Thursday, November 17, 2011
Only monetisation of debt across euroland will now halt the market response to Eurocrat policy.
The French and Italian bond auctions this morning were awful. Spain sold €3.8 billion at 7.088%. These rates are forcing banks to deflate their balance sheets. Despite Merkel’s denial, Germany appears to be in recession. This weekend, the third European government in three weeks will fall as Spain holds an election on Sunday. We're past where Euro bonds would contain this issue. The Bundesbank has already accepted €465bn of liabilities under the so-called "Target2" payment system from the central banks of Greece, Ireland, and Portugal, The market is saying forget the Euro collectively and is pricing each country as though it were an individual country. It is increasingly clear that fiscal reforms will prohibit the necessary growth necessary to service these countries debts. Besides, if each country assumes that bailouts are coming, why should they implement painful fiscal reforms? Only deflating the Euro or breaking it will restore some currency based competition necessary to assist growth. That response will likely be answered by other world currency markets. All of this will affect China. Can that be the reason for the new US presence of Obama all over Asia?. As usual, things are changing and this time not getting better.
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It is anyone’s guess where this is going. Obama is making a very gutsy move in Asia. It has not gone unnoticed that there is a presidential election coming. Changing the converstaion to world events could help an incumbent president.
ReplyDeleteFrench ten year bonds are now at rates twice that of German bond rates, all on the common currency. Some euros are more equal than others.
ReplyDeleteThe contagion is spreading into Eastern Europe as Western Europeans had been very aggressive in lending money in the East. These rates are now rising putting increasing pressure on Hungary and Poland.
ReplyDeleteObama and Clinton have about as much knowledge of pacific rim as sea urchin. U.S. is so isolated, ignorant and inept in dealings with asian countries and has no chance of influencing regional politics. Facts are cold and without heart:
ReplyDelete1. US deficit at over a trillion four this year. Chinese accumulated fiscal surplus has reached 5 trillion RMB.
2. US has great need to improve its infrastructure, education, employment, R&D but there is no money to do it and the degradation, especially in infrastructure and education is clear for all to see.
3. China has spent trillions in building brand new infrastructure, education and R&D in the last two decades. Over 10 million college graduates per year mostly in the hard sciences and engineering versus the US graduates in "psychology", "creative writing" etc.
4. Most of Southeast Asian economies have deeply integrated with the Chinese economy to the point where RMB can be used anywhere on the street as legal tender, in fact the preferred currency. Always welcome further disbursement of some kind of US innocent largess but which side the bread is buttered is clear.
US global dominance has to come from solid domestic base, not campaign rhetoric, which is what this Asia swing seems to be all about. The two "major accomplishments", that of TPP and basing marines in Australia are superficial as to be meaningless.
" US presence of Obama all over Asia?. As usual, things are changing and this time not getting better.”
ReplyDeleteUS must come to understand this is not 1981 and has shown that with miltary force has come noyhing for US. When money is weak everything is weak. America will be weak for the years and everyone knows this is true. China was hungry and the people save 40% and do everything for themselves because the Chinese government does not help the people. Chinese people do not trust government and are not lazy and everyone sees that is not same in the US. In China if you are lazy nobody wants you.
The military "ties" with Australia, are a step backwards, for the US.
ReplyDeleteWhile to Liu points, the advances, by China, ars quite wide, but not very deep. The underlying social and cultural troubles that plague China are much grander than can be solved by new bridges and bullet trains.
A lack of energy, water and farm land are the defining features of China's future.
ReplyDeleteTrillions of dollars or even RMB, when divided amongst more than a billion plus people, does not amount to much.
ReplyDeleteChina is tracking the Japanese experience, towards the same end.
The Chinese do not have 30 million acres of farmland out of the production cycle.
ReplyDeleteThey will not be able to replicate the revolution in cellulosic ethanol production that is going to fuel the future.
The Chinese are dependent upon coal, from the US and Australia, to power the electrical grid.
Even with the new hydro electric projects announced for the Yangtze river China will remain an energy addict.
Energy is much more culturally pervasive than opium ever was, or could be, you betcha.
From May, 2011:
ReplyDeleteChina warns of 'urgent problems' facing Three Gorges dam
Risk of geological disaster, state cabinet admits, as project is linked to soil erosion, quakes, drought and social upheaval
From June, 2011:
China to build four super dams on Jinsha river
BEIJING: China is building four hydroelectric dams with a generating capacity double that of the Three Gorges Dam, the world's largest power station in terms of installed or production capacity, the Shanghai Daily reported on Tuesday.
These hydroelectric dams are being built on Jinsha river, a tributary of the Yangtze, the longest river in Asia and the third longest in the world.
Seem a bit conflicted, those Chinese.
Not a monolithic force, by any means.
Sam: The newly-arrived crew will stay at the Space Station for some four months and is expected to conduct 37 experiments during this time.
ReplyDeleteAmong the experiments to be conducted is a measurement of how bad capitalism is raping Mother Gaia, and obtaining new metrics on NASA's Prime Directive of outreach to Muslims.
Liu: The two "major accomplishments", that of TPP and basing marines in Australia are superficial as to be meaningless.
I dunno, read the story of Henderson Field on Guadalcanal Island, where we based some Marines. Not so meaningless. It was the first check of the Imperial Japanese juggernaut on land.
Chinese villagers driven off land fear food may run out
ReplyDeleteIn China, it is forbidden to convert farmland to other uses, but illegal land requisitions continue, provoking violent conflict
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ReplyDeleteSo whose aggression are we repelling, Ms T, in Australia?
ReplyDeleteThat the Aussies are not capable of dealing with, themselves?
The EU experience does highlight the difficulties in creating a standard economic system without a political component that matches it.
ReplyDeleteIn North America the US and Canada are pretty integrated, with only Mexico having to "raise its' game". Which they are in the process of.
Mr Perry would send US troops, to Mexico, to assist in facilitating the metamorphosis.
Not a "good thing".
It'd be a catastrophe, really.
ReplyDeleteAerospace giant Boeing Co. has delivered the first batch of 30,000-pound bombs, each nearly five tons heavier than anything else in the military's arsenal, to the U.S. Air Force to pulverize underground enemy hide-outs.
At a total cost of about $314 million, the military has developed and ordered 20 of the GPS-guided bombs, called Massive Ordnance Penetrators. They are designed to be dropped on targets by the Boeing-made B-52 Stratofortress long-range bomber or Northrop Grumman Corp.'s B-2 stealth bomber.
$15 million a "pop"
35. Eggplant: Over my career, there has been multiple times where some old engineer told me something that wasn’t written down and then he retired or died. The U.S. federal government spent hundreds of billions of dollars developing reentry vehicle technology for the ballistic missile program and most of that information is now stored in the heads of fewer than 100 guys.
ReplyDeleteIn the Navy these are called "tricks of the trade" and the emphasis has always been to capture this knowledge by encoding it in written procedures. This works great for the Intermediate Repair Activity where they just swap out modules, but when those modules land in the Depot and we crack 'em open, it turns out there are so many failure modes, to fix them By The Book you would need stacks of flowcharts so high they would weigh more than the Obamacare bill. So it's an art form, and you carry on by keeping the Depot funded and staffed with young folks who can be mentored by the grizzled short-timers. But now funding is going away. We are less than one deep, and attrition takes its inexorable toll. I feel like Roy Batty in Blade Runner, whose last words were, "All these moments in time will be lost, like tears in rain."
MADRID (MarketWatch) -- The Spanish Treasury on Thursday sold €3.562 billion ($4.79 billion) of benchmark 10-year paper at a maximum yield of 7.088%, which was the highest yield paid since the euro's inception. Yields on 10-year Italian government bonds were above 7%. The market is also awaiting results on a French government bond auction.
ReplyDeleteKeep in mind that these rates are increasing while the ECB must be purchasing bonds by the billions in order to prop up their price.
This is one of those unfortunate mornings where I agree with everything written above.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your imput Liu.
Another "Dirty White Boy"...
ReplyDelete... from Idaho.
Suspect in shooting at White House had obsession with Obama
Police arrested the 21-year-old Idaho man at a hotel after a desk clerk recognized his picture.
This tidbit, buried in a Bloomberg article.
ReplyDeleteGuarantees provided by U.S. lenders on government, bank and corporate debt in Greece, Italy, Ireland, Portugal and Spain rose by $80.7 billion to $518 billion in the first half of 2011, according to the Bank for International Settlements.
Running into a burning building.
Private gains if they win.
Public losses if they lose.
Almost half a trillion USD newly put at risk. By US banks, "to big to fail".
A German Anschluss redux?
ReplyDeleteGERMANY overnight reiterated opposition to the introduction of eurobonds as the European Central Bank stepped back into the market to buy Greek, Italian and Spanish bonds.
German Deputy Finance Minister Joerg Asmussen said that it would be wrong to introduce eurozone bonds as a "singular, isolated instrument" as a quick fix for the eurozone's widening debt crisis.
The Wall Street Journal reported on its website that the ECB returned to the government-debt markets to buy bonds issued by Italy, Spain and Portugal, a foray that so far has failed to significantly drive down yields that have jumped sharply lately.
The Journal said eurozone peripheral bonds fell back after the ECB stepped back into the market to provide support.
Traders said the ECB fought a running battle throughout the day, traders said, in an attempt to drive the yield on the 10-year Italian note below 7 per cent.
In Berlin, Mr Asmussen explained that Germany believes the introduction of eurozone bonds without first changing European treaties to create far-reaching fiscal policy integration among the 17 eurozone member states would make every member liable for the currency bloc's debt as a whole without ensuring the bloc had control over the budgets of its individual members.
"We believe that in the current treaty form the use of eurobonds is wrong," Mr Asmussen said.
So, after overwhelming their courts, the Federals have decided to be more targeted in their prosecutions.
ReplyDeleteThe Department of Homeland Security will begin a review today of all deportation cases before the immigration courts and start a nationwide training program for enforcement agents and prosecuting lawyers, with the goal of speeding deportations of convicted criminals and halting those of many illegal immigrants with no criminal record.
The accelerated triage of the court docket — about 300,000 cases — is intended to allow severely overburdened immigration judges to focus on deporting foreigners who committed serious crimes or pose national security risks, Homeland Security officials said.
desert rat said... So whose aggression are we repelling, Ms T, in Australia?
ReplyDeleteIt's kind of like OZ putting a sign for Home Guard on their lawn.
It's more like another expansion of frivolous expenditure by the Military Industrial Complex, Ms T.
ReplyDeleteTo paraphrase what I heard Obama say on the radio this a.m.:
ReplyDelete'We are a power in the South Pacific and we will remain as such'
What will it be like when bond purchasers demand a higher interest rate to buy US bonds?
The Federals will stop borrowing, ash.
ReplyDeleteThere are alternate routes available to them to finance their operations.
The US government is promoting trade with Muslim majority countries!
ReplyDeleteOh the horror. ;-)
Indonesia—The White House said Thursday that US companies had reached trade deals worth more than $25 billion with East Asian nations,
including an agreement to sell more than 200 Boeing aircraft to Indonesia.
US police find 'major drug tunnel' under Mexico border
ReplyDeleteUS officials say they have uncovered a major drug-smuggling tunnel under the border with Mexico and seized an estimated 14 tons of marijuana.
Customs officials said the tunnel linked warehouses in Tijuana, Mexico, and San Diego's Otay Mesa area, in California.
Dozens of such tunnels have been found in recent years as US police have cracked down on overland smuggling.
Smuggling tunnels, just a exist between Gaza and Egypt.
The US does not use F-16s to close them.
Why Is China Building These Gigantic Structures In the Middle of the Desert?
ReplyDeleteThis is crazy. New photos have appeared in Google Maps showing unidentified titanic structures in the middle of the Chinese desert. The first one is an intricate network of what appears to be huge metallic stripes. Is this a military experiment?
...
The Chinese have been building huge structures in the desert for a long time. Back in 2006, they built this 1:20 scale model of disputed border region between China and India.
That's a terrain model 0.7 kilometer wide by almost 1 kilometer tall. Uncanny.
Why would they build such a model of a terrain? To play a 1:20 scale war with 1:20 scale tanks?
Mind boggling.
Russians are leaving the country in droves
ReplyDeleteThe only thing keeping the lights on in China this winter is Coal from Australia.
ReplyDeleteIt's to be assumed that China isn't too giddy over the new trade pact Obambi is working on in Asia. This might just be a way of settling some nerves among those potential future participants.
If any of you are interested in the new high tech sailing racing take a look at this stuff:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-XAbVQUAo4&feature=related
Also, if I'm not mistaken, the Australian military brass spends most of its time "War-Gaming" attacks from Indonesia.
ReplyDeleteIndonesia is poor, ambitious, about, what? 200 Million strong, and close.
The term, "trip-wire" comes to mind.
"Central banks are looking for alternatives to the euro and the U.S. dollar in their reserves, according to senior currency strategist Camilla Sutton of Scotia Capital, and the trend has been into bullion over the past six to nine months. "
ReplyDeletehttp://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/top-business-stories/why-the-worlds-central-banks-are-gobbling-up-gold/article2239566/
I have to give "props" to Obama on this Asian Trade Initiative. He's doing exactly the right thing, considering the circumstances.
ReplyDeleteIf he can peel a couple more of those "Rim" countries into our trade sphere (make them customers) it will put even more pressure on Japan, and China to loosen up on their import restrictions.
This isn't going to be easy. The only "slam-dunk" in the crowd is New Zealand. Malaysia will be tough, and Vietnam (?), who knows. The Philipines might be a possibility.
Japan, and China might try to get into the negotiations, and wreck the process from the inside. Them little yeller peoples is inscrutable, you know.
Also, this will put more pressure on S. Korea to "get cracking," and ratify the TSA that we have already signed with them.
The Big prize in this area, of course, is Indonesia; but they just dislike us too much, I'm afraid.
Data from the CIA and Wiki
ReplyDeleteIndonesia
Manpower reaching militarily significant age annually:
male: 2,263,892
Military expenditures:
3% of GDP (2005 est.)
GDP = $1.03 trillion (2010 est.)
3% = $30 billion USD.
Plus profits from the military owned industries in Indonesia.
The Indonesian National Armed Forces in 2009 comprises approximately 432,129 personnel including the Army, Navy including the Indonesian Marine Corps and the Air Force.
Australia
Manpower reaching militarily significant age annually:
male: 143,565
Military expenditures:
3% of GDP (2009)
GDP = $882.4 billion (2010 est.)
3% = $25 billion USD
In the 2010–11 financial year the Army had an average strength of 47,135 personnel: 30,235 permanent (regular) and 16,900 active reservists (part-time).[11] In addition there are another 12,496 members of the Standby Reserve.[12] The regular Army is targeted to expand to 31,000 personnel by 2014–15.[
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ReplyDeletePopulation Indonesia 237,000,000
ReplyDeletePopulation Australia 22,000,000
Austraia, sparsely populated, and "resource-rich."
The Australians have a much lower room & board expense, that's fer sure.
ReplyDeleteMore money for the high tech toys.
The Equalizer, what Sam Colt's revolver was often referred to it as.
What was true in 1835 remains true today. Technology makes a major difference in modern combat.
I don't know, Rat, if Australia is on the "short list" to receive F35's, but I suspect it is.
ReplyDeleteEven if it's an American Squadron, or two, that's ostensibly in control.
Again: Big Country, sparse population, and RICH in the "Resources" that China (and Indonesia) covets.
Teresita could probably give us some insight on this, but this trade alliance looks to me like it might be a very good idea for the Philipines. They're looking kinda vulnerable in regards to the "Spratlies."
ReplyDeleteWell, rufus, a rotation of Wasp class amphibious assault ships on station would have a more practical effect.
ReplyDeleteUm, could be, Rat. The important thing, probably, is that we just signalled, long with the Australians, that "whatever is needed" can be/will be there, shortly.
ReplyDeleteThis could be a signal to the Pacific Group, at large, that if you "trade" with us, you too, can be our "Li'l Bro" (with all the protection that implies.)
I think the one that would send the quiver up the Oman's leg would be to peel off Vietnam, although he would gladly settle for Malaysia.
ReplyDeleteBrunei is an oil exporter (close to China.) You could see where they might like a "Big Bro." And, it might be a good spot for "refueling the Fleet," or even basing a couple more squadrons of F35's.
ReplyDeleteI have no problem being allied with Australia, nor with an active foreign policy on the Pacific Rim.
ReplyDeleteThe Pacific has been a US lake for quite a while, now. It should remain so, but with a smaller physical footprint.
Although, an Air Base, there, might be hard to defend.
ReplyDeleteBrunei, I mean.
ReplyDeleteBut as Liu said, the Chinese present much more of an economic challenge than a military one.
ReplyDeleteCharlie Chi-com still does not have a blue water navy, and couldn't get an army to Australia without one.
I agree with you about Obama’s latest moves in the Pacific. I have felt that it was time to close US bases in Korea and Japan. Now I would not be to hasty. China may have shown her hand a little soon.
ReplyDeleteI notice some paranoid Russian general is worried about NATO encroaching on its European flank. He has one hand on his vodka shooter and another on his nuclear shooter. They are worried about Poland and Estonia instead of China? No wonder anyone with a brain is going to Israel.
That's what any of those twelve carrier battle groups are for, rufus.
ReplyDeleteMobile air bases.
We could get by with eight, since no one else has even has one.
The SouK million man Army is more than enough, Deuce.
ReplyDeleteThey do not need those 25,000 US troops to be there. The South Koreans are more than capable of keeping South Korea free and democratic.
If Charlie Chi-com wants to take over management of North Korea, well, that'd be a great step forward to a more secure future.
Those US troops would not stop nor even deter the Chinese from taking that course, if that is what Charlie chose to do.
China has some Big problems on the horizon.
ReplyDeleteEnergy Importer.
Food Importer.
Iron ore Importer.
Huge population.
I doubt they are nearly as interested in S. Korea, Japan, or even Taiwan, truth be told, as they are in Vietnam, Malaysia, The Philipines, and Australia.
Of course, Rat is right - They Don't have a Blue Water Navy, and Deuce is right - Mongolia, and all those eastern Russia Oilfields are "right next door." Sparsely populated, and lightly defended.
hmm
We need to go big time and build a space station that can provide picket duty for a carrier group.
ReplyDeleteI honestly thought we were going to do that when we developed the Space Shuttle.
ReplyDeleteThe fact is: if our economy is going to grow we need customers. And, right now, all potential new customers are in Asia, and the Pacific.
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing the opportunities that open up when you quit obsessing over the middle east (and free up a couple hundred thousand highly-paid troops.)
Gift an aging carrier, like the Enterprise or the Nimitz, to Australia, complete with aircraft.
ReplyDeleteEmpower the locals.
Teach them to fish, give 'em the boat and pole.
Don't just feed 'em fish, forever.
desert rat said... Gift an aging carrier, like the Enterprise or the Nimitz, to Australia, complete with aircraft.
ReplyDeleteThere are only two torpedo repair depots in the world, one where I work here in Washington, and one in Fremantle, Western Australia. We are very tight buds with the Royal Australian Navy.
Wasting $100 Billion/yr, and tying up 90,000 of the Best-Equipped, most highly-trained troops in the world by having them wander around a rock-box like Afghanistan with a bullseye on their backs is sheer lunacy.
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to imagine how far ahead we'd be right now if we'd just dropped those two nukes on Tora Bora, and been done with it.
The CIA tells us that the US spends 4% of GDP on its' military, Australia, only 3%. So they have some room and "could" come to parity with their Uncle Sam.
ReplyDeleteThey could probably handle the operating expense of a carrier, if not the burdened with the capital expenditure.
Rufus: ...all those eastern Russia Oilfields are "right next door." Sparsely populated, and lightly defended.
ReplyDeleteIf you call the largest stockpile of nuclear warheads in the world "lightly defended" I'd love to hear what is your idea of strongly defended.
There are only two torpedo repair depots in the world, one where I work here in Washington, and one in Fremantle, Western Australia. We are very tight buds with the Royal Australian Navy.
ReplyDeleteWell, isn't that interesting.
Gifting a carrier, that would be better, as a matter of economy and of message sending, than sending a company or battalion of Marines, to be stationed in Australia.
ReplyDeleteIf you call the largest stockpile of nuclear warheads in the world "lightly defended" I'd love to hear what is your idea of strongly defended.
ReplyDelete:)
Yeah, you got a pretty good point, there.
MOP
ReplyDeleteb
I guess, somewhere in the back of my feeble, hillbilly mind, I was assuming that since they're both Nuclear Powers, that "nukes" would be off the table.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure, upon proper reflection, that that was a pretty aburd assumption. :)
aburd - an absurd spelling of the word "absurd."
ReplyDeleteI'm sure that Indonesia has a capable brown water navy.
ReplyDeleteBut I doubt they have landing craft and supply ships enough, to mount an invasion of Australia.
Not in the face of an Aussie aircraft carrier and the US 7th Fleet in support.
(Bloomberg) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel rejected French calls to deploy the European Central Bank as a crisis backstop, defying global leaders and investors calling for more urgent action to halt the turmoil.
ReplyDeleteAs the crisis sent borrowing costs in core economies outside Germany to euro-era records, Merkel listed using the ECB as lender of last resort alongside joint euro-area bonds and a “snappy debt cut” as proposals that won’t work.
“I’m convinced that none of these approaches, if applied right now, would bring about a solution of this crisis,” Merkel said in a speech in Berlin today. “If politicians believe the ECB can solve the problem of the euro’s weakness, then they’re trying to convince themselves of something that won’t happen.”
Merkel’s comments underscore German reluctance to assume more liability for taming the debt crisis even as it moves on to France, the euro region’s second-largest economy, and threatens to trigger a global recession. Merkel said that “political action” to tighten budget rules is needed to solve the turmoil.
Yeah, with a "mutual defense pact" with the U.S. it would pretty quickly turn into another "turkey shoot."
ReplyDeleteAs for Europe, that is just one hell of a big mess. It's going to be interesting to see how they "muddle through" this one.
ReplyDeleteI predict some kind of announcement along about June, or July regarding the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Chile, Peru, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, and Brunei (possibly, Malasia.)
ReplyDeleteAt some point, you reach "critical mass," and everyone has to jump in.
Critical Mass might be Vietnam.
There was SEATO, which died in the 1970's. SEATO's members included Australia, France, New Zealand, Pakistan (including East Pakistan, now Bangladesh), the Philippines, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
ReplyDeleteWhile now there is a proposal for:
APTO, or Asia-Pacific Treaty Organization, informally referred to as the Pacific Alliance.
...
... partnership between traditional American allies -- Australia, Japan, South Korea, Thailand and the Philippines -- the group soon expands to include Burma, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand and Vietnam.
The objective of this partnership is to better integrate and improve defense capabilities, all in the hopes of providing stability and security in the Pacific.
However, what began as a collection of allies the United States could call upon quickly evolves into APTO, a formal military alliance bearing all the same responsibilities of NATO. Those 10 nations were joined by informal partners such as Brunei, Chile, India, Singapore, and, of course, the US
The resilience of "APTO" demands an active US participation
T, do you think The Philipines (people) would go along with the trade pact.
ReplyDelete"First" has to come, the Trade.
ReplyDeletenap time. let me know what you figure out. :)
ReplyDeleteThe media down here are in love with Obama.
ReplyDeleteThe peaceful Occupy Wall Street protest has turned violent yet again. At least 200 people have been arrested in NYC and an RT producer attacked by police.
ReplyDelete...
“Mass arrests & violence on Broad and Beaver. Officer hit my arm with club.
...
A moment later she writes: “Five more beaten and dragged before me. Crowd shouting ‘shame!’”
Rufus II said... T, do you think The Philipines (people) would go along with the trade pact.
ReplyDeleteP-Noy would do it just to tweak China. They're having a pissing contest over the Spratleys, and this has directly affected my girlfriend's nephew, college kid, call center supervisor, who had a side gig teaching Engrish to the Chicoms until Beijing called the whole thing off.
Rather than claiming that Turkey is lost to US, perhaps we should take the time and follow a course of action prescribed by Murat Bilhan, ... a former head of the Turkish Foreign Ministry's department on strategic thinking.
ReplyDeleteHe says Turkey will be less resistant to Western overtures on sanctions if it is approached with respect.
"Turkey is not a country to be taken for granted,"
said Bilhan.
"It should be consulted at each level. The problem in the past has been, Turkey has been taken for granted."
Turkey May Be Key to Expanding Western Sanctions Against Iran
Dorian Jones - Voice of America
Top US senator unveils Iran central bank sanctions
ReplyDeleteSanctions and Sabotage are Sufficient
RT’s New York crew has witnessed NYPD using LRADs, or sound cannons on Occupy Wall Street protesters. Eyewitnesses at the site have tweeted police fired as protesters sang the US national anthem .
ReplyDeleteRT correspondent Lucy Kafanov reports that the blasts of sound lasted no more than five seconds, but had a profound effect on protesters.Joshua Paul, an eyewitness, tweeted that LRADs emitted ‘High pitched noise’ and wrote: ‘Natural reaction: My face scrunched and hands started moving to my ears.’
...
Long Range Acoustic Devices (LRADs) send harmful, pain inducing tones over longer distances and are rarely deployed for crowd control purposes. This is at least the second time they have been used on peaceful protests.
John Bolton As Usual With Insight
ReplyDeleteb
as protesters sang the US national anthem --as they shit in public, do drugs, have sex and pass lice around.
ReplyDeleteb
That's what "Real" Americans are doing, boobie.
ReplyDeleteAt least in the "Big Cities".
Seems that the Wall Street protestors don't report crimes to the police, either.
You all have that in common.
The UK is reportedly being urged by Jordan’s king to lead a “diplomatic drive” to remove the Assad regime in Damascus. France, a key partner in the campaign to kill the Gaddafi regime, is also on the list of would-be captains of an anti-Assad push.
ReplyDelete"The West needs to lead and the international community needs to talk about what to do when the dam bursts in Syria," senior Arab diplomatic sources told British media – a sign that no peaceful solution is expected to what Russian FM Lavrov says is now a civil war in Syria.
...
At the moment the diplomatic offensive on Syria is verbal and no military activity has been mentioned. But a British/French-led offensive was key to the operation in Libya, where military intervention followed similar diplomatic choreography.
Blonde On Escalator
ReplyDeleteThis somehow computes with the nation's economic situation under Obama.
b
"Zionism equals Nazism."
ReplyDeleteThis is the intellectual content and output of our Ratcrapper.
Lots of anti-semitism being expressed among the lumpenproletariate in the protests --you ought to join them ratfink, you'd fit right in.
b
Nuremberg Law reigned supreme with both NAZI and Zionist, boobie.
ReplyDeleteBoth want to lessen the Jewish influence in Europe.
Differing in only where those Jews should go and in method of transportation, tambien.
Same path, different motive.
The State of Israel, and the Zionism it embodies cannot be conflated with Judaism in any but a political sense.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteItalian protesters clashed with police Thursday as thousands took to the streets around the country in anger at budget cuts and the Brussels-backed “bankers’ government.”
ReplyDelete...
James Waltson, professor of international relations at the American University of Rome, told RT that further protests are almost inevitable, as Monti’s success depends on economic revival.
“He cannot succeed unless he manages to get the Italian economy going again, he can’t just cut,” he said.
Guatemalan President-elect Otto Perez Molina told Mexican newspaper El Universal on Nov. 9 that he plans to engage drug cartels in a “full frontal assault” when he takes office in 2012. The former general said he will use Guatemala’s elite military forces, known as Los Kaibiles, to take on the drug cartels in a strategy similar to that of the Mexican government; he has asked for U.S. assistance in this struggle.
ReplyDelete...
Central America has seen a remarkable rise in its importance as a transshipment point for cocaine and other contraband bound for the United States. Meanwhile, Mexican organized crime has expanded its activities in Mexico and Central America to include the smuggling of humans and substances such as precursor chemicals used for manufacturing methamphetamine.
...
Increased involvement by Mexican cartels in Central America inevitably has affected the region’s politico-economic structures, a process most visible in Guatemala. Its territory spans Central America, making it one of several choke points on the supply chain of illicit goods coming north from El Salvador and Honduras bound for Mexico.
Central America
How long would it take the AHW to fly from Australia to China?
ReplyDeleteTurkey Free Thanksgiving From PETA
ReplyDeleteb
“I want my constituents to know that I am not in favor of raising taxes. That’s why I signed that pledge,” said Rep. Charles F. Bass (N.H.).
ReplyDelete“And I if I have to break that pledge for some reason, it would be because I think there’s a far greater good associated with it, and I’m willing to bear the consequences of that.”
Rep. Steven C. LaTourette (Ohio) signed the pledge in 1994, long before he said he could envision today’s economic turmoil. “Circumstances change,” he said.
Deuce, your issue with the failure to render links clicky in comments is that you allowed a carriage return to intervene between the "a" and the "href" when there should only be a single space.
ReplyDeleteDan Bongino, a former Secret Service agent who served on the presidential details for Obama and President George W. Bush, said Friday’s shooting would likely mean tighter security and coordination.
ReplyDelete“They do an exhaustive review of their security procedures every time something like this happens,” said Bongino, who recently left the Secret Service to run for U.S. Senate in Maryland. “Nothing ever works perfectly.
They will undress this completely and then they will find out when they rebuild the incident exactly what they could have done better.”
Actually, I've made lots of clicky thingies with a carriage return between the a and the href.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I did notice there were Two lines in there. Perhaps, the second line was one line too many?
Argentine inflation stands officially at around 10 percent. The real number is around 25 percent, but economists who point this out have been fined...
ReplyDeleteRufus: Actually, I've made lots of clicky thingies with a carriage return between the a and the href.
ReplyDeleteThat is what they call a soft carriage return. Deuce doesn't go for that womanly stuff. It's John Wayne all the way, boyo.
Where do you come up with this stuff, Miss T, soft carriage return and all.
ReplyDeleteAnd what is a torpedo repair facility?
Once it's built it's built isn't it? And they are only used once, and blow up, at that.
Do torpedoes get degraded just sitting around, or what?
b
The Vatican said it would take “the proper legal measures” to stop the use of a photo by the Italian fashion firm Benetton which shows the pope kissing a Muslim imam on the mouth.
ReplyDelete...
“This is a grave lack of respect for the Pope, an offence against the sentiments of the faithful and a clear example of how advertising can violate elementary rules of respect for people in order to attract attention through provocation," Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi said in a statement.
...
Neither Ad Age nor Benetton said they had a ready replacement for the now-missing Pope pic. Who could the kissers be?
I type this: <a href="
ReplyDeleteand as soon as I paste the url between the parenthasis I get this without typing a carriage return:
<a href=”http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jTJeu2vLniWcT_-Sqc5IQQUOPesQ?docId=CNG.1e15397ba6f112f35bec6eb7fd662ef1.1b1”> Always whacking poor old Kwajalein</a>
It is obviously a bad link and then I get this warning:
Your HTML cannot be accepted: Reference "”http:" is not allowed: A
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Have I told you lately how much I hate blogger and google?
Does it strike anyone else as kinda, sorta strange that there wasn't a bigger ruckus raised about the ending of first, the F22, and then the shuttle program?
ReplyDeleteAnonymous might have found our answer: AHW
"Advanced Hypersonic Weapon"
ReplyDeleteNow I left safari and am in firefox
ReplyDeleteWickard v. Filburn, 1942
ReplyDeletePut that in your pipe and smoke it.
b
EB
ReplyDeleteSafari is the problem.
ReplyDeleteCNN
ReplyDelete"It should be consulted at each level. The problem in the past has been, Turkey has been taken for granted."
ReplyDeleteDoes that mean an increase in graft or does it mean a different currency?
You're back in bidness, Deuce.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure that "You stuck your i-pod where?" will yield hours of educational and humorous diversion.
ReplyDeletethings where the sun don't shine
ReplyDeleteAHW. Pretty trick.
ReplyDeleteAnd much as in Italy, the Papademos’s government, while strongly backed by Brussels, was not popularly elected and thus faces an uphill battle to win support and push through the massively unpopular measures.
ReplyDeleteThursday’s demonstrations coincided with a commemoration of a bloody 1973 student uprising which was violently crushed by the then-ruling military dictatorship
Evoking the memory of those killed while fighting against the military junta, Papademos called for unity as Greece faces yet another potential tragedy.
Just as we have memories of "Deflation," and the Great Depression embedded in our subconscious DNA, the German's have The Weimar Nightmare.
ReplyDeleteThey'll never go for "Monetization."
You know that somewhere out there is flying around a stealthy plane/drone (?) capable of approx Mach 10.
ReplyDeleteAdd a little 'turbo' to it, and pretty soon you're getting to T's "horizontal" takeoff space ship.
ReplyDeleteMust be interesting days at cinco uno.
ReplyDeleteDetroit could run out of cash in December
ReplyDeleteWith Detroit Mayor Dave Bing preparing to explain the city's fiscal crisis tonight in a rare televised address, Council President Pro Tem Gary Brown says the situation is even worse than anyone has let on.
Bing is expected to discuss a confidential Ernst & Young report obtained by the Detroit Free Press that suggests Detroit could run out of cash by April without steep cuts to staff and public services.
That's a grim prognosis, but according to Brown, the city actually could be unable to make payroll "as early as December."
"I know the report says April, but there are certain risk assumptions that when you take those into consideration, worst case scenario you could run out (of cash) in December," Brown said this morning on WJR-AM 760.
In his speech tonight, Bing is expected to propose privatizing the city's public bus system and lighting departments, both of which have have been failing residents but reportedly cost them $100 million a year in subsidies.
Brown supports that long-term plan, but he is hoping the mayor will couple it with a short-term strategy to lay off up to 2,300 city workers if unions fail to agree to long-discussed concessions.
If Bing doesn't, City Council will.
"If the mayor tonight comes out with a plan that does not address the short-term and long-term issues, the Council is going to come out with a plan. We're going to put it in a resolution, send it to the governor and say 'We're willing to make these cuts.'"
They might try to borrow some money from the State of Idaho, we usually have a little sitting around unused.
b
The other nations will inevitably get the technology, Rufus.
ReplyDeleteI don't like the idea.
b
I've been reading the "Occupy Las Vegas" web site. You need to be cyber certified to vote in their proceedings.
ReplyDeleteThis is certainly an interesting mix of nincompoopery, democracy with better ID for voting than the state demands, modern communications and anarchy.
If you wish to donate goods or money to the cause go to the site mentioned above. You can be part of the revolution from the safety of your computer room.
No lice, no smelly shit, no AIDS, no unwanted sex, no drugs.....
b
The "arms race" is as old as mankind, itself, b. It will continue, whether we "race" or not.
ReplyDeleteThe only way to survive is to "run, and win."
hyper-run
ReplyDeleteYou are probably right Rufus, I just don't like it is all.
ReplyDeleteMy Senator Crapo (cray-po) along with like 128 others in Congress is urging an immediate cut of 4 trillion, if I heard the radio aright, by the super committee. He is not given to hysteria but said things is bad, worse than we think.
Worrisome.
b
Well, we'll soon be rid of $150 Billion/Yr of expense in Iraq, and we're we'll be working on another $100 Billion in Afghanistan.
ReplyDeleteThat'll help.
Anonymous Bob said...
ReplyDeleteWhere do you come up with this stuff, Miss T, soft carriage return and all.
I am a geekgrrl, if you haven't grokked that fact by now, but I'm old enough to have learned to type at Cascade Junior High School, Vancouver USA, on a manual. Typewriters had carriages that "returned". Used to have to do it yourself when the little bell rang. Word processors do it automatically, but it's not a "hard" carriage return, which is actually 00001101 in binary, and alwauys renders as a new line. A "soft" carriage return depends on the column width of your app. Here on blogger it looks like 35 characters wide in the comment editing mode. Sometimes you post a link, it's longer than that, so you end up with just <a on one like and the rest of the URL on the next line, and if you're not careful, there's a "hard" carriage return between the two sections, and it won't be blue and clickable.
And what is a torpedo repair facility? Once it's built it's built isn't it? And they are only used once, and blow up, at that.
You're thinking missiles. We trust Raytheon that their birds will blow up the first time. But torpedoes are like little kamikaze submarines. When they are exercised they can be retrieved and refueled. Sometimes you exercise a round enough times, a transistor or op amp pops. That's where I come in.
Do torpedoes get degraded just sitting around, or what?
I'm doing some stuff for Canada that dates back to 1971. Works fine, lasts a long time.
Sarah Palin Speaks About The 'Occupations'
ReplyDeleteShe would have been the best candidate.
b
"Winners never quit." -- Charlie Sheen
ReplyDelete"Quit while you're ahead." -- Sarah Palin
grrrrr
ReplyDeleteb
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ReplyDeleteHannity and Palin on Hot Air.
How appropriate.
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I hear your fair city is dead broke, Quirk.
ReplyDeleteNeed a little Idaho loan?
b
With interest and security, of course.
ReplyDeleteb
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ReplyDeleteDo torpedoes get degraded just sitting around, or what?
I'm doing some stuff for Canada that dates back to 1971. Works fine, lasts a long time.
Brings up the question of the suitcase nukes that have been mentioned here before. I remember reading that the devices produced back in the 70's by the Soviets (and some versions by the US) required regular maintenance to keep them working. Any of the devises "lost" by the Soviets (or the US) probably wouldn't operate very long without the experts to maintain them.
As for buying them, it could get pretty expensive. Just the costs of the 13-15 kilograms of weapons-grade plutonium would cost over $50 million today.
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ReplyDeleteSpeaking of security, didn't they arrest Idaho's lone security guard for taking a pot shot at the president?
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Well, he missed. President wasn't even at home. Guy had a Spanish name but looked white. I don't think he was really born here.
ReplyDelete50 million for 15 kilos of pluto, more than my Christmas budget can handle, stretch it as I might. Damn.
b
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ReplyDeleteNeed a little Idaho loan?
Naw, we'll get it from the FEDS. Might have to put up the statue of Joe Louis' fist that's currently in Hart Plaza for security.
Or we can go bankrupt. Of course, then our credit rating would drop to about 560 and we wouldn't qualify for a new house.
Or, in keeping with the these of this post, we can wait a short while and watch as our debt is monetized.
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ReplyDeleteI don't think he was really born here.
Looked like a Swede to me. Same prominent brow. Same vacant look in the eyes. You know the type.
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That would be thesis, not these.
ReplyDeleteand we wouldn't qualify for a new house.
You don't need no new house, you got all them rain tents out in the park, right now. Some even have girls in 'em.
b
A man was walking down the street when he was accosted by a particularly dirty and shabby-looking homeless man who asked him for a couple of dollars for dinner.
ReplyDeleteThe man took out his wallet, extracted ten dollars and asked, "If I give you this money, will you buy some beer with it instead of dinner?"
"No, I had to stop drinking years ago," the homeless man replied.
"Will you use it to go fishing instead of buying food?" the man asked.
"No, I don't waste time fishing," the homeless man said. "I need to spend all my time trying to stay alive."
"Will you spend this on greens' fees at a golf course instead of food?" the man asked.
"Are you NUTS!" replied the homeless man. "I haven't played golf in 20 years!"
"Will you spend the money on a woman in the red light district instead of food?" the man asked.
"What disease would I get for ten lousy bucks?" exclaimed the homeless man.
"Well," said the man, "I'm not going to give you the money. Instead, I'm going to take you home for a terrific dinner cooked by my wife."
The homeless man was astounded. "Won't your wife be furious with you for doing that? I know I'm dirty and I probably smell pretty disgusting."
The man replied, "That's okay. It's important for her to see what a man looks like after he has given up beer, fishing, golf and sex."