Roberto Abraham Scaruffi: The 7-year comprador dictator Giorgio Napolitano is the populist pervert having ordered his military-CC-NATO Secret Police (with annexed judiciary) to mount sex-scandals, in addition the usual "mafia" and "corruption" mounted scandals, for better annihilating formal governments and parliaments He wants to show that he is a super-comprador dictator for trying imposing himself for a new 7-year term

Sunday 17 July 2011

The 7-year comprador dictator Giorgio Napolitano is the populist pervert having ordered his military-CC-NATO Secret Police (with annexed judiciary) to mount sex-scandals, in addition the usual "mafia" and "corruption" mounted scandals, for better annihilating formal governments and parliaments
He wants to show that he is a super-comprador dictator for trying imposing himself for a new 7-year term


1- CHI È IL “NOTO PROFESSORE UNIVERSITARIO NAPOLETANO” CHE SECONDO LA MOGLIE DI ALFONSO PAPA “VIENE OGGI A PIANGERE CHIEDENDO E PREGANDO DI NON RIVELARE CHE LA SIGNORINA ROBERTA DARSENA NON È L’AMANTE DI MIO MARITO, MA LA SUA”? AH SAPERLO - 2- LA PAPACONSORTE INNAMORATA: “LUDMILLA, POI… CREDO SIA L’AMANTE DI BISIGNANI” - 3- IL PROCURATORE LEPORE AVVISA: “NON ALZIAMO POLVERONI, MA METTIAMO INSIEME FATTI” - 4- BISIGNANI RESTA AI DOMICLIARI. VENERDÌ PROSSIMO, SHOWDOWN: RISCHIA CARCERE -




1- CSM SOSPEDE PAPA DALLE FUNZIONI E DALLO STIPENDIO
Corriere.it 
- La Prima sezione disciplinare del Consiglio superiore della magistratura ha deciso sabato mattina la sospensione, in via cautelare, di Alfonso Papa dalle funzioni e dallo stipendio. Con questa decisione, il magistrato parlamentare del Pdl sotto inchiesta nell'indagine P4, per il quale la Procura di Napoli ha chiesto l'arresto, non percepirà lo stipendio come giudice nemmeno nel caso in cui si dimettesse da Montecitorio. La delibera del Csm è stata presa a porte chiuse dopo l'audizione dello stesso Papa.
SGARBI E BISIGNANISGARBI E BISIGNANIALFONSO PAPAALFONSO PAPA
LA GIUNTA E L'AULA - Venerdì la giunta per le autorizzazioni della Camera ha votato sì all'arresto del deputato del Pdl. Il partito del premier ha abbandonato i lavori per protesta, mentre la Lega si è astenuta, anche se Bossi aveva chiesto di votare. Sulla vicenda il governo è diviso. Il premier Silvio Berlusconi vuol salvare il deputato, che si è autosospeso dal suo gruppo alla Camera. Mentre secondo il leader del Carroccio Papa deve andare in galera.
L'ultima parola spetta ora all'Aula: la richiesta d'arresto arriverà a Montecitorio mercoledì 20 luglio. Papa andrebbe in carcere con tutti i benefici appartenenti alla carica di parlamentare: diritto a percepire l'indennità parlamentare e a presentare proposte di legge, interrogazioni, interpellanze e mozioni.
ALFONSO PAPA articleALFONSO PAPA ARTICLE
2- BISIGNANI RESTA AI DOMICLIARI. VENERDÌ PROSSIMO, RISCHIA DI FINIRE IN CARCERE - LEPORE: "NON ALZIAMO POLVERONI, MA METTIAMO INSIEME FATTI"
Giornale.it -
 Il Tribunale del Riesame ha deciso di non revocare gli arresti domiciliari per Luigi Bisignani, indagato nell'inchiesta sulla P4 condotta dalla procura di Napoli. La camera di Consiglio ha analizzato tutti gli elementi depositati lunedì scorso dai pm titolari del fascicolo, Francesco Curcio ed Henry John Woodcock. Nessun commento dai difensori di Bisignani. Non si esclude che i magistrati chiedano ora il giudizio immediato.
Berlusconi Alfonso PapaBERLUSCONI ALFONSO PAPA
Ma c'è attesa per il verdetto del tribunale della Libertà del prossimo 22 luglio, quando i giudici si devono pronunciare sulla loro richiesta di contestare agli indagati Bisignani, Alfonso Papa ed Enrico La Monica - il carabiniere tuttora latitante - il reato di associazione a delinquere, capo di imputazione respinto dal giudice. Bisignani al momento deve rispondere di favoreggiamento. Intanto esterna ancora il procuratore capo di Napoli, Giovandomenico Lepore: «Non alziamo polveroni, ma mettiamo insieme fatti».
TIZIANA RODA, MOGLIE DI PAPATIZIANA RODA, MOGLIE DI PAPA
3- PARLA LA MOGLIE DI PAPA: «LE DONNE
DI MIO MARITO? SONO LE AMANTI DI ALTRI»
Anna Paola Merone per Corriere del Mezzogiorno - http://corrieredelmezzogiorno.corriere.it/napoli/notizie/cronaca/2011/16-luglio-2011/parla-moglie-papa-le-donne-mio-marito-sono-amanti-altri-1901104009399.shtml
Avvocato Rodà, come ha reagito alle notizie in arrivo da Roma? «È stata una doccia fredda. E sto male, da due punti di vista: quello professionale; quello di moglie, che conosce l'uomo che ha sposato e sa che uomo è».
TIZIANA RODA E ALFONSO  PAPATIZIANA RODA E ALFONSO PAPA
Tiziana Rodà è una donna battagliera. Sportiva, dinamica, conosciutissima a Napoli. Selettiva frequentatrice di salotti, madre presente di due figli preadolescenti, cattolica praticante; diciamo anche che è una donna bella, sorridente, appassionata di motori con una debolezza: il verde. Si veste sempre color mela ed è difficile non notarla.
Il giorno in cui il nome del marito Alfonso Papa è stato associato sui giornali all'inchiesta P4, il figlio più grande cominciava suoi esami di licenza media. E lei ha scelto di affrontare queste vicenda con il proprio stile: non si è nascosta, ha affrontato sue giornate non cambiando di una virgola le sue abitudini ed è rimasta accanto all'uomo che ha sposato quindici anni fa.
«Premetto - afferma - che io e Alfonso non amiamo stare sui giornali. E questa intervista va considerata un'eccezione. Utile per fare chiarezza su alcune cose. Anche per rispetto a valenti collaboratori che lavorano insieme con me da anni» .
PAPA E MASTELLAPAPA E MASTELLABISIGNANIBISIGNANI
Suo marito le ha mai dato una mano nel suo lavoro? «Mai, tutti gli incarichi professionali che ho avuto li ho ottenuti mandando in giro il mio curriculum e grazie ai consensi ottenuti in anni di carriera. A breve mi iscriverò all'albo dei Cassazionisti. Non accetto menzogne pubblicate e dette in giro. Innanzi tutto le cifre di cui si è parlato riguardano il fatturato e non il reddito. E poi si tratta di compensi che vanno distribuiti su dieci anni di lavoro per un pool di 30-40 legali. Ma non ho certo lavorato solo per l'Enel, che nella sola Campania per il blackout aveva 97 mila richieste di risarcimento. Ho incarichi anche da Telecom, Equitalia. E sottolineo incarichi. Una sola consulenza ho avuto da Nicola d'Abundo che, fra l'altro, è mio amico personale» .

La Giunta per le autorizzazioni si è pronunciata a favore dell'arresto. 
«Sì e non ce lo aspettavamo proprio. Da quando è cominciata questa storia mi sono costantemente sentita in una bufera, scatenata da motivi politici, o di vendetta. Non so perché è stato fatto tutto questo. I nostri avvocati Carlo di Casola e Lello d'Alise - che peraltro sono due amici - procederanno secondo una strada indicata da Alfonso, che ha già scritto una memoria molto puntuale, presentata alla Camera. Io però sto male, perché le calunnie dette sono state davvero tante» .
GIANDOMENICO LEPOREGIANDOMENICO LEPORE
Anche relative a presunte relazioni di suo marito con altre donne. 
«So bene che è il gossip quello che stimola di più le chiacchiere e l'immaginazione. Ma mio marito non ha mai avuto in uso le utenze da cui sarebbero partite alcune chiamate. In quel famoso agosto non era a Roma, ma a New York con me e i nostri figli. Io sono indignata con la signorina Roberta Darsena che non è l'amante di mio marito, ma di un noto professore universitario napoletano che viene oggi a piangere chiedendo e pregando di non rivelare questa circostanza.
maria elena valanzanoMARIA ELENA VALANZANO
Credo la Darsena ce l'abbia con me: ha lavorato al mio studio ma era così incapace che ho dovuto mandarla via. Non l'ha mandata giù. Ludmilla, poi... Credo sia l'amante di Bisignani. Pare che a Roma lo sappiano tutti. La Valanzano ha detto che Alfonso a Natale era alla casa all'Olgiata con Ludmilla. Se si fossero presi il disturbo di verificare, avrebbero scoperto che era invece a casa, in famiglia. Come ha scritto Alfonso forse c'era suo avatar a Roma. E queste patetiche donnette sono la cornice di un tranello politico che si serve di loro; non hanno altre qualità per affermarsi e guadagnare se non prestandosi a queste nefandezze» .

E gli appuntamenti all'hotel de Russie?
«Un imprenditore campano ha prenotato una notte in albergo a nome di Alfonso per approfittare della convenzione di cui lui godeva. Anche qui: verificare è semplice» .
Auto di lusso, Rolex ‘‘ nudi'', incontri con ricettatori. Suo marito aveva una doppia vita? «Assolutamente no. Lui non ha mai ricevuto alcun regalo e la Jaguar è mia, la pago io. Il finanziamento è a mio carico. Mio marito è un libro aperto e io sono molto serena» .
frfll12 giardino hotel de russieFRFLL12 GIARDINO HOTEL DE RUSSIE
I vostri amici, un giro di napoletani che fa capo alla città generalmente definita "bene", come ha reagito alle accuse che vi sono state mosse? 
«Tanti ci hanno scritto messaggi di solidarietà, altri già maliziosi si sono allontanati. Ma posso aggiungere una cosa sulle accuse di concussione?» .
Prego
«Gli imprenditori Fasolino e Matacena, che oggi dicono di aver paura di mio marito, erano quelli che si appostavano sotto casa per chiedere piaceri. Al sabato mattina sapevano che facevamo tappa al bar Cimmino prima della spesa e ci aspettavano. Matacena una volta ci seguì fin dentro al cinema, dove stavamo accompagnando i ragazzi» .
Lei ha mai conosciuto Bisignani? 
«L'ho visto una volta. Conosciuto mai, so che è una persona molto particolare» .
letta - lepore - demagistris e a destra Salvo Nastasi e Giulia Minoli incintaLETTA - LEPORE - DEMAGISTRIS E A DESTRA SALVO NASTASI E GIULIA MINOLI INCINTA
E cosa mi dice della P4?
«Le dico che penso ci sia una P5, che coinvolge figure di rilievo della Procura».
I PM WOODCOCK E PISCITELLII PM WOODCOCK E PISCITELLI
Anche la sua famiglia è stata coinvolta dalla indagini. Perché suo padre Agostino pagava la casa di suo marito a Roma? 
«Una premessa: la casa dei miei genitori è stata perquisita e dopo soli cinque minuti la notizia era sulle agenzie. Una perquisizione durante la quale non è stata trovato nulla. Dunque, il fitto. Mio padre pagava la casa di Roma poiché doveva a me una somma, equivalente a quella data a mia sorella per l'acquisto di un posto auto. Lui pagava la casa e Alfonso dava a me i soldi, una casa dove dovevamo andare ad abitare io e i ragazzi. Mio marito insisteva affinché ci trasferissimo a Roma purtroppo non l'abbiamo fatto» .
Suo marito ha studiato Giurisprudenza, poi il concorso da magistrato, la professione... 
«Ed è stato in gambissima. Ha ottenuto tanti successi professionali» .
E perché la politica? 
«Una passione autentica, divorante» .
Oggi se ne pente? 
«No, in tanti però gli dicono ‘‘ma chi te lo ha fatto fare?''» .
Perché crede sia successo tutto questo se suo marito è innocente? 
«Non me lo spiego. E' di certo un gioco politico. E non mi spiego a questo punto neanche la posizione della Lega. Mio marito ha lavorato per cinque anni con il ministro Castelli ed è stato poi confermato da Clemente Mastella... Creda a me: mio marito è un uomo d'onore». 

di Andrea Indini - ore 13:41

La sinistra frondista sogna il ribaltone: i cospiratori sono al lavoro senza tregua per mandare a casa il Cav. Bersani: "I vecchi protagonisti si facciano da parte". Quella che i democratici hanno in mente è una fase di decantazione, in vista delle elezioni, per preparare la strada alla sinistra
ore 14:42

La donna, che venerdì si era dimessa dalla guida di News International, doveva essere ascoltata martedì dalla commissione Cultura dei Comuni. James Murdoch sarebbe indagato da Scotland Yard per aver tentato di coprire le dimensioni "su scala industriale" dello scandalo delle intercettazioni telefoniche
ore 14:19

Sono oltre duemila le tonnellate di rifiuti giacenti oggi nelle strade di Napoli. In periferia, come nei giorni scorsi, le situazioni di maggiore criticità: la spazzatura è ricomparsa però anche nel "cuore" del capoluogo campano a causa di proteste sindacali


Testo 01
Tremonti sbaglia sul Titanic
Il nostro ministro delle finanze, parlando del rischio di crollo economico italiano ha detto: “è come sul Titanic: non si salvano neanche i passeggeri in prima classe”. I media hanno ripreso la dichiarazione senza commentare lo svarione e altri si sono messi a citarlo, tipo Casini nel suo discorso alla Camera di venerdì 15 luglio.
Ora c’è da dire che le persone a bordo del Titanic erano circa 2.225. Solo 704 sopravvissero e 1.519 morirono (i dati sono leggermente discordanti a seconda delle fonti…). Si salvarono il 60% dei passeggeri di prima classe, per un totale di 199 persone. In seconda classe furono salvate 120 persone, corrispondente al 42%. In terza classe, i sopravvissuti furono 174, equivalente al 25%, mentre tra l'equipaggio si salvarono in 214, corrispondente al 24% del numero totale. (Fonte)
Quindi il paragone di Tremonti non regge. O meglio, ha senso come ulteriore prova che ancora una volta si prospetta una crisi che colpirà soprattutto i poveracci.
Ma il parallelo tra il Titanic e la situazione italiana diventa ancor più curioso, una strana coincidenza che svela la verità, perché l’affondamento del Titanic fu ben diverso da come viene generalmente raccontato.
Se è vero che non c’erano a bordo scialuppe di salvataggio sufficienti è vero anche che su di esse ci salirono poco più della metà dei passeggeri che avrebbero potuto salvare. La strage del Titanic fu ingigantita a causa dell’idiozia umana. Esattamente quel che sta succedendo in Italia!
Il senatore William Alden Smith, che dirigeva l’inchiesta ufficiale Usa nel 1912 scrisse: “Le scialuppe furono riempite con tanta indifferenza, e abbassate con tanta velocità, da sacrificare inutilmente 500 persone in nome della ordinata disciplina del caricamento… C'erano 1.176 posti disponibili nelle scialuppe, ma esse contenevano solo 704 persone, 12 delle quali furono ripescate dal mare, in condizioni climatiche favorevoli e acqua perfettamente calma.” (Vedi qui)
Anche l’Italia rischia di patire una strage evitabile. Potremmo avere a bordo più scialuppe di salvataggio, potremmo anche riempirle con tutti i passeggeri della nave. Basterebbe un po’ di buon senso.
Il Parlamento ha approvato una manovra finanziaria che colpisce i più poveri e salva i ricchi.
E ancora non si vedono tagli sostanziosi ai costi della politica e agli sprechi.
Vergogna!

Jacopo Fo


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Weekly Report from Taiwan Security Research (Jul. 17, 2011)

For full text, click on the title or visit the TSR web page at taiwansecurity.org

South China Sea Dispute Heats Up


(Reuters, Jul. 11, 2011) The US is committed to maintaining its presence in the South China Sea, US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen said in China, adding that Washington was worried that disputes over the resource-rich waters could lead to serious conflict.
Vietnam: U.S. Ship to Join Exercises, Raising Objections from China (New York Times, Jul. 16, 2011) Three American Navy ships were welcomed by Vietnam for joint training, despite objections from China.
US Resolution Calls for Freedom to Navigate Strait
(Taipei Times, Jul. 17, 2011) A new resolution calling for continued operations by the US military to support freedom of navigation in the Taiwan Strait has been introduced in the US House of Representatives.
The South China Sea’s Georgia Scenario By Lyle Goldstein
(Foreign Policy, Jul. 11, 2011) The United States must retain a "big stick," but much more actually needs to be done to "speak softly" through flexible, practical, and quiet diplomacy.
Folly and the South China Sea By David Brown(Asia Times, Jul. 15, 2011) Particular care should be taken to reassure China that it will not be excluded from participation in oil and gas development activities anywhere in the South China Sea area. It might even make sense to accord Chinese companies some priority access, just as long as they play by the world's rules instead of the ones that they've made up.
Engaging China in the South China Sea Conflict By Bambamg Hartadi Nugroho (Jakarta Post, Jul. 17, 2011) It is up to Asean countries, particularly the claimants, which option they will choose. Nonetheless, the smart choice is to continue engaging China in multilateral arrangements while restraining themselves from doing provocative actions in the disputed area.
U.S.-China Engagement
US Must Respect China’s Core Interests
(China Daily, Jul. 16, 2011) The top priority for the United States is to show its respect for China through actions and develop bilateral relations on the basis of mutual trust, equality and mutual benefit. China deserves to be treated as such, no matter whether it is still a “rising power” or already a “world power.”
Joint Chiefs Chairman Meets With Chinese Counterpart By Michael Wines (New York Times, Jul. 11, 2011) The United States’ top military officer met with Chinese officials in Beijing, in the first such trip in more than four years and a sign of revival in military relationship between the two powers.
Bumps Remain As Military Leaders of U.S. and China Meet By Michael Wines (New York Times, Jul. 12, 2011) Neither military leaders indicated that his government was willing to alter positions on divisive issues, like Taiwan and the South China Sea, that have long hamstrung better relations.
U.S. and China Try to Agree on Military Strategy By Michael Wines(New York Times, Jul. 15, 2011) Said one American analyst, “We’re priming for a fight that I’m not sure either of us needs or wants to have.”
China Urges U.S. to Protect Creditors by Raising Debt
(New York Times, Jul. 15, 2011) China, one of the United States’s biggest creditors, urged American policy makers to act to protect investors’ interests, highlighting rising concerns around the globe about the protracted budget talks taking place in Washington.
PLA, Military Balance and Arms Sales
China Developing New Military Satellites: Report By Ben Blanchard(Reuters, Jul. 13, 2011) China is developing cutting-edge satellites that will allow it to project power far beyond its shores and deter the United States from using aircraft carriers in any future conflict over its rival Taiwan, a report said.
Official Confirms ‘Carrier Killer’ Is Being Developed
(Taipei Times, Jul. 14, 2011) Reports claim the Deng Feng 21D anti-ship missile has a range of almost 3,000km, nearly twice as long as previously assessed by the US military.
Military Prepares to Meet 1st China Carrier
(China Post, Jul. 13, 2011) MND said it has been making preparations in response to the China's construction of its first aircraft carrier and has listed anti-aircraft carrier tactics in its annual military drill ever since 2008.
Government Mulls Anti-Piracy Mission
(Taipei Times, Jul. 13, 2011) The government is considering dispatching navy warships to protect long-distance fishing boats from Somali pirates, Samuel Chen, director-general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of African Affairs, said.
Spy Did Not Deliver Code Scrambler to China: MND
(Taipei Times, Jul. 17, 2011) The Ministry of National Defense denied a local media report claiming that former Army major general Lo Hsien-che sold a scrambler used by Taiwan’s intelligence services to China while he was posted in Thailand from 2002 to 2005.
US Weapons Needed for Leverage: Minister
(CNA, Jul. 17, 2011) Taiwan needs U.S. weapons to maintain a balance with China despite warming relations across the Taiwan Strait, Taiwan's Information Minister Philip Yang said in Washington D.C.
Biden to Tell China No F-16s for Taiwan: Report
(Taipei Times, Jul. 12, 2011) US Vice President Joe Biden, who is expected to embark on a state visit to China in the middle of next month, will provide assurances to Beijing that the US has no plans to sell Taiwan the F-16C/D aircraft it is seeking, reports said.
Doubts Raised Over Biden-China Report By William Lowther(Taipei Times, Jul. 13, 2011) Doubts were being cast on reports this week that US Vice President Joe Biden would assure Beijing during his visit next month that the US would not sell F-16C/D aircraft to Taiwan.
Taiwan Needs Missiles, Not F-16s, Article Says
(Taipei Times, Jul. 15, 2011) US-based Foreign Policy magazine says that Taiwan should “mimic mainland China’s missile program” rather than ask the US to sell it advanced F-16C/D aircraft.
Why to Sell F-16s to Taiwan By Matt Anderson(The Diplomat, Jul. 13, 2011) Refusing to sell F-16s now would only allow the problem to fester. The sale of F-16 C/Ds will definitely not end the debate about arms sales, but it could possibly resolve the current debate and buy enough time to avoid more complicated decisions during the politically turbulent years ahead.
Taiwan's Domestic Issues and Foreign Relations
Opinion Poll on 2012 Presidential Election
(ERA, Jul. 13, 2011) If the respondents were to vote tomorrow, 38.6% would vote for Ma Ying-jeou, 33.1% Tsai Ing-wen. Here is another ppinion polls by TVBS
Ma Enjoys Six-point Lead Over Tsai, ‘UDN’ Poll Says
(Taipei Times, Jul. 16, 2011) With six months to go until next year’s presidential election, the results of an opinion poll released by a local daily gave President Ma Ying-jeou a six-point lead over DPP’s Tsai Ing-wen.
Pan-Blue Alliance at Risk: PFP
(China Post, Jul. 16, 2011) Cooperation between the ruling Kuomintang and the People First Party in January's elections is impossible now that the latter's chairman has unveiled a plan that virtually has ruled out such a possibility, a PFP official said.
Exports to Emerging Markets Grow: TAITRA
(China Post, Jul. 14, 2011) Taiwan exports to emerging markets during the first half of 2011 rose 27.7 percent year-on-year, significantly higher than the 10 percent increase for exports to China during the same period.
AIT Urges Scientific Fix to Beef Drug Issue
(China Post, Jul. 14, 2011) AIT urged the government to use scientific data to make its decision regarding whether to implement a maximum residue limit for ractopamine and to not allow political considerations to influence its decision-making process.
Gov’t Sign Letter of Intent with Philippines in Economic Meetings
(China Post, Jul. 17, 2011) Economics Minister Shih Yen-hsiang said that Taipei is looking to sign a formal economic cooperation agreement or free trade agreement with Manila, but that may take time.
China's Rise and Its Domestic Issues
Water Challenges Asia’s Rising Powers—Part I By Keith Schneider(YaleGlobal, Jul. 12, 2011) Food and energy production depend on water while China is getting drier: Water reserves are down 13 percent from 2000. China’s ongoing rapid development could lead to water shortages sure to rattle food, energy and water prices worldwide.
Pew Survey Indicates Rising Positive Sentiment of China
(China Daily, Jul. 16, 2011) In the latest Pew Global Attitude survey conducted between March 18 and May 15, most of the respondents in 15 out of 22 countries believed that China either will replace or already has replaced the United States as the world’s leading superpower.
Undemocratic China Can’t Rule the World By Jinghao Zhou(Asia Times, Jul. 16, 2011) If the CCP properly manages the process of democratization, it is possible for the party to introduce democracy and maintain its rule. Should the CCP reject political reform, however, it could possibly lose both.
----------------------------------------------


Regards,

Dalton LinEditor, Taiwan Security Research
E-mail:
daltonlin@ntu.edu.tw
, Taiwan Security Research: taiwansecurity.org

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Sunday, Jul 17 '11, Tammuz 15, 5771

Today`s Email Stories:
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1. Sderot Writes an Open Letter to Mainstream Media
by Noam Bedein Sderot Letter to MSM



Noam Bedein, Director of The Sderot Media Center, has issued a call to mainstream media from the citizens of Sderot. Arutz Sheva has decided to publish it for our readers and hopefully, the mainstream media to whom it is addressed. A video below, shows children panicking to run for bomb shelters as a Kassam rocket approaches. 

Sderot Call on the Mainstream Media:

We ask you respectfully to change the way you report the continued rocket fire on Israel from Gaza.

The latest statistics from Natal, the organization dealing with post-traumatic stress, show that 70% of the children of Sderot suffer from symptoms of post-traumatic stress two and a half  years after the Cast Lead Operation and a full third of Sderot’s residents feel constant post-traumatic anxiety.

Seven rockets, missiles and mortars have been launched from Gaza towards the western Negev’s communities over the last few days.

The disproportional coverage of these rocket launchings and explosions is found in a dry, terse report on mainstream media that takes a few seconds of news time. The issue is barely mentioned by the msm, who state (luckily so far) only that there were no injuries and no damage to property. That is not really the case, as anyone who lives in constant dread of the next missile knows well.

We at the Sderot Media Center urge you to emphasize these strikes more emphatically, to describe  them as illegitimate and criminal examples of warfare against innocent civilians. Otherwise, what the media are aiding unintentionally is tacit acceptance of Islamic extremist terror against  innocent civilians.

We ask that you change your reports to the following:

1.If there are no injuries, it is important to stress that  there were no physical injuries reported.There surely are mental injuries, even though we will not let the terrorists change our lives.

2. It is crucial to mention each time how many rockets have been launched against Israel since the last ceasefire of January 18, 2009.

As of today  July 15th 2011, there have been 788 rocket launchings from Gaza aimed at the southern residents of Israel.  This has to be brought home again and again so the world will know.

We have decided to write this open letter to all the mainstream media and ask for a change in awareness of the significance and after-effects of this constant bombardment of people trying to live normal lives in an area that has never been disputed even by the UN, that is,  unless the very existence of the State of Israel is in dispute.

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2. Regev: Housing Protest Hijacked by Radical Leftists
by Chana Ya'ar Regev Attacked at Rental Protest

MK Miri Regev has slammed protesters' behavior at a demonstration against the high price of housing where she said addressed a legitimate issue but was hijacked by radical leftists who exploited innocent protesters.

Regev said Sunday in a radio interview she was attacked by young people at a sit-in protest “camp” at Habima Square in central Tel Aviv that has been in place since Thursday.

The MK told IDF Army Radio that “radical leftists” are attempting to transform an issue-oriented protest into a political struggle.

Regev visited the protesters on Saturday, she said. However, the “campers” used derogatory language, cursed her and made obscene gestures, she said. They called her a “fascist” and threw water at her, without even allowing her to express support for their struggle.

“I didn't expect such behavior,” she said.

The Likud MK left the scene and charged that radical leftist elements were behind the protesters and attacked her because of her positions. She noted that unlike the brutal manner in which she was received, MKs Dov Henin and Nitzan Horowitz were received “with open arms.” 

Protest organizer Stav Sapir told another radio station that the protest was intended to be a grassroots social struggle, not a political effort. He added that the protesters were opposed to all violence – but refused to offer an apology for the water attack on the lawmaker.

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3. Yemeni Youth Create Shadow Government to Oust Saleh
by Chana Ya'ar Yemeni Youth Create New Gov't

A Yemeni youth organization announced Saturday it has set up a shadow government in hopes of ousting President Ali Abdullah Saleh by default. The transitional council – similar to that set up by Benghazi-based rebel forces in Libya – was created by the Youth Revolution Council, according to CNN, which reported that youth organizations form a “pivotal” force in Yemeni politics.

Among the 17 members named to the transitional council were two former government leaders. Former Defense Minister Ali Elaiwa was asked to head the armed forces, and former South Yemen President Ali Nasser Mohammed was asked to head the council. Fahim Abdullah Mohsen, currently a judge in the southern province of Aden, was also named to the council.

Mohsen told the state-run Saba news agency that he was taken by surprise when he heard his name on the list, since he had no prior knowledge of the organization. “Judges are not expected to take sides during political crises,” he said.

Not all opposition groups are backing the initiative, however. An official from Yemen's largest rebel bloc, Joint Meetings Parties (JMP) commented on condition of anonymity, “The youth did not take into consideration a number of critical issues. That is why the JMP will not approve the council and its members.”

Saleh, who has been in power for 33 years, is still in Saudi Arabia recuperating from serious injuries sustained during an attack last month on his compound by rebel forces. Abdu Ganadi, a spokesman for his government, said that he is expected to return to Yemen within the next several weeks. Tribal leaders have asked the Saudis to keep Saleh from coming back, warning his return would further enflame a civil war already in progress.

Fierce battles between government troops and various tribal forces in the capital, Sa'ana, have been exacerbated by similar battles in the south, where the Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) branch of the international Al Qaeda terrorist organization has gained increasing control over various provinces in the region.

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4. ‘Brooklyn Butcher’ Accused of Previous Kidnapping Attempts
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu ‘Butcher’ Tried to Kidnap Others

The murderer of eight-year-old Leiby Kletzky previously tried to kidnap another child, a mother said, as the United States still tries to comprehend the gruesome murder.

Levi Aron has confessed to kidnapping and killing the child and is under psychiatric observation while being held under tight security.

Brooklyn resident Zisa Berkowitz told the New York Post that the same man tried to kidnap her son two years ago but that she scared him away by screaming. She said she had reported the incident to police. The newspaper also reported that Aron also had followed an 11-year-old child while driving, but the boy noticed he was being tracked and ran home.

Leiby fell into Aron’s clutches after he apparently lost his way home from summer camp, the first day he made the trek alone after pleading with his parents to let him do so. Police said that Leiby fought for his life after Aron picked him up. Leiby left scratches on the murderer’s arms.

The hareidi religious community is wracked by the brutal murder of Leiby and is doing a lot of soul-searching over whether Aron was known as a danger to the public and if it took appropriate measures against him and to protect children. The New York Post quoted one person in the community as saying that Aron was an “oddball” who “used to give kids rides in cars.”

Aron told police he had intended to return Leiby to his parents but was scared by reports of an intensive search for the missing child. He then killed him, slicing his body in half and disposing of the parts in his freezer and in a local dumpster. Police found the body in the garbage container after a search unit noticed that the lid was open. The murderer apparently went to a wedding afterwards.

Aron is separated from his wife, who said he abused her.

Meanwhile, the Kletzky family continues to mourn in the seven-day ‘Shiva” period. The family issued a statement to the press: "We are forever grateful and thankful to HaShem.

“We would also like to express to each and every individual -- to our friends and neighbors and our fellow New Yorkers and to all the volunteers and all the agencies from the local, city, state and federal who assisted us above and beyond physically, emotionally and spiritually -- and to all from around the world, who had us in their thoughts and prayers.

"From the depths of our mourning hearts, thank you.”

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5. Barkat on BBC: From Whom, Exactly, Did We Conquer Jerusalem?
by Elad Benari Barkat on BBC: Jerusalem is Ours

Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat spoke out forcefully during an interview with the BBC on Friday, saying that splitting the capital as part of a future peace agreement with the Palestinian Authority would simply not work.

Speaking on the program “Hardtalk with Tim Franks,” Barkat said that he is committed to improving the situation for all residents of Jerusalem – Jews, Christians and Arabs alike.

Barkat called UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon’s criticism of Israel for its plans to build in Jerusalem’s Jewish Gilo neighborhood a “double standard,” adding: “Anywhere in the world, would you dare to say that Jews or non-Jews or blacks or people of a certain faith are not allowed to build somewhere? The reality is that in the last week we’ve discussed and will be approving 1,400 units for Arab residents, but they don’t report that. The media only report Jewish building. Even international law cannot discriminate between Jews and non-Jews.”

He sharply contradicted  the host’s assertion that Jerusalem is “occupied territory” by saying, “This is not occupied territory. From whom? From the Jordanians? From the British? From the Turks? Anywhere you put a shovel in the ground you find Jewish roots in Jerusalem.

“The vast majority of Arabs in east Jerusalem prefer a united city,” he continued. “Poll the public. They will tell you. The Arabs – the Muslims and the Christians – prefer a united city than, G-d forbid, a split city that will never work. There’s no working model in the world of a split city that ever worked. They all fail. They’re dysfunctional. Why go there when you know that it will never work and it’s not good for the future? It focuses on the divide rather than the common denominator.”

Barkat said that the world does not understand the Middle East and that the true challenge is to get the world to understand what is happening on the ground. “When you learn and understand the city, you understand that it can never be divided, not practically and not ideologically,” he said.

“The truth is that there are gaps in standards between various parts of the city, but if you look at the west side of the city in Jewish neighborhoods there are things that are missing compared to other places,” said Barkat. “The challenge is to admit them and to fix them. I’m committed [to doing so] and so is the Israeli government. We’ve demonstrated in the last two-and-a-half years a significant growth. I am a big believer in a united city, and therefore I’m totally committed to all residents of Jerusalem – Muslim, Christians, and Jews.”

Responding to the host’s question about 75 percent of the Arab population in Jerusalem being below the poverty line, Barkat noted that 50 percent of the Jewish population is also below the poverty line, and that the way to fix it is by strengthening the economy.

“Our economy will grow, and is growing, through culture and tourism and through health and life sciences,” he said. “These are areas that we’ve been working on in order to improve our economy. The challenge is to get more jobs into Jerusalem. When it rains, it rains on everybody. Tourism last year alone picked up 24 percent in hotel occupancy, and culture and tourism employ more Arabs than Jews.”

Regarding building plans, Barkat said the city’s master plan calls for “the expansion of Arab neighborhoods and Jewish neighborhoods. We cannot allow people to build by race or religion. We anticipate that Arabs will live in Arab neighborhoods and Jews will live Jewish neighborhoods. The master plan talks about an honest and fair expansion of the current neighborhoods, because if we don’t plan expansion in a smart way then Arabs will build illegally and Jews will not build and leave the city.”

He said he believes the ratio of Jews to Arabs in the city will stay at 65 percent for Jews and 35 percent for Arabs, noting, “The number of Arab residents in Jerusalem is rising because the quality of life in Jerusalem for them is better.”

Franks noted that the city’s new master plan calls for a 60 percent Jewish population and 40 percent Arab population and asked Barkat if he believes this target is reasonable.

“It’s a theoretical discussion,” said Barkat. “The reality is that I, as mayor of all of the people of Jerusalem, have to allow apartments for Christians, Muslims and Jews.”

Barkat admitted, however, that he prefers to maintain the current ratio, yet noted, “There’s room for everybody in Jerusalem -   Arabs, hareidi, national religious and secular people. I would like to serve them all. I’m not arguing who should be on top or should be on the bottom. I’m arguing that right now, they way I view the city, I have to provide solutions to all sectors, and if the proportions right now are X, we might as well leave them as X. That’s what I’m saying. It’s not against anybody; it’s for the benefit of all citizens of Jerusalem.”

Regarding the idea of a two-state solution, the mayor said that “It depends. I hear what Hamas teaches in schools. I hear what the Palestinian Authority teaches in schools. They’re not teaching for love. They’re not claiming that they want co-existence. Hamas is not saying that. Hamas has a very clear charter: they want to get rid of us. Would you make a deal with someone who wants to get rid of you?”

He noted that in the long-term, should there be a party on the other side with whom Israel could negotiate, a two-state solution could work “with certain limitations,” but that in any case Jerusalem must remain the capital of the Jewish state.

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6. Second-Graders Learn the Bible with the Land of Israel
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu The Bible and Land of Israel

No one can learn the Bible better than being in Israel, as second graders from Samaria learned by experiencing the uniqueness of living in Israel and learning the Bible through a visit to the traditional grave of Joshua.

The students from the Ben Porat Yosef Talmud Torah at Yitzhar, in northern Samaria (Shomron) celebrated their completion of the Book of Yehoshua (Joshua) by visiting his grave, located north of Jerusalem and between Ariel and the Barkan in Samaria.

IDF Brigade Colonel Ran Kahane and Major Shimon Sheetrit accompanied the children through Arab villages to celebrate their completion of learning the book. The brigade commander congratulated them and said he hopes they will follow Joshua’s path of combining strength with spiritual wisdom.

The children in turn wished the IDF commander the blessing bestowed on Joshua to keep the Torah and “do everything that is written” in order to succeed.

Towards midnight, the IDF officers joined the children, their parents and relatives in dancing and singing, “This is the time of mercy to do His will before You (HaShem).”

The Shomron Regional Council and One Shechem coordinate with the IDF several times a year to visit the burial site.

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7. Libyan Jews Appoint Envoy to Benghazi Shadow Gov't
by Chana Ya'ar Libyan Jews Recognize New Gov't

A Libyan Jewish organization has formally recognized the new shadow government based in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi as the country's new regime.

The World Organization of Libyan Jews is comprised of some 200,000 former refugees, many of whom fled to Israel.

The group's president, Meir Kahlon, sent a letter to Mustafa Abdul Jalil, head of the Libyan National Transitional Council (NTC), offering assistance and support and naming its representative to the “new government,” Dr. David Gerbi.

Gerbi, currently in Israel for a meeting with Kahlon and to teach a course at the Israel Institute for Jungian Psychology, was born in Tripoli in 1955 and holds Italian citizenship.

A Jungian psychologist, he has traveled several times to Libya over the past 10 years and was the first Libyan Jew to proclaim his support for the NTC. Last month he spent time in a Benghazi psychiatric hospital teaching the staff how to deal with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). He is hoping to be able to eventually arrange religious burial for deceased Libyan Jews in Bengazi whose remains are currently packed in trunks.

“His effort is symbolic of our belief that in spite of more than 40 years of forced separation we have good feelings towards Libya...” noted Kahlon in his letter.

The message, said Italian diplomats in the rebel-controlled city, was well-received, but Gerbi was asked not to travel again to Libya until the revolution is over. 

Nearly half a year has passed since the start of a civil war that was ignited as the "Arab Spring" swept across the Middle East and North Africa, toppling governments in Egypt and Tunisia and destabilizing others in Yemen, Syria, and elsewhere.

It is not yet clear with Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi, accused by a United Nations panel of committing war crimes, will survive the grassroots attempt to oust him from his 41-year seat of power. Qaddafi has vowed to blow up Tripoli, the capital, if it falls into rebel hands.

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8. Sabbath Parking Lot Protests Return to Jerusalem
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu Sabbath Parking Protests Return

Hareidi religious protesters returned to the parking lot near Jaffa Gate in Jerusalem on the Sabbath to rally against use of the facility on the Sabbath.

The city began operating the multi-storied “Karta” parking lot on the Sabbath two years ago, a move that has drawn fierce anger from mostly anti-Zionist hareidi-religious leaders.

They have argued that opening the lot on the Jewish Day of Rest encourages people to violate the Sabbath, when it is forbidden to ride. City officials countered that closing the lot not only would not prevent tourists from visiting the Old City but also would increase the traffic flow on nearby streets.

The protest on the Sabbath was supposed to be non-violent, according to posters placed in the hareidi religious community.

The demonstration started out peacefully, but police and 800 protesters eventually clashed, and mounted police were deployed to disperse rock-throwers. Five people were arrested, and six police officers were injured.

The protest might have been even more violent if secular activists had not honored a request by the Jerusalem police commissioners not to escalate tension even more by staging a counter-protest.

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The Great Global Debt Depression: 
It's All Greek To Me
By Andrew Gavin Marshall
Global Research, July 15, 2011




In late June of 2011, the Greek government passed another round of austerity measures, ostensibly aimed at getting Greece “back on track” to economic progress, but in reality, implementing a systematic program of ‘social genocide’ in the name of servicing an endless and illegitimate debt to foreign banks. Right on cue, protests and riots broke out in Athens against the draconian measures, and the state moved in to do what states do best: oppress the people with riot police, tear gas and bashing batons, leaving roughly 300 people injured.

Is Greece simply a case of a country full of lazy people who spent beyond their means and are now paying for their own decadence? Or, is there something much larger at stake – and at play – here? Greece is, in fact, a microcosm of the global economy: mired in excessive debt, economically ruined, increasingly politically repressive and socially explosive. This report takes a look at the case of the Greek debt crisis specifically, and places it within a wider global context. The conclusion is clear: what happens in Greece will happen here.

This report examines the Greek crisis, as well as the larger global economic crisis, including the origins of the housing bubble, the bailouts, the banks, and the major actors and institutions which will come to dominate the stage over the next decade in what will play out as ‘The Great Global Debt Depression.’

An Olympian Debt

With the global economic crisis rampaging throughout the world in 2008, Greece experienced major protests and riots at government reactions to the crisis. The unpopularity of the government led to an election in which a Socialist government came to power in October of 2009 under the premise of promising an injection of 3 billion euros in order to revive the Greek economy.[1] When the government came to power, they inherited a debt that was double that which the previous government had disclosed. This prompted Greece’s entry into a major debt crisis, as the debt was roughly 127% of Greece’s GDP in 2009, and thus, the costs of borrowing rose exponentially.

In April of 2010, Greece had to seek a bailout by the EU and the IMF in order to pay the interest on its debt. However, by taking such a bailout from the EU and IMF, Greece ultimately incurred a larger long-term debt, as the money from these institutions simply added to the overall debt, and thus, actually increased eventual interest payments on that debt. Thus, we see the true nature of debt: a financial form of slavery. Debt is designed in such a way that, like a fly caught in a spider’s web, the more it struggles, the more entangled it gets; the more it struggles to break free, the more it arouses the attention of the spider, which quickly moves in to strike its prey – paralyzed – with its venom, so that it may wrap the fly in its silk and eat it alive. Debt is the silk, the people are the fly, and the spider is the large financial institutions – from the banks to the IMF. The nature of debt is that one is never meant to be able to escape it. Hence, the “solution” for Greece’s debt problem – according to those who decide policy – is for Greece to acquire more debt. Of course, this new debt is used to pay the interest on the old debt (note: it is not used to pay OFF the old debt, just the interest on it). However, the effect this has is that it increases the over-all debt of the nation, which leads to higher interest payments and thus a greater cost of borrowing. This, ultimately, leads to a need to continue borrowing in order to pay off the higher interest payments, and thus, the cycle continues. For all the “bail outs” and aims at addressing Greece’s debt, this prescription inevitably results in greater debt levels than those which induced the debt crisis in the first place.

So why is this the prescription?

Not only does this prescription incur more debt to pay interest on old debt, but the process of borrowing and “consolidating” debt has devastating social and political consequences. For example, in the case of Greece, in order to receive loans from the IMF and EU, Greece was forced to impose “fiscal austerity measures.” This blatantly ambiguous economic nomenclature of “fiscal austerity” is in fact more accurately described in real human terms as “social genocide.” Why is this so?

‘Fiscal Austerity’ means that the state – in this case, Greece – must engage in “fiscal consolidation.” In economic parlance, this implies that the state must cut spending and increase taxes in order to “service” its debt by reducing its annual deficit. Thus, the ‘conditions’ for receiving a loan demand “fiscal austerity” measures being implemented by the debtor nation. This is supposedly a way for the lender to ensure that their loans are met with appropriate measures to deal with the debt. The objective, purportedly, is to reduce expenditure (spending) and increase revenue (income), allowing for more money to pay off the debt. However, as with most economic concepts, the reality is far different than the theoretical implications of “fiscal austerity.”

In fact, ‘fiscal austerity’ is a state-implemented program of social destruction, or ‘social genocide’. Such austerity measures include cutting social spending, which means no more health care, education, social services, welfare, pensions, etc. This directly implies a massive wave of layoffs from the public sector, as those who worked in health care, education, social services, etc., have their jobs eliminated. This, naturally, creates a massive growth in poverty rates, with the jobless and homeless rates climbing dramatically. Simultaneously, of course, taxes are raised drastically, so that in a social situation in which the middle and lower classes are increasingly impoverished, they are then over-taxed. This creates a further drain of wealth, and consumption levels go down, further driving production levels downward, and (local) private businesses cannot compete with foreign multinational conglomerates, and so businesses close and more lay-offs take place. After all, without a market for consumption, there is no demand for production. In a country such as Greece, where the percentage of people in the employ of the state is roughly 25%, these measures are particularly devastating.

Naturally, in such situations, the masses of people – those who are doomed to suffer most – are left greatly impoverished and the middle classes essentially vanish, and are absorbed into the lower class. As social services vanish when they are needed most, life expectancy rates decrease. With few jobs and massive unemployment, many are left to choose between buying food or medicine, if those are even options. Crime rates naturally increase in such situations, as desperate conditions breed desperate actions. This creates, especially among the educated youth who graduate into a jobless market, a ‘poverty of expectations,’ having grown up with particular expectations of what they would have in terms of opportunities, which then vanish quite suddenly. This results in enormous social stress, and often, social unrest: protests, riots, rebellion, and even revolution in extreme circumstances. These are exactly the conditions that led to the uprising in Egypt.

The reflexive action of states, therefore, is to move in to repress – most often quite violently – protests and demonstrations. The aim here is to break the will of the people. Thus, the more violent and brutal the repression, the more likely it is that the people may succumb to the state and consent – even if passively – to their social conditions. However, as the state becomes more repressive, this often breeds a more reactive and radical resistance. When the state oppresses 500 people one day, 5,000 may show up the next. This requires, from the view of the state, an exponentially increased rate of oppression. The risk in this strategy is that the state may overstep itself and the people may become massively mobilized and intensely radicalized and overthrow – or at least overcome – the power of the state. In such situations, the political leadership is often either urged by a foreign power to leave (such as in the case of Egypt’s Mubarak), or flees of their own will (such as in Argentina), in order to prevent a true revolution from taking place. So, while the strategy holds enormous risk, it is often employed because it also contains possible reward: that the state may succeed in destroying the will of the people to resist, and they may subside to the will of the state and thereby consent to their new conditions of social genocide.

Social genocide is a slow, drawn-out and incremental process. Its effects are felt by poor children first, as they are those who need health care and social services more than any other, and are left hungry and unable to go to school or work. They are the ‘forgotten’ of society, and they suffer deeply as such. The reverberations, however, echo throughout the whole of society. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer, while the middle class is absorbed into poverty.

The rich get richer because through economic crises, they consolidate their businesses and receive tax breaks and incentives from the state (as well as often direct infusions of cash investments – bailouts – from the state), purportedly to increase private capital and production. This aspect of “fiscal austerity” is undertaken in the wider context of what is referred to as “Structural Adjustment.”

This term refers to the loans from the World Bank and IMF that began in the late 1970s and early 1980s in their lending to ‘Third World’ nations in the midst of the 1980s debt crisis. Referred to as “Structural Adjustment Programs,” (SAPs) any nation wanting a loan from the World Bank or IMF needed to sign a SAP, which set out a long list of ‘conditionalities’ for the loan. These conditions included, principally, “fiscal austerity measures” – cutting social spending and raising taxes – but also a variety of other measures: liberalization of markets (eliminating any trade barriers, subsidies, tariffs, etc.), supposedly to encourage foreign investment which it was theorized would increase revenue to pay off the debt and revive the economy; privatization (privatizing all state-owned industries), in order to cut state spending and encourage foreign direct investment (FDI), which again – in theory – would create revenue and reduce debt; currency devaluation (which would make foreign dollars buy more for less), again, under the aegis of encouraging investment by making it cheaper for foreign companies to buy assets within the country.

However, the effects that these ‘structural adjustment programs’ had were devastating. Liberalizing markets would eliminate subsidies and protections which were desperately needed in order for these ‘developing’ nations to compete with the industrialized powers of America and Europe (who, in a twisted irony, heavily subsidize their agriculture in order to make it cheaper to foreign markets). For example, a small country in Africa which was dependent upon a particular agricultural export had heavily subsidized this commodity, (which keeps the price low and thus increases its demand as an exported commodity), then was ordered by the IMF and World Bank to eliminate the subsidy. The effect was that foreign agricultural imports, say from the United States or Europe, were cheaper not only in the international market, but also in the nation’s domestic market. Thus, grains imported from America would be cheaper than those grown in neighbouring fields. The effect this had in an increasingly-impoverished nation was that they would become dependent upon foreign imports for food and agriculture (as well as other commodities), while the domestic industries would suffer and be bought out by foreign multinational corporations, thus increasing poverty, as many of these nations were heavily dependent upon their agricultural sectors as they were often still largely rural societies in some respects. This would accelerate urbanization and urban poverty, as people leave the countryside and head to the cities looking for work, where there was none.

Privatization, for its part, would eliminate state-owned industries, which in many developing nations of the post-World War II era, were the major employers of the population. Thus, massive unemployment would result. As foreign multinational corporations – largely American or European – would come in and buy up the domestic industries, they would often cooperate with the dominant domestic corporations and banks – or create domestic subsidiaries of their own – and consolidate the markets and industries. Thus, the effect would be to strengthen a domestic elite and entrench an oligarchy in the nation. The rich would get richer, profiting off of their cooperation and integration with the international economic system, and they would then come to rely ever-more on the state for protection from the masses.

The devaluation of currencies would, while making commodities and investments cheaper for foreign multinationals and banks, simultaneously make it so that for the domestic population, it would require more money to buy less products than before. This is called inflation, and is particularly brutal in the case of buying food and fuel. For a population whose wages are frozen (as a requirement of ‘fiscal austerity’), their income (for those that have an income) does not adjust to the rate of inflation, hence, they make the same dollar amount even though the dollar is worth much less than before. The result is that their income purchases much less than it used to, increasing poverty.

This is ‘Structural Adjustment.’ This is ‘fiscal austerity.’ This is social genocide.

Debt and Derivatives

Greece has a total debt of roughly 330 billion euros (or U.S. $473 billion).[2] So how did this debt get out of control? As it turned out, major U.S. banks, specifically J.P. Morgan Chase and Goldman Sachs, “helped the Greek government to mask the true extent of its deficit with the help of a derivatives deal that legally circumvented the EU Maastricht deficit rules.” The deficit rules in place would slap major fines on euro member states that exceeded the limit for the budget deficit of 3% of GDP (gross domestic product), and that the total government debt must not exceed 60% of GDP.  Greece hid its debt through “creative accounting,” and in some cases, even left out huge military expenditures. While the Greek government pursued its “creative accounting” methods, it got more help from Wall Street starting in 2002, in which “various investment banks offered complex financial products with which governments could push part of their liabilities into the future.” Put simply, with the help of Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Chase, Greece was able to hide its debt in the future by transferring it into derivatives. A large deal was signed with Goldman Sachs in 2002 involving derivatives, specifically, cross-currency swaps, “in which government debt issued in dollars and yen was swapped for euro debt for a certain period -- to be exchanged back into the original currencies at a later date.” The banks helped Greece devise a cross-currency swap scheme in which they used fictional exchange rates, allowing Greece to swap currencies and debt for an additional credit of $1 billion. Disguised as a ‘swap,’ this credit did not show up in the government’s debt statistics. As one German derivatives dealer has stated, “The Maastricht rules can be circumvented quite legally through swaps.”[3]

In the same way that homeowners take out a second mortgage to pay off their credit card debt, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Chase and other U.S. banks helped push government debt far into the future through the derivatives market. This was done in Greece, Italy, and likely several other euro-zone countries as well. In several dozen deals in Europe, “banks provided cash upfront in return for government payments in the future, with those liabilities then left off the books.” Because the deals are not listed as loans, they are not listed as debt (liabilities), and so the true debt of Greece and other euro-zone countries was and likely to a large degree remains hidden. Greece effectively mortgaged its airports and highways to the major banks in order to get cash up-front and keep the loans off the books, classifying them as transactions.[4]

Further, while Goldman Sachs was helping Greece hide its debt from the official statistics, it was also hedging its bets through buying insurance on Greek debt as well as using other derivatives trades to protect itself against a potential Greek default on its debt. So while Goldman Sachs engaged in long-term trades with Greek debt (meaning Greece would owe Goldman Sachs a great deal down the line), the firm simultaneously was betting against Greek debt in the short-term, profiting from the Greek debt crisis that it helped create.[5]

This is not an unusual tactic for the company to engage in. As a two-year Senate investigation into Goldman Sachs revealed in April of 2011, “Goldman Sachs Group Inc. profited from the financial crisis by betting billions against the subprime mortgage market, then deceived investors and Congress about the firm's conduct.”[6] In 2007, as the housing crisis was gaining momentum, Goldman Sachs executives sent emails to each other explaining that they were making “some serious money” by betting against the housing market, a giant bubble which they and other Wall Street firms had helped create. So while the bank had a large exposure (risk) in the housing market, by holding significant derivatives in trading mortgages (mortgage-backed securities, collateralized debt obligations, credit default swaps, etc.), the same bank also used the derivatives market to bet against the housing market as it crashed – a type of self-fulfilling prophecy – which further drove the market down (as speculation does), and thus, Goldman Sachs profited from the crisis it created and made worse.[7]

The derivatives market is a very important feature not only in the housing bubble and bust of 2008, but also in the current Greek crisis, and will remain an important facet of the unfolding global debt crisis. The current global derivatives market was developed in the 1990s. Derivatives are referred to as “complex financial instruments” in which they are traded between two parties and their value is derived (hence: “deriv-ative”) from some other entity, be it a commodity, stock, debt, currency or mortgage, to name a few. There are several types of derivatives. One example is a ‘put option,’ which is betting that a particular stock, commodity or other asset will fall in price over the short term; that way, those who purchase put options will profit from the fall in prices of the asset bet on.

Who Built the Bubble?

One of the most common derivatives is a credit default swap (CDS). These ‘financial instruments’ were developed by JP Morgan Chase in 1994 as a sort of insurance policy. The aim, as JP Morgan at the time had tens of billions of dollars on the books as loans to corporations and foreign governments, was to trade the debt to a third party (who would take on the risk), and would then receive payments from the bank; thus, JP Morgan would be able to remove the risk from its books, freeing up its reserves to make more loans. JP Morgan was the first bank to make it big on credit default swaps, opening the first credit default swaps desk in New York in 1997, “a division that would eventually earn the name ‘the Morgan Mafia’ for the number of former members who went on to senior positions at global banks and hedge funds.” The credit default swaps played a large part in the housing boom:

As the Federal Reserve cut interest rates and Americans started buying homes in record numbers, mortgage-backed securities became the hot new investment. Mortgages were pooled together, and sliced and diced into bonds that were bought by just about every financial institution imaginable: investment banks, commercial banks, hedge funds, pension funds. For many of those mortgage-backed securities, credit default swaps were taken out to protect against default.[8]

Of course, there were a great many players in the financial crisis: bankers, economists, politicians, regulators, etc. The confusion of the situation has allowed all those who are culpable to point the finger at one another and place blame on each other. For example, Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorganChase, referred to the government-chartered mortgage lending companies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as “the biggest disasters of all time,” blaming them for encouraging the banks to make the bad loans in the first place.[9] Of course, he had an ulterior motive in removing blame from himself and the other banks.

There is, however, some truth to his contention, but the situation is more complex. Fannie Mae was created in 1938 after the Great Depression to provide local banks with federal money in order to finance home mortgages with an aim to increase home ownership. In 1968, Fannie Mae was transformed into a publicly held corporation, and in 1970, the government created Freddie Mac to compete with Fannie Mae in providing home mortgages. In 1992, President George H.W. Bush signed the Housing and Community Development Act of 1992, which included amendments to the charters of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, stating that they “have an affirmative obligation to facilitate the financing of affordable housing for low- and moderate-income families.”[10]

In 1992, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) subsequently became the ‘regulator’ of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. In 1995, Bill Clinton’s HUD “agreed to let Fannie and Freddie get affordable-housing credit for buying subprime securities that included loans to low-income borrowers.”[11] In 1996, HUD “gave Fannie and Freddie an explicit target -- 42% of their mortgage financing had to go to borrowers with income below the median in their area.”[12] In a 1999 article in the New York Times, it was reported that, “the Fannie Mae Corporation is easing the credit requirements on loans that it will purchase from banks and other lenders.” The action, reported the Times, “will encourage those banks to extend home mortgages to individuals whose credit is generally not good enough to qualify for conventional loans.” It began in 1999 as a pilot program involving 24 banks in 15 markets (including New York), and had hoped to make it nationwide by Spring 2000. The article went on:

Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest underwriter of home mortgages, has been under increasing pressure from the Clinton Administration to expand mortgage loans among low and moderate income people and felt pressure from stock holders to maintain its phenomenal growth in profits.

In addition, banks, thrift institutions and mortgage companies have been pressing Fannie Mae to help them make more loans to so-called subprime borrowers. These borrowers whose incomes, credit ratings and savings are not good enough to qualify for conventional loans, can only get loans from finance companies that charge much higher interest rates -- anywhere from three to four percentage points higher than conventional loans.[13]

The loans going to low-income households increased the rate given to African Americans, as in the conventional loan market, black borrowers accounted for 5% of loans, whereas in the subprime market, they accounted for 18% of loans. The article itself warned that Fannie Mae “may run into trouble in an economic downturn, prompting a government rescue.”[14] In 2000, as housing prices increased, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), under Bill Clinton, continued to encourage loans to low-income borrowers.

Just in time, the Federal Reserve (the central bank of the United States) dramatically lowered interest rates and kept them artificially low in order to encourage the lending by mortgage lenders and banks, and to encourage borrowing by low-income individuals and families, essentially lulling them into a false sense of security. This ‘easy money’ flowing from the Federal Reserve’s low interest rates and printing press (as the Fed is responsible for the amount of money pumped into the U.S. economy), oiled the wheels of the mortgage lenders and the banks that were making bad loans to high-risk individuals. In the 1990s, the Federal Reserve under Chairman Alan Greenspan had created the dot-com bubble, which burst (as all bubbles do), and subsequently, in order to avoid a deep recession, Greenspan and the Federal Reserve actively inflated the housing bubble. So, with the dot-com bubble bursting in 2000 (brought to you by Alan Greenspan and the Federal Reserve), Greenspan’s Fed then cut interest rates to historic lows and began pumping out money in order to prevent a downward spiral of the economy, which would later prove to be inevitable. This also encouraged rabid speculation in the derivatives market, in particular by hedge funds, managing money from banks, who engaged in high-risk trades taking advantage of the uniquely low interest rates in order to purchase derivatives which provide more long-term gains, further fuelling a massive speculative bubble.[15]

Transcripts from a 2004 meeting of Federal Reserve officials revealed a debate about whether there was an inflating housing bubble, at which Greenspan stated that dissent should be kept secret so that the debate does not reach a wider audience (i.e., the ‘public’). As he stated, “We run the risk, by laying out the pros and cons of a particular argument, of inducing people to join in on the debate, and in this regard it is possible to lose control of a process that only we fully understand.”[16] In 2005, the Fed officials were openly acknowledging the existence of a bubble, but continued with their policies all the same.[17] In 2005, Alan Greenspan left the Fed to be replaced by Ben Bernanke, who that year told Congress that there was no housing bubble, and that the increases in hosuing prices “largely reflect strong economic fundamentals.”[18]

The bubble was fuelled in a number of ways. The Federal Reserve kept the interest rates at historic lows, which encouraged both lending and borrowing. The Fed also pumped large amounts of money into the economy for the purpose of lending and borrowing. The government-sponsored mortgage companies of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae encouraged the banks to make bad loans to high-risk individuals (and provided significant funds to do so). The banks, all too happy to make bad loans to high-risk borrowers, then used the derivatives market they created to profit off of those loans (and further inflate the bubble), through trading primarily Credit Default Swaps (CDS). As the Fed’s long-term interest rates were kept artificially low, the banks speculated through the derivatives market that the housing market would continue to grow apace, and massive amounts of speculative money flowed into the housing bubble, which itself further increased confidence of banks and mortgage companies to lend, as well as individuals to borrow. Of course, the reality was that the individuals were high-risk for a reason: because they couldn’t afford to pay. Thus, it was an inevitable result that this massive and ever-increasing bubble built on nothing but bank-created and government-sponsored ‘faith’ was destined to burst. 

Of course, when the bubble burst, the major banks were in a unique position to profit immensely from the collapse through speculation, and then, of course, repossess everyone’s homes. In order for financial speculation to be such a menace in the global economy as it is today, the Clinton administration took the bold steps necessary to eradicate the barriers to such destructive financial practices and facilitate the rapid and unregulated growth of the derivatives market. This was termed the “financialization” of the U.S. economy, and de facto, much of the global economy.

The Glass-Steagall Act was put in place by FDR in 1933 in order to establish a barrier between investment banks and commercial banks and to prevent them from engaging in rabid speculative practices (a major factor which created the Great Depression). However, in 1987, the Federal Reserve Board voted to ease many regulations under the act, after hearing “proposals from Citicorp, J.P. Morgan and Bankers Trust advocating the loosening of Glass-Steagall restrictions to allow banks to handle several underwriting businesses, including commercial paper, municipal revenue bonds, and mortgage-backed securities.” Alan Greenspan, in 1987, “formerly a director of J.P. Morgan and a proponent of banking deregulation – [became] chairman of the Federal Reserve Board.” In 1989, “the Fed Board approve[d] an application by J.P. Morgan, Chase Manhattan, Bankers Trust, and Citicorp to expand the Glass-Steagall loophole to include dealing in debt and equity securities in addition to municipal securities and commercial paper.” In 1990, “J.P. Morgan [became] the first bank to receive permission from the Federal Reserve to underwrite securities.”[19]P>

In 1998, the House of Representatives passed “legislation by a vote of 214 to 213 that allow[ed] for the merging of banks, securities firms, and insurance companies into huge financial conglomerates.” And in 1999, “After 12 attempts in 25 years, Congress finally repeal[ed] Glass-Steagall, rewarding financial companies for more than 20 years and $300 million worth of lobbying efforts.”[20]

[In] the late 1990s, with the stock market surging to unimaginable heights, large banks [were] merging with and swallowing up smaller banks, and a huge increase in banks having transnational branches, Wall Street and its many friends in congress wanted to eliminate the regulations that had been intended to protect investors and stabilize the financial system. Hence the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999 repealed key parts of Glass-Steagall and the Bank Holding Act and allowed commercial and investment banks to merge, to offer home mortgage loans, sell securities and stocks, and offer insurance.[21]

The principal adherents for the repeal of Glass-Steagle were Alan Greenspan, as well as Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin (who had been with Goldman Sachs for 26 years prior to entering the Treasury), and Deputy Treasury Secretary Larry Summers (who was previously the Chief Economist of the World Bank). After largely orchestrating the removal of Glass-Steagle, Rubin went on to become an executive at Citigroup and is currently the Co-Chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations; while Summers went on to become President of Harvard University and later, served as Director of the White House National Economic Council for the first couple years of the Obama administration. Larry Summers had sparked controversy when he was Chief Economist of the World Bank, and in 1991, signed a memo in which he endorsed toxic waste dumping in poor African countries, stating, “A given amount of health-impairing pollution should be done in the country with the lowest cost, which will be the country with the lowest wages,” and further, “I think the economic logic behind dumping a load of toxic waste in the lowest-wage country is impeccable and we should face up to that.”[22] The “impeccable logic” Summers referred to was the notion that in countries with the lowest life expectancy, dumping toxic waste is intelligent, because statistically speaking, the population of the country is more likely to die before the long-term health impacts of the toxic waste take effect. Put more bluntly: the poor should be the first to die.

The most prestigious (and arguably most powerful) financial institution in the world is the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). One might say it’s the most powerful institution you never heard of, since it is rarely discussed, even more rarely studied, and barely understood at all. It is, essentially, a global central bank for the world’s central banks, and de facto acts as an independent global banking supervisory body, establishing agreements for the practices of central banks and private banks. In 2004, the BIS established the Basel II accords to manage capital risk by banks. Basel II was “intended to keep banks safe by requiring them to match the size of their capital cushion to the riskiness of their loans and securities. The higher the odds of default, the less they can lend.” However, as the regulations were being implemented in 2008 in the midst of the financial crisis, it lessened the ability of banks to lend, and thus, deepened the financial crisis itself.[23] The BIS, formed in 1930 in the wake of the Great Depression, was created in order to “remedy the decline of London as the world’s financial center by providing a mechanism by which a world with three chief financial centers in London, New York, and Paris could still operate as one.” As historian Carroll Quigley wrote:

[T]he powers of financial capitalism had another far-reaching aim, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able  to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole. This system was to be controlled in a feudalist fashion by the central banks of the world acting in concert, by secret agreements arrived at in frequent private meetings and conferences. The apex of the system was to be the Bank for International Settlements in Basle, Switzerland, a private bank owned and controlled by the world’s central banks which were themselves private corporations.[24]

In 2007, the BIS released its annual report warning that the world was on the verge of another Great Depression, as “years of loose monetary policy has fuelled a dangerous credit bubble, leaving the global economy more vulnerable to another 1930s-style slump than generally understood.” Among the worrying signs cited by the BIS were “mass issuance of new-fangled credit instruments, soaring levels of household debt, extreme appetite for risk shown by investors, and entrenched imbalances in the world currency system.” The BIS hinted at the U.S. Federal Reserve when it warned that, “central banks were starting to doubt the wisdom of letting asset bubbles build up on the assumption that they could safely be ‘cleaned up’ afterwards.”[25]

In 2008, the outgoing Chief Economist of the BIS, William White, authored the annual report of the BIS in which he again warned that, “The current market turmoil is without precedent in the postwar period. With a significant risk of recession in the US, compounded by sharply rising inflation in many countries, fears are building that the global economy might be at some kind of tipping point.” In 2007, warned the BIS, global banks had $37 trillion of loans, equaling roughly 70% of global GDP, and that countries were already so indebted that monetization (printing money) could simply sow the seeds of a future crisis.[26]

Bailout the Bankers, Punish the People

In the fall of 2008, the Bush administration sought to implement a bailout package for the economy, designed to save the US banking system. The leaders of the nation went into rabid fear mongering. Advertising the bailout as a $700 billion program, the fine print revealed a more accurate description, saying that $700 billion could be lent out “at any one time.” As Chris Martenson wrote:

This means that $700 billion is NOT the cost of this dangerous legislation, it is only the amount that can be outstanding at any one time.  After, say, $100 billion of bad mortgages are disposed of, another $100 billion can be bought.  In short, these four little words assure that there is NO LIMIT to the potential size of this bailout. This means that $700 billion is a rolling amount, not a ceiling.

So what happens when you have vague language and an unlimited budget?  Fraud and self-dealing.  Mark my words, this is the largest looting operation ever in the history of the US, and it's all spelled out right in this delightfully brief document that is about to be rammed through a scared Congress and made into law.[27]

Further, as the bailout agreement stipulated, it essentially hands the Federal Reserve and the U.S. Treasury total control over the nation’s finances in what has been termed a “financial coup d’état” as all actions and decisions by the Fed and the Treasury Secretary may be done in secret and are not able to be reviewed by Congress or any other administrative or legal agency.[28] Passed in the last months of the Bush administration, the Obama administration further implemented the bailout (and added a stimulus package on top of it).

The banks got a massive bailout of untold trillions, and they were simultaneously consolidating the industry and merging with one another. In 2008, with the collapse of Bear Stearns, JP Morgan Chase bought the failed bank with funds in an agreement organized by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, whose President at the time was Timothy Geithner (who would go on to become Obama’s Treasury Secretary, managing the major bailout program). As JPMorganChase was the ultimate benefactor of the Bear Stearns purchase by the NYFed, it is perhaps no small coincidence that Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorganChase, was on the board of the New York Fed, a privately-owned bank, of which JPMorganChase is itself a major shareholder. JPMorganChase later absorbed Washington Mutual, one of the nation’s largest banks prior to the crisis; Bank of America bought Merrill Lynch; Wells Fargo bought Wachovia; and a host of other mergers and acquisitions took place. Thus, the “too big to fail” banks became much bigger and more dangerous than ever before.

Among the many recipients of bailout funds (officially referred to as the Troubled Asset Relief Program – TARP), were Fannie Mae, AIG (insurance), Freddie Mac, General Motors, Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and hundreds of others.[29] As the Federal Reserve dished out trillions of dollars in bailouts to banks, many European banks even became recipients of American taxpayer-funded bailouts, including Barclays, UBS, the Royal Bank of Scotland, and Société Générale, among many others.[30] The Federal Reserve bailout of American insurance giant AIG was actually a stealth bailout of foreign banks, as the money went through AIG to the major European banks that had significant risks with AIG, including Société Générale of France, UBS of Belgium, Barclays of the U.K., and Deutsche Bank of Germany.[31] In total, the multi-billion dollar bailout of AIG in 2008 benefited roughly 87 banks and financial institutions, 43 of which were foreign, primarily located in France and Germany, but also in the U.K., Canada, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Switzerland, and on the domestic side much of the funds went to Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, and Bank of America.[32]

Neil Barofsky, who was until recently, the special inspector general for the TARP bailout program – the individual responsible for attempting to engage in oversight of a secret bailout program – wrote an article for the New York Times upon his resignation from the position in March of 2011, in which he stated that he “strongly disagrees” that the program was successful, saying that:

billions of dollars in taxpayer money allowed institutions that were on the brink of collapse not only to survive but even to flourish. These banks now enjoy record profits and the seemingly permanent competitive advantage that accompanies being deemed “too big to fail.”[33]

In June of 2009, as governments around the world were implementing stimulus packages and bailouts to save the banks and ‘rescue’ their economies, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) issued a new round of warnings about the state of the global economy. Among them, the BIS warned that, “governments and central banks must not let up in their efforts to revive the global banking system, even if public opinion turns against them,” and that the BIS felt that there had only been “limited progress” in reviving the banking system. The BIS continued:

Instead of implementing policies designed to clean up banks' balance sheets, some rescue plans have pushed banks to maintain their lending practices of the past, or even increase domestic credit where it's not warranted... The lack of progress threatens to prolong the crisis and delay the recovery because a dysfunctional financial system reduces the ability of monetary and fiscal actions to stimulate the economy... without a solid banking system underpinning financial markets, stimulus measures won't be able to gain traction, and may only lead to a temporary pickup in growth.[34]

Further, the BIS warned, “A fleeting recovery could well make matters worse,” as “further government support for banks is absolutely necessary, but will become unpopular if the public sees a recovery in hand. And authorities may get distracted with sustaining credit, asset prices and demand rather than focusing on fixing bank balance sheets.” The BIS concluded that all the various measures to revive the global economy leave an “open question” as to whether or not they will be successful, and specifically, “as governments bulk up their deficits to spend their way out of the crisis, they need to be careful that their lack of restraint doesn't come back to bite them.” As the annual report warned, “Getting public finances in order will therefore be the main task of policy makers for years to come.”[35]

The BIS further warned that, “there’s a risk central banks will raise interest rates and withdraw emergency liquidity too late, triggering inflation,” as history shows policy-makers “have a tendency to be late, tightening financial conditions slowly for fear of doing it prematurely or too severely.” As Bloomberg reported:

Central banks around the globe have lowered borrowing costs to record lows and injected billions of dollars into the financial system to counter the worst recession since World War II. While some policy makers have stressed the need to withdraw the emergency measures as soon as the economy improves, the Federal Reserve, Bank of England, and European Central Bank are still in the process of implementing asset-purchase programs designed to unblock credit markets and revive growth.

“The big and justifiable worry is that, before it can be reversed, the dramatic easing in monetary policy will translate into growth in the broader monetary and credit aggregates,” the BIS said. That will “lead to inflation that feeds inflation expectations or it may fuel yet another asset-price bubble, sowing the seeds of the next financial boom-bust cycle.”[36]

The BIS report stated that the unprecedented policies of central banks “may be insufficient to put the economy on the path to recovery,” stressing that there was a “significant risk” that the monetary and fiscal stimulus of governments will only lead to “a temporary pickup in growth, followed by a protracted stagnation.”[37]

William White, the former Chief Economist of the BIS, warned in September of 2009 that, “the world has not tackled the problems at the heart of the economic downturn and is likely to slip back into recession,” and he also warned that government actions to help the economy in the short run may be sowing the seeds for future crises.” White, who accurately predicted the global financial crisis in 2008, stated that we are “almost certainly” going into a double-dip recession and “would not be in the slightest bit surprised” if we were to go into a protracted stagnation. He added: “The only thing that would really surprise me is a rapid and sustainable recovery from the position we’re in.” White, a Canadian economist who ran the economic department at the BIS from 1995 until 2008, had “warned of dangerous imbalances in the global financial system as far back as 2003 and – breaking a great taboo in central banking circles at the time – he dared to challenge Alan Greenspan, then chairman of the Federal Reserve, over his policy of persistent cheap money.” As the Financial Times reported in 2009:

Worldwide, central banks have pumped thousands of billions [i.e., trillions] of dollars of new money into the financial system over the past two years in an effort to prevent a depression. Meanwhile, governments have gone to similar extremes, taking on vast sums of debt to prop up industries from banking to car making.

These measures may already be inflating a bubble in asset prices, from equities to commodities, [White] said, and there was a small risk that inflation would get out of control over the medium term if central banks miss-time their “exist strategies”.

Meanwhile, the underlying problems in the global economy, such as unsustainable trade imbalances between the US, Europe and Asia, had not been resolved, he said.[38]

William White further warned that, “we now have a set of banks that are even bigger - and more dangerous - than ever before.” Simon Johnson, former Chief Economist of the IMF, also warned that the finance industry had effectively captured the US government and that “recovery will fail unless we break the financial oligarchy that is blocking essential reform.”[39]/P>

In 2009, the BIS warned that the market for derivatives still poses “major systemic risks” to the financial system, standing at a total value of $426 trillion (more than the worth of the entire global economy combined) and that, “the use of derivatives by hedge funds and the like can create large, hidden exposures.”[40] In 2010, one independent observer estimated the derivatives market was at roughly $700 trillion.[41] The Bank for International Settlements estimated the market value at $600 trillion in December 2010.[42] In June of 2011, the BIS warned that, “the world’s top 14 derivatives dealers may need extra cash to handle a surge in transaction clearing, especially in choppy markets,” as “world leaders have agreed that chunks of the $600 trillion off-exchange derivatives market must be standardized and cleared by the end of 2012 to broaden transparency and curb risk.” The major institutions that the BIS identified as in need of more funds to handle their derivatives exposure are Bank of America-Merrill Lynch, Barclays Capital, BNP Paribas, Citi, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, RBS, Société Générale, UBS, and Wells Fargo Bank.[43]

In January of 2011, Barofsky, while still Special Inspector General of the TARP bailout program, issued a report which warned that future bailouts of major banks could be “a necessity,” and that, “the government still had not developed objective criteria to measure the amount of systemic risk posed by giant financial companies.”[44] In an interview with NPR, Barofsky stated:

The problem is that the notion of too big to fail - these large financial institutions that were just too big to allow them to go under - since the 2008 bailouts, they've only gotten bigger and bigger, more concentrated, larger in size. And what's really discouraging is that if you look at how the market treats them, it treats them as if they're going to get a government bailout, which destroys market discipline and really puts us in a very dangerous place.[45]

In June of 2011, Barofsky stated in an interview with Dan Rather that the next crisis may cost $5 trillion, and told Rather, “You should be scared, I’m scared,” and that a coming crisis is inevitable.[46]

Even though the bailouts have already cost the U.S. taxpayers several trillion dollars (which they will pay for through the decimation of their living standards), the IMF in October of 2010 warned that within the coming 24 months (up to Fall 2012), global banks face a $4 trillion refinancing crisis, and that, “governments will have to inject fresh equity into banks – particularly in Spain, Germany and the US – as well as prop up their funding structures by extending emergency support.” The IMF Global Financial Stability Report stated that, “the global financial system is still in a period of significant uncertainty and remains the Achilles’ heel of the economic recovery.” This is especially significant considering that the debts that banks needed to write off between 2007 and 2010 sat at $2.2 trillion, and that benchmark hadn’t even been achieved. Thus, with nearly double that amount needing to be written off in an even shorter time span, it would seem inevitable that the banks will need a massive bailout as “nearly $4 trillion of bank debt will need to be rolled over in the next 24 months.” Further, warned the IMF, “Planned exit strategies from unconventional monetary and financial support may need to be delayed until the situation is more robust, especially in Europe... With the situation still fragile, some of the public support that has been given to banks in recent years will have to be continued.”[47]

In other words, “exit strategies,” meaning harsh draconian austerity measures may need to be delayed in order to give enough time to undertake bailouts of major banks. After all, engineering trillion dollar bailouts of large financial institutions which created a massive global crisis is hard to do at the same time as punishing an entire population through destruction of their living standards and general impoverishment in order to pay off the debt already incurred by governments (which through bailouts essentially ‘buy’ the bad debts of the banks, and hand the taxpayers the bill).

So while many say that the banks need another bailout, one must question whether the first bailout was necessary, as it simply allowed the banks to get bigger, take more risks, and essentially get a government guarantee of future bailouts (not to mention, the massive fraud and illegalities that took place through the bailout mechanism). However, several top economists and financial experts have pointed out that the “too big to fail” banks are actually the largest threat to the economy, and that they are more accurately “too big to exist,” explaining that recovery cannot take place unless they are broken up. Nobel Prize winning economist and former Chief Economist of the World Bank, Joseph Stiglitz, along with former Chief Economist of the IMF, Simon Johnson, both warned Congress that propping up the banks is preventing recovery from taking place. Even the President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas stated that, “policymakers must allow troubled firms to fail rather than propping them up.”[48]

The true aim of the bailouts was to prevent the major banks of the world (all of which are insolvent – unable to pay debts) from collapsing under the weight of their own hubris, and to effectively employ the largest transfer of wealth in human history from major nations (taxpayers) to the bankers and their shareholders. The true cost of the bailouts, a far cry from the IMF’s statement of a couple trillion dollars, was in the tens of trillions. The Federal Reserve itself bailed out the financial industry for over $9 trillion, with $2 trillion going to Merrill-Lynch (which was subsequently acquired by Bank of America), $2 trillion going to Morgan Stanley, $2 trillion going to Citigroup, and less than $1 trillion each for Bear Stearns (which was acquired by JPMorgan Chase), Bank of America, and Goldman Sachs. These details were released by the Federal Reserve and cover 21,000 separate transactions between December 2007 and July of 2010.[49]

The Federal Reserve also undertook a massive bailout of foreign central banks. During the financial crisis, the Fed established a lending program of shipping US dollars overseas through the European Central Bank, the Bank of England, and the Swiss National Bank (among others), and “the central banks, in turn, lent the dollars out to banks in their home countries in need of dollar funding.”[50] The overall bailouts, including those not undertaken by the Fed specifically, but government-implemented, reach roughly $19 trillion, with $17.5 trillion of that going to Wall Street.[51] No surprise there, considering that Neil Barofsky had warned in July of 2009 that the bailout could cost taxpayers as much as $23.7 trillion dollars.[52]

The Federal Reserve Represents the Banks

In February of 2010, the Federal Reserve announced that it would be investigating the role of U.S. banks in Greece’s debt crisis.[53] However, the Washington Post article which reported on the Fed’s ‘investigation’ failed to mention the ‘slight’ conflicts of interest, which essentially have the fox guarding the hen house. What am I referring to? The Federal Reserve System is a quasi-governmental entity, with a national Board of Governors based in Washington, D.C., with the Chairman appointed by the President. Alan Greenspan, one of the longest-serving Federal Reserve Chairmen in its history, was asked in a 2007 interview, “What is the proper relationship – what should be the proper relationship between a Chairman of the Fed and the President of the United States?” Greenspan replied:

Well, first of all, the Federal Reserve is an independent agency, and that means basically that there is no other agency of government which can over-rule actions that we take. So long as that is in place and there is no evidence that the administration, or the Congress, or anybody else is requesting that we do things other than what we think is the appropriate thing, then what the relationships are don’t frankly matter.[54]

Not only is the Federal Reserve unaccountable to the American government, and thereby, the American people, but it is directly accountable to and in fact, owned by the major American and global banks. Thus, the notion that it would ‘investigate’ the illicit activities of banks like Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan Chase is laughable at best, and is more likely to resemble a criminal cover-up as opposed to an ‘independent investigation.’

The Federal Reserve System is made up of 12 regional Federal Reserve banks, which are themselves private banks, owned by shareholders, which are made up of the principle banks in their region, who ‘select’ a president to represent them and their interests. The most powerful of these banks, unsurprisingly, is the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which represents the powerful banks of Wall Street. The current Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner, was previously President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, where he organized the specific bailouts of AIG and JP Morgan’s purchase of Bear Stearns. The current president of the New York Fed is William Dudley, who previously was a partner and managing director at Goldman Sachs, and is also currently a member of the board if directors of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). The current chairman of the board of the New York Fed is Lee Bollinger, President of Columbia University, who is also on the board of directors of the Washington Post Company. Until recently, Jeffrey R. Immelt was on the board of directors of the New York Fed, while serving as CEO of General Electric. However, he was more recently appointed by President Obama to head his Economic Recovery Advisory Board, replacing former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker. Another current member of the board of directors of the New York Fed include Jamie Dimon, Chairman and CEO of JP Morgan Chase.

Not only are the major banks represented at the Fed, but so too are the major corporations, as evidenced by the recent board membership of the CEO of General Electric (which incidentally received significant funds from the bailouts organized by the Fed). However, the Fed also has a number of advisory groups, such as the Community Affairs Advisory Council, which was formed in 2009 and, according to the New York Fed’s website, “meets three times a year at the New York Fed to share ground-level intelligence on conditions in low- and moderate-income (LMI) communities.” The members include individuals from senior positions at Bank of America and Goldman Sachs.[55]

The Economic Advisory Panel is “a group of distinguished economists from academia and the private sector [who] meet twice a year with the New York Fed president to discuss the current state of the economy and to present their views on monetary policy.” Among the institutions represented through individual membership are: Harvard University, Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank, Columbia University, American International group (AIG), New York University, Carnegie Mellon University, University of Chicago, and the Peter G. Peterson Institute for International Economics.[56]

Perhaps one of the most important advisory groups is the International Advisory Committee, “established in 1987 under the sponsorship of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to review and discuss major issues of public policy concern with respect to principal national and international capital markets.” The members include: Lloyd C. Blankfein, Chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs; William J. Brodsky, Chairman and CEO of the Chicago Board Options Exchange (derivatives); Stephen K. Green, Chairman of HSBC; Marie-Josée Kravis, Senior Fellow and Member of the Board of Trustees of the Hudson Institute (and longtime Bilderberg member); Sallie L. Krawcheck, President of Global Wealth and Investment Management at Bank of America; Michel J.D. Pebereau, Chairman of the Board of BNP Paribas; and Kurt F. Viermetz, retired Vice Chairman of J.P. Morgan.[57]

Another group, the Fedwire Securities Customer Advisory Group, consists of individuals from senior positions at JP Morgan Chase, Citibank, The Bank of New York Mellon, Fannie Mae, Northern Trust, State Street Bank and Trust Company, Freddie Mac, Federal Home Loan Banks, the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation, and the Assistant Commissioner of the U.S. Department of the Treasury.[58] It is then made painfully clear whose interests the Federal Reserve – and specifically the Federal Reserve Bank of New York – serve. An article from Bloomberg in January of 2010 analyzed the information that was revealed in a Senate hearing regarding the secret bailout of AIG by the New York Fed, which “described a secretive group deploying billions of dollars to favored banks, operating with little oversight by the public or elected officials.” As the author of the article wrote, “It’s as though the New York Fed was a black-ops outfit for the nation’s central bank.”[59]

Who Benefits from the Greek Bailout?

Greece has a total debt of roughly 330 billion euros (or U.S. $473 billion).[60] In the lead-up to the Greek bailout orchestrated by the IMF and European Union in 2010, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) released information regarding who exactly was in need of a bailout. With the bailout largely organized by France and Germany (as the dominant EU powers), who would be providing the majority of funds for the bailout itself (subsequently charged to their taxpayers), the BIS revealed that German and French banks carry a combined exposure of $119 billion to Greek borrowers specifically, and more than $900 billion to Greece, Spain, Portugal and Ireland combined. The French and German banks account for roughly half of all European banks’ exposure to those euro-zone countries, meaning that the combined exposure of European banks to those four nations is over $1.8 trillion, nearly half of which is with Spain alone. Thus, in the eyes of the elites and the institutions which serve them (such as the EU and IMF), a bailout is necessary because if Greece were to default on its debt, “investors may question whether French and German banks could withstand the potential losses, sparking a panic that could reverberate throughout the financial system.”[61]

In late February of 2010, Greece replaced the head of the Greek debt management agency with Petros Christodoulou. His job was “to procure favorable loans in the financial markets so that Athens can at least pay off its old debts with new debt.” His career went along an interesting path, to say the least, as he studied finance in Athens and Columbia University in New York, and went on to hold senior executive positions at several financial institutions, such as Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, and just prior to heading the Public Debt Management Agency (PDMA), he was treasurer at the National Bank of Greece.[62] Before his 12-year stint at the National Bank of Greece, the largest commercial bank in Greece, he headed the derivatives desk at JP Morgan.[63]

In March of 2010, Greece passed a draconian austerity package in order to qualify for a bailout from the IMF and EU, as they had demanded. In April, Greece officially applied for an emergency loan, and in May of 2010, the EU and the IMF agreed to a $146 billion loan after Greece unveiled a new round of austerity measures (spending cuts and tax hikes). While Greece had already imposed austerity measures in March to even be considered for receivership of a loan, the EU and IMF demanded that they impose new and harsher austerity measures as a condition of the loan (just as the IMF and World Bank forced the ‘Third World’ nations to impose ‘Structural Adjustment Programs’ as a condition of loans). As the Los Angeles Times wrote at the time:

In Greece, workers have been mounting furious protests against the prospect of drastic government cuts. Officials are bracing for a general strike Wednesday over the new austerity plan, which includes higher fuel, tobacco, alcohol and sales taxes, cuts in military spending and the elimination of two months' annual bonus pay for civil servants. Axing the bonus is a particularly fraught move in a country where as many as one in four workers is employed by the state.[64]

The EU was set to provide 80 billion euros of the 110 billion euro total, and the IMF was to provide the remaining 30 billion euros.[65] Greece was broke, credit ratings agencies (CRAs) were downgrading Greece’s credit worthiness (making it harder and more expensive for Greece to borrow), banks were speculating against Greece’s ability to repay its debt in the derivatives market, and the EU and IMF were forcing the country to increase taxes and cut spending, impoverishing and punishing its population for the bad debts of bankers and politicians. However, in one area, spending continued.

While France and Germany were urging Greece to cut its spending on social services and public sector employees (who account for 25% of the workforce), they were bullying Greece behind the scenes to confirm billions of euros in arms deals from France and Germany, including submarines, a fleet of warships, helicopters and war planes. One Euro-MP alleged that Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy blackmailed the Greek Prime Minister by making the Franco-German contributions to the bailout dependent upon the arms deals going through, which was signed by the previous Greek Prime Minister. Sarkozy apparently told the Greek Prime Minister Papandreou, “We’re going to raise the money to help you, but you are going to have to continue to pay the arms contracts that we have with you.” The arms deals run into the billions, with 2.5 billion euros simply for French frigates.[66] Greece is in fact the largest purchaser of arms (as a percentage of GDP) in the European Union, and was planning to make more purchases:

Greece has said it needs 40 fighter jets, and both Germany and France are vying for the contract: Germany wants Greece to buy Eurofighter planes — made by a consortium of German, Italian, Spanish and British companies — while France is eager to sell Athens its Rafale fighter aircraft, produced by Dassault.

Germany is Greece's largest supplier of arms, according to a report published by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute in March, with Athens receiving 35 percent of the weapons it bought last year from there. Germany sent 13 percent of its arms exports to Greece, making Greece the second largest recipient behind Turkey, SIPRI said.[67]

Thus, France and Germany insist upon French and German arms manufacturers making money at the expense of the standard of living of the Greek people. Financially extorting Greece to purchase weapons and military equipment while demanding the country make spending cuts in all other areas (while increasing the taxes on the population) reveals the true hypocrisy of the whole endeavour, and the nature of who is really being ‘bailed out.’

As Greece was risking default in April of 2010, the derivatives market saw a surge in the trading of Credit Default Swaps (CDS) on Greece, Portugal, and Spain, which increased the expectations of a default, and acts as a self-fulfilling prophecy in making the debt more severe and access to funding more difficult.[68] Thus, the very banks that are owed the debt payments by Greece bet against Greece’s ability to repay its debt (to them), and thus make it more difficult and urgent for Greece to receive funds. In late April of 2010, Standard & Poor’s (a major credit ratings agency – CRA) downgraded Greece’s credit rating to “junk status,” and cut the rating of Portugal as well, plunging both those nations into deeper crisis.[69] Thus, just at a time when the countries were in greater need of funds than before, the credit ratings agencies made it harder for them to borrow by making them less attractive to lenders and investors. Investors wait for the ratings given by CRAs before they make investment decisions or provide credit, and thus they “wield enormous clout in the financial markets.” There are only three major CRAs, Standard & Poor’s (S&P), Moody’s, and Fitch. In relation to the S&P downgrading on Greece’s rating, the Guardian reported:

S&P has effectively said it views Greece as a much riskier place to invest, which increases the interest rate investors will charge the Greek government to borrow money on the open market. But S&P is also implying that the risk of Greece defaulting on its loans has increased, a frightening prospect for bondholders and European politicians.[70]

CRAs also have major conflicts of interest, since they are companies in their own right, and receive funding and share leadership with individuals and corporations who they are responsible for applying credit-worthiness to. For example, Standard and Poor’s leadership includes individuals who have previously worked for JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank, the Bank of New York, and a host of other corporations.[71] Further, S&P is owned by The McGraw-Hill Companies. The executives of McGraw-Hill include individuals past or presently associated with: PepsiCo, General Electric, McKinsey & Co., among others.[72] The Board of Directors includes: Pedro Aspe, Co-Chairman of Evercore Partners, former Mexican Finance Minister and director of the Carnegie Corporation; Sir Winfried Bischoff, the Chairman of Lloyds Banking Group, former Chairman of Citigroup, former Chairman of Schroders; Douglas N. Daft, former Chairman and CEO of the Coca-Cola Company, a director of Wal-Mart, and is also a member of the European Advisory Council for N.M. Rothschild & Sons Limited; William D. Green, Chairman of Accenture; Hilda Ochoa-Brillembourg, President and Chief Executive Officer of Strategic Investment Group, formerly at the World Bank, a director of General Mills and the Atlantic Council, and is an Advisory Board member of the Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies at Harvard University; Sir Michael Rake, Chairman of British Telecom, and is on the board of Barclays; Edward B. Rust, Jr., Chairman and CEO of State Farm Insurance Companies; among many others.[73]

Moody’s is another of the major Credit Ratings Agencies. Its board of directors includes individuals past or presently affiliated with: Citigroup, the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Barclays, Freddie Mac, ING Group, the Dutch National Bank, and Pfizer, among many others.[74] The Executive team at Moody’s includes individuals past or presently affiliated with: Citigroup, Bank of America, Dow Jones & Company, U.S. Trust Company, Bankers Trust Company, American Express, and Lehman Brothers, among many others.[75]

Fitch Ratings, the last of the big three CRAs, is owned by the Fitch Group, which is itself a subsidiary of a French company, Fimalac. The Chairman and CEO is Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière, who is a member of the Consultative Committee of the Bank of France, and is also on the boards of Renault, L'Oréal, Groupe Casino, Gilbert Coullier Productions, Cassina, and Canal Plus. The board of directors includes Véronique Morali, who is also a member of the board of Coca-Cola, and is a member of the management board of La Compagnie Financière Edmond de Rothschild, a private bank belonging to the Rothschild family. The board includes individuals past or presently affiliated with: Barclays, Lazard Frères & Co, JP Morgan, Bank of France, and HSBC, among many others.[76]

So clearly, with the immense number of bankers present on the boards of the CRAs, they know whose interest they serve. The fact that they are responsible not only for rating banks and other corporations (of which the conflict of interest is obvious), but that they rate the credit-worthiness of nations is also evident of a conflict, as these are nations who owe the banks large sums of money. Thus, lowering their ratings makes them more desperate for loans (and makes the loans more expensive), since the nation is a less attractive investment, loans will be given with higher interest rates, which means more future revenues for the banks and other lenders. As the credit ratings are downgraded, the urgency to pay interest on debt is more severe, as the nation risks losing more investments and capital when it needs it most. To get a better credit rating, it must pay its debt obligations to the foreign banks. Thus, through Credit Ratings Agencies, the banks are able to help strengthen a system of financial extortion, made all the more severe through the use of derivatives speculation which often follows (or even precedes) the downgraded ratings.

So while Greece received the bailout in order to pay interest to the banks (primarily French and German) which own the Greek debt, the country simply took on more debt (in the form of the bailout loan) for which they will have to pay future interest fees. Of course, this would also imply future bailouts and thus, continued and expanded austerity measures. This is not simply a Greek crisis, this is indeed a European and in fact, a global debt crisis in the making.

The Great Global Debt Depression

In March of 2010, prior to Greece receiving its first bailout, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) warned that, “sovereign debt is already starting to cross the danger threshold in the United States, Japan, Britain, and most of Western Europe, threatening to set off a bond crisis at the heart of the global economy.” In a special report on ‘sovereign debt’ written by the new chief economist of the BIS, Stephen Cecchetti, the BIS warned that, “The aftermath of the financial crisis is poised to bring a simmering fiscal problem in industrial economies to the boiling point,” and further: “Drastic austerity measures will be needed to head off a compound interest spiral, if it is not already too late for some.” In reference to the way in which Credit Ratings Agencies and banks have turned against Greece in ‘the market’, the report warned:

The question is when markets will start putting pressure on governments, not if. When will investors start demanding a much higher compensation [interest rate] for holding increasingly large amounts of public debt? In some countries, unstable debt dynamics -- in which higher debt levels lead to higher interest rates, which then lead to even higher debt levels -- are already clearly on the horizon.[77]

Further, the report stated that official debt figures in Western nations are incredibly misleading, as they fail to take into account future liabilities largely arising from increased pensions and health care costs, as “rapidly ageing populations present a number of countries with the prospect of enormous future costs that are not wholly recognised in current budget projections. The size of these future obligations is anybody's guess.”[78]

In all the countries surveyed, the debt levels were assessed as a percentage of GDP. For example, Greece, which was at the time of the report’s publication, at risk of a default on its debt, had government debt at 123% of GDP. In contrast, other nations which currently are doing better (or seemingly so), in terms of market treatment, had much higher debt levels in 2010: Italy had a government debt of 127% of GDP and Japan had a monumental debt of 197% of GDP. Meanwhile, for all the lecturing France and Germany have done to Greece over its debt problem, France had a debt level of 92% of its GDP, and Germany at 82%, with the levels expected to rise to 99% and 85% in 2011, respectively. The U.K. had a debt level of 83% in 2010, expected to rise to 94% in 2011; and the United States had a debt level of 92% in 2010, expected to rise to 100% in 2011. Other nations included in the tally were: Austria with 78% in 2010, 82% in 2011; Ireland at 81% in 2010 and 93% in 2011; the Netherlands at 77% in 2010 and 82% in 2011; Portugal at 91% in 2010 and 97% in 2011; and Spain at 68% in 2010 and 74% in 2011.[79]

Further, the BIS paper warned that debt levels are likely to continue to dramatically increase, as, “in many countries, employment and growth are unlikely to return to their pre-crisis levels in the foreseeable future. As a result, unemployment and other benefits will need to be paid for several years, and high levels of public investment might also have to be maintained.”[80] The report goes on:

Seeing that the status quo is untenable, countries are embarking on fiscal consolidation plans [austerity measures]. In the United States, the aim is to bring the total federal budget deficit down from 11% to 4% of GDP by 2015. In the United Kingdom, the consolidation plan envisages reducing budget deficits by 1.3 percentage points of GDP each year from 2010 to 2013.[81]

However, the paper went on, the austerity measures and “consolidations along the lines currently being discussed will not be sufficient to ensure that debt levels remain within reasonable bounds over the next several decades.” Thus, the BIS suggested that, “An alternative to traditional spending cuts and revenue increases is to change the promises that are as yet unmet. Here, that means embarking on the politically treacherous task of cutting future age-related liabilities.”[82] In short, the BIS was recommending to end pensions and other forms of social services significantly or altogether; hence, referring to the task as “politically treacherous.” The BIS recommended “an aggressive adjustment path” in order to “bring debt levels down to their 2007 levels.”[83] The challenges for central banks, the BIS warned, was that it could spur long-term increases in inflation expectations, and that the uncertainty of “fiscal consolidation” (see: fiscal austerity measures) make it difficult to determine when to raise interest rates appropriately. Inflation acts as a ‘hidden tax’, forcing people to pay more for less, particularly in the costs of food and fuel. Raising interest rates at such a time “would not work, as an increase in interest rates would lead to higher interest payments on public debt, leading to higher debt,” and thus, potentially higher inflation.[84]

In April of 2010, the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) warned that the Greek crisis was spreading “like Ebola,” and that the crisis was “threatening the stability of the financial system.”[85] In early 2010, the World Economic Forum (WEF) warned that there was a “significant chance” of a second major financial crisis, “and similar odds of a full-scale sovereign fiscal crisis.” The report identified the U.K. and U.S. as having “among the highest debt burdens.”[86]

Nouriel Roubini, a top American economist who accurately predicted the financial crisis of 2008, wrote in 2010 that, “unless advanced economies begin to put their fiscal houses in order, investors and rating agencies will likely turn from friends to foes.” Due to the financial crisis, the stimulus spending, and the massive bailouts to the financial sector, major economies had taken on massive debt burdens, and, warned Roubini, faced a major sovereign debt crisis, not relegated to the euro-zone periphery of Greece, Portugal, Spain, and Ireland, but even the core countries of France and Germany, and all the way to Japan and the United States, and that the “U.S. and Japan might be among the last to face investor aversion.” Thus, concluded Roubini, developed nations “will therefore need to begin fiscal consolidation as soon as 2011-12 by generating primary surpluses, which can be accomplished through a combination of gradual tax hikes and spending cuts.”[87]

In February of 2010, Niall Ferguson, economic historian, Bilderberg member, and official biographer of the Rothschild family, wrote an article for the Financial Times in which he warned that a “Greek crisis” was “coming to America.” Ferguson wrote that far from remaining in the peripheral eurozone nations, the current crisis “is a fiscal crisis of the western world. Its ramifications are far more profound than most investors currently appreciate.” Ferguson wrote that the crisis will spread throughout the world, and that the notion of the U.S. as a “safe haven” for investors is a fantasy, even though the “day of reckoning” is still far away.[88]

In December of 2010, Citigroup’s chief economist warned that, “We could have several sovereign states and banks going under,” and that both Portugal and Spain will need bailouts.[89] In late 2010, Mark Schofield, head of interest rate strategy at Citigroup, “said that a debt overhaul with similarities to the ‘Brady Bond’ solution to the 1980s crisis in Latin America was being extensively discussed in the markets.”[90] This would of course imply a similar response to that which took place during the 1980s debt crisis, in which Western nations and institutions reorganized the debts of ‘Third World’ nations that defaulted on their massive debts, and thus they were economically enslaved to the Western world thereafter.

In January of 2011, the IMF instructed major economies around the world, including Brazil, Japan, and the United States, “to implement deficit cutting plans or risk a repeat of the sovereign debt crisis that has engulfed Greece and Ireland.” At the same time, the Credit Ratings Agency Standard and Poor’s cut Japan’s long-term sovereign debt rating for the first time since 2002. As the Guardian reported:

The IMF said Japan, America, Brazil and many other indebted countries should agree targets for bringing borrowing under control. In an updated analysis on global debt and deficits, it said the pace of deficit reduction across the advanced economies was likely to slow this year, mainly because the US and Japan are preparing to increase their borrowing.[91]

Ireland was recently gripped with a major debt crisis. In 2009, Ireland was officially in an economic depression, and as one commentator asked in the Financial Times, “So will this be known as the Depression of the early 21st century?”[92] With the government of Ireland bailing out its banks in crisis, and descending into its own sovereign debt crisis, the European Union’s newly created European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) and the IMF agreed to a bailout of Ireland for roughly $136 billion in November of 2010. However, as to be expected, the IMF and the European Central Bank (ECB) stated that the bailout “would be provided under 'strong policy conditionality', on the basis of a programme negotiated with the Irish authorities by the [European] Commission and the IMF, in liaison with the ECB.”[93] As part of the bailout, austerity measures were to imposed upon the Irish people, with spending cuts put in place as well as tax increases for the people (but not for corporations).[94]

As a Deutsche Bank executive stated in April of 2011, “the Global Sovereign crisis is probably still in the early stages and is likely to run through most of this decade, and we will be looking at the US for a possible denouement to the unfolding Sovereign issues still to play out globally.”[95]

Debt Crisis or Banking Crisis: Whose Debt is it Anyway?

As of April 2009, EU governments had bailed out their banks to the tune of $4 trillion.[96] In February of 2009, the Telegraph ran an article entitled, “European banks may need 16.3 trillion pound bail-out,” as revealed by a secret European Commission document. However, the figure was so terrifying that the title of the article was quickly changed, and all mention of the number itself was removed from the actual article; yet, a Google search under the original title still brings up the Telegraph report, but when the link is clicked, it is headlined under its new name, “European bank bail-out could push EU into crisis.” To put it into perspective, however, a 16.3 trillion pound bailout is roughly equal to $34.5 trillion. As the secret report stated, “Estimates of total expected asset write-downs suggest that the budgetary costs – actual and contingent - of asset relief could be very large both in absolute terms and relative to GDP in member states.” In other words, the bad debts of the banks require bailouts so enormous that it could threaten the fiscal positions of major nations to do so. However, the report further stated, “It is essential that government support through asset relief should not be on a scale that raises concern about over-indebtedness or financing problems.”[97] In July of 2009, Neil Barofsky, the Special Inspector General for the U.S. bailout (TARP) program, warned that U.S. taxpayers could potentially be on the hook for $24 trillion.[98] Now, while this figure remains unconfirmed, other figures have placed the total cost of the bailout at $19 trillion, with over $17 trillion of that going directly to Wall Street.[99]

In November of 2009, Moody’s reported that global banks face a maturing debt of $10 trillion by 2015, $7 trillion of which will be due by the end of 2012.[100] In April of 2011, the IMF published a report warning that, “Debt-laden banks are the biggest threat to global financial stability and they must refinance a $3.6 trillion ‘wall of maturing debt’ which comes due in the next two years.” The report was specifically referring to European banks, and the report elaborated, “these bank funding needs coincide with higher sovereign refinancing requirements, heightening competition for scarce funding resources.”[101]

The real truth is that the true crisis is “an international banking crisis.”[102] Global banks are insolvent. For over a decade, they inflated massive asset bubbles (such as the housing market) through issuing bad loans to high-risk individuals; they also issued bad loans to nations and helped them hide their real debt in the derivatives market; and all the while they speculated in the derivatives market to both inflate the bubbles and hide the debt, and subsequently to profit off of the collapse of the bubble and sovereign debt crisis. The derivatives market stands at a whopping $600 trillion, with $28 trillion of that inflating the credit default swaps market, the specific market for sovereign debt speculation.[103]

With the onset of the global financial crisis in 2008, major nations moved to bailout these massive banks, thereby keeping them afloat and making them bigger and more dangerous than ever, when they should have simply allowed them to fail and collapse under their own hubris. The effect of the bailouts was to transfer tens of trillions of dollars in bad debts of the banks to the public coffers of nations: private debt became public debt, private liabilities became public liabilities, and thus, the risk was transferred from millionaire and billionaire bankers to the taxpayers. This is often called ‘corporate socialism’ (or ‘economic fascism’) as it privatizes profits and socializes risk. However, the bailouts did not ‘buy’ all the bad debts of banks, as they were specifically focused on the debts related to the housing market. The banks, still insolvent even after the bailouts, hold tens of trillions in bad debts in other asset bubbles such as the commercial real estate bubble (which is arguably larger than the housing bubble[104]), as well as derivatives, and now sovereign debt.

Global financial institutions – such as the IMF – and the major political powers – such as the U.S. and E.U. – continue to serve the interests of bankers over people. Thus, with the onset of the sovereign debt crisis, no one is questioning the legitimacy of the debt, but rather, they are forcing entire nations and populations to impoverish themselves and deconstruct their society in order to get more debt to pay the interest on old – illegitimate – debts to banks which are insolvent and profiting off of their countries plunging into crises. Like a snake wrapping around its victim, the more you struggle, the tighter becomes its hold; with every breath you take, its coils wrap closer and tighter, still. The world is ensnarled in the snake-like grip of global bankers, as they demand that the people of the world pay for their mistakes, their predatory practices, and their own failures.

Greece Gets Another Bailout... for the Bankers

In March of 2011, Moody’s downgraded Greece’s credit rating to a lower rating than that of Egypt, which had recently experienced an uprising which led to the resignation of long-time Egyptian dictator, Hosni Mubarak. The move by Moody’s “prompted investors to dump the debt of other struggling European economies.”[105] In June of 2011, Greece was given the lowest credit rating ever by Standard & Poor’s, saying that Greece is “increasingly likely” to face a debt restructuring and be the first sovereign default in the euro-zone’s history. The S&P specified, “Risks for the implementation of Greece’s EU/IMF borrowing program are rising, given Greece’s increased financing needs and ongoing internal political disagreements surrounding the policy conditions required.” At the same time, the Greek Treasury was attempting to sell $1.8 billion of treasury bills (selling Greek debt) in order to continue meeting financial needs. However, the downgrade by S&P made the treasury bills far less attractive an investment, and thus, pushed Greece into an even deeper crisis. At the same time, credit default swaps surged to record highs on Greece, Portugal, and Ireland. Simultaneously, Greece was seeking a second bailout, and thus, the lower rating would make any potential loans (which would carry extra risk due to the low credit rating) come attached with much higher interest rates, ensuring a continuation of future fiscal and debt crises for the country. In short, the lower credit rating plunged the country into a deeper crisis, though analysts at JP Morgan and other banks stated that the credit ratings agencies were actually following behind the market, as the major banks had already been betting against Greece’s ability to repay its debt (to them, no doubt).[106]

In June, the EU and IMF concluded a harsh audit of Greece’s finances as a condition for getting a further tranche of its previous bailout loan, with Greece “pledging further reforms and a privatisation drive that has put local unions on the warpath again.” The Greek Ministry “said it had discussed with auditors a four-year programme to reduce the Greek public deficit and its debt of some 350 billion euros ($504 billion) through further reform and sweeping, controversial privatizations,” which the IMF, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the EU made “a condition of further aid.” Greece was seeking a further 70 billion euro bailout, and the country announced the implementation of further austerity measures:

It has also pledged to hold a 50-billion-euro sale of state assets including the near-monopoly telecom and electricity operators, the country's two main ports and one of its best-capitalised banks, Hellenic Postbank.[107]

With major protests, strikes, and riots erupting in Greece against the draconian austerity measures, the economic and social crisis was more deeply enmeshed in a domestic political crisis. The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) published a list of those countries and banks which were the most heavily exposed to Greek debt. The total lending exposure to Greece by 24 nations was over $145 billion, with the exposure of European banks at $136 billion, and non-European banks at nearly $9.5 billion. France had an exposure of $56.7 billion, Germany of $33.9 billion, Italy of $4 billion, Japan of $1.6 billion, the U.K. of $14 billion, the U.S. of $7.3 billion, and Spain at $974 million. Thus, these were the countries with the most to lose in the event of a Greek default.[108]

However, the overall exposure includes lending not only to the country (sovereign debt), but industries, banks, and individuals. France’s overall exposure was highest with $56.7 billion, however, in terms of exposure to sovereign debt specifically, France had an exposure of $15 billion. While Germany had a lower overall exposure at $33.9 billion, German lenders were the most exposed to sovereign debt at $22.7 billion. French banks had a higher overall exposure because $39.6 billion of the $56.7 billion total was loaned to companies and households.[109]

In mid-June 2011, Moody’s warned that it might cut the credit ratings of France’s three largest banks due to their holdings of Greek debt, and placed “BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole and Société Générale on review for a possible downgrade.”[110]

In June, it was reported that the IMF exerted strong pressure on Germany to give Greece another bailout, threatening to trigger a sovereign default if Germany did not agree to a bailout. As reported in the Guardian: “The fund warned the Germans in recent weeks that it would withhold urgently needed funds and trigger a Greek sovereign default unless Berlin stopped delaying and pledged firmly that it would come to Greece's rescue.”[111] As part of the new bailout, there would be “unprecedented outside intervention in the Greek economy, including international involvement in tax collection and privatisation of state assets, in exchange for new bail-out loans for Athens.” Further, there would be conditions in the package that would provide incentives for holders of Greek debt (i.e., European banks) to voluntarily extend Greece’s repayment period, by “rolling over” the debt into future bonds (i.e., pushing the debt further down the road), and of course, the package would also include a new round of austerity measures. Much of the funding is expected to come from the sale of state assets, with the IMF and EU providing roughly $43 billion extra.[112]

The major lenders were seen to have a role in the latest Greek bailout, with French banks agreeing to a possible roll-over of Greek debt, meaning that the banks would be extending the maturity of some of their holdings of Greek debt, and that “banks would reinvest most of the proceeds of their holdings of Greek debt maturing between now and 2014 back into new long-term Greek securities.”[113] German banks also agreed to roll over 3.2 billion euros of Greek debt falling due up to and including 2014.[114]

In late June, the Greek government approved another harsh austerity package, prompting more massive protests, strikes, and riots. The second bailout package has been running into significant problems, largely to do with its stipulations for private sector involvement, creating many conflicts between those parties which must agree to the bailout. The ultimate bailout package, expected to be in the range of 80 to 90 billion euros, might not be agreed upon until September. Meanwhile, hedge funds have been speculating in the derivatives market seeking to make financial gains throughout the unfolding crisis.[115]

The Crisis Spreads Through Europe

Portugal descended into a major debt crisis in 2011. In March, the country’s parliament rejected a new austerity package to deal with its debt, and “the market” reacted by moving against the country, as “sovereign bond yields soared to new highs,” with Fitch Ratings downgrading Portugal’s credit rating and Moody’s downgraded the rating of several Spanish banks, which are heavily exposed to Portuguese debt.[116] In April of 2011, Portugal sought the assistance of the EU and IMF and requested a bailout of roughly 80 billion euros. As a condition for such a bailout, Portugal would be forced to impose harsh austerity measures in a ‘Structural Adjustment’ package which “will include structural reforms, spending cuts, a stabilisation programme for the country's financial sector and ambitious privatisation plans.”[117] As such prospects increase for Portugal’s neighbour Spain, which is considered both “too big to fail” and “too big to bail,” Spain’s government has imposed several rounds of harsh austerity measures.[118]

In May, an agreement was reached to bailout Portugal by the EU and IMF worth roughly $111 billion. As part of the agreement, Portugal had to implement the austerity measures that its parliament had rejected in March, cutting spending (including pensions), while roughly 12 billion euros (or $17.8 billion) of the 78 billion euro bailout would go to banks.[119] In July, Moody’s slashed Portugal’s credit rating to “junk status,” and European bank shares fell sharply, as they are heavily exposed to Portuguese debt. Moody’s warned that Portugal may need a second bailout (just like Greece), which pushed Portugal’s borrowing costs further up, plunging the country and Europe as a whole deeper into a debt crisis.[120]

In July, Moody’s downgraded Portugal’s debt to junk status, increasing fears that Spain and Italy will be targeted next. The downgrade also came with a warning that Portugal may, like Greece, need a second bailout, which pushed European stock markets down, “adding to the woes of Ireland, Spain and Italy as traders dumped their bonds, forcing their interest rates up.”[121] In July, Moody’s downgraded Ireland’s rating to “junk status,” putting it in the same category as Greece and Portugal, and further exacerbating the economic crisis there, and fuelling fears about Spain and Italy.[122]

Italy, with $2.6 trillion in outstanding debt, was plunged into a deep crisis in early July, and began to edge toward a potential need for a bailout.[123] French banks have an exposure of $392.6 billion in Italian debt (both public and private), which is more than double of the German exposure to Italy.[124] Amid the increased fears over Italy’s debt, its borrowing costs soared (plunging it even deeper into crisis). Italy’s government announced the intention to impose an austerity plan to cut 40 billion euros out of its budget.[125] Mario Draghi, governor of the Bank of Italy, endorsed the austerity package, calling it “an important step.” Mario Draghi is incidentally set to take over the position of President of the European Central Bank in November, when Jean-Claude Trichet steps down.[126]

Spanish banks reportedly had an exposure of 100 billion euros in Portuguese debt, meaning that a bailout for Portugal is in fact a bailout for Spanish banks.[127] UK banks were sitting on roughly 100 billion pounds (roughly $150 billion) of exposure to Greek, Portuguese, and Spanish debt, as of April 2010.[128] It was reported in April of 2011 that British banks had an exposure of roughly 33.7 billion euros to Portugal, comparing favourably with French and German exposure, unlike in Ireland, where British banks have the largest exposure of all foreign banks. Though, in total, European banks hold roughly $266 billion in exposure to Portuguese debt.[129]

As the Bank for International Settlements reported in March of 2011, the total exposure by foreign banks to what is referred to as Europe’s ‘PIGS’ (Portugal, Ireland, Greece, and Spain) is roughly $2.5 trillion. Germany has the largest exposure, at $569 billion, the U.K. is next with $431 billion, and France is in third with $380 billion. The British banks have an exposure of $225 billion in Ireland and $152 billion in Spain.[130]

With Italy in crisis, European banks are even more exposed, as their net exposure to Italian sovereign debt (not to be confused with total debt exposure, public and private) is more than their exposure to Greece, Portugal, Ireland, and Spain combined. Exposure to those four nations is roughly $226 billion, while European banks’ exposure to Italy’s sovereign debt is $262 billion, making the threat of a bailout or a potential default all the more pronounced.[131]

The European Central Bank (ECB) itself, through purchasing of government bonds from Europe’s weakest economies, reportedly has an exposure of 444 billion euros (or $630 billion) to Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece, and Spain (the PIIGS). As one think tank reported on the figures, “There is a hidden – and potentially huge – cost of the euro zone crisis to taxpayers buried in the ECB’s books.”[132]


François Hollande : "la dette est l'ennemie de la gauche et de la France"

François Hollande Le candidat à la primaire socialiste estime qu'il faut "rééquilibrer les comptes publics sans tarder" et descendre à 3% du PIB" dès 2013, alors que le programme socialiste a fixé la réduction de la dette pour 2014.

La polémique se poursuit après les propos d'Eva Joly

Eva Joly La gauche s'insurge des déclarations "inacceptables" et "xénophobes" de François Fillon, la droite répond... La déclaration de la candidate EELV n'en finit pas de faire des vagues.

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Eva Joly : la droite ressuscite l'anti-France

Les militaires de l'école Polytechnique ouvrent le défilé des troupes à pied Les réactions politiques après la proposition de la candidate écologiste de remplacer le défilé militaire du 14 juillet par un "défilé citoyen" soulèvent des haut-le-coeur. Par Renaud Dély.

Arrête ton char, par François Reynaert

Les troupes défilent le 14 juillet 2011 sur les Champs-Elysées à Paris Lionnel Luca conseille à Eva Joly d'"apprendre l’Histoire de France". Toi-même, pourrait-on lui rétorquer.

Eva Joly n'a aucune excuse à faire aux militaires

Eva Joly a remporté la primaire écologiste OPINION. La candidate ecologiste a tout à fait le droit de s'exprimer librement à propos du défilé du 14 juillet. Par Jacky Mestries, ex-militaire.

Rwanda : l'armée française accusée de viols collectifs

Femme devant un camp de réfugiés rwandais sous protection de la force Turquoise Des rescapées tutsies du génocide hutu affirment qu'elles ont été systématiquement violées par des militaires français dans les camps contrôlés par la force Turquoise. Info ou intox ? Par Sarah Halifa-Legrand.

Mondial : les Bleues restent au pied du podium

Mondial Bleues petite finale L'équipe de France féminine a été battue 2-1 par la Suède et doit donc se contenter de la quatrième place du Mondial, au cours duquel elle aura néanmoins beaucoup grandi.

Théâtre de la primaire PS en Avignon

Le député-maire d'Evry Manuel Valls, candidat à la primaire socialiste, lors d'un meeting à Paris le 6 juillet 2011 Aubry, Valls, Montebourg, Hollande... tous à Avignon. Côté cour, côté jardin ? Carnet de campagne par Sylvain Courage.

Dette US : Obama n'a pas peur de "faire des choix impopulaires"

BARACK OBAMA ET LES RÉPUBLICAINS CAMPENT SUR LEURS POSITIONS SUR LE DOSSIER DE LA DETTE Le président américain a invité les Démocrates et les Républicains, qui n'arrivent pas à se mettre d'accord sur le replafonnement de la dette publique, à faire "des sacrifices partagés."

Tests européens : huit banques ratent l'examen

Opération d'un retrait dans un distributeur automatique de billets Cinq banques espagnoles, deux grecques et une autrichienne ne résisteraient pas à un important choc économique. Les banques françaises ont elles passé l'examen avec succès.

Libye : offensive rebelle sur le port de Brega

Des rebelles libyen se préparent à partir vers Brega, le 14 juillet 2011 à Ajdabiya Au sud de la ville, où les insurgés avaient initialement gagné du terrain, les troupes de Khadafi ont vigoureusement repoussé les rebelles.

Incidents du 14 juillet : le PS dénonce le silence du gouvernement

15 07 11 CRS (photo d'illustration) Le parti estime que le gouvernement "occulte les chiffres de la délinquance" pour "faire oublier son incurie".

Un soldat de l'Otan abattu en Afghanistan

Un policier afghan au contrôle d'un checkpoint à Kaboul en juin 2011. Un soldat de l'Isaf dont la nationalité n'a pas été communiquée a été abattu par un homme qui portait un uniforme de l'armée afghane.

Obama a reçu officiellement le dalaï lama à la Maison blanche

Le dalaï lama salue la foule réunie devant le Capitole à Washington, le 9 juillet 2011 La Chine avait réclamé l'annulation de la visite.

300 manifestants arrêtés en Syrie

Capture d'écran d'une vidéo YouTube d'une manifestation anti-régime à Douma, en banlieue de Damas, le 15 juillet 2011 Plus d'un million de personnes ont manifesté à travers le pays vendredi, soit la plus grande mobilisation contre le régime en quatre mois de révolte.

Un détenu se suicide à la prison de Béziers

C'est le quatrième suicide dans ce centre pénitentiaire depuis 2009.

Air Algérie : les négociations commenceront dimanche

Des voyageurs patientent à l'aéroport d'Alger le 15 juillet 2011 Le personnel navigant commercial réclame des hausses de salaire et un nouveau statut.

L'attribution d'un prix à Poutine fait polémique en Allemagne

Poutine Les organisateurs ont finalement renoncé à décerner la récompense au Premier ministre russe.

Silvio Berlusconi victime d'une chute dans sa douche

Silvio Berlusconi, le 15 juillet 2011, après une allocution à la Chambre des députés. Le chef du gouvernement italien a subi un "petit traumatisme crânien".

Jennifer Lopez et Marc Anthony divorcent

Maje, Sandro et Isabel Marant à l'assaut de New-York

Amanda Peet et Isabel marant Comment les marques françaises partent à la conquête de la Grosse Pomme. Par Céline Cabourg.

Kate trop maigre, Angelina mariée, John Kerry paparazzé... 7 jours à Hollywood

Angelina Jolie et Brad Pitt La revue de presse (presque) indispensable. Par Cécile Delarue, à Los Angeles.

Mad Men, good end ? Le créateur connaît déjà la fin

Mad Men, Good End ? Le créateur connaît déjà la fin. Le patron de la série, qui vient d'être nominée 19 fois aux Emmy Awards, annonce qu'il sait déjà comment elle finit... Par Cécile Delarue, à Los Angeles.

La Rochelle. Record d'affluence pour les Francofolies

Le public de la grande scène lors de la 27ème édition des Francofolies en juillet 2001. Le festival a attiré près de 89.000 spectateurs sur six jours.

DSK assiste à deux concerts dans le Massachussetts

Dominique Straiuss-Kahnà la sortie de son domicile le 1er juillet 2011 à New York Accompagné par son épouse Anne Sinclair, l'ancien dirigeant du FMI a refusé de parler aux journalistes.

Le Premier ministre japonais en visite à Fukushima

Le Premier ministre Naoto Kan, le 6 juillet 2011 à Tokyo La situation autour de la centrale semble s'être amélioré, selon la presse. Les autorités cherchent à réinstaller les habitants.

Scandale des écoutes : deux protégés de Murdoch démissionnent

Rupert Murdoch Le magnat de la presse a accepté les deux démissions et a exprimé ses regrets.

Roissy : un avion anglais cloué au sol pour réparation

GP le bourget 2011 Un contrôle technique surprise a empêché le décollage des 200 passagers.

Séoul connaît à son tour sa "marche des salopes"

16.07.11 marche des salopes à Boston (Sipa) Le mouvement des "Slut walk", né au Canada pour protester contre les violences sexuelles, se propage.

L'alcool plus nocif pour les filles que pour les garçons

Des bouteilles d'alcool vides sont disposées sur une table, le 25 mars 2010 à Rennes, lors d'un "apéro géant" Les capacités d'attention et de mémoire sont particulièrement diminuées chez les adolescentes qui participent à des soirées de beuverie.

"Amnesia", un brûlot anti-Ben Ali de Tunis à Avignon

"Yaihia YAÏCH" Amnesia / IMG_1657  ©Photos. Mohamed FRINI Montée à Tunis un an avant la Révolution de jasmin, la pièce est aujourd'hui programmée au Festival d'Avignon. Par Raphaël de Gubernatis.

Le jeu vidéo de la semaine : F.3.A.R

Le jeu "F.3.A.R." Amateurs d'hémoglobine et de gore, voilà un jeu de tirs à votre mesure. Les autres : passez votre chemin, cela ne fait même pas peur...

L'application de la semaine : VirusBarrier

VirusBarrier sur iPhone Voici le premier antivirus pour iPhone.

Gaza : raid israélien et roquettes palestiniennes

Des bâtiments détruits par un raid aérien israélien, le 13 juillet 2011 dans la zone d'al-Tuffah, à Gaza Un activiste palestinien a été blessé.

La jeune femme enceinte toujours recherchée en Bretagne

Des gendarmes Disparue depuis huit jours, elle devait fêter ses 28 ans ce samedi.

Eric Woerth va poursuivre le Canard enchaîné et le Courrier picard

Eric Woerth L'ancien ministre "s'insurge" contre des articles des deux journaux le mettant en cause dans l'affaire de la vente de l'hippodrome de Compiègne.

Chili : les mineurs de San José portent plainte contre l'Etat

Le président chilien Sebastian Pinera pose avec les 33 mineurs rescapés juste après leur évacuation. Les mineurs chiliens étaient restés bloqués sous terre pendant deux mois à la suite d'un éboulement.

Hugo Chavez veut suivre une chimiothérapie à Cuba

Hugo Chavez le 15 janvier 2011 à Caracas Le président vénézuélien a déjà été opéré d'une tumeur cancéreuse dans la zone pelvienne le 20 juin dernier à Cuba.

Flash-back : Miles Davis, artisan et popstar du jazz

Miles Davis et Jeanne Moreau L'Ina et Nouvelobs.com s'associent pour vous proposer, chaque semaine, une mise en perspective historique d'un sujet d'actualité. Cette semaine, Miles Davis à l’occasion des célébrations du 20e anniversaire de sa disparition.

VIDEOS
La bande-annonce de "F.3.A.R"
La bande-annonce de "F.3.A.R"
La bande-annonce de "F.3.A.R"
La bande-annonce de "F.3.A.R"
La bande-annonce de "Fear 3"
La bande-annonce de "Fear 3"
La fondation WWF célèbre ses 50 ans avec un nouveau clip
La fondation WWF célèbre ses 50 ans avec un nouveau clip
14 Juillet : les Champs Elysées "sous le vent" de la Polynésie
14 Juillet : les Champs Elysées "sous le vent" de la Polynésie

Blogs
Par Claude Soula France 3 et Arte: deux chaines en perdition
Par Claude Soula
Par Odile Quirot Festival d’Avignon : de l’aube à la nuit
Par Odile Quirot
Par Jean Daniel Vive Bourguiba !
Par Jean Daniel
Par Dominique Leglu FUKUSHIMA (suite 40) Des décennies pour nettoyer la centrale de Fukushima
Par Dominique Leglu
Voir tous les blogs


Scomparsa attrice-blogger iraniana
"Rapita dai servizi segreti" / 
Video

La denuncia dall'emittente Deutsche Welle che l'attendeva a Berlino per farle commentare i Mondiali di calcio femminile


 E.coli : un garçon de deux ans est sorti du coma

Selon le CHRU de Lille, des «problème sérieux», liés aux reins, subsistent. Deux autres enfants qui présentent des symptômes d'infection à une bactérie E.coli sont toujours dans le même hôpital.

Hugo Chavez arrivé à Cuba
pour soigner son cancer

Hugo Chavez arrivé à Cuba <br/>pour soigner son cancer<br/>

Un mois après avoir été opéré d'une tumeur cancéreuse, le chef de l'Etat vénézuelien a obtenu une seconde fois l'autorisation de son Parlement pour se faire soigner à La Havane.

Obama reçoit le dalaï-lama
et affiche un soutien «ferme»

Alors que le président américain a reçu ce samedi à la Maison-Blanche le chef spirituel des Tibétains, la Chine a mis en garde Washington sur une possible dégradation de leurs relations bilatérales.


Dette : Hollande s'aligne sur la droite

Le candidat à la primaire socialiste estime dans une interview au Monde que le déficit de l'État doit être réduit à 3% dès 2013. La même échéance que celle fixée par Bercy.

14 Juillet : Fillon visé par la gauche, deux ministres le défendent

François Fillon a continué samedi à être la cible de la gauche pour ses propos contre Eva Joly, tandis qu'à droite, Valérie Pécresse et Laurent Wauquiez ont dénoncé «une tentative acrobatique» de l'opposition «pour se ressouder».
» Retour sur les origines du défilé du 14 Juillet
» 14 Juillet : Eva Joly trouble le Parti socialiste

Thomas Voeckler :
«Je suis dans mes meilleures années»

Thomas Voeckler :<br> «Je suis dans mes meilleures années»

CYCLISME - Thomas Voeckler a fait jeu égal avec les favoris du Tour de France au plateau de Beille pour conserver son Maillot Jaune. Evoquant un peloton plus propre, l'Alsacien ne veut pas se projeter trop loin.
» Thomas Voeckler déjoue tous les pronostics
» La 13e étape en images

La jeune femme enceinte disparue
près de Rennes reste introuvable

L'enquête se poursuit pour tenter de retrouver Anne Caudal, disparue depuis une semaine. Des témoignages intéresseraient les gendarmes et pourraient orienter les recherches.

Un monument pour les soldats français morts à l'extérieur

L'ancien chef d'état-major Bernard Thorette travaille à la construction d'un monument dédié à la mémoire de ces disparus. En attendant, Nicolas Sarkozy rendra hommage mardi aux Invalides aux militaires morts en Afghanistan.

Primaire PS : Mignard sonne la fin
du dépôt des candidatures

Il n'est désormais plus possible de s'inscrire à la compétition du parti socialiste pour devenir le candidat à l'élection présidentielle en 2012. Y compris pour Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

Syrie : l'opposition réunie à Istanbul
au lendemain de violences

INFOGRAPHIE - Une réunion d'opposants s'est tenue à Istanbul au lendemain d'une nouvelle journée de manifestations alors qu'Hillary clinton a semblé modifier son discours dans sa condamnation du régime syrien.

La forte sécheresse en Afrique de l'Est suscite l'inquiétude

La forte sécheresse en Afrique de l'Est suscite l'inquiétude<br/>

Alors que la France a appelé à la tenue d'une «réunion d'urgence» avant fin juillet pour coordonner l'aide internationale aux victimes, Londres a promis samedi une enveloppe de 59 millions d'euros d'aide.


Forêts : indispensables pour absorber le CO2

La lutte contre la déforestation permettrait de stocker la moitié du CO2 d'origine fossile.


Japon : l'étonnante reconstruction

Les initiatives individuelles pallient les carences des pouvoirs publics.
» Tokyo candidate au JO de 2020 pour tourner la page du tsunami

Huit banques échouent aux stress tests européens, seize sont en ballotage

L'Europe a publié les résultats d'un vaste effort de transparence destiné à rassurer les marchés sur la solidité de ses banques. Cinq espagnoles, deux grecques et une autrichienne ont été épinglées.
» Les banques françaises confirment leur solidité

L'Europe veut stopper la panique
avant les vacances

Le président du Conseil Herman van Rompuy a convoqué les ministres des Finances de la zone euro ce jeudi. Une preuve que les dirigeants se rapprochent d'une solution dans le dossier grec, source de toutes les craintes.

Dialogue de sourds aux États-Unis
sur la dette

Barack Obama fixe un ultimatum au Congrès, mais les positions restent très éloignées sur la façon dont les États-Unis pourront éviter le défaut de paiement le 2 août prochain.
» L'Italie adopte définitivement son plan d'austérité

Les anti-cahiers de vacances
se rebiffent

Si le marché se porte bien, cette tendance à l'occupation permanente des enfants ne fait pas l'unanimité.


Gare au frelon asiatique

«Vespa velutina», ou frelon à pattes jaunes, est un prédateur venu d'Asie. Cette espèce s'est répandue dans trente-neuf départements français. Agressif s'il se sent menacé, ce frelon se révèle aussi un impitoyable tueur d'abeilles.


Les îles françaises ont le vent en poupe

Idéalisées dès l'époque des Lumières, toujours perçues comme différentes du reste du monde, les îles font l'objet d'une passion intacte. Elles continuent de faire courir chaque été des milliers de touristes, anonymes ou célèbres, sur les franges de notre littoral. Décryptage.
»Le prix des îles

Les longues traversées : la dernière oeuvre de Bernard Giraudeau

Les longues traversées : la dernière oeuvre de Bernard Giraudeau<br/>

INTERVIEW VIDÉO - Il y a un an, le 17 juillet 2010, Bernard Giraudeau succombait à la maladie. Il travaillait alors sur son deuxième album BD Les longues traversées. Christian Caillaux, son ami dessinateur, évoque sa collaboration avec l'artiste.

Surenchère de communication
dans l'affaire DSK

Les soutiens de Nafissatou Diallo veulent organiser une nouvelle manifestation dimanche à Harlem.
» DOSSIER SPÉCIAL - L'affaire DSK

Hollande garde son avance sur Aubry dans la primaire socialiste

SONDAGE - La maire de Lille ne semble pas avoir bénéficié de son entrée officielle dans la campagne des primaires.
» DOCUMENT (pdf) - L'intégralité du sondage
» Pierret accuse Aubry d'avoir empêché sa candidature

Lidl accusé de discriminations
à l'embauche

Le groupe de distribution aurait refusé d'embaucher certains candidats en raison de leur origine, rapporte Le Parisien. La direction régionale Ile-de-France - Nord ne voudrait pas d'étrangers sous carte de séjour.

Manaudou persiste et signe

Manaudou persiste et signe

Après un retour réussi sur 50m nage libre, Laure Manaudou a confirmé lors de la deuxième journée du Meeting d'Athens en remportant le 200m nage libre et en finissant 2e du 100m dos.
» Manaudou II, le retour


Les jeunes sont aussi victimes de solitude

Les campagnes de sensibilisation auprès des populations esseulées se multiplient.

Le larynx artificiel bientôt à l'essai

Cette prothèse, prochainement testée à Strasbourg sur quelques patients, vise à éviter la trachéotomie. 


Le kaléidoscope
du pouvoir régional

LE BONHEUR D'ÊTRE FRANÇAIS - La France est un millefeuille administratif que les lois Defferre sur la décentralisation ont encore plus compliqué. Localement, les édiles peuvent faire des dégâts ou des miracles.
» Les précédents épisodes
» Abonnez-vous à Mon Figaro Select pour consulter cet article

Le France de Michel Sardou

LA FRANCE EN CHANSONS (6/41) - Hommage au paquebot mythique des Trente Glorieuses, cette chanson aux accents de chant patriotique résonna fortement dans la France giscardienne. C'est désormais un classique.
» Les précédents épisodes

Stars en vacances

Stars
en vacances

C'est la saison de tous les dangers. On a vu d'incollables fashionistas trébucher sur une méduse en plastique. Heureusement, chez les stars, les fashion faux pas sont rares, et l'été n'est jamais vraiment meurtrier. Carnet de notes.
» EN IMAGES - Verdicts fashion sous le soleil...


Dix applis
pour les vacances

Trouver un restaurant dans un lieu inconnu, s'informer de la météo ou redécouvrir les oeuvres classiques... Voici notre sélection pour l'iPhone.

Des collectivités locales
moins enclines à s'endetter

INFOGRAPHIE - Les communes, départements et régions portent encore 10 à 12 milliards de prêts toxiques.

Le mercato en direct

FOOTBALL - Les dernières infos du mercato. Ce samedi, Chelsea hausserait son offre pour Luka Modric, Lyon s'activerait dans le sens des départs et d'une possible arrivée, Tevez vise les Corinthians... Avec Sport24.com

British Open : le bal des quadras

GOLF - Pour s'imposer sur le parcours du Royal St George's, il faut de la fougue et du tempérament. Mais sans expérience, c'est l'échec. La preuve. Parmi les six premiers du British 2011 après 2 tours, trois ont plus de 40 ans.
» Toute l'actualité du golf


Quelle holiday addict êtes-vous ?

TEST - Accro aux UV ou au travail ? Pleine d'énergie ou dans la séduction ? Faites notre psycho-test ! À quelques jours des vacances et pour faire la belle sans faire fausse route, il est temps de cerner votre moi estival.


Opération séduction :
ce soir ou jamais

BEAUTÉ - Teint, lèvres ou regard : tous les artifices de la parfaite séductrice passés au crible pour les soirées estivales.


La 2 CV et la 4L
à la fête

Vendues à plusieurs millions d'exemplaires à travers le monde, les deux petites françaises, aussi populaires que mythiques, seront célébrées par leurs fans lors de deux rassemblements dans le Loir-et-Cher. 

24 heures photo

24 heures photo

Découvrez les meilleures images de la semaine sélectionnées
par Le Figaro Magazine.



El Watergate británico
El caso revoluciona la política y la prensa
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La anunciada venganza de los "chicos serios"
John CarlinEl País
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Obama pide un "sacrificio" para atacar la deuda
Llamó tanto a republicanos como a demócratas a ceder para impedir que se llegue al default
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Duras críticas de China
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Presionado, Chávez delega poderes antes de viajar a Cuba
Por primera vez desde 1999, cedió algunas funciones a su vicepresidente y a un ministro
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La oposición, ante el desafío de capitalizar el vacío presidencial
Liza LopezPara LA NACION
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Ungarn nimmt Abschied von Otto Habsburg Nachrichten

Ungarn nimmt Abschied von Otto Habsburg


In Wien säumten am Samstag Vertreter des Adels, Politiker aus Österreich und Europa sowie Tausende Trauergäste den letzten Weg Otto Habsburgs. » mehr
Wien 32.1° C
Graz 29.6° C
Salzburg 30.0° C
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Murdoch-Vetraute festgenommen


Murdoch-Vetraute festgenommen Rebekah Brooks, ehemalige Chefredakteurin der umstrittenen britischen Tageszeitung "News of the World" ist im Gewahrsam der Behörden. » mehr

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Fekter: Steuerriegel für Frühpensionen


Fekter: Steuerriegel für Frühpensionen Die Finanzministerin ist gegen Steuerprivilegien bei Sonderabfertigungen für Frühpensionisten. » mehr

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"Beschissenes kleines Österreich"


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Und wieder macht der Sommer Pause


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Galerie: Letztes Geleit für Otto Habsburg

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Ein irritierender Tanz mit dem Tod


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Eva Joly : François Fillon "se félicite" d'avoir déclenché une polémique

François Fillon Le Premier ministre avait déclaré que la candidate écologiste "n'a pas une culture ancienne des valeurs françaises."

Scandale des écoutes : Rebekah Brooks a été arrêtée

REBEKAH BROOKS DÉMISSIONNE DE NEWS INTERNATIONAL Elle était rédactrice en chef du News of the World au moment où une partie des écoutes ont été réalisées.
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AVIGNON. Aubry égratignée par Hollande sur la culture

Martine Aubry, de passage au festival d'Avignon, a dit vouloir augmenter le budget de la culture de 200 millions d'euros par an, sur cinq ans. La candidate à la primaire PS veut augmenter le budget de la culture de 30 à 50%. François Hollande l'a mise en garde sur le réalisme de sa proposition.

Eva Joly ? Une libre erreur

Jean Daniel La gaffe interdite de François Fillon. Par Jean Daniel

A New York, les immigrés sont les bienvenus

Illustration immigration New York Le maire de New York vante sans complexes les bienfaits de l'immigration dans sa ville. Où deux habitants sur trois en sont issus. Et tiennent souvent le haut du pavé. Par Philippe Boulet-Gercourt.

Rwanda : l'armée française accusée de viols collectifs

Femme devant un camp de réfugiés rwandais sous protection de la force Turquoise Des rescapées tutsies du génocide hutu affirment qu'elles ont été systématiquement violées par des militaires français dans les camps contrôlés par la force Turquoise. Info ou intox ? Par Sarah Halifa-Legrand.

Hollande : "la dette est l'ennemie de la gauche et de la France"

François Hollande Le candidat à la primaire socialiste estime qu'il faut "rééquilibrer les comptes publics sans tarder" et descendre à 3% du PIB" dès 2013, alors que le programme socialiste a fixé la réduction de la dette pour 2014.

Théâtre de la primaire PS en Avignon

Le député-maire d'Evry Manuel Valls, candidat à la primaire socialiste, lors d'un meeting à Paris le 6 juillet 2011 Aubry, Valls, Montebourg, Hollande... tous à Avignon. Côté cour, côté jardin ? Carnet de campagne par Sylvain Courage.

Primaire : Les dépôts de candidatures sont terminés, même pour DSK

Primaire PS C'est ce qu'a annoncé Jean-Pierre Mignard, en charge d'assurer le bon déroulement de la primaire socialiste

Arrête ton char, par François Reynaert

Les troupes défilent le 14 juillet 2011 sur les Champs-Elysées à Paris Lionnel Luca conseille à Eva Joly d'"apprendre l’Histoire de France". Toi-même, pourrait-on lui rétorquer.

L'inflation, solution contre la dette ?

Les locaux de la Banque de France le 12 octobre 2009 à Saint-Denis OPINION. Diminuer le train de vie de l'Etat, ou augmenter les recettes fiscales, il n'y a pas beaucoup de solutions pour combler la dette d'un pays. Une troisième possibilité serait l'inflation. Par Rafik Smati, chef d'entreprise.

Le New York Post, bible des potins

Illustration New York Post Créé en 1801, le quotidien est agressif, populiste et d'une crédibilité douteuse, comme l'illustrent ses "scoops" sur DSK. Mais si hilarant que les New-Yorkais se l'arrachent. Par Julie Pêcheur

Crise grecque : Papandréou appelle l'Europe à "se réveiller"

Le Premier ministre grec Georges Papandréou à Paris le 6 janvier 2011 Les dirigeants européens doivent se retrouver le 21 juillet en sommet extraordinaire pour trouver une solution viable concernant la dette de la Grèce.

Rafle du Vel d'Hiv : un millier de personnes à la commémoration

17.07.11 Simon Veil et Marc Laffineur commémorent la rafle du Vel d'Hiv (AFP) Simone Veil, Raphaël Esrail et Marc Laffineur étaient présents à la cérémonie pour déposer des fleurs devant le monument commémoratif de la rafle.

Obama apporte son "soutien ferme" aux Tibétains

Dalaï lama Barack Obama Le président américain a accueilli samedi le dalaï lama à la Maison Blanche, provoquant l'irritation de Pékin.

Air Algérie : pas de hausse des salaires selon le PDG du groupe

Des passagers à destination d'Alger attendent leur enregistrement à l'aéroport d'Orly le 15 juillet 2011 Les négociations devaient s'ouvrir à 14h dans la banlieue d'Alger. La compagnie "espère trouver un compromis".

E.Coli : un enfant grièvement atteint est sorti du coma

Un service de l'hôpital Jeanne de Flandre à Lille, le 16 juin 2011 Son état s'est amélioré mais ses problèmes néphrologiques continuent d'être sérieux, d'après les médecins.

LIBYE. Au moins 13 puissantes explosions à Tripoli

Mouammar Kadhafi le 10 avril 2011 à Tripoli La télévision d'État parle d'un raid de l'Otan qui aurait fait un nombre indéterminé de victimes.

Tour de France : Thomas Voeckler ne gagnera pas

Le Français Thomas Voeckler sur la 10e étape du Tour entre Aurillac et Carmaux, le 12 juillet 2011 OPINION. Le cycliste français redonne de l'espoir aux amateurs de vélo qui n'avaient pas vu gagner un Français depuis 1985. Mais celui-ci a très peu de chances de l'emporter. Par Valentin Jacquemet, passionné de cyclisme.

LYON. La vente d'alcool à emporter interdite après 22h

Une épicerie de nuit à Nice La mairie a pris un arrêté municipal qui interdit la vente d'alcool à emporter après 22h en période estivale, "pour lutter contre l'alcoolisation des plus jeunes".

Israël envisage de présenter des excuses à la Turquie

Le ferry Mavi Marmara, dans le port d'Istanbul, le 10 mars 2011. Le Mavi Marmara, un ferry turc, avait été attaqué par un commando israélien alors qu'il militait dans les eaux d'Israël pour la levée du blocus de Gaza en mai 2010. L'assaut avait fait 9 morts.

Chavez est arrivé à Cuba pour entamer une chimiothérapie

Hugo Chavez Le président vénézuélien a déjà été opéré d'une tumeur cancéreuse il y a un mois.

Mondial : les Bleues restent au pied du podium

Mondial Bleues petite finale L'équipe de France féminine a été battue 2-1 par la Suède et doit donc se contenter de la quatrième place du Mondial, au cours duquel elle aura néanmoins beaucoup grandi.

Dette US : Obama n'a pas peur de "faire des choix impopulaires"

BARACK OBAMA ET LES RÉPUBLICAINS CAMPENT SUR LEURS POSITIONS SUR LE DOSSIER DE LA DETTE Le président américain a invité les Démocrates et les Républicains, qui n'arrivent pas à se mettre d'accord sur le replafonnement de la dette publique, à faire "des sacrifices partagés."

Incidents du 14 juillet : le PS dénonce le silence du gouvernement

15 07 11 CRS (photo d'illustration) Le parti estime que le gouvernement "occulte les chiffres de la délinquance" pour "faire oublier son incurie".

EGYPTE. Le ministre des Affaires étrangères démissionne

Le ministre égyptien des Affaires étrangères Mohammed Al-Orabi au Caire le 19 juin 2011 Le Premier ministre Essam Charaf doit présenter un nouveau gouvernement pour tenter d'apaiser la contestation.

VAR. La caissière d'un supermarché blessée lors d'un braquage

Deux hommes cagoulés et gantés ont tiré des coups de feu à l'intérieur du magasin; les jours de la caissière ne sont pas en danger.

Tests européens : huit banques ratent l'examen

Opération d'un retrait dans un distributeur automatique de billets Cinq banques espagnoles, deux grecques et une autrichienne ne résisteraient pas à un important choc économique. Les banques françaises ont elles passé l'examen avec succès.

300 manifestants arrêtés en Syrie

Capture d'écran d'une vidéo YouTube d'une manifestation anti-régime à Douma, en banlieue de Damas, le 15 juillet 2011 Plus d'un million de personnes ont manifesté à travers le pays vendredi, soit la plus grande mobilisation contre le régime en quatre mois de révolte.

L'attribution d'un prix à Poutine fait polémique en Allemagne

Poutine Les organisateurs ont finalement renoncé à décerner la récompense au Premier ministre russe.

Le jeu vidéo de la semaine : F.3.A.R

Le jeu "F.3.A.R." Amateurs d'hémoglobine et de gore, voilà un jeu de tirs à votre mesure. Les autres : passez votre chemin, cela ne fait même pas peur...

Jennifer Lopez et Marc Anthony divorcent

Maje, Sandro et Isabel Marant à l'assaut de New-York

Amanda Peet et Isabel marant Comment les marques françaises partent à la conquête de la Grosse Pomme. Par Céline Cabourg.

Kate trop maigre, Angelina mariée, John Kerry paparazzé... 7 jours à Hollywood

Angelina Jolie et Brad Pitt La revue de presse (presque) indispensable. Par Cécile Delarue, à Los Angeles.

"Amnesia", un brûlot anti-Ben Ali de Tunis à Avignon

"Yaihia YAÏCH" Amnesia / IMG_1657  ©Photos. Mohamed FRINI Montée à Tunis un an avant la Révolution de jasmin, la pièce est aujourd'hui programmée au Festival d'Avignon. Par Raphaël de Gubernatis.

Mad Men, good end ? Le créateur connaît déjà la fin

Mad Men, Good End ? Le créateur connaît déjà la fin. Le patron de la série, qui vient d'être nominée 19 fois aux Emmy Awards, annonce qu'il sait déjà comment elle finit... Par Cécile Delarue, à Los Angeles.

La Rochelle. Record d'affluence pour les Francofolies

Le public de la grande scène lors de la 27ème édition des Francofolies en juillet 2001. Le festival a attiré près de 89.000 spectateurs sur six jours.

DSK assiste à deux concerts dans le Massachussetts

Dominique Straiuss-Kahnà la sortie de son domicile le 1er juillet 2011 à New York Accompagné par son épouse Anne Sinclair, l'ancien dirigeant du FMI a refusé de parler aux journalistes.

L'application de la semaine : VirusBarrier

VirusBarrier sur iPhone Voici le premier antivirus pour iPhone.

Flash-back : Miles Davis, artisan et popstar du jazz

Miles Davis et Jeanne Moreau L'Ina et Nouvelobs.com s'associent pour vous proposer, chaque semaine, une mise en perspective historique d'un sujet d'actualité. Cette semaine, Miles Davis à l’occasion des célébrations du 20e anniversaire de sa disparition.
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La bande-annonce de "F.3.A.R"
La bande-annonce de "F.3.A.R"
La bande-annonce de "F.3.A.R"
La bande-annonce de "F.3.A.R"
La bande-annonce de "Fear 3"
La bande-annonce de "Fear 3"
La fondation WWF célèbre ses 50 ans avec un nouveau clip
La fondation WWF célèbre ses 50 ans avec un nouveau clip
14 Juillet : les Champs Elysées "sous le vent" de la Polynésie
14 Juillet : les Champs Elysées "sous le vent" de la Polynésie
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