And that is all.

Click Me! Support The Keith Richards Home For Aging Sluts

Saturday, August 23, 2008

SATURDAY NIGHT CINEMA: Metropolis Now

There's a new version of "Metropolis" out there:

They discovered it in July (In South America, of course, where one finds all sorts of old German shit)


7/2/2008: Key scenes from Fritz Lang’s “Metropolis” have been rediscovered Last Tuesday Paula Félix-Didier travelled on a secret mission to Berlin in order to meet with three film experts and editors from ZEITmagazin. The museum director from Buenos Aires had something special in her luggage: a copy of a long version of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, including scenes believed lost for almost 80 years. After examining the film the three experts are certain: The find from Buenos Aires is a real treasure, a worldwide sensation. Metropolis, the most important silent film in German history, can from this day on be considered to have been rediscovered.



UNESCO had screened a "new" version in April 2004...

April 14, 2004 (Paris)

A new, digitally re-mastered version of Fritz Lang’s futuristic film Metropolis was screened at UNESCO Headquarters on Tuesday, April 13, on the eve of its re-release by French film company MK2 in France. The “new” version of the spectacular 1927 German masterpiece, the first film to be inscribed on UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register, features, for the first time the soundtrack especially composed by Gottfried Huppertz for the film.

Since its inclusion on UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register in 2001, the film has had a new lease on life and has been screened in its restored form in Germany and elsewhere. The Memory of the World (MOW) programme was established in 1993 to preserve and promote documentary heritage, much of it endangered, as this heritage is as important for the preservation of cultures and humanity’s cultural diversity as are the monuments inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage list.

[SNIP]

PLOT SYNOPSIS

The film is set in the year 2026, in the extraordinary Gothic skyscrapers of a corporate city-state, the Metropolis of the title. Society has been divided into two rigid groups: one of planners or thinkers, who live high above the earth in luxury, and another of workers who live underground toiling to sustain the lives of the privileged. The city is run by Johann 'Joh' Fredersen (Alfred Abel).

The beautiful and evangelical figure Maria (Brigitte Helm) takes up the cause of the workers. She advises the desperate workers not to start a revolution, and instead wait for the arrival of "The Mediator", who, she says, will unite the two halves of society. The son of Fredersen, Freder (Gustav Fröhlich), becomes infatuated with Maria, and follows her down into the working underworld. In the underworld, he experiences firsthand the toiling lifestyle of the workers, and observes the casual attitude of their employers (he is disgusted after seeing an explosion at the "M-Machine", when the employers bring in new workers to keep the machine running before taking care of the men wounded or killed in the accident). Shocked at the workers' living conditions, he joins her cause.

Meanwhile his father Fredersen consults with the scientist Rotwang (Rudolf Klein-Rogge), an old companion and rival. Fredersen learns that the papers found with dead workers are plans of the catacombs and witnesses a speech by Maria. He also learns that Rotwang has built a robotic gynoid. Rotwang wants to give the robot the appearance of Hel, his former lover who left him for Fredersen and died giving birth to Freder. Fredersen persuades him to give the robot Maria's appearance, as he wants to use the robot to tighten his control over the workers. Rotwang complies out of ulterior motives: he knows of Freder's and Maria's love and wants to use the robot to deprive Fredersen of his son.

The real Maria is imprisoned in Rotwang's house in Metropolis, while the robot Maria is first showcast as an exotic dancer in the upper city's Yoshiwara nightclub, fomenting discord among the rich young men of Metropolis. After descending to the worker's city, the robot Maria encourages the workers into a full-scale rebellion, and they destroy the "Heart Machine", the power station of the city. Neither Freder nor Grot, the foreman of the Heart Machine, can stop them. As the machine is destroyed, the city's reservoirs overflow, flooding the workers' underground city and seemingly drowning the children, who were left behind in the riot. In fact, Freder and Maria have saved them in a heroic rescue, without the workers' knowledge.

When the workers realize the damage they have done and that their children are lost, they attack the upper city. Under the leadership of Grot, they chase the human Maria, whom they hold responsible for their riot. As they break into the city's entertainment district, they run into the Yoshiwara crowd and capture the robot Maria, while the human Maria manages to escape. The workers burn the captured Maria at the stake; Freder, believing this to be the human Maria, despairs but then he and the workers realize that the burned Maria is in fact a robot.

Meanwhile, the human Maria is chased by Rotwang along the battlements of the city's cathedral. Freder chases after Rotwang, resulting in a climactic scene in which Joh Fredersen watches in terror as his son struggles with Rotwang on the cathedral's roof. Rotwang falls to his death, and Maria and Freder return to the street, where Freder unites Fredersen and Grot, fulfilling his role as the "Mediator".

Unfortunately METROPOLIS is not available in it's entirety on the web for me to embed here.


Scene from Fritz Lang's 1925 film, "Metropolis" which portrays a city which is sustained by massive underground machine-works and colonies of subjugated workers.

Freder, son of the "Master of Metropolis", strays into the forbidden sub-underground where the machines and human machine operators are hard at work. An accident occurs and many workers are killed. Freder looks on in horror as the great machine transforms into the face of MOLOCH, a demonic ghoul with pointed fangs and mouth agape. Workers plunge into the cavernous mouth, paying the ultimate sacrifice to the monstrous demon-machine.


"Maria"

3 Wood: Soothing FedSpeak to Sleeple By


Santo & Johnny ~ Sleepwalk


Some good news about the economy is in the offing.

Bernanke sends soothing message on inflation

"JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. (MarketWatch) -- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke sent a soothing message to global markets Friday, saying inflation was on track to moderate in coming months, and triggering a rally in stocks on speculation that means the Fed will keep interest rates low for the near future.

Recent developments in commodity prices and the dollar, combined with slower growth, should lead inflation pressures to ease, Bernanke told policymakers and leading economists attending the Fed's annual retreat in Jackson Hole. The recent decline in commodity prices and the increased stability of the dollar have been welcome trends, Bernanke said.

"If not reversed, these developments, together with a pace of growth that is likely to fall short of potential for a time, should lead inflation to moderate later this year and next year," Bernanke said."
Translation from Fedspeak: Don't look for any more interest rate increases any time soon and it looks like some stability in the market is occurring. I've been saying for months that I expected to see the market trade sideways until August or September and then start moving forward again, as long as oil prices stabilized or dropped a bit. That is exactly what is happening. We are not completely out of the woods yet, but I do believe that the worst may be over. And remember, the economy has not contracted yet. Growth has slowed a lot, that is true. But the macro economy has continued to grow.

The sun will come out tomorrow.

~ 3 WOOD


Beatles Cartoon - Good Day Sunshine

AUDIO: Dr. Paul L. Williams on Jihad Training in America


CBN REPORT: JIHAD IN AMERICA

CLICK ME, I'M JIHAD AMERICAN STYLE



Dr. Paul L. Williams



New Media Journal talks with Dr. Paul L. Williams, author of The Al Qaeda Connection, Osama's Revenge and The Day of Islam about Adnan el Shukrijumah and Jamaat al Fuqra's training camps right here on American soil.



AUDIO: CLICK HERE TO LISTEN








THIN LIZZY ~ HOLY WAR ~ 1983


Missing Links vs Yer Below Average Joe


Nick Cave, Charlie Haden & Toots Thielemans
Hey Joe


"Just Words" that Joe Biden would like to forget


2007: Biden: A Barrel of Gaffes


Biden is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee


Biden is an "internationalist" and a strong supporter of the United Nations


1987: Biden admits lies (er...."errors")


1963:
11. Promote the U.N. as the only hope for mankind. If its charter is rewritten, demand that it be set up as a one-world government with its own independent armed forces. (Some Communist leaders believe the world can be taken over as easily by the U.N. as by Moscow. Sometimes these two centers compete with each other as they are now doing in the Congo.)


Audio of Obama Dismissing Abortion Bill



TURN: SYMBOLS MATTER



Spleen Flashback: Obamanable Weapons of Mass Deception



Russia aims missiles at Georgian capital of Tbilisi



It's OK.... the Russian "Peacekeepers" can stay - Condi said so!



What the US Approved Soviet "Peacekeepers" are really in Georgia to do



The Saudi's Role in Georgia:

We need help from the connected global community to “smoke out “ an underreported item in the world press regarding former Saudi Ambassador Prince Bandar bin Sultan’s recent deal with Russia and possible American collusion or silent consent in this month’s Russian rape of Georgia. It’s a complex issue that needs some explanation.

When Bandar bin Sultan was in Moscow on July 14th, he and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin signed a large and historic Saudi-Russian arms agreement between the world’s top two oil producers in return for a Russian pledge to cease support of Iran, among other things (see John Daly and Reuters reports). The fate of Georgia was sealed with a deal that cleverly and insidiously linked Iran, Chechnya, Georgia and Crimea in one package.

During their meetings, Bandar reportedly told Putin that if Russia agreed to stop supporting Iran, he (Bandar) would ensure that his “friends in Washington” would “look the other way,” were Russia to occupy Georgia’s separatist provinces at the opening of the Olympics—i.e., swap a free Georgia for a united approach against Iran and eventually sell out Ukraine’s Crimea as well.

Russia will control the transit of oil


Al-Qaeda Affiliate Jaish al-Islam Receives Formal Sanctuary in Hamas-Ruled Gaza


IRAN: US-RUSSIAN TENSION CREATES NEW DIPLOMATIC OPTIONS FOR TEHRAN


Aide: Iraq's al-Sadr may stay in Iran for years


Somali pirates operating in the strategically vital Gulf of Aden have hijacked a record four ships with almost 100 crew onboard in less than 48 hours


INDONESIA: Christian Theology Students Forced off Campus by Mob of Muslims


Study finds new earthquake dangers for NYC


Earthquake Wednesday in Eastern Arkansas started along mystery fault line


Caliphelating American Academics to visit Iran



French visit to boost relations with Syria


Turkish Daily News on the strategic implications of the Russian invasion




Deep Purple ~ Hey Joe

Saturday Morning Open Thread


B52's ~ Planet Claire

Friday, August 22, 2008

Katanga: The Untold Story of UN Betrayal


Katanga: The Untold Story of UN Betrayal





Hat Tip: The Archangel Michael



The video embedded above was posted to Google by the John Birch Society - however, please do not let that nullify the truth contained within it for you... ya gotta glean, from all sources.


Remember Katanga!

[SNIP]

Globalists everywhere are today citing the "accomplishments" of the United Nations during its 50-year life. One of the feats accredited to the UN was the reunification of the Belgian Congo by a UN "peacekeeping" force. Since most of the people I talk to have never heard of this piece of history, it seems appropriate to review it on this anniversary.

The tragedy of Katanga started on June 30, 1960 when Belgium granted independence to its former province of the Congo. Leadership of the new nation fell to Moscow-sponsored terrorist Patrice Lumumba. Lumumba was so highly regarded by Soviet dictator Khrushchev that he renamed the Moscow "Peoples Friendship University" the "Patrice Lumumba Friendship University" upon Lumumba's death. In a directive to the heads of the Congolese provinces, Lumumba wrote that they should use "terrorism, essential to subdue the population." His directive was carried out enthusiastically.

In order to avoid the nightmare that attended Communist rule in the Congo, the province of Katanga declared its independence. Its president, the Christian, pro-American Moise Tshombe, announced that "we are seceding from chaos." Tshombe asked Belgium to send military officers to recruit and train a Katangese army to restore order in Katanga. Lumumba and his successor, Cyrille Adoula, asked for and got the aid of United Nations "peacekeepers" to force Katanga back under Congolese rule. It took two years of UN warmaking to accomplish this goal.

[SNIP]


Seems there's lots of good stuff in Katanga that the god of ChaChing covets

8/6/08:
Investors in the Democratic Republic of Congo [DRC] have waited with baited breath to find out what will come out of the contract renegotiations with mining companies. Katanga Mining Ltd. (KATFF.PK) announced its revised deal Tuesday morning, providing some potential guidelines for the other contracts. The shares fell about 10%.

Katanga's revised contract includes a change in the royalty rate from 1.5% to 2.5%. The company will also increase its board from five directors to eight, and three members will be appointed by Gécamines, the DRC's state-owned mining company and Katanga's joint venture partner. Share capital of the merged joint venture will rise to C$100-million from C$1-million.

Katanga will retain 75% of the joint venture, while Gécamines will hold 25%. That is unchanged from the previous contract.

Other mining companies with big vested interests in the DRC include Anvil Mining Corp.(AVMNF.PK), Lundin Mining Corp.(LMC), and Freeport-McMoran Copper &Gold Inc. (FCX).
Anvil Mining

Lundin Mining

Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold Inc



Leningrad Cowboys ~ Leningrad

I'm a Problem Child


AC/DC ~ Problem Child ~ 1978


CLICK ME, PECULIAR PERSON!

Pat: Red Rape in Georgia


The Fixx ~ Red Skies at Night



So reads the headlines of The Guardian.
And from the same source:

"Several Russian trucks overshot and missed their turning. One broke down. A soldier got the wheezing vehicle going again. Where was he from? "Chechnya. We've come here to help," he said.For the terrified residents of Gori and surrounding villages, it didn't seem like help. Yesterday morning, as the Russian tanks advanced from their base in South Ossetia they passed through Georgian controlled-villages, telling residents to hang out white flags or be shot.Behind them, according to people fleeing those villages, came a militia army of Chechen and Ossetian volunteers who had joined up with the regular Russian army. The volunteers embarked on an orgy of looting, burning, murdering and rape, witnesses claimed, adding that the irregulars had carried off young girls and men."

There are accounts slowly coming out of Georgia about the behavior of Russian soldiers in Georgia. Unlike the criticism leveled at American troops, the Russians, like Muslims, Chinese and other groups favored by the left, do not get much press, either here or at home. No marches on the Russian Embassy, no Europeans going to the streets, nothing accepts allusions by the left and Obama that Bush is at fault. It is now time to collect some of the outrageous tales coming out of this seemingly civilized section of the world. To review Putin's troops and expose their Rules Of Engagement. Maybe it is time for a refresher on why our parents and grandparents hated Russia, why so many immigrated to America


Mari's Tale


"Monday, August 18, 2008


21 year old girl raped by "soldiers" (eye-witness reports)
Elene Gelashvili, 21 years old, is a refugee from the village of Nikozi:


"When the fighting started in Cxinvali, we all took shelter in the cellars of our houses…our house wasn't hit by a bomb, but there were dead and wounded all over the place. We couldn't stay there any longer and decided to walk by foot towards Gori. On the road a driver picked us up and took us to Gori with his minibus.


He told the young girl to cover their heads with a veil and act as if you were elderly people, the Russians and Ossetians are everywhere, they are stopping cars and if they like some girl, they take her right away. "Act, as if you were old women!" My friend Mari said, "What a nonsense, how should they take us away"; we implored her, but she was such a hard-head….


We hadn't even passed a kilometre, when we were stopped by 30 armed Russians. A skinny guy put is head into the minibus, saw Mari and pulled her out of the car. All in all there were three men in the bus, which they started to beat with their guns. Then they told the driver to drive on, I still have Maris pale face on my mind….


Two days later we were still in Gori but planned to go to Tbilisi, when we heard of a girl, that had been tortured by soldiers; I couldn't breathe anymore…….I said to myself "if that would really be Mari, she´d be alive at least. I asked some soldiers for her and when I finally found her I hardly recognised her….she had blood all over and was in a terrible state. They had taken her to a village near Cxinvali and about 50 men had raped her there. Then they had put her on drugs and mutilated her. She begged them to kill her…"



Aliko's Tale


It´s hard for me to speak about those things, but I have to, cause all have to know how inhuman and sadistic these Russians are. Take them to court, I beg you…..

My wife has died when she gave birth to our twins, I raised our twins alone, after that also my grandchildren. When this horrible war started Ani was 17, Levan 15. Levan was torn into pieces in front of my eyes by a bomb, his body has been separated from the legs. Ani was taken to a house by soldiers, those murderers, I could hear hear wailing and moaning, but coudn´t do anything about it; I was lying on the ground, after they had beaten me up….


And those pigs still weren’t satisfied with raping her, they told her: “Run, if you make it away from here within 10 seconds, you´ll be free. The deafened and weeping child ran away and was shot by them when they hadn´t even count to three. My dear grandchild."


Tina's tale

"Happened incredible thing: Russian barbarians demolished our gorge. They bombed houses; houses with people inside were in flames. We left our homes and escaped, the road was horrifying: bombs were exploding in front of us damaging cars and people. I saw a car packed with people blew up, human intestines were flying in the air. Some women from my village chose other way to leave the gorge, through river and forests.

Cars were carrying bodies of young boys. The gorge is full of dead bodies who were not buried and have been left for crows to eat. I saw a woman who bowled up in front of her house, she was split in many many parts. Wounded asked for help, but there was nobody able to help them. I saw how Russians put two men in sacks and shoot them… Elders stayed in gorge. My parents stayed there. My dad has diabetes and can’t walk. I know their life is in danger, they know it too and they are waiting for death."


Russians robbing a bank & looting Georgia



GEORGIAN President Micheil Saakashvili is accusing irregulars associated with the Russian army of raping and looting their way across his country.

"This army travels around with irregulars, travels around with marauders, travels around with rapists, travels around with arsonists, robbers and with looters," Mr Saakashvili said today."

"Saakashvili said Russian forces have run amok. "Russian tanks are going for villages inhabited by Georgian populations and throwing people out of their houses, putting people into concentration camps that they are setting up in those villages, and separating men and women," he told CBS News.

"They are taking things like even furniture, toilet seats, killing people, terrorizing people."


And The Mainstream Media does not think that Mr Putin's army deserves anything but a mild reprimand and a hint or two that Georgia brought this on themselves.

Also of interest and related, at HuffoPo: Bernard Henri-Levy: What I saw in Georgia

~ Pat

Sources:


http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-62677


http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/aug/14/georgia.russia


http://russiangeorgianwar.blogspot.com/2008/08/girls-raped-by-soldiers-age-21.html


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1043236/Georgia-overrun-Russian-troops-scale-ground-invasion-begins.html


http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,24184638-5001028,00.html


http://www.nypost.com/seven/08142008/news/worldnews


/nazi_atrocities_shock_georgia_124392.htm


Missing Links in the Days of Freedom Under Seige


Joe Cuba ~ El Pito
(I'll Never Go Back To Georgia)




Another Catholic priest brutally murdered in India


Pakistani Christians face uncertain future


Syria: We'll host Russian missile system


China & Iraq sign $1.2B oil deal


Arabs back Russia



Thanks a lot, now GTFO, Kuffar


Iraq invites Russian oil company back
An Iraqi Cabinet minister invited Russia's Lukoil on Wednesday to renew its bid on the vast West Qurna-2 oil field and urged Russian companies to seek roles rebuilding dilapidated power plants as Iraq searches for foreign investment to revive its oil industry and infrastructure.

"I hope Russian companies will take part in the bidding," Iraqi Electricity Minister Karim Wahid told a news conference in Moscow.

Iraqis buy billions in US arms


New Al Qaeda Manual Reflects Changing Face of Terror


Dhimmi Bitch will now instruct you on how best to submit to evil:
Karen Armstrong was a Catholic nun for seven years before leaving her order and going to Oxford. Today, she is amongst the most renowned theologians and has written numerous bestsellers on the great religions and their founders. She is one of the 18 leading group members of the Alliance of Civilizations, an initiative of the former UN General Secretary, Kofi Anan, whose purpose is to fight extremism and further dialogue between the western and Islamic worlds. She talks here to the German journalist, Andrea Bistrich, about politics, religion, extremism and commonalities.

Powder in letter to McCain not dangerous, police say


HOLY SCIENCE PROCLAIMS: Dogs now have morals


Remember this case? The boy was eviscerated then murdered by the MFer


Holland: Candies imported to Israel with swastika tattoos inside


Corsi: Not a Truther after all


Toby Keith, a "conservative Democrat?"


Dems plan expansion of UN Power


2006: Gore apologizes to Saudis


Clinton coup brewing against Barockstar Obama


40 years after the death of a party
At the Democratic Convention in Chicago, the pent-up animus against America, simmering on college campuses for years, blossomed into an anti-war movement which was not anti-war at all, but which was rather anti-America and anti-freedom. Banners celebrated brutal thugs like Ho Chi Minh and defined America as "Amerika." The protesters who carried these banners called openly for violence, not peace. The object of this movement was, quite simply, the triumph of evil.

Serious debates about the prudence and effectiveness of policies -- Was Southeast Asia worth defending? Were the operations and tactics employed wise? -- were replaced by fundamental questions about the morality of our nation. Communist dictators like Castro were celebrated. Mega-murderers like Mao were lionized. This was something new and hideous in American political discussion.

Many Americans supported isolationism before the Second World War, but these Americans did not say that our nation was a pox; they did not champion the wicked regimes in Germany, Italy, and Japan; they did not yearn that America become more like the world. Rather, these America Firsters thought that the world should become more like America.

No major political movement that despised America could have survived in America in 1940. Indeed, no major political movement can survive in a democracy which despises its homeland -- except in America. Forty years ago, the Democratic Party became an anomaly in the history of democracies: It assumed a posture of contempt towards the very nation which it sought to govern. Why? The principle reason was that a sated generation deprived of God thrashed about for purpose and, finding none, embraced the nihilism of Marxism and loathed the hopeful life that America had given to so many peoples from so many lands. My wife's parents, Holocaust survivors, loved America for the manifest goodness that it was. They understood totalitarianism and then they understood America. Life taught them the nature of good and of evil.

The anti-American students at the Chicago Democratic Convention, charter members of the most pampered generation in human history, assumed that goodness was imperfection and that evil was nirvana. Empty souls assumed that emptiness was the normal condition of the human soul. Marx, the father not only of Lenin, Stalin, and Mao, but also the father of Mussolini and Hitler, was the adopted father of these angry, spoiled children.

ATLAS INTERVIEWS BOLTON




Georgian National Anthem

Thursday, August 21, 2008

I Got da Zotz


"ZOTZ" ~ 1962



SNAP ~ The Power

Iraqi Christians: Round trip to Death Street


The Ignored Extermination of Iraqi Christians

CLICK ME


Iraqi Christians: Round trip to Death Street


Iraqi Christian refugees flee the horror of sectarian violence at home to struggle with life in Lebanon.

By Simon Roughneen in Lebanon for ISN Security Watch (20/08/08)

"My friend was stopped at a checkpoint on the road to Irbil from Baghdad. The people in the car had to show their ID cards to the masked men.

"They could see she was Christian from her name. They dragged her from the car, pushed her to her knees and put a gun to her head.

"They told her to convert to Islam, or die. She refused and started praying out loud. But they did not kill her, not straight away. They raped her and then she was shot in the head."

Pascale (her name and the names of her family members have been changed to protect their identity) has recounted this tale too many times to cry any more. However this story, as elemental as it is heart-rending, is not unique among the estimated 2 million Iraqi refugees who have fled their country since 2003.

Maybe the heroism of this story loses some of its currency with each telling, or maybe each individual tragedy gets lost in Iraq's deluge of blood-letting.

But before this reporter can overcome his pitiful inability to cope with what has just been said and ask more details, Pascale's husband Paulos picks up the thread.

"Our neighborhood in Mosul was nicknamed Death Street. Two weeks before we left, my next-door neighbor was shot in his home. The terrorists said 'give the child to your wife.' When he did this, they shot him four or five times, in front of the woman and her little one."

Pausing momentarily, he adds, "Later, two of my sisters were widowed by car bombs."

The family has spent the past year in a claustrophobic one-room apartment in Beirut's outskirts. Kitchen and living room by day, bedroom by night, the entire flat is a little bigger than the average western bathroom and opens into a covered car park.

Lebanon hosts some 50,000 Iraqis while neighboring Syria and Jordan have around 1.5 million and 500,000, respectively, though these are high-end estimates used by the governments in Damascus and Amman, and are disputed by refugee agencies who posit lower figures.

But in global terms, displacement in and from Iraq outranks Sudan and is second only to Afghanistan.

Of Iraqis in Lebanon, 30 percent are Christian, with over half Shia, reflecting long-standing links between the respective communities in both countries. The rest are Sunni - around 17 percent of the total - and the balance minorities such as Mandeans and Yazidi.

Iraq's Chaldeans speak a form of Aramaic, the language used by Jesus Christ. Chaldeans converted to Christianity in the 1st century AD and have been in Iraq ever since. Like Lebanon's Maronites - the majority Christian community in that country - the Chaldeans are part of the Roman Catholic Church.

Michel Kasdano, a retired Lebanese armed forces general, told ISN Security Watch, "In the past six months, most of the arrivals have been from Mosul as security there deteriorates."

Kasdano leads a diocesan team that helps Christian Iraqis arriving in Lebanon, providing financial and educational support, medical aid and assistance in finding accommodation and employment, all mirroring similar work by Shiite and Sunni Muslim groups.

A precipitous decline in Iraq's ancient Christian population has left approximately 450,000 to 700,000 in the country. Estimates vary but between 300,000-500,000 have fled since the fall of Saddam's regime in 2003, while a similar number left during the final 15 years of Baath dictatorship in Mesopotamia.

In February 2008, Christian persecution in Iraq – and Mosul in particular - claimed its highest-profile victim: Chaldean Catholic Archbishop Paul Faraj Rahho. His body was found days after he and three companions were ambushed by gunmen, and a month after the archbishop had called for Christians to cease paying the jizya, once a tax paid by Christians and Jews to Muslim rulers. Since the fall of Saddam, the jizya has morphed into a protection racket extorted by paramilitaries, with the proceeds apparently funding terrorist groups.

Kasdano added that "30 percent of the attacks [on Christians] are criminal opportunists who see a weakened and vulnerable minority."

The start of the exodus The refugee flight started in 2005, two years after the US invasion of Iraq, as hoped-for reconstruction and nation building gave way to al-Qaida-infiltrated sectarian and ethnic chaos that the US and its allies seemed incapable of handling until the recent "surge" orchestrated by General David Petraeus. The move saw local Sunni leaders partner with the US-led coalition to drive foreign al-Qaida affiliates from the country, abetted by Iran-induced Shiite militia ceasefires.

The number of Iraqis leaving the country skyrocketed with the attack on a shrine in Samarra in early 2006, which sparked a de facto sectarian civil war between Shiites and Sunnis in Iraq. Christians were caught in the middle.

In all, one-in-five Iraqis have left their homes since 2005. However the UN High Commissioner for Refugees reports that 40 percent of Iraqi refugees are Christian — a staggering number considering that Christians made up for only some 4 percent, or 1.5 million, of Iraq's total pre-invasion population.

The caveat, however, for Iraq's Christians, is that they are an unprotected minority, and unlike the Sunnis, Shia or Kurds, the Christians do not have a homegrown militia. The US and its allies in Iraq have been shied from protecting Christians, partly due to wariness of offending Iraq's Muslim majorities.

Paulos recounted to ISN Security Watch that in the vortex of violence and extremism that started 2003, Sunnis aghast at losing power in Iraq told Christians in the area "Your uncles are here, Crusaders."

But Uncle Sam's arrival did not do much for Iraqi Christians, with some accusing the US Army of failing to protect them as it feared this would fuel insurgent propagandists.

On the other hand, the US television news program 60 Minutes documented Iraqi Christians asking that US Marines not be deployed near their churches, fearing Sunni or Shia militia reprisals for this alleged "collaboration."

Paulos laughs, wistfully weighing the pros and cons: "We never expected the Americans to put a soldier at every house."

When Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki met Pope Benedict XVI in July this year, he asked the pontiff to persuade Iraq's Christians to return to Iraq, and stated his belief that they were not being targeted by Iraq's violent ethno-religious strife.

But in response to the meeting, Iraqi Christian parliament member Younadam Kanna told the Associated Press that the situation for Christians in Baghdad had improved in recent months but, "in Mosul, the situation is the same as it used to be and it's getting worse."

According to Kasdano, "Christian refugees from Iraq do not want to go back, they feel they are being driven out."

Hardships in a foreign land Lebanon's Iraqis face some onerous common challenges, irrespective of the circumstances of their exile. First among those is the Lebanon's lack of refugee legislation, leaving the Iraqis in a legal no-man's land.

Stephane Jaquemet of the UNCHR office in Beirut told ISN Security Watch, "Lebanon does not have a refugee law. It treats most Iraqis as illegal immigrants, regardless of their need to be protected as refugees."

A memorandum of understanding signed by Lebanon and the US in 2003 aimed to loosen procedures, but this was intended for only hundreds of annual arrivals, not the 50,000-plus influx, adding to Lebanon's long-present 400,000 Palestinian refugees in camps across the country.

"The authorities here will not see Lebanon as an asylum country until the Palestinian issue has been resolved," Jaquemet said.

For Paulos and Pascale, coping with three children struggling to find schools and friends, with either parent seeking one decent work opportunity, capped by the frustrations and struggles of the asylum system - it all makes for a grinding, stultifying existence.

The family says it has already been turned down for entry to the US. With relatives in Australia and Sweden, options to move to those countries have also been ruled out for now due to the complicated legal issues concerning the number of family members they will take.

Not shy on black humor, Paulos predicts, "We will go to Afghanistan!" But joking aside, unless he finds better paying work, and in turn a more congenial place to live, he even contemplates a return to Iraq, back home to Death Street.

Kasdano counsels otherwise, pointing out that he has heard of a factory owner in East Beirut who needs workers; and of a neighborhood housing hundreds of Iraqis, which means company and community support.

However, Paulos seems at his wits end. "Why not go back? Maybe I will be killed at home, but we are dead living here like this."


"The Sacrifice" ~ Michael Nyman
From the Soundtrack for "The Piano"

Missing Links & The Suicide Tango


The Last Sunday Tango aka The Suicide Tango
by Alexandr Cfasman Orkestr
Russian vocal refrain by Pavel Mihailov
Utomlennoe Solnce (J.Petersburski), Noginskij Zawod 1936



Russia Blocks Georgia's Main Port City of Poti


Russia vows missile defence deal response


Russia warns NATO against re-equipping Georgia's military


PRAVDA on NATO


Russia will stay in Georgia

....WITH OUR APPROVAL: See yesterdays links



Iraq to send our $$$ to Putin's Russia


Waiting For A Withdrawal
Waiting For A Withdrawal



Russia gave Iraq an assassin list (4/03)


Russia's Second Empire


"Thank God Russia is not Iraq" ~ Putin (10/07)


2007: Red October: Russia, Iran, and Iraq
Or the United States can quietly give Putin the sphere of influence he wants, letting down allies in the former Soviet Union, in return for which the Russians will let the Iranians stand alone against the Americans, not give arms to Middle Eastern countries, not ship Iran weapons that will wind up with militias in Iraq. In effect, Putin is giving the United States a month to let him know what it has in mind.

It should not be forgotten that Iran retains an option that could upset Russian plans. Iran has no great trust of Russia, nor does it have a desire to be trapped between American power and Russian willingness to hold Iran's coat while it slugs things out with the Americans. At a certain point, sooner rather than later, the Iranians must examine whether they want to play the role of the Russian cape to the American bull. The option for the Iranians remains the same - negotiate the future of Iraq with the Americans. If the United States is committed to remaining in Iraq, Iran can choose to undermine Washington, at the cost of increasing its own dependence on the Russians and the possibility of war with the Americans. Or it can choose to cut a deal with the Americans that gives it influence in Iraq without domination. Iran is delighted with Putin's visit. But that visit also gives it negotiating leverage with the Americans. This remains the wild card.

Petraeus' area of operations is Iraq. He may well have crafted a viable plan for stabilizing Iraq over the next few years. But the price to be paid for that is not in Iraq or even in Iran. It is in leaving the door wide open in other areas of the world. We believe the Russians are about to walk through one of those doors. The question in the White House, therefore, must be: How much is Iraq worth? Is it worth recreating the geopolitical foundations of the Soviet Union?

Translated from "Al Watan": Russia-Georgia War connected to Iraq's oil & gas law


Syria-Russian talks focus on arms


Assad: Syria may host Russian missiles in its territory


Turkish Premier In Baku Seeking Caucasus Stability Pact


Iran to continue 'positive' nuclear talks with IAEA

At Least 40 Killed in Attack on Pakistan Arms Factory


Rice denies date for American troop withdrawal from Iraq has been agreed


Iraq Sunni leader's son caught planting bombs


Iraq invites Russian oil major back


Iraq signs nuclear test ban treaty


January '08: U.N. Ignores Its Own Procurement Ban


Gay Marriage Cards




Confess Your Guilt Tango written by Artur Gold,
sung in Russian by Pjotr Leschenko 1934

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

3 Wood: Fannies & Freddies & Fallout


Freddie Hubbard & Art Blakey ~ Moanin'


As usually happens after a significant market event (such as the mortgage industry melt down), there are reactions and over-reactions in the market.

Consumers feel fallout from Fannie, Freddie

The most recent burst of fear about Fannie and Freddie's future came on Monday, after a Barron's magazine article over the weekend, citing an anonymous Bush administration source, reported that the government is pressing the companies to raise more money to guard against losses but doesn't expect the companies to succeed.

The Barron's report said the government is likely to buy preferred stock in the companies, wiping out common shareholders.


Chief among the reactions in the home loan market are that it is just plain much harder and more expensive to qualify for a loan. The free and easy lending style of the past decade is gone like a cool summer breeze. Now the standards are much higher and the costs have jumped due to the extra handling costs. Bottom line is, very few people will qualify for a home loan in this market. Money is tight and only the cream of the credit market will qualify for now.

Now, these things go in a pendulum pattern. We will go along like this, with a tough, tight market for a while. Then some enterprising financial institution will see a profit opportunity in the lending market and turn up the lending activity. That will generate a jump in profits, and so other lending institutions will follow suit. Additionally, some people getting turned down for loans may then seek recourse in the courts and claim that they were turned down for demographic reasons. Banks will then try to avoid the legal costs of such claims by turning up the lending activity even more and then selling off the shaky loans.

Years ago when I worked in banking we used to joke that you had to prove that you did not need a loan before you could get one. That joke has become reality today.
~ 3 Wood


Fanny ~ Borrowed Time