The Curve Ball story

The most compelling evidence about Saddam's biological weapons presented to the Security Council came from one obscure Iraqi defector. He turned out to be a fraud.
But what is the most disturbing is how the CIA used him even though his story was patchy and inspectors on the ground, 3 weeks before the start of the war, proved he was lying.

The full story from 60 minutes and the video is here.

The Economic Consequences of Mr. Bush

Very good read!
Bush managed to generate such a waste in so little time...

The next president will have to deal with yet another crippling legacy of George W. Bush: the economy. A Nobel laureate, Joseph E. Stiglitz, sees a generation-long struggle to recoup.

The Full article here.

Sadad Al-Husseini is talking

Sadad Al-Husseini, former executive of ARAMCO (Saudi Arabia's national oil company), is now talking about what could bring a halt to the ever increasing of oil production.
Indeed, according to him, production is not going to increase much between now and 2020 (and then will start declining inexorably), the official reserves are overestimated by 300 billion barrels and oil price should go up $12 a year from now on.

So how are we going to produce the 116 millions barrels per day (mbpd) needed in 2020 (which is the forecast) if we are stuck at 85 mbpd from now on?
We might manage to affect the amount we need in the future by being more efficient at using what we have, but ultimately it means that world growth will have to be fueled with something else.

The source article is here.
Another one here.

USD losing world currency status?

The USD is in free fall, and more and more countries are abandoning their pegs toward the US currency. What would be the consequences for the world, for the USA if the we would move over to a monetary system where there is not only one world currency anymore? What if the USA had to borrow money in Euros or Yuan? I know we are not there yet (maybe even never), but what a blow to US imperialism that would be.

Here is what the UAE is doing...
The United Arab Emirates may link the dirham to a basket of currencies, ending its 30-year-old peg to the dollar, central bank Governor Sultan Bin Nasser al-Suwaidi said.
More here.

Funny Stuff

Click on image for full size.

Doing it the Sharia way

A court in the ultra-conservative kingdom of Saudi Arabia is punishing a female victim of gang rape with 200 lashes and six months in jail, a newspaper reported on Thursday.
The 19-year-old woman -- whose six armed attackers have been sentenced to jail terms -- was initially ordered to undergo 90 lashes for "being in the car of an unrelated male at the time of the rape," the Arab News reported.

The whole article is here.

The rewriting of history

Think what we tell you to think!


“RUSSIA'S past was admirable, its present is more than magnificent and as for its future—it is beyond anything that the boldest mind can imagine.” Thus Count Alexander Benckendorff in the 1830s, on how Russia's history should be viewed and written. This advice from the head of the country's first secret police is now being heeded in the Kremlin, where a new Russian history is being forged.

The article from The Economist is here.

New Privacy Definition

Intelligence official says people need to redefine privacy, adjust to loss of anonymity
(full article here)

"As Congress debates new rules for government eavesdropping, a top intelligence official says it is time that people in the United States changed their definition of privacy.

Privacy no longer can mean anonymity, says Donald Kerr, the principal deputy director of national intelligence. Instead, it should mean that government and businesses properly safeguard people's private communications and financial information."


Someone said 1984? V for Vendetta?

Project Censored 2008

Project Censored keeps track of all the important news that never made it to the headlines during the year. Some are more important than others, some can be controversial, but all in all a very interesting list.

And the winners of the 2008 edition are:

#1 No Habeas Corpus for “Any Person”
#2 Bush Moves Toward Martial Law
#3 AFRICOM: US Military Control of Africa’s Resources
#4 Frenzy of Increasingly Destructive Trade Agreements
#5 Human Traffic Builds US Embassy in Iraq
#6 Operation FALCON Raids
#7 Behind Blackwater Inc.
#8 KIA: The US Neoliberal Invasion of India
#9 Privatization of America’s Infrastructure
#10 Vulture Funds Threaten Poor Nations’ Debt Relief
#11 The Scam of “Reconstruction” in Afghanistan
#12 Another Massacre in Haiti by UN Troops
#13 Immigrant Roundups to Gain Cheap Labor for US Corporate Giants
#14 Impunity for US War Criminals
#15 Toxic Exposure Can Be Transmitted to Future Generations on a “Second Genetic Code”
#16 No Hard Evidence Connecting Bin Laden to 9/11
#17 Drinking Water Contaminated by Military and Corporations
#18 Mexico’s Stolen Election
#19 People’s Movement Challenges Neoliberal Agenda
#20 Terror Act Against Animal Activists
#21 US Seeks WTO Immunity for Illegal Farm Payments
#22 North Invades Mexico
#23 Feinstein’s Conflict of Interest in Iraq
#24 Media Misquotes Threat From Iran’s President
#25 Who Will Profit from Native Energy?


A lot of this stuff was on DemocracyNow... So feel free to subscribe to their RSS!

More info here.

Guiliani and Prostate Cancer

In order to make proper decisions, you have to know the facts, all the facts.
Half truths and misleading information is often spread around by ignorant people (which we all are in one way or another).

But Presidential Candidates should try to be a bit more worthy of the office they are running for...

Here is the first paragraph of the latest piece of Paul Kurgman on Rudy Guiliani:

“My chance of surviving prostate cancer — and thank God I was cured of it — in the United States? Eighty-two percent,” says Rudy Giuliani in a new radio ad attacking Democratic plans for universal health care. “My chances of surviving prostate cancer in England? Only 44 percent, under socialized medicine.”
It would be a stunning comparison if it were true. But it isn’t. And thereby hangs a tale — one of scare tactics, of the character of a man who would be president and, I’m sorry to say, about what’s wrong with political news coverage.
Let’s start with the facts: Mr. Giuliani’s claim is wrong on multiple levels — bogus numbers wrapped in an invalid comparison embedded in a smear.


Read the full article from Paul Krugman, here.