambent1 , Also, being Jewish, perhaps he’s can’t be called antisemitic…
lol! apparently you don’t follow the camera crowd, they are all ‘self hating jews’!

Posted by: annie | Apr 4 2009 1:44 utc | 34

btw, the options for the baluch army poll?
Yes it is necessary
Yes but when the circumstances permit them
Don’t know

Posted by: annie | Apr 4 2009 1:47 utc | 35

jstreet has this ‘meet Avigdor Lieberman’ video and petition front paged. it is really scary plus they use the same scary music the gop use in their election terror commercials, only this time its true!

Posted by: annie | Apr 4 2009 2:09 utc | 36

Uncle, here’s to a quick and fascinating recovery time for your sharable perceptive energies! They are superb and needed!
Clink!
Recently I’ve been enjoying the suggestions in “If you see meet the Buddha on the road, kill him!” that (37) It is most important to run out of scapegoats and (43) Learn to forgive yourself, again and again, and again, and again, and again.
Btw, I’m delighted by the Ward Churchill news! Good!

Posted by: lambent1 | Apr 4 2009 2:23 utc | 37

Baloch Unity is good to check on in – interestingly, some nationalists believe ‘balkanize’em’ Biden’s a bud

Posted by: Arcturus | Apr 4 2009 2:23 utc | 38

uncle: now is not the time to pull back. you and i live in the same country/state/town and of course it’s completely demoralizing to realize how absolutely clueless, cruel, and petty people can be. that’s why we are able to enjoy each others company.
BUT, if the wear&tear of speaking from inside this collapsing contraption is doing damage, then by all means protect yourself. unlike anyone else at this bar, i can still benefit from your insights in person, and will probably use that physical proximity to nudge you toward some new, proactive realm. i’ve got some ideas. we should talk.

Posted by: Lizard | Apr 4 2009 4:15 utc | 39

Uncle $cam
Best of luck on readjusting your lebenswelt as disappointment is not a bug but a feature. My wife is fond of quoting a high school friend who summed life up as “choosing your problems”.

Posted by: anna missed | Apr 4 2009 9:20 utc | 40

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