Thursday August 28th 2008

Gold Rises as Dollar's Drop Spurs Demand; Platinum Extends Gain
Gold rose in London as the dollar's decline may increase demand for the precious metal as an alternative investment. Platinum climbed for a second day.Gold may climb to $900 in three months, about 8 percent higher than today's price, as the dollar ``appears to have topped out for now,'' UBS AG said in a report today. European customers of Hanau, Germany-based Heraeus Holding GmbH are waiting as long as two weeks for deliveries of small bars.``People are searching for an investment that is a long-term store of value,'' said Ben Davies, who helps manage the Hinde Gold Fund in London. Gold ``supply is not readily available at these prices.''

Gold to scale new peaks as mining costs grow
Gold prices are likely to scale new peaks as market fundamentals tighten because producers need at least a 20 percent rise in bullion prices just to make new investment viable, a leading fund manager said on Wednesday."Gold mining is a very complicated and expensive business and you really need to see the gold price a lot higher before you see any increase in gold production," Ian Henderson, who manages around $5 billion at JP Morgan's (JPM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) Global Natural Resources fund, told Reuters.

How Richard Nixon "Goldfingered" the World: Operation Melt Down, Part I
By: Adrian_Ash
Fear, Mr. Bond, takes gold out of circulation and hoards it against the evil day. In a period of history when every tomorrow may be the evil day, it is fair to say that a fat proportion of the gold dug out of one corner of the earth is at once buried again in another corner...– Ian Fleming's Goldfinger (1959)
FIFTY YEARS AGO – just as the fictional 007 was thwarting Auric Goldfinger's plan to empty Fort Knox and take America's gold to Soviet Moscow – the US Treasury feared a very genuine loss of its real gold reserves.Gold's role as the ultimate asset of national power was about to peak. By 1966, fully one-half of all the gold ever mined would sit inside government vaults.Fear put it there. Fear is likely to keep hold of what's left today.

Russia Polymetal buys gold and silver deposit
Polymetal (PMTL.MM: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) (PMTLq.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Russia's largest silver miner, said on Thursday it acquired a licence to explore and develop the Degtyarskoye gold and silver deposit in the Urals region for $6.25 million.Degtyarskoye lies 35 km (22 miles) southwest of the city of Yekaterinburg and 380 km (236 miles) from Polymetal's Vorontsovskoye mine in the region.It is estimated to contain up to 95,000 ounces of gold and 454,000 ounces of silver. Polymetal bought the deposit from the Russian Copper Company, the country's third-largest copper miner.

Auction: 25 silver 100 oz. bars, JM or Engelhards
By: Jason Hommel, Silver Stock Report
I have 25 bars of .999 fine 100 oz. silver available for bidding, and available for immediate shipment.Terms: Available to bidders in the USA only.Auction ends August 29th, Friday, Noon.Bid over spot. Email me how much you are willing to pay, over the spot price.Spot price will be Friday's London Silver Fix, as listed:

Iraq reaches oil agreement with China
Iraq and China have agreed on the terms of a $3 billion oil service contract, the Iraqi oil minister said Wednesday, announcing his country's first major oil contract with a foreign company since the fall of Saddam Hussein.The oil minister, Hussain al- Shahristani, warned that time was running out for big Western oil companies, which have pressed for years for Iraqi contracts, to seal even short-term deals that had been expected to mark their return to Iraq, which has the world's third-largest oil reserves after Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Venezuela moves to nationalize fuel distribution
By Fabiola Sanchez The Associated Press
CARACAS: President Hugo Chávez said Wednesday that wholesale gasoline sales by private companies in Venezuela will soon disappear after his congressional allies pass a bill nationalizing the business.Under the measure, which received initial approval in the National Assembly on Wednesday, the state-run oil company Petróleos de Venezuela, or Pdvsa, will control Venezuela's fuel distribution network but will not nationalize privately owned gas stations.
Dominated by Chávez allies, the National Assembly is expected to give its final approval to the legislation later this week.

As food prices soar, Brazil and Argentina react in opposite ways
By Andrew Downie
S ÃO PAULO, Brazil: Luciano Alves planted beans, corn and grain on about 7,500 acres of his farm in southern Brazil last year. This year, he is planting 8,600 acres. And he credits Brazil's president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, with the increase."The government is helping us finance the purchase of new machinery," said Alves. "They reduced the interest rates we pay and have given us more time to pay off the loans. It's vital."Rising food prices mean many farmers around the world are reaping record profits. And South America's agricultural powerhouses, Brazil and Argentina, are responding to the farming windfall in opposite ways.

Cracks in the Empire
by Michael S. Rozeff
Building an empire is one thing. Preserving it is quite another.
"If the U.S. government allows Fannie and Freddie to fail and international investors are not compensated adequately, the consequences will be catastrophic. If it is not the end of the world, it is the end of the current international financial system. The seriousness of such failures could be beyond the stretch of people's imagination." These are the words of Yu Yongding, who is a Professor in Beijing and a former advisor to China’s central bank

Retirement wake-up call
By The Mogambo Guru
I figure that the proverbial poop will hit the proverbial fan when people finally realize that they have been played for chumps, as it is obviously mathematically impossible for everyone, or even the majority of people, to take more purchasing power out of the stock market than they put in. So investing in the stock market, especially over the long-term, is, for almost everybody investing in it, a loser.The only question is, "How bad will it get?", which is a question born of despair and yet tinged with hope, like when my wife rushed home from our disastrous honeymoon complaining about what a disgusting pig I am and is reported to have also wailed, "How bad will it get?"

Who will Suffer the Least from Depression?
by John Browne
Though few may have noticed, the past few weeks may be regarded as a global economic turning point. Evidence is mounting that the United States is entering a recession, with increasing signs that it could morph into a depression. While the current Administration appears resigned to bail out or nationalize large tracts of American commerce, the presidential candidates drift towards Great Society era spending proposals. At the same time, America's principal economic rivals appear to be charting courses that are not in line with U.S. interests.The Russian invasion of Georgia has revived tensions that have not been seen since the most frigid periods of the Cold War.

Russia missile test heightens stand-off with West
Russia on Thursday tested an inter-continental missile, heightening tensions with the West as France said the European Union could impose sanctions on Moscow over the Georgia conflict. Russia also sought international support at a summit with China and Central Asian nations.The missile test in northern Russia came barely a week after the United States completed an accord with Poland on basing an anti-missile shield in central Europe and as Russia accuses NATO of building up its navy vessels in the Black Sea.A spokesman for Russia's strategic nuclear forces said the 6,000 kilometre (3,700 mile) test of the Topol RS-12M was successful, news agencies reported. Russia has been developing the missile in response to US plans to develop a missile-defence shield.

Cold War tension rises as Putin talks of Black Sea confrontation
Russia has criticised the US for using naval ships to deliver aid to Georgia
Michael Evans, Defence Editor
A new Cold War between Russia and the West grew steadily closer yesterday after the Kremlin gave a warning about “direct confrontation” between American and Russian warships in the Black Sea.Dmitri Peskov, a spokesman for Vladimir Putin, the Prime Minister, declared that Russia was taking “measures of precaution” against American and Nato naval ships. “Let’s hope we do not see any direct confrontation in that,” he said.

Crimean peninsula could be the next South Ossetia
By Askold Krushelnycky in Sevastopol, Ukraine
Ukraine's Crimean peninsula, home to the Russian Black Sea Fleet, could be the next flashpoint in the new Cold War. And any violent disturbance in Crimea could provide the political seismic shock to split Ukraine itself along its existing fault lines of ethnicity, language and religion.The Crimean peninsula is the only part of Ukraine where ethnic Russians are in a majority. Many of them are deeply resentful about being part of Ukraine and openly call for annexation by Russia. Moscow has fostered pro-annexation groups for years.

Russia turns to Asia over Georgia crisis
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev turned to Asian allies for support in the Georgia crisis, as the Group of Seven condemned Moscow in a stand-off that is stoking fears of a new Cold War.Medvedev joined Chinese President Hu Jintao and leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan for a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, set up in 2001 to counter NATO influence in Central Asia.The summit opened on Thursday after the Group of Seven industrialised powers strongly condemned Russia's recognition of Georgia's rebel regions South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states.

Russia wins backing from China
RUSSIA today won support from China and Central Asian states in its standoff with the West over the Georgia conflict as the European Union said it was weighing sanctions against Moscow.Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev said he hoped the "united position'' of a summit of Central Asian nations would ``serve as a serious signal to those who try to turn black into white.''The West has strongly condemned Russia's military offensive in Georgia this month and Medvedev's decision to recognise the breakaway Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states.

Diplomat: Russia to up naval presence in Syrian ports
DAMASCUS - The Russian navy will make more use of Syrian ports as part of increased military presence in the Mediterranean, a Russian diplomat said on Wednesday.The announcement comes as tensions rise between Moscow and the West over Russia's role in Georgia. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad backed Russia's recent offensive on Georgia in support of a separatist province during a visit to Russia last week. "Our Navy presence in the Mediterranean will increase," Igor Belyaev, the Russian charge d'affaires, told reporters in the Syrian capital. "Russian vessels will be visiting Syria and other friendly ports more frequently.

Russia's case on Georgia territories: Like Kosovo or not?
Tuesday, after invoking Kosovo to recognize two separatist republics, Russia changed its tack.
Paris - In the wake of Russia's recognition of two separatist Georgian republics Tuesday, Moscow is moving swiftly in another war – how to define and present its legal case to the world. One chief area of this battle is Kosovo, the Serbian province that declared its independence in February – something Moscow had long warned would "legitimize" the separation of territories such as South Ossetia and Abkhazia in Georgia.

Europe must stand up to Russia says UK
Miliband launches strongest attack on Kremlin since Georgia invasion
Britain yesterday raised the stakes in the scramble to contain Russia, pledging support for Moscow's regional rival, Ukraine, and calling on the international community to stand up to Russia's campaign to redraw the map of Europe and make it pay a higher price for its actions in Georgia.David Miliband, the foreign secretary tipped as a future Labour party leader and potential prime minister, went to the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, to deliver a speech aimed at flying the flag of western democracy on Russia's doorstep, while seeking to avert a new crisis boiling over on the Crimean peninsula, home to an ethnic Russian population and Moscow's Black Sea fleet.

Georgia War Shows 'Weak' Russia, U.S. Official Says
"There is a Russia narrative that 'we were weak in the '90s, but now we are back and we are not going to take it anymore.' But being angry and seeking revanchist victory is not the sign of a strong nation. It is the sign of a weak one," said Daniel Fried, assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs. "Russia is going to have to come to terms with the reality it can either integrate with the world or it can be a self-isolated bully. But it can't be both. And that's a choice Russia has to have," Fried said.

Georgia On My Mind
Charles Peña
For 16 days I had hoped the world would stand still so I could watch the spectacle and history of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, on my widescreen HDTV. Although there is certainly an element of national pride (both for the host country and all the athletes representing their countries), the Olympics is ultimately about athletic competition unfettered by politics (or at least it's supposed to be). So I didn't want anything to intrude on watching Michael Phelps win an unprecedented eight gold medals (setting seven world records in the process) and Usain Bolt shatter the 100-meter dash world record seemingly without trying.

Was Georgia Only A Sacrificial Pawn for DC's War on Iran
Throughout this past month and the suicidal war launched by the the US/EU puppet Saakashvili, Eater of Ties and Spiller of the Blood of Children, a pertinent question has arisen: why? Or rather, why now? That this move was well planned out and timed, down to the call for a ceasefire and the initiation of hostilities at 2 am local time or approximately 10 am Beijing time, while the Olympics were opening, is beyond doubt.Thus, while Saakashvili is irrational and hot tempered, this was not a spur of the moment move or a "reaction" to an imminent Russian invasion. No this was well planned ahead, which begs the question, "If this was preplanned than what assurance from the US did Georgia have that it would be backed up?"

Iran Could Reap Benefits of U.S.-Russian Tensions
by Jim Lobe
Iran could emerge as a big winner, at least in the short term, from the rapidly escalating tensions between the United States and Russia over Moscow's intervention in Georgia, according to analysts.Whatever waning chances remained of a U.S. military attack on Iran before President George W. Bush leaves office next January have all but vanished, given the still-uncertain outcome of the Georgia crisis, according to most of these observers.

Don't blame Jews for Iraq
By Abraham H. Foxman -
ADL director addresses former Republican congressman's claims
Although self-publishing has gained increasing traction lately, the idea of launching one's own publishing company "to facilitate the publication of my first book," makes John Hostettler's Nothing for the Nation: Who Got What Out of Iraq an especially vivid example of chutzpah.And while Hostettler, a Republican congressman from Indiana from 1995 to 2007, defends his vote against the war in Iraq on several grounds, his contention that President George W. Bush depended on intelligence provided by neoconservatives "with Jewish backgrounds" - whose real interest was in promoting the security of Israel - demands our attention.

Nothing for the Nation: Who Got What Out of Iraq
Hon. John N. Hostettler Publius House, Evansville, IN
Former Indiana Eighth District Congressman John Hostettler, one of only six Republicans to vote against S.J.Res. 23, “Authorization for the Use of Military Force” in Iraq, provides a concise, compelling and comprehensive, well documented rationale for this bold act that he admits was the costliest vote he ever cast. Hostettler’s efficient and effective narrative takes the reader through his doggedly determined quest to understand the justification for the war in the face of considerable pressure from his party and constituency to “go along”.

AFRICA, DON'T BLAME THE WHITES.
Mfonobong Nsehe
Recently, as part of an academic assignment at school, I was engaged in an intellectual debate with a few colleagues. We were seeking answers to the roots of Africa´s problems. It was an interesting discussion for me. Shockingly, the majority of my colleagues subscribed to the idea that the major cause of Africa´s social-political and economic problems was the legacy left behind by the colonial masters. As far as they were concerned, the colonialists ruined Africa for good. For the records, they had some strong arguments to support their claims. I do not intend to go into that.

Exit of whites 'unfortunate'
Johannesburg - The departure of whites from the public service had left a skills vacuum in certain areas, ANC treasurer-general Mathews Phosa said on Wednesday."As an elected leader of the African National Congress, I want to ensure that we do not repeat the mistakes of the past," he wrote in a column in The Star newspaper.One mistake was to allow a process that led to too many casualties of well-meaning, skilful and patriotic experts in the public sector."In addition, the exit of white persons - who had a contribution to make - from the civil service followed an unfortunate course that resulted in a skills vacuum in some areas of the public service," Phosa said.

'Millions of our citizens live in fear'
Crime and violence remain obstacles in the way of rectifying the socio-economic climate essential for allowing a better life for all, a convention on safety has found."Crime and violence have already caused untold hardship, disruption and loss of life in our country," said Action for a Safe South Africa project leader Roelf Meyer.He was reading from a charter developed during the four-day convention in Midrand."It jeopardises the foundations of our democracy and undermines the principles that formed the basis of our transition to democracy as embodied in our Constitution."Millions of our citizens live in continuous fear as a result of the climate of crime and violence," he said.

'SA faces anarchy'
By Babington Maravanyika
South Africa risks sliding into anarchy if level-headed people within the ANC as well as other influential people in society do not speak out against dangerous utterances which undermine the country's constitutional democracy, legal expert, Professor Extraordinaire Shadrack Gutto has warned.Speaking at the inaugural lecture of the Tshwane University of Technology/Pretoria News Intellectual Public Lecture Series, Gutto said South Africa was experiencing an absurd situation, where functionaries of the ruling party were labelling the courts as "counter revolutionary", and were threatening to make the country ungovernable if the courts made decisions which were not favourable to the ruling party.

Municipality literacy shock
One in three municipal councillors cannot read or write, and more lack basic competencies to run local government finances.Some councillors are even embarrassed to admit they do not understand English and are therefore unable to follow council proceedings or training sessions.It is recommended that adult education becomes a priority in all municipalities.On average, only half of local government politicians have post-matric qualifications, while only two out of 10 understand how tariffs are set or the cost implications of municipal services.And more than two-thirds of councillors - including those who serve on mayoral committees - don't understand their roles, their responsibilities or local government legislations.

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