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Concern about mission creep grows as more bombs fall on Libya
Barely 48 hours into the Libyan war, the American general running the air strikes came under fire about mission creep even while insisting that allied warplanes won’t hunt Moammar Gadhafi or back the rebels seeking to oust him.
“I have no mission to attack that person. And we are not doing so. We are not seeking his whereabouts or anything like that,” said General Carter Ham, U.S. regional commander for all of Africa.
Concerns over mission creep continue to be raised around the world – including in Canada – as a new set of strikes hit Triopoli late Monday. On a day in which Canadian CF-18s flew their first missions over Libya and Defence Minister Peter MacKay said Canada had a “moral duty” to participate, all four opposition parties endorsed Canadian involvement in the mission but pressed for details over how long the mission would last, what it would cost, and how it would Read more…
Chávez’s purchase of $15 billion in weapons causes concern in Latin America
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez’s purchases of weapons totaling more than $15 billion causes concern in Latin America.
With the acquisition of hundreds of tanks, helicopters and bulletproof vehicles as well as submarines and missile networks, Venezuela is arming itself at a speed unprecedented in the history of the South American country.
Experts consulted by El Nuevo Herald have said that Hugo Chávez’s has created unrest in the region with purchases to expand its military that total more than $15 billion.
The analysts warned that the purchases are made in an improvised fashion, following a “dubious” process with no bidding or prior studies, which could lead the country to acquire a Russian technology difficult to adopt and rejected by segments of the National Armed Forces.
The funds Chávez is using for the purchase of these new weapons, the largest in the nation’s history, are in Read more…
Pimco Buying Emerging Market ‘Rising Stars’ as Inflation Looms
March 21 (Bloomberg) — Pacific Investment Management Co. says investors should buy company debt in Russia, Brazil and other emerging markets where rising wages and relatively low public and private debt will help borrowers weather accelerating inflation.
The manager of the world’s biggest bond fund is buying debt of “rising stars” linked to nations with expanding wealth because they will more easily be able to pass on higher materials costs, Mark Kiesel, Pimco’s global head of corporate bond portfolio management, wrote in a report today on the firm’s website. At the same time, he’s avoiding companies dependent on growth in Europe, the U.S. and Japan that will struggle amid stagnant wages and debt-laden governments and consumers.
“Companies which are tied most directly into the strong economic growth engine in the emerging markets should have the most pricing power and ability to either pass through rising costs or absorb them without a significant margin hit,” Kiesel wrote. Those more Read more…
Secret Iran Gold Holdings Leaked: Tehran Holds Same Amount Of Gold As United Kingdom, And Is Buying More
While it will not come as a major surprise to most, according to senior BOE individuals and Wikileaks, Iran, as well as Qatar and Jordan have been actively purchasing gold well over the amount reported to and by the IMF, in an accelerated attempt to diversify their holdings away from the US dollar. “Iran has bought large amounts of gold in the international market, according to a senior Bank of England official, in a sign of how growing political pressure has driven Tehran to reduce its exposure to the US dollar. Andrew Bailey, head of banking at the Bank of England, told an American official that the central bank had observed “significant moves by Iran to purchase gold”, according to a US diplomatic cable obtained by WikiLeaks and seen by the Financial Times.” The reason for Tehran’s scramble into gold: “an attempt by Iran to protect its reserves from risk of seizure”. The misrepresentation of Iran’s holdings could be so vast that Iran could possibly be one of the largest holders of goldin the world. “Market observers believe Tehran has been one of the biggest buyers of bullion over the past decade after China, Russia and India, and is among the Read more…
India watchful of threat from China
NEW DELHI: “India is conscious and watchful of the implication of China’s evolving military profile in the immediate and extended neighborhood,” says Indian Defence Ministry’s Annual Report for 2010-11.
Even as the report says that the country’s relation with China are of “crucial importance” and its policy is to engage Beijing is based on principles of “mutual trust and respect and sensitivity for each other” it has made it obvious that Chinese specific military preparations by India are under consolidation and will gain momentum in future.
Indian military formations, till now have been mostly field formations capable of undertaking operations in plains and not high altitude mountainous terrain which comprises country’s borders with China.
The rising military budget has enabled India to raise mountain divisions and shop for weapon systems that can help her conduct operations against China. India has already raised two mountain divisions comprising 25,000 to 30, 000 troops for deployment along the Chinese borders in Arunachal Pradesh and has started deploying IAF Squadrons closer to Chinese borders. The IAF has Read more…
High seismic activity will last 10 years – seismologist
The magnitude-9.0 earthquake in Japan was one of the major events in the natural cycle of the planet’s seismic activity, Evgeny Rogozhin, deputy director of the Institute of Physics of the Earth of the Russian Academy of Sciences told RT.
RT: You have made some controversial predictions in terms of future earthquakes. What exactly are they and what are they based on?
Evgeny Rogozhin: I think that there is no direct connection between the earthquake in Japan and earthquakes that could happen on our territory. But this latest is one of the major events in the chain of earthquakes that recently happened on the planet. You all remember the earthquake on Sumatra in 2004. It was a major earthquake – magnitude 9.5. It was huge. Major loss of life, tsunami, etc. Then there were a number of other earthquakes – in India, where people also died, in China with the magnitude 8 and finally, in Chile last year – 8.8. And now this earthquake in Japan with a magnitude unheard of before in this country – 9.
As you can see the process is taking place in different places on Earth. What does our country look like in this respect? In the last 15 years or so we’ve had about 15 major earthquakes in Read more…
Russia warns of “full-scale military action” following Security Council vote on Libya
AFP Photo / Adek Berry
Following a decision by the UN Security Council to take “all necessary measures” against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, Russian politicians and experts are warning of further destabilization in the region.
The UN Security Council voted on Thursday to impose a no-fly zone, which includes the possible use of military force, against pro-Gaddafi forces.
Presently, the Libyan strongman’s military is successfully beating back a large anti-government uprising, and is in the process of consolidating his forces around Benghazi, a city to the north where the “interim Libyan government” is penned in.
Diplomats said the resolution, which was written in the eleventh hour of the Libyan conflict, allows for a wide range of actions, including strikes on air-defense systems and missile attacks from ships.
Indeed, full-blown military activity could commence “within hours,” they said.
Russia and four other council members – China, Germany, Brazil and India – abstained from Read more…
RBS says CNY has the potential to become global reserve currency
The FINANCIAL — The Royal Bank of Scotland Plc (RBS) believes Chinese Renminbi (CNY) can potentially become a world reserve currency comparable to the USD.
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This is one of the findings in the newly released research report ‘CNH Market Guide: A precursor to internationalisation of the Chinese Renminbi’, the most comprehensive research yet to look at the offshore CNY market in Hong Kong, also known as the CNH market.
The combination of growth in the offshore CNY market and the sheer size of the Chinese economy will support the Chinese government’s ambition to internationalise its currency, according to RBS.
“China now holds 30% of the world’s USD9trn foreign reserves. The other 70% which does not belong to the People’s Republic of China (PBOC) could potentially be held in CNY. As China’s share Read more…
Time to Trade Stocks and Silver for Gold?
Market professionals and experienced investors consider it to be common knowledge that silver has more real-world uses than its precious metal sister gold. Silver is used in coins, photography, batteries, bearings, electronics, and mirrors. Silver also aids in numerous medical applications and even contributes to helping capture and use solar energy. The Silver Institute describes “silver uses” as follows:
Demand for silver is built on three main pillars: industrial and decorative uses, photography, and jewelry & silverware. Together, these three categories represent more than 95 percent of annual silver consumption. In 2007, 455.5 million ounces of silver were used for industrial applications, while over 128 million ounces of silver were committed to the photographic sector, 163.4 million ounces were consumed in the jewelry market, and 58.8 million ounces were used in the silverware market.
Why is this indispensable metal in such demand? The reasons are simple. Silver has Read more…
The megaquake connection: Are huge earthquakes linked?
The recent cluster of huge quakes around the Pacific Ocean has fuelled speculation that they are seismically linked. New Scientist examines the evidence
A wave of activity (Image: Bernd Settnik/EPA/Corbis)
AT 2.46 pm local time on Friday last week, Japan shook like never before. The magnitude 9.0 earthquake wrenched the main island of Honshu 2.5 metres closer to the US and nudged the tilt of Earth’s axis by 16 centimetres. At the epicentre, 130 kilometres offshore, the Pacific tectonic plate lurched westwards, and a 10-metre-high tsunami sped towards the coastal city of Sendai and the surrounding region.
The devastation caused by the events is difficult to exaggerate – estimates suggest the number of fatalities could top 10,000. One of the few consolations is that quakes of magnitude 8.5 and above are rare: the Sendai earthquake is in the top 10 of the highest-magnitude quakes of the last 100 years.
Yet three of these – the December 2004 Sumatra quake, the February 2010 Chile quake, and now Sendai – have struck in just over six years. This presents a horrifying possibility: Read more…
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