quote:

Press TV: Robert Gates and Admiral [Mike] Mullen have been talking about the 16-month timeline for withdrawal from Iraq is just one of the options, a slight difference from what Obama has been saying in the campaign. And, Hillary Clinton famously said she was prepared to obliterate all of Iran and kill 70 million citizens. On Iraq and Iran what do you see as changes?

Chomsky: What happened in Iraq is extremely interesting and important. The few correspondents with real experience any whom know something have understood it. Patrick Cockburn, Jonathan Steele and one or two others.

What has happened is that there was a remarkable campaign of non-violent resistance in Iraq, which compelled the United States, step-by-step, to back away from its programs and its goals. They compelled the US occupying forces to allow an election, which the US did not want and tried to evade in all sorts of ways.

Then they went on from there to force the United States to accept at least formally a status of forces agreement, which if the Obama administration lives up to it, will abandon most of the US war aims. It will eliminate the huge permanent military bases that the US has built in Iraq. It will mean the US will not control decisions over how the oil resources will be accessed and used. And in fact just every war aim is gone.

Of course there is a question of whether the US will live up to it and what you are reporting is among the serious indications that they are trying to evade living up to it. But what happened there is really significant, and a real credit to the people of Iraq, who have suffered miserably. I mean, the country has been absolutely destroyed, but they did manage to get the US to back away formally from its major war aims.

In the case of Iran, Obama's statements have not been as inflammatory as Clinton's, but they amount to pretty much the same thing. He said all options are open. Well, what does all options mean? Presumably that includes nuclear war, you know, that is an option.

There is no indication that he is willing to take the steps, say, that the American population wants. An overwhelming majority of the American population for years has been in favor, has agreed with the Non-Aligned Movement, that Iran should have the rights granted to the signers of the non-proliferation treaty, in fact to develop nuclear energy.

quote:

In American politics, you can't do anything in the Middle East without the approval of Tel Aviv, at least on some level. It's impossible. I mean, I cannot think of a country that is so beholden to a small country like this, even a superpower, in all of history. I can't even think of it.

IPS: And why is that?

RB: Look at New York City. Look at the major newspapers. They have a Zionist agenda. They do. I'm not Jewish. I'm not anything. I don't care about the Israelis. And I'm not anti-Semitic. It's just a fact. I suggested to my publisher writing a book on Israel, and he said forget it. You can't talk about the reality of Israel. The only place you can talk about the reality of Israel is in Israel. They tell you things you will never hear in the United States.

IPS: Like what?

RB: For instance, why are people on Gaza so unhappy? Well, if you had to live in a prison, wouldn't you be unhappy? You would never get that in the New York Times. Look at the New York Times; it's almost an extension of Israel.

IPS: What is the impact of the Gaza conflict on the future of Iran-Israel and United States relations? Have the recent attacks destroyed Hamas entirely?

RB: No, it's impossible. Hamas is an idea. Hamas is not an organisation. Hamas is an idea, and unless the Israelis go in and force 1.5 million people into Egypt, they will never subdue Gaza. They can go in and they can slaughter the leadership and put 10,000 people in jail, and Hamas will come out stronger. The losers in this will be Fatah.

quote:

The U.S. Is Required To Bring George W Bush & Donald Rumsfeld Before A Court!

quote:

"It takes a lot to avoid a very simple truism," Turley argued. "That, if true, these would be crimes and we prosecute crimes. We call people criminals who commit them. It is very easy to say. All you need is the principals and the courage to say it."

Turley said that he had "very little sympathy for the people that committed this torture. I've heard President Obama say we don't want talented people at the CIA looking over their shoulders. Well those talented people in this circumstance would be torturers."

"But in reality nobody thinks that they're going to be prosecuted," Turley continued. "They have something called the estoppel defense where they can say that they were told by people like John Yoo and others that what they did was legal. That does not protect the president and the vice president, and they're the ones and the people just below them who deserve to be investigated and they must be prosecuted if they've committed war crimes or we will shred four treaties and at least four statutes."

[Turley has more background about the estoppel arguments at his blog.]

"And the problem here is it wouldn't make Obama an apologist it would make him an accessory," Turley argued. "He would be preventing the investigation of war crimes. How could he go from that and say that he's all about the rule of law?"

quote:

"The fact that a person acted pursuant to order of his Government or of a superior does not relieve him from responsibility under international law, provided a moral choice was in fact possible to him."

quote:

“An individual must be involved at the policy-making level to be culpable for a crime against peace ... the ordinary foot soldier is not expected to make his or her own personal assessment as to the legality of a conflict. Similarly, such an individual cannot be held criminally responsible for fighting in support of an illegal war, assuming that his or her personal war-time conduct is otherwise proper.”

quote:

"The office of White House counsel is studying those issues and will advise us when we have a recommendation," Gibbs said.

Last edited on Wed Jan 28th, 2009 11:17 am by Joe Kelley

USA : G D P (0.9%); Trade Balance ( -$833bn); Current Account Balance ( -$697bn); Industrial production ( -7.8%)

CHINA : GDP (9.1%) ; T B ( + $295BN); C A B ($371bn.)+ I P (5.7%)

These numbers highlight their mounting economic disparities. I must confess at this point that I am not sure that in the near future the abyss will ever be bridged Let us focus simply on the foreign trade sector. U S. imports are growing faster than its exports. The US capitalism is in a downward deflationary spiral that bears similarities with Japan ’s so-called ‘lost decade’ in the 1980s.. True, China ’s growth is adversely affected by the world slump, but it is growing several times faster than the US . Compound growth rates are at once constructive and destructive forces . This is a point you’ll recall that I noted in my discussion of the US balance of payments in my book on Cuba and I would suggest that you consult that section again. The ratio of its imports to its exports is about 1:5

That gap is unbridgeable.. Hence the USCO must borrow to finance its imports. Borrowing is debt. And debt must be repaid at compound interest rates or defaulted.. China recycles its trade surplus by buying US securities and Treasury bonds. This is a familiar story. Whether the Chinese political elite will continue to recycle their foreign exchange earnings to prop up US deficits remains problematical.

American capitalism has been the world’;/s biggest debtor for more than two decades. Its biggest lender is China . The size of the figures are important. China ’s almost $2,000 bn in foreign exchange reserves are the world’s largest. Much of these reserves are being directed to the purchase of U S Treasuries. ` According to the estimates of Brad Selser the real figure is nearer $2,300bn.. or equivalent to $1,600 for every Chinese citizen.

Of this sum about $1,700bn is invested in dollar assets, making China the biggest creditor of American capitalism and the single largest purchaser of US Treasury bonds. It is entirely addicted and dependent on Chinese money. Never in its history has the USCO been so dependent on any foreign creditor. The opposition within the leading echelons of China’s power elite are aware that such massive capital flows going to a stricken economy, that is in the throes of an ever deepening crisis and with low-yielding dollar assets, is perilous. China has already lost billions And this is so given the depreciating dollar stemming from its rising level of indebtedness, low savings, zero interest rates and a GDP that hovers around zero . Without this avalanche of Chinese money the USCO would not be able to pursue its militarist expansion abroad.

But what we can say is that the dollar’s status as the world’s reserve currency which has conferred extravagant power ( that was the designation of de Gaulle on US imperialism can obviously not endure. Chinese misgivings are present but they have made a pact with the devil and can do little to alter this state of affairs. “Except for US Treasuries what can you hold” asks Luo Ping, a director-general at the China Banking Regulatory Commission. “You don’t hold Japanese government bonds or UK bonds. US Treasuries are the safe haven. For everyone, including China , it is the only option”. This in my view is the tragedy of China ’s power elite presiding over a capitalist economy that has shed all pretences of being socialist.

It is deliberate policy choice that reveals its class and ideological alignments. They have already paid a terrible price for such a policy choice of being the savior and supreme benefactor of American capitalism. . With capitalism’s crisis now howling in its agony and the dollar’s continued slide the costs to the Chinese workers and peasants that the Chinese elite have long ceased to represent the losses to China rise to even greater heights. To put it in non-technical jargon the masters of China ’s money box has so much money that it does not know where to invest that money save in wretchedly low yielding US Treasuries.

The battle over exchange rates is fought on the killing fields of foreign exchange markets.

 

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article22123.htm

USA : G D P (0.9%); Trade Balance ( -$833bn); Current Account Balance ( -$697bn); Industrial production ( -7.8%)

CHINA : GDP (9.1%) ; T B ( + $295BN); C A B ($371bn.)+ I P (5.7%)

These numbers highlight their mounting economic disparities. I must confess at this point that I am not sure that in the near future the abyss will ever be bridged Let us focus simply on the foreign trade sector. U S. imports are growing faster than its exports. The US capitalism is in a downward deflationary spiral that bears similarities with Japan ’s so-called ‘lost decade’ in the 1980s.. True, China ’s growth is adversely affected by the world slump, but it is growing several times faster than the US . Compound growth rates are at once constructive and destructive forces . This is a point you’ll recall that I noted in my discussion of the US balance of payments in my book on Cuba and I would suggest that you consult that section again. The ratio of its imports to its exports is about 1:5

That gap is unbridgeable.. Hence the USCO must borrow to finance its imports. Borrowing is debt. And debt must be repaid at compound interest rates or defaulted.. China recycles its trade surplus by buying US securities and Treasury bonds. This is a familiar story. Whether the Chinese political elite will continue to recycle their foreign exchange earnings to prop up US deficits remains problematical.

American capitalism has been the world’;/s biggest debtor for more than two decades. Its biggest lender is China . The size of the figures are important. China ’s almost $2,000 bn in foreign exchange reserves are the world’s largest. Much of these reserves are being directed to the purchase of U S Treasuries. ` According to the estimates of Brad Selser the real figure is nearer $2,300bn.. or equivalent to $1,600 for every Chinese citizen.

Of this sum about $1,700bn is invested in dollar assets, making China the biggest creditor of American capitalism and the single largest purchaser of US Treasury bonds. It is entirely addicted and dependent on Chinese money. Never in its history has the USCO been so dependent on any foreign creditor. The opposition within the leading echelons of China’s power elite are aware that such massive capital flows going to a stricken economy, that is in the throes of an ever deepening crisis and with low-yielding dollar assets, is perilous. China has already lost billions And this is so given the depreciating dollar stemming from its rising level of indebtedness, low savings, zero interest rates and a GDP that hovers around zero . Without this avalanche of Chinese money the USCO would not be able to pursue its militarist expansion abroad.

But what we can say is that the dollar’s status as the world’s reserve currency which has conferred extravagant power ( that was the designation of de Gaulle on US imperialism can obviously not endure. Chinese misgivings are present but they have made a pact with the devil and can do little to alter this state of affairs. “Except for US Treasuries what can you hold” asks Luo Ping, a director-general at the China Banking Regulatory Commission. “You don’t hold Japanese government bonds or UK bonds. US Treasuries are the safe haven. For everyone, including China , it is the only option”. This in my view is the tragedy of China ’s power elite presiding over a capitalist economy that has shed all pretences of being socialist.

It is deliberate policy choice that reveals its class and ideological alignments. They have already paid a terrible price for such a policy choice of being the savior and supreme benefactor of American capitalism. . With capitalism’s crisis now howling in its agony and the dollar’s continued slide the costs to the Chinese workers and peasants that the Chinese elite have long ceased to represent the losses to China rise to even greater heights. To put it in non-technical jargon the masters of China ’s money box has so much money that it does not know where to invest that money save in wretchedly low yielding US Treasuries.

The battle over exchange rates is fought on the killing fields of foreign exchange markets.

 

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article22123.htm

Last edited on Tue Mar 17th, 2009 12:43 pm by Joe Kelley

quote:

It is an ethical problem, a moral problem, and the future lies on it; not only the future of the most impoverished countries --as the five countries of Latin America and the Caribbean I have mentioned—that have little else to lose other than our shackles, if there is not a change of ethics, a change of moral, a change of values that will enable us to be really sustainable.

It is no longer a matter of ideology, it’s not a political issue; it’s a matter of survival. And this applies to all, from the G-20 to the G-5 who are the most impoverished in Latin America and the Caribbean.

I think that this crisis that is affecting the world today and that is leading to discussions, debates, and to a search for solutions we should approach it bearing in mind that the current development model is no longer possible, no longer sustainable.

The only way to save us all is to change the model.

Thank you, very much.

quote:

I wish to remind him of a basic ethical principle with respect to Cuba: there is no excuse for any injustice, any crime to last, regardless of time; the cruel blockade on the Cuban people takes lives and causes suffering; it also affects the economy of the nation and limits its possibilities to cooperate with healthcare, education and sports services, with energy saving and with the protection of the environment in many poor countries of the world.