Paying for Eight Years of Bush’s Delusions

He should be tried by the World Court under the Geneva Convention after he stepped down as President.He has done more harm to world peace and the global economy than any other President or leader of any nation.He has killed more Muslims out of revenge and put Islamic nations in turmoil than any other President before him.He deserved to be locked up...... Hantu Laut.

By Robert Fisk

American lawyers defending six Algerians before a habeas corpus hearing in Washington this week learned some very odd things about U.S. intelligence after 9/11. From among the millions of “raw” reports from American spies and their “assets” around the world came a CIA Middle East warning about a possible kamikaze-style air attack on a U.S. navy base at a south Pacific island location. The only problem was that no such navy base existed on the island and no U.S. Seventh Fleet warship had ever been there. In all seriousness, a U.S. military investigation earlier reported that Osama bin Laden had been spotted shopping at a post office on a U.S. military base in east Asia.

That this nonsense was disseminated around the world by those tasked to defend the United States in the “war on terror” shows the fantasy environment in which the Bush regime has existed these past eight years. If you can believe that bin Laden drops by a shopping mall on an American military base, then you can believe that everyone you arrest is a “terrorist”, that Arabs are “terrorists”, that they can be executed, that living “terrorists” must be tortured, that everything a tortured man says can be believed, that it is legitimate to invade sovereign states, to grab the telephone records of everyone in America. As Bob Herbert put it in The New York Times a couple of years ago, the Bush administration wanted these records “which contain crucial documentation of calls for a Chinese takeout in Terre Haute, Indiana, and birthday greetings to Grandma in Talladega, Alabama, to help in the search for Osama bin Laden”. There was no stopping Bush when it came to trampling on the US Constitution. All that was new was that he was now applying the same disrespect for liberty in America that he had shown in the rest of the world.

But how is Barack Obama going to repair the titanic damage which his vicious, lying predecessor has perpetrated around the globe and within the U.S. itself? John F Kennedy once said that “the United States, as the world knows, will never start a war.” After Bush’s fear-mongering and Rumsfeld’s “shock and awe” and Abu Ghraib and Bagram and Guantanamo and secret renditions, how does Obama pedal his country all the way back to Camelot? Our own dear Gordon Brown’s enthusiasm to Hoover up the emails of the British people is another example of how Lord Blair’s sick relationship with Bush still infects our own body politic. Only days before the wretched president finally departs from us, new U.S. legislation will ensure that citizens of his lickspittle British ally will no longer be able to visit America without special security clearance. Does Bush have any more surprises for us before 20 January? Indeed, could anything surprise us any more?

Obama has got to close Guantanamo. He’s got to find a way of apologising to the world for the crimes of his predecessor, not an easy task for a man who must show pride in his country; but saying sorry is what – internationally – he will have to do if the “change” he has been promoting at home is to have any meaning outside America’s borders. He will have to re-think – and deconstruct – the whole “war on terror”. He will have to get out of Iraq. He will have to call a halt to America’s massive airbases in Iraq, its $600m embassy. He will have to end the blood-caked air strikes we are perpetrating in southern Afghanistan – why, oh, why do we keep slaughtering wedding parties? – and he will have to tell Israel a few home truths: that America can no longer remain uncritical in the face of Israeli army brutality and the colonisation for Jews and Jews only on Arab land. Obama will have to stand up at last to the Israeli lobby (it is, in fact, an Israeli Likud party lobby) and withdraw Bush’s 2004 acceptance of Israel’s claim to a significant portion of the West Bank. U.S. officials will have to talk to Iranian officials – and Hamas officials, for that matter. Obama will have to end U.S. strikes into Pakistan – and Syria.

Indeed, there’s a growing concern among America’s allies in the Middle East that the U.S. military has to be brought back under control – indeed, that the real reason for General David Petraeus’ original appointment in Iraq was less to organise the “surge” than it was to bring discipline back to the 150,000 soldiers and marines whose mission – and morals – had become so warped by Bush’s policies. There is some evidence, for example, that the four-helicopter strike into Syria last month, which killed eight people, was – if not a rogue operation – certainly not sanctioned by Washington or indeed by US commanders in Baghdad.Read more.........

Bloggers' Code Of Ethics,Why Not ?

Hantu Laut

Although I hate to admit that Minister of Home Affairs Syed Hamid Albar would be the last person I would agree with, I wouldn't put aside his proposal of code of ethics for bloggers.It depends on how we go about doing it.

Self-censoring one own writing is not too difficult if we can use the same principle as when we need to use our self-restraint from doing something that can harm us.The problem with some writers they lose self-control when they are reproachful and start using malicious rumours, lies and God's forsaken language against those they are not politically aligned with or those they have an axe to grind with, throwing caution to the wind, without an care and consideration for the sensitivities of others.

Public figures are subject to scrutiny and criticism but such reproach should be within the bounds of acceptable social behaviour.

If you write like this not only you need code of ethics you seriously need code of conduct.If yours is a political blog than I think you should stay within the confine of the subject and conduct your language accordingly.If your are running a smut site than such smutty materials are acceptable and nobody should complain because you target specific audience.

As Rocky Bru said it is not easy to initiate let alone accomplish which I completely agree with.It's the same with any other rules there are bound to be people who don't give a damn and break it.So to pass a general consensus code of ethics among bloggers wouldn't work, it would be just academic, an exercise in futility.

Laws are made to deter but they are also meant to be broken.That's why you still have people committing murders and other crimes.What we need is a little bit of education in self-censorship or in another word self-restraint and a self-imposed code of ethics.Bloggers associations can play a part in bringing awareness and to educating bloggers on the proper ethics.

Unlike mainstream media in blogging you are reporter,editor and publisher rolled into one.There is no one to edit, accept or reject your material.

You are the boss.

The Lady Is A Shrew

Hantu Laut

In my earlier article "Hell Hath No Fury Like A Woman Scorned" I said I place my bet on Shahrizat winning the race against Rafidah.I still do and the ground swell is moving in favour of Shahrizat.

Rafidah has burned almost all her bridges to the top leadership in UMNO including former PM Tun Mahathir Mohammad and Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.She only respect those who wield power and have no qualms about running them down once they ceased to be of any use to her.The many years of being in one of the most important ministries has made her lost her balance and made her arrogant,abrasive and completely inconsiderate.She has no finesse and social grace in dealing with her colleagues and the public.She and Azalina both need to go to finishing school.You can be tough yet graceful but unfortunately both of them are not.

During his tenure as prime minister Mahathir ignored the many allegations of abuse of power and corruptions against her and closed his eyes and ears to such talk.When Mahathir announced his resignation she was one of the first on stage, cried and pleaded to him not to resign.Her recent tussle with Mahathir on the issue of AP(Approved Permit) is a lingering reminder of her imperious,ungrateful and opportunistic nature.

Her biggest undoing maybe her recent barbs at Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.She told him he was so unpopular that he wouldn't be able to get enough nominations to contest the presidency and asked him to cut short the transition plan .This is the man who defended her from Tun Mahathir attacks during the AP controversy.Gratitude is not in her lexicon.

Isn't she "The pot calling the kettle black" by asking Abdullah to cut short the transition period.What is she doing contesting the Wanita Chief post and hand it over three months later.Isn't there element of insincerity in that promise.Since she going to forgo the position why not just let Shahrizat contest it and be done with it.

I believe majority of members of Wanita UMNO had already decided who they want as their leader.

Will The US Dollar Crash And Be Gone ?

Hantu Laut

Will the US dollar crash and become an insignificant currency? Some pundits have predicted that the use of the dollar would decline and eventually be abandoned as an international currency.

At the moment the dollar is the most important international reserve currency.Many countries pegged their currency to the dollar and some even used it as their de facto currency.It is the currency used most in international trade transactions.Most countries kept their international reserves in dollars.

I believe the world is not yet ready to abandon the dollar or move to a multi-currency monetary system.The next most important currency after the dollar is the Euro which had taken over some of the dollar's role but were not big enough to displace the dollar significantly.Even Airbus, a consortium of European corporations still uses the dollar in its pricing.













Click to enlarge

The above chart shows the percentage of global currencies. The currency that has the potential to replace the dollar would be the Euro.A complete replacement is not envisaged in the near future.The Euro, successor of the German mark which used to be the second most important currency after the dollar had taken a bigger role in foreign exchange reserves.The dollar still maintained a leading role in being the most important currency.

About 64% of foreign reserves are still held in dollars.The importance of the dollar came about after the Bretton Wood Agreement to adopt a monetary policy that maintained an exchange rate of each country's currency within a fix value - plus or minus 1% - interm of gold.

In 1971 the Nixon administration abandoned the Bretton Woods system without consulting members of the international monetary system or even with his own State Department.This was later to be known as the 'Nixon Shock'

The US suspension of convertibility from dollars to gold created a situation whereby the US dollar became the reserve currency of all the nations that had signed the agreement.

You can't trust the US, can you, when its interest is at stake it will do anything including breaking international agreement.The Iraqi War is another example where it failed or refused to respect international law, going to war without UN Security Council approval.

With the current financial meltdown in the US which have affected other nations many people expect the dollar to lose some of its value.Strange as it is the dollar had appreciated against many major currencies.Against the Euro it has strenghtened to 1.26 as at 22 November.The rate before the meltdown was hovering around 1.57.

The US budget and trade deficit are worrying signs that it may not be able to meet its financial obligations and the dollar may take a heavy beating making it worthless.It has happened before under Nixon will it happen again? The US keep printing its currency to be sent overseas to finance its war and trades?

The ideal situation would be to have two major currencies.The Euro would be the only potential currency that can fulfill the need not to be fully dependent on the dollar.

A good start to bring other currency into international transactions is to switch some of the petrodollar to Euro and eventually introduce the Euro into other international trade transactions and currency reserves.

In the meantime, the dollar is still king.