and hey, what good friends the Saudis are: UK Telegraph
Saudi Arabia has refused to cut interest rates in lockstep with the US Federal Reserve for the first time, signalling that the oil-rich Gulf kingdom is preparing to break the dollar currency peg in a move that risks setting off a stampede out of the dollar across the Middle East.
This is a very dangerous situation for the dollar,” said Hans Redeker, currency chief at BNP Paribas.
“Saudi Arabia has $800bn (£400bn) in their future generation fund, and the entire region has $3,500bn under management. They face an inflationary threat and do not want to import an interest rate policy set for the recessionary conditions in the United States,” he said.
And how well are we handling things at home?
The Fed’s dramatic half point cut to 4.75pc yesterday has already caused a plunge in the world dollar index to a fifteen year low, touching with weakest level ever against the mighty euro at just under $1.40.
just the beginning of the end as a key level has been broken and not just against the euro. Bernanke shot the dollar as the partying continues. Dangerous ’cause
“Meanwhile the dollar fell 0.2 per cent to $2.0050 against the pound, 0.4 per cent against the yen to Y115.55 and 0.6 per cent to a fresh 30-year low of C$1.0090 against the Canadian dollar. It also lost 0.9 per cent to SFr1.1739 against the Swiss franc.
David Woo at Barclays Capital said as the US economy slowed down, it would become more difficult for the US to attract financing for its current account deficit.”
To paraphrase the immortal words of John Kerry, Sen. John Warner actually did vote to shorten the Iraq war before he voted to lengthen it.
Just two months ago, the courtly Virginia Republican went to the Senate floor and sided with his Democratic colleague from the commonwealth, Jim Webb, on a plan that would shorten troop deployments in Iraq. Yesterday, he went to the same place to announce that he would now vote against the same bill.
“I endorsed it,” Warner said. “I intend now to cast a vote against it.”
With those dozen words, the former chairman of the Armed Services Committee put a surprise end to the latest efforts in Congress to limit the Iraq war.
I hope he and everyone else who voted against Webb’s amendment yesterday rot in hell.
According to the UN yesterday, 18 of the poorest and normally driest countries in Africa, from Senegal, Mauritania, Mali and Burkina Faso in the west, to Kenya, Sudan and Ethiopia in the east, have been seriously hit by months of torrential rains which, meterologists forecast, will continue in places for many more weeks.
“We believe at least 650,000 homes have been destroyed, 1.5 million people affected and nearly 200 people so far drowned,” said Elisabeth Brys, at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) in Geneva. “This is harvest time for many countries and there are already food shortages.”
The rains, linked to ocean temperature changes of El Niño, have caught governments off guard. Many of the worst affected regions are remote from capitals and assessments are still being made.
Burkina Faso, Togo and Ghana have declared an official disaster and appealed for emergency international aid. More nations are expected to follow.
In a radio interview,Paraguayan human rights activist and lawyer, Martín Almada (he discovered the “terror files”) said that during the 90’s democratic governments would meet and exchange information regarding “subversives” in at least three opportunities (in 1995 in Bariloche, Argentina, in 97 in Quito, ecuador and in 99 in La Paz Bolivia. Almada made particular mention of former president Carlos menem and Pinochet. This has been refered to as Condor II.
DALLAS — — The largest terrorism financing trial in U.S. history closed Wednesday with a federal prosecutor leveling harsh personal criticisms at a former high-ranking American diplomat who contradicted Israeli intelligence and key elements of the government’s case.[.] go read
meanwhile, over in Israel…that little IAF raid on Syria that no one wants to confirm or deny…. It did take place. Oh yes it did!
“Netanyahu had said that the prime minister updated him on the details of the IAF operation and went so far as to congratulate Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on its success.”
President Bush challenged Democrats on Thursday to quickly renew a popular children’s health insurance program and accused them of “putting poor children at risk so they can score political points in Washington.”
The State Children’s Health Insurance Program is set to expire Sept. 30. Democrats are pushing for a $35 billion spending increase for SCHIP, and Bush has threatened to veto it. He has proposed a $5 billion increase. – linkage
So the Shrub threatens to veto a measure that would increase the program’s viability….and in doing so accused the Congress of not caring about childrens’ healthcare? No wonder we’re fucked, the man is a loon on every single issue (stating the obvious, of course)
Surfing the net has become an obsession for many Americans with the majority of U.S. adults feeling they cannot go for a week without going online and one in three giving up friends and sex for the Web.
A survey asked 1,011 American adults how long they would feel OK without going on the Web, to which 15 percent said a just a day or less, 21 percent said a couple of days and another 19 percent said a few days.
Only a fifth of those who took part in an online survey conducted by advertising agency JWT between Sept 7 and 11 said they could go for a week.
You know, I like the internet and all, but if you’re to the point of giving up friends and sex for it, it’s time for a serious reality check.
SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq — U.S. troops arrested an Iranian man during an early morning raid on a hotel in this northern Iraqi city Thursday and accused him of helping to smuggle a deadly type of roadside bomb into Iraq .
But the Kurdistan Regional Government in a statement called the arrest “illegitimate,” said the man was a member of a trade delegation that had been invited to Sulaimaniyah by the local government and demanded that he be released.
“Actions like these serve no one,” the statement said. – linkage
Oh, they were someone all right, just not the common good.
and hey, what good friends the Saudis are: UK Telegraph
And how well are we handling things at home?
I’m no expert, but that doesn’t sound good.
just the beginning of the end as a key level has been broken and not just against the euro. Bernanke shot the dollar as the partying continues. Dangerous ’cause
“Meanwhile the dollar fell 0.2 per cent to $2.0050 against the pound, 0.4 per cent against the yen to Y115.55 and 0.6 per cent to a fresh 30-year low of C$1.0090 against the Canadian dollar. It also lost 0.9 per cent to SFr1.1739 against the Swiss franc.
David Woo at Barclays Capital said as the US economy slowed down, it would become more difficult for the US to attract financing for its current account deficit.”
more
Chimpy just held a presser. Summed up in 4 little words: “Be happy don’t worry..” I’m optimistic about the economy
Well I imagine he is very optimistic about HIS economy as are all the crooks and war profiteers in his circle
has a blog!
WashPo
I hope he and everyone else who voted against Webb’s amendment yesterday rot in hell.
do they give these anti-science winger people jobs on my teevee?
If you watch the linked clip to the end, even that Hasselbeck moron has a glazed look of disbelief on her face.
African deluge brings misery to 1.5m people
Strange weather everywhere. How bad does it have to get before enough people will admit that this isn’t just random variations?
In a radio interview,Paraguayan human rights activist and lawyer, Martín Almada (he discovered the “terror files”) said that during the 90’s democratic governments would meet and exchange information regarding “subversives” in at least three opportunities (in 1995 in Bariloche, Argentina, in 97 in Quito, ecuador and in 99 in La Paz Bolivia. Almada made particular mention of former president Carlos menem and Pinochet. This has been refered to as Condor II.
Terror case prosecutor ridicules defense personal attacks the ex-US envoy to Israel.
Oy.
So the Shrub threatens to veto a measure that would increase the program’s viability….and in doing so accused the Congress of not caring about childrens’ healthcare? No wonder we’re fucked, the man is a loon on every single issue (stating the obvious, of course)
If you think that’s bad, you should see Jim Gerlach’s excuse for why he’s against expanding SCHIP.
I mean, really, where was his (Gerlach’s) concern for the senior citizens when they passed that abomination of a Medicare prescription drug bill?
these statistics are a little scary: Reuters
You know, I like the internet and all, but if you’re to the point of giving up friends and sex for it, it’s time for a serious reality check.
Oh, they were someone all right, just not the common good.