Hamas and Democracy

Suppose a political party in a democracy ran on a platform of ending democracy. Where do the pro-democracy pundits stand on such a possibility?

This dilemma can be unwound by re-iterating that democracy is a vehicle, not a destination.

Let us separate the notions of vehicle and destination when thinking through the Palestinian election of Hamas. I see no other political structure other than democracy as workable. It may not be a perfect vehicle, but it is the best one available.

With respect to the destination? Clearly, a democratic destination of ending democracy is a dead-end, and should be resisted. Similarly, a democratic destination of beligerence and aggression towards a neighboring nation should also be resisted. We can reject the destination without rejecting the vehicle.

A things to consider: Hamas now takes responsbility for mundane but critical issues such as water, sewage, roads, and so on. It will be interesting watching how well Hamas undertakes management of boring infrastructure.

Finally, let's also consider United Nations Resolution 181, which called for the partitioning of Palestine into Jewish and Arab states with economic union. If one embraces the concept of the United Nations and 'world democracy', then to be consistent, one supports or at least agrees to abide by the resolutions of that body. Therefore, Israel has been granted the democratic right to exist.

It is therefore entirely consistent to reject an aggressive, anti-Israel Hamas Palestinian authority, while continuing to embrace democracy at the same time.

However, it's logically inconsistent to apply logic in the Middle East.

Doesn't anyone care where the bullets fall that the Palestinians shoot skywards for the cameras of the west? It's a demonstration that life is cheap in that society - careless handling of deadly weapons within the confines of your own society is simply reckless. But, I am being far too logical about it all.

Why Did Ontario Vote For Corruption?

So, Ontario held its nose and voted Liberal again. Ignoring the rising temperature of separatism in the West. How would they be so stupid?

Here is why. This is why Mithter Dithers tossed this out at the last minute, before the CPC could implant a reasonable position. The women in Toronto and commuting surrounds were once again spooked.

Pay attention everyone. Corruption, entitlement, cronyism etc are less important than an imaginary attack on the "right" to kill the unborn.

What Beverage and Snack For Watching The Returns?

I've been in a quandry for days. What is the proper libation and appetizer for watching the returns next Monday evening?

Any suggestions?

Entitled to the Sidelines

I have long admired Ed Broadbent. I don't agree with his policies, but I respect him all the same. I've always thought of him as straight as an arrow. He says it all, and says it better than I ever could. It's a monstrous pity that he is compelled to say this in his final press release.

[...]
It is clear the Liberal Party no longer has the moral authority to deserve people’s votes. It is, simply, not the party it used to be or the party it portrays.

Mr. Martin’s team is running a campaign based on intellectual dishonesty. Cynical manipulation. And recklessly using significant issues for the sole purpose of continuing Liberal entitlement – which we know is used to benefit Liberal insiders, not working people.
[...]

The Libranos should now be relegated to Canada's political sidelines.

Watching Iran Again

March, in Iran, again.

The group says the launchers move only at night, and have been instructed to change their positions "in a radius of 30 to 35 kilometers." Prior to the new orders the Shahab-3 units changed position on a weekly basis. Advance Shahab-3 units have been positioned in Kermanshah and Hamadan province, within striking distance of Israel. Reserve mobile launchers have been moved to Esfahan and Fars province.

Why We Must Deny The Liberals Power

If one is prepared to do something like this in order to attain power, think of what they are prepared to do once they have it.

Nevermind Vlad the Spammer, this is good enough reason to deny them power.

Time to Visualize the New Canada

The Libranos have no vision for Canada, only for their own bank accounts. They are about to pay for that myopia.

Now is the time to shift our dialog and thought processes from what we are against, to what we are for. It is time to visualize a New Canada, one with which are we are proud to associate.

Here's a start. I am for

• healthy family life as the crucible in which we raise good and productive citizens
• good morals, right from wrong, no matter what basis delivers these - be it Christiantity, Islam, the Jewish faith, I don't care. There is a right, and there is a wrong. Walk the staight and narrow path
• the merits of the individual - their unique talents, energies and drive
• pragmatism
• personal responsibility
• living each day as a day of discovery and opportunity

I don't need to worry about others who make unusual choices - go in peace, but let us have a norm which is right, productive, healthy, such that each day of life is stimulating and meaningful. We don't need to celebrate deviations from that norm, as we have the compassion to silently tolerate.

We're a good people, really, in this frozen white behemoth. Let's enjoy each other appropriately and live, live, live.

Fake Email Domain Registration

Remember where Nixon's "Dirty Tricks" took him?



A commentor at smalldeadanimals gives us some domain registration information on the fake email.

The domain name is registered to:

Alice A Tokareff
Alice A Tokareff (standupforcanada@replay.ru)
7 Moscoyskiy Av
St.Petersburg
Leningradskaya oblast,190031
RU
Tel. +007.8125794869
[...]
person: Vladimir E Kuznetsov
address: 29, Viborgskaya nab.,
address: 198215 Saint Petersburg, Russia
phone: +7 812 3232323
fax-no: +7 812 3232323
e-mail: abuse@infobox.ru
e-mail: vova@kuznetsov.spb.ru
nic-hdl: INTV-RIPE
mnt-by: INFOBOX-MNT
source: RIPE # Filtered

Curious about the address, I did some Googling. Moscoyskiy Av appears to be a mispelling of the street name where this institution is located. Since the technical institution is at 26 on the same street (assuming I am correct about the mispelling), then the domain registrant would be within a stone's throw of the technical institute. Check the specializations.

UPDATE: the postal code in the registration information is consistent with the spelling-corrected domain registration street address, as per this. As well, the telephone code +7 812 is also consistent with other entities listed in Russian Yellow Pages in the same locale.

UPPER-DATE: This Pravda is fascinating:

FBI agents have recently arrested a Russian employee of the United Nations Organization in New York, Vladimir Kuznetsov. The Russian diplomat, 48, was arrested less than a month after the arrest of another Russian UN official over the money laundering allegation. Kuznetsov was charged with money laundering conspiracy within the scope of the Oil for Food Program to help Iraqi citizens during 1996-2003. It is too early to talk about an extensive international response about the incident: the arrested Russian was a UN official, but not a representative of Russia in the Unit

A resume of note here. Award recipient.

It's useful to look at what else the ISP in question operates: This resulted in

INFOBOX-AS


cidr-report as30968

netlantis graph as30968

netlantis list customers as30968

Net of Alkor Ltd, hosting service provider, which provides shared and dedikated hosting, mail hosting and domain name registration.

ix import export
unknown 4 4
AS2854 ROSPRINT-AS &Equant Russia AS
export: (AS30968 INFOBOX-AS Net of Alkor Ltd, hosting service provider, which provides shared and dedikated hosting, mail hosting and domain name registration...)
import: (ANY)
AS3267 RUNNET-AS RUNNet Russian Federal University Network
export: (AS30968)
import: (ANY)
AS20632 PETERSTAR-AS JSC PeterStar North-West region Russia
export: (AS30968)
import: (ANY)
AS20764 RASCOM-AS CJSC Rascom, St.Petersburg, Russia
export: (AS30968)
import: (ANY)

UPPER-UPDATE: another institution found at 9 Moscoyskiy Av St.Petersburg - found here:

Contact information
The name of the educational institution:
St.Petersburg State Transport University

Address: 9 Moskovsky Pr., St.Petersburg, 190031, Russia
Phone: +7-(812)-168-82-52, +7-(812)-168-87-00
WWW: http://www.nw.ru/pgups/Otdely/English/bibliot.htm

UPPER-UPPER-DATE: also checking the State Marine Technical University after reading this.

UPPITIEST-UPPER-DATE: Look who's moved:

Name: www.palestine-info.ru
Address: 195.208.235.67
Hosted by: INFOBOX aka infobox.org aka infobox.ru aka Alkor Ltd, hosting service provider, which provides shared hosting, mail hosting and domain name registration.
198215 Saint Petersburg, Russia

UPPIER-UPPIEST-UPPER-UPDATE: There was a conference held, commencing Tuesday, November 22, 2005, which lists as a presenter a Vladimir Kuznetsov

New Opportunities for IP Carriers - in Communicative Realm!
Vladimir Kuznetsov, MINIR

in a session on Thursday, November 24, 2005. I don't know what the MINIR is all about, I'm looking into it. Meanwhile, Alexey has an American friend in Sweden, who links to him here.

Mole Provides Candid Photos Inside Librano War Room

The mole strikes again! From deep inside the Librano war room, minions attempt to channel PET in a last ditch effort to rescue their campaign.

Is It Getting Warm In Here?

The mole has released Liberal war room video. The occupants seem to be getting a rough ride.

Canada's Strong Role of Pride and Leadership

Speaking of Canada's leadership role in peace, love, humanitarian aid, the environment and all that good stuff...
National Post:

[...]
Mr. Park was intercepted in Mexico City on a flight from Canada. What was he doing in Canada? Second, he was reportedly taken into custody as a result of a posting from Interpol. Don't Canadian airports check for those wanted by Interpol? Or is it that they don't check for those wanted in the U.S.? Or perhaps who are connected with the Liberal Party of Canada?[...]

Cheque it out.

[...]
On July 16, 1997, Strong met with Park in New York, according to Volcker. That was two days after the reform package was announced. Within the week, again according to Volcker, Park traveled to Baghdad, picked up at least $1 million in cash, took it to Jordan and deposited it in a newly opened account in Amman's Housing Bank. From that account, the bank that same day issued the $988,885 check, made out to "Mr. M. Strong" and dated July 30, 1997.

A few days later, Park was back in New York, where, according to Volcker, Strong's calendar showed an August 4 meeting with Park. By August 5, Strong had endorsed over the check as part of a transaction transferring to Park from another businessman, Theodore Kheel, an interest in Strong's family-controlled company, Cordex — which soon after went bankrupt.
[...]

And what about this Cordex? We find it listed here:

Companies Owned Directly or Indirectly by Canada Steamship Lines Inc.:

Atlasco Shipping Ltd. (Barbados) owns one vessel which is leased to CSL International -- 100 per cent owned.

[...]

Hull 2229 Shipping Inc. (Barbados) (owns the CSL Spirit vessel) -- 100 per cent owned.

[...]

Canada Steamship Lines Holding B.V. (Netherlands) -- 51 per cent owned.
[...]

CSL Asia shipping Pte. Ltd. (Singapore) -- 100 per cent owned.

Cordex Petroleums Inc. (oil and gas exploration and production) (Alberta) - 4.6 per cent owned by The CSL Group Inc.

[...]

Guadeloupe Cable International Inc. (Barbados) -- 30.03 per cent owned.

And we all know who owned CSL at the time:

Post Election Idea for LPC

Hey, what can I say. I find stuff.

Advanced Poll Report

I just returned from the Advanced Poll. The line was long - I waited 45 minutes before I marked my 'X'.

Take heart all those wanting to banish the Libranos to the wilderness - seldom have I heard such chatter amongst loosely collected Canadians. Nearly everyone standing in line had something to say regarding their motivation to get to the polls to turf out the Libranos.

Motivation. It was a pleasant afternoon.

Scam Registry - InfraScam

Adscam. Reloscam. ITScam. StripperScam. The Librano scam namespace is getting crowded.

I read that the Libranos are going to announce massive spending on infrastructure. We know how Librano pork and kickback mechanisms work. Therefore, to bring about order to the Librano Scam Namespace, I propose the Librano Scam Registry. Henceforth, all Librano Scams must be properly pre-registered so as to provide a means to properly refer to and categorize same.

As a civil contribution to our society, I have taken the initiative to pre-register 'InfraScam', a convenient handle by which we can refer to the ensuing scandals if the Libranos should somehow miraculously retain power and carry through on their proposed Infrastructure spending.

Who Benefits from Funding the Arts

I used to work near Harborfront in downtown Toronto. Perambulating during decent weather after lunch often resulting in walking through the arts center. Glass blowers working away, paintings and photographs hung on the walls, etc etc.

On display one particular day, a 'sculpture': a little imaginary domestic scene, made from sticks. Such as a child might make in a sandbox. But this was Art. And, we funded it. It was for sale. It was poorly conceived, poorly made, and banal. It was marginal junk.

Who would buy such an item? Or the glass. Or the painting. Or the photograph. Funded by you and I? Low or middle income families?

Funding the Arts is not for you and I. From the individual artiste to the opera company, who consumes their product? The masses? Or the elites? The elites do not require financial assistance to obtain the cultural product or services - they need to dig deeper into their pockets for same.

Funding the Arts does not produce better art. It does not provide more 'access' to good art. It provides discounted access to elites that could pay the freight anyway, surrounds us with marginal product, and supports a non-productive lifestyle for people unwilling to face reality and develop a plan B for supporting themselves.

And before you condemn me for being an insensitive neanderthal, consider this: I studied with the premier American landscape photographer after submitting a portfolio of my work - the entirety of which was funded by myself. I am closer to arts than most other people. I know whereof I speak.

Going Through the Motions

President Bush has no option other than to go through these motions. I fully expect Iran to thumb its nose at Western civilization at every turn. They are working to a plan.

This 'diplomatic' effort will fail, of course, and we'll get to sanctions, which will also fail.

My sense is that Iran is bent on provoking a first move by the West, which will justify its retaliatory response. I further believe, although completely unsubstantiated, is that retaliatory response will be directed at Israel.

Visors down, folks. Things are going to get rough.

Vote for the Idiot Party Of Canada

Some idiot

... " went and sent it out with the other 11 ads, and it was never sanctioned by the party, never approved, and we are completely appalled that this went out. We apologize to the men and women in the uniform," he said.

And who might that idiot be? An answer is offered:

In an interview Thursday morning on CTV's Canada AM, Martin said he approved every one of the harshly critical ads -- including one that suggested the Tory Leader would use the military to occupy Canadian cities.

Hands up all those who want to vote an idiot into the PM job. Please, not so fast, I'm having trouble counting...

Choose Your Canada, Choose Your Mate(s)

When the SSM debate was raging I participated in the commenting in various blogs stating that I thought the SCC logic would inevitably lead to this.

"Oh, don't be ridiculous" wailed the Left. "You neo-cons and your slippery slope arguments are stoopid".

Just so I can be clear in my tiny mind, what do the women of the Left think of the idea?

What of the ramifications for child support? Property division? What if it's a many-to-many relationship?

Methinks we don't need to worry about selling our water to the Americans: they should reject it, because obviously somebody has been doping it with some insanity-inducing agent.

Advice to Liberal War Room

Damage control: stand down, clam up, stop campaigning.

Silence would be more helpful to the Liberals/Dithers than more of what has been served up since the "Holiday Season". (Festive Season is yet to come - give it a couple of weeks).

The Nothwithstanding Clause turd was the kicker. As loud and bold a signal of desperation as any competitor's negative ad campaign could not have been conjured.

This is serious advice - current Liberal campaign efforts are actually working against the Liberals.

Flags of Inconvenience

DX

Secret decoder ring: question 6088 here.

Landslide Lawnsign

Who Is To Blame For Homelessness?

A new shining socialist star on the world stage offers an answer:

Acabo de leer esta madrugada el último informe de la
Organización de Naciones Unidas sobre la situación del mundo y es alarmante por eso es que digo que hoy más que nunca antes jamás en 2005 años nos hace falta Jesús el Cristo, porque el mundo, el mundo, se está acabando el mundo cada día, cada día, la riqueza del mundo, porque Dios, la naturaleza es sabia, el mundo tiene agua suficiente para que todos tuviéramos agua, el mundo tiene riquezas suficientes, tierras suficientes para producir alimentos para toda la población mundial, el mundo tiene suficientes piedras y minerales para las construcciones, para que no hubiera nadie sin vivienda. El mundo tiene para todos, pues, pero resulta que unas minorías, los descendientes de los mismos que crucificaron a Cristo, los descendientes de los mismos que echaron a Bolívar de aquí y también lo crucificaron a su manera en Santa Marta, allá en Colombia. Una minoría se adueñó de las riquezas del mundo, una minoría se adueñó del oro del planeta, de la plata, de los minerales, de las aguas, de las tierras buenas, del petróleo, de las riquezas, pues, y han concentrado las riquezas en pocas manos: menos del diez por ciento de la población del mundo es dueña de más de la mitad de la riqueza de todo el mundo y a la... más de la mitad de los pobladores del planeta son pobres y cada día hay más pobres en el mundo entero. Nosotros aquí estamos decididos, decididos a cambiar la historia y cada día nos acompaña y nos acompañará mayor cantidad de jefes de Estado, de presidentes y de líderes; vean ustedes cómo el pueblo boliviano... Bolivia, que es el país más pobre de Suramérica y uno de los más pobres del mundo, esa República fundada por Bolívar y por Sucre, esa que lleva el nombre de nuestro Bolívar, esa Bolivia, muy rica es Bolivia: minerales, oro, plata, estaño, petróleo y gas, y tierra muy fértil, y grandes montañas. Sin embargo, es uno de los pueblos más pobres de este planeta, Bolivia, pero los pobres están resucitando y acaban de elegir a un indio, por primera vez en la historia, Presidente de Bolivia.

Translation:

"...that is why I say that today more than ever and in 2005 years we need Jesus the Christ, because the world, the world, the daily world is ending, each day, the wealth of the world, because God, nature is wise, the world has sufficient water for all of us to have water, the world has sufficient wealth, sufficient land to produce food for all of the world population, the world has enough rocks and minerals for all of the constructions, so that nobody would be without a home. The world is for all of us, then, but it so happens that a minority, the descendents of the same ones that crucified Christ, the descendents of the same ones that kicked Bolivar out of here and also crucified him in their own way over there in Santa Marta, in Colombia. A minority has taken possesion all of the wealth of the world, a minority has taken ownership of all of the gold of the planet, of the silver, of the minerals, the waters, the good lands, oil, of the wealth then and have concentrated the wealth in a few hands: less than 10% of the population of the world owns more than half of the wealth of the world and ...more than the population of the planet is poor and each day there are more poor people in the whole world. We are decided, decided to change history and each day we are accompanied and will be accompanied by more Chiefs of state..."

Socialist darling Chavez has the answer for us: the descendents of the crucifiers of Christ are the reason. Haven't we heard that before?

The Nature of the Iranian Threat

THis is a compelling read. As I research around this topic - the relationship between Iran and China, the increasing tensions over dwindling oil supplies, the size of the US national debt, the US balance of trade problem with China, the spread of the "Religion of Revenge", the picture that emerges is that the English-speaking world is in a very, very delicate position. The following article sums things up so well that I present it here in its entirety.Worth the read:

REALITY OF IRAN HOJATIEH THREAT
STILL NOT SINKING IN
By Alan Peters
© 2005 Alan Peters

Indications of radical changes in the dynamics of the 3-month-old Iranian government, politically, philosophically and in their potential to do irreparable global damage without flinching or concern has begun sending shivers down some analysts' spines. However, this has yet to reach policy decision makers or the mass media.

Iran's Supreme Ruler, "ayatollah" Ali Khamenei's hasty revisions of the national ruling structure, delegating some of his own authority to the Expediency Council, chaired by rival "ayatollah" and former President Hashemi Rafsanjani, reflects unusual action to counter-balance the power-grab by newly inaugurated President Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad.

The unannounced moratorium on policies and procedures of all Iran's government ministries has been equally attributed to Rafsanjani's efforts to take control of Judicial, Legislative and Executive bodies through the broadened Expediency Council powers - and to Ahmadi-Nejad's cabinet implementing new regulations that suit their views. Specially, after warnings to the Expediency Council from his hard-line allies in the Majliss (parliament), not to mess with the Legislative system.

Persistent reports emanating from Tehran of solid rocket fuel capability and long range Shahab-3 missile tests, with emptied North Korean designed nuclear warheads, providing serious concerns, the nuclear component has begun taking second place to Iran's ability, even unintended, to damage global economies resulting (in worst-case scenarios) in worldwide financial meltdowns.

The 27-year, overtly hostile but comparatively "reasoned" approach toward the Western world and foreigners by the previous generation of senior Iranian Mullahs, with their accumulated overseas personal financial interests – even overflowing bank accounts outside Iran, has clearly ended. This has yet to permeate onto the desks of leaders in the Western world.

Analysis and evaluation based on prior status quo and parameters, with some adjustment for new players – as was the case with former changes of President and Majliss (parliament) deputies – no longer holds water. Any more than understandable, logical evaluations had a place with genocidal, paranoid Pol Pot of Cambodia.

Greater and lesser indicators mentioned below of mindsets, policies and philosophy, show "C" note changes, particularly to SME's (subject matter experts) on what drives "neo-Iran".

OVERVIEW

Less than three months ago, on August 15, 2005, Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad took office as the new "selected" President of the Islamic Republic of Iran with huge doubts over validity of the elections.

· He immediately purged nearly all senior central and provincial governing positions of older generation clerics and officials and replaced them with his military colleagues of the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) – about 350,000 strong, in which, prior to becoming Mayor of Tehran, he had been a commander.

· His neo-Islamic Republic, harking back to Khomeini times, has instructed all airports and domestic or international airlines operating in Iran to remove all foreign words or characters from their signs at ground locations across the country. In the same vein, clothing designers, hired for this purpose, have started creating a national Islamic style for everyone to wear. Strict imposition of restrictions on movies and audio, allowed to lapse to some extent by the previous President Mohammad Khatami, has been re-instated.

· Bassiji paramilitary (anti-demonstration and Islamic enforcement strike forces) have had their authority widely expanded to suppress dissent without any restraints and for the past month, Revolutionary Guards have begun appearing at posts on street corners and in a highly increased number of patrols.

(Still unclear was the showing up of only 1,400 Bassijis at an event when 20,000 should have appeared, though they have continued attacking students and by-standers with knives and clubs with their customary brutality).

· Residents of Tehran and its outer suburbs of late witnessed unannounced military exercises that involved the use of live munitions and firepower – and on an almost nightly basis in the hills East of Tehran.

Officials have tried to explain such activity as an eradication of communities and townships around Tehran, populated by criminal elements fleeing justice and becoming a threat to national security.

· Brigadier-General Mohammad Kossari, head of the Security Bureau of the IRGC stated, "Iran intends to become a superpower and will drive all foreign forces out of our region". What was previously sheer hyperbole now has a basis in serious executive policy and planning in Iran's new government.

· Hassan Abbasi, Head the Center for Security Doctrines Research of the IRGC has become Ahmadi-Nejad's prime advisor on Foreign Affairs. He lately announced, "We have a strategy drawn up for the destruction of Anglo-Saxon civilization". (An attitude supported by the tenets of Hojatieh - see below).

· Ahmadi-Nejad has declared a plan to create an Oil Bourse (Exchange) in Iran to unlink oil pricing from the U.S. Dollar and use the Euro or barter instead, thus to break any grip the West and the Dollar have on oil supplies or trade and make Iran the top oil and natural gas broker within the region. (Unlikely to succeed but perhaps effective enough on a short-term basis to trigger a dollar crash which could destabilize global solvency).

· Having studied Urban Development at the University of Science in Tehran, Ahmadi-Nejad has started drawing up plans to relocate 25 million rural residents to existing urban centers to facilitate less costly provision of utilities and services. (Grandiose Stalinist or Hitlerian methods, exhibiting simplistic disregard of unintended consequences and social side effects).

· After his inauguration, Ahmadi-Nejad visited the grave of his hero, Ayatollah Rouhallah (soul of Allah) Khomeini then went to kiss the hand of his mentor and spiritual guide, Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, leader of the Hojatieh sect of Islam, who was instrumental in elevating Ahmadi-Nejad to his Presidential position.

MAJOR NEW COMPONENT

The newest and most dangerous component that lends credibility to the potentially mindless chaos and destruction that Ahmadi-Nejad and his clique could trigger comes from a look at his mentor, Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi and his sect's deep-rooted beliefs.

The Hojatieh philosophy, considered by mainstream Shia Moslems as a lunatic fringe, was too much even for extreme hardliner Ayatollah Khomeini, whose disapproval sent them into underground, clandestine status in 1983, some four years after the Islamic revolution in Iran.

Censure from a man as ruthless and radical as Khomeini, who insisted that the Prophet Mohammad had not completed Allah's work in the world and that he (Khomeini) was born to finish the job of bringing Islam to its rightful place (as the only religion and to destroy unbelievers) - indicates how far off the Islamic radar the Hojatieh function.

Ahmadi-Nejad, a Khomeini adherent throughout his adult life, transitioned to his present, previously unpublicized role of acolyte to Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, himself a pseudo-Khomeini supporter, though not of Khomeini's Islamic revolution, in total concealment. (The Hojatieh took no part in the 1979 Khomeini revolution).

Nicknamed the "crocodile" and often referred to as the "crazy" Ayatollah, Mesbah Yazdi echoes Khomeini saying, "Islam permits spilling the blood of anyone who insults Islamic sanctities and no court is needed".

After his 1979 return to Iran, in early days, a companion asked Khomeini how he wanted the Ministry of Justice restructured and he replied, "Anyone who is against me is against Allah and must be killed where they stand. No other justice system is required".

HOJATIEH

Understanding the abruptly dominant Hojatieh philosophy becomes essential for any current analysis. Formed in the 1950's at the time of the late Shah, the group's primary motivation was to eradicate the Bahai faith and all its members in Iran over a philosophical clash about Imam Mehdi - the Lord of all Time and 12th descendant of Prophet Mohammad.

Shia Islam believes that the 12th Imam, a child named Mehdi, hid down a well 1,300 years ago and disappeared but will return to redeem the world. The Bahai religion, which declassified documents from the British Foreign Office appear to indicate Britain founded and organized artificially to splinter and weaken Iranian clergy influence, consolidated against British presence in Iran, claims their Prophet, Sheikh Baha'ollah, as the 12th Imam, who has already returned.

As devotees of the 12th Imam, the Hojatieh firmly believe he will return only when the world contains enough oppression, misery, tyranny and sorrow to warrant his coming. To hasten and facilitate the return, they believe in spreading evil, tyranny and misery and argue that standing in the way of all these delays his coming and their redemption.

Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, the power behind the scenes now helps formulate Iran policy, through President Ahmadi-Nejad, his submissive and a man called Mojtaba Somreh Hashemi, the President's mentor without whom, much to their chagrin, nobody in senior government can make a decision. Nor start a Cabinet meeting or access the President himself. Hashemi represents Ayatollah Mesbah Zadeh and had the same role when the new President was still Mayor of Tehran.

The Hojatieh receives full co-operation of belligerent, military Revolutionary Guard commanders - suddenly in positions of national executive authority as Cabinet Ministers. They brook no half measures, instantly ready to suppress any internal resistance – clerical or otherwise - including removal of Supreme Ruler Khamenei himself.

The neo-Iran status presents a very different scenario from what we faced, uncomfortable as it was with the Ayatollahs in general, for the past quarter century. A recent cabinet meeting evidences the unconventional mindset of the new players running Iran and now addressing the world stage from their eyes:

President Ahmadi-Nejad's first deputy, Parviz Davoudi, submitted and the cabinet ratified in a formal meeting, an agreement between the cabinet ministers and the Shia 12th Imam, Mehdi, Lord of All Time, in a similar fashion to the pact they had all signed with Ahmadi-Nejad upon taking office.

The question then arose how to obtain the long dead Imam's signature on the document for ratification. Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance, Saffar Harandi finally dropped the agreement into the Jamkaran well into which they believe Imam Mehdi descended 1300 years ago, where it joined tons of letters and requests from pilgrims over the centuries.

A large number of Ahmadi-Nejad's close allies are talking about preparing the grounds for the hidden Imam's imminent manifestation. Any hope for logical international policies from these leaders may be too much to expect – or for them to understand.

Total disregard for the well-being of the world community, so incredible a concept, even impossible to digest for Western minds (as was Pol Pot), has become a readily acceptable philosophy of Iran's new active rulers. With the reverberations of religious tenets of "ultra-conservative" Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, preaching apocalypse to his choir, encompassing everyone and everything.

The semi-clandestine nature of the Hojatieh over time, in no way hampers Mesbah Yazdi's influence in today's Islamic Iran. Apart from long roots in the poorer, superstitious populace through his Khomeini Institute, he was one of only two Ayatollahs to support Supreme Leader "ayatollah" Ali Khamenei in his bid to succeed Khomeini when every other Ayatollah, except Iraqi born Ayatollah Hashemi Shahroodi, the current Chief of Judiciary, rejected Khamenei's theological credentials. To become Supreme Leader has a prerequisite of being a Grand Ayatollah (Emulation Source for Shiite faithful).

As reward, Mesbah Yazdi requested and received funds to found and run the Imam Khomeini Institute to spread the teachings of Khomeini – providing a vehicle to gain support and standing in conventional Islamic circles – while strengthening the radical Hojatieh network.

AHMADI-NEJAD

The new Iranian President's personality profile provides another important input to the Iranian challenges the world could inevitably face, unless, as one SME notes, circumstances change dramatically or a nuclear take-out of the Islamic Iranian regime occurs. Israel seems increasingly willing to undertake action against Iranian facilities and despite denials, U.S. military strategists appear to have a massive conventional bombing plan of some 5,000 specific locations on their charts.

1. Still in his mid-teens when Khomeini took over, Ahmadi-Nejad is a product of post-revolutionary Iran and has no perception of the West except as an enemy to be confounded and defeated.

Studying Urban Development and rising to Mayor of Tehran did not provide him grounding for even national level concepts, nor has he any foreign affairs experience at all. His idea to move 25 million Iranians from rural areas to existing urban locations indicates simplistic, linear thinking.

2. Coming from impoverished circumstances, where his coppersmith father provided only a minimalist life, the new President has lived off very little all his life, including a meager military salary. Unlike most senior Mullahs and their entourages, who over the past 25-years have acquired riches, invested in overseas real estate and other projects and often have sizeable accounts in offshore banks, consequently a stake in keeping global economies steady, Ahmadi-Nejad has nothing to lose or to gain by factoring in "time wasting" and unfamiliar international components.

3. His strong proclivity to Ayatollah Khomeini's Valiate-Faghi guiding principles, which propound Islamic clerical rule and dominance of the world and his dedicated religious conduct as a daily part of his military lifestyle in the IRGC, easily puts him in the category of a religious fanatic, though secular in official title.

The underpinning to the problem is Iranian in nature, but the ability for Iran to do serious harm stems more from a combination of global weaknesses.

World currency markets, oil unlinking radically from the dollar (potentially to some extent through the Iranian Oil Bourse plan) and the political and personal ambitions of leaders in Europe, Russia, China and the Islamic world, combine to become a serious peril. Significantly, terrorist groups have also begun switching from purely bodily or property harm to attempting to destroy the financial well being of target countries.

Viewed in perspective, emerging anxiety about "neo-Iran" ponders a bizarre situation, far from wild conjecture, that will require drastic action to prevent. Existing dynamics might, at best, bring far reaching doldrums and financial pain to Europe and advanced Western nations, similar to that encountered in the USA during the Jimmy Carter administration, intertwining with aspects unrelated to Iran's intentional efforts to cause harm.

CURRENCY

The U.S. Dollar plays the role of the world's primary currency and nothing else can presently substitute for the dollar's mandatory use for oil purchase and oil trading, which has to be in dollars. Nevertheless, based on supply and demand principles, U.S. money is about 40-50% overvalued.

Central Banks find themselves crammed with a surplus of dollars, which they hold beyond logical considerations just to maintain equilibrium in world trade and commodities – mostly out of self-interest and self-preservation.

Quite to the contrary, Ahmadi-Nejad and his clique have neither such compunctions nor personal wealth to protect. A negative run on the dollar would change the economic face of the earth and delight the Hojatieh mindset and religious aims of spreading misery.

A glut of dollar holdings by Central Banks and among Asian lenders (China reportedly has hundreds of billons in U.S. Treasury bonds) plus the current low interest rate offered to investor/lenders by the USA has been putting the dollar in jeopardy for some time.

Including, potentially, by some inexperienced Third World central bank employee, who seeing an over stock of dollars in the bank's currency portfolio, decides to diversify their holdings.

Were that person to offer several billion dollars on the market, they would trigger a panic sell-off by everyone else. A twitching finger on currency's hair-trigger can shoot down the dollar without any purposeful ill intent. Most estimates place the likely drop to "floor levels" at a rapid 50% loss in value for a presently 40% overvalued Dollar.

Not too long ago, a mid-level official of the Korean Central bank casually mentioned currency "diversification" at an obscure lunch. The U.S. Stock Market fell by 100 points in 15 minutes, because of an implied desire for Korea to decrease its dollar holdings. What would the drop have been had he actually sold dollars?

When a group called "Long Term Capital Management", a hedge fund of derivatives – something fully understood by probably less than half a dozen people in the world – failed, U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman, Alan Greenspan had to help bail it out to save the dollar and the U.S. economy.

This fund had Nobel Prize winning economists writing their trading algorithms and top-drawer traders involved and still went down in flames. What about the expertise level of other hedge funds trading daily in the USA - some 8,000 of them?

About $6,000 Billion (easier to conceptualize as "huge" instead of a mere "six trillion") worth of derivatives trade on the international market – daily - so the already built-in prospect of disaster surpasses all possible defensive safety measures.

Compare this daily volatility to the annual USA national budget of approximately $1,900 Billion (less than two trillion) of revenues and $2,350 Billion (2.35 trillion) in expenditures.

While economists scoff at the currency market being unable to right itself in the face of fluctuations, if left to its own devices, introduce into this at best "delicately balanced" economical environment, a hostile "Hojatieh" Iran's lack of any desire or motivation to help prevent global economic mayhem.

OIL BOURSE

While a regional Oil Exchange attempted by Dubai failed, partly because they play by international rules and monetary exchange norms, Iran's Bourse, in Euros or in barter trade agreements and Hojatieh willingness to sacrifice the world and its own people to achieve its religious ends of bringing back their 12th Imam, presents a special set of givens. Specifically in the area of damage to world financial stability, as opposed to a conventionally deemed "successful", venture for Iran.

Experts from the International Petroleum Exchange (IPE) and New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) have apparently already confirmed the feasibility of the project, bearing in mind Iran's much greater reserves of petroleum products with which to operate and weight the market.

Realistic argument posits that the Iranian oil fields are old and require huge investments to continue production or to keep them at anywhere near current levels. New oil fields will take time to come online and hamper the speed of Iran's negative activity. In addition, Iran's natural gas fields, the second largest reserve in the world after Russia, have yet to be developed fully and cannot provide a big enough supply to make a significant immediate difference in the markets.

Because U.S. sanctions on the sale of American technology to Iran, the most modern systems for effective, large scale liquefaction of natural gas have been denied to Iran and hampers their ability to bring important liquid natural gas prominently into the mix.

While the Bourse may be wishful thinking as a constructive revenue source for Iran, according to Western standards of logic and assessment of success, missing from the equation of production targets and capability is that oil-currency - not oil or natural gas itself - is the principle fulcrum and danger factor.

If the Euro became the reserve currency and choice of oil producing countries, the U.S. would have to purchase Euros to purchase oil, the reverse being the case today with countries having to pay a "Dollar Tax" to buy oil in dollars.

Experts agree the effect over only a very few years would be devastating to the status of the dollar globally. Then, Euros (in their role as petro-currency) would affect the U.S. Dollar, U.S. economy and the interest rates America must offer to attract buyers. Former U.S. Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker has already placed the likelihood for a Dollar crash in the next five years at 75%.

The Iranian Oil Bourse's trade in Euros instead of dollars could possibly hasten the crash and the percentage of likelihood. Some feel Volcker was unable to assess Federal Reserve matters knowledgeably but with experts like George Soros and Warren Buffet putting their own billions into betting against the dollar, Volcker's comments gather strength.

If major oil and natural gas supply and trade quantities become easily available only in Euros or barter, Central Banks will have ever less reason to overstock their portfolios with U.S. currency and will eventually begin replacing unwanted Dollars with necessary Euros, unleashing a dollar decline of great proportions.

Any crash would bring Iran, with a wealth of oil and natural gas reserves with which to barter with China, Russia, India and Far East nations, to the fore as a new superpower, in a future scenario where money or devalued currencies might have much less, little or even no value.

The latest flavor of Islamic Republic would suffer only tangentially and try to obtain all their needs through barter or exchange. Their life styles would remain similar to what they had until very recently as military men and whether the populace is unhappy – preferably so for the Hojatieh – means little or nothing in their big picture.

At very best, the USA would enter another Carter administration era financial pattern:

1. Interest rates were so high nobody could afford to finance a house, so this market sector, like many other big-ticket items such as automobiles, slowed to almost a halt in some instances.

2. Grocery items had multiple superimposed price stickers as the cost of goods rose faster than customers bought them. Imported retail merchandise normally sells or distributes through national chains like Walmart or food chains, so a drop in the dollar makes these more expensive for the buyer and leads to layoffs as the retail chains find their sales volumes and profit margins eroded.

3. The price of energy shot up so much people resorted to wood burning stoves to stay warm at a price they could afford. The quality of life went down.

4. People on fixed incomes could no longer afford to live and the more solvent could not keep abreast of rising prices and interest rates. A drop in the dollar immediately cuts into the value of saved money.

5. Running a business became almost impossible as the price of goods and materials skyrocketed. Sales to a greatly less solvent market plummeted and marketing assumptions needed for advertising, budgeting and planning became wild guesses at best.

What might happen if the dollar devalued rapidly? Global ruin.

With economies so interdependent and interwoven, a global not just American Depression would occur with a domino effect throwing the rest of world economies into poverty. Markets for acutely less expensive US exports would never materialize.

The result, some SME's estimate, might be as many as 200 million Americans out of work and starving on the streets with nobody and nothing able to rescue or aid them, contrary to the 1920/30 Great Depression through soup kitchens and charitable support efforts.

Iran would most likely intentionally sabotage any return to stability and market balance/adjustment with their fossil fuels; their newfound nuclear deterrent probably discouraging use of force against them until too late.

A close look shows Ahmadi-Nejad holds the key to throwing the world into the tribulations of the Weimar Republic of Germany after World War I. High inflation and interest rates drove the value of the Mark into the ground and allowed Hitler to present himself as a savior.

To provide an adequate cash flow to the working class, Hitler promised to pay them once a week, then twice a week, then once a day. When this failed, he allowed workers two hours off work every day to trundle wheelbarrows full of German currency, which barely sufficed to buy a loaf of bread.

Iran succeeding in unlinking the Dollar as the primary currency for oil purchases, were it to occur, creates the same outcome for the USA and consequently within short time frames for the rest of the civilized world.

To deny history repeating itself with Ahmadi-Nejad's Hojatieh minded governing group filling in for Hitler, suggests a refusal to face and counteract an indescribable menace beyond the reach of Western logic but totally in alignment with this specific brand of Islamic fervor to intentionally create an apocalypse. Then to impose Islamic rule on a shattered world.

CONCLUSION

Apart from the use of nuclear arms by the West to bring down the new regime in Iran, only an internal effort by the old-guard Ayatollahs to overcome Ahmadi-Nejad and his allies, at the clear risk of a civil war they would lose, has a hope of preventing a potential global Depression.

Few other counter measures come to mind. Mostly because of the shortcoming of the global "family" of nations to withstand mindless nihilism and an untrammeled desire to destroy in the name of their 12th Imam.

When Iran's lately announced pull back from subsidizing refined gas prices domestically and import of this fuel takes hold on the population, who will suddenly be unable to afford to operate vehicles, the dissatisfaction could translate into riots and open a new window to remove the Islamic regime of whatever flavor.

In-depth bombing, specifically of all Iranian military and nuclear facilities at that time – possibly the 5,000 locations mentioned above – would weaken or remove any government ability to suppress the riots and allow a smooth overthrow of the current regime.

The unanswered question – as was the case in Gulf War I with Iraq and Saddam Hussain – will be with what or with whom to replace it.

Saddam WMD Tapes Found?

There are reports circulating that audio tapes of meetings between Saddam Hussein and his closest aides on the topic of his intentions with respect to WMD has been found in a warehouse in Iraq.

Because of the considerable historical importance of this stunning recent development, the contractor who obtained and reviewed these tapes plans to release them to the public on February 17, 2006 at the Intelligence Summitsm, a non-partisan, non-profit conference open to the public, scheduled to be held at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City Hotel in Arlington, Virginia that weekend.

This could be nothing, or could be a major news item. Read the entire item here.

Upside Down in the Ditch

This looks like a transparent attempt to divert public attention away from the gun murders in Toronto:

While all levels of government have recently trained their sights on tackling gangs and guns, road safety continues to command little attention, despite recent statistics that show car-crash deaths outnumber homicide by almost five to one in Canada.

Why couch this in terms of the gun crime? Is this an attempt to change the debate? Divert our attention away from the gun crime?

The Libranos have to get Ontario back onside. My read on this is that spin machine is preparing the ground for a Librano election platform to crack down harder on drunk driving. Step one: use your Librano buddies in the press to raise awareness of the problem; step two: photo-op with MADD presenting the solution.

Spin.

Noteworthy Bird Flu Event

Reuters:

DOGUBAYAZIT, Turkey (Reuters) - A third child from the same family in eastern Turkey died from bird flu on Friday and health experts plan to study the outbreak for signs the virus was passing from person to person.

Job Losses in Healthcare

CTV is reporting that there have been job losses in the healthcare sector in December 2005:

While 36,000 full-time jobs were created in Canada last month, 38,000 part-time jobs were lost in the health-care and "other services" sectors.

It's difficult to infer much given this scant information, but it's a surprising statistic anyway. It would be useful to know if these part-time jobs in healthcare have been converted to full-time jobs before reaching any conclusion (but I know how I would bet if I had to). But with the rhetoric flying around about how Liberals have injected so much money into healthcare, I would expect to see its effect in increased employment in healthcare.

US Dollar Facing Crisis, Is Canada Ready?

Financial Times:

China indicated on Thursday it could begin to diversify its rapidly growing foreign exchange reserves away from the US dollar and government bonds – a potential shift with significant implications for global financial and commodity markets.

Economists estimate that more that 70 per cent of the reserves are invested in US dollar assets, which has helped to sustain the recent large US deficits. If China were to stop acquiring such a large proportion of dollars with its reserves – currently accumulating at about $15bn (€12.4bn) a month – it could put heavy downward pressure on the greenback.

Is appearance of words associating important events in Iran taking place in March, 2006 just coincidence? I came across a reference to that date in relation to nuclear weapon capability here. One author cites March as a significant month in Iran:

The most recent news reports indicate the oil bourse will start trading on March 20, 2006, coinciding with the Iranian New Year.[16] The implementation of the proposed Iranian oil Bourse – if successful in utilizing the euro as its oil transaction currency standard – essentially negates the previous two criteria as described by Mr. Yarjani regarding the solidification of a petroeuro system for international oil trades. It should also be noted that throughout 2003-2004 both Russia and China significantly increased their central bank holdings of the euro, which appears to be a coordinated move to facilitate the anticipated ascendance of the euro as a second World Reserve Currency. [17] [18] China’s announcement in July 2005 that it was re-valuing the yuan/RNB was not nearly as important as its decision to divorce itself from a U.S. dollar peg by moving towards a “basket of currencies” – likely to include the yen, euro, and dollar.[19] Additionally, the Chinese revaluation immediately lowered their monthly imported “oil bill” by 2%, given that oil trades are still priced in dollars, but it is unclear how much longer this monopoly arrangement will last.

More on Iranian US economic hegemony eye-poking here.

India Daily:

It is about time. Finally America came out strongly against Chinese currency manipulation and artificial low value of Yuan.

U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow says Washington is not satisfied "one bit" about China's currency issue and that Beijing should further revalue the yuan to allow for greater flexibility.

Australian Investment Review

What does this means for China? Global Watch points out the Chinese want to pay their trading partners in their own local currency, rather than converting everything into a third currency.

As a result, with their currency now valued against a basket of currencies, this process is much easier to facilitate, freeing the Chinese up from being effectively forced to hold a substantial amount of US dollar over and above its trading requirements with the US. Additionally, the report suggests with the balance of payments problem in the US eventually to see the US currency weaken, China will now be in a far better position to cope with such a revaluation.

The peril of the US economy is not exactly new news. Kitco alluded to this in November 2004:

Zhu Min, general manager and advisor to the President for the Bank of China was quoted in the China Daily earlier this year saying that: “The United States is benefiting from China using its trade surplus to buy U.S. Treasury paper as a reserve currency, along with other Asian nations. But in the long run, this is not sustainable.... China will focus more and more on domestic demand, which is growing fast. Then we won't be able to finance the U.S. deficit."

And now that’s what’s happening. China is reportedly selling off their hoard of U.S. dollars to help build their much needed infrastructure and spend heavily to secure global resources.

A United Nations report points out that China’s recent prosperity has raised the living standard of 160 million Chinese who once existed in poverty. Behind them are another 800 million who are awaiting their turn to live a life once thought unattainable. The demand of goods and services from this group means an even greater global demand for resources.

The desire of China to tie up resources has been evidenced by China Minmetals Corp. who had been in exclusive talks with Noranda, one of Canada’s largest mining companies, in an attempt to buyout the company for an estimated $7 billion.

There was tremendous opposition to this plan however. Canadians argued that the Chinese government’s strategic interests in securing mineral supplies, and its management methods, could be contrary to the interest of Noranda, its workers, and the communities where it operates mines and processing facilities.

Some opponents to the deal also cited U.S. Congressional hearings that alleged that Minmetals has profited from forced labor from Chinese prisons.

But this is only one bid of many which has China trying to lock up global resources.

Very troubling for the United States is the fact that China has negotiated a new oil supply deal with Iran which would see Iran receiving both arms and cash. China has long standing alliances with Iran and is searching for new energy reserves to drive its booming economy. This new deal with China is not only an agreement to buy oil and gas from Iran but also to develop Iran’s Yadavaran oil field. After this field is developed, Iran will export 150,000 barrels of crude per day to China. This agreement has been valued at $70 billion.

China’s demand for oil outpaced its supply capabilities in 1993. China is now the world’s third largest importer of crude after the U.S. and Japan and their demand is growing. From January to October, China imported 99.6m tonnes of crude oil, exceeding the 91m tonnes imported in the whole of 2003, said reports quoting the General Administration of Customs. Imports of crude oil in 2004 are expected to reach 120m tonnes, the second largest in the world after the US.

Demand for electricity is also on the rise in China. Despite record production of coal and a 15% rise in power generation over the first 10 months of the year, dozens of Chinese cities suffered brown-outs during this past summer. And this winter it looks like many will be left without heat for extended periods. The China Daily reports that Beijing has only 50% of the coal it needs this winter, while Jilin has stores of 40%, half the level of this time last year.

So the multi billion dollar question is what happens when China starts selling U.S. dollars to help expand their infrastructure and secure their resources?

Well you’re already seeing it. Interest rates go up, the dollar goes down, and gold takes flight upwards. Not to mention upward pressure on oil, gas, coal, copper and other key commodities.

The implications of this fact are staggering. And demand for commodities will be overwhelming. Insightful investors who can see this trend and position themselves now in growth oriented equities holding gold, oil, copper and other key commodities will be sitting pretty if a few years time and will have weathered the U.S. dollar collapse better then most.

This is the hugest threat to the U.S. economy right now yet it’s hardly ever mentioned by the mainstream media.

Why should we worry about the health of the US economy? A commenter from Canada provides a thoughtful answer here:

Thank you Stefan for a great article.

I am encouraged to chip in my own analysis of the state of my homeland, Canada.

Taxes and regulation are worse than the USA but better than Europe. Moves toward lower corporate taxes are being offset by heavier taxes to support socialized medical care (in the most populous province of Ontario a heavy "health premium" tax has recently been imposed). Implementation of the Kyoto Accord will mean extra tax and regulatory burdens on industries and households. The welfare state is expanding - for example the federal government is introducing a national subsidized daycare program. The political system has sunk into a miasm of corruption, which is the inevitable result of a government seizing control of so much of a nation's economy. The provincial and municipal governments are crying with greater and greater shrillness for the federal government to give them more money to fund their own welfare systems and various pork-barrel "infrastructure" projects.

Demographically, Canada also suffers from a disasterously low birth rate, but this is offset by a rate of immigration which is by far the highest in the world. I am skeptical as to whether much benefit will accrue from all this immigration, since an increasing percentage of the immigrants are the sick and the old (attracted by the free medicare), and also because they are hardly landing in a free-market zone where their labour and investments can be used for the benefit of themselves and the greater economy.

I find the whole spectrum of industry in Canada to be weak and dependent on government subsidies and protection. Even the natural resources sector has gobbled huge amounts of government "assistance" to bring online various energy projects, diamond mines, etc. The manufacturing sector seems to be in permanent decline as companies such as GM Canada and Bombardier cry louder and louder for more government aid, and Nortel feels the need to put the ex-Finance Minister of Canada on its board of directors. The largest remaining steel producer seems to be spending a lot of money here in the nation's capital lobbying for more cash because, "our strength is people" (i.e., pay up or the voters in Steeltown get it!) It's hard to see how anyone will be able to establish new and successful businesses when so many corporate welfare queens have their hands in the public purse.

The current boom in Canada is driven partly by cheap credit, and partly by the resource boom as Canadian raw materials are sold for high prices to the USA, China and Japan. Canada also has a disasterously low personal savings rate. No other country in the world is as dependent on exports to the USA. As Stefan pointed out on this blog a little while ago, Canada has a trade surplus with the USA but a trade deficit with the rest of the world. Therefore no other nation is more vulnerable than Canada to a severe recession in the USA.

In the event of a 1930s-style depression, it is possible that Canada won't survive as a federation. The population is a lot more ethnically and politically heterogeneous than in my grandparents' time. It is more and more common for tensions over the more intrusive federal government policies to result in a segment of the population starting up the cry for secession. A Yugoslavian-style piecemeal breakup could occur in the event of a severe economic crisis (without the protracted civil war). Obviously the federal government would try to prevent this by slathering generous amounts of welfare onto the hot spots, but this might only escalate the tensions between the net payers into the federation and the net payees.

My only hope is for a nationwide recognition of the value of free markets to take hold in the citizenry, and a rejection of the welfare state. Perhaps these reforms could be introduced gradually into "free market zones", the way they brought to China in the 1980s and 90s. Failing that, and if there is no breakup, the alternative is an economically comatose oligarchic/kleptocratic welfare state based primarily on state-sponsored exploitation and tax farming of Canada's natural resources - like Russia, but with greater tolerance of foreign investment.

Makes Mr. Martin's rhetoric about the health of the Canadian economy and Liberal-Party sustained national unity sound a tad hollow, does it not?

Enquiring Minds Want to Know

I still want to know which Liberal candidates in Quebec received the dirty money. Somebody out there knows. Does the MSM have the courage to ask PMPM the question?

5 Wierd Things About Shaken

Bill Strong tagged me with the latest blog meme "name 5 wierd things about yourself". Here they are, in no particular order:

1. I do not like mixing food items on my plate. The peas must never comingle with the rice.
   
2. I roast my own coffee from green beans in small batches. Good coffee roasted 24 hours ago and made properly cannot be topped. Not even at Starbucks.
   
3. I am a complete quality freak. If it's not excellent quality, I cannot tolerate it. Cheap junk makes me crazy. This applies to everything I buy, or everything I attempt to do.
   
4. I like winter camping. Done Algonquin at -40. Think the neatest thing about it is the silence. I am extremely sensitive to and intolerant of noise.
   
5. For me, a day without a salad is like a day without food. I have to have it.
   

I will update this post with 5 new victims shortly.

A Mystery That Will Not Go Away

Bourque has picked up on an item circulating about JFK.

For the tinfoil hatters out there that can't get enough of this stuff, here's some more that seems to corraborate some of the story:

[...]
In confirmation to the previously declared and exposed we wish to add the following: My father, Emilio Nuñez-Portuondo, who was the Cuban Ambassador to the United Nations, was the great anti-Communist figure of Latin America and who acquired a well known name in the world when the Russians invaded Hungary in 1956, communicated to me in 1963 that Fidel Castro had given the order to Oswald for him to kill Kennedy.

I remember that the FBI came to visit him at that opportunity and my father gave them the same information. They wanted to know the source of it and my father refused to disclose it since the degree of Communist infiltration was fairly high during that time.

My father told me that his informant was a person who worked at the Cuban Embassy in Mexico. He never told me weather it was a man or a woman; a public official or high or low rank; neither the wife or husband of some Embassy employee.

He reiterated to me that Oswald reconfirmed this order. Still not satisfied with the Cuban confirmation, due to the importance of the mission, he visited the Soviet Embassy in Mexico in the month of October and as we all know he assassinated President Kennedy on November 22, 1963, executing the orders of Fidel Castro.

Why Trade With China Is A Good Thing

Because you need ships, not rail or trucks, to move raw materials and finished goods between Canada and China.

Partly Sunny With Chance of Isolated Chickens

From the "you can't have it both ways" department, the good folks over at the International Institute for Sustainable Development, which according to their website receives funding from the following Canadian government agencies:

• Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
  
• Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)
  
• China Council for International Coooperation on Environment & Development (under CIDA)
  
• Department of Fisheries and Oceans
  
• Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade
  
• Environment Canada
  
• Human Resources Development Canada
  
• Indian & Northern Affairs
  
• International Development Research Centre (IDRC)
  
• Natural Resources Canada
  
• Western Economic Diversification

are getting a little worried. Seems that there is some international pressure mounting to open up our controlled agricultural markets.

Canadian Agricultural Practices on WTO Block: Trade talks in Hong Kong take aim at wheat, dairy and poultry

[...]
Canada should probably support this effort from an international development perspective. But it might mean trouble for the supply-managed sectors, as it would breach the wall of protection that keeps them safe. We might see a flood of poultry imports from poor Caribbean nations, for example.
[...]

What's a liberal to do when your esteemed price-fixing supply-control boards come under attack because of your multilateral multicult globalist good-guy philosophy returns to bite you on your behind?

Mind you, outraged by the spate of shootings in Toronto, I would be happy if a flood of chickens was the worst thing we ended up importing from the Caribbean.

Iranian Flip Flop

This is stalling for time. Just a few days ago the Russian proposal was dismissed out of hand. Who knows who long the proposal will be 'studied'? It wouldn't take more than 3 months by any chance?

I for one would like to hear what the political candidates have to say about Iran's nuclear program.

Hung Over or What?

Relations between China and Japan continue to decline, and according to one poll, have reached a new 25 year low after the suicide of a Japanese diplomat in Shanghai. Yet more proof that hanging out in Karaoke bars can be hazardous to your health. A familiar theme appears in the storyline here:

Japan and China are also bitterly divided over gas reserves in the East China Sea, with Tokyo planning a major increase in patrols in the disputed area.

Why should Canadians pay attention to tensions between Japan and China? Stay informed about Librano relations with Communist China and you will understand. Here's a good starting point if you are curious and want to learn more.

Go Forth and Divide

This will frost your inukshuk. Read it.

Peaceful Missile Development in Iran

It is being reported that Iran is making progress in its effort to deliver nuclear warheads it says it is not developing.

Previous reports give a timeline of around March 2006 for Iran to have a functioning nuclear weapon.

Personally, I have zero doubt that their little president will push the button.

Vote Liberal If You Are Feeble

According to Paul Martin, you are incapable of fending for yourself:

The new Liberal message is all about Conservative Leader Stephen Harper.

"I think he has a very different perspective on the role of government than I do. It hasn't been hidden," Martin told The Canadian Press.

"His role of government is very much to fend for yourself."

There you go, Martin is telling us that the reason Canadians should vote Liberal is because they are feeble.

I certainly hope Steven Harper has a different perspective on the role of government. For instance, honesty.

Euro GPS 1st Satellite Launched

Ownership and control of GPS technology has been of stratetic significance to the US. This is a big deal.

[...]The new system will underpin road-pricing and air traffic control networks, and would make it possible to fit cars with control units that would prevent drivers from getting too close to other vehicles.[...]

Does the phrase "thin edge of the wedge" come to mind?

I Guess They're OK With it NOW

I can hear already the outrage from the Western womyn's movement over this affront to their sister's liberty.

Said the current NOW leadership:

"".

More here

2006 Starts With A Bang In The Big Smoke

It took less time than I predicted. Only six hours or so. That's almost as long as it took Mr. Dithers to flip flop from accusing us of causing the problem through practicing "exclusion" to now getting on the incarceration bandwagon.

Yet more followership instead of leadership from Mr. Dithers, after his advisors put down their beer and popcorn long enough to figure out that we demand meaningful action. If it weren't for a young female losing her life on Yonge Street on Boxing Day, symbolic of the hopes and aspirations for Toronto families and therefore obviously putting in peril the Liberal vote in Toronto, I doubt we would be hearing anything of the sort from Dithers.

It was Liberal immigration policy that brought this unwanted scourge into our country and our city. We all know it, but in trying live up to the 'kinder gentler holier-than-thou" identity spin from the Liberals, we haven't dared speak of it. Until now.

Libranos - here is my identity. Hard working, family oriented, liberty-loving individual. Take your Liberal inukshuk and put it where the sun doesn't shine (at least for several months in the winter).