Ja, Frau Chief hat schon wieder Urlaub, ich muß nämlich allen Urlaub dieses Jahr raushauen, Resturlaub mitnehmen ist nicht mehr erlaubt. Leider ist momentan keine Reise geplant, zumindest keine weite. Nicht wie letztes Jahr, wo ich um diese Zeit nach Kalifornien geflogen bin (für Neuleser, die Berichte dazu fangen hier an und ziehen sich bis etwa hier hin, es sind auch ein paar nette Bilder dabei) denn leider brauchte ich ja heuer den neuen Wäschetrockner etcetc. Okay, ich jammere auf hohem Niveau, denn ich hab mich ja im Juni/Juli schon bei der Verwandschaft in Florida ausgetobt (ab hier) und zumindest ein wenig Heimweh schonmal bekämpft. Aber trotzdem. Wah! Schnief!
Aber OH! da fällt mir ein: Ab morgen ist Oktoberfest, auf bayerisch einfach nur “Wiesn” genannt. Ach.Gott. Da muß kann ich ja zum Trost hin und wieder eine kleine warme Milch zu mir nehmen. Unter der Woche sollte das Finden eines Platzes im Bierzelt auch nicht so schwierig sein, wie am Wochenende. Und wenn ich Englischentzug habe, setze ich mich einfach zu ein paar Landsleuten aus den USA oder ein paar Australiern. Die sollen gerüchteweise auch ab und an dort zu finden sein. In kleinen Gruppen. Außerdem muß ich noch Wolfenstein durchzocken, HALO-ODST kommt raus, Marvel Ult. 2 hab ich auch grad erst gekauft, und in den USA hab ich nirgends eine Xbox… Okay, der Urlaub wird schon.
Und besoffen wird sich’s dann auch noch viel leicher wählen lassen, da bin ich mir ganz sicher.
Game Over: Agencia Nuke dice que Irán puede hacer que la bomba
El Muhammadan OIEA ha logrado su objetivo. Dr. Mohamed Mostafa ElBaradei (Arabic: محمد البرادعي) y su banda de jihadistas han tenido éxito.
Este es el cambio de juego – el panorama mundial cambia para siempre. Puede no ser capaz de verlo, pero está ahí. Thomas Sowell dice aquí, “no podemos poner ese genio en la botella – y tampoco las generaciones venideras. Ellos nos maldeciran a todos nosotros por dejarlos de rehenes del terrorismo nuclear”.
AP Newsbreak: Agencia Nuke dice que Irán puede hacer que la bomba Breitbart
VIENA (AP) – Expertos en el organismo vigilante de la cima del mundo están de acuerdo en que Teherán tiene la capacidad para fabricar una bomba nuclear y está en el camino hacia el desarrollo de un sistema de misiles capaces de transportar una ojiva nuclear, según un informe secreto, visto por el The Associated Press.
El documento elaborado por altos funcionarios del Organismo Internacional de Energía Atómica es la indicación más clara de la incapacidad o mala intención de lows organismos de vigilancia internacionales.
Se trata del llamado “anexo secreto” en el programa nuclear de Irán, que Washington dice que está siendo retenido por el jefe del OIEA.
El documento dice que Irán tiene “información suficiente” para construir una bomba. Se dice que Irán es probable que “supere los problemas” en el desarrollo de un sistema de entrega de materiales, nada mas.
No es coincidencia esta noticia:
A 8 meses de su nominación Obama da marcha atrás en el proyecto del gobierno de Bush de construir un escudo protector antimisiles en Europa.
El presidente Jan Fischer de la Republica Checa dijo el jueves que USA les ha comunicado que no instalará el escudo protector ni en su país ni en Polonia. Obama se lo habría comunicado el miercoles por telefono.
El mInistro de Defensa Robert Gates lo diría a las 16.30 (MESZ) en una conferencia de prensa en Washington entonces responderá a los periodistas el Director del Proyecto, General James Cartwright.
Según el „Wall Street Journal“la decisión se debe a que Obama considera que iran no está tan preparado para construir una Bomba. Alexej Arbatow dijo que Obama espera un plan conjunto con Rusia para detener a Iran.
El Secretario General de la OTAN en Bruselas Anders Fogh Rasmussen, se mostrío satisfecho con la decisión que eliminará los roces con Rusia.
Obama kapituliert vor PutinHace unos días se habló de que Norcorea había hecho nuesvas pruebas con misíles nucleares
En otras palagras nos estan entregando como pollo frito en bandeja de oro.
aktualności 2009-09-17
To już jest (prawie) koniec
Najpoważniejsze agencje światowe donoszą – KONIEC Z PLANAMI BUDOWY W POLSCE I CZECHACH ELEMENTÓW TARCZY ANTYRAKIETOWEJ. Decyzja w USA zapadła i dla polskich zwolenników militaryzacji nie jest korzystna. Obama nie wierzy w skuteczność projektu, a poza tym wybiera lepsze relacje z Rosją niż z Polską.
Cała antymilitarna Polska niemal jak na zbawienie czekała na zwycięstwo Demokratów. To była jedyna nadzieja, że projekt uwikłania Polski w międzynarodowy wyścig zbrojeń upadnie. Demokraci od samego początku nie tylko byli sceptyczni wobec planów konserwatystów, ale i otwarcie krytykowali drogie i nie sprawdzone plany budowy tarczy antyrakietowej.
Stronę czeską o odłożeniu projektu na półkę poinformował sam Barack Obama, telefonicznie. Do polskiego premiera nie zadzwonił. O decyzji poinformowała specjalna amerykańska delegacja, która spotkała się przed południem z przedstawicielami polskiego rządu.
Pierwsze pogłoski o wycofaniu się Amerykanów z budowy potwierdzają się. Dziś niemal z pewnością możemy mówić, że projekt trafi do kosza na śmieci. Oficjalnie mówi się o odłożeniu, ale w praktyce to koniec. Informują o tym czołowe amerykańskie media i agencje.
„Wall Street Journal” informuje: „Decyzja oparta jest na amerykańskich ustaleniach, że irański program rakiet dalekiego zasięgu nie postępuje tak szybko jak wstępnie zakładano, co zmniejsza zagrożenie dla kontynentalnej części USA i większości europejskich stolic”. Dziennik podkreśla też, że Ameryka chce „resetu” stosunków z Rosją, a przez władze w Moskwie tarcza nigdy nie została zaakceptowana.
To już najprawdopodobniej definitywny koniec i złożenie do grobu bushowskich planów zaognienia relacji w Europie.
MW
In order to understand the present US foreign policy we need to understand the various global political agendas of various groups in the US. Depending on the administration one group or the other or a combination of these groups will be in power….Oil and Islam. Will America Shift Away from Its Past Unilateralist Policies?
Agenda-1: Neo-Con Agenda
This agenda’s main philosophy is making US super powerful even at the cost of other nations or other people. People who follow this agenda are generally Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld etc. The present US administration is mainly controlled by the people who believe in this ideology. This group believes that
1. US should be the only leader/king nation in this World. US should be able to subjugate any nation which does not follow US order (famous words “you are with us or against us”). This implies only US needs to have most sophisticated weapons. As there are some nations which already have nukes, hence this group wishes that US develop more sophisticated weapons like “space nukes” by which they can even control nuclear weapon states. This also involves discouraging and also threatening other nations who wish to develop nukes.
2. This group believes only pure White Christian Americans should rule the World. They believe in a hierarchy of power structure based on the races and religions. In their belief US comes first and next comes Europe’s some main states like UK, France, and Germany etc. Next in the order are Israel, Russia, China and India. The bottoms of this list are Islamic nations like Pakistan, Iraq, Iran etc.
3. This group also believes US should have the first right on entire World’s resources. Presently if they don’t have such a right they try to get that control through various means. Adding to this if US can’t have the resource then make the region messy so that no other nation will be able to use those resources.
4. This group also believes that there should be continuous conflict in the Middle East so that US will have complete control over the resources. This group also wants to have a permanent US military in this region so that they control the region better.
5. This group supported and wanted the “Iraq War” mainly because it showed the World US military strength (by hanging Saddam) and they wish to have permanent presence in Iraq. They really don’t really care about the chaos in Iraq as long as US causalities are minimum. The logic is that as long as Iraq is under civil war the resources are used by none. And the US force in Iraq will enable it control the control the wreaked country after few years of civil war. The only problem now is that US causalities are increasing daily and it is becoming difficult with US electorate (Republicans lost US congress).
6. This group doesn’t mind India having nukes as long they are minimal and US has control over India’s foreign policy. Adding to this India’s nukes will never be a threat to US as US will develop more sophisticated nukes by which small time nuclear states like India will be no match.
Agenda-2: Conservative Agenda
This is a slightly milder version of Neo-Con agenda. This is basically a modified colonial agenda. This agenda involves making US a superpower and making other powerful nations like China, Russia, Europe perpetually dependent on US economy and technology. This group mainly believes in using political and financial strengths of US. The best example of a person who propagates this agenda is “Henry Kissinger”. The US administration which closely resembles this agenda was Ronald Regan’s US administration.
1. This agenda involves “Anglo-White” imperialistic World order (Ronald Regan + Margaret Thatcher does this ring the bell?). This group in the olden times used to believe in colonial power structure. In order to maintain power these people employ generally the following strategies viz. creating client states by bribing the leaders or continuously keeping certain regions of the World under conflict or arming the guerillas. These strategies fail with democratic states and hence the US never creates any democratic state. US only created puppet client states.
2. This agenda involves sharing the World resources only with the worthy nations or people. The first in the list of worthy nations are obviously the western nations. Reluctantly these people have come to the conclusion that they need to share some resources with China. Adding to this China is managing the US administration very
intelligently.
3. This group believes in creating huge number of client states globally like Iran under Shaw, entire Latin America under dummy governments etc. These people don’t like if a country becomes extremely nationalistic. They try some way or the other to create problems. They hate the present Venezuela’s president Chavez as his policies are complete contrary to their political vision.
4. This group also supported and wanted the Iraq war. The reason is that after 911 attack they felt the “Anglo-White” order was threatened and US needed to show them (Muslims and others) who controls the World. This was the reason Henry Kissinger said just attacking Afghanistan was not enough after the 911 attacks; US needed to remove Saddam also. His exact words were “we need to teach them a lesson”. Teach whom the answer is obvious!!
5. This group after winning the Iraq war would have setup a puppet Iraq regime and left the country once satisfied the Iraq’s resources are under their control. These people will be satisfied if Iraq becomes a client state like Saudi Arabia. Unfortunately the present Iraq war has strengthen Iran as US will be leaving Iraq in about a year.
6. This group also supports India-US nuclear deal but want to make sure US is getting enough in return for their “kindness”. Like support for squeezing Iran etc. These people always hated India’s independent foreign policy as it gives ideas for other states and also their opponents. They must have wished for India’s democracy to become failure as that didn’t happen they wish to control India through some
carrots. Adding to this India’s independent behavior didn’t fit in their “Anglo-White” supremacy principle.
Agenda-3: Realistic Agenda
This agenda is followed by people like Bill Clinton, Madeleine Albright etc. This involves making the US a World leader by proving to the World that US is the only country which can solve all the World’s problems (because US is powerful and has money). This group is neither racists nor anti-religious. This group believes in pluralistic World order having leadership centered on US. This group has lot of intellectuals.
1. This group is willing to cut down some US nuclear weapons if other countries are willing to give up their nuclear weapons. This vision will never happen because as Agenda-1&2 groups will block any attempt to make US a less nuclear weapon state. Remember the way they have rejected the CTBT during Clinton’s regime.
2. This group will try to settle the World’s disputes with whatever way it is possible, which may not be fair and they try to create balance. Generally they have soft corner for Islamic nations, I guess because they are more noisier. As India is a soft state they squeeze India.
3. This group will always try to keep India and Pakistan at the same level. And they will always support Pakistan over India. The main reason being by supporting Pakistan they get extra leverage with other Islamic nations.
4. War is the last resort for this group and they try to rally all the nations if they wish to punish a dictator like Saddam.
5. This group wants neither India nor Pakistan have any nukes. Hence they will try very hard to push both these countries for peaceful talks (remember during Clinton’s time Vajpayee invited Musharaff). This group is very bad for India remember the sanctions slapped on India after the 1998 nuclear tests.
6. This group will aggressively push NPT and they are not happy with the India-US nuke deal. They agreed for the deal as they could get NPT+CTBT in the final deal. US have already tightened the NSG rules so that India is denied any help if US decides not to support India. India will end up in multi-level Tarapore traps with this US-India nuclear deal.
Agenda-4: Puritan Agenda
This is a highly fair agenda for the World. These people are very honest and sincere. People like Howard Dean (Dem) follow this agenda. They neither want the US to be the World leader nor a superpower. They want total Worldwide nuclear disarmament (including US) and US not getting involved in World’s conflicts. These people would like the US to become like Canada. As we all know Islamic terrorists only want to bomb US but they are not bothering with Canada.
Conclusion
I have always noticed US administration following Agenda-1 or Agenda-2 or Agenda-1+2 or Agenda-2+3 only. Agenda-4 is purely academic. Even Clinton administration followed Agenda-3+2, it was not purely Agenda-3. I have also noticed India gained maximum by making deals with US administration that follows Agenda-1 or Agenda-2. Other US administrations (i.e mainly Agenda-3 administrations) generally sermon India rather than helping India with anything worth mentioning.
It is always better for India to evaluate the behavior of all the groups before getting in to any deals with US. Most of the times US gives guarantees only orally which means they are valid only for that administration, while they extract perpetual guarantees from the other nations. The best example is India-US nuclear deal. The conditions attached by the US congress may be considered as advisory by the present Bush administration but the next president of the US most certainly will act differently.
If you’re in the New London area, stop in for breakfast at the Gridlock Grille. The staff are chirpy (maybe a little too chirpy, but I prefer that to dour and snappy).
Surprisingly, they even have a website: http://www.gridlockgrille.com/
The scrambled eggs and rye toast was the best breakfast of the trip. I can still hear our server’s “OK!” reverberating through my memory in response to each “thanks” from me (upon the delivery of water or a coffee refill).
K, if you’re reading this, just know that you’d adore the water here. Tons of ice with just a bit of water squeezed in around it and a straw!
The staff were incredibly kind.
Unfortunately, we didn’t get to any other meals there. If anyone does, let me know what you think!
Island Touch Restaurant, 78 Broad Street.
Not so much a restaurant as a take away place. OK, they did have a couple of chairs and the very kind fellow who was working that night offered to turn off the fan if we wanted to eat there without the drone.
We declined on the grounds that the space was so small and it was such a warm night. It would have been cruel to deny him his sole source of moving air as he danced ingredients into mighty fine looking dishes.
J reported that the goat curry was delicious. It was accompanied by many satisfied murmurs, if not particular descriptions of the dish.
My vegetable patty was all right. It was modest (smaller than I expected) and more like a pasty than a burger-type thing (again, a misdirected expectation).
The red snapper dinner looked absolutely gorgeous. Our friendly host allowed me to peek at one destined for another belly when I was dithering about what to order. The full fish, surrounded by rice and plantain would have been marvellous weapon of great disruption for my small appetite of the time.
Perhaps we’ll get back there. I will most certainly go for that red snapper!
We washed down our takeaways with Jamaican Root Beer and Jamaican Kola. J liked the Kola. I had a sip, but was more pleased with the root beer, which was refreshing and most appreciated.
First Dude: Dude! Look it is raining! Isn’t that great?! Should cool down the place a little atleast.
Second Dude: Are you kidding me?! This is Tucson rain buddy. This will not last for too long and will NOT cool down the place one bit.
This is a conversation between two students that I overheard as I was walking to class one day on what was a really really hot afternoon up until that point. And there are no two different opinions on the subject of what is going to be the first thing that one would notice in Tucson. And most of us knew that Tucson was going to be crazy hot before we had set foot here. It is not like I landed at the airport with a shocked expression and said ‘Where did all the snow go?! This is not fair! I am going back to Bangalore.’.
It is funny when people here ask you, “So how are you liking Tucson?’. The question is delivered to you with such an unique expression which implies that the person asking the question is probably expecting you to grimace and say ‘ Yeah!! I don’t like it so much.’ So when I reply, ‘It is okay’, it is followed by another question along the lines of ‘meaning? is it good or bad?’ thus clarifying my understanding of what is the original intent of the question is. I don’t know why, but Indians here expect other Indians visiting this place for the first time to hate the place by default. So it is funny to see their expression when you say ‘I love this place! It is fantastic! Like heaven!’.
I wanted to focus on new things that I did not know about the city. For instance, I never knew that the place was surrounded by small hillocks on pretty much all the sides. Just made me wonder if I could go back in time and explore the possibility of building an empire here. The city would be guarded on all the sides because of the natural defense provided by the hillocks. Unfortunately, I have no real expertise in building time machines. Maybe that could be my thesis subject!
The next thing that I noticed about the place was the beautiful sunsets. Now I know that sunsets, no matter where they are very beautiful, but this one for some reason is very very different. Maybe it has something to do with that additional picturesque effect provided due to the backdrop of the mountains or something. People say that sun rays here are high on UV content because of the depleting ozone layer here as compared to some other parts of the world. Maybe that might have some bearing on the beauty of sunsets! I don’t know. And to be honest, I don’t care. As long as I know that the setting is good enough to be considered for shooting using my camera, I am happy.
Tucson also represents my first taste of American culture, whatever that is supposed to mean. Not that I am not used to getting adapted to different cultures. I am from India! We have more than a billion people back home all of them belong to different cultural subsets with intersections aplenty. But this is different. Unlike India, where culture can be associated with the type of clothing, the food that you eat or the language that you speak, the culture in America is primarily dependent on the way you speak to and interact with people. The culture can be linked to traffic rules or to holding the door open for the next person after you have entered/left the room or to also learn how not to point at people using your finger for whatever reason.
I can see why some people can find this culture very very irritating and hard to get used to. I find the whole system of vehicles stopping for me at a pedestrian crossing positively annoying to say the least. This is because of two reasons. The driver is probably expecting me to cross quickly so that he/she can move. To me, I have to walk faster than my usual pace just because this person has stopped the vehicle for my sake but is forced to do it and is not really happy about it. The second reason is because there is always a good chance that the driver says ‘ to hell with you’ and go at normal speed instead of stopping for you. I am used to that from my experiences in India and therefore prefer the vehicle to pass away and then cross the road when there is no apparent danger to my life.
There are not too many Indians around this place. But among the ones that are already here, I would say 98% of them speak Tamil. Which is why Tucson felt like Thambiland for the first few weeks.
There are plenty of other things that I am yet to experience in US or Tucson. In fact, I think the list is never going to end. But first impressions are always special.
Will upload some of my snaps from Tucson on my Flickr page soon. Also, I have created a personal home page here.
So here we are, in the midst of a recovery. Remind me: How is this different from a recession?
Oh, right: Some things are getting worse more slowly than they used to, and other things have gotten so bad that they can’t possibly get any worse. And a few things are actually getting better. When economists add it all up, they’re tallying the first net gain in more than a year.
On the plus side, corporate profits have picked up and business executives are more optimistic. All that stimulus spending and those aggressive maneuvers by the Federal Reserve are kicking in. So are all the layoffs–in a good way: With fewer workers, companies have enjoyed a surge in productivity. Moody’s Economy.com believes the recession that officially started in December 2007 officially ended in August 2009. Hooray! It’s over!
[See 4 problems that could sink America.]
Except that an awful lot is still going wrong. Even if the economy is growing again, the number of jobs isn’t, and most economists expect the unemployment rate, now 9.7 percent, to keep rising until the middle of 2010. So we’re having a “jobless” recovery. Home sales have picked up, but prices are still falling and foreclosures keep hitting new records. So we’re also having a homeless recovery. The commercial real estate market has only begun to collapse. Bad loans on real estate and consumer purchases could bring down another 400 banks before the financial meltdown is over. Anybody who wants to start or expand a business is more likely to get swine flu than a loan.
We’re having a jobless, homeless, loanless, and maybe a recoveryless recovery. This is the kind of recovery that makes you wish you were still in the downward-spiral phase, like the first moment when you open your eyes after a wild, boozy night.
[See 10 cities facing another real estate bust and 10 cities primed for recovery.]
Maybe the recovery will start to feel better the longer it lasts. But it could also be an endless recovery that never quite brings a return to prosperity. American consumers are out of money, and they have little choice but to save their disposable income in order to replace all the wealth they’ve lost in the housing bust and stock market crash. Consumer spending accounts for two thirds of the economy, so even a minor decline can wreck the economy if it persists. And one entrenched problem feeds others. With so many people out of work, raises will be scarce, incomes flat, and consumer spending weak. Economist Gary Shilling says that for a net gain in jobs, the economy has to grow by at least 3.3 percent per year. But most economists predict much lower growth for 2010, and some think weak growth will last much longer than that. If it does, who’s going to spend the money that forces the economy out of rehab?
[See the best and worst bailouts of the last two years.]
Oh, yeah, I forgot: The government’s going to spend the money. With private construction dead and consumers broke, stimulus projects, unemployment benefits, and rebates on cars and homes are going to sustain a vibrant new welfare economy. Until the government itself runs out of money–which, technically speaking, has already happened. (Cliché alert: Instead of looking for “green shoots,” economists are now anticipating the moment when “the training wheels come off” and the economy moves forward without government stabilizers.)
The good news is that most Americans probably know that a recovery doesn’t start when economists or politicians (or the media) say so. It starts when local companies start hiring again, when it’s possible to get a raise, and when take-home pay covers the bills with something left over. In much of the country, that hasn’t happened yet. When it does, tell the economists that the real recovery has begun.
So here USA is, in the midst of a recovery.
Oh, right: Some things are getting worse more slowly than they used to, and other things have gotten so bad that they can’t possibly get any worse. And a few things are actually getting better. When economists add it all up, they’re tallying the first net gain in more than a year.
On the plus side, corporate profits have picked up and business executives are more optimistic. All that stimulus spending and those aggressive maneuvers by the Federal Reserve are kicking in. So are all the layoffs–in a good way: With fewer workers, companies have enjoyed a surge in productivity. Moody’s Economy.com believes the recession that officially started in December 2007 officially ended in August 2009. Hooray! It’s over!
[See 4 problems that could sink America.]
Except that an awful lot is still going wrong. Even if the economy is growing again, the number of jobs isn’t, and most economists expect the unemployment rate, now 9.7 percent, to keep rising until the middle of 2010. So we’re having a “jobless” recovery. Home sales have picked up, but prices are still falling and foreclosures keep hitting new records. So we’re also having a homeless recovery. The commercial real estate market has only begun to collapse. Bad loans on real estate and consumer purchases could bring down another 400 banks before the financial meltdown is over. Anybody who wants to start or expand a business is more likely to get swine flu than a loan.
We’re having a jobless, homeless, loanless, and maybe a recoveryless recovery. This is the kind of recovery that makes you wish you were still in the downward-spiral phase, like the first moment when you open your eyes after a wild, boozy night.
[See 10 cities facing another real estate bust and 10 cities primed for recovery.]
Maybe the recovery will start to feel better the longer it lasts. But it could also be an endless recovery that never quite brings a return to prosperity. American consumers are out of money, and they have little choice but to save their disposable income in order to replace all the wealth they’ve lost in the housing bust and stock market crash. Consumer spending accounts for two thirds of the economy, so even a minor decline can wreck the economy if it persists. And one entrenched problem feeds others. With so many people out of work, raises will be scarce, incomes flat, and consumer spending weak. Economist Gary Shilling says that for a net gain in jobs, the economy has to grow by at least 3.3 percent per year. But most economists predict much lower growth for 2010, and some think weak growth will last much longer than that. If it does, who’s going to spend the money that forces the economy out of rehab?
[See the best and worst bailouts of the last two years.]
Oh, yeah, I forgot: The government’s going to spend the money. With private construction dead and consumers broke, stimulus projects, unemployment benefits, and rebates on cars and homes are going to sustain a vibrant new welfare economy. Until the government itself runs out of money–which, technically speaking, has already happened. (Cliché alert: Instead of looking for “green shoots,” economists are now anticipating the moment when “the training wheels come off” and the economy moves forward without government stabilizers.)
The good news is that most Americans probably know that a recovery doesn’t start when economists or politicians (or the media) say so. It starts when local companies start hiring again, when it’s possible to get a raise, and when take-home pay covers the bills with something left over. In much of the country, that hasn’t happened yet. When it does, tell the economists that the real recovery has begun.
