Saturday, November 8, 2008

GEORGIA PROTESTS AGAINST SAAKASHVILI NYTimes: "Newly available accounts by independent military observers of the beginning of the war between Georgia and Russia this summer call into question the longstanding Georgian assertion that it was acting defensively against separatist and Russian aggression. Instead, the accounts suggest that Georgia's inexperienced military attacked the isolated separatist capital of Tskhinvali on Aug. 7 with indiscriminate artillery and rocket fire, exposing civilians, Russian peacekeepers and unarmed monitors to harm." The evidence of the criminal intent of Saakashvili was clear from the beginning. It was documented on this blog. It is for the people of Georgia to oust this war criminal who deliberately fired on a civilian city. What the region wants is peace and prosperity, not reckless adventure. BBC: "Thousands of opposition activists have demonstrated in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi - their first major protest since the conflict with Russia. Critics have accused President Mikhail Saakashvili of starting a war with Russia that Georgia could not win. 'We are starting a new wave of civil confrontation, and we will not give up until new elections are called,' opposition leader Kakha Kukava said. A year ago opposition rallies were broken up by police." 11:54:48 AM

IT'S THE PEOPLE, STUPID! RollingStone: "See if any of this sounds familiar: As soon as the bailout was announced, it became clear that Treasury officials would hire outsiders to perform their jobs for them - at a profit. Private companies wanting to help manage the bailout were given just two days to apply for massive, multiyear contracts. Since it was such a mad rush - after all, the entire economy was about to implode - there was no time for an open bidding process. Nor was there time to draft rigorous rules to make sure that those applying don't have serious conflicts of interest. Instead, applicants were asked to disclose their conflicts and to explain - and this is not a joke - their 'philosophy in fulfilling your duty to the Treasury and the U.S. taxpayer in light of your proprietary interests and those of other clients'. In other words, an open invitation to bullshit about how much they love their country and how they can be trusted to regulate themselves. On the same day that he allocated the first $125 billion to the banks, Secretary Paulson announced the largest federal budget deficit in U.S. history. Buried in his statement was a preview of the next phase of the financial disaster. The deficit numbers, he declared, reinforce the need to 'pursue policies that promote economic growth and fiscal responsibility, and address entitlement reform'. He was referring to Americans who feel entitled to receive Social Security in their old age and Medicaid when they are sick. Those programs, Paulson implied, might not be able to survive the budget crisis he is currently creating for the next administration. There is a better way to fix a broken financial system. Treasury's plan to buy up the toxic debts never made sense and should be immediately scrapped - a move that would also handily get rid of most of the crony contractors. As for purchasing equity in banks, the next round of deals - and there will be more - has to start from the premise that the banks are bankrupt and will therefore accept whatever terms we choose to impose, including real regulatory oversight. The possibilities of what could be done if a chunk of the banking system were genuinely under public control - from a moratorium on home foreclosures to mandatory investment in green community redevelopment - are limitless. Because here is what George Bush and Henry Paulson are hoping we won't figure out: When a society no longer has enough money to pay for its most pressing needs, there are worse things than discovering you own the banks." RNL: "The Bank of England and the European Central Bank cut their interest rates on Thursday, but failed to prevent a fall in share prices on European stock markets." Although some banks have annouced that they will pass on the full interest cut, I am not so sure about that. Even then, at a time when the interest rates are not really very high, the effect of cutting interest rates for those people who have been prudent and saving their money is that they will now see their nest-egg going down as well, in particular the old age pensioners. It seems the benefits are again for the financial market, not for the people. Then there are the job losses. And the foreclosures and evictions in the US and Britain are increasing. After some time interest rates will simply go up again. ThisIsMoney: "What government needs to do is put in place a scheme now that will minimise the number of foreclosures. Families who are evicted and become homeless have to be rehoused somehow by local authorities, usually at considerable financial and social cost, so it makes sense, if at all possible, to keep people in their houses, and families together through the hard times." 11:47:11 AM

HOPE FOR CHANGE IHT: "Flush with victory built on incursions in the South and West, congressional Democratic leaders promised to use their new power to join President-elect Barack Obama in pursuing an aggressive agenda that puts top priority on the economy, health care, energy and ending the Iraq war." I do hope so. But some sources are not so hopeful. ICH: "Early clues, however, suggest that Barack Obama's administration will prove unlikely to alter the fundamental political machinery that has led us into war and economic turmoil." It think we should give Obama the benefit of the doubt and give him a chance to prove himself, after all there is not a real alternative. We'll monitor Obama closely and we'll have to push him in the right direction. Change.gov: "Start right now. Share your vision for what America can be, where President-Elect Obama should lead this country. Where should we start together?" A plea from Israel: "Obama my dear, they tell me that you are going to change the world. Do me a favor, come and change my life personally. Come to Israel, grab its stupid leadership by the throat and take its foot off the neck of another people. Come and force us to do what is clear, and written, and fitting, and necessary, come and get us out of the Territories, if necessary do it with a smile that reveals million-dollar teeth. If necessary bare your teeth and force us to do it." 11:29:39 AM

LONDON CALLING The more criminal governments become, the greater their desire to keep an eye on their subjects. They judge other people's character by their own. Independent: "Internet 'black boxes' will be used to collect every email and web visit in the UK under the Government's plans for a giant 'big brother' database, The Independent has learnt. Home Office officials have told senior figures from the internet and telecommunications industries that the 'black box' technology could automatically retain and store raw data from the web before transferring it to a giant central database controlled by the Government." PJCJournal: "An Internet grass-roots campaign will this week deliver a copy of George Orwell's prophetic novel 'Nineteen Eighty-Four' to every Member of Parliament. The books will be inscribed with the words, 'This book was a warning, not a blueprint', and will arrive at Parliament on or before November 5th - a date of well known historical significance for that building." 11:19:37 AM

THE ANCIEN REGIME CommonDreams: "In the next few weeks, the Bush administration is expected to relax environmental-protection rules on power plants near national parks, uranium mining near the Grand Canyon and more mountaintop-removal coal mining in Appalachia. The administration is widely expected to try to get some of the rules into final form by the week before Thanksgiving because, in some cases, there's a 60-day delay before new regulations take effect. And once the rules are in place, undoing them generally would be a more time-consuming job for the next Congress and administration." MotherJones: "They looked like they had walked off a film set, the two men standing at the door of the Library Connection in Windsor, Connecticut, as they flashed fbi badges and asked to speak to the boss. Director George Christian courteously shepherded them into the office. By the hum of the Xerox machine, one agent explained to Christian that the bureau was demanding 'any and all subscriber information, billing information and access logs of any person or entity' that had used computers between 4 p.m. and 4:45 p.m. on February 15, 2005, in any of the 27 libraries whose computer systems were managed by the Library Connection, a nonprofit co-op of library databases. He handed Christian a document called a national security letter (nsl); it said the information was being sought 'to protect against international terrorism'. Like a children's librarian during story hour, the agent used his finger to draw Christian's attention to one line in particular: The recipient of the letter could not disclose 'to any person that the fbi has sought or obtained access to information or records'. It was a lifetime gag order; break it, and he could be looking at five years in jail. 'I believe this is unconstitutional,' said Christian politely. In response he got a threatening scowl, a business card, and instructions to have his lawyer call the fbi. Christian did call his lawyer as soon as the agents were gone - and then he called Peter Chase, another library director and member of the Library Connection's executive committee. 'Where is the court order?' Chase asked. 'There is none,' replied Christian. 'They said they didn't need one.' Christian was being ordered to turn over records on library patrons simply because an fbi agent had told him to. He called a huddle with the rest of the Library Connection's executive committee, librarians Janet Nocek and Barbara Bailey. There, they passed around the nsl. Their attorney then announced that by virtue of having read the letter, everyone in the room was now bound by its provisions, and therefore gagged. It was as if they'd been exposed to radioactivity. That was the beginning of a yearlong battle pitting the four librarians, barred from speaking publicly and identified in the media only as 'John Doe', against the anti-terrorism enforcers of the Bush administration. In 2000, 8,500 nsls were issued; by contrast, between 2003 and 2005 the fbi issued more than 143,000 nsls, only one of which led to a conviction in a terrorism case. Abuse has also been rampant. An investigation last year revealed that the fbi had broken regulations governing nsls in more than 1,000 cases. Among the violations: failing to get proper authorization, making improper requests under the law, shoddy record keeping, and unauthorized collection of telephone or email records. Such misuse has cast a long-lasting shadow over countless innocent Americans. Even when an investigation is closed, information gained through an nsl is kept indefinitely in the fbi files. In September 2007, a federal court ruled in the case of John Doe New York that the entire national security letter provision of the Patriot Act was unconstitutional." 11:04:08 AM

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