CHINA CONFIDENTIAL
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Beyond the Bomber: Brzezinski is the Real Threat
“We cannot accept a nuclear Iran, but there are a great many things one doesn’t accept but yet lives with. We never accepted the Berlin wall.”
-Zbigniew Brzezinski, as quoted by the Financial Times on Oct. 12, 2008
Forget Bill Ayers. Brzezinski is the real threat. Jimmy Carter's former National Security Advisor is backing--and advising--Barack Obama.
Brzezinski is the mad political scientist whose warped interpretation of political realism led him to cynically support the Islamist overthrow of Iran's pro-US, modernizing monarch, Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, while directing the secret arming of anti-Soviet Islamists in Afghanistan. That effort, which was designed to suck the Soviets into invading Afghanistan, was escalated by the Reagan administration into the largest-ever covert operation in history.
Brzezinski's Afghan adventure--which led to the creation of Al Qaeda--and betrayal of the Shah-- which led to today's confrontation with nuclear-arming Iran--stemmed from the Polish-born Cold Warrior's strategy of exploiting right-wing political Islam, or Islamism, in order to weaken and isolate Russia.
Notice the reference to Russia. Even after the collapse of Communism and the crackup of the Soviet Union, Brzezinski is committed to the idea of an Islamist alliance. He is working from the sidelines for a negotiated peace with the Taliban and a withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan; appeasement of Iran; and abandonment of Israel, whose existence he regards as a "mistake."
Brzezinski isn't a realist. He is an imperialist--meaning, he is bent on overthrowing the status quo. And he is again prepared to deal with the devil in order to achieve his objectives. Seven years after the Islamist attacks of 9/11, he still believes that the US can ride the Islamist tiger without being eaten by it. He sees Russia as a natural enemy, rising Islam--and Islamist Iran--as potential allies, in spite of "a few stirred up Moslems," as he once put it, Israel as a liability, and US Jewish communal support for Israel as an obstacle that must be overcome or crushed.
He is a menace ... with access to and influence over Barack Obama.
Two Chinese Toy Factories Fail; 7,000 Workers Fired
Hundreds of now unemployed workers gathered outside government offices Friday in Dongguan city in China's southern Guangdong Province.
They sought compensation for two months of unpaid wages after the toy factories they worked for on Wednesday suddenly closed.
The company that owns the factories, Hong Kong listed Smart Union Group makes toys for US brands Mattel and Disney, and is one of thousands of export manufacturers that have suffered heavily from the global financial crisis.
Last week, the mayor of Dongguan, Li Yuquan, told a group of visiting foreign journalists more than 400 factories in the city had closed down in the first half of this year and that unemployment was a growing concern.
He said foreign businesses' profitability will be a lot less than last year and that there are also more businesses that are losing money. Next year, he said, the number of factories closing down will possibly be a little higher.
Guangdong is China's export manufacturing hub and has seen export growth drop by 13.5 percent as western buyers have little cash to spare.
About half of Chinese companies making toys for export in Guangdong, some 3,600, have been forced to shut down this year.
Aside from the global downturn, other factors are the rising cost of labor, raw materials, and increased safety standards, as well as a stronger Chinese currency.
Smart Union earlier announced a $26 million loss from weak demand and rising costs.
It is not clear if the company will pay the back wages owed to workers.
China's state media reports the factory bosses have been missing for several days, and the local government on Friday began paying workers out of a fund of more than $3 million.Sarkozy, Bush, Barroso Meeting Today
US President George Bush will meet today with his French counterpart, Nicolas Sarkozy, and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso for talks on the crumbling world economy.
The European leaders say they will press for an overhaul of the global financial system during the talks outside Washington, at the Camp David presidential retreat. They are also expected to discuss a proposed emergency economic summit meeting with leaders of the Group of Eight and other nations.
"The world is confronted by the worst economic and financial crisis since the 1930s. We need to reflect on the stakes, how we arrived here, who is responsible, and what happened," Sarkozy told a summit of French-speaking nations in Canada late Friday. "And we must draw lessons from it. The world must change."
A White House spokeswoman told reporters no date has been set for an emergency summit. She said it is not likely today's meeting will result in any major policy announcements. [UPDATE: A senior Bush administration official told AP the president plans to host a summit of world leaders in the near future to discuss the global response to the financial crisis.]
President Bush said Friday that Washington has taken "aggressive" action to resolve the financial crisis. But he warned Americans it will take time for the efforts to take effect.
Economic reports paint a mixed picture of the crisis. Some economists say there is evidence that stalled credit markets are starting to improve.
But the US Commerce Department said the number of new homes under construction fell to a 17-year low in September. And a separate University of Michigan report said consumer confidence dropped sharply, by nearly 13 percentage points to a reading of 57.5, during the month.
US stock markets posted losses Friday after a day of volatile trading, while European markets closed with strong gains. Key Asian markets closed before Bush spoke, and they had mixed results.
Meanwhile, the public mood grows angrier. AFP reports:Unemployment has grown across Europe and the United States with key sectors such as car-makers badly hit. Analysts forecast worsening economic conditions in most advanced economies.
The finance industry's reputation took a new blow in France where Caisse d'Epargne bank said it lost about 600 million euros (800 million dollars) in a trading "incident."
A company official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that a group finance director had been sacked over the loss.
Also Friday, Swiss newspapers angrily called on former top managers of banking giant UBS to return bonuses after the bank had to be rescued by the state this week.
"Mr. Ospel, pay back your bonus! Now! Immediately!" screamed the front page of tabloid Blick, referring to former UBS chairman Marcel Ospel, who was forced to resign this year over billions in losses in the US subprime mortgage crisis.This Jew Says God Bless the Catholic Church
AFP reports:Catholic bishops attending a synod at the Vatican have said Islam does not respect internationally enshrined women's rights, the ANSA news agency reported, quoting a spokesman.
The criticism that Islamic tenets flout the principles of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights came during a meeting of Spanish-speaking bishops at the three-week gathering, the report said.
The Catholic church, in its relations with Muslims, "should keep in mind their conception of marriage and the family, which does not accord women the rights contained in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights", said the spokesman, Julian Carron, quoting from a summary of the discussion.
For this reason, the bishops called on the church to exercise "caution" in its efforts at rapprochement with Islam, Carron said.
Click here to continue.Muslim Rebels Kill 2 Russian Soldiers
Tell me again: why aren't we allied with Russia against our common enemy, radical Islam?
AP reports:At least two Russian soldiers were killed and 10 others were wounded Saturday when rebels ambushed a military convoy in a volatile Russian province near Chechnya, officials said.
The Russian Interior Ministry in the southern province of Ingushetia says about a dozen militants ambushed a military convoy on a forest road in the Sunzha region on Saturday.
It said in a statement that the attackers fired automatic weapons and grenades at military trucks, killing two soldiers and wounding others.
An Interior Ministry officer who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak to the media said that at least 10 soldiers were hospitalized with wounds. He said the attackers knocked down two armored vehicles and two trucks before fleeing.
Frequent raids by Islamic militants have destabilized Ingushetia, which neighbors Chechnya to the west, and other provinces in Russia's North Caucasus region.
Click here to continue.Way to Go: China Tightens the Vice on Islam
Imagine if FDR had criticized Stalin--instead of partnering with him to defeat Hitler--and declared war on "blitzkrieg," after praising German culture.
Of course, the situation will only worsen if Barack Obama wins. His first impulse after 9/11 was to urge "restraint"--i.e. to hold the US back--and vow to stand with Arabs and Muslims should the government start "rounding them up." The Democratic Candidate of Change is surrounded by advisers who want to downgrade and demilitarize the war against Islamist terrorism and appease Islamist Iran--and Islamism in general.
Back to China. The New York Times reports:To be a practicing Muslim in the vast autonomous region of northwestern China called Xinjiang is to live under an intricate series of laws and regulations intended to control the spread and practice of Islam, the predominant religion among the Uighurs, a Turkic people uneasy with Chinese rule.
The edicts touch on every facet of a Muslim’s way of life. Official versions of the Koran are the only legal ones. Imams may not teach the Koran in private, and studying Arabic is allowed only at special government schools.
Two of Islam’s five pillars — the sacred fasting month of Ramadan and the pilgrimage to Mecca called the hajj — are also carefully controlled. Students and government workers are compelled to eat during Ramadan, and the passports of Uighurs have been confiscated across Xinjiang to force them to join government-run hajj tours rather than travel illegally to Mecca on their own.
Government workers are not permitted to practice Islam, which means the slightest sign of devotion, a head scarf on a woman, for example, could lead to a firing.
Click here to read the whole article.
Sunday, 19 October 2008
Seven thousand workers were laid off in southern China this week after two major toy factories making brands for Western markets were closed down. China's export manufacturers, and toy makers in particular, have been hit hard by the global financial crisis. Daniel Schearf reports from Beijing.
Seriously. The Church has taken a courageous stand and so deserves our support, respect, and appreciation.
Foreign Confidential....
Bush blew it. After 9/11, he should have forged a World War II-style alliance with China and Russia to defeat radical Islam. Instead, the President of the United States reacted to the Islamist mega-terrorist attacks--the worst-ever attacks on US soil--by praising "peaceful and beautiful Islam" and declaring war on "terror."
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