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'Comment on Arianna Huffington’s blog
Yes, that's important: delineating the kind of country we - i.e., the U.S. - are. As far as torture is concerned there's no legitimate "other side". And, of course, Barack Obama and his team "failed to see the massive wall of public indignation directly in front of them". It cannot be swept under the presidential rug. The nation's fundamental ethics (rather than morality) are at stake, and there's a pressure born of North America's values. Abuse of presidential power, e.g., allowing torture, doesn't have to become a U.S. precedent. Passionate intensity needs the leap from words ("yes, we can") to action! (FK – HuffPost)
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Probable $4 trillion debts, according to preliminary IMF reports, are tremendous. Already 23 bank takeovers this year by the FDIC! But all the US banks are not culpable, though. Edward Yingling says: "Wall Street and Main Street banking are very different." The banquet of greed and corruption which had created the toxic economic swamp have been (only!) the high-flying gluttons of Wall Street who have come to dominate the global credit market. I particularly appreciate the mention of the Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus who had invented the microfinance concept and opened the Grameen Bank, a branch in New York, for "banking of the unbanked" which he'll spread, already licensed, over the whole United States. Green banks of the Triple Bottom Line concept investing in clean air, healthy food and livable communities, appreciably, are also gaining growing influence.Thus, "glimmers of hope" may provide easier sleep after a long and stony way of toxicity removing, ahead. FrankKalder comment to Arianna Huffington blog_
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Baden-Baden (Germany) & Strasbourg (France) The promises, at a two-day summit marking NATO's 60th anniversary, constituted a sweeping demonstration of support for the new administration's leadership in what has become the alliance's main mission of the moment. But they dramatized once again that European leaders are unwilling to follow Obama's lead in making major new commitments of troops to fight and perhaps die in a faraway war that is widely unpopular among their voters.
At a closing news conference, Obama portrayed the outcome as a success for his maiden encounter with NATO summitry, suggesting that trainers and civilians can be just as valuable as fighters. The 28-nation alliance, he added, had come together in unanimous agreement that Afghanistan must be a strategic priority, even though it is thousands of miles from the European nations that the North Atlantic Alliance was conceived to protect. In addition, more European troop deployments could come in the months ahead, he suggested.
"These commitments of troops, trainers and civilians represent a strong down payment on the future of our mission in Afghanistan and the future of NATO," he declared, adding: "This was not a pledging conference."
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who co-hosted the summit with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, said the alliance was quick to endorse Obama's new strategy because it responded "point by point" to a long-standing European desire to put less emphasis on military attacks against the Taliban and more on building Afghanistan's army and civilian institutions. … The Washington Post
Another article with embedded (1:45) video.
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Global problems require global solutions
At their summit in London, G20 leaders have agreed on a plan to save the world’s finances.
They will pump an additional one trillion dollars into the troubled global economy through extra funding for groups like the International Monetary Fund.
Summit host Britain’s Gordon Brown revealed action to “clean up” the banks – with new rules on pay and bonuses. He also announced a crackdown on international tax cheats: “We have agreed that there will be an end to tax havens that do not transfer information on request... The banking secrecy of the past must come to end.” Brown talked about a new world order and managing the process of globalisation... Euronews with embedded video (1 min.)
Supplementary: Reform der internationalen Finanzmärkte
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