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Thomas Paine

To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

22 Dec - Geopolitics and the Winds of No Change

The Guardian, Nigeria

United Nations Climate Change Conference 2009

Copenhagen Accord: half baked text and unclear substance, says WWF
The Guardian

http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/homes_property/article02//indexn2_html?pdate=211209&ptitle=Copenhagen%20Accord:%20half%20baked%20text%20and%20
unclear%20substance,%20says%20WWF
 Politicians around the world seem to be in agreement that we must stay below the 2 degree C threshold of unacceptable risks of climate change - in theory. However, practically what leaders have put on the table adds up to 3 degrees C of warming or more, according to WWF estimates. "Millions of lives, hundreds of billions of dollars and a wealth of lost opportunities lie in the difference between rhetoric and reality on climate change action." ?
( If this site is new to you, starting Dec 4 there is extensive coverage of Global Warming/Climate Change...as a Hoax. If that surprises you,it surprised me too!  ) 

Oceanic Bank sacks 1,500 workers
http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/news/article03//indexn2_html?pdate=221209&ptitle=Oceanic%20Bank%20sacks%201,500%20workers
THE gale of retrenchment in Nigeria's banking industry swept away 1,500 jobs at Oceanic International Bank Plc yesterday

The development is coming on the heels of a similar level of job losses at Intercontinental Bank Plc at the weekend.

The lay-off was also executed in defiance of a warning from the Federal Government at the weekend, against such mass sack of workers at the banks.

The Guardian learnt that the mass purge was part of the management's strategy to rationalise costs and stabilise the troubled financial institution.

An inside source at the bank revealed that the exercise cut across all cadres of management and staff of the organisation.

Some of the workers affected by the purge told The Guardian that they were taken by surprise by the action, given the efforts made so far to reposition the bank, especially the positive debt recovery exercise.


Snowstorms wreak havoc across Europe
LONDON, ENGLAND - AUGUST 26:  Climate change p...

http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/world/article01//indexn2_html?pdate=221209&ptitle=Snowstorms%20wreak%20havoc%20across%20Europe
SNOWSTORMS and sub-zero temperatures are reportedly wreaking havoc across Europe with no fewer than 80 people killed while also severely disrupting air, rail and road transport.

U.S. trying to destabilise Cuba, Raul Castro alleges
http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/world/article02//indexn2_html?pdate=221209&ptitle=U.S.%20trying%20to%20destabilise%20Cuba,%20Raul%
20Castro%20alleges


Making the charge on Sunday in an address to the country's National Assembly, the Cuban leader said: "The U.S. government has not renounced its goal of destroying the revolution... The enemy is as active as always. Proof of that is the detention, in the last few days, of an American citizen."

The accusation is coming on the heels of the island nation's recent detention of an American who is said to have distributed communications equipment to Cuban dissidents, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and Cable News Network (CNN) stated.The detained American is a subcontractor for Maryland-based Development Alternatives Inc., an economic development organisation, the company's chief said.
The arrested American was involved in a new USAID programme aimed at helping the U.S. government "implement activities in support of the rule of law and human rights, political competition, and consensus building, and to strengthen civil society in support of just and democratic governance in Cuba," DAI President and CEO Jim Boomgard said a week after the arrest.
DAI was awarded the USAID contract, called the Cuba Democracy and Contingency Planning Programme, in 2008.

In his speech, Castro said the man was distributing "sophisticated satellite communications equipment" to dissidents, which he said shows the President Barack Obama administration is bent on regime change.
Raul also accused Washington of organising protests to make it appear that the communist-run island is cracking down on opposition.
Raul Castro said the U.S. had allocated some $55m (38m euros; £34m) "to support a supposed democracy, the defence of human rights and aggression by radio and television against Cuba", apparently referring to the Marti network, which broadcasts to Cuba from U.S.-run territory.
Obama has said that, like previous American presidents, he will only consider a full lifting of the embargo once Cuba's communist government makes significant moves such as the holding of democratic elections. 
( Rather reminds one of Iran sanctions and the BBC broadcasts ) 

1999 Constitution is a 'fraudulent' contraption
http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/law/article01//indexn2_html?pdate=221209&ptitle=1999%20Constitution%20is%20a%20%27fraudulent%27%20contraption
The debate has been raging on whether the National Assembly should continue with the on-going constitution amendment or jettison it for a brand new constitution that will reflect the aspirations of the long-suffering Nigerians. If amendment cannot guarantee Nigerians of equity and justice with true federalism, then there is need to rethink on the on-going constitution amendment exercise.

This is what Honourable Justice Emmanuel Akomaye Agim, a Nigerian and the Chief Justice of The Gambia, is saying in this interview granted THE GUARDIAN'S LEMMY UGHEGBE of the Abuja Bureau, who was in Banjul, The Gambia.

Justice Agim in this piece, rejects amendment efforts by the National Assembly and calls for a new and people-oriented constitution. He also faults the locus standi principle which denies Nigerians access to court for public interest litigation. In addition, he shares his experience working with The Gambian Constitution, which he describes as the "most progressive constitution in West Africa". The 49-year-old jurist, who was the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) in the country in 2000, also declares that in The Gambia, even the President does not enjoy immunity for crimes and graft.


Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid of Millennial, Postmodern Capitalism
http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/sunday_magazine/article01//indexn2_html?pdate=201209&ptitle=Be%20Afraid,%20Be%20Very%20Afraid%20of%20Millennial,
%20Postmodern%20Capitalism%20(6)

Everywhere in the world, work disappears in some places and reappears in others. Great magnitudes of wealth and prosperity are created through speculation, through financial operations of a shadow economy that has little or no relationship to the real economy. And value becomes seemingly detached from work, from the production of goods and services that keep human beings, singly and collectively in communities, alive, healthy and dignified.
Under these conditions, the occult economy takes many diverse forms, especially between and within the rich and poor countries of the world. In the rich countries, the main manifestations are in the shadow economy of big time, high risk financial operations in which speculation and gambling run amuck, playing havoc with the lifetime savings, the pension schemes and the employment prospects of hundreds of millions of people. For me, one of the most interesting examples of the occultation of the relationship between work and value in the rich, developed economies is the deployment of disciplines like physics and mathematics to generate models that might help to predict how high risk speculation in the financial services sector might yield super profits. There are indeed textbooks and monographs in print on this phenomenon that, in the Nineties, sought to turn the traditionally exact, scientific disciplines of Physics and Mathematics into talismanic aids to generate wealth in extremely risky financial operations. I invite those of my readers who think I am making this up to consult the search engines of the Internet by linking the key terms of "Economics" and "Physics". You have my word that you will find many titles and websites.
For Physics or Mathematics, what we have in the occult economy of the poor countries of the world are Anthropology and Ethnography. Work disappears massively and endlessly in these regions of the world, more spectacularly than in the rich countries. There are, typically, massive cuts in public expenditure on services and utilities like education, health care delivery, power supply for domestic household consumption and economic production and road construction and maintenance. Without unemployment compensation, reliable pension schemes, and social safety networks maintained by the state and its agencies, people turn to God, to their pastors or "witchdoctors" both for spiritual and psychological succor and for assurance that wealth, prosperity and the good life are still within reach for them.
Anthropologists in particular, have been very attentive to these manifestations of the occult economy in the poor countries of the world. Many of them are radical and progressive Western scholars; they have written dozens of books, monographs and articles on the "magical thinking" that fuels the recourse to the supernatural in Africa and many parts of the developing world as people try to negotiate the crises and challenges of millennial capitalism. But they do tend to see Africans and other peoples in the developing world in ways dangerously and disturbingly close to the primitivist Anthropology of the heyday of colonialism.

Developing countries excluding LDCs (Least Dev...Image via Wikipedia
Water sliding to dead level in reservoirs - Pakistan
http://www.thenews.com.pk/updates.asp?id=94199



United Nations Human Rights Council logo.Image via Wikipedia
Ex-South Korean prime minister indicted
http://www.thenews.com.pk/updates.asp?id=94181
 Military action against Tehran remains an option: Mullen
http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=214673
The United States and its allies suspect Iran is developing technology to enrich uranium to highly refined levels that would allow it to build a nuclear bomb, a charge Tehran vehemently denies, saying its nuclear programme serves peaceful purposes.
With a year-end deadline, President Barack Obama’s administration has signalled that time is running out for Iran to seize its offer of diplomatic engagement for resolving nuclear and other issues.
( See the Third Pillar of the NPT and Global Warming Hoax )


Legislators demand arrest of Benazir’s killers
http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=214682
In a marathon session of the Sindh Assembly on Monday, one of the longest-ever, legislators demanded the arrest of the murderers of former premier and slain Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chairperson Benazir Bhutto, and exposing the “hidden hands” behind her assassination.

The session, which started around 11.50 am and continued till 8.15 pm without any break, also unanimously passed four bills into These include establishing an independent body to deal with criminal cases, ending the role of the middleman in agricultural markets, setting up a medical university for women in District Benazirabad (formerly Nawabshah), and establishing an authority to control vocational institutes in the province.

However, the bill pertaining to the revival of the magistracy system was deferred once again till next session, with Sindh Information Minister Shazia Marri claiming that the PPP wanted to initiate legislation in consensus with its coalition parties.

REMEMBERING BENAZIR BHUTTO: A resolution, moved by Munawar Abbasi and supported by several other legislators, paid tribute to the life and politics of Benazir Bhutto. The text of the resolution reads: “This assembly pays homage to the unprecedented services of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, rendered towards the establishment of real democracy in the country, safeguarding the basic rights of millions of downtrodden people of Pakistan and sacrificing her life for the accomplishment of this noble cause.”

Some legislators were overcome by their emotions during the discussion, Munawar Abbasi said that Benazir Bhutto came to Pakistan to serve the masses, but she was killed by “reactionary forces”. He said that it was because of her political wisdom that democracy was restored in the country, and demanded the arrest of the killers.

Pakistan Muslim League- Functional (PML-F) legislator Dr Rafiq Banban said Benazir’s killers have not been exposed thus far, which was regrettable. PML-F’s Nusrat Sahr said that Benazir had indicated the names of certain persons in a letter, while President Asif Ali Zardari had also said that he knew the killers.

PPP’s Imdad Pitafi criticised Jamaat-e-Islami leader Qazi Hussain and Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaaf Chief Imran Khan for allegedly conspiring to destabilise the government. Nadeem Bhutto said it was Benazir who forced Gen. Musharraf to shed his uniform.

Coverage from that time

Forwarded to Blogger at oldephartte(intraining) : Likely easier connection to make and also to browse

 To Dec 31 2007  Opera  ( Opit's LinkFest! )


Original post URL's containing coverage and and related articles

27 December - Online Views and News

27 December - More Browsing

Aftermath of Bhutto's Death 

28 December - Late Links 

 29 December - First Look at the Web

 Netscape - End of an Era

 30 December - First Webroaming Report

Why bother ? Some things never change.Here's an article/commentary from Dec 31 'Channeling Commentary'

Articles and Answers - New and Views
Washington's War will have to wait
( MSM are still ignoring the crux of the matter : Field Supervisor Plame was 'outed' and her CIA nuclear threat desk - and MidEast intel networks - effectively destroyed well before it was decided to release more 'manufactured intel' blaming Iran with all manner of specious allegations. The fact that the president of Iran is a rabble-rousing populist ,without the real power over the country,who could safely be painted a 'menace' via 'spun' false translations just goes to show the planning of deception. Der Spiegel was the first to give voice to this. Subsequently, after learning from Blue Girl Red State that this was indeed the case [ to make a long story short, her husband had been stationed in the region and her son learned Persian while there ],I found this Canadian site Quotations from President Ahmadinejad where one man decided to provide alternatives to Washington's "script".
It was another "twofer", raising a ruckus about husband Ambassador Joe Smith's honesty and propriety after his investigation of the ludicrous Nigerian "yellowcake" allegations : something useless to nuke tech and abundant in Iraq! Dr. Bush's Medicine Show.

It was Blue Girl's son who exclaimed the 'translations' were misleading and completely inaccurate... as blogged by her.

Economic Objectorvism was the first to note the change to My Opera - 12 in total did almost immediately - Bluebloggin for instance.  Unhappily an economist's loss of appetite for blogging and a busy schedule caused the site to be abandoned ... with RSS feeds working and articles which don't 'age' quickly. WordPress' aids to monitoring politics gone, I changed focus from WordPress Political Blogs...which by this time had become an organized group; to a more varied diet. )


Washington Capitol, DC
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