Russia warns the world is nearing currency war
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-16/russia-says-world-is-nearing-currency-war-as-europe-joins.html

Posted by: nikon | Jan 16 2013 18:42 utc | 3

Oh, my!…
Cuban leaders have gone to great lengths to legitimize the reforms with an unprecedented solicitation of public input.
I always thought Cuba was a dictatorship.

Posted by: Maracatu | Jan 16 2013 19:29 utc | 5

… and as I have no idea what to write about

What? Are you not well? 🙂 But if you are not not well then I’d be interested in your comments on this:
Germany Repatriates Gold Reserves

Posted by: juannie | Jan 16 2013 21:29 utc | 7

This is getting truly hilarious:
We spoke earlier -jokingly- that the best candidate to blame for the killing of the PKK affiliates in Paris was Iran, it seems that our theory is seriously being considered!!! 🙂
First Le Monde counted everybody including Martians as the possible suspects except the Turkish government (using an online translator):

“Settling of scores within kurdish sphere of influence, linked to ongoing negotiations between Ankara and Abdullah Öcalan, action of the Turkish movement of extreme right of the grey Wolves, murder for money, personal settling of scores: several lanes are possible, explained a specialist of kurdish sphere of influence in France, under the pretence of anonymity.”

Then Today’s Zaman reported the Kurdish activist Ahmet Turk as saying:

““I don’t think this time it is the [Turkish] state,” Türk was quoted by Habertürk daily as saying. He added that the perpetrators could be international forces that don’t want to see Turkey become a lone international power in the region.
“Finding a solution to the Kurdish issue would make Turkey the sole power in the region. For this reason, Iran could be the one responsible [for the killings]. It happened before too,” Türk claimed.”

Then al-monitor made this ingenious (!!) analysis:

“For the culprites to be agents working for the Turkish government is a most absurd allegation. Why would a government that wants the PKK to give up arms want to block the process with its invisible hands? And why would it endanger its very valuable Turkish-French relations by committing murders on French soil? Unless they are totally moronic, this is unthinkable.”

Of course in al-monitor’s mind the same line of reasoning does not apply to Iran which was blamed for killing of its own Kurdish activists in mykonos at a time when the government of Iran was approaching the Kurdish activists for ‘peace talks’!
This also goes against the opinion of the vast majority of Kurds who screamed: “TURQUIE ASSASSIN, HOLLANDE COMPLICE !”
And also against the suspicions of the majority of the Kurdish activists who warned France that if they did not find the culprits that they would be accomplices and responsible for the failure of the peace process. After all why would France try to cover-up the crime unless the truth would lead to a disastrous scandal? And what could possibly be scandalous other than a fellow NATO member, a “model democracy” and a reliable partner in the “war against terror” being involved in breaking international law and completely disrespecting the French sovereignty (not that the French deserve any better!) would go ahead and send an assassination team to assassinate refugees in France!!
So I guess fairly soon we may hear that it is the Iranian jets which are pounding PKK positions inside Iraq for the third consequtive day!!
In fact I am fairly confident that if the Japanese police looks carefully they will figure out that Iran and Mr. Khamenei were behind the Fukushima disaster too!!

Posted by: Pirouz_2 | Jan 16 2013 21:38 utc | 9

Then al-monitor made this ingenious (!!) analysis:

“For the culprites to be agents working for the Turkish government is a most absurd allegation. Why would a government that wants the PKK to give up arms want to block the process with its invisible hands? And why would it endanger its very valuable Turkish-French relations by committing murders on French soil? Unless they are totally moronic, this is unthinkable.”

Of course in al-monitor’s mind the same line of reasoning does not apply to Iran which was blamed for killing of its own Kurdish activists in mykonos at a time when the government of Iran was approaching the Kurdish activists for ‘peace talks’!
This also goes against the opinion of the vast majority of Kurds who screamed: “TURQUIE ASSASSIN, HOLLANDE COMPLICE !”
And also against the suspicions of the majority of the Kurdish activists who warned France that if they did not find the culprits that they would be accomplices and responsible for the failure of the peace process. After all why would France try to cover-up the crime unless the truth would lead to a disastrous scandal? And what could possibly be scandalous other than a fellow NATO member, a “model democracy” and a reliable partner in the “war against terror” being involved in breaking international law and completely disrespecting the French sovereignty (not that the French deserve any better!) would go ahead and send an assassination team to assassinate refugees in France!!

Posted by: Pirouz_2 | Jan 16 2013 21:40 utc | 11

I see my link at #7 is behind a firewall at the WSJ. Here is another link to some commentary at Infinite Unknown.
What Do German Central Bankers Know That We Don’t?

Ben Bernanke and the rest of the US Federal Reserve bet the farm that they could engage in countless monetary interventions, keep interest rates at zero, and print over $2 trillion in new money without damaging the US’s credibility.
They were wrong. Indeed, Germany just fired a major warning shot to the US Federal Reserve.

Posted by: juannie | Jan 16 2013 21:44 utc | 13

Good read from counterpunch on the Empire’s South American adventures.
http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/01/16/militarizing-latin-america/

Posted by: ben | Jan 17 2013 4:50 utc | 15

Bob’s story was doing the rounds at my (IT) office today. The consensus was that the Project Manager should be sacked, and Bob given his position.
An interesting topic on this block (below). Germany is No. 1 (yeah!) (also picked up by somebody)
http://emsnews.wordpress.com/2013/01/17/sovereign-wealthy-germany-wants-half-its-gold-back-from-federal-reserve-vaults-in-nyc/
Sovereign Wealthy Germany Wants Half Its Gold Back From Federal Reserve Vaults In NYC
Another sign the US dollar is in trouble: Germany is demanding the Bank of NY which is a Federal Reserve entity, hand over half of the gold it has held for Germany since WWII. Germany is, along with China, one of the few major countries with sovereign wealth and it is as of today, #1. Not Japan nor China, it is Germany. The Germans are still hitched to the euro but they fear it is doomed at this point in time so are quietly preparing the ground for the possibility their fellow sovereign wealth holders might switch suddenly to the gold standard which ruled international trade for hundreds of years, with one empire after another wearing the Gold Trade Crown and then giving it up through bankruptcy and war.

Posted by: DM | Jan 17 2013 9:15 utc | 17

Blaming Damascus for Aleppo blast is blasphemous – Lavrov
http://english.ruvr.ru/2013_01_17/Blaming-Damascus-for-Aleppo-blast-is-blasphemous-Lavrov/
“Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has condemned allegations that the explosion that killed over 80 people at the university of Aleppo in Syria was organized by Syrian government troops. Speaking on Thursday, he called such statements blasphemous.
“I saw a report on CNN, which said that Syrian government troops were behind it. Nothing can be more blasphemous,” Lavrov told reporters in Dushanbe.
Asked whether the various interpretations of the Aleppo events might affect Russian-U.S. relations, he said: “I don’t understand how a terrorist act can spark differences.”
He stressed that the Aleppo explosion was qualified as a terrorist act by many world leaders and also by the United Nations.”

Posted by: вот так | Jan 17 2013 15:56 utc | 19

The Israeli-American courts system is essentially useless for those who don’t have oligarch status.
Feds taunt rights group with blacked-out docs on GPS tracking
http://rt.com/usa/news/feds-obstruct-gps-info-171/
“The American Civil Liberties Union has been given information on how Washington determines when it can surveil American citizens using GPS. The documents are so heavily redacted by the Justice Department, though, that they are essentially worthless.
­The redacted sections – which consume several paragraphs and even entire pages – are thought to show legal interpretations outlining the government’s rationale on tracking its citizens with GPS. With so much of the documents blacked out, Americans are still wondering whether the federal government is required to obtain a warrant before spying on them with GPS technology – and if so, when exactly it can do so.
The ACLU, one of the most powerful American civil rights groups, had to sue the government in August 2011 with a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request in order to get their hands on the memos.”

Posted by: вот так | Jan 17 2013 16:47 utc | 21

How a Government Report Spread a Questionable Claim About Iran

Several media outlets reported this month on an alarming finding from a new U.S. government study: Iran’s intelligence ministry, as CNN put it, constitutes “a terror and assassination force 30,000 strong.”
…
So how did the government researchers come up with the number? They searched the Internet — and ended up citing an obscure, anonymous website that was simply citing another source.
The trail on the 30,000 figure eventually ends with a Swedish terrorism researcher quoted in a 2008 Christian Science Monitor article. But the researcher, Magnus Ranstorp, said he isn’t sure where the number came from. “I think obviously that it would be an inflated number” of formal employees, said Ranstorp.

Posted by: b | Jan 17 2013 18:20 utc | 23

BND study – in German – As own oil production grows US will lose interest in the Gulf region

Posted by: somebody | Jan 17 2013 23:31 utc | 25

And related to fracking:
“It’s been total hell…”
Obama’s EPA Shuts Down Damning Fracking Study
http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/01/17/obama-epa-shut-down-weatherford-tx-shale-gas-water-contamination-study/
“Change you can believe in”, wasn’t that the line? Yeah, the sort of change a Bush with a suntan would work for.

Posted by: вот так | Jan 18 2013 2:54 utc | 27

Vat Tak agree on the reliability of Der Spiegel. The US already has lost interest in the Gulf region though, i.e. leading from behind.
Nikon is right, it is a matter of price. When prices are high enough all means of extraction are worth considering and new technology to be developed. Yes, it is an environmental desaster.
However the fracking boom is real and the US is considered energy independent. And presumably more interested in high energy prices than low prices.
It is possible that part of US policy is to deny a stable environment to China. That would be a disaster for Europe as they are just as dependent. I think most of the instability is simply caused by the US withdrawing and none of the other players being able to fill the vacuum. Drone strikes just further destabilize.
At present there is a BRICS/Iran stability axis. I think Europe will have to join.

Posted by: somebody | Jan 18 2013 8:42 utc | 29

Funny thing, or maybe I’m paranoid ;). Along with the “*these* islamists are really evil, would you stand and watch while they cut off other peoples hands?”-spin I’ve seen some comments in the major german onlinepapers’ comments-section who explicitely mentioned that “the culture of mali is threatened by the islamists, especially the music”. When I read a comment like this for the first time, I already thought it would be kind of strange, from the second time on I thought it’s an “emotional” spin.
Now the guardian has this article http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2013/jan/18/mali-magical-music along with a picture of a dozen happy smiling musicians from the “most musical of nations”.
I guess the notion of “islamists that want to forbid the magic music of mali” will be coming around somewhat more often the next weeks.
Hey come on, we need to send troops there to protect Ali Farke Toure!

Posted by: peter radiator | Jan 18 2013 15:21 utc | 31

Algerian Militants Demand Release of Two Terrorists held in US Prisons
The Blind Sheikh, and Aafia Siddiqui. Interesting.

Posted by: L Bean | Jan 18 2013 16:27 utc | 33

Reaping the fruits of Apartheid
The protests and mobilisation that started in the small town of De Doorns on the 6th November and spread to over 20 towns in the Western Cape, galvanised the anger of farmworkers and dwellers against decades of baasskap, slave wages and extreme poverty. Like Marikana in the mining sector De Doorns has ignited the imagination of the farmworkers and the rural poor.
What developed was a rebellion rather than simply a strike. In spite, of very low levels of union organisation, difficulties in communication between distant farms and confusion created by calling the strike on and off, farmworkers mobilised from Clanwilliam on the West Coast to Ladismith in the Karoo in support for R150 per day. The current minimum wage is just R69 and many workers do not even receive this.
That the issues underlying the strike go well beyond wages was demonstrated last Friday (11th January) when over five hundred farm workers and farm dwellers from the farms in the Robertson district gathered in front of the Robertson Police station.
They were there to lay charges of violence and abuse against the police and their employers. This protest was organised by CSAAWU, an independent Farm workers union and Mawubuye Land Rights Forum, a popular organisation of small farmers. The Human Rights Commission and the Commission for Gender Equality were there to record this remarkable demonstration. Senior police officers were forced not to just hear these testimonies but were forced to accept the charges against their colleagues.
Farmworkers were extremely angry at the role of the police. They provided evidence of police intimidation and brutality. of strikers. In one such incident police drove into Nkqubela Township, shooting indiscrimately at community people. Photos of damages to windows and houses were shown to the Human Rights Commission. In another incident police were accused of coming onto the Le Chasseur farm in the evening before the protest where they started to shoot at the farmworkers that were meeting in the open. Another group of strikers from McGregor described how police shot at them as they marched: “We were peaceful, we had no stones, nothing. Instead they shouted and swore at us for striking. Then they shot at us.”
Farm workers from the Le Chasseur district demanded the immediate arrest of a farm manager who openly brandished his rifle and threatened to shoot at them as they protested peacefully at the entrance of the farm. The station commander refused fuelling the strong sentiment of farmworkers of a justice system that only exists for farmers.
As Ryno Visser a CSAAWU shop steward remarked,“we say to the police, stop this intimidation, we want the farmers to come to us. You (the police) are not our bosses.”
Farm workers also spoke out against the working and living conditions on the farms.
“ I was told to pack my bags and get off the farm if I did not resign from the union,” says one farm worker who works on a grape and wine farm outside Ashton.
Another worker complained about the way in which his boss speaks to him and the other workers; “ I have worked on the farm for 18 years and my wife and son also works on the farm with me and the farmer often humiliates me in front of my son and wife. It’s the on-going swearing and abuse. I cannot even speak back to him. I am treated like his child. I feel so angry.”
Johanna Jonker from Ashton complained: “We have no toilets, but the farmer’s wife says we are filthy pigs because we live in squalor. Yet they are so rich and do so little to improve our living conditions. We have to be bold and fight for change.”
Many of the farm workers spoke of the deductions from their wages. “ I am supposed to earn R340,00 for the week, but sometimes I only get R80,00 or even less. I had to buy electricity, buy food and this is deducted from my wages because I made debt at the farm shop. How can I live on this? ” asks Koos from Bonnievale.
Although labour legislation and legal protection has been extended to farm workers, extremely low wages (below even the minimum wage), long hours, dangerous working conditions, victimisation of trade-union members and the use of undocumented immigrants were the norm.
It was also clear that the protection afforded to farm workers by the Department of Labour is hopelessly inadequate. Currently there are less than 1000 labour inspectors for all workplaces in South Africa whilst there are approximately 50,000 farms and 600 000 farm workers in the country.
So, while the strikers demand for R150 per day may be overtaken by a new sectoral determination that comes into affect on 1 March, the real significance of the strike is the confidence and new levels of self organisation of farmworkers will lead to further struggles over the stalled transformation of the countryside and the agricultural sector more specifically.

Posted by: thomas | Jan 18 2013 17:22 utc | 35

28
Interesting article. I’ll bet the pricing is being artificially held down by the “big boys” to squeeze out the “little boys”, as is usual when pricing is kept below cost of a product. That’s standard monopoly capitalism (called “free market” now).
See also the discussion about gas in the first segment of this show:
In Focus → Will shale revolution trigger a golden age American energy economy?
http://english.ruvr.ru/radio_broadcast/25369469/101421895.html
29
“The US already has lost interest in the Gulf region though, i.e. leading from behind.”
Wrong. Israel-America is interested in the gulf more than ever. The whole business of making war on Iran is part of that. So is the war on Syria and the “Arab Spring” color revolutions. The “USA” isn’t withdrawing from the area, it is consolidating what it controls and expanding control into regions it lacks control.
“US is considered energy independent.”
It has always been essentially energy independent. The “shortages” are engineered for monopoly capitalist reasons and geopolitical reasons. Not from lack of domestic supply.
“It is possible that part of US policy is to deny a stable environment to China.”
Possible? You’re kidding. China is the main target of Israeli-American expansion and to get China, the paleo-zio-fascists will have to destabilise China. That is what the “great game” geopolitical strategy is all about, control of Eurasia. All of Eurasia.
“That would be a disaster for Europe as they are just as dependent.”
For the European people, everything Israel-America and their European puppets do is a disaster. Nothing new there. Like everywhere else, they want a return to the robber baron days of the 19th century, but instead of a multitude of players ruling the roost, they want just one player enthroned.
“I think most of the instability is simply caused by the US withdrawing and none of the other players being able to fill the vacuum.”
That’s ludicrous. The “USA” isn’t withdrawing. There is no “vacuum”.
“At present there is a BRICS/Iran stability axis. I think Europe will have to join.”
One would think so, but the “people” running Europe work for Israel-America (IE: the NWO) and Europe is to remain an Israeli-American colony. At least, that’s the plan, and why the European “leadership” continually subverts their own independence.
All of these wars, coups, destabilizations and “revolutions” Israel-America is making around the world show this economic grouping is expanding, or trying to, not withdrawing, and sees Russia, and especially China, and their growing economic grouping, as the major obstacle of their prized NWO.

Posted by: вот так | Jan 18 2013 18:29 utc | 37

#38
I don’t think that the spin is meant for the music industry, it’s a meme of “evil islamists” vs. “nice and harmless people”.
Like the other way round, they portraied the same “evil islamists” as “sneaker rebels” “twitter revoultionaries” and guys wearing football jerseys. The latter (jerseys) came up several times during the libyian war and, just like the music meme now, was repeated at the very same time in comments and articles. I personally think that it’s clearly a kind of weekly guideline for the propaganda-accounts in various online-papers. Like “we need to show a “nice guys vs. evil madmen” scenario, let’s the what touches the average reader emotionally… kids, women, football, music, facebook”.
Anyway, I never heard anyone complaining about islamists banning music in Syria, Benghazi or Saudi-Arabia. But all of a sudden a bunch of people pop up in the same minute to tell us about the endangered musical culture of Mali… well.
(this should have been just a sidenote… sorry for the bad english ;))

Posted by: peter radiator | Jan 18 2013 20:42 utc | 39

Qatar intervening in Northern Mali?

Posted by: somebody | Jan 18 2013 22:02 utc | 41

39
I agree totally. My comment earlier wasn’t in disagreement, I was pointing out they might seek to do a little profiteering on the side, as well. Watch for Lady Gaga or Madonna (Paul Simon’s retired, I think) suddenly taking an interest in the music from the region…
As an example how these “people” market their propaganda and model it to fit various audiences, around the time of Bush, Sr’s attack on Iraq in 91, a group of “Kurds” were making the rounds of American media. They used a line of attack specifically developed to influence Americans. Since zionists had by then convinced Americans that Arabs are all “bad people out to genocide the Jews”, these “Kurds” stressed that Kurds are not Arabs. They further tweeked the propaganda to the American sense of European specialness by pointing out that Kurdish culture was different from Arabs and much like Christians. They even made a big deal about the Kurdish languages being an Indo-European variety, and not an Arabic language (they didn’t say a Semitic language, as they were coached that Americans associate Semitic with Jewish – not Hebrew, that’s too technical for the indoctrinated McDonalds consumer). As most Americans are pretty much clueless about foreigners, especially those who don’t speak English and live in foreign lands, they would have no idea that they were being manipulated by a slick marketing scheme to sell Kurdish independence (from Iraq and Iran) based upon their own zionist psychologically enhanced prejudices and ignorance. The propaganda message was exactly tailored to suit the audience. That’s what think tanks are for.

Posted by: вот так | Jan 19 2013 1:49 utc | 43

There has been a very real “business” incentive for all side involved in the “Global War on Terror” to “create terrorists”
The US army bureaucracy competing for resources, some of these resources trickling down to the African states involved, including weapons plus the suppression of opponents designated as terrorists.

Posted by: somebody | Jan 19 2013 5:50 utc | 45

in the meantime french press didn’t get the memo or didn’t receive instructions yet ^^
http://www.liberation.fr/monde/2013/01/18/le-touareg-l-ennemi-designe-a-bamako_875152

Posted by: rototo | Jan 19 2013 9:49 utc | 47

Looks like Polisario is in the crosshairs also
Mali de hauts responsables d’AQMI auraient rejoint les camps du Polisario

Posted by: somebody | Jan 19 2013 11:35 utc | 49

the idea made it into the New York Times now

Mali will only succeed, French officials say, if the state is reconfigured, with significantly more autonomy for the Tuaregs in the north, who have long wanted their independence, and rebuilt governmental institutions and legitimacy. That of course will take some time, even if it is done under the auspices of Ecowas or the United Nations.

Posted by: somebody | Jan 19 2013 14:18 utc | 51

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/video/2013/jan/16/damon-albarn-mali-video 😉

Posted by: peter radiator | Jan 20 2013 2:00 utc | 53

Yeah I just happened to skim the guardian frontpage and my selective perception made me notice the “western people’s music in mali” meme. Interesting story about damon albarn, though (although in 2010 it was probably more “ok” to play a gig in syria, as Assad had not yet been identified as saddam-hitler-devil-2.0 yet, but thats not to doubt that d.a. might be somewhat independent after all).

Posted by: peter radiator | Jan 20 2013 4:55 utc | 55

everybody knows fukus = fuck uk + us, that coalition of killing
[courtesy deb]
likewise fukusi[srael], fukusi[ndia]
in libya, syria, mali, france is ostensibly leading the pack of hyenas, thus we’ve fukus = fxxx france + uk + us !
[we all know who’s the real ringleader leading from behind, dont we ;-)]
pity oz, whats a nice girl like u doing in this biz ?
now we’ve the perfect acronym …..fukUSA !

Posted by: denk | Jan 21 2013 5:19 utc | 57

Be cheerful on Blue Monday, most depressing day of the year
http://english.ruvr.ru/2013_01_21/Be-cheerful-on-Blue-Monday-most-depressing-day-of-the-year/
“Today is the third Monday of January, and therefore today is the Blue Monday, the most depressing day of the year, as it was determined in 2005 by British psychologist Cliff Arnall in accordance with the most-miserable-day-of-the-year formula he designed.
Arnall’s formula is based on a number of factors: weather conditions are usually poor on that day, one has come to realize that some of his/her New Year’s resolutions will be hard to fulfill, holiday bills have to be paid. Besides it is Monday, the beginning of a working week. As a result, as Arnall claimed, one is feeling most depressed on this very day of January.”
But…
“Carnall’s theory has been questioned ever since it appeared. Partly because it was designed for a travel company’s marketing campaign.”
Then again:
THE 57th PRESIDENTIAL INAUGURATION: OBAMA 2.0! Swearing-in, 11:55 a.m., Blue Room
http://www.politico.com/playbook/0113/playbook9859.html
Maybe there is something to this Blue Monday theory after all?

Posted by: вот так | Jan 21 2013 10:01 utc | 59

this is how fukus bring *democracy* to u
http://space4peace.blogspot.com/2013/01/resistance-on-okinawa.html

Posted by: denk | Jan 23 2013 3:55 utc | 61

62
fukus the guardian of peace ?
well tell that to the rape victims of okinawa, the afghans, iraqis…
+Okinawan crime victims know that U.S. Marines are not here to protect them, as do the people of Indochina, Iraq and Afghanistan who have been killed and maimed in recent decades by weapons dropped from Okinawa-based warplanes+
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/rc20100527a3.html

Posted by: denk | Jan 23 2013 8:25 utc | 63