"The West does not seek the elimination of nuclear weapons, but rather the establishment of nuclear monopoly..." 

Iran's Challenge to Nuclear Apartheid:

‘What kind of fool believes that the way to bring democracy to a country is to invade, destroy cities and infrastructure, and kill and maim tens of thousands of civilians, while creating every possible animosity by aligning with some members of the society against the others?  

Condi Rice’s speech at Princeton has branded her as the greatest fool ever to be appointed Secretary of State. The same day that she declared, Mao-like, that democracy comes out of the barrel of a gun, Lt. Gen. William Odom, Director of the National Security Agency during President Reagan’s second term, a scholar with a distinguished career in military intelligence, declared Bush’s invasion of Iraq to be the "greatest strategic disaster in United States history."’ 

$300 Billion Terrorist Training Ground

‘The strategic decision by the United States to nuke Iran was probably made long ago. Tactics adjust to unpredictable events as they unfold.  

There was such an event last week, when Iran's president declared that Israel must be "wiped off" the map. The surprise was not the statement, which was an often-repeated quote by the late Ayatollah Khomeini, directed at a domestic student audience. What was surprising was both the timing (amid discussions about whether Iran should be allowed to enrich uranium) and the relatively low-key U.S. response. Tony Blair expressed "revulsion," Chirac was "profoundly shocked," the European Union in a joint statement "condemned [it] in the strongest terms." Instead, Bush was quiet.  

White House Spokesman Scott McClellan commented, "It underscores the concerns we have about Iran's nuclear intentions," and the usually vociferous U.S. ambassador to the UN John Bolton only said that Ahmadinejad's remarks about Israel were "pernicious and unacceptable." Those are uncharacteristically mild statements for this administration in the face of such a provocative statement by Iran against one of the U.S.' closest allies. Why?’  

The Real Reason for Nuking Iran

Speaking on his new book, The Great War For Civilization; The Conquest of the Middle East at King Middle School, Berkeley. Nov 19 2005. Fisk, in yet another stirring account, paints a disturbing picture of recent history and events in Iraq and the Middle East. 

The Great War For Civilization: The Conquest Of The Middle East

From the Moscow Times/Bloomberg

Currency Reserves Jump to $225Bln

Bloomberg
Russia's foreign currency and gold reserves rose to a record $225.7 billion on surging oil and natural gas prices, giving the country cash to pay off its foreign debts early.
The reserves jumped by $8.6 billion by April 28, the 23rd consecutive weekly gain and the biggest increase since January 2005, the Central Bank said in an e-mailed statement Thursday. The country's reserves are now the fourth-largest in the world, behind China, Japan and Taiwan.
Russia is awash with cash from oil and gas after the price of Urals, its main export blend of crude, more than doubled in the last two years.
The stockpile prompted President Vladimir Putin to say on April 27 that he wants to pay off the country's debt to the Paris Club of creditor nations ahead of schedule.
"We are going to see massive reserve growth over the next few months as Russian oil sold today at these record prices will arrive with a lag of one to three months,'' said Peter Westin, chief economist at MDM Bank in Moscow. Westin expects reserves to rise by as much as $6 billion per week over the next few months.
The country's reserves have climbed almost 20-fold since 1998, when crude sank to less than $10 per barrel and the government was forced to default on $40 billion of domestic debt and devalue the ruble, sending the economy into recession.

read more at the Moscow Times

------------

Gus comments: In the meantime in the US, the reserves grow to minus below the waterline... as the Federal Reserve bank printing presses are busy faking US dollars... hoping no one will notice the number of zeros on the deficit figures... not mentioning the trade black holes that plague the US (minus 20 Billion dollars a week) and Australia (minus 400 million dollars a week...) compared to USD8 billion a week surplus for Russia...

Haaaaa, the smell of petrol... and the glorious elation of tax break-a-leg when public services have been shot in the foot...

From Al Jazeera

Russia 'dumps Boeing for Airbus'

Saturday 06 May 2006, 12:28 Makka Time, 9:28 GMT

Russia's flag-carrier is to buy aircraft from Airbus instead of Boeing in retaliation at US opposition to Moscow joining the World Trade organisation, according to Vedomosti business daily.

"This is a clear signal to the United States not to put too much pressure on Russia in WTO talks otherwise many lucrative contracts and privileges could go to the Europeans," Yaroslav Lissovolik, an analyst from the Deutsche UFG investment house, told Vedomosti.

In December, Vedomosti had said Aeroflot was considering buying 22 Boeing 787s, known as Dreamliners.

But on Saturday it reported an anonymous official in Russia's presidential administration as saying that Aeroflot's board of directors had decided "last month that Aeroflot should buy the Airbus-350 liners".

Vedomosti estimated the cost of an Airbus deal at $3billion.

read more at Al Jazeera
---------------------