Brazil's very recent emergence on the global stage has fueled debate in the country between those advocating adaptation to international norms and those who view Brazil's real interests as conflicting with the current world order.Brazilian capital Brasilia: Finding its role in a new world order The key aim of Brazilian foreign policy has long been to achieve international recognition as a major player in international affairs. This aim stemmed from its belief that it should assume its "natural" role as a "big country" in the world arena. Now, as a result of the concurrence of a changing international environment and an altered domestic polity, Brazil seems closer than ever before to achieving this aim. It is gaining increasing international recognition and is poised to emerge as a "big power." However, there remain several challenges that need to be addressed in order for Brazil to meaningfully participate in global governance. This article outlines the factors that have led to Brazil's rise, the conceptual basis of Brazilian foreign policy, and the challenges ahead.
Brazil's very recent emergence on the global stage has fueled debate in the country between those advocating adaptation to international norms and those who view Brazil's real interests as conflicting with the current world order.
Brazilian capital Brasilia: Finding its role in a new world order
The key aim of Brazilian foreign policy has long been to achieve international recognition as a major player in international affairs. This aim stemmed from its belief that it should assume its "natural" role as a "big country" in the world arena. Now, as a result of the concurrence of a changing international environment and an altered domestic polity, Brazil seems closer than ever before to achieving this aim. It is gaining increasing international recognition and is poised to emerge as a "big power." However, there remain several challenges that need to be addressed in order for Brazil to meaningfully participate in global governance. This article outlines the factors that have led to Brazil's rise, the conceptual basis of Brazilian foreign policy, and the challenges ahead.
A US judge has ordered the release of 17 Chinese Muslim detainees from the US detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in what has been seen as a rebuke to the Bush administration. US district judge Ricardo Urbina said there was no evidence the men were a security risk and that the US constitution prohibits indefinite detention without cause. Local Uighur residents and human rights activists cheered as he told a Washington courtroom the men, who have been in custody for almost seven years, should be freed. The ruling is the first court-ordered release of Guantanamo detainees since the facility opened in 2002.
A US judge has ordered the release of 17 Chinese Muslim detainees from the US detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in what has been seen as a rebuke to the Bush administration.
US district judge Ricardo Urbina said there was no evidence the men were a security risk and that the US constitution prohibits indefinite detention without cause.
Local Uighur residents and human rights activists cheered as he told a Washington courtroom the men, who have been in custody for almost seven years, should be freed.
The ruling is the first court-ordered release of Guantanamo detainees since the facility opened in 2002.
GOP's latest ugly fable, by Gene Lyons AR Dem. Gazette, 10 8 '08 (behind subscription wall) -Skip- While you fretted over Bush screw-ups in Iraq, Afganistan and New Orleans, a sinister, dusky cabal built a speculative bubble in ghetto real estate. Overpriced luxury condos were constructed with borrowed money in fashionable Harlem, Watts and the south side of Chicago; also downtown Atlanta, Newark, St.Louis, Detroit, Memphis and Philidelphia. In Monopoly terms, the entire U.S. economy drained into a black hole of defaulted loans on Baltic and Mediterranean. So how come you haven't heard this before? Maybe because you don't spend enough time watching Fox News or listening to GOP talk radio. In those precincts, the real cause of the national (and world financial crisis turns out to be an obscure 1977 law known as the Community Reinvestment Act or CRA. Intended to end the practice of "redlining," i.e., refusing to make credit worthy loans in "bad" neighborhoods, the CRA was enacted under President Carter. To conservative pundits such as Charles Krauthammer, Jeff Jacoby and Laura Ingraham, that's where all the trouble started. -Skip- The brutality of this argument is matched only by its stupidity. An alert child would wonder why a 31 year old law suddenly started causing trouble in 2008. Wouldn't a lot of those loans already be paid off? Wouldn't the same apply to actions Clinton supposedly took 13 years ago? Besides, with the Republicans controlling govennment for the last eight years, how come they didn't fix it? Mainly because it's utter nonsense. CRA regulations apply only to FDIC-insured banks, not the mortgage companies and investment banks which made 83.4% of sub-prime loans responsible for the crisis. The 1977 law also has nothing whatsoever to do with fruadulent packages of "securitized: mortgage debt taking down investors worldwide. Those are a Bush-era innovation. Rick Pearlstein, author of the brilliant history Nixonland, calls this ugly fable "a modern-day equivalent of the 'Protocols of the Elders of Zion,' a Big Lie narrative that blames a despised, outcast social group for problems they had nothing to do with." A naive person might imagine that these people would have some shame.
-Skip-
While you fretted over Bush screw-ups in Iraq, Afganistan and New Orleans, a sinister, dusky cabal built a speculative bubble in ghetto real estate. Overpriced luxury condos were constructed with borrowed money in fashionable Harlem, Watts and the south side of Chicago; also downtown Atlanta, Newark, St.Louis, Detroit, Memphis and Philidelphia. In Monopoly terms, the entire U.S. economy drained into a black hole of defaulted loans on Baltic and Mediterranean.
So how come you haven't heard this before? Maybe because you don't spend enough time watching Fox News or listening to GOP talk radio. In those precincts, the real cause of the national (and world financial crisis turns out to be an obscure 1977 law known as the Community Reinvestment Act or CRA. Intended to end the practice of "redlining," i.e., refusing to make credit worthy loans in "bad" neighborhoods, the CRA was enacted under President Carter. To conservative pundits such as Charles Krauthammer, Jeff Jacoby and Laura Ingraham, that's where all the trouble started.
The brutality of this argument is matched only by its stupidity. An alert child would wonder why a 31 year old law suddenly started causing trouble in 2008. Wouldn't a lot of those loans already be paid off? Wouldn't the same apply to actions Clinton supposedly took 13 years ago? Besides, with the Republicans controlling govennment for the last eight years, how come they didn't fix it?
Mainly because it's utter nonsense. CRA regulations apply only to FDIC-insured banks, not the mortgage companies and investment banks which made 83.4% of sub-prime loans responsible for the crisis. The 1977 law also has nothing whatsoever to do with fruadulent packages of "securitized: mortgage debt taking down investors worldwide. Those are a Bush-era innovation.
Rick Pearlstein, author of the brilliant history Nixonland, calls this ugly fable "a modern-day equivalent of the 'Protocols of the Elders of Zion,' a Big Lie narrative that blames a despised, outcast social group for problems they had nothing to do with."
A naive person might imagine that these people would have some shame.
Fiji's High Court has dismissed the case brought by deposed Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase that questioned the legality of the 2006 military takeover. The ruling on notice comes seven months after arguments on the case ended in the High Court. A ruling handed down by acting Chief Justice Anthony Gates - as head of a three judge panel including Justices Devendra Pathik and John Byrne - said they found that the President Ratu Josefa Iloilo's actions during the period in question were lawful and valid.
The ruling on notice comes seven months after arguments on the case ended in the High Court.
A ruling handed down by acting Chief Justice Anthony Gates - as head of a three judge panel including Justices Devendra Pathik and John Byrne - said they found that the President Ratu Josefa Iloilo's actions during the period in question were lawful and valid.
So, in Fiji you can now stick a gun to the President's head, have him sack the elected PM in direct contravention of the Constitution, dissolve Parliament, and (eventually) declare you PM, and its all legal.
Fiji's judges have betrayed it. And their constitution is dead.
Serbian resolution wins UN GA backing 8 October 2008 | 09:16 -> 23:07 | Source: B92, FoNet, Beta, Tanjug NEW YORK -- With 77 votes in favor and six against, the UN General Assembly on Wednesday accepted Serbia's draft ICJ resolution. Jeremić addresses the UN GA on Wednesday (FoNet) Jeremić addresses the UN GA on Wednesday (FoNet) The document requests an advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) about the legality of the unilaterally declared independence of Kosovo. 74 countries abstained, Tanjug news agency reports from New York this afternoon. The European Union member countries, according to a Beta news agency report, did not have a united stand on the issue, with the UK and France abstaining, while Slovakia, Greece, Cyprus, Spain and Romania voted in favor. In the discussion that preceded the voting, Serbia was supported by Panama, Cuba, Mexico, Indonesia, Costa Rica, Algeria, Egypt, South Africa. The United States and Albania voted against the adoption of the resolution. They were joined by the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, and Palau. British Ambassador to the UN John Sawers reacted to the result by saying that he was surprised by the outcome. In the debate before the voting, Sawers said Belgrade's resolution was "politically motivated". U.S. representative Rosemary DiCarlo said she would vote against, since Washington considers Kosovo Albanians' declaration to have been in line with international law, and added that her country "firmly believes in Serbia's and Kosovo's European future".
Jeremić addresses the UN GA on Wednesday (FoNet) Jeremić addresses the UN GA on Wednesday (FoNet)
The document requests an advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) about the legality of the unilaterally declared independence of Kosovo.
74 countries abstained, Tanjug news agency reports from New York this afternoon. The European Union member countries, according to a Beta news agency report, did not have a united stand on the issue, with the UK and France abstaining, while Slovakia, Greece, Cyprus, Spain and Romania voted in favor.
In the discussion that preceded the voting, Serbia was supported by Panama, Cuba, Mexico, Indonesia, Costa Rica, Algeria, Egypt, South Africa.
The United States and Albania voted against the adoption of the resolution. They were joined by the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, and Palau.
British Ambassador to the UN John Sawers reacted to the result by saying that he was surprised by the outcome.
In the debate before the voting, Sawers said Belgrade's resolution was "politically motivated".
U.S. representative Rosemary DiCarlo said she would vote against, since Washington considers Kosovo Albanians' declaration to have been in line with international law, and added that her country "firmly believes in Serbia's and Kosovo's European future".
States' Actions to Block Voters Appear Illegal Published: October 8, 2008 New York Times Tens of thousands of eligible voters in at least six swing states have been removed from the rolls or have been blocked from registering in ways that appear to violate federal law, according to a review of state records and Social Security data by The New York Times. ----- Although much attention this year has been focused on the millions of new voters being added to the rolls by the candidacy of Senator Barack Obama, there has been far less notice given to the number of voters being dropped from those same rolls. States have been trying to follow the Help America Vote Act of 2002 and remove the names of voters who should no longer be listed; but for every voter added to the rolls in the past two months in some states, election officials have removed two, a review of the records shows. ----- In addition to the six swing states, three more states appear to be violating federal law. Alabama and Georgia seem to be improperly using Social Security information to screen registration applications from new voters. And Louisiana appears to have removed thousands of voters after the federal deadline for taking such action. ----- The requirement exists because using the federal database is less reliable than the state lists, and is more likely to incorrectly flag applications as invalid. Many state officials seem to be using the Social Security lists first. In the year ending Sept. 30, election officials in Nevada, for example, used the Social Security database more than 740,000 times to check voter files or registration applications and found more than 715,000 nonmatches, federal records show. Election officials in Georgia ran more than 1.9 million checks on voter files or voter registration applications and found more than 260,000 nonmatches. ----- "Just as voting machines were the major issue that came out of the 2000 presidential election and provisional ballots were the big issue from 2004, voter registration and these statewide lists will be the top concern this year," said Daniel P. Tokaji, a law professor at Ohio State University.
Tens of thousands of eligible voters in at least six swing states have been removed from the rolls or have been blocked from registering in ways that appear to violate federal law, according to a review of state records and Social Security data by The New York Times. ----- Although much attention this year has been focused on the millions of new voters being added to the rolls by the candidacy of Senator Barack Obama, there has been far less notice given to the number of voters being dropped from those same rolls.
States have been trying to follow the Help America Vote Act of 2002 and remove the names of voters who should no longer be listed; but for every voter added to the rolls in the past two months in some states, election officials have removed two, a review of the records shows. ----- In addition to the six swing states, three more states appear to be violating federal law. Alabama and Georgia seem to be improperly using Social Security information to screen registration applications from new voters. And Louisiana appears to have removed thousands of voters after the federal deadline for taking such action. ----- The requirement exists because using the federal database is less reliable than the state lists, and is more likely to incorrectly flag applications as invalid. Many state officials seem to be using the Social Security lists first.
In the year ending Sept. 30, election officials in Nevada, for example, used the Social Security database more than 740,000 times to check voter files or registration applications and found more than 715,000 nonmatches, federal records show. Election officials in Georgia ran more than 1.9 million checks on voter files or voter registration applications and found more than 260,000 nonmatches. ----- "Just as voting machines were the major issue that came out of the 2000 presidential election and provisional ballots were the big issue from 2004, voter registration and these statewide lists will be the top concern this year," said Daniel P. Tokaji, a law professor at Ohio State University.
It is incredible to me that the Times has to be the one to bust this open. You'd think the Democratic Party and/or the Obama campaign would be all over it. I've assumed that since Sen. John Conyers' report, the Dems would have a detailed, agressive plan to avoid a repeat of the Ohio debacle in 2004- silly me. Capitalism searches out the darkest corners of human potential, and mainlines them.
But there's just been too much of this in the last two years to excuse as incompetence. I'm beginning to wonder if there isn't a little bit of "bi-partizan" cross party collusion going on at senior levels. Lieberman isn't the only blue dog to have gone native. keep to the Fen Causeway
The Durst Organisation says it plans to update the sign next year by adding two digits. That will make it capable of tracking debt up to a quadrillion dollars.
Time was, the Baltimore Orioles' manager was Earl Weaver, a short, irascible, Napoleonic figure who, when cranky, as he frequently was, would shout at an umpire, "Are you going to get any better or is this it?" With, mercifully, only one debate to go, that is the question about John McCain's campaign. In the closing days of his 10-year quest for the presidency, McCain finds it galling that Barack Obama is winning the first serious campaign he has ever run against a Republican. Before Tuesday night's uneventful event, gall was fueling what might be the McCain-Palin campaign's closing argument. It is less that Obama has bad ideas than that Obama is a bad person. This, McCain and his female Sancho Panza say, is demonstrated by bad associations Obama had in Chicago, such as with William Ayers, the unrepentant terrorist. But the McCain-Palin charges have come just as the Obama campaign is benefiting from a mass mailing it is not paying for. Many millions of American households are gingerly opening envelopes containing reports of the third-quarter losses in their 401(k) and other retirement accounts -- telling each household its portion of the nearly $2 trillion that Americans' accounts have recently shed. In this context, the McCain-Palin campaign's attempt to get Americans to focus on Obama's Chicago associations seems surreal -- or, as a British politician once said about criticism he was receiving, "like being savaged by a dead sheep." Recently Obama noted -- perhaps to torment and provoke conservatives -- that McCain's rhetoric about Wall Street's "greed" and "casino culture" amounted to "talking like Jesse Jackson." What fun: one African American Chicago politician distancing himself from another African American Chicago politician by associating McCain with him.
Time was, the Baltimore Orioles' manager was Earl Weaver, a short, irascible, Napoleonic figure who, when cranky, as he frequently was, would shout at an umpire, "Are you going to get any better or is this it?" With, mercifully, only one debate to go, that is the question about John McCain's campaign.
In the closing days of his 10-year quest for the presidency, McCain finds it galling that Barack Obama is winning the first serious campaign he has ever run against a Republican. Before Tuesday night's uneventful event, gall was fueling what might be the McCain-Palin campaign's closing argument. It is less that Obama has bad ideas than that Obama is a bad person.
This, McCain and his female Sancho Panza say, is demonstrated by bad associations Obama had in Chicago, such as with William Ayers, the unrepentant terrorist. But the McCain-Palin charges have come just as the Obama campaign is benefiting from a mass mailing it is not paying for. Many millions of American households are gingerly opening envelopes containing reports of the third-quarter losses in their 401(k) and other retirement accounts -- telling each household its portion of the nearly $2 trillion that Americans' accounts have recently shed. In this context, the McCain-Palin campaign's attempt to get Americans to focus on Obama's Chicago associations seems surreal -- or, as a British politician once said about criticism he was receiving, "like being savaged by a dead sheep."
Recently Obama noted -- perhaps to torment and provoke conservatives -- that McCain's rhetoric about Wall Street's "greed" and "casino culture" amounted to "talking like Jesse Jackson." What fun: one African American Chicago politician distancing himself from another African American Chicago politician by associating McCain with him.
"Are you going to get any better or is this it?"
Aha hah ha ha keep to the Fen Causeway
It also sounds like Keynes in The General Theory. A vivid image of what should exist acts as a surrogate for reality. Pursuit of the image then prevents pursuit of the reality -- John K. Galbraith
WASHINGTON -- The economic upheaval is threatening to topple Republican Congressional candidates, putting more Senate and House seats within Democratic reach less than a month before the elections, lawmakers and campaign strategists say. Top campaign officials for both parties, pollsters and independent experts say the intense focus on the economic turmoil and last week's bailout vote have combined to rapidly expand a Democratic advantage in Congressional contests. Analysts now predict a Democratic surge on a scale that seemed unlikely just weeks ago, with even some Republicans in traditional strongholds fighting for their political careers, and Democratic leaders dreaming of ironclad majorities.
WASHINGTON -- The economic upheaval is threatening to topple Republican Congressional candidates, putting more Senate and House seats within Democratic reach less than a month before the elections, lawmakers and campaign strategists say.
Top campaign officials for both parties, pollsters and independent experts say the intense focus on the economic turmoil and last week's bailout vote have combined to rapidly expand a Democratic advantage in Congressional contests. Analysts now predict a Democratic surge on a scale that seemed unlikely just weeks ago, with even some Republicans in traditional strongholds fighting for their political careers, and Democratic leaders dreaming of ironclad majorities.
WASHINGTON -- A draft report by American intelligence agencies concludes that Afghanistan is in a "downward spiral" and casts serious doubt on the ability of the Afghan government to stem the rise in the Taliban's influence there, according to American officials familiar with the document. The classified report finds that the breakdown in central authority in Afghanistan has been accelerated by rampant corruption within the government of President Hamid Karzai and by an increase in violence by militants who have launched increasingly sophisticated attacks from havens in Pakistan. The report, a nearly completed version of a National Intelligence Estimate, is set to be finished after the November elections and will be the most comprehensive American assessment in years on the situation in Afghanistan. Its conclusions represent a harsh verdict on decision-making in the Bush administration, which in the months after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks made Afghanistan the central focus of a global campaign against terrorism.Beyond the cross-border attacks launched by militants in neighboring Pakistan, the intelligence report asserts that many of Afghanistan's most vexing problems are of the country's own making, the officials said.
WASHINGTON -- A draft report by American intelligence agencies concludes that Afghanistan is in a "downward spiral" and casts serious doubt on the ability of the Afghan government to stem the rise in the Taliban's influence there, according to American officials familiar with the document.
The classified report finds that the breakdown in central authority in Afghanistan has been accelerated by rampant corruption within the government of President Hamid Karzai and by an increase in violence by militants who have launched increasingly sophisticated attacks from havens in Pakistan.
The report, a nearly completed version of a National Intelligence Estimate, is set to be finished after the November elections and will be the most comprehensive American assessment in years on the situation in Afghanistan. Its conclusions represent a harsh verdict on decision-making in the Bush administration, which in the months after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks made Afghanistan the central focus of a global campaign against terrorism.
Beyond the cross-border attacks launched by militants in neighboring Pakistan, the intelligence report asserts that many of Afghanistan's most vexing problems are of the country's own making, the officials said.
NAIROBI, Kenya -- There were mixed signals on Wednesday about the progress of the ransom negotiations for the arms-laden Ukrainian freighter that Somali pirates hijacked nearly two weeks ago. Business associates of the pirates said that a deal to pay the pirates millions of dollars was close and that the freighter would be freed."The pirates and the shipowners have agreed on around $8 million," said Ahmed Omar, a businessman in Xarardheere, the notorious pirate den near the location where the hijacked ship is anchored. "The ship may be freed today or tomorrow."Maritime officials in Kenya were a bit more cautious, saying crucial details had yet to be worked out. For starters, the pirates were asking for guarantees that they would not be captured after releasing the freighter or blown out of the water by the armada of American warships circling them. [...] In this instance, the pirates started by asking for $35 million and then dropped their demand to $20 million, saying all along that they were ready to entertain discounts. More than 25 ships have been hijacked this year off Somalia's craggy coastline; the going ransom is usually $1 million to $2 million. They have said that after the money is paid -- preferably in American $100 bills -- they will release the ship, the arms and the 20 sailors on board.
NAIROBI, Kenya -- There were mixed signals on Wednesday about the progress of the ransom negotiations for the arms-laden Ukrainian freighter that Somali pirates hijacked nearly two weeks ago.
Business associates of the pirates said that a deal to pay the pirates millions of dollars was close and that the freighter would be freed.
"The pirates and the shipowners have agreed on around $8 million," said Ahmed Omar, a businessman in Xarardheere, the notorious pirate den near the location where the hijacked ship is anchored. "The ship may be freed today or tomorrow."
Maritime officials in Kenya were a bit more cautious, saying crucial details had yet to be worked out. For starters, the pirates were asking for guarantees that they would not be captured after releasing the freighter or blown out of the water by the armada of American warships circling them.
[...]
In this instance, the pirates started by asking for $35 million and then dropped their demand to $20 million, saying all along that they were ready to entertain discounts. More than 25 ships have been hijacked this year off Somalia's craggy coastline; the going ransom is usually $1 million to $2 million.
They have said that after the money is paid -- preferably in American $100 bills -- they will release the ship, the arms and the 20 sailors on board.
"Tanks a lot guys!" The fact is that what we're experiencing right now is a top-down disaster. -Paul Krugman
