BRIC-A-BRAC

Sometimes it's tough to take the media filter glasses off. We live in a world where all the important information is brought to us thanks to these internets, pity the fools that have to rely on the idiot box. So how is it that the most obvious of patterns are impossible to discern? The collage painted by the press should allow us to see the world how it really is, yet we miss the most obvious. Self-fulfilling prophecies such as last week's BRIC meeting spring to mind as the media simply brushed over the fact that the 4 nations that make up 43% of the world's population met last week to try to chart a mutually beneficial path through the future. The G8 will meet next month and there will be wall to wall reporting yet a group formed by the prediction of a Wall Street analyst gets swept under the carpet.

Reuters declares: Much-Trumpeted BRIC Summit Ends Quietly. "BRIC" is an acronym for Brazil, Russia, India and China, the world's four major developing countries. Jim O'Neill, global head of economic research at Goldman Sachs, first started the idea of BRIC in 2001. While it's obvious today thanks to the economic growth of these countries, which averaged 10.7% from 2006-8, it was only the idle talk of an analyst predicting the economic world of 2050, when the four countries would together pass the G7 in size. Since then we've watched the US economy lead an implosion of western economic power as these four nations have made strategic manoeuvers to position themselves to be exactly what we knew they'd be, the masters of our world. With Brazil and Russia pumping out the raw resources, China and India will consume the world.

The June 16 summit in the Russian Urals city of Yekaterinburg marked a huge step toward BRIC cooperation as a group. The fact that they have now met formally is story enough, but at the same time, the Russian city hosted another meeting, this a more formal grouping, the SCO, Shanghai Cooperation Organization (China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, with Iran, India, Mongolia and Pakistan as observer states). Even more interestingly, both India and Iran took part at the most senior level as the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad attended. Yes, just days after the election in Iran, Mahmoud was there, yet we barely heard a whisper of the meetings as his nation's spiral towards revolution captured our attention along with David Letterman's 14-year old rape inciting. Background buzz as we stumble towards a real new world order.

While BRIC countries account for 15 percent of the $60.7 trillion global economy, China is the world's largest holder of U.S. Treasuries with $767.9 billion while Russia holds around $400 billion in their foreign reserves. More importantly, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has made proposals on giving a greater role to the International Monetary Fund's Special Drawing Rights that echo ideas from Chinese central bank chief Zhou Xiaochuan. China, Russia and Brazil have pledged to help capitalize the IMF as they seek more influence at the fund. Together, the BRIC have a 15-percent share of the world economy and a 42-percent share of global currency reserves. Last week Brazil and Russia joined China in announcing they would shift some $70 billion (50 billion euros) of reserves into multicurrency bonds issued by the International Monetary Fund. Tiring of the inequity of the system, Brazil, for example is the world's 10th largest economy, but has just 1.38 percent of the IMF board's votes, compared to 2.09 percent for Belgium, an economy one-third the size, they are starting to make noise about changing it.

Navel gazing is far more interesting as it seems more important whether or not Obama, and America, are doing enough, or meddling too much in the Iran election quagmire. The future is just the Heisenberg uncertainty principle at work, que sera, sera, plus there's the Jon and some chick thing to worry about, or Letterman. America has put the BRIC on the path to controlling the world, why would they need to worry about where the road goes? Of course looking forward to the year 2050 involves a myriad of uncertainties, it seems forecasts for when the combined BRIC GDP will pass the G7's are being revised with every new report, from 2050 to 2045 to 2032, sure to change again due to the current financial crisis. Of course they'll be potholes on the road to cooperation, not the least of which will be inter-BRIC conflict, particularly between China and Russia as they vie for dominance in Asia. China announced plans at the SCO summit to give $10 billion of loans to Central Asia, upstaging traditional power Russia whose promises of aid have not been fully delivered amid the financial crisis. But India's economy is projected to be 90% of the US while China will have grown to 130% by the year 2050. Not only will the BRIC dwarf the G7 in global importance, but the N11 (harder to make an acronym for an 11 nation group: Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Korea, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, Turkey and Vietnam. Maybe BEIIKMNPPTV) will rival the economic size of the present elite 7 nations.

Notice how all these numbers assume unlimited resources to achieve growth. There will be a far more interesting chess game played with a more level economic table. China locks up resources in African nations without any of those human rights strings attached. Russia is circling the arctic, winning the new polar race. Markets are necessary too, and the US is sure to remain an important one, making killing the greenback a double edged sword, especially for China. Comments by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev questioning the dollar's role pushed down the U.S. currency by 0.9 percent against other key units, thereby hurting the value of China's investments. Baby steps towards independence from the west and the dollar will be the key word, but they'll add up quicker than you think.

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What's Worse?

One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.
- Plato

Hmmm. I dunno anymore mister smart guy Plato. Tough one for y'all. Which election is worse?: 80% voter turnout, election fever, but the results were predetermined. 43% turnout, no buzz at all, with results already known. Or 61% turnout, yes we can excitement, results made to appear miraculous. I know, not enough information to go on, but it's enough to do my head in these past few days. Feeling physically ill. Behind door # 1, Iranians made to feel momentarily empowered, however illusory it was, only to have the rug pulled out from under them. The 2nd, Europeans sitting on their hands hoping not to sink the boat by getting off their asses. Door #3 reveals Americans being fed a different flavour of hope. Three different elections, three different ways of making me sick as democracy continues to be pedaled to the masses as the opiate of control.

The election excitement had been overwhelming. The campaigns, creative, the debates hard fought and controversial. An environment where ideas and counterarguments were being shared and disputed among the people, maybe even informing much of the electorate, enabling them to make the decision about who they wanted to lead them for the next four years. An unpredictable battle between Ahmadinejad, Mousavi, Rezaee and Karroubi? Of course it was all a sham from the start, the true power runs through the Ayatollahs in Iran, but most of the electorate were aware that their four choices were handpicked by the theocracy. Any change the president of Iran could bring about would have to be done within the framework of the revolution. Yet, there they were, campaigning in the streets and on the web, dancing and painting themselves green, seemingly willing a change in the powerless executive of their nation. What a difference an election makes from expectations! A huge turnout and a surprise, Ahmedinjijad is still president.

At least it looks like there's some protest going on, a little backlash. Here in Europe just over a week ago you might have missed the fact there was an election if you'd a blinked. Granted I don't have a TV, but the only evidence of an election I had here in Poland were the campaign signs littering the sides of a few roads. Momentary eye candy for the passing motorist now mostly blowing through the streets or packing the landfills. While over 40% voted Europe wide, barely 20% went to the polls here, and even less across the border in Slovakia where 19.6% of those eligible bothered to vote, actually UP from the 17% who voted 5 years ago! Sadly, low voter turnout was at least partially responsible for the results, as right-wing fringe parties made strong showings. Voter apathy combined with economic turmoil resulted in Dutch voters making Geert Wilders' anti-Islam Freedom Party (PVV) the country's second-largest political force at the EU level. They garnered around 17% of the votes, just slightly behind Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende's center-right Christian Democrats who secured around 20%. Yes, THAT Geert Wilders, the one facing prosecution and the possibility of jail for hate speech. Even the UK saw the election of their first right-wing extremists to the European Parliament as the British National Party won four seats; Gordon Brown's Labour Party only managed to win 11! Could be worse I guess, at least the Swedes managed to elect a representative from the Pirate Party, as they took over 7% of the votes cast there.

How does this all compare to the home of democracy? Hope and change has done exactly what was planned, nothing. But you couldn't have set it up any better to look like a choice, were talking about a country with experience at rigging elections. What set up? A black guy running for the banksters/Government Motors and an old white guy for the military industrial complex/Israel. On the surface, it seems you couldn't paint a more stark choice, but besides a couple of nice sounding speeches, the change promised by Obama hasn't materialized. Yes, I know, time, give it time. However, looking outside of Iraq, Af/Pak and Guantanamo, I'd say that if anything, the economic policy choices have guaranteed a continuation and probably an acceleration of the wealth shift trend to the rich in America (h/t PP). The inevitable failure of Obama's save the banks policy will lead to a loss in faith of democracy itself. I can't say it better than Joseph Stiglitz in this month's Vanity Fair: In the developing world, people look at Washington and see a system of government that allowed Wall Street to write self-serving rules which put at risk the entire global economy—and then, when the day of reckoning came, turned to Wall Street to manage the recovery. They see continued re-distributions of wealth to the top of the pyramid, transparently at the expense of ordinary citizens. They see, in short, a fundamental problem of political accountability in the American system of democracy.

Where was I? Oh yeah, Iran. What really pisses me off is that this fix, if it is in fact one, keeping Ahmadinejad in power, will be used as ammunition by the right-wingnuts against Obama's change in tone towards Iran. You remember, the one where he thinks it's better to actually talk to people about disagreements. Or maybe having Mousavi lose is in fact a good thing for the White House making it easier to get sanctions in place. It could represent a pivotal moment that entrenches the power of the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, or it could be the beginning of his end. Iran may be on the cusp of the next revolution or maybe the stories we're getting are being blown completely out of proportion and things are more on the level of the LA riots. Mousavi may have been the candidate to bring about the green revolution, or perhaps he wasn't. There probably was some vote tampering, the evidence is there, from whether you believe Mousavi's story about being informed of victory, to how Ahmadinejad really won pretty much equally across all provinces, beating the Azeri candidate Mousavi in Azeristan's capital while beating the Lur candidate Karoubi overwhelmingly in Luristan. About the only thing certain about the election chaos out of Iran is that it may have won me over to Twitter as I've become a constant checker of the #iranelection feed, while the traditional media seems to be failing, as in #CNNfail.

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Oh, Papi!

Should we judge a nation by its leader? It seems logical in a democracy where leaders represent the elected will of a nation. After all, the world seemed to judge America as world opinion turned against the USA as her leaders terrorized the public, turning them from a quivering mass into a frothing, pre-emptive war seeking mob, while the fourth estate turned cheerleader and lost its bearings. The media's role can't be discounted as many see it as their duty to protect the public by keeping it informed. Dangers arise when the fourth estate becomes a mouthpiece for the government's agenda instead of its watchdog. Anti-Americanism may have passed it's apex, but the damage done will be long lasting to both the nation and the world. But what of other nations with leaders equally vile as Dubya? Robert Mugabe was once loved in Zimbabwe, Stephen Harper has received more votes in Canada than anyone else in the last two elections, or even Super Sarkhozy in France - do they reflect their people? Well, you'll find no uglier combination of evil, sleaze and corruption together with control over the media mind control machine than in today's Italy, personified by it's supreme narcissist, Silvio Berlusconi.

With the European Parliament (EP) elections coming this week, Il Caviliere, or Papi as he is known to 17-year old 'friends' and 'virgins', seems to have tired of simply playing the playboy-clown role that he has perfected over the years; his actions, statements and policies have taken a turn for the surreal, delusional with a little Lolita thrown in for good measure. In case you missed it, the EP is more than just every trans-national government conspiracists' nightmare. Besides providing perhaps the best parliamentary speech of the year, it is also has some real powers mostly revolving around passing, amending or rejecting European Commission legislation. It also exerts a large amount of indirect influence on foreign policy as it must pass all development grants. It's 736 MEPs serve the second largest democratic electorate in the world after India and are directly elected every five years. Well, I say directly, but truth be told, I still can't wrap my head around the whole system. Parties put up lists of candidates from which voters seem to randomly fill in some boxes and voila, magically some people get elected.

Well, in order to add some legitimacy to this arcane system, Berlusconi decided to sex up his party's (Partito della Liberta - PdL, The People of Freedom) ballot by throwing in some starlets and showgirls, including Angela Sozio, a former Big Brother contestant, Barbara Matera, a Miss Italy contestant and model, and TV starlets Camilla Ferranti and Eleonora Gaggiolo. Why not? Apparently the women had attended a crash course in politics ahead of the European elections. Problem is the course was not originally intended for candidates, but parliamentary assistants! Oh, and Papi's going to run as well, however that works?! Some may argue that he's doing all he can to weaken the legislative in order to empower the executive, while others might point out that Papi needs some younger babes to ogle. After all, it's been awhile since 2007, when his wife issued an open letter to a daily newspaper demanding a public apology from her husband for flirting with Mara Carfagna, an Italian topless model turned member of Parliament and currently equal opportunity minister in Berlusconi's cabinet. Ah yes, sex, it still sells, especially if there's a 17-year old involved...

Yes, perhaps it's the image of a 72-year old man and a 17-year old bombshell that will wake Italy from it's slumber. Berlusconi's wife of nearly 20 years, Veronica Lario, came out punching, demanding a divorce after learning that the great seducer had made a now 18-year old aspiring model his pet project, stating, "My marriage is over. I can't stay with someone who cavorts with minors." Well, maybe she was 17, but news didn't break until Berlusconi showed up at her 18th birthday bash bearing a diamond pendant, a little gift from the man whom the girl in question, Noemi Letizia, calls 'Papi'. Predictably, Silvio demanded an apology from his wife, denied any wrong doing and claimed, "I am friends with her father, that's all. I swear." Sure Papi, you happened to notice the girl while visiting a civil servant in Naples, not leafing through a 'fashion book' looking for your next prey.



Oh yes, I'm sure Papi brought Naomi to Rome last November so he could discuss politics with her father, but, maybe... Then, like manna from heaven word leaks of a New Year's Eve party, where as many as 40 girls, including Naomi and others under 18 like her, thrown at Papi's Sardinia island retreat. Topless cavorting, publication bans on pictures, rumours of a naked Czech president, all too good to be true. Hot 17-year old chicks and 18, maybe even 19... with a 72-year old PM $10 billionaire. Berlusconi's wife went ballistic, demanded a divorce, the opposition questioned his parenting skills, the world wonders how he gets away with it, then remembers, it's Italy, a macho image somehow convinces people to vote for you.

It's getting harder and harder to track Papi's transgressions. Having been charged numerous times for corruption, tax fraud and illegal party funding, he has always escaped conviction. Most egregious of all, facing the likelihood of finally being found guilty, last year he simply pushed an immunity bill through parliament. Now he can sleep easily, knowing he can't be charged for bribing lawyers to lie for him, or ordering hits on opponents. If you don't like being in opposition, (this is Silvio's 3rd time as PM) as he was in 2006, just get the church to lean on a swing block led by Clemente Mastella in the parliament, to force a no-confidence vote and the collapse of Italy's 60th government since WWII. Allies have been absorbed, Berlusconi's Forza Italia and the National Alliance, which grew out of the neo-fascist movement, united in a single entity, the People of Freedom. Only Lega Nord, the Northern League, Berlusconi's 'independent' fascist ally has the parliamentary clout to bring the government down. So they can call to segregate the Milan transit system without it really being Papi calling the shots, leaving him free to stir up hatred against more specific groups, like the Roma. His coronation as leader of the new party (there was no election) could make him a kingmaker in the EP if the conservative EPP-ED block gain control as expected. All part of his plan to torpedo the Polish/German hope for leading the European Parliament and to have his own man, Mario Mauro, installed.

So how does he get away with it? Time Magazine dubbed Italy Berlusconistan last week, but it seems they don't even know the half of it. This nation of 58 million is spiraling dangerously out of control. Having fallen 12 spots in the the least corrupt nation rankings of Transparency International, putting them between South Africa and the Seychelles, you'd think someone would start asking questions about whose steering the ship. Then you remember, it's Berlusconi who, along with his family, controls a string of television stations which command half the national viewing audience. He owns Italy's largest publishing company, its most glamorous football club, a booming financial services company, and some lucrative odds and ends in the property sector. As the prime minister of Italy, he has control over the Italian public service broadcaster RAI, as his government can approve allies to the positions of president and board of directors. Essentially, he has influence over 90 per cent of all national television broadcasting. In 2002, NGO Reporters Without Borders reported that Berlusconi's government pressured RAI to drop the political TV show, "Sciuscia" and fire two journalists, Michele Santoro and Enzo Biagi, after they criticized Berlusconi. During the 2006 Italian election, there were complaints of blanket coverage favourable to Berlusconi. He received three hours and 16 minutes of airtime in one 15-day period compared to just eight minutes for Mr. Prodi, his rival, a clear violation of Italian electoral laws, which stated candidates should have equal airtime. He can call up RAI's director and ask him to hire some actresses in exchange for political and financial favors, then get the judges to destroy the wiretaps.

The Financial Times claims that Italy isn't in danger of slipping back into fascism, but where else are they headed? Whatever you think of the man or country, we're talking about a G7 (or is it 8 still?) nation, one that sent troops to Iraq, was at the very least a complicit partner of the US led 'extraodinary rendition' program and was once convinced to throw its support behind Hitler. Berlusconi's three terms as PM have been disasters, the International Monetary Fund thinks Italy will be the only euro zone country to experience three consecutive years of recession, from 2008 to 2010. Italy's public debt is set to soar to 116 per cent of gross domestic product by 2010, according to the European Commission. There are now 24 Italian MPs, senators and European MPs who have received final convictions for crimes. Maybe the psycho dwarf's antics and quips are designed to divert attention from the real problems of the economy and the rise of xenophobia in his nation. A country led by a man who the pope called a racist, a man who said of Obama, "He's young, handsome, and even has a good tan." A man who has simply used the state as a means of securing his own interests and to keep himself out of jail will host the next G8 meeting in earthquake stricken Abruzzo, where according to Papi, the homeless were able to enjoy a "camping weekend" and where he's sure to come up with more comedy gaffes. By that time he could have decided who's running Europe, yippee!

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More fun with conspiracy theories

World Bank president Robert Zoellick has been in Greece on unspecified business since May 14th, US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner’s public schedule is mysteriously empty for the next couple days, Josef Ackermann, head of Deutsche Bank, will be travelling “somewhere in Europe” while Jean-Claude Trichet, head of the European Central Bank, will not be around until the end of the week. Yep, it's conspiracy theorists wet dream time again, the Bilderburg Group is meeting this weekend at a hotel in Vouliagmeni, Greece, just south of Athens. Do 140 of the world's most powerful people meet every year to make key decisions on international policy that essentially control the world?

Named after the Bilderberg hotel in Oosterbeek, the Netherlands, where the first meeting was held in 1954, the group operates under the Chatham House Rules, meaning that participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participant, may be revealed. Adding more fuel to the conspiracist's view is the total media blackout maintained at these meetings; it's truly amazing that a group of names like this could have met just outside Washington, DC last year with almost no mainstream press coverage. Therefore, like any good conspiracy story, we're forced to mostly rely on rumor and coincidence to piece most of the Bildeberg story together.

So how does a group that doesn't even have a web page control the world? Seems the groups origins can be linked to the Knights of Malta, whose Hospitaller's connections are almost as strong a conspiracy magnet as the Templars, through its organizer, Joseph Retinger, a Pole who effectively forged ties with the European Council of Princes, the CIA, and Britain's MI6 to create the New World Order (NWO) think-tank. Bill Clinton was just a governor from Arkansas when he was invited in 1991, Margaret Thatcher's first appearance in 1975 was a near disaster as she needed to be prodded to join the discussion. When she finally did, she was marked for higher office. That other Clinton, Hillary, may have been convinced to let Obama become the next president at the 2008 event, privacy being ensured by locking reporters in the bathroom of a plane! Wars don't simply happen either, many say Bildeberg at the very least set the timeline for the latest Iraq war, facilitated the Falklands war by determining sanctions should be imposed on Argentina and perhaps triggered the war to bring down Slobodan Milosevic in Yugoslavia.

Finance and politics mix freely at Bilderberg, of that there can be no doubt. This year's focus will more than likely be the global economy, pushing to the backseat the North American union plans feared by many a loony. Who am I calling loony? Bilderberg did put together the European Union after all. Working on ways to get the Lisbon Treaty to pass will be on the agenda, with bets being placed on thinking they will focus a smear campaign on “Libertas”, an anti-treaty group led by Declan Ganley. One of the Bilderberger supposed planned moves is to use a whispering campaign in the US media suggesting that Ganley is being funded by arms dealers in the US linked to the US military. Having come so far, the EU project now numbers 27 countries (and of course the Eurovision song contest this weekend) they will find a way to get the treaty ratified, with or without Ireland's 'yes' vote. Retinger didn't bring Bildeberg into existence by himself, his strongest supporter was Prince Bernhard from the Netherlands. German-born Bernhard was a card-carrying Nazi and member of the SS, a fact that makes another conspiracy about the group, that it is a zionist organization, hard to swallow. Alden Hatch wrote a biography of Prince Bernhard where he insists that Bilderberg was the cradle of the European Community - later rebranded European Union. He describes Bilderberg's ultimate goal as a one-world government.

Of course most of the rumors this year are swirling around the economic crisis. Bilderberg 'guru' Daniel Estulin claims the pre-meeting booklet sent out to attendees stated they are looking at two options: Either a prolonged, agonizing depression that dooms the world to decades of stagnation, decline, and poverty ... or an intense-but-shorter depression that paves the way for a new sustainable economic world order, with less sovereignty but more efficiency. Credence to Estulin's claims are strengthened by his previous claims of using leaked information from his sources of what was said at the 2006 meeting in Canada and 2007 in Turkey to correctly predict the housing crash and the 2008 financial meltdown in his book The True Story of the Bilderberg Group. According to Estulin, they plan to continue to deceive millions of savers and investors who believe the hype about the supposed up-turn in the economy, setting them up for massive losses and searing financial pain in the months ahead. The bank “stress tests” conducted by Washington were little more than a shameless hoax. Hmm, why not? After all, the oil shocks of 1973 and last year both could have been masterminded by the group to get the petrodollar engine revving. In Europe, Belgian viscount and current Bilderberg-chairman Étienne Davignon recently admitted they "helped create the euro in the 1990s"; now thanks to the crisis it could be fast tracked into use in the 11 EU countries still not using the currency.

This latest admission seems all the creepier as this super secret society has been taking steps towards more transparency going so far as issuing a press release for the first time last year. How else could the acceptance by the public to handing over the economy to the banksters during the past 6-months be explained than the fact that we actually want to be controlled by these people. As far back as 1991, permanent Bilderberg member David Rockefeller said:

"It would have been quite impossible for us to develop our plan for the world if we had been subjected to the lights of publicity during those years. But, the world is more sophisticated and prepared to march towards a world government. The supranational sovereignty of an intellectual elite and world bankers is surely preferable to the national autodetermination practiced in past centuries ..."

The club is strictly European and American, very white and very male. According to Bilderberg founder member Dennis Healy: "Bilderberg is a way of bringing together politicians, industrialists, financiers and journalists. Politics should involve people who aren't politicians. We make a point of getting along younger politicians who are obviously rising, to bring them together with financiers and industrialists who offer them wise words. It increases the chance of having a sensible global policy." Are they Satan preparing the ground for a NWO through economic collapse, the coming food shortage and the ensuing war leading to the global government's birth to restore order? Do they want to create a global department of health out of the World Health Organization, a global treasury with a global currency out of the IMF? Are they telling the Americans to sign onto International Criminal Court treaty? Is climate change simply part of a plan to impose a global carbon tax to fund it all? Probably not, but whether it's the Bilderberg's who are marching us down the path toward the corporate autocracy or not, we seem to be going on our own anyway.

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Suspicious

Can you remember something you wanted to be true so badly that you'd have done anything to make it happen. Perhaps a Christmas wish when you were eight, the outcome of a life-saving surgery on a loved one, or if only that girl in class would stop at your desk and say hi. Imagine now that you'd have had that power to make it so but by using that power you would've had to cross some moral boundary, be it lying, cheating or hurting someone else. Would you have used your power? Well, it seems we live in a world where most people will do whatever it takes to advance their cause, and sadly, we all seem more than willing to sit on the sidelines applauding their deception.

The results of the so-called stress tests on US banks were released last week, while across the pond here in Europe, Wednesday night Barcelona defeated Chelsea to reach the Champion's League final where they'll face Manchester United. Perhaps two unrelated events, yet both conform to a pattern of manipulation and deception. You need to reassure investors and the public that banks are safe to keep the financial world afloat, invent a 'stress test' to prove their solvency; you need a championship final that will ensure more interest and thus advertising dollars, fix a match.

In Washington you had US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, a man who made his name being wined and dined by the big banks during his time as head of the New York Reserve Bank, announcing that these same banks need a few billion to stay afloat. Like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, "I think I can, I think I can..." the markets have reacted predictably by staging a rally, receiving the news that the banks are OK as an indication to continue to bid up prices on Wall Street. Even before the results were announced, Geithner had told us the results would be "reassuring". While the tests revealed a capital shortfall in the nations 19 biggest banks of $75 billion, the IMF declared recently that this number is closer to $275 billion (page 13) and folks like Nuriel Rubini have cast even more dire predictions. But on Wall Street, it seems like the more you believe, the higher the market.

European football is a confusing world for a Canadian transplant. However, the myriad of leagues and cups can be ignored when it comes the the Champions League where the best of the separate national leagues get thrown together in an effort to find one continental club champion. While North American sports have their Goliaths who always seem to be in the running, your Yankees, Patriots, Red Wings and Lakers, the last decade or so has brought a new buzzword, parody. Measures such as salary caps and reverse standing draft order have allowed unexpected challengers to emerge, notably the Tampa Bay Rays in baseball and the Arizona Cardinals in football last year. Meanwhile, in Europe, every year seems like a repeat of the previous, with the same teams qualifying over and over. This year was no exception as Barcelona, Manchester United and Chelsea made it to the semi-final round once again with the only change being Arsenal making it instead of Liverpool (who fell in the quarters). Predictability breeds boredom in sports and UEFA wanted to avoid a second consecutive final involving Chelsea and Manchester United.

It's hard to imagine that a banking system which was so broken but a few months ago, needing trillions of dollars to get credit flowing again could now only be $75 billion short. Supposedly, the test was meant to ensure that the banks could survive a 'worst-case scenario' economy, an unemployment rate of 10.3 percent next year, an economic contraction of 3.3% this year and a 22% further decline in housing prices — the losses by the 19 banks could total $600 billion this year and next, or 9.1 percent of the banks’ total loans, regulators concluded. That rate of loss would be higher than any other since 1921. While the adverse situation was supposed to be unlikely, it is not that much worse than what has happened so far, unemployment hit 8.9% this month as 'only' 539,000 non-farm jobs were lost, the smallest number since October. 5.7 million people have lost there job in America since December 2007. Of course the results could have meant something if the banks hadn't been allowed to dictate the terms of the tests, but we'd hate to have had the results mean something, that would have just caused investors to sell bank shares, wiping out the weaker banks and allowing capitalism to work its magic by making room for new, stronger players to rise up and take their place. Oh yeah, that's what should have been done ages ago, instead, Tim & Co. have kept their friends firmly in place at the head of world finance.

UEFA, the administrative and controlling body of European football, is run by Michel Platini, a man who has made no attempt to hide his contempt of English teams, going so far as hinting at banning teams such as Chelsea and Man U. But does his England hating mean that he would instruct the referee to help Barcelona get by Chelsea? Well, why was Norwegian referee Tom Henning Ovrebo even given the assignment? At least 2 non-calls were absolute no-brainers and a couple others were more than arguable. Adding fuel to the fire, it's come out that UEFA had posted a dummy match report on its website hours before kick-off, a report that correctly, as it turned out, predicted the final 1-1 score, that Barcelona would score a late equalizer and even predicted three of the four Chelsea players who would get booked, Ballack, Alex and Drogba. Or did the advertisers lean on Platini in a bid to avoid another Chelsea-Man U final which would have been anathema to the rest of the continent? Before the match, even English papers were abuzz with articles proclaiming that Barcelona needed to win "for the good of football".

So, here we are with the banksters controlling the economy and the advertisers controlling European football, what a lovely corporatist world we live in! All we need now is a little lithium added to our water supply and we'll be as cuddly as kittens. As usual, greed has been allowed to run amok, resulting in a fixed world where the outcome is decided before kick-off or the opening bell. Since the bank stress tests were first announced on Feb. 10th, the S&P 500 financial index has gone from 133.13 on February 9 to 96.18 two weeks later on apocalyptic nationalization fears, but through careful managing of leaks and results, the index has roared back, closing above 175 on Friday. Close your eyes, make a wish and all is good. Football, the beautiful game, seems no better, through luck or manipulation, we'll have our dream final come May 27th as Manchester United face Barcelona FC in Rome. Fans are happy and more importantly, continental advertisers are happy. Who needs a level playing field? Maybe I should just ignore it all and be happy with the masses.

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Flashback

Just a couple of quick hits which brought me back to last summer. Woke up this morning to news that the Georgian army was rebelling after falling asleep to last Thursday's Daily Show with a clip of the Large Hadron Collider. The never failing race to see who will truly bring about the end of the world, war or science (both?). Seems as though Saakashvili will live to see another day in power as the BBC only has the Rebellion Over story posted. Yet it seems that his presidency is on the same start and stop schedule of the machine that could bring about the end of it all, at least if crazies like this are to be believed:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
Large Hadron Collider
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis First 100 Days

The accelerator was powered up for a short time last fall, fired up on Sept. 9th, just after the war down in Georgia wound down, then burst a pipe 10 days later leaking liquid helium. The Russians bitch slapped the poor little Georgians, taking out most of Gori, a town I visited a few years back to see native son Stalin's statue, almost as quick as the circuit was completed by the beam of low-energy particles fired through the collider's 17-mile (27-kilometer) underground track. In case you missed it, this experiment is out to show the world as it existed fractions of moments after the big bang, with collisions at speeds 99.999999% that of light hopefully yielding the fabled Higgs boson, or God particle - or maybe a micro black hole or strangelet . Meanwhile, the Russians and the Americans along with NATO, continue their proxy war in poor Georgia as fingers are being pointed at the Russians for instigating the attempted coup.

Re-start for the collider was to be early spring, but instead continue on the parallel universe shared with Georgia. NATO exercises are planned around Tbilisi - or more importantly designed because Abhkazia and South Ossetia. The planning of these exercises is almost too blatant a display, but it is playing out as expected. The sound of Putvedev's protests seemed to foreshadow the sounds of the colliders start up hum once again. It seems like yet another play scripted for Medvedev to step from out of Putin's shadow, but I somehow doubt Putin is ready to take a farewell bow.

Of course this bow is exactly what Saakashvili was most likely orchestrating the avoidance of through this 'coup'. While the collider only needed to be warmed from -271 degrees C to allow workers in to do the repair work last year, Georgia's president faces far more internal heat from opposition in his country. Images of protesters camped out in cages blocking the main drag of the capital (yes walked it, it is the only main artery) have reinforced the image of a nation without faith in its leader. Funny how many claimed the Russians lost the propaganda war, the real fight last year, yet I've been swayed to their side by what I've read since. NATO exercises are due to start tomorrow, the collider won't be up and running until September (with Tom Hanks flipping the switch?!?) with real results about the beginning (and end) of the universe not coming in until a year later. Maybe we've got a while to survive if these pesky Ruskies and Georgians can get along, well, until 2012 that is!!!

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Moral Corrosion

As much of the world celebrated May Day, a day devoted to the worker which many have been indoctrinated to believe is a Communist holiday, we seem to be standing on a cultural, economic and political precipice. Voices are screaming from all directions telling us that a new pandemic is upon us while fascists are seizing control of government as the global markets teeter on the brink of collapse. Somehow during the last decade we seem to have lost the ability to objectively step back and assess situations, both good and bad, and come up with solutions to problems or game plans for success. Neither swine flu, economic depression nor waterboarding will bring about the end of the world, but you couldn't guess by reading the news.

It's hard to imagine the world pre-Y2K. Here I am typing away on my laptop on the couch in Poznan, Poland, connected to the internet by an invisible beam that grants me access to the world. Back then, I was in Canada, working at a bank, I used the internet for email, browsed a few web pages, some news oriented, many pornographic, the rest fantasy sports related. My news was still fed to me mainly through the TV, mostly CNN with most of the other networks providing entertainment of one sort or the other. I'd pick up the odd newspaper and sometimes hear the news on the way to work in my car, sometimes balanced, occasionally wacky, there were even shock jocks like Howard Stern to spice things up now and then. Perhaps my vantage point has changed more than most, but I'm assuming (dangerous word that) most people reading these words now get the majority or their information via these internets from blogs, tweets or web pages. Many more still get their news from the TV, but a different TV than I knew. There was no 'Faux' News. CNN blared in the background occasionally, but not continuously as it must do now, unless it's FOX or MSNBC, BBC or TV5. Since then we've lurched from crisis to crisis, Y2K, tsunamis, stolen election, 9/11, wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, snipers, Colombia, Kerry, SARS, mad cow, 11-M, 7/7, Katrina, Virginia Tech, Sudan, Gaza, Burma, oops, Myanmar, Bali, North Korea, Pakistan, economic depression, avian flu and now swine flu to name but a few.

Point, yes. Swine flu. Well, chances are it will blow by, but we ALL know about it. Depression, that too, so steps are being taken. But while we also know that the US government executed Japanese generals for ordering waterboarding on American POW's during WWII, it still seems OK for Americans to order and execute the same torture on their own POW's, or illegal combatants. It took less than a decade, and one f#cked up terrorist attack to get to a point where our moral compass is being spun for us, by those intent on not even allowing one to form their own opinion on the ethical question of whether torture is right or wrong. Obfuscation of the question, causing confusion, bewilderment and stupefaction has been facilitated by this 24/7 news culture. The world would end when pigs flu, but it has a way to go to overtake the Spanish, Hong Kong or even just the Asian variety this century as we now seem to know what to do. The issue of torture is simply whether it's right or wrong, but the question for the masses gets mixed up with a witches brew of distractions: "is it torture?", it is, "did or does it work?", it didn't, doesn't and won't, hint: do you really believe that waterboarding someone the 183rd time in a month is any more likely to reveal information than the 182nd?, "why did Obama release the memos?", to clear the air, confirming what we already knew therefore allowing us to make up our mind about what to do, "are we now less safe?", well, thanks to the policies of torture, future American POW's will be, "was McCain speaking the truth when he mentioned the Japanese general executions?", he was. The Third Geneva Convention was created to protect prisoners of war off the battlefield. If one nation is allowed to flaunt these laws because crazy brown people are cutting off their prisoners' heads, what's to stop the rest of the world from doing the same to that nation sometime down the road? Therefore, you just don't do it. However, this question, like the flu, economics, or gay rights can be spun any which way you want these days with mind numbing effects thanks to these invisible connections.



Oops, sidetracked again, point. Yes, swine flu. Got your mask? Chrysler now being controlled by the American and Canadian government, the UAW and a (gasp) European company (Fiat) is sure to be held up as more socialist/fascist fodder for the masses that still cling to the elephantine ideals of the Republicans in America. Tea bags won't save you this time, we're talking unions, governments and Europeans, not just raising taxes from 36% to 39% on income earned over a quarter million, real socialism. Dude, get a grip. (OK, maybe it's only the top 2% of earners today...) Cars are so 1950's, so the government won't pay indefinitely to keep producing them like they keep doing for the new millennium financial industry. Strange how no one questioned the swing in our ethics as it became more and more normal for our youth to enroll in 'business', 'finance' or 'economics' degrees while previous generations valued 'medicine', 'engineering' or 'philosophy'. Stocks in our 401k, RRSP or European retirement versions became more important than those worn by our workers or Guantanamo prisoners. Is it any surprise that now you can fool people into believing anything? Torture can simply be called robbery to advance your political agenda so why not do it to save lives?

The talking point that sticks in many people's heads is that thanks to the advanced interrogation techniques, or torture, attacks were averted and therefore innocent lives saved. The ticking time bomb scenario is used ad nauseum. Problem is it's not the right question. Yes, it's a familiar tactic by the 'left' as well in issues such as climate change. The sea is rising, ice caps are melting, we're all going to die. However, even this issue, when one is allowed to step back and think, can be boiled down to a simple 2 outcome question. Do something or don't. I for one think something should be done instead of confusing the debate by questioning whether or not we're causing the problem, debating if environmentalism is a communist plot or what Al Gore's motive is. Do something or don't, simple. While Obama's saving the banksters has been a wrongheaded approach to saving the economy, imagine the right wing ire if he'd of spent that same amount of money on greening the economy. Sure, he'd of been right, but instead of cries that he is steering his country towards a socialist state or a one world government and currency, he'd of moved away from the nation's vested interest in the status quo, where their might is still right.

More TVs and god cars equals more happiness, the average Joe works longer and harder, gets fatter and dumber while being fed from the fear factory. Most of the other kinds of factories have been relocated abroad, while the financial industry has grown to replace them. Somewhat ironically, that same industry has poisoned the economy, while the one that could produce the vaccines to save lives against pandemics such as the swine flu has been outsourced to China. The US has only one flu vaccination manufacturing plant left today. Our choices today have repercussions tomorrow, whether it's repealing Glass-Steagall or authorizing torture. The Bush, Cheney and Rice's are still running around the question, while others like Alyssa Peterson have paid the ultimate price for their hubris. Worse yet for many further down the chain of command, "I was only following orders" isn't an acceptable line of defence, especially if you're on the losing side like John Demjanjuk, a man possibly known as Ivan the Terrible more than 60 years ago and still being hunted down today.

Being the leader of the world comes with a price, not only a debt. Flag-waving, pin-wearing, jingoistic hysteria took a nation to war as everyone stood by, then moved on to putting prisoners on Guantanamo, using off-shore ships or other countries in what has become known as 'extraordinary renditions' to sidestep the Convention Against Torture rules while claiming that "America does not torture". Throw in some legal mumbo jumbo, label POW's unlawful combatants, unsign international treaties and create some chaos with a little help from some background noise. So where do we find guidance? Funny enough, the more religious you are, the more likely you are to believe torture is OK under certain circumstances. I'm not a big bible guy, but the whole do unto others quote seems to apply here quite nicely, for if you ignore it you never know when you'll be repaid in spades. To avoid this moral quagmire altogether, we have the rule of law. The last 10 years has seen a huge shift in how we see the issues of the day along with a growing taste for taking the easy route. In medicine, economics and morals: "you start taking shortcuts, and over time that corrodes what’s best in a people. It corrodes the character of a country.

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