Weekday NEWS to Comfort the Disturbed and Disturb the Comfortable.
Mon 06.29.2009
Gold Rises to Two-Week High as Record Rates Drive Down Dollar Gold touched a two-week high and marked its first weekly gain since May as the dollar weakened and a benchmark lending rate touched a record low in London, increasing the metal's appeal as an alternative investment. The dollar declined as the three-month London interbank offered rate, or Libor, slipped below 0.6 percent for the first time. The dollar-based rate, a benchmark for about $360 trillion in financial products, peaked at 4.82 percent on Oct. 10. On June 24, the Federal Reserve left unchanged its target bank- lending rate at zero percent to 0.25 percent, the lowest ever.
'Gold to go through $2,000. Gold bullion best asset' There are many reasons to own gold. I think one of the biggest ones is the actual devaluation and debasement of currencies. Having said that, one of the lesser-known ones is the derivative market; if you look at the derivative market on a global basis, it is absolutely enormous. And the downfall of the financial system last year in part was the fact that many of the banks in the financial system in the U.S. and around the world had a capital base that was leveraged up 30 times or more on their balance sheet. The derivatives market is hundreds of trillions of dollars. When you look at that relative to the capital base of the whole financial system, the whole financial system gets dwarfed.
pt 1/2 Peter Schiff on Gold Seek Radio June 20, 2009
The Great American Bubble Machine The first thing you need to know about Goldman Sachs is that it's everywhere. The world's most powerful investment bank is a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money. In fact, the history of the recent financial crisis, which doubles as a history of the rapid decline and fall of the suddenly swindled-dry American empire, reads like a Who's Who of Goldman Sachs graduates. By now, most of us know the major players. As George Bush's last Treasury secretary, former Goldman CEO Henry Paulson was the architect of the bailout, a suspiciously self-serving plan to funnel trillions of Your Dollars to a handful of his old friends on Wall Street. Robert Rubin, Bill Clinton's former Treasury secretary, spent 26 years at Goldman before becoming chairman of Citigroup – which in turn got a $300 billion taxpayer bailout from Paulson.
Why demand for Comex gold bars is rising The most popular question I receive on a daily basis is to comment on the gold to silver ratio. Here is my answer and promise to you: As pressure to deliver gold hits the COMEX exchange in the last quarter of 2009 with titanic force, the ratio trades will totally explode, killing the gold to silver spread traders. With gold to silver ratios you are not buying insurance, you are a gambleholic buying decimation.
Chinese Gold Moves Setting the Market Up For a Price Spike It is interesting to hear a senior economic researcher from the Chinese Communist Party calling for bigger gold purchases by China to diversify away from the US dollar whose devaluation looks inevitable with the printing of money to finance deficits. This conclusion from Li Lianzhong, head of the party's policy research office, came in a statement late last week but is only the latest indication of the way the wind is blowing in the People's Republic.
Keep the Faith-Higher Gold Price Will Come . . . . There are many reasons to own gold. I think one of the biggest ones is the actual devaluation and debasement of currencies. Having said that, one of the lesser-known ones is the derivative market; if you look at the derivative market on a global basis, it is absolutely enormous. And the downfall of the financial system last year in part was the fact that many of the banks in the financial system in the U.S. and around the world had a capital base that was leveraged up 30 times or more on their balance sheet. The derivatives market is hundreds of trillions of dollars. When you look at that relative to the capital base of the whole financial system, the whole financial system gets dwarfed.
pt 2/2 Peter Schiff on Gold Seek Radio June 20, 2009
Bank failure list tops 45 The FDIC says banks in Georgia, Minnesota and California were shuttered by state regulators. Local banks in Georgia, Minnesota and California were closed Friday by state regulators, bringing the total number of failed banks this year to 45, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. The financial crisis has taken a heavy toll on small banks across the nation as losses in the housing market mount and unemployment dents household wealth. Analysts expect the trend to continue even as larger banks stabilize and the overall economy begins to recover.
China's banks are an accident waiting to happen to every one of us Fitch Ratings has been warning for some time that China's lenders are wading into dangerous waterChina's banks are veering out of control. The half-reformed economy of the People's Republic cannot absorb the $1,000bn blitz of new lending issued since December. Money is leaking instead into Shanghai's stock casino, or being used to keep bankrupt builders on life support. It is doing very little to help lift the world economy out of slump. Fitch Ratings has been warning for some time that China's lenders are wading into dangerous waters, but its latest report is even grimmer than bears had suspected.
Ron Paul: Storming the Fed As far as finance and business goes, at least one rule generally holds true… And this rule makes your job as an investor, entrepreneur or analyst ten times easier. The rule? If you can't explain a particular investment or innovation to an eleven-year-old, then something shady is going on. Credit Default Swaps, Securitization, GSEs, CDOs…all of these things were considered "financial wizardry" back in the bubble days. Now they've been exposed as little more than Wall Street's version of three-card Monte.
Treasuries in Trouble? This was a big week for the bond market. The U.S. auctioned over $100 billion in 2, 5 and 7-year notes. As we've discussed over the last several weeks, these bond auctions are critical for the U.S. in financing its deficit spending. The U.S. government has already run up a $1 trillion budget deficit this fiscal year. They need money coming "into the till" to keep up this spending. And a lot of it.
Gerald Celente Obamageddon 2012
A Minority View Ready to sell apples for $5. each as in the thirties? Recently there's been a spate of articles about the inflation/deflation debate. According to the dominant view, the inflation the U.S. has experienced these past 75-plus years will inevitably continue and very likely accelerate as the managers running the Fed and U.S. Treasury attempt to deal with a monstrous overhanging debt bubble by cheapening the dollars with which repayment is made.
Fading of the Dollar's Dominance Other Nations See Opening to Boost Their Currencies The days of calling the dollar almighty may be numbered. Since World War II, when the dollar eclipsed the British pound as the king of world currencies, the United States has reaped the rewards of its monetary strength. The greenback's sense of indestructibility allowed the U.S. government to borrow cheaply and gave rise to an era of rich American globetrotters toting the world's most easily convertible form of cash. But the financial crisis that started in the United States is dramatically intensifying the debate over the future of the dollar, and whether it can, or should, remain at the top of the financial food chain. Although a meaningful shift away from the dollar is likely to take years or more, some analysts believe that the debate is now reaching a tipping point.
Double Whammy Misguided government policies have already dealt vicious body blows to our economy, but that hasn't stopped politicians this week from launching two new kicks to the groin: a national health insurance plan and a carbon emissions regulation system called "cap and trade." Even if these plans could achieve their desired ends, which is highly unlikely, I would have hoped Washington would refrain from throwing more monkey wrenches into the economy until it shows some signs of resurgence. The last thing we need right now is to further encumber our economy with higher taxes and additional regulations.
Inflation and the Dollar "Whenever, therefore, people are deceived and form opinions wide of the truth, it is clear that the error has slid into their minds through the medium of certain resemblances to that truth." -- Socrates BC 469-399, Greek Philosopher of Athens Inflation is defined as an increase in the money supply and not as many economists falsely refer to it as an increase in the cost of goods. The price increase is a direct result of inflation, but it is not the definition but just a symptom of inflation. If one looks at the above two charts one immediately spots how dramatically the money supply has risen in the last 12 months. In less than 12 months the money supply has risen to a level that is double that of 2003. M1 is increasing at levels not seen for over 40 years; take a moment to digest this fact, when the economy is broken, when savings are low, when companies are scaling back, we have drug addicts driving the printing press to the breaking point. 1+ 1 always equal two and pushing the printing press into over drive must equate to some form of very strong inflation and most likely hyperinflation.
Dollar May Weaken on 'Upside' Earnings Surprises, JPMorgan Says The dollar may weaken against major counterparts as U.S. corporate earnings beat analysts' forecasts, driving stocks higher and encouraging investors to buy higher-yielding assets overseas. "With most activity data beating expectations, U.S. earnings should surprise on the upside," said John Normand, head of global currency strategy at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in London, in an interview. "That tends to be associated with increased risk taking, whether through non-U.S. equities or higher-yielding currencies. Both flows are dollar-negative."
Is the recession over? Peter Schiff on CNBC 26 June
"Repressed Inflation": The Ailment of the Modern Economy Inflation Plus Collectivism Recent experience in many countries enables us to draw the picture of a strange distortion and stasis in economic life and to diagnose an economic ailment that, more and more, is proving to be the worst of all, and that to a very large extent explains the persistence of Europe's distress. I have in mind that cross between collectivism and inflation, for which I have suggested the name of "repressed inflation" - first in my essay "Lehren des deutschen Wirtschaftsmarasmus"[1] and later, more systematically, in "Offene und zurückgestaute Inflation"[2] Typically, what happens is as follows. As a result of the war and of postwar mismanagement, serious inflation developed in the sense that the means of payment are increasing strongly, while the production of goods stagnates. Were the government to permit an "open" inflation, this disproportion between the volume of money and the volume of goods would lead to the consequence we all know, namely, a general rise in prices and incomes.
Inflation - the real threat to sustained recovery The rise in global stock prices from early March to mid-June is arguably the primary cause of the surprising positive turn in the economic environment. The $12,000bn of newly created corporate equity value has added significantly to the capital buffer that supports the debt issued by financial and non-financial companies. Corporate debt, as a consequence, has been upgraded and yields have fallen. Previously capital-strapped companies have been able to raise considerable debt and equity in recent months. Market fears of bank insolvency, particularly, have been assuaged.
Members of U.S. House Financial Services Committee snapped up or dumped bank stocks as bottom fell out of market As financial markets tumbled and the government worked to stave off panic by pumping billions of dollars into banks last fall, several members of Congress who oversee the banking industry were grabbing up or dumping bank stocks. Anticipating bargains or profits or just trying to unload before the bottom fell out, these members of the House Financial Services Committee or brokers on their behalf were buying and selling stocks including Bank of America and Citigroup -- some of the very corporations their committee would later rap for greed, a Plain Dealer examination of congressional stock market transactions shows.
Building America With Obama Bonds Signals Munis' Fall Barack Obama may be the worst thing that ever happened to tax-exempt bonds and, so far, states and municipalities are loving it. Build America bonds, taxable securities that pay 1 percentage point more in interest than corporate debt on average, are such a hit with investors that the government is already considering expanding the program, according to John J. Cross, the Treasury's tax legislative counsel. Municipalities sold $14.4 billion of the securities and Barclays Plc analysts predict the amount may grow 10-fold because the federal government helps pay the bonds' interest.
On the Edge with Max Keiser - 26 June 2009 (pt 1 of 4)
Bond Dealers Say Worst Over as Demand Soars at Treasury Sales Wall Street's largest bond-trading firms say the worst may be over for investors in Treasuries after government securities posted their biggest first-half losses in at least three decades. The 16 primary dealers, which trade directly with the Federal Reserve and are obligated to bid at Treasury auctions, forecast the benchmark 10-year note yield will finish the year little changed at 3.58 percent, after rising from 2.21 percent at the end of 2008, according to a survey by Bloomberg News.
Obama adviser not ready to back a second stimulus A senior White House adviser said Sunday the economic stimulus has not yet "broken the back of the recession" but set aside calls for a second massive spending bill. Republicans, meanwhile, called spending under way a failure. White House adviser David Axelrod urged patience for President Barack Obama's $787 billion economic stimulus package in the face of sliding poll numbers. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a past and potentially future presidential candidate, said the spending was ill-designed and served only to expand the size of government.
Is stimulus creating jobs? Yes but ... House committee reports 21,000 actual highway and transit jobs created or saved. White House says number is in line with its 150,000 jobs estimate. So just how many stimulus jobs have been created or saved so far? The figure remains elusive, but Congress provided one of the first peeks this week by reporting that stimulus has funded 21,000 highway and transit jobs as of May 31. The number, one of the first counts of actual stimulus-based employment, is based on state reports to the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Thousands of indirect jobs -- such as the deli employee who prepares lunch for the construction crew or the workers who produce the steel needed for projects -- were also created or sustained.
Surmounting the Main Threat "Some people think that the Federal Reserve Banks are United States Government Institutions. They are private monopolies which prey upon the people of these United States for the benefit of themselves and their foreign customers; foreign and domestic speculators and swindlers; and rich and predatory money lenders." -- The Honorable Louis McFadden, Chairman of the House Banking and Currency Committee in the 1930s In the near-century since 1913, (the year the U.S. Federal Reserve was established) the World's Reserve Currency, the U.S. Dollar, has lost at least 96% of its purchasing power. Among the many casualties of this Massive Devaluation are Retirees, Investors, and Savers who "stored", they thought, the fruits of their labors in U.S. Dollar (i.e. U.S. Federal Reserve Note) denominated paper "Assets".
On the Edge with Max Keiser - 26 June 2009 - (pt 2 of 4)
U.S.'s debtor status worsens dramatically Foreigners hold 50 percent In the midst of the longest, and probably deepest, postwar recession last year, the U.S. investment position with the rest of the world sharply deteriorated. At the end of 2008, America's net international investment position was minus $3.47 trillion, the Commerce Department reported Friday. That represents the difference between the value of U.S. assets owned by foreigners ($23.36 trillion) and the value of foreign assets owned by Americans ($19.89 trillion).
Greed, Fear, and Sheeple . . . . Greed and fear are the strongest motivators for Sheeple-style investors driving both bull and bear markets and the so-called business cycle. You will find this idea within most mainstream schools of economic thought. But in Austrian economic theory, the business cycle is a phenomenon resulting from state and central bank attempts to fiat engineer the supply and demand balance thru interest rate manipulation. Periods of monetary expansion or inflationary "booms" are followed by periodic deflationary recessions or depressions where mal-investments fail and free up capital for new ventures. Government and central bank interference serve to prolong the inevitable "busts" and to retard the inevitable recovery.
Whither the Consumer Americans, the once-reckless free spenders, are embracing a new era of saving that threatens to reverberate across the global economy and snuff out hopes of a quick recovery America has always been a land of extremes, a place where, at various times, consumption and frugality have each wielded sacral sway. It shouldn't come as a surprise, then, that just as the country begins to extricate itself from what might be described as the paradox of gluttony, it is now in danger of succumbing to the paradox of thrift - and dragging much of the global economy along with it.
Here's How The Community Reinvestment Act Led To The Housing Bubble's Lax Lending Earlier this week I noted that I had changed my mind on the Community Reinvestment Act. Contrary to my initial conclusion, the evidence is overwhelming that the CRA played a significant role in creating lax lending standards that fueled the housing bubble. Once I realized this, I had to abandon my suspicion that the anti-CRA case was a figment of the rhetoric of Republicans attempting to distract attention from their own role in the mortgage mess.
On the Edge with Max Keiser - 26 June 2009 - (pt 3 of 4)
Unemployment claims unexpectedly rise... First-time claims for state unemployment benefits rose unexpectedly in the latest week, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The number of initial claims in the week ending June 20 rose 15,000 to 627,000. It's the highest level since mid-May. A Labor Department official said that some states reported more end-of-school-year claims. Many states allow bus drivers and cafeteria workers to file for unemployment during school breaks.
G.M. to Maintain Legal Liability for Claims General Motors and the Obama administration have reached a deal for the carmaker to assume responsibility for product liability claims filed after it emerges from bankruptcy as a new company, even those claims involving vehicles made by the old company, according to documents filed in bankruptcy court late Friday. The deal resolves a problem that could have upended G.M.'s plan for a quick restructuring.
Obama open to new health-benefits tax The White House left open the possibility Sunday that President Obama might pay for his health care overhaul by taxing employer-provided health insurance even though he had campaigned on not raising taxes on middle-class families. White House adviser David Axelrod said the administration wouldn't rule out taxing some employees' benefits to fund a health care agenda that has yet to take final form. The move would be a compromise with fellow Democrats, who are pushing the proposal as a way to pay for the massive undertaking without ballooning the federal deficit.
Obamacare: Cheaper than you think President Obama is a pretty good persuader, but he's been having a hard time selling his health care reform plan. His health care town hall meeting on ABC last Wednesday drew dismal ratings, garnering fewer viewers than a rerun of CSI: New York (and drawing gleeful responses from many of his non-fans). Meanwhile, some of his putative allies in the Democratic party have been sniping away at the plan, and negotiators in the senate have been slashing costs by lopping off some of the plan's most progressive elements, like subsidies for lower-income Americans to help them afford to buy insurance. (Huh? Wasn't helping the uninsured get insurance one of the main reasons for the plan in the first place?)
On the Edge with Max Keiser - 26 June 2009 - (pt 4 of 4)
Unions' Health Benefits May Avoid Tax Under Proposal The U.S. Senate proposal to impose taxes for the first time on "gold-plated" health plans may bypass generous employee benefits negotiated by unions. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, the chief congressional advocate of taxing some employer-provided benefits to help pay for an overhaul of the U.S. health system, says any change should exempt perks secured in existing collective- bargaining agreements, which can be in place for as long as five years.
Rebellion on the Range Over a Cattle ID Plan HORSE SPRINGS, N.M. - Wranglers at the Platt ranch were marking calves the old-fashioned way last week, roping them from horseback and burning a brand onto their haunches. What they were emphatically not doing, said Jay Platt, the third-generation proprietor of the ranch, was abiding by a federally recommended livestock identification plan, intended to speed the tracing of animal diseases, that has caused an uproar among ranchers. They were not attaching the recommended tags with microchips that would allow the computerized recording of livestock movements from birth to the slaughterhouse.
What The Heck Is Cap And Trade? Did you come late to the party on cap and trade? Now that it's one step closer to being law, here's a primer what it is and how it works. Cap-and-trade? Offsets? Pollution credits? The climate bill under consideration in the U.S. House of Representatives tackles global warming with new limits on pollution and a market-based approach to encourage more environmentally friendly business practices. But what exactly do the proposed rules mean, and how would they work? Some questions and answers about the bill, a top legislative priority for President Barack Obama:
Obama peddles climate bill to Senate Warns of 'misinformation,' insists legislation promotes economic growth President Obama, handed a crucial victory Friday night with the House of Representatives' approval of a sweeping climate-change bill, urged the Senate on Saturday to disregard "misinformation" and pass the legislation. "Don't believe the misinformation out there that suggests there is somehow a contradiction between investing in clean energy and economic growth," the president said in his weekly Saturday address. "It's just not true.
Climate-Change Bill Clears U.S. House, Sent to Senate The U.S. House narrowly passed legislation to impose the nation's first limits on greenhouse- gas emissions linked to global warming, handing President Barack Obama a win on one of his top policy priorities. The 219-212 House vote yesterday signaled the fight that lies ahead in the Senate for the plan, which would create a market for trading pollution permits to curb emissions. Obama called the measure "a bold and necessary step that holds the promise of creating new industry and millions of new jobs." The bill, he said, would usher in "a critical transition to a clean-energy economy without untenable burdens on the American people."
Obama Says Climate-Change Measure Will Transform U.S. Economy President Barack Obama said climate- change legislation passed by the U.S. House yesterday would help transform the nation's economy and create millions of new jobs in alternative energy industries. In his weekly address on the radio and the Internet, Obama said incentives to develop technologies such as wind, solar and geothermal power would reduce the nation's dependence on fossil fuels and lead to a stronger economy. "The nation that leads in the creation of a clean energy economy will be the nation that leads the 21st century global economy," he said.
House Narrowly Passes Bill Designed to Influence Earth's Climate by Restricting U.S. Industry and Imposing Costs on American Families The U.S. House of Representatives narrowly passed a bill yesterday that is intended to influence the Earth's climate by limiting the emission of carbon and other designated "greenhouse gases" within the United States thus imposing costs on American families. The conservative Heritage Foundation estimates that by 2035 the bill would cut the Gross Domestic Product of the United States by $6,790 per family of four and impose $4,600 in carbon taxes per family. The Heritage Foundation analysis countered an analysis by the Congressional Budget Office that determined that the bill would only cost $175 per household in 2020.
Latham blasts cap-and-trade on House floor
Climate Change Bill May Be Election Issue As Democrats strained to win over crucial holdouts on the way to narrow, party-line approval of global warming legislation, they were dogged by a critical question: Has the political climate changed since 1993? Veteran members of both parties vividly remember when many House Democrats, in the early months of the Clinton administration, reluctantly backed a proposed B.T.U. tax - a new levy on each unit of energy consumed - only to see it ignored by the Senate and seized as a campaign issue by Republicans, who took control of the House the next year.
ACORN changes name in hopes to change image An Iowa Congressman says while ACORN can change its name, it can't change its stained reputation. Human Events has reported that the Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now, more commonly known as ACORN, is changing its name. The new moniker, Community Organizations International (COI), is the organization's attempt to change its image. Congressman Steve King (R-Iowa), who has been battling for accountability from the organization, says it is already under investigation in more than a dozen states for alleged voter fraud, the result of widespread allegations during the 2008 presidential campaign. "It appears to be a criminal enterprise. They have 250 to 270 affiliates. It's a spiderweb of a corporate entanglement," he contends. "They produced over 400,000 fraudulent voter registration forms. They are under investigation in at least 14 states."
Britain is no longer a Christian nation, claims Church of England BishopBritain is no longer a Christian nation and the Church of England could die out within a generation, an Anglican bishop has warned. The Rt Rev Paul Richardson said declining church attendance and the rise in multiculturalism meant that "Christian Britain is dead". He criticised his fellow bishops for failing to appreciate the scale of the crisis and warned that their inaction could seal the Church's fate. As one of the Church's longest-serving bishops, the comments by the assistant Bishop of Newcastle are set to fuel the debate over its future.
hmmmmmmmm. . . .
Barack Obama has recently repeatedly stated that the United States is NOT a Christian nation and went so far as to say we are one of the largest Muslim countries! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaxZPiiKyMw
Obama In Turkey "We Do Not Consider Ourselves A Christian Nation"
Bill Clinton also said that we are no longer predominately a nation of Christians and Jews.
America Is Still A Christian Nation We have heard Obama make the proclamation that we are no longer a Christian Nation. That flies in the face that over 85% of Americans profess to be Christians. Obama says we can be considered the largest Muslim Nation in the world. Is that because he is himself a Muslim? According to Shari'a Law, Barack Hussein Obama is indeed a Muslim albeit that he is currently an apostate Muslim if he is not a practicing Muslim. However, there ar5e those that make the assertion that Obama is a Jihadi plant being groomed over a period of years to become what he is today, in the position that he is in today. I can see that but I have not fully bought into that concept. However, I do not at this time summarily dismiss it either. . . . . . . . .
WASHINGTON - Former President Bill Clinton has told an Arab-American audience of 1,000 people that the U.S. is no longer just a black-white country, nor a country that is dominated by Christians and a powerful Jewish minority.
In a speech to the group on Saturday, Clinton said that given the growing numbers of Muslims, Hindus and other religious groups here, Americans should be mindful of the nation's changing demographics, which led to the election of Barack Obama as president.
Clinton said by 2050 the U.S. will no longer have a majority of people with European heritage and that in an interdependent world "this is a very positive thing." [...]
U.S. and Russia Differ on a Treaty for Cyberspace The United States and Russia are locked in a fundamental dispute over how to counter the growing threat of cyberwar attacks that could wreak havoc on computer systems and the Internet. Both nations agree that cyberspace is an emerging battleground. The two sides are expected to address the subject when President Obama visits Russia next week and at the General Assembly of the United Nations in November, according to a senior State Department official. But there the agreement ends.
Honduran President Is Ousted in Coup MEXICO CITY - The Honduran president, Manuel Zelaya, was ousted by the army on Sunday after pressing ahead with plans for a referendum that opponents said could lay the groundwork for his eventual re-election, in the first military coup in Central America since the end of the cold war. Soldiers entered the presidential palace in the capital, Tegucigalpa, and disarmed the presidential guard early Sunday, military officials said. Mr. Zelaya's private secretary, Eduardo Enrique Reina, confirmed the arrest.
Syrian group threatens 'force' against Israel Warns it may move to capture strategic Golan Heights JERUSALEM - A Syrian militant group threatened over the weekend to seize the strategic Golan Heights by force if a peace agreement involving the strategic plateau is not reached with Israel. Israel's Army Radio reported a group calling itself the Syrian Committee for the Liberation of the Golan on Saturday said it would move to capture the Golan, adding Israel has not shown willingness to achieve peace or to return what they called "Syrian land."
New clashes in Iran as standoff worsens with West Several thousand protesters - some chanting "Where is my vote?" - clashed with riot police in Tehran on Sunday as Iran detained local employees of the British Embassy, escalating the regime's standoff with the West and earning it a stinging rebuke from the European Union. Witnesses said riot police used tear gas and clubs to break up a crowd of up to 3,000 protesters who had gathered near north Tehran's Ghoba Mosque in the country's first major post-election unrest in four days.
Iran Escalates Its Fight With Britain; New Clashes Erupt Iran's government said Sunday that it had arrested Iranian employees of the British Embassy, while the police in Tehran beat and fired tear gas at several thousand protesters who joined a demonstration at a mosque in support of the defeated presidential candidate Mir Hussein Moussavi. The government's arrest of nine Iranian employees of the British Embassy was a significant escalation in its conflict with Britain, which Tehran has sought to cast as an instigator of the unrest since the disputed June 12 election. It said the embassy employees played a significant role in organizing the protests, which have reached across the country and across social and economic lines.
Iran's Basij militia turns strong arm against dissent Heroic image fades in Iran They have become the face of repression since Iran's disputed June 12 elections, but the auxiliary security force known as the Basij once played a heroic role. During the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, volunteers as young as 13 in the Basij-e Mostazafan, or "Mobilization of the Oppressed," walked through minefields to defend their country against the invading forces of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. With plastic keys around their necks promising immediate entry to heaven if they died, they formed a human wave that shielded more experienced soldiers.
Elite Power in Iran We hear so much about democracy, about "people power" and "public opinion" that we forget how everything depends on the right leadership. We fool ourselves that "the people" rule, that the majority decides, that "the public" is something that has an existence independent of pollsters, opinion-makers, and media manipulation. The fact is, as earlier researchers have shown, "democracy" is just another way of organizing oligarchy (a.k.a., "the elite"). That being said, a country's elite is not always in agreement with itself. There are "reformers" who suggest new possibilities for a country. There are sophisticated people who must either be recognized or eliminated. And the measure of a regime is whether that regime accepts the natural leaders in its midst, and allows them their place; or whether it persecutes them.
Just for chuckles - a little satire with a point
US To Trade Gold Reserves For Cash Through Cash4Gold.com
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